Spoolish

So after finally finishing up my tie quilts my first instinct was to start something new but with Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival going on I decided to clean up my studio and see if there were any easy finishes lingering in my WIP pile.  This Spoolish quilt was practically begging to be completed!

I started this at the Boston MQG's annual retreat for our HST challenge.  As soon as I saw Craft South's Liberty Spoolish I knew what I was going to make.   I really should know by now that I'm not at my best early in the morning and when working outside of my own studio.  My cutting was just a bit off and some of the resulting blocks are wonky.  Since I'd dipped into my precious stash of Tana Lawns I'd collected from the Westwood Acres Liberty Club I decided to live with it and pressed on.  

I was still riding the creative high when I got back from retreat and immediately got down to quilting...  why do I always think dense quilting is a good idea?

Probably because I love the texture it adds...  I powered thru and finished up the quilting.  

All that was left to do was slap on the binding (already made) and tack it down, my most favorite part of the process but somehow it just never happened.  Better late than never, a couple of episodes of Dark Matter and this was done.  I even got fancy and went outside for some nature shots before it started raining;-)  I think this one gives the truest representation of the colors.

A huge thank you to Amy's Creative Side for hosting another Bloggers Quilt Festival. Be sure to stop by and visit all the amazing quilts!

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 34" x 34"
Pattern:  Spoolish by Denyse Schmidt.
Fabrics: Assorted Tana Lawns from the Westwood Acres Liberty Club, Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton in Smoky.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Grey Blue (1248).

The Ties that Bind

My dear friend lost her husband to cancer and after I made memory T-shirt quilts for her daughters she asked if I could also make quilts for her and her mother-in-law with his ties.  As if she could stop me;-)

I started with this pile of ties which I first had to disassemble and then interface.  Since I needed to get 2 quilts worth of fabric out of these I spent a lot of time planning everything out before I started cutting.

For the first quilt I decided to go with a fairly traditional tie quilt pattern and made a giant Dresdan plate.  I should have added some objects to the photo for scale but this Dresdan is 40" across. Since I had 30 ties to work with I bought a fancy new 15° ruler to cut the large wedges but after that it was pretty much the same process as my (still unfinished) Blue Plate Special.

To keep the focus on the ties I kept the quilting simple.  Once I'd quilted down the edges I used a hera marker to mark lines radiating thru the center of each wedge out to the edge.  I used a shirting fabric for the background and combined with the different weight silks it was a bit challenging to quilt but I love the finished effect.

The second quilt was inspired by a quilt by my insanely creative friend @RebeccaLorenQuilts.

For this one I made fan sections with the wedges and then glued them down to the Essex Linen blocks.  The biggest challenge was adding the quarter circle wedges.  I made circles with linen and interfacing then cut them into quarters and fused them on to the blocks before piecing them together.

I used navy Essex linen on the back, reminiscent of a blue blazer, and the binding was made from one of John's dress shirts.  It was such a honor to make these quilts but I'm really hoping I don't have the occasion to make any more for a long, long time.

My friend Michelle of From Bolt to Beauty is hosting a Brag About Your Beauties linky party and giveaway so hop over there and check out her amazing collection of projects!

Labor of Love

Since Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer I thought this was a good time to catch up on my La Passacaglia progress.  I've spent very little time in my studio the last few months but summer is always a great time for handwork.  My La Pass has kept me company...

On the plane.

By the pool.

At the beach.

At another beach.

On the lake.

And during our back to school staff meeting (Shhh, don't tell!)

And after all that I only have 3 rosettes left to make for the bottom right corner.  Of course then I'll have to sew them all together...  and quilt it but it's a labor of love and I'm in no hurry to be done.

Did you have a productive sewing summer?