Days are whizzing past and taking time to write a blog post has fallen by the wayside. But I've been busy with something worthwhile, my QuiltCon Pick a Color Challenge quilt, Ignite.
I did something completely different with the quilt sandwich. Though there's batting between the top and back, I layered it in a different way.
I first put down Quilter's Dream Request (lowest loft) Cotton batt to cover the backing. Then, using a leftover piece of Quilter's Dream Puff (it wasn't large enough to cover the entire surface) I cut out the starry "ignite" part of the design. I did so by pinning the original full sized design I'd drawn on a huge sheet of paper to cut the starry/ignite portion from Puff. Then I carefully positioned the Puff star directly behind the design of the quilt top. It wasn't easy to get the batting positioned to match the design on the front. But I did it, deliberately pin-basting the long ray shapes of Puff batting under each ray.
I pinned it a lot!
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| Those bright dashes are where sunshine shone through the cord holes of the wood blinds. |
Now I've been quilting! It's been an age since I set up my Bernina for dedicated domestic machine quilting. It feels good to tackle quilting again.
The design for the inside (ignite part) of the quilt is meant to mimic the piecing design. This is all done with ruler quilting (feed dogs down).
Indeed, don't the jagged, variable-sizes look similar to the piecing?
It's exactly the look I wanted in this puffy space.
Now I'm walking foot quilting the background, intending to keep that portion to simple straight lines that emphasize the angularity of the ignite portion.
Lastly, I am hand quilting with two different colors of size eight perle cotton, adding bursts of flash (more "ignite") in strategically placed spots. I will add the same shape to the ends of each ray.
I am making progess, but I won't meet my self-imposed July 31 deadline. Truth be told, I sideswiped myself with a "squirrel" moment. On Instagram I saw a crocheted top made by my friend Debbie of @bluebellridgehandworks. It's so cute on her!
I had to make a run to Hobby Lobby for a couple skeins of Sugarwheel (variegated) yarn, and two skeins of "I Love This Cotton" so I could make a similar summer top for myself. (When I got home, I used my Stanwood yarn ball winder to make cakes.)
A week later, and I have a new summer top.
It's really quite comfortable, as I can feel the breeze through the "holes" of the crocheted design. I wore the top yesterday to Big Cypress Quilters followed by my weekly visit to Twistee Treat for ice cream - my seventh visit there, but who's counting? I'm collecting lots of reward points in the Sprinkles Club!
Last Friday at Diamond Dotties Club (diamond art painting) group leader Sandy offered a little project to make for $1. I selected this 3"-across seashell, a napkin with flamingos, and used Modge Podge to make myself a ring dish. I used a silver-colored pen to highlight the edge and added a little button for cuteness.
It's fun to make something different, especially when I didn't need to invest in all the supplies.
It's been a good week! Linda
Hi Linda ignite is moving right along! So happy to hear that you're back to your quilting. The top is so pretty. The seashell ring dish is so Florida. I've lived in SFL since '63 and never seen a flamingo in the wild but it still seems to be the representative bird.😝 Sounds like you're getting your sewing mojo back but your creative flow never ceases and continues to amaze me. Thank you for the push I need to get into my own sewing space 😊
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That top is so very cute! Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteYou are making such good progress in Ignite! And interesting to hear about what you did with the batting. I never get too creative with batt, so it's good to hear about.
ReplyDeleteLoving this Ignite project! I'm impressed you are doing a form of trapunto to get that sculptural quality to your project -- I love the quilting inside and since I just saw Project Hail Mary, it reminds me of what their little dots of energy creatures do -- zigzag everywhere. And oh my--that top is just the best. Perfect for summer.
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