Sunburst

"Sunburst" was my thirteenth project, a lap quilt with an irregular shaped border. I once again used the stack-n-whack (Bethany S. Reynolds) / kaleidoscope (Paula Nadelstern) method of rotary cutting and piecing. Each flower is stuffed to give it a 3-D effect of blooming or bursting forth. The entire quilt was machine sewn, though I don't recommend that puff quilts be quilted by machine. It was very difficult to quilt stitches around each puff on the rack, because the bulk and irregularity did not roll up evenly, causing different tensions on the material. Despite readjusting the thread tension repeatedly, the top thread still broke often and the bobbin thread got tangled beneath the sandwich.

I think this quilt was started some time in early 2007 and completed April 17, 2008. Though it is not a large quilt, it was a thorn in my side, which is why it took so long to complete. Even when I was sewing on the thin yellow border to cover the raw edges, I ran out of bobbin thread just inches before completion. I have knack for getting down the the last inch or last few seconds of a project only to have some complication fly out of left field at me. My celebratory mood gets deflated, and the process of reaching completion always take longer than anticipated.

This quilt has a yellow background and flower puffs of pink, purple, orange, yellow, and green. I grouped similar colors together to bring out a gradual blending effect. The irregular border blends from color to color as well. I did not position all the flowers before sewing, so I ended up with one row that looks straight, and as each flower was added, I discovered that I could not fit them in rows due to the irregular border. Therefore, the flowers start in a row and end up random. People have commented that it looks like a mistake. I lie and tell them I did it on purpose.

Always in Bloom

"Always in Bloom" was my seventh quilt, a gift for my mother's 70th birthday. It was started in June of 2002 and finished in July of 2002. It was an experimental effort that was a cross between kaleidoscope (Paula Nadelstern) / stack-n-whack (Bethany S. Reynolds) and puff quilt methodology. The same fabric triangle was cut 6 times, and then the wedges were sewn together for a kaleidoscope effect. The fabric used was a bright medium print with a variety of colors, flowers, and leaves. I returned to the fabric store 3 times to purchase more of this fabric in order to have 6 repeats available to make enough patches for a twin-sized bed quilt. In all my fabric quests, I had never found a bolt that lends itself more to this type of project. The variety of hexagonal blocks that could be created from this particular fabric seemed endless. Some blocks ended up being primarily green, some white, some pink, some red, some blue, and some purple. I bought a bolt of leafy green solid Wal-Mart special for $2.00 a yard to use as the background, backing, and binding. I appliquéd each hexagon block onto the background and stuffed it before closing. This gave each block a 3-dimensional effect of a blooming kaleidoscope of flowers. I machine quilted around each hexagon to attach the top, the batting, and the backing. Because the blocks were stuffed, it was impossible to sew the background and backing taut without having a professional setup.