This is my
Hope Valley quilt. Not a new fabric line, I know, but I fell for it hard last year when I belatedly discovered
Denyse Schmidt and the world of modern quilting. Hope Valley is now sadly out of print, so I've been stockpiling it, as
Karen Gray can attest!
My inspiration came from the graphic effect of
this quilt. I love Audrie's patterned fabrics that register as solids from a distance. In mine, I used the light gray
Calico Cactus print for the negative space. My one solid -
Kona Charcoal - is in the foreground, although if you squint, you can reverse the foreground and background (go ahead, try it!). After playing around with the layout of the blocks, I decided to group like colors on the diagonal. The quilt is upside down in these photos, but if you read the rows from right to left, you'll notice that the color order is red, orange, yellow/green, blue. I left out a few of the prints in the Hope Valley collection, like
the one I used for the binding.
The working name for this quilt was "Mother's Little Helper" (as in the Rolling Stones classic) because the blocks reminded me of pills. In the end, I settled on the more innocent "Hope Capsules." Hope Valley has such a vintage feel, like fabric you might find in a time capsule from the 1930s or 40s, but updated with contemporary colors.
I like the back easily as much as the front:
The spectrum arrangement of coins was influenced by several quilts spotted on Flickr, like
this one and
this one, which show off the prints gorgeously against a light background. I needed something to balance the darkness of the front, so I chose Kona Plum. I was so impatient to finish this quilt that I almost went with an all solid back. I'm so glad I took the time to make the strip of coins! My favorite part is the burst of yellow in the middle.
I quilted it with light gray thread in straight lines horizontally, vertically and diagonally, a quarter inch from each side of the seams. It took forever to finish, but I'm so happy with the result.
Hope Capsules measures 52" x 62" - a nice lap quilt size. I've been enjoying it during these few remaining cool evenings of the season.
Here's an Instagram of Dusty (
Hopper's sister) keeping me company as I sewed on the binding:
Incidentally, did you know that the lint roller was invented in Flint, Michigan (my home town)?
Have a great week!