My NYC
Hi! This is Siobhan from CDM365 Studios. I live in northern New Jersey so when I say I am going into the city, I mean I am going into New York City (usually Manhattan, but sometimes Brooklyn). I enjoy going in for the usual touristy things including the museums (the MET is my favorite but there are so many to love), the Christmas windows (get yourself up to Bergdorf Goodman, it’s totally worth it), the shows (a musical is great but if you like comedy make sure to see The Play That Goes Wrong), the food (you can pick for yourself, but I will happily sit near the kitchens to see what everyone is ordering) and even the history (there are more than 10 NHS in NYC). So as you can tell I am definitely a fan, and whether it is splurging on a big day or working on a shoestring budget there are tons of opportunities to have a great time.
Suffice it to say I was thrilled when Jen (The Dizzy Quilter) asked me to join this blog hop. I had been previewing the wonderful new fabric My NYC from Gotham Quilts for weeks and really thought it was perfect. The collection has just the right blend of whimsy and gray. The fantastic 11 piece fat quarter bundle that Gotham Quilts sent (thank you!) actually has a beautiful range of colors and patterns that appeal on a lot of levels. Before I even started cutting I was reading though and identifying different neighborhoods, spotting architectural icons (Chrysler Building, Guggenheim, Lincoln Center, just to name a few) and then had the fun of identifying the rest of the icons, from the easy to pick out Statue of Liberty and yellow taxi to the slightly more obscure clock from Grand Central (you really can’t talk about NYC icons without getting into architecture).
After playing with my favorites, I decided this would make the perfect Rainbow Quilt. Now you may be thinking, how does this work as a rainbow? Well, it doesn’t, but the pattern reminds me of the grid layout in Manhattan (minus Broadway) and I just loved the idea of being able to recreate that flow in the quilt. Since this pattern already uses fat quarters it was perfect. I also decided rather than one single background color I would use several of the coordinating colors. While I ended up altering my row layout part way through (like most of us do), I like this final layout much better, since it reminds me of the view of Manhattan from New Jersey, with the river, busy streets, skyscrapers, and hopefully clear(ish) skies. I still can’t decide on what some of the solid colors represent (Is the yellow taxis or mustard? Is the terracotta hotdogs or brownstones? The one green is definitely the Statue of Liberty, or could it be the ceiling in Grand Central?) I definitely like the extra pop of color these solids provide.
So, if you would like to make your own gridlocked NYC quilt, you can pick up the Rainbow Quilt pattern in my shop, and definitely head over to Gotham Quilts to check out their new fabric line My NYC. Also make sure to keep following along with the blog hop! Next up tomorrow is Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting- make sure to hop over and check out her post!
Until next time,
Siobhan
P.S. If you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter yet please do! I only send it out about once a month with a summary of everything going on with CDM365 Studios (that’s me!), but it will let you keep up with all my current projects and events, including the QAL for this Fall.
