Thursday, March 2, 2017

Finding inspiration online

I've been working on several different projects this week, all of which were inspired by things I found online.


Kystal at Let's Quilt Something posts quite a number of nice, free patterns, and I downloaded one called "Falling Petals" a couple months ago. It seems to be removed from her site now, but this is a screen shot of the cover illustration. I just love leaf shapes!


I had a jelly roll of Autumn Splendor by Barb Tourtillotte for Clothworks that I thought would look quite nice in this pattern. I decided to modify it a bit and make the corners curved instead of 45 degree cuts. So I started sewing strip sets together. Unfortunately, the pattern requires the strips to be at least 42" long, and my roll was at least a half inch short. Odd, and frustrating! Instead of being able to get four 10.5" cuts per strip, I had to trim everything down to 10 inches. Not a big problem, but I was flustered enough that I didn't pay attention to which corners I was lopping off. The pattern really calls for the upper right and lower left corners to be cut, when oriented with the strips running horizontally. I did mine randomly and so I wasn't able to get the nice alternating block design in Krystal's drawing.



While I'm quite happy with the individual curvy cornered leaf shapes, I just couldn't find a layout that looked right. I do love the rich autumnal colors of this line. But for now, I'm putting these blocks away to ferment.

Next, I pulled out a pretty panel by Chong A Hwang, who designs for Timeless Treasures fabrics. The panel and its coordinating line are called "Marbella," and feature lush florals and birds in black, turquoise and purple with metallic gold accents. Very rich!


My inspiration is this design that I found on Pinterest ages ago. I have no idea what the sizes are on the original design, but my goal was to use up most of my Marbella fat quarters, so the proportions are slightly different. If you would like to purchase the actual pattern, you can find it here on Shibori Dragon.


All the Marbella pieces had black backgrounds. So to add some contrast, I used some gold metallic for the panel "frame," and tonal turquoise and purple blenders for the background and central border. The way this is pieced, with long skinny rectangles around the outside of the panel, is like adding many borders, so it was good practice in keeping everything square so the edges didn't "grow" and get wavy.


Finally, I saw some cute scrappy butterflies on Cathy's Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting blog yesterday and immediately had a Squirrel! moment. Gotta make some right now! Cathy's butterfly wings require two sizes of HSTs and I had HSTs from the Astrodelic quilt last week, plus slightly larger HST scraps from some older project kicking around.  And the colors coordinated...perfect! Eight fun little flutterbies. I have no idea where these little fellas will land, but I'll add sashing to square them up when they find their forever quilty home.

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful pieces. Much more complicated than what I'm doing lately, but hey it's good to have goals.

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  2. lovely quilting..... I do love your curved blocks.. Is there enought to make a stem with leaves on either side??? and a great way to use up a panel.... I think those butterflies are lovely too.... hmmmm... too many good ideas here!!
    Hugz

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  3. That was fast!!!!
    And I hope you don't leave those lovely leaves to ferment too long!!

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  4. Hopefully when you pull your falling petals quilt out you'll like it better. I love the colors and the rounded edges!

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  5. Great collection of quilt tops and blocks. Love those butterfly blocks. It will be interesting to see where they end up - as part of a butterfly quilt or something different?

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  6. Your sewing machine has been smokin'! XO

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  7. Funny I was just re-browsing Krystal's site yesterday. She has some good ones on there I think. Good thing I previously downloaded Falling Petals as I loved it too! In fact I have a version with traditional fabrics started(somewhere) but I am using strings of all sizes and will then cut to the size she says. Will be anxious to see yours done with a different setting.

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  8. I do love that butterfly quilt! It seems like the perfect pattern to kick off Spring!

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  9. You really got a lot done, and quickly, too, considering you revised some of those patterns. I know you will do something wonderful with all of these.

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  10. I really like those petals. The colors are fabulous and hope you find a setting for them.

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  11. Oh, I love that you've already made some butterfly patches like Cathy's. I still want to but have a long queue. Thanks for linking with Kaleidoscope of Butterflies.

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  12. Don't we all love a butterfly quilt! Your blocks are beautiful. And that panel pattern. Someone just came into the quilt shop yesterday with it. Looks like a great way to feature a fav print.

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  13. Lovely projects Louise! I too fell in love with those butterflies. Thanks for linking up with Oh Scrap!

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  14. I like your version of Falling Petals, with the rounded corners. Maybe you'll just have to accumulate more scraps in the two colorways, then make two quilts. Or come up with your own layout, separating the two colors in some way. And love the butterflies - great for scraps!

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  15. The falling Petals and butterflies inspire me too!! Your versions are looking great!!

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  16. The butterfly blocks are so cute. I will have to go make a few of them.

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  17. I love your leaf blocks! The curved edges look great. Can't wait to see them grow together!

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  18. They are all beautiful! I'm so happy Erin Miller shared your blog with me! I am just starting,I have only made one that I really messed up the binding on. I struggle with doing the layout as I live on a 37' sailboat. I look forward to reading through and getting some tips!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Bobbie! You're a "no reply" commenter, so I'll answer you here and hope you see it.

      It's definitely a challenge to do in a small space, and your boat is much smaller than ours. The v-berth is probably your biggest flat space, right? I know some boaters try to find tables they can use in marina club houses. Or a picnic table can work, if it isn't too windy.

      Good luck and check back in with your progress!

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