Oh boy! I get to show you two new blocks in Sherri Crisp’s version of Reach for the Stars, the series sampler quilt unfolding in consecutive issues of Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. Sherri, who’s from Knoxville, Tennessee, is one of a small but growing group of quilters whose progress is being charted here and on Jennifer Gwyn’s website/blog, seamscrazyquilts.com.
First, behold Sherri’s Block 5 . . .
Block 5 by Sherri Crisp
. . . and now look at it on point, as it will be in her finished quilt:
Sherri’s Block 5 on Point
Don’t you love the pinwheel effect?
Here is Block 6 as a square . . .
Block 6 by Sherri Crisp
. . . and here it is on point:
Block 6 on Point
And here are all of Sherri’s blocks to date in position around the center medallion:
Well, it’s about time! Recent events have conspired to keep me out of my sewing room but I am happy to report that I am back in it and working on Reach for the Stars, the series sampler quilt currently featured in Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. I just finished Block 6:
Block 6, Finishes at 12″ Square
The pattern as designed by Terri Krysan calls for the center block to be an hourglass but I substituted a faux-kaleido 4-Patch Wonder block (my name for a block made of four identical layers of fabric that are cut in squares and then rotated to make a pleasing symmetrical design).
Here is the block on point, as it will be in the finished quilt:
So Pretty on Point
Here are my first six blocks:
Do You Have a Favorite?
I’ve decided to incorporate some fussy-cutting into each block. With eight more blocks to go, I have plenty of time to change my mind but for now I’m liking the added visual interest the fussy-cut images bring.
By the way, fellow Portlander Jennifer of the quilted cat has joined the merry band of quilters (which includes three other Jennifers) making Reach for the Stars! Check out her palette and great fabric choices here.
That’s French for “Under Paris Skies.” It’s the name of a song I bet you’d recognize if I hummed a few bars. It’s also the name of my newly finished little quilt:
Under Paris Skies measures about 18″ x 55″. I used eight different fabrics in the octagons, five of them fussy-cut. No matter which way you turn the quilt, you see vignettes of Parisians young and old enjoying a spring day in the City of Light. There’s an Eiffel Tower in each block, too.
The quilt below, which I finished a few weeks ago, is the same size and design but has a completely different look, more like a real kaleidoscope viewed through a tube made of bits of colored glass or paper. When the tube is rotated, the reflections produce changing patterns that are visible through an eyehole.
This quilt is named Autumn Reflections. The focus fabric, from the Autumn Harvest line by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics, has pumpkins on it, big leaves, and grapes or berries. You’d never know it from looking at the finished blocks, though. Interesting how cutting up the focus fabric into 45 degree wedges completely changes what you see.
I’m going to be teaching a class in June on this design. Students can make their quilt with eight repeats of fabric, as in the autumn version, or eight different fabrics, as in the spring version. Vive le différence!
Every now and then I get to play the Fabric Fairy. With just a wave of my virtual wand, I can make a quilter very happy. How, you ask? Well, every week or two I visit a website called missingfabrics.com. It was started sometime in the 1990s by Tricia Knox of Escondido, California, who had the brilliant idea of using the power of the Internet to help people locate fabric they need for a quilt or sewing project. Fabric seekers post images and descriptions in the Gallery of Missing Fabric (one of the links on the home page) and people from all over the world respond if they can help. Isn’t that wonderful?
I discovered the website about three years ago when searching myself for a particular fabric. Seeing that a quilter was looking for two blue and white Timeless Treasures prints that I happened to have in my stash, I dashed off a reply. Thus started a lovely email correspondence with Janke from the Netherlands, who was so very happy to get the fabric she needed for a quilt she was working on with her daughter, Liselotte.
Imagine my pleasure when Janke sent me a photo the following year of the finished quilt top:
Isn’t that stunning? Liselotte used the leftover fabric to piece the back:
Liselotte is hand-quilting this beauty. She has a baby on the way, so it may be some time before we see the finished quilt. When we do, though, it will be spectacular!
Since my first experience as the Fabric Fairy, I have sent fabric to several other quilters. It’s a great way to do a bit of de-stashing, and the recipients are overjoyed that their searches yielded results. Just last week I checked the Gallery of Missing Fabric and saw that someone was looking for this fabric:
Isn’t it pretty? It’s from the Surrey Footpaths line by Sue Beevers for RJR Fabrics. I remember buying this fabric at a quilt show about five years ago. Turns out that a quilter named Josslyn in Texas needs a yard of it, so it’s on its way to her now.
In my last post I showed you my center medallion and first five blocks of Reach for the Stars, the series sampler quilt currently featured in Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. Here’s another look at my blocks:
You may remember that I departed from Terri Krysan’s original design and inserted a circle in the middle of my Block 4. I liked the effect very much but the more I looked at my blocks together on the design wall, the more convinced I was that Block 4 needed an overhaul. The circle needed to be bigger for the block to holds its own next to its neighbors.
I took the block apart and added a new center block, choosing a different fussy-cut image to fill the larger circle. Here’s the old Block 4 . . .
Out with the Old
. . . and the new Block 4:
In with the New
That’s an inset circle, by the way, not an appliqué. Here’s the new block on point, its proper orientation in the quilt:
New Block 4, On Point
Now take a look at my center medallion and first five blocks:
I finished Block 5 yesterday of Reach for the Stars, the sampler quilt I’m making in concert with several newfound quilting friends around the country.
(For new readers: Quilter’s Newsletter magazine is publishing instructions for a queen-size sampler quilt in seven consecutive issues. To see a photo of the quilt, comprised of a center medallion surrounded by 14 blocks, see the post directly below this one.)
Here’s my new block, based on the traditional bear paw design:
Block Measures 12-1/2″ Unfinished
When the block is set on point, as it will be in the finished quilt, it turns into a pinwheel:
On Point
The block contains 24 squares made of Half Square Triangles (HSTs) that finish at 1½”. I toyed with the idea of paper piecing the HSTs until remembering I had some Triangles on a Roll grid paper from a quilt made years ago. Lucky me — the grid paper was for blocks that finish at 1½”.
An Efficient Way to Make Multiple Half-Square Triangles
Each of the four bear paw sections went together beautifully. When I sewed the sections together, though, it was another story: lumps and bumps in four places where six seams (12 layers of fabric) intersect. It’s because I had pressed the seams of the HSTs to one side, rather than open. So what did I do? I took my block apart, of course, pressed the HSTs open, and sewed the pieces back together. I’m much happier with the result.
Yes, a new member has joined the club of quilters around the country making Reach for the Stars, the sampler quilt pictured below. In addition to Jennifer Gwyn and Jennifer Thacker, both of Houston, Texas, we now have Jennifer Varney of Hudson, New Hampshire. Welcome, Jennifer!
Reach for the Stars, Designed by Terri Krysan of Lakeville, Minnesota
Jennifer V’s palette is pewter, gold, blue, and black. She is using two focus fabrics in her quilt: an ornate border print by Robert Kaufman that she bought recently and a colonial reproduction of silver and gold poinsettias on cream by Windham Fabrics that’s been in her stash for eight years — waiting for just the right project.
Here is Jennifer’s center medallion:
Jennifer Varney’s Center Medallion
Wow! And now for her beautiful blocks:
Jennifer Varney’s Block 1
Jennifer Varney’s Block 2
Jennifer Varney’s Block 3
Jennifer Varney’s Block 4
Jennifer Varney’s Block 5
Jennifer noted an “oops” moment in Block 5, when she read the measurements without her glasses on. That little strip of dark fabric on each side will disappear when she adds a dark sashing strip to the block.
And now a look at Jennifer’s center medallion with all five of her blocks to date:
Jennifer Varney’s medallion and first five blocks
And finally, a close-up of some of her fabrics:
Such sumptuous fabrics and rich colors!
Did you happen to notice that Jennifer’s blocks aren’t on point? She’s going to modify the pattern and use a straight setting. Why? As she explains it, “One, I don’t want to make it as big as the designer’s quilt, and two, that is what my fabrics are telling me.” I understand completely!
To see the most recent blocks of the Texas Jennifers as well as Sherri Crisp of Knoxville, Tennessee, check out Jennifer G’s blog, Seams Crazy. And please do check back in with me. I just may have another block to show you myself soon.
The photos in yesterday’s post didn’t do justice to Gay Paree, the new Michael Miller fabric I just used in a kaleidoscope table runner. Gay Paree is a novelty fabric featuring slightly abstract scenes of Paris. There’s a young couple sitting at an outdoor café, a little girl buying flowers from a street vendor, another vendor selling baguettes, and a nun feeding birds. There’s also a smartly dressed woman walking her dogs — poodles, of course — near the Eiffel Tower and a sailor kissing his sweetheart by a fountain. A whimsical panorama indeed:
Gay Paree by Michael Miller Fabrics
I fussy-cut six different images from the fabric and inserted them randomly, two to a block, in my table runner:
Dawn’s Runner, Waiting to Be Quilted
You may be wondering what this Gay Paree fabric has to do with Pantone. Do you know about Pantone? It’s an American corporation best known for its standardized color reproduction system, known as PMS (Pantone Matching System). The system is used in a variety of industries where accurate color reproduction is really important — printing, of course, but also in the manufacture of paint and fabrics.
Every year Pantone declares a “Color of the Year,” which guides consumer-oriented companies — think florists, fashion designers, fabric manufacturers — in product design and future planning. I happened to be in a paint store the other day and stopped in front of a Pantone display, which featured the three most recent Colors of the Year. The 2012 Pantone Color of the Year — Tangerine Tango — was the very shade of orange-y red in my Gay Paree fabric! Take a look:
Gay Paree/Tangerine Tango
It just so happens that Gay Paree comes in two other colorways: a bright emerald green and a vibrant orchid:
Gay Paree in Emerald and Orchid Colorways
And it also just so happens that Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2013 is Emerald and 2014’s color is Radiant Orchid:
Pantone’s 2013 and 2014 Colors of the Year
Coincidence? I think not! Savvy marketing? Mais oui!
I’ve been taking a little break from Reach for the Stars (see previous post) to make a new kaleidoscope runner, a second version of the one in fall fabrics I showed you a few weeks ago. This runner features some delightful new Paris-themed fabrics from Michael Miller with a contemporary vibe. Take a look:
Top Measures 18″ x 55″
This close-up of one block gives you a better look at the fabrics:
Block Finishes at 15″
The Parisian street scenes were fussy-cut from Gay Paree, the new line from Michael Miller, as was the Eiffel Tower, an older Michael Miller line. The navy-on-white and white-on-navy house prints are from the Maison line by Michael Miller, companion prints to Gay Paree. Fans of Violet Craft’s Waterfront Park collection for Michael Miller will recognize the two bright orange pieces from that line, and the remaining white-on-navy geometric is a Mini Mike from Michael Miller.
That bright orange accent strip is a batik and the outer sashing strip is Tangle by Marcia Derse for Windham Fabrics. My background fabric is a pale grey Color Weave by P&B Textiles. I usually piece my backs but I’m going to put an uncut length of the Gay Paree fabric on the back so that the Parisian street scenes can be seen in their entirety.
I’m going to quilt this little table runner/wall hanging with straight lines or maybe simple cross-hatching and bind it in the same orange batik I used for the accent strips.
Over the last few years I’ve made at least a dozen kaleidoscope quilts featuring octagons, all made from eight repeats of one fabric carefully stacked, pinned, and cut. This is the first time I’ve used eight different fabrics in a block. What fun!
