Halo Progress, Welcome Home Kit NewFO, and A Creative Tangent with the PhotoSketcher App

Hey there, quilty peeps!  Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Memorial Day weekend if you're in the United States, and I hope the weather is nicer where you are than it is in Charlotte, North Carolina right now.  Rain, rain, and more rain!  Good thing I have a bright and cheerful project on my design wall since the view outside my window is so drab and dreary.  

Halo Blocks Still In Progress

This is a Jen Kingwell pattern that is suitable for either hand or machine piecing.  The pattern is found in Kingwell's Jenny From One Block pattern booklet and you can find that on Amazon here (this post contains affiliate links).  

I'm fascinated by the way Kingwell organizes her seemingly random scrappy compositions so studying the way she alternates between "organized chaos" vs careful control within the same quilt is my primary fascination with this project.  The curved piecing challenge is just the icing on the cake.  In Kingwell's version of this quilt, most blocks are totally scrappy except for three blocks that are created with all one fabric for the backgrounds, all one fabric for the rings, and all one fabric for the triangles surrounding the center square.  Whereas the circles at the block intersections predominate throughout most of her quilt, those three blocks that have planned matching fabrics pop out as squares that help your eye travel across the surface of the quilt.  Here's one of my blocks that I'm hoping will function that way in my version of Halo:

One of My Favorite Recently Finished Halo Blocks

The dark pink arcs were cut from one of the Tilda fabrics in the fat eighth precut pack that started me off on this tangent.  The rest of the fabrics in this block are treasures from my stash.

My Summertime Blues: Nanette's Stunning Blue Medallion Surprise Quilt

Good Morning, my lovelies!   Today I have a special treat for you -- a deep dive visual feast on an original medallion quilt designed and pieced by my client Nanette.  You can read all about Nanette's journey with this quilt, originally named with the working title My Surprise, then My Summertime Blues, and finally Blue Medallion Surprise, on Nanette's blog here.

Heather E2E Stitched in 40 wt Cotton King Tut Thread, Baby Moses

I know there will be at least three readers asking me where they can get a pattern for this gorgeous quilt.  There isn't any pattern available, though, as Nanette just began by making the center star and then came up with ideas for the borders one by one until her quilt had reached the size she wanted and felt finished.  This quilt is her totally original design.  I think she did an amazing job with both the design as well as the precision patchwork piecing.  Like all of Nanette's quilt tops, this one lay totally flat like a bed sheet, no lumps or bumps or unplanned fullness, with seam allowances neatly pressed to the side and those pinwheel intersections spiraled to lay nice and flat, too.  It feels like a treat when a quilt top arrives from Nanette, being able to see her work up close in real life after seeing those quilts come together virtually on her blog!

Nanette's 80 x 80 My Summertime Blues or Blue Medallion Surprise

And here's another surprise for y'all (NOT!) -- we're going to talk about THREAD again today!  Mwahahaha!!  😂😂😂.   Looking at the above photo of Nanette's quilt, the most important consideration to me as I was making quilting decisions was that the overall focus and impact of the finished quilt needed to be about the spectacular patchwork design.  

Quilt Finishes for Mike, Kim, Jane, and Carrie + Halo Progress

Happy Sunday and Happy Spring!  I have four clients' quilts to share with you today and then I'll wrap up with a couple photos of how my Jen Kingwell Halo Quilt is coming along.  Lots of ground to cover and I know you're all here for the eye candy anyway, so I'll try to keep my comments brief!

Mike's Thank-You Quilt: Cherrywood 9-Patch with Amoeba Quilting

Detail of Amoeba Quilting on Cherrywood 9-Patch Quilt

This first quilt I'm sharing began as a very traditional pieced top that was donated to our guild from the estate of a former guild member.  The quilt top and backing are all Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics, with a suede-like look and rich but muted colors (this post contains affiliate links).  The Cherrywood hand-dyed fabrics are fabulous; I've heard of this line but never worked with them before.  I love how understated they are, and the quilt top reminded me of Amish quilts.  I could have played that up by quilting a traditional feather design in an inconspicuous blending thread.

However...  I was asked to quilt this top so that it can be gifted to Mike, the young man who sets up the room for our monthly meetings at the Tyvola Senior Center and stays late on the first Wednesday each month for our meetings.  Mike doesn't give off an Amish vibe!  Given free reign, I choose Karlee Porter's Amoeba edge-to-edge quilting to inject some youthful, modern energy into this quilt.  I love it and I hope Mike will enjoy it, too!

60 x 60 Cherrywood Quilt for Mike

Not sure what batting is in this quilt as it was provided to me along with the quilt top.  I used King Tut 40 wt variegated cotton thread in Saint George for this quilt, with shades of caramel and rusty coral that were perfectly matched to the Cherrywood fabrics and the matte luster of cotton that I am loving lately.