Playing

Admit it - you've played in your fabric, right? That is what I've been doing, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. While I've played, I've also sorted and organized a bit, so it was productive and fun all at the same time.

One thing I do wayyyyy too much is look at pictures of quilts on Pinterest. I find that there are several that I am really crazy about, so I thought why not just go to the stash and see if I can find similar colors to recreate those quilts that seem to always captivate me. Let me show you what I mean.

This pic from Pinterest was taken at the Sisters Outdoor quilt show and was featured on the blog Humble Quilts. I just love the shade of blue used in this along with the varying tones of beige. So, I rooted around in my stash and came up with a start towards a group for recreating this. Here's what I've come up with so far.

That blue was irresistible when I bought it, and it's still irresistible, as far as I'm concerned. So I need to use it! This will be a start for a fabric grouping. I will snoop around in my neutrals bin to see what other shades of beige I can add to it. I think a darker brown will be necessary, too.

Here's another one. I have recently been seeing a lot of gray and cheddar quilt combinations. So much so that I've gotten the urge to make one!

This one is a beautiful example of those two simple colors. Here are two fabrics I found in my stash that might work to create something similar.

In addition to copying the two quilts above, I've pulled the following combinations that seem to have some potential. I now need to decide on quilt patterns.

red, black and white

dark paisley, teal and red

light blue paisley and brown

Can you tell I have a thing for paisley? I doubt there's ever been a paisley I haven't liked. I really have to exercise restraint at times. I want them all! Well, anyway, these are some of the fabrics I pulled this week, and hopefully I will be coming up with some inspired ideas for quilts.

One final note. Remember about a month or so ago when I asked for help with a certain pretty floral with an odd blue color for a background? In all this recent stash-diving, I found some alternative fabrics. This is the combination I am currently favoring.

I have had fun playing in the fabric. It is an activity I highly recommend to while away an afternoon.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Snowflakes at Dusk

Ta-daaa!! I finished a quilt top!

Yep, you heard me. I did. I finished it. The Snowflake quilt top is complete!

I won't be earning any awards for overachieving or industriousness. Dragging out projects is a particular specialty of mine. I can procrastinate better than just about anyone around, but I did actually get my snowflake quilt top finished yesterday! An accomplishment!!

This is one GI-NORMOUS quilt!! It measures 96x114! It requires 8.5 yards for backing. I hope to buy that at Ben Franklin next week when they are having their 30% off sale. I looked over the selection today when I was there, and I found a couple fabrics that will work very nicely with my quilt.

This quilt is going to be especially memorable for me. It is the first quilt made in retirement. I began it at the very end of October '09 after several months of focusing entirely on finishing off several UFOs.  Eventually, though, one gets really tired of UFOs and I was so ready to start a new project!! This is it!

When I retired, I knew I would focus on making a lot of quilts. (Considering the enormity of my stash, it is pretty much a given!) I made a rule for myself: use as much of the existing stash as possible. It would be a challenge, but it was necessary, really. The rule wouldn't be steadfast, but I would try to adhere to it as much as possible.

So I decided on my pattern, Thimbleberries Patchwork Snowflake. I then had to make decisions on fabrics, a particularly fun part of the process. Instead of following the pattern's suggestion to make the snowflake blocks in a variety of fabrics, I opted to go for one really appealing paisley fabric. The neutral I chose to compliment it with was darker than the typical neutral. At this early stage of planning I also selected a different neutral to use for the alternate blocks. I was not entirely thrilled with it, but in keeping with my plan to use up the stash, I would be satisfied with it.

In an earlier post, I described the creative use of blue paisley. I was roughly a quarter yard short of what I needed, so I ended up sewing scraps together to get pieces large enough to use on the last 2 or 3 blocks. It slowed me down A LOT, but now that I'm past it, I am glad I stayed with the plan.

In the weeks I spent sewing the blocks, I came upon an end-of-the-bolt sale. This was the kind of situation that warrants breaking the rule to use from the stash. Lucky, lucky, lucky find: a bolt with enough for the alternate blocks as well as the backing. Well, after cutting the alternate blocks and the inner border, I discovered that I would be short 1 yard for backing. Oh, well, I've come this far, a suitable back will be found.

This close up shot of one block shows the 3 main fabrics more clearly. Because the neutrals are so dark, I've named this quilt "Snowflakes at Dusk." I have it scheduled to go to the longarm quilter next week.