Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Tag Archives: superior thread


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Turquoise and Gold Quilt Finished!

IMG_2480Here it is, on a sunny morning on the fallen leaves.  The colors fit right in for fall, don’t they?

2015-09-24 10.01.36This was one of my few UFOs, but it was an old one.  I’m guessing six years it sat in my cupboard, but I can’t really date it for sure.  It started as a wall hanging.  I pulled it out earlier this year and asked the Twilters if they saw any potential in it, and they were enthusiastic.  This doesn’t look like anything I’m doing now, does it?  Playing with color and value, looks like I spent lots of time with it on the design wall.

2015-10-15 07.48.47The center had some already cut borders and binding with it, as well as a couple yards of backing fabric.  I still wasn’t feeling the wall hanging, so I decided that all that fabric should become a quilt.  Notice I worked with much bigger triangles.  After I sewed that bottom section on right side up it didn’t look too bad.

2015-10-15 07.49.09I quilted it with lots of feathers, some stippling, and some orange peel.  The mid-tone areas are done with Superior’s So Fine in a variegated mustard/navy color.  I tried that on some of the lighter areas, but it did not look good, and I don’t ever want to rip out feathers again.  Ugh.  I know that, forced to decide, I always prefer the thread to be lighter than the background instead of darker.  I know this.  I just need to believe it and practice it.

2015-10-15 07.49.18I replaced that stitching with a golden Living Colors thread on the yellow and light gray areas, and used a Sulky dark gray on the dark gray to black spaces.  The bobbin thread is Bottom Line in a medium gray.

2015-10-15 07.50.23I really love the back.  This was narrowish JoAnn fabric, so I had a chance to piece lots of scraps into it.  I think it pops.

IMG_2479When I was trimming this quilt to bind, it suddenly told me it wanted to have wavy edges to match the half feathers I had quilted into the narrow border.  I told it no, though.  After days of stitch picking, I was ready to finish it up quickly, and I already had all the straight grain binding cut.  So it has straight edges.

2015-10-15 07.54.08I managed to use up almost all of the fabric, except for some of the turquoise, which I am eyeing for an upcoming project.

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I’m linking up to Whoop Whoop Friday and WIPs Be Gone.


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Boxes of Elephants is Finished

2015-10-04 09.04.53This fun little quilt was commissioned, based on a quilt I made in January.  It makes up very quickly and is super simple sewing.

2015-10-04 09.05.34I can no longer find the original elephant fabric to purchase, so we agreed on this one, in which the light and dark is reversed (cuter print, too, I think!).  That necessitated a little redesign so the colors would look good together.  The elephant print is on home dec fabric, so it makes an interesting combination of textures with the soft Konas and prints.

2015-10-04 09.05.03I quilted this entirely with the walking foot.  I first stitched in the ditch between all the blocks with silver Bottom Line on top and a teal Masterpiece (because I didn’t have teal BL) on the bottom.  Then I switched to a variegated Coats and Clarks that I used to sew a serpentine stitch along all the seam lines, crossing through the plain blocks.  I finished with nine inches of thread left from that spool!

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I used a few inches of large-scale chevrons for the binding.  This quilt is now winging it’s way to Texas.

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I’m linking up to Michelle’s Let’s Make Baby Quilts.

Baby quilts


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Finished Baby Quilt

2015-09-07 08.27.17This quilt began with rummaging though my 6.5″ scrap bin.  I pulled together these pretty florals and semi-solids.  Some were more recent, but some were OLD and needed to go.  It is nice and square, even though it didn’t want to hang flat for the photo.

2015-09-07 08.28.22Yes, I cut the four-patches different widths.  That was a… design choice!  I kind of like it.  I was originally going to use all twelve Disappearing Four Patch blocks for the top, quilt it, bind it, and be finished.  No matter how I turned the blocks on the design wall, they looked like…well, not good.

2015-09-02 09.26.00Sashing was in order.  The #Twilters and I looked at a number of choices.  The deeper ones were appealing, but not soft for a baby quilt.  In the end, I went with a soft blue dot for sashing and a two-tone green for borders.

2015-09-07 08.27.44Quilting was lots of vines and flowers, with minimal marking.  The largel-scale quilting left it nice and soft.  I used a variegated So Fine by Superior for all the quilting.  It shows up, but echos the soft colors.

2015-09-07 08.29.15A special thank you to my photography asisstant, Yuri.

2015-09-07 08.30.34This is headed for Project Linus.

Linking to Michelle’s Let’s Make Baby Quilts and Free Motion Maverics at  Lizzie Lenard’s.

Baby quilts


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Prince Edward Island Art Quilt

IMG_2441Early this week I finished the little art quilt I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and working on sporadically for the last few months.  This was taken from a photo I took of traps (lobster?  crab?)  on P.E.I.  when we visited a few years ago.

QA1012I used a photo-transfer process from an article by Liz Kettle in Quilting Arts, Issue 48.  It involved making an ink jet print on water-soluble stabilizer (Paper Solvy by Sulky) and transfering it to the fabric (Kona Snow) using matte gel medium.

2015-07-26 10.30.17The process was messy and didn’t go flawlessly, as you can see in this picture.  It is forgiving, though, and I was able to straighten out and adhere most of the image, and to wash off the remaining paper.  Next time, I would apply medium to the fabric only, not the print.  For the bits that were missing, I worked back into it with fabric markers.  I have a print-making background, and was excited about the transfer process. I did find myself wondering what was the advantage of this method over simply printing on ink jet fabric.  Do you have any thoughts on this?

2015-08-27 16.01.23IMG_2442I used a number of variegated and solid threads to add dimension and definition, especially to the traps, which had gotten a little muddy.  I liked the random effect of the variegated So Fine from Superior.  I did not like that when I shaded in the side of a white float, it became flat from the close stitching.  I have a lot to learn about working with thread.

IMG_2444I’m very happy with the fabrics I found to use for the borders and the way I quilted them.  You can see it better from the back.

IMG_2440I think this was pretty successful.  It has some personal meaning to me, so I may keep it and make another version to sell.  We’ll see.

I’m linking up to WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.


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Rail Fence and Ribbon Candy

IMG_2424Today I finished this quilt, destined for donation.

IMG_2428I made it to use this backing, which I like a lot but for which I have never found a use.  I also wanted it to be in “boys” colors, since I have plenty of florals to donate.

IMG_2425I quilted it with wavy lines, but I didn’t think they were enough, so I added these flowing lines between each set of vertical waves.  I knew they had a name, and my friends supplied it:  ribbon candy!  Even more fun than quilting them.  I used Superior’s So Fine thread in a variegated light green.

IMG_2427There are two different blocks, one with three patches, and one with four,  just because I wanted to mix it up a bit.  I still think that has potential, though it isn’t great here.  Doing this again, I would use the same fabrics (yum!), but mix up the values more.

I still like it, and I hope the recipient will, too.


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Scrappy Cabins 1 is Finished

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Last week I got this project quilted and bound.  Yes, I see the, uh, design decision, near the lower left corner.  I mean, I see it now.  I partially blame all of you, who looked at the top here and never mentioned the problem.  (I’ve made sure to get lots of eyes on the pink and black one currently on my wall!)  I’m not too upset.  It gives it some character.  Not all furrows are straight, after all.

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As the commenters said, I like the green and the pops of purple.  I used a shiny purple thread, Art Studio Colors by Superior, to quilt three wavy lines vertically and horizontally on each block.  I had already stitched in the ditch with Bottom Line, which is mostly invisible, but gives it sufficient quilting.

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I made this for donation and to lighten my string bins, and I think it will be loved.

2015-04-17 08.33.34pmWe hope you’re finding time for finishes.  I’m linking to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and to WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.

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Finished: Baby Geese 3

IMG_2308This week I finished the last (hopefully!)  of the Flying Geese baby quilts.  This was a completely unplanned series, started when I was looking for a pattern to use up some 6 1/2″ little boy scraps.  Then I used some bits of yardage to make the pink quilt where the geese change directions.  Finally, I made this to use this cotton lawn yardage and 3 1/2″ pink scraps (cut to 3 1/4″ for the 5 1/2 ” blocks) and some 6 1/2″ flowered squares.

IMG_2311pmThis one is not as graphic as the others, but it’s my favorite.  I love the variety of pinks, and I like the way the black and white looks against them.  It’s quilted with three rows of large, curvy free-motion feathers (in Superior’s pink Bottom Line, top and bottom) that were quick and fun to do.  I used an irregular black and white stripe to bind it.

IMG_2311The lawn fabric (the geese, and both prints on the back) had intimidated me for a while.  (I think I bought it online without noticing that it wasn’t quilting cotton.)  Once I starched it up and pressed it, it behaved very well.  There’s a little stretch to it, but the starch helped.  It’s also a bit transparent, but I pressed seams away from it, and everything looks good.

2015-03-18 15.15.18One problem was that the smaller flowers are printed very crooked, and they look a little funky on the back.  I used every last bit of these fabrics, so there wasn’t much I could do, and it’s okay.  The cat helps hide them, anyway.

PicMonkey CollageWhich one is your favorite?  I like them all, but I really like the last one, just in time for Spring.  Now that I’ve completed this fun exploration of Flying Geese, I need to return to my March goals.  I’m working on Clue 3 for Scrap in a Box.  I’ll show you that later.

wind_dandelion3Good luck on all your finishes.  I’m linking up to WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.  Not that this has been in-progress very long, but Angie likes me to share!  And to Let’s Make Baby Quilts! at Michelle’s Romantic Tangle.


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Turning Down the Volume

IMG_2264Here’s a quilt that’s a bit different for me, since I do like bright color.

2015-02-24 11.51.39I purchased this fat quarter bundle on a whim this fall.  The colors spoke to me.  The gray is pretty, but it overpowers the lights.  I added Kona Azure, but that was also very strong.  I knew I wanted to cut these up as little as possible, so I made 6″ HSTs with them.  I wanted to arrange them in  a random design across the quilt, but it looked terrible.

IMG_2271I finally added some more Azure and made this star.

IMG_2266And (surprise!) I quilted it with feathers.  I used aqua Bottom Line for all the quilting, top and bottom.  It is very restful and soothing, and I was sad when I had no more areas to quilt.

IMG_2267I backed this with an aqua cloud print.  A very successful little quilt.  38″ square.

IMG_2274The snow makes a beautiful backdrop for quilt photos, but enough is enough.  Four to six more inches tonight…  Stay warm and sew, everyone!


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Christmas Plaid Finish

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Yesterday I finished the Christmas Plaid quilt.  I think maybe it looks better in person, with all its bling, than in the photos.  It’s a lot darker cozier than Christmas Birds, kind of Dickensian.

IMG_2170This quilt is 50″ x 70″, quilted with Superior “Glitter” , “New Brites” , and “Bottom Line” threads.

IMG_2168The plaid fabric continued to be uncooperative (see my whining here).  I probably should have interfaced it.  It washed up fine, though, and is all neat and square, in spite of how squishy some of these blocks look.

IMG_2172The backing looks kind of brown, doesn’t it?  I used a rose beige thread on the bottom, and had a lot of trouble even seeing it, it blended so well.

IMG_2173Actually, it is a pair of unrelated but very coordinating red, green, gold, and white Christmas prints.  I think they were my mother’s, and they hadn’t made it into the front of any projects because of the “brown” problem.  They are beautiful and interesting up close.

2014-10-11 09.00.10This may be the last Christmas quilt for this year.  On the other hand, I discovered more fabric under my pine cone fabric.  And I’ve been looking at my blue Christmas fabric, which is another category entirely.  Hmmm…

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’re finding sewing time!


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Disappearing Hourglass Finish

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After what seems like a long time, I finally finished the DHG quilt.  It is 64″ x 80″, and will go the Quilts of Valor after I get a pillowcase made.

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I feel like one of those recipe blog commentors we’ve been parodying lately.  I made this quilt just like the tutorial at Missouri Star Quilt Company, except I didn’t use a layer cake.  Also, I don’t like their method for making the HSTs, because they’re stretchy on the bias, so I made my own using 6 1/2″ squares.  This caused everything to be a different size.  Then, I completely changed the layout of the blocks.  But otherwise it’s just the same as theirs!

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In general, these blocks were fun to make, but 48 was too many.  I should have made fewer and used borders.  Their sew-around-the-edge method was much faster than my diagonal stitching method, so use it if the wonkiness doesn’t bother you.  My top was nice and flat, though, unlike my Disappearing Pinwheel.

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I had ideas for free-motioning over each block, but I couldn’t figure out how to make a design work without a lot of marking, and I wasn’t up for that.  So I used all straight lines, mostly with the walking foot.  I wasn’t too pleased with look while it was in progress, but after washing and drying, it’s fine.  I used Superior’s Bottom Line, white on top, dark gray on the bottom.

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I like all the white (Snow, actually).  It seems fresh and light.  And it’s finished!

What have you finished this week?  I’m linking up to Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.