Lucky Duck Dreams: Blogger’s Quilt Festival Spring 2014: Mini Quilt

title: Candy Dreams: Red Wax Lips & Pixie Stix, Rock candy Dreams

design: original by Colleen Charlotte Yarnell

size: 35" x 35"

Location: Lewisville, NC

Challenge: Project quilting season 5, challenge 3, Sweet Treats

Inspiration: My favorite candies from childhood and the title of a song.

I am here today to share my Season 5, Challenge 3 entry made for Project quilting.

Sweet Treats is the theme. When I first saw it Last Sunday I found this picture googling.

Pixie Stix!

It was what popped into my head. I remembered all the times when I visited my Grandma in Jacobus, PA. We would walk a couple blocks up the road to the small grocery and she would buy me a bag of pixie stix.

So Monday I picked some scraps I thought looked like pixie stix colors. On Tuesday and Wednesday I cut them into 2 inch strips and made the pixie stix. I pulled a stack of white kona scraps already cut into 2" strips. Using my ruler and the 45 degree line created cuts to make the stripes on the stix.

Then I felt like I needed more. Rock Candy popped into my brain. I ALWAYS would buy it at specialty stores when on trips. I went to itunes when a friend mentioned the song Rock Candy Mountain. I had never heard it before and it lead me to searching for pixie stix songs and I discovered Red Wax Lips & Pixie Stix! I was inspired as red wax lips was another childhood favorite I use to buy at the WaWa store near my house. So after looking at some images on google I drew up a pattern. I traced it onto fusible and then found some old red hand dyed fabric that had lovely texture and color shading perfect for lips. I used a feather stitch to outline after adhering it. It only took about 30 minutes on Thursday to make.

Then I was stuck. I kept arranging the pixie stix and red wax lips in a swirl pattern trying to figure out which way to go. Rock candy still was stuck in my mind but I wasn't sure how to make it. Then inspiration struck Saturday. I pulled a candy pink and blue from the hand dyeds. I freehand cut about a 9" wedge and then some small 3/4 to 1" squares. I fused everything down. The stick was another hand dyed, a thin strip pieced with the back ground fabric.

I worked on the layout until I found one that worked.

I added a little button candy (another childhood fav) to fill in a hole in my border. Used Pat Sloan's selvedge fabric.

I quilted it in a large swirl. Its funny I knew how I wanted to quilt it before I had even had the top figured out.

I used a fun and quirky large scale floral for the back.

I tried a few bindings until I pulled a favorite stripe out. Funny thing is I cut it all up and ironed it and then realized I had a ton already made from a previous project.