New York Beauty

It’s done!!!  Finally, 3 years after it was started, my New York Beauty is done.  The trip to Shipshewana was the push I needed to get this done.  Why?  Because (shhh…don’t tell anyone) but I bought some fabric for a new project and told myself I had to finish a UFO before I started another project.  So, that’s why you haven’t heard much from me lately.

I’ve been seeing on other blogs The Process Pledge, where quilters discuss the process of making their quilt, so I decided to do that with this quilt.  It all started with a class at the LQS a couple of years after I started quilting.  I saw the sample for the New York Beauty on the wall and decided to make one.  This quilt was made with purchased foundation fabric from a bolt.  I believe it is a Karen Stone product and it looks like this:

All of the foundation pieces are printed on the muslin:

It’s like paper piecing, but you don’t remove the paper.  You cut out the muslin templates.  Then you sew the templates to the fabric. They give you the lines for the outer edge of the fabric and the 1/4 seam line.  You sew the fabric to the muslin in between those 2 lines.  They numbered the rays of the sun so you would know the order and the direction to sew.

  

They give you the step-by-step instructions as part of the fabric purchase.  But since I was new to the foundation piece technique (I had never paper pieced), I was glad I took the class.

They even give you a quilt label and possible quilt layouts.

The back of the quilt looks like this:

It is easy to sew, even the curved seams, because as long as you sew on the 1/4” seam lines, your quilt comes out straight and even.  And your points don’t disappear.  Did I mention no paper to remove???  The downside is that the seams are a bit thick where 2 pieces come together as you have 4 pieces of fabric instead of the usual 2.  So quilting may be a little more of a challenge.  I plan to send this one out to be quilted.

When I took the class, I had no stash (imagine that), so the LQS helped me pick out the batik fabrics.  I had a great teacher who encouraged me to not be afraid of the colors and just start making blocks.  She said I could “play” with the patterns later when I was done.  I decided that no 2 blocks were going to be the same.  When I found the overall pattern I liked after the blocks were finished, I was short by several blocks, so I added several purple batik blocks in the corners.  This worked to frame the quilt, calm it down a bit, and not take the attention from the NYB blocks.  I added a dark blue/black batik for the borders.

Since all of the NYB blocks were lined with muslin, I felt I had to line the purple blocks and the borders so the quilt would have a uniform feel to it.  The teacher even suggested that it would make a nice lightweight quilt if you didn’t use batting in the quilt.  But I think I ‘d still like to use batting.

I stitched stay-stitched the muslin to the outer border edges so it wouldn’t flop around.

Since we’re talking about the process, I had to include a picture of my helper.  He comes running when I turn the sewing machine on.  I have to put down a blanket for him, or he lays on the quilt I’m working on.

And here is the finished quilt.  Lots of colors that I wouldn’t normally put together, but it seems to work for me.

 
I’m quite happy with the finished quilt, and glad to have a UFO off my list!!  I'm also taking a cue from my friend Shirley to post something positive on my blog for the month of July.  Today, I'm glad that Google for changed Blogger so that you get a true preview of your blog before you post.

For those in the US, I hope everyone has a great 4th of July.   I love this quote by Erma Bombeck.

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. -Erma Bombeck”

It is also a day we remember to thank all of the men and women of the armed forces who have sacrificed so that we may have the freedom to enjoy this Fourth of July.  Take care, and drive safely this holiday weekend.