Baby Lacuna Sampler Quilt

August 11, 2015

Back in June, I mentioned that I was working on this "baby" version of the Lacuna Sampler. I used leftovers I had from making the original sample, and hurrah! I finished before the baby arrived. That rarely happens. And double Hurrah that I finished early, considering it feels like I've had almost zero time to sew this summer with the kiddos around.

This quilt contains only the four center blocks of Lacuna, plus I added those little extra HSTs in the middle to give the center some action. I love the straight up patchwork. It really showcases the prints in this line, Pie Making Day by Brenda Ratliff for RJR. For the background, I used leftovers from Architextures Widescreen Cross Hatch. The greys blend perfectly together.

Dusting off my FMQ skills..... it's been a while since I did any free motion quilting. Bigger quilts I send out to a long arm quilter, but I just can't find a reason why I shouldn't do my own small baby quilts. Somehow, each and every time, I always feel rusty when I get started. I free motion quilted just the basic meandering stipple. To be honest, I really love the piecing part of making a quilt, so I often just run with the stipple to get through quilting it. It's ok to loooooove one part of the process more than others, right? I'm sure we all have our favorites....

I backed this quilt with some Remix argyle flannel. Isn't it perfect? I absolutely love flannel backed quilts - especially baby quilts. This flannel will be extra cuddly for a new baby girl when she arrives.

Can't wait to gift this one to some special friends!

Patchwork Auditions #5: Mosaic No. 12

July 30, 2015

The Patchwork Auditions blocks are so much fun to play with. Today I show you the fifth block in the series. The series looks at some classic blocks and exposes alternate colorings. My goal is to simply think about other ways to color a quilt block I have looked at hundreds of times. So far I've been making 3 of each block - 1 traditional coloring and 2 alternates. It's amazing how different they look! Eventually, I'll put them together into a scrappy quilt. Find all the details here.

Join me on this laid back adventure if you like! Below you'll find a cutting list for the basic blocks in 12" and 16" finished blocks, but not a tutorial. Use the coloring sheet to generate your own ideas. I hope that you'll audition other color arrangements and play as I am. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mosaic No. 12 (Traditional)
The Mosaic No. 12 block uses one of the great quilting fundamentals - the Flying Geese unit. Changing the orientation of the geese allows for a neat pinwheel pattern to form in the center of the block. This block goes by many names. The earliest reference I found was by the Ladies' Art Company in 1897. I know this block by the name Dutchman's Puzzle. Pictured below is the most common way to make it.

Mosaic No. 12 Coloring Sheet Download the PDF here.

Block Structure

This block is constructed with (8) Flying Geese units. Nice 'n simple! It's the direction that the geese are facing that make this block interesting.

Cutting List. I have listed cuts for both 12" and 16" blocks.
Flying Geese Video Tutorial here.

For 12" blocks.

Cut (8) 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" squares. (A)
Cut (16) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares. (B)

For 16" blocks.

Cut (8) 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" squares. (A)
Cut (16) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares. (B)

Alternate Coloring Options
There are a few ways to recolor this block that are outside the traditional coloring. In this exercise, I simply am recoloring the block without changing it's basic construction. These are just a few of the options I found. These options can yield very different looks. Which would you choose?

A	B	C
D	E	F
G	H	I

My Sample Blocks

traditional Mosaic No. 12 (12" block)

letter E in the table above (16" block)

letter F in the table above (16" block)

Feel free to share any past or present Mosaic No. 12 blocks you've made with us to show how you colored it using #patchworkauditions #dutchmanspuzzle. Enjoy!

Drawing Inspiration from Color Palettes

June 23, 2015

Where does your quilting inspiration come from? There are so many wonderful places to draw creativity from. We can pull from our experiences, travels, nature and our daily life. With so much information on the internet, we are never short of seeing inspiration from others via blogs, instagram, other photo sharing sites, and Pinterest.

But where does the inspiration begin? A photo? A color? A quilt block? The answer may change with each project.

Strawberry Brights from design-seeds.com

I enjoy finding inspiration at color palette websites. Have you tried it? Color palette websites are based on gorgeous photography. The photos are shown with the major corresponding colors pulled out of the photo and listed next to each other in a paint chip-like swatch. I love to peruse palette websites, looking for a series of colors that Wow me and would look good in my next quilt.

Here are a few color palette sites I found:
Design Seeds
Color Palettes
In Color Balance
Akula Kreative

Using a Color Palette Image to Inspire Fabric Choices: Here is an example of how I used a color palette image in a quilt. This Vice Versa quilt was originally designed using greens, yellows and blues. The palette was harsh, but it helped me decide what quilt blocks I wanted to include in the Sampler. After the blocks and layout were decided, I was in need of some color inspiration. I turned to Design Seeds to find the right palette for this quilt. On the left, is the Color Sip image from Design Seeds. I mocked up the quilt using this soft palette of putty, dreamsicle orange, coral, plum and green apple. I liked this look and was able to choose a similar palette of solids to make the actual quilt.

Using a Color Palette Image to Inspire Fabric Choices AND Quilt Design: This color palette image influenced both the quilt design and the color inspiration. I found this Pigmented Palette image again at Design Seeds. The image evokes a strong southwest feel for me. I kept picturing a quilted version of a totem pole in my head. I wanted to use a quilt block that could represent that notion to form the layout for the quilt. This quilt, Moccasin, is based on the X&+ and Sister's Choice quilt blocks. The individual sampler blocks fill the totem pole. The color palette pulled from the image spoke strongly to me, but I decided to change the blue hue from aqua to midnight blue. This makes me think the quilt shows itself against the night sky.

Are these palettes just for Solids? No way! I chose to use solids in the two examples above. That is simply my choice - I love the way the block shapes really stand out when pure colors are used. But don't think you are limited to solids when using palettes as color inspiration sources. Below you can see a bundle of prints that I put together to coordinate with the inspiration photo Color Spice (fabric photo courtesy of Sew Me A Song). Just use the photo and palette as a starting point...

Create your own palette: Say you have your own photo that inspires you. It would make a perfect color palette if only you knew how to do it. No problem! Check out Chip It from Sherwin-Williams. You can instantly turn your photo into a color palette using over 1,500 of Sherwin-Williams paint colors. Pretty clever, huh? Here's a photo from my Instagram feed of Valentine's day pudding that I tested out with Chip It. Wouldn't that make a pretty quilt?

I hope you find some inspiration here and check out some of the color palette sites next time you sit down to make your next quilt.