Fading Star quilt: A finish!

We've got back-to-back quilt finishes this week. If you've been following for a while, you saw this one progress over the past few months in little snippets each week. I'm happy to finally reveal the Fading Star quilt!

The idea for this quilt rattled around in my head for months, going through a number of versions before I finally settled on this one. I loved the idea of starting with a traditional block and then breaking it down into its elements, making them fade away until the block eventually "dissolved" into the background.

After auditioning several blocks, I decided to start with the traditional poinsettia block (which read as a star to me, hence the quilt's name) and then began to chip away at it, with each rendition of the block including new sections that faded to a lighter shade of teal, and then to an even lighter shade, and eventually to the night sky print (Cotton + Steel's Sprinkle in Counting Stars, appropriately) I used as the background, until only the center point remained.

The teals are Kona Breakers, Cyan, and Aqua. For the backing, I used more of the Sprinkle print and Konas combined with a big piece of the towers print from Lizzy House's 1001 Peeps line that I got for a steal at a LQS a while back. I love these colors so much.

As usual, I debated for forever on how to quilt it. The asymmetry of the quilt design threw me a bit, and I wanted there to be movement in the quilting. I eventually settled on a squared spiral emanating from that last center point. I used a medium teal thread and spaced the lines 2" apart. I brought in the three Konas again for the binding, creating an ombre effect (which is my MO lately, it seems). The quilt finished at 62" square.

I absolutely adore this quilt. It's so nice when an idea really works out the way you see it in your head.

Convergence quilt: A finish!

This post has been a long time coming, but I'm happy to finally reveal one of my latest finishes, the Convergence quilt!

I started working on this quilt months ago, making a lot of progress at the STLMQG retreat in October and finishing it up shortly thereafter. I made the quilt for the MQG's QuiltCon 2016 Triangle Quilt Challenge, which was sponsored by EZ Quilting. Everyone who signed up received a small triangle template, and you could make a quilt of any size and any design, as long as you incorporated the triangle template somewhere. I decided to go all in with my template and focused on just that shape.

I wanted to create a real sense of movement with all of the tiny little triangles, so I used three of the ombre fabrics from V & Co. to their full effect, using the template to cut the pieces from every part of the fabric to capture the smallest changes in color. The colors race back and forth across the rows until they converge in the middle. I added an uneven border to give the sense of the quilt being matted in a frame, but I extended the quilting onto the border to highlight the continued ombre effect used in the thread. I used pink, orange, and yellow Aurifil thread, quilted in diagonal lines about 1/2" apart.

For the backing, I incorporated more of the ombre fabrics, as well as the red dot from V & Co.'s Simply Colorful line. I used the red ombre for the binding, which I love.

There are so many seams in these pieces, and it was a real bear to assemble and quilt, but all in all, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. The final quilt measures 28" x 21" and will likely be added to my growing wall of minis.

December do.Good Stitches blocks

I was a bit tardy on my November bee blocks for the EMERGE circle of the do.Good Stitches charity bee, so I wanted to get ahead of the game for December.

Amanda asked us to make two of these blocks, which were a block of the month from Alissa Haight Carlton on Sew Mama Sew a while back. She asked for white, gray, aqua, and bright red.

These blocks were a cinch to put together, and I think the final quilt is going to be so cute. The tutorial shows several cool layouts, so I'll be curious to see how Amanda puts them together.

 

They look a little funny as is, but Amanda said she'd trim them herself, so I left them big. Here's a cropped picture to give you an idea. Cute, huh?

November do.Good Stitches blocks

I was running a bit behind last month, but as soon as we returned from our Thanksgiving travels, I managed to finish up my November bee blocks for the EMERGE circle of the do.Good Stitches charity bee.

Kelly asked us to make wonky stars using indigo-y blues for the backgrounds and neutrals/low volume for the stars. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but I actually used several white-on-white low volumes for the stars, not solids. I used this simple tutorial from Owen's Olivia, and they came together in no time. It was a really fun block, and I could definitely see knocking out some more of these in the future. And to make up for my tardiness last month, I've already finished my December blocks, too. More on those tomorrow.

WIP Wednesday: Handwork

Hi! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm still trying to get back into my routine (and get some long overdue blog posts up), but I did manage to finish both my Convergence quilt and my Fading Star quilt, and it's so nice to have them done! More on those once I finish editing the photos. Since getting back from our travels, I've shifted my focus to finishing the low-volume log cabin quilt I led for the September block of the Emerge Circle of do.Good Stitches. The top and back are all done, and it's basted and ready for quilting!

I brought along a few handwork projects while we were traveling and had a ton of fun getting to work on them. I made some progress on my Catenary mini quilt and managed to finish another arch row -- just one more to go!

I also took my first shot at making hexies, and it's just as addicting as everyone said it would be. I'm excited to work on this while hanging out with the hubby, and it turned out to be a perfect flight project.

 
The neverending to do list:

Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
November Emerge Circle blocks
December Emerge Circle blocks 
Catenary mini quilt
Hexie mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday: Closing in on a finish

I am whipped from way too many late nights of sewing, but I'm getting so close to finishing my current projects. Actually, I did finish up my Convergence quilt earlier in the week, but lousy weather has meant I haven't taken any pictures yet. Soon, my friends.

But most of my time this week has been focused on the Fading Star quilt. In a whirlwind of nights, I finished the quilting and made the binding, so I'm this close to moving this baby to the done column!

I ran out of thread in the middle of quilting a few nights ago (drats!), and since it was too late to run to the store, I got back to working on my yet-to-be-named quilt from September for the Emerge Circle of do.Good Stitches. After figuring out a new layout, I made some really good progress on piecing the top, so I'm hoping to possibly finish it up this week, too! Looks like I have some more late nights ahead of me...

The neverending to do list:

Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
November Emerge Circle blocks
Catenary mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Thursday (a bit late)

I'm a bit late on this week's update, but that's how things go sometimes. My little guy turned four today, so it's been a busy week. But that's not to say I haven't gotten a ton of sewing done (mostly due to some very late nights, as you might have noticed from some of my IG posts this week). I bounced back and forth between the Convergence and Fading Star quilts all week. After asking for a lot of opinions, I decided to leave just the diagonal quilting (instead of making it a crosshatch), and now it's trimmed and ready for this super fun ombre binding.

Most of my time was spent on the Fading Star quilt, and I'm thrilled with how it came together. I finished the rest of the blocks, pieced the top and backing, and just last night, got it all basted, so bring on the quilting! This quilt required so much checking and checking to make sure everything matched up, so there was a whole lot of this

and this

to get to this

 
and this.

I have never wished for a design wall more. But now it's all done, and I'm so excited to see this one finished and do the big reveal!

The neverending to do list:

Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
November Emerge Circle blocks
Catenary mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.