Bloggers' Quilt Festival :: Hopscotch

Nothing like a last-minute finish for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! I've planned for a while now to enter my Hopscotch quilt, and the festival was well under way as I put the last stitch in her binding. But {whew!} here she is!

I made Hopscotch as a gift for a friend, and admittedly, the palette is not a natural for me. Using Camille Roskelley's pattern, I knew in addition to a variety of colored prints, I'd need a neutral and a contrast fabric for the triangle points. The white was an obvious choice as the neutral, but I wavered a bit (bright lime or teal?) before settling on Kona medium gray. I wasn't piecing long before I was confident of my choice.

As far as triangle quilts go, this was a first for me. Veering off the pattern a bit, I chose not to use templates, but cut my own "jelly roll" strips, and then used just rulers - including a 60-degree triangle - to cut the pieces to size. This method worked fine for me, and I got the hang of the piecing fairly quickly. Pressing seams open is really important with this block, and not trimming the 'ears', as they really help in matching things up.

Piecing the blocks together, Hopscotch really started coming to life. I got the top done on a rare sunny day and loved the stained glass effect I was able to catch.

Oh, and it was also windy . . .

The backing I chose was Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott for Moda, which I liked as it really highlighted the gray  used in the blocks (and soon to be binding), but also repeated the 'diamond' motif.

Due to the unique design of this quilt, I decided to have my long-arm quilter, Darlene Girton of Girton Creations use her gift and she suggested this triangle-in-a-triangle design. 

Oh, was it a great choice.

And Hopscotch got finished just in the nick of time - a new palette, a new block shape, lessons learned, and good quilty fun.

Linking up with the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Fabric Tuesday, and Summer Sewing Contest.


This project was on my original post for 2nd quarter, so I am linking up with Quilter in The Gap's 2nd Quarter Finish-A-Long linky party!

Mango Revisited

After much thought about which project to enter in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, I decided on my "Mango" quilt. It was a challenge in many ways, and was created specifically for my secret partner in the For the Love of Solids swap. We were all given our partner's favorite color, and an inspirational mosaic. We were able to cruise through their blog, and snoop around their flickr photostream. And then, we were to create something special, backed by all that quilty knowledge. Talk about pressure!

Besides the color mango, my partner liked circles, and had somewhat modern tastes. Thankfully, her answer to "Likes" being "whatever you enjoy" gave me some relief and a sense of freedom.

An idea developed in my  mind, and when I couldn't find a pattern that was just right, I went to my cutting table, surrounded by my tools of the trade and drew, cut, sewed, recut, resewed, etc., and finally came up with a small block I liked.

I tweaked one more time to enlarge the arches, and finally set to work making the little blocks.

I distributed three shades of orange evenly through the blocks, both in the rings, and in the "pinwheels." Four shades of gray went into each block center, then were used to frame the blocks somewhat arbitrarily. 

Finally, it was time to quilt. I chose to use variegated thread for the first time to tie all the oranges together, with a wavy quilting stitch to enhance the curves in the blocks.

Bound up in medium gray, off it went to my partner, Tina of Seaside Stitches. 

Though the process of making this quilt was nerve-wracking at times and filled with indecision, it stretched me in good ways. Using only solids and creating my own design were gratifying steps forward in my quilting journey.

Fabric is KONA cotton; batt is Warm and White Cotton Batting. Finished size approx. 42" square. If you would like to see my original post about this quilt, including a look at the back, see here. Thanks!

Linking up to the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! Hope to see you there!