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:

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TGIFF

Shadow Block ~ Charm Pack Tutorial

I've acquired many charm packs and have a stack of 5" blocks cut from scraps.  The problem for me was whatever will I do with them?  Not that they aren't pretty sitting in a perfect little stack, I was bound and determined not to let them sit any longer.

I decided a shadow block (or illusion block) was the answer!  These blocks are simple, quick and the effect after piecing them together is gorgeous!

SHADOW BLOCK
5 1/4" Finished

For each block, you will need the following:

1 - Charm Square or 5" Block
1 - 1 1/4" x 5" Gray Strip
1 - 1 1/4" x 4 1/4" Gray Strip
2 - 1 1/4" Squares White

Place (1) white square on the end of each of the gray strips.  Using a 1/4" seam, sew and press towards the gray fabric.

On the bottom of the 5" square, place the short 'shadow' (5") piece with the white on the left side.  Sew and press seam towards the 5" square.

Next, place the last strip along the right side of the block with the white at the top.  Sew. Press towards the 5" square.

And there you have it!  The block will be 5 1/4" when finished (5 3/4" unfinished).

When you are making multiples of this block, strip cutting and piecing is the way to go! They go together quickly and the results are wonderful!  

 This is the quilt I made using 40 Charm Squares.  You can read about it here: 

Charm Pack ~ Cool Waters Quilt

After all my blocks were pieced, I added 1 1/4" white sashing between the rows.  First vertical and then horizontal. 

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Tips & Tutorials Tuesday 

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: 

 Shadow Block ~ Charm Pack Tutorial

LINKING:

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