On My Design Wall: Vegas Wedding Quilt

I saw Pen+Paper's Vegas Wedding Quilt pattern in the store a few weeks ago.  We hadn't sold any, and I thought it was because the quilt on the cover of the pattern was so blah:  white, light pink, light gray and brown, all solids.  I liked the pattern, but not the fabrics, and it was not something that would have caught my eye if I were a shopper.

I decided to try making the quilt in some brighter fabrics.  I get tired of plain white backgrounds, and use something else whenever possible.  I chose this fabric as the background:

This is Paintbrush Studio Fabrics' 'The Moon Rabbit'.  This is not a fabric I would normally use:  it is  too cute and the colors are not ones I am attracted to.  It has what one of my son calls 'the ugliest color in the world', a kind of light coral pinks that he hates.  Maybe that is why I chose this fabric.  I'm always up for a challenge!

A co-worker at the quilt shop helped me pick the other colors for the quilt.  And I think we did a good job of picking colors.  They just didn't work very well in this pattern.    

Here is my progress so far:

The blocks are all made, just not sewn together.  Here is where I went wrong colorwise:  the blue and coral fabrics take over the quilt.  I should have used fabrics that were lighter for those sections.  I don't have enough light/dark contrast between my rings and background.  Ironically, this is the same problem I think the original quilt had, mine is just in medium tones, not light.  The quilt also would have probably worked better if my yellow blocks were the blue print.  I will finish this quilt and give it to someone, but it is not one I would want hanging in the shop as an example of my work.

If I had a lot of quilting time, I would try again using the blue print and red print as the rings and maybe the blue blender as the background.  I would probably leave out the coral and yellow.  Maybe I'll do it later this summer.  

Linking up: http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2018/05/design-wall-monday-may-7-2018.html

Stash Report:
Used this week: 6.625 yards (backing for On Ringo Lake)
Used year to date: 78.625 yards 
Added this week: 7.0 (fabric for Vegas Wedding Quilt plus sale FQs)
Added year to date: 103.125 yards
Net Add:  24.5 yards

Summer Stars At Fawn Lake, Clue 4

I finished my 24 star blocks this week for Summer Stars At Fawn Lake.   I was a little afraid that my  varied  backgrounds would make it hard to see the stars, but I think it is going to be fine.  I tried to use up a lot of my odd white/cream/gray fabrics in this quilt.

I did not make sure all my star block were turned in the same direction.  I just wanted this step done!

Scrap Management

I jumped back into the Rainbow Scrap Quilting Challenge this month.  The color is yellow for April.  Here are 9 of the string blocks I completed last weekend.  I made a couple more after the picture was taken.

I have also been working on Charlotte Hawks's scrap mystery, Summer Stars at Fawn Lake.  96 little stars complete this week!

I know a lot of quilters spend a lot of time organizing their scraps, ironing them, cutting them down into squares of certain sizes, separating them by color.

But beautifully organized scraps are not what I want.  I want to sew my scraps into quilts ASAP, so that I don't have to organize and store them.

Linking up:  http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2018/04/scraphappy-saturday.html

Carolina Christmas Bound

I started  Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas in the fall of 2013.  I worked on it on and off for a couple of years and then put it in my quilt closet where it waited in the to-be-quilted line.  Today, I got the binding on it.

My version of this quilt is 102" by 102" and has a piano key border instead of the pieced border Bonnie used.  I used all scraps and stash for this quilt top except for the backing, which is a Thimbleberries Christmas print that I found on sale.

  The back:

My longarmer, Denise Zapf, did a great job on the quilting.   The center is a pantograph that loops and swirls.   Denise did 2 alternating patterns on the piano key strips.

She worked really hard on this one, and I appreciate her efforts.  So much so that I am going to have a hard time giving this one away.  My siblings and I are going to buy a king sized bed for my parents' house, so that we all have a comfortable place to sleep when we visit her.  I think I will give this quilt to my mom for this new bed. But it is going to be hard to part with this one!

I have bound 3 quilts this week, and have no more waiting to bind!  It's been a good quilting week!

Stash Report:
Used this week: 9.25 yards ( backing and binding for CC)
Used year to date: 72.00 yards 
Added this week: 0  yards
Added year to date: 90.625 yards
Net Add:  18.625 yards

Linking up:  http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2018/04/biased-completed-quilt.html

Paris Quilt Quilted and Bound

I have been on a binding roll this week.  Here is my Paris panel one block wonder quilt:

The longarm quilting was done by Debbie Cooper.  With her input, I chose a winter pantograph instead of something more Christmasy.

In my second trip the the quilt shop, I found this fabric, which is a companion to the panels used on the front.  

 I bought 7 panels for this quilt.  They were on sale for $2.99 each!  I used six of them on the front and one on the back.

The back:

I'm happy with the way this one turned out.  I may have to keep it for myself!

Stash Report:
Used this week:  1.25 (binding for Pi quilt and Paris OBW)
Used year to date: 62.75 yards 
Added this week: 0  yards
Added year to date: 90.625 yards
Net Added: 27.875 yards

Linking up:
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2018/04/welcome-to-finish-it-up-friday-today-i.html

Pi Quilt Quilted and Bound

This weekend I finished the binding on my Pi quilt.  This is a graduation quilt for my nephew and may experience some rough handling, so I bound it by machine.

The quilting was done by Vicki Johnson of Threads That Bind Us in Mechanicsville, VA.  I asked for circles, and she found a pantograph with circles and squares.  It is very geometric and perfect for the quilt.  Unfortunately, it is very hard to see in the pictures I took.

I had yards and yards of the white print, so I used it on the back too.  I just need to get a label on it, wash it, and put a bow on it.  Ready for the June graduation!

Linking up:
http://www.joscountryjunction.com/whatever-wednesday-the-sewing-room-edition/

Summer Stars At Fawn Lake, Clue 3

I've been working on the third clue of Summer Stars At Fawn Lake for several weeks.  Here are my 384 flying geese.

 They measure 1 1/2" by 2 1/2".  I wasn't a fan of Charlotte's method of construction, so I used Eleanor Burns'  method and trimmed them down to the proper size. The next clue comes out on the eleventh of April.

Stash Report:
Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 61.5 yards 
Added this week: 1.5 yards
Added year to date: 90.625 yards
Net Added: 29.125 yards