Purple Pickle

A new quilt is in the works and it must be done by the first weekend in August. Therefore I am making it my July OMG.

Pattern and Initial Fabric Pull

Sometimes I pick a pattern and choose fabric accordingly.  And sometimes there is some fabric that I have to use.  In this case, it was the color purple.

Kaffe Fassett Design Roll Strips

Well, the quilt needs to be purple. Purple is a difficult color. I have very limited purple in my stash.

Voluptuous? I can work with that :-D

My best bet was Kaffe Fassett.  I had a couple of design rolls - 6" by WOF strips.
And that became the starting point for the quilt. Now, let's select a pattern, shall we?

Basket Case

If I stitch a 2.5" strip on either sides of the 6" strip and cut into squares, I should have my blocks. Arrange in a rail fence fashion and there is your pattern. Simple and Purple.
But but but there is not much fun in that. I have already made quilts like that.
Remember Basket Case.

Life's Embrace

An elongated 4-patch block with sashing, arranged in rail-fence style.  That is Phoebe's flower box from MSQC. I have already made that pattern - a few times.

Phoebe's Flower Box

As I am considering these patterns, I am aware that they have to be suitable to the pre-cut at hand.

6" Strips - Green, Purple and a touch of Yellow

If you are ever in this mode (trying to decide a pattern) do not , I repeat firmly - DO NOT GO TO PINTEREST.  You will see a thousand other things and forget the original mission.

No that did not happen to me. I did not see this quilt from Kitchen Table Quilting.
Ok, I did and was immediately fixated on it. Time to sketch.

Sketch

Adding Color

In Process

I am in love

At this time, I realized that it would not work with my pre-cuts. Bummer!!!
Time to modify the design.

Final Design

Instead of a 9-patch, I modified it to a 4-patch, while the snowball blocks remain the same.
The pattern will have 63 blocks, arranged 7 by 9.  There will be 32 4-patch blocks and 31 snowball blocks.

First Block :-)

Design - Check.
Fabric - Check.
Let's go to town.

Off to a Good Start!!!

I feel like I am off to a good start. Hope I can maintain the momentum. What do you think?
As usual, I'd love to hear from you.

I want to take this time to thank you for your lovely, kind, sweet, heart-warming and very generous comments on Playing Footsie.  Sending big hugs to you for the love you shower upon me :-)

Quilt # 10 - Basket Case

I decided I should surprise my dear mother-in-law with a quilt for her bed. I knew I would be seeing her at Thanksgiving and I must complete it before then. Yes, I could finish it later and send it to her by Christmas. But then I would not be able to see face, her joy (hopefully) and her totally happy but bewildered expression on receiving the humongous (for me) quilt.

I decided to make a queen size quilt and complete it before Thanksgiving. Yeah, I like challenges. I also like bright colors, simple designs and stunning overall effect. Did I achieve that?


This is the largest quilt I have made. When I was preparing the quilt sandwich, it took all of my dining room floor.

It hurt my arms and neck and shoulders to quilt it on my Janome. I chose a stitch that could be mirrored so that when the batik panel was on the left I kept the swirls on the left and when the batik panel came to the right, I hit the mirror image button. This way all batik panels have the same swirls on their edges. Love my Janome.

Rail Fence Basket Weave, 85" by 95". Batting - Warm & Natural. Quilted on Janome.

Can I say I am proud? Well, I am definitely happy.