bright yet neutral

Another baby to welcome!  The new mama is the daughter of a friend…and my daughter’s friend.   I love when it works out that way! 

I used my Tri Recs ruler and bright solids to make 3” blocks then grouped them together pointing different ways.  I didn’t want to create any patterns here and I love how some of them turned into arrows or diamonds - and some didn't.  The gray background is the popular Essex yarn dyed linen-cotton blend.  I love that it gets softer and softer with each wash.  

I quilted it with these varied “organic” straight line blocks.  I tried hard to not let the quilted blocks line up with the colorful pieced blocks.  Then I switched to monofilament thread and stitched in the ditch outlining each of the colored triangles. 

I had not originally intended to use the ultra thin Quilter’s Dream Cotton request loft batting but ultimately glad I did.  This quilt finished up being very lightweight - easy for Baby to drag around as it gets older.  The back is an Ed Emberley organic cotton print by Cloud 9 that I had in my stash.  (Still available here.)

No wrapping was requested so this one is just rolled & ribboned and ready for gifting.  
(And yes, I washed it after photographing!)
 
I’ll be linking up with Let’s Bee Social.
Have a great week!

frances firefly

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I went to Sewtopia in Atlanta.  Time flies!  As do these beauties…

This is a yet to be released pattern by Elizabeth Hartman called Frances Firefly.  She was, obviously, one of the teachers.
I used mostly fabrics from a jelly roll of Elizabeth’s Rhoda Ruth collection.  My background is a new Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic fabric.  It’s amazingly soft.  I don’t usually pre-wash my fabric but I did with this.  It washed beautifully and was very nice to work with.


I quilted this with jagged lines.  I was trying to copy how fireflies move.
Interesting fact:  Originally I thought Elizabeth was off using white for the “lights” on her quilt.  I was planning to used the new super bright Kona highlight for mine.  A quick Google search taught me that fireflies light up in different colors in different regions.  The highlight color was really fighting with all the bodies so I decided to copy Elizabeth and just go with white.

The back is all this brooch print which is also from the Rhoda Ruth line.  
Can you see how the background glistens here?  It was hard for me to capture in a photo - even on a bright sunny day. 

I’ve been to a few retreats now and it always amazes me how different everyone’s projects turn out based on fabric choices.  This was one time where EVERY SINGLE firefly was beautiful!  Modern fabrics, batiks, solids, neutrals, people who used all values of one color, or a few different colors.  Beautiful fireflies were fluttering around the room.  If you have a chance to make this - even one firefly - I encourage you to go for it.  You will not be disappointed.  You can see some others here on Instagram.  Really, check out #francesfireflyquilt.  They're all amazing!

Also teaching at Sewtopia was Denyse Schmidt!!!  I only got one block of her new Freewheeling Single Girl pattern done and (realistically) expect to finish this by fall.  I’ll share all about the awesomeness of meeting her then.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms and happy weekend to EVERYONE!

I’ll be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Let’s Bee Social.