Odds & Ends

My menagerie has a new addition, Mr. Hippo. (Clever and original name, right?) He was designed by Juliet at The Tartankiwi, and will be released shortly.

Why did I need a hippo? If you remember Mr.Elephant, you might realize that he's been a little lonely pinned up to the wall, all by his lonesome, ever since October. I hope that if he has a friend, others might join him, and someday there may be a whole zoo of animals pieced together into a quilt.

I used the same batiks to bring some continuity to the two. Yes, I realize batiks aren't viewed as the most modern material, but they are pretty, and I got a little bit carried away at an inventory reduction sale so it's time to consume.

Unrelated to my growing animal population, I've sent away one Super-Sized Scrappy Tiles Block. At 24" square, it's a big one! Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs asked for a scrappy, monochromatic look in her favorite color, blue.

I've received my quilt top back from the Modern Quilting Facebook Group Round Robin. I love all the fun details everyone added.

I'll be back soon with some insights from Quilt Con, so don't be a stranger!

I'm linking up with:

2014 Recap

Let's look back on 2014, shall we? I joined a Round Robin through the Modern Quilting Facebook group, which was a first for me. I've enjoyed the experience, which has been a nice challenge and full of fun surprises.

Online bees have been another fun way to learn new skills without building upon my UFO collection. I participated in the Stash Bee, New Quilt Blogger Bee and the Hope Circle of  do. Good Stitches.

Also, I finished some things! Hooray for that. It's easy to forget my completions given the shameful amount of incomplete projects lurking around my sewing room.

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be another year of plentiful quilting opportunities.

Round Robin - Laura's Quilt

I would like to present to you Laura Capello of Thread Up Studio's Round Robin quilt.

It began with the sun in the center, and was followed up with Kathy's warm-colored stitch and flip triangle mound.

Joy added Anna Maria Horner feathers, and came up with an "Earth, Wind, and Fire" theme, to which Lisa added water.

Using free paper-piecing patterns from the Quilt Talk blog hop, I added text to visually express our theme.

I incorporated the color schemes of each section on a low-volume black and white background, to give some repetition to the top.

 Have you ever incorporated text in a quilt? If it's on your bucket list, check out my Pinterest board.

Round Robin - Paula's Quilt

Today I present to you my addition to Paula Lee's top. I decided to add two borders since the precious additions were asymmetrical, and, between you and me, adding two border was more likely to happen within the deadline than adding twice that many. I wanted to tie in the beige from the center blocks and L-shaped section, as well as add some lighten the overall value of the top.

I decided to do slice and insert. Where the inserts intersected, I discovered that, the more angled the insert, the more I needed to offset the pieces to make them look continuous. 

I originally planned to make the inserts meet at the same corner of the quilt, but I didn't like how it looked like the lines abruptly ended at the seam where the two borders touched. Instead, ended up putting them in their own corners.

There's no small amount of controversy about mixing modern prints with (Gasp!) batiks, but both are to be found in this collaborative project. What do you think? Should batiks and modern prints coexist, or stick to their own turf?

In case you're new around here, I'm going to give you a visual recap of the quilts that have come my way as part of the the New Quilt Blogger Round Robin. Click on any quilt to see the original post.

My Starter Block

Abby's Quilt

 Royalee's Quilt

 Lisa's Quilt

 Joy's Quilt

 Kathy's Quilt

Which is your favorite?

Round Robin - Kathy's Quilt

Just in the nick of time...(Ok, I'm lying; I sent this baby out a day late.)...I completed two borders of wonky trapezoid towers.

I was trying to figure what shape remained to be added since there were already x's, triangles, rectangles, half-circles, and curvy, striped leggings. Ok, just kidding about the leggings. But what shape would you call the shapes in the center?

Nobody had added trapezoids, so trapezoids, it was! I used a selection of yellow, black & white, olive, orchid, orange, and blue prints with a white and white on white background.

Let me tell you about the process, in case you want your very own wonky trapezoids. Cut a 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle of whatever fabric you want for the trapezoid. Use scraps for the background.

Lay a background piece on the trapezoid rectangle as shown, with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam.

Even use one long strip for the background, if you want to be really bold.

Press the background toward the corner. Flip the rectangle so the wrong side is facing upward and cut away everything that extends beyond the rectangle.

Flip the piece over so the right side is facing upwards. Flip back the background triangle and cut the seam allowance even with the background.

Add a stitch and flip triangle to the other side in the same fashion. Trim it up too.

Make more, and attach them in one big ol' tower.

Who's up for some wonky trapezoids?

I'm linking up with:

Also, if you are one of the dear people who follow my blog, don't miss your chance to win my giveaway.

Round Robin - Joy's Quilt

I participate in a Round Robin that was formed out of the Modern Quilting Facebook Group. 

The latest addition to Joy's quilt was the parallelograms floating in negative space. I decided to make my own version of the borders on the Windmill Quilt over at Dreamworthy Quilts. 

Using a solid dark blue, Kona White and two ombre fabrics, I created strip sets for each different column color. I wanted to extend, and contain the negative space in the previous border.

What do you think of my colorful borders?