Modernized New York Beauty - Part Eight

This is a continuation of 7 previous posts about the making of the modernized New York beauty as part of the mod squad challenge for 2024.  When I make a quilt that needs custom quilting, I take a picture of the quilt, turn it into black and white, and print a copy.  Then, I use tracing paper and try out a few of my ideas.  When I'm satisfied with the drawing, I then either transfer the idea to the fabric with a water soluble marker, a white marking pencil, or I just use the drawing as a reference.  This was my idea for the quilting for this quilt:

I ended up doing things a little bit differently, while still matching the thread colors.

Stay tuned for a picture of the the quilt after it got quilted!

Modernized New York Beauty - Part Seven

This is a continuation of 6 previous posts about the making of the modernized New York Beauty for the mod squad challenge.  I pulled out all of my quilting threads to match the colors in the quilt.  I needed a few more, so I pulled from my sewing threads and hope they will run through the machine OK.  Here are two pictures - one showing the matching method that I use by putting the spool on top of the fabric color.  And the second one shows the threads all in a pile.

I can't wait to start quilting it.

I hope you still like it!

Modernized New York Beauty - Part Six

This is a continuation of 5 previous posts about the making of the Modernized New York Beauty quilt that I want to enter into QuiltCon.  

The next step was to sew this big circle into the background.  I had to unpin all of the applique circles in order to sew the 4 background pieces together.  Then I sewed the arc into the background.

After I sewed the background to the arc piece, I pinned the applique circles in place, making sure that they were the right angle and distance; then spot glued them in place.  Each circle had to be machine appliqued in place and this took the better part of a week and involved a fair amount of twisting and turning the whole piece.  I don't mind sewing things like this, but I do worry that things will get stretched out of shape on the edge.  So, before I did all of that applique, I went ahead and stay stitched the edges.  

And finally I spray and pin basted it to the batting and backing.  Here it is all ready to quilt! 

I hope you like it so far!

Tradition Made Modern - Part Four

This is a continuation of 3 previous posts about the making of the Modernized New York Beauty for the Mod Squad Challenge for 2024.  I decided that I wanted to get it done and enter it into the QuiltCon show of the Modern Quilt Guild in February 2025 in Phoenix.  The deadline is in the fall, which is months before the deadline for the Mod Squad.  

I decided to start making the applique circles for the center pieces in the peach and yellow fabrics.  Since I machine applique, I didn't want to piece the entire top and then wrestle it around the machine for all of the little circles.  It'll be a different story for the applique circles on the outer edge since they will be placed exactly where they should line up.  Anyway, I made the circles and pinned them in place, measuring the angle and the distance with a protractor and ruler.  I think I might change the placement so that it is more random, though.  I like the idea that they could look more like freckles instead of concentric circles.

I cut out all of the circles for the outside in shades of purple to pink.  I pinned those in place.  I thought they looked kind of heavy, so I changed them to some lighter versions.  I didn't like that either and here is the final placement of the the circles.  My husband didn't like the peach and frankly I didn't either.  But it has to sit and marinate for a while.  

Stay tuned for what I decided to do.  

Tradition Made Modern - Part Three

This is a continuation of two previous posts about the making of my modernized New York Beauty quilt as part of the Mod Squad challenge for 2024.  I finished piecing the inner arcs and sewed them to the inner black arc.  Up on the design wall, it looked like the pieces wouldn't fit together.  But, then I realized I was sewing everything to the backside of the freezer paper.  So, the whole design will be flipped when it is sewn together.  I better be VERY careful when I'm putting pieces up on the wall, taking them down, and sewing them together.  It could be a disaster if I sew them together incorrectly, since the foundation pieces are my pattern too.  I don't have another copy!

The next part of the pattern that I tackled was the next set of pieced arcs.  I did a little bit of shopping to enhance my fabric shading in the peach , orange, and maize colors.  I've heard that peach is the color of the year.  Have you heard that too?  I checked it out and yes, it's peach fuzz: Pantone Peach Fuzz.   Here are the pieces in that next arc.

 

I like that layer a lot!  

The next thing that I cut out was the background pieces from the Ombre fabric and the center pieces.  Its pretty turquoise heavy, but I'm fine with it.  I put up some black and some dark gray to see what I wanted to use for one of the middle arcs.  Here are the 2 choices.  

I chose to continue on with the black and white print.  Even though it looked a little bit like a bulls-eye, I liked the continuity.  Here is it with the pieces pinned up, and the whole thing rotated back to the original position.

I hope you like it so far!

Tradition Made Modern - part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of the challenge quilt for Mod Squad, which is a modernized version of the New York Beauty block.

I foundation pieced the inner arcs, using my freezer paper pattern as the foundation.  It makes things so much simpler for me to precut the shapes with a template piece that is 3/8" larger than the finished size.  You can see that the background wedge is larger than the colored wedges.  Here are the precuts from my hand dyed fabrics:

And the precuts from the background gray and white fabric (Smol Tweed in Dove) designed by Kimberly Kight of Ruby Star Society:

Here are two of the arcs pieced and placed back in place on the design wall.  I will keep using the freezer paper pattern to piece and cut the rest of the circular pieces.

I had a great idea for the background.  It's an ombre fabric from Moda called "Lipstick Cowgirl" designed by Shari Jenkins, and it fades from turquoise to gray.  I bought a little bit of this at  Sharon's Attic a month or so ago, but I needed 4 more yards.  So, I called the store and they had just 4 yards left on the bolt.  What luck!  Now it's on its way to me and I'll be able to use the background that will be just the ticket for this quilt.

I hope you like it so far!

Mod Squad 2024 Challenge - "Traditional made Modern" - Part One

This is a follow up to the post about the Mod Squad 2024 Challenge.  I posted 15 pictures of quilts that were in this category at QuiltCon in Raleigh in 2024.

I decided to work with  a large improv curved pieced New York Beauty.  I've made the pattern many times before and thought that I would make this as one as a huge block.  Here is a sketch of my idea:

I pulled out some fabrics in the hot pink to maroon to purple colorway, along with some black, gray and white, and a couple of shades of turquoise.  I don't know if this is what I'll end up with, though.    I printed the sketch a few times and colored them in.  Here are the colors that I decided to use.

I will probably start on making the foundation pieced arcs first.  I've drawn them on the paper pattern and I'm pretty sure I'll use the colors from the sketch.

So, stay tuned for how that section turns out.

 

Improv New York Beauty - Final

The improv New York Beauty quilt is finally done! 

It was quilted by Tami Levins in Vancouver, WA and I just finished the binding.  It's 70" x 70" and I love it!

I hope you like it too!

New York Beauty Improv quilt, top is finished!

This is a continuation of many previous posts about the making of the New York Beauty improv quilt.

I tried out several different designs for the setting strips.  Here is what I decided.  This layout will end up with a quilt that will be 70" x 70".  Just the right size for me to be able to quilt on my sit-down longarm.

I pieced a few of the setting strips with alternating black and dark blue fabrics.  It seemed a little too dark, so I sewed the rest with some light blue pieces.   I brought in some more medium blue and red with circles set into the "center" of the New York Beauty blocks.  Here's the finished top.

I hope you like it!

New York Beauty, improv quilt, part 4 or 5?

This is a continuation of previous posts about the making of the New York Beauty imrpov quilt.

All 16 blocks have been completed and trimmed to 14-1/2" x 14-1/2".  I arranged the blocks into groups of 4 that included points, circles, ovals, and wedges.  Here they are:

Next, I'll work on the design of the setting strips, and decide if I want them or not.  In the meantime, I found a new red hat for my birthday.

I hope you like it!

Improve quilt, making components that look like floating rectangles

This is a continuation of several posts about the making of the New York Beauty improv quilt.  This post about the making of another one of the components, which ends up looking like floating rectangles.

I cut a black strip of fabric at 1" wide, and two strips of white fabric at 1-1/2" wide.  They were sewn together into a strip set and pressed towards the center black strip.

I also cut a white strip at 3" wide.

The best way for me to describe my paper piecing is to show you the steps.  All of these steps are after you have your freezer paper foundation ready to go.

Step 1.  If all of the pieces are the same size and shape, just cut one template piece out of freezer paper and add 3/8" around all the outside edges.  For this piece, all of the them were a different size.  So, in this case, cut a template for each piece, number it and mark the left side.  

Step 2.  Pin the freezer paper template on the BACK of the fabric and cut out at least 3/8" around all the edges; even more if you are uncertain.  Make sure that the LEFT side of the template is parallel to the left side of the fabric, and at least 3/8" away.  Note:  Every other piece is solid white.

Step 3.  Place all of the templates/fabric pieces are in a pile with #1 on the top, and the left side on the left side. 

Step 4.  Pin the first piece in place, trim the seam to 1/4" and pick up the next piece and place it right sides together with the first piece, making sure that the LEFT side of the second piece is where you will be sewing the seam.

Step 5.  Sew the seam.  Trim if necessary.

Step 6.  Press.

Step 7.  Trim the excess fabric to 1/4".  And repeat all the steps until all of the pieces have been sewn and pressed to the foundation paper.  Make sure to alternate the pieced rectangles with the solid white background.

Finally, press the piece really well and trim the curved edges to 1/4" seam allowance.

Here is the final component.

And here it is in the block.

I hope you can use this technique somewhere in your quilting.

Improv quilt components - Making directional prints move around the curve

This is another component trick that I used in the making of the New York Beauty Improv quilt.

This component utilizes a directional print with a strong stripe.  I wanted the strips to move around the curve of the piece, while lining up with the direction of the radius (a line from the center of the circle to the outside edge).  

I numbered the pieces on the foundation drawing.  These were then traced onto freezer paper templates and cut out.

The templates were ironed to the back side of the fabric, lining up the CENTER with one of the circle striped sections.  

The pieces were then cut apart, leaving a generous seam allowance and lining up the LEFT cutting line with the same angle as the left of the template.

Starting with piece #1, the piece was lined up with the template and pinned in place.  Piece number two was placed right sides together with piece #1, matching up the edges of the templates, and placing a pin at each location to hold them in place.

The seam was sewn, then trimmed to 1/4".

The pieces were ironed to the back side of the foundation paper.  The next piece was then picked up, placed right sides with piece #2, matching up the edges of the templates.  The rest is a repeat of the steps to sew, trim, press, and pick up the next piece.

After the entire foundation was covered and pressed, the excess fabric was trimmed to 1/4" on both of the curved edges.  Here it is before it was trimmed.  You can see that the strong vertical lines of the fabric ended up just where I wanted them to be.

And here is the component in the piece.

I hope you like it and can use this technique to get the results that you want.

P.S.  I decided that it is easier to use solid components between the pieced components.  This one used two piece components side by side and it was too hard for an improve quilt block!

Improv quilt components

I wanted some of the striped components to lean in a certain direction on the New York Beauty improv quilt.   Here is how I planned and sewed the stripes to end up on the slant.

First, I drew the piece on freezer paper and numbered the pieces.

Second, I cut apart the pieces and pressed them to the reverse side of the fabric, lining up one edge (the left) with the stripe.

Next, I cut apart the pieces apart, leaving a seam allowance.  The pieces (with the freezer paper pattern still ironed to the back) were matched at the outer and inner seam allowance and sewed together.

Next, the seam allowance was trimmed to 1/4", and the piece was pressed.

Here, the picture shows two pieces sewn together after they were pressed.

Next, I'm showing you a few more pieces sewn together, and the last one in place.

The entire piece was pressed really well.

Here is what it looked like on the front side.

The final step was to trim the inner and outer curved edges to 1/4", and leave a larger seam on the outer seam.

And here it is in the block.  I also have used this technique with other directional fabrics in the blocks.  Oh, and if you do this, don't forget to remove the freezer paper!

I hope you like this technique and can use it on your quilts!

Improv quilt, Part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of this Improv quilt.

What fun it has been to make the improv blocks.  And to say that they were entirely improv is a bit misleading.  I did use foundation piecing methods for the black and white parts.  And some of my dissolving foundation and invisible applique methods for the dark ovals and spots.  Here are 4 of the blocks pressed and ready to trim to 14-1/2" square.  

I hope you like them so far.  

Old Quilt Designs with new fabric

I got into one of those cleaning moods and went through some of my old boxes with samples from quilt classes that I had taught.  One of the boxes had an old New York Beauty sample with a lot of pieces already cut out.  I taught this class many times and still really enjoy foundation paper piecing. So, I decided to use up the sample pieces and add some new fabric in with the old.

My favorite color is lime green and all of its shades.  Needless to say, I have a lot of green fabric in my stash!  Do you have a favorite color too?  Perhaps a favorite fabric designer?  Maybe you have a favorite motif - like dots, cats, or hearts?   This New York Beauty quilt uses some of that lime green stash and is combined with its complimentary color of reddish-purple.  To give it some punch, it's kicked up with black and white prints.  Here are the blocks sewn together to show the variety of fabrics.

New York Beauty blocks 

If you look closely, you'll see that I trimmed the blocks slightly wonky to give it a more modern appeal.  The old method that I taught was too exacting, but right for the times.  Now, we all want to just go with the flow and be spontaneous.

Here are the border pieces that are sewn, but not trimmed to size yet.

New York Beauty border pieces

So many people have thought up great techniques to make foundation piecing easier.  I especially like the techniques of Judy Niemeyer and Karen Stone.  Check out their fabulous books and patterns. And take a class if you can!  My favorite thing to do is to make pattern pieces that are 1/2" larger than the foundation area, and use these to precut my fabrics.  This way, I can get the stripes or motifs just the way I want them, I don't waste fabric, and I always have a piece that is large enough to cover the foundation.  I lay out the precut fabric pieces with the pattern on top and clip the side that will be the side that is sewn.

Precut fabric pieces with their pattern piece

Border pattern with pieces sewn down

Then, its super easy to pick up the piece and sew it on correctly.  The border strips for this quilt were all sewn with this method on strips of freezer paper where I had drawn the foundation pattern and numbered each piece.