Earl of Thompson

 

Sometimes quilt inspirations come from interesting places... or from interesting people. In this case - it was both.

 

Last fall, a friend of mine from high school contacted me via facebook to ask if I ever sold my quilts.  In the course of the conversation, he asked me if he could design the center of a quilt and have me take that, finish the design, and then make it as a gift for his wife.

It sounded like a fun challenge - so I told him to email me his design. 

Well - it came to me in hard copy - and he had designed the entire top, including selecting the colors.   "I got carried away a bit," he said... but I loved what he had come up with.  I chose some tone on tone and mottled fabrics to work with to give the open spaces a bit of texture - and then I pondered this one for a bit while finishing up some holiday projects that had come first.

Once we got into the new year - I got to work on this, including making myself a prototype (in orange, of course!)It took me a bit to work out some of the logistics - like the floating diamonds in the little side blocks (tutorial to follow) - and to get past my apprehension of having to quilt all that open space.  A template, a Frixion pen, variegated Aurifil thread and a whole lot of patience -and we got that done as well.

The name is a combination of my last name from when he knew me (Earl) and his last name (Thompson) -and the fact that it looks rather like a family crest.

In actuality -his inspiration is surveyors targets!

And I think this design is RIGHT ON TARGET!!!

"Aunti-quilted"

My brother recently became an uncle again when my sister-in-law's sister had a baby boy.  As "almost Aunts" to baby Luke, you know that Lazy Sister Sue and I could NOT sit idly by and not have a quilt for this new little guy.

Sue pieced the top in SC at a recent retreat she attended, then shipped it up to me for backing and finishing.  We consulted each other a bit on the choice of pattern, but she had some fabrics for the top at her end and ran with them.

I had something in my stash I was hoping to use for the backing - but didn't know until the top arrived in the mail that it would work WONDERFULLY to compliment her fabrics.  I just had to insert a strip to allow me to use the width of the fabric for the backing - adds a great punch of color and interest to the back and uses so much less of the focus fabric than piecing a backing out of a single fabric.   I use this style a lot for my lap and throw sized quilts.

I was able to use a bit of variegated rainbow thread for the 'not so' straight-line quilting - I had a spool left over from a project I had done last fall.

I used a bit of fusible and fussy cutting for the label - using the scraps cut from the excess backing along the sides of the quilt.

Sue had enough of the rainbow stripe left over for me to use it for the binding as well.

This one will be packaged up and sent along soon - along with some other goodies.

We just love quilting for family!

Things that make you go WOW!!!

I do not own a quilting frame, and my attempts at FMQ have been fledgling and very small scale - so finishing my quilts over the years has consisted of a great deal of straight line quilting and tying.

Thank goodness for Jill - being able to send some of my tops to her for finishing on her frame has been a wonderful option.  I first sent her Summer Sunshine two years ago - and still  need to take some "finished" photos of this quilt, though it has been on my bed for ages now.  She also did this quilt and this one, too.  But I have been very very bad at taking the BEFORE and AFTER pictures to show what a good quilting job can do to make a quilt go WOW!!!! (and so many quilts get gifted before I get the AFTER pictures - something about finishing binding on the way to a party may have something to do with that!)

Until this one: 

Nearly finished - just auditioning borders.

Completed flimsy.  I liked it - but all that muslin kind of left me "flat".

After Jill got her hands on it - it hasn't been washed, but now there is some movement in all that open space.

Love this square spiral - the quilt is for a young man, and this really gives it a great masculine feel.

Look at how the back just sparkles!!!

And doesn't every quilt need to come with a 6 year old with attitude (I think it's the hooded sweatshirt that does it!)