Low Volume Love

 

 

 

 

 

Love, love, love my growing collection of low-volume fabrics!  I picked up few more selections today when I was out shopping for the Kona solids for my Christmas Tree quilt.

 

I was first introduced to the idea of using strictly low-volume fabrics in a quilt after discovering the book Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison.  Then, Kristyne Czepuryk posted pictures of her lovely creation on her oh-so-sweet blog Pretty by Hand.   But, Rita Hodge of Red Pepper Quilts made the very simple but adorable "Low Volume Scrappy Strip" quilt that stole my heart.  I love her selection of fabrics - low volume with a bit of sparkle of color here and there.  So, that's the look I'm aiming for as I continue collecting fabrics.

 

 

(I had purchased this collection of "Low Volume Scrappy 16th's" from Pink Castle Fabrics when I first started my collection, but I soon realized that I much prefer the look of low volume with some color added here and there.  They'll work nicely as filler fabrics, but I still need to collect some more fabrics with a bit of color.)

 

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

 

Christmas Quilting

I fell in love with this lovely Christmas quilt after discovering it on Christa Watson's blog Christa Quilts.  I really like Christa's commitment to teaching others that they can indeed machine quilt their beautiful creations on their own domestic machines. 

 

 

The quilting design that she came up with for this quilt is fabulous, and I can't wait to get started on one of my own.

 

So, today I went shopping in pursuit of the perfect shades of Kona solids for my own version.

 

 

I printed off a picture of the same color inspiration that Christa used for her own rendition.  I felt like I needed to have it in front of me as I selected my shades - it's always trickier to come up with color combos than you think it will be (at least that's always the case for me!).

 

 

Here are the shades I came up with.  You can see the names of the colors on the bolt ends in the photos below:

 

The "sable" is for the tree trunks.

 

 

I think I have everything I need to get started now, including the "Tri-Recs" ruler set that I had purchased a number of years ago for another project (that never happened!).  I just need to prewash my fabrics, and then I'm good to go.

 

Hope you find some time for a little Christmas stitching too!

Jelly Roll Learning Curve

I'm soon going to be stitching a quilt for a friend out of a jelly roll and two charm packs.  But, since I've never worked with a jelly roll before (I know, I know, where I have been all this time!!), I thought I had better work out the kinks on a quilt of my own first vs. using hers for my learning curve!

I bought this "Boutique" jelly roll, pattern, and backing fabric almost four years ago from this gal on line.

(Isn't it interesting how your taste in fabric and color changes?  While I still love the fabrics, it has a much warmer feel than the clear colors I am drawn to today.)

Donna's in the Attic was the very first quilt blog I had discovered, and the first time I had ever ordered fabric on line, so this quilt marks a very significant milestone for me. :)   Maybe that's why I couldn't bear to open up the perfectly coiled roll of fabric to get started?  Or, maybe because I was hung up on the fact that I wouldn't be able to prewash the strips?   

Anyway, I was fine once I got started!!  

It took me a bit to figure out what an exact 1/4 of an inch looks like when the edge is pinked.  But, after some trial and error, I think I got it.

I decided to press the seams open again on this quilt.  I just did that on the last blocks I pieced for my "Dragonfly Days" and really liked how accurate the piecing was as a result, not to mention how nice and flat the blocks lay.  Since the seams won't be nestling together on this particular quilt, 

pressing them flat is a really nice option.

I'm going to set this project aside for the time being so I can work on my friend's quilt (and Christmas preparations!), but I'll keep you posted!