radiant suzy, a finish and a birthday trip

here's another finish i never posted photos of: radiant suzy, my 2nd completed stella grande quilt for my children. if you were waiting for this one, it will be all you ever wanted to know or see, and then some.

in june 2018, i took my mother (marmee) and 3rd daughter (d3) on a short 3 day girls' trip to visit the biltmore estate in north carolina. all 3 of us read or were reading the serafina trilogy by robert beatty, which is set at the estate, and thought it would be fun to visit the book's location together with the story in mind.

our trip coincided with d3's 12th birthday, which we spent together at the biltmore.

i was really close to completing the binding on "radiant suzy" for d3, and decided it would be memorable to complete it on this special trip with her grandmother on her birthday. of course the biltmore would make a fantastic quilt finish photo shoot location. i love adding memories and meaning to my quilts' stories like this.

i rolled the quilt up and tucked it into my nyc public library tote bag (my favorite quilt-carrying bag when i'm on the go), and took it with me all over the estate. fortunately, it wasn't too heavy to carry around all day, because i carried it for two days before it was done.

while touring the house, i stopped to work on it whenever the opportunity arose, like when we were on the grand and glorious loggia (back porch) that looks out over the estate and blue ridge mountains in the distance.

i did get a funny look from an estate employee patrolling this part of the house, but no one bothered me while i stitched here. i wasn't the only guest lounging there and making use of the chairs, but i was the only one stitching. i suppose i looked harmless enough with my quilt and tiny needle.

i would stitch every bit of handwork i've ever done on this loggia if i could. it was the ideal place for such pastimes. the chair was comfy, the weather and lighting perfect, the view unsurpassed. 

later on, i did some more binding while sitting creekside on the property as the other two worked on their novel reading.

i was really close to being done here, but someone had to go to the bathroom, so we moved closer in to the facilities.

i knew which part of the lower gardens i wanted to complete the binding in, but someone was using my bench. i had to wait for the interlopers to leave, then i plopped myself down in some shade to finish my binding while the other two visited the necessary. this is a shot of the last stitch going in with the location in focus rather than the stitch. because of the lighting exposure, you can't see all the pretty pink and purple flowers around me. but they are there.

done at last!

the girls caught up with me once marmee had taken some flower photos. she always loved to do that. the week after we returned from this trip mom found out her cancer was back. this was the last trip i got to take with her. i'm really grateful to have all the fun shots of her which show her quirks and personality that i got while we were there.

before i let loose the deluge of finish and detail shots, i want to record the inspiration for the palette and name of this quilt. i was already working on a series of giant sawtooth star quilts in various color palettes when i decided to make one for each of my children. this one was inspired by this delightful liberty and flowers quilt (free pattern at the end of this post) by suzy quilts:

suzy kindly enabled me by identifying the delicious benartex floral on the back, which i knew would be perfect for my own little suzy, d3's nickname when she was a baby (it's a derivative of her middle name). because of the inspiration source and the recipient's nickname, as well as the star pattern, the quilt became "radiant suzy"

this here is one of the main reasons i quilt - quilts are love made tangible, they are permanent hugs i can give my children to wrap around themselves whenever needed.

the backing - a combination of carlonia gingham in grey, a benartex floral, the luna moth print from heather ross's sleeping porch line, and a memoire a paris 2017 lawn from lecien fabrics.

the quilting was done in an aurifil 12wt thread in a soft, silvery grey.

during our visit, the biltmore had a chihuli glass exhibition going on, with installments all over the gardens. i happen to be a big chihuli fan, so this was an added bonus to our trip. once i had the quilt completed, i photographed it with some of the art. the rest of this post is those photos interspersed with detail shots of the quilt.

i'll admit, it was a warmish afternoon and i was not at the top of my game with styling the quilt and setting up the shots. i was hauling my 5 lb. dslr camera around for two day specifically so i could take good photos of the quilt, but d3 confiscated it and filled the card up with a bajillion photos of the tours we took, so all i had to work with was my iphone. as it was, at this point, i just wanted to throw the quilt around and shoot quickly anyway. the perfectionist side of me was in hibernation. and that's perfectly fine with me. good enough is/was good enough.

some of my stella grande quilts have used up to 8 colors randomly mixed throughout the star shape. this one uses four: three solids and a very subtle print, two kona cotton solid light purples, a solid grey, and the grey gingham. (i want to say at least one purple is called "petunia," but i'm not certain.) the four colors are arranged to make radiating rhomboid shapes that form the star.

someone else was a little tired of quilt photos and posing.

thanks to the wide printed selvage on the lecien floral print, i was able to do one of my favorite backing treatments and include the selvage in the backing.

the binding was the lighter of the two kona cotton solid purples.

here's a good look at the border treatment variation i chose: i made two-toned triangles by alternating the purples and grey gingham, with one of the backing florals randomly thrown in instead of a greyy once on each end.

i used two shades of yellow for the background: kona cotton solids in butterscotch and ocher, i think.

this one's for you, suzy q!
i hope you enjoyed your literary birthday quilt marmee trip.
mama loves you.

bandwidth - a simple yet large finish

you will have to use your imagination a little here and turn the quilt upright in your head

 i have reached the end of a series of finishes. the way i work, i usually start several things in succession and then they get finished close to each other, too. the beginning of this year i completed a couple of quilts that had been going for at least a year. this one - "bandwidth" - is the last of that group. i was supposed to take my younger son, s2, out for lunch and a photo shoot, but that just hasn't happened. i felt the need to get this post done since "bandwidth" was completed in january, so today i grabbed the only two children available in the last of the afternoon's light and we snapped some shots in the backyard. apparently our grass is growing in abundance. d3 and d4 had to stand on chairs to hold up this behemoth quilt as even on it's side it's too tall for them. their little arms just couldn't get it straight enough but that's okay - the wonkiness of the photo rather reflects the accuracy of the quilt stitching. if i remember correctly, "bandwidth" measures approximately 98" x 70", making this the largest quilt i've made to date; almost double the size of what i usually do. if i cut it in half i could have two throw quilts. i didn't exactly aim for this size. i simply cut up the blue i was using for the panels to what looked like a balanced size to the strip sections and this is what i ended up with.

the front of the quilt is composed of three sections of jelly strips pieced together in rows running horizontally across the quilt, and four panels of solid blue (kona's windsor). my color scheme came from a jelly roll of riley blake's "superstar" fabrics i purchased for the strip sections. by the time i got around to making the quilt, i thought it would be better to use only some of the strips and incorporate coordinating colored prints. (the leftovers went into a baby quilt, "way out weston," for a new little cousin.)

technically, this is my own design, but it's hardly worth calling it a pattern. i sewed strips together and inserted panels. end of story! still, it makes for an effective, straightforward, modern design aesthetic that i am rather fond of.

i quilted in a randomly spaced straighline stitch, also on the horizontal, in a light blue aurufil 50 wt thread. i was going to use three thread colors, but decided that was too much work with all the thread changing. in the end, it was easier to just keep going in the same color. i don't know what possessed me to use such a light, high-contrast color on those dark blue panels because i had trouble with my straight lines being straight. they look fine from a distance and i think when i wash the quilt, the effect will be corrected even more.

 the back was pieced together from large cuts of two prints from the "superstar" collection and some leftover strip pieces.

 the binding gave me pause to consider the possibilities, but i finally decided to go with another coordinating print from "superstar" with one fun little accent piece of an orange "monsterz" print. i machine bound this one because it was going to need extra durability since it's for one of my boys.

this "monsterz" print is probably my favorite from the whole quilt. i am also using it in s1's wonky coins quilt. i decided to add this bit in as i was attaching the binding. as soon as i put it in, i realized i should have sewn it on straight rather than on the bias, but it was already done. not a deal breaker, though.

now my little man can stop asking me when his quilt is going to be done! he's been snuggling and reading under it since the moment i finished it.

and using it as a superhero cape, too.

he obviously likes it and makes use of it daily, which makes this mama quite happy. now i just have one more mama-made to go and each child has one.

linking up with amanda jean's friday finishes at "crazy mom quilts."

hello, jade princess

 oh, happy mail day!
this is probably the happiest mail i've gotten in a long time. and since i order books and fabric online regularly, that is saying a lot. but this package just has a lot more meaning to it, which is what makes it so special and extra-happy.

the icing on the cake of opening this package was i didn't realize one of my favorite prints was in this quilt, and there it was, right on top. i'm currently using that "antique flower" print from the "miscellany" line by julia rothman for cloud 9 in my triangle quilt.

photo courtesy of rachel hauser at stitched in color

 so i've been crushing on rachel hauser's "jade princess" quilt for quite some time. (as well as sara schraw's modern flower version.) and i'm a crazy enough fan of hers that last summer, when we were travelling through the south, i thought about contacting her and asking if i could purchase the quilt and pick it up in person. you know, just so i could meet her. it seemed like a great way to get two birds with one stone. (yes, i am a total freak; but, no, she doesn't need to be scared of me. honestly, rachel, you don't.)

anyway, i decided against that for a couple of reasons and it seemed the quilt just wasn't meant to be mine. but then rachel had her baby last month and there were complications and an auction on instagram to help raise funds for their family's unexpected medical expenses. i was on my 20th anniversary trip and i missed the auction. i had been so excited for rachel through this whole journey of her getting to that baby and i really wanted to do something. after realizing i missed the auction, i remembered "jade princess." low and behold, she was still in the etsy shop and i decided now really was the time to buy her.

 the colors of this quilt may look slightly different in the lighting in my house versus how they looked in rachel's, but it does not disappoint in the least! those dainty, orderly dots (comma chalk periods) used for the background of all the blossom blocks are so cute. and the peach leans to the pink side, a very pretty shade. in middle school peach was my favorite color - the first time i ever moved away from my childhood love for red. i've since returned to red, after a few stops at forest green, white, and robins egg blue, but that doesn't stop me from admiring this peach, too.

my other favorite detail since seeing this quilt in person is the quilting done in all the sashing. it's a chunky white 12 wt aurifil in a large stitch. it's reminiscent of hand quilting, or as close as i've seen achieved with machine stitching. i love it! i'll have to give this a go myself soon because it's an awesome effect.

i really like the backstory of the inspiration for the quilt, whose color scheme was taken from this image from fjeldborg. i think rachel did a fantastic job of translating the colors and feel in the image into the quilt. that single pop of jade, balanced by the two mustard blossoms, amidst all the softer colors, works so beautifully. rachel's use of color moves me and motivates me to try new things in my own quilts. maybe someday i'll be able to achieve what she does so effortlessly.

the dogwood quilt was a project for rachel's penny sampler class, which was not offered again this last round of classes she did, even though i voted for it myself. maybe someday it will go up again and then i can learn how to do my own blossoms in this applique style. until then, i'm going to continue loving on and snuggling in this beauty made by rachel.

paris daydreams: a finish

this quilt is far more traditional than what i normally make. however, i have somewhat eclectic taste and this satisfies the shabby chic francophile in me. like most of my finishes, this one is long overdue. but it's done and the timing is actually pretty good. d5 is just the right size for it now, so all's well that ends well. the photo shoot, however, did not go so well. i tried photographing it indoors in the lovely light of my bedroom, but that only worked so far as i could crop out all the unwanted bedroom clutter. in addition, i had a lot of interested "help." so enjoy the story of this quilt and some crazy outtake photos, too, if you feel so inclined.

this quilt was born in my brain whilst i was pregnant with baby #7, over three years ago. i admired elizabeth hartman's "modern charm squares baby quilt" and was looking for something to make for baby. also, i have a weakness for dreamy french fabrics, like toile and the vintage stuff produced by french general. when the pom pom de paris line came out, with its pretty, soft spring palette, i wanted it for baby. although it's not a modern line, i thought it would go well with ms. hartman's pattern.

(oh, goodness. looking at this photo above, i can see that despite my best efforts to get a bit of randomness to the layout of this quilt, or at least some asymmetry, i pieced it in a pattern after all! how funny and rather pathetic.)

i just love the bird toiles from this line

somehow i got sidetracked and ended up making "expecting blossoms" for baby and not the pom pom de paris charm quilt. about the time baby was a year and a half old, in the early summer of 2013, i decided i still wanted to make the french quilt for her. so i got started. it should have been an easy project, but i started thinking too much and turned it into a french nightmare that got put on the back burner until i tried completing a quilt for each kid for christmas 2013. eventually i got the top done and began the straightline quilting. but it wasn't completed by christmas.

two of my favorite prints are these ditsy florals

 the straightline quilting went ok, but not perfectly. my juki is a fmq champ, but straightline is not so much her thing. i've found out the biggest help with the straightlining is to spray baste. the closed eyelet i chose for sashing wasn't a problem at all, either with piecing or quilting. i love the textured effect it gives.

once i removed all the red prints from this line, i was left with totally dreamy baby girl colors in oyster, pink, butter yellow, and bisque

after i had finished quilting by echo-quilting the long horizontal seams 1/4" on each side, i began thinking how very pretty it would look if i also did vertical straight lines, too. but i'd already taken it off the machine, changed feet, and moved on before that occurred to me. so it didn't happen. when i pulled the quilt out for binding, i thought i'd just knock out that cool quilting. on consideration, however, i realized there were lots of vertical lines in all the piecing that wouldn't be matching up with the quilting and it wouldn't look very good on the front of the quilt after all if i called notice to that. so i just stayed with the horizontal straight lines.

 one of my favorite parts of this quilt is the back. normally, i piece a backing with a variety of prints. on this one, i used only one print but threw in a special feature: the selvage.

 i'm a selvage lover and this one was mighty pretty. by piecing the backing with the selvages meeting up, i was able to include them as a feature strip across the quilt. fortunately for me, this worked out beautifully. the printing was perfectly placed on this fabric so that the 1/4" seam allowance left it showing nicely. i tried this on my penny patch backing and the freespirit selvages did not have the same spacing. pity, because i really adore this effect.

 i also love, love, love this ditsy pink floral print i used for the back. so overall, i adore the back of this quilt. the very last thing to do was bind this baby.

and that's where i got held up again.

there was no perfect print in this line for binding. all the prints, except the reds, were too light for a binding that was going to be drug around by a little girl. i had pulled all the overtly red charm squares to preserve the soft, pastel look in the quilt so adding a red binding on wasn't in keeping with my vision. i was wishing hard the mushroom brown color had been included as a print somewhere. but it wasn't.

by the time i was ready to bind, i had talked myself into just using the red ditsy floral print that was the same as the backing print. although i had purposefully removed the reds from the quilt top, i was pretty desperate to be done and thought it would be fine. not ideal, but fine. i justified to myself, "a binding is so thin and maybe it will be a nice pop of color on the edges."

fortunately i have a quilting buddy who is wiser than i am. when i showed becky the red binding and the quilt, without trashing my idea, she nonchalantly told me, "my thinking is if you've already waited a year to finish this quilt, you might as well wait a little longer and get a binding you like rather than settling for something you don't like so much just to get it done." smart, smart girl.

i was loathe to try finding a binding but i gave it a shot at my local store later in the day.

and came home with something i absolutely love!

this white dot on a mushroom brown crossweave goes so well with the colors and prints in the line. i do think it's probably not very french, but it definitely suits the overall feel of the quilt and it's color palette. i machine bound this one for durability. fortunately, i bound it right after two other machine bound quilts so it turned out pretty well because i was fully practiced by the time i did this one.

 and now little miss has a quilt that fits her bed nicely and is bigger than her baby quilt. she's been dragging her bunny and new quilt around the house everywhere.

when i gave it to her, she said in awe, "it finish?! oh, thank you, Mama!!! it's so bigger!" it's one of the best reactions i've gotten from a kid yet.

that's a wrap.
it's complete and in her hands, all hers to use and love now.
enjoy the last few outtake photos below.

too short to help hold

hey, no peeking! and the bookshelf looks ugly

i'm glad they like being involved with me and the quilt making process. who knows how long it will last?