red | Evening in the Garden Quilts

I made up six pillow tops from red and green strings just for our own holiday decor. The white is Kona “Snow”, which also seemed Christmasy.

I used random width strings, and thought the effect would be more random. Now that they are together, it’s almost like I was trying to make diamonds and missed the points.

I hope that isn’t the finished effect. I think that they will quilt up okay. I wanted something fresh and modern, in Christmas colors, to replace my neutral, botanical covers for the holidays, and I think these do it.

The red and green ones are very rich and nice, more old fashioned.

To work, to work.

I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday on Judy’s Patchwork Times.

The Red and Gray Zig Zags is finished! I’m very happy with it. I thought it would be quicker, but I kept adding more quilting, and that’s usually a good thing.

This quilt started from this intriguing but odd piece of fabric (“stash dog”). “Germania” by Jay McCarroll. I loved it when I bought it, on sale, I’m sure, but it never worked with anything and never made any sense to me. Finally, decided to cut it up and put it with various luscious grays. This gave it depth without being any more busy than it already was.

I usually make my HSTs by cutting squares 7/8″ larger than the finished side, placing right sides together, drawing a diagonal line down the center, then sewing 1/4″ inch from the marked line on both sides. I rarely trim them, as they are usually very accurate, and these were just fine.

I pressed them open, which I think helps a lot with preventing stretching, and I think it helped in matching these particular seams.

Lot of them, though. Except, remember, that I had cut them all wrong at the beginning. So I adjusted the block sizes to 3 1/2″ finished. Didn’t really know what size that would be on the finished quilt, because I misfiled or failed to save my design on EQ7. The quilt washed up at 48″ x 61″, which is okay for a throw. A little longer would have been nice.

Our “crinkle” chants worked pretty well, and the straight line quilting is presentable. I really like my free-motion feather border. This is the first time I made a double spine, and also outlined the feathers on the outside. The stippling next to them makes them pop a little.

The binding is the last of the red fabric with a little Kona “Lagoon” and “Rich Red” thrown in to extend it. The batting is Warm and White. The back is pieced with 12″ squares of grays and three blocks made from scraps with pops of red. I think it has just enough quilting, and I’m in love with the crinkly grayness of it. A good finish.