Skip to main content

Architextures and Botanics [A Finish]


I started this quilt five years ago. My plan was a sampler quilt of 6" blocks from a variety of sources using fat quarter bundles of Architextures and Botanics, the first two fabric lines from Carolyn Friedlander, along with coordinating Kona solids.  I made 20 blocks then moved on to other projects.


Fast forward to 2018 and I was looking for a fabric plan for the final instalment of 100 days 100 blocks quilt-along hosted by @gnomeangle using Tula Pink's City Sampler book. Having made it a few times I was out of ideas for new colour palettes. It was a logical step, therefore, to pick up the Architextures and Botanics blocks and finally make enough for a finished quilt. In the intervening years, Carolyn had released a few more fabric ranges so I added in what I had from Doe, Carkai, Friedlander and Gleaned, as well as the newly released colours of some of her classic Architextures prints.


I found out that I was pregnant with Joshua just before the quilt-along kicked off. I had no energy and really didn't feel like sewing, but I knew that if I didn't join in in July, I would regret it in September when I was feeling better.... I wasn't feeling better in September but I kept up with the blocks and it made me keep sewing over the summer which did me good!

I kept the momentum going and made a decision not to use sashing in the final quilt. This meant I was more inclined to get it together as a finished quilt top whilst on retreat in October. But once done I didn't really like it...


I put it away. But as one of the few quilts I've ever made with no pink in it, and a  baby boy on the way, I added it to my quarter 1 Finish Along list. And when I got it out again, I quite liked it! Backing caused me trouble. I often use duvet covers as backing but I really couldn't find one I liked that worked with the quilt. Hidden away in a draw I had a huge piece of mustard Chroma by Alison Glass. I had intended to use it for a different quilt back but changed my mind. It seemed to work with this quilt. And added a flicker of pink!

It's quilted in Aurifil 50w in mustard. I free motion quilted "stright" lines approximately a quarter inch both side of the seam lines between blocks. The lines are a bit wobbly but it was much more enjoyable than using a walking foot. It's bound in Kona Gotham Grey.

This is a finish from my Q1 Finish Along list. You can find my original list here.
finishalong logo 125px
Labels:

Comments

Sew Much For Free Time said…
Wow! It is a beautiful quilt! I'll bet it feels great to have it finished! Well done.
5 April 2019 at 02:11
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

365 Quilt Challenge 2016 [A finish]

I can't believe I've just typed that heading! When I made the block for January 1st 2016 I could not have imagined the journey this quilt would have taken me on. So make yourselves comfortable and grab a cup of tea, because this blog post may get lengthy! I'd seen the 365 Quilt Challenge on Facebook. I think every quilter on Facebook must have been aware of it. Loads of my friends had signed up and it kept popping up as a "Page you might like" thing. In the end, in November 2015, I joined the group, had a poke round. Decided it wasn't for me. One of the things that really put me off were the fabric requirements: you needed x amount of dark dark fabric, x amount of medium dark fabric, x amount of dark medium, medium, light medium, light, background.... I just couldn't get my head round those requirements. I'd looked at the mock ups on the wesbite and couldn't bring myself to pick a colour. I put it to the back of my mind. But I had obvious
6 comments
Read more

Hidden Agenda [A Finish]

This is very possibly my favourite ever finish - I know I've said that in the past, but this one is going to be hard to beat. This time last year, I attended a day long lecture/workshop with Tula Pink and it was inspiring. Having not really loved her fabrics in the past (but loved her patterns), I suddenly saw them in a new light, linked with my 2018 new year's resolution to try more fussy cutting). Fast forward 8 months and I confess that my Tula stash has expanded quite a lot. I found some UK shops with older ranges of fabric, splurged on a few destashes and found the odd piece of her fabric already in my stash. The plan was always (and remains) to make a Smitten quilt, but I'm well aware that I have plenty of fabric to make other projects as well! So when I saw the Hidden Agenda quilt pattern by Angela Pingle, this fabric sprung instantly to mind.... and we all know I love a rainbow! And what could be better than rainbowfied Tula? I was ably assisted by my friend Ti
3 comments
Read more

February Embroidery Along [A Finish]

I've really been enjoying my embroidery this year, after not doing very much last year. One of the challenges I set myself at the start of the year was to learn to colour tint my fabric before adding the embroidery - I love buying the pre-printed panels, but I'd like to do this myself as well. And the opportunity to learn this arose in February. Meg Hawkey of Crab Apple Hill Studio hosted a stitchalong to celebrate National Embroidery Month, and the first step was colour your fabric. I bought the pencils she advises,  the blending stumps, something called fabric extender and the pigma pen. And I gave it a go. My first attempt ended badly. Because the one thing I didn't buy was a new, clean paintbrush. So when I came to add the fabric extended, it went all bleary and muddy as, despite cleaning the paintbrush thoroughly, it obviously wasn't clean enough. It was unsalvageable so I started again, and I was so much happier with the results. The practice piece was, in
1 comment
Read more

Labels

Show more

Archive

Show more