Springtime in Kansas

 It's been mini season here at Seaside Stitches. This is the largest of my recent mini finishes. I'm calling it Springtime in Kansas. The pattern is Kansas Dugout, and I think the scraps give a pretty springtime look. I've never been to Kansas, but my father was stationed there during World War II.

It started out innocently enough with a single ring of English Paper Piecing. I was excited that it uses the same papers as Patchwork of the Crosses.  

I added rings and rows until it reached a decent size. All the fabric came from my scrap bags, and no fabric is repeated except the Kona Snow squares.

 I didn't want to piece in tiny triangles to square it up, so I set it on point and appliqued it to a big square of Kona Snow. That provided large corners of negative space for fun machine quilting.

During the quilting, I had two "are you kidding me?" moments. Thankfully, I don't have this fold over problem very often. I was able to trim around the stitching and pull out the offending fibers.

I was literally 1/2" from finishing when the bobbin ran out. Really?!

I like the look of combining straight line and free motion quilting. It took me some time to decide on a quilting design for the piecing. I'm not completely happy with what I did, but it's done.

 I do really like the quilting in the corners. I took Christina Cameli's Craftsy class "Wild Quilting" last weekend to get some new ideas. I drew out a bunch of options and chose this divide and conquer symmetrical plan.

Oh, baby, I love this texture!

 

This little quilt will be donated to the Narragansett Bay Quilters Association auction to benefit the New England Quilt Museum. Do you think I can convince my husband to buy it back?

Springtime in Kansas

Started March 1, 2016

Completed March 21, 2016

Hand Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt

Machine Quilted with Superior So Fine 50wt

18" square
Purchased at auction by Maria Lage

JDRF Plan B

 A few months ago, a friend of mine asked if I could/would assemble an auction quilt for the JDRF gala at the end of April.  How could I say no?  Several kids drew or colored masks to go with the gala's masquerade theme.  I scanned the drawings and printed them on fabric.  That was the easy part.

My first layout incorporated the colors of the gala and a harlequin diamond that reminded me of carnival.  I struggled with finding a combination of purples and greens that appealed to me.  I had almost all the diamonds paper-pieced when I decided I hated the whole thing!

The green and purple were fine for the night of the gala, but the quilt needed to stand on its own after the party was over.  Don't worry, I'll put those diamonds to work on the back.

Enter plan B.  

I've used a similar layout on kid quilts before and it always works.  A rainbow was pulled from my stash.  The hourglass blocks pieced up in a snap from white and charcoal solids.

All laid out and ready to assemble.  Tomorrow, I'll be on the hunt for the perfect border fabric.

I hope to have the whole thing done by Friday to deliver to JDRF. I'll be putting my freshly acquired rainbow of threads to work in the quilting!

Wish me luck!