Thicket Quilt (#91)

Thicket by Gingiber came out in 2016 - beautiful stuff.  I made two baby quilts here and knew it was the perfect fabric for someone who loves photography and animals. 

The accent fabric is Tribal is by Snow Leopard Designs.

Originally I was going to combine HST's with smaller squares - but after a few rows of 2" (finished) half square triangles cut with this Accuquilt die, it became obvious that the HST's  would look great throughout. The entire quilt is a combo of Thicket & Tribal fabrics together.

Animal panels were cut 8.5" x 8.5".  Next came 20 HST units surrounding each panel.  Then the whole block was trimmed to 12" x 12".  After all 24 blocks were sewn together - I added a half square triangle border and 3.5" of black fabric on the left and right sides.  Lastly, a smaller black border of 2.5" on the top and bottom to completely frame all the critters.

Even though there are tons of small pieces, this pattern is worth a try with all sorts of fabric designs.   The backing is a beautiful black dimple dot minky and it is quilted with Aurifil 50wt. in a simple grid pattern.

Looking forward to 2018 are two more baby quilts and two more Tribal quilts to make with this beautiful Thicket fabric.  I am so grateful for generous quilters like Amy Everon & Amy Smart for sharing their Thicket quilts which are so inspiring.

Materials:
Thicket by Gingiber for Moda
Tribal collection (Alexandria Terra,  Bukhara Terra, Kira Terra) from Snow Leopard Designs / Free Spirit
Wintergreen Aged Solids / Ebony / Moda
Aurifil 50wt thread #2000 / #2692
Warm & White batting
Dimple dot minky / black
Accuquilt die #55063 HST 2" finished square Multiples
Size: 59" x 76.5"
Date: December 2017

Kaleidoscope Quilt Vintage Style (#90 )

Fabric: Retro 30's Child Smile Fall 2016 / Lecien 

I am not one to plot out detailed designs before sewing which is why simple Kaleidoscope quilts make me happy.  Pieces can be chain sewn without pins or markings and Accuquilt has two dies that make cutting a breeze (see Materials below for specs).  The trick for different looking Kaleidoscope quilts is all in the placement of the focus and background fabrics.  

Here is my Little Ruby quilt that kinda looks like a star. The blog post here has helpful tutorial links and pictures about this style in particular.

Now, this retro Kaleidoscope quilt and the Little Ruby quilt have the same number of large & small triangles.  The only difference is the amount of focus fabric versus background fabric.  That's it - same block with different fabric placement equals a totally new look! 

Here are the two basic blocks. One has 8 focus Isosceles triangles, the other has 4. Notice that BOTH blocks have the same background fabric for the smaller HST's on the corners.

The specs for this Kaleidoscope quilt design are as follows:  
         252 Isosceles triangles (focus fabric)
         84 background Isosceles triangles (light text)
        168 half square triangle pieces 3.5" (light text)

There are a total of 42 squares ... 6 blocks across and 7 rows down. Make (21) 8 focus fabric blocks and (21) of the 4 focus fabric blocks. 
Seams are a scant 1/4" with a small stitch length of 1.5.  Seams are ironed open every step of the way. Blocks trimmed to 10.5".

Minky with batting as the middle layer is perfect for a quilt this size (60" wide x 70" to 76" long).  A larger quilt with batting and minky would be too heavy and hard to machine launder.  For a lighter weight minky quilt though, muslin or flannel instead of batting works nicely too.

Notes: Downloading a blank Kaleidoscope template from the internet and coloring in the triangles would be one way to pre-design your quilt and make it as complicated as you like.  There are lots of great quilts on Pinterest for an overload of inspiration.  

Materials:
Retro 30's Child Smile Fall 2016 / Lecien 
Modern Background Paper #1588 11  Zen Chic / Moda
Accuquilt: Triangle-Isosceles-5"x6" (#55016) & Half Square Triangle-3" (#55009)
Aurifil 50wt. #2311 & #5007
Warm & White batting
Dimple dot minky & Candy Stripe binding both in Azurite from Hawthorne Threads
Size: 61" x 70"
December 2017

Quick Curve Ruler Drunkards Path Quilt (#89)

Lots of scraps from Kate Spain's Terrain collection makes this beautiful bright quilt.

The strong pink & orange colors really stand out against Kona white and luckily I had enough dark blue from the same collection to add some balance.

Every unit in the flower block and the small drunkards path pieces were trimmed to 4" x 4".

The flower curves were made with the Quick Curved Ruler and the smaller drunkard's path were cut with an Accuquilt die.

The Quick Curved Ruler was developed by the ladies at Sew Kind of Wonderful, and on their web site or YouTube you can find patterns and tutorials.  The free pattern they have that is very similar to these 'flower' blocks is called Spring Fling.

There are so many places to learn how to do this wonderful curved piecing - here were my sources:

1) the video on how to use your Quick Curve Mini Ruler from Jenny Pedigo (from Sew Kind of Wonderful) here
2) Canoe Ridge Creations
3) She Can Quilt

Each flower block includes:
(8) curved Quick Curved Ruler pieces beginning with a 5" square (like in the video tutorial above by Jenny)  
(8) squares cut at 4x4"

Made for an artist friend who would't balk at something non-traditional, I used lots of color and made up my own the design. First came the 'flower' blocks and small circles using what fabric I had.  The layout came last, more like a puzzle ... but sometimes a quilt can evolve from what you have, not from what a pattern tells you.  

For a large block with plenty of interest this 'flower' or 'butterfly' motif is perfect - and it's good for scraps as well.

Materials:
Terrain / Kate Spain / Moda
Kona white
Mini Quick Curved Ruler (from Sew Kind of Wonderful)
Warm & White Batting
Aurifil 50wt. #2740 (dark blue), #2040 (white)
Dimple dot minky / Midnight Blue
Accuquilt Drunkard's Path 4" finished *(I trimmed these small Drunkard's Path pieces to 4"x4" like everything else)

Size: 60" x 73.5"
Date: December 2017