Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
The Color My Quilt project reared it’s lovely head again and I got busy making something for Michelle. My goal was to use my scraps, though I was determined not to skimp and paw through the fabric closet if there were no appropriate scraps.
One of Michelle’s words was shiny and I found some fabric that had a lot of shine, so I grabbed that. I also found some perfect purples. I was embroiled very hard in another project and this little piece allowed me to play a bit.
This project makes me feel like I am beating a dead horse.
I kept making Flying Geese to turn the 16 patches into stars and putting them up sort of higgeldy piggeldy on the design wall. Suddenly, I saw I design that was better than the straight set I had been planning.
I am not sure about the fifth block. If I keep it, where will it go? If I chuck it out, will there be too much white space? The white space will be background fabric – plain white.
I am slowly working on the Stars donation quilt. I have a few full stars made and am working on the others.
I am working on these as a leaders and enders project in between another project. The other project has a lot of applique’ so I don’t always get to piece the stars. Still, the stars are appearing.
Due to the fact that I still have not set my large design wall back up, I am using an inadequately sized design wall. This means that pieces get overlapped and crammed together, which can be annoying, but can also be inspiring.
I was determined to do a 9 block baby / small child quilt for donation. Upon seeing the stars partially made and crammed together, it occurs to me that there are other design options. I think I will make more of a free form layout rather than a straight set. It will be more interesting and have a bit more negative space for someone to express their quilting artistry.
I have been able to come up with a few donation blocks, despite the many leaders and enders opportunities.
I am particularly fond of the block in the upper left hand corner. Something about the combination of bright blue, turquoise and pink is very appealing.
I liked the previous Star Donation top so much that I decided to make another one. As I have mentioned, I have a lot of leaders and enders opportunities, so I am not making as much progress on donation tops and blocks right at the moment. Still, slow progress is better than no progress.
At the moment, I have the blocks done. I will make Flying Geese to add to make them into Sawtooth Stars.
Not all of the blocks have black background patches, but I did try to keep the background patches dark so as to continue to explore that look.
I also decided to make this one larger – 9 blocks instead of 4. Still, looking at it makes me think I could make two donation tops with these blocks for the NICU, if I wanted to make them smaller. I will see what I think when I finish making the blocks into stars.
As I implied yesterday, I was part of a group making the Tula quilt. The group, I think, really struggled with what blocks to make. I don’t think people were reluctant to make the blocks. I think we were just having a hard time getting inspired. If there had been a theme, like stars or Flying Geese or something, it might have been easier. Still we all came through with flying colors! There was some cohesion in the blocks that were contributed, which was fabulous. Of course, the Tula fabric help make them all hang together.
Amanda and Gerre worked on the layout, but I think the block makers feeding off of each other made it easier. The large Flying Geese type panels can certainly bookend any other layout. Cheryl’s castle is a great center.
I am so pleased with how this all worked out.
Back in the Spring, I received an email about contributing to a lovey quilt for a friend moving to Scotland. She is a Tula Pink devotee and that would be the theme. Of course I wanted to participate, but I am not a Tula devotee and I only had one Tula fabric as far as I knew.
I went online and bought a couple of pieces. I didn’t want to buy a lot as it isn’t really fabric I generally use. I was pleased to find a fat quarter pack of Tula solids. I knew I would use those, so I scooped them up with a couple of the more Tula-esque prints and started thinking about a design.
This was to be a modern quilt from Tula fabric and I really was at a loss about what to make. I would normally default to Sawtooth Stars for a lovey block as they are great all around and work well with fussy cutting. They didn’t seem right for this piece.
I needed to get busy as the deadline was approaching and my work travel + Grand Parlor were all coming up quickly. I decided on a modern house block a la the Clerestory quilt.
I wasn’t really excited about the house block and hadn’t started yet when I saw another member of the group working on hers at a Sew Day. She was making a Pineapple block. This made me think that a house block would be hard to fit in, so I decided that a wonky log cabin would work better. I am not a huge log cabin fan and wonky log cabins are worse. However, I could fussy cut the special motifs and work around them in a way that would really scream ‘TULA’. That is what I did. I am pretty pleased with the blocks. They didn’t come out exactly as intended, but they look nice and people seemed to like them.
I wrote about Sew Day the other day, I had more to say so here I am again.
Belinda was making blocks for a donation quilt. I thought the design was great. It was great for all quilts, but especially for donation quilts.
The rectangles are 2.5″ x 4.5″, which is a size I am cutting for two future quilts, so not unfamiliar to me. The blocks can be made from any size rectangle as long as the rectangles are proportional.
Belinda used a Bali Pop, which looked really great. I thought that cutting rectangles from a variety of fabrics as I cut other fabrics up for my projects would be interesting as well – a scrappy look.
I figure that the blocks are about 12×12 finished, so making 9 would make a good sized donation quilt. I’ll see about making one once I have the other two, which are in process, finished.
Sew Day was Saturday and, as usual, it was great. My guild has such a nice, caring group of people. I feel so fortunate.
We have started to just put out a few tables and then let people add tables as they arrive. The day is very informal and people come and go as schedules permit. This also makes cleanup easier. If we don’t put out tables that go unused, we have less to put away.
Recently we have started to use a “Thanksgiving” configuration for the tables. This means one long table. It is hilarious and wonderful as well.
I took stuff to cut, though I did consider bringing my sewing machine for a minute. I am working on a database for a client and my neck and shoulders need to be pampered, so I just brought cutting. I didn’t even get through all the cutting I brought, but I did get A LOT done, which was great.
I cut some white to make the Flying Geese for my next Sawtooth Star donation top. I liked the one I made before and wanted to make one a little larger this time. All the blocks are made, but I needed to cut some backgrounds for the Flying Geese. I also need to cut some colored squares, but one thing at a time. I didn’t have the wherewithall to pull out many prints to bring. These are supposed to be from scraps, according to Jaye rules. I want to go through my scrap bins and find pieces I can use before I cut into yardage. I need 5.75″ squares, which I am unlikely to find in my scrap bins as my scraps are generally smaller, but you never know. It’s worth a look.
I chatted with Tim quite a bit. He has Janome machines, too. I always tease him about getting his 15k repaired. He had some issues free motion quilting and is now a little scared of the machine. I might go with him to get it repaired to act as moral support.
Tim also claims that he is going to make the Poolside Tote, so I am kind of waiting for him, but I want to get it done to test out the 6600 (more on that later), so he has better get busy.
Mary was fluttering around setting up and helping people in her wonderful way. We chatted about the outfits I saw at the Heard Museum recently. The Retreat Committee met. I am signed up and can’t wait to see what they have in store for us. Gerre came. It was great to see her. Rhonda is finishing a super secret project. I can’t wait to share it with you all.
I finished Gerre’s piece on Sunday. I was almost done on Saturday, but had a bit more to do.
This did not come out as I envisioned, but I still like it. I saw that butterfly and it made me think of Gerre.
On both pieces, I had blocks on the mind. I really didn’t feel Improv in my piecing plan this time, so blocks it was. I had some leftover bits that I didn’t use, so I included them with the packet as well.
I spent most of the day with my in laws cleaning my MIL’s house. She is 91 and lives alone, but needs some extra help now and again. I spent my time cleaning her fridge and running errands for her upstairs. Everyone else worked on the garden except YM who scrubbed her outside stairs and the tunnel to her front door.
The first thing I did when I got home was to take a shower, but after that I had several hours to sew. I decided to leave Sunday all free for something new and to try to cross some to dos off my list.
I had an idea for the Color My Quilt pieces I owe Gerre and Annemarie, so I decided to work on those.
They didn’t go completely as planned. However, I ended up with something I think will work with the other pieces. Annemarie received pieces at the June meeting, which I missed, so I really don’t know what Annemarie’s shards looked like. I hope the apricot I added gave her the look of southwest without the coyotes and saguaros feel of kitschy Southwest.
Christina is spearheading the drive to make a quilt for the nurse who coordinates and founded the Blankets for Babies Project at Stanford. Christina is racking up the hours in front of the sewing machine, but is still a relative newbie, thus she called on me to do some applique’ on this quilt.
The quilt, Make a Splash, is a free pattern on the Moda Blog (scroll down as once you click on the pattern an Adobe Acrobat window will open in your browser, so there is no direct link).
It took me awhile to get it done. With my travel and various things happening, I only got to it last Thursday. I snuck in some time after work to do a bit of applique’. I am pleased that my part is finished and I can hand it off to Christina again. Don’t get me wrong; I am always pleased to help the guild. I just have so much going on right and I felt like I was letting Christina down by not getting it finished. Now it is and I can move on to the 2,000 projects I have going.
I know you probably roll your eyes at the way I go on a bit about donating blocks for someone else to make donation tops. Quilts do actually get made from these blocks, which is great and you do know that I do make tops as well.
I forgot to mention the work of mine that Erin finished last month.
You might remember the Retreat Donation top? This is truly a team effort as I took shards Maureen was giving away at the Retreat and made them into a top. Erin did a great job quilting and binding it. Two guilds, three people = truly a team effort.
She also finished a top that I don’t think I made, but was made from some of the single blocks I contributed. I am pretty sure I ddin’t make the top as there is no sashing. I usually put sashing between the 16 patch blocks to give them space.
Anyway, I really appreciate Erin’s work as it is a tangible example that we are working as a team to contribute to those in need.
I am using En Provence for leaders and enders so my donation quilt/block progress has slowed somewhat. I did manage to make one block.
I am back to using white and will send this one to the guild rather than use it to make a quilt. I have enough blocks at home to make donation quilts and will focus on those. Someone else can use this one to make a quilt.
I probably shouldn’t have gone to BAMaQG on Saturday because I was still hacking up a lung. After Grand Parlor, however, I needed to see my peeps and get reconnected with some quiltmaking. Despite leaving my lungs everywhere, I enjoyed myself and was pleased to be able to talk to people I care about. This is Kelly’s last meeting before she moves, so I was especially glad to see her. It also got me back in the mood to sew and I sewed a lot on Sunday.
As usual, the group has a door prize drawing. Right before they announced the name, I thought “I am going to win”. Then Gerre announced my name. I couldn’t believe it. I am really not psychic and I am very distrustful of my intuition*, so it was very strange.
The prizes included fabric. Yay Fabric! Ugh Fabric! I only say UGH Fabric because I am keeping track of my usage and I am in the hole.
Still, it is fun to win a prize.
The fabric colors aren’t really ‘my’ colors (except the lime), but the little packet of peaches is kind of growing on me. I can definitely use them for this month’s Color My Quilt. I also have the idea to make something small out of them. A small bag or journal cover or another gift grouping. I’d love to find a pattern that used the exact amount of fabric I have.
* After being certain I was having a girl and getting the YM, my intuition has been suspect.