My friend, Angie, has written a book! Fussy Cutters Club, by Angie Wilson, is your complete guide to using your stash to express yourself. Full of bright projects and beautiful styling you'd be justified buying it just for the eye candy. But really that's just the start. It's loaded with information on using fabric with intent, both in traditional and improvisational piecing and will teach you to fussy cut with precision to create interest in your work. There are 14 great projects ranging from a simple weekend make to large detailed quilts.
Some of my favourite projects from the book include the Super Star Coasters, the 1-2 Sucker Pouch (I made one for my mum for her birthday - super quick and cute!) and the Improv-able Dream Pillow.
 |
| images courtesy of C&T Publishing |
When Angie asked me if I would make the last project in the book for this blog hop, I really couldn't say no. The quilt is called Crouching HST, Hidden Churn Dash. It is literally full of churn dashes hiding in plain sight, but the clever construction makes use of the spaces between to highlight fun fabrics. It is genius!!
 |
| image courtesy of C&T Publishing |
Angie used monochromatic blues for her version of the quilt. For something different I chose a broader colour palette in autumn tones. The low volumes I used for the background are pretty quiet, mostly greys and browns on white, which seemed to tie in with the autumn vibe.
This quilt makes use of improvisational piecing to create slabs that are framed on point. My improv skills are a little underdeveloped so this was a great chance to build some muscle in a new area. I'm a little obsessive about directional prints (all of my quilts have a 'right' way up) so I chose to cut my fussy cuts on point so they would be up the right way in my quilt.
As I pieced the flying geese for the edges of the quilt I saved the trimmings and sewed them up into extra half square triangles(HST), thinking I might make a matching pillow from them. I ended up being glad I did! I was just a few inches of backing fabric short and used my leftover HST to fill in the gap. This ended up being one of my favourite features!
As it is such a special quilt it was given the luxury of long arm quilting. It's the first time I've sent a quilt out for quilting and it really did make it extra special! These meandering flowers and butterflies were quilted by Raylee of Sunflower Quilting and they are such a great choice. I love how the quilting design echoes the prints I've used.
I really enjoyed making this quilt! The piecing is simple enough for a confident beginner but there's so much flexibilty within the design - espcially those large improv slabs - to make something really unique and personal. And as for Fussy Cutters Club? This is definitely not the last project you'll see me make from the book. Next up, A Flock of Seagulls table runner I think!
Very pretty quilt!! I also love that extra block that was added to the back when you were short. I love a pieced back..I call that a 2 quilts in 1!! Back should always be interesting even if it just highlights the quilting, but for me pieced is just more interesting!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a beautiful quilt and impressive design. The churn dashes are there - easy to find but they don't jump out, even after you went looking for them.
ReplyDeleteI love your version of the quilt. I think this is one reason enough to buy the book. This design seems very easy to adapt to any fabric line or scrap usage.
ReplyDeleteIt's a really nice quilt. I have to almost cross my eyes to make the churn dash pieces hold still. LOL I hope you come back and throw a quilt pic up on the blog now and then. I always worry when a blog just dies with no explanation!
ReplyDelete