May 26, 2011

Pinochle

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Sorry for the delay in revealing my finished Pinochle quilt.   We attended a family wedding this weekend and it took a lot of my time and most of my mental faculties getting the family ready.   Now that we're back (the wedding was beautiful!), I can take care of some things that have been sitting idle for a while (like my blog!).


Pinochle was designed by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts and is in her book Fat Quarter Winners.  I used a mix of French General fabrics - Rural Jardin, Rouenneries, Maison de Noel and Maison de Garance, with the bird print from Rural Jardin as the border.


This quilt was a lot of fun to make (I happen to love half square triangles!) and I'm very happy with the results.


 


 



May 13, 2011

Yes, I really *did* finish Rotue 44

Last September I joined my two best blog buddies, Thelma and Nicole, in Illinois to take some classes from the fabulous Carrie Nelson.  I started two large quilts - Ashcombe and Route 44 - and one Schnibbles quilt, Darcy.  I finished Darcy (not that big of a feat because it's a Schnibbles, it's tiny!) and Route 44.  Only time will tell if I finish Ashcombe.   I'm not loving the fabrics I chose.   Maybe I should recut and make one like Thelma's, which I absolutely adore.


I did, however finish Route 44, which I made using a stash of old Amy Butler fabrics that I very nearly let go in my stash sale last summer.  Thankfully I kept looking at the pile and thinking how pretty they were and using them really made this quilt work for me.   I added a frosted dot from Lakehouse Fabrics as the setting and borders.


Route44 
One of our fellow students in the Route 44 class was LeAnne Olson, a longarm quilter who's name I have seen in quilting magazines.   I asked for her card, thinking that having a machine quilter who also made this quilt right along with me would be a great way to bring this project full circle.


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LeAnne gave me permission to use her beautiful photographs.   It's been so dreary in the Seattle area that any time the clouds have parted enough to allow a photograph, I'm at work!   So here are some shots of my quilt - one of the Amy Butler fabrics was a random stripe with all the colors from the prints, and it made the perfect binding for this quilt.


Not only do I love the beauty of this quilt, it is priceless to me because of all the fond memories it evokes of my trip and friends (new and old).


I'll be back soon with pictures of my (finally) finished Pinochle quilt top!