ripple quilt finish/published!

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Meet ripple... A new finish.  This quilt is one of my favorites (but aren't they all?) - and has a stunning visual impact.  Ripple is a very BASIC paper pieced pattern.  Have you ever tried paper piecing?  This quilt would be a great way to start.  It uses only 5 fat quarters plus a background fabric.  It is  in the June-July 2013 issue at

Generation Q magazine

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Although I used pinks, oranges and reds, you can still feel the ripple effect of a stone dropped in the water.  I guess water is on my mind lately, or maybe it just inspires my quilt patterns with this quilt, ripple and

Lagoon

lately... :)

I found it hard to photograph the quilting I did on the Kona White.  But if you look closely, you can see I did wavy lines radiating out from the center of the ripple.  In between some of the wavy lines, I quilted pebbles or bubbles to add to that water ripple effect.  Or maybe with the reds, it should be hot lava...

One of the other things I love about this quilt is that I made scrappy binding.  But not just any scrappy binding, instead it has an ombre effect starting at the top left corner.  It starts red and then radiates around the quilt ending with a cool pink in the lower right corner.  Cool huh?  I'd never tried that before, but I really love how to came out.

Quilt Stats.

Name:

 ripple

Size:

 51" x 56"

Design:

 easy paper-pieced block design and layout by me

Fabric:

  fat quarters from my stash, some Sketch, some Houndstooth, Terrain Orange print on Kona White.

Piecing:

  Me

Quilting:

 Me

Spangled

I've spent a long time working on Spangled.  I've procrastinated working on this quilt in every stage of it's being.  Paper piecing the blocks - yes.  Assembling the quilt top - yes.  Quilting - yes.  So now that it's finally done, I LOVE it!



The design of this quilt top morphed along it's journey into a surprise I certainly would not have come up with if I had worked on this quilt straight through from  start to finish.  Funny how that works out, huh?



I backed and bound this quilt with Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow.

I gave this quilt to my mother-in-law as a surprise.  I have been meaning to make her a quilt for a long time, but her taste is more traditional.  I wrestled with how to make her a quilt she would love, but also would be a quilt made in my style.  I think this is perfectly it.

Quilt Stats.

Name: Spangled

Size: 50" x 62"

Design: 5 Paper Pieced Star blocks from 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Starsby Carol Doak; block layout and quilt top design by me

Fabric:  main background Granny's Treasure from P&B, Kona White, various red, blue and aqua prints

Piecing:  Me

Quilting: Me.  Zig zag on the colored background; FMQ on the white and stars

{betty dress} quilt block pattern

Here is my latest mini.  Is it vintage yet modern?  I am so happy with how it came out.    The background print contains vintage ads/logos for sewing notions and trimmings.  I immediately had this curvy paper pieced dress in mind when reading the text.  So I drafted up a 10" block featuring this ladies dress to feed my paper piecing addiction yet again.

Look at those curves!  Although the skirt is only solid green, I visually wanted to add a pleat or dart look.  The skirt is paper pieced in four sections to add the visual interest.  Then I added the scalloped quilting down the skirt using the pleats as guidelines.  These were the first curves I've actually ever pieced myself.  It's not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.  I tried it first on a test block before using my real fabrics.

 As I've mentioned before, I am focusing on smaller projects and building my confidence in FMQ and other skills.  The scallops and the loops in the border were an experiment.  I like the effect of those loops on the solid border.  The grey color adds some modernness to the otherwise vintage feel.

Here is the paper pieced block standing alone without the border.

I've made the {betty dress} block up into a pattern if you'd like to try it yourself.  You can get it in on Craftsy.

The {betty dress} is a PDF pattern.  The finished block measures 10" square.  The pattern includes written instructions, a diagram of the block, and mirror image pattern pieces.  This pattern does not teach you how to paper piece.  {betty dress} is an intermediate level pattern.  There are 2 curves and 2 y-seams.  This block is a great place to try out these techniques!

I'd love to see your version if you make one!