Good Fortune Flimsy

My version of Bonnie Hunter's 2018 mystery quilt Good Fortune is a finished flimsy! It's the first time I tried a dark background for one of her quilts, and I love how that worked out. If I start a new one I'm thinking I'd like to do a dark background again. 

It's also the first time I turned her design into a medallion by replacing the nine centre blocks with something else. I surrounded the Mariners Compass i discussed previously with some turned edge machine applique. Lucky coins and rubber tree leaves! The coins have been done for almost a year, but the leaves were inspired just recently by the AHIQ string tulip quilt.

The free-pieced tumbler strips i made for the border turned out to be short, so I filled in the corners with a few of those extra brown squares. Still plenty left. 😂 I'll probably use them in the next one too, if I do one. 

I keep saying "if" because I still have several other Quiltville quilts to finish, plus so many other large traditional quilts that have been started. I think I'm ready to try something intended more for art than function. I realized there's never going to be a perfect time so I may as well just start. I'll come back and finish these traditional quilts as a break between new projects. 

In any case, it's very satisfying to have this done and I'm very happy with how it turned out. My favourite so far!

It finished at 84.5" square, which is the size I prefer for a queen bed. 

Thanks again to Bonnie for another great mystery. The way she breaks down these complicated designs makes them very doable. I'm always amazed i made it!

String Tulips Sprouting Fast

So I'm done all my AHIQ String Tulip QAL blocks, and I'm a little sorry that I didn't capture most of the process that got me to this point. As i said in my last post, PC-based blogging just isn't working for me any more. Let's hope this mobile Blogger app will hold up.

These are a few pictures from my Instagram account, @lakeviewmonica. I realized today that I should blog first and Instagram after. So that's something to shoot for. 😄

Anyway, the main tweak i made to Ann's tulip blocks was the addition of those improv cut and pieced leaves in the background.  I used light greens for the leaves so they wouldn't overpower the tulips.

The stems and tulips are turned-edge machine applique. Both are stitched with a zigzag stitch in deep purple thread. I love using thread as a design element in applique I've decided. I tested first with machine blanket stitch, but the zigzag just looked better. And I have to admit my decision was influenced by the fact that zigzag is a utility stitch on my machine. Since AHIQ is largely about utility quilts and all. 😉

For now all the blocks are labeled and put away in a drawer. I've been trying to excavate my Design Bed of Shame (aka the spare bedroom bed) a little before I start this new improv quilt along on Instagram. I think there's only 3 current projects on it now.👍 Getting there!

Good Fortune Border Decision

Since my old PC-based blogging style just hasn't been working any more, I'm trying a different approach here with the Blogger mobile app. I'm hoping that more frequent, shorter posts will still capture my thought process without cutting into my sewing time. We'll see how it goes! 

My dark background version of Bonnie Hunter's 2018 mystery, Good Fortune, is finally sewn together. Since it's very active i thought a simple border would be best and I went with these free-pieced tumblers. The technique is by Sujata Shaw. I've admired similar borders by other quilters, so I figured this was my chance. 😄

When I laid it out, however, it looked a little unpolished on it's own, so I ended up adding that skinny pink line, which makes a surprising difference. I also expected to use orange binding, but that felt cloying and syrupy to me. I know I've said that before with a similar colour scheme, some time in the distant past. I prefer warm tones, but suddenly you hit a point where it's too much and you need to cool it off.

I'm hoping to get going on an improv quilt along that's currently running on Instagram. Before I miss the first week completely. 😅 I'll decide tomorrow if I'm going to finish this top first. 

And I can tell you right now this mobile app is not great for adding labels, so I'll have a think about that. Happy quilting!