Wednesday 25 February 2015

WIP Wednesday–Lots going on!

Lots going on around here at the moment!   I guest posted about using Microsoft Word to design a quilt over on the Modern Quilters Ireland blog this week and I've got 3 projects with deadlines in the next few weeks on the go, so have been busy sewing, pulling fabric and buying batting!

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Sorry I haven't had too much time to spend writing and sharing about the projects but here's a not so quick progress report.

Techniclolour Galaxy
I uploaded my colour scheme to the Palette Builder tool on Play Crafts and it helped me pull colours off my Kona colour card.  Some were spot on and some where the new colours added recently which I don't have so I picked a good few chips that were pretty close to what I wanted.  I found curry and sunflower too close to each other in reality so opted for butter and sunflower instead!
Kona colour These are the fabrics I chose from my stash that are close to the colours the palette builder suggested from the drawing.  Some are really close and some a little off but still perfectly usable.  Really happy with how this this worked out!

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The fabrics are shot cottons I bought from Craftsy.  They had a sale on last year with quite a bit off and I bought both the light and dark fat quarter bundle of the Kaffe Fassett collection.  They are very close in colour to my Kona colour card chips!
Kona colour blues
I definitely don't have enough blues! I will need quite a bit of blue for this and managed to pull 4-5 fat quarters.  I've heard shot cottons shrink a bit when washed and am not sure how to mix them with other fabrics.  Anybody used these fabrics before?  Any advice?  Hawthorne threads and Cotton Patch has them for sale by the yard so I will have to purchase to supplement what I have on hand.

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I'm not sure yet if this will be an all solids quilt or to mix in some prints.

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For the moment though, I have enough to get started with block number one which involves cutting templates and using a white bias strip to cover the joins and hold the pieces in place.  I've bought a clover bias maker 3/8", steam a seam lite 1/4" fusible strips and some Moda Porcelain ( a gorgeous off white) from my local quilt shop (The Limerick Quilt Centre) and will let you know how I get on with this next week (first time doing this!)

Reflections
The Irish Patchwork Society & the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild have a Hands Across the Borders exhibition and this year the theme is Reflections.  The quilt has to be maximum 1m square.  I've had an idea of a raindrop creating a ripple and the light reflecting through it in my head since the theme was announced and I just can't shake it. 

In the making, the triangle seemed too harsh a shape for the curves so it changed quite a bit to the natural tear drop shape of rain.  I chose the light and blue fabrics from the architextures range which I bought from Fluffy Sheep Quilting.

I had intended to make this about 21" (the length of a fat quarter) but in talking with G we decided bigger might have more impact in such a simple design and go mad with the quilting (eek!) so I up sized it to about a yard square.

I sewed the dark fabric onto the light blue about half way down and folded it back to have it layered over the lighter fabric.  I used a print out of my design to create a template to cut away the top dark fabric with my rotary cutter (scary moments!) and reveal the lighter fabric underneath.


In keeping with the curvy ripples the raindrops became less angular and more curvy applique pieces. So now I just have to stitch the raindrops, baste and quilt it - all by March 13th!

This is the quilting plan so far.  Circular quilting echoing the ripple and adding in some rainbow colours, wavy wiggle on top maybe?  I'm going to try and quilt in a dragon fly too.  Nervous about this one - not sure I can pull it off as I imagine it!

Oh well, it's only fabric, what's the worst that could happen?

Lost in London 84" quilt for Make Modern
And the last project but most important is to get my submission quilt for Make Modern Magazine finished.  Pattern is written, blocks are made and am onto piecing the quilt top - hope to baste it on Saturday for quilting all next week!  I am going to attempt to quilt this on my home machine all by myself!  No pressure then.  Just needs photographing by March 15th!

I can't show you pattern details but here's the fabric I'm using!


So that's what's going on around here, what are you guys up to?  Any WIP's you really must get finished?

Linking up to
Sew Fresh QuiltsWIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

20 comments:

  1. Wow, your solids are gorgeous! I've never heard of using Microsoft Word for quilt designing before, but from your pictures it looks to work very well!

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  2. I have a project in the same issue of Make Modern! That's really cool that our stash bee hive is represented twice. I can't wait to see what you make!

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  3. Holy moly!! thats an ambitious project and its going to be stunning!

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  4. Such an abundance of fabric candy going on at your place! All of it looks wonderful!!!

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  5. the technology you incorporate into your quilt making is mind boggling to me !
    love your fabric pulls
    Colleen @ piecemakerquilts.wordpress.com

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  6. I definitely vote for all solids for Techniclolour Galaxy, but then again, I am just loving the photos of the fabric pull you have. I'm sure there might be the *perfect* print that would win me over, too! For the quilting on the top of Reflections, how about long back and forth lines? I think it makes a very streaky, rain like quilting pattern (http://quiltingjetgirl.com/2014/04/24/blue-spring-rain-completed/). And I am so excited for your work to be published in Make Modern! It sounds like you have a lot of fun and beautiful projects going right now. :)

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  7. All of these are so lovely, I really look forward to seeing them come together! I just got a Kona color card and can't wait to cut it up!

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  8. None that I have to finish ... but plenty I want too! Love the quilting plan for your raindrop quilt and can't wait to see your next quilt in MM!!

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  9. The Kaffe shot cottons will be absolutely gorgeous in the Technicolour Galaxy quilt! The colours are really hard to pick from on screen though. I have a few of them that I don't know what to do with yet, and one I thought was a light but bright blue turned out to be a dark blue which was disappointing (but just means I have to buy some more ;) ). I definitely say go for all solids in that quit though!

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  10. Oh my goodness you're busy! The idea of a raindrop and ripples is so cool - you're doing a great job translating it to fabric!

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  11. So many amazing things in one post. I hardly know what to say. I loved seeing your design process and your pretty fabric. Good luck meeting your deadlines.

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  12. You are busy. All looks lovely. Enjoy it!!

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  13. Yummy Kona!!! Did you cut up the Kona card for little samples?

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  14. Wow! Your technicolor quilt looks like an AWESOME plan. I'm so impressed! I really need to cut up my Kona card - it seems so helpful when I see people using the swatches the way you're doing. I was in Stitched in Color's Color Intensive Course, but never got around to that assignment (which meant I fell out of the class exercises pretty quickly). And your raindrop and ripples quilt is going to be fantastic. You're got great stuff going on here!!!

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  15. Indeed, lots going on! I love the raindrop/ripples quilt, can't wait to see how you'll quilt it.

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  16. This looks amazing, and very complicated. I also took the colour intensive and haven't cut up the swatches either.

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  17. What gorgeous photos and such pretty fabrics! Love that design with the raindrops and water. Changing from the triangles to the drop shape was a clever idea. Congratulations on your Make Modern submission. Can't wait to see what you made!

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  18. You are up to a lot of great things Ruth! Congratulations on your magazine submission!
    Love the fabrics you pulled for technicolor galaxy - who would believe that Kaffe shot cottons are such a close match to Kona? Shot cotton does shrink and it wrinkles a bit too. Can you just prewash all the fabrics and that way they'd start off on even footing?
    That raindrop quilt is going to be amazing! I love what you wrote "Oh well, it's only fabric, what's the worst that could happen?" and wish I would remember that more often. I think I'd be braver.

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  19. You have three really fabulous projects on the go there Ruth, I love your interpretation of the reflections theme.

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