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-

43 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!?

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

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  3. 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.

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  4. Beautiful fabrics and a lovely center design!

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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!

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  7. 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.

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

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  9. 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!

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

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  11. 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"? : )

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  12. 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)

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

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  14. 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!

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  15. 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!

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  16. Oh and your quilt is Beautiful!

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

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

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  19. '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.

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

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  21. 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 :)

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  22. 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.

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

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  24. 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!

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  25. Stunning! I keep coming back to take a look!

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  26. 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!

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

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

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  29. 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.

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

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  31. 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!

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  32. It looks beautiful. I think the power is with you.

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  33. It is another stunning quilt. Gorgeous!

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

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  35. 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!

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  36. 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.

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  37. Best of all! I agree with everyone!

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  38. 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 ! :)

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  39. This is just fantastic.Well done!

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  40. 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!

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