Red and White Challenge Quilt

title: All I want is red, wah, wah, wah...

creator:  Colleen Charlotte Yarnell

location:  Lewisville, NC

Date:  January 2012

Challenge:  Create a 36"-48" red and white quilt for the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters March16-18 2012 Quilt Show Challenge

Inspiration:  I love the swoon-along happening online in blog land.  It inspired me to create a 24" red and white swoon block.  Then using 3" blocks as the basis for the rest of the quilt created my favorite star blocks.  A 12" wonky star, a 9" Friendship star, a 6" Free hand star, a 3" whirly-gig star, and a 1" pin wheel.  The title comes from the song I would sing in my head as I searched for red and white fabrics in quilt stores.  It was hard to findfabrics with JUST red and white and not a touch of block or yellow.  And there are so many different shades of reds!

Here are some photos documenting the construction and quilting.

Piecing the Swoon block.  I use my Marti Mitchell templates.

Friendship star

Wonky star

Freehand star

Pinwheel and Whirly-gig Star

Laying out blocks to figure out placement.

Piecing the back with leftover fabric.

I machine quilted each of the blocks differently.  I used a pebble quilting for the wonky star points.  

And here are some close ups of the quilting.
I
I used just a little bit of the variegated thread with the tiniest block.  It makes it look as if it is blowing in the wind.  I like how it gives the whole quilt the look as if the blocks are being tossed in air.

The rest of the red background I free motioned quilted with my Sofia last Sunday in a tiny loop.


At the bottom of the quilt I put a piece of Kumari Garden. 

 I love this large scale read and white print.  I decided to do some hand quilting here. 

 I wrote 'read and white red and white' in chalk and then signed Colleen Y.  

I quilted over it using red pearl cotton. 

My only problem was the chalk was not easy to remove.


I hadnt stitched the binding down.

Keep dreaming...Colleen

Pillow made for mom's birthday with red and white scraps from this quilt.  The pattern is a 12" Swoon by Camille Roskelly.

OMG !

Oh my gosh I finished my top and the back!  Yeah! 

The name of the quilt is "All I Want is Red, Wah ,Wah, Wah".

It was the song I would sing as I looked for red fabrics in quilt stores.  I suppose I could of ordered online, but I really needed to see the red in person.  There are some I just did not like the shade of.

I did add one more tiny block.  It is 1 inch.  The rest of the blocks are based on the number 3 partially from the swoon/Bethlehem Star block.  This on is a 3" pinwheel star.

This is a 6" paper pieced hand drawn star.  It is one of my favorite blocks to make.

This is a 9" friendship star.  It is the first block I ever made with HST in it.

A nod to my current favorite modern block is the 12" wonky star.

 

And last of course is the Swoon/Bethlehem Star block. 

I pieced the back from the rest of the red, the Kumari garden and this tiny tight plaid.

Now I just need to figure out how to quilt it.  Of course many ideas are going through my head. 

1.  All over machine quilting in  FMQ swirls.

2.  Straight line quilting all over.

3.  Outline quilting by block with FMQ in the background.

4. Hand quilting with pearl cottons in red and white.

5.  Combination of techniques.

I want to put beads in the center flower with a removable (for washing) felt flower.  I'm leaning toward a mix of techniques.  After the quilt show I'm going to wash it for that crinkle look and use it as a lap quilt for ME!!!  It will only be the second completed quilt I have made for myself, except for a few small wall hangings.

 Keep dreaming...Colleen

Next I need to baste and FMQ the second scrappy star baby quilt. 
The baby was born in the fall so I'm a little late.  Blogged about here.

Red and white is coming together

The Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Quilt show is fast approaching.  Ive been thinking about it since they announced it and the quilt challenge.  I love a challenge!  It motivates my creativity!  When I was in DOQ it was my favotie part of being in a guild.  I have been thinking, designing, and collecting red fabrics for months.  I didnt have any red prints or just red and white fabrics so this was a challenge.  When I want on the LQS Shop Hop last fall I acquired some good fabrics- red on white, white on red, red on red, ...  I was always singing to myself "All I need is red, wah, wah, wah...." 

First design,

 

 Another

not sure what happened to this file..



Still another

this was my last design

I liked some of the elements but they weren't exactly right.  Then the Swoon along happened. I have been lusting after making one of these quilts.  I have some Denyse Schmidt and Kaffe Fasett fabric in my stash that would be perfectly showcased.  So this lead me to a new design based on me making this last night





 A red and white swoon block. 

 I actually didnt use the swoon pattern but rather the Bethlehem star pattern with my Marti Mitchell set A templetes and a companion triangle ruler.  I modified the center and enlarged the whole block to 24".   I really wanted a large statement piece block and this came out perfect.  I didn't want a layout with traditional borders or a one block quilt.  I added 4 other blocks based on my favortite stars and what I am now titling the quilt-"All I need is red, wah, wah, wah...." The 3 wahs gave me the idea for all blocks to be 3' based.  So I made these other four blocks.

A 3" pin wheel star, a 6" free style star, a 9" friendship star, a 12" wonky star and the 24" Swoonlike star.  These are my favorite quilt blocks!  This is kind of what the layout will look like.  Im using that great red I got at Karen Gray's shop for the background.  I have a large scale red and white print called Kumari Garden that will add a statement as a strip down the side.  It will finish at about 45" by 45".

  Im hoping to complete the top this weekend.  I'll piece the back with whatever I have left.  Im still debating the quilting.  Maybe some hand quilting on the stars with red and white pearl cottons, maybe a few antique red buttons, beads... or just straightline overall quilting or maybe straightline over lapping large freehand stars or a combo?  I plan this to be a small throw for my favorite chair in the den.  Any suggestions?

Sew Scraps Along

I am having a blast cutting into my new scrap stash from Karen Gray designs! 

 I started my first project, the scrappy log cabin posted by Pleasant Home for the Sew Scrap Along. 

I got out my sorted Heather Ross and other graphic novelty prints. 

 I isolated the pictures and cut out 17 center rectangles.  Why 17? I don't know.

Then I pulled out the two floral scrap bundles and started working my way through them cutting random width strips. 

I than chain stitched on the strips and cut apart.

 I have a way to go yet.

As I am working through the bundles I am pulling out duplicate fabric and putting them in a bag.  When its full-a small priority box worth-I may have to do a giveaway!

Anyway tonight as I was working on the blocks I got a phone call from my cousin. 

 She wanted me to write a special note for her daughter as a surprise for a special school activity. 

I thought "Yes!  Ill make a fabric post card!" 

I have been wanting to make one for a while. 

So switching gears I cut out the pieces using the tutorial by Fabric Mom. 

I then collaged using things I had.  I think it turned out pretty great!

Keep dreaming...Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'

One Thing, One Week challenge

So I had been dragging my feet on finishing my blocks for the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along. 

Then Amy's Creative Side made the challenge to finish one UFO project by this past Sunday. 

So I thought why not and I pulled out the pieces and finished all of the blocks.

I then laid out the blocks on my bed and figured out how I wanted them to be arranged. 

I really need a large blank wall to make a design wall. 

I miss the black felt one I had in my first studio.

I used the black blocks to add interest to the pattern. 

The greens were all from a jelly roll and the purple was from my stash.

Finally I pinned and labeled all of my rows ( or columns). 

The quilt is 10 rows by 8 columns.

Then with only one or two mix ups I sewed the top completely together.

It looks great! 

I just am not sure if I want to sash it and make it bigger or just finish it as is. 

I'm just happy I completed it before the FQ sent out the last set of instructions to finish the quilt.  I might baste it at the church Snack and Craft tomorrow night. I don't really have room to baste in my house.

Keep dreaming...Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'

PS Don't forget the Fall quilters Bloggers Giveway starts soon!  I'll being giving away some cool quilter's things!

a challenge

Doesn't every quilter love a challenge?  Challenges motivate me to stretch my creative brain muscles and see fabric in a new way.  I have been exploring the world of quilt embellishment and art quilts.  I started using fleece to embellish anything - like the dinosaur scene on this baby quilt.  I was working my way up to wool. 

So I joined a felting forum to learn more about wool embellishment techniques and guess what? 

Wool people have challenges too!

Their September challenge was to create a mostly wool piece using one of the four elements as a theme. 

I decided to use some beautiful green hand dyed wool as a base. 

I bought it from fiber artist Karen Poetzinger at our last guild meeting. 

I used my new felting tools and Singer Embellishment machine and dry felted a butterfly with swirls.

I added some fancy yarns and beads to the border and the butterfly.

That was going to be it.  A felted wool wall hanging.  But with quilters never is anything so simple...more later.

keep dreaming....Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'

PS I'm trying to up my blog followers...pass this on to your crafty quilting friends I'm giving away a great gift soon!  More to come!