Into the Blue

>> Friday, August 30, 2013

A few weeks ago, about five days before I left Michigan for a conference in New York, I made plans with my friends Josh and Adam who, as it turned out, just returned to the city with their new son. Josh and I have been friends since high school and it's the sort of friendship sustained over irregular yearly-ish visits rather than regular emails and phone calls. Hence it was only when I announced I was flitting through town that I learned about Leo's arrival. At which point a flurry of fast sewing and quilting ensued.

I decided to continue the minimalist monochromatic series with a perennial color favorite: aqua. (Also, I knew I had enough solids or near-solids to make this design work, which is not something I can say for most colors. Aqua: it speaks to me and makes me buy it.) Working on a fast deadline meant that simplicity reigned, and a giant starbust seemed fun and (relatively) simply. I drafted 4 20" blocks on butcher paper and paper-pieced the quadrants. Keeping giant pieces of fabric in line was a tad tricky, but I only had to unpick and resew 2 seams, which I considered a victory.

Keeping with the simplicity theme, the back consists of two large pieces of fabric from Erin McMorris collections: a large red chunk from Weekends and a smaller saffron bit from LaDeeDa. I had been waiting for an opportunity to use the large red flowers, as chopping this particular large-scale print seemed counterproductive. I made this quilt a couple weeks after Rossie's thoughtful post about gender and quilting, and I was particularly pleased to use a giant floral print on a quilt for a boy because, seriously, flowers are awesome for everyone (in fact, it was a former male roommate who taught me that sometimes you should just buy flowers for yourself, because they're lovely and pleasing to look at and increase joy).

The quilting is "echo-plus," which is to say quilting lines offset about 1/8" from each seam, plus a line through the approximate center of each wedge. Enough to hold the quilt together but scant enough to keep it soft and drapey. When I arrived with the quilt, I learned that my color selection was prescient as Leo's room has a Tiffany blue accent wall.

Black and white chevron-striped binding? Yes, please. I adore this binding. I'm convinced it's brilliant, so don't tell me otherwise. The stark contrast between the soft aquas and the robust black thrills me. Also I got to sew it with black thread and I so rarely use black thread that I think the spool has been with me for at least 5 years. It was crying out to be used.

8 comments:

Anonymous August 30, 2013 at 7:43 PM  

Congratulations on you finish. I love aqua too and just cant stop buying it!!! Gorgeous quilt and I love the backing. Thanks for sharing. Stopping by from Crazy Mom Quilts. Marie (mlismore@optusnet.com.au)

Kat August 30, 2013 at 8:51 PM  

Love it! The aqua and red go great together. I really like the simple quilting, too :)

Renee August 30, 2013 at 9:47 PM  

Love those colors! What a fun little quilt!

Rossie August 30, 2013 at 11:36 PM  

Looks awesome! You are so good at fast and beautiful quilts!

RobinSue September 1, 2013 at 7:47 PM  

Love the quilt, the colors are so calming.

Kelli September 20, 2013 at 11:48 AM  

aqua is my favorite and I am again loving this one. Keep up the color work friend. They're getting better and better.

Linda S December 7, 2013 at 4:34 PM  

Hi Ronit, I just used your challah cover tutorial from sew mama sew to make one as a bat mitzvah gift for a young friend. I had never done paper piecing, but it went like a dream! (I made the background out of natural linen I had left over from a dress, and the lettering in scraps of Kaffe Fasset "paperweight" in blues, with a scrappy patchwork strip towards the left side.) Thank you for such a great tutorial; I was very happy with the way it turned out.

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