Playing It Cool

Yes, I am!  I received an email from Sarah @Cedar For Stitches showing me a mini quilt she made that was inspired from one of my quilts......I was thrilled (to say the least)!  It isn't often, maybe never, that this happens with one of my designs.    

Sarah was inspired by my 'Cool Waters' quilt (block tutorial here: Shadow Block).  But she did something different...something cool...something I wanted to do myself!

After buying a mini charm pack instead of a regular old charm pack, Sarah came up with the brilliant idea of making a mini shadow block!  She beat me to the punch and I'm so happy she did!  It turned out perfect and I'm a little jealous!

14" x 21"

 'Reminder Mini' is what she calls these.  What a great phrase!  A reminder of some of her favorites, and for me, an honor to be among them!

I found it hilarious that she calls her mini 'Cool Jayne'...only because 'Cool Puddles' didn't seem to fit!  I'm more than happy to let Sarah call it that!  

Big, huge heartfelt thank you Sarah!  You boosted my ego, made me laugh and it is a mini I will never forget!  Maybe you will let me use your measurements for my own? or to add beside the charm square 'Shadow' block?!  

Making A Splash With Cool Waters

It's finished!  Top to bottom, side to side, round and round!  Washed, dried and photographed! I'm happy to share with you the finished 'Cool Waters' Quilt!

COOL WATERS
53" x 70"

This quilt sat patiently off to the side waiting for me to finish other pressing matters.  With its number up next, I needed to figure out how it would be quilted.  It's always a challenge!  

As always, something will break loose and an idea will come forth!  I grabbed my ruler and Hera marker ready to hit the floor!  (meaning lay the quilt out and mark it!)  The blue circle is a plastic frosting lid!  I highly recommend this unconventional tool (wink)!  If nothing else, the frosting is delicious!  I used it to make the curves in the lines, and it worked fine.  You don't always need a special quilting gadget to get where you need to go!

I moved my machine to the end of the table for the quilting.  It was long and I didn't want it falling off the table and dragging me down!  I marked most of my lines on each side of the panel and then went back after the first phase of quilting to fill in.  I choose not to quilt the 'bejeebers' out of this one.  Instead, I kept it loose and fancy free!

  
I'm calling this quilting Circuit Board.  Or maybe Minimalist Circuit Board.  Since I only did vertical lines leaving out all the other crazy things a real circuit board has!  

The center panel I kept even more simple.  Straight vertical lines.  I could have done so much more, something different, but decided to keep it clean.  Simple. Uncomplicated.  No frills.

With that in mind, I did spruce up the back!  The front had more than enough white.  I pulled four coordinating colors, cut 16" squares and staggered them down the back.  It's nice to jazz up a plain white back!  

There is something calming about this one.  The cool colors remind me of water.  The gentle lapping of waves, the flow of the tide or the rush of a river.  Water soothes and calms me. 
  

Block:  Shadow Block 
Denyse Schmidt Modern Solids:  charm squares
Kona Snow:  front and back
Bella Grey: shadow
Batting:  Warm & White
Thread:  Aurifil White

Have you ever used an unconventional 'tool' for quilting?  What was it?  It's so interesting to see what we come up at the spur of the moment!

LINKING:

Sew Cute

Let's Bee Social
Fabric Frenzy 
TGIFF