Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Christmas in the Canyon Table Topper - A Gradient Quilt


Cindy of Live a Colorful Life recently blogged about a quilt that absolutely captured my imagination. She named it Christmas in the City, and it is gorgeous! I have reread her post and gazed at that quilt dozens of times {stalking!} Click on the picture of her quilt below to read her fascinating post on how it was made. She made blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 modern blocks (I bought my own this week!)

Cindy's Quilt - Click on it to read her post!

I love the gradient style of the colors in her masterful arrangement and was inspired to try that method myself.


A table top seemed the perfect size to experiment with the gradient style. Although Cindy's quilt is composed of sampler blocks, mine is a simple block design. I had a long-saved Christmas-themed mini charm pack that I combined with low volume creams and off-whites. I positioned and re-positioned until I had an arrangement similar to Cindy's. I matched the pieced border to the color arrangement and added a dark red binding.


The result of the color composition reminds me of a river flowing through a canyon, so I quilted curvy lines with a metallic variegated thread on the "river" portion and straight lines with regular thread for the low volume "canyon sides".


I love the fabrics in this little mini quilt. Sadly I can no longer identify many of them. My favorite was a dark red with off-white snowflakes


I do still have the selvage on the backing, and it is Tonal Cream from Minick & Simpson's Lexington collection for Moda


Now for my shameful confession: I started this mini quilt with every intention of sending it to my sister-in-law for Christmas. But when I put it on my kitchen table this morning to photograph it with my Christmas glass, I knew it would never leave the house. I will (finally) finish quilting the Little Joys quilt for her (post to follow later this week), and she'll never know the difference.

Now I want to make more gradient quilts in different colors!

18 comments:

  1. Unless she follows your blog😜! I don't blame you, it is the perfect pairing for that stunning compote dish. Plus, by the name of your alternate quilt, it sounds like a stunner too.

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    1. Lol Gayle, I doubt anyone is stalking my blog! :)) Thanks!

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  2. Linda your gradient quilt is just beautiful! I can completely understand why it never left the house! It looks fantastic with your Christmas glass!! You have a great eye for colour and I can tell you had a lot of fun putting this together! The quilting in lovely too! Enjoy the rest of the week! Christine x

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  3. Oh my gosh, it's lovely! You did a fantastic job choosing colors, I'd be lost. And, I think it's awesome you kept it for yourself.

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    1. Thank you Melanie - I don't think you'd be lost at all!

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  4. I love love LOVE this quilt! It's definitely a keeper. It's so fun to see this version and to see the same look with a much easier technique! I would never have thought of that--it's simply beautiful!!

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    1. Cindy I am basking in your praise! :) Now I want to make a sampler like yours using Tula Pink's blocks.

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  5. Linda, that is just gorgeous! I have also loved looking at Cindy's quilt, and I love how you were inspired by it. Now I want to go down and see if I can pull little squares out of my stash and try that, too. Thank you for the inspiration!

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    1. Thank you Diann! Yay on trying it! Looking forward to your version. :)

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    2. I've just been messing around with my little squares down in my sewing room, and it is challenging for my brain to get the kind of layout I want! Fun to play with, though!

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    3. Diann how fun! Hope you share your results. :)

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  6. This is what I love about this project. EVERTHING! Ok, to break it down, I love the gradient colors, I love the fabric, I like that the white/cream sections remind me of snow at Christmas time, I like the thought you put into your quilting to give the colors some extra flow and movement, I love that you are keeping it for yourself to enjoy (since you seem to give away so many of our pieces), also love that you piece the border to match the gradient. Yep, I love it all. I also am pinning it because I kinda want to copy it. :-)

    I have the Tula Pink book and have six blocks done. I keep telling myself to get back to it. Maybe soon.

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    1. Goodness Bernie you make me feel good! Thank you for "getting" this quilt. :)

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  7. Really like the table topper. I have the Tula Pink book and lots of her fabric but haven't started any projects yet. Her fabric is just gorgeous and hard for me to cut into. Where do I sign up to get your blog?

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    1. Mary Ann, thanks for visiting! I understand not wanting to cut into fabric. :) I have added a "follow by email" in the left column - thanks for wanting to follow!

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  8. What a pretty table topper. I can't blame you for keeping it. I can't seem to let quilts go...it's becoming a problem! Thanks for visiting Fleur de Lis Quilts. I tried emailing you, but I seem to have lost my tech mojo. lol I really need to figure out where I left it!

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    1. Mary thanks for visiting and thank you for the praise! It may be that I've done something to mess up my email - I used to be a whiz at the blogging thing but now I just get confused. ;)

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