noelle o designs

creativity + sewing + upcycling inspiration

fabric, projects, quilts

I think it’s a record

Having a deadline-this quilt’s departure to Costa Rica on April 1st- was definitely a good thing. I think this is the fastest quilt I’ve ever made (under 2 months start to finish) but hopefully not the last. It feels too good.
20130322-202123.jpgFinished size is 51″ by 64″, a good size for a wall hanging or throw. I believe the ‘random mix plan’ worked, there’s just enough consistent unconsistency in the fabric and colors that it works- smoothly flowing chaos.

20130322-202133.jpgWe picked a round swirly pattern for the quilting, to offset the completely straight hard lines that make up the whole pattern.

20130322-202209.jpgThe back and better view of the quilting job- thanks Cindy! As you can see, I need to fill in the label I sewed into the corner. I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the Spanish words correct before I start writing. (The quilt is for my daughter’s host family in Costa Rica, she’s there for a 6 month foreign exchange.) She’s been there about a month and a half and has been treated exquisitely every moment of it. We are forever indebted for their kindness, love and generosity- the very least I can do is make them a quilt!

20130322-202225.jpg This is what I’d like to do… curl up under the quilt with a cup of tea, snack and a good book (I’m going to re-read These Is My Words by Nancy Turner because I love it so much). Well, we’ll see how that goes…  I can dream can’t I?

20130322-202320.jpgMixing it up- a close up view of the fabrics. There are all varieties in the mix- the part of the ‘random mix plan’-  old and new, small patterns and big, dark and light, all in this together.

For the full tutorial on making these block using the foundation piecing method look here.

For the post on piecing the blocks look here.

For how to piece together the finished blocks in the quilt top (including a look at the blocks from the back) look here.

3 Comments

  1. kalamitykelli

    March 23, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    So beautiful! You did a fantastic job and I just know the host family will love it too!

  2. Joyce

    March 24, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    What a lovely quilt! Random is hard to do. Whenever I try to use RANDOM-ness in my work, I find myself getting all matchy-matchy. Your quilt shows how beautiful and interesting random can be. Congratulations!

    1. NoelleOlpin

      March 24, 2013 at 4:24 pm

      True random is so hard to achieve, you have to think and focus. Matchy routine I could do all day, with my eyes closed!
      Thanks Joyce!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.