I always had a vision for this quilt – using only dotted fabrics of all sizes and only in black and white. I used great big dots and pin dots and everything in between. It made a very modern, bold quilt. Normally, I don’t like to make flying geese blocks because there’s so much wasted fabric but in a future post, I’m going to show you how to make them using a no-waste method.
I thought about putting these flying geese on a white background but it seemed a little too stark. I then pulled out one of my all time favorite fabrics from Zen Chic – Ink Modern Background in Grey. I paired this with Robert Kaufman Kona Solid in Silver and randomly made all the backgrounds in the blocks from these two fabrics.
The flying geese themselves were made of many different dotted fabrics from my stash. I wasn’t able to identify every single dotted fabric but here are some that I know and are a favorite, in case you are wondering what some of them are: Jumbo Dots by Loralie Harris – if you don’t know her line of dotted fabrics, check them out! So very fun and inspirational. Another dotted fabric I really love is Hello Bear Firefly in Whisper, an Art Gallery Fabric.
The finished quilt is 55″ x 61′. Each flying geese block was 3″ x 6″. I made 180 blocks. I made them using Bloc Loc rulers, which I’m going to write about in a future post. This method made these blocks very easy to make and very accurate.
For the backing fabric, I wanted to keep the dot theme going so I chose a fabric from Robert Kaufman’s Spot On collection in Steel. It’s a 108″ wide fabric, perfect for a quilt backing. It was the perfect color and complement to the front, I thought.
For the batting, I did something very different. For this quilt, I pictured a heavy, warmer quilt than just the regular layer of cotton batting. But I didn’t want a tied quilt. So I took a chance and used two layers of batting and machine quilted it. It worked great! And I ended up with a nice, heavy, more substantial quilt. Very warm. I used two layers of The Warm Company’s “Warm Bond” quilt batting. It’s an 80/20 batting, which they are actually discontinuing. But I heard from The Warm Company and they say they are working on a new 80/20 batting, which should be available this November.
I ditch stitched the whole quilt because I just couldn’t picture a good quilting pattern that would look right on the flying geese. I used a light gray Aurifil 50 wt thread on the top and a darker gray in the bottom, to match the backing fabric.
For the binding, I just had to give the quilt a little pop of color with all that grey, white and black. And the binding had to be a solid – no stripes or patterns. There is just way too much going on with the quilt itself. But which color? After trying several possibilities, I ended up with the Kona Cotton Solid in Caramel. I just love how it looks on the quilt.
I’ll be putting this quilt in the Shop.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Elaine
I’m linking up to Free Motion by the River, Sew Cute Tuesday and Let’s Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts! Check it out!
Gorgeous! I love the different color binding…it makes a bold statement!
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Thanks, Betsy!
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I love this!
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Thank you, Tammy!
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This is a beautiful quilt, love your fabric choices!
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Thanks, Jill!
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A very bold combination which has worked beautifully. I like your choice of binding and using two layers of batting is a great idea for the right quilt.
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Thank so much, Karen!
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Elaine, that quilt is stunning!
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So many fabulous points to this quilt! I really like your style. I swear by the bloc-lock rulers too. Looking forward to your next creation. Thanks for posting.
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This is a beauty! Stashing up all polka dots in black and white is a very creative idea! Adding the caramel binding is perfect!
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I always look forward to seeing your quilts progress and finished work. You have such a good eye for color and design. This is a really cool and unique quilt!
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Cindy: Thanks so much for your kind words!
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Beautiful, beautiful quilt!! Love the black and grey! Well, I love it all and hope to make one after I quilt the 3 tops I now have awaiting my quilting!! Thanks for sharing!. Once again,
beautiful!!!!
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Really great quilt! fantastic choices from fabric to design to quilting. Excellent!
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beautiful work. and I like the pumpkin coloured binding – rather than using red.
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Marian: Thank you! Red was indeed one of the colors I was considering for the binding!
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Love love this quilt!
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I just agree with all of the above. Great quilt!
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What a gorgeous quilt!! The Caramel binding is perfect for the mono chromatic look of the overall piece!
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I really love your quilt, front and back and binding too!
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What a wonderful way to use a themed fabric collection. (Well, I count black & white dots as a theme!) I agree that four-at-a-time flying geese are the way to go. Before I embraced that method I generated lots and lots of cutaway triangles. Some of them became bonus HSTs but lots of them just got pitched.
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great quilt, spots or dots are my favourite and I love the monochrome look
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Perfection! The Kona Silver and Ink Modern Background were the perfect choices to pair up with all those fun dotty prints. And the Caramel binding is Sew-Weeeet! Beautiful finish!
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Thanks for stopping by, Lorna!
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A beautiful quilt with great fabric choices – and I love that binding!
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Lovely finish! Great idea to use two layers of batting!
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Thanks Patricia! I love the weight of this quilt.
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I absolutely love this quilt !! I would never have thought to bind it with caramel, but it looks awesome. So crisp, clean and modern
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Thank you Karen! I love that pop of color.
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Love it….you’ve inspired me on to my next quilt.
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Elaine, it was good seeing you at Paul’s wedding and sharing thoughts about sewing and quilts. I love, love, love your quilting blog. The quilts have great color combinations and design elements and your photography of them is awesome! I really enjoyed meeting up with you and finding out that we share common interests – especially the love of fabric 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by, Maria! I love it that you enjoy quilting, too!
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I really need that flying geese tutorial. Looking forward to reading your helpful hints.
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Marcia: Going to be posting it soon!
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