I’m so excited to share that I have finally finished Bright Sisters, my version of the Color Block quilt from 3 Dog Design. It’s been gifted to my amazing and talented sister, Sonja Stone, who loves it and will give it a good home. She writes young adult suspense novels, by the way. If you’re…
Category: Bright Sisters
Feather & Fern
I’m working my way across my Bright Sisters quilt top using a different quilting design in each color block area. For the yellow & green square-in-a-square areas, I chose this half-feather, half-fern design. Before attempting this design on the quilt, I drew variations of it on my iPad and practiced on scrap blocks. I tried…
Quilting Bright Sisters
Nearly two years after finishing the quilt top, I’m finally hip-deep in quilting Bright Sisters. This is my version of the Color Block Quilt designed by Carl Hentsch of 3 Dog Designs, which I first saw on an episode of The Midnight Quilt Show. It was love at first sight. I couldn’t wait to make…
Repairing Opened Seams at the Edge of a Quilt Top
I completed this quilt top over a year ago, but haven’t had a chance to quilt it until recently. I love the pattern, which was designed by Carl Hentsch. He calls it Color Block Solids, but I call my version Bright Sisters. It includes a lot of seams that are pressed open to keep everything…
Bright Sisters: Ready to Sandwich
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about this work in progress, what with the move and everything else — but here’s the update: the top is pieced (and in need of a good pressing, after being folded and boxed up) and I’ve got the quilting design sketched out! Here’s the finished top, wrinkles and…
Bright Sisters: Making the first block
I’m excited! All the little units are cut and pieced, and I’m ready to assemble the first block of this beautiful quilt! Just as a reminder, this is where I’m headed: And this is where I am now: Okay, so I have a ways to go. Time to dive in! Here’s what I did… Laying…
Sometimes You’re Sewing, Sometimes You’re Picking Out Stitches
“Experience: that most brutal of all teachers. But you learn, my God, do you learn.” — C.S. Lewis Uh oh. I just sewed 12 pairs of blue & purple 8″ squares together with the Magic 8 method — four seams per square — and then I cut them apart as directed — and then I…
Bright Sisters: Half-Square Triangle Units
It all starts with two 8″ squares. Bright Sisters has 320 half-square triangle (HST) units (3.5″ unfinished size) — not my favorite unit to cut and piece. Luckily for me, I discovered the Magic 8 Method (thank you, Karen Walker!) before I even bought the fabric for this quilt and I was able to plan…
Bright Sisters: Drunkard’s Path Units
I made 160 curved units without using a single pin. Here’s how: The Long Version Bright Sisters, the colorblock quilt I’m making for my sister, contains 160 curved patches (drunkard’s path units). On these units, the edge of the circle comes within 1/4″ of the edge of the block, meaning that the circle should be…
Bright Sisters: Nine-Patch Units
There are 80 nine-patch units (3.5″ unfinished size) in the Bright Sisters quilt. I used a traditional strip-piecing method to create them: The strips (and most of the units and pieces photographed here) are lying on my beloved Magic Pressing Mat. It’s a compressed felt mat that sits on my ironing board and gives me…
Bright Sisters: Cutting the first fabrics
The first cut into freshly washed and pressed fabric is both terrifying and thrilling. I get over the terror by focusing on how much I want to make the quilt top. This one took a lot of focus, even though I kept telling myself if I totally screwed it up, the solid fabrics I’m working…
Bright Sisters begins
I’ve been watching The Midnight Quilt Show on YouTube featuring the marvelous Angela Walters (Quilting Is My Therapy) and I fell in love with the quilt featured in this episode the minute I saw it: The pattern is called Color Block Drunkard’s Path and was designed by Carl Hensch (3 Dog Design). It’s available on Craftsy….