Lindsay's Ultraviolet Radial, Halo Quilt Top Completed + Deco Quilt Begun!

Good morning and Happy August, y'all!  I have lots to share today: a stunning modern quilt made by one of my quilting clients, the Big Reveal of my finished (!!!) Halo quilt top, and glimpses of the Deco Quilt that I've finally started piecing (nearly two years after buying the pattern and committing to a QAL 😳).  That's a lot of ground to cover and I have limited time available for writing this blog post, so let's get on with it!

Lindsay's Ultraviolet Radial Quilt

Look at this incredible Ultraviolet Radial quilt, pieced by my client Lindsay.  Can you believe Lindsay has only been quilting for two years?!  I can't wait to see what she'll be making ten years from now!  

Lindsay's 60 x 60 Ultraviolet Radial Quilt

Lindsay began this class in a virtual workshop with Ultraviolet Radial pattern designer Audrey Esary of Cotton & Bourbon.  The pattern is available on the designer's web site here.  I love Lindsay's color palette for this quilt and I was impressed by how flat and smoothly pieced these challenging curves were, especially when she told me she was a newer quilter.  Lindsay usually does her own quilting on her domestic machine but she was especially proud of this project and decided to splurge on professional quilting.

So, about the quilting -- I actually combined two separate quilting designs, one called Lasagna (back and forth straight lines only) alternated with another design called Spaghetti and Meatballs (back and forth straight lines with a drifting pattern of circles).  

Lasagna E2E with Spaghetti and Meatballs E2E

The pattern designer quilted her version of Ultraviolet Radial with straight line "matchstick" quilting" and the digital E2E Lasagna design creates a similar effect, but the addition of those "meatballs" adds a little "somethin'-somethin'" to further personalize Lindsay's iteration of the quilt, echoing the pieced circles and leading the beholder's eye across the quilt in a meandering path that softens the geometry of the piecing.  I used a lightweight thread for the quilting, So Fine 50 weight matte polyester in color Ferrari (an exact match to the bright lime green fabric) to keep the focus primarily on the piecing design (this post contains affiliate links).  

The batting is Quilters Dream Poly Select loft in White.  I like all-polyester batting for modern quilts like this one because it won't shrink at all when washed.  As long as the cotton quilt fabrics were prewashed and shrunk prior to cutting, an all-poly batting should yield a quilt that looks most similar after washing to the way it looked the day it was finished.  Polyester batting is also a nice, stable choice for a wallhanging project that will lay flat and resist sagging and stretching out of shape over time.

Detail of Lindsay's Ultraviolet Radial Quilt

And here is what Lindsay's stunning quilt top looked like before I quilted it for her:

Lindsay's Ultraviolet Radial Top Before Quilting

Thank you so much for choosing me to quilt this for you, Lindsay!

👀 PSST!!  I'd Love to Quilt for YOU!

By the way, if you or any of your quilty friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you!  I am currently scheduling quilts for completion in mid September of 2023.  Click here to learn how easy it is to book a quilt with me!

My Halo Quilt Top is Finished!!!

Ta-done!  

My 66 x 66 Halo Quilt Top is Finished!

For those who are new today, my Halo quilt is a pattern designed by Jen Kingwell and, although Jen is a hand piecer, I used my Bernina sewing machines to piece this quilt.  The pattern for Halo is found in the booklet Jenny From One Block and you can get both the pattern booklet and the acrylic templates for this quilt on Amazon here.  I started piecing this in March, so the quilt top took me 5 months to cut out and sew together.  Your mileage may vary -- I am a notoriously slow paced quilter.

And so -- dare I say it out loud?!  Completely finishing Halo (piecing the backing, quilting, labeling and binding) is my One Monthly Goal for August, so I'm linking today's post to the challenge over at Elm Street Quilts.  Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself! 🤞

Scandi Deco Bed Quilt Piecing is Underway

Meanwhile...  Anyone remember Way Back When I announced (prematurely!) that I was joining the October-November 2021 Lo & Behold Stitchery QAL for the Deco Quilt?  The Deco Quilt is a pattern by Brittany Lloyd, a fellow North Carolinian from Black Mountain, and her modern quilt designs are wildly popular.  I've already quilted two version of Deco for clients.  With my own quilt, I got as far as creating a color palette, deciding I didn't want to follow the pattern instructions, and ordering lots of fabric and sneaky AccuQuilt Go! strip dies (because I am a Cheating Cheater Who Cheats, and die-cut strips are straighter and more consistent than strips I cut with a rotary cutter).  Not that there is anything wrong with Brittany's pattern instructions -- her methods are perfect for those who want to be as frugal as possible with their fabric and as swift as possible in their construction.  It's just that my own preferences are to buy and use (waste) more fabric when doing so allows me to better control fabric grain and preserve the points along the edges of my quilt, and I'd rather spend 3x as long piecing quilt blocks from individual patches than sacrifice any accuracy with strip piecing.  My preference is also to press seams to one side so they can nest instead of pressing them open, so I'll be working out a pressing plan as I go along, too.  "Runs with scissors and doesn't follow directions" is just as applicable to me today as it was back in elementary school!

The Dig Site: Ziplock Baggies for Deco Buried Beneath Halo

So I preshrank my fabrics and tested them all for colorfastness and had just started cutting and kitting my Deco project when I got distracted by the scrappy Halo project and I literally buried the Deco project beneath the fabrics I was pulling for Halo.  Only once my Halo top was complete did I put away the mountains of scraps and fat quarters that had taken over my entire cutting table, and my Deco project was revealed to me like an amazing discovery in an archaeological dig!  I needed something to work on at the afternoon open sewing time before our Wednesday night guild meeting, so I grabbed a spool of navy Aurifil thread and the ziplock baggies containing the pieces for Block One:

Three Years Later, I Made ONE BLOCK!!!

I'm planning to make the 102" x 102" bed size version of Deco, so this top will definitely NOT be finished by the end of August!  

My Planned 102 x 102 Scandi Deco Bed Quilt

I'm calling mine the Scandi Deco Quilt because I pulled my color palette from an Anna Maria Horner print that reminds me of Scandinavian folk art.  I'll be using that fabric for my backing.  

Fabric Pull for my Scandi Deco Quilt

And here you see the next two blocks laid out next to my sewing machine, ready for piecing!  I must say, it is refreshing to switch to straight line piecing with minimal pinning after all of those bazillion curved seams in Halo.  This ought to be a piece of cake, like a palette cleanser after that Halo quilt.

Next Two Blocks Laid Out for Piecing

I like to chain piece rather than using leaders and enders as many of you do, so I typically work on two blocks at a time, alternating back and forth with each seam.

Samwise Recovering from TPLO Surgery

Oh, the sadness and the shame!  Our 3-year-old Rottweiler Samwise (named after the hobbit who will come and save you from the Orks even if you don’t deserve it) injured his left knee back in February or March.  Our vet recommended surgery but said we could wait and see if it improved with rest, but it got worse and worse to the point where he couldn’t play anymore and could only walk to the first stop sign.  So we finally got him in with the orthopedic veterinary specialist for his TPLO surgery on Monday to repair what turns out to have been a completely severed CCL (the equivalent of a torn ACL in humans).  He did well with his surgery but now we are in for 8-12 weeks of Recovery Hell.  Behold, the Giant Cone that will prevent Sam from licking his incision for the first two weeks:

Drugged and Disdainful, 2nd Day Post Op

We have him barricaded in the living room because it’s the only room on the main floor that is carpeted, and as soon as he steps onto the hardwood floors it’s like he’s sliding on ice.  He can only take his cone off for walks on a short leash, to go to the bathroom and for rehab exercise.  Look how they shaved all the fur off his poor little tushie!  😔

Putting Weight on his Left Leg

I was thrilled to see Sam putting weight on the leg that had surgery yesterday, but this evening after dinner we had an incident where we were about to walk him and Bernie sent me back in the garage to get a small flashlight because it was getting dark.  It’s a tiny palm-sized flashlight, the kind you can clip onto your clothing.  I fished the flashlight out of a bucket full of tennis balls and said something out loud about the tennis balls, like “Why the heck did you bury the flash light in the bucket full of tennis balls?!”  And then when I came out of the garage and went to toss the little flashlight to Bernie, Sam seems to have thought I had one of the tennis balls in my hand (yes he knows the word BALL) and he tried to jump and catch it when I tossed it to Bernie!  AAAAARRRRGGHH!!!!!!!!!  So tonight’s walk was horrible, limping and toe-touching again like we were back to right after the surgery, all progress evaporating in an instant.  We iced his leg when we got him home and we’ll see what he’s like in the morning.  The two horrible scenarios we are trying to avoid are #1 infection of the incision (hence the cone to prevent licking) and #2 “catastrophic failure” of the surgical implant holding his knee together before the bone has had a chance to heal completely around it.  The doctor’s orders are that slow walking is good, but that’s the most strenuous activity that is allowed.  No running, no jumping, and no playing.  Unfortunately running, jumping and playing are all of Sam’s favorite activities and he is not going to want to cooperate with these instructions.  He’s going to be a challenge.

So that’s what’s going on in MY home lately!  I’m linking up today’s post with my favorite linky parties.  Hope you get some time to sew today!

FRIDAY

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre

Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty

 TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday

SUNDAY

Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

WEDNESDAY

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

THURSDAY

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation