Pages

Sunday, February 23, 2014

A New Week.....

Life is beginning to get back to what passes for "normal" around here, 
and I want to say a heartfelt THANKS to all of YOU!!! 
Your outpouring of love and comfort and prayers  
has meant the world to me, and I love you all!!! 
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Sorry - it's a little blurry :(
But it makes up for it with COLOR, right????
This is my NewFO Challenge project for February ......
Diamonds are Forever

I had the pleasure of taking part in a class given at our Music City Guild this past week and completed one large block, which looks like this.....



It is actually 4 small 6-inch string blocks put together into a larger 12-inch block.  The string blocks started out like this....


These were so much fun, and I loved the play of these colors together so much, that I came home and put together a few more of these little string blocks so I could get that lovely diamond effect to begin shining through as each block was added to the sides of the first large block - YUM!!!


I can see that I seem to have some of my colors running together, but I don't think that will matter once the entire quilt is assembled.  This quilt is from the below book by Virginia (Ginger) Baker & Barbara (Bobbie) Sanders - and these lovely ladies also taught the class :)

Amazon Link HERE
I'll also link up with Sharon at Vrooman Quilts for her Let's Book It party with this project :*)
I love actually using my quilt books for a change LOL!!!

As you can see from the cover photo, the authors made their quilt with black as the neutral star points in the background, and civil war prints for the colorful strings.  I've seen this quilt made with black and jewel colored fabrics - and let me tell you.... it was just simply FABULOUS!!!!  However, I've done quite a lot of quilt projects lately using that color palette, so I really wanted to do something different.

My first decision had to be what I wanted to use for the background - the star points - and black was not allowed as an option.  And then, what colors would be brought out to play with it?  These are the fabrics I ended up with......


My first thought was to use the same fabric for the background star points throughout for continuity.  But I am really short of large chunks of fabrics that would work as a neutral.  See that lime solid in the upper left background?  I had about 5 yards of that, which would have been plenty for the star points as well as a nice outer border.  But lime?  Wow!!!  You all know I love color, but I had to be sure it was "beautiful" colorful, not "circus clowns" colorful LOL!!!  I gave quite a lot of thought to whether I really wanted to use lime, but then I got the bright idea to use the print you see at the very top as a tool for pulling other colors to play with the lime.  Of course, this was easy to do because they turned out to be some of my favorites!  Fuscia! Violet! Blue! Aqua! Purple!

After I had it all together, I was disappointed to realize that the solid lime looked too tame with all that sparkle, kind of flat - which of course led to the choice of using lots of different limes to get variety and sparkle!  Why should the strips be the only ones to shine, right?

Even after I had it all laid out though, I was still not quite sure it was going to work together okay.  How could I be sure before I cut all that fabric and invested so much time and effort?  I decided to tackle my EQ7 to see if I had progressed enough in my lessons to be able to draft this quilt and then try out some color plans before I did any cutting .....

       ..........  I think I did okay - what do you think?????


This is my favorite colorway!

I have to tell you - I am HOOKED!!!  
EQ7 is serious FUN!!!
And all that power can go to a girl's head, you know what I mean?

Here are a few more colorways I played with  ....



Of course, I loved the next few, but the black background was not allowed ...... maybe someday?






So that is what is on my Design Wall today - in addition to my February Dinosaur UFO which is getting some serious work done to it in the next few days!

Amish Beauties - center done and awaiting border treatments
I'll share more about this one when it is finished.  I'm hoping to get it to the flimsy stage by Tuesday :*)  I'm also slowly stitching on the March Bertie's Year BOM, which will probably not get done by March 1....


Most of the pieces are now appliqued down and I'm ready to make the half-square triangles for the border.  Next will be the embroidery embellishments - my favorite part of these little quilts!!!  Well, except for enjoying them once they are finished, of course :*)  

I'm a little late, but linking up with Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching party anyway.
Also linking up with Connie's Tuesday Linky Party and What a Hoot's BOM's Away!
Come join in on the fun - link up your projects too!!!

Hope everyone has a lovely week!  We are expecting gorgeous weather until the weekend, when it is supposed to turn cold again.  But I'm not going to complain about that .... no indeed!  I'm just thrilled that we've been given this current reprieve, and that SPRING is finally on it's way - woohoo!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
=^..^=




38 comments:

  1. Aren't strings fun! Looks great! I love color, too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The variety of lime greens really adds the sparkle - what a great bunch of fabrics to play with!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The party was a little late getting started today... glad you could join in... enjoy your sewing on the new Bertie!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have been considering EQ. I absolutely love Amish Beauties.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful quilts but my all time favourite is your Diamonds are Forever, I have always love string pieced quilts and your colours are beautiful

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Teresa, I guess I missed your last post when we went out of town last week. So sorry to hear about the loss of your dear FIL! How lucky to have had a man like that to set an example for your DH! I will keep you and your family in my prayers!

    Girl, you are having waaaay too much fun with your EQ program. Your color combo is stunning, but I would have had such a hard time staying away from the black. In fact, I have picked out that last combo for when you get ready to make mine! *LOL*

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your string diamonds are fabulous and the variety of limes do add sparkle to the whole quilt. I love all those yummy colors you have to work with.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Lime was too tame? I love the lime fabrics you came up with! Bertie is looking good too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the two designs that this quilt displays ... the stars and the diamonds. And your color choices make it sparkle!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love string quilts. The colors are just amazing. I like them all. Bertie is looking wonderful! What a great series.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have done this block for a swap. Love it! I love that you are mixing up the limes! And I totally agree with the thin black border to stop the eye and the purple border! (However looking at your mock up of the black and whites now I think I have to make one of those! LOL )

    ReplyDelete
  13. Teresa, you obviously have an issue with color ... LOL. It's gonna be gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love string quilts :)
    All of your colorways are really great. I've see you've been sucked into EQ7- it's almost impossible to stop once you start, isn't it? You can get lost in there for hours...

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just love your fabric choices! It will be beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great choice of fabrics. I love string quilts, they're so vibrant. Yours is really singing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. THat string quit is going to be amazing. I love the colour choices xx

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow Teresa those colors are gorgeous! I love string quilts, but I always make them use up scraps. I am with you on your first color choice with the purple border. It's the best one. I am glad I don't have one of those electric quilt programs or I would never get off the computer to make anything, lol!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love these blocks! I made a spider quilt last year and didn't love it at all, yours is gorgeous with those colors!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow , amazing colours - I love all the combos you came up with in the software!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yum indeed! Your colour choices are amazing. Lime is the perfect choice. Can't wait to see this one develop!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great colors that make me think of stained glass. Love those shamrocks, too.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love the lime green w/all these beautiful, bold colors! Is all the fabric in the pic yours?!?! Do you have a store?

    ReplyDelete
  24. I bought String Quilt Revival just for the Diamond pattern. Such a great quilt. I love your dynamic colors!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Beautiful work Teresa and I personally love the colors you have chosen! Wow does the design look great in EQ in all the different colors! Have fun! Thanks for sharing.
    Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  26. Look at her cute head kerchief on the March Bertie. :D And I really love the background color you decided to go with for your String Revival. That's a quilt I want to make someday. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. You seriously work on the most beautiful projects. I feel like I tell you that each time I visit you!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I just read your "about me" section and your husband sounds totally amazing! You are definitely blessed! =)

    ReplyDelete
  29. What great blocks. The jewel colours are just stunning. I really like the computer pattern with the pink around the border. Bertie's Year is cute. I like the one on your header.
    valspierssews

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wow, Teresa, beautiful quilts and examples. You have such a good eye for color.

    ReplyDelete
  31. The String quilt pattern is such fun and that book is awesome. I did the same quilt but in black and white and it's quite stunning. Thanks for sharing your projects. All are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Oh my, you have my attention on this one. This is going to be one beautiful quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Love your colors!! The lime is awesome as the star points. Can't wait to see more of it together.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Beautiful string quilt! Your color selections are amazing. Happy quilting.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Holy smokes! What a beautiful colorful string quilt! I LOVE the LIME! Isn't it neat how making yourself refrain from something you love to use allows you to form new ideas??? So cool! Can't wait to see Amish Beauties all finished! So inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  36. I have never done string quilt. It looks like a lot of fun. Your colors are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...