Friday, March 4, 2011

Unwind

 Over the next few days I'm going to go into detail about each new quilt.  First up is Unwind!


Unwind!
Unwind was one of the first idea I came up with once I started sketching ideas of what to make using the Lazy Angle Ruler.  I knew I wanted to make a skinny star block and offset the block placement.  My first sketch had solid backgrounds around the stars and was kinda boring.  I had a lightbulb moment and thought... what about making a strip set first... and this was the result of that lightbulb!

Here is the back cover
In includes all of the fabric requirements for 5 sizes!


I used a roll up Pick a Bunch by Nancy Mims to create this quilt.  Often patterns will list the # of pre-cut bundles you need and not the QTY of strips or squares.  Then you might find out you needed 45 and you really didn't have to buy that second pre-cut... you could have bought more of your backing or binding fabrics or added from your stash.  Because this bugs me as a shopper I decided not to do it that way on my patterns!  If you look closely above you'll see that I list the # of strips you'll need so that you can decide how best you want to purchase your fabric.



I decided to use a blue for the binding.  All of the fabric for the quilt top, binding and backing are organic.  Robert Kaufman has a great selection of Pure Organic solids to go with their organic prints.

I got lots of great comments yesterday on twitter about my cover photography.  Yes I took all of the photos myself! {Of course except for the one I'm in... but more on that when I post about Carnival.}

I love taking the photos myself but it can be quite a process.  Below are a bunch of "outtakes" from the multiple photo shoots I did for this quilt.

This almost ended up on the cover.  I was happy with the lighting on the quilt but I didn't like that you didn't see much of the binding or the back at all.

The wind was not being my friend at this moment... but I decided to share the photo with you so that you could see more of the pieced back.

I really liked the lighting here... but I didn't like the random straw from the garden that popped up at the bottom & decided that seeing one star wasn't enough of a view of the quilt design.


This photo is from one of the first photo shoots.
I liked the wood in the background but the lighting on the quilt was too harsh.

At first I planned on showing the entire quilt...
This photo didn't work because of bad lighting... and the quilt didn't have any "life" just hanging there.

Sometimes the wind is my enemy in photo shoots...
other times a nice soft breeze can give a quilt some life

I love this photo...
I like the way that the 4 stars form a vertical line

A similar version of this photo ended up on the back of the pattern.
While it doesn't show the full quilt design it really highlights the amazing quilting that Angela did.  I really like how she used organic curvy shapes in the colors and straight structured ones in the stars.

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about Unwind!

note
The patterns are off at the printer now and will be available to ship on March 16th.



© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

27 comments:

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

Julie; I love it...please let me know when the patterns are available..I will forget if you don't...I know; like you need someone else to take care of...lol

Thank you for all your info....beautiful job

Sinta Renee said...

I love your new pattern here... and the group of them that you showed on the last post! Really fun quilts Julie! Carnival really has my heart:)

Sinta Renee said...

oh... and that is a dran cute picture of you too!!!

Sandy said...

Love, love all of the pictures and the colors in this quilt. You always give the best directions...great pattern!

harleywife57/ Mickey White said...

wow ; you have a DREAM JOB ! and you are so creative !! love it !

Angela said...

I really love seeing all the out take shots. I always take a bunch of my quilts and blocks too...and some of my favorites don't tend to be ones that show off everything in the pattern. So I enjoyed seeing your process of examining your photos.

mascanlon said...

Just saw the patterns at Fat Quarters...hurrah! unwind wasn't my favorite yesterday but today it moved up...although that will probably happen each day as you feature a differrent quilt.

Angela Nash said...

Fabulous! I may need to do this with one of my remaining Figgy Pudding Jelly rolls.

And Hurray for your strip qty listed on the back. I LOVE THAT!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm not really a pattern followers, but I might have to make an exception, this one and a few of your other new ones are just stunning!

Becky (My Fabric Obsession) said...

This is really beautiful! So fantastic. And I LOVE that you added fabric requirements for different sizes. TY for that!

Kristy said...

Count me in for one copy of the pattern when it comes out. I am so super excited about this pattern and now that you've shown the fabric requirements, I want to go buy fabric.

Lindsay said...

Thanks for the sneak peek into your photo shoots. I always struggle with taking pictures of my stuff!

Melissa said...

This looks like such a fun quilt to try! Love those stars. And that Angela is amazing isn't she! The quilting is gorgeous.

Timolily said...

Have you tried picnik? It is a free site, no registering, onto which you can upload pictures and 'tweak' them to make them prettier. The automatic exposure is amazing!! I'm loving the explanations for the patterns, helps understand the process (which was boggling my mind a short while ago, as you know!), thank you ♥

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

Thanks for sharing more about Unwind Julie! And I wish I could have you give me a lesson on taking photos of quilts - awesome job.
I'm thinking of Wonderland by MoMo for Unwind once I have a few things off my plate!

Paula said...

I can't wait until you have these patterns available! Wonderful work -

All8 said...

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Jan said...

Can't wait to make this quilt, it's fabulous. I normally don't buy patterns, but I'm going to buy this one.

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

So beautiful! I love this quilt, it's so bright and fun!

bebo821 said...

I LOOOVE this! I want to make one :)

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Just found your blog!I LOVE everything about "Unwind". It's gorgeous!

tusen said...

it's fun to see all the outtakes, thanks for sharing.
I love the pattern, the stripped background around the stars is such a great idea.

Keep Stitchin' said...

So pretty! Love the fabrics and what a unique design!

Melody said...

This one is my favorite.

Cindy said...

I like the idea of the # of strips needed....thanks. Sewing & Quilting expo this next week....hope to find the new ruler that I need and some fabric.

Andrew J said...

I think this is my favorite of the new patterns. Couldn't really explain why - probably because I like how the prints make up the background. Love the fabrics - those saturated colors are awesome.

Kelly O. said...

this is my fave pattern of yours Julie!
I also ADORE that fabric!!
do you know where i can find it?
I've searched the internet and have found odds and sods but no roll ups (I hate that robert kaufman called them roll ups! it's not unique enough and when you google it brings up everything but what you're looking for!!!)
maybe it's too new a fabric and I just need to be patient :)