Successful quilts have good contrast. It might be color contrast but more often it's a value contrast of light and dark. Today's post is about the dark. This new Stash Pack is all about the dark shadows that are needed to make the light and bright elements stand out. This new Stash Pack was created with the shadows in mind. I wanted everything dark with bits of light shining through. Back in stock this week is the Black Gradient. This is a great way to get a sampling of shades of gray and black for several levels of shadows.
I had an easy drive to the beach Wednesday and this is what the beach looked like when we arrived. Anyone tracking North Carolina weather last week knows that we didn't have the best weather for the rest of the week but it's still wonderful to be there at any time. Just listening to the waves drops your blood pressure a few points. We got in a couple of good beach walks, binge watched The Gilded Age, sewed, knitted, crocheted and just relaxed. It was wonderful. I didn't take any sewing but I took Antelope Canyon to cut out. You may remember that I planned to do this quilt in mostly grays with some grayed purple highlights. I had dyed 2 different sets of purple but I never could get totally behind it. So while I was thinking about it I got busy with the background (pale gray) and all of the black/gray elements. Then I decided to check the bride's registry again. It turns out that she has 3! 90% of everything on it is gray or white. But there were some blue (kind of pale gray blue) linens on one. I decided that I'd switch out the purple for blue so I'll be back to the dye sink this week to do that. Now I have a lot of purple fabric to plan another project! I didn't take the crochet baby blanket with me mostly because the project bag for it is big and bulky. Instead I decided to start a new project. I'm giving this crochet t-shirt pattern a try. I know it's going to take some patience and trial-and-error so I'll take my time. Working a swatch was a complete waste of time. My swatch measured correctly so I made the neckline on the bottom. It's HUGE! I started again with a hook size smaller and it's almost perfect....so far. We'll see how it goes. The drive home was crazy! We started in North Carolina driving through a wild rain/wind storm. My friend has a small car and I have a boxy one. At one point I thought we were both going to be blown off the road. The rest of the trip to the Virginia line was mostly just rainy but when we hit Virginia we hit snow! By the time I got to within 10 miles of home it was snowing pretty heavily. It was crazy.
But today is beautiful, the snow is gone and we have hope for Spring.....and pollen storms to come. This was supposed to be my beach project! Last month I made this set of placemats to match some ice dyed napkins. I had another set of ice dyed napkins that I wanted to make placemats for. I decided that I would take them with me for my beach sewing project. I got all of my strips cut out and arranged the way I wanted them. I was listening to a good book and the next thing I knew I had 4 placemats sewn together! Yesterday I got the binding done and this project is complete! Here's the placemat with a napkin half open. I love how these turned out and I think this set will go in the gift closet for future gifting.
I've decided that I will take the Antelope Canyon wedding quilt to the beach to cut out. By the time you read this I should be in the road. I may or may not post again before Monday. I don't have a shop update this week because I'm about to head out of town for a long weekend! So I need to tell you that any orders placed after today (Tuesday) will be shipped Monday, March 14. I do have a couple of little things to share today. First off is a little dye test. A friend and I are planning a dye project for the back of one of her quilts. We think that Color Magnet might be the way to go. I wanted to do a test to see if the Color Magnet would work over Washable Markers. I use washable markers a lot with my dyeing and it doesn't have any effect at all on the dye. But I was kind of surprised to see that it does seem to provide some level of resist with the Color Magnet. Orange, by far, was the worst. Black and brown had the lest effect. Isn't that weird and interesting? In other news the gingham baby blanket is coming along. I think I only have 12 rows left and then I can add the border. I'm not taking this to the beach with me so I'll finish this off next week. I'm taking a new project to the beach to start. I like how the blanket is looking but I forgot how thick these gingham blankets are. It might be more of a floor blanket and I'm OK with that.
Our friend from England are here and we are looking forward to the month to catch up and have some fun together again! My first 2 veterans quilts of 2022 are done! This the second set of quilts I've made with this star block and I'm sure I'll make more. These 2 quilts started with scraps of yellows/gold/oranges and 2 chunks of blue fabrics left over from other projects. This particular blue is a remnant from a hand dyed quilt back. Both quilts are 48" x 60" I picked binding for these quilts solely based on what I had available. On the first quilt I had enough of the background for the binding. The second one has some orange binding that was supposed to be for another quilt that I never used. I think the orange binding turned out to be a nice finish. To me these are "beachy" quilts. I was at the beach when I cut them out and the colors remind me of a sunny day lounging on the beach. I picked this pantograph because I think it is reminiscent of water and wind.
I hope someone will find comfort with them. This week's inspiration comes from Linda Webster. She created her art quilt in the Keep It Simple But Pack a Punch class taught by Rachel Derstine. She used the Forest Canopy gradient along with Stash Packs and batiks.
For sharing, Linda received a 20% coupon for the shop that's good for 3 months! If you have made anything with my hand dyed fabric I hope you will consider sharing it in the Customer Gallery. The only rule is that projects have to be complete. It doesn't have to be made totally from hand dyed fabric, just include a recognizable amount. I can't believe that my first veterans quilts of the year were quilted in March! We have several longarm quilters in the club now so it's nice to be able to share the work. I don't know if I'll have another 50-quilt year again. But I was happy to finally get a start and I want to get as much done as possible before our friends arrive Monday. My Mom made the top on the left. You might remember this quilt that I quilted for her in February. She used the leftover blocks to make the one on the left. The quilt on the right was made by Betsy. She works magic with little pieces of reproduction fabrics. Bonus! I also quilted my 2 veterans quilts. I'll show them after they are bound and finished. I plan to get them done this weekend between several sessions of stacking firewood. A friend took down a giant (and dead) cherry tree and we got most of the wood. We also need to take down a few trees on our own property so I'm getting in my weight lifting exercise this week. Last night before bed I made 2 microwave bowl hot pads. I made tons of these for Christmas gifts a few years ago. One of the recipients is absolutely obsessed with them. He needed more. I had the blue one left over and made the 2 extra black/red ones. The pattern is here. Chris is having lunch with our friend today and will deliver these.
While he's at lunch, I'll be stacking wood! The Summer Sunset quilt is officially done! It's bound, washed, labeled and ready to use. It's too heave for a summer quilt but it will be a great quilt for September and October. In fact, this might be the quilt that we take to Maine in August. I do bring all of my own bedding because of my allergies. In the end I'm happy with the finished quilt. I was disappointed by the pattern but I worked around the pattern issues by quilting it with a pantograph instead of doing any custom quilting. If you want to see more photos check it out here. The back is ice dyed cotton sateen.
I'm very excited to share some new gradients....as well as a few restocked favorites. IntroducingCampfire is a transition from ashes (grays) to flame. The browns are all warm browns and Cinnamon is a related Stash Pack for this one. South Beach came out of my desire for winter to quickly end and Spring to get here! The colors remind me of the bright neon colors of Miami. Back in Stock!These gradients are all back in stock this week. Fabric of the WeekThe fabric of the week this week is the Cinnamon Shades Pack. It coordinates with the new Campfire Gradient featured above. Cinnamon is on sale through Sunday.
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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April 2024
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