Thursday, September 9, 2021

The Light Within in Make Modern Issue #42 and TGIFF

Issue #42 is here today and I am in it on page 42! Also, welcome to TGIFF!
A couple of posts ago I showed the photo of four of the quilts in the magazine, asking if you could guess which one was mine. Were you right?



Make Modern issue 42 is on sale now for just $12. You can also get a one-year subscription for a mere $50AU. (affiliate links)


Many thanks to my dear husband who took the photos while I held the quilt. Usually I take the photos and he holds the quilt. I am very happy with how well these turned out!
One of the many pieces of art along the Windsor side of the river.


Many thanks to Benartex for supplying the fabric and to Hobbs Batting for supplying the wool batting. Some of us who have been quilting for a couple of decades may not realize that Fossil Fern is still around and in absolutely beautiful fresh modern colours, nor that Benartex has some gorgeous wide backing fabrics. The one I used is Malabar in Sea Breeze.
The background fabric is New Hue Metallic cream/gold, a really soft white for a background.

It is always hard to wait for the day a quilt is published. When you're in the throes of stitching, quilting and writing instructions, you are totally immersed and excited...

and then you wait...


and some of that intense connection dissipates. However, I have the quilt hanging over the railing at the top of the stairs that go to my sewing studio and our bedroom so I have passed it every single day, which has certainly helped. I also used the green Fossil Fern when I made Brady's suitcase reading pillow.

All right, a few details in this quilt which is super simple in construction. It is one block. Yep. Sixteen of them. All I did was colour a few differently, eliminate a couple of seams and rotate. This gives the four large blocks on-point effect. Here it is drying on my design wall after blocking the quilt. I don't have any carpets in my house, so this is now how I block quilts!

It wasn't all smooth sailing. I had the blocks all done, and sent my dear friend Tish, The Madd Quilter a photo in excitement...

and realized, two of the blocks had a piecing error! A little backward sewing ensued.

Thank goodness it was only two blocks wrong!

The entire quilt is free-motion quilted; I don't have a pro-stitcher or computer programme. So here are a few notes on how I quilted it. I know I learn from others, so I share too! This was the first one I quilted after Avril's first spa day

I've found when quilting large pebbles, whether it's on my domestic or on my longarm, that if I mark little registration marks in the centre of the channel where I want them to go, I can get them fairly uniform. This channel was 1" wide, so I marked a little dot with my Blueline erasable marker, at 1" intervals. It's tricky when you're quilting on an angle, so every little bit of help helps! When I quilt, I just 'bounce' from blue dot to quilted channel line to dot, and so on.
I also did a dot to dot star design in the blue squares.

A one-inch wide grid went in the negative space to help fool the eye into thinking the blocks are on point.

Sometimes I treat patches as units and quilt a design within the unit. At the corners of the block, the patches form the centre of a star, so I quilted a feather design of Angela Walters.

Here I took four rows of blocks to make a diamond shape. To my mind, it emulated star rays.

The centre star got special threads. Everything else was done with the Superior So Fine. It blends in fabulously.


Because of the wool batting, the texture is wonderful.

and on the back:

The labels, satin and cloth:


The night of the photo shoot, I thought a photo by the Peace Fountain would be a good spot, especially with the colours of the sky. We couldn't get parking here, so I went on foot looking for a good spot, (yeah, I got some funny looks, me and my quilt under my arm lol) while MacGyver parked a few blocks away in a residential area. I asked a nice girl if she wouldn't mind taking a photo or two, and she readily complied. I wish she'd said I didn't have the quilt straight! Ah well. She did pretty good.
We timed it so we'd be down there at sunset. That's Belle Isle which belongs to Michigan, in the background. The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, and runs between our two countries, Canada and the US.

Here is the wider shot of the main photo, which is at the southern end of the riverfront, Ambassador Bridge in the background. This is the busiest international border in North America, with 27% of the annual trade between our two countries crossing the bridge.



Quilt Stats:
Pattern: The Light Within by Sandra Walker
Size:  52" x 52"
Fabric: Fossil Fern and New Hue Metallic both by Benartex
Backing: wide backing: Malabar by Benartex
Batting: 100% wool by Hobbs Batting
Quilted: on Avril, 130 636 stitches
Threads: pieced with Aurifil; quilted with So Fine by Superior Threads 402, Aurifil 50 wt and 28 wt; The Bottom Line in the bobbin.


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20 comments:

  1. Mmmmmm.... I sure would like to run my fingers across the back of that one...

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  2. The last photo with the bridge, the sky colours, and light there and in your quilt, stunningly beautiful all over.Your quilting is so detailed, and what a setting, never mind the angle, after all the sun's rays are angled at times too.

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  3. I was right! Your quilting is stunning and how awesome to be on page 42 in issue 42 (and hey, I just turned 42--- wooo wooo wooey!!!!). Congratulations!

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  4. That's a gorgeous quilt, Sandra! You are the master of making complex designs with one block! I really love this one!

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  5. Congrats! That's one stunning quilt! And the quilting is beautiful!!

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  6. What a beauty of a quilt. I love your photos. The linky party has ended even before Friday is over, strange.

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  7. Beautiful - from start to photo finish!

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  8. Yes, your quilt is beautiful -- I was just admiring it in the magazine earlier this morning! Congratulations!
    I had hoped to link up with TGIFF, but I think there may have been an issue with the Linky tool because it says "this link party ended with no entries." :-(

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  9. Fantastic quilt! Congratulations; a well deserved honor. The photos are lovely with the wonderful sky changing colors. Your quilting as always is stunning. Such a wonderful job.

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  10. I knew that one was your quilt - it just had you written all over it :-) Another beauty, Sandra. The photos are so pretty, with all that lovely evening light. Congrats on being in the magazine, too!

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  11. Stunning. Congratulations on getting into Make Modern magazine and page 42 of issue 42 easy to remember. Strangly I saw the mis-sown block in the lower right but not the upper left until you said there were two then had to go really look. Funny how we don't see those mistakes until we take a photo isn't it. I see someone has mentioned the linky party doesn't appear to be working - not that I have anything to add. Plenty started but not so good at finishing at the moment.

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  12. What a beautiful quilt with great quilting. Congrats on the publication. You all got super pictures. What type of camera do you use? (I'd love to hear you are using your cell phone for the photos but I'm betting not.

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  13. WOW! You do an amazing job on your quilts with designing, piecing & then your stunning quilting. Congratulations on another submission to MM. I do like the photos and learning a little bit more of your area of Canada & that bridge is enormous. Thanks for sharing, take care & hugs.

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  14. Beautiful quilt Sandra, and I love the considered quilting. I like all the places you lined up for you photos! Congratulations on being published (again!) - I haven't downloaded my #42 yet but will do so today!

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  15. That is super super pretty!! and those photo places- wow they make the quilt stand out!!

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  16. Amazing pattern and quilting. The fabrics are gorgeous. Well done my friend.

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  17. 42 was the magic number. I love one block quilts, with a few changes. You did a fabulous job quilting this. I wish my FM skills were as good as yours, you surely don't need a prostitcher. The only advantage is its working now, while I am typing this.

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  18. Hi Sandra, finally downloaded my copy and saw your amazing quilt. As always, I love your quilting choices. It looks great in those amazing pictures of Windsor. Looks like you and McGuivor had fun! Take care and thanks for linking up.

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