Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Mostly, I am trying to stock up on Half 16 patch blocks so I can make another Sidewalk quilt. A couple are from Sew Day. I am cutting some 4.5 x 8.5 inch rectangles from larger scraps and yardage to make another Sidewalk quilt from plain pieces of fabric. I am not including those ‘panels’ here as they are not really that interesting since there is no piecing.
I wasn’t able to make the guild meeting on the 17th, but Lee Ann was kind enough to send me some photos of the recently finished quilts.
The grey looks really great. This grey improv quilt is one of my favorites. I am kind of sad to see it go to some random person. I am sure that person will appreciate it.
Since I have been using quite a bit of grey recently, I expect to work on another in the not too distant future.
The recent green one is also finished. It is not a favorite, but I know someone will like it.
I really appreciate the other guild members’ efforts in finishing these. It allows me to do the parts I enjoy.
A few weeks ago, I talked about the Diamond Test project, which I turned into a donation quilt and top. When I found that project, I also found the piece in the photo.
I sort of remember getting the pack of rectangles and sewing them together because I didn’t want to cut the pieces up. The colors are incredibly vibrant. I can’t remember anything else about it. I can only think of it as Cosmic Crazy right now.
It is about 35 in x 35 in at the moment. I have it on my design wall while I think about what to do. My current thought is that I will add a gold border then another border and call it done. It will be another donation quilt.
I made good progress on Sidewalk #3 and was able to get this finished quickly. Using one patch, instead of improv piecing or Half 16 patch blocks, for the 8.5 inch x 4.5 inch units helped make the piecing go very quickly.
This is already with Laura waiting to be quilted.
I noticed after it was gone that I forgot to put a top border on. WTH? Oh well. I’ll do better next time.
I know I made a back for this quilt, but I didn’t take a picture of it. Again, WTH? Not like me at all.
At a recent guild meeting, we talked about themes for the Fair challenge. One idea was an ugly fabric challenge. Been there done that. I am not a fan.
When I was rummaging for the Handbag Sampler a few weeks ago, I found a few small pieces and some blocks about which I had forgotten. One of the pieces was a diamond test I worked one before I made the Fabric of the Year 2010 quilt and to test a border idea for one of the Bullseye quilts. I also found a post about it. I thought it was older, but I guess 15 years is old enough. This test was made with ugly fabrics. I think the outer brown might be a Civil War print. Yuck.
I didn’t remember making this when I saw it and knew I wasn’t going to make it the center of a quilt. I decided to make it into a donation quilt. My mantra is “someone will like it” whether I like it or not.
The color scheme was a bit depressing to me. That is one reason why I am not excited about an ‘ugly fabric’ challenge. I decided to pull out the greens. The more subtle greens in the background of the border print are hard to see, but the odd greens I found worked very well. I used a lot of green not only to make the quilt a decent size, but also to overwhelm the brown.
The piece wasn’t quite big enough, so I found some browns that weren’t hideous and added some additional strips. I didn’t have enough to put on both sides. I used two different prints that are similar colors.
The brown borders are ok. And I’ll be able to say I used some brown. 😉
The back was with the test piece. it started as that beige with the stripes around three sides. It was small, so I made it larger as well.
The blue improv top and back are finished and delivered to the community giving team.
I am not sure about the border, but I wanted it bigger and it is too late to go back now.
The border also kind of stabilizes all that improv piecing and bias edges.
I am doing quite a bit of rummaging in my fabric bins, so there are some interesting fabrics on the back.
I enjoy these improv pieces and may need to get back to the Black Improv piece pretty soon.
This is a different kind of Sidewalk design. I thought of this design after cutting some 4.5 x 8.5 rectangles for another another Rectangle donation quilt. Remember the first one I made last year?
I had cut enough rectangles to make another of those rectangle quilts. However, I saw that the size would work with this design as well. While I was on the sidewalk roll, I decided to try it. It will be super easy to sew together.
We had a Sew Day on Saturday dedicated to making a group quilt that will be donated. Peggy has a pattern that uses different sizes of squares to make a quilt. I don’t know the name and I am not sure Peggy made it up. She probably found it somewhere. The directions were a bit confusing to start with, but easy once we got a few explanations and I drew some pictures.
We all brought a few squares that were the right size, so the quilt would be very scrappy. I made one center block and a couple of border blocks.
My center block didn’t look very nice by itself. The fabrics were scraps from various projects that were the right size. I wasn’t hopeful that my block would fit in.
The border block looked a bit better. While the motifs were quite different, I think having similar colors was better for a block.
In general, though, the quilt went together well and the variety of fabrics worked out.
The quilt looks like an HST quilt, but it didn’t go together that way at all. Unlike some methods of making HSTs, the bias was completely enclosed, so not a problem.
Peggy did a great job and the participants really stepped up.
The other day I mentioned finding some piecing. I thought I would let it languish for awhile, but I need the space on my design wall for other projects, so I quickly sewed it together.
I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I had very low expectations and was rewarded with a better than expected outcome.
I was able to use all the pieces I found and only had to add a little bit of some peach Grunge I had laying around. I didn’t have much of it left and it was about the only color that went with these soft muted colors. At Julie’s suggestion I added a small strip of Tilde pink to get a little more length. I didn’t think it went with the April Cornell fabrics, but Julie said it picked up some of the darker pinks in some of the flowers. It is a little big strange looking for a top, but hopefully someone will like it.
The back was much harder. I really don’t have fabrics in those soft colors. I picked some that I thought sort of went with the quilt top. I would have preferred a sage or muted blue.
Soon it will be off to the Community Quilt team.
I eeked out the last few blocks from what was left of my blue scraps. Most of the scraps went to the Blue Improv #2 donation top. Mostly they are too small for the blocks, so were perfect for an improv top.
I have also included some blocks I am making for one of the upcoming Sidewalk donation quilts. As mentioned before, they are half 16 patches. I am so used to making the 16 patch blocks that it feels weird to include these half blocks. Still, they make up really nice quilts, so I am trying to get over the weirdness by including them.
I was really pleased to see this quilt come back from quilting and binding. Lee Ann did the binding. I was pretty unhappy with this quilt when I finished it, but I think it came out really well in the end.
I used the leftovers from the Angel Family pillowcases and some scraps from Melinda. I was pleased to be able to use up as much of the fabric I bought as possible.
SIL#2 led at swap at the meeting on Saturday. As mentioned, I made a pencil roll. I decided at the last minute to make another organizer in case a new member or potential member came and wanted to join in.
I found the pattern in a book I reviewed some time ago called Make It, Take It: 16 Cute and Clever Projects to Sew with Friends by Krista Hennebury. I am glad to say that I did notice this project when I reviewed the book.
I am very pleased with the needlecase I made. It is kind of a portfolio and holds quite a bit of stuff. I like it because it is useful and practical, but also has scope for creativity.
I used some of the leftover improv piecing from the latest improv donation top. I think it would work to use Quilt-as-you-go to make the cover as well. I could just as easily use one piece of fabric for a very quick finish.
I was also pleased to see the way the zipper was installed, because I thought it would help me with another project on which I have (mostly not) been working.
This was a fairly quick project. I had all of the supplies, which helped. You do need some wool felt and a long zipper.
Each section could be used for a different type of needle, if one were that organized.
One of the reasons I am pleased with the pattern is that it gave me a different way to install a zipper on a circular piece. I can use this technique. I need more practice, but it came out better than my other project.
I am also pleased because the exterior looks really good. There is ton of scope for creativity with the outside, as I mentioned. This might be a great project to work on in a group.
As mentioned, we had an organizer swap at the guild yesterday. I was not the organizer of the swap, but I was put in charge of selecting swap items for a couple of people who weren’t able to attend.
Christine and Mary thought the swap was at Sew Day. Since it wasn’t, they gave me their organizers and put me in charge of selecting something for them.
Mary made the Atlas again. I made a couple of these and still want to make one for myself. Remember one was Cal themed? I am not done with this pattern yet, but I have other things to finish first.
Mary did a fantastic job on hers, as usual. The fabric is so fun! She also used some specialty vinyl with sewing motifs for some of the inside pockets, which is super cute. I normally stick to the glitter vinyl, but some of the specialty vinyl is tempting me.
As I have said before, this is a great portfolio. It is so useful and I think it would be used much more if you had one as pretty as Mary made.
I really love her zipper and zipper pulls. The actual zipper reminds me of the zippers I found at Sewlarium.
Mary has been experimenting with different methods of finishing zipper ends and the photo on the right (above) shows one of her favorite current methods. The pattern has the maker fold the zipper under into a kind of curve. I have had mixed results on my efforts using the recommended method. I haven’t tried Mary’s method yet.
Christine made a very interesting divided basket. I went and found the pattern, because I thought it was so cool.
There are a lot of pockets and storage areas included in this pattern. I think it is a great idea to have some slip pockets on the outside.
We discussed the construction and decided it would be worthwhile trying some different interfacings to see if they made a difference.
The shape and positioning of the handles reminds me of the One Hour Basket. I have made several One Hour Baskets, but I put the handles on the sides as I find it more useful.
I also like the shape of this design. The skinniness would make it easy to tuck into certain spaces.
Christine used some great Philip Jacobs fabric for the outside.
As I have mentioned recently, my sewing time is short these days. My job isn’t especially demanding, but it takes a lot of my best hours.
Back in May, I decided I needed to do a two birds one stone project. I needed something for the Fair and a swap project, so I pulled out my Pink Chalk Studio Pencil Roll pattern and the fat quarters from Family Threads and got to work. I was done in time to enter the project in the Fair. Today it will go to its new home as part of the organizer swap at the guild.
I am trying to squeeze as many projects as I can out of these fat quarters, so I cut enough strips to make another pencil roll.
This piece is at the painfully growing stage since the last time I showed it. The rest of my blue scraps are either very small or weirdly shaped, which makes it hard to use them. I am trying to use as many of them as I can, despite the problems. I am not sure the piece will be big enough for a donation top. It might be close and I’ll have to figure what to do with it if it is.