Friday, October 25, 2013

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spectacle quilt

It's that time again- the fall edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival has begun over at Amy's Creative Side.  I have mine listed in the baby quilt category! Can't wait to peruse the quilty goodness in Blogland!  Welcome to any newbies to my blog, and thanks for stopping by :)

A newly finished quilt to share with you today.  Isn't it funny that when fall hits and everything around me starts to wilt and die, I always seem to get a surge of creativity?  Lately I have been ON FIRE, people!  Sewing this and that, knitting my brains out, and a bunch of quilts coming together.  Lovin' it.  Just wish there were more hours in a day!

And I THINK this may be my new favoritest quilt of all time!!  (Yes, this is the part where I start to get all braggy.  But seriously.  Check this out. )


I can't think of a single thing I don't like on this quilt, or that I would do differently if I had the chance.  Which is rare for me (overanalyze much?).   I made this for a baby boy on his way into the world, but I am thinking that he may get a Gap gift certificate instead ;)  It all started with inspiration from this quilt, by Blue Elephant Stitches.  Now I am usually a girl who digs symmetry...total Type A personality, like to control everything, so on and so forth.  But that said, my favorite quilts to make, or look at, for that matter, are often the ones that have very little rhyme or reason.  

This one was just like that.  I took some scraps in blues and greens out of the overflowing bin, cut them into triangles, and decided to use two tones of grey to piece them together randomly.  I used Kona-something (charcoal?) and Alexander Henry Heath.  I had no plan, just assembled the top row by row, and had so much fun in the process as I slashed and hacked and stitched away.



I knew the quilting should be unstructured as well, and decided on a wonky free flow grid, somewhat mimicking that in the Heath. I used a light blue cotton thread, which of course I ran out of half way through the vertical quilting.  Le sigh.

Well, as often is the case for me, unexpected mess ups stimulate creativity (i.e. being too lazy to go to the store to buy more matching thread, I came up with a Plan B).  So, I decided to add some turquoise and goldenrod thread lines to the grid to fill in the spaces, and a small segment of hand quilting as well.  In the end, I think this adds so much to the finished product, we are just going to pretend it was a product of genius instead of laziness, okay?


The binding- I used a Sunkissed Sweetwater texty print cut on the bias.  I am normally one for hand stitched binding, but have dabbled in machine sewn too, with little success.  But this time- total triumph!  I used a WALKING FOOT, people...geez, whey haven't I tried that before??  Made all the difference.  It turned out perfect.


Last but not least- the backing!  How fun is this?


What is it?  It's a piece of a sheet, bought at Winners (Canada's equivalent to TJ Maxx), made by Colin and Justin.  What can I say?  It makes me so happy. Perfect amount of funky fun for this quilt. And I have plenty left for another (or two!).


This quilt measures in at about 40" by 50".  Annnnnnd I think that's all I have to say about that.


Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Kristie :)
AmysCreativeSide

46 comments:

ChezVies said...

such a pretty quilt. And love the backing!!

Beth said...

Lovely. Liberating to make something asymmetrical, isn't it?

Svetlana said...

what a wonderful quilt, Kristie. I so love the quilting, it's perfect.

ann said...

I love this quilt Krista. All my fav design elements are in . Although until you mentioned each of them I couldn't have told you that. I have a nephew's wedding coming next summer I may have to refer,or is it defer, to your pattern.

AmandaK@whatthebobbin said...

What a fun quilt! I love the backing too!

Tina Short said...

Love it...I was also inspired by the same quilt as you but so far have only cut a few triangles. I'm even more inspired now.
Oh, did I mention that I love it?

audrey said...

Oh, I love this! So fantastic! Great work! :)

Charlotte said...

ohhhh, that quilting!!!!!! I love it!

knottygnome said...

it looks great! i love the colors and the handquilting.

Little Island Quilting said...

Love, love, loooove it.

Kat said...

Wow, love your triangles design! The quilting is sooo cool, and just makes the quilt. Love it, way to go!

Katie B said...

I adore this quilt. Funky fun all over the place!

Tammy said...

Fab quilt! Like little mountain tops! Colin and Justin?! I had completely forgotten about those two, so they have flown across the ocean! I don't think any of us on this side of the pond will mind you keeping them lol!

Pam said...

love this! i was inspired by blue elephant too! i love how quilts can come from the same inspiration yet be so individual xoxo
http://quiltingsquareone.blogspot.com/2013/03/started-this-quilt-in-july-2012.html

Patti said...

Gorgeous quilt, Kristie! I hadn't thought to check Winners for fun sheets!

Katy Cameron said...

Love the scrappy randomness of this! Fab backing too :o)

Anne said...

This came out fantastic!! I'm a total Type A as well, and am not good with this loosey goosey stuff, but I LOVE the way it looks!! I just have no idea how to do it. :) Beautiful work, as always!

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

It is way too cute....I love the backing!!

What Comes Next? said...

a definite stroke of genius - love it! My colours, my style, mine???
lol

Tracey Jacobsen said...

it's so dynamic!

all those great little touches in there!

Carla said...

Such a fabulous colour combination. It's so striking!

CitricSugar said...

Wait, Colin and Justin do sheets??

I love this quilt - and though it's asymmetrical and that can drive some folks crazy, it is very well balanced. Your fabrics and quilting choices add so much dimension to it, too. It's awesome! I can see why you want to keep it. :-)

Michele said...

Love, love, love it. And congrats on mastering the machine binding. I still have to do that myself.

audrey said...

LOVE this quilt! The colors, the random setting and even the backing. The stitching though is what totally gets me--incredibly brilliant touch!

Ann said...

I see someone else had the same reaction I did: Love it, love it, love it!

Mintyfresh said...

it's fantastic!

Rachel said...

I love Jolene's designs too. Great quilt.

Vera Holmgren said...

It's great!

Anonymous said...

I love it! I think you balanced the asymmetry really well.

Anonymous said...

Great, eye-catching design and nice to meet a fellow-Canadian! Hmm, may have to do my own version of this, especially since I have a triangular ruler waiting to be tried out!

Anonymous said...

I love the colours in this. We have similar tastes. Good job!

Rebecca said...

Great quilt! Love love love the quilting.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Oh what is not to love!? Perfect!
And the fact the backing is Colin & Justin makes the backing even funnier! Are they even famous over there?

Alisa said...

Very nice! Backing is super cool.

Debbie said...

oh I adore this quilt! What a fun twist on a triangle quilt - so many things to love and your hand stitching just sends it over the top!

Leanne said...

I love this one, you have every right to be proud of it. I think that the colours are just right and the various colours of thread with a little hand stitching is a perfect touch.

Jessamie said...

I love this one and the quilting (whatever the route :) ) has really enhanced it.

Sophie Belle Designs said...

I love this quilt. I too am a quilting control freak! It's actually so so lovely to hear a quilter come out and say, I love my quilt & I wouldn't change a thing! We are normally so hard on ourselves. This quilt is a stunner :)

Amira@littlemushroomcap said...

Gorgeous... I love the colours, the backing fabrics.. the modern look of it. Just wonderful. Great inspiration. Thank you

Sharon said...

Wow, this is a really wonderful quilt! A great Improv design. Love your quilting too - esp. your great idea to change thread colors AND add some hand stitching. I won't tell your "lazy" secret. hee hee!

MalinisQuilts said...

WOW! This quilt is just stunning! You have come a long way from your inspiration!
I can imagine how hard it would be part from such wonderful creation.
The hand quilting just adds a it Jazz to the whole quilt.

Jayne said...

Beautiful! Love these colors!

Jennifer said...

Well done!

Aoife said...

Love this quilt! And I know exactly which of Jolene's quilts your talking about, I've had it on my pinterest board for a long time now. Triangles still scare me but this quilt is just fabulous and tempting me so much! Thanks for the walking foot on binding tip - will be trying that out very very soon!

Holly said...

I love this quilt, Kristie! Just voted for it at BQF.

Anonymous said...

Great quilt design, and lovely colors.