Tuesday, March 24, 2015

How Charming!

Creative Goodness at QuiltShopGal

#Creativegoodness again!  Since I decided to participate in the Project Quilting challenge, using charm squares, (5" pieces), I discovered a few that I had purchased years ago.  When I first started quilting, and buying cottons, I did quite a bit of buying from Ebay.  A few sellers often had good deals on either manufactured packs of charms (the collection) or ones they cut and packaged.  I have a few packaged sets I didn't know what to do with, so they got stored in baskets on the shelf in my studio.  The collection bundles are multiple packs, with some yardage to match (for most, after I realized I needed the coordinates for binding and borders) and enough to make a quilt.  The seller cut packs are...not.  Not enough to make a quilt, and without coordinates for borders or binding.

That poses a challenge!  Especially when the packs are older, as the fabrics are most likely out of print.  Some may be available, but since I'm on a Use the Stash challenge with Christine, I'm trying NOT to buy.  I'm allowed to purchase border and binding, but I'm trying not to.

One of the packs was an assortment of 4 prints from the Park Slope collection by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit fabrics.  I had to google Park Slope to get that info.  I have 8 charms of each print, with just a label of the name and the name of the shop.  Nothing in my stash was similar in design, and although I could have added a solid, I chose to just sew the squares together, and quilt it.  I decided to do a table runner.
Yes, that's a thick layer of ice on my patio table, under the runner.  After I had cleaned the table for the last runner's photos, it snowed again on the first day of Spring, and that melted and turned into the ice you see there.


I was inspired by the flowers so I did loops and flowers in the quilting design.  The back is a solid white muslin, with Warm & Natural batting.  Thread is the sweetest lime green by Aurifil, 50wt, Color 1231.  Although I have a blue variegated, and some aquas that would work, the lime just added the right touch to this bright runner.  


 Here I was testing out the photos using props on the small dresser.  I'm not sure I really like either, but the top was perfectly sized for this dresser, which was part of my son's nursery set.  When he was little, we made a changing table frame for this.  It was made with wood and covered in fabrics that matched the quilt a friend made for me, and had a vinyl covered foam pad inside.  We took it off when Matt was out of diapers, and he used this dresser for years.  It's now in the guest room (and still filled with his toys and books, lol)  Although the walls and accessories in the guest room are mostly blue, they really didn't accent the colors in the runner.
 I also tested out a few different fabrics for the binding.  I felt the pink was just too bright, and although it accented the pink in the flowers, was just too much.  Taking a photo can sometimes help show the better choices.  I picked the one on the bottom left, the leaves.  It was the best color match, and least glaring choice.  The one at the 12 o'clock position was just off in color.  The next was too dark, the next too light.  I had one in lime green, but it was not the right shade for this.



This was a fun, fast and easy project.  Perfect use of the charms, after all this time.  And great to play with creating a quilting design, and using colors I seldom use, like aqua and lime.  I worked on this during International Quilt Day, and used fabrics from my stash, and leftover pieces of backing and batting.  I do think that's the perfect thing to do for #quiltygoodness.

What have you done lately?
Thanks for visiting!

Maryellen

1 comment:

QuiltShopGal said...

Beautiful. So perfect to welcome Spring too! Total #CreativeGoodness.

QuiltShopGal
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