linear refraction

Guten Morgen ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for joining me today along the "Wake Up to Kona" Color Essentials blog hop presented by ! Sew We Quilt and sponsored by Amanda Murphy, Robert Kaufman and Aurifil. This is a very exciting day for me since this is my very FIRST patchwork challenge! Please don't forgot to stop by and explore what my fellow colleagues (for-the-day) have made. You will find a link to their sites at the bottom of my page, so please read on.

Right now, I am on a 60° triangle craze. I am always dreaming of different possibilities with what I can do with this shape. There are two typical quilts to make with 60 degree triangles - the 1000 Pyramids Quilt and a one patch triangle with varying hues, saturation and fabrics. I wondered what else could you make when you add a parallelogram to the design. What other designs and patterns show up?? That was my starting point.

I work a lot with EQ7 when I design quilts. You can see some of my creations at the EQ Gallery. I like to see how everything is going to look beforehand with maybe just a slight change or two. My first challenge was adding the parallelogram into a pattern. EQ7 has the option of making a one-block quilt, but I wanted triangles and parallelograms! How do I make the parallelograms? Duh...just make a one-block strip drawing exactly the shapes you want to include in the quilt. I drew seven different strips with the shapes I wanted. That simple! Here is a preview of the first strip:

I love to work with solids, but I never worked entirely with them, because I don't want my patchwork to look "Amishy". Today, bright and fresh fabric choices are readily available especially in solids. I am very excited when you tell me that you discover solids and are starting to use them in your own quilts. I love to use lots and lots of different fabrics or colors, but I limited myself with this design to just four colors and an anchor. My color choices usually reflect my mood, the weather or a new trendy fabric collection. And with this challenge, I decided to go with the weather. I had winter on my mind. I picked from Kona Chartreuse, Lagoon, Windsor and Crocus as well as Snow to anchor and put them all together.

Are you curious to see what I created? I think I am more excited to show you!

It was a little bit of a battle to get the measurements right, but if I had just printed out the rotary cutting instructions from EQ7 like I was used to, I could have saved myself a lot of seam ripping from the get-go. I did not have any major problems after that. As long as you sew the rows together in opposing directions, and let the seams nest, it will sew together in a snap. I actually spent more time quilting it than sewing it together.

Here it is without the binding:

I really wanted to make this patchwork come to life and designed it with a colored, alternating strip binding. I was almost in a pickle getting the fabric, because I ran out of the chartreuse green. It was on back order, so I ordered it at a second online shop - Quiltzauberei. Thank you for getting it to me so quickly! I applied the strip binding rotating the quilt always to the left for a really special effect. (It is not a continuous binding.)

When it came to quilting, I didn't want to over-do-it. I like the quilting to hold the patchwork in place but not overpower the design. There can always be a second design created when you quilt and I did want to achieve this as well. I quilted 3/8" (0,80cm) on the inside of the white/purple sections and I,5" on the insides of the colored triangles. It makes a secondary pattern in the quilt and turns a couple of triangles into diamonds. And yes, I actually used five different threads when quilting and tied the ends before I pulled them through - no backing stitching! And here she is all finished up:

 

The colors are gorgeous - much more vibrant than pictured here. I love the layout including just one entire row of triangles in the middle. My hubby asked me immediately who was going to receive this little beauty. I quickly replied and told him this was my show piece; it stays in the collection. And it will be staying on my wall for the duration of the winter. I like to think of the sun reflecting off solid ice in the middle of the day and in the evening when the light changes - linear refraction! How many different patterns can you see?

I really enjoyed planning and sewing this quilt - a wall hanging size of ~98 x 98 cm or 38.5 x 38.5 inches. It is a great little piece to show off what you can do. It isn't always easy to get those points lined up the way you want too.

If you would like to make this quilt, I have the free pattern here for download. (There is also an alternate fabric way if you prefer a warmer look.) Donations are welcome via PayPal to karen@easypatchwork.de but are not required.

Please don't forgot to stop by and explore what my fellow blog hop colleagues have made. We are counting on your support! Leave a little love or just a comment will do.There are so many great quilts, large and small, that you have to visit each and everyone's site. They will knock your socks off. When you finish with this little list, go back to ! sew we quilt and look at all of the particpants!!

Life in the Scrapatch

Vroomans Quilts

Bumbleberry Stitches

Upstairs Hobby Room

Sew Many Yarns

easypatchwork

Beaquilter

A big warm thanks to Carol at Just Let Me Quilt and Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for organizing and cheering us on but most importantly, for inspiring us to inspire YOU!

 Thank you for dropping by. Karen