I am not quite finished with the Orange Improv Donation Top, but I had to start on new blocks for leaders and enders reasons.
Color on White Block #9
Color on White Block #8
Color on White Block #7
Color on White Block #6
Color on White Block #5
Color on White Block #4
Color on White Block #3
Color on White Block #2
Color on White Block #1
I won’t have enough strips in these colors to make the number of blocks I need for a quilt top, but it is a start. I will either make chunks like I did for the Red Chunk Donation top or put the blocks aside until I get more of the right color scraps. I could also combine these blocks with the greys, but that might muddy the brightness of the quilt.
If anyone says September 11, I think about my mom calling me and telling me to turn on the TV and how that changed everything even though I didn’t know it. I was home alone that morning as DH was out of town and I was trying to get the YM to pre-school and get to my job. I couldn’t process those planes crashing into the World Trade Center, the passengers taking over the flight that eventually crashed in the field in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. I think of how quiet the skies were for days after. I remember watching TV for hours with DH and seeing the same images over and over. I think of the years of violence that make up our lives today.
Fireball
I made two quilts to do something to mark-commemorate-remember (I don’t really know the right word. Send a message?). The first was done very quickly and sent off to Houston to be displayed in a commemorative display at Quilt Festival and Market.
Fireball is a reaction to all the fire that was shown on TV. It is a woven quilt. I have made a few woven quilts, though not in a while. I cut the strips and wove them together, then quilted over the top of the weaving. The strips were raw edge.
What Comes Next, 2011-2012
The second quilt is also an art quilt. It took me longer and was my wish/prayer for the future. It is called What Comes Next. Clearly my wishes were not acknowledged because the things I wanted to come out of that terrible day were not what came out of it.
This quilt has similarities to my Blood and Oil quiltand the more recent, Down the Drain quilt. Someday I’d like to use those paper doll motifs again.
Sew Day for September was Saturday. I know I always say this, but I really enjoy seeing what other people make. I was focused on a couple of projects of my own, so I didn’t even really get a chance to see everything that people were working on.
Patti’s Class Project
Patti’s Project caught my attention right away. She had the pieces from the guild’s recent Latifah Safir class on her table and I loved the look of the block! I loved what she had done, because of the HRTs I have been playing with on and off over the past several months. I know the design is not original and came from a Latifah Safir pattern. It is cool and makes me wonder if I could do something like it with the Split Recs ruler by Studio 180 Designs.
The class must have been great, because a number of people had brought their pieces to work on. I haven’t seen that before at a Sew Day – or I hadn’t noticed.
Runs with Scissors Tote
I worked on cutting out pieces for the Running with Scissors tote. I had pulled all of the fabric on Friday after work, so I got the whole thing cut out except for one piece, which I will cut next weekend. I hope to work on this at the mini-retreat I am attending next weekend. I am thinking of making a couple of them as gifts depending on how the project goes.
So far, the directions are very clear. I have some experience with bag directions so I was pleased. I don’t think I have made a ByAnnie’s pattern before and perhaps the good directions are a sign of quality. There are a lot of aspects to this bag, so I was a little worried. I was surprised that there was less to cut out than I though.
Lee Anne’s donation quilt
Lee Anne is a major donation quilt maker and she was working on a really cool quilt at the retreat.
As you can see this is a lozenge quilt. I am not sure if she had the fabric or used fabric from the Community Quilts stash. It is a great looking design and wonderful quilt.
Another member, who we call Baguette, and I are planning a Bag-a-Long for the guild. We had a meeting during Sew Day to organize ourselves for the next meeting. We will all make the same bag using the same pattern. Baguette and I will stay ahead of the others (or try to!) and offer clarifications and modifications to the pattern. The pattern is the Ultimate Carry All by Quiltessa Natalie. I wrote about it a little bit in my Quiltmaking Go Bag post a few weeks ago. I will definitely talk about this bag in future posts as we make it. The creator, however, has video tutorials, so I probably won’t do a Bag-a-Long on the blog.
I also had a meeting with Mary about the retreat this weekend. It will be held at the church so we had to coordinate.
The Mondo Bag that I started in March (yikes!) has been languishing. It hasn’t been out of my mind, but I haven’t had a chance to work on it. I took it with me to Sew Day on Saturday and finished laying out the squares on it.
Mondo Bag – halfMondo Bag – other half
I may move a few around or change some out, but mostly, the bag is ready to sew together.
This bag uses the same process as the Midi Bag I made in class with Julie. The next step is to iron the pieces down and then sew. I have to look at the lining and handle directions, but my goal is to work on the bag next weekend and get the thing put together.
I have been working on cutting up the fabric on my ironing board. It was getting pretty fat and hard to use as an actual ironing board for piecing. As a result, I got a full design wall of squares.
There is a lot of orange because I have been working on the Orange Improv donation top, but other new fabrics as well.
I really worked hard on Flying Around this past Labor Day Weekend. I really wanted to finish the top, but made sure that I focused on it looking good rather than finishing.
I am not 100% sure I am happy with that center section. It looks like I added a string of Flying Geese that go nowhere. I think I might have put a couple of the geese in out of order. Yep, those will have to be ripped.
Still, the whole thing is progressing and is really shaping up well. I think the Flying Geese look like little fluttering flags. I really want this to be a GREAT quilt. I thought that the Carpenter’s Wheel would be GREAT, but it turned into a disappointment once all was said and done. I am not sure why.
When I do a lot of work on Flying Around, a lot of work gets done on donation quilts or other projects. You already know that this Orange Improv quilt is currently on my small design wall as my leaders and enders project. I made a lot of progress over the weekend.
The size is about 34″x34″ right now. I like to make these quilts about 45×45, but I am really running out of orange scraps. I have 3 large, marginally orange at best, scraps left in my scrap drawer and a handful of scraps that SIL #2 gave me on Craft Night.
I have made a bit more progress. After my pillowcase frenzy from a few weeks ago, I have now used 117+ (gross) yards of fabric and close to 70 yards net. I am not 100% happy, however I can’t be anything but pleased with my progress.
Green Strips quilt top and back – finished 1/16/2019
Green Thing donation top and back – finished 2/2019
Libs Elliot donation top – finished 2/2019 – Cheryl actually did the quilting and the binding. She made me feel good by saying she really liked the quilt. I should try the technique using stripes instead of making stripes and see if I feel differently. I should do a lot of things.
In Process
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or are on the design wall waiting for me to stitch. I try not to put away projects, because that will ensure I never work on them
English Paper Piecing Project– half hexies – I have a big stack of stars ready to sew into the quilt. I am still thinking of my friend Faye whenever I work on it. She says that I have to think of this as my slow project.
Flying Around (was Flying Geese quilt) – just started, still cutting and some sewing
Serendipity Lady – thought I needed to rip out some stitching, but decided I didn’t. I need to decide how to finish it. I would like to frame this one.
Lobster – I finished the stitching. I plan to back it and overlock or satin stitch the edges. Even though I don’t need anymore cushions, I may turn this into a cushion.
Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
FOTY 2018 – this has to be on the list now as I have cut a ton of squares and need to arrange and sew it together. This is next on my quilt list. I need to cut a bunch of back 2.5″ squares before I can get started.
Handbag Sampler – this is still the forgotten project. It should be on the UFO list. Too bad I don’t have one. The blocks were teaching samples when I taught a sampler class the time before I started writing the quilt class sampler tutorials. I found one block recently, but otherwise I actually don’t know exactly where the blocks are hiding. I have an idea and still have to crawl up in the far reaches of my fabric closet soon and see if I can find them. I haven’t even found a picture of all the blocks. Sad.
Pies and Points from 2016 Victoria Findlay Wolfe class. The last time I worked on it was when Julie and I had a playdate in April 2018. I brought this piece with me so I could cut more elements (Julie has a Sizzix). I lost my excitement about this piece shortly thereafter and still have to get it back. Thus, I had to move this to the WIPs area.
Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. No progress.
Black and Red quilt – This project is creeping into my mind, so it might be up for work soon. The project originally came about because of two other projects. I made a whole bunch of bias tape as part of my failed attempt at doing the Mighty Lucky Club a few years ago. Another part of the inspiration came from my class with Tina of Little Blue Cottage fame. This was going to be for a nephew, but I think it will be for one of my SILs and BILs. I have rectangles cut and some bias tape ready. My next step is to sew the bias tape to the rectangles like pickup sticks. I don’t have any photos of this, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Who Am I? – This piece is off my design. I have lost momentum, but I think that just has to do with the amount of satin stitching I am facing.
Small Projects in Process
Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.
4-Zip Organizer – part of Crafty Gemini Organizer Club. I quilted the outside cover and need to figure out the next step so I can do the next step
I made good progress on Flying Around over the weekend as well.
It is a lot of piecing, as I have said, so it may not look like much to you.
Flying Around- detail – early September 2019
I wanted to sew the bottom section to one large piece. I may, however, have to sew some of the sections to the upper piece before I do that. There is quite a bit of partial piecing I have to sew.
I worked hard during the past week to make this piece large enough to call it done. I am scraping the bottom of my orange drawer to have enough! I am still liking the way it looks.
The other day I wrote about a friend’s vintage quilt. She had two and the second one was made from silk in a log cabin design.
I am not a huge fan of log cabin quilts, but this one is a beauty. The silk came from those sample cards. Apparently, whoever made this quilt pulled the silks off the cards, not realizing the cards with the samples had value as well. The remainder of the cards were donated to the LA Textile Museum.
Marguerite & Juliette’s silk quilt – detail
Note the low volume look for the background? Very modern, don’t you think?
I like it that there is some color to some of the background prints. It is actually very colorful, if you look at the background (whites/lights) up close.
Marguerite & Juliette’s silk quilt – with back
The back is interesting as well, though I forgot to ask where the silk for the back came from. Another modern element: a pieced back.
I was so pleased that Marguerite brought these quilts to share. She did it specifically for Deena and I to see. So sweet!
Goodness! September already! It seems like yesterday when I was writing about my goals for the year.
As mentioned I went to a BBQ on Saturday and got to see a quilt extravaganza. The hostess is also a quiltmaker, but does art quilts and is preparing to sell a bunch of them.
Deena’s largest quilt
Deena’s quilts are all wall hangings. She starts out making a bargello background. After she is happy with the background, she fussy cuts motifs out of fabric and fuses them to the front.
The large quilt shown is one of the plainest of her quilts that I have seen. Most of them are beautifully embellished with a variety of motifs. Her newest collection is a Noel collection. Lots of cardinals are featured.
Deena Farrah Art Quilt: For Sale: Garden Path II Frame size: 8 x 10 Price: $135
