Quilt

Remember my Autumn quilt?

Well, it's taken a back seat to my other sewing project - some Regency-era historical clothing. But, I did finally get all the layers put together and it is now in the official quilting hoop. I hope to get to it before winter starts, but it's looking doubtful.

Our garden has finally been put to sleep. I've piled leaves on it and hope they will act as multi-purpose mulch/weed suppressor. I've been surprised by how well my compost it going. It is actually looking like rich, black dirt. I know the crickets and worms like it in there.

Strangely, the flower bulbs I planted in September have started to come up and bloom. Our weather has been a bit warmer than usual, but we still have frosty mornings. Maybe it was the 7" of rain from the hurricane that we got. Even the violets were out all over our yard! I hope it doesn't hurt them to be out prematurely.

I haven't started an new canning projects. The only thing I canned this year were the plain and spiced peaches. It was worth the work for those.

Sorry I've been a bit absent lately. I'm homeschooling my son, so not as much time for blogging!

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas ahead!

Nearly Finished...

The quilt top is nearly finished!

It's a little blurry, but it's the best shot I got from full view. I managed to have the same fabric touching in only 3 places. Not too bad! It was a harder job than I thought - the no touching thing.

I need to sew on two more rows to the side and then it will be just the perfect size for our queen-sized bed!

And the two fabrics I'm adding -
The brown is for the back. Since I'm quilting it in a gold-colored thread I thought it would show up nicely on the brown.
And the gorgeous glowing orange fabric I was planning on using for the border. I also like that they're the the same pattern, just different colors.

I remember someone telling me that when you make a quilt, always make the backing a surprise - something unexpected. My surprise is the brown with the gold stitching showing through. I'll be quilting in the ditch, stair stepping up the blocks, so it will be a zig-zag pattern. I'm excited to see how it will turn out! I originally planned on tying this quilt, but when it comes down to it, I can never bear to go through with it. I just think the ties would be a distraction to the pattern.

Autumn Quilt Progress

I had some last minute fabric additions:

Leaf print, yellow funky geometric design, green leafy, and red with gold leaf print.
Yummy!

I just felt I needed to add another gorgeous red, a yellow I had originally planned on using, but decided against, and now redecided to use, another deep green (I loved the texture!), and I saw that leaf print and fell in love. How could I not include a fabric like that with all the right colors?!

I've got the blocks all sewn end-to-end for each row and ironed. Now I just need to sew each row offset from one another to mimic a brick path. I think this is the perfect beginners quilt - no corners to worry about matching up!

Autumn Quilt

With the autumny feeling in the air what with the cooler temperatures, drippy clouds, and falling leaves blowing everywhere - already! - I am finally in the mood to get to work on my autumn quilt!

My actual design is based off Amy Butler's beautiful "Lotus Brick Path" quilt design:

I tweaked it a little because I wanted the blocks to be the size of an actual brick and I wanted it to be reminiscent of walking on a brick path in the autumn time with different colored leaves strewn on it, pressed to the path from an autumn rain. I don't know if I'll get that actual affect, but I did my best in choosing fabrics.

Here are the players:

These three are my favorite. The entire quilt was inspired by that pear fabric on the right. It's too bad the colors don't show up very well, because it's just as luscious as a ripe pear!
The left fabric is this cool Indian-inspired fabric I've had for 10 years and the middle is a reproduction 1860s pattern.
Beautiful!

That yellow is an awesome splash of color, just like vivid yellow autumn leaves!

I actually had a lot more fabrics, but I always tend to cut more blocks than I need. So this time I calculated out exactly how many blocks I'd need for a queen-sized blanket, using an actual old brick we dug up on our property for the proper brick dimensions, and starting with my favorite (the pear fabric - of which I didn't have much), I cut it all up and worked my way through the fabrics based on how much I liked them and the balance of colors I needed. There's about an average of 15 blocks of each fabric. I can't wait to start sewing!