Friday, March 12, 2010

Pemberly Lane

I started a new quilt. What a shocker. I took February as a break from actually quilting, although I was guilty of purchasing fabrics and cutting them, preparing for when March would come and I would be back to quilting. This new quilt I am terming "Pemberly Lane".

When my friend picked out the red fabric, she declared that she had no desire to know what it was actually called. From now on, she stated, it would be called Pemberly. The cream fabric, which is a little harder to make out, is from Andover fabrics and comes with different colored blossoms on it. These ones are blue.

This quilt began with a photograph carefully pulled from an old magazine, Town and Country perhaps? The original design was in red and green, like Christmas, and the fabrics were solids, not patterns. After sketching it half a dozen times, I realized that it was a nine-patch variation,  a very similar to what I now know as a single Irish Chain (I realized this a month later). So, not knowing this, I had to write up my own pattern. Unfortunately, this requires math *trembles*.

The red fabric is from a line of Mary Koval's reconstruction fabrics, which are incredibly difficult to find. At least this particular pattern is when I realized I needed more than I purchased (have I mentioned how terrible I am at math?). I even went so far as to email Ms. Koval. However, she only had it in blue. So, we'll end up integrating some other red fabric along the edges. Hopefully one just as fabulous.

I started strip piecing this yesterday, loving the weight of the fabric in my hands and the smoothness of it sliding under the pressure foot.
I'll post more as I progress.

Off to drop my friend off at the car doctor and then to pizza and a movie with a dear dear friend of mine.
Toodles.