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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Mocha Leftovers

I'm sure everyone is familiar with this wonderful book by my friend Kim Brackett. I'm a little afraid to say this, but I must admit I was not a fan of the whole jelly roll thing when it started. Mainly because I don't like someone else making my fabric choices for me. I like to pick my own fabric for a quilt. I want my quilts to look like me. The beauty of this book is that you can cut your own stash into strips or you can use a jelly roll. This is my quilt - Mocha Swirl. It was great fun to make, and almost every piece was pulled from my stash or Kim's stash. I did have to buy some darks as I didn't have enough variety.



Here's the quilt out on my front porch the other day. I'm not the best photographer, but I guess it doesn't look too bad.
The colors really are rich and warm. I knew what fabric would be used for the border, and so I worked from the outside in, pulling the color for the blocks from that focal fabric.
This is another favorite from the book. And since I had so many strips left over, I decided to make this one. Actually, Kitchen Sink uses the exact same unit as Mocha Swirl, so it was a natural fit for all my extra units.
I call this quilt Mocha Remix. No additional fabrics were purchased except for a few more darks. I seemed to run short on fabrics that were either a deep brown or black. All the lights are the same.
One thing I realized early in my quilting journey, is that I have a hard time following directions. I almost never make the quilt exactly as it is in the pattern.

So, if you'll notice the border, I did not use any setting triangles or a border like in the original quilt. I figured the scrappier the better. I just made some double dark units and continued around the quilt. That's probably why I kept running out of the dark browns. The only problem was that these units have a bias edge.
So the very last row is cut on the straight of grain, with a diagonal seam to join the random pieces.
This quilt went to live with my sister, it was her Christmas present last year. She let me borrow it back to use in this post.

Then there's the problem of what to do with all the little corners from all the points. So I made little triangles. These are the extras still on a design board.
Here's a close up - aren't these just the best colors?? I still love them.
Here's what I have so far. The border fabric is actually the backing of Mocha Swirl. It's not quilted yet. I think it's going in a guest bathroom we've just finished renovating.
I'll share when I get it finished and hung.

I hate to even tell you I still have more strips left. I do have one more idea for the rest of the little triangles. Not sure if it will look good. I'll let you know.
Until next time,
Karen

9 comments:

QuiltSue said...

I love that book and have used several of the blocks in it to make table runners.

Your quilts are beautiful, and Mocha is one of my favourites and another thing on my "to-do" list.

Nan S. said...

All three quilts are beautiful. I'm curious about how you did the third quilt. Did you sew an extra seam before cutting off the corners or did you sew them after they were cut off? I'm making Summer Breeze from that book right now, and I've just been throwing my corners away. I guess I should be saving them to make a cute little wall hanging like yours. After all, the cutting is already done. What was the final size of the little one? You really do beautiful work!

Nicole said...

Your quilts are gorgeous! It is great for me to see them, as I am currently working on two patterns from Kim's book--Beach Cottage (using Nature's Notebook) and Kitchen Sink (using an assortment of William Morris inspired fabrics). Love her book and love your work!

Karen said...

All three are wonderful! But, I'm really loving Mocha.

Rose Marie said...

It is amazing how those scraps just don't seem to end .... but look what you got done with them .... love all those quilts!

Kim Brackett said...

All this talk about Mocha everything makes me want a cup of coffee! I love the picture on the porch swing, and I still love those quilts. So you have leftovers? What's next? It'll have to be Mocha something-or-other!

Janet said...

The patterns are great but I love the colours, they look so warm and rich. I'm not usually a brown girl but I love these.

em's scrapbag said...

Three stunning quilts. I love that you used your scraps to make the broken dishes quilt.

Litamora's Quilt & Design said...

Gorgeous quilts!!!! LOVE your Mocha quilt, and the Kitchen Sink is really looking great! I'm working on my Kitchen Sink in reproduction fabrics, but I really want to make one like yours, with darker colors. I'm also going to start my Mocha soon. Cannot make up my mind about the colors, but since it's for a young man, I thought I would follow the original kind of colors.
Like your blog a lot, so I'll link to it from mine :o)
Have a great new creative week,
Laila