Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2013!

 

It is that wonderful time of year where so many wonderful quilts and projects from across the blogging universe are shared!

If you are looking for inspiration just take a peek at all the pretties being entered over at

Amys Creative Side!

 

This year I am entering my Good Luck Star in the Wall Hanging category. This mini quilt wall hanging was made for the SewSewModern 3 swap on Flickr. This group has so much talent! It really challenges my creativity and sewing ability - which I love.

This project is scrappy and paper pieced. I used darker, more saturated colors for the star along with a lighter shade of the same color to off set the swirl and give the star movement.

 

I then used a variety of grey based low volume prints to frame the star. Many of these were charms from swaps and a few were from yardage, but the combination is unique and allows the saturated colors of the star to stand out against the background. Again I tried to place darker and lighter greys so that your eye moves in a circle around the star.

I then used the lighter shades to make an inside border - if you read my earlier post on this quilt here - you know that this ended up being the most difficult part of the process. I wanted a border with color but something that allowed the star to shine and be the center of attention!

The back showing the great Cloud Nine fabric (available at JoAnn's) and the quilting done with my favorite Aurifil #50 pearl grey thread.

 

Here is the completed quilt just before sending it off to my swap partner! I just love the Architextures binding - it was the perfect finish for this quilt.

 

 

 

I loved everything about this quilt, it challenged me and turned out just like my vision - and my partner loved it which is just the icing on the cake! Win! Win!

Name: Good Luck Star

 

Size: 19in x 19in

 

Pattern: Good Luck Star by Banner Creek Designs available on Craftsy

 

Technique: Paper Piecing

 

Fabrics: working from Stash - including Architextures, Half Moon Modern, Tsuru, Silent Ciniema, Squared Elements, and a variety of Low volume prints

 

Quilting: In the Ditch/Straight line/Stenciled Chain by me and my Janome Horizon

 

Thread: Aurifil #50 Pearl Grey

 

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure and check out all the amazingness over at the festival and vote for all your favorites.  

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

A Little Paper Piecing you say? SewSewModern3

Do you like to paper piece?  Some call it foundation piecing. I do. I pieced a pineaple mini quilt, back in the day and remember how sharp it made the corners. In the past year I have been sharpening my skills again. In the past month I have been working on a project for my Sew Sew Modern 3 swap partner.....

Yep, it's just a bit of paper piecing. It is my large item for my SewSewModern3 swap partner. It is now finished and on it's way to my partner. I hope she likes it -- really I hope she Loves it!! I do. I used a variety of fabrics trying to bring prominence to the swirl of the star by alternating light and dark in the same color family. I used a variety of low volume fabrics for the background, and that great Ledger print from Carolyn Freidlander's Architextures for the binding.

This is called the Good Luck Star and is by Banner Creek Designs. It is available for purchase on Craftsy. Here is how it all came together:

 I thought the paper piecing would be the most time consuming, but I had more trouble picking out the borders. I actually had 3 different sets of borders on this beauty before I was happy with them. It took a whole Sunday! Who would have thought...

The problem was I wanted the focus to remain on the deeper, saturated colors of the star. To let the swirl and movement stand out. I had envisioned using HST's made up of the fabrics used in the star and a low volume counterpart. I even made all these 2 in HST's. But alas I pieced one border piece and knew it was not going to work. It competed with the design too much, too much going on.

 

So then on to plan B. I envisioned using the coral pearl bracelets as a simple 1inch border all the way around. Nope, didn't work, too dark and really grabbed your attention amidst the quiet low volume fabrics.

 Next I thought about using the teal as the 1 in border....darker... quieter,  just a bit.  No that wasn't going to make it either.

So finally I pulled all the lighter colored fabrics from the star and made a simple pieced 2 in border....and finally the borders "felt right."  Whew! Who thought borders would be the challenge on this project??

 

 

 I used a great Cloud Nine organic cotton print (available at my local JoAnn's) for the back. I loved the color but I wanted to make sure the back was busy enough that it helped hide any flaws in my quilting. And it did. Actually it almost hid the quilting too much. I used a soft pearl grey 50 wt Aurifil cotton thread for both the piecing and quilting, my favorite color and weight for this.

And I went with stitching in the ditch vs. FMQ on this piece. I wanted to outline each and every piece of this geometric wonder. It is not perfect, I did not have a master quilting plan but just went at it and actually worked from the larger outside diamonds in towards the smaller center of the star.I spray basted this with 505, which is a great product! I have never had problems when using 505 (as I have with other basting sprays). On the first border I did simple straight lines and on the second border I stenciled a chain pattern and quilted it. My curves on one side of the chains are much smoother, flowing than the other side, but again it is a learning process.

So there you have it. I must say this project pushed me in my design and  technique, and best of all it turned out just as I had envisioned. I have learned you can't make a quilt or project into something it is not. It always evolves. Sometimes you have to stand back and listen. It will tell you who it is, and  who it isn't...

Stats: 19 in x 19in
Pattern: Good Luck Star by Banner Creek Designs
Technique: Paper Piecing
Quilting: in the ditch
Thread: Aurifil 50wt cotton in soft pearl grey

Thanks for stopping by. Next time I will show you the cute journal cover that was the small item that went along with this for the swap.  UPDATE: I see my partner posted that she had received a package from me -- eek! So excited!

Happy Stitching!
Ginny

PS. Did I mention my secret swap partner was the talented and lovely Elizabeth Dackson from "Don't Call Me Betsy" ?

Edited to remove some duplicate text at the bottom of post.

























 

Modern Mini Quilt Challenge with Ellison Lane

Hi Everyone! Yes, I know it has been a bit since I have had a blog post! But I have been sewing up a storm! Check out my Flickr stream to see what I have been up to! Lots of goodies - blocks, pillows, swaps! Also you can follow me on Instagram also-@fishcreekstudio. It's a little bit more "in the making" vs. the polished "finished product." I would love to see you! And I do plan on continuing to blog also!

Have you heard about Jennifer's Modern Mini Quilt Challenge over at Ellison Lane Quilts? There has been a blog hop the past week with lots of great mini's and there is still time to get your entry in! 

Here is my entry! It is my Schoenrock Cross Pillow from the SewSewModern swap that just ended!

 Front of pillow is paper pieced using the Schoenrock Cross pattern from Quilters Cache. I have been wanting to make this pattern forever! And I am so happy I did - while the block is 14in I added borders and  the pillow is 20in x20in.

                 Covered zipper back- Love it! I love this fabric-my thought was "from my home to yours."
                                  I used Svetlana's tutorial - amazingly easy! You can find it here.

                                               Close up of the chunky hand stitching and fabrics.

    TIP: This is the inside front cover of the pillow. Use plain muslin as the backing of your quilt sandwich. It prevents your batting from sticking to your pillow form or stuffing; and when the pillow cover is taken off and washed it provides stability for all your piecing and hand stitching. You can see all the hand stitching/quilting design really well here.

So hop on over to Jennifer's and check out all the quilty goodness and don't forget to link up a project of your own!

 

Happy Stitching! Ginny