Saturday, May 9, 2015

Cowboys, Pinwheels, and Presents

Patricia Belyea emailed me last Friday that I'd won an Okan Arts giveaway. Look what arrived Monday via Priority mail! Patricia graciously inscribed the book so I have a permanent memento of her kindness. I'm so thrilled to own Sherri's book. Guess what I'm doing as soon as I finish the roommate quilt? The scissors are comfortable, fabulously sharp and cut like a dream. Thank you, Patricia!

Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood
and a pair of Kai scissors from the Okan Arts giveaway.

Roommate 2 is a Dallas Cowboys fan so my son suggested using their blue and silver team colors. Blue abounds in my stash because I've been intending to make a blue and white quilt for ages. At least some of them are the correct blue (although I stretched it quite a bit.)  The centers are the most silvery of my greys. While not my first choice, they fit the color scheme and should make this man very happy.

Again I used Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion Quilts. Several quilters have made this design. Julie at QuiltDivaJulie has a very colorful version. Don't these versions inspire you to try your own?

These look like fireworks rather than flowers or candies. When my children were very small, we sat on Galveston beach for an amazing show by an Italian firm. It was the first time I saw lavender colored fireworks. They were so beautiful!

Cowboy Celebration quilt (61"x76.25")

Since the Cowboys incorporate a Lone Star in their logo, it became the center for half of the blocks. Directions for cutting perfect five-pointed stars can be found on this site about Betsy Ross, the person credited with creating the Stars and Stripes. These were too perfect for me; I cut them shorter and a bit more unevenly.

Pinwheel before adding a star or circle center.

The stars are fairly large so I appliqued simple circles on the other blocks. The diameters of the circles vary depending on where the wedges start. In my opinion, this adds to the explosion effect.

Machine applique using a blanket stitch

Harriet Hargrave's Mastering Machine Applique has been on the bookshelf for years and... I finally tried it! Not great but not too bad. She has several methods for creating points; I tried them all. We'll see how well each holds up in the wash.

Machine appliqued star point. 

On this star the point is turned under then each side is turned under and trimmed. This point isn't as sharp as I'd like but felt safest since it has seam allowances all around.

I need to make a back, sandwich the layers, choose some free-motion quilting and bind it... by next week. Better get busy.

Enjoy the day, Ann

26 comments:

Susan said...

Looking good Ann! Sweet win!

Mystic Quilter said...

Lucky lady! What a great idea to put a few stars in that quilt!

Lara B. said...

Ann, it's amazing to me that you could get all those explosions to lay flat. I would have ripples all over my blocks. The star and circle centers are a great touch and the whole quilt is really cool!
Congrats on such a fun win! The book looks so intriguing that I'm headed to Amazon next to check it out.
Happy Mother's Day Ann!

Kaja said...

Oh, great win Ann, lucky you! This is a striking and effective design and I actually think the limited colour palette works well, it will be a great quilt.

Ann said...

Thanks, Susan.

Ann said...

I did get lucky. This has probably used up my luck for the millenium... and that's ok. The stars helped this quilt because those greys are so light. At least, that's what I think.

Ann said...

Thanks, Kaja. My son is sure his roommate will like this. It was a fun design to make.

Ann said...

Sujata's method is quite easy to get things to lie flat. Happy Mother's Day to you,too!

audrey said...

What a fabulous win! I have that book on my wishlist.:) And your quilt is wonderful. I really like the fact that you used the team colors but didn't make a cheesy looking quilt. I've always thought there were better ways to make mens quilts than to use clunky looking panels and such.

Ann said...

Thanks, Audrey. What I've read of this book is very interesting. I think we need to "up the ante" for men's quilts. As you wrote, there are better ways than clunky panels.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

THat is a really cool quilt!!!

Ann said...

Thanks, Alycia. I think it turned out well... now I need to quilt it.

Karen in Breezy Point said...

I love it--makes me want to make on of my own!

Ann said...

Thanks, Karen. It's a darling design and fairly easy.

Flickenstichlerin said...

Very pretty layout, wonderful idea. Love your stars and circles in the center.
Greetings,
Sylvia

Nicky said...

Beautiful fireworks ! And a great win too - looks like things are going well for you. Good luck with that finish! Thank you for sharing with us at #scraptastictuesday

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

These blocks look great! I think the blues and the silvery centres are a perfect colourway and the cowboys connection is a bonus :)

Karen said...

I just ordered Sutja's book because of all the great versions of her quilts I've been seeing around, yours included!

Ann said...

Thanks, Sylvia. Sujata designs very unique patterns. I'm enjoying her book as a way to start some ruler-free cutting. Ann.

Ann said...

Thanks, Nicky for the kind comments and for setting up the linky. It's great fun to see what other people are doing.

Ann said...

Thanks, Janine. I do like the blues and it's fun to try new colorways, isn't it? It's especially enjoyable to make something that fits with the recipient's interests.

Ann said...

Wonderful, Karen! I'm sure you'll enjoy it. She has a website of the same name where people can show their quilts and share a bit. I look forward to seeing yours soon.

Anonymous said...

BEAUTIFUL QUILT PROJECT!
THANKS FOR SHARING!
msstitcher1214@gmail.com

Ann said...

Thanks, Linda. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Cathy said...

I think I see another satisfied room mate in your future! I previously saw Julie making her blocks (No Ugly Flowers) and thought they looked similar to the Vintage Spin blocks in one of Kathy Doughty's books (Material Obsession) that I have in my UFO pile. I've since seen similar blocks in a magazine. No matter how you slice it...fun block, fun quilt!

Ann said...

Thanks, Cathy. I hope he is. Interesting how patterns look similar, isn't it? I haven't seen Material Obsession but I've seen some Wagon Wheel blocks that look like these.