Monday, January 28, 2019

Summer Road Trip


After sharing my Homage quilt finish just a couple of weeks ago, it's almost inconceivable that I have another long-term finish to show already, but it's true! About the time I started in on quilting Homage, I sent my Summer Sampler quilt top off to be long-arm quilted. Wasn't that clever of me?


The Summer Sampler Road Trip hosted by Lee/Freshly Pieced, Faith/Fresh Lemons Quilts, and Katie/Swim Bike Quilt was announced back in April of last year, but the sewalong didn't actually start until mid-May, and then we sewed through September. [See links to all of my blocks at the end of this post.] You may remember that I was on the Design Team, and created the Milan block, inspired by the view from atop the Milan Cathedral during a trip to Milan, Italy.


For my blocks, I used a mix of prints from Carolyn Friedlander's collections, along with some Gleaned coordinating solids. For the filler blocks, I combined Kona Titanium, Pewter, Iron, Silver, and Shadow, following the original Summer Sampler plan for Hourglass blocks. Finally, come November, I had a finished quilt top!


Soooo. When it came time for quilting - remember I also had the Homage quilt to quilt - I decided to do myself a favor and get a little help. I delivered the 72" x 72" top, batt, and backing - a gray widescreen by Carolyn Friedlander - to Cindy Krafft of Cascadia Quilts.


The backing was an easy and obvious choice, since I had used so many of Carolyn's prints in my quilt blocks. Cindy was a member of Seattle MQG, and I had heard nice things about her quilting.


I really wanted the feature blocks of the quilt 'framed' and Cindy did that with some absolutely lovely straight-line quilting in the gray hourglass filler blocks. So as not to detract from the feature block designs, Cindy suggested stitch-in-the-ditch for them. The density contrast definitely is emphasized between the feature blocks and the filler blocks, which ended up resulting in a fairly supple quilt.


Two solid fabrics were used for the binding - primarily Kona Iron, with a length of Kona Shadow for a little contrast.


So my Summer Road Trip is complete! Sewing the blocks, being inspired by exotic places, was really alot of fun. And I'm super pleased with the finish. Can't ask for more than that!




16 comments:

  1. I just LOVE your fabric choices and how your quilt turned out! The quilting is amazing too! We had so much fun having you design and quilt along with us!!! :)

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  2. This quilt is a winner! I think that I would be afraid to stand by the road holding it up . . . it's pretty enough to stop traffic and cause a pile up.
    Happy Quilting!
    Connie :)

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  3. This is just so gorgeous and the quilting on it just does such a lovely job of accenting the block piecing! Hooray for such a lovely finish!

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  4. That looks so pretty. I LOVE your fabric choices and the spacing blocks look wonderful with that quilted design.

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  5. Finished and fabulous!I just love it.

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  6. So lovely! nice to have another finish!

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  7. I really love the subtle detail that the quilting adds to the finish. It's beautiful and looks like it is ready to be a great quilt to cuddle under.

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  8. It's always a treat when we can send out one of our quilts for quilting! I wish I could do it more often! I think your colors are beautiful together and the quilting...the perfect amount in all the right places!

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  9. You did such a nice job with this project. So many blocks that look great together. And it's special because you designed a block - that's gotta make you proud. Great work!

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  10. I'm always intrigued by how quilting can add another level of interest to a quilt. Each block is now encircled by amazing texture.

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  11. Congratulations on your sampler finish, super!

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  12. I love the quilt so much! Your blocks look so beautiful together and the quilting choices are great. Congrats on another finish! xo

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  13. Beautiful finish! I love how the quilting really highlights your blocks and fabric choices.

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  14. Your fabric choices are just perfect for this and I love how the quilting just lets the feature blocks shine. This is a gorgeous finish!

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  15. Congratulations on your finish! Cindy did a great job with the quilting, showcasing the pieced blocks. Thank you for participating in the FAL, on behalf of the 2019 global FAL hosts.

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  16. What a beautiful quilt! Love the background blocks variation. Clever idea, thanks!

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