Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Twist - Ta Da! - a scrappy quilt made in part with scraps

Twist

Here is Twist - she is about 70" square. I named her Twist because she is a modern-traditional sort of quilt - a courthouse steps quilt that looks like lanterns, a log cabin quilt built as courthouse steps, a highly traditional pattern presented in an asymmetrical, non-repeating, modern colour scheme. Modern-traditional is a phrase that is contradictory, the unexpected ending so to speak, the twist - oh here is a highly traditional log cabin quilt - but then you look and see the twist. I'll stop now.

A beautiful bundle from Fabric Spark - give away on my blog today

This quilt began  a year ago, when Daryl from Fabric Spark gave me the opportunity to curate a blogger's bundle. I picked magenta, navy and low volume white. I wanted to make something that would be bold. Twist is the result.

As I kept making blocks I realized that I wanted this quilt to be largish so I turned to my scraps and bits to finish her off. Having set out to create a non-repeating pattern it was easy to add in new fabrics as I went. It turns out that you can use your scraps in all kinds of quilts.

I blogged about the process of making this quilt a couple of times, in February here and here, then I wrote a tutorial about changing out those dark purple hearth/start squares after the blocks were made here, I put her on a list to keep working on in June here, I shared about quilting her in July here, I put her on my Q3 FAL list here, I showed the finished quilting here later in July, she went in a box for the move, she made it to the Q4 FAL list here. Finally, I found the box she was packed in and finished her off over the holidays.

There can be no suggestion that I was shy to share my process regarding the making of this quilt, progress that took place over the last 12 months, perhaps you are tired of hearing about her.

Twist

I had a great time quilting Twist. I decided to use my favourite industrial style unevenly spaced but close together lines - and then the twist - I quilted the lanterns so the lines change direction.


I also quilted the lanterns in their own colours, so I travelled along the quilt and had a lot more thread breaks than I normally do. If you carefully examine the photos you will see a couple of thread ends I missed on my mending in before I washed and dried this quilt - I'll be finishing those tonight. I have to say that the quilting makes the back of this quilt so interesting too.

I wanted to point out that I did not first quilt in the ditch around the blocks as a more traditional quilter might do and I drew the lines free hand on my longarm machine without rulers or channel locks. I thought about stitching in the ditch, but first my ditchstitching quilting is not that even and my ability and patience with rulers is worse. In the end I like this so much better anyway - another modern twist to this oh so traditional quilt pattern.

Twist - back

On the back I used big chunks of some favourites. The roses on the right are metallic gold - perfect I think for this quilt. I don't have a great photo for you of the binding, it is a white print with blue lines from Doe by Carolyn Friedlander -its the one at the very end of this post by Carolyn. I wanted the binding to sort  of disappear, not to hem in the pattern and it does just that.

Twist

There she is with a little scale on our wide front steps.

2015 Finish-Along

It turns out that Twist was also on my Q4 FAL 2015 list so I will link her up with Adrianne over at On the Windy Side here before the 2015 Q4 finish link closes - there is a day and 7 hours left so get your finishes linked up too.


And a reminder, please plan to join Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow - and I for the Scraptastic Tuesday link up next Tuesday, January 12 - the second Tuesday of the month. You will have a week to link your scrappy project - in progress or finished - and/or your thoughts on taming the scrap mountain. There are terrific sponsors for ST for 2016, and it's just one link per person from your blog, flickr or instagram.
And given how long this one took to finish, I am going to link this post to a few nice places where one can see beautiful and inspiring projects,  including Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday, and Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday.
Best,


Leanne

28 comments:

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I agree with you so much about preferring not to work with rulers and to free hand lines when I am using my long arm. This is fantastic, and I especially love the color scheme (which !!pink!! is so unusual for me).

Debbie said...

This turned out lovely! I really like how you quilted her too!

ChristaQuilts said...

I love it, and I never tire of reading about your progress :-)

Ben said...

It came out great!

audrey said...

Scrumptious!

Allison said...

Love the me try and the twists!

MariQuilts said...

The quilting looks fabulous.....such pretty colours too!!

tusen said...

I've loved this take on courthouse steps ever since you showed me Audrie's cream version and suggested it for my brown quilt. And I simply love your Twist with its great colour and fabric combination and your dense quilting.

Bluebell Ridge Handworks said...

Twist turned out so beautifully! You are reminding me of just how much I want to make one of these oh-so-modern-traditional quilts :o)

Bluebell Ridge Handworks said...

Twist turned out so beautifully! You are reminding me of just how much I want to make one of these oh-so-modern-traditional quilts :o)

elle said...

lovely. It reminds me of hounds tooth and the 60's! :)

SarahZ said...

I love ALL the twists you came up with on this one! She certainly deserves all the attention you have showered on her!

Jayne said...

I love the color combination in this one! Beautiful finish! It's always interesting to see your process and finishes!

Hilary said...

This is stunning! I have always loved the combination on magenta and navy, and I love how this quilt is both traditional and modern. Gorgeous!

Sandra W said...

Bravo! It is a great quilt. The quilting added a lot--but geeze that must have been a lot of work.
Well done.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Congratulations on a great finish. It is beautiful.

Ioleen said...

I really love that small pop of orange I see in the bottom left. Twist turned out lovely.

Vera said...

Great color combo and lovely texture!

Helen@Till We Quilt Again said...

Love this color combination along with this pattern! Beautiful

Kirsten said...

Just gorgeous Leanne - really love these colours together and your quilting is amazing!!

Charlotta said...

I LOVE your twist quilts! I've made a couple or three courthouse steps quilts and it's one of my favorite patterns. All of mine were totally scrappy, which I also really like, and I'm sure there are more of those in my future. But seeing yours really tempts me to make at least one in a color scheme, like yours. Not necessarily the same as yours - though yours is absolutely perfect - but some kind of pleasing collection of fabrics and colors. Yours, all of them, are so inspirational. Thank you for sharing. They give me the lovely experience, again, of discovering a well known pattern all over again, because your quilts really look nothing like mine!

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

this is gorgeous Leanne. I see so much work in this labor of love.

Nicky said...

I do remember seeing this once or twice and loving it each time! You can even post it again as far as I'm concerned. Love the twists. Thank you for participating in the FAL, on behalf of the 2016 global FAL hosts.

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

I could never tire of reading about/seeing your quilts and I love the way you document their progress - it's something I need to do better, I think. Twist is gorgeous, is she a keeper?

AlidaP said...

Wonderful quilt! I really like the color combination you picked! Very inspiring!!

Michele said...

I really like the way it came out. Nicely done.

dutchcomfort said...

Gorgeous and looking so cool!

Debbie said...

Hi Leanne! I'm going to include a photo from this post in my next newsletter round-up!