Modern Paris

Modern Paris

72'' x 72''

Do you remember this stack of fabric? And all these scraps? Well, here is the finished quilt. A pattern published in Quilter's Connection too!

This is one of those quilts that isn't difficult, but it does take a bit of time. Loads of half square triangles and circles. I never get bored of those, even with the trimming. And all with some of my favourite low volume love. It started with the Vanity Fair fabric from Dear Stella and an orphan block from my Craftsy class. Then it all came together as a wedding present for friends of ours.

The name came courtesy of our friends, actually. They honeymooned in Paris. And they let me take these shots at their house.

This is one of those quilts that definitely whispers. The value differences in the half square triangles are quite subtle most of the time. Texture matters more than value in this case. It finishes with a very soft and scrappy look. That being said, I think this design would be incredible in high contrast. So bold, especially with the positive/negative part in the circle blocks.

To accentuate the circles I quilted it with swirls all over. And used my favourite Aurifil 2600. That grey goes with nearly everything, I use it all the time.

Thank-you to Dear Stella for providing the initial inspiration with their fabric bundle of Vanity Fair. It is quite the pretty line and it was wonderful to work with.

And congratulations to our friends, may this quilt keep you even warmer as our winter keeps on.

Friday Favourite - The Kwik Klip

My least favourite part of quiltmaking is basting quilts. It really is the reason quilt tops languish in my closet. I think I'm slow at it, that's part of the problem. And now, with our TV in the basement, I can't rope Hubby into helping me anymore! I baste on the living room floor. When the TV was up here he had no choice - watch me get in his way or get on the ground and help me. Now he runs away to the TV as soon as he sees me pull out the masking tape and pins.

Loving me is not enough, the only reason he was willing to help me is that he was allowed to use the tool involved. Men and tools, right? Man oh man, he can wield a Kwik Klip like the boss.

Honestly, if it wasn't for a Kwik Klip none of my quilts would get basted. I am a pin baster, and I use a lot of pins. (I didn't think it was a lot, but then I saw people commenting on an IG photo of someone else's basted quilt. So many pins! Wow, you sure use a lot of pins! And there I was thinking that it looked totally normal. But I don't get puckers with my quilting. Happy for that trade off.) So the Kwik Klip makes very short work of closing all those pins. And it saves both what is there of my nails and my fingertips.

You simply hold the tool in your dominant hand, lift up the straight part of the pin, and clip it into place. Done. I've heard of people using an old teaspoon to the same effect. That, however, is not as fancy as the tool. And seriously, if a tool is what it takes to get your man to help you with the basting then a tool is what you should get.

I'm sharing this post as part of National Sewing Month, brought to you by The Sewing Loft. Check out a month long list of sewers sharing their favourite tools.

Friday Favourite: Easy Thread Sewing Needles

With a million threads to bury on that beast of a quilt I pulled out these needles. They were part of some swag in the Denyse Schmidt Improv class from QuiltCon and they originally come from Purl Soho. I put them aside after trying them for binding. (Not a good use there - it cut the thread sometimes and was thick for getting through the small edge of the binding.) But I find them absolutely perfect for burying threads.

I must admit, I never used to bury my threads. I just stitched once or twice where I started then cut flush. Frankly, I was lazy. But the finished look was nowhere near as neat. So now I spend the evening burying threads and am much happier with the finished results. I do tend to wait until I'm done all the quilting so it can add up to a fair amount of work, but I find it easier and it doesn't break with my machine quilting rhythm.

I do exactly the same technique as Amanda. And these easy thread needles are perfect for it. They save you trying to thread two threads into the eye of the needle, and having sit awkwardly in order to use your eye, at eye height, to thread what are likely to be short threads attached to a heavy quilt.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the intensity of that quilting, here is my thread. Can you see it? That's 1000 meters of thread per spool! I used one whole spool and then some.

Been Quilting

All three seasons of Downton Abbey. Almost all the Ted Med lectures, plus a few others. About a dozen beers. And one very sore set of shoulders later and I am done quilting this beast! (Yes, that's a king sized bed up there with a deep mattress.)

No, that's not an earthquake, that's me jumping up and down.

Now, just to bury a million threads, square it up, bind and wash it. Thanks for all the cheerleading along the way!

That's our original wedding quilt underneath.