Friday, June 03, 2011

Symmetry in Completion

'Symmetry'
59" square

The first of two quilts I made as gifts for Becket's preschool teachers.
 
 
I LOVE this shoo fly block.  And it's even more fun making large and small ones.   Each of the big blocks are about 32" square.

All prints are the lovely, new DS Quilts, with one KJR tossed in.  I needed a solidish blue to balance my small set of four.  

The neutral areas are linen.  The darker is a heavy, natural linen.  The lighter is a cotton/linen blend.  Although easier to work with the blend for quilting, I actually preferred the heavy, 100% linen after it was washed up.
 


These are some of Becket's favorite prints, and it was hard to get him to let me use them!  Once I told him they were for his teacher, he was happy about that (didn't tell him too early, as I don't trust his secret-keeping skills).

Although, as I would cut large sections for the big blocks, he would look over what was left to make sure I didn't use TOO much.  You should have seen him when we were at the store buying it in the first place.  He kept telling the lady that we had to buy the WHOLE bolt.  I didn't, but talk about an enabler!



That blue and red print on the back is his very favorite.  His teacher guessed it right - it's because it reminds him of Hawaii.

I used some of the wonderful pearl bracelet for my label.  Such a fun way to label.

 
Deciding on the quilting took me a long time.  I thought about it, stared at it.  I felt the quilt needed just a little more contrast between the prints and the linen sections, so didn't want to all-over stipple.  I considered straight lines around the inside of the shoo fly shapes, but decided that would be too much quilt turning.  NOT a fan of quilt turning.  As it was, I did end up pushing it through my machine WAY more times than was fun.  But it turned out so worth the effort.
 
I love stipple quilting and it's just about my favorite part of the process.  I feel like it's meditative with a little thrill tossed in!  Straight line quilting - not so much.  But it looks so good - especially against other organic shapes.

I stippled the prints, straight lines in all the linen.  Becket loved what he called the 'pyramid' quilting.
  

He's known for his love or symmetry and creating with it in detail....a couple pictures his teachers took:


and from the top

Symmetry

9 comments:

karen @ badlandsquilts said...

I absolutely LOVE this quilt...and the pearl bracelet fabric is perfect for a simple label!

Katie B said...

WOW! You are the favorite parent for sure! This quilt is awesome, and the quilting is the perfect touch--well worth the effort!

Alicia said...

This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

Heather said...

Your son is so cute! I really like your quilt, it turned out great. I am in the process of making quilts for my daughter’s teachers (they also taught my son last year). It is a big gift to give, but so worth it don’t you think? A lot of my friends and even my husband can’t believe I’d go through so much effort to make them each a quilt, but I don’t even think of it that way, I love making quilts for other people. I am glad you are making them quilts, they are going to LOVE them.

Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane said...

I love your signature on the pearl bracelet- so smart! Such a wonderful gift. Your little boy's symmetry reminds me of my daughter. She is big into lining things up and builds things that are symmetrical too.
:) So happy to have found you!

Leslie said...

i love how you did your message in the little circles!!!!! that is so cool. every quilt is more beautiful than the last

amy smart said...

Great quilts, Angela. (Love the fabrics AND the quilting.) I also love how you use that pearl bracelet for your labels. Have you heard pb is coming out in green? It's lovely!

Rachel D @ Just Sew Y'all Know said...

I LOVE how you did the label! Too cute!

Stephanie said...

BEAUTIFUL!!! Love it! Your quilting is wonderful too!