The cold weather continues.
Yesterday was another good day to stay home. Four brave souls in my quilt bee, the Sew and Tells, came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon which was fun, but that still left plenty of time for quilting the friendship star quilt I had pieced back in December.
I stitched the binding in the evening while catching up on some of our recorded shows and took some pictures this morning.
I’m getting a few holes in the wall next to the door from pinning my quilts there.
I’m going to have to find a new place once James has repainted?
Here’s a closer look at the 36″ square quilt. I made 36 blocks for the front with fabrics from the Denyse Schmidt Modern Solids range by Free Spirit and prints from Westminster for the centers.
I used several different whites/creams for the background and spent a happy hour or so playing with different arrangements before settling on the one I stitched together.
The top sat for a while until I had decided on the quilting. In the end I went with free motion stitching the names of my Facebook friends starting at the edges and working my way into the middle. A modern form of friendship for a modern quilt?
I used a beige 50 weight thread from Aurifil, just a shade darker than the lightest neutrals and a shade lighter than the darker ones to pull it all together. I had to loosen the top tension on my machine to handle all the loopy stitching and it used three bobbin worths of thread even on my Bernina 820 sized bobbins…
Inspired by a picture on Pinterest, which I tracked back to Camille Roskelley at Simplify, I made a special block for the back using eight more colors from the Modern Solids box.
Camille has a pattern (round and round) available for a whole quilt of these blocks but I just wanted one!
I think I will call my quilt Modern Friends. If you are my friend on Facebook, then be sure, your name is on there somewhere!
Catherine, you have a true artistic gift. I never tire of seeing your creations and marvel at your ability to come up with and execute your ideas. This quilt is beautiful!
You are too kind! Your name is on my quilt 🙂
True artist,, what a gift……
Carmen
I love the friendship star! You have inspired me to make my latest quilt. I added more HST in the corner of the block: this way there is a secondary pattern of pinwheels! Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Esther
You’re welcome!
Love the quilt! The back reminds me of the friendship circle candle holder. Have a lot of new ideas to use on my quilts from your new dvd…Modern Machine Quiling.
Glad you like it!
Wonderful happy quilt. Glad I got to see it up close.
Thanks Sandy!It’s always good to see you too.
Wow-that is so pretty! What a really nice idea to free motion friend names on it. Wonderful!
Thanks! Writing is one of the easiest free-motion designs… we all learnt to write and have learned muscle memory.
Save your walls. Use the 3M adhesive wall mount hooks that are removable when not needed. I have used them for anything up to 40″ square. You could also use 2 spaced out if you make a separated binding sleeve on the back.. i have used them on wall, and doors successfully. No holes and no sticky residue.
I’m probably preaching to the choir, but here goes. I too have a spot I like to hang my latest quilt for personal enjoyment. And after filling upteen holes in the walls, I use Command hooks. Put a sleeve on the back, find a piece of lattice (check the lumber yard or that orange big box store, drill holes in said piece of wood, and hang on Command hooks. Then you can have any size you want, and no holes in the walls.
PS. Do love the quilt too.
Another idea for consideration! I just put the quilt there for a quick photo shoot… I certainly need a better system than the one I have at the moment.
I love the idea that you keep making holes in the wall- it brings the house to life… and reminds you of all the wonderful projects you’ve done over the years. Plus it gives James something to do 🙂
Well, that’s one way of looking at it!