Saturday, November 29, 2014

Mystery Quilt and Starry Migration



I just finished this quilt top this morning. It's intended for a friend's grandson/ The pattern is Starry Migration by Tamara Kate Designs. It's made with Origami Oasis fabrics by Michael Miller. The size is 52" x 41". One of the fabrics, with the yellow zebras, is intended to be fussy cut so as not to feature any of the blue zebras that are also in the fabric. I chose to include one blue patch and will call this quilt "One Blue Zebra".


With this project out of the way, I am free to pull out all the stops to complete the first step of Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion. This will be the third year in a row I have participated in her mystery quilts and they have all been winners. I have pretty much adhered to her color scheme and have not been disappointed yet. To find out more about Grand Illusion, click the button on the right of this post. It's not to late to jump in!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Baby's First Christmas Quilt




This is a baby quilt for my neighbor's baby, a little boy, born this past February. The pattern is Dapper Canon from "Simply Retro" by Camille Roskelley. I have already made this quilt once in another colorway and liked it enough to make it again. It goes together easily and quickly. The fabrics are from Storybook by Kate and Birdie for Moda Fabrics.

I have been plugging away at my English paper pieced hexagons as well as the Lady of Shalott quilt by Ricky Tims. That one is a chore for me at present as I labor away at the tiny blanket stitching that goes around each and every applique - and the thing is covered in it. I am looking forward to next Friday when I give dive head first into Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery quilt for 2014.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Plugging Away at the Lady


I have been plugging away, slowly but surely, on this Ricky Tims' project, Lady of Shallott. It is a Rhapsody  design, for those who are familiar with this aspect of Ricky's work. It is a slow process because the double blanket stitch around the appliqued pieces cannot be done quickly - at least not by  me.



I am learning a lot and hope to design my own Rhapsody quilt one day, I have an inspiration photo taken at the Russian Chapel in Darmstadt, Germany several years ago when my husband and I visited the site.


This is a lovely gem of a chapel, built by the German royal cousins of the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia. Tzarina Alexandra was a native of Germany and she used this chapel when she visited her family in Germany. The chapel has beautiful tile work under the gold decoration at the top of the walls. Turquoise is a prominent color, Directly beneath the turquoise tile work are half moon "lunas" with more detailed tile work. A close up of one of the lunas, taken by my husband with a telephoto lens, is my inspiration for the applique that I hope to incorporate one day in my own Rhapsody quilt.

You can read about the chapel here.