Creativity is a curious thing. It ebbs and flows. I have to be in the right mood. At times I want to follow a pattern, create my own patterns, stitch mindlessly, stitch with focus, colour inside the lines, scribble like nothing matters. It happens in the moment, in the mood. Recently I have realised how much I like having structure and routine in my life but without being confined or limited. This applies to my creativity too. One of the things that keeps me making and motivated is the Aurifil Artisan challenges. We are given a starting point, a theme, supplies or just a word and let loose to create whatever we feel inspired to. This month we were sent fat quarters of the amazing Earth Views by Karen Nyberg and I received a spool of 50 weight Aurifil thread, which is featured in Karen’s Aurifil collection.



The pattern I chose is Minnie Stars, Quiltfolk Patterns 007. It's one I wanted to make for a while and I thought it would showcase the prints well. I was going to chose a solid blue background fabric but none of the blues I had worked at all. In the end I went for a pale grey - I have no idea what fabric this is - note to self, label your solids!


Had I labelled it, I might have been able to get more because I did run out. Thankfully I had just enough from the fat quarters to make up for it. You might spot the areas where I had to swap the solid for prints in the photos below. I was determined to use what I had and it just added to the quirkiness of the quilt.

Nature is so fascinating and the amount of symmetry found in patterns, creatures, trees, oceans, time and space is incredible. Repeating patterns, shapes, mirrored symmetry; it's all so beautiful. And then there's distortion, broken symmetry, changes; all of which can also be really beautiful. As I laid out the blocks it was clear they weren't going to fit together in a neat pattern, without me cutting quite a bit away or losing some blocks. I could have added more using other fabric but I decided not too. Instead I pieced the blocks like a puzzle, so they would all get used. The result is the most oddly shaped quilt I have ever made. It's weird and I like it.




Once the quilt top was done, next was the quilting...
Originally I was inspired by the blue thread and thought I could add some decorative stitches to give the impression of water. By using the stitches along the seams it could look like little rivers. I tried a bunch of different decorative stitches but none of them had the effect I was looking for and it all was a bit much. I will often test out stitches before quilting, just to see what they look like. It always works out well, making sure that I will like the finished result; even if I have to change my mind lots of times! I had thought that hand quilting would be nice but I didn't have enough time, then I remembered that my machine has a hand-look quilting stitch. 


I used Aurifil monofilament thread in the top and the blue 50 wt thread in the bobbin. I went at a steady pace (not my usually zoomy speed) and used a Topstitch size 14 needle.


I didn't need to mark the quilt, just followed the seams and echoed inside the background shapes.



It created the most beautiful texture and I will definitely be using this stitch on more projects in the future.



Not the best shot ever, but here's the back after I trimmed the quilt. The pattern of the quilting looks so cool.


For the binding I used what was left of the Earth Views fabric, along with some black poplin because it's neutral and doesn't distract from the prints. I enjoyed binding all those angles and finished by hand sewing the binding to the back, again with 50 weight Aurifil.


So here you can see how irregular the shape of the quilt is! As I was piecing it, it reminded me of a space buggy. 




It's going to live on our sofa, an oddly shaped throw quilt. 


These photos were all taken in our local park, the texture works well with the theme. It also sparked some conversations, which is one of the nice things about taking quilts into the wild (as wild as the local park is!).







Child under skate ramp for size reference!


As I was making this quilt, I thought a lot about nature, space, views, shape and earth. We take advantage of the amazing local parks in our area almost every day. We are so fortunate to have access to beautiful outdoor spaces and we must all help to protect the environment both locally and globally. 



Thank you to Aurifil, Robert Kaufman and Karen Nyberg for the incredible Earth Views fabric and thread used to create this project.

Visit earthday.org to find out all about Earth Day and how to take action! 

Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, and our livelihoods.

For Earth Day 2022, we need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably).