Fraternal Twins

I finished these two quilts recently. I finally dug into some of the green and browns that I bought in May as well as some fabrics bought last fall. Don't ask why they need to sit on a shelf for 6 months before I dare cut into them. I had quite a few Tina Givens prints that I really loved, and got for a mere $3 a yard in October that I had not touched until these quilts were done. The initial concept from the quilts came from Oh Franson's Mod Sampler, but I added a couple blocks of my own and yanked a couple of her's that just didn't play well, and viola! The designs are simple, but it takes a simpler design to showcase the larger modern fabrics well. I am also a bit of a rebel when it comes to sashings. I know that white is all the rage amongst so-called modern quilt makers. But I hate it. No, I HATE IT (did you hear me that time??!). It's stark. Cold. And just plain impractical for anything which will be used. Furthermore, if the fabrics contain off-white and ivory, why sash in white?? So, in keeping with my rebel ways, I sashed the green quilt in ivory Kona and the brown sister-quilt in a soft butter yellow. Yellow is unorthodox, but it coordinated better with the prints than the ivory did. Just call me Jesse James.

Initially, when I was making the blocks, I was very uncertain about the green quilt. I didn't like the blocks together much. But then I added about 6-8 new fabrics, pulled out 4 blocks, and it was love at first sight. The 5 Moda Bella solids I used with all of the bright, happy modern green prints are simply devine. I'm not really sure I can sell this one, but time will tell! And for those of you who do not or hae not used these solids, they are heavenly. I just love the Bellas - loads of colors, great weight, and a good price.

On the green quilt, I tried out a newly acquired panto called "Windblown" by Jodi Beamish, which again, I was not sure of initially. It is densely quilted, and took longer than I really wanted, but in the end, I like the texture. And you all know how I hate stippling, so I needed an alternative. And the brown twin quilt, has another new panto pattern called "Whirlygig", by the same designer. It quilted up quickly and looks nice too. This pattern will get used frequently.

Some detail looks... I did throw in a few aqua and brown blocks just for visual interest. They weren't quite right on the green quilt, but seemed OK for the brown.

See that delicious texture!

And the backs. Who could forget the back of the quilt?! Brown quilt... a Michael Miller brown and lime green check with a stripe of my favorite large flower by Tina Givens. I managed to get the brown check at a Linus quilt event in March, four yards for $4. What a steal! I almost never buy enough backing fabric to do an entire quilt back of the same material.

And the green sister quilt... It has the same Free Spirit Annabella flower and brown check, and I threw in some of another material from the Annabella line (green with yellow globs). I also bound this quilt with this fabric, perhaps a little risky move, but it turned out wonderfully.
So now, with little more than a week before I switch into beach vacation mode, I am busy wrapping up a couple more of my own selfish little projects. I am furociously designing several projects to stitch with newly purchased material, and scheming as to how I will utilize some older (AKA 2008-2009) fabrics. I have a few finishing touches to make on my Maine Quilt Show piece, which must be delivered the weekend after we return from vacation (so it has to be essentially complete when I leave). I have a great tutorial I will share next week. And I will put one more quilt to the LA before I take some much needed R&R.

Take some time on your porch swing this weekend and enjoy summer~ I know I will be.