Tag: Fabric of the Year 2017

Well, I did it. After what seemed like a lot of trauma, I finished the top last Wednesday in a couple of hours of free time after I finished my chores and work.

I thought I would just sew more chunks together, but it turned out that the quiltmaking goddess smiled on me and all my seams were straight and there was no (or minimal) ripping required.

Now we can really see the gradation and I make no bones about how hard I worked at it this time. It is interesting to see some areas that appear lighter IRL appear darker in the photo (check on the blues next to the bird in the middle of the quilt). I do like the way it looks like the columns are fading in and out. It also has that skyline effect, which is great.

I buckled down and made the back, binding and sleeve on Sunday. Yep! Even the sleeve. I feel quite virtuous.

This is a really hard exercise and I challenge you to do something similar.

I spent all day Sunday working to get the FOTY 2017 top together. I have big chunks, but not a top.

Yet.

I will soon. I still can’t tell if I am going to like the way it looks, but I hope so. I do like the skyline sort of effect

There are a lot of pieces to sew for FOTY 2017, but I have, slowly, but surely, been making progress. I thought I could finish the top this past weekend. Even if I hadn’t worked with DH to replace our horrendous jerry-rigged, 20+ year old living room curtain rod, I wouldn’t have had enough time. There are just too many seams.

I am not being super precious about placement this time. I would never have started if I held myself to that standard this time around. I do still tweak placement as I go along, for better or for worse.

I am really looking forward to the whole thing being together as I want to see if it looks like a skyline.

The creativity posts will resume at some point.

I have been tired all week, but FOTY 2017 is progressing. I am sewing so I can arrange further. As per usual, the design wall is too small, though I think DH is happy otherwise I might make a quilt as large as the house. 😉

The piece shrinks a lot due to some trimming and also the seam allowances.

I hope to finish the top this weekend.

Yes, I started to sew. Yes, I started to sew even though not all of the patches are on the design wall. I don’t have the space and am letting go of a little bit of the control.

I am fairly pleased with the overall layout. I think the colors are pretty much in the right place except for the light blue/blue-green. The gradation seems ok at the bottom, but might not work towards the top. I still have time.

I do end up having to trim blocks. It is fine as I will do it a little at a time. I am still figuring out the math on this one – what size to cut, so I don’t ruin anything.

I rearranged all of the patches for FOTY 2017 and am feeling much better about the layout. I still have some design problems, but I feel like I am finally making good progress and am not feeling so much design despair.

The white and light patches will fill in the top of the piece to make it square.

Yes, colors need to be rearranged a bit and I need to slip in a column of turquoise, but otherwise I think this is basically the layout I will use. It is much better than my previous idea.

I know Angela loved the subway tile layout, but as a design concept, it wasn’t working. I may try that layout with smaller patches.

Again, my design wall cannot contain this series of quilts. I can’t tell you how frustrating this is. I have to figure out how to add 3 more columns to this piece without design wall support.

I resorted the patches and have started to arrange FOTY 2017 on the design wall. It isn’t going well.

Why? I don’t know. It just isn’t working.

I did some math and am thinking I need to make the piece 18 rows by 18 columns to make it square, though that does not use all of the patches. I could make it a little off square and make it 19 rows by 18 columns, but that would use more patches, which is my goal.

I have another idea to try.

I am still a little bit a loose ends with quilts. Not sure why, but there it is. That doesn’t mean I am not working. I am. I am working on bags, but I thought it would be a good idea to have something other than an empty design wall in my studio while I worked. FOTY 2017 came to mind. I’d like to get it out of the Hunting & Gathering stage and to Colleen sometime before I am 80.

I was thinking subway tiles. I have been worried for awhile that the patches were too big and wouldn’t fit on the design wall. When I saw the stack of patches, I thought that I might actually get them all on the wall for once. No such luck. The white and grey stacks as well as a few light pinks and violets are still on my cutting table.

I did an ok job getting the colors up that I could fit. Not perfect, but ok. There is a lot of moving around that has to happen before I can start sewing.

I like the size of the patches and don’t really want to cut them down, but that means that I have to figure out a different way to arrange them. The design is simply not large enough. Right now I am toying with the idea of getting a section arranged, sewing it together, then working on the next section. I just don’t think I have it in me to cut up all those patches.

The Friday creativity posts will return soon.