Saturday, August 31, 2013

Finished: Flowers Over Falls - Simply Solids Bee Quilt

Yeah, I fell off the face of the earth again.  It's been a slice.  I'll spare you the details.

I have a few things I've been meaning to share and I'll get to them.  I truly want to catch up on all the things I've missed - and I have missed you all and your projects and your wit and your insights.  I have just been incredibly unplugged this summer, and I think that's a good thing. Back to teaching on Tuesday so I imagine my routines will start coming back slowly but surely. (And I owe more than a few emails....)

I HAVE managed to finish my Simply Solids Bee quilt.  June was my month and while one bee member dropped out, an awesome block friend from UK (Hi, Susan!) offered to make one for me.  SO cool!!
One must always have a tall person in the family - thanks, bro!

My concept for this quilt was the idea of flowers and twigs heading over a waterfall.  Each of my bee mates got two shades of blue, two squares of orange, a strip of tan (all Kona) and instructions to improv-piece an abstract block that measured 12.5 x 16.5". (See my post here for more details...)
And they did a beautiful job!!  I made the sashing strips and borders ( also improvised) from the scraps they sent back and spare yardage.
Then I sewed the top together - but in keeping with the improv/modern/abstract idea, I didn't use a traditional layout.  The layout actually looks like this:

All together, there are 7 blues (sky, aqua, baby blue, bahama blue, peacock, turquoise and teal), two oranges (mango and flame) and two neutrals (white and stone). There are only a few scraps of white. I tossed them in with the sky blue so that the sky blue looked blue and not white!

There was one block that I absolutely loved but try as I might, I couldn't make it work with the rest of the improv blocks.  It broke my heart until I figured I could showcase it on the back and actually build the back to echo that block.  The entire back is a reflection of that block and uses up all the leftover yardage.

It's quilted with watery lines in three shades of blue thread.

I matched the binding to the gradient I'd created with the blocks so that the quilt appears borderless.  And I'm really happy with how it turned out. To make it work, I used Flourishing Palms' french-style binding method with great success. (Thanks, Linda!)

This might be one of my favourite quilts of all time!  I'm chuffed to bits with how it turned out and I have my very talented bee mates to thank for it (though some of them wanted to kill me... Oops. :-).
Faux art-shot....  Does it look like water over rocks? hahahaha.
Flowers Over Falls is about 68x80" and contains the handiwork of the Aeneous Group of the Simply Solids Modern Bee and Susan of Canadian Abroad.

Thanks so much, you talented bunch, you!!  I'm glad I managed to get it finished for an upcoming show in October AND before my birthday today/yesterday (30th).

This is me at 35. And 35 feels lovely.

46 comments:

  1. Fantastic! Absolutely stunning quilt ( not to mention you at 35!) what an inspired and inspirational idea. Well done to initiator and executors!

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  2. What a fantastic quilt. I love your concept and the ombre effect really gives the illusion of water fall.

    Happy Birthday! You look gorgeous at 35 :-). Enjoy!

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  3. Happy birthday!! You look amazing!! And the quilt.....OMG......GORGEOUS!!! Absolutely gorgeous!!!

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  4. Happy birthday!! You look amazing!! And the quilt.....OMG......GORGEOUS!!! Absolutely gorgeous!!!

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  5. The quilt looks really great!

    Best (belated) wishes for your birthday :D

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  6. Happy birthday to you! Have a great one. I like how your quilt turned out Carly. You had quite the vision!

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  7. I LOVE this quilt. It's so cool! And happy birthday!!

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  8. Hi Carly and Happy Birthday! Beautiful photo of you! Before seing you well, I thought you are older. Wonderful age!
    Your new quilt is amazing! It is like water falling from the rocks!
    x Teje

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  9. Carly, I LOVE this! It is so unique and original. I love the graduation of colours from light blue to dark blue. What a fantastic finish. And, you look great - happy birthday!! I was 37 exactly a month ago (July 31) so we are not far off in age!

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  10. Happy birthday, Carly! I love that quilt. It totally looks like a waterfall, such a cool concept and execution.

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  11. Happy birthday!! And I'm LOVING the quilt, such a great idea, and it has come together brilliantly!!

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  12. Happy Birthday Carly! Great picture!
    I love the quilt too, you are so creative ! I am very impressed....again! 😊

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  13. Happiest birthday! That is seriously stunning - love the gradient and the floating flowers and twigs. Glad you're back in blog land :o)

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  14. This looks beautiful! You did a great job figuring out a block for a group to make...they combine really well.

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  15. Yup! This is one fantastic quilt, Carly! Congratulations, and 35 looks great on you!

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  16. Ermahgerd! The quilt looks AMAZING. Seriously. And happy belated birthday! :)

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  17. Happy Birthday! I adore that picture of you.

    That quilt is so cool! I am always so worried that bees won't turn out well. This turned out lovely!!

    (Oh and I am glad you are back!)

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  18. Carly, beautiful finish, and Happy belated Birthday

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  19. Carly, your quilt is one of the most original ideas that I have come across. I can't even imagine how you came up with the concept...but would love to know! Happy birthday, youngster!!

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  20. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite bloggers. Don't worry about falling off the grid. We all do. All the time, and then we just pick back up where we were and keep going.

    Your quilt is absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful. You should be so proud of your bee-mates and also of yourself, for thinking up such a fabulous design. I love love it.

    I hope your school year is lovely, and gets you back into the routine.

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  21. Happy Birthday! Love the quilt! I see I created my block upside down...or did I. Stunning!

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  22. Love your solids quilt...you know that already. And happy birthday! 35 is looking mighty fine on you.

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  23. Love the quilt! The overall concept is really interesting, I know you'll do we'll a t the show.

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  24. Lovely quilt but an even more lovely 35 year old you!

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  25. I love how your finished quilt turned out! It's always great when the vision comes to life. I really like the shot on the stairs. And Happy Birthday!

    beaniekins84(at)gmail(dot)com

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  26. Happy Birthday! I can't see how it's even possible that you're 35.

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  27. I'm so glad the quilt is what you dreamed. Could've been otherwise, but we've got a great bunch of bee members.
    And happy birthday! As I get older, I start to wonder why I ever thought my parents were old, and did they think they were pretty young yet when they were in their 30's? I still feel 23 :)

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  28. This quilt is the shizz and so are you. Absolutely amazing.

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  29. Every time you make something I wish I had thought of the idea. You amaze me. At least I got th chance to be a very small part of this quilt. Thank you so, so much! And a very happy (very belated) birthday to you. You look fantastic. Hope you had a great day, from someone else who fell off the grid this summer too.

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  30. I love this quilt. It looks amazing. You had a great idea and you executed it well. Happy belated birthday!

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  31. Belated Happy Birthday, you gorgeous 35 yr. old!!! Here's to a wonderful year!

    This quilt is beyond amazing, Carly. What a vision you had for making it! I'm in awe of everything that went into making it. The colours you chose, the improv blocks each of you made, the quilting and the binding that blends just perfectly. A real work of art. It's just wonderful! You and your bee mates really outdid yourselves and should be very proud of such a stunning collaborative quilt.

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  32. Happy Birthday Carly!your quilt is absolutely gorgeous! Great job!

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  33. Holy wow! This is an incrediable quilt, and I'm so impressed with how your bee mates took your vision and ran with it! Happy Birthday!

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  34. This is AMAZING!!!! Wow, wow, wow! And I agree...35 is wonderful, isn't it :)

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  35. Oh I love this, beautiful and original, great work! And happy birthday!

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  36. My jaw dropped on this one. I would never have thought of such an amazing concept. It is truly beautiful. And the back--one of my favorites ever. Happy birthday. 35, huh? It's official. You could be my daughter--our son just turned 35. I would have you gladly. But I'm more than thrilled to be friends.

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  37. Happy belated birthday, you beautiful girl! I recall being very pleased with myself at 35. It's a good age.

    Honestly, this quilt is remarkable, both in concept and technique! I'm beyond impressed! "Hey, everyone, we're in the same modern quilt guild! Yup. Me. Her. Same." Ha! I only hope that some day I might create any quilt with even half the originality in it as the ones Carly creates!

    BTW ... I didn't pin this one to my "quilt it" board. I pinned it to my "quilt aspirations" board (meaning quilts I admire but will never ever be talented or patient enough to make).

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  38. What a gorgeous quilt! You simply must enter it in some shows (competitions) where modern quilts are featured. This is wonderful! You were so creative to think of gradating background blues, and the quilting design is inspired. Truly lovely work, Carly! I'm just tickled that you used my binding method. Now I'm the proud one who will say, " You know that award-winning quilt made by CitricSugar? Well, she used MY tutorial to make perfect binding!") You are so beautiful - inside and out! Thanks for sharing a picture so I feel I know you a little better. So glad you're back amongst us bloggers too.

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  39. P.S. You're just a baby. Young enough to be my daughter.

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  40. That is crazy awesome, and 35 is lovely!

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  41. Happy belated birthday Carly!!!!! What a beautiful picture!!! Your bee quilt is just fantastic!!! Your vision for the quilt is definitely captured by your bee mates. I like the use of the different shades of blue quilting threads. Just fantastic! Congratulations!

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  42. Your quilt is so incredible! I could use some of your talent. Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful year.

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  43. Happy Belated Birthday!! you make 35 look good! (and welcome to 35, btw, sounds like I entered it 11 days before you : ) ) Absolutely love the quilt, what a beautiful concept, just love how it all came together

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  44. This is wonderful for you on the blog! I like to look again :-)

    Ajka

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  45. Thirty five IS lovely! You gorgeous thing you... :)
    That quilt is awesome, it reminds me of this mural I came across a couple years ago:
    http://www.kunamokstmural.com

    What are you going to do with it? Do you keep most of the quilts you make and actually use them? I finally started cutting out a quilt I've been planning for over three years. I'll post about it one of these days!

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