More New Stuff For July

In addition to getting a NewFO quilt in July I also got some new gadgets too!  I'm a confessed gadget geek so had an opportunity to spring for some new rulers:

I've long wanted the Lazy Angle Ruler and finally decided to spring for it (a sale did help that along).  I wanted the "Lazy and Lovin' It" book too but it's pretty pricey so had to choose between getting it and getting the other rulers I also wanted.  The ruler comes with a small instruction book and I found a lot of free tutorials and videos using the ruler on the web.  Since I have no particular project in mind at the moment, I've decided to play with what I've got first and then see if I want to invest in the book for more options (or hope that I catch a future great sale on it too!).

I'm already a big fan of Deb Tucker's rulers (having used the Rapid Fire Leymoyne Star ruler in my "Valor" quilt and her Tucker Trimmer for projects in general). I've had to make Square In A Square blocks before and the math is never easy so the ruler will make short work of a great basic block. Also the SIS block is a great companion to Lazy Angle block designs since the points on it fall in the middle of each side.

I've also been admiring for over a year the designs of Jenny Pedigo (Sew Kind of Wonderful) the designer of the Quick Curve Ruler. She did a great Sampler Quilt Along last fall.  Unfortuately I don't follow the business blogs as closely as I follow the individual quilter blogs and since I only discovered the QAL recently, I realize I missed out on getting the ruler at a really great price at the start of the QAL!   However, right now the block for her "Metro Medallion QAL" looks like it might be great for a community service quilt I'll be working on soon so I sprung for that as well.

Re: the Quick Curve Ruler: after buying it, I happened to be surfing around and went to check out Cheryl Phillips at Phillips Fiber Art, a designer I haven't heard much about in the last few years.   I know her for her "Rings That Bind" DWR technique (when she appeared on "Simply Quilts") and also have her "New York Beauty" and "Mariners Compass" books. It turns out she also has a ruler called "The Simple Curve" ruler that's been out since about 2010.   It seems very similar to Jenny's ruler and is less expensive so if you are already a fan of Cheryl's tools, you might want to check that out as well. I downloaded her free "Simple Coins" quilt pattern to see if it'll also work with Jenny's ruler. 

So it's on to the dog days of August and all that entails!

Reporting in on the July NewFO

Well it's August and the summer is now officially winding down.  I had planned to spend July working on items from my list of 3rd Quarter Finish-A-Long UFOs but instead I just couldn't let go of the Red, White & Blue phase I was in for all of June.  I had hinted at it here and now I can present another patroitc NewFO for this year:

 

This is my version of the "Liberty Hall" wallhanging that was featured in the Summer 2008 issue of Fons & Porter's "Easy Quilts" magazine and also now appears in their compilation book "The Best of Fons & Porter: Patriotic Quilts" as (just) "Liberty".  I made mine a little smaller than the magazine version to fit the space I plan to hang it in.  Even better it was all done from stash! 

 

After the top and back were finished, the ensuing debate has been over the quilting or actually the batting.  I thought the elements in the center panel would look good done in the trapunto style.  I know how to use two layers of poly batting and prep for machine trapunto but the amount of detail would make doing that difficult.  But after looking at the description for a free-motion quilt class, the supply list sent me in a new direction:  using wool batting to get the "puffy" look I want.  

 

Fortunately it just so happened that I had some wool batting scraps leftover from my "Merrimac Dresdens" project and I was able to "Frankenstein" enough together to make the batt for this earlier in the week and finally got the layering and basting done last night.

And while I don't want to sit on this too long, I know I really need to get back to the Finish-A-Long projects so we'll have to see what wins out. 

The print I used for the center has many elements that to my mind symbolized "bountiful"  so my name for this wallhanging will be "Sweet Land of Liberty" from the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee".  As quilting serendiptiy would have it, the Summer 2013 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine had a small wool project called "Let Freedom Ring" (you can see a peek of it on the right in the picture).  Wool has become one of my interests and the project name happens to be the last line of the first stanza of the same song so I'm hoping to add this little project to the R/W/B list too!

Want to see more NewFO goodness for July?

Head back over to Barbara at CatPatches and see what other quilters fired up in July!