Modern Hopscotch

This is Cheri's Hopscotch quilt. She is a faithful reader and doesn't know I snuck this one in while I was waiting for a thread order!  

Cheri chose the "Plush" panto for this one. 

 Her polka dot backing fabric was a really fun match to this modern fabric collection.  I used a purple bottom line thread on the back and a mauve So Fine on the front.

 Its all ready to go back to Cheri now.  At least I got to enjoy it for a little while.

Black and White HST Quilt

This striking quilt belongs to Winnie.  She won the blocks at our local guild.  It is hard to get a sense of the size of this quilt.  The triangles were made from 14" squares! Please note: There is no commerical pattern available.  Winnie came up with layout on her own after winning the scrappy squares.

I had a hard time deciding what to quilt on this one. It is going to be a wedding present so I wanted something special, and I knew I wanted black thread on the black and white thread on the white. Many days of doodling were involved!

 I wanted to emphasize the center star so I added "less stress feathers" there and in the top and bottom rows.  This was the first time I tried those feathers and I really am pleased with how they look.  I think they will be in my repertoire from now on.

To balance out the feathers I added straight lines in the outer most triangles and this diamond and curl motif in the rest.

The outer border got half a feather plume to fit the space.

 I love the cheerful backing fabric she chose too!

It seems that no matter how careful you are when working on a black and white quilt, those black thread have a way of migrating underneath the white fabric.  If I saw them early enough I could utilize one of the cool features of my Innova machine - the gas assisted lifting top fabric roller. It isn't a feature I use all that often, but it came in handy more then once on this one!

 If I've already done some quilting and trapped then errant thread, I had to resort to the fine crochet hook.

 Another cool Innova feature that I used a lot for this quilt was my cross hatch ruler system.  The ruler attaches to the guide bar at the back of the machine and is extremely stable.  There have been many times that I have wondered if the cross hatch system was a good purchase or not.  After putting it through the paces this time, I am really glad I got it.  It made all those long diagonal line so much easier.

One more thing to share.  On our recent trip to Winnipeg we were trying to figure out what was holding up traffic in both directions.....

All the Friendly Manitobans stopped for the Goose Crossing!

Fleece Gummy Bears

I am really enjoying making these double fleece blankets as baby gifts.  With no piecing, they really come together quickly.  I had a baby shower to go to this weekend, and used a new panto called "Gummy Bears" for this one.

For tips on making the fringe cutting easier see my post here.

I also added five other new pantos to my collection.  I am looking forward to trying more of them out.

 Chinook                                               Dusty Milller

 Fossil                                                  Ginseng

 Paisley Playtime                                Gummy Bears 

Ice Parfait Dyeing

I needed a little gift for some guild friends who have been working on their own versions of the Alternate Routes pattern, and thought I would try out a new to me dyeing technique - an Ice Dyed Parfait.

The fabric I used was presoaked in a Soda Ash solution.  In my large glass jar I began with 1/2m of fabric in my standard scrunch.

Next add a layer of ice cubes.

Then a sprinkling of dry MX dye powder.

 Then repeat until you fill the jar.  I used three layers of fabric and ice/dye.  Then you wait for it to melt....

I started a second batch, but my plastic container is not as fun to look at!

 

A glass jar full of ice is quite well insulated!  This is what it looked like after a whole night of melting.  I put it in front of a space heater to help the ice finish melting. 

Here is the before and after of batch #2.

And the results....

Batch #1 in the glass jar.  (The fabrics are out of order in this picture. Fabric in the top of the picture was on the bottom of the jar, then top layer, middle)  Dyes used were bottom : red/cerulean blue, top layer: raspberry/golden yellow. middle: purple/navy.

And batch #2 in the plastic.  Bottom layer: royal/bright yellow, Middle: orange/burgundy, Top: cerulean blue/golden yellow.

The fabric at the bottom had some white spots, so I may try adding some ice and dye to the bottom of the jar first next time.  I also might put a little shaved ice on top of the dye powder to limit the intense blobs of color that happened in a few spots.  Overall I am very pleased with my first go at this.  These are my two favorites with some close ups of the texture that the ice creates.

 

If you are a fabric dyer and have the supplies at your house, give it a try it is quite a lot of fun!

Stonehenge 1600 Quilt

This is Jennifer's 1600 quilt that is made from one of the Stonehenge "Stone Strip" bundles.  She chose the Tickle panto to add some nice soft curves and a variegated Lava thread called Volcano.  You can't see much in the lively border fabric, but the center and the backing show off the quilting a lot.

Jennifer did mitered corners on her wide directional border fabric, and the extra effort is really worth it as it really frames the center section of the quilt so well.