Saturday, July 13, 2013

summer's light: a finished quilt

arlo's quilt 
When I look at this quilt, finished, I can see the bright morning light of July streaming through a (stained-glass) window. A new light, a new life. Warmth, summer, hope.

Somehow, this configuration of triangles, designed simply by putting together fabrics that "felt right" next to each other, seems to have a prismatic effect -- white light, refracted, splitting, bouncing around inside the borders.

arlo's quilt arlo's quilt arlo's quilt

The design -- bright solid triangles, limited prints, large white border -- is inspired by a quilt made by Joy of Wildflowers Photography, but featuring a palette that might sit better in a little boy's nursery. As I wrote about earlier, this was a collaborative project. My friend never having made a quilt before, and myself having never sewn a triangle before, we were both extremely surprised by how simply the whole thing seemed to come together. One row at at time, and the points somewhat magically came out pointy!

All of the prints used are from Art Gallery Fabric's Indian Summer collection -- perhaps my favourite collection of the year so far (I got a fat quarter bundle from WestWoodAcres -- they don't seem to have the bundle in stock currently, but do have yardage of the foxy mountains). For this quilt (as it is heavily bulked-up with Kona solids), I used only four fat quarters, and even had plenty of scraps left over from those to carry into the next project!

arlo's quilt
arlo's quilt

Pure joy -- the working together, the Southwestern-style colours, the triangles. I have big plans for the rest of the Indian Summer line, and will definitely be having another go at triangles as soon as possible. One for my faithful little assistant, perhaps?

arlo's quilt

5 comments:

Sarina said...

Yep, those colors totally work together. Great quilt - love the stripey binding to finish it off!

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

You're so right, it does look like sun shining through a stained glass window :) I like how you continued the triangle straight line quilting through the white border.

Kris from Duke Says Sew What said...

Gorgeous! I love the big white border framing it. What a great fabric collection.

Sarah Kate Branine said...

Astrid! I am so glad that I sat down tonight and looked up your blog via Instagram! You are so crazy talented! Do you sell your quilts anywhere or take orders? I'd be up a creek if you do-- how would I ever decide on what to order? All of your designs are so beautiful!

Unknown said...

Hi there! It's my first time to your blog, but I must tell you, I love, love, love the way you choose little bits of patterns to go with solids! You have an amazing color sensibility! Beautiful quilts!