Modern Quilts

Eric, the Online Media Coordinator at Fons & Porter asked if I would review another ebook entitled Modern Quilts.  According to this booklet, Modern Quilts are notable for their minimalist aesthetic, use of bright, bold colour with large doses of white and other neutral solids, asymmetrical designs and free-form piecing.  Who knew?

I think whether you like a quilt or not is based solely on personal preference.  There are some quilts that I can appreciate for all the work and design that has gone into them, but they are just not my cup of tea.  I also think your tastes change over the years.  When I first started quilting, I didn’t like Civil War or reproduction fabrics.  Now, I’m drawn to many of those quilts and would love to make one. 

Having said that, let’s get back to the ebook.  I love the first pattern in the booklet entitled Baubles & Beads.  It’s basically a square in a square with a strip joining the squares as an added design element.  I could definitely see myself making this quilt.

As for the other two quilts, they are just not my cup of tea.  Rainbow Rhythm is all half square triangles, but I just don’t like the setting and I particularly don’t like the black rectangles in it.  I know these could easily be changed, but I’m reviewing the book as written.

 

The last quilt is called Lemon Squeezy and it reminds me very much of the Jelly Roll Race quilts that are making the rounds.  I do like that this one is done diagonally, but, like the Jelly Roll Race quilts, I just don’t see the point.  Everyone and their dog has made one of the Jelly Roll quilts and I’ve yet to see one that I like.  I guess it could be said that they are quick and easy but I’m at a loss for anything else good to say about them.

For some reason, the picture on this won’t copy properly but if you go to this link, you can get a copy of the ebook complete with instructions for all three quilts.  The instructions are well written, easy to understand and well illustrated.  Hope one of these is your cup of tea!

I’ve been working on a square in a square quilt myself.  The blocks were completed back in November and I finally got them assembled this week.  I also pieced the backing which is one of my least favourite jobs, so it’s ready to be quilted.  This top was made with two packages of Bali Pops and I ended up with a top 66” x 84”.  I don’t think I’ll be buying any more Bali Pops – some of the strips were really wonky and I’ve heard friends comment on this too. 

Monday is Family Day in some parts of Canada and I’m celebrating by going to see Bon Jovi.  It’ll take a week for me to get the smile off my face

 

Smile

There hasn’t been much quilting done around here this week.  My Aunt was discharged from hospital on Wednesday so now that she’s home, I’d like to get back into some kind of routine again.  I did get my Mystery Quilt clues caught up to date – just in time for the new one that was issued today.  No wonder I sometimes feel like a hamster on a wheel!

I’ve been sitting on my hands a lot lately too – trying to stop myself from taking advantage of some of the great sales that have been making their way into my Inbox.  When I’m being good, I just delete them before I even look at them, but sometimes I’m not so good and I actually read them – bad mistake!  So far I’ve resisted buying any more fabric but I’m not sure how much longer I can be good.  There are a couple of e-mails just taunting me every time I look at my in-box and I haven’t had the willpower to delete them…..yet.

Since I don’t have anything to show you, I’ll share this with you.  Colgate have created an ingenious advertising campaign to promote their dental floss, but before I explain the main detail of these images, I will let you look at them quietly:

 

Alright, now that you’ve had time to look at the ads:  in the first one you’ll notice that she has one finger too many; the second one has a phantom floating arm; and the third one, the man has only one ear.  The campaign proved that food remains on your teeth draw more attention than any physical defect!

I didn’t notice any of the deformities so don’t feel too bad if you didn’t either.

 

 

Half Square Triangle Overload

My Aunt is still in the hospital, so there hasn’t been as much sewing done as I would have liked.  She had a kidney infection and they seem to have things under control now and her white cell count is improving every day, so I really hope she gets to come home soon.

I’ve been working on my Border Creek Station Mystery quilt.  I hadn’t started it, so I was four months behind with the clues.  I’m almost caught up after making 340 half square triangles, but they really are a breeze with Triangulations.  Some of them went into 13 of these:

more went into 48 of these:

and yet more went into 52 of these:

There are still 88 more that will be worked into the mystery somewhere.  The instructions for these mystery quilts are so well written and at the end of each installment, she gives you an inventory list of what and how many you should have in different baggies.  It keeps you really well organized.

 

When this quilt first came out, I sent a link to Lee and she asked if I was going to do it.  I believe my response was something along the lines of “not in this lifetime”!  Well, a couple of weeks ago we were in our favourite quilt store in Buffalo, Pinegrove Quilt Shop and we saw one of the blocks completed.  They were running it as a block of the month.  It was STUNNING!  Unfortunately, they were sold out of the BOMs and didn’t know if they would be able to get any more or not, but said they would look into it and give me a call.  I think we always want what we can’t have and I searched the web high and low trying to find somewhere that still had this available – I didn’t have any luck.  Then, on Tuesday, I got a call from Sue at Pinegrove telling me she was able to get two kits for Lee and I!!!!!  I’ve watched Edyta Sitar’s You Tube videos and I can hardly wait to get this in my hot little hands. 

Sandra and I are supposed to be going to Buffalo this weekend and I plan to pick them up.  If Leo sees the credit card bill and falls off his chair, I can tell him to relax – it’s only half as bad as he thinks