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Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles Finished

Posted on July 17, 2017July 20, 2017by Tisha

Scrappy unicorn rainbow sprinkles by quiltytherapy #scrapquilt #paperpiecing #modernquilt

Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles is finished and ready for her next adventure. It would be great if this quilt left a trail of rainbow sprinkles everywhere it went. Instead it just brings lots of color and brightness to a room.

It was fun to watch scraps from friends become something cohesive and lovely. Thank you again Lisa, Erika, and Lindsay for sharing your scraps. I would love to hear your thoughts below on the quilt and any of your scraps you recognize.

When it came time to pick the backing on this quilt, I was sure I was going to make a scrappy one to flow with the front. I wondered if I would have a vintage sheet that would work and began digging into that stash. I did find a sheet that could have worked if the blue was a little more aqua. While the vintage sheet would have worked, it didn’t feel right. I would have wanted to change it after quilting it. Instead I found this solid green sheet that coordinated with the greens on the front.

Remember the purple polka dot binding from Thistle Storm? I had so much of it left that it ended up being enough to bind this quilt. Everything on this quilt is either a scrap or stash item I had not used in awhile. Feels good to finally give some of these fabrics a new purpose and use.

As I finished the quilt top, I realized there were a few errors that I hoped to work out in the quilting. One or two were too big to ultimately just quilt closed. I had to go back and zig zag stitch over them. While it’s disappointing that this quilt isn’t perfect, it now has it’s own flare and design elements. After my IMQG meeting they couldn’t really see the issue. If a group of quilters can’t see it, then there is no use in stressing over it.

For the quilting, I went with wavy lines again. It’s a simple method that I want to keep building my skills on. The waves add a softness to the overall look.

Look at all the crinkles post wash. I want to take it on a picnic or snuggle under it on the couch. If you’re looking for a quilt to add color to a room, you can find this quilt here on Etsy.

You can read about the process of the quilt below.

Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles

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Meet Thistle Storm

Posted on July 4, 2017July 18, 2017by Tisha

You have seen this quilt before called April Showers.

The quilt came out of the dryer and demanded a new, more fierce name. Thistle Storm was born and so did our adventures together.

In typical quilt blog fashion, I put Thistle Storm on the fence out back. She, yes it’s a girl quilt, started laughing. It was more of a mocking. “Really?” she said, “Just the fence. Come on. I deserve way better photos than this.” “Fine,” I replied and began scouting locations.

My husband works at a beautiful old estate turned event venue here in Indy. Maybe their grounds would have some good photo opportunities. We ventured over on a Friday afternoon and started with a normal quilt photo. Thanks hubby for holding it up. We walked along a pathway, but Thistle Storm became tired and wanted to rest on the bench.

After a brief rest she noticed the brook ahead and wanted to climb on the rocks. “Does this bush make me look fabulous?,” she asked. “It’s not your best pose, but we can make it work,” I replied.

We finished our photoshoot on these lovely brick stairs. She stretched out and enjoyed the sun for a few minutes. “I could just lay here all day and watch the clouds,” she noted. This is my favorite pose from the session. Once we were done she bunched herself up and rode home in the front seat. She was excited to see her photos.

Photo editing would have to wait until after my run. Thistle Storm is the laziest quilt around. She laid on the couch binge watching The Great British Bake Off on Netflix as I was sweating my ass off. She shrieked in horror when we pulled up to daycare to pick up P. “Please don’t let sticky fingers get on me,” she pleaded. P was unimpressed with her antics.

Since this quilt is so lazy, she needs to find a new home. Below is a bit more about the specifics on the Thistle Storm and how she can come stay at your house.

Quilt Layout

Kona Thistle is the light purple feature. Notice the detail in the purple floral print? It also has thistles which is no coincidence. In an ah-ha moment at the quilt shop I knew it felt right. I adore the purple to gray transition, a different version of Icy Waters from what I have seen.

Backing

I used leftover yardage for the backing to create something pieced and scrappy.

Quilting

Why did I wait so long to quilt this? I was scared of making waves and that it would look terrible. After trying one, it wasn’t horrible. The rest turned out well. There are a couple of hiccups in the quilting, but I’m okay with that. Wavy lines may become a new go to for me.

Binding

White and lavender polka dots had been in stash for years, YEARS! As I was piecing the top, I remembered this print buried in my fabric cart. Rather than the 1.5 inch strips I normally use, I cut this at 2.5 inches. It was therapeutic to press yards of binding. There is some left over and now I need something to bind in this great print.

Of course I went with machine binding.

You find the quilt on Etsy and is ready to head to a new home.

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All The Way Up – Kona HSTs Gender Neutral Quilt

Posted on May 24, 2017August 4, 2017by Tisha

This quilt is a good example of what happens when you just play and create. You can evaluate the design and make changes more easily. It all started with two charm packs and some ideas.

Originally, I had planned a disappearing nine patch pattern. It wasn’t right. Half square triangles seemed to fit the quilt better. The change was a better move, but the overall layout wasn’t working. I put the squares away for another day.

While stuck at home on a Saturday, I busted out the squares to try again. The idea to try arrows struck and well, I liked it.

Adding the light gray borders created an offset look. Yeah, this will do.

Upon basting the quilt it was apparent I had no clue where I was going with the quilting. An offset triangle seemed like a good starting point. I repeated the triangle a few times before I realized it sucked. You can read about my decision here.

My quilting specialty is straight lines. I should have stuck to that in the first place as straight lines were my first idea. After recently playing around with free motion quilting, I wanted to do something different. I didn’t need to do something different, I needed to listen to my gut and just create.

I named the quilt All The Way Up. Maybe it should be named All The Way Fed Up. In all seriousness this quilt reminded me creating isn’t easy. Going through the process to create an original design allows for growth. Growth is what you want when you’ve been stuck in a creative rut.

Here is the finished quilt. I love the arrows created with half square triangles. Below you get a detailed look at the straight line quilting.

I found this Dear Stella stripe at a local quilt shop a while back and had it in my stash. When I started looking for backing I dawned on me that I had it. The colors coordinate perfectly and the stripe is vertical.

The quilt has SOLD on Etsy.

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday

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It’s Okay To Grab The Seam Ripper

Posted on May 16, 2017June 6, 2017by Tisha

If you don’t like where a project is going, it’s okay to grab the seam ripper and start over. It’s a lesson I had to remind myself of yesterday. Sunday afternoon I started quilting on the Kona HST quilt in my WIP pile.

I had been contemplating the quilting design and decided to just move forward with it. Starting with an offset triangle and following that design around. All was well until I had to change the bobbin. Something wasn’t right after I changed it. New thread? The tension is off? Fingers crossed it isn’t something more, like the timing.

Working on the quilted triangles I started to question my original idea. After taking a few hours away from the machine, I couldn’t shake that feeling that it wasn’t right.

Yesterday some frantic texts were shared with Rachael to get a second opinion. She agreed with my assessment. It’s okay, but not exactly right. Notice those evenly spaced horizontal lines? That’s where I want this design to go.

Last night I grabbed my trusty seam ripper and started busting up the stitches. The first row was painful. As I went on taking out the quilting became satisfying. Taking out what I didn’t feel was the right design is time consuming. Ultimately, I will be happier with the finished product. For now, this sits in my sewing space waiting for me to get home from work.

Do you have any projects that you’ve taken the seam ripper to? If so, how did you feel after?

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Rockstar Challenge Quilt

Posted on May 10, 2017August 4, 2017by Tisha

Has a concert ever left you energized and full of creative ideas? When we saw The Head and The Heart in February, it gave me the inspiration for my Creative Rockstar Challenge quilt. Prior to the concert I had received these fabrics from Riley Blake to use to create a quilt. I had been mulling over ideas since I received the fabric, but nothing was really sticking.

The fabrics in this line were more my style than previous challenges. There are some great basics in there.

Okay, let me get back to night of the concert and walk you through my design process. We got to the venue early and realized we had amazing seats. The whole back drop was appealing and when the lights were illuminated it was stunning. It reminded me of 80’s Miami Vice almost. During one song the quilt idea just started coming to me. I grabbed my phone and took a video so I could remember the moment.

La-la-la-la was the perfect inspiration to bring these fabrics together. As they sang I started to see the quilt come together.

Rather than the glowing orbs on stage, I was seeing stars and the word la all over. It was exhilarating and my energy was high post inspiration. After leaving the concert I was inspired and drew the idea out, then sat on it for a couple of days. After a couple of days I was still very drawn to this idea and needed to see it come together. BrewStitched had most of the Riley Blake Creative Rockstar fabric in stock.

I picked these up to round out my quilt’s idea. The black for the background and gray for the binding. Oh yeah, those leaves for something else I’m working on.

Without further ado, here is the finished quilt.

It reminds me of the backdrop and it’s pretty close to my original idea. I always wash and dry my quilts before pictures, especially if I plan to sell it later. It’s the best way to check for errors. Well, I had a few errors crop up. The heat bond didn’t stick as well on the back of the letters and stars. Rather than zig zag stitch them down, I just ironed and quilted. For longevity it needs to be more secure. Luckily, I had some embroidery floss sitting around and went back in to hand quilt the stars and la(s). It feels softer by adding the hand quilting and pretty successful for my first go round with the method. There may have been some frantic texts to a friend about how in the world to hand quilt. I got over my fear of screwing it up and just went for it.

The backing fabric really pulls all the colors together from the quilt. As I was shopping for fabric, this fabric really caught my eye, it blends all the colors I wanted to use and helped me pick gray for the binding. Guys, that is hand stitched binding too.

This is going to make a wonderful shower gift or new baby gift for someone. You can see the listing on Etsy here. SOLD

If you’ve never heard All We Ever Knew in it’s entirety, it is below. Enjoy.

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Kona HSTs Quilt

Posted on April 18, 2017April 18, 2017by Tisha

Funny that I had in mind EXACTLY what I wanted to do with these Kona charm packs I picked up a while back. The vision was clear and the finished project looked amazing in my mind. As I started to lay out the charm squares for a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt I hated it. This design was not coming together like my vision.

I walked away from it and went to work on Spring Granny Squares. An idea struck to create half square triangles. Hmmm, that could work. I grabbed my Hera Marker and started marking. If you don’t have a Hera Marker, get one. Add it to your quilty items wishlist or it’s a great stocking stuffer. Every quilter should have one and it’s a time saving when marking half square triangles.

After marking everything it’s pretty easy to just sit down and chain piece. I find it therapeutic to just piece and have the machine humming along. While working on this I binged on Frankie and Grace on Netflix. Great laughs to get through pressing and trimming too.

Once the blocks were trimmed I started on layout number two. Randomly laid out half square triangles and it just wasn’t right either. During the quilt retreat one version of the V&Co HST quilt was similar to a flying geese layout. Hmm, would that work?

This layout took some shuffling around to balance it out and make it work. Each row has a couple of blocks that form more of an arrow. At this size it’s a small baby quilt, so I grabbed some solid gray from stash. It matched one of the lighter grays perfectly. The finished look is more offset which I really like.

The quilting on this has me stumped. I have had some wonderful suggestions so far. Hopefully there is time this week to just sit down and quilt. Much like the design aspect of this quilt, I’m sure there will be a couple of versions tried before I decide to keep it.

Do you have any quilting ideas for this one? Leave them in the comments.

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