Crisp Autumn Air, Cranberries with Honey, Friendship Braids

Crisp Autumn Air, 18.5″ x 26.5″

My Crisp Autumn Air quilt came about when I wanted to use up my large pile of blue scraps.  I was in the mood for some low volume shades, and that is a cinch with a log cabin design that uses dark fabrics on one side and light on the other.  I chose orange for the center, instead of a traditional red color, which represents the brick chimney or hearth of a log cabin.  I like the combination of these colors and the use of scraps that this style encourages.  To contrast the linear middle logs,  I quilted swirls around the border.

This was the first time that I used my “new” log cabin ruler.  Do I like it better than free-form strip piecework?  I’m not sure.  By using the ruler, your quilt does turn out neat and uniform. However, the ruler method begins by precisely cutting all the strips ahead of time, and that feels rather tedious. That said, I do love the lovely result.  Since I am partial to log cabin quilts anyways, and I have many extra strips now precut…I am sure there’s another one in my future.

 

Cranberries with Honey  19.5″ x 26.5″ 

This Cranberries with Honey quilt feels perfect for this New Year’s season.  I dipped (see what i did there) into a beloved Joel Dewberry 5 x 5″ Heirloom charm block that I’ve had for a while.  I kept waiting for the right inspiration, and when it occurred to me that these colors played nicely together, this quilt practically created itself.  The backing fabric is called Folk Song- little honey and is by Anna Maria Horner.  Her fabric is a frequent go-to for nicely pulling things all together.  I had fun quilting this doll quilt with swirls, zig zag and even pre-drawn designs such as the undulating curve border.  (Sorry you can still see some chalk lines above and below, but I like to photograph my quilts before I wash them.) All in all, this project was a reminder that sometimes it’s just pretty fabric that will carry the design.

This blue and green Friendship quilt below is quick to put together and uses lots of scraps, which is a bonus.  Forgive me if I’ve written about this before.  The Missouri Star Quilt company has a lovely tutorial using their binding tool as a template for this design Friendship Braid Quilt Tutorial.  I’ve made two of these quilts and you can see both below.  I like them both, but I’m getting bored with the randomness here.  I would like to take this to another level and see what else I can do with the shapes. I’m going try it as a light and dark contrasted design next time.

Blue Friendship Braid, 16.5″ x 27″,  

Pink Friendship Braid

This is it for now.  I’ve recently sent a batch of doll quilts to A Doll Like Me.  I can’t say enough about the work that Amy does making detailed, customized dolls for extra special children.  Check out her Facebook page, link above, if you haven’t already done so.

I’m working on other charitable things like quilts for Hurricane Harvey’s victims, and of course, Covered In Love.  There are too many quilt drives going on for me to even watch, let alone participate in myself.  I wish I could wrap the entire world in a big comfy quilt for all that’s going on these days.