Purl Soho's Lap Duvet

It was cold and rainy last week when a newsletter from Purl Soho dropped into my on-line mailbox last week.  The photo on the newsletter showed a stack of puffy Lap Duvets with fabulous linen grid fabric on one side, Lana Cotta Canberra wool fabric on the reverse.  There is layer of wool quilt batting in between the two layers.  In view of the cold wet weather outside, it was JUST what I wanted. That and a lazy afternoon with a good book or movie. 

This lap duvet is the perfect project for that fabulous large print yardage you just can't bear to cut up into quilt pieces!  My stash is a bit out of control (actually a lot out of control!!) at the moment so buying new material just didn't make sense. So upstairs I went to see what I could use.

What I found was a couple yards of the "Leaf in Green" fabric from Lizzie House's The Lovely Hunt.  I'd purchased simply because I thought it was beautiful, without any plans for its use.  I auditioned a number of fabrics for the reverse side and chose a peach abstract floral which picked up the salmon color highlight in Lizzie's fabric.

I had one twin and 2 queen wool quilt batts in my closet.  With a bit of math, I figured out that the twin size batting would make 2 lap duvets with only a bit left to trim off one end.

I followed the instructions in the tutorial and used a zig-zag to tack the layers together.  It just seemed plain when I finished it.  It's supposed to be spare and modern, but I just wanted something more.  So I added some Big Stitch Quilting 1 3/4 inches in from the the outside edges of the lap duvet. I used a matching green, size 5, DMC brand perle cotton thread. Its sheen adds a subtle highlight to the duvet while maintaining its modern look.

It's a light lofty item and will be a cheerful addition to the couch through the Spring.  For a true winter lap duvet, I think using a good quality quilter's flannel on one side and a soft quilter's cotton on the other would be perfect.

Modern Improv Quilting: Project 5, French Forest Tapestry

I fell in love with the hound in Lizzy House's "Tapestry in Green", part of her fabric line, The Lovely Hunt.  The dog looks so much like a dog on a French brooch that my mother had when I was a child. And the "Tapestry in Green" really is reminiscent of a northern European tapestry.

This is based on Score #5, "rhythmic grid" in Sherri Lynn Wood's book The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, A guide for creating, quilting and living courageously. 

I really like the lighter blocks in the two lateral borders and the darker center blocks.  It was mid November when I was piecing this quilt.  I wanted to add an accent color to the dark blocks.  Yellow was perfect.  So it came in as a sunbeam filtering through the woods.  It wasn't until I had all the blocks up on the design wall that I noticed that the sun blocks started low on the quilt, almost an echo of the the sun here in New England at this time of year. 

The back of the quilt has a red strawberry flannel print.  It's an oddly shaped quilt, but perfect for sitting on the couch watching television.  It's warm, and cuddly--a great addition the collection of quilts which I rotate seasonally!

I'd really like to do the Round Robin in this book, but don't plan to make any of the other scores in this book.   I'll put a gallery of all the improv quilts based on Sherri's book in my next post. It's fun to see them altogether!

Quilt with Analogous Colors: Reds and Purples

This is such a happy quilt!  I designed the pattern for this quilt around fat quarters of "Chasing Butterflies" designed by Lizzie House for Andover Fabrics.  

I had intended to fussy cut all the blocks from the "Chasing Butterflies" fabric.  A 5 x 5 inch square was perfect for capturing pairs of butterflies, so that was my starting point in this design.  As it turned out, because I only had fat quarters, I wasn't able to just fussy cut pairs of butterflies. Most of the blocks only have 1 butterfly.  But one is good too!

Here's the back!

Work in Progress: Quilt using Analogous Brights

Loving sewing with Lizzie House's "Chasing Butterflies" for Andover!  Lizzie put some bold analogous colors together in this fabric line, especially in the red and violet red designs! I followed her lead and combined her fabrics with Kona® Cotton Solids in analogous pinks/purples/red violets and reds.  The pattern I'm using for this lap/crib size quilt is my own design. 

More soon!