Wednesday, October 23, 2013

"I take my coffee black"


From an empty design wall to this!

I'm going to make Alternate Joe, the pattern on the back of the Morning Joe pattern, by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. (click here for pattern detail)



It took no time at all the make the five large star blocks.  Next up, the four blocks with small stars, which doesn't sound like much but equates to 16 small stars.   That means more half square triangle units, my favorite block to make by the way.

My background fabric is the black print from the new Moda Weave line.  I love it, it's not a solid black, but it doesn't really have a design either, the weave pattern is very subtle, it's more shading than lines.  It's hard to describe but easy to love.

My print fabric is from a few American Jane lines by Sandy Klop for Moda.  This is the first time I've used any American Jane fabric, some of her prints are a little too, "down on the farm" for me.  But I easily found other prints in the lines that were bright and cheerful that I loved.  It's not often that I like every fabric in a line, so this is nothing new for me.  The most glaring exception to that rule for me would be High Street by Lily Ashbury for Moda, I loved every print in that bundle.

I know you've heard me say this before, but I get so much inspiration from the monthly Schnibbles Sew Along hosted by Sherri/A Quilting Life and Sinta/ Pink Pincushion.  And even the months when I don't get around to entering the parade, I still love watching the parade.  In the October 1st parade for Mercerie, Michele at Island Life Quilts made an amazing quilt where she combined two different fabric lines from two different designers and went with a dark background.  She mentioned that she was trying to get away from using white or cream backgrounds, I thought that was a good challenge for me, so that's why my Morning Joe will be called, "I take my coffee black".  Thanks Michele for the inspiration!!


15 comments:

  1. I love all the bright fabrics with a black background. A couple years ago my bee all bought the same kit that featured brights with white background. I like to be different, so I got a black fabric for my background. It looks totally different from theirs' and not just because of the color. The black really helps the colors to "glow."

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  2. Yikes! I loved this pattern when you first showed it; I love it more with the black background. I made a 3D pinwheel quilt years ago and used black for the background. The colors just seemed to pop this way. Nice job!

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  3. I just did the same thing with the Mystery Monday quilt from This and That Patterns....I love how the dark background makes the other colors pop...and now a white background almost seems boring, however, I'm pretty sure I will make many more with a light backgrounds. I can't wait to see your finished quilt! :)

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  4. Amazing the difference from Morning Joe but I love it! Good for you for stepping out of the box with this one.

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  5. I love American Jane fabrics, but would never have thought to use black for the background. Your blocks look amazing!

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  6. Another beautiful quilt in the making. LOVE the black background!
    Anne

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  7. That is SHARP! I've been wanting to make a "bright with black" SOMETHING and seeing this is pushing me to want to try it. It is AWESOME. I think I may shamelessly copy you with this pattern and dig in my scraps and pair with black. I won't be doing it until next year though. :)

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  8. LOVE it, Thelma! The black weaveline is perfect.

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  9. Oh....yes, this is just popping out and great with the black background. Good idea and will have to consider using some black in a future quilt....thanks Thelma!

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  10. Fun to hear where you got your inspiring challenge from. I love quilts that have color backgrounds... but have been way to scared to use any thing other than black... some day I would like to try red!
    I love Sandy Klop fabrics... but I know what you mean by "down on the farm". LOL, I would have never been able to come up with that analogy.

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  11. Wow...the black background make those wonderful bright colors pop. I love how you think out of the box.

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  12. Wow, love, love, love your colors and the use of black background fabric! This will be a stunning quilt, Thelma!

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  13. I'm in love with all black or all white backgrounds to show off my squares. This is sure to be a beautiful quilt, XOXO

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  14. I so loved Michele's quilt too...and your version of Morning Joe is going to be stunning!

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  15. You are so welcome Thelma! I'm so flattered that you were inspired by my Mercerie :-) Reading this post made me so happy! I thought I had commented on it before, but I guess not. So sorry! It's been a crazy few weeks. I'm finding that using different colored backgrounds is not so easy for me, but your Morning Joe looks outstanding with the black background! Just wonderful! I was rereading your posts on this quilt to see if I was remembering correctly that you used the new Moda weave fabric. I may try that in my Morning Joe if you don't mind!

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