More snowy maples

More snowy maples, from my hipsterquilter account on Flickr.

Here is another picture of my modern maples quilt, or more appropriately, Snowy Maples. You can't have too many pictures in such a beautiful setting!

Snowy Maples

Finally a finished quilt to show off!  It's my Christmas present to myself.  This is the first quilt I've ever made just for me and while I loved making things for other people it was SO nice to not to have a deadline this time around.  I did, however, want to finish this while I was in Vermont over the holidays so I could show it off in a very mapley quilty setting.  I brought it up to finish the hand binding, and after several days of good food and wine, countless Hallmark movies, half of The Big Lebowski, and a couple of dogs who couldn't stop trying to lick it- tada!!!  Merry Christmas to me!

My Dad was a trooper and helped schlep it outside through the crusty icy snow and held it up for me to photograph in the sun.  It's certainly been a white Christmas up here.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas day today!

Modern Maples Pillow

I'm putting the finishing touches on my Modern Maples quilt, but in the meantime I thought I'd share my first maple leaf. I tried it out first on a pillow, and I though it came out pretty cool!  I even did a hidden zipper for the first time.  
The maple leaf is Chicopee fabric by Denyse Schmidt, with Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater on the back, giving it a nice vintage-y feel.

I started by quilting it in straight organic lines, but I didn't want the edges of the leaf to stand out weirdly, so I stitched in the ditch around it.  

Here's the final production:

Now back to this pile-o-quilt... almost there...

Happy Saturday everyone!

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What you waiting for

I've spent a lot of time over the past couple of years stalking other peoples' quilting blogs, and I've been wanting to start my own for a while.  I'm running out of excuses!  I have a brand new computer that actually works (a beautiful iMac!  long overdue) and a Sunday full of nothing but time, so here goes!  

Here's a great video of Gwen Stefani singing What You Waiting For, I'm pretty sure she's taunting me :)  I'm also pretty sure she's telling me I need to work out more.

So on to my current quilting projects, since that's what this is all about.  I have a few hiding in the closet, but this is the one I'm struggling to finish enjoying every step of the way. 

It's based on the Modern Maples Pattern from Lark Crafts.  I used some jewel tone prints, including various Alison Glass and Denyse Schmidt Chicopee, several Oakshott cottons, and lighter Timber and Leaf and Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley.  The background is a scrappy mix of Kona Snow and low volume prints.

One of my Oakshott leaves (please ignore the strings)

I'm quilting in variegated Aurifil in Bari, which alternates between subtle yellow, lilac, and white.  I really like quilting in a tight pattern, so these are dense organic straight lines.  I especially wanted to use this technique with the Oakshotts since they are so soft and tend to stretch a little more than the other cottons.  It's ended up being a lot of work so I've questioned my choice several times, but I think in the end it will be beautiful and worth it.  I hope.  

I have the last quarter-ish to quilt and I'm really feeling the size of my little Kenmore as I try to work this big queen-size roll through the mouth of the machine.  So close!

I was very inspired by HoosierToni's use of color and scale and chose a lot of the same colors with different fabric.  It's beautiful the way the vivid colors frame the paler colors in the middle, and the small leaves are adorable.  I also love the vertical lines that add to the "falling" effect.  I'm working on this "fall" quilt well into the winter, but the freezing cold outside is just as inspiring (what's more cozy than a quilt?).

Here is the link where you can see all the other stunning Modern Maples Quilts out there on the Falling for Modern Maples flickr group. 

Happy Sunday!