Friday, October 17, 2014

Beginning a new quilt



I have a lot less time for sewing since school began this year.  Part of the reason is that I have taken on another non-tangible responsibility and am spending a lot of the time that was formerly sewing time on it.  It's a good thing for me, but for now it means less sewing is getting done.  I figured I would share what I am working on here even though it is not done yet, or anywhere near done.  I have started a new quilt.  I have been really itching to make a quilt lately.  It is less practical than sewing clothes for my kids or creating a new pattern to sell, but, with so little time for myself, I wanted to do something I would really enjoy.  I don't want sewing to be yet another job.

An idea had been bouncing around in my head for a while for a log-cabin-style quilt that I plan to use as a wall hanging in my dining room.  I wanted to use this blue fabric with little flowers that I have had forever.  I paired it with some yellow, orange, a lighter blue, and a dark brown, as well as the Kaufman Essex Yarn-Dyed Linen Blend in Flax that I loved so much in the last quilt I made.  The colors were inspired by a painting we have hanging in the dining room that we got at a starving artists sale about 10 years or so ago.



I sketched out my design for the quilt on an iPad app that I love, called Concepts.  It has been great for sketching out quilt ideas and other ideas while I am on the train or, in this case, on vacation. As I mentioned, it is a log cabin style quilt, but each strip around the center square (with the exception of the first one) is pieced from two different fabrics.  I played with the placement of the blocks on the app and discovered a fun secondary design when I turned the blocks so that the corner of one of the colors (the orange below in the picture) was always pointed to the middle of a four patch of the blocks.


When I got ready to cut out the fabrics I realized I didn't have enough of the light blue to use it as designed, so I decided to swap the light blue and orange.  And actually, I am happy I did - I think it works better that way. 

I'll have to share more on the cutting and piecing next time or this post will never get published.  Until then!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Craftsy