Imagination {Blogger's Quilt Festival}

It's time!!!  Are you ready for some quilt yumminess throughout the quilt blogesphere?

Imagine is the name of the quilting bee circle I am a member of for do. Good Stitches.  

This is Imagination. 

 The quilt makes me think of philosophers, staring into the skies and seeing stars...imagining what life beyond is.

This quilt had many challenges and road blocks for me.  The original, Imagination post walks you through it all.  For the sake of the festival, I will keep it simple!!!

The blocks: 

The sashing....and a pretty cool shot of the quilting!

I loved this scrappy piano key border.

A cool "on the longarm" shot of the quilting.

Scallops!

Simple backing for somewhat complicated quilting.

Close up of the back.

 

Binding

Solid Red.

I was so happy with the results.  The amazing blocks from my bee friends made it so wonderful!
 I couldn't be more thrilled.   

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 66" x 86"

Blocks Pieced by: Imagine @do.Good Stitches quilting bee.  Fabrics from their stash.

Sashing, Border fabrics: A variety of strips from my stash.

Backing: Blank Quilting Pattern #6239 and Kona Ash

Binding: Kona Cardinal

Quilted: By myself on my longarm HQ Avante 18.

This beauty went off to Threading Hope.  

I hope it brings comfort and joy to its recipient.

Thanks for stopping by!  I now must commence my perusal of the entries. Every single "season" I start recognizing my favorite quilts or I see some that have me meeting some new blogger friends!!!

WIP: Finish Lines

The race to get some things done around here is at full speed.

Finished:

Imagination

I am so happy about this quilt. 

 I posted about the design process and other yummy photos of this quilt.  I am so happy with the piecing the other bee ladies did.  

I am also a bit tickled that Lynne from Lily's Quilts posted on her blog.  To have the quilter that designed the blog say she liked it makes me so proud of the work our Imagine circle for do.Good Stitches did!

In Progress:

Southern Blizzard

 Can you believe it?  14 months later?

I finally finished the top.  I am going to try to cut the backing soon.  Since I have 10 more months until I need it,  I have it third or fourth in line for Ole Betsy.

Turtle Quilt

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" always pops in my head when I work on this quilt.

I decided to hand stitch the appliques.

And am now in the process of finishing up the embellishment of hand embroidery. 

  Next on the list is how I am going to tackle the name.  I originally had thought I would do some machine embroidery, but my heart is saying no.  More to hand stitching to come?

No Progress: 

 16 projects.  I won't list them. You might fall asleep and your head might hit the keyboard.  I don't want to be responsible for any lacerations to foreheads.  

New Projects:

Vintage Star

A friend asked me to help her out with a baby quilt.  How could I say no?  We first discussed using the pattern that I used for Button's Quilt and Lyla's Quilt.
However,  when fellow blogger posted this large star made up of oversized HSTs?

 

I was sold and so was she.  

Free Spirit Fat Quarter Bundles

I have pulled the fabrics from this bundle and am getting ready to cut and piece!

 Linking up with Lee.

Things are a bit different. 

 Whenever Lee makes a change, it always seems to be a good one!

Imagination

Imagine is the name of the quilting bee circle I am a member of for do. Good Stitches.  

This is Imagination. 

 The quilt makes me think of philosophers, staring into the skies and seeing stars...imagining what life beyond is.

 The Block

Why was I thinking the heavens and beyond? The detailed paper pieced blocks are made from the tutorial ET phone home block by Lily's Quilts.

 As soon as I read that name and decided it would be the July quilt block, all I could see were stars!

The Color Palette

For this quilt, I asked the ladies to use the colors from this color palette 

 

which, at the time, were colors on my mind due to a family trip to Washington, D.C. During the Fourth of July festivities!

The Piecing

They took the challenge and sent me some beautiful blocks. Since I knew they were probably cursing my name when they were piecing them, I really wanted to make sure that I showcased them at their best potential. I decided on blocks in point. I also was a bit concerned because I had given them cart Blanche on gray backgrounds. I thought there would be more variety, but the majority were Kona Ash. 

To resolve the gray fabric issue, I clumped the darker grays together and decided to emphasize then with the red center. 

The Sashing

I could have forgone sashing, because I know it sort of fights the idea of modern. But the gray was presenting a 'blech" problem for me. Mr Boss had even commented during the layout process that it was a bit dingy and depressing.  And if he seems interested in the process? I start listening.

Sashing seemed the only way to have the dark gray center intentional.  I had originally intended to surround the center blocks with aqua and then red sashing everywhere else.

But I changed my mind and used the coral red for the center and aqua everywhere else.

The Border

I am usually okay with no borders, but I felt like I had to frame these amazing blocks. I was having the "blech" problem again.  The sashing was so cheery and it just seemed to end.

 A range of my red, blue, aqua scraps made up the piano key borders with mitered corner.  

I may have gone a bit overboard?

The Quilting

Of course, the next challenge was the quilting. How to match the amazing blocks without overwhelming them.

I had sketched it out as best as I could. Loaded it and I started to quilt...and despised it. I didn't like the pattern.  I didn't like the darker gray thread on the Kona Ash.  I unpicked for days.

Four, to be exact.

  It was a bit of a pain to constantly change my thread, but oh so worth it!

I was never so happy to get it off the rails!!!

The Backing

Simple backing. 

One long piece of Kona Ash intersecting two pieces of an aqua fabric with what appeared to be an orange peel or cathedral window design.
I made the decision to make the gray stripe as wide as the quilt label.
  I was determined to have the label pieced into the backing instead of appliqueing it like I have in the past.  I felt that a simple backing would compliment the complicated front.

 

And show off the quilting.

The Binding

Binding.  Oh..it was tough!  I even sent out pleas here, on Instagram, and Facebook to help me make the decision. I ruled out aqua/teal pretty quickly because it just seemed "blah".  Blech seemed to have constantly plagued this quilt!

 I then was really debating the blue and red.  The blue did frame the quilt, like many suggested, but when I would flip it to look at the back, it was glaringly obvious that the small tiny dots on the backing fabric were actually black.

They just didn't seem happy with each other.

So red it was.

And I am so happy.  I couldn't be more thrilled.   

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 66" x 86"

Blocks Pieced by: Imagine @do.Good Stitches quilting bee.  Fabrics from their stash.

Sashing, Border fabrics: A variety of strips from my stash.

Backing: Blank Quilting Pattern #6239 and Kona Ash

Binding: Kona Cardinal

Quilted: By myself on my longarm HQ Avante 18.

This beauty is off to Threading Hope this week.   But first I have to clip all the stray threads you might have caught in the photos. It is about to rain and I had no other opportunity to do a photo shoot...so you are getting it "raw".  It is off to get washed and dried soon!

It is definitely heavier than most quilts due to the layers and layers of seams.  

I hope it brings comfort and joy to its recipient.

My finish for February for the 2013 Lovely Year of Finishes!!!