No. 18
53" x 40"
I love this one so much! The saturation of color, the shapes, the theme. It all rocks!
Making it, I encountered a lot of delays.
1. The color palette drove me crazy. The first thought was to make the background out of the orange and pink on the left, but I didn't have enough fabric. Wanting to get started as soon as possible, I drove to a local quilt shop to search for something else I could use, or possibly they might have more of what I already had? They did not. I opted to make the background out of the 'so pink it's almost red' and another saturated but lighter pink--the two colors on the right side. However when I got home, I didn't like them as much as I thought I would.
Then I realized it might be really good with both color sets! Yeah, let's do that!!
Then I ran out of the orange and pink on the left, got out my color swatches, and ordered some more of the same fabric. Then I had to wait for it to be shipped. Agonizing wait!!
So, I started making the blocks, and ........eventually the new fabric arrived! And, the colors were different! Nuts!!
Ultimately, I realized that the new colors were lighter, just barely, and would be PERFECT as the background under the light rays, right in the middle. Standing back, and looking at the journey of sourcing fabrics I wanted, the universe had other plans, and this assemblage landed in my lap. And, I believe it is so much better than what I thought I wanted.
And, this theme played out 2 more times before I finished.
2. I thought the light rays had to be white. White in that spot looked so bad and I couldn't resolve what my head thought and what my eyes saw. My next thought was yellow. Wrong again. Then I tried something less conventional than what my brain wanted, and the light aqua blue looked amazing!!
The last one...
3. I wanted a specific shade of red for the binding. I only had a small scrap of it. The only other red I had enough of was the wrong color--too orangey. So I dug out my samples again, and ordered the red. And, I did not get the memo. That Missouri Star sends crap damaged fabric. Which after significant effort I managed to get a refund for the fabric, but not for the shipping. I emailed 2 times, no response to either email. Then I gave them a bad review. After a week they reached out, and told me to email them for help. Um...nope, not falling for that again. I guess they wanted me to believe that if they were going to ignore me for the first 2 emails, I should trust them to do what is right for the 3rd email? Suffice to say, I will not be doing business with them again.
The fabric they sent was faded in a grid pattern, so by definition, not a SOLID color. Very irritating.
Lessons learned: Stop making drama for myself. Expect the unexpected. And, sometimes the wrong color is the right one!
Stitching the HST blocks.
Repeat many many times, and stitch the blocks together.
Then play with them before committing...because why not? oooh, fun!!
Then quilt the whole quilt. (You can see the minimal stitching below)
Then it is ready for applique!! Yeass!
I typically cut freezer paper in the shape of the finished piece to iron to the back side. With scissors, I cut out the fabric 1/4 " larger for the turned under seam. Next, fold the the seams under, using the paper as a guide, and press in place. Pull off the paper and hand baste the turned under edges. Pin to the quilt, and hand applique.
This piece uses the last 2 humps cut out from No. 9. They were re-sized and re-shaped for this quilt. 
Next up, quilting the appliqued pieces, and marking the quilting lines. The big lamp humps were marked with 1/4" masking tape. The marking for the necks of the lamps was different. It probably would have been easier to just use a marking pencil, but I have had experiences that were difficult to get the marking pencil out...so.
I pressed freezer paper on top of the neck. And, then traced the shape with a blue pencil. Next was to draw the lines I wanted to stitch.
I pulled the freezer paper off, and cut it to shape, and then pressed it back on.
Then I added the 1/4" masking tape to the edges and marked the points to where the stitching would come.
Then I removed the freezer paper again, left the masking tape in place, and started stitching straight lines to each point. Again, overly complicated...
Finishing up with the orange thread directly on the neck. You can also see the quilting lines on the lamp shape in this photo! It looks so good!! I am happy!
The last part to show you is the overly complicated hanging sleeve. I don't know why. I cut out a bunch of different pinks and stitched them together.
I think maybe I wasn't ready to be finished with this one yet? And now that it is finished, I am happy to have it hanging on a wall, and enjoying looking at it every day!
