SewKatieDid

Because thread is the best glue

modern improvisational coin quilt

::Blogger’s Fall Quilt Festival 2011::

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I had a hard time deciding which quilt was my favorite make this time around, but Snippets is one at the top of the list.

I made Snippets as a shop sample to promote my Improvisational Coin Quilt Class. Snippets puts to use some great improvisational techniques.

The colors are my favorites.  When I dig through my stash or scraps, blue and green dominate.

Free motion quilting is new to me.  Snippets was probably my third practice quilt.  I choose these wee looptie-loops to meander across the quilt.  I liked the impact and the whimsy it added.  If you are new to fmq or thinking of giving it a go, I highly recommend it.

Snippets showcases this sweet elephant print I’ve loved for years and added to my stash over the Summer.  The print was easy to pair with other fabrics in my stash.  I only dropped some dime on the Kona solid which I believe is teal.

The Sock Monkey fabric I had planned for the binding from the start.  I generally don’t work like that.  Binding is something I think about last and is probably one of my favorite parts of the quilt making process.  I always have to audition several choices for the perfect one.

Anyone else like that?

The back has some leftover snippets and panels of the elephants.

So cute!

My plan someday is to make another with stacked coins and replicate my more traditional Colorway Quilt with my current scraps.

I’m hoping to make it to market for some actual book business in the Spring, we’ll see where life leads me.

Today I’m going to take an hour of blog time to see what you are all posting as your blogger quilt festival entry and the rest of my day off will be spent sewing!

Happy Sunday.

::Modern Snippets Improvisational Coin Quilt::

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I added a coin quilt class to my teaching schedule and needed a sample for those that choose to go with a more modern or improvisational design.  An improvisational design will give students a chance to practice free piecing, angle piecing, strip piecing and design layout.

I still have a place in my heart for traditional design when it comes to this quilt and am going to raid my scrap bins to recreate my Colorway quilt too, but first things first.

I wanted to show you my original fabric picks for this quilt.  I think it’s important to audition snippets of fabric on your design wall when planning a quilt and I can’t think of a time when all the prints I pick in the beginning work their way into a finished project.

I actually cut into my fabrics and stand back from my design wall to see how they are mingling.  This is especially easy when working with one solid background color, I simply pin that up first.

If they don’t work the bits go into the scrap bin and I go back to my stash to try to find something new.  As I’m digging in my stash I think about leaning a bit more toward one color or another, eliminating distracting prints, do I need larger or smaller pieces to make the print work, or whether I have the values I need to create more or less contrast.  Then I cut some more.

In this instance only the elephants stayed and I went with a different color way of the spiral.  Sometimes I even sew up a block and end up with the rotary cutter or seam ripper.

As far as the design…that generally just evolves.

Don’t be scared to jump in and experiment!

That’s how this quilt came to be.

Little loops and circles meander along the quilt.  I let it develop rather organically and filled in where needed.

For the binding I went with a subtle print that reads solid from a distance.  I’ve had it in my stash for a while and since it is a sock monkey textured look it seemed to fit the elephant theme.

I loaded up on the Alexander Henry Entertaining Elephants from an Etsy seller at $5/yard for backings and easy whole cloth quilts.

Of course with improvisational piecing you general have some leftovers.

Those are nice for adding some interest to the back.

Yeah!  It’s so happy.  Off it goes to the shop as the sample.

I hope your day is sunny.  I’ve got a friend coming over for a visit to sew and going to try to quilt this quilt.

Happy Tuesday!