The Stepping Stones n.2 quilt is back from the quilter. I went and got it on Wednesday and am really pleased with the quilting.
I have to, of course, sew down the binding, so stay tuned.
Stepping Stones n.2 Returns
Spiky 16 Patch n.4
I didn’t have any time to sew at the end of the week and was kind of busy as well. I did manage to finish another Spiky 16 patch donation block.
I might be getting a little tired of these blocks in this color scheme. I know! Crazy, right? I’d kind of like to see a version with more colors. That means making a stash of HRTs in different colors as well.
Last ATCs
I made my last ATCs for awhile last week and forgot to take a photo. At the CQFA meeting on Saturday, I was the only one who brought them. It was decided that we weren’t going to do them going forward. I will kind of miss the rush of getting a small work of art done, but I will also not miss the stress.
Sadly I forgot to take a photo of the 4 together, but Julie brought hers along when we had lunch and I took a photo of one of them.
MetroScape Back
I stole a few minutes from a very busy weekend to sew. I need to finish the MetroScape back and binding before Thursday. I am taking quilts to Colleen to be quilted. She is finally feeling better and able to quilt a bit again, so I can pick up the Stepping Stones #2 as well.
I decided, after I cut up all the dot prints, that I hadn’t used many of the stripes on the front, so I would use them on the back. I spent a lot of Saturday evening recovering the stripes from making the binding. They all of have a big diagonal strip cut off the length.
The binding is finished, which is always a relief. I have enough fabric for the back. I just have to make it work. Right now my issue is what to put in between the three horizontal lines of fabric.
BAM Swap Gift
I also received a gift at the guild Winter Extravaganza. I was so pleased to get a gift from Mary! She went above and beyond by making me a very cool portfolio, a little basket and a pincushion.
As soon as I opened the package, my mind started whirling about how I would use all of them.
I have already put the little basket to use as I worked on the back for the MetroScape quilt back. It is now designated for selvedges, though I have already filled it up.
I am thinking that the portfolio will be put to good use for English Paper Piecing fabrics and papers. I use my first Sew Together bag for needles, pins, thread, scissors, etc, but I don’t really have a good place for the papers and the fabrics I have prepared. This might do the trick.
I laughed when I saw the pincushion. As you may remember, I have made this style of pincushion for others in the guild. I never made one for myself, so Mary did it for me!
Spiky 16 Patch n.3
I finished another Spiky 16 patch over the weekend, so my collection is growing. I need to start thinking about how I will set these blocks. I could do another quilt like either n.1 or n.2. I am trying to think of something different. Something different might be a small addition like Mrs. K added to her corners.
On point settings are kind of a hassle, but so effective. I have two more blocks to make before I have to decide.
Resources:
- Spiky 16 Patch n.1 (originally named the HRT Donation Quilt)
- Spiky 16 Patch n.2
- Spiky 16 Patch n.3, block n.1
- Split Recs ruler
- Mrs. K’s Spiky 16 Patch
BAM Swap Bag
I signed up for the BAM swap and received Lindsay. I don’t know her very well. I talked to her briefly at a recent meeting as she rummaged through a stack of donation blocks I had recently donated. You know I love it when people use my blocks. 😉 It is such a great feeling of collaboration.
I kind of like doing the swaps,though this one was hard. I kind of gave up on the theme, though Rhonda, the organizer is pretty lax about sticking to the theme. I have to learn to be more like her.
I went through my patterns after I saw that Lindsay requested a bag. I have a lot of bag patterns and need to start plowing through them. I came up with the Classmate Bag by Terry Atkinson. It is not a large tote sized bag, but I thought it would be useful for going to class.
I have heard good things about Atkinson designs patterns and the company certainly has a lot of patterns out. I can’t remember ever making something from their line.
This bag went together pretty well, especially when I was able to concentrate after Thanksgiving.
The problem I always have for these types of swaps is fabric. I don’t buy a lot of the lines that modern quilters seem to swarm over. I chose some leftover Tula Pink fabric from a project for which I made a block for Kelly.
It looks pretty good on the outside, I think. I am surprised to see how well the pattern of the fabric matches up. That was a happy accident.
This was a good enough pattern to make me think that I might make this bag again for another friend. Stay tuned.
November Donation Blocks
I made a few more donation blocks in November. Between working on the Spiky 16 Patches and traveling a bit, I didn’t get as many done as I would have liked. However, I am taking the positive route and thinking that every little bit helps.
Even though I try, I still seem to end up with a majority of blue donation blocks. I’ll have to see about changing that. Or not. 😉
ColorPlay: Compass
More imagery from my Disney trip. This was a new image that I had never seen before and it really appealed. The detail is fabulous. In hunting around for an image for today, I thought of this. It didn’t turn out to be great for color, but I think some of the palettes are interesting.
Of course the default palette is neutral heavy! Still there is that Sea Glass (great name, don’t you think?) fabric that lightens up the piece. Also some of the other colors have blue and purple twinges (undertones?), which makes the palette look at little less dark and depressing.
The first palette I made is a little all over the place. It isn’t very cohesive. Of course, I like the Lake and Niagra fabrics. It is interesting that the color names are related to water, though perhaps not surprising. I am not a fan of the Rose. It looks sick to me.
I went straight to monochromatic, which was marginally successful. I ended up with two of the same fabrics. C’est la vie. I do like the blues. I think my favorite is the Azure, but the Robin’s Egg is nice, too.
Palette n.3 is all over the place as well, though not a mess, I think. I don’t remember seeing Natural before. I have done a lot of palettes, so I could just not be remembering. The Wasabi looks like sunshine yellow on the bottom, which I like. It has more a green tinge on the side. The Garnet does not have enough red to look Garnet to me. I think it looks more plummy.
N.4 might be my favorite. It isn’t quite monochromatic, but stays well in the cool shades realm. I like the way Surf looks more purple on the bottom. I think it adds to the palette even though I think one of the websites used to create this might be off. I think the lights look really good.
Finally, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and create something with more gold. Palette n.5 heads into the neutrals pretty quickly. I am not a very big fan of this particular palette, but it is different and it does remind me of Mrs. K’s gold Spiky 16 Patch.
What will inspire you today?
Dream Projects #10
I last wrote about my dream projects in July. Since then, I have, actually and surprisingly, made some progress on this list. This makes me kind of feel like writing down dream quilts isn’t a terrible idea. Of course, some projects haven’t changed.
Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Applique’ (Ticker Tape Style) Quilt
- Status: Dream state
- Pattern: Original, I do have a version of the pattern I used for the Whole Cloth quilt and I will use it as starting point.
- Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly, but other colors for the leaves and flowers, perhaps
- Steps: need to fuse a bunch of turquoise to some piece of fabric in the ‘ticker tape’ style so i can cut it up into small pieces. I am thinking of making it similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.
- Thoughts: I might make another one with turquoise on top of red with just two pieces of fabric.
Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Applique’ (one sheet of fabric) Quilt
- Status: Dream state
- Pattern: Original, I do have a version of the pattern I used for the Whole Cloth quilt and I will use it as starting point.
- Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly
- Steps: need to fuse a big piece of turquoise to SoftFuse or similar, then cut out the image and fuse it to the background. I would satin stitch all around the image. I don’t know that I can make one continuous piece, but will try. The image would be similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.
- Thoughts: I might make it with turquoise on top of red with just two pieces of fabric.
- Added: 9/14/2017
- Status: Dream state
- Fabric: Scrappy
- Pattern: Fons & Porter, series 1000, episode 1005
- Thoughts: I like the challenge of piecing this quilt and using a lot of partial seams for the piecing
Blue Rectangles Gradation Quilt
- Status: Hunting and Gathering
- Fabric: blue 2.5×4.5 rectangles
- Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
- Thoughts: I can’t decide if this is still a dream or if it is already started and I just need to arrange it and start piecing. I have done a lot of cutting, so I think I have started it, thus it may not be a dream anymore. The original idea stemmed from the FOTY quilts. I just decided to do a monochromatic version – using just blues, in this case. I probably have enough patches now and just need to slot the time to work on it into my schedule.
Blue Lemonade
- Status: Hunting and Gathering
- Fabric: blue, purple and green scrappy
- Pattern: inspiration from TFQ’s Pink Lemonade quilt
- Thoughts: I probably had enough squares to make this quilt, but then I used a bunch of them to make En Provence. Now I am working on cutting more. I hope to slot the time into my schedule int he not too distant future.
Easy Street
- Status: have pattern/ dream state
- Fabric: pinks
- Pattern: Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter
- Thoughts: I really liked Daisy‘s version of Easy Street, which she calls Cherry Bomb (she thinks of the best names for her quilts) in terms of color and feel. I don’t want to copy her, but if I do this quilt, I’d like to have the same pinky-red feel to it. One challenge about a mostly monochromatic quilt is getting enough contrast. I look forward to that challenge. Not sure this will become a reality.
En Provence #2
- Status: Dream state
- Pattern: En Provence by Bonnie Hunter
- Thoughts: I loved the one I made before and can’t stop thinking about it. I have to make another one, but I can’t figure out what colors to use next. The ones I used before were almost perfect.
Feathered Star Block (or quilt?)
- Status: Dream state.
- Pattern: I haven’t decided on a particular feathered star
- Thoughts: use the Triangle Technique for the HSTs. I also saw a pattern, Star of Chamblie, at a shop in Reno that I might want to use as a base idea.
Good Night Irene Quilt
- Status: dream state
- Pattern: Good Night Irene from the Missouri Star Quilt Company’s Block magazine, Spring issue v.2, issue 2, pg. 54
- Fabric: I decided not to use a layer cake and will use the scrap 2.5 inch squares I have been cutting. I love the cheerfulness of Scrapitude Carnivale, as I say over and over, and am not done with that combination yet.
- Thoughts: I thought about using dots on a white background, as I did with the Scrapitude Carnivale quilt as the background. It makes the Scrapitude quilt look so cheerful. I probably wouldn’t call it Good Night Irene.
Interlocking Triangles Quilt(s)
- Status: dream state
- Pattern: This is an idea that I designed myself. I made two quilts and have variations on the pattern to make more.
- Fabric: I have a few different collections of fabric I want to use. Most are rainbow colored; I also have a lot of stripes to use
- Thoughts: This is a quilt from which I get a lot of bang for my buck. The visual impact is tremendous. The easiest way to do the spiky triangles is with paper piecing. I am not that big of a fan of paper piecing (read my laments about the Spiderweb‘s paper piecing). I made Spiky Stars using templates and that was meditative and won a prize, so it is doable.
Jack’s Chain Quilt
- Status: dream state
- Pattern: Jack’s Chain, a continuous pattern
- Fabric: bright scrappy, consistent centers
- Thoughts: This is one of the first quilts I saw hanging in a quilt store and thought of making, after I learned to quilt. I have seen a number of variations lately using different hexagons in the center. It occurred to me recently that I could do four rings and make a pillow cover instead of a whole quilt. Partially, I thought of this because I saw an EPP pattern for this quilt. Taking on another large EPP quilt is not in the cards.
Music Quilt
- Status: dream state, but not very inspired
- Pattern: Top will have a piece of music the Young Man can actually play. That will probably be applique’
- Fabric/Colors: music prints and tone-on-tones with a little red
- Thoughts: The Young Man has requested this quilt as his high school graduation quilt. I missed that deadline. He has sent me a piece of music, which I printed out. Now I need to make into an applique’
Pineapple (Hunting and Gathering)
- Status: I have some strips cut.
- Fabric: dots. Have most of the strips cut. Will be much more selective about which strips I use.
- Pattern: Pineapple log cabin
- Thoughts: I haven’t given up on a Pineapple quilt despite my frustration with the previous attempt. I bought a different ruler: a Creative Grids Pineapple ruler in hopes that it will work better for me
Silk Colorblock quilt
- Status: I have the fabrics and the plan
- Fabrics: silk dupioni and cotton in brights (of course)
- Pattern: Similar to Colorblocks 2
- Thoughts: I have made a couple of, what I call, Colorblock quilts over the years. One was the Kona Challenge in 2011, another was my 1990 Colorblocks 2 and the first one, Colorblocks, also made in about 1990. I bought the silk fabrics at the Marin Needlearts show about a zillion years ago and they have languished waiting for me to learn to back them so I can use them. I think I have that covered now and there is nothing stopping me except time and will.
Spin Wheel
- Status: Hunting and Gathering
- Pattern: Fons & Porter Spin Wheel, 1200 series, episode 1201
- Fabric: Scrappy with controlled scrappy background
- Thoughts: I like the construction of this quilt and am convinced that I will make it. Another one just waiting for time and will.
Windmill (Hunting and Gathering)
- Status: half cut; need more greys for the background
- Fabric: Scrappy. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
- Pattern: Come Quilt with Me Rotary templates
- Thoughts: I think I will buy the Sizzix template and cut grey windmill pieces with that instead of by hand
Out of the Dream State: Below is a list of projects that were on this list at some point that I actually made or am working on:
- Box Full of Letters
- Food quilt #2
- Food quilt #3
- Half Moon Modern Quilt I made a Chubby Charmer instead of a quilt and am happy with that choice.
- Medium Mondo Bag – I actually made the Midi bag. I think I might have another pattern to make another one, so I will have to try it out without the class.
- MetroScape quilt top – top finished, working on the back
- Stepping Stones #2 –finished.
Other:
I removed Stepping Stones #3 from the list, because I decided to give the pre-cuts to quiltmakers from the CampFire who need projects to work on. The details were:
- Status: waiting.
- Fabric: Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. It isn’t started, but I have lots of pre-cuts and think they would make a really fun version of this quilt.
- Pattern: Stepping Stones by the Lintott girls
- Thoughts: Hmmm. This is less exciting to me now. I think I need to finish #2 and then decide. It is just as likely as not that I will make this.
I might make another Stepping Stones quilt, but for the moment I think I am done with that pattern.
Mosaic Inspiration
As mentioned recently, I went to Disneyland Resort with my SILs and nieces. I always get a lot of inspiration when I go there. I wonder if I would be happy wandering around by myself in an empty park just looking at the detail. I notice that I had taken pictures of motifs I had photographed before. I guess I need to get busy and make some quilts based on the inspiration.
One tile motif would be great for setting the donation blocks the guild already makes. I wouldn’t even have to change the design from 9 patches or 4 patches to 16 patches, the work is already done. I am not sure what I think about the all-beige blocks. I don’t want to piece something that doesn’t need to be pieced. Subtle variations in color or a large plain block? I think large plain blocks would look good with a contrasting – or colorful – background fabric. The pieced design could be set in a column, like I did for the aqua and red Column Donation quilt. I am not sure about the half plain blocks on the top and bottom, but they do make the column look stable.
I still like the lozenge shape. Despite the Mostly Manor Lozenge quilt, that shape is not out of my system. I was on the run when I saw these pavers, so took a quick snap and ran on. I think the design would make a great English Paper Piecing pattern.
I tried to create a design in my journal, but wasn’t completely successful. I thought about sending the photo to Paper Pieces and asking them to send back the relevant shapes that fit together, but I haven’t. I have the half hexie project and the papers for La Passacagalia, so I don’t want to start something else. I thought about, with other EPP designs, just making one block and a pillow cover. This design doesn’t lend itself to that sort of solution.
Despite the yucky green, the tile design has potential. I like the combination of larger and smaller squares. I also like the subtle sashing design. Using small enough squares would make this design a great stash busting pattern.
In looking at it carefully, for piecing clues, I am not sure if there is a specific block one could repeat. there are definitely 4 patches and a squashed 3×4 motif. This design would be relatively easy to work up in EQ8.
Do you look at floor and wall tile for quilt inspiration?
Spiky 16 Patch, quilt 3, block 2
I have been working a little at a time on these blocks. Thanksgiving took up a lot of time last week and I didn’t get much time to sew until Friday.
As mentioned the other day, I had to make some right facing HRTs. I made a few so I could finish this block.
I want these blocks to, at least, have the appearance of being scrappy, so I can’t make many of the individual units without getting too much duplication. I am pleased with this one.
Resources:
- Spiky 16 Patch n.1 (originally named the HRT Donation Quilt)
- Spiky 16 Patch n.2
- Spiky 16 Patch n.3, block n.1
- Split Recs ruler
Cyndi’s Work
Cyndi is a member of my local guild whose work I really like. She has a similar color sense to me.
I saw her starting this quilt a few months ago and was excited by the color scheme. The finished piece turned out better than I could have imagined. It really looks like a quilt that could be used and cuddled on the couch. It is a pattern called ‘A’s Strips’ by Amy Cowan and Opal Cocke of Here2There Designs. Amy also produces the Creative Mom podcast.
At last year’s Retreat, we got a nice donation of top quality fabric from MassDrop. Some of the fabric was difficult to use because of the designs,but people powered through and made donation quilts. Cyndi recently finished another one using a great design.
It’s really fun to see what others are making.
Spiky 16 Patch…Again
I am getting started again on a third Spiky 16 Patch donation quilt.
It is easy just to keep making 16 patches. They are pretty rote, but I have a lot of the prep done for more spiky 16 patches and the units don’t help anyone laying around the workroom. I made the first block with no problems. The first block is always the hurdle. Now I feel like I can zoom through the process.
The stack of the 16 patches and the half rectangle triangles made a good start.
As you can see the rectangles point in different directions I am a bit short of the ones that point to the right (on the bottom row). I had to make a few to finish this block. I will need to make more to finish the rest of the quilt as well. It is a little confusing to know which way to cut the fabric to get the triangles to point in the right direction. I think it is with the print fabric on top. I want to dig out the Split Recs ruler directions to see if that particular piece of information is clearly noted. If it is clear, then I won’t have to try and remember. Small details like that disappear when there is space between projects.
Resources:
- Spiky 16 Patch n.1 (originally named the HRT Donation Quilt)
- Spiky 16 Patch n.2
Thanksgiving Aftermath
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I was thinking about the holiday. It is a good holiday. Lots of family and no gifts that gets short shrift with all of the retail crazy. I stay out of shops during this weekend. This has not been a great year for us for a lot of reasons, but I am still really grateful for all that I have, my family and friends.
You might have heard of the Camp Fire in Butte County or the Woolsey Fire in Southern California. I am impacted by both in a very minor way. The air quality here has been awful, terrible and unhealthy on various days. I now wear a mask outside. Also, I was in SoCal when the Woolsey Fire started and had to breathe that air. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I could do something for people who had to flee their homes because of these fires. Yes, I could donate money, but I wanted to help a person. When I found out that my friend’s mother, a quiltmaker, had lost everything, including her longarm, I went through my workroom. I put together a starter kit with new or gently used items and met my friend for lunch. Her mom is set, but there is another quiltmaker having a hard time and needing the tools to make a project. I hope I got her started. As a bonus, I got to have lunch with a friend. It was nice to catch up since we hadn’t seen each other for awhile.
I don’t know Cindy Needham, but she set up a ‘shop’ where Butte County quiltmakers can come and shop for supplies and materials without cost. The linked post is open to anyone to read and comment. It looks like she is no longer taking fabric donations. Cindy’s ‘shop’ is in need of rulers, mats, rotary cutters and all the other things we use to work on our projects. She has specifically requested pre-cuts and solids recently. I have some precuts marked for a future project that I might just donate and cross off my list. Why not? It isn’t as though I have a shortage of future projects.
I know this should be a ColorPlay or creativity post. I’ll get back to it. Enjoy the variety until I do!