Friday 3 March 2017

#instastitchwithsue - Sue Spargo mystery quilt

For the past 12 months Sue Spargo has been running a free mystery quilt along on Instagram. She called it #instastitchwithsue and released a pattern each month.  Here's my version:


I love Sue Spargo's designs - I have her calendar on my office wall and gaze at it often when I should be doing work.


I couldn't pass up the idea of a mystery quilt along with hand stitching thrown in!  So I started watching for the patterns each month and tried to keep up through out the year.  Here's a link to ALL 12 blocks. Just click on the photos to download the patterns.


I thought I'd use different fabrics from my usual selections, so I went with orange and purple!! Quite radical, but I found a few fabrics that contained both colours, and built up a collection from there.

Here's how some of my blocks turned out.  I didn't do quite as much decorative stitching as Sue did, but some of my fabrics were very patterned and I knew the stitching wouldn't show up which ever colour thread I used.  The variegated threads are Sue Spargo's Eleganza perle 8 threads for Wonderfil thread.  The colour variations are beautiful!!














And all together before I started to join them:


 I decided to make a pieced backing from some of my purple fabrics so I did a bit of quilt maths,


and here it is.


I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt this yet.  I need some time to think about that.  I might even machine quilt it myself because I'm, feeling inspired after reading Jacquie Gering's new book - Walk.  






17 comments:

Mel Beach said...

WOW!! I just love the rich fabric palette you used for your pieced blocks! They are just gorgeous. And I really love all the stitched details you incorporated...what a beautiful quilt!

FabricDiva54 said...

This is a beautiful quilt! You have amazing embroidery skills.

margaret said...

what a fabulous quilt love the colours used and so good to see hand stitching on it too

Frances Meredith said...

Love the stitching on the fabrics.

Wendy said...

it's lovely! You kept it very quiet, I had no idea this was going on! Quilting an embroidered quilt must be pretty tricky...

Barb Neiwert said...

I love your fabric selections - it makes the quilt! And the hand stitching is wonderful, too. A winner!

Ruth said...

I love the little touches in the stitching and think this will be one you could admire again and again

JanineMarie said...

What fun! I like how the solid pieces with the embroidery stand out so well in the midst of all those patterned fabrics.

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said...

Wendy, such a beautiful quilt and the stitches are amazing. A question...it looks like there is a backing material on the squares. Is this a stabilizer to keep the embroidery stitches from pulling up the fabric? I have used a stabilizer on some of my blocks when I am hand embroidering. I keep wondering if it's extra work I don't need to do.

Granny Maud's Girl said...

Purple and orange is a big step from blue and green!
Will you add more fun stitching when you quilt it or allow the quilting stitches to blend so the existing embroidery remains the star?

Kyle said...

What a brillant color combo. I tried to keep up but have fallen far behind. Your finished top is gorgeous. Did you put something behind your blocks before you did the embroidery to stabilize the fabrics?

Gemini Jen NZ said...

Your bold colour choices really paid off, Wendy! I love this!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

You have quite a good eye for fabric selection. That is my Achilles Heel of quilting so I do admire when someone can pull together such complementary fabrics and colours to stunning effect. Lovely to look at today!

Her Indoors said...

It's absolutely stunning, Wendy. I just love purple.

Sandi said...

You did a fabulous job of putting it all together Wendy. I agree you should finish this off yourself.

I've got all the patterns and maybe one day will jump in and start. But I'm focusing on keeping my head above water and not adding to many new things this year.

Love the Eleganza threads they are Wonderfil!

Sue Wild said...

Lovely quilt and the embroidery sets it off well

June D said...

Looks lovely, shows off your skills.

First time I've seen a completed quilt too. I've been collecting the patterns and getting denim together just in case I make one.

Thanks for sharing.

Best
June