Wednesday, April 15, 2015

WIP Wednesday: Doe Improv Quilt Top

Carolyn Friedlander's color schemes are surprisingly inspiring to me (I only say "surprisingly" because they rarely include purple ;) ). But really - her fabrics are gorgeous, and I've made two quilts with almost solely her fabrics {Home} {South}.


Last November, I tore apart a mini charm pack of Doe in earnest that my lovely friend Jess brought back from Fall Quilt Market. I was so inspired by the colors, and wanted to make something bigger than a mini quilt (I tend to "go big or go home," even when it comes to minis). So, I gathered scraps and a bit of yardage that meshed well with Doe and began to improv piece rectangles and squares by color. I made sure to include a pop of white or low volume in each block, and many of the mini charm squares are surrounded by white, black, or gray. The blocks just kept multiplying until I got tired of making them (at 10 blocks - clearly, my stamina is astounding [sarcasm!]).

I originally planned to keep the blocks split up and use an eggshell/off white for sashing. I just didn't like how they looked. Then, I found this magical quilt by Ashley @ Film in the Fridge, and by golly, that background is perfect! So, I gathered a bunch of prints and one solid to make up the background. I'm excited to piece this top together. Now, it's time to think of a backing, binding, and quilting pattern...

I have a bunch of finished projects coming up! Sooo much secret sewing. Impossibly hard to keep secret. :)

Linking up to WIP Wednesday.

6 comments:

  1. Gah I am a sucker for Carolyn Friedlander's prints. I never thought I would be so excited by all the prints in a line (or lines) one designer puts out, but the fact that you can mix and match from her previous lines is evil genius. That inspiration from Ashley @Film in the Fridge looks perfect and it will be great to see it with your grouping here!

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  2. I like everything about this but the orange and teal and yellow-ish together. Me and orange don't get along at all, and I only use it when I need to...and never mix it with colors like purple and teal. Never. Yesterday I was making an orange teacup and a purple teacup at the same time and the fabrics I was working with were next to each other and I was dying with the mental strain of it.

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  3. I'm linking this! And I confess I love Carolyn's fabrics too! And secret sewing? It's downright painful!! ;-)

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  4. Hi Jess! This is going to be fantastic quilt! I love your layout and [for me] NEW idea to use bigger pieces with small patches. Great - want to make! x Teje

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  5. I love Carolyn Friedlander's prints, since I'm into the architectural-looking prints. But I'm with you - the colors are oddly inspiring since I tend to use primary colors a lot in my quilts. I love orange (in quilt form only - no clothing!!!) a lot lately, and mustard is really growing on me, too. I've always loved blues of any hue, but putting them all together? AWESOME! Love the improv piecing, the offset setting, the chunks of color - it is INTERESTING. My favorite kind of quilt. It captures my attention and keeps it!

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