Friday, July 17, 2015

my small world -top complete





When I first saw this beautiful quilt made by the amazing JenKingwell, "my small world", splashed all over IG after Spring market, I HAD to have one!



I didn't realize there was a pattern.  It is printed in the QuiltMania Spring issue 2015.  Read more about that here.

I just thought she'd put all her "left-overs" into a quilt.  
So, I quickly took off what I had on my design wall, and pulled out all my left-overs and scraps.  


I wanted there to be the same over-all look, so I had to sort my left-overs and scraps into 2 piles, traditional and the whimsical "candy-colored".  I'm more comfortable sewing with the later of the two.






Within an hour or so, my clean, organized sewing room looked like this:
(and unfortunately, stayed like this for weeks during the designing process)




I started by taking a few pieces and putting them up on the design wall, until I liked what I saw.  Then I'd work with a few more pieces.  It was like putting a puzzle together.  Arranging and re-arranging until I liked what I saw.  (some of these bad pictures were taken at night)





Columns started to form as I put left-over blocks together and I realized that I was looking at a city skyline.  Notice the contrasting colors, shapes and sizes next to each other, balancing with different values of color.


I really wanted to use all the left-overs and scraps that I could so below the columns, I started putting odds and ends together.


This was such a liberating quilt to make because there was no pattern, not even an "end in mind" for a while, just raw designing, creating.



 I knew that I wanted a "portrait" shaped quilt where as JenKingwell's quilt is a landscape version, to be hung.  So, I took off this strip along the right . . . plus it just didn't seem to look right.





After I was 75% settled, it was time to start on the sky.  I started with a small pieced sun (this was the only part that wasn't already pieced, but I did use scraps)







I realized that I'd have to add sky to all my columns and make them the same height before sewing the columns together.




Sections started coming together.



I worked, finishing pieces and sewing them together until the sections became larger and larger.  Pretty soon, there were just 5 or 6 sections!  It was so exciting to finally see it coming together.




"My" small world looks different from JenKingwell's.  I love to quilt with linear lines, and larger shapes.  So, that's what my world looks like.  I do like that Jen's has lots more curves than mine, which tells me I need to broaden my horizons, and step out of my comfort zone some.

Finished:














What would "your" little world look like if you put all your "left-over" blocks together?  What tends to you prefer?  What designs speak to you?

If you want to see the quilts where any of these blocks came from, just click on "finished quilts" at the top of my blog and you will quickly be able to find the matching quilt.



linked:



22 comments:

  1. Holy moly!!! This is really wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW !
    Larger shapes, larger quilt ?
    Really, really like your version : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. love all the Sweetwater scraps!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your little world. It looks amazing. I think my favorite part is the bicycle in the sky. If I were to make one, it would probably be more like the pattern just because I don't have left over blocks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh that is so beautiful! I love your little world, especially the chevron tower! The original version is stunning and I've been hankering after it, so I'm really glad to see that it's possible to simply take the inspiration and make your own!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is amazing. I love your version. I picked up the magazine that the Small World pattern is in but after seeing your version I think I'll just make my own up. Unfortunately I don;t have any small blocks in my orphan block box. I'll have to make some up in readiness

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cool, love it and the whole process to construct/complete ...

    ReplyDelete
  8. If I put all my leftover blocks together my little world would be the size of a small playground. I need to do more finishing and less starting.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Holy smokes! I love your version. So very cute

    ReplyDelete
  10. It has come together so well and looks great.
    Lovely to watch it grow.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love this! What a fun creative process!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, this is incredible! I'm amazed by your awesome sun and I love the skinny little clock tower.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is amazing! Thanks for showing us how it came together.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love this. It's like a little fairy tale village!! Congratulations - well done!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That's fabulous! I love that you used what you had and I really love your sunshine!

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's great to see the process you went through in making your quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is fantastic. It just goes to show that sometimes it's great to trust yourself and go for it!! I almost like your quilt better than the inspiration one.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hola soy de Uruguay. Quisiera mucho hacerme de este patron. Podrian pasarmelo ?? Aca no lo conseguimos!! Gracias

    ReplyDelete
  19. There are so many blogs on My Small World but no one had the fun you did.
    That's the way I want to do it. Thank You

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hola, que buena historia. Como puedo conseguir los moldes de mi pequeño mundo. Me entusiasma mucho, quiero hacerlo. Gracias

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love what you did with this idea of My Small World. I just saw the pattern for the first time a couple of weeks ago and also knew right away I had to have it. Have my blocks mostly done now and working on the sky. So many options. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments.