The shift from blogging to instagram has been a topic discussed online for the past two years or so.
I only started this blog two summers ago and had all the intentions to keep blogging, although I’ve been on instagram longer than this blog exists. I still make a point to stage a photoshoot for all my bigger finished pieces, but I rarely write up entries any more. All the action does seem to go down on Instagram, it’s just so more convinient. And so I happen to have my hard drive full of pictures for potential blog posts.
This bigger quilt I photographed back in May, so I must have finished it around April or so. I had the top completed for almost a year, but I was so scared to put a quilt of that size under my tiny machine for quilting. When I finally pulled the plug, quilting actually went rather smoothly. Keeping the straight line quilting to a simple crosshedge pattern certainly helped that.
My idea was to keep the quilt itself monochromatic, so it would blend easily into a room that was already busy and colourfully decorated (as our living areas happen to be). All fabrics used are a shade of teal/aqua/turquiose broken up into equal parts of high and lower value.This was my first time sewing drunkard’s path blocks or curves for that matter. By the amount of blocks I made it’s pretty easy to guess that I enjoyed it ;-)
The original thought behind the pattern was a half moon, but as I progressed it didn’t have so much of a moonshine-y feel to it. Rather the colours along with the curves and edges reminded me of seaglass. This eventually evolved into the name of ‘Glass Half Full’ because a little portion of optimism can never hurt, right?
The finished quilt measures 58 x 82” after washing. Fabrics I used range from Joel Dewberry, Cotton + Steel to Lotta Jansdotter and Katy Jones’ Priory Square. The backing is from IKEA. By using the full width including the broad selvedge I avoided piecing the backing (which is one of my least favourite tasks in quilting). For batting I used Warm + White.
And when it came to bind this quilt (which in turn is my favourite part) I felt the whole thing was in bad need of a pop of colour. I think my eyes must have been saturated by teal at that point. I had enough Kona Cactus left from another project and to my own suprise it works great as a contrast binding.
I’m entering the ‘Glass Half Full’ Quilt into the Large Quilt section of this season’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival which runs from September 19-30th on Amy’s Creative Side. You can vote on your favourites in each category starting Saturday.
Have a good week and cheers to all of you still reading and following blogs!!
This post is linked up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Modern Patch Monday at Modern Cologne Quilters and Thank God It's Finished Friday this week at Celtic Thistle Stitches.
veni vidi vicky 
Beautiful quilt! I love the colors in it. I’m interested to see if blogging fades more in the quilting community as Instagram continues to grow.
Laura, thank you so much for your comment. I’m glad I made the decision to stick to one colour family. I’m drawn to Instagram’s speedy pace and instant sharing, but blogs are so much better to get a quilt’s story across, so I hope blogs will always be a thing.
Well, as good as this quilt and your new
logo/website looks, then you really need to consider coming back! Beutiful colors, beautiful design, love the pop on the binding – congrats on the finish. (and thumbs up for the patient quilter holder husband behind the scenes)
I don’t know what happened – I wanted to up my blog game, purchased a new theme, overhauled the overall look but then just stopped… blogging =D Reading beautiful, consistent blogs like yours definitely motivate me to not stop trying. Thanky you so much for your words, Allison ♥
Gorgeous quilt…. love the pop of bright for the binding and seeing your hubby’s feet whilst holding it up!
Thank you Anne, the neon-esque binding ended up being my favourite feature, too =)
What a pretty quilt! The colors are so cheery and calming!
Wendy, thank you! Cheery and calmingis such a good phrase to describe the scheme! Had I went with more than one colour family it might have looked super busy
This is a lovely quilt. The colours are so soft and calming. It must look lovely in your living room. I really like the sea glass look.
Thank you so much Sue. I actually ended up putting it on the couch in my new sewing corner because it worked so great with the green colour scheme I set it up with. I will post some pictures of that soon =)
This is just gorgeous! I’ve only just tried curved piecing for the first time and now want to make a full sized quilt. Yours will be an inspiration to me – lovely colours & fabrics!
Deb, that is so nice of you to say. Inspiring fellow quilters is what I strive for with this blog, I am daily inspired by the work of others, too. And those curves aren’t all that difficult as we make them out to be!
I love this quilt! I’ve had Drunkard’s Path blocks on my mind lately and your quilt is a lovely example. Kona Cactus is a color I have used several times and it surprises me as well. Try it with magenta. Fabulous job.
Yes Sue, Kona Cactus is not even that pretty on its own, but it often adds just the right pop of colour/contrast. And now I feel a sudden urge to make something with magenta in it…. =D
Yes, IG is much faster but I do enjoy a Friday morning with a cup of coffee and reading through some Let’s Bee Social finish posts! Your quilt is BEAUTIFUL. It’s a reminder to me that sticking with one color theme is worth it. Those Ikea selvedges are wide and I like seeing that you used it. Have a great weekend!
Thank you Karen, your Friday morning routine sounds lovely. I’ve been reading blogs on the go, since I installed the Bloglovin’ app, maybe I should make a point to sit down and read them without any distractions like you do.
An absolutely beautiful quilt, I love your colour choices, and as for this being your first time with curves – well no one would know!! Nice work and thanks for sharing such great pics.
Well, I had enough to practice and get ahead of the learnign curve ;-) I found curves a lot easier than I anticipated, but I pin, pin, pin! Thank you for your lovely comment, Louisa!
Really nice quilt and the binding was definitely the right choice :)
Danke Mell, ja bin echt happy, dass ich die Eingebung hatte, war nämlich kurz davor, das Binding auch türkis zu machen. Talk about overkill ;-)
Beautiful! Love these colors. So serene but with a very fun vibe.:)
Audrey, thank you for your lovely comment =)
Love this finish! Limiiting a palette can be so challenging, yet rewarding – thanks for taking the time to post and share :)
Amy, thank you so much for hosting the festival and for taking the time to comment on the entries, you rock!
I am in love with the colors of this one! The design is amazing too! You did a great job with the photography, really amazing shots!
Thank you Jayne. I’m so happy to hear you like the pictures. I’ve been trying to improve in that department, but I’m so cluesless when it comes to photography :/
very beautiful!
Danke dir, liebe Bine!
Beautiful quilt, Vicky, as always! I know the feeling of a quilt being too big for comfort but it turned out very beautiful! Keep blogging, we miss you!
Ich glaube ich gehe da immer durch Phasen, jetzt bin ich wieder total im Blogfieber! Danke für deinen lieben Kommentar.
I love the green binding and the pops of orange throughout the quilt.
I didn’t even give the orange bits a lot of thought, they happened to be in the Bungalow and Priory Square prints. But now that you say it, they probably help the Overall design, thank you for pointing that out =)
This is a gorgeous quilt – and it’s true that the orange bits make it a bit more dynamic while allowing the quilt to stay calm– I wouldn’t have noticed that had Tiffany not mentioned it! And it is funny, that Kona Cactus indeed does give just the right edge to the quilt. Would love to see some pictures of the quilt in place – as you mentioned you plan on doing. lovely work, congratulations on a beautiful quilt!
Kim, I’m so glad you stopped by!! You just perfectly summed up, what makes this quilt work: an overall conistent palette with a few splashs of contrasting colour. Thank you for putting it like this for me! I want to snap a few pics of my new sewing space and plan on sharing it here soon, featuring this quilt. So stay tuned =)
It’s fantastic! Love that the selvage is included AND you didn’t have to piece it! Beautiful!
That’s what they call a classic win/win Situation ;-) Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Paige!
This is fantastic, beautifully made; l just Iove the simple grid quilting!
Thank you Maryse. I don’t think I could do anything by straight line quilting on a quilt of this size on my machine with its tiny throat, but I like how it turned out.
The colors in this quilt are so great and I love it with the straight lines. I’ve had a blog for years and am still working on my photography. I’ll be adding yours to my blog list, especially because you love straight line quilting as much as me;)
That’s what I love about having a quilt blog: it challanges my creativity, writing and photography. And it connects me to inspiring people like you. Thank you so much Katie!
What a beautiful quilt. I love the color and the scrappy mix of it all. Your photography is stunning (I just found you) and love your writing style. Keep it up as you can, and don’t let it become a chore for you! I love seeing more angles and hearing the stories of the quilt (or the quilter) on the blogs, something that is less effective on Instagram.
Aw, thank you so much Angela. Blogging about a quilt motivates me to put some effort into taking proper pictures which in turn make me want to put it out there. I completely agree that a blog post tells the story of a quilt so much better than the little Instagram squares. Thank you for stopping by here, would love to see you around =)
[…] behind our convertible couch / guest bed at the back of the room. The sofa is covered with my Glass Half Full quilt. I didn’t originally intend to keep this quilt, but when I saw how well the colours harmonize […]