Wednesday, February 3, 2016

B's to the 5th Power

 When I worked at the local quilt shop
customers would come in and
ask for many things all
beginning with the letter "B".

It actually confused some quilters
with so many B words.

Were they looking for 
Borders?
 Backing? 
Batting?
Basting?
Binding?

Over the past couple of weeks,
 I've been working on
" B's to the 5th power!"

But let's back up just a bit.
Over the past year, like many others,
I studied fabrics
from Barbara Brackman's
Quilt Along,
"Stars in a Time Warp".

I completed 72 sawtooth star blocks
and decided to set them in a 
medallion style.

 I chose a center block from
Di Ford's Antique Wedding Sampler.

I hand pieced the block and
then added Broderie Perse applique
to the corners and
then a narrow border print to frame 
the block.
Instead of needle turning the appliques
I fused the pieces and cut them out exactly and
finished the edges with a buttonhole stitch.


I found it pretty challenging keeping the stitches an 
even depth and an even width apart.
I wasn't sure how close to make the stitches because
I didn't want it to look like a satin stitch.
So I did my own thing.
***
Then came the B-words, Borders.
 
This is a French General border print
and I only had 2 yards.  The mitered
corners came out perfectly, but I didn't
have enough to really fiddle with 
the corner design.
All four corners are the same,
but don't quite have the "

Wow" factor.


 While I was looking
in my resource piles, I discovered
a great piece for the Backing.

It's rather plain,
but it's a great piece of reproduction fabric
that's almost vintage a second time around.

Does anyone remember that line?
Add a leftover piece of the border print
and now it's the perfect size.

Next comes Batting.
I was feeling so proud of my make-do attitude.
I fused 5 narrow strips of batting together


using a light weight fusible interfacing.
that I cut 2 inches wide. 
Five pieces out of the closet and 
now a piece ready for Basting
 

 I'm planning on machine quilting this
myself, so it might take a while to get done.

But in the mean time I 
worked on the last B-word,
Binding.
 
It's ready whenever I am.

Just wanted to send a big thank you
to Barbara Brackman for
sharing her wealth of knowledge
with so many. 

Just realized I could say B's to the 7th power...
Blocks,
Broderie Perse
Sorry, I can get carried away!

Check out my recent post
"Let's Hear It For The Stash"
to see is quilt finished.

Until Next Time-

44 comments:

  1. How lovely! I really love your medallion, and you chose the perfect border. Isn't it nice to have all the binding ready to go!?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow this is a very impressive quilt. I love every step how you put this together. All your choices are perfect. I enjoyed your writing in this post too; using all the "B" words! Good luck with the quilting. Look forward to seeing the finish.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Go ahead and get carried away, you've earned it with all that work! What a lovely result!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a lovely setting for those stars in a time warp blocks. Love the medallion idea. Your border is fabulous too. I can't wait to see it all quilted.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful fabrics and a lovely center design!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, lots of make-do with what you had on hand but you would never know it from the fantastic appearance of the quilt top! Great work and so resourceful.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Absolutely stunning! I'd say it (including the mitred corners) certainly does have the "wow" factor. I love it. And yes, I do remember the Sarah Johnson line. I have just a tiny bit left of one fabric. Oh how I loved all of those prints. Barbara will be proud of you for this one!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kyle, your center medallion IS the WOW factor of this fabulous quilt! This will be such a treasure when you have it all quilted and bound.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fabulous! The whole quilt is a "wow!" And yay you for making something so fabulous out of materials already on hand.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a gorgeous quilt Kyle!
    I love your center hand pieced and broderie persed block, the medallion layout of your star blocks and gorgeous fabric borders. Congratulations on a stunning finish!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is one of the best yet! Love the centerpiece and that gorgeous border fabric. Great work as always! You are an inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You took your stars up a notch or two with this lovely medallion setting and great border! Looks very classic and vintage! I also liked the term "resource piles". Is that a new term for "stash"? : )

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think your quilt has loads of wow factor!! Kyle it looks wonderful! I love that you chose to do your Broderie perse with a hand buttonhole stitch - very cool! Great border fabrics too. I hope the quilting goes smoothly. :0)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very creative post. I love all your stars and how you put them together to make a wonderful and unique quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  15. WooHoo! I love medallion quilts and that center block is spectacular surrounded by all the star blocks. I know there is a special fusible tape product for joining pieces of batting together, but I like that you used what you had on hand - I'll have to remember that - especially when using larger pieces. If they're small I usually just butt them up and stitch them together with a multi zig zag. I'm trying to remember if you've ever shared what kind of machine you have - is it easy to work on large projects like this? You've made a really, really pretty quilt Kyle!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your so right, I had never thought how confusing all those B words would be...I struggled enough with quilt sandwich, fat quarters, skinny eights and half square triangles - its a language all of its own!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh and your quilt is Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful! Another B word for your quilt. I love how you set your stars and the border fabric is awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wonderful setting for all your beautiful stars - well done!! Love the basting picture - looking across a sea of stars. Have fun quilting :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. 'B' is for beautiful! I am a sucker for stars and was just this past weekend flipping through one of Di's books thinking of making a medallion quilt. This is a great mix of blocks and has me doing even more thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great job, Kyle. All 7 B's are the best on that beautiful original design!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great post, Kyle! How did you manage to keep this wonderful quilt a secret?? It's beautiful! Love the center medallion with broderie perse. Perfect border fabric, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yes, I remember the Sarah Johnson fabrics. Your borders with the corners not fussy cut aren't the main focus of the quilt so I don't notice that as much as the wonderful center section.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Gorgeous! Love the center medallion and the broderie perse is icing on the cake!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Beyond Beautiful is all I can say. Your setting is so wonderful and has really elevated the star blocks to a whole new level.
    Bravo!!

    I'm pin basting this week too!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Stunning! I keep coming back to take a look!

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is beautiful, Kyle! I really think this is my favourite block, I keep using it again and again. It looks amazing in this setting! It's going to be lovely -- great job so far!

    ReplyDelete
  28. All your "B's" have a Wow! Factor. May I add an 8th B? Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  29. So beautiful. It's okay to get carried away when we are talking about quilting. Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  30. Kyle, it's beautiful! I think it's the nicest version I've seen. I love the centre and how you've achieved that. Can't wait to see it finished.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Quite BBBBBBeautiful! I completely adore it and it makes me smile that your mitered corners don't have to match up!!

    ReplyDelete
  32. What a gorgeous quilt and it all came together so nicely with all the B's! I would never have though of getting my borders ready and then having a center medallion for it! Just beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  33. It looks beautiful. I think the power is with you.

    ReplyDelete
  34. It is another stunning quilt. Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Lovely and creative! There seems to be no end to the wonderful quilts coming out of your studio.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Oh my gosh--your top is beautiful! I can see you were inspired by the quilts from the Rocky Mountain quilt museum, maybe? It's just lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  37. I thought of a few B words as I scrolled through the photos of your quilt top - beautiful and brilliant. I love that you were able to use things from your stash. I hope you're enjoying quilting it.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Best of all! I agree with everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Reading Barbara Brackman's blog I finally discover your blog......
    Your quilt is a real beauty (another B) and adding this panel in the center is a clever idea !
    Amazing....bravo ! :)

    ReplyDelete
  40. This is just fantastic.Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Your Quilt is just beautiful!! Love the medallion style and yes, I certainly do remember the Sarah Johnson fabric line.......it is being hoarded along with the other great Shelburne and Smithsonian lines that came out about Twenty Years ago!

    ReplyDelete