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Saturday, May 3, 2014

ástərisk

ástərisk measures 31"X36"

Last month was plumb full of special projects and a vacation to boot. Arriving home a few days ago, I knew I was cutting it more than close to even consider entering the Modern Metallic challenge sponsored by Quilt! Knit! Stitch!™ this August. No, I hadn't started already, and no, I had no ideas. But really now. Our guild, one of just 9 invited to share their modern quilts in this exhibit, had been given lovely stacks of fabrics, courtesy of Robert Kaufman ~ Quilter's Tussah and Quilter's Linen Metallic.
So I got started, inspired in the beginning by these wonky triangle log cabin blocks by sewtakeahike. I added in some Timeless Treasures Dream (thanks, Marci!) and Michael Miller Mirror Ball Dots, and made several blocks, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Putting them up on the design wall, I initially thought I'd place them kind of tumbling down, but when I rearranged them more like an asterisk, I liked them even better.

Nothing in the stash was quite right for a background, so a quick outing yielded some {totally out of my comfort zone} metallic Hoffman Fabrics Asuka. It was a bit of a puzzle piecing the center of the main quilt top, but it eventually evolved. Taking a critical step back, I liked it but. Something was missing.

I decided it needed a flange. I consulted Jaybird Quilts' Binding Flange Tutorial, though I made the flange to play the part of a skinny border, rather than an accent to the binding. (Just fyi, I cut my flange fabric 1 1/2" wide.) To that I added borders, mitering the corners to imitate the look of a frame, using my go-to tutorial for mitering by Amy's Creative Side.
Whew! Time to quilt! After debating (and a bit of unpicking) I went with something I both liked and enjoyed doing - wonky spirals. When picking up that background fabric, I had also found the most awesome Aurifil 50wt #2975 ("brass" - love it! What else can I use it on??) for the background, and after a quick Ig poll, decided on #4060 (a variegated called "Silver Moon") in the triangles. Totally happy with both those choices!
With time running out, I opted for a faced binding to keep up the 'framed' look. And for that, I always refer to OPQuilt's tutorial over at she can quilt. Yes, I can't believe I mitered 2 features on this project. But isn't a miter a strange and wonderful thing?

In case you're wondering about the guy I'm standing by in the top photo, that would be The Hammering Man. He's a permanent (and tall!) feature outside the Seattle Art Museum. (Random fact: I had no idea he has siblings till I wrote this post!)
After a photo tour around the city today, and submitting my Modern Metallics registration, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. And pleased to have taken on a challenge once again.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.

27 comments:

  1. I'm very impressed with your quilt... every part of it! But I think I'm even more impressed with your photo shots!! Awesome job, all the way around!

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  2. Awesome finish and I am pleased to say little bits of me are in this one! LOL I love the photography, once again with this one, fabulous!

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  3. A great story for a great quilt Debbie! I am staggered at how well you work under pressure! You are a star! Now, I'm wondering how you get that back-to-front in the the name of the quilt???

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  4. So much awesome! I love this! The wonky triangle cabins, and the layout, and the fabrics...everything. You really do a great job combining a bunch of different details to get a perfect finish. And you don't feel creepy taking pictures in public! ;)

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  5. Wow Deb. this is fun. Great photos

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  6. This is a fabulous quilt - I love what you've done with the metallics and the arrangement of the triangles!

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  7. Such a stunning quilt, and a wonderful photo location too!

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  8. Oh wow, this is amazing! The fabrics really pop against that background.

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  9. Congrats on beautiful finish and as usual perfect photo shoot!

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  10. Hi Debbie! This is fantastic - once again! You have always unique ideas for amaxing quilts! x Teje

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  11. Outstanding! Was a little hesitant about the background color at first but it's perfect ... And all the miters and your links to tutorials ... Good job!!!

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  12. This quilt is fantastic and looks like he belongs with the hammering man, maybe forged from metal by him? I love the choices and the quilting especially. How wonderful to be in the challenge.

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  13. There is such a beautiful richness or depth in those photos where the gold shimmer really shows. It's so attractive. Well done!

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  14. This might be my favorite of all of your quilts so far. It came together really nicely with the fabrics you added. But really now. Your quilting is fabulous! To die for...could I hang this quilt in my living room for awhile?

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  15. Your quilt is very nice.I really like these colors and
    love this quilting ....

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  16. I love it! Congrats on a great quilt and congrats on getting it finished too!

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  17. Another stunning quilt, Debbie! I enjoyed ready about your design choices and your photo shoots are always amazing.

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  18. Debbie this quilt is so neat! The fabrics you put together really make a statement, as does the quilting. I enjoyed reading your design process...it's always so interesting to "see" how people think.

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  19. i love this quilt so much, but what i love even more is your little seattle tour of some of my favorite places. so fun!

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  20. Cool finish Debbie, and another awesome photo shoot!

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  21. I'm totally behind on blog reading! But this is too funny! I work right by the round window and kid park there at Westlake. In the same building as the Hot Dog stand. Anyway... I was walking ot work last week and was thinking about that round window thinking it would be a good backdrop for a quilt pic!! too funny!! Smart minds think alike! Lovely quilt! Awesome job!

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  22. I love this quilt. The addition of the black and white striped fabric strips brings the whole thing to life.

    By the way, yours is another blogspot blog where the ability to choose profiles (I tried both Wordpress and OpenID) for comments seems to be broken. The "Are you a robot" question flashes but is unclickable, then I am sent to the preview page. Normally I just skip commenting on blogs with this problem because I do not want to use my G+ profile...This time I am making an exception because I really love the quilt, but you may be missing a lot of comments because of the issue. quiltmusings.wordpress.com

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