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| Finished Quilt |
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| Finished Flimsy |
I picked Fire Pit, because it is such a striking pattern. This pattern requires Tri-Rec rulers. I have had these rulers for a while but had not used them and this was the perfect opportunity.
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| Secondary Pattern - the Star |
Kelly's new book - Stash Statement Quilts is all about Structured Improvisational Piecing. This means two things in this order (just my opinion)
1. Go crazy with your scraps (all shapes/sizes) and experiment with improv piecing
2. Rein it in with Kelly's techniques of structure (block creation methods)
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| Warm Chaos |
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| Cool Strips |
THEN we get to the patchwork, followed by quilting and binding.
I spent a whole month just making the blocks. Why is that?
1. I chose a finer grain (smaller scraps)
2. I chose to make a twin bed size quilt instead of the lap size in the book.
Shall we start at the beginning? I started with warm colors for the square blocks.
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| Chunky |
I made four blocks. I stepped away from the design wall to admire my handiwork. Looked good, but the block looked chunky.
So, I cut them up, and re-stitched to end up with a finer grain, so that the block was made up of several smaller pieces than a few large pieces.
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| Chopped |
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| A more cohesive look |
I like this look much better. And the tone was set.
I was having so much fun that I ended up with way more blocks than required.
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| Needed 25, Got 42!!! |
Is that a problem? Of course not.
I'll just make a larger quilt.
Next came the cool blocks, the triangles that required the tri recs ruler. Since this was my first time, I figured - let me make a couple of test blocks. When I placed the ruler/template on the improv slab, I realized that the ruler is bigger than the slab, by just a smidge.
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| Slightly bigger than 6.5" |
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| A smidgen more than 6.5" |
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.
See, that is why you make audition blocks. I chose to cut the next slab a 1/4" larger, allowing some wiggle room.
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| Cool Slab |
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| Cool Triangles |
42 blocks were arranged in a 6 by 7 grid, resulting in a flimsy that measured 72" by 84".
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| Design Wall |
This is when I stretched the quilt (a little imagination and lots of scraps) by 3" on top and bottom to get a top measuring 72" by 90".
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| Finished Top - About 72" by 90" |
This was now a perfect size for a twin bed. I chose this green wide backing to speed things up.
Quilted it simply with my walking foot and wavy line quilting. For binding I chose a striped brown fabric.
Does the striped binding on green background remind you of a snake in the grass? Don't worry, I have tamed the beast :-)
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| Who is the boss now? |
In the end, what you get out of it (life, school, workout etc.) depends on what you put into it. And for the six weeks that I put into making Fire Pit, I am thrilled about it.
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| Setting the Fountain ablaze |
It was a gorgeous sunny day and I got carried away. So here are a few more pictures.
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| My sunshine |
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| bee happy, stunned owls, and dancing stick figures (can you find them) |
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| Getting Close |
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smiling snails |
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| Labelled |
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| Stay Still |
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| Loving it |
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| Finished!!! |
But I am dying to know what you think. Only honest opinions, however brutal they may be...
I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties. See sidebar.
Every week, two quilters showcase one quilt from the book. Here is the entire line-up.
Stash Statement Blog Tour Schedule-
4/16- Grand Bazaar Shelley @ Cora's Quilts
4/23- Louvered Lindsey @ Primrose Cottage Quilts
5/7- Beach Retreat Sarah @ Sarah Goer Quilts
Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts (you are here)
5/21- Detour Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts
5/28- Murrina Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl
6/4- Scattered Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal
7/9- Take Flight (bonus digital pattern) Kelli @ Seriously, I Think It Needs Stitches
Stash Statement is available from the following:
- Kelly Young’s Shop – buying it here will get you a signed copy!
- Martingale – Stash Statement by Kelly Young
- Amazon – Stash Statement by Kelly Young