quilt journey: Angela's quilt!

The #quiltjourney continues, where a group of seven of us quilty friends are mailing pieces of quilts across the continent to be added to, eventually forming a whole quilt filled with love!  I wrote about the start of my quilt, and my addition to Cara's (IG: meamom) as well, and today I will share Angela's quilt so far!

Many of you know Angela- she blogs over at Cut to Pieces.  I love this girl.  So talented and more than that, just a sweet, loyal friend with a wicked funny sense of humour (my favourite!).  Anyways, I was sent these two awesome pieces from her and Cara as the start of her quilt.

Both with lots of colour, bold and graphic.  And both already pretty large!  I loved them both, but honestly was having a hard time visualizing how they would tie together, not battling each other but in harmony in the quilt.  So I decided to do a bit of a "bridge" to allow some transition.

First job: picking fabrics with my trusty sidekick ;)  I used lots of my hoarded favourites like Katie Jump Rope, Heather Ross and AMH.

Next was determining design. Angela has written an amazing book on curved piecing called A Quilter's Mixology which modernizes the Drunkard's Path block.  Not sure if it was a wise move or totally delusional one, but I decided to add some curves to the curve guru's quilt!  And while the other sections sent to me where predominantly colour with pops of white, I opted to do the reverse, but inserting curved stars of bold colours into a white background.

I began by making modified drunkard's path blocks in 3 sizes.  I trimmed them such that the edges of the coloured fabrics would feather together to form the stars.

I then came up with a random arrangement of them onto 3 sides of one of the previously made sections...

....and pieced them all together with white.

In the end, I didn't attach the strip of blocks on the right- I will send them along to the next quilters in line and they can decide accordingly.  But, I am happy with my "touch", and hope Angela likes it, too!

Cara's Quilt Journey

And so it begins!  The first of the #quiltjourney tops to arrive at my home was Cara's (@meamom).  In truth, I did HER quilt top before I even started my own!  That's because I was really inspired by her pattern choice: she opted to do a really cool friendship bracelet style- you know those ones we used to make out of embroidery thread as kids?  So we each pick a bracelet style to make, and they will all be added together in rows to make a quilt top.   How great is that??

Using the colours that she had indicated in her journal, I got right to work.  And here is what I came up with!

I used patchwork for the colours to add more texture and to simulate the "knots".  Then I did sashing in an Alison Glass text print to make it all pop.

Cute braided bracelet ends :)

And here it is with Cara's start.  I did not attach them together as I think it best to have a bunch made and then arrange them how they look best!

(I was too lazy to iron!)

I love the theme of this quilt and am sure the final result will be both stunning and special!  Thanks for entrusting me with it, Cara!

#quiltjourney

I am so excited about this project!!  A group of seven wonderful quilting friends have decided to do a Travelling Quilt Bee.  What is that, you say?  Well, each of us starts a quilt top, in their own style/colors.  The piece is then mailed to the next person on the list, who adds to it,  adhering to the general feel of the quilt but adding their own flair.  In the end, a finished quilt top is returned to you, passed from friend to friend and made with love- the ultimate Friendship Quilt!

We have named the project "Quilt Journey" and I am sharing it with some people I have come to know well and love dearly over the past few years: Angela (@cuttopieces), Kaelin (@theplaidscottie), Michelle (@ilikeorangetoo), Cara (@meamom), Cherie (@wright_cherie) and Rene (@luv2kreate). On IG we are using the hashtag #quiltjourney.  Each of us has done our first part and mailed it on, and I have also done my section of Cara's quilt.  We have a month or so with each....I am already impatient to see it develop!!

Very exciting, but also very scary.  Because this Type A girl has to relinquish CONTROL.   Yes, no Ms. Bossy Pants allowed in this project, gotta go with the flow.  And also, for the other quilts, I am going to have to try new things outside of my comfort zone to be true to the style and wishes of my friends, as we all have our own styles and tastes.  And the added pressure that they are all going to see my crappy seams and piecing, lol!

This is going to be GREAT. :)

My first job for MY quilt top was to pick a colour palate.  I had fun going through my stash, and decided on purples, pinks, navy and shots of lime green, with lots of low volume fabrics mixed in:

Next, it was time to pick a STYLE.  Hard one.  After much debate (and with the song "Let it Go" from Frozen on repeat in my head), I decided that if I was going to relinquish control, what better type of quilt to start than an improv style one??  I made some paper pieced blocks in the "x" style I used for my latest Epic Bag, and put them together in a wonky manner, irregularly spaced:

To this, I added a side border, using some of the same fabrics.

I love some of the cheeky (very ME) details....like the words in this bit of text fabric added (designed by my friend Berene @happysewlucky on Spoonflower).

Can I just say how much I am loving this so far?!?!  Ultimately, I hope everyone adds chunks of improv blocks in their own fabrics and styles and adds their signature to my quilt top!  I am sure it will be fabulous.

I think one of my FAVORITE aspects of this project is that we also send along a journal.  Inside, we can write whatever we want, really- inspiration, fabrics, colours.  What we are doing in this season, the weather. Thoughts about the person the quilt top belongs to. And so on. A little bit of a diary of the process to look back on for years to come!

So now, whatever the outcome, it is out of my hands and in the mail to its first destination, Rene in Texas!  Have fun with it, friends!  xoxo