Monday, June 08, 2015

Quilt of the Week -- a PLAY mash-up!

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Do y'all know Victoria Findlay Wolfe?  If not, you are missing out.  I am inspired by her, in awe of her talent, jealous of her energy, and privileged to call her a friend.

She has a fantastic book called 15 Minutes of Play: Improvisational Quilts.


(In related news: Victoria has another book, Double Wedding Ring Quilts: Traditions Made Modern.  I quilted Victoria's A Summer's Day quilt, shown on page 59.  It is the bright green and orange one shown at the top of her website.  No, I wasn't nervous AT ALL!)

I cut my scrap fabrics into usable chunks (fat eighths, 5-inch squares, 2 1/2 inch strips, 1 1/2 inch  strips) and everything that is left over gets thrown into a bucket.  I pull out that bucket and 15 Minutes of Play when I just want to have fun with fabric.  After several sessions of "fun", I had nine big blocks of made fabric, but I wasn't sure what to do with them.

Enter Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts: Patterns Inspired by Antique Quilts by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms.


I have read this book so much that the cover is curled and I had to hold it down for a photo.

I received a copy of this book at International Quilt Festival in Houston last year and was instantly mesmerized.   One quilt, in particular, rocked my world.  I loved its mustard color, its wide sashings and border, and the quilting... oh the quilting! It is wavy, wiggly horizontal-ish lines.

I decided to take my blocks that I made using Victoria's book and set them like the antique quilt, but change the color of the background and the orientation of the quilting.

This is what happened:


The quilting thread is actually bright, bright, bright yellow. Some day I'll learn to take proper photographs, but that day isn't today.  Sorry!

This photo has truer color:


I don't really have a name for this quilt yet.  Maybe "Mash-up"?  Any suggestions?

I had fun playing with the quilting.  My husband took a short video of the quilting.  My instructions to him were "Don't show my hair and don't show the mess in the sewing room." Well, at least you can't see my messy ponytail:



I used some random fabric from my stash for the back:


I was hand-binding this quilt on vacation last week and some family members fell in love with the backing fabric.  I excitedly turned the quilt around to show the front and received a "but that pumpkin fabric is really pretty!" comment in response.  I love these family members.  They absolutely crack me up and will likely receive some potholders made with this pumpkin fabric later in the year.

I adore the front of this quilt and others adore the back.  All is well!

Have you ever taken inspiration from many sources and mashed them all into one quilt?  Post your results on my Facebook page.


1 comment:

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

Nicely done dahling! ;-) hehe! PLAY!! good for the soul!