Geese at Julia and Fred's Wedding

This quilt is going home to North Carolina soon so it's time for a blog post. If you follow me on Instagram (if you don't, you really should!) you saw it coming together last year. 

Made for my daughter and her husband, Julia selected Judy Niemeyer's pattern Geese at My Wedding. Julia insisted on a double wedding ring and she loves flying geese, so this was a perfect fit. Oh, but the pattern was written for a table runner, so some recalculating had to be done to make it queen size. Only a crazy mother of the bride would turn this pattern into a queen size quilt!

Let's start at the beginning: fabric selection. (November 2016)

The first ring! (February 2017)

I really had to be organized with this one!

I managed to get two rows assembled for the bridal shower. (March 2017)

Aren't they the cutest? (April 2017)

The top was done at the end of July and machine quilting started in early August. This quilt has it all: walking foot in the ditch, free motion, and ruler work. 

Since this quilt was for my daughter, I went all out and learned how to add a double piping to the binding. I highly recommend tools and classes by Susan Cleveland. (September 2017)

I don't block every quilt, but I always block the important ones. The big ones almost completely cover the area rug in the living room.

Julia came home for the Ninigret Quilters' show to see her finished quilt! (October 2017)

Picked up a couple more ribbons at the Narragansett Bay show. (April 2017)

And now for the detailed beauty shots!

A secret parachute was stitched into one corner for my airborne son-in-law!

Their names and the date are quilted in.

Their puppy had to check it out before it goes home with them!

Geese at Julia and Fred's Wedding

88" X 88"

Started November 2016

Completed September 2017

Total working time: 235 hours

Pieced and Quilted by Tina Craig

Clarksdale Crossroads

I recently completed a scrap quilt I had been working on for some time. The traditional block is called Arkansas Crossroads. The title of my quilt is Clarskdale Crossroads because it reminds me of a special trip. (We did cross the border into Arkansas, but didn't spend any time there.)

In June of 2016, my husband Bill and I made the pilgrimage to the legendary blues crossroads in Clarskdale, Mississippi. He bought this pretty resonator guitar on his 50th birthday. If you are not schooled in Mississippi Delta Blues, start here with Robert Johnson. 

OK, back to the quilt. I had cut piles and piles of 2.5" squares in early 2016. I started sewing together 4-patches sometime after the big trip. My brain can't handle randomness, so I sorted the squares into warm and cool piles so I could sew a warm to a cool. The alternating white blocks have one warm and one cool triangle.

When I made the stitch and flip units, I had a BIG pile of bonus triangles left over. They are the gift that keeps on giving! I'm still playing with those little cuties.

 The top was done in April 2017 shortly after my daughter's wedding. I was pretty busy after that getting her wedding quilt done, so Crossroads sat for a while, waiting.

I finally quilted it in February of this year. It was easy to decide on a quilting design for the colorful bits. It's a loopy continuous curve in a peachy Superior Sew Fine thread.

It took a while to decide on a design for the white sections. I actually tried something, didn't like it, and picked it out. I settled on a walking foot design. Straight lines first, then gentle curves. I was able to stitch diagonally edge to edge. No threads to bury!

I added a free motion fill only to the diamond shapes around the outside edges. When I went to my stash to look for a binding fabric, I was so excited to find this print that mimics the shape of the quilting design!

I knew I was cutting it close. I really didn't want to cut another full strip of binding fabric to fill that little gap, so I didn't! I reached into my scrap basket and found a bit of blue that matched the Philip Jacobs print on the back. That seemed like the perfect place to insert my label.

Since I had done some marking to guide my walking foot lines, the quilt needed to be rinsed. Imagine my distress when one of the purple prints bled! After the second rinse with color catchers, the purple came clean, but...

one of the reds ran! I was persistent, and was finally able to release all the excess dye by washing in warmer water. I was sweating for a few days there!

Ahh. I love a freshly completed quilt!

Clarksdale Crossroads

64" X 80"

Started July 2016

Top done April 2017

Quilted & bound February 2018

Completed 3/9/18

Ombre Pyramids

 In this episode of Way-Back Wednesday, I present Ombre Pyramids. This is one of my favorite finishes ever, so I'm not sure why it has taken me over a year to blog about it.

After taking a workshop with Vanessa Christenson, I was excited to play with a hoarded jelly roll of her ombre fabrics. I had to supplement the jelly roll with a few extra strips from yardage I had handy.

I had seen Nancy Rink's Prism Quilt design and thought it would be a great fit for the ombres. The top came together really quickly over a couple of days in July. I happened to have a 60 degree ruler in my stash. Where do I get these things?

The project didn't make it to the top of the "quilt it" list until November. Four months is a fairly short ripening time in my world. 

I had fun playing with the idea of combining straight line (walking foot) quilting with free motion.

I'd call this a successful binding estimation. I'd rather have only 1/2" left over than be short by 1/2". 

(We realized I am literally 1/2" too short for the zip-line excursion we want to go on in Alaska this summer. Maybe if I wear my hiking boots and stretch a little, no one will notice!)

To celebrate my new phone, I had a custom cell phone case made by Skinit. I still love it!

(They didn't pay me to say that.)

Ombre Pyramids

35" X 45"

Started: July 1, 2016

Completed: November 19, 2016

Exhibited at the Summer Celebration of Quilts at the New England Quilt Museum, August 2017, representing Narragansett Bay Quilters Association.

Exhibited at Ninigret Quilters show, Westerly, RI, October 13-15, 2017.

Citrus Swap

It's a new year and I'm full of motivation! Don't you love new year mojo?

I'm going to try to get back to blogging about my finished projects. Ive been spending a lot of time posting about process on Instagram, but I miss blogging about the finish! She here goes. Let's try to get caught up.

I'm calling this quilt Citrus, but the colors remind me of Fruit Stripe gum, too. The blocks were made during several rounds of 4X5 block swaps in 2011. The blocks had been in a project box for years, waiting for setting inspiration to strike. I wanted it to have a modern feel. I saw a similar setting on Instagram one day and immediately got to work.

Once I had a plan, the top went together quickly. Then I went a little overboard with the domestic machine quilting. It was good practice to custom quilt each block.

I went overboard when it came to quilting the setting columns. I did a lot of work in those green parts that got completely lost in the print. Below, you can see a split screen of front and back, so you can see what I did. Well, it was good practice!

Citrus

62" X 74"

Block Swap Started: 2011

Quilt Completed: September 2016

Allie's Quilt

 Another recent finish was this graduation gift for my son's girlfriend. A week before her graduation, I was cleaning up my sewing area and rediscovered this fabric. I knew it would be perfect for Allie, so I started cutting and stitching.

 I started with 3 mini charm packs of Kate Spain's Paradiso line. The mostly blue squares were combined with Kona Snow for some yummy 9-patches. Those were set on point, and alternated with plain square-in-a-square blocks with Kona Bahama blue. Very simple piecing. The points were extended around the perimeter to complete the design. I used every bit of Paradiso yardage that I had for the borders.

I absolutely love quilting a continuous curve (aka orange peels). It's an effective design for the 9-patches, so I marked a grid in the alternate plain squares to repeat the design. I normally don't do any marking but it was necessary on this one and well worth it.

Below, you can see the Angela Walters-inspired quilting in the large triangles. You can also see what happens to my thread when I use a needle that is too small! I was using Superior needles and thread and they very quick to respond on Instagram with some suggestions. The right size needle was all I needed.

 

 Allie and Pete came in just as I was finishing the quilting (the day before graduation). I asked her if she liked it and told her it was hers! Surprise!

 

Check out the awesome texture on the back!

 

I used an ombre on the back. It is light at one selvage and dark at the other. I pieced it along the light edges so it glows in the middle! 

I found out toward the end that Allie loves flamingos. I dug deep for this paper pieced pattern by Margaret Rolfe. In a previous quilting life, I used to shrink all these patterns to make lapel pins. It was fun to be reminded how much I enjoy tiny paper piecing. We've known Allie since she and Pete were six or seven years old. I'm hoping she'll stop calling me Mrs. Craig soon!

 

 I think she likes it. As soon as she got home, she put it on her bed and sent me a picture of how well it matches her decor.

Allie's Quilt

60" X 77"

Started May 1, 2017

Completed May 20, 2017

Delivered June 20, 2017

Pieced on Singer Featherweight

Quilted on Bernina 153