It's Friday again, and that means it's time to get our whoop whoops on! Today's a special day - I'm going to share a secret project that I've been working on for a little while, and at the end, there's a GIVEAWAY! You too can have a little something special to whoop about - so let's get to it!
When I was contacted by RJR Fabrics to see if I wanted to participate in their What Shade Are You blog hop, I jumped at the chance - sewing with solids? Check! A free hand to choose whatever colors I want to work with? Absolutely!! Who wouldn't?
Now, if this is your first time stopping by my blog, let me introduce myself. I'm Sarah, and I love bright colors, modern quilts, solid fabrics, (heck who am I kidding, I love all fabric!), and my family. I have three wonderful grandchildren who love my quilts, so I make them at least one each year. I've been quilting for about six years now, although I started sewing when I was eight (way more years ago than I want to admit to!) When I started quilting, I suddenly became a "finisher" - something really different for me, as I used to be really good at starting, but not finishing. Quilting has grabbed hold of me, and charity quilting has become my passion. Our church's quilt ministry has given away almost 1200 quilts over the past six years! But I still find some time to design some quilts, test patterns and review quilting books - it's a good life! But enough about me - let's get to the quilt!
Designing this quilt was so much fun! After looking at the color card with all the beautiful RJR Cotton Supreme Solid samples, I fell in love with this peachy strata of colors... although it was a hard choice! There are a whole lot of beautiful colors available!
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| It's the column on the right! |
My husband wanted to go out on the boat, so I grabbed my colors and my graph book and headed out on the lake. I doodled for a while and, with my husband's valuable input, came up with this design...
So after cutting - and I'll be the first to admit, I lucked out, discovering a mistake in my measurements before cutting - I got to work piecing. Lots of chain piecing - a wonderful timesaver - and I also did a little double stitching on my flying geese, creating some little "bonus" half-square triangles when I cut them apart. (We'll see those HSTs again in a few minutes!)
The colors are ranged lightest at the top to darkest at the bottom, with the diamonds also light to dark. I think it looks like bubbles rising from the depths, and that inspired the name - "Joy Rises".
I did straight line quilting on my long arm on this quilt, breaking the stitching at the blue diamonds. The quilting rows at the top are about 1/4" apart, and gradually get further and further apart towards the bottom of the quilt. At the bottom of the quilt, they are about 1" apart. It adds to the illusion of depth and distance in the quilt. I love it when a plan comes together!
The back of the quilt is pieced with scraps left over from piecing the front. I do love an improv back! And the whole quilt is lovely, soft and cuddly after washing. RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids are wonderful to work with!
And remember those little "bonus" HSTs? Well, I started fooling around with them on the design wall in the quilting studio at church, and came up with this design. I thought this might work, but needed to make a few more dark HSTs at home.
When I got home, laziness kicked in and I wondered what it would look like if I didn't make more dark HSTs, but instead took out some of the light ones from the middle.
And I loved the effect! To me it looks like a moon at night, at that time when you can also see the clouds reflecting the sunset. This one is called "Moonrise" and it's about 18" square. I don't often make mini quilts, but this one is going to hang on the wall in my studio!
For the quilting, I decided to use a technique I just learned from Christa Watson's new book, Machine Quilting With Style. Her method for quilting a spiral is so easy - all done with the walking foot! I love the way the quilting turned out, and the final mini is so much fun!
The spiral quilting really enhances the "moon" effect! Sometimes a plan just comes together!
And now for the giveaway - would you like to win a fat quarter bundle of the beautiful colors I used for this quilt?
From left to right, they are: Shell Pink, Ballerina, Paris, Just Peachy, Flamingo, Elephantastic Pink, Tropicana, Beachy Coral, Amaryllis, Noel Red, Poolside, Riviera, and Horizon.
How do you enter? Easy!
1. Leave a comment below, and just to make it interesting, answer the question in the comment before yours, and leave another question for the person who follows you. I'll start it off with this one - sports car or SUV?
2. You can get an extra entry if you link up for Whoop Whoop Friday! It doesn't have to be a finish - just something you're happy to have accomplished this week!
3. If you're a follower of this blog, or if you follow me on Instagram (I'm @fabricaddictquilts), you can have an extra entry for either or both.
That's simple enough, isn't it? You can enter until Thursday, 9/24 at about noon, and I'll announce a winner on next Friday's whoop whoop post!
(Apologies to my international readers, but the giveaway this time is limited to the U.S. and Canada.)
And just because it's pretty, here's another shot of "Joy Rises"!
And that's my happy dance for the week -
can I get a whoop whoop?
*&*&*&*&*&*&*
And now it's your turn!
What's got you whooping it up this week?
What's got you dancing a happy little dance?
Share - we want to dance right along with you -
And it's always more fun to dance with friends!
This week the linky will stay open until Thursday at noon.
Hope to see you there!
Hugs!
Sarah
