Tag Archives: Cotton + Steel Fabric

Mill City – Finished

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My quest to turn my stack of quilt tops into actual finished quilts continues! I’ve made some good progress the last couple of years and I can check another one off the list with my finished Mill City quilt.

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I made this quilt top back in 2017 and shared it at the beginning of 2018. As I’ve said before, some quilts take longer than others. LOL

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Every time I pull one of these quilt tops out that I haven’t seen in a while I ask myself, “do I still like this?” The answer for this one is a definite yes.

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I still really like the colors and pattern, which is quite simple with a combo of Ohio Star blocks and nine patch squares. This is a scrap quilt but it’s mostly original Cotton + Steel fabric.

BTW, this next picture makes me laugh. It looks like no one is holding the quilt!

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The back of this quilt uses a large piece of the much-loved Fairy Dust fabric from Tula Pink’s True Colors collection.

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My last blog post was about quilt backs and I mentioned the lack of good extra wide fabric available on the market. The good news is this fabric is available in extra wide. The piece I used obviously is not, as I had to piece the back together, but FYI in case you like it. I believe there are other colorways available, too.

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I think I have 2-3 more old(er) quilt tops left to finish. To be clear I do have more that that, but the others are from the last year+ so I don’t count those. They’re practically new!

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As always, thanks for reading. I’ll be back here again soon talking quilts.

Crossroads to Texas – Finished

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I had to look back when I originally made this quilt top, and it was the end of summer 2019. So here we are, a few years later, and it’s done! Some quilts just take time.

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This block is Crossroads to Texas. I saw an old quilt years ago made with it and created my own version. I’m sure a pattern exists somewhere, but I haven’t seen it.

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Most of the fabric is original Cotton + Steel with some other random scraps mixed in.

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I intentionally made it very scrappy because that was the look I was going for. Sometimes I like a more uniform, matching look in my quilts, but more times than not I like a scrappy quilt.

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While it’s a scrappy quilt, the thing that ties it together are the colors. I stuck to pinks and blues with some teal and aqua mixed in. Love these colors!

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Like the front, the back of the quilt is scrappy. I had a large piece of Cora fabric by Tessie Fay that’s in the center, and a big piece of Parson Gray I used for the top and bottom.

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The piece along the left side is the Friends fabric Joann Fabrics had a few years ago. Still love that fabric!

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And that’s a wrap on this quilt!

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It took time to finish this one but I think it was worth the wait.

Crossroads to Texas?

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Remember earlier this year when I mentioned I was feeling inspired in 2019 by vintage quilts and had a bunch I wanted to recreate or make my own version of?  Well, this is one of them.

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I can’t remember where I saw the original version of this quilt, but I filed it away in my brain and knew it was one that I wanted to try and make myself.

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Notice that I titled this post Crossroads to Texas with a question mark.  I think that’s the name of this block, but if anyone knows better please weigh in.  It’s not one that you see often or is as well-known as other quilt blocks, so I’m not entirely sure it’s correct.

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I like this pattern because I think it looks good using a mishmash of fabrics (a.k.a. sew your stash), and that’s exactly what I did.  I had a bunch of Cotton + Steel and a few other stray fabrics that I pulled together.  The pieces are pretty small so it’s an opportunity to use up some of those smaller scraps we all have.

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A warning about this block: It is more labor-intensive than other quilt blocks, but I think it’s worth the effort.  It’s also one that requires precise cutting and sewing.  I had a few blocks that got a little wonky.  I fixed that ones that bothered me, but there were a couple others I left alone because I didn’t think they were that bad and they add character, right? Lol.

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One last thing before I go. If you look closely you’ll notice that a few blocks are scrappy.  I actually did a couple of them scrappy on purpose, and then a couple others I had to make scrappy because I ran out of fabric and had to improvise.  But quite frankly, that’s some of my favorite kind of quilting.  Cheers!

Avenues

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A while back I was doing some home décor shopping online and I saw a pillow on The Citizenry  that caught my attention.  I liked the pillow, but I liked the pattern on the pillow even more.  So much so that I thought it would make an interesting quilt block.  I decided to give it a try and this is what I came up with.

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I’m not sure how well the pattern translates into a quilt, but I’m a sucker for anything pink so I kind of like it.  Or at least I really like the fabrics I used.

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This is a combination of some of my favorites.  There is quite a bit of Lotta Jansdotter fabric; a little bit of Denyse Schmidt; some Cotton + Steel; a few pieces from Amy Butler; and then some random fabrics I had in my stash.

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When I chose the colors, I knew I wanted to do something with pink, black and white, but I added in some purplish/pink colors, some grays and taupes, and some creamy whites.

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I wasn’t sure if mixing that many different shades of the same colors would work, but I think it does. Truthfully, though, the main reason I mixed them in was because I was short on fabric and needed to expand my color options.

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I think it would look good if I had stuck only to pink, black and white, but this might make it look a bit more interesting.

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For the quilt back, I’m sticking with the same color scheme and already have the back worked out.

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I’m already on to quilting this one so you may see the finished version sooner rather than later.

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Keep your eye out for the finished version.

Mill City

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Happy New Year!  It’s time for the first quilt share of 2018.

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This was actually the last quilt I finished in 2017, and I got it done just in time to bring it with me to take some pictures on my holiday travels.

One of the stops I made over Christmas break was to visit my BFF, Sara, in Minneapolis.  I brought a couple of quilt tops with me to photograph while I was in town, which at the beginning of December when I planned my trip seemed like a great idea.  Unfortunately, while I was visiting at the end of December, it was below zero.  [Insert my frozen tears]  My quilt photoshoot went from a fun thing for Sara and me to do to, ‘let’s get out of here.’

Since we were both on the verge of frost bite, I wasn’t able to take as many pictures or as good of pictures as I wanted, but we did the best we could.

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This quilt was photographed at Mill Ruins Park, which is right next to the Stone Arch Bridge.  We tried to take some photos by the bridge too, but the wind would not cooperate.

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The quilt is super easy and is a combination of an Ohio Star quilt block and simple nine patch squares to make the other block.

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Most of the fabric is Cotton + Steel, with some other coordinating fabrics I had in my stash.

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I was really feeling a pink and navy quilt at the end of 2017 and just had to make one.  I was a little iffy about mixing the grey colors in, but I think it helps to balance out the bold pink, blue and that beautiful gold color that I’m loving right now.

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Here’s to kicking off 2018 with lots of quilts, sewing projects, crafting projects, or whatever hand-making projects you want to work on this year.