I am very comfortable in my obsession with all things Violet Craft. Like her patterns are beyond bananas. So fresh and modern and smart, which basically described Violet as well. Plus she’s basically my neighbor (and by neighbor I mean she lives 45 minutes away). So when she created this Elevated Abstractions Foundation Paper Piecing pattern that is a spot on replica of Mount Hood, I haaaaaad to make it.
Since this is a mountain I only get to see when it’s sunny in Portland, I knew that I wanted to make an au naturel version. So I went to my stash of Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Elements and pulled out all the colors that fit this vision. Sun lit skies have a natural gradient that lightens as you get closer to the horizon, so when I noticed that the pattern had the potential for that built in I opted for that instead of a solid sky.
I think it was raining the day I started so I began with the sun because that’s how my brain works. And legit I felt very energized after.
Next I built the foreground and the mountain, overlapping the colors the resembled what I saw in nature. The result was quite magical I think because when I was done I was like oh em gee that’s what I see!!!
Next stop: quilting this bad boy. As I often do with quilting decisions, my brain became flooded with all these neato ideas that would look rad. But then the ideas overwhelmed me to a standstill and I couldn’t decide for months. So finally I just moved forward with my standby of narrow horizontal lines using Aurifil 50wt Ermine which I know will always look awesome sauce and helps move a project from perpetual WIP to the done column.
For the binding, I knew that I wanted to pull from the colors in the sun, so I held each color up to the edge and landed on Honey, which is a brownish mustard color and looked amazing around all the colors in the quilt. And Aurifil Mustard 50wt was the perfect complement for topstitching the binding.
And as soon as I was finished, the sun came out and stuck it up on my fence and snapped this picture. Oooooooh…..
Aaaand to add to the fun, I’ll be teaching this pattern at Fabric Depot in Portland on October 1st and November 5th.
Gorgeous. Great thinking on the gradient sky. It really adds to the design! The whole thing is simply beautiful.
Wow! I simply adore your quilt. It is just breathtaking! Way to go! Gosh I wish Oregon was a little closer to Florida so I could take your class.
You did a fabulous job. Violet will be proud.
Very pretty!
Wonderful interpretation of Violets pattern. Your class is on my calendar and I’m ready to sign up!!
I’m tempted, but chicken (no offense to chickens out there)~I will keep an eye out for the class and see how I feel when it’s time to register. I love your version of this~as well as Violets!
Beautiful quilt as always!
Please share how you sitich your binding with one run through the machine! ?
I registered for the Nov 5 class at Fabric Depot and am still waiting for the supply list to be emailed. Will that be coming soon?
It should come from Fabric Depot. I’ll reach out to find out more.
Ok thanks!
The colors you chose were spot on (and in the right “spots” to show the mountain’s light and dark areas). I smiled when reading about your tendency to get overwhelmed by ideas of how to quilt a project — you’re not alone in that area! I’ve been known to let projects sit for longer than a few months while I face indecision like that. A wonderful teacher once advised that we should be thinking about how to quilt our project the whole time it’s under construction. Hmmm. Good advice I wish I could follow!
Oh no I didn’t see the class sign up and missed it!! I’m not surprised it’s already all filled up- what a lovely piece! Hoping you’ll teach it again sometime in the future 🙂
Are you thinking of doing this class again? I just found this pattern, and your blog. I love this quilt just the way you made it!