Mother's Day Quilt

I have been quilting off and on for years and I have never made a quilt for my mother so I decided to resolve that this year. I have been planning and buying the fabric for a few months. The store I usually shop was closed because they moved. It was an opportunity to shop a new store and I bought some online. I love me some batiks, it's all batiks except for one print. 

The blocks arranged on my design wall. I ended up rearranging a couple of the blocks. 

Next, trim all and sew together. Im still working on an idea for the back.

Art is Life!

Stronger Together Quilt Finished!

I like the way it turned out! The colors have the effect I wanted, a night sky.

  The pattern is available at fatquartershop.com

Art it Life!

Stronger Together! Week 3 and 4

 

These two sections are the largest sections of the quilt. I enjoy sewing strips of fabric and then creating a checkerboard pattern. It looks so detailed but so easy to create. :) 

The triangles are really large (a total of 4) so I didn't have to spend a lot of time working on them. I really like the darker blue because it's a good representation of a night sky. 

Next steps, sewing all the sections together and then quilting! :)

Art is Life!

Stronger Together! Week 1 and 2

I have been concerned about the color scheme but as time has passed, I think it works. Since the overall theme of the quilt is based on the North Star, I wanted darker colors because the NS is brightest at night.   

Week 1-Stars

I have to be honest and say the bigger stars gave me the business. It was the first time I had sewn stars. It is very important to make sure there is extra fabric at the points, if you don't, when it's time to sew, the seam allowance will cut off the points.

Week 2-Triangles

 The triangles were fun to make and with the HST method, it was so easy!

Week 3 and 4 coming up soon!

Art is Life!

Black History Month Quilt-Along

Im taking a break from my African King quilt to celebrate BHM by participating in a quilt-along. The pattern is called Stronger Together and the design was inspired by Harriet Tubman and her escapes to the North to lead slaves to freedom.  During the month of February, the funds from purchased patterns are donated to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

We’re happy to present our first ever quilt and stitch along for Black History Month, to bring our creative community together to support a worthy cause and to highlight the achievements and contributions of several African American women in the fiber arts.

The challenge is being hosted by Fat Quarter Shop (fatquartershop.com) All information and instructions for the quilt can be found on their website. Each week features a different section to be completed. 

Week 1-The Borders!

The fabrics I selected are not fabrics I would usually pick but I wanted to go outside my comfort zone to learn more. The women at The Quilting Square were great in helping me with my choices. The larger star is made of reproduction fabric which I've never used before. I think it was a good choice for the theme of the quilt. 

Stay tuned week 2 coming up!

Art is Life!

Fabrics From St Croix

 My family and I are in St Croix Christmas week. I was determined to buy fabric while I was here. The farmers market is usually open every Saturday but they decided to open the market the Wednesday before Christmas. I’m very glad my husband took me because I found some beautiful fabrics. 

The fabrics are African textiles, I am designing a male version of the Queen Sister quilt I recently made. These fabrics will go well with other fabrics I have already purchased. I will do a post showing all the fabrics together and maybe a sketch of the block. 

Happy Holidays and stay safe,

Art Is Life!

African Queen Pattern for a Baby Quilt

I was so excited to make this baby quilt for a friend for many reasons but I literally had 3 weeks from start to finish to complete it before the baby shower. She is a friend that I hold close to my heart and I was determined to complete it.

I decided on the African Queen block because 1. She is having a Queen.  2. The color scheme was ideal for this design, (pink, grey, white were the colors but I thought the addition of some purple wouldn’t hurt😊). 3. This pattern can be easily modified to accommodate any preference. 

The finished quilt! I love the combo of batiks. These are not all the queens! I rearranged, added, removed a number of times. I tried to spread out the skin tones and balance the colors of the dresses. I could have done that forever but knew I had to stop eventually and commit to a placement.  

The quilting is an embroidery stitch, I do not have a long arm quilter. I have a Janome QCP 9400 and it has lot of stitches. Not ever row is perfectly parallel and at first I was bothered by it and thought I would remove the stitches. But the more I looked at it the more I kind of liked it, I felt it added a little charm to the quilt. Quilting this way, took a very long time but I think the end result was worth it. 

Along the edge, I decided to echo the shape of the triangles. They kind of reminded me of the points of a crown.

I had intended to quilt over the dresses but ran out of time. I think it looks good without it but I may try it on another one just to see how I like it.

My biggest concern was if my friend would like it. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, she LOVED it, 😊 She loved it some much, that she is going to use it instead of the one she bought. That makes me really happy and even more so because we reviewed the care instructions I gave her. Often people don’t understand the work and time it takes to make a quilt so I’m glad she does because she will treasure it.

Art Is Life!