Disclaimer: Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Accuquilt and Aurifil supplied fabric, batting, dies/cutter and thread for this project.
Welcome to my May Island Batik Ambassador Project – Night Flight. This month’s challenge is sponsored by Island Batik AND Hobbs Batting and is called Make it Modern with Hobbs! The quilt I make should be a crib size or larger quilt, use Hobbs Batting and include some of the qualities that make a quilt modern as defined by the Modern Quilt Guild.
What are some of the qualities of a modern quilt?
– the use of bold colors and prints,
-high contrast and graphic areas of solid color,
-improvisational piecing,
-minimalism,
-expansive negative space, and
-alternate grid work.
I have been playing a lot in Electric Quilt 8*. In addition to playing, I am taking a monthly class with Kari Schell (On Point Quilter) and have learned so much. The above image intrigued me when I was fooling around with half rectangle in a star block. This reminded of the birds that travel near the river we live on – and I often hear the geese flying overhead – even at night. I was surprised by the night flight (though why I was is beyond me). So, back to the quilt – I decided on an 8″ square…because I had Accuquilt* and Sizzix* dies that would work! So, when I finalized the design I needed 9 8″ blocks.
The preparation was pretty easy:
1. Cut 18 HSTs (half square triangles) with my Sizzix Die, #657611*
2. Cut 18 Half Rectangles with my Sizzix Die # 657622*
3. Print 9 paper piecing templates for the small isosceles triangle.
4. Cut 9 rectangles for the body.
I redesigned the pattern you see above, so that the extra blocks were strips in the rows. I figured out the strips I needed and cut 8 1/2″ wide strips to complete the top.
The sewing went quickly and then I had to figure out the quilting. I loaded the EQ image into an editing program and drew designs. In the end, I wanted air currents. So, the quilt was sandwiched, using the 80/20 cototon/poly Hobbs black batting*. This is the second time I used it and I love it for dark quilts. Those yellows really pop against the black an there is no lint on the front of the quilt!!
You can see that I did the air currents at about 3/4″ apart.
Once I did the first air current in a section I used those guides to make the lines consistent. I could have eyeballed it, but why leave it to chance? Almost every walking foot comes with them and I did switch it to the left or right bar depending on which side I was quilting.
What do you think about more quilting? I am indifferent as to whether to add some quilting to flatten the area around the birds. Also, there is not quilting in the birds – should I? Tell me what you think. I wanted to finish and figured I could go back if I really wanted to.
Once this was done I cut my 2 1/2″ binding strips on the Accuquilt Go. It was so fast to cut those binding strips!
Did I make a modern quilt? Indeed I did! Night Flight contains the following elements:
-the use of bold colors and prints,
-high contrast and graphic areas of solid color,
-minimalism,
-expansive negative space, and
-alternate grid work.
I also learned that I can make a modern quilt of my own design! I can quilt with little or no marks on the quilt, I just freely drew these lines in each section – no chalk lines as was my first thought about quilting. This was also one of my quarterly goals, for 2019 Finish Along.
Night Flight 40″ x 40″
Inspired by watching the birds fly near the Malden River and hearing them at night!
Island Batik black, wild things #11803048, and yellow #BE32-C1
Hobbs 80/20 Black Batting
Aurifil white for some piecing
Mettler dark grey for quilting
Sizzix and Accuquilt Dies, Paper Piecing
Coming Soon:
A finished quilt for Hands 2 Help
From Designs to Quilts – how do I do it?
Linking up with:
TGIFF
Finished {or not} Friday
What I Made Monday
Chameleon’s Color Party
Sew Fresh Quilts
2019 FAL Quarter 2
Wednesday Wait Loss
May UFO WIP Challenge Link-up
Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup
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