Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Tidy Up Tuesday - Condo Complex Complete

Welcome to another edition of Tidy Up Tuesday!!  I have spent the last week making bits of progress toward finishing one of the two PURPLE mini quilts that I created for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge during August.  As the month drew to a close, SEW did the project.

I shared the beginning of my IMPROV Adventure quilt in THIS edition of Design Floor Friday.

The landscaping updates can be found HERE.

That brings us to the quilting...

LeeAnna suggested matchstick quilting.  Since the piece is modern, I decided to go with that.  The question begged how best to implement that style of close stitching.  What would YOU do???


What I did was sit it on top of the giant pile 'o quilts right next to my "Zoom chair".  This forced me to look at the quilt any number of times during the past week:



Eventually, I determined...

The best course of action would be to start by stitching the landscaping onto the quilt and go from there:


One leaf/bush turned to two...


... And two turned to three:


Once the "bushes" were sewn down, I moved on to quilting the tree:


That left only one piece of shrubbery to be attached...


Then I started in on the final section of the garden design by adding more of the bright green that danced around the quilt.  If you look carefully, you can see that stitching in the foreground.  The rest will wait for (potential) hand stitching, at a later date:



Next came the (actual) quilting...

I drew out a plan:

photo currently unavailable

Unlike with the stitching, this time, I began at the top of the quilt...


Working through the vertical stitching and moving on to the horizontal stitching:


Clouds were added to the sky section:


The final section remaining was the "sun" square:


My inclination was a big, smiley kindergarten sun or quilting in the word "sunshine", but my Design Assistant/DS2 didn't like either of those choices.  His idea would incorporate watery, rippled sun rays, however, in his description I latched onto the word "swirl."

Of course, you KNOW what happened next, don't you???

I exercised my "phone a friend" option and called in my Design Consultant.  Needleb suggested Deborah Boschert-like sun curve/arcs (which I always think of as rainbows) or a rising sun with ripple rays - meaning a half circle at the bottom of the yellow square with ray coming up around it.


Ultimately, I went with a swirly sun with wonky ray up in the top corner to keep that spot as the light source:


Answering the binding vs. facing question, I opted for a facing...


... And later could have kicked myself for being SEW focused on finishing the quilt that I missed out on reading the post from Linda @ Flourishing Palms!  In that post (sitting in my inbox) was the link to a MUCH better method (from WeAllSew) of doing a faced edge:


A quick photo of the completed quilt, hanging on the Gallery Wire at 10 PM.  Oops!!  Perhaps, I was in a hurry?  I didn't even bother with extra clips to make sure it hung straight:


The colors are better in this photo taken in the light of day:


13" wide x 17" tall

I'm pretty sure this qualifies as a DrEAMI project, so I'll link up with Sandra @ Mmm... Quilts.  Since the design is fresh and modern, I will join in with Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.  Let's not forget Cynthia @ Quilting is more fun than Housework.  I'm ridiculously pleased with this scrappy project and will be sharing it next Sunday for Oh Scrap!

Last, but not least, I want to thank Deb @ A Quilter's Table for inspiring me to make this quilt in the first place.  I knew that I wanted to make a scrappy quilt using pieces of purple from this basket:


Until I looked back at the post linked above, I had no idea what I wanted to make.  Once I saw her little quilt, I couldn't stop myself.  Too bad you can't tell that I took even ONE piece of fabric out of my PURPLE scrap basket, let alone ALL of the pieces for my new mini!!!

Oh well, at least I had a really good time.  :o))

I also shared this with Alycia
for


and

Andree invited me to join in
for

Until next time...
Make MORE quilts!!!

19 comments:

  1. That is so much fun, Joy! I love the colors, and the quilting is perfect for the shapes of the condo units. Great finish!

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  2. I just love those chartreuse leaves against purple high-rises! What a fun finish!

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  3. Love it! Your quilting really enhances the whole project.

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  4. Such a cute little quilt! Matchstick quilting was spot on, and I like the little shrubbery pieces too. Thanks for linking up iwth DrEAMi!

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  5. What a darling finish! Isn't it crazy how it still looks like your scraps were untouched - ha. Anyway, glad my little quilt could inspire you for one of your own!!

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  6. Ta da!! It's finished! And super cute, to boot. Who wouldn't want to live in a little purple village? :)

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  7. It is fabulous! And, I can't believe you mentioned Deborah Boschert. She was a member of our local guild in Maine when she was just learning to quilt. She is such a sweetheart and very talented! Your little gem came out beautifully!

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  8. Love the bright green leaf against the purple background. Beautifully quilted!!!

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  9. This is a great post, not just about your little cityscape piece (which is wonderful -- love how you were able to incorporate a bit of sunshine with those somber purples for a finished piece that is upbeat and cheerful). But I enjoyed reading about and all of the fellow quilters who inspire and support you, whether by phone, in person, or through the blog. It's such a blessing to have this connection with one another, especially when we're physically isolated due to the pandemic! Looking at your piece again: This time, I notice that there is yellow in a print in the center as well as one to the bottom left, giving that diagonal sunbeam effect and directing the viewer's eye across the quilt, and that the bright yellowish-green of the bushes helps to balance the yellow, too. Lovely!

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  10. How fun is that little quilt! The sun is just perfect.

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  11. This is a really cute quilt!! I love the sunshine at the top corner. The little leaves are cute too.

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  12. Hi, what a lovely little quilt. It turned out so nice and the quilting is great for it. I hope that you'll take the time to link up to Free Motion Mavericks. We'd love to have you join the party!

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    1. Thanks so much for linking up! I hope that you'll keep joining us. Take care.

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  13. OMG that was so much fun to read, great finished art quilt! I like the sun...

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  14. A great finish! I enjoyed reading this post and love the colour combo in it. Purple is one colour I've not played with much.

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  15. You've done a great job finishing your purple houses. I appreciate the process you went through to come up with the finished piece. Congrats on a wonderful finish.

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  16. AhhhhSo cute and so perfect!! that quilting just *made* your piece!

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  17. Loving the red scraps and the small quilt that looks like houses.
    500 squares! Will you be making these quilts?

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  18. Fabric, like vintage sewing machines, breed when you aren't looking.

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