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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Blogger's Quilt Festival :: Room Temp {Small Quilt Category}

If we're lucky, every once in a while we find ourselves working on a project that's so darn enjoyable, you know, every step of the way, that we think to ourselves, "this is why I sew." Room Temp did that to me. It's my own version of Krista/Poppyprint's Improv Under the Influence quilt, begun with Krista herself at a recent class here in Seattle. I've worked steadily on it this past week, hoping I could finish it in time to enter it in the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy/Amy's Creative Side. Well I made it, and am happily entering it in the Small Quilts category.


This quilt's process was unique in that I was using Krista's technique, with a relatively good idea of what my finished quilt would look like, yet most of the sewing and all of the cutting was improv, so there was definitely room for flexibility and personalization.


When it came time to quilt, I did some improv straight line, basically stitching wherever I felt like in the moment. Echo-quilting here, a spiral there, boy this is a fun way to quilt! I used three thread colors, all Aurifil 50wt - #2805 (Light Turquoise), variegated #4658 (Limoni Di Monterosso), #2975 (Brass). As usual, the threads chosen just added to the overall enjoyment of the process. I especially enjoyed sneaking a little turquoise into the gold sections, some limoni into the turquoise, and just two sections of brass for extra interest.


Some of my favorite parts of this quilt are the little "mismatched" bits placed in the contrasting colorways, and spots like the one below where I quilted something unique in one little section.


A faced binding seemed a perfect fit for this quilt. In the past, I've always used a miter when I've wanted to face a quilt, but this time I tried the quilt facing tutorial by Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio. Honestly, it seemed a tad less stressful that a miter, and allowed me to keep the quilt corners squared up nicely.


With solids not too warm nor too cool, I found Room Temp a very comfortable place to be.




Quilt stats:
Finished size29"x31"
Fabric: Kona Cotton Solids - Turquoise, Mediterranean, Lagoon, Bahama Blue, Aqua, Curry, Grellow, Corn Yellow, Sunflower, & Banana
Thread: Aurifil 50wt - #2805 (Light Turquoise), #4658 (Limoni Di Monterosso), 
#2975 (Brass)
Quilted by: myself, using a walking foot 
Helpful tutorials: "
Chess on the Steps" by Krista Hennebury,
available to members on The Modern Quilt Guild website
Category: Small Quilts

My previous entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival:
Keychain, 5/19/15
Red Hots, 10/27/14
Unlocked, 5/16/14
HST Love, 5/17/13
Hopscotch, 5/19/12
Mango Revisited, 10/28/11
Supernova, 5/13/11

spring 2015 BQF Button

Also linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

16 comments:

  1. it's awesome and your photography, as always, is fantastic!

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  2. Beautiful quilt Debbie, the color choices, the quilting...everything! I'm going to check out that binding method. Sounds interesting. Good luck with your entry :)

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  3. I couldn't be more pleased to read how much you enjoyed this make!! Room Temp is awesome, Debbie!! It was a pleasure to watch the quilts come together in class, thanks for coming and trying something new ; )

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  4. Looks like you really had fun putting that together..............very cool quilt!

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  5. Lovely little quilt, i like the improv quilting!

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  6. Such a beautiful quilt!
    And I like the story.
    And I love your photos!!
    :-)

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  7. Bravo and beautiful pics! I LOVE the change in scale over the quilt.

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  8. I love how your quilt turned out, the quilting just makes it even more beautiful. I too found this pattern so fun to make.

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  9. Gorgeous! I love the improv with a purpose. I want to try it soon myself. Yours is just stunning.

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  10. I've been loving watching this quilt come together on Instagram. It's really beautiful, and yeah, you seemed to be having so much fun that I felt like I wanted to be doing it! :)

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  11. it's simply gorgeous. no surprise, as YOU created it!!

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  12. This is a beautiful version of Krista's quilt pattern. Love the colors and quilting you chose! So glad you finished in time to share in the festival.

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