Round Trip Quilts Update

I just have to share this with you all.  I finally saw a picture of my quilt today and I am SSSOOOOO IN LOVE!!!!

Chelsea at Patch the Giraffe did an amazing job!  Click over to read her post!  I'm also updating the links on my Round Trip Quilts page if you want to see what everyone else is doing too!

And Chelsea, thank you so much!!

Image courtesy of Chelsea at Patch the Giraffe

Mosaic Contest - Ice Parfait

Stitched in Color is once again having a color mosaic contest, sponsored by Cuts of Cotton.  The theme this time is Ice Parfait...


Two winners will receive a FQ bundle of their fabric choices and have their bundle sold in the store for others to purchase!  The contest runs through midnight January 22nd at which time Rachel will choose her favorites and then open up voting to the rest of us with the final winners announced on January 26th!  So get your entries in and then remember to go back and vote for your favorites!

Rachel describes the theme as "fabrics [that] can be very simple, nuanced with angles, incorporat[ing] black, gray or both.  Just make sure to include icy colors in a way that feels still and wintry to you."  In case you missed it, it's been solidly below zero here most nights for the past few weeks and has barely reached a temperature above zero during the days.  I'm so ready to think about Ice Parfait.

Ice Parfait #1 - SUNRISE

Winter mornings are so beautiful.  So many soft and delicate colors.  And the days are short so while I drive to work during the coldest days I get to watch the sun rise.  Those colors!  The sky is a rainbow of pastels.  The trees are dark against the soft sky and tinted snow.  Everything still sparkles from the early morning sunlight.

Fabrics are as follows, left to right, top to bottom: 1. Architextures - Crosshatch - Lake, 2. Architextures - Script - Charcoal, 3. Doe - Breeze - Sky, 4. Doe - Intersections - Blue, 5. Doe - Ladder Lines - Natural, 6. Pearl Bracelet - Peach, 7. Pearl Bracelet - Taupe Pearl, 8. Squared Elements - Seafoam, 9. Prisma Elements - Pearl and Gold Metallic

Ice Parfait #2 - DAY

I love winter.  I love the cold.  I love the days when it's just so cold outside that you can feel the ice form in your lungs when you breath.  There is something so refreshing about those days.  They are so simple.  When the wind blows and the snow flies, you are pushed to hurry along inside but the sun peeking through the grey, drab sky beckons you to stay and enjoy the simplicity of the moment.  Everything is covered in snow but the evergreens fight through to show off their still green needles even though the rest of the trees have given in and turned to the soft, snow dotted grey that they tend to become in winter.  Moments like these speak to me.  They beg me to stay; to live in that one moment and just breathe.

Fabrics are as follows, left to right, top to bottom: 1. Sun Print - Text - Black, 2. Pearl Bracelet - Taupe Pearl, 3. Doe - Breeze - Sky, 4. Doe - Droplet - Sky, 5. Architextures - Crosshatch - Fern, 6. Quilter's Linen - Snow, 7. Prisma Elements - Pearl and Gold Metallic, 8. Essex Yarn Dyed Linen - Flax, 9. Calico - Forest

I ended up making one extra mosaic.  While I was on this theme I wanted to also capture the beauty of the night in winter.  It's not very parfait-y but it is still gorgeous non the less.

Ice Parfait #3 - NIGHT

At night, the sky goes black and the mercury retreats lower, trying to stay warm.  The grey clouds from the day begin to break and suddenly, after the sun has fled the cold dark night, the clouds give way to the most clear and beautiful night you could ever imagine.  The stars fight to be seen over the glitter of the white snow in the cold moonlight.  Everything is black and white, except for the places where the trees stand up against the cold night.  They are blue and grey and their shadows cast a paler version of themselves, elongated onto the snow.  A night like this, when the milky way could reach out and slap you with it's clear brilliance, is something you never forget.

Fabrics are as follows, left to right, top to bottom: 1. Doe - Crisscross - Blue, 2. Architextures - Script - Black, 3. Pearl Bracelet - Midnight, 4. Oval Elements - Silver Drops, 5. Pearl Bracelet - Shadow, 6. Doe - Droplet - Sky, 7. Architextures - Crosshatch - White, 8. Doe - Intersections - Blue, 9. Prisma Elements - Pearl and Gold Metallic

Thanks for visiting and good luck to all who enter the giveaway!

Round #3 - Kim @ Ties That Bind Quilting {Round Trip Quilts}

Have you met Kim from Ties that Bind Quilting?  She is one of the participants in our Round Trip Quilts adventure.  Read more about that here and here.  Most of the time you can find Kim on Instagram and Flickr.

Straight out of the package.

Instead of going with a theme for her quilt Kim decided that her colorway would be her theme to tie all of our additions together.  Both Heather and Liz did an amazing job adding to Kim's quilt top so I knew that my addition had to be equally fabulous.

Final fabric pull.

I simply spent a long time looking at Kim's quilt.  It was so busy! But in the best way possible.  Each idea I came up with felt like it would detract from what Kim, Heather, and Liz had already done and just make it busier.  Everything I auditioned made me feel like the quilt was holding it's breath!  And I really felt like it needed to exhale.  I finally decided to do some wonky triangle-type things.  When I laid them out I had two options...

Layout Option 1

Layout Option 2

I liked option 1 best.  I liked the weight that the center diamonds gave the block.  However, I put the question to Kim to find out which she preferred.  I'm glad I did.  She liked option 2 better.  I still wasn't sold.  So I let it sit for a few more days and came back to it.  I'm glad I did.  When I was playing with the pieced trying to decide which way I wanted the option 2 "butterfly centers" to face I stumbled upon a third option I hadn't though of before.  Wonky, crazy, flying geese!  I started with the blocks/colors mis-matched but then realized that I could match them up to make the geese more prominent in the design... and I LOVE IT! 

Like Kim's notebook says: TRUST YOUR CRAZY IDEAS

Close up of the border

I really like how what I did still creates movement in the top and I think the geese still reflect some of the weight that I liked about my first option.  I hope that Kim agrees.

I'm still playing with possibly trying to attach what Heather added to the top with the addition of some more of my crazy geese, but I'm not totally sold on it yet.  I still have 7 days to decided before our mailing deadline.  This one is heading to Canada to stay with Leanne for a few weeks next.

Quilt top after my addition.  Looks crooked but it's because the ground is sloped.  

The other nice surprise is that when I was making the base squares for my design I sewed a quick 1/4 inch seam on the other side of the piece I was cutting off and saved them.  They make the cutest little half-square triangles.  The biggest one is only 1 1/2 inches across.  I'd like to keep them and make a fun little mini quilt to hang at work with the first one I made out of extra blocks from Heather's quilt (which I just realized I didn't blog about, time to fix that!)  I like the idea of having a little gallery of minis inspired by and created out of the pieces that I'm added to these quilts.  It would be a fun way to remember each project.

Happy Quilting!

I'm linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story for the first time.

2015 Finish-Along {Q1 Goals}

Have you heard that Adrianne from On the Windy Side is hosting this years Finish-Along?  I have never participated in the past but I figured it could be a good way for me to stay on track with my goal of finishing up my languishing WIPs and UFOs this year.

My goals for Q1:

1. Quilt and bind this red and white hourglass quilt destined to belong to a friends daughter.

2. Quilt and bind my Orange Peel Quilt-Along top.

no pictures for these yet...

3. Finish up my Modern Double Cross quilt.
4. Complete commission quilts.  More on this to come later.
5. Bind my Carpenters Star quilt so I can FINALLY gift it.


I think I'll stop there before I over commit myself!