Choose Your Own Block-Along – Math Class Quilt

Cindy at Live a Colorful Life writes one of my favorite blogs, and when she wrote this post about accountability in quilting, it struck a chord with me. She and some of her friends decided that a collaborative effort might help keep each other accountable for the multitude of projects they have started but not finished (sound familiar?) Choose Your Own Block-Along will link up weekly on Mondays, and I chose to join in the fun.

Math Class Quilt

I normally don’t buy quilt kits, but when I saw this Math Class Quilt pattern by Sweetwater, I loved the name, the idea, and the fabrics. Fabric Buffet had the best price, so I sprung for it.

The fabrics – oh I love them. Moda’s Elementary by Sweetwater has names like Geometry, Equations, Art Class, Measure Up, Biology and colors of blue, tan, cream, and black.

Numbers and equations!

This will be the perfect Christmas gift for my daughter. Although she works in the field of oil and gas exploration and production as an Engineering/Geoscience Technician, she was a whiz in mathematics and majored in those studies for awhile in college. She and I are nerd-ish in our shared love of all things related to math (we celebrate Pi Day), so this will be the perfect Christmas gift for her.

The diagram shows a different border than the black, but I’m sticking with black – I think it makes the quilt. The quilt finishes at 66×71, so it should make a great TV watching quilt for her.

I started cutting yesterday afternoon and decided to put together a few blocks so I could post on today’s link-up. Be sure and check out the other blogs!

Garden Gate Patchwork

I recently discovered the blog of Christine at Patchwork Allsorts and am drawn to her pretty embroidery. When I saw this beautiful stichery I decided I had to buy one of the double stitch patterns from Mountain Patchwork. During the month of September they have free shipping!

Christine has a stash of Tilda fabrics, which are gorgeous fabrics not readily available here in the States. I have to admit I’m envious of her stash. I started to buy a few pieces on Etsy, but in the end I decided to use some of the “unloved fabrics” that had been weeded out of my stash during The Purge a few weeks ago. They are batiks which attracted me initially, but I didn’t love them anymore. However once they were cut and sewn together I loved them again.

I haven’t hand sewn for a long time, and my stitches show it. Sewing a straight line is not as easy as it used to be, and my embroidery stitches look spidery to me. But I decided it adds to the charm. For the double stitch thread I used variegated Superior Rainbows with shades of lavender, sage green, and pink, and for embroidering the flowers, ribbons, and stems I used Cosmo thread.

I am working on re-purposing/refinishing a frame for it and will post a final picture. Thanks to Christine for answering my numerous questions about this project!

Rainbow Quilt Finished!

I am very happy with this quilt! I finished it on Saturday and gave it to the pastor on Sunday. In the card I let her know that I am still working on the label and will sew it on for her when it is ready. I’ve decided to name the quilt “You’re the Rainbow To My Cloud”, from a quote by Maya Angelou.

The back of the quilt was a mix of fabric blocks using fabrics from the quilt front, plus a tie-dye fabric that brought all the colors together. I thought the swirl in the pattern complimented the “motion” of the pinwheels on the front.

Color range red, orange, yellow, green

Color range blues, purple

Pinwheels

The binding was the same fabric as the darker fabric on the pinwheels.

I quilted free-style horizontal waves with the walking foot. With the exception of a small glitch, I loved the way it turned out.

Quilt front

Thanks to my patient quilt-holding husband, who begged me not to include his legs.

Rainbow Quilt

One of the associate pastors of our church has been appointed to another church, and since we moved here less than a year ago, she and I have enjoyed an all-too-brief period of getting to know one another. From the first time we shared Starbucks until now, I experience a lift to my spirit every time I see her. She is one of those people that makes you feel not only accepted but cherished – that is a rare gift.

She will still live close enough to visit from time to time, but I wanted to commemorate her leaving by making her something special. She recently shared vacation photos of rainbows and mentioned that rainbows have a special meaning for her. I haven’t heard that story yet, but I decided a rainbow quilt of some sort would be a perfect gift. I looked at several patterns, but when I thumbed through the March/April 2014 McCall’s Quilting, I found exactly what I wanted.

This quilt, called “Prism” by designer and quilter Abigail Dolinger of Aby Quilts, was easily adapted to a rainbow theme. I pulled from my stash, rather than purchase new fabric, and I like the way it’s coming together so far.

Reds through yellows

Yellows/oranges through greens/blues

Blues through purples