I must be firing on all four cylinders as this is the fourth Quilt Along (QAL), hosted by Sandra from mmm!Quilts, in which I have participated. I became acquainted with Sandra when I was in a group called the New Quilt Bloggers in 2017. For those who haven’t followed me for a long time or those who have forgotten what they were, I thought I would do a quick reprise of the prior QALs.
The QALs were as follows: Free Fall QAL in 2017, Playtime Plus in 2018 and Beothuk in 2019. There is often a shadowy part in her quilts, so I nicknamed her the Shadow Quilter some time ago.
It felt like it would be rude not to play along, but all the prior QALs I used something that I had in my stash, which is often my rule for QALs. It helps me use fabric I already have, quilt along with fun people, and make a quilt. What cold be more fun? This grouping of fabrics from my stash was just right – all had just about what I needed. When I picked them, I was hoping the Kaffe Fasset might work, but it did not make the final cut. The great thing is that the last two QALs, Elvira, and now this one are doing a fine job in depleting my stash of teals and purples!
First up were the block units. The block is a log cabin variation; we made 6 different ones for this pattern. So, in 4 weeks a top was born!
The top was assembled and then it waited a bit. Somehow, this quilt was calling for custom quilting to me, not an overall pantograph. I was stalling the quilting because I didn’t have a lot of fabrics for backing that would work with this quilt.
I asked one of my quilting bees, the Sewatorium Sisters, about these two options, no one was enthusiastic. I knew the grey would work, but I like my backs to be more complementary to the front. It is my quilt you know, so I get to be fussy. In the end, I decided to use some purple solids I had, a few pieces of leftovers from the front, and just the tiniest bit of grey for the back.
I forgot some of the pieces weren’t full width of fabric but I had enough to add to the sides. This really does show up the quilting and I am so glad about my decision. The thread I used is from Superior Threads, Omni #3125 Purplelicious*! I just loved the way it looked on the quilt.
Yup, I spent a lot of time custom quilting this. The first two rows went quickly. I used patterns called Aloha Sashing and Funky Feathers Petite, both from Urban Elements but included in the Prostitcher Library.
I then used this Handi Quilter pattern called Line Illusion in the squares. There were two, one single block and one double block. I used both. Like Sandra, I liked the idea of emphasizing the center square. There was a lot of adjust areas and boundaries to make the patterns fit. My Prostitcher does so much and I learned a lot doing this (not my intention), but I did!
And, I liked the idea of this Cat’s Eye pattern (HQ design again) in the large light borders. I used a Hobbs Tuscanny Wool* batting for the first time on my longarm, and it moved a little more than I expected. Nothing drastic but I never had this happen before. Now I know to watch for this. I am also anxious to wash and see what I think. I love the lightness of it and the definition it gives the quilting.
I have to say I love this! What fun to have this happen on a quilt that you just make to play along. Using a well loved stash surely helps make a quilt you love!
This may be my favorite finish for the year. I can’t thank Sandra enough for offering this fun QAL with such great results. The pattern is now available in her Etsy shop, Sandra Jane Quilts.
Purple Rain
39.5″ x 53.5″
Pattern: Centred by Sandra Walker
Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Wool
Piecing Thread: Aurifil 50 wt, Dove*
Quilting Thread: Superior Omni Thread, Purplicious
Prostitcher Designs: Aloha Sashing, Funky Feathers Petite, Cat Eyes, and Line Illusion.
Coming Up on the Blog:
Tips and Tutorial (6/22)
Stitching Sunshine Hop (6/25)
Monthly Color Block (7/1)
Partners in Design Announcement (7/7)
Pattern Release (TBD)
Linking Up:
Centred QAL Linky Party
For the Love of Geese
TGIFF
Friday Foto Fun
Link Party Patchwork & Quilts #6
Midweek Makers #233
Wait Loss Wednesday
UFO Busting #111
Kathleen, This quilt is wonderful!!! And your quilting – it’s fabulous! Love it!
Thanks, Gail. I am loving my HQ with Prostitcher….it really helps me get the effect I want.
Awesome quilting, Kathleen! I especially love the cat’s eye!!! Fun pieced backing, too. Good thing you were fussy about it! It’s your quilt party, after all. Great job on all 4 Sandra QALs!
Those cat’s eyes are fun aren’t they. It was fun looking back on all 4 of the QALs, although it was funny that I had a hard time remembering them when I started looking. I do love a good quilt party.
Your quilt is STUNNING!! The fabrics alone had me drooling, but the quilting is over the TOP! Good for you for persisting and learning how to resize and maneuver the designs to fit where you wanted them. Wow they are such a compliment to the design. I really like each one. Thank you for the slideshow – a lovely trip back in time, ahhh. And thank you so much for quilting along again this year. I’m really humbled and grateful to think how many of you have been with me all four years. I better do a spectacular one for the fifth year, hmm!
You are so sweet, Sandra. It was a joy and really, I had a great time learning things while I quilted it. It is not perfect, but it is mine and has some of you in it, so it is perfect in my eyes. Thanks for the awesome quilt along!
Kathleen that quilting on your backing is spectacular. I am so glad that you persisted on your backing choice. Purplicious rules!
Thanks, Jan! It was fun and I think the work on the primarily purple back was the right choice and well worth it. I would never have dreamed it would show the quilting so well.
Kathleen, It’s a stunning quilt. The fabrics you’ve used and of course the spectacular quilting. I love your other QAL quilts too.
Thank you, Vasudha! I really enjoyed this one, but I think finishes always make me happy.
Purple Rain, Purple Rain . . . the perfect name for this quilt. And it is indeed purplicious through and through. I am not a huge fan of purple but I sure could get behind this quilt! I love how it turned out and the quilting. Ooh-la-la. The Cat’s Eye pattern looks SO cool. Really nice job. Also, thanks for the reminder on previous QALs with Sandra. Your Playtime Plus is really striking with the two different backgrounds, and Free Fall is fab. I’m so glad you recommended that leaf block to me for a batik runner. I’d better not miss next year’s QAL for sure. ~smile~ Roseanne
Isn’t it fun. Purple Rain or Purplelicious….I love it both ways. Did you do this QAL? You better hop on the next one, it is so much fun.
I am glad the ear worm stuck! I do love that song and it really is a fun quilt. I went back and forth with names so I think this quilt has two names! I loved that Cat’s Eye as a pattern and was so glad to be able to use it. This QAL is always fun and small, which is something that I love.
I love quilts with solids for the backings so the quilting can really shine. It’s lovely and such a rich version in purples.
The solids really do make the quilting shine. I haven’t used them much for that, and I was really pleased at the effect.
The cat’s eye design is very cool. The fabrics you chose are so pretty in this design, Kathleen. A good finish!
I think that design is now one of my favorites. It reminds me of the 50’s retro kind of design. I am very pleased with it. Now, to wash and see what happens with the wool!
Your quilt is gorgeous in the purples, and the quilting is really amazing, too! It was really fun to see your other QAL quilts of Sandra’s designs as well!
I couldn’t remember all the QALs so I had to do a slideshow just to jog my own memory. I loved those fabrics, so it was really fun to use them and fun to quilt it too.
Oh Kathleen it turned out beautiful. The quilting is gorgeous and I especially love the cat’s eye quilting. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.
I really did enjoy quilting this one (and learned a few things, too). That cat’s eye is getting a lot of compliments…glad I used it. Always fun to linkup!
Wow, wonderful quilt, and your quilting is gorgeous. I love the pieced back 😉 The previous QAL from 2017 is lovely too.
I am so glad you enjoyed it. The pieced back is fun and really worked to show the quilting.
Well done. Your quilting is awesome. I have played along with all of Sandra’s QALs as well. I try to match backings as well, but now I’m going with close enough just to get tops finished and out the door. ☺ Thanks for linking up with Thank Goodness it’s Finished Friday.
I really enjoyed the process of planning and doing the quilting. It is much slower than an all-over but it is why I wanted a computerized system that would do this! I am more fussy about some backs than others….I think because I didn’t have one that was planned for it and going shopping wasn’t easy, it became a bigger problem in my mind. Always happy to linkup with a finish when I got one.
What a great finish! The quilting is flawless.
Flawless it is not, but from your angle I am glad that you think it is.
Oh my, this quilt is gorgeous in every way. From the beautiful colours and patterns of the fabrics, the amazing design, the backing and of course to the fabulous quilting. A most glorious finish!
Thank you so much! I am pleased that you enjoyed it. Can’t wait for a cool night to try it on my side of the bed.
Thank you so much! I am pleased that you enjoyed it. Can’t wait for a cool night to try it on my side of the bed.
Absolutely gorgeous!!!! Love all the fabrics, of course purple always calls to me, and your quilting looks fantastic. A really, really beautiful finish. Isn’t it great to use much loved fabrics from the stash? Sorry for the late reply, for some reason I’m not seeing your posts, I’ll have to look at my bloglovin and see what’s wrong.
Thank you! I so enjoyed doing it and really loved the way it worked out. I have had bloglovin’ drop people from my list, it drives me nuts!
I love this! First I love purple, but what I love most is your quilting. Perfection! Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss
The quilting was really fun to get done on it. More than I usually do but I really enjoyed it.
Congrats on your Purplicious finish!
What a pretty finish, Kathleen! I can’t believe you had all the fabric you need just hanging out in your stash! I love that Cat’s Eye pattern, and it’s nice to know which of the designs you used were included in ProStitcher. When I look at the different computerization options out there and they all say they include X number of free designs, I always wonder whether any of the included designs would be anything that I would ever actually want to use in a quilt. Great job, congrats on your finish, and thanks for linking up with Long Arm Learning!