Sunday, July 26, 2015

Charm Pack ~ Cool Waters Quilt

It feels good to finally use some fabric that could easily have sat around for a long, long time. I have a hard time with pre-cuts.  Mainly, Charm Packs and Jelly Rolls.  Yes, they are pre-cut and ready to go, but finding something that gets my heart going is hard to do!  

Back in June, I won gorgeous Denyse Schmidt Modern Solids Charm Pack from Blossom Heart Quilts.  The colors are amazing and that stack made me long for a project where I could use them.  



Am I right?  They are gorgeous!  I was getting excited to make something, frustrated that I didn't know what and determined that it was going to happen...like NOW!  

I popped the wrap off the squares, picked through the colors and thought...sure, I could use all of them.  A good rainbow is hard to beat.  I could slice them in half, make half square triangles...I could do so many things if only I would settle on something!!  

And then it happened!  Light bulb moment!  While playing with the colors I somehow gravitated towards the cool colors.  The blues!  The greens!  Cool, so now what?  If it hadn't been early afternoon, I would have had a glass of wine to calm my frustration!!  

I reminded myself over and over that it's okay if you screw it up, if it doesn't turn out.  We (me), want each and every project to work the first time, but it sometimes just doesn't.

With a shadow block swirling in my head, I went about figuring out the math on the shadow part.  A couple test blocks and 'Cool Waters' was born! 


COOL WATERS
Charm Packs are no longer something to be scared of!  I found a cool (no pun intended) and effective way to tackle squares!



I set about sewing the shadows on to each block.  First the bottom, then the side.  



Which led to a lot of these.  I used 40 charm squares for this quilt, which still leaves me 60 more from the pack!  It's a start, right?


After rearranging a few times, I came up with a layout that worked for me.  The next step was connecting the rows.  I added the short sashing strips first, connecting the rows horizontally. Vertically, the longer strips took more time.  I marked and pinned in an attempt to keep everything as lined up as possible.  


With the panel pieced, I was feeling pretty good about this!  I thought long and hard about how and where to place the panel.  Centered? Off center?  I went with off center.  The next big decision will be quilting.  Maybe some waves for motion and to break up the grid.  That remains to be seen!

If you are like me, have charm squares sitting on a shelf and are looking for a way to use them...I recommend this design!  I think solids work, I think prints would work.  Just a panel or an entire quilt full.

This quilt will be roughly 56" x 74".  The grey is Bella Grey (all scraps!), the background is Kona Snow.

You can find the tutorial for the block here: 

LINKING:

35 comments :

  1. Replies
    1. It seemed like a good idea, a good way to use charm packs and pretty simple! Totally a win, win!

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  2. I love this! It's very nicely done. Thought for quilting? Quilt a few columns of ghost squares to the left of the shadow squares, using blue/green threads but change colour of thread in each column so that it fades out to white in the last column. Make sense?

    It's more geometric than waves though, perhaps waves would work as "borders"?

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    1. I think the color sell this quilt! I love your idea about the ghost quilting, how interesting that could be if executed correctly! Thank you so much for the idea!

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  3. Lovely; I love the grouping of the cool colors and the shadows really help the vibrant colors stand out and sing!

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    1. The colors are the star to me, the design just makes them stand out!

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  4. Thanks, I really love your idea, I have SO many packs just waiting for ideas.

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    1. I was really stuck on what to do with mine. Easily, they could have sat forever. Thankfully the idea took hold and came together!

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  5. Really good! Those shadows are so great! Amazing how small grea stripes create that look! x Teje

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    1. I thought the same thing about the grey! It didn't look like much until it was all put together. I was a little worried for a while!

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  6. Oh my, I love it!! Nice designing!

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    1. I am very pleased with it! Such a simple idea and it all came together beautifully!

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  7. This is a fabulous idea, and your rendering of it in the cool colors is brilliant. Thank heavens for those lightbulb moments, right? I don't have any solid charms, but I do have some prints waiting to be used. Hmmm ... I wonder what this would look like in prints ...

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    1. You can't even imagine how happy I was when the idea hit and then after it was pieced together! Actually, you know! I think prints would work just as well too!

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  8. I like the idea of doing this with charm packs. I've seen the tutorial that Jenny Doan did with MSQC (https://youtu.be/qBSZxu3nHDI) but it never occurred to me to do with squares. Thanks for the idea!

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    1. Thanks for including the link for the tutorial, which I never saw before! It seemed like the perfect solution for a charm pack and I do love how it turned out!

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  9. The shadow block is so effective with the solids! Love it :)

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    1. I was surprised and very happy with the end results of this block! Especially after it was all pieced together!

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  10. Love grouping all the cools together and the grey shadows works so well! is that Kona Ash?

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    1. The blues and greens stood out and I had to use them up!

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  11. This is gorgeous! I have had my eye on one of those DS charm packs for awhile now! The variety in those cool colors is just wonderful! I think you have made a super design with your charm pack challenge :)

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  12. FANTASTICALLY GORGEOUS in every sense.

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  13. Wow, another gorgeous quilt from you. You talent is amazing

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    1. Wendy, thank you so much for your wonderful comments! I think this is a beautiful color combination, one where you can't really go wrong!

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  14. Great shadow blocks. I like that it's off centre.

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    1. I like that it's off center as well. The difficult part is what to do in that wide open space! Still thinking on that!

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  15. Looks just great. Love the use of charms and the layout works. Reminds me of my quilt...
    http://cathy-blueberrypatch.blogspot.ca/2015/02/i-think-i-am-floating.html

    Awesome!

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    1. I remember your quilt Cathy!! It caught my eye when you first posted about it!! You did a beautiful job with the colors and rectangles!

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  16. Love this! It's now on my list of "cool quilts to make" :) thanks for sharing!

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    1. I'm pretty sure I will be making this quilt at least one more time!

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  17. Oooh. Edge of charm pack pic. Drool. Solids. Drool. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. As for quilting... perhaps an all over pattern just in the Kona Snow that will make the squares of colour pop even more.

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    1. You get it! Sexy fabric pictures!! I'm thinking of making a coffee table book with just fabric porn pictures…in my spare time!!

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  18. Awesome design! So modern and the colors go great together.

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    1. I love the crisp, clean look of this quilt! The block will be one I will use again soon!

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