Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Dogwood Picnic

Finished Scrap-a-Palooza quilt #4.  This is the second scrap-a-palooza quilt for me.  I am loving the series!

I finished it last night, but wanted to wait until this morning to post, as I was struck with a great idea as to where to take an outside picture.

So this morning, just after 8:00, I walked across the street to Southgate Residence, a senior citizens' assisted living residence.  This is one of the many pink magnolias in our town.

I loved Cynthia's picture of her Two-Color Woven Quilt, and with the pinks and greens in this second dogwood inspired quilt, I knew I wanted to lay it on a lawn too.  Her picture also inspired the final name for my quilt.

I copied her, too, with the straight line quilting in the coloured squares to emphasize the woven effect.  I did 4 passes, two 1/4" from the seams and two roughly centred.  I had a hard time figuring out how to continuously quilt this to avoid too many stops and starts.  I didn't want to travel stitch across a bar.  In the end, I mostly travelled across the 1/4" line of stitching, not always being successful with hitting it.  I just tried to not stress about it too much, hoping the overall effect would take over from the imperfections.  "Close enough is good enough" is what Angela Walters repeatedly said through the Dot to Dot Quilting class on Craftsy, and I tried very hard, fighting my perfectionist nature, to do just that.  After all, it's not a show quilt, and it's only my 8th quilt on the Avanté.


In the white squares, I knew I wanted a filler.  In the first row, I did a different one in each square, thinking it would be a perfect place to practise FMQ, much like I did on my Perky Purse quilt.


I opted out of this decision after I did that first row for two reasons: 1) I felt the thread, an ivory Madiera Polyneon, looked almost dirty on the white fabric, and 2) your eye would perhaps go more to all the busy quilting in the white squares and not see the weave.  So I quilted all the straight line quilting with the polyneon, and then went back in and quilted an open meander, Leah's "Wandering Clover" with a white Sulky rayon.  After washing, both threads sunk into the quilt top quite nicely, but I do think having the one unifying meander in the white squares was the right design decision.


Close-up of Wired Feather and Growing Sprouts
However, I DO love the looks of all those designs in that top row!  I tried out one of Leah's latest FMQ designs, "Growing Sprouts", as well as an older one, "Wired Feather".  I also like the looked of "Modern Art".  These last two I got from her two books; they are so handy to just flip through and see what grabs my fancy.  I read the written instructions, and then if I want to see her do the design in action, I go to her website


The back.  Ancient fabric from a sale at (choke) WalMart.  My husband and I have boycotted them for more than 10 years now, however, (so that tells you how old this fabric is!!!!) due to their business practices.  I had a stack 'n whack quilt in mind for this and I have enough left still that I might still do one...that or use it to start another scrap quilt, like Paula's Triangle Quilt Along at The Sassy Quilter.


The label, pieced again as an integral part of the backing.  Sorry the lighting seems too bright here to read properly.  You get the idea.

Rolled up!  Mmmm.


It was a perfect morning.  And I cannot get enough of magnolias.

Ever.


12 comments:

  1. Wow that's lovely! Your quilt on that green grass with the magnolia in the background...Beautiful! Your quilting turned out great!

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  2. You found a great place to photograph this quilt. I always find choosing a spot to be challenging. Love the quilt, the colors, the pattern and the quilting. I think you're getting the hang of the Avante :)

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  3. Love that quilt, we have white Mongolian, would love to have a pink. The town up above us has white ones every where

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  4. First off, WOW, how convenient is THAT??!! A seniors' retirement home RIGHT across the street from you? You won't have far to move next year!
    LOL
    Secondly, love the magnolias too!! And the quilt is GORGEOUS!! As they all are :)

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    1. "Next year"...you're so mean to me.

      When and IF I EVER do go, like at 110, that's in 56 more years, I'll be able to simply totter across the street, trailing a quilt or ten behind me!

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  5. The woven design is so effective! I wonder if the inmates wondered what you were up to when you took the pictures! :)

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  6. What a beautiful quilt! I would like to mKe that one, too. Your quilting really added a lot to the quilt.

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  7. That's an excellent quilt pattern to practice FMQ! And those are my favorite colors. I may have to pull some stash and do one like this myself! Very nice.

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  8. When I saw your quilt I just kept looking and looking at it. Just simply beautiful is all I can say.

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  9. I've never heard them called pink magnolias. I think we call them tulip trees here. Either way, so pretty.

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