Modern Quilt: Terrible Twinkle

Got the first 3 quilts back from Frances...my Dino quilt from about a year ago (yeah, only just finished), the Tula Pink Salt Water quilt and the modern style stars quilt.

Here's what the stars quilt looks like all finished. I ended up naming it "Terrible Twinkle" which is a quilt name I've been wanting to use a while.  Long story, but the abridged version is that a few years ago, I was in an accident that pretty well destroyed my lower back.  A genius at Kings Dominion while I was on vacation in Virginia decided to put two people down a water slide at once...we met in the middle and the impact was 100% to my lumbar vertebrae.  I have never in my life been in more pain than in that moment, it was intense.  Well, after being pat on the head and sent home by the ER, I flew back home in incredible pain.  After 3 days the pain got worse and I gave in and went to the doctor, who aside from popping my leg back in joint (who knew?) gave me vicodin.  Let me preface this by saying...I hate taking pain killers. Hate. Vicodin does two things to me - makes me sick to my stomach in a big way, and makes my brain fly away, two sensations that I am not a big fan of.  Well, I got bored and went back to work the next day, but I hadn't taken the painkiller yet. I ended up in so much pain mom twisted my arm into taking the meds, and monitoring me to make sure I didn't get too ill.  So she put me in a spinny chair and had me roll around putting patterns away.  I was a total looney toon, and as I was putting the stuff away (in weird flippin' places) I misread a pattern called "Twinkle Twinkle" as "Terrible Twinkle."  I remember laughing myself even stupider, and interestingly, because I am apparently easily amused, I still think it's hilarious.  So now my wonky star quilt is called terrible twinkle.  Bravo, vicodin!

Cabins in the Stars

Here is one of those current projects I mentioned a couple posts ago. This one is called Cabins in the Stars by Rita Fishel in her book Everyday Quilts. I loved it, and it's outside of the box for me. You know how I feel about piecing...I usually stick with applique when I can help it. But this one, basic though it is, really called to me and I had just the fabrics in mind. Consider of course the fluorescent lighting in my house and the camera phone, but the colors are much more intense than shown. The pink really glows next to the purple and copper metallic.

Rita Fishel's book. It's a really good one, lots of beautiful, versatile patterns.

This is the pattern I'm doing. I know it's hard to see but it's basically Log Cabin blocks and Variable Stars. It goes to show how color placement and block arrangement can make a simple pattern spectacular!

This is that pink/purple (both batiks) combination in the log cabin. Where you see the orchid purple in the pink is actually a really electric pink in an otherwise magenta and rust batik. It really is a stunning piece in person, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw that shock of glowing pink in there.

Again, it's hard to tell but the center fabric (a batik) isn't that dull. It has the purple, magenta and copper in there so it really pulls everything together. The background is a deep chocolate brown (not a batik) and that copper (Also not a batik, it's Fairy Frost in "Coin" by Michael Miller) really makes the log cabin and center fabric just pop.

As you can see, I did mix batiks and regular quilting cottons together in this quilt. Usually I opt for one or the other, but in this case the subtle prints in the browns and the Fairy frost really offset the batiks well. As far as sewability, they sew together just fine! I have to say, I LOVE the way batiks sew. They press nice and flat, they don't ravel as much...Beauteous.

Since I'm on Mom-mandated day off from work today, I'm going to try and get this done. Oh, and I'm teaching my roomate how to sew too! I'm excited for her to start :D Mo' quilting buddies, mo' betta'!