Friday, March 4, 2016

Spring Wind: A Wonky Cross Quilt


I'm not over my love of Wonky Crosses yet! In fact, I think I love the more each time I make them.


"Spring Wind" is a complement and inverse of "Autumn Wind" (below)  - they are both the same size (38.5" square), perfect for a unique baby quilt or modern wall-hanging. My goal was to show that the colors can be - well, anything! Wonky crosses are SO versatile. Each quilt comes out decidedly different between the color selection and the improvisational sewing.


I started out by combining Imprint fabric by Katarina Roccella with Zephyr by Rashida Coleman-Hale. I love mixing fabric lines and I couldn't believe how similar the fabric tones were. I went with the bolder colors and took out any too-bright highlighter colors. Color choice takes work, but it's one of my favorite parts of the quilting process (next to the actual quilting).


After I sliced up the blocks and sewed the improv crosses, I played around with color balance some more and pieced the blocks in rows. Some blocks are intentionally blank. In my Wonky Cross class, I teach all of these skills (plus whatever else comes up!).


In the past, I mentioned that it would be intriguing to quilt one of these quilts with a spiral off-center. That's exactly what I did here, with the added interest of quilting three differently-sized rings. Much like I did for "Peace," I used my free motion quilting foot on my domestic machine, and I did not measure out the lines or use a guide. They are imperfectly spaced, just the way I like them.



I used my favorite quilting thread, Aurifil 50 wt. #2600 (Dove Gray) - how many times have I written that sentence on this blog? :D It gives the fabric a perfect pop and allows my quilting to really show. A few months ago, I actually purchased my first thread cone of this color. It's definitely being used!


It was a bit windy yesterday, and Mike snapped this picture before it calmed down. This whole week, it was so windy that we couldn't even have a quilty photoshoot! Needless to say, I had a bunch of makes to photograph (more of that coming soon!).


I'm teaching the class for this quilt and technique several times over the next few months, and I absolutely can't wait!


I hope you'll join me! If you want me to come teach near you, check out my Classes and Lectures page and fill out my contact form here.

By the way... can you tell I'm ready for spring? I made this quilt in the midst of a snowstorm. Bring on the daffodils and birdsong!

 

11 comments:

  1. Oooh, I really like how the spiral starts out very densely and then gets looser the farther out it travels. Nice visual effect!

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  2. That spiral is really great! I love the idea to have the coils expand.

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  3. Very nice springy colors! I love that you didn't go totally pastel or bright with your fabric choices! And the ever-widening spiral is a great windy effect!

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  4. Wow! I am so inspired by this because I'm spiral quilting my own quilt right now. Beautiful work and really fun too!

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    1. Thank you, Jill! Trying a different kind of spiral was really fun! I'd love to see what you're working on!

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  5. Beautiful color scheme! Yeah, I love working from my stash and mixing in loads of fabric lines hah!

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  6. I love the mix of fabric and the way the crosses are different sizes. Your quilting is always an inspiration to me.

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  7. This is awesome - I like how the spiral resembles a pond ripple :) It's a nice juxtaposition of the angular crosses. I also like how your blank spaces are neutrals interspersed in the color coded rows.

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  8. As always, you are super cool
    I just love the crosses. Kind of nice, reminds me of Easter. :-P

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  9. Spring Wind is terrific. I love the white with the Allison Glass. Good job!

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  10. The spiral looks really good with the different sizes, great finish!

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