I've referred to this planned post so many times previously I figured I better stop talking about it and just do it. A little over a year ago I started my usual push to get kits put together for the quilting retreat in AZ. I had collected a few ideas for zigzag and chevron quilts and, as previously mentioned, one thing leads to another in my world. What resulted is a group of quilts that turned out so bright and happy that I just love to look at them.
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| Novelty Diamonds |
But first I wanted to talk about a couple of earlier quilts that grouped fabrics by color. This particular quilt was inspired by my quilting friend Pirate. As I recall we were talking on the about.com quilt forum about using the various rulers purchased over the years. Shelley had used her tri-rec ruler (or similar) to make a white and yellow quilt of diamonds. I got to thinking, hmmm, I could do that with novelties. This is the result. The point of the quilt was the diamonds but I wanted to maximize the number of fabrics so instead of using one fabric for the top and the bottom I tried to match the colors. Some are better than others but it still turned out well. The only problem was all the weird scrap shapes left over. I did eventually put them together to make some interesting piano keys. I like the overall effect but it was a little fiddly to make so it probably won't be repeated. I donated this one for a United Way raffle at work and was pleased that a good friend won it.
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| Wiggly Colors |
This was a zigzag quilt inspired by a pattern someone posted on About.com's quilt forum where the zigzags were supposed to be snakes. The pattern even had snake heads appliqued. I didn't go that far but I did like the idea of grouping the colors. I ran out of the border fabric, thus the clipped corners. This one seems too busy to me now and the border didn't add anything. The later efforts work much better. (Note, the original pattern is Wiggly Worms from Country Woman magazine).
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| Jelly Beans |
Four Patch Fun. It isn't zigzag or chevron but it does group the fabrics by color. This quilt was very fun to make. And it turned out great. Not only did I match the novelty blocks, I also went through my tone on tone stash to find fabrics to match. The black and white 9 patch really makes this quilt very striking. My only regret is that the person who I gave it to does not want to use it but wants to "save it". I think they were hanging it on the wall, so at least the little one can look at it. Oh well, once it's given away it's not my worry any more but I do wish they would use it. Maybe their little girl will be strong willed enough to take it down on her own. The original pattern was designed by Melissa Corry at happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com.
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| Lumberyard Challenge Color Stripes |
More 4 patch fun. You have to look closely but this quilt is also made with 4 patches. 4 patches are so forgiving. The only tricky part was making sure I got the TOT colors in the right place. The design wall was a lifesaver on this one. I made this quilt as part of a challenge for the 2014 AZ retreat and it won first place! Of course everyone knew which quilt was mine because I
am the official queen of novelties. The colors are so bright and cheerful and the pattern was very easy. No idea where this idea came from, I think I was thinking of some other way to use tone on tones with the novelties and the rules of the challenge were it had to use 4x4 and 2x2 pieces.
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| Novelty Chevron |
Chevrons are so popular everywhere lately. Clothes, home dec, quilts. The idea for this one came from Endeavor by Freckled Whimsy. I wanted to try using those silly tri-rec rulers again (more weird scraps). I didn't have enough orange to make an orange section but the yellow and red add some warm colors. Sewing this was a little strange because I was combining two large triangles before adding the spikey edges. The tri-rec rulers aren't really designed for that, so I had to improvise a bit. And let go my mild OCD tendencies and just live with the less than exactness.
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| Color Stair Steps |
Very fun and very easy Color Stair Steps (inspired by a Me & My Sister Pattern). I used some of my pre-cut 4.5" squares but trimmed off an inch to add the white sashing on one edge. I hated throwing them away but 1" really isn't enough to save in my world. And I didn't want to cut a bunch of new rectangles, so in the interest of saving time I just trimmed what I had. I'm coming to the conclusion that I like white with the novelties, maybe even better than black. Gasp. There for a while I was using so much black Moda marble I should have bought a bolt. I've used white TOT or small speckles (when I can find them) and like how they make the colors sparkle. The white stripes in this quilt are only 3/4" finished.
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| HST Chevron |
This last chevron quilt uses large half square triangles with a center black strip. Initially it was 3/4" finished but visually that was too large so I cut them down. I've been neglecting my white novelties since I've been doing so many quilts with white sashing so this allowed me to use some of them without impacting the pattern. This also stretched my OCD a little as the points on the black strips are clipped but I'm sure it only bothers me. The pattern was fast, but I do have a bunch of large triangles now, waiting to be used in another pattern. The original idea came from an on-line pattern from staff of Material Girls Quilt Shop.
Phew, lots of pictures in this post. I've put sticky notes in my scrap book to mark which quilts I've not included on the blog yet and today a bunch can come off. Hope you enjoyed. Now you know why I got so excited about finding 3 new orange fabrics. Still need to find some purples and oranges that don't have a Halloween theme. The hunt is on.
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