Vega

The Pantone Quilt Challenge has become somewhat of a tradition for me. The first time I took part was 2017 with my mini quilt with Greenery. The following year 2018 I made Purple Haze in featuring the colour Ultra Violet. And 2019 it was Fade To Grey using Living Coral as main colour.

I was very excited as the Pantone colour for 2020 was announced: Classic Blue. I immediately had several colour combinations in my head and started piecing the first blocks in May 2020 even before the challenge was announced. And in the end the challenge unfortunately didn't happen - but I still had my own challenge.  

And today I can show you Vega! We are having a hefty cold spell with a lot of snow and that was just the perfect photo opportunity. 

I used Kona Regatta as main featured colour, as this was the closest to the Pantone classic blue and mixed it with different shade of blues and two oranges and white as accent colours. 

The first blocks started with pieced strips in horizontal and vertical orientation. I love the process of finding the overall layout and creating something visually pleasing. 

The balance of value plays a key role in this design. Different shades of blue, from very dark to light blue and to the white, need to be balanced in order to create an interesting look. 

Vega has a faced binding, my preferred choice for wall hanging quilts. I can highly recommend the tutorial by Audrey of Cotton and Bourbon, the edges are very crisp. 

I quilted horizontal straight lines in five different colours, all matching the fabrics. It's such a nice play between the fabrics and the thread. 

For the back I used the remaining Kona Regatta and some left over strips. I like the back, too. Vega has a hanging sleeve already since she is decorating my sewing studio since a couple of days. 

The back shows off the different thread colours very nicely. 

I think Vega is my new favourite quilt. I case you're wondering where the name comes from, here is a bit of an explanation:

'Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. 

Vega is relatively close at only 25 light-years from the Sun, and is one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood. It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere.'

I though that Vega is a very suitable name for this quilt. She definitely shines, especially in the low winter sun and in  the bright snow. 

Vega finishes at 54 x 56" (138 x 142cm).

Olive 'n Orange

I've always wanted to make a quilt with olive green and orange. I don't really have a favourite colour I always use in my quilts. But I do have favourite colour combinations and that might be a new love affair. 

I started by piecing small blocks together using my solid scraps and mixed different shades of olive green with oranges, white and light grey. I always try to balance a design with a variance of value and texture. 

I was aiming for a mini quilt with an approximate size of 25" square. I made several small improv blocks, some in a log cabin style, others kind of free style. 

I piece blocks together as I go when they are a good fit. Sometimes this is in rows, mostly I piece in sections so that the design appears intuitive and not following a grid.

This is actually my favourite part of designing a quilt. Piecing blocks and see how they fir together. 

I'm very pleased with the overall design and the colour and value play. 

I quilted straight lines in light grey 40wt Aurifil thread, 1/4" apart. I wanted the quilting to take a step back and not be prominent over the actual design. 

The thread did exactly that. 

Once again I faced the quilt following Audrey's tutorial. I love how very square the edges are. 

I followed other tutorials in the past and the edges were always quite round. I really prefer this crisp look and can highly recommend this tutorial! 

This was a very enjoyable little project. I give you another close look at the texture: 

It's only the dark green that is a shot cotton. I like to keep it simple and not have too many focal points. 

Olive 'n Orange is definitely a new favourite! 

What shade are you? Blog Hop 2018 - Four

I am so excited to be part in the RJR Fabrics 'What shade are you?' blog hop today. I have admired these beautiful cotton supreme solids and quilts made from them for a long time.
And I was always wondering how can I be considered to take part? Well, in my case I was not approached by RJR Fabrics themselves, I just wrote them an email. So, if you would like to be considered, just ask.

I had a hard time selecting colours. Because when I think of what shade I am then I don't really have an answer. I like a lot of colours and shades, there is no particular colour I use in all my quilts or I have a favour for. 
What I noticed recently is that I am drawn to soft tones rather than very bright colours. So I selected three main colours: blue, red and green and picked soft tones and different values of the same colour.

I have finally settled on these beauties:
Jadeite
Nile Green
Seafoam
Optical White
Rosewood
Rose Colored Glasses
Guava
Charlotte
Fairy Princess
Iceberg
Notting Hill
Proud as a Peacock
Mermaid

I knew I wanted to make an improvisationally pieced project. Following the principle from a mini quilt I made earlier this year I grouped the different values of the three main colours together and started to piece strips. 

 I was aiming for a light centre to the quilt and wanted the darker values radiate from there.

There was a lot of editing and rearranging on the design wall until I've settled on a final design.

I really like the contrast of subtle colour and value change horizontally and rather drastic vertically. I think it lets the eyes moving and it creates a lot of interest. I also turned direction of strips or have them in a smaller scale. I like to make rules and then intentionally break them.

I quilted more or less horizontal straight lines that vary in direction and density.

The more I quilted the better I liked it, the space between quilting lines vary from 0" to 1.5" and I also used eight different coloured thread.

I used faced binding and I really like the way it looks. I had the feeling that a normal binding would distract from the actual look of the quilt.

I like the crisp edges and the way the quilting seams just run to the very end of the quilt.

I used all remaining fabrics for the back and applied the same design principle here: light centre and radiating values towards the edges. The faced binding at the back though is a little too big for my taste. I followed a tutorial but I might reapply the binding and make it smaller since the back of the quilt is also really nice.

The dense quilting is very visible at the large solids areas and despite the density of the quilting lines the quilt is still very soft.

This is such a nice texture, it almost is too cuddly to hang the quilt up but that's what I'm planning to do.

I am very happy how this quilt turned out. Using only solids, and 13 of them, was a challenge for me but the improv method I started with the mini quilt turned out beautifully in a bigger scale. The mini quilt was called 'Three' so the continuation of it is 'Four' and so the name was a logical decision.
'Four' finishes at 55 x 62".

Thank you so much RJR Fabrics, for the opportunity and the generous fabric supply!

Here's the link to the RJR Blog 'Quilt with Love' where you can see all of the beautiful quilts made from their cotton supreme solids. 

Connected

I have admired all the mini quilts that have been submitted to be included in the Curated Quilts Magazine ever since that magazine was created by Amy Ellis and Christine Ricks at the end of 2017.
For their upcoming fifth issue in autumn 2018 the topic for the featured mini quilts is 'Connections/ Improv' with a beautiful autumn colour palette.

How could I resist?

And that's my mini quilt 'Connected'.
If you think, hm, that kind of looks familiar then you're right! It's the same improv piecing technique I used in the mini quilt I made for the MQG mini swap. This is further to explore as I really need to make a big version of it!

I randomly quilted in straight, diagonal lines and I think this adds such a nice texture to the quilt.

It's the second time that I used a faced binding and I really like it. Especially on such a small quilt. 'Connected' is only 15 x 15" big and it's the smallest quilt I've made so far.

I used three different colours of 50wt and 40wt Aurifil thread, two beige tones and one light grey.

I hope it gets accepted, but anyhow, if you don't know the Curated Quilts Magazine you should check it out. I bought the first tow issues at QuiltCon in February and I absolutely love that magazine!

Linking to Curated Quilts where you can see all entries!

Frühlingserwachen Blog Hop (Spring Awakening blog hop)

For English scroll down

Ich freue mich dass ich heute beim Frühlingserwachen Blog Hop an der Reihe bin. Organisiert hat das Ganze Judith von Septembers Quilt Delight.

Und ich bin dir so dankbar, liebe Judith, denn ohne dich und deinen Blog Hop hätte ich jetzt nicht so einen schönen Tischläufer!

Wir sind erst vor 4 Wochen umgezogen und haben immer noch ein bisschen Chaos und jede Menge unausgepackte Kisten. Aber meine zwei neuen großen, weißen Schreibtische für meine Nähecke sind schon einsatzbereit und nach dem ersten Probenähen bin ich schon sehr begeistert.

Für unseren ebenfalls weißen Esstisch wollte ich einen neuen, frühlingshaften Tischläufer nähen. Schnell hatte ich das Rot und Orange rausgesucht und mit dem Mint- Grün und Weiß gepaart. Da fiel mir ein dass ich noch diesen Riley Blake Stoff hatte, der all diese Farben hat. Perfekte Kombination!

Ich habe mich für 'Half Square Rectangles' (halbe Rechtecke) entschieden und viele verschiedene Farb- Kombinationen genäht. Damit der lange Läufer nicht so langweilig wird habe ich an einigen Stellen Streifen in das Muster eingesetzt, so wirkt die ganze Komposition etwas aufgelockerter und interessant.

Wie so oft habe ich die Anleitung, wie man 'Half Square Rectangles' näht, nur halbherzig befolgt und prompt passen die Blöcke nicht richtig zusammen, bzw. gehen die Rechtecke nicht bis an das Ende des Blocks (na ja, wenigstens ist das durchgängig und passt auch mit den anderen Blöcken zusammen, ist aber eigentlich so nicht richtig...). Das tut dem Tischläufer aber, wie ich finde, keinen Abbruch. Ist halt die persönliche Note.

Gequilted habe ich in Wellenlinien mit rot melliertem Aurifil 50wt Garn, das lockert die strenge Geometrie der Blöcke etwas auf.

Zum ersten Mal habe ich 'faced binding' ausprobiert. Ich weiß gar nicht wie das auf Deutsch heißt, jedenfalls ist es kein herkömmliches Binding um den Läufer herum sondern es wird ein Stoffstreifen auf die rechte Seite des Läufers genäht, dann umgebügelt und von hinten von Hand angenäht. Hier ist das Tutorial (was ich dieses Mal genau befolgt habe).

Diese Art von Binding mache ich bestimmt noch öfters, gefällt mir sehr gut. Der Läufer hat die folgenden Maße: 132 x 55cm.

Fotografiert habe ich jedenfalls auf meinem Nähtisch, im Esszimmer herrscht noch Chaos. Jetzt kann ich aber gar nicht abwarten bis wir alles fertig haben und dann zeige ich euch auch meine neue Nähecke.

Schaut auch bei den anderen Teilnehmern vorbei, bei Judith gibt es auch immer Zusammenfassungen so wie hier, hier und hier mit den entsprechenden Links.

Morgen ist Alex dran.

English summary: 

Today it's my turn in the German blog hop 'Frühlingserwachen' (spring awakening) organised by Judith of Septembers Quiltdelight.

We only moved house 4 weeks ago and we still have many unpacked boxes and chaos but I could sew on my new sewing tables and made a table runner in lovely spring colours for our white dining room table. 

I picked a spring like colour palette and mixed it with a Riley Blake print and went with half square rectangles. I (again) didn't really follow the tutorial of how to sew the rectangles and the result is non- matching seams... ah well, at least that is consistent and it still is a lovely table runner!
In addition to the rectangles I added some strips to make it look more interesting and I think that enhanced the overall design. 
I quilted in wavy lines using Aurifil 50wt in variegated red and used faced binding for the first time. I just love that look and will definitely try this again! 
The table runner finishes at 52 x 21".
Here, here and here are little summaries of all the things many super talented ladies put together for the blog hop, go an have a look!