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Thursday, May 15, 2014

gradient fill :: layer cake (along) sampler


It's hard to believe that almost three months have gone by since Amanda @ Material Girl Quilts wandered into my office (yep, we're irl coworkers!) and asked what I thought about a Layer Cake Sampler she'd just designed.   Within no time, she had whipped up not only the original, but a second version of that beauty, and then drafted something like a dozen posts for the QAL.  I—on the other hand—worked at, um, a snail's slightly different pace.


When I got Malka Dubrawsky's "From Outside In" in hand, I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed by all the color.  Totally infatuated, don't get me wrong, just a little a bit intimidated by the fact that this lovely line involved contrasting (!) color ways.  (Resident analogous designer here.)  So I did the first thing I thought to do:  color sorted a gradient from red to yellow to green to blue.  And then pulled my all-time favorite oakshotts (the tan/brown earth element series), cut them into 10" squares, and sorted them by value.  You know, to ground all those vibrant colors :o)


Starting off with the lightest oakshotts—natural/beige—in the red corner, I paired up those earthy tones with the colorful layer cake squares until the darkest browns reached the blue corner.  After that, I sewed and cut each pair into eight HSTs.  (Evidently I was operating with at least some sense of urgency back then.)

Fast forward to mid-May... and after one (sweatshop) weekend those 320 HSTs were pressed, trimmed, and ready for a whole 'nother round of sorting (my favorite pastime?).


And just like that, I had a spiffy new quilt top.


...That is really quite large.


...and has somewhat astonishingly matchy points.


Now... how to quilt it?


Linking up with Amanda, who has some pretty sweet prizes for the QAL link up this weekend, and crazy mom quilts for my first May finish!

33 comments:

  1. What a clever idea, doing gradation across the entirety of the quilt! I wouldn't have thought to use all those different neutral oakshotts with those brights. It worked wonderfully, though I would have been skeptical prior to seeing how great the blocks, and the finished quilt look. Awesome and original!

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  2. Stop it, just stop it! I can't handle the truth!

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  3. You are, hands down, one of the best quilt bloggers out there at the moment. Love your creativity. (Better than my IG comment?)

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  4. Very cool! Some of the brownish oakshotts look like they are made of suede! Wish I could see this quilt in real life :)

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  5. wow! those gradients are just fantastic! love it!

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  6. What an inspired and stunnign creation. I just love how you have used those gradients. Magnificent.

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  7. Hi Sarah! Just beautiful and fantastic! You are very talented and had a great idea to MIX the colours with 'earth' solids! So beautiful design! x Teje

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  8. Love the designs. The gradient HST is as pretty as the one with the finished blocks. What a great way to tone down some extra bright materials.

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  9. oh my goodness! I just love how you can sort colors and do gradient. the pop of blue next to yellow is making me a bit nervous but I get it. not easy to sort fabrics when they have contrasting print :) you created another jaw dropping piece! well done.

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  10. I agree, the process is really clever. Sometimes I wonder about how people make gradients (i.e., make blocks first and then sort, or sort then make blocks). I tend to be more 'fly by the seat of my pants', but this process is really intriguing, and you have a beautiful result!

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  11. I am seeing but I just can't fathom that process you took to get this quilt. This is so clever. I think you could easily do a qal or a tutorial of this process because I think it is brilliant and I am not sure I could do it without coaching. Wow. Love this so much.

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  12. Wow....I never would have thought of using varied colored solids....and I love it! Yet another reason to love technology and the ability to share different creations. Amazing!!

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  13. Great job! Very creative on the grading aspect. well done!

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  14. That looks so special, you will never tire of looking at this

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  15. The gradient gives such vibrancy to this quilt. And I particularly love the bright blue splash coming down from the top right--really gorgeous!

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  16. What a cool idea for a gradient background! It's gorgeous. I never realized that all of those arrangements are all made out of HSTs. Looks like I have some studying to do!

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  17. That is very cool. I have seen plenty of gradient quilts -- but never a sampler. Good job.

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  18. Wow. I love it. Thank you for showing me your process for managing the color. I think you are genius. And, I think the pattern is pretty clever, too. On my way to her site to buy the pattern now. :)

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  19. I'm not a big fan of this kind of fabrics, but I love them on your quilt!

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  20. Wow, the effects of this are quite dramatic! I love it! You are so good with color.

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  21. wow, just wow!! somehow i think it was a bit longer than "just like that" this quilt was born. you must have an eternal amount of patience for all that sorting and perfect color gradient. the oakshotts give it so much texture i want to touch it and see it in real life!! amazing!!!

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  22. LOVE! The gradient is gorgeous and I do really like the pattern. Great job, can't wait to see how you quilt it.

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  23. So pretty - I'm such a sucker for a good gradient!

    This one kinda reminds me of a polaroid as it's developing....

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  24. I saw this on instagram and wondered how you created the gradient, it's so pretty and so creative..love it!

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  25. I love the double gradient you have going on in this one! :) And your use of neutrals. I'm supposed to write a neutrals post this month, but keep running out of time. But when I get around to it, I may bug you to borrow your photo as an example image. :)
    Beautiful work as always, and good luck figuring out the quilting!

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