Story of a Quilt - Blue Sky over Ohio

I thought it was about time I started making proper 'journal' type records of my quilts as I finish them. I used to keep a paper record with the date a quilt was finished, it's size together with a photo of the quilt. Sometimes I'd stick scraps of the fabrics used in the quilt too.

Of course, this fell by the wayside a long LONG time ago!

And really this blog was supposed to be a digital record of my quilt making, amongst other things.

So, here goes. A new set of blog posts titled 'Story of a Quilt'. And first up is Blue Sky over Ohio.

A lot of my quilt designs evolve as I make them. I was sent these Blue Sky fabrics from Makower so I could make a project for the magazine. I originally intended to create a shaded basket weave type design with the prints, and arranged them in a shaded order.

However, I saw a strippy design online and decided on a rethink.

I can't quite remember how I fell upon the Ohio Star block as the block to use; I think it was because it was a traditional block that we hadn't featured for a while. It also happens to be one of my favourite blocks.

I figured I could still create a shaded effect with the blocks by using the lighter fabrics at the centre, shading outwards towards the darker fabrics.

And so the design was born. The blocks are 6" square and are machine pieced using quick piecing quarter square triangle units for the star shapes.

The quilt was made bigger by alternating the blocks with 6" squares, still following the shaded effect.

The background of the quilt was machine quilted for speed in a stipple pattern leaving the stars to 'pop'. If I'd had more time and was hand quilting it, I would have quilted it differently. The thread was King Tut quilting thread Brooklet (951). Wadding is Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 and the backing was Duck Egg Linea from Makower. The edges were bound with strips cut from the cream star fabrics.

Finished size: 66" square

And I have to say, I'm pretty please with it!

The Frustrations of Being Creative

It's hard being a creative person. You get inspired by things around you all the time. Sometimes the urge to make something is so strong, you can't think about anything else. 

But being creative takes time. You need to factor in the creative design process for all these ideas popping into your head. It can be really frustrating as sometimes all you want to do is SEW!

And that's my current predicament. I've got a couple of small projects I want to make; both mini challenges for fun. The first involves using this fabric from The City Quilter in NYC to make a quilt on the theme 'Window on New York'.

It's not an easy fabric to use and I have an idea of what I want to make, but not sure how I can incorporate the fabric into the design. 

The second mini challenge is between my mum, sister and myself to use this fabric which we bought in a shop in Switzerland to make something as a momento for my mum's 80th birthday. 

Again I have an idea of what I want to do but need to sit down and design it.

But right now all I want to do is some relatively mindless sewing which doesn't involve too much thinking.

It's a hard life being creative 

Joanna