Gypsy Kisses Finish

My version of Gypsy Kisses is done.   One year of planning and only two weeks of sewing.  I maybe stressed over this project a little more than was necessary.

Here's a closeup of the corner background seams I mentioned last time.  Some patterns use one piece of fabric for that section.

The entire time I was collecting fabric and coming up with my plan for this quilt I was worried about the background fabric being too bold and dominating the quilt.  Choosing bright, bold, and large print fabric for my focus blocks did the job of taming my background fabric perfectly.  

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 138

The patterns I used to create my top are Gypsy Kisses from Material Obsession 2 and Pickle Dish from Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance

It finished at 73" x 75"

It has approximately 913 pieces.

The background fabric is by Liberty of London.

I plan to start my Quick Curve Ruler/Sew Kind of Wonderful project on Monday, I hope  you've selected your pattern and fabric and are planning to sew along with me.  I think I'll squeeze in a quick no curves project before then.   With all the Red Letter Day blocks on instagram I'm thinking it will be a Red Letter Weekend at my house.  The pattern Red Letter Day is by Camille Roskelley for thimble blossoms and available here.

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More Gypsy Kisses

So here is my inspiration for my pickle dish quilt, Gypsy Kisses, from the Material Obsession 2 book.

And here is the actual pattern that I'm using to piece my project, Pickle Dish.

It's from the Kaffe Fassett Quilt Romane Book.

The Gypsy Kisses finished quilt was too big for my liking, and the eyes and outside corners are hand appliquéd.  The Kaffe Fassett finished size was perfect and all the parts are machine pieced, no hand appliqué.

I pieced all the arcs first.

Then sewed the eyes and the background fabric to each arc.

My background centers are made up of 4 pieces, you may prefer those sections to be one unit, if so go with a different template or pattern.  I think you would need to pay better attention to your fabric if you go with the method that I'm using, where the centers are pieced.  My fabric looks OK, I don't even think the seams are noticeable, other fabric may not look as nice, or maybe that kind of thing doesn't even bother you at all.

I'm going to add a border more like the Gypsy Kisses border.

The arcs are paper pieced and the corners and eyes are cut from a template then machined stitched to the arcs.  I traced the eyes and corners on pieces of freezer paper that were pressed onto the fabric, then I cut them out.  Everything came together perfectly and accurately.  (I must have been at an odd angle when I took this picture, all the blocks finished square, this one looks off, it is not.)

There are several methods and tools from which to choose when making a pickle dish quilt.  I hope you'll find one that suits you and add this quilt to your To Do list, it's nothing but fun.

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"A Change, Would Do You Good"

"Ten  years living in a paper bag . . . . ."  

I heard the Sheryl Crow song, "A change would do you good" on the radio this week and it's stuck in my head. Maybe because it pertains to what's going on in my sewing room.

Around this time last year I bought the Material Obsession 2 book by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke for one pattern alone, this pickle dish pattern.   Considering what I was making in my sewing room up to that point, this was huge leap in a new direction.  For some reason there was no doubt in my mind that I  needed a quilt like this, even though it was very different for me.

When I was 14 years old I got my ears pierced.  When my dad came home from work and I showed him my ears he said, "I guess you want to look like a , like a,    GYPSY!"  I was confused by his red face, unhappiness, and the use of the word gypsy.  Looking back on it, I now know that gypsy was the nicest not nice word he could think of to call his daughter.  I'm not sure why he was so opposed to pierced ears, but we both got over it, probably because having pierced ears didn't lead me down a road of ruination.  So for this reason I've always associated the word gypsy with being a little wild and a little bad.  So not only was this pattern a little out there for me, it was named Gypsy Kisses!

It wasn't too long after I saw this pattern that I obtained a stack of Liberty of London fat quarters.  

And this print was in the mix.  As soon as I saw it I knew that it would be the background fabric for my Gypsy Kisses quilt.  I was able to find 5 yards online, it was meant to be.

Now I know myself well enough to understand that I needed to work up to this quilt.  It took me a year to collect the right fabric to work with that Liberty of London fabric and to get used to working with more modern prints and bolder colors.

Everything was going according to plan, I had  my mind in the right place and the fabric I needed to piece this top,  I was ready to roll.  Then two amazing Gypsy Kisses tops popped up in blogland.  This one by Jessica at Twin Fibers and this one by Cindy at Hyacinth Quilt Designs.  I loved them both and started rethinking the fabric I wanted to use for my quilt.  In the end I decided to stick with my original plan.  While their quilts are beautiful, I have a couple of beautiful quilts already, I also have several pretty quilts, red quilts, traditional quilts, reproduction quilts, holiday quilts, happy quilts and even one or two modern quilts, what I don't have is a wild and crazy quilt, and that's just what I wanted.

So now I'm off and running!

This is my first block.  It looks exactly in person how I've been picturing it in my head, and in this case, that's a good thing!  So while I'm sure many of you are thinking "that sure is different for you", I'll take that as a complement, because yes, it sure is, but that's not a bad thing.

Are you drooling over all the wonderful summer quilt alongs currently taking place? I love sewing, but it's always more fun when I sew with friends.   I've talked myself into and out of that QuiltJane Nested Churn Dash quilt every day this week.  There are several others, like this Summer Sparkle project.  Just in case you've not found your perfect summer sew along project here are two more.  I've been blogging about that Quick Curve Ruler for months and have finally decided to quit talking and start sewing.  In a couple of weeks I'll be starting on Metro Scope, if you've been wanting to make one of Jenny's curve patterns pick one out, get your fabric, and join the fun.  For this sew along there will be no rules,  just check in with any progress whenever you want. We'll probably have some sort of parade by the end of the summer.

Additionally, as soon as this pattern is available,

Harvey (aka BAB, big blank basket), by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, I'm stopping whatever I'm working on and making it. If you would like to make this big blank basket quilt too, a layer cake and 5 yards of background fabric are more than enough to get you through.  So think about that too.  I like to make a basket quilt every year, this is my 2014 basket quilt. Who can't use a big blank basket quilt?

And finally, I forgot to mention last week that Cathy at Quilting on Main Street won the Cotton and Steel tote bag.  Thanks to all who left comments with your next project, you helped me add to my To Do List!

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