I love LOBSTAH!

So here's my latest project.  I wanted to create something modern looking and using three colors.  I'm in this quilt gang... the Quilt Sluts (southern ladies under tremendous stress) and each year we meet for a week at the ocean.  We have a theme (Mardi Gras this year) and some quilty challenges.  

The Paint Chip Challenge is what I'm focused on right now.  One of us went to the local big box hardware store  and nabbed a boat load of paint chip samples. At our monthly soiree, a ceremonial paper bag was passed around and each person pulled 3 chips out.  You could toss one chip and reselect - but then you had to live with that choice.  I was INCREDIBLY lucky...I got turquoise, aqua, and orange.  They have no idea the creature of creativity they unleashed....

This is the back side of the lobster - he still has the fusible web silicone sheet attached.

I had to let the ideas and colors simmer for a couple of months and just as I suspected.... the inspiration was found!  Some random thing I saw made me think - Orange +Lobster.  And then of course, the blues took care of water.  

I drew out the lobster on paper (many, many times) and then transferred that onto clear plastic.  I picked up an old school projector many years ago (quilting tools come from many sources) so then I projected that onto my wall.  I was able to enlarge it to a size I thought I'd like (he's about 36 inches tall).  

From there I sewed 1.5 inch strips of orange fabric and recut and resewed.  I wound up with gorgeous tiny little squares of scrappy orange fabric to use for my lobster.

After that...I struggled with how to create a background that wouldn't be terribly distracting.  Even though I wound up making 4.5 inch HST's, I think it doesn't read too busy.  I added the strips of solid to the side and bottom to create a more modern look.

I've only got him pinned on right now but I've got fusible web on the orange so I"ll fuse all of that down next.  I think I have my quilting design in my head...but I am a pretty organic quilter so that may all change by the time the needle hits the fabric.  Hoping to start quilting in a day or two...  

And for the record, how do you pronounce lobster?  I'm from the south - so "lob - stir" is how I say it.

Linking up with several fabulous Linky parties  - check them all out!  Here are some of the quilts in progress I loved this week:

Valentine quilt with no name

Gooseberry Secret Garden

Rowing along

No more bunny ears

Maryse Makes Things

Quilty Habit

My family needs better upper body strength

Ping says this one is her favorite so far.

The whining I've endured while photographing my quilts is hilarious.  If I'm helping a friend photograph a quilt, I suffer in silence.  Yes, my arms are like limp noodles when I'm done but I dutifully stand there in pain until it's done.  Buck up family....I'm not stopping the entering of contests because you can't hang....    I can see now...I'm going to have to put my family on an upper body exercise program.

But...on a more important note... I FINISHED MY LAST DEADLINE!  Death Star is officially done! Prepare yourself to be inundated with gratuitous quilt photos...  Get your popcorn and beverage, the show starts now...

I've used quite of few of these during the quilting of this quilt...

I love quilting on my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen Sit down model.

I wound up quilting the circles on my Bernina 440.  Don't get me wrong...I've said you  won't be able to pry my Bernina from my cold dead kung fu grip (unless you're making me quilt on it...).  Once I got the Sweet 16, I created the perfect set up for quilting.

And then there was the squaring up...  This is one of those parts I dislike.... it's hard to ensure you're getting it really square.  This part becomes really tedious...

But it gets done and then it's on to the binding.  I love the binding.  It was the only thing I liked to do by hand but now a days I machine it on.  I like the look just as much.

I put a LOT of quilting on this one.

I enjoy the design decisions you have to make.  It can be a little daunting...you want it to make sense where it's placed on the quilt.  I thought about this part almost as much as the overall design.

And finally....it's done.  This is the Death Star bc.  BC is before crinkle.  I'm always a little apprehensive that something will go terribly wrong in the washing machine...

It washed up beautifully and then...it's Death Star ac.  After crinkle.

Here's the sassy back of the quilt:

I added a little flair to the binding in two spots:

So that's my story today.  Finished a quilt.  It was a great day.  It's submitted to QuiltCon 2016 for the contest....fingers crossed it's selected!!

I'm linking up with Judy today at Patchwork Times - check it out!  On Tuesday I'm linking up with Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts.

And on Wednesday I linked up with Let's Bee Social

Check these blogs out...

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