Summer Recap: July

Inside the Box, Continued 

As noted in my last recap post, I had started on a project that I was setting up to use as quilting practice for an Angela Walters free-motion quilting challenge.  I spent the end of June and the early part of July cutting the parts and then piecing the blocks for the quilt called "Inside the Box".

When it was done, I loved the look!  I've always liked the "iridescence" of  Kaffe Fassette shot cottons.  I also have some Pepper Cory shot cottons as part of my stash too.  The "peppered cottons" are a little heavier and closer in weight to traditional quilt cottons while the Kaffe "Shots" are a very light hand almost like Voile.  That led me to think about a radical (for my budget) idea:  what kind of fabric matched the Kaffe shots in having a light silky hand?  Why Liberty of London cotton of course!   

Back in April when visiting my local Joann's, I saw that they are now carrying Liberty prints!  In my May recap post, I noted that I am participating in (well, more like following) the Quiltfolk "Patchwork & Prose" BOM of which one of the hosts is Jenni Smith.  Jenni wrote the book "Quilting with Liberty Fabrics" and often uses them in her projects.   I thought it would be a cool splurge to get some and use it for the backing.  

While expensive, Liberty prints are also wider than quilting cottons (56" - 60" wide) which was perfect for this lap quilt since it meant I could suffice with just two yards.  I had an idea of what type and color print I'd like but my Joann's didn't have anything along the line of what I had in mind.  That worked out great because I happened to check Fabric.com (**See Note below) and they did have a couple of prints I liked and were having a sale on some of them the week I looked!  So I was able to pick up what I needed for about $10 cheaper per yard (still a splurge though!). 

Another thing I had done with the "Shots" was to use them to make a test star point for the Americana Lone Star wall hanging I started in June.  I figured I would continue to cut strips of the shot cottons, make up a full block and use it in the back of the quilt.  It took a while to do that but it got done.  So not only is the backing done for this project, it is also Lone Star project #2!!

Already thinking about the quilting, I decided that rather than trying to find one color of thread that will work across the whole quilt as I usually do, I want to quilt this one using the color of each block.  So I decided to also try a new notion:  Angela Walters uses Glide thread on most of her quilts and the shiny polyester seemed a good fit for the "Shots" and "Liberty" cottons.  So I laid in a stash of colors to use to quilt this project.  

The two small spools on the right are Sulky thread I already had on hand.

What I wasn't as sure about was what batting to use.  So I sat on that one until this month.  Luckily, the Quilt Muses always look out for me!  Two weeks ago Connecting Threads was having a sale on batting so I decided to splurge again:  I've long wanted to try out Hobbs Cotton and Wool batting so ordered some to try with this project and which came in at the end of last week.

**10/30/22 Edited To Add:  As of 10/20/22 Fabric.com has gone out of business.

"Seeds of Glory" Pillow Cover

As noted in my June Recap post, I had two spots I felt needed something to complete the RWB summer decorating.  The second spot was our living room chair.  I continued to use the Blue and White "Indigo Weave" quilt on the chair in the living room --- a carry over from the Blue &White Christmas and subsequent Winter decorating schemes I had used. 

I love my "Indigo Weave" quilt but for a proper patriotic display, it could use an injection of red in that spot to fit the Summer season!  I had made a round pillow cover back when I had one of my CW quilts on the same chair.  

For that I used an APQ pattern called" Fussy Cut Flowers Pillow"

So I decided to make another cover for that pillow.  I wanted to find a fabric that would add red but also bridge the blue in the quilt I already had.  I looked around for something that might work and discovered Stacy West's “Seeds of Glory” line for Riley Blake Fabrics.  The line featured a hexie cheater print which thrilled me when I saw it!   Hexies have been another obsession for me ever since I was hired to teach a class on making them back in 2020 (right before the “official” start of the pandemic).  

The cheater-style print presented a perfect opportunity to make an easy cover since using this as the top wouldn't require any piecing.  Quilting it by stitching along the printed “seam” lines would be easy too!  However, I also had to think about the pillow's backing.  When I had looked around for this fabric, I  decided to also pick up a mini charm pack of the same line and make a simple back of pieced squares.  I figured that would allow me to use either side of the pillow as a front!    The only additional thing I'd need was fabric to go around the circumference of the 2” inch thick pillow between the front and the back.  I eventually found the perfect stripe that worked for that in my CW stash.   

That stripe fabric has really been a work horse having been used in a couple of my CW quilts:

Underground Railroad Quilt and one of three Civil War Mini Quilts

I did get the backing pieced but got stalled thinking about exactly how to attach the band and install the zipper and whether I'd want or needed to add piping or a flange around the pillow edge as had been done on the CW pillow.  So with other pressing things to work on, I let this sit.  So unfortunately, like with the wall hanging in June, this too did not actually get to be displayed for the summer!   

So much for July!  The next post will wrap up the Summer doings with a report on things I worked on in August.