Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Here in the US, we are celebrating Thanksgiving today. My little family is celebrating by having 24 people over for dinner. That means I am busy so you just get this little wish.
Have a great day whether you are celebrating or not.
The guild did a color challenge recently where people were supposed to make something they like from a color swatch they picked out of a bag.
It was a small, but mighty group. There were people who participated for the first time and also those who don’t have a lot of spare time. I was really thrilled to see some new folks participating Everyone did a wonderful job.
My design wall is not full right now. Neither design wall is full as I work on gifts for Christmas and upcoming birthdays.
My small design wall is not completely empty either.
There are two projects on the left. I have the leftover Strip blocks from my donation quilts in the very upper left hand corner. I am saving the leftovers for a quilt that will encompass all the colors.
Directly under those blocks are the 2.5 inch squares for Fabric of the Year 2019.
Bottom left: the Ring Toss block is still hanging around.
In the middle, you can see that I have made progress on the White improv donation top since yesterday.
That’s all there is. Stay tuned as I get back to making some quilts.
Now that I finished the White Strip Donation Top, I can work on the White Improv Donation Top in earnest.
I spent time on it this past weekend and the slabs are getting bigger.Except for the middle, the piece is still very much in process. The strips I have are very uniform in size and I feel like the other pieces are all triangles, so this isn’t an easy piece to put together.
There is a large-ish slab in the bottom of the drawer and I don’t know if I will make a journal cover or if I will use it in this piece.
Valerie made a comment about the White Strip Donation top the other day and it got me thinking about successful scrap quilts.
I think the strip and improv donation tops have been successful because of the consistency of color used. Primarily, these quilts are monochromatic. I say primarily, because fabrics often have different colors on top of a primary color, so other colors are included in monochromatic quilts. Also, for many of them, I have used a different color (complimentary, usually, though neutral as well) for the sashing and border.
I have used a different color as sashing or border to provide contrast in the strip quilts. The White Strip Donation Top I recently finished has a different look. I used fabrics with a white background for all the pieces. Readers can see some of the other colors as they dominate the image (click on it to see it larger and get a better view), but the overall look is still white.
I often worry about the successful color selection of “paper bag” scrap quilts. Many find it fun to grab a piece out of a paper bag and use it without thought or consideration. I find this method of selecting fabrics to be incredibly stressful. I like to carefully select my fabrics. In that way, I feel like I have a better chance of a successful final project. I don’t want to spend time on a quilt that ends up ugly.
Making the Scrapitude quilt was an exercise in faith. It was a mystery quilt so I had no idea how it would come out. Often, I wait until the end to see the finished product, but this time I stuck to the schedule. I still carefully selected my fabrics and was careful to use the same type of prints for the background-dots on white.
I love the way this quilt came out and I do enjoy looking at it. I wonder, though, when I look at it if I should have included the blacks, dark greens and some chocolate pieces? I like all the fabrics I chose.** I often think of making another version of this quilt and making the changes I wonder about.
I think carefully selecting fabrics even if you are grabbing from your scrap bin is really key to a good looking finished quilt. The quilt will look like your style. You will like it and you will enjoy working on it.
** I think it is absolutely key to only work with fabrics you like. Whether it is the brand, the designer or the colors, life is too short to work with fabrics that make you cringe.
I have worked on this project a little bit over the past several months, but decided I needed it out of my workspace. I finished it on Sunday.
It is big!
I thought of using it as an officer bag, but I really like the fabrics I used. I think I will keep it and use it to carry my hand quilting project around.
Again, the method of construction foiled my attempts at organizing the fabrics. I still think it looks good and I really like the lining and handle fabrics.
All the blocks for this quilt were made from my scrap drawer. I know I can make at least two more quilts from this one drawer. Yes, I used some yardage for the back, the border, the sashing and the cornerstones, but that is a small amount compared to the blocks, I think.
The other thing I saw at the Burning Man exhibit was the the temple. Apparently, they burn it down. Along with the Man, this is a symbol of letting things go or not being attached to things.
The wood was not finished and it looked like balsa wood, but was much heavier. The wood looked like slightly better quality than plywood, but I don’t know what it was. I also couldn’t find a plaque that would tell me.
There was an amazing amount of detail.
My favorite shape was the eye shape. I could see how I could piece it and the variety of fabrics would make that shape part of a unique quilt.
I finished the Bat Tablerunner on Wednesday and was really glad. I wanted to get it to Amy at the meeting. Fortunately she will be there! It isn’t in time for Halloween, but she is happy to use it next year.
I didn’t intend to quilt it myself, but I ended up doing it, I thought I would just get the project done and it wouldn’t be another WIP in the world, even if it wasn’t on my list. I feel good that it is finished and Amy can enjoy it.
I might have chosen a different color for the back, but I just used black over the whole back. I did switch colors on the top.
I am particularly fond of the orange bat. I think it came out pretty well.
I tried the Bat binding tool and didn’t find it helpful. I just felt like I didn’t need it to get the binding on. I suppose I didn’t take the time to learn to use it. I am sure there is a video around that I should view. It would probably help me understand better whether it would be useful. I did use Sarah Goer’s method to create a machine binding. It looks pretty good and I am proud of it.
Carrie, a self-described inexperienced sewist, made the most amazing group of gifts for next year’s raffle baskets.
One of the reasons I love my guild is that people step up when you ask them to help. Carrie just decided she was going to make some items and did it! I was not expecting this many gifts
This is an amazingly generous group of gifts. It means that each basket will have a book, a group of the items pictured above, a cord holder, some fabric, an organizer, scissors or clips and a small item like a threader or finger light. I think this is a good amount of stuff.
I think I will have to get busy and make pouches in which to put the various items!
I might even be inspired enough to make Jane Market Totes in which to put the items. Then, again, maybe not. I have a lot of shopping bags.
I did a demo at the guild meeting with sewing machine and everything. I created a handout, which might be useful to some of you. I didn’t do a video, but there are some on the web already.
Bonnie Hunter is the leaders and enders queen. She has a number of books on the subject and also writes about the subject frequently on her blog. She also writes a column for Quiltmaker magazine on scraps. Her blog and shop can be found at http://www.quiltville.com
The basic concept is: instead of just stitching over a scrap at the end of a seam, you insert piecing from another project. So each time you start or end a seam and you are ready to snip the thread and press, you sew some component of another project. (Color Girl Quilts blog)
Keys for me:
The point of leaders and enders has little to do with using thread bunnies regularly, but to get more done. Using the leaders and enders method, I get a lot more community quilts finished.
Resources:
Books:
No, I am not going to Burning Man. I did visit an exhibit of their costumes, vehicles and ephemera at the Oakland Museum of California with my sorority alumna group last week. I was really fascinated by the vehicles and the costumes. I also learned a lot about Burning Man, the organization, in general.
It was hard to get close enough to the costumes to see what they were made of. It did make me want to construct an elaborate Halloween costume.
Mostly, I took a photo of the dragon because I thought the YM would like it (he did!). I looked closer, however and found that it was made of common household metals – like muffin pans and cake tins. I couldn’t help but think of a group of mothers getting together and building this thing. It looks very fierce from afar, but close up I saw a message of home and kitchen, a place in which to take refuge.
Another vehicle looked like an old fashioned theater. I wasn’t tall enough to really see inside. I, also, couldn’t get close enough to see if they were showing movies, but I loved the plush seating, the flocked wallpaper and the aura of one of the grand old theaters.
Finally, I couldn’t help thinking of one of those old bikes with the huge front wheel when I saw the last vehicle.
It also made me think of a Big Wheel. I couldn’t tell if one person could drive it or if three people would need to work together to drive it.
There were others, of course. I didn’t take pictures of everything there. It is an interesting exhibit and well worth the time to visit.
It is a slow process, but I am making progress. I have all the sashing cut and placed. I have also started to sew the sashing to the blocks.
It is hard to see because of the color, but I think you can make out the blocks.
Yes, I have gifts on the mind.
Like the post I wrote the other day about gifts I have made for Julie, I decided to make myself feel better by writing about the gifts I have made for my mom. Again, I was disappointed. In my mind, I have made so many more than show up on the blog. Granted, I don’t always say who the gifts are for and that makes it hard to search, but still, I thought I had made a lot more.
I am not ashamed of the projects I have made and have a few more in the pipeline for Christmas, but still. I really thought I had made more.
I got back to the Bat Tablerunner over the weekend. Yes, I quilted.
I quilted for about an hour on Sunday evening. I felt really good about the work I did. I feel like I accomplished something. The quilting was simple, but it looks nice. I felt energized and was ready for another session on Monday. I quilted for about 4 hours on Monday night while DH watched the football game.
I suffered yesterday as 4 hours of machine quilting was a bit much. I knew I was going overboard, but I really want to get this piece done before Saturday’s meeting. I need to break up my work, though so I am not in pain.
I was able to finish the background on Monday and make a start on the bats. I know I just need to do what I can do and hope that I can be done by Saturday.