Wrapping yourself in the Word of God

The concept of this quilt began with the idea for a text fabric with scripture for the content. Text fabric has become extremely popular in modern quilting, and I loved the idea of a scriptural text fabric to give more meaning to the words on the fabric - where reading a piece of the text fills you with God's Word, rather than some peculiar gibberish.

As I continued to swirl this idea around in my head, I couldn't help but chuckle at the very literal manifestation of the expression to "wrap yourself in the Word of God". How wonderful would it be to literally snuggle into a quilt with the words of your Creator when you are feeling low? Or to sit with it in your lap during your daily bible time or during prayer? A quilt that embodies both the love and comfort that goes into making someone a quilt, along with the love and comfort of your God?

After searching for a while, I was rather surprised not to find a plethora of scriptural fabric in production already. In fact, I couldn't find any that were continuous blocks of text, only individual verses or phrases scattered across the fabric. So I decided to go a more personal route and use Spoonflower to custom print the quilt back with the favorite book of the Bible of the recipient, which in this case was Romans. Using a copyright-free translation of the Bible, I fit Romans into precisely 4 yards, which I pieced into a 72" x 88" quilt back. (Link to the fabric on Spoonflower here:  http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/2438444)

For the front I settled on modifying the New Wave quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman to look more like mountains, instead of waves. Growing up and living in Colorado, I was always most impacted by the greatness of God when surrounded by the Rocky Mountains - away from all of the things man built and surrounded by nature. I know the recipient of this quilt also has a special place in his heart for spending time in these same mountains, so it seemed like a good fit.

I selected a palette of white, grey, and navy to imitate a mountain range fading off into the distance, as well as to keep it masculine and modern. I used predominantly solids to keep it clean, but did use one print to add visual interest. Above you can see what my original plan looked like, and below you can see the design once it was completed.

For the quilting I chose to reinforce the mountain concept by adding white snowcaps and some organic wavy lines in a matching thread color, after anchoring the piece by quilting alongside the horizontal seams.

Overall I was very pleased with the outcome, and it definitely passed the snuggly test. :-)

I have been thinking about continuing some work on the scriptural text fabric idea, perhaps at a smaller scale as the text for this particular project was on the large side. What do you guys think - would you want to see text fabric created from biblical text?

<3 Kelsey

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

We're having a real life "Mario Party"over here. :)

<3 Kelsey

An embarrassing confession

So, I have a bit of an embarrassing confession to make. Some of you who have been around here for a while may know that my quilts are generally gifts or donated. What you may not realize, is that after 3 years of quilting, I still had not made my very own son a quilt. In fact, we didn't have a single quilt we kept in the house - every single one had gone out the door. When my husband, who is completely disinterested in quilting, said the next one really should be for Paul, I knew I needed to put this right.

I had purchased this fabric to make him a quilt back when he was still an infant. I love Dr. Seuss, and I felt it was something he could grow with over time. It seems it was a good choice, because all along the way I could barely keep the WIP away from him. He was all ready to take it to be with him when it was nothing more than a top. It was pretty adorable. :)

Since it came with a number of panels, I decided not to use a pattern and instead designed the quilt around those panels and the quantities of each fabric I had on hand. I used the stripes together with the panels to create a bit of a filmstrip effect across the quilt, and filled in between with the prints.

The back was pieced with the remaining fabric and a solid blue I had purchased along with the original fabric. I made sure to save enough of that red binding for a stripe-y binding. I love a good striped binding.

I chose a large meander for the quilting. It actually gives the feeling of large puzzle pieces, which I thought fit perfectly with the juvenile theme of this quilt.

I am glad my son cares for it, and has something more special to snuggle up with at night. He seems to appreciate that it was "Made by Mommy", despite his young age. There is not much that could melt a mommy's heart more than that.

<3 Kelsey

PS. I am linking this up to Blogger's Quilt Festival at AmysCreativeSide.com. It is a bi-annual festival with hundreds of quilts entered each time. If you have never been, be sure to make a visit over and enjoy!

Linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday

Prince Charming

There is something very special about fabric from Tula Pink. Most fabrics shout out to you. "Hey you, shopper, look at how cute/amazing/fun I am. Don't you want to take me home and add me to your stash? Just look at my adorable fish/gnomes/mermaids? Wouldn't my text/stripes/seeds be such a versatile mixer?"

But Tula Pink fabrics are different. The first time you meet you are just getting acquainted. Each time you meet after that, you notice a little something you didn't see there before. A scallop that is actually a snail. Or a little girl catching butterflies or swinging with her hair blowing out behind her. Instead of screaming at you, they slowly whisper their story to you. And every time, without fail, the more I get to know them, the more I fall in love.

This quilt is made almost exclusively with Tula's Prince Charming line. I actually found it as a quilt kit at a quilt festival a long while back, but sadly I lost the information on the shop or origin of the pattern in between. I loved the combination of the satin with the quilting cottons. That little bit of shimmer in the perfect shade of green to go with Tula's fabric was just too much for me to resist.

Looking straight on you can see the quilt itself is fairly simple, and it expectedly went together really quickly. It is definitely all about showing off the fabric. I selected a quilt motif meant to be evocative of ripples in water, to go with the aquatic theme of this line. This motif was super easy to quilt and I anticipate re-using it again in the future.

It now has a happy spot on the pretty aqua wall behind my sewing desk in our office (and hopefully some day nursery).

<3 Kelsey

PS This quilt is an entry in Blogger's Quilt Festival over at AmysCreativeSide.com. Every festival has hundreds of quilts, so if you've never been, you really ought to go check it out!

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday.

Pillow Talk Swap, Round 10

For this round of Pillow Talk Swap, I knew I wanted to use some Heather Ross for my partner's pillow. However, none of the Heather Ross I actually own fits very well into a full rainbow (an always popular choice for PTS), so this time I got to play with some more restricted color palette.

First I thought about some mermaids...

... but then I settled on some fishies.

I wanted to go for a sophisticated and modern feel, with a little bit of whimsy in the fish. I sure hope my partner likes this one, because I sure do. This will be a hard one to let go. :)

It finishes at a whopping 24" square. I actually don't even own a pillow form large enough to fill it out properly lol. But I hope you can get the general idea.

Next time: I finally finish a quilt that will stay in our household!

<3 Kelsey

Linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday

Echo Quilt

I created this quilt for a friend of mine based off of the Modern Stripes pattern from Frozen Knickers. The quilt is twin sized, and measures 68" x 80".

 

The fabric is all Echo by Lotta Jansdotter with Kona White. For the back I used big blocks of Echo, Kona White, and some Kona Medium Grey.

I wanted to keep the quilting simple to reinforce the horizontal stripes, so I did some stitch-in-the-ditch quilting every 2" along each strip.

In the end I really love how this quilt came together - it is one of my favorite quilts I have made so far. I wish you all could see it in person - it really is beautiful in its simplicity. I would highly recommend this pattern. :)

Today is the beginning of Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. Be sure to head over and checkout al of the beautiful quilts in the festival. There are usually hundreds of quilts in the festival each time!

Linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday.

<3 Kelsey

P.S. Thanks to my Mom, for diligently holding up my quilt while perched precariously on top of a stool, waiting for the wind to die down enough to get a shot. :)

Homemade Journals

Today I'd like to take a moment to share a pair of journals I made as gifts. The first is in an improvisational style and used an unusual (for me) color palette of peaches and navy.

I did a little embroidery by hand in the mermaids hair to add a small textural element.

The second journal centered around the Goldfish in a Bag print from Heather Ross, using a blue, green, and black color palette.

The cover is made entirely from 1.5" squares, with the exception of the fish. Most of these fabrics came from my scrap bin. These journal covers are really a great way to use up scraps and get the satisfaction of a quick finish!

The inside front cover contained a little surprise!

I can't get enough of that moustache fabric - I think its absolutely hilarious. :)

Both journals were made using a free tutorial from Stitched in Color. These covers are great little gifts since they give you a chance to make something special and exercise a little creativity without overcommitting yourself - you can easily make one in a single evening. And since they fit standard composition notebooks that can be switched out, they can be used over and over again - a bonus if you go through a lot of notebooks!

Thanks for stopping by today. :)

<3 Kelsey