Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!: snowball block

Showing posts with label snowball block. Show all posts

Monday, September 30, 2019

Epic Neutral Quilt Top is Done

The quilt top was completed just in time for the last day of the One Monthly Goal (OMG) September Finish link-up. Yeah!!! 😎 It's also on time for the Make Modern Instagram 5th anniversary party at #highfivemakemodern.

Epic Neutral Quilt Top Finish

The quilt is based on the Epic Bow Tie Quilt by Jen Van Orman, which was on the cover of Make Modern Magazine (Issue 22, May-June 2018). I finished it yesterday afternoon when there was still enough sunlight to take the mandatory photo shoot on the fence.

Lots of neutrals - all shades of beige and brown

It's not as colourful as the pattern quilt but for a neutral, I like it. I love looking at quilts in different colour combinations to see how the colours can change them. This one is very different, partly because I chose to make the middle snowballs with the browns etc. and the background in beige. In her pattern, Jen made the snowballs white and the background of different colours.

Quilt top finished!

Here are a few more photos, including the close-ups.

The blowing in the wind shot

A close-up of the different fabrics

Another close-up

What I learned

I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but as I was piecing the bow-tie blocks, I would get at least one quarter of them sewn on the wrong side. I tried different things to fix this but finally I didn't have to worry about it anymore because I was finished!
It's a great little quilt pattern that would be lovely if made with colourful scraps like the one in the Make Modern magazine.

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Finally progress on the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

It's been over a year that I worked on the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt. I'm glad that the intended recipient is very patient 😊

Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

The good thing about letting a project sit is that I had time to collect a few more brown fabrics to add to the mix. It's just too bad that I didn't pick up more beige....oh well, there may still be time to get a few more!

Units of 4 blocks make a snowball

The quilt is based on the Epic Bow Tie Quilt by Jen Van Orman, which was on the cover of Make Modern Magazine (Issue 22, May-June 2018). As much as neutrals are not my favourites, I enjoy seeing what effect using such dramatically different colours will have on the pattern. So far, I'm not disappointed.

The Bow Tie Blocks

I don't like cutting my fabric all at once so I've been cutting it as I go. I have now completed over 60 blocks but there's still about 20 left to do.

I couldn't wait to finish all my blocks to start putting them together. I'm in the process of sewing most of the 60 blocks into units of 4. Below are the blocks that haven't been pieced into units of 4 yet. I'm trying to make each unit contain different beige backgrounds and different brown fabrics in them.

The blocks that haven't been paired yet.

What I learned

I know that I probably shouldn't have started making units of 4 yet but I really needed to see how it was progressing....and I was bored making single blocks.
Now I know that there were too many blocks of a specific beige background so I won't be using that one for the next blocks. Like I said, I will probably buy a couple more background beige (it's in the mail 😊 )

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

Making neutral quilts is not my favourite thing to make. I generally love working with colour - the more, the brighter, the better! Working without what I perceive as colour is not easy, but I have grown to appreciate the quiet restfulness of neutrals.

Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

Some blocks to try out

I've been wanting to make a quilt from Make Modern Magazine for a while now. When I saw the Epic Bow Tie Quilt by Jen Van Orman on the cover of the latest Make Modern (Issue 22, May-June 2018), I knew that I was going to make something from that pattern.

At first I considered making a runner, but since I have a neutral quilt to make, I wondered how effective this pattern would be in neutrals. At the very least, I knew that it would be different!

Make Modern Magazine, Issue 22

The pattern is quite simple, which is always what I look for 😊. It's really a take on a snowball block, which I find fascinating for some reason. It may be the act of creating something that looks like a circle but isn't.

It took me a while to decide, but I think that a beige background with the circles in medium to dark browns and taupe will make for a lighter looking quilt.

Since people love neutral quilts, I've been accumulating these for a while. I find it fascinating that there are so many different beige prints out there.

Something else that I like about this pattern is that I don't have to cut up all the fabric at once. That is a definite bonus!

Here it is so far.

The first few blocks of the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

This quilt is really coming along well and is perfect for when some relatively mindless stitching is all I can handle.

I'm really liking it so far!

What I learned

This quilt really suits my quilt making process - cut a few fabrics, make a few blocks, try them out and repeat.
This process often brings about surprises because as I cut up different fabrics, the look of the quilt changes.
The light background should also be more fun to FMQ since I can mark it without effort, if that's what I decide to do. I remembered that lesson from my last neutral quilt.