Fancy Fox Quilt - Retro Style (#46)

I loved making Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox Quilt with Riley Blake Shades (here) - but it was time for a whole different look and feel: beautiful coordinating  Retro 30's Child Smile from Lecien was perfect.

It took a while before I settled on these medium to small colorful prints from Lecien - I had my heart set on the 'Joie De Vivre in Beryl' by Frances Newcombe and Essex black yarn dyed linen. 

After making a few blocks, I felt the large floral design distracted from the simple beauty of the fox face. 

Fabrics like this lavender Dot to Dot Mixmaster (Robert Kaufman) look great however, as do cross hatch and burlap textured looking cottons from Carolyn Friedlander, Timeless Treasures & other manufacturers.  

1.5" sashing in Essex denim linen was sewn around every side of the fox block and trimmed to 8x10" unfinished, not much waste at all.

Lots of ironing & starching made the cotton & linen easy to handle - and using a scant 1/4" seam is a must with the different fabric weights. All seams are ironed open.

All piecing & quilting was done using Aurifil 50wt. Dove #2600.  A wavy serpentine stitch follows the larger seams, and the wavy stitch again into a 3" diagonal diamond pattern overall. I changed needles twice to keep everything sharp and the thread worked beautifully through the heavier Essex linen and the delicate backing. 

Not being a free motion quilter, following the seams and doing a grid pattern looks rather simple when compared to intricate FM designs that add lots of pizzazz.  But, every time that Aurifil looks so consistent as it sinks into any weight of fabric - I do a happy dance.

Lastly, a nice binding is this Hatch Basic in Graphite by Timeless Treasures - not heavy looking like a flat black but dark enough with a hint of texture.

There are 64 foxes so a 4" border all around allows them space to float and not run into the edges.  A beautiful rainbow of foxes made with a fun pattern that works every time.

Materials:

Retro 30's Child Smile Spring 2015/ 2.5" sushi roll / Lecien

Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in denim (Robert Kaufman)
Far Far Away 2 (Unicorns in Blue) / Heather Ross
Hatch Basic Graphite /Timeless Treasures (binding)
Fancy Fox Quilt Pattern by Elizabeth Hartman

Aurifil 50wt. Dove #2600 & Medium Grey #1158

Warm & White batting

Size: 65" x 81"

December 2015

Far Far Away Quilt (#36)

The challenge with Far Far Away by Heather Ross was to "save the unicorns and the princess" from the rotary cutter. A quick measure showed that a width of 6" was the best for both.

Except for the princess fabric, I cut 14 fat quarters into 6" squares to make a simple quilt.  Enter my recent love affair with the Accuquilt half square triangle and the fact that I found you could make an hour glass block with it ...well, the first quilt idea went out the window. (Pictures how to do this are below)

There is no pattern for this quilt which means there are no 'mistakes' or rules.  First, I cut out as many unicorns as I could - then matched the remaining fabric in pairs to harmonize.  There is a lot going on with all these patterns and similar colors seemed best.

I sewed all the 'hour glass blocks' together and trimmed to 6" - and didn't count or stress about how many or where they were going.
After this basic sewing was done, I cut the princess fabric to 6" wide and made two long strips - one white, one pink. 

The princess fabric gave me my starting point for length -  after that it was just laying out what looked best, making sure the unicorn squares were balanced on either side.  I never made a count for how many squares I had - there is a scrappy element to this design and leftovers would just 'fill in' when necessary.

When the middle portion was finished, I needed to 'build' up the rest of the quilt to a twin size.  I got a request for 'more pink' - so 2 yards of pink princesses made up the sides. 

 Left over hour glass blocks were added to another yard of frogs - and they made up a big border on the top and bottom.  

Star minky makes up the back and the quilting was done with a bright pretty pink Aurifil 50wt.  Only after I did my usual zig zag over the large seams did I experiment with 3" diagonal lines in a diamond pattern using a straight stitch (length 3.0 to 3.5). 

Materials:
Far Far Away / Heather Ross
Warm & White batting
Aurifil Bright Pink / #2425
Star minky
Accuquilt 4.5" finished HST
Size: 72" x 85"
April 2015 

How to make an hour glass block with the Accuquilt half square 4.5" finished triangle.

Starch and cut your fabric as usual - a 6" square of fabric works best on the die.





Shown here is how you make a regular half square triangle - you sew on the LONG side - using a scant 1/4" seam.

This is your basic method for making the herringbone, chevron and diamond blocks that use HST.

However - to make an hour glass block - you take your triangles - and sew the SHORT sides together.






Lay out one hour glass block at a time to minimize mistakes.






After you have your 2 halves - sew those together and trim to a perfect 6" square ... voila, an hour glass block.