WIP Roundup

 First of all, I am done with documenting all the quilts I have completed. Along the way there were some quilt tops that I finished but passed on to others to complete so those are not included. 

The final total: 227! I can hardly believe it. They are labeled by name of quilt and by year completed. Live a Colorful Life Quilt Diary

As I became rather obsessed with finishing that project, actual sewing fell by the wayside. So yesterday I caught up on the Moda Blockheads 4 blocks, also known as my Peanut Butter and Jelly quilt.

Block 20, Stop Go, by Stacy Iest Hsu

Block 21, Shiny Bauble, by Janet Clare

Block 22, Star Patch, by Sherri McConnell (@aquiltinglife)

Block 23, Gentleman's Fancy, by Brenda Riddle

Bonus Block 8, Sweet Treats. I wish I had made the flower part of the basket darker/brighter, but I'm not going to redo it.

I'm working on the binding for Sunny Disposition. I also wish I had made a slight change in that as well--making an additional 1" outer purple border, and then added matching binding. But I didn't realize that until it was already trimmed. 

So the question is: now what should I work on next? Maybe back to pineapple blocks. 

Rose's Tattoo Quilt

Another quilt that never received a complete post when I finished it! So here it is...

I'm a huge fan of Berene Campbell of Happy Sew Lucky quilt designs. I've purchased many of her patterns over the years. When she started releasing blocks for what would become the Tattoo quilt, I purchased each one, knowing I wanted to make the quilt. I didn't have a recipient in mind at the beginning, but by the time the final pattern had been released, I knew I wanted to make it for our niece, Rose. Her favorite colors are fall tones, and I knew this would be the perfect quilt to make for her. 

My initial fabric pull. I thought maybe the brown essex linen would work. But ultimately I chose something else.

The first block was "truth." I already knew at this point that the background fabric was perfect. 

I worked my way through the blocks. I kept count of all the pieces along the way. The grand total: 1,798!!

I used one of my very favorite plaids for the backing.

When it was completed and quilted, Mark and I took it on a tour around Fresno, looking for photo ops at some of the local tattoo shops.

In the summer of 2021, we made a trip to Salem, Oregon, to deliver the quilt in person. Rose told me she had the perfect place for an additional photo op, and she was so right! Everything about it was perfect--from the size of the opening to the colors and the eyes. 

We love Rose so much. She embodies the words on the quilt. The fact that the flowers running across the heart in the center are roses was an added bonus. 

I think she is pretty happy with the quilt too.

Title: Rose's Tattoo

Pattern by: Berene Campbell

Date Completed: 2021

Size: 63" x 72"

Quilted by: Darby Myers

 

Grand Prismatic

 While I have been documenting all the quilts I've made since I began quilting (1994), I have realized that some of those that I consider my biggest and best have never had a post of their own. There have been progress shots along the way, but nothing about the finished quilt. 

In the next few days or weeks, I will be posting a few of them as I write up the post for the Quilt Diary blog. I begin with Grand Prismatic, a quilt finished in 2021.

 Grand Prismatic was inspired by the Grand Prismatic spring at Yellowstone National Park.

I was given a copy of the Pollinate quilt pattern designed by Kitty Wilkin and published by Karen Tripp. We had just returned from a trip to Yellowstone and I was inspired by the boiling mud pots and many springs and geysers in the park. So while a lot of quilters were doing lovely "rainbow" versions, I headed off in a totally different direction. 

I knew I wanted to use a variety of Oakshott cottons and a lot of other fabrics that "read" as solids but had some texture or gleam/glisten to them.

The center medallion, the one replicated the Grand Prismatic spring itself, was definitely the most fun.

There were a few times when the quilt spoke to me about fabric choices and said "absolutely not"--I tried a print that was too busy or not the right color. A lot of fabric auditions simply did not work. I'm so glad I listened. 

When you do an English paper pieced project, pulling out all those papers is a big job. Mark volunteered and I was happy to hand that part of the job over to him.

Once it was ready for quilting, I had a very specific vision in my mind, especially for all the white parts that represented the bubbling mud pots. Dawn Haldeman gave me everything I envisioned, and even more.  Each pool and spring in Yellowstone is surrounded by a wooden walkway. I had used a very subtle fabric around each "pool" to mimic the same thing. Dawn quilted all the "walkways" with the pebble motif, and all the bubbling mud pots had bubbles and swirls. 

On our trip to Yellowstone, I purchased a tea towel to save to the back of the quilt. And then in a stroke of luck, I was able to find some Yellowstone fabric. In a weird twist, while many of the springs, geysers and pools are part of the Yellowstone map fabric, Grand Prismatic, one of the biggest and most famous, is not part of the map. 

I'm so happy that I stuck to my vision of the Grand Prismatic spring. There were times when I thought it would either be epic. Or an epic failure. But I'm thrilled with it.

Title: Grand Prismatic

Design by: Kitty Wilkin, published by Karen Tripp

Date Completed: 2021 (entirely English paper pieced)

Size: 55" x 64"

Quilted by: Dawn Haldeman

WIP: The LACL Quilt Diary

 I began quilting in 1994. For many years, quilts were photographed on a "real" camera and I had no thought about trying to take a decent photo--I just wanted some photographic evidence of the quilts I finished.

Beginning in about 2012 or so, I started paying more attention to quilt photography and about that time I ditched the "real" camera and went with my iPhone. 

Lately I have realized that while I have posted lots of progress photos here on the blog, there have been many quilts in the past few years that never merited a post about the completed quilt--I looked for some of my most epic quilts (Tattoo, Grand Prismatic, Kaleidoskop) and no post about the completed quilt.

This has spurred me to get back to documenting my quilts on my other blog, LACL Quilt Diary. I began with my first quilt and have worked my way up to the beginning of 2015--a year where I apparently retired because I was extremely prolific in quilt finishes--30!

I was even able to enlist Levi's help to hang some of the quilts that either had the most horrible photos or a couple of old ones that did not have any photos at all.

If you are interested, you can check it out here: Live a Colorful Life Quilt Diary (laclquiltdiary.blogspot.com). I will also be adding a link on the side bar. 

Quilts by the Water: Alice's Swedish Ex/Huntington Lake, California

Alice's Swedish Ex is the second version of my original pattern, My Swedish Ex. It is also the only quilt that appeared in my first calendar, Quilts and Classics. I had the best time photographing it with Mark's brother, Peter, in Driggs, Idaho, and his classic Jeep.

But when I decided to make a second calendar, Quilts by the Water, I knew it had to be included because it's one of my favorite photos from Huntington Lake.

I have made three versions of the "Ex" pattern and have photographed each of them right here in Pacific Grove, which, believe it or not, is a bathroom by the golf course.

The original: My Swedish Ex

Version 2: Alice's Swedish Ex (made with Alice in Wonderland fabric by Rifle Paper Co.)

Version 3: My Bohemian Ex (made with Bohemian fabric by Anna Maria Horner for my dear friend, Terri Wilhelm)

Anyway, back to Alice's Swedish Ex.

Some of my favorite pictures from Pacific Grove.

Earlier pictures taken at Huntington Lake:

Quilt: Alice's Swedish Ex

Designed and made by: Cindy Wiens

Quilted by: Darby Myers

Size: 64" x 64"