Tag: Hunting & Gathering

FOTY 2012 -late August

Fabric of the Year 2012
Fabric of the Year 2012

I noodled around enough so I didn’t have time to write a book review, so here is an update the cutting for the Fabric of the Year 2012 quilt. It has been nearly a month since the last update.

For those of you have forgotten or were never in the loop, the rectangles are new fabrics – lots of these are from Quiltology – and the squares are fabrics that were in my stash that I have just recently used.

You can see the pink donation quilt in this edition as well as the Yellow donation quilt and pieces from the A-B-C Challenge.

I am having fun cutting into fabrics that have been around for awhile. That is another good aspect of the donation tops – fabrics get their day in the sun and I get some space in my fabric bins.

I’ll get my act together over the weekend and get you some meaty posts to sink your teeth into. Stay tuned.

FOTY – Mid July

FOTY mid- July
FOTY mid- July

I know the name of this post has mid July in the title and the date of the post is late July. I didn’t have a chance to post it until now.

These are a lot of fabrics that I was able to iron. Also, I finally patches from a few of the QuiltCon solids that I hadn’t cut yet.

Some of the yellows are from the Yellow donation quilt that is in process.

There are a few of the Vintage Modern fabrics I bought recently. I plan to use them for another Stepping Stones (Underground Railroad block) quilt.

Fabric of the Year 2012 – Late June

FOTY - Late June 2012
FOTY – Late June 2012

In addition to sewing I have been cutting.

All of the pinks in the Pink Donation Quilt have a square in the piece on the left. There are a few from some fabrics I bought in the last little while. I also have some patches from the Art Gallery scraps I received.

I have to admit that I arranged the scraps a bit so they look good in the photos I post for you. Look for these patches in the final piece.

FOTY 2012 – Mid May

Fabric of the Year 2012 - Mid May
Fabric of the Year 2012 - Mid May

Many of the fabrics in this group are from the back of the Flowering Snowball. I am also diligently pressing and cutting pieces from fabrics that have been washed. The chair on which I hang just washed fabric is no longer falling over. That is a good thing.

There is some Half Moon fabric there, which I need to figure out how to work into a project. No ideas there yet. I have to say that I really came to like that large grey dot and ended up buying a few yards more to use as a background. This, dear readers, is why I do this project. By working with the fabric a little bit, I find out if I like it during a time where I have a chance to get more. I know I am repeating myself, but perhaps one reader will be enlightened. 😉

Fabrics from the most recent A-B-C Challenge blocks are also represented as are fabrics from the NSGW pillows. Kind of like a fabric diary of my recent work, huh?

FOTY – Early May Update

FOTY - Early May Patches
FOTY - Early May Patches

Such pretty fabrics!

So cutting for the Fabric of the Year 2012 quilt continues. As I have said, I am really enjoying cutting up patches for this quilt. As you can see, I seem to be doing a lot of cutting.

I am cutting for other things as well, which is what I call the Hunting and Gathering stage. For scrappy quilts, it is better to cut for a long time and save up the patches until you have enough to make the size of quilt you want. I am doing that for a couple of someday projects.

Fabric of the Year Late April

Late April Pieces
Late April Pieces

The pieces for this project seem to be multiplying by leaps and bounds. It doesn’t seem like I am working with so many fabrics, but I am sewing relatively fast, so, perhaps, I am.

More Late April Pieces
More Late April Pieces

I am trying a new technique for pressing fabric. In between other pressing tasks, I am pressing the fabric I have washed recently. It means a steady stream of cutting and new fabrics to play with. In the second group (left), I was a little dot heavy. 😉

I was also trying to fussy cut bits from the larger floral patterned fabrics. There are also a group of solids for the QuiltCon challenge. I can’t decide whether or not to include a print in that project, so I have started with the solids and we’ll see how it goes.

FOTY 2012 – Progress

FOTY 2012 Patches
FOTY 2012 Patches

This week’s patches are from the batches I have washed recently. I have been trying to press a few yards as a warm up for my quiltmaking sessions. Trying to do that means that I am making progress on the ironing and cutting.

I was afraid that I just wouldn’t get to the washing and cutting and ironing this year. I know people say that they get so much fabric that they can’t wash it all before they use it anymore. I can’t imagine using a lot of fabric I haven’t washed. The unwashed fabric stinks so when I press it.

As I mentioned, the squares and rectangles are a pleasure to work with so far.

A lot of the black on white prints come from working on the Flowering Snowball. I cut two of the purples (above towards the right side of the photo), because the motif is so large that the pieces I cut look very different from each other. I like that print a lot, especially the background color. We’ll see if I remember once I start arranging and laying out the quilt top.

FOTY 2012 Patches, too
FOTY 2012 Patches, too

There is a lot of white in the prints I have cut so far this year. I wonder if this will be the year of the much lighter quilt? The white doesn’t bother me so much, but we will see once I start arranging.

I also found that I have started to press and cut the larger pieces that have been languishing. In some cases, at TFQ’s suggestion, I am just pressing the edges and leaving the rest of the piece until I use it. Most of them are not very wrinkled, so I think it will work out.

Patches for FOTY 2012
Patches for FOTY 2012

I also have to say that using rectangles and squares makes it much easier to photograph the patches when they are cut.

FOTY 2012 Update – Early April

FOTY 2012 Patches - early April
FOTY 2012 Patches - early April

I have to admit that I am enjoying just cutting squares and rectangles for FOTY 2012 so far this year. I am so glad to be using simple shapes and the squares and rectangles are making me feel much more creative with FOTY 2012. I have been playing with the layout of the little groups I cut as I go along.

I do not regret using the diamonds for FOTY 2010 or the triangles for FOTY 2011. I am pleased with the results. Both were great experiences and I am glad to have worked on them. I do think that it is good to simplify sometimes.

The aspect of FOTY 2011 that I am carrying forward to 2012 is the idea of using smaller pieces of the fabric I have used during the year, but didn’t buy this year, alongside the new fabric. I am being much more diligent about cutting fabric I have used and I have used a fair amount already this year. I love most of the fabric I have bought, regardless of when, so I want to give all the pieces an opportunity to shine. Also, in an ideal world, I would use more fabric than I would buy. Since I like to make decent sized quilts, that means that I would need to include more fabric. Definitely a wallet vs. idea war going on in my head.

FOTY 2012: Back in the Saddle

Fabric of the Year Squares (March)
Fabric of the Year Squares (March)

I haven’t done anything with Fabric of the Year 2012 yet. I decided that I would go even more simple than last year, but would keep one of the elements of FOTY 2011. I decided that I would go with squares and rectangles. I will cut squares out of fabrics I have used this year (but not bought) and rectangles out of the new fabrics.

A lot of the fabrics in the photo are from the Flowering Snowballs foreground. I only used one piece from each of the fabrics in the Flowering Snowball blocks, but I figured it still counted. They are all great fabrics, aren’t they?

FOTY 2012 Squares - March
FOTY 2012 Squares - March

I really like the scrappy look, but think it will be even better when I start arranging the fabrics at the retreat in 2013. Seems like a long way off, but here it is already March, so I know it will be here sooner than I think.

From my brief comment, you might have inferred that I am also working on the Flowering Snowball. I am. More on that later.

Fabric of the Year 2011 – Update

FOTY 2011 top
FOTY 2011 top

The Fabric of the Year 2011 top, back and binding are finished and ready to be sent to the quilter.

As you may know from my previous post, I ripped out the first inner border (which meant ripping out all of the outer borders as well) and replaced it with a different fabric. The ‘different’ fabric, is a 2002 star fabric from kp kids. I used it a few years ago on Women’s Work #1. The stars suggest the same form as the triangles and the color is the right amount of black to frame the piece.

I also trimmed a bit of the grey Ta Dot from the top and bottom borders. The top and bottom borders didn’t need that much space.

FOTY 2011 before removing diamond border
FOTY 2011 before removing diamond border

You might think I am crazy for doing all that ripping. I really think I need to make visual decisions visually, but sometimes I can’t see the piece as a whole until I get pretty far along the sewing path. I really want to do my best work and in order to do my best work I needed to get rid of that diamond border. I couldn’t get the joins in the strips I was using for the border to match up to my satisfaction. TFQ pointed out that the diamond fabric was printed off grain so the parts of the pattern printed on the fabric was not the same each section of the strip I used. She is right and I didn’t notice it until she articulated it. All I could tell is that I didn’t like the border and I needed to rip it out. So, I ripped it out.

FOTY 2011 back
FOTY 2011 back

I used large pieces to make the back, for once. The two fabrics on the left are Basic Grey and I thought using the large pieces would show off the labels and the portions of letters, which are part of the pattern of the fabric. I was also pleased that I was able to use the last bit of the Belle Fleur fabric. I like that fabric and I am glad I have a piece that I can keep for awhile.

Backs are arduous and I am really glad I was able to focus on using large pieces and getting the back finished.

FOTY 2011 – Mid December

Mid-December Triangles
Mid-December Triangles

I am trying different arrangements of triangles for show. The previous arrangements have left so much design wall space in the photos. It took me awhile to cut enough triangles for this photo as I concentrated on the Stepping Stones top.

Many of the fabrics are from Camille Roskelley’s Ruby line. I have stacked them up as I search for suitable project for them. I have almost decided I will do another Stepping Stones quilt, though perhaps I will scale it down a bit as how many 100×80 quilts does a person need?

This may be the last batch of triangles as I have to start organizing them in preparation for sewing them at the CQFA retreat.

FOTY 2011 Mid-November

FOTY 2011 - Mid November
FOTY 2011 - Mid November

I can’t believe I haven’t posted triangles since mid September! But it’s true. I haven’t posted triangles since mid-September. I guess if I had actually pressed fabric in the past 2 months, then I wouldn’t be so behind.

It turns out that I have to press fabric, because the chair I lay the fabric over while it waits to be press keeps falling over. I spent a few hours on Sunday, after finishing a big project pressing and cutting the bits and snippets I need for various projects. I got quite a little pile going after not too long. I think the chair is a bit more stable now, but I just need to get the fabric pressed. AND stop buying new fabric.

FOTY 2011 Triangles – Mid September

Mid Sept Triangles
Mid Sept Triangles

Mid September already! The CQFA Retreat has been set, so now I have a working deadline. I am pretty good in the fabric washing department. The cutting of triangles for fabrics I have used this year (already in my fabric closet) has been spotty. I am not going back to make that up and will try and do better. No promises. It will be what will be.