wishes, true and kind: Gwen Marston

Friday, April 2, 2010

Just quilting along

I like quilt-alongs. It's fun to make a quilt at the same time as others from around the world, and I love seeing how the same pattern can look so different with different styles, fabrics, and color palettes. I want to participate in sewtakeahike's quilt-as-you-go quilt-along -- you can see the fabulous blocks being made in the Flickr group here -- but I have to catch up on a few other projects first. I plan to jump in very soon!

Interestingly enough, my colleague Tobey and I had a little quilt-along over Spring Break and didn't even know it! I had grabbed some Kona cottons and Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts book and came up with this while in Seaside:

Meanwhile, back in Beaverton, Tobey's husband Len had decided that since Tobey seems pretty set on being a quilter, then he would like to have a quilt of his own. And Tobey had Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts checked out of the library, so she made this:

Neither one of us had any idea what the other person was working on! Tobey had one word for it -- spooky!

Here's Gwen's original version:

Heather (a la mode fabric) and I have decided to do quilts at the same time (on purpose), so I guess that is a mini quilt-along of sorts. Perhaps we should have come up with some sort of name for it.... Wishes a la mode quilt-along? Fabric, true and kind quilt-along? Oh, well, we're making cross quilts together online and posting pictures each Friday.

I started with a pile of lovely Amy Butler fabrics in blues and greens and told Heather I was all set to get started.

I was so excited about these fabrics, and Heather even offered to give me another blue AB fabric! Then I went to cut them and realized that I had 1/4 yard cuts of most of them, which would not work for 10.5 inch blocks. Disappointed, I went back to my fabric stash and decided to use Heather Bailey Nicey Janes (also in greens and blues) instead.

I started cutting the fabrics last night, but I only had Kona cotton in white, which was too bright for the Nicey Janes. So, I made a trip to Fabric Depot after work tonight for Kona Snow (and some Essex linen cotton blend just because I have been dying to try it).

Back home again I could not stop thinking about those Amy Butler fabrics and came up with a way that I think I can make it work. And they look great with the Kona Snow. But before I could get very far with that idea, I couldn't help but notice how great the Nicey Janes look with the Essex linen. So -- you guessed it -- now I am doing two cross quilts. And they are both in blues and greens. And yes, this makes quilts 3 and 4 in blues and greens. Deal with it. I think it's best to just let me get this out of my system -- if possible. In the meantime -- I am soooooooo happy with the beginnings of these two quilts!