I’ve just completed this quilt that I am calling Stolen Dreams. Let me explain. I used the “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul” die by Sizzix to make the blocks, hence the “stolen” part. The fabrics are Pat Bravo’s Rock ‘n Romance in the Dreammaker colorstory, that’s where I got “dreams” from. So, there you have it, Stolen Dreams–it sounds kind of mysterious, romantic and maybe a little scary.
This is my favorite shot of the quilt against our barn. We are working on painting this section this fall so it might not have as much “character” in photo shoots next year.
I really enjoyed making a pillow for my mom last month using the Sizzix “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul” die. You can see it here. The blocks in the pillow finished at 4 1/2″. I couldn’t quite see myself making a larger quilt with curved blocks that size so I decided to try the Pro die that finishes at 9″. You do need the Big Shot Pro machine to cut this die because it is a 12″ die. The blocks are constructed exactly the same so you can refer to my pillow tutorial for directions.
This time, I made 20 blocks-2 from each of the fabrics in the Dreammaker colorway. I used a number of different prints for the orange peel like sections including: Moda grunge in black and grey; Robert Kaufman Essex in grey, steel and yarn dyed black from Marmalade Fabrics; Madrona road memoir (purchased from Fresh Squeezed but now only available there in bundles also found at Sew Fresh, Fat Quarter Shop and Sew Me a Song) in both black and white, and Kona Ash.
I added borders–about 8″ on the top and right and 12″ on the left and bottom. The resulting quilt top is about 46″ x 65″. The sashing is Kona Pepper which you can find at Marmalade Fabrics if I left Tammy with any. I used it on the back too so this quilt is heavily peppered, ha, ha, ha.
As you can see from the back, I went a little crazy free motion quilting. I think I was inspired by Angela Walter’s talk at the recent Boston Modern Quilt Guild meeting. I just tried to channel my inner Angela Walters and went for it on my home machine. I attempted her swirl pattern on the Kona Pepper sections using a black thread. Then I quilted inside of each Robbing Peter to Pay Paul block. I used different designs for each block and thread that blended best with the quilt top. Some are wavy lines, some are leaves, a feather like design, a couple of double loops and I followed the fabric pattern for another, oh, and I echoed the shape of the block for others. I tell you, I am taking my “improving my free motion quilting skills” goal seriously. Hopefully it will pay off! I do love the texture. While quilting I noticed every flaw in my work but a little time distance and physical distance and I am pretty happy with it.
I love the color of the top center print in this photo-it’s called Wild Heart Spirited. I wanted to use that color for the binding so I chose Oval Elements in Amethyst and it was perfect! With all the black, it needed the touch of softness at the edges.
I just noticed that Rock ‘n Romance is now in stock at the Fat Quarter Shop if you are interested in fat quarter bundles.