Going Back in Time, Part 1: Effervescence, Llama Llove, Galvanized

 I finally realized that while this year I have attempted to do more than Really Random Thursday posts, and therefore have posted some WIP posts to show what I'm working on in the sewing room, once quilts are completed, they are never written about. I am somewhat caught up over at the LACL Quilt Diary, but thought I would catch up here as well. So in the next couple of days/weeks, I will be posting the quilts I have completed so far this year, 12 at current count!

First up is a set of three quilts that were started long ago (as are many that I have completed this year): Effervescence, Llama Llove and Galvanized. At first they were each quite small, more wall hanging size. But I really don't use wall hangings much so I decided to enlarge each of them to at least baby size.

EFFERVESCENCE

Effervescence is a quilt that was started many years ago, and another one that I was determined to complete in 2022.

It began as a Scrappy Trip Around the World, which was a popular technique by Quiltville Bonnie. I tried a couple of different layouts.

 Once I settled on a layout, I folded it up and put it in a box.

A few years ago I found a fabulous fabric by Robert Kaufman called Effervescence, and decided it would be the perfect border fabric for these blocks. It had a range of colors that did an ombre' effect from one selvage edge to the other. I tried to coordinate the border colors with the blocks.

I then had to increase the backing as well. Originally I only had the solid strip segments surrounded by some black. I added a selvage-to-selvage strip of Effervescence and surrounded everything by more black.

Then it went to Darby.

We took a trip to Oregon in the summer of 2022, and while in Crescent City, we drove past an amazing mural that had so many colors that were in the quilt.  So we stopped to get some tape and the next morning, before the business opened, we carefully taped it to the mural.

It was such a cool optical illusion of actually floating in the water.

Title: Effervescence

Pattern by: Block design by Quiltville Bonnie

Date Completed: 2022

Size: 50" x 50"

Quilted by: Darby Myers

LLAMA LLOVE

I made these four blocks in 2011, using the super cute llama fabric by Laurie Wisbrun and a design by Scott of Blue Nickel Studios. Then it was folded up and put away from the next ten years.

I pulled it out earlier in the year, determined to make it at least a baby-sized quilt. 

Borders were added.

Which meant that the backing, which I had also made several years ago, needed to be enlarged as well.

It was quilted by Darby.

Doesn't this little llama with glasses just make you want to smile?

It is now ready to pass on. 

Title: Llama Love

Pattern by: Blue Nickel Studios

Date Completed: 2022

Size: 40" x 48"

Quilted by: Darby Myers

GALVANIZED

Years ago, I was inspired by a pillow I had seen at Target to make the center pinwheel block. I used shot cottons by Kaffe Fassett and surrounded the center with two borders, the second one with a beloved shot cotton called "galvanized." I have used it in several other quilts and never get tired of it. The threads running one direction are orange, while the threads running the other direction are turquoise, giving it a luminous gray color that is really hard to photograph.

Then it was folded up and put in a drawer, where it sat for years (which seems to be a pattern of behavior for me...) In 2022, I decided that this one, along with others of a similar size and fate, needed to be completed. So I pulled it out and added some more borders to make it a more usable size. 

For the backing I used up more shot cottons.

It was sent to Darby for quilting. 

Then I took it to Thrift on Blackstone for some photography.

Title: Galvanized

Pattern by: Me

Date Completed: 2022

Size: 52" x 52"

Quilted by: Darby Myers 

Quilts by the Water: Supernova Starburst, Pismo State Beach, California

I estimate that 2011 was when I began this quilt.

Finally, in 2017, it was finished and I took it to the beach for some photos.  

I asked Aaron to be the photographer, and this photo I took of him is one of my all-time favorites.

my favorite picture of the whole photo shoot :)

It spent many years folded up on a shelf.  The original pattern is by Lee Heinrichs. She did a quilt-along called Supernova, back in 2011. I loved the pattern. At that time, batiks were not embraced by the modern quilt movement, so my goal was to use batiks, set against a grey background, which was considered modern, and try to disprove that theory that batiks could not be "modern." I believe I succeeded.

According to that blog post, I looked up the definition of supernova. I liked this definition: "the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun."  I liked the explosion of colors, the hot saturation in each block, and the subtle luminosity. I named the quilt Supernova Starburst.

Even a photobomb by another quilt we photographed.

Title: Supernova Starburst

Pattern by: Lee Heinrich

Date Completed: 2017

Size: 60" x 60"

Quilted by: custom quilted by Darby Myers

Beach Umbrellas

 In 2014, I chose blocks for my second quilt in the bee I had started, Mid Century Modern. I think Rene' had chosen the spiderweb blocks in a prior month and I really liked the look of them. We used a template from Heather of Heather a la Mode. It was kind of a weird size, maybe because she wanted to make sure the template would fit on a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Anyway, the blocks sat in a drawer for years. Until this year when I have been determined to finish all those projects started long ago.

The first problem I ran into was that I needed to make more blocks. And the template was no longer available. I tried to draft my own on graph paper and it probably would have been sufficient. But Elizabeth of opquilt.com came to the rescue and drafted a professional one for me. 

That solved the problem of completing the blocks for the main body of the quilt, but I had always had the idea in my head of extending a few blocks out into a border. At first I tried using the same bright colors, but then I had the idea of using a very light print for the border and making the completion blocks in the border out of pastels, to give the impression that something white had been placed over the brighter blocks, giving them the illusion of being lighter.  I completed one block on each side of the quilt and I'm so happy with the subtle results. 

I had signature blocks for the backing, and then had the idea of making a dark, medium and light block just to see what they looked like. I'm also really happy with the results. I think I was just having a good time making the spiderweb blocks. :)

At first I was sure I would use that print that is above and below the pieced blocks as the binding. After all, it had all the fun colors that were in the blocks.  But it was way too bright against the faded blocks in the border.

I opted for this more subtle stripe and that turned out to be a better choice.

It was beautifully quilted by Darby Myers.

The other day I took the quilt to our son's house for a few photos. Of course I chose the wrong time of day. Lots of bright sun and shadows. But this was the only beach umbrella I could locate on short notice. Ha.

The colors of the climbing structure in the background are fun.

Would you like to make your own spiderweb quilt? Elizabeth has generously offered the pattern for free until the end of the month. The pattern has full-sized templates for three different blocks, multiple illustrations, ideas for completion, as well as tips and tricks for sewing. It is a great way to use up your long skinny strips, and is a fun pattern, in prints or solids! You can find the pattern here.

Quilt: Beach Umbrellas

Blocks from members of the Mid Century Modern bee from 2014

Pieced and completed in 2022 by Cindy Wiens

Quilted by: Darby Myers

Size: 56" x 68"

Quilts by the Water: Best Sellers, Pacific Grove, California

 When Kate Basti came out with her Tall Tales block, I had the idea of  combining some of my favorite fabrics with their corresponding selvages. The selvage became the spine of the book, and in a couple of  instances part of the cover.

It was such a fun quilt to make. 

I had a fat quarter bundle of bright texty print by Allison Glass that worked perfectly for the sashing. The print was small and subtle, but just right for a quilt containing book blocks.

For the backing I had this fun print that looks like library cards.

Mark and I took the quilt to one of our favorite places on the coast, Pacific Grove, at a time in the year when the ice plants were in full bloom.

It was a windy day, but Mark never complains about holding a quilt.

Quilt: Best Sellers

Designed by: Block design by Kate Basti

Date Completed: 2020

Size: 48" x 62"

Quilted by: Darby Myers