Meet George!

This is one alligator you could pet!

Say hello to George!

You're probably wondering why an alligator? Well, a friend of mine wanted a wall hanging quilt for her grandson. Her note says 'Louisiana, alligators, fleur de lis, bayou, ocean'. The first thing that popped into my head were those three piece alligator statues that are put into ponds.

Always thought those were cool! So why not in a quilt? 

First to make a swamp/bayou. Finding olive green, beige, and turquoise fabrics in the stash, I cut a strips, then subcut into 2 1/2" squares for the background. With those on the design wall, I started cutting paper for body parts. 

Since I wanted to piece the parts into the background, I opted for straight lines. Gives him a bit more modern look. 

And of course, he needed a spiny tail and back!

Made with different sized Prairie Points, the little triangles are sewn into the seam.

In the head, I used Dale Fleming's technique in Pieced Curves So Simple, (affiliate link) for the eyes. Starting with the head pattern (of high tech scrap paper!) cut into three pieces,

the eye sections were turned over and put on the back with tape (another high tech item!). The eyeball section is cut out with a seam allowance, 

clipped and pressed, and with a bit of glue, applied to the black fabric for the eye. Stitching is done on the fold.

Now both eyes are done,

but he really needs eyelids, which where folded rectangles stitched into the seam. Sorry there's no picture for that, as I just sewed them in without measuring or pinning. It was a 'let's see if this works' kind of moment - and it did!

As for how the body parts were pieced in, I'm going to save that explanation for another post. It's an interesting technique I discovered, and warrants further trial. Give me some time to play around with it a bit more. - Update - the tutorial for free form piecing is now available!

George does have little shoulder and hip parts that are appliqued on. My son said he looked like a fat snake until I put those into the design. But I got tired of piecing by the time I got around to those, so that's why the applique.

After giving George two extra layers of batting in his body, the quilting was kept really simple. Turquoise Glide thread makes the water surface, and George is stitched-in-the-ditch, even along the spikes so that they would stand up a bit. And a little bit of paint in the pupil gives George life!

Pet him all you want - he won't bite!

Have a great day quilting!

Patchwork Suburb

The wait is over! Time to show off Patchwork Suburb!

Isn't it awesome? This one goes on to my all-time favorite list! 

Measuring in at 24 1/2" x 24 1/2", it has taken over Fred, the Fugitive's spot in the kitchen/dining room. Poor Fred!

I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with me on the parade of blocks over the last three months. It's been a long road, but a fun one! But why finish early? Because a November 30 entry deadline to QuiltCon was looming. I have high hopes that this one will be selected, but more on that another day.

Why the name? Determined a long time ago because of the size of the blocks. They're more of a suburb than a city! Thus, Patchwork Suburb. 

On to the quilting. Stitch-in-the-ditch is around the outside of every block using a thin, medium grey thread called Seralene by Mettler. Probably should have used invisible thread, but I'm not a huge fan, as I don't like the shine. And, I had breakage issues once quilted. I'll probably get marked down for that by the judges, but it's my choice. As for the inside of the blocks, each was selectively stitched-in-the-ditch, meaning not every seam was stitched. 

In the photo, you can see that the blocks have dimension to them, an extra bit of puffiness. For batting, I laid down a thin, but dense poly, with an 80/20 layer on top. The combo makes for a nice bit of definition. 

I know that some would be tempted to quilt densely in parts of the block to make the areas pop, or to quilt pretty designs for added interest. But because of the size of these blocks, and without a common background fabric in each block like that in Dear Jane quilts, I decided that those styles were just not going to work on this quilt.

Instead, I opted to densely quilt the 3/8" sashing and the 3/4" inner border with closely spaced lines, which sets the blocks off nicely. And the outer border? That was inspired by Angela Walter's Dot-to-Dot border design in her Shape by Shape (affiliate link) book. The final touch is the repeat of the close lines on the very edge. That ties it all together, and gives the border terrific definition without distracting from the rest of the quilt. 

And let's not forget the binding!

I wanted that bright green somewhere in the border, because of the theme of green and one print in all of the blocks. Green thread as a quilting fill was considered, but just wasn't right. I finally decided on a very thin piped binding. As in 1/16 of an inch. It just depended on how narrow I pressed it. That thin little bit adds just the right amount! And in case you're wondering, the sashing, inner border, and binding are a plum/blue shot cotton -- I used all of it!

Happy Quilting!

December 2015 Book of the Month

It's time for the December 2015 Book of the Month, only a few days late! This month, I'm going nostalgic, featuring Dale Fleming's Pieced Curves So Simple. (affiliate link)

I try to post about the Book of the Month on the 1st, but got so excited about O Tannenbaum, 

that the Book of the Month had to wait.

Now why did I choose this book? Because two quilts generated the most comments, Fred the Fugitive, 

 and Dragon War. 

I think we all know Fred's story, that rascal, so for this post, I'm focusing on Dragon War.

Made in March of 2011 for my son, this was one of my first adventures into landscape quilting, and also curved piecing. I relied on Pieced Curves So Simple (affiliate link) in it's construction.

The mountains and rocks were done using Dale's technique,

as there a several fabrics used for these features. And yes, there is a purple dragon sleeping on his gold, under a rock ledge.

On the rocks above, the darker, small curved pieces on the rock are appliqued on. As are all of the dragons. But the other curves and those little dark brown specks? Sewn in. 

Quilting was pretty simple, as I had a smaller machine, and wasn't as practiced as now. But it works.

So, for this month, I want to revisit this book as it is a terrific technique resource. I've had some circles in mind for a while, so maybe it will inspire my next quilt pattern!

Have a great day quilting!