Blogger's Quilt Festival - Night Music in the Desert

I've decided to enter my Night Music in the Desert quilt into this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival. I'm entering this bad boy into the Original Design category, where it faces much stiff competition.

I was so excited when I finished the top!

In this quit I really embraced my love of log cabins and improv. I used 5 solids for the top, mostly Kona Jade (I think)

I had seen some log cabin quilts on pinterest...or someone's blog...or somewhere in the internet. Of course I didn't pin it myself. I'd also had the color scheme in mind, and it lead to some test blocks. Unfortunately, the test blocks didn't quite cut it, so I turned them into potholders for my sister and one of her friends. 

Test blocks become potholders. 

Eventually I got my act together, and sketched out a pattern (which looks vaguely like the finished quilt), and realized if I wanted to go forward with the design I needed to add in some additional colors. I started by incorporating improv color strips into the center row, and I knew that it was the right decision.

Center complete. Now let's just let it sit for a few months...

So, back in January, 2014 I was well on my way! Just a few more blocks and I'm done! It only took me 7 and a half  months until I was actually done! As is often the case, the quilt kept hitting the back burner. I would sew in spurts, six log cabins here, 4 here, until they were all done.

Fun with Courthouse Squares. And extra threads. 

Finally, I got the quilt finished, picked out a backing and brought it to my parents house (much easier to baste there). I got it all basted together and then didn't.know.what.to.do. 

After a couple more weeks I realized a square spiral would not push my skill set too far, and would complement the top without distracting too much from my piecing and color choices. 

All quilted up and in the park!

Now the quilt sits on my couch. It's covered in pet hair, which clearly means it's much loved. I'd show you it's natural habitat, although I'm a little too embarrassed!

It was a great exercise in spontaneous piecing, as I just threw in colors when I felt like it, and then hoped for the best. Know how many extra blocks I made, so that I could play around with layouts? None. I feel like it helps me stretch my creative muscles, and work on compromise. Not everything has to be perfect! At least that's what I tell myself when my quilting stitches change length randomly and my lines wiggle too much. We'll see if I can keep up this mentality on future quilts.

I had created the layout for the most part (the only wild cards were the flying geese rows on the top and bottom), and then added on the borders while everything was on the design wall. The quilt measures somewhere in the ballpark of 60" by 72"...I think. I don't know where my measurements are and that's my estimate based on counting the blocks and attempting to recall their sizes. 

Thanks for stopping by! If you're so inclined, I've got a couple of other posts on the finished quilt and finished flimsy. 

Finished Night Music

Finished Quilt!

Well, I got home from that vacation and just went to town quilting. I am really attempting to minimize my works in progress, so I REALLY wanted to finish this quilt before starting on another...which I already have planned, and am motivated by the imminent due date of my old roommate's baby boy (as long as I get it to her while the baby is under 1 year it still counts, right?). Needless to say, the motivation was there, and I just had to figure out how to quilt it. I decided on a square spiral originating in the center of the quilt. Due to my aversion for marking lines it gets a little squiggly from time to time, and the crispness of the angles is off, but I think it works as a whole. I even used my walking foot guide, so these are the most even lines I've quilted so far!

Quilt Back

I backed the quilt in two prints I picked up that I felt really went well with the color scheme and feeling of the quilt. The one on the left is Anna Maria Horner and the one on the right is Tula Pink (not solid blue!). I forgot to add a label while I was binding, so I appliqued one on after it was all done. It's in the lower left corner, and is my typical stamped label (no close up - whoops).

The whole shebang. 

I designed the layout myself, and made it a row quilt. The center is made up of 12 blocks, then on each side there are two rows of 6 log cabin blocks, and the ends are flying geese. My process involved cutting all the strips for the cabins and adding in some red, yellow, and lighter blue strips in each size. As I went along I used the kona jade and black as my base colors and added in other pops randomly. I didn't get to see what it would look like until I put it up on my design wall. Regarding my design wall, I only have one when I've finally bought some batting and am about to piece a quilt top, so they are temporary fixtures in the apartment. I don't usually lay out blocks on the floor, so it's all guesswork until I get to the end. I added in some of my leftover fabrics as spacing between the rows and as a border around the quilt. I also bound the quilt in some of the scraps. I like how the quilt maintains the feeling of colorful chaos, but there are still places where your eye can rest. 

Quilt and end of summer flowers (not mine, I went to a park on the waterfront).

Now the quilt is resting on the couch under a cat, and I'm all set to start my next project!  

Night Music in the Desert

I got it sewn together! I really, really, really wanted to get this basted before I left, and at the time I'm writing this I still haven't done it, but I'm hoping that I will have by the time you're reading it. Confused?

Night Music...during the day?

I was so happy to finish piecing this. Lots of the blocks are slightly different sizes, owing to my imprecise construction when I started making the quilt. Despite my obsession with getting perfect points I kind of like it the effect of slightly misaligned blocks here, it adds to the vibrant feeling of the quilt top.

Blowing in the wind. 

I was inspired by the Quilts of Gee's Bend, and Aztec and Soutwest tribal designs. I designed the pattern myself, and then planned the main color palate (teal and black with the lighter blue), and got two other colors (yellow and red), which I used as accents. While I was working on the layout my goal was to create subtle color paths with the accent colors, although it was tricky since I hadn't planned the layout prior to making the blocks! I really just focused on making each block, and once they were done I made due with what I had created.

I liked how the shadows from the fire escape played with the quilt here. 

So far it's been a fun project. Now I've just got to quilt it up. Eek? Any suggestions? I'm limited to walking foot designs (which doesn't mean straight, I just can't freemotion - both due to lack of skill and limited sewing machine capabilities).

Tula on the Left, Anna Maria on the right. 

The back is from Anna Marie Horner's hand drawn garden collection, with a great Tula Pink print to make up the rest of the width. It's going to be pretty simple, and the colors will complement the front nicely.

One last shot. Looking long and lean!

Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Slow Down!

Well, it's about time for Summer VACATION! I'm working hard to finish up a few school related things, and a few quilt related things. Last week I posted about my log cabin love affair, now you can see how the blocks are going to be used! I'm still tweaking the layout a bit, and I'm loving the bold colors. They're all Kona solids. I think.

Nearly final layout. Some more strips,
and a narrow border will complete it. 

My goal is to at least finish the flimsy before I leave, keeping in mind my other commitments and that we're leaving for Honduras for 10 days next Tuesday. Plus I have a finish to share as well, and one other project I want to make before I leave!

I thought I said this was the summer slow down...guess that starts with vacation!

Any suggestions for the name would be appreciated as well. I've been working with Graphic Southwest and Pixelated Southwest, neither of which really roll off the tongue.