Will You Be You?

I am so excited about this quilt! This is a QDAD to reality quilt from the summer. I love it for a number of reasons.

  1. I made it at my Grandma’s house, so it will always bring back good memories of sewing with her
  2. STARS! WOO!
  3. I was able to use batiks in a modern way, and I LOVE batiks!
  4. It is just so colorful and fun, that it can be enjoyed even without the social commentary
  5. It’s been published in Modern Quilts Unlimited, along with a pattern from my good friend Amy Garro of 13 Spools, who just happens to be that issues covergirl
Will You Be You

Will You Be You

What’s that? Social Commentary you say? What could that possibly be?

Well, in QDAD we often have themed design weeks. Kim Andersson of I Adore Pattern was in charge for this theme: Song Lyrics! It was a ton of fun, and an interesting challenge. on May 27th, Kim posted this beauty of a lyric and palette:

10468086_10153322219697673_4149422899423549670_nWe have all heard the song, and know it’s about a breakup. But when you take just those first five lines of the song out of context, it dramatically changes. If you had never heard the song before, you might think this was a song about being discovered, but at the same time having everything about you changed to fit the ideal of someone else without much control. Which really struck me. How often to people change themselves, or have themselves changed, in order to fit in? To make others happy? To become something or someone else entirely in order to please someone else? And when you change everything about yourself, what do you lose in the process? How much of the real you is left?

The design started off a whole conversation that was a lot of fun, and people had such a positive response to it that I decided to submit it to MQU. Happily they accepted it, and I changed a couple of colors to work with what I had in my stash (that light lavender is gorgeous but so hard to find in a batik). The color change did lighten the mood of the quilt, but the message remained the same.

The original QDAD design

The original QDAD design

Recolored

Recolored

It was a lot of fun, and a challenge to put together in a cohesive manner. Eventually I realized that one star at a time was the way to go, and used a combination of quarter and half square triangles to keep things interesting (also less seams). I quilted it using a pantograph, mostly because of time constraints, but there is a TON of potential there for custom quilting. I think some radiating straight lines from the yellow star out to the far borders would be an appropriate subcontext to the quilt. In yellow thread, it would read as the superstar overshadowing the original pieces. Also, it would look really really pretty!

I have been trying to use colored or contrasting threads for my quilting lately. I get to hang out with some awesome quilters and longarmers, and one thing that has stayed with me since my last conversation with Miriam, who owns Whispering Pines and is an incredible longarm quilter, is that it’s hard to go wrong with a bold thread choice. Yes, it’s a risk, but it tends to pay off. For example, I have a black and white quilt that I quilted with navy (almost purple, but it was more plum than violet and wasn’t quite as effective)

 

WYBY2

I hope you all pick up the Winter 2016 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited. The issue has a great assortments of quilts and projects, and most of them are pretty spectacular (especially mine and Amy’s, wink wink!)

If you do make your own version, I would love to see it! I love to see what people make from my patterns! Tag me on instagram @staceyinstitches or email me a picture so I can ooh and aah over it and post it here!

Also, a huge special thank you to my neighbor Debbie and my friend Anne! Today was the first sunny afternoon in ages, so I had to try and take pictures like NOW. My little H (who isn’t so little anymore) tried his best to hold up the quilt but it was just a little too long and heavy for him, but Deb pulled up just in time and totally volunteered a hand to hold. Then Anne took my twilight photos and made them colorful again! Thanks both of you! <3

Stay tuned for my stop on the Dryad Blog Hop next week, and, as always,

Happy Stitching!

StaceyDay_Logo

Work Work Work!

Seems that all I have been doing lately, and not a whole lot that I can share at the moment.

One of the things I CAN share is the Rainbow Confetti Quilt!!

This pretty lap quilt is in the latest issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited. I made it using Color Theory by V and CO for Moda. I love everything V and Co does! The block is one of my favorite asymmetrical blocks. You can really make things pop when you start playing with rotation and layouts.

Rainbow Confetti

Rainbow Confetti

 

I used the Ombre in Navy for the backing and the binding. Oh man, the Ombre!!

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March 1st saw me frantically sewing February bee blocks for the Great Canadian Stash Busting Bee. Since I was making Feb block, I figure I might as well sew the March blocks too! I also finished the March block for the I Love Lucy International Bee (but forgot to take a finished picture, yikes!).

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I also finished this quilt for Windhams new collection, Forest Parade by Petit Collage. It’s printed on organic cotton and is so super cute! The free pattern will be available soon ( I will have a link on my Free Patterns page)

Forest Clearings featuring the Forest Parade Collection by Petit Collage

Forest Clearings featuring the Forest Parade Collection by Petit Collage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have a bevy of patterns out with P&B Textiles. They have some great blenders (I love Dash and Color Weave) and some really pretty prints. You can find links to the patterns again on my patterns page.

I picked up this cute little Lotta Jansdotter paper doll at the Windham booth at Quiltcon (and got to meet Lotta in person! EEE!). L’il LJ has been helping out in my sewing room, coming on photo shoots, and organizing my thread by color ( to match her outfits apparently). She also gave me a hand with some of the secret sewing I have been doing!

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I have some great fun stuff coming up in the next couple months. I am really really excited about it and cannot wait to share it with you!!!

Enjoy your springtime, and Happy Stitching!

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Stacey