Sunday, January 18, 2015

Inspiration from Randy's Post...

About a month ago my friend Randy posted some really great pix of a small- private-collection-quilt-show being exhibited in the owner's apartment in Paris. Randy's friend Will knew that she would be visiting during the show and invited her along.  What a collection! And displayed in the owner's wonderful apartment!

I was so taken by one of the quilts pictured in Randy's post that I started working on my version of it the next day!  Now a little over a month later the top is almost done!
I wanted to make my version really scrappy like the original but I also wanted to make it with flannels which I did not really have enough variety in my flannel scrapes so I settled on a more coordinated look.  I must thank Randy not only for the inspiration of her post but also for the gift of several of the fabrics I used in the quilt including the yellow and red rose with purple background fabric which really pulls the whole design together!
Here is the original!
Here's how I started:  I thought the dark center print was very striking so I found a fat quarter that approximated that feel.  I decided on the size of the central blocks and then cut foundation fabric to help keep the shape of the outer rectangles and triangles under control.
 I figured there was way toooo much bias on the edges to just strip piece those sections.
Then it was just a matter of sew a strip-flip-iron-snip-audition-repeat.
audition 
audition 
audition...looking from a distance sometimes helps?! 
I plan on making this quilt again only using my 1800's scraps or maybe 
'30's.  Then it really will be scrappy like the original!  The foundation fabric was a cheap loose weave cotton which I would not recommend!  It did not hold it's shape very well. I think the next one I will use blank newsprint paper.  It will keep it's shape better and tear away easily when I'm ready to sew the final large pieces together.  
I feel like my quilting is off to a great start this year lots of fun ideas in the air (and internet)!
Happy sewing and quilting in 2015!
cheers, Claire W.

6 comments:

  1. It is going to look fantastic. Your idea of using plain newsprint is brilliant - I will have to give that a go.

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  2. Fantastic that you reproduced the one that caught your eye! Nice work!!

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  3. Wow, Claire! It is looking fabulous! You're starting 2015 off with a BANG... I'd find it hard to top that!

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  4. It's nice to see you stareted your year off so "productively", Claire .. and yes it's a nice easy pattern that looks awfully complicated and invites to play around with different fabrics ... and maybe varying the thickness of the strips .. go from tin to braod or form broad to thin strips, or mix it up - though probably always keep it the same for one "round" ...
    Have fun playing!

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  5. Love this! Very fun watching your quilt progress through the pictures.:)

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  6. Fascinating! I'm often attracted to unique quilts in photos but seldom start my own version as you so bravely did. I just keep the photos in my computer so I can admire them now and them. You're a woman of action, Claire. Bravo !!

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