Monday, October 24, 2011

Disappearing Parisville



I love Parisville! I have had a yard of each print from the Sprout colorway in my stash for almost a year. Every fabric but one, that is! Enter the anniversary sale at my local quilt shop, Piece by Piece. There it was, Spencer Stripe in Mint, and 20% off, too! And thus a quilt was born.


Or at least the plan for a quilt. I had absolutely no idea how I wanted it to look. I knew I wanted to design the quilt myself, and that I wanted it to be big enough to go on the bed. Since I had exactly eight yards of fabric, it had to be a design that used roughly the same amount of each print. I loved this quilt, but didn't want to copy it exactly, but was inspired to do a design based on square blocks, just to keep things simple. And that's the beauty of the Disappearing Ninepatch block: the result is complicated looking; the sewing is simple.

I cut all that beautiful fabric into squares, sewed them, sliced them, and sewed them up again.



I had originally planned to arrange the blocks in this pattern:
When I laid it out on my design floor, it looked a little mushy, so I auditioned a few other styles. Because the fabrics use such similar colors, the end pattern is a bit confusing to the eye. So much so, in fact, that I had to mock up the entire quilt top on graph paper in order to ensure that I pieced it all together correctly. To wit:
In my quest to become a perfectly organized person (I am not) I like to try and plan as much as I can ahead. One reason I've been doing this lately is in an effort to use as much of a prepackaged bit of batting as a can - I have a huge bin of batting scraps that I can't throw away. The finished size of this baby is about 88" by 90" - exactly the width of my by-the-yard batting from Joanns.

Speaking of basting: some problems.
1. My living room is a bit small for basting a double sized quilt. Also, it's carpeted. I don't really like basting on carpet. No problem! I thought. I'm visiting Mom in a month! I'll based on her huge wood floor!
2. I took all my supplies to Mom's. But neglected to check the batting. Mountain Mist batting is really lame, you guys! It was all thin and stretchy and weird. I couldn't use such cheap stuff on a quilt already loved so much! Also, Mom lives in a tiny town. The only craft shopping option is Wal Mart, which, no. So I had to pack it all up and take it back home.
3. I bought higher quality batting. I decided to spray baste in my little living room. I finished off the can on the quilt top; none left for the backing. Speaking of the backing? Nice, stripey vintage sheet:
4. Yeah, it's a twin size. Too small. Also, for the record, I love a pieced backing. But designer fabric is expensive, and I didn't have much left over from the quilt top. So I had to dig through the sheet collection and find another, almost as perfect backing sheet.

Anyway, basting this thing was problematic, but I finally got it done. Since I used up the spray baste, I still had to pin the whole thing to the backing, but it wasn't as bad doing it on carpet as I had worried.



Quilting was fun, since the spray baste kept my finicky walking foot from puckering the seams too much. Princess Fluffbutt, as usual, objected to the fact that I was more focused on quilting than on her, and had to get all up in my quilty business:


I love how it looks like she's the one doing the sewing! Anyway, quilting and binding only took about three days, and I love the finished product! Even though the fabric is in the "Sprout" colorway, I think the fabrics are much more fall-hued than spring. 

I love the sort of faded decadence on the prints, and I think they really reflect the fading of summer. No every time I look outside at yellow leaves and green Oregon trees and lawns, plus the sort of paler autumn sky, I think of my quilt! And thus I'm entering it into the Celebrate Color festivities!

Celebrate Color


There are lots of amazing projects to check out, all Autumn-inspired! Also, there are prizes. Wish me luck!





1 comment:

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love hearing what you think and being able to check out your blogs.