Outfoxed Forest

Outfoxed Forest was started while on retreat with KMQG in October 2014.  Just started with some fun paper pieced wonky triangles from Nancy Purvis.  Pattern here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclingjanes/16489693233/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclingjanes/16922281610/in/dateposted-public/

Started: October 2014
Finished: April 2015
Fabrics: Lizzy House, Outfoxed, Pearl Bracelets Coordinating prints from Tula Pink, Denyse Schmidt, Carolyn Friedlander, Sarah Watson, solid scraps
Batting: Pellon, Nature's Touch, 100% cotton with scrim, white
Binding: Sunburst stripe, wheat, Dear Stella
Quilted: by me, dense alternating zigzag
Thread: Aurifil 50, 4653, Spring Prairie, variegated

This quilt was a fun exploration of improv.  I wanted to highlight the foxes and hedgehogs from Lizzy House's fabric line, Outfoxed.  I had a lot of fun making this quilt and moving it around on my design wall before piecing the low volume background around it.  This quilt hung in the 2015 Smoky Mountain Quilter's Quilt Show and won Honorable Mention in the Modern Category.  The part I love most about this quilt is how vintage it feels and soft.  It is for sale in my etsy shop.

Sam's Classics Quilt

Started:  August 24, 2015

Completed:  August 31, 2015

I love making quilts for friends!  And every once and a while I get an order on etsy.  I've been hesitant to take on too much with Cole and Eli running around but several of these commissions came without a deadline.  It's exciting to know ppl are enjoying my crazy quilting obsession.  

Next up is a quilt for baby Sam.  I've just recently gotten the privilege to meet and enjoy the Eaton family.  They are very into DIY!  And Lesley makes amazing beautiful paper artwork.  (3 of which hang in Cole's room!).  This quilt is for her sister and she wanted something happy, and colorful.  I knew Lesley liked scrappy from previous convos and she'd probably be totally fine with some improv... Which makes me so excited these days!!  So I suggested a design like something I had seen in Quilt Now (mag) this month by Nick Ball.  And she went for it!  I'm so glad she did and I'm so excited to say, I've made this one completely from my stash, and even one step further, the front is made completely from scraps from my scrap bins.

Tinsel + Score No. 7

Is it too early for a Christmas quilt on my couch?!  Cause I'm in love with this guy.  I purchased Sherry Lynn Wood's new book, the improv handbook for modern quilters and have been dying to jump in!  (I really, really enjoyed hearing her speak at QuiltCon and would love to take a class with her!  Anyone else in Knoxville wanna have her here for a class?!  Maybe 2016!). But anyway-- my Tinsel by cotton and steel was begging to be cut into.  I wanted to pair it with some solids I had on hand so that I could make a lap quilt and get the curves to pop out.

Unfortunately, like Score 7 calls for 'getting lost', I played it safe and used the same cuts and layout as a quilt in the book.  My life with a newborn is crazy, lost enough so I just wanted to SEW!  And the quilt in the book is SO good!

I started by cutting 17" squares of 20 fabrics, 9 prints, 11 solids.  I wanted one more solid but ran out of solid navy so grabbed a FQ from another C&S line, matched perfectly!  Then, I paired up the 20 squares into five piles of 4 fabrics each, mixing and matching values and no more than two prints in each stack then started cutting! I'd say my favorite blocks turned out to be the two that were all solids.  Go figure.  (Keep buying prints Melissa, keep buying prints!). 

I thought piecing the odd shaped wonky blocks together would be really challenging.  I decided to piece 4 together at a time (like I did with my meadow blocks which lizzy house showed us at QuiltCon!) in a large square, two up, two down and it worked pretty well!  I wanted it to be off, just as the blocks are off, so I didn't trim, I laid the two blocks on top of each other, right sides together, making sure there was good overlap everywhere, pinned, maybe even draw a pencil line to help you with your seam line... Perfect!  Then, lined up the seam line on my mat and trimmed after two were together, so I had a straight top and bottom.  It worked well for me!  

I love the results!!  And deciding on quilting came pretty quickly -- overlapping arches!  A little late I decided to add in some other quilting patterns, which I adore, but wish I had done a couple more near the top.  I can't wait to make another improv quilt.  It was a very rewarding quilt and I started and finished in a week. I'd reccommend this book to anyone interested in improv!

Backing: 4 left over FQs from my bundle with 2 yards green star print from Juliana Horner's collection at Joann.

Batting: Pellon Nature's Choice, Cotton Batting with Scrim, Natural Color
Thread: Aurifil 2830 50 weight

Finished Size (before washing): 62 in x 73 in

Cool Improv

After I finished the commissioned baby quilts, I started an improv project.
 

This one I believe I'm going to hang on my sewing room wall.  It finished at 33x34.  I tried my hand at improv piecing.  I think it turned out ok, I mean I LOVE it.  It's so calming to me for some reason.  I think it's the blues and purples.  It feels like a river: cool, relaxing, and free.  

I backed this one with a magenta polka dot from Joann and leftover fabrics from the front and bound it with my favorite purple Dear Stella, Piper, Zigzags.  The tag on this one was from a test run at Spoonflower with my logo.  Luckily I didn't buy the 1 yard and just decided on the test swatch because I needed to adjust some things and now I'll try another test swatch and hopefully it'll be exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks Tina for the fabric inspiration!