Circles Quilt - Heavily Machine Quilted!

I can't believe I made this quilt in twelve days!  But then again -- that's probably more than 100 hours.  I am a bit obsessive with my quilting, and tend to spend all day in my studio when I'm working on a project I really enjoy.  

Autumn Circles

The beautiful fabric was from The Fat Quarter Shop.  Birch Autumn Harvest, by Jason Yenter.   I love the feel of this fabric!

I used Strips'N Curves acrylic templates for the quilt. I've had these templates for years, and this was the perfect time to use them again. I didn't have much trouble with the curves, and the piecing went pretty quickly.  

Autumn Circles Detail Top Left

I blogged about another similar quilting project, White Wholecloth Quilt where I was excited to use some of Cindy Needham's techniques in a white quilt. (Her Craftsy class  Design It, Quilt It: Free-Form Techniques is excellent!) 

Light and shadow make a big difference in heavily quilted quilts, once I got that from Cindy, my quilts looked a lot better.

Autumn Circles Detail Bottom Left

I used a light weight grey thread in the machine and bobbin, Gutermann Miniking, and quilted on my mid-arm Juki on a Grace GMQ frame.

Autumn Circles Detail Bottom Right

The back was off-white.  If I were to do it again, I'd probably make the back a light blue or grey, but it does show off the quilting!  The hardest part was knowing when to stop!

Autumn Circles Back

I'll be putting the quilt in my Etsy shop Mary Manson Quilts later in the week, but it will be hard to put a price on all that work!

I hope you enjoy my pictures! 

Mary

New Favorite Fabric!

Yesterday I received a package from The Fat Quarter Shop, and when I opened it, there was the most beautiful fabric!  

Here's a picture of the fabrics -- Birch Autumn Harvest, by Jason Yenter for In The Beginning Fabrics.  Aren't they beautiful?  And the feel of the fabric is wonderful.

There are many more fabrics in the collection, but these were my favorites.  I got 1/2 yard of each, I knew that fat quarters just wouldn't be enough!

This is going to make a really special quilt - I can't wait to get started.

Mary

Red Triangles is Finished!

In June, I blogged about my progress on the Red Triangles quilt ... it's finished!! 

I used a layer cake of Esprit de Noel by French General for Moda Fabrics, from the Fat Quarter Shop.   This was my first time using a layer cake, and I really liked it!  It was nice not to deal with big pieces of fabric, and not having to make so many cuts. The fabric is just beautiful, I'll definitely be buying more of some of the designs. 

Since it was Moda fabric, I went to The Moda Bake Shop and used their free pattern, The Dark Side...or Not Layer Cake Quilt  that I adapted for my quilt. I don't always like things to be evenly spaced, so I used fewer blocks and made the quilt design off center.  

I machine quilted feathers on the lighter areas, and a straight line pattern in each dark triangle.  I really like the final design. what do you think?

Mary

Beautiful Moda Fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop

I just received a layer cake from the Fat Quarter Shop of beautiful Esprit de Noel by French General for Moda Fabrics (whew, what a mouthful!). But aren't they pretty? The red, green and tan colors go perfectly in my living room. and I love all the designs!  I'm envisioning a winter/holiday lap quilt.

I've never worked with a layer cake before, I usually buy my yardage by the yard, so this will be a new thing for me. Forty-two 10" squares, in 35 fabrics is much more exciting than just one piece of yardage!

Do you use layer cakes, or other pre-cuts?


The Moda Bake Shop had a free pattern, The Dark Side...or Not Layer Cake Quilte Noel  that I adapted for my quilt. I used fewer blocks and the quilt design will be off center.  Here's a picture of my first layout on the design wall.

I'll keep posting as the quilt progresses!

For more info on this fabric, go to Esprit de Noel at Fat Quarter Shop. 

Mary