Monthly Archives: February 2013

From Bears to Butterflies

bella butterfly 500

Sometimes the obvious escapes me. I’ve been working with this pretty hydrangea floral fabric for a couple of weeks now but didn’t notice until taking pictures for this post that the hydrangeas are made up of clusters of butterflies. I even missed the clue on the selvage:

bella butterfly selvage 500

You may recall from a recent post that I was using this fabric to make three sizes of kaleidoscope blocks that I was calling Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear to distinguish their relative sizes. The bear image is now banished from my brain; I see only butterflies.

And here are those butterfly blocks are, floating on a field of pale green:

Hydrangea Kaleidoscopes, 47" x 54"
Hydrangea Kaleido Quilt Top, 47″ x 54″

 

The background fabric is Krystal by Michael Miller, and I’m pretty sure the solid green inner border in the kaleido blocks is Michael Miller, too. The pink and white print in the outer border is Yvette, from the City House Fabrics line by Swirly Girls Design for Michael Miller.

I’m thinking of binding the quilt in the solid green. (I do wish solid fabrics came with information printed on the selvages like print fabrics do. I like to know what fabric I’m working with — and what if I need more and can’t find it locally? That information on the selvage is essential for an Internet search.)

Now to ponder quilting motifs and quilt names. I’m thinking of simple cross-hatching in the background, spaced an inch or two apart, and some kind of floral design in the kaleido blocks. As for a name, I’m waiting for inspiration to strike. Bloomin’ Butterflies? Butterfly Kisses? Suggestions gratefully accepted!

 

 

 

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One Thing Leads to Another . . .

You already know that I’m crazy about kaleidoscope quilts. My most recent effort, Cosmic Kaleidoscopes, contained five oversized kaleidoscope blocks floating on an inky background; it measured 62″ x 82″ before quilting. I wanted to try a scaled down version using softer fabrics and a light background. I sketched a design on graph paper and chose a luscious pink and green hydrangea print as my focus fabric.

The blocks are three different sizes, the largest being 20″ and the smallest 13½”. I suppose it was inevitable that I would start thinking of them as the Three Bears. Here is Papa Bear:

Papa Bear
Papa Bear, 20″ wide

. . . and Mama Bear:

Mama Bear
Mama Bear, 17″ wide

. . . and Baby Bear:

Baby Bear
Baby Bear, 13½” wide

The next time you see these blocks, they will be in a quilt top, floating on a pale green background.

 

 

 

Posted in kaleidoscope quilts, update | 7 Comments

Fabulous February

Feb 2013 calendar

Why is February fabulous? Well, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow last Saturday, Groundhog Day, thus predicting an early spring. Here in Portland, Oregon — about 3,000 miles from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania — we are already seeing signs of spring. The tulips are pushing up out front, and my next door neighbor Dolores has roses in bloom. I’m looking forward to the first unexpected whiff of daphne, my own personal harbinger of spring. It usually happens in March but maybe it will happen this year in Fabulous February.

I feel good about what I got accomplished in January, and February is already shaping up to be a good month. I’ve pieced two baby quilts using the same fabrics but in different combinations. The pattern is BQ by Maple Island Quilts. First up is Baby Nemo’s quilt top . . .

Nemo's quilt 600

. . . followed by Baby Gregory’s quilt top:

Gregg's quilt 600

 

The robot focus fabric and the royal blue circuit board print are from the Mechanical Genius line by Mo Bedell for Timeless Treasures. (Mo, also a Portlander, designs for Andover Fabrics now, and I am eagerly awaiting her new line,  Full Moon Lagoon.)

The blocks in these baby quilts are 16″ square so they went together very quickly. With borders the quilt tops measure 50″ square. I plan to piece the backs tomorrow. Then I’ll take the tops and backs to Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting — not to quilt them for me but to sandwich them. I learned recently that one of the services Nancy provides at Just Quilting is basting quilt layers together using her longarm equipment. She uses a very large stitch in a giant stipple design. I usually baste my quilt sandwiches with safety pins; it will be interesting to see if the quilting process goes more smoothly when I don’t have to stop and remove pins. Of course I’ll  have to remove the basting stitches later but I understand they come out easily.

I’ve also been working on a few other fun projects and will be posting pictures soon. I hope you’ll stop back by for a look!

 

 

 

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