Annularity

May 29, 2018January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.27 Comments

Annularity
Quilt #203
Began October 2017 • Completed May 2018

I use Magnifico thread as it has a nice sheen without being shiny, and it lays down a lovely line of stitching. In the bobbin is So Fine thread (both by Superior Threads).

I made a duplicate of Annularity II — which was a quilt I designed and made for Paintbrush Studios (which hung at QuiltCon, and most recently, Quilt Market) — because I thought the first version had been lost in the mail en route to the quilter. It hadn’t, and now I had my own top.

Then I decided to quilt my own, trying out different ideas as explained in an earlier post. But thanks to my quilt holder Dave, I can now reveal the fully quilted version to the world, as well as deliver some great news about this quilt.

Recently I’d been talking with Rick and Dot Kimmelman of Pineapple Fabrics about this quilt, hoping they’d want to use it for their booth, as they carry the full line of Painter’s Palette Fabrics. In between Point A and Point B of our discussions, they purchased Keepsake Quilting, which made many of us in the QuiltWorld very happy. And so, beginning this summer, Keepsake Quilting and Pineapple Fabrics will be the exclusive sellers of my Annularity pattern. Both Keepsake and Pineapple will also have kits available that include all the fabrics for the top and binding. (You can check Pineapple Fabrics.com to purchase within the next month, and see Keepsake Quilting’s Fall catalogue, due out the second week of August. You can bet I’ll put something up on here when I first lay eyes on my quilt in their catalogue!)

The wild and crazy back. It’s “prairie house” from the De Leon Design Group, for Alexander Henry Fabrics. I thought it might disguise any oopsies, but I was happy to note that I actually had very few. I guess maybe after ten years I’m getting better at the quilting? Much credit belongs to the Sweet Sixteen machine I use, and the threads, which always seem to balance so well.

After one quilting session, when I turned it over to check the back, I noticed I had quilted in this wedge-shaped scrap onto the back. I started to try and cut it out, then decided I kind of liked this nod to the process, so left it in. Really, you can’t see it, when looking at the overall back. (Well, NOW you do, but you didn’t at first, right?)

So, thanks for being my cheering squad, motivating me to finish up my quilt. And I hope you enjoy making yours!

200 Quilts · Creating · Quilt Patterns · quiltcon · Quilts

Annularity II

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Annularity1PBStudios

This is the story of the design of my quilt Annularity. It is also the story of Annularity II, which will hang at QuiltCon in Paintbrush Studios Booth.

Annularity II
Quilt Number 194
Designed and Pieced by Elizabeth Eastmond
Quilted by Natalia Bonner
59″ square

The story of this begins when I was contacted by the fine people at Paintbrush Studios, who make the ever-lovely Painter’s Palette Solids. I submitted one design for review, time passed, things changed; I thought the process was dead in the water.

AnnularityDesign_1fabrics

But I had all these lovely fabrics, so we started the process again.

Annularity Fail

I played around in QuiltPro, my favorite quilt design program and came up with the above design messes.

annularityfailalmost

I showed them to Simone, seeking advice, and she said, “Don’t forget the white.” Negative space is critical, but sometimes you get in the weeds of a thing and you can’t see your way clear.

Given that the Great American Eclipse was on my mind, I started calling my quilt Annularity:

Screen Shot 2018-01-05 at 11.11.41 AM.png

I began building the quilt top, remembering the white. But when I got to the outer edges, something still wasn’t right. A designer can do all the designing they want to, but then the fabric takes over and slowly, the outer edges morphed from the planned design to what you see at the very top. Then there was the problem of the center.

AnnularityOPQuilt Centers

I tried lots of combinations: yellow, aqua, violet, maroon but finally finished with periwinkle, one of my favorite colors in the Painter’s Palette Solids line-up. I finished it and when Paintbrush Studios told me that Natalia Bonner was going to quilt it, I was over the moon, because I quite admire her work. I bundled up the quilt, sent it off, and then waited. And waited. And waited. And I began to wonder, even though I’d tracked it to her address, if it had gotten lost. I worried, then did the next best thing:

My Annularity

I made another.

In the rush, I didn’t have all the correct fabrics, so some are pieced. But then I heard from Natalia that she had the quilt. Whew! Since it’s going to be hanging in the booth at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena, I gave the first one a new name, since now there were two in the world: Annularity II.

Pineapple Fabrics has the complete line of colors needed to make this design, and you can soon buy the quilt pattern from them. Come and see Annularity II in the Paintbrush Studios booth, #905.

But I’ll be quilting mine, Annularity, bit by bit, sharing that experience as I proceed. In the meantime, enjoy the photos of Natalia’s fine work:

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Classes · Mini-quilt · Quilt Patterns · Quilts

Home, Sweet, Home Mini-Quilt Class

November 10, 2017September 11, 2020 Elizabeth E.7 Comments

HomeSweetHomeClass Recently I taught a class for my Home, Sweet, Home mini quilt. I snapped these photos as they were working; they’d all mostly prepped up their pieces before coming, and it made the class go quite smoothly. I loved all the different ways that people did their blocks (shown here at our Guild Meeting):

HomeSweetHomeClass_1

Here are most of them (some didn’t bring them to Guild):

It wasn’t until posting these up that I found two errors in these quilts. Isn’t it funny that you don’t see things…until you do? (Hint: it’s in the bushes.) I love the rainbow quilt made by my friend Lisa. I may have to make one for myself.

HomeSweetHome_Melissa

(Breaking News: Melissa finished hers!)

200 Quilts · Chuck Nohara · Mini-quilt · Quilt Patterns · Quilts

Early-May Accomplishments

May 10, 2017May 10, 2017 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

Gidsters May Bee

I finished my Gridsters Bee block for Rachel. She asked for buzzy bees, as she is a beekeeper in the Midwest. Her tutorial is *here,* as well as links to her pattern, but I didn’t cut apart the pieces. I just straight paper-pieced the thing, then joined the head section to the body section. We blew up the basis 6″ pattern to make 10″ finished bees. I can’t wait to see what she does with them all.

Chuck Nohara May17_1 This is beginning to feel like the never-ending quilt.

I’m making small (2-1/4″ finished) plus sign blocks to go in between all the Chuck Nohara blocks that Susan and I made together last year. Our blocks are 6″ finished, so after I worked out the measurements, I drafted a pattern for the sashing. Here is the PDF: Chuck Nohara SashingFinal

I started the plus blocks by cutting strip sets (2 low-volume and 1 bold), then seaming the two low-volume onto the bold on either side. Cut those across the strip set into 1-1/4″ wide strip pieces. These pieces are both the a) top and bottom of your plus block, and b) the center of the “dot” block, shown in the intersection of the sashing, above

ChuckNohara_plus assembly I then cut matching pieces of fabric into 1 -1/4″ x 2-3/4″ bits. I sewed a matched set of two strip-set-blocks, one on top, and one of the bottom to make a “plus.” Then I sewed 1 -1/4″ x 2-3/4″ pieces of low-volume on either side of a “dot” to create the mini block that is at the intersection.

Then the low-volume center piece, in between the two plus blocks, measures finished at 2-1/4″ by 1-1/2″ (so cut 2-3/4″ by 1-3/4″).

ChuckNohara_plus block The “plus” and “dot” units finish at 2-1/4″ square, so trim them to 2-3/4″ square (size before sewing).

Sew two “plus” units on either side of the low-volume center piece. Arrange them all around, then sew the row with the blocks and plus-units first:

ChuckNohara blocks row

Then I sewed the “dots” and plus-units together:

And then I finished sewing them all together:

I’m now trying to figure out the borders. After all the piecing I did for the sashing, I can guarantee you it won’t be like the borders Chuck Nohara showed in her book:

I’ve finally progressed to the place in my physiotherapy (I like the way the Australians say it, as we just call it “PT”) where I could try out my Sweet Sixteen quilting machine again. After 3-1/2 months. It took me a while to get the thread tensions balanced, but then was I able to get going on my quilt from the Traveling Threads Bee, made of Alison Glass fabrics (with a few others).

Bliss. This block, from Toni of HoosierToni, is coming along nicely. I’m limiting myself to 30 minutes/session so I don’t break my surgery (my one big fear in life).

Lastly, you are all invited to our Raincross Guild Meeting this coming Tuesday, May 16th (6 p.m.), where I’ll present a trunk show of my quilts–well, only 25 of them. My husband helped me get them from our closets, walls and cupboards, so I can decide the order and what to say. I just clicked over to the Guild’s website, and in true humbling fashion, I’m not even listed. But Latifah Saafir is, on the day I’m supposed to teach a class for the Guild, too. What will I be teaching?

My Home, Sweet, Home mini quilt. I think they have a few openings, but I’m not sure. I’ll be emailing the class members prep instructions, that if they complete them, they will finish their quilts in class. That’s June 3rd, from 9 a.m. -2 p.m., with a 30-min lunch break (bring your lunch).

Last time I taught this class, I was able to snap a photo of three Home Sweet Home quilts. They look awesome! Patterns are for sale in my Craftsy shop, just in case you aren’t able to attend that day.

Happy Quilting!