Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Fall Flair

Along with the instructions for the queen size quilt in my newest pattern, Lilac Love, which was released yesterday, there are instructions for two small quilts, 38" and 39" square. I made the 38.5" square quilt.


I love it! These are not my usual colours, so where did I come up with this combination, especially since I didn't have a focus print, which I often like to do. For example, the queen quilt in the pattern used a lilacs border to draw upon. Well, I did want a completely different vibe for the small quilt, and as luck would have it, when I was playing with the borders for the quilt, I happened to be travelling in our car, on Thanksgiving weekend, on the way home from the Catskills.

The entire few days we spent there could be said to be the inspiration for this quilt.



I pulled colours that had been all around me: purple for the asters or Michaelmas daisies as my mum would call them, gold for the goldenrod and golden trees, and of course orange and red trees, and deep green for the cedars and evergreens. Then I realized that there was a kind of faded lime colour, leaning toward yellow, which you can see in the above photo. That's when I found the Rose and Wendy named colour, 'citronickle' AGF fabric by the inimitable bari j.

I put a teaser of my fabric pull on Instagram:

In next to no time the top was together. If you have a 2" finished HST AccuQuilt, it would go even faster. I have it but I was following my directions to the T so I made them according to my pattern, using both the eight-at-a-time and two-at-a-time methods. Lots of trimming but I trim two HSTs at a time (see here for my tutorial--cuts your cutting time in half!)


I love the way Rose quilted her two quilts, so I decided to not mess with a good idea and shamelessly copied her. I used brown Aurifil for piecing the quilt and the burnished gold to quilt it as it blended the best across all the colours. 



Colour inspiration is definitely not lacking here by Lake Erie’s shore; we are at the peak of our fall colours. This morning on my walk I spied the perfect spot.

Imagine living on this street with this stretch of natural forest across from you

After lunch MacGyver willingly obliged, taking several shots while I crouched behind the quilt. This is a forested strip of land  bordering a creek that empties into Lake Erie. 

It's a little tricky on a longarm to do long diagonal lines, but it worked out. Step back...the couple of wobbles disappear.

I am thinking this will go in the car in the fall from now on as my (aptly named by Rose) Boomer Blankie. I need a seasonal quilt for my Boomer Blankie right? After all I use one pretty much year round if I'm feeling chilly when there's not enough heat or too much AC!


When it came to the backing, I went to the cupboard where I keep yardage hunks I've bought over the years for potential quilt backings. Well, I had four terrific possibilities and actually had to leave my sewing room because I couldn't decide! In the end, I made my first choice work; it had the most colours that appear in the front of the quilt. Unfortunately, it had a 6" chunk out of one corner of the slightly more than a metre left (it would've been perfect had that chunk not happened). Eventually I decided to whack off the entire 6" x width of fabric, add in a 9" piece of the orange from the front, and made it work. You'll notice I cut the floral in two pieces as I didn't want the orange at one edge, but sandwiched between one-third and two-thirds pieces. 

On a bed of maple leaves

I was tickled to realize that both pieces for the backing were from Northcott. I put that in my stories on Instagram "Marrying the old with the new" as a caption, and was even more tickled when they put my post in their stories!

And then, when I went to cut the binding which I'd chosen at the same time as the fabrics for the front, was I surprised to learn it is also a Northcott, also by Ro Gregg! Another older one.
Kind of blew my mind. Guess I’ve loved their fabric for longer than I even realize!

Here's the label:

I love that the purple I used in Fall Flair is a scrap of the very same purple used in the original Lilac Love quilt!




Quilt Stats:
Size: 38.5" square
Fabric: stash and scraps: Joie de Vivre by bari j for Art Gallery Fabrics, Lilacs in Bloom by Jackie Robinson for Benartex Designer Fabrics, Toscana by Deborah Edwards for Northcott, Stonehenge Gradations by Linda Ludovico for Northcott, Nana's by Balson Erlanger, Peppered Cotton by Pepper Cory, and Maple Stories by Sasha K Studio for EBI Fabrics
Batting: Hobbs fusible 80/20% cotton/polyester (I did not fuse it though)
Backing: Purrfect Cats Perfect Flowers by Ro Gregg and Toscana by Deborah Edwards both for Northcott fabrics
Quilted: on Avril: 19 166 stitches
Threads: pieced on my Bernina with Aurifil; quilted with Aurifil, Bottom Line in the bobbin



Remember the pattern is on sale all week for 25% off. 

Be sure to check out Rose's two quilts, Christmas Cactus Star and Summer Spin Star.


I'll be back with a couple more friends' quilts later this week! 

Linking up



11 comments:

  1. Such a gorgeous pattern. MichelleinScotland

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  2. Amazing how they all look so different. That floral on the back is exactly the kind of fabric I would buy. I just the mixture of different flowers and the many colors. How funny they were all Northcott fabrics.
    Pat

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  3. I love it when all the fabrics come together and it all works! This fall version is very cool, and of course, I love that citronickle vibe!

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  4. You definitely captured the colors of autumn in your new version. The backing worked out nicely too. I love it when that happens, it just looks like it was meant to be.

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  5. I was just looking at those wonderful colors on my morning walk. By the end of the month, they will all be gone. What a wonderful quilt. It will make a great little quilt in the car.

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  6. I love the fall version and the backing is great!

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  7. Love the fall colors and your quilt! Striped binding is awesome. :)

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  8. It is so interesting to see a fall version of Lilac Love and it will be perfect as your seasonal car quilt. I love that you had a piece that you used in the first quilt, too. You always have interesting touchstones, or should I say TouchFabrics, in your stories! While not your normal colors, it is so fun to see a fall quilt, nearly solid version of this pattern. Hooray for another beautiful finish.

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  9. Hi Sandra, it would be difficult to not be inspired by that landscape. It looks wonderful!

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  10. Gorgeous fall pictures, Sandra! No wonder they made their way into fabric form! Your quilt is gorgeous, as always 💖

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  11. Wow!! Gorgeous quilt and photo setting, Sandra! Our leaves are turning but we have had no rain in October, so I don't expect them to be as beautiful as they usually are. Thanks for sharing with us at Monday Musings!

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