Whit's End | Quilting

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Grandma’s Attic Quilt Progress

I posted here earlier about finding some fabric in my grandma’s attic. It was all calico and country-looking, not really my style, so I decided to incorporate some solids and lots of white for a more modern design. Using this tutorial from p.s. i quilt I got to work constructing lots of half square triangles!

These squares are all sewn up and ready to be sliced in half.

And voila! A (mostly) done quilt top. Ignore the errant threads and not completely matching points! I’m going to add a white border all around, then need to sew together the quilt back, baste, quilt, and bind.

Posted in Quilting ♥ 08.09.2011 at 8:23 pm ♥ 1 Comment

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Flickr Faves: July 22

1. Solid Challenge AAMQG Detail, 2. Sticks and Stones, 3. Rip, Rip, Ripping fabric challenge, 4. Dresden Gone Urban 2011 (Back), 5. Sam’s quilt, 6. Black Opals quilt, 7. 3LC in process, 8. Kona Challenge, 9. KHQ back view, 10. IMG_4883, 11. baby Ingrid in progress, 12. Chartreuse and Raspberry, 13. seaglass quilt top, 14. Broken Dishes Quilt top, 15. solids challenge quilt top, 16. love those geese!

Posted in Inspiration, Quilting ♥ 07.22.2011 at 4:56 pm ♥ Leave a comment

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Projects in Progress

Um, it’s July already? When did that happen? I suppose I’ve been making steady progress on my quilting projects — besides my three completed quilts, I have three quilt tops (two with backs) done and four others in various stages of planning and cutting. Here’s what’s coming down the pipeline…

Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley quilt

Zig Zag Quilt with a custom bundle from Fabric Worm

Liberty quilt

Posted in Quilting ♥ 07.05.2011 at 10:07 am ♥ Leave a comment

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Russ and Chelsea’s Wedding Quilt

When I found out that one of my best friends from middle school, Chelsea, was getting married, I knew I wanted to make them a quilt. It had to be special because she’s a dear friend and it had to be cool because she has an amazing design sensibility. I decided to go ultra modern with a bright, solids-only quilt with strong lines. I was highly influenced by a rug from Tree Fall Designs and this driftwood art by paintsquare on Etsy. It’s primarily Kona Cottons (seafoam, candy green, spruce, coral, gold, and natural (I think?)) with a couple scraps of other naturals and a linen. I also did some hand embroidery (for the first time!) to personalize it. And it’s meant to be a lap quilt, but I don’t remember the exact dimensions — something around 50″ by 70″, maybe?

Anyway, here it is!

And here’s the happy couple

Posted in Quilting ♥ 07.01.2011 at 8:02 pm ♥ 1 Comment

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Monochromatic Quilt

When the Modern Quilt Guild announced its second challenge, the monochromatic challenge, I knew I had to participate. My mind immediately jumped to whites/naturals, so I started collecting fabrics before solidfying a design.

I decided to base my design on a sort of plaid pattern, with interweaving stripes of various widths. I started with an Illustrator mock-up, which I’ve just begun experimenting with as an initial design tool. It’s working quite well!

Next, I drew up the design on graph paper to get the sizes all set and figure out how much fabric to cut. If I don’t write everything down, I inevitably forget a crucial piece, so my notes sometimes get a little intense and probably don’t make sense to anyone else!

After almost giving up on the whole thing when I first started the quilting — my initial plan was a bit too ambitious — I’m super pleased with the result!

I didn’t end up winning the challenge, but that’s fine with me (check out the winners here). The challenge forced me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to make the first quilt that’s entirely mine, from fabric selection to design to final execution.

Posted in Quilting ♥ 05.09.2011 at 4:53 pm ♥ 1 Comment

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Grandma’s Attic

Last week, I took a trip to Memphis, TN to visit a bunch of family, including my grandma and various aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are in the process of sorting through 60 years worth of possessions, some of which I got to take a look at while I was there, including the sewing stash. There were lots of wacky fabrics from the ’60s through ’80s, but I did find a few pieces that will make a nice quilt.

I’ll probably incorporate some pink, maroon, and blue solids in there as well.

The coolest find were these hand sewn quilt blocks. According to a note with them, they were made by a great-great-great grandmother in the late 1800s. I wish I knew more about them — why only six? — but my grandma couldn’t remember their story.

Posted in Quilting ♥ 04.20.2011 at 7:08 pm ♥ Leave a comment

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Flickr Faves: March 18

1. UHGS Zig Zag Table Runner, 2. Sonnenschein, 3. Zig Zag Baby Quilt, 4. Hugs & Kisses – Photo Shoot Outtakes, 5. flea market fancy strip quilt, 6. flea market fancy strip quilt back, 7. improv, 8. Neptune Wave Quilt, 9. Mod Mosaic 15 blocks on design wall, 10. Turnover quilt – back, 11. Done and stuffed, 12. Sunnyside Up, 13. stargazer quilt back, 14. Tula Pink Bee block, 15. Stephs Quilt close up, 16. Tiffany Binding

Posted in Quilting ♥ 03.18.2011 at 6:11 pm ♥ Leave a comment

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Santa Barbara Modern Quilt Guild: February Recap

The February meeting of The Santa Barbara Modern Quilt Guild featured lots of gorgeous quilts and spirited discussion, as usual. Wendy and Irelle shared their experience at the Fabric Quarter‘s first quilt show as a vendor, we welcomed a new member, and enjoyed some fabulous salted caramel cupcakes for Raven’s birthday from Violette Bakeshop courtesy of Liz. We also brought fabric scraps for next month’s challenge and blindly swapped them for someone else’s. Now we have to make a 12.5″ block using the scraps for our next meeting — should be fun!

Mary showed her colorful baby quilt with lots of cute animal prints.

Karen gave us a peek at her in progress doll quilt for a school auction.

Here’s me with my Moda Botany quilt.

Our newest member, Erin, is working on a red, orange, and pink hexagon quilt.

Virginia made this art quilt using techniques she learned in a Jean Wells workshop hosted by the Coastal Quilters Guild.

Raven is putting together this quilt for an auction at The Oaks Parent Child Workshop.

Raven also shared this almost-complete quilt!

Liz asked for some assistance brainstorming a layout for a jungle-themed baby quilt in progress.

Irelle is working on an ambitious quilt-as-you-go project for a school auction.

She has also whipped up these quilt tops. This one features Wild World by Jenean Morrison.

This one has Magnolia Lane fabrics.

See you next month!

Posted in Quilting ♥ 03.07.2011 at 7:45 pm ♥ 1 Comment

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Moda Botany Quilt — Complete!

So, I’ve finally finished this quilt made from a Moda Botany layer cake that I started back in September. I used this Snuggly Layer Cake Throw pattern, though I used one of the fabrics, plus some scraps, to make the quilt back instead of the Moda Snuggles. I grew quite sick of this one during its construction, which led to minimal quilting, but now that it’s complete, I actually like it! I think it would be a fun option for spring picnics or general laying about outside.