 I was so excited to get the other Hunter Star quilt top done 2 weeks ago and was ready to quilt it this week as the last thing before I start my new projects. I loaded it on the frame and picked a free motion edge-to-edge that seemed like a good idea at the time.  I didn't notice that I had caused this until I had it all done, off the frame and TRIMMED! Because the quilting pattern I used didn't go over the star centers I created fullness there. Stupid. Just stupid. Many bad words were spewed and I can tell you that I'm really good at profanity especially when I'm alone. The profanity didn't solve the problem (it never does but it does feel good) so I had to actually start thinking.  Conveniently I have a file cabinet full of buttons and I thought I'd put a button in the center of each star. I tried hand sewing a button on the quilt but there were just too many layers.  Then I remembered that I could sew them on with my Brother sewing machine. It worked perfectly. I secured each one with a little dot of Fray Check on the front and back. I wouldn't put buttons on a child's quilt but it works great on an adult quilt. I've used a quilt with buttons and it was just as comfy as a quilt without buttons.  Because of all the starch I used in this quilt I did wash it and that took more of the puffiness out of the stars. Now that my panic is over I'm really glad it happened because I love the effect of the buttons! It really puts focus on the stars.  Here's the finished quilt. I dyed a darker gray shade for the binding.  I love, love, love the backing and it was a great use of my Gray Skies mistake. All the pink part was cut off. I just hope there's a veteran at the hospital that likes gray as much as I do!
I have one more finish for 2019! Aside from the label, the Puppy Quilt is done!  The Puppy Quilt, about 84" square This is a retirement gift for a friend and I'm about 5 months early with it! I won't make her wait 5 months, I'll get it to her as soon as I get a label made and attached. She's seen in in development and picked the background color so it's not a surprise and she wants it now.
Read more about it in the Gallery.  Groovy I, 60" x 76" I watched football last night so I was able to finish the binding on the first Groovy quilt. Click over to the Gallery to read more and see the cool tie dyed back.
 Fireworks 55" x 72" The last binding stitch is done so, aside form the label, the quilt is done. The bright blue binding worked out perfect. Mom and Becky convinced me not to use black or gray and to try a color. They were right. This quilt is going to my nephew, Patrick. He's a graphic artist and loves bright colors. It wasn't planned for him but the quilt told me where it needed to go as I was working on it. That seems to happen to me a lot.  I like to give quilts washed just to make sure nothing surprising happens the first time they wash it. It also encourages the recipient to actually use the quilt. All I need now is a label and then my Mom can deliver it over Thanksgiving when she visits my brother. It will be soft and crinkly and ready to use as soon as he receives it. You can see more detail photos on the Gallery page. I had planned to start stitching the binding on Groovy this weekend but ti seems that Fireworks gave me a bit of tendinitis in my hand. Instead I'll be working on Christmas postcards this weekend. The deadline is rolling up pretty quickly for Christmas cards so it's good that I change focus a bit.
A couple of years ago Benartex and Paula Nadelstern introduced a tonal line called Marbella. I've used it integrated into other symmetry quilts but this year I wanted to use it exclusively in one design. I knew that there was a good chance that they would not want it for market but she was willing to send me the fabric so why not give it a try. After I finished the 2 main quilts I started playing with these fabrics. My original design idea DID NOT WORK at all. But then I got another, simpler idea, that would use the fabrics in a gradient effect.  Here's the simple design. Color placement was based largely on the amount of fabric that I had. It's nothing by 2.5" (cut) squares. I stacked all of them on my side table.  I worked on it in columns creating chain pieced rows. I would pull the pieces for a column so that I could quickly sew the rows.  All the rows pressed and ready for stitching. It took only 2 evenings to get it the top together.  After the top was finished I talked to Paula and she said that there wasn't room in the exhibit for it. I was fine with that and already had an idea for it. I loaded it on the longarm and wavy crosshatched the whole thing in about a hour.  I used a flannel sheet for batting because I thought it would make a cool set of placemats. But before I cut it I took it to quilt club to show the whole thing before I cut it up. That's when my friend, Peg, saw it and said that she wanted it for a room in her house. I was happy to give it to her with the binding that I had already cut. It was one less project on my list.  Hale Pele by Vicki Welsh and Peg Shealy, 36" square She said that fabric reminded her of liquid lava, so she named it it "Hale Pele" - "House of the Volcano Goddess". I'm glad I didn't cut it up.
 Where in the world is my cat? 36" square This quilt was so much fun to make and I'm not even a cat person! But after making the puppy quilt I felt that the cats needed some representation. The only hard part about this one was deciding where to place the template on the fabric. This is the second quilt that I made for Paula Nadelstern and this one is for her Where in the World fabric line. You can see more photos and get drafting information for the block in my gallery.  I like this quilt so much that I'm going to make a sofa size one for my sister-in-law, a full-fledged cat lady. I've already purchased the blue Marbella fabric for the background.
 I'm Not a Snowflake 36" square Quilt market has finally started and I can now share the quilts that I made for Benartex for Paula Nadelstern's new fabric lines. She has 2 lines this year and this quilt is from one called Artful Snowflake.
It's acutally a quite simple quilt made with 9 9-patch blocks. All of the work is done by the fabric. They have produced that border fabric in other colors in previous lines and it's so wonderful to work with because that's just a simple "slab" border made spectacular with her fabric. If you want to see more details about this quilt you can check it out in my quilt gallery. What a great way to finish off the week. All 3 of the new veterans quilts are totally done! They are bound and ready for delivery.
 I had a blue variegated thread that was perfect. It showed up just the same on not quilts, not too dark and not too light. I used the star and ribbon pantograph on these.  I had a light blue backing already dyed that worked well for these. Just so I'm prepared I dyed 4 new veterans quilt backs this week.
I'm so happy that I started out this month getting one more UFO out of the way. I had big plans for the weekend. I want to work on the fish mosaic, load my next big quilt for quilting and start a new quilt. But I've sprained my ankle so I'm not sure what will be happening. I'll see how it goes. At least I have hand sewing if I can't stand much.  Lost My Marbles 82" x 89" I put the last stitch in the label this morning. I'm really happy with the quilt. The one criticism that you might have is that the motifs don't show up well. Selecting the thread for this quilt was a real challenge. My original idea was to use gold but it looked terrible. I settled on 3 shades of orange-brown. I'm actually really happy with it. Some of the motifs stand out more than others so it invites you in to look closer.
You can see more photos on the Lost My Marbles page. I'm happy to have this 5 year old UFO done. Now I can start something new!  Indonesian Batik Quilt 81 x 87 Its' finally done!
Actually it's been done and on our bed for a week and it's a perfect, warm, winter quilt. It all started last February at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show. Anne and I love shopping with Usha at Handloom Batik and we were very excited to find these vintage Indonesian Batiks in her booth last year. You can read all of the details and see more photos here. |
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In Bloglovin you need to search "Colorways By Vicki Welsh" to find the blog. About Vicki
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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