Wednesday, July 13, 2016

My Happy Place

This was the second quilt I made for the Henry Glass Desire to Inspire Challenge in June.  I ran out of time to get it fully finished by the end of June, but it is done now!  I used up almost every bit of the fabric I had left to make it.
I'm pretty pretty pleased with how this turned out.
I was happy that the seagulls stayed on the beach or in the water, and not overhead for the photo shoot!
The colours are so saturated, aren't they?

Here is the flimsy:
This is based on a pattern in Pam & Nicky Lintott's book, More Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts

 I got creative with piecing some of the 5" squares, cobbling together strips.
Here I pieced strips of the fabric that separates the blocks on the panel, as well as strips of one of the trees and words fabrics. I was pleased to include the name of the fabric line and almost all of Janet Rae Nesbitt's name in one of the squares!
One of the panel blocks is in the lower left corner of the quilt.  This block led to the name of the quilt.


Bella approved:
I'd set it down on the basement floor as I prepared the binding.  But of course that is an invitation for a kitty to inspect, play (her grey 'mouse' that holds wonderful homegrown catnip from 'Jake' one of my readers - sadly Bella seems to be snobby in that regard too, not too bothered and doesn't go too crazy after nuzzling it, like how??)  Anyhow she loves the backing, brown and blue...

Here it is before washing, on the patio in the shade:
I was pretty pleased with the health of my stash; I knew I wanted a navy blue binding, but when I found this 1/2 yard piece with tiny white stars on from who knows where/when....yesss! Fist pump!
I echoed 3 times in each star centre after ditch-stitching it first. Then I did a 5-pointed star in the very centre.  Was I blown away to find that in the dark green fabric there are the same tiny gold 5-pointed stars!  How did I not see that in all the other projects I made??  In the background squares, I did six different motifs along the wavy lines, separating them with a plain wavy line of quilting.  This covered half of the quilt, so I repeated the pattern once.  I also ditch-stitched every other row to give it stability since it isn't heavily quilted.
Here you see words, a 'pea pod' motif and a double leaf motif. Did I mention how much I love the woven fabrics in this line? You see all three I received in this shot, the gold, the pale blue plaid and the red.  There was not enough of the twill weave ones left.

This row of writing says "lake erie" twice, lower case intentional.  Above it is one of Christina Cameli's motifs, waves and intermitent cursive e's.
The other row of words:
The first row of words says 'sun' and 'warm' and then reverses the order in the repeat; under the leaf motif is a row of intermittent swirls to evoke water.
Little sprinkles of sand kept hopping onto the quilt...ha! which is how you pronounce my name!
Sandra like sand on the beach :-) Sneaked it in among the last row of swirls. 
Here is the back, all flannel; the chocolate brown is scrap from one of Dayna's quilts, which in turn, was scraps from a niece's quilt! It is totally gone now except for one 2" WOF strip.
I made my own label with scraps from the front; I had to unpick the binding a little to sew in my mmm! quilts label, nearly forgot.  The blue flannel was stash, and the leaves flannel is part of a fat quarter I had.

Written with a Pentel gel roller pen.. The handmade label is not supposed to be near the top edge of the quilt; somehow I rotated the back when I took it off the design wall and placed it on my cutting table for writing...Ah well, I actually do prefer this in the end; stars are up in the sky right?!

Sidenote about fabric quality: notice the pilling already on the blue flannel? Although it is a gorgeous mottled blue, I bought this at Fabricland quite a few years ago. It's got a lovely hand and weight and colour.  It compares very well to the brown which is from a quilt shop. However, two things: one, the first wash and it's already pilled, and second, good thing I had a colour catcher in the washer, as it came out quite blue! I know the Henry Glass Fabrics did not bleed at all, because I washed the first quilt I made with them, didn't have a colour catcher in, and even had a cream background for that quilt.
Exactly 4 weeks ago I displayed the fabrics here on this hall table.
I used Gütermann thread to piece the quilt, Fufus rayon for the wavy motifs and ditch-stitching.  It blended so well with all the fabrics.  I used Essential from Connecting Threads for the stars.  I have to say once again how much Avril the Avanté loves this thread. No breaks.  The rayon did from time to time but turning the needle to the '5:30' position instead of the '6:30' (eye straight on) position works like a charm.

Hey! Have you been taking advantage of the terrific summer sale this week at Connecting Threads?  No affiliation, but there have been some screaming good deals much like those in the spring (when I ordered uh...3 separate times...hey I was still state-side, so free shipping with $50.)  Today is up to 50% off wide backing fabrics.  They have extremely good shipping rates and DRUM ROLL OMG I JUST CHECKED: FREE to Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom with a $75 order.  I knew about Canada, because I've taken advantage of that, but did not realize they did this for the other two!

One last lake shot:
Should've taken a video so you could hear the perfect waves sounds...ahhh, happy place indeed.
Oh! Nearly forgot.  What am I reading? That one shot gave you a peek.  Here's a closer look:
I savour the May issue of Quilt Sampler throughout the summer; it's just a 'thing' to slowly soak it up.  I'm re-reading Dragonfly in Amber along with watching Season 2 (I have the last two episodes to watch yet, speaking of soaking it up; just loving it, even if Claire isn't quite 'right' in my mind, looks/body-wise).  Why The Railway Station Man, set in Ireland, is on my 'to read' pile, I don't know, but I am enjoying it and plan to watch the film.
Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  based on a Pam and Nicky Lintott pattern
Size: 43.5" across by 43.25 long ... not square! I wonder if it has to do with the crosswise/lengthwise grain of the flannel on the back? Interesting....
Fabric: scraps and leftover pieces from the Henry Glass Challenge fabrics, "Better at the Lake" by Janet Rae Nesbitt
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: pieced and quilted with Gütermann; quilted with Fufus rayon olive green and Essential #21252 Tea Dyed

Linking up with
Sew Fresh Quilts with Lorna
Scraptastic Tuesday with Nicky and Leanne
My Quilt Infatuation with Kelly
Confessions of a Fabric Addict with Sarah
Crazy Mom Quilts with Amanda Jean


22 comments:

  1. Beautiful finish, Sandra. I think your happy place is definitely quilting, but the beach with a good book looks like another great spot. In fact, walking with Rocco also comes to mind... as does laughing a Bella's beauty shot antics. And yoga! Actually, when I think about you, I think that you make the moment you are in a happy place. <3

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  2. Great quilt, great places to show it

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  3. Beautiful quilt! I like the idea of quilting words but haven't tried it yet. My latest finish I quilted wavy lines and in the beginning they were too straight. Funny thing is that when I was quilting straight lines they were too wavy.

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  4. Oh loving your quilt so much hopped over from Barbara's blog....hugs, Julierose

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  5. P.S. how're you liking "Dragonfly in Amber"?? I am still on chapter one...I loved her first two books--don't know yet about this one....hugs, Julierose

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  6. Oh, how I long to be there, laying on that quilt listening to the waves and enjoying the sun. This turned out perfect. With this quilt around, how could you not be in your happy place?? The colors are so rich and the quilting was a perfect choice. I think this is a lovely way to end your challenge. Did you send Henry Glass Fabrics a picture of it, now that it's finished?

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  7. Looks great Sandra. Sorry to see the pilling on the flannel. That must be irritating. It is an adorable finish tho. Like Tish, I would love to be sitting on that blanket with a good book! Tranquil.

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  8. A fun finish!! And one that looks like it will be well used and enjoyed:)

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  9. That is a gorgeous quilt, Sandra! I love the simple piecing design, with the addition of those corner triangles that make the neat gold stars. Your lake pictures just make me want to be there!

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  10. Love the quilt, Sandra, and I didn't know you were a fellow Outlander fan! I am loving the series - just different enough to make it interesting, but so nice to "see" all the characters I had only imagined before! Have you read all the books?

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  11. Lovely! It's just begging to have someone curl up under it.

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  12. A perfect finish of the Henry Glass fabrics! Enjoy the sun, sand and a great read.

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  13. I know you ALWAYS gift lme with sneak peeks, but it STILL never ceases to amaze me how magnificent the finished products become!

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  14. It's absolutely gorgeous! Happy beach time! XO

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  15. What a beautiful finish with so many great details. Thanks for linking up to #scraptastictuesday

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  16. I love your quilt ! I missed your blog posts on the process and I love this so much ! And your happy place

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  17. Sandra, you've done well with the fabric, and I think you and the fur babies deserve some downtime enjoying some of those books while lounging nearby a quilt. It's simply too hot to use it yet.

    Btw, I really loved seeing how the woven washed up. It definitely has that crinkly look that you get with quilting mid weights. I wasn't sure it would. Thank you for sharing all your lovely shots of the your 'neighborhood'. How lucky and appropriate you live by the shore.

    Julie

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  18. Oh what yummy fabrics and the perfect pattern for it-good job girl!!

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  19. The colours and the prints have a wool-like feel to them. It's a beautiful finish, Sandra!! Of course, love seeing Bella again :)

    -Soma

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  20. Your Happy Place makes me happy Sandra (like the sand on the beach, LOL) It's a richly colored and fun quilt that just looks perfect for cuddling. A great finish! You did such amazing work with all your Henry Glas projects! I'm so proud of you girl!
    That is one bummer about the blue flannel. But maybe with a good de-pilling it will behave itself from here on out.

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  21. Beautiful finish! I especially love your quilting designs! The quilted words are perfect!

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