Chalk ++ Modern Quilts Unlimited

Today I am so excited to show you another of my quilt finishes from last fall! The quilt is called Chalk and it appears in the just published Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine Issue 23.

Chalk is one of the modern plus sign quilt designs I made for magazines to help spread the word about the Modern Plus Sign Quilts book. The design reminded me a little like the chalk outlines of bodies, so the pattern earned the name "Chalk" :)

I would like to thank Michael Miller for the beautiful fabrics: Cotton Couture solids in magenta and white. The batting was Warm & White by the Warm Company and Aurifil thread was used in the piecing.

I knew that I wanted a large overall curvy quilting design to compliment all of the straight lines in the piecing.  I wanted a very exact repeating design, one that I could not achieve on my domestic machine so I turned to Carol Alperin for her wonderful quilting.  Carol used a repeating curvy design using a light pink thread.  

I had a lot of fun working on this quilt. Chalk was hung in the Modern Quilts Unlimited booth at QuiltCon.

Photo by Paige Alexander

I love the Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine, the magazine is so full of great quilts and inspiration. Check out Modern Quilts Unlimited Issue 23!

I am linking up with Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and 

Finish it Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

Flutter ++ Modern Quilts Unlimited Issue 22

Today I am so excited to show you one of my quilt finishes from last fall!  The quilt is called Flutter and it appears in the just published Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine Issue 22. 

Flutter is one of the modern plus sign quilt designs I made for magazines to help spread the word about the Modern Plus Sign Quilts book. 

Flutter is a modern pattern that combines curved pieced blocks with plus signs for an abstract butterfly design.

I would like to thank Robert Kaufman for the beautiful fabrics: Kona Cotton solids in flamingo, lipstick, navy, and white.   The batting was Warm & White by the Warm Company and Aurifil thread was used in the piecing and quilting.

The curved blocks are a nice, large size so the curve was easier (and quicker) to piece than I had thought they might be.  Pretty soon the quilt top was finished and I was trying to figure out what quilting design I should use.  An allover design did not seem like the right fit, so I went with a custom quilting design.

I used a matching 50 wt Aurifil thread in each section.  I quilted the background in a very small and tight stipple and outlined all of the butterfly pieces.  I quilted the dark blue plus signs using a dense back-and-forth design and quilted the curves using a special motif I designed using my new Quick Curve longarm rulers (affiliate link) and my Bernina ruler foot. 

Here was a test quilting sandwich I used to test out my initial design for the curved shapes.  I decided that they needed a little more quilting so I added a few more lines to it for the final design.  I was really pleased with the quilting design, I think that reinforces the butterfly look to the blocks.

I am planning on writing a little tutorial on how to stitch the design and post it next week.  You can find the Quick Curve quilting rulers here (affiliate link) and check out my post about 5 tips and tricks for ruler quilting on a domestic machine here.

I had a lot of fun working on this quilt.  Flutter is going to be hanging in the Modern Quilts Unlimited booth at QuiltCon next month (and I will be in the booth for a few hours) so if you attend QuiltCon, please stop by!

I love the Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine, the magazine is so full of great quilts and inspiration. Check out Modern Quilts Unlimited Issue 22!

I am linking up with Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and 

Finish it Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.