Monday, July 29, 2019

Vintage Lily is A Lovely Finish

Here we go with another good finish! Vintage Lily is all wrapped up except for the label and I only do those once a year. Make a nice big stack and just attack them all at once! A little surprising, but there's just something about this quilt that makes me feel a little bit possessive of it.
Vintage Lily is a completion!
My oldest daughter has already been making noises about taking off with this one and I'm like, 'No, this is MY quilt, back off already!' Which is so funny because I know good and well how as time goes by, there will be others that I like just a wee bit better. Isn't that how it works? Always assuming that I keep quilting of course!
Loving the different red values
This quilt was made with one of Sujata Shah's free-pieced block formula's from her 'Cultural Fusion' book. I took the square-in-a-square block and cut the corners smaller so as to have the look of a snowball block instead. The thing about making the snowballs with this method, is that all the blocks will have the same four fabric corner triangles instead of mixing them up per block. With this quilt, it probably helps tone down any extra busyness, so I don't mind at all.
Lily centerpiece
I did try to orient some of the conversation print blocks 'right side up', but didn't get too obsessive about it. There is one of the larger tulip print blocks in the far left corner {don't think I caught any pics of it tho} that does drive me a little crazy. Yep, my perfectionist traits still pop up even though I've been trying to stomp them out for years and years now. At least in regards to quilting. Ha!
Looking across the quilt
I second guessed adding in the few black blocks but thought the quilt needed the depth. Antique quilt often have an unexpected color that for whatever reason seems to emphasize the main color scheme. You might not even 'see' the random color when first looking at the quilt, but upon studying it, think, 'Hmm... that's an interesting color addition!'. Though this particular mix of colors is not the traditional red, white and blue, it does tend to read that way at a quick glance and the black, in my opinion, keeps the quilt from looking shallow.

Can quilts actually look shallow? They can definitely look uninteresting or one dimensional. I always look for a combination of ideas/elements that will draw someone into {or over} to my quilt. Something that makes them want to take a deeper, longer look than they otherwise would be inclined to. See, it's a compliment even if non-quilters say things like, 'Hey, she's really obsessed about quilting, but you know, her quilts do look pretty cool'. As for quilters, I will never mind things like, 'Her stuff really isn't my style, but I like her quilts regardless.' Interest is interest is interest, right? The best comments are the sincerely given 'I love it, looks amazing etc.,' but we gotta be realistic. Not everyone is as fascinated by quilting as we are!
The side of the quilt
I'm very happy with the way the edges of the quilt look. Cutting all those snowball blocks in half at the edge of the quilt was a very good decision. There's just something about this quilt that still makes me question the proportions. Could it have used another row at the bottom of the quilt to elongate the quilt and give it a slightly better feel? I did play around with that idea and could never 100% decide that it was a better choice. Ended up accidentally sewing extra rows onto the sides of the quilt, knowing for sure that was a bad move immediately after viewing it! Chopping off the sides {to scale?}, was the best that I could come up with other than adding on a border, and that just didn't seem necessary. Though I love and adore borders, not every quilt actually needs one and I'm so relieved to have gained the maturity to finally recognize that particularly important insight.*wink
Loving this one so much!
Just because I'm me and it's fruit season. Had to brag about our first real taste of fresh peaches for the summer! My sister texted me yesterday evening with a cryptic line of  'have some peaches, biscuits and whip'. Okay. Not a huge fan of biscuits with fresh fruit, but this was my sister who has been known to make some amazing desserts. Mouth watering, drool worthy desserts barely being mentioned and off we went hoping to get there before it was all demolished.
How many times can I 'Like' it? lol
I stole this picture off of her later Instagram post just to tease you a little. The biscuits were some kind of dessert biscuit, loaded with real butter and chopped pecans. The peaches were very fresh, the taste so rich and flavorful, it was actually a bit mind boggling! Everyone knows that the first crops in our area aren't usually the best of the best, but wowsers! So yummy! The whip was her famous, sorta-secret recipe for whipped cream that includes a little bit of yogurt mixed in, and well...., lets just say the entire concoction was a huge hit! Yay for peach season! 'Course now I'm thinking about fresh peach cobbler. You'd never know I have been earnestly striving to NOT gain weight this whole year! Yikes! Don't know how I'm ever gonna survive this years fruit harvest without some ridiculous backsliding.

18 comments:

  1. This quilt is anything but "shallow." It has amazing depth, no doubt much enhanced by your hand quilting, but the colors and placement are spot-on! A wonderful finish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. peaches are very popular here also as there are a lot of peach orchards in the state this looks pretty good - I just might whip up a batch of sweet biscuits with chopped up pecans and make my own - great quilt by the way

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this quilt, it's got that very real vintage vibe happening! The colours work well together... especially with the little added darker touches! I'm just about to cut my hexi/star blocks in half along two edges, can't see any other way around this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your quilt! You always come up with such original and interesting quilts!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Vintage Lily is a hit with me. The colors suit me and certainly the design. Tell your daughter that you'll leave it to her in the will. Or that you will show her how to make her own.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fun finish on your quilt. I think a little quirkiness is great. That peach dessert makes me wish that I lived in "peach country"!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't know what to say that I haven't already said before. Your quilting is always a journey you take us all on. It's full of twists and turns but you willingly lead us along until we all have reached the end of the trail. This quilt is really special - I don't blame you for wanting to hang on to it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely! Love the lily quilt! You are amazing and I always love to see what you are creating. mbbaker35@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a beautiful quilt! I know I really like a quilt when I can't stop looking at it, and keep asking myself questions like... how did she do that?! I had to make the photos as large as I could on the computer to study the details.
    It's so true that we usually like the quilt we have finished most recently the most... so maybe your daughter can have it after you finish the next one you really love!?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your quilt! The prints, color combo, and your applique are SEW SWEET!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely quilt. I'm curious about your snowballs. Did you press the seams toward the triangles or did you press them open?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for inspiring just the perfect layout I was kinda like knocking around in my head for all of my circle blocks from the 365 Circle Along. This Vintage Lily is so lovely and please can I use this idea to make my own?

    ReplyDelete
  13. We've had some fabulous Palisade peaches here. locally grown are so good
    I love every glimpse of your snow all's and must make some myself. Congrats on a beautiful finish.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's a great finish, and I love the colors. The addition of black such a good idea. I too really appreciate those "maverick" additions in antique quilts. Peaches - yum.

    ReplyDelete
  15. An awesome finish. Don't you think that when a quilt looks shallow it lacks contrast and enough differences in value. Even a monochromatic quilt can still have depth. Love what you do.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Congratulations on your finish with Vintage Lilly - a real stunner!

    ReplyDelete
  17. LOVE your quilt, yes, it is a KEEPER! Oh, and that idea for adding plain yogurt to whipped cream, YUM! My mouth is salivating at the thought

    ReplyDelete
  18. I started cutting a snowball quilt yesterday! I do love your piecing method, I'll have to pull out Sujata's book for a refresher and see what you referenced. Now that I've seen yours, I may have to add some more excitement to mine. Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting! I love getting comments and always try to respond via email. Please leave an email in the comment to ensure a return reply! {Many of you are popping up as Anonymous for some reason, so I have no idea who it is.} Regardless, I appreciate all the comments and read every single one.