Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I am pretty pleased to say that the binding didn’t take very long. I am finished with Pies and Points.
I am not sure I ever made a quilt with so much background before and I keep looking at it and wondering. I am not sure why. I definitely like the quilt. It really has a fluttery type of feeling, which was part of my point.
I didn’t do anything special for the backing – just sewed a bunch of fabrics from the ‘backs’ bin together.
Another project crossed off my To Do list! Yay!
I went and got Pies & Points back from Colleen. I also dropped off quilts and projects off for her to quilt.
Pies & Points looks great. I didn’t give specific instructions about the quilting design and she went with a breeze/wind/sky theme. My little niece will like it, I hope.
Quilt designs always improve after I haven’t seen them for awhile. LOL!
I do think the elements of this pattern have possibilities in other quilts. The wheel is a motif I have wanted to play with. I was tempted by Barbara Brackman’s Southern Spin project, but didn’t do it. Yet? I don’t know. It is pretty far down the list at the moment.
Anyway, I kind of like the wheel motif. There is a little view of the overall quilting and the clouds motifs as well.
The circular flags got spirals quilted into them. The spirals might be too big; they look a little odd to me. However, there is a ton of background in the quilt and I think that makes for a challenging quilted design. I haven’t made a quilt with this much background in a long time.
I do like the overall effect of the quilt. I like the sense that the flags are fluttering in the wind or against the sky. I think it looks different from most of my other recent quilts.
On to binding.
The Pies & Points top and back are done! I really could have used TFQ’s help with the piecing, but I am pleased with the overall design. Quilting won’t solve all of it’s little piecing challenges, but quilting will flatten it out and give it some structure.
I used all the blocks I made and am happy with the look. I like the Points blocks and how they look like flags. The Pies blocks and half blocks add a bit more interest and give the piece a kind of pink circus feel.
I am also happy I used a non neutral background. I like that look and need to get back to doing it more.
The back is done, too. I should have done yoga that day, but instead I pulled fabric off the background stack and made the back.
I plan to give this away so I didn’t choose any of my Philip Jacobs fabrics. I did pull some fabrics from Queen Street. I have some leftover after the BAMQG IRR and thought they would work.
I finally finished the blocks and laid out the quilt the way I pretty much want it. I am still fiddling with the Pie half blocks, but otherwise this is how the quilt will look. Obviously, I have to fill in the background.
I am a little concerned about the large spaces of background, but I can’t really process how they will look with the white of my design wall showing through.
I am still working hard on Pies & Points. I have mostly finished the blocks, except for a couple of seams. I am also closing in a layout about which I am relatively happy, too.
There are a few adjustments I need to make.
I didn’t have enough of the right pieces to make all the blocks I wanted. I should have gone over to Friend Julie’s house and cut them using her Sizzix (we got the Sizzix die in the class), but I didn’t think I would need many pieces, so I cut a few by hand, then cut a few more and a few more. I still have a few more to cut.
Once I get the layout done, I’ll have to start putting it together. You can see from the shapes that I won’t be able to put it together in rows exactly. I see some Partial Seams in my future.
I have made a few more blocks. I don’t want to lay the quilt out symmetrically like in the class handouts. I want the eye to follow the lines around the quilt and find some surprises. For now, the surprises will be the Pie blocks placed strategically around the quilt.
I don’t know if that idea will work. As you can see from the arrow, the blocks to do not fit together in all directions.
It isn’t that I couldn’t piece those pieces together and I may still do that. I want to consider all my options. This is one of those design challenges.
I took a class from Victoria Findlay Wolfe at QuiltCon about 1, 000 years ago (well, 2016). I think I mentioned that every time I rewrite my quilt to do list the same projects are listed as UFOs. I decided that some of these are going to get finished. I backtracked a little and decided to work on one then see how it went. Of course, I want to finish them all, but every journey requires the first step. My first step is Pies and Points.
I have also been in desperate need of a quilt project. Why starting one or jumping back into one was difficult, I don’t know.
The first step for actually working on the project was positive. I found the project and all the pieces were in the same bag. Yay! I had been talking about this project to myself for a few days, so I feel happy that I actually did something.
The second step was positive as well. I put the blocks I have made (4) on the design wall and I still like them. The background might be a bit boring, but well see how things go after I make a few more blocks.
This will be another quick post about my adventures at QuiltCon.
Today I was in class with Julie and Kathleen all day. We were pleased Leona was there as well. We took a class called Pies & Points from Victoria Findlay Wolfe.
Short version: she is a great teacher, I learned a lot want to buy a Sizzix Big Shot Pro. 🙂
Longer version
The class was called Pies & Points and is an updated version of a variation on the Drunkard’s Path. This pattern was popular several years ago and was called Snails Trails or something like that. I’ll look it up when I get home (if I remember). I have always wanted to make a quilt like this, so it was the perfect opportunity.
Victoria Findlay Wolfe is a great teacher and if you have the opportunity take a class from her. She was very clear. She was supportive and didn’t try to have us accomplish too much in one day. She was available, was walking around the room offering assistance and seam ripping services. VFW was also accessible and made the project accessible. She was pleasant and funny and very human. I liked her very much and want to be her BFF. She also wore leather capri pants, which were super cool.
I am not a project class person. This class kind of bordered on that type of class, but was full enough of technique that I could apply to other projects that the class worked for me. I could work within certain boundaries, but still spread my wings.
She gave a little bit of information and the Sizzix people passed out the Pies and Points die to us. We each got our own!!! I didn’t know that was going to happen and it was useful as well as exciting.
About this time, one of the QuiltCon people came in and announced that Victoria’s quilt, Mr. Swirly Bones, won Judge’s choice! We all clapped and she was very excited.
VFW showed us how to cut using the Sizzix and then how to sew the curved seams and then we got busy cutting and sewing. You can cut a lot of pieces at once, but there is still prep time for using the Sizzix. Without my normal setup, it took time to get the pieces cut.
I had a bunch of pieces cut and ready to sew, but wasn’t able to sew much before lunch. Right before lunch, I was able to sew one seam and that made me feel better.
Lunch was two hours. Very civilized IMO. We brought our lunch so wolfed it down and then went to check out the vendors and some of the quilts. There were not as many vendors as I expected, but there were manufacturers at the show giving away prizes and showing off stuff, but not selling.
The whole feeling of the show area is so light and airy. Everyone seems cheerful and there is very good energy. People seem excited to be there. I love that.
We looked at the vendors – more getting the lay of the land than shopping – and started to look at the quilts. After 1.75 hours it was time to head back to class and to sewing.
I got right down to business and started sewing. I had a lot of little pieces to sew together, but the first seams to get the middle arc were all straight seams. Once I got a few of the arcs done, I started making quarter blocks.
The class was supplied with Sizzix machines, rotary mats, rulers and cutters, irons and sewing machines. The sewing machine I was using was a Juki electronic machine. I wrote down the model, but am too lazy to go look for it. I’ll post about it later. It is a little disconcerting to use a different machine. This one kept lifting the presser foot every time I stopped the machine. It made it really hard to line up the edges of the curved seams. There was a Juki lady, Chris, who was there to help with machines and she changed a setting so I didn’t have to deal with that. I could probably learn to use that feature, but for one day I didn’t want to deal with it.
Without too much pain and suffering I made a whole block. I planned to put them together in her Snail Trails arrangement.
After working on the one block and looking at the options I had chosen for myself, I decided to make some of the other parts and mix it up a bit. No photos of that to share yet, but soon.
I want to work some more on this piece. I may add some different backgrounds to add interest (my idea turned out to be more boring than cool looking) and because I only have about a yard left and I’d like to make a larger quilt than a wall hanging. I also have the Sizzix problem. I do not have a Sizzix. There a few reasons I am not buying one, but the most important is that I have no place to put it. It is a desktop model and it stays out on a table (desk, worktop, etc). This is problematic since I have to cut more pieces for the quilt. I hope one of the local shops has one to rent and, perhaps, I will buy one at some point. I can also make templates and cut the pieces that way, though …. bleah.
Julie rested after the class and I walked around the show a little bit more. we went to a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner. They bring all different kinds of meat around and you can take what you want. It was a little bit on the pricey side, but extremely tasty. I was a little protein deficient, so it was just what the doctor ordered.
One of the projects was posted on Instagram. I didn’t take a lot of pictures of other students work 🙁 , but I did take a few.
You can see some of the options available in the above blocks. My latest block has the pieced center like Stacy’s bottom block.