Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Poppy Fields & Pinwheels

Here's a semi-modern quilt I did recently for a client. It is pieced in Moda's Oz collection. As soon as I saw this, I loved the fabrics. They are so rich and saturated, and the graphics are very simple. I'd love to find some yardage of a couple of the florals - they'd make fantastic dresses for Sophie.
The client wanted a semi-allover pattern, and not to pay for true custom quilting. To make this task complicated, the backing is black! Black and white quilts for me are challenging since every stitch usually shows. I absolutely knew that because the top is white, using a bobbin thread other than white was out of the question. Every slight mistensioning would show. So black bobbin was never going to happen.
I hate white areas stitched in anything but white too, so that was to be in white. The patterned pinwheels could be many different colors. I actually did stitch this mostly continuously, except for the outer patterned border. The pinwheels are sewn in continuous rows from one end to the other, and then returning with the larger size template. I did them last so I could sew from the top of the quilt to the bottom as well. Seems easy enough, but it was still about 2 hours to do because of it being template work. It definitely makes the design of the quilt though.
Here's the back...The "ribboning" is in a grass green thread. It is very graphic with the backing being black. I think it would have been more my taste for the swirling to be in a more muted color, but that is for another quilt! It's really nice looking and the customer likes it.
And, because I really (really) love this fabric, I splurged and did something I rarely ever do. I bought this...
As a matter of principle, I rarely buy precut fabrics because the cost is astrononical per yard compared to buying them separately. But, I found this jelly roll for only $20 and couldn't resist. I have a quilt all designed and ready to make (soon!!).

5 comments:

  1. Your quilting is amazing! I love the way you stitched inside the colored whirligigs - it makes them pop out so much. Have fun with your jelly roll!!

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  2. Beautiful! You're just getting better and better in your design and execution!

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  3. ooough you are right, these are such pretty colors! ;) and I just have to let you know I love reading your thoughts about your machine quilting for clients.... not only is it interesting, but educational - never before did I think about how the backing fabric influences thread color used on the top of the quilt before... ;) Keep up the great job!

    Love from Texas! ~bonnie

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  4. Beautiful pinwheels! Fun quilt :)
    Angie - www.craftedAngles.com

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  5. the quilt made it home!!! I took some pictures with it with my fiancee!!

    Thank you so much!

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