Thursday, January 8, 2015

First Project of the Year

So after blogging about all the quilt patterns waiting for my attention in 2015, my first quilt of the year doesn't even have a pattern.  How did that happen?

Well I've been anxious to make a quilt using the Cotton and Steel fabric that was released last year.  As you may remember, it takes me awhile to warm up to fabric, usually it takes so long that it's no longer available by the time I decide I do in fact like it.  That was definitely the case with the Cotton and Steel fabric.  The colors were a little different for me, the scales of the prints were varied and even a little on the large side, some of the pieces had gold metallic prints and worst of all, there were animal prints!  I'm not one who enjoys hacking up animal prints, one eye here and one ear over there, peeking out at me in a quilt, it gives me the creeps.  And honestly, my least favorite of all animal prints is horses, I have no idea why, I love horses, the real ones, running across a field or down the stretch in the Kentucky Derby, horses across my quilts, nope, that just didn't suit, or so I thought.

So once I decided I did like the Cotton and Steel fabric, and had some delivered to my house, I knew I needed a pattern that would showcase the prints, individually.  I knew they would look OK mixed together, all scrappy, and I may still do that with some of my leftovers, but for this first Cotton and Steel quilt I wanted to be able to see the prints, horses, and eyes, and all.





I saw this quilt block in an antique quilt.  I sized the block to fit my preferences and the fabrics.  The center block finishes at 6 inches, each row finishes at 1 1/2 inches, giving me a block that finishes at 18 inches.  I plan to make 9 of them.  Amazingly I'm enjoying the horses and the eyes and even the metallic prints.

So 9 blocks, using 4 different fabrics for each block, will enable me to use 36 different prints from the Cotton and Steel line.  That's not even half the prints, but it's a good start.  Just like I think this project is a good start to my year.

I hope you're getting off to a good start in your sewing room too,






9 comments:

  1. I was reluctant about Cotton & Steel at first as well - like you, the colors didn't suit me - but ultimately they won me over and I'm using the geometric designs as the color palette for Jen Kingwell's Gypsy Wife Quilt.

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  2. You made me laugh out loud today about one eye here and one ear over there!!
    Your blocks look awesome!

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  4. You hit on all the reasons why I don't have any Cotton & Steel in my stash. I could do the geometric designs (sans the metallic look), but I could not deal with the 70's wall paper feel of it. I'm always amazed at the great quilts that are made with them, and the little bags and the pillows... etc.
    My daughter fell in love with them so I got her two bundles for her birthday last year. She is hoarding them -- I'm sorry, what I meant to say is that she is waiting for the perfect quilt to use them. LOL!
    They are made to be highlighted (like you're doing) in the quilt because they are so unique.
    I'm looking forward to see how you will lay it all out.

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  5. I laughed out loud at the animal print comment - I feel the same way....keep them whole please :)
    I am also ambivalent about the whole line and the metallic in some of the prints, BUT YOUR blocks are really BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Seeing them makes me want this fabric line now. I also saw a post somewhere about the fall line and I saw several prints in there that looked interesting. I don't have any LQS's so all my ordering is done online which makes it even more difficult to get a feel for some fabric lines. I can't wait to see more blocks!

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  6. That is a different line of fabric. Not sure I would have been interested if I hadn't seen it in a quilt block. That's because I am not very imaginative. I love the block pattern so it will be exciting to see the finished quilt.

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  7. Gotta love those HST's--they seem to appear out of no where Beautiful quilt and fabrics

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  8. I'm still in the warming stage, but then I never grasped the Kaffe fabrics either. I found myself shaking my head to everything you said!! I would have to fussy cut everything if it was an animal. HA! I should just jump in and sew!!

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  9. Wow! Those blocks are so striking. Love how you're using the fabric.

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