Friday, June 21, 2019

Pastel Froth

Well look at me: it's not the last day of the month, or the first day of a new one, and my challenge is done! It was actually done a couple days ago, but A. rain all day yesterday, and B. sore finger from hand-stitching the facing meant I took breaks. This was an interesting challenge again this year: I made myself try this Texture Magic I've had for a few years with all the fabric to make the original project, but have kept putting it off. It also made me sit down and just do it: a faced binding. Yeah, I've quilted for over 20 years but have never finished a quilt in this way.
You know the saying about the biggest or hardest part of trying something new is the first step? I know that for a fact! Yet every time I do 'just do it' whether it's going for something scary in yoga like drop backs or going off on a travel adventure, or trying something new in my quilting/sewing life, I am always the richer for it, and the rush I get from facing the fears and conquering them is wonderful. Why don't you come on in and see what I made, or if you've been watching the progress on Instagram, then see how it all turned out?



First of all all the wonderful fabrics were provided to me by Island Batik, the batting by Hobbs Batting (cannot say enough about Thermore!) and the some of the thread by Aurifil. These are all top quality products with which to work, and I cannot recommend them enough. Truly and sincerely.
Ta DA!!!

I must admit when I started making this, outside of loving every bit of fabric, the combo and the rather improv shapes didn't totally click for me. But then, classic story of the quilting makes the quilt come alive, and I love this.

I'll start at the beginning.
This was the first set I put together. They make my heart sing and I plan to make something else, maybe a makeup or pencils case or a basket with these three...

I found that in order to keep my thoughts from flying out of my head ha, they do regardless, to keep them on track, I set the fabrics in the approximate places and shapes I'd be sewing them:
Wait. How did that shirred mauve piece, called 'Opalescence', a Basic, get that way?

I used this Superior Threads product I'd purchased quite a few years ago (like four?)...
You layer the fabric, which is kind of a satin, with your desired-to-be-textured fabric, and then draw a grid and stitch on the lines. I did this as I'm a firstborn and I always follow rules, and always read directions. Three-quarters of the way through stitching, I decided to do wavy lines along the grid line (whoa, so adventurous, I can hear my daughters quip) and then on the second piece, I just did a meander.
After stitching, you steam it, and the satin-type stuff shrinks up!
The splotches of tan and variances in the mauves show up pretty cool!

Then you just cut and sew as per usual, though you have to treat it a bit like the puff of an inset gathered sleeve, right.

Here is one of the three 'panels' I made. The original pattern is in the Winter 2013 issue of Quilt & More. Okay, so I bought this and the fabric for it in 2014, so it's been waiting for five years...aging nicely like a fine wine.
It is originally a triptych, and a lot bigger than my finished piece; the length of one panel in the pattern is 54". I did keep the shapes roughly about the same shape and balance. A few were 2 1/2" pieces, so I layered a couple of my 5" strips on my AccuQuilt Go! 2 1/2" die cutter which was provided by AccuQuilt.
Love the perfection of this tool!

Instead of making a triptych, I sewed the three panels together.

I still wasn't sold on what I'd made but I sorta/kinda liked it... So I layered it with my favourite batting for small quilts, Thermore by Hobbs Batting.

And then I went to town with the quilting. After all this is about texture no? It's amazing the texture that shows up with this oh-so-thin batting!
Yeah baby! (in Austin Powers' voice)
I even made up a new FMQ motif. It's in the pink fading to lime dot, a double pebble meander. Fun! I loosely followed the motifs in a few of the prints, like the turquoise in the bottom right, the swirls in the turquoise near the top left, and the paisleys in the multicolour, and woodgrain in the pale blue. I outlined the birds too, love that chop!

I used white Aurifil provided by Aurifil last year and almost gone, to piece it and to sew the stitching lines for the Texture Magic. I used a pale pink Aurifil also provided by Aurifil for most of the quilting, and to hand sew down the facing. I was a bit unsure it might not blend on some of the colours but it has done well! I used the pale green, one I purchased, for the 2.5" square bird and the one green where I did ribbon candy.

Here's the facing in progress:
I remembered Anja of Anja Quilts had referred to a good online tutorial when she did her first faced binding, so I went to her blog, used the Search tool and voilà, it was another ambassador's, Carole Lyles Shaw's tutorial which you can find here. It is excellent.

Here is the entire back!

When I was taking this shot of the back this morning, our builder stopped and said, "Oh wow!" I said, "Uh, that's the back; here's the front!" and was he ever blown away. Not your grandmother's tied quilt, eh?

This was fun and I can see me using the faced binding again on a small quilt. I can also see me making the triptych now I've tried successfully the Texture Magic!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: based on "Special Effects" in Quilts 'n More Winter 2013
Size: 20" square
Fabric: Island Batik
Backing: Island Batik
Batting: Thermore by Hobbs
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads: pieced on my Bernina with Aurifil 50 wt; quilted with Aurifil 50 wt

Linking up:
Cooking Up Quilts
Quilt Fabrication
My Quilt Infatuation
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
TGIFF at Storied Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts
Quilting & Learning: What a Combo!

22 comments:

  1. You made a great job of facing the quilt and I so love all the texture you achieved. Thank you for the link to the tutorial, it explains it much better than just reading it. A lovely little mini.

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  2. Sandra, this is fabulous! Well done. I'm so impressed an you do inspire me to try new things and keep going. It's beautiful!!!

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  3. You “faced” your challenge well-really like the texture magic and of course your spot on quilting

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  4. What a fun project, and you tackled two new things, the texture and the facing. It looks great. Of course, I love the quilting!

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  5. this is so lovely--I am seeing a Crazy Quilt with some of that texture magic included in each block...thanks for the inspiration and the great post...hugs, Julierose

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  6. Such a beautiful quilt and congratulations for trying a new technique or two. I love texture magic and think it really is magical to see the fabric shrink up. You did an excellent job with it and the facing. The fabric is beautiful and the quilting just makes this quilt sparkle.

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  7. The faced binding is great for hangings isn't it. I've only done it once but like you I found it wasn't too difficult once I jumped in. Now that texture thing really is a leap....I love your comments about bending the rules a bit. I'm a rule follower as well. It's a fun project with a fun result.

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  8. This is a really super piece of ARTwork! I immediately zeroed in on that texture, thinking "HOW did she do that??" I would have never guessed it was an iron-on product! I know there are hand stitching techniques that end up with a similar ruching effect, and I want to try them, but your method? Much more appealing. How did you quilt the heavily textured section? Didn't your FMQ foot get tangled?

    Congrats on learning several new things here. Gotta keep massaging the ol' brain, don't we? Great job :)

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  9. I do love the texture you have provided and your quilting, love it.

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  10. So fun! It's nice to see that quilts don't always have old fashioned blocks or be limited to a single style of fabric

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  11. We have no power sonot able to post my beothuk photo.it might be back on later in time to join the parade.

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  12. Hi Sandra! WOWEEEEEEEE. Look at the texture in this piece, and not only on the textured fabric. What a cool technique that is, huh?! I never heard of or saw that product before but it sure is cool. I don't know when I would need to have textured fabric but if I ever do . . . I know the blog to search. Assuming I remember it, that is. Love this whole piece and the fabrics really shine in this piece. Your quilting just makes this whole piece sing. And here it is only June 22nd! What the heck - you're sitting with your feet up for the rest of the month?!! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  13. I love all the texture - why it is like magic (ha ha). But, really, it is gorgeous and so much fun! I remain inspired by your fun approach to quilting and am looking forward to my next experiment, which I plan to load either tomorrow or Monday! Facing is fun isn’t it.

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  14. This is a fun one, Sandra! I love all your quilting motifs and that Texture Magic does look interesting. I've never done a faced binding, either. Maybe that should go on my list of things to try this year :)

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  15. That texture that the Texture Magic created is awesome, such a great compliment to the fabric prints.

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  16. I’m not sure which I like more about this quilt: the colors, arrangement, crinkles, quilting or facing. Oh hey, I like them all. And the name! Now you just have to make that triptych. It’s a perfect way to show off your quilting. I can see it hanging in your soon-to-be studio. Thought of you last night when I saw a note about the fireworks on the news. Hope you had a super time with Brady!

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  17. That's awesome. The quilting just pops. Isn't Carole's tutorial amazing? Makes faced binding so easy.

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  18. Texture galore! A lovely piece and the quilting just brings the whole piece to life.

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  19. That shirred puckery texture fabric is fascinating! You know, that would be great to incorporate into a baby quilt, too -- the little ones love all of the different textures!

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  20. Hi Sandra, I have a package of that textured magic that I haven't used yet. Good reminder. I like your quilt! Thanks for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks.

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  21. What a great thing to try for your June Challenge Sandra! I've often wanted to give this one a go, of course I want to again now! Thanks for the prompt, I need to keep a list somewhere to keep from forgetting. Love all the texture in your finished quilt, both with the magic and from the quilting.

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  22. What a fun quilt! Isn't it fun to explore new techniques? A great finish for the Finish-A-Long. Thanks for joining the FAL!

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