Lipari Stars (A Finished Quilt)

A month or so ago, Lynne asked for project suggestions using the bundle of Oakshott Lipari cottons on her blog and to my utter delight she chose my idea. If you'd like to read more about my quilt and read the block tutorial, head over to Lynne's.

I've shared a few photos here as well ;o)

Tesseract {Emerald Quilt Challenge Finish}

My Emerald Quilt Challenge mini is done! First finish for the year (apart from appeal quilts) and it's not even on my FAL list. Anyone else notice how well I've been ignoring my list ;o)? I think nearly all my projects will have to carry over to the next quarter.

Anyhoo, I finished handstitching down the facing last night, and we have sun today so I managed to get some pictures. I've decided to go with Ella's suggestion of Tesseract for the name - as my other half pointed out, it gets automatic geek points since it's in the Avengers ;o) Other than that, to me it just fits (just ignore the Wiki definition, okay? I still think it's a cool name :o) )

The inspiration definitely came from actual emeralds - and happily, it is my birthstone! Although I'm not usually drawn to these shades of green, to me it says emerald. I love the depth of colour the Oakshotts give it - the photographs do it no justice at all. It literally shimmers.

I have had a creative grids 45 degree strip ruler for nearly a year and hadn't used it before (I bought it especially to make Lizzy House's Diamond Mountain quilt - still on my bucket list.) I adore Lizzy's quilt design, and that became part of my inspiration as well. It uses kaleidoscope blocks in a similar way to what I've done in this quilt.

I will definitely be using two layers of bamboo batting for mini quilts from now on - I love the extra loft it's given without the puff that comes from polyester batting. I didn't want too much puff on this one, but did want the greens to pop a bit more than they would with a single layer. Having said that, I'm not sure that it was such a good plan to go down the no-binding path. Getting it to fold over at the back was a bit of a challenge. Also, my corners are quite rounded, and I'm not sure how flat it will sit when it's hanging. I'd love to hang it on point like this photo - although I have no idea if it's actually feasible. Has anyone ever hung a mini on point? I'd love some tips :o)

It is pieced and quilted entirely using Aurifil 50wt thread (2021 and 2865) - I love that the quilting blends into the background so well (although it blended so well while quilting I did have a bit of trouble seeing where I was going ;o) ) I really loved doing angular quilting too - a first for me, but definitely not the last. I really want to make a triangle quilt and quilt it like I did the green bits on this one.

Quilt Details:
Fabric - Oakshott greens, various low volume grey prints for background.
Size - 24" square.

xx Jess

Fractured Quilting

I started quilting my Emerald Challenge quilt last night. I'm in desperate need of a good name for this one - I have no ideas whatsoever!! Suggestions happily accepted ;o)

I'm using Aurifil 50wt for all the quilting (2021 in the neutral areas, and 2865 on the greens). The green thread is the same one I used on Groove - I like that it blends really well on some of the greens, but stands out more on the darker and lighter greens. 

The piecing on this was far less than perfect, so I'm hoping the quilting helps disguise the dodgy bits. It kind of is so far - or at least making them less blindingly obvious :o) I want to keep the quilting fairly sparse on the Oakshotts, but quilt the greys really densely so they sit flat. 

I'm using two layers of my usual bamboo batting, and it's added a bit more loft to the quilting, without being too puffy. It's a fair bit heavier to move through though my machine when I'm FMQing, so I definitely won't be doing it on anything bigger. My arms were pretty sore after doing this (it took about an hour I think?)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

xx Jess