Mosaic Quilt

This finish has been a long time in the works. I started two Indie Star quilts in the fall of 2012 and finished them last year. You can read about them here and here. This Mosaic quilt is made with the last few scraps leftover from the fat quarter stack of Indie prints that I bought in 2012.

I cut the scraps into 3.5" squares and then continued to make a mosaic panel adding Kona Coal to the pieces.

I really didn't know where this piece was going and just kept adding to it. I decided to make it pretty modern and added lots of negative space to the panel using the cross hatch print in the Summerville collection.

I still had a good sized piece of this duvet cover I had bought at IKEA for the backing on another quilt. It was the perfect backing for this piece, but a little short, so I added a piece of the Dynasty Saffron print from the Indie line to it and it worked out great and added another look to the back.

The panel is quilted with straight lines, stitched in the ditch of the 4 inch squares. All the negative space is quilted using the serpentine stitch setting on the Bernina.

The loosely spaced quilting added some nice texture, but left the quilt still feeling soft and cuddly.

For the binding I had almost enough of this Kona Gold fabric, finishing up the last foot or two of binding with more of the Summerville print.

This quilt is for a very special friend, so until I give it to him, the recipient's name will remain a secret. Shhh!

Quilt Stats:
name: Mosaic Quilt
Fabrics used: Indie by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics and Summerville
Batting: Warm and White
Backing: IKEA duvet cover and Dynasty Saffron print from the Indie Collection
Binding: Kona Gold
Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt.
Quilting: straight lines and Bernina serpentine stitch using Isacord Grey 40 wt.
Size: 60"x 81"

This is my 4th finish on my Finish-A-Long list. Can I finish all 5? That is a good question.

Winterkist Chevron Quilt

This is the oddest sized quilt I have ever made, long and skinny. It only seems appropriate that I should have a long and skinny person hold it up for me. Mr. Romance is standing on a chair with his arms fully stretched and it is just skimming the ground.

But it ended up being a fun finish. The appliqued, tumbling gnomes were the perfect addition to make it a fun and not so traditional Christmas quilt.

My long arm quilter used a snowflake all-over pattern to quilt it. I knew I wanted snowflakes from the very beginning when starting this quilt. They are probably the only snowflakes we will see in Southern California this Christmas...or ever. SHe used a very pale pink color of Perma Core thread to help give it a little contrast.

I have had this fabric for a while and when I saw a tutorial on Amanda Jean's blog I knew it was what I wanted to make with this stack of unconventional Christmas/Winter prints.

The backing is a soft, sketch flannel. I made sure to pre-wash it for shrinkage and to avoid any colors running and bleeding onto the pure white front of the quilt. I used the leftover strips to make a scrappy binding along with the addition of more Kona white. This time I machine stitched the binding with a decorative stitch. #321, on the Bernina, is a cross stitch pattern and looks good on the front and back of the quilt.

I can just imagine all the grandkids snuggled under this quilt this Christmas, sitting on the couch, watching Elf, the Movie.

 

But for now, this quilt will be folded up and put away. I hope I remember to pull it out of the quilt closet in December.

One more finish on my Finish-A-Long list. If I work really hard I just might be able to check off all five projects that I put on my list. 

Quilt Stats:

Name: Winterkist Chevron Quilt

Size: 55" x 109"

Fabrics used: 16 fat quarters of winterkist by Monica Solorio, Kona White

Batting: Warm and Natural

Backing: Sketch Flannel in Kiss

quilted with Perma Core Thread by Susie Peterson 

Sew South Retreat

My Sew South experience started out with some frustration and a broken sewing machine. The airlines would not let me take my Carry On approved sized bag on board because they said the overhead bins were full. I had to release my sewing machine to a baggage attendant, which was not protected to be in the baggage hold. Meanwhile, several people got on board after me and put their bags in the overhead bins  Grrrrr! When I arrived in Charlotte, I realized it had been badly bent and it was making a horrible metal on metal sound. So there I was at a sewing retreat with a broken sewing machine.

It turns out my broken machine was a blessing in disguise, but don't tell the airlines. I had the best time because I was able to move around and talk to more friends, old and new, while they sewed. Everyone kept asking me if I was ok and were expressing their disappointment for me that I was not able to sew. But really, I was ok. Making lemonade from lemons. I can't comment on the classes and workshops except to tell you everyone did a great job teaching their classes and there were many beautifully finished projects to show off. You can check the Sew South Flickr page to see lots of photos of everything.

I got to see Dana's beautiful quilt, made by her Circle 7 bee.

Dana, helped me share my Searching for Fall Modern Maples quilt.

I was the resident clamshell authority, having just completed a king sized clamshell quilt, so I got to help others who were making one during open sew time. Here is Melissa cutting her Briar Rose clamshell quilt with the Accuquilt.

I snuck out during one of the classes and went up to my room to hand stitch the binding on the group quilt we all made for Jennifer. I even used the glue basting kit we received in our swag bags to make the stitching easier. It was my privelege to finish 2 sides of the binding while watching the movie Taken 2 on TV. Now I want to see Taken...the first in the series. Then I sent people up to my room, 2 by 2, to finish stitching the binding down. We had it finished in no time.

We had group dinners every night and got to chat and share all the good and bad of life's journey, not just our sewing obsession.

Karen, who is originally from Vermont, has been helping me plan our fall vacation and brought me a sample of the hard cider I can expect to drink when we go to Vermont in October.

Secret Sister is always a fun and sneaky part of Sew South. Giving and receiving little secret gifts all weekend was fun. Here is a photo of Valerie and I doing the "ugly cry" when she found out I was her secret sister.

I was spoiled by my secret sister too. Amy had me pegged pretty well.

I remembered to snap of photo of these delicious made in Vermont chocolate covered sea salt caramels before I ate them all. I will definitely be getting more of these on our vacation.

It was an honor to meet the incredibly talented Alison Glass. 

Alison was not only our keynote speaker, but she taught the embroidery class. This is the project we were given to work on, along with all the Perle Cottons donated by Sew Lux.

I am almost finished with this project, but here is how much I had finished at the retreat. It will eventually become a needle book. Alison also brought some of her beautiful fabrics and Aurifil Thread boxes to sell at the market. I might have bought and odered some things from her (wink, wink).

The best thing about Sew South are the friends you make. It was so great to reconnect with old friends and also to make new friends. I am in the Stitch Tease Bee with these girls, Trina, Valerie and Cindy.

New friends from Michigan, Karen and Shirley, were a lot of fun.

I did a selfie overload with some of my favorite people.

Everyone, I mean everyone, had a Travel Handmade bag or two or three. This photo was snagged from Coutney's Instagram feed.

It was all tears and squeals when Valerie presented Jennifer with the quilt we made as a group.

We received so much swag. I am glad I took a half empty suitcase with me.

A couple of sweet friends made me or gave me some special gifts.

And I was welcomed home in typical Mr. Romance style.

Thank you to Jennifer for putting together another fantastic retreat. 

Thanks to the sponsors for all their generous swag.

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