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Saturday, March 7, 2015

Mustang in the Sky with Diamonds

I am married to a man who looks remarkably similar to John Lennon, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I often have a Beatles soundtrack running through my head. I won't embarrass him by posting it, but I have a picture of him taken at LaGuardia airport after returning from a study abroad semester and backpacking trip across Europe. Pea green army coat, shaggy dark hair...you get the idea.


I was feeling pretty proud of myself when I had all the quilt blocks up on the design wall, so I dragged "John" in to take a look.

"Like it?" I asked, smiling at him expectantly. "I am going to name it 'Mustang in the Sky with Diamonds' after that Beatles..."

"...LSD song?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

Oh.

He may have a point.


I started with the idea that I wanted to do another Mustang quilt, but this time with a more pop art feel (my first Mustang quilt was pretty western). I started with the idea for oversize diamonds, so I drew out this block on paper and made myself cutting templates. I chose fabrics from my stash in citron, orange, violet, teal and emerald in a quick burst of inspiration, but then stalled when I went to choose a background color. Finally I had a "what if" moment and laid out a block with a citron background. I am ashamed to say that my first thought was, "People are going to hate this!" Redemption came when I laughed and did it anyway. I added indigo blue to the mix for a little gravitas and went with it.


I went with it on the fabrics, too. I didn't buy one piece of fabric for this quilt. I chose fabrics from my stash for the color alone, so I have some interesting combinations. Unicorns, bees, text, arrows, flowers, ships, stars, pins...it kind of makes me want to burst into song just thinking of it!

"Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes."


 My favorite part of the process was quilting it. I chose to quilt it in a large "greater than" pattern that used the angles of the pieced diamonds as a guide. I experimented with color and thread and I ended up with a very cool texture.  I used a combination of 50 wt. and 12 wt. Aurifil threads for the top in a variety of colors (4093, 2150, 5015, 2235, 1148, 2588, 2535, 5005, 5018). I varied the width of the quilting by subdividing lines, and then sometimes subdividing again. I used a 90/14 needle and fiddled with the tension a little bit for the 12 wt. thread, but had no problems running it through the machine. 


I backed it with Washi, by Rashida Coleman-Hale.


....and just in case it isn't in your head already, here is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Linking up to Monday MakersMain Crush MondaySew Cute Tuesday, Let's Bee Social and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.



26 comments:

  1. Good job going with it~it looks great! I enjoyed your story of its creation :)

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  2. What a great quilt! I love how you shopped your stash and especially how you did it regardless if other people would like it or not. I love it! Its funky and fun and I can't help but sing along.

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    1. I'm glad it's not just me!! I've been humming that song non-stop the last few days.

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  3. Awesome; I love the citron background. The diamonds really do pop and the name and even a bit of a trippy reference work well for the quilt. :) I haven't been brave enough to try 12wt thread, and it is good to hear it worked so well for you here.

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    1. Buying the 12 wt. is definitely a slippery slope...you'll start putting it everywhere too! "Trippy reference." LOL. Those are two words I never expected to use when I started blogging about quilts!

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  4. Magnificent quilt .
    Lucy in the Pie with diamonds ... as it were.

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    1. Thanks Marsha! If only I had waited to publish until the 14th...we could have completed the "pi" e trifecta. Ha!!!

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  6. Love, love your quilt and the photo of your quilt holder.

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    1. Thank you! That shot of my husband was unexpected (I didn't know his arms were tired) and I love it too.

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  7. I like your color scheme, and kudos for only hitting your stash! I do a lot of stuff from the 'gut' not caring if anyone else but me winds up liking it, and guess what? They usually do. Keep marching to your own drummer!

    Julie

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    1. Thanks, Julie. I think you are right about doing your own thing. I quilt what I like. Not that I can't push myself to try new things, but ultimately my opinion is the one that should drive my decisions. Plus, when your drummer is Ringo Starr....why not?

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  8. Funnily enough it was that background colour that caught my eye and made me click through to you! Great quilt and I love what you have done with the quilting, a bit unusual and very effective.

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    1. Thanks Kaja. I think it's fun to do something that's unusual every once in awhile. This quilt is not my normal MO at all, but I found it very liberating!

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  9. I love the citron background and, like Kaja said, it is the reason I clicked! ! I have recently been wanting to use that color as a background color, but I got a little nervous about it. :D You used it perfectly! The pattern you designed is great for showing off that cool horse print and the quilt name is absolutely perfect.

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    1. I know that feeling very, very well! I really hope you do it, Taryn!

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  10. Very nice. I really like the backing and the lines of colored accent quilting.

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    1. Thanks, Rachel. The backing is one I got on clearance last year at a quilt shop. I bought the whole bolt!

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  11. I'll be singing it all day! What a spectacular quilt, I love all the colour and that you played with thread colour also for the quilting :) Say hi to John for me - tehe :)

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    1. Will do. He needs a haircut, so he's really getting into "John" territory now! And, we've already discussed getting a Beatles compilation for our middle son's birthday because he can't stop singing it either. You're in good company there! :-)

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  12. Really crazy about that background fabric! Love acid green. Also like the diamond shapes very much - great work!

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    1. Thank you! It was a very fun quilt to make. Sometimes louder IS better, and that acid green certainly has quite the voice.

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  13. The colors are beautiful along with the different colored quilting. This is one awesome quilt.

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  14. I love this quilt! I love the horses and the background fabrics.

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  15. I'd like to use a couple of your pictures as inspiration for my do. Good Stitches charity quilt for next month - would that be ok? Of course I'd credit you and link! Thanks!

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