In a recent post, I posted a partially colored view of the patterns I had created in EQ6 for the Quilt Sorbet Quilt (not sure whether I will call it Sorbet or Quilt Sorbet or something else). Here is a fully colored rendering.
Some of the blocks are pretty obvious, but others kind of blend together.
My other thought was to create an EQ6 rendering where I color the blocks as I sew them. That might make my life too complicated, but we will see. It might, on the other hand, make it easy for me to keep track of blocks I have made.
Last Sunday night, I went over and watched a movie with my SIL. We often craft together and this night was no exception. We watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and stitched. I was able to finish the last middle block of the Flowering Snowball/Cross Block project.
Now I need to worry about the border blocks. I haven’t taken the time to make the pattern for those. I will soon.
I have a box of Recchiuti that I have been slowly savoring as I work on the Tarts project. The box is almost empty and, TA DAH, I have reached a major milestone in the work on the Tarts project!
Tarts Top Complete, August 2009
Your eyes do not deceive you. The Tarts Come to Tea top is completely sewn together. I had some bits of time over the weekend and used those bits to work on the Tarts. I really need to get this piece off my design wall and work on something easy. I resisted the urge, especially after all this time, to just throw the thing together. I really looked at it as my last opportunity to fix any despicable design decisions.
My first order of business was to replace the yellow cup.
Yellow Print Cup
I like the cup itself and am pleased with the fussy cutting and satin stitch quality. As part of the complete Tarts Come to Tea design, it didn’t work. My eye kept jumping to it. While I want the viewer’s eye to move around the piece, I didn’t want it to be glued to the yellow cup.
New Pie, August 2009
TFQ suggested pie. Since I was thinking along the lines of a pastry or tart as well, I appliqued another piece of pie. I used the same design as the original piece of pie.
Old Pie, August 2009
The problem was that they were too similar. I didn’t make enough changes to the design, even though the colors/fabrics are different. The similarities are highlighted because the two elements are close together in the piece.
I resolved the issue in my mind, however. I am going to applique’ some whipped cream on top of the new piece of pie, and perhaps a cherry. It will overlap on to the blue block above it. I planned to do it before the entire piece was sewn together, but I got caught up in the excitement and focus of the sewing and forgot. I’ll add it later this week or on the weekend.
Upper Left, August 2009
I had already started to sew sections together last weekend when I tried to tell myself I was finished. Still, there was a lot of piecing to do, so I got too it.
Upper Middle, August 2009
One thing I forgot about improvisational piecing is that one has to add bits and pieces in between. I really didn’t want to do much of that, because I liked the look of the blocks being next to each other. That meant some trimming and adding little bits, which I did, and which will, hopefully, be mostly hidden once the piece is completed. I couldn’t avoid adding some bits and I had to pay attention to the checkerboards, because I didn’t want to cut them off in the middle of a square.
Lower Left, August 2009
There were a few places where I couldn’t trim and augment. Those spots should be readily apparent from the photo. In general, I am pleased with the way the piece turned out.
Quilting is next, of course. As I mentioned in the last post about the Tarts, I seriously thinking about quilting the piece myself. I want it to be done a certain way. I don’t think I am good enough yet on the longarm to quilt the detailed design I have in mind. I really want the cups and pastries to stand out. More thinking on this is required.
I can’t really believe that it is together. It has been such a long process!
I went to the San Mateo County Fair on Saturday. I was really pleased to discover that The Nosegay had won a 3rd place ribbon.
Third place isn’t first place, but I am so happy that I won something. It has been awhile since I won a ribbon. I couldn’t have done it without Colleen of Sew Little Time Quilting. She is a fabulous longarmer. She also sells fabric, teaches and designs patterns. Her longarm work is out of this world.
Anyway, I am reinspired to enter this quilt somewhere else. We’ll see if I can get my act together.
In general the Fair was fun. I ate two, yes 2, frozen, chocolate and nut covered bananas. I love them so much!! They just say fair to me. We saw fireworks, got free ice cream, watched hucksters and hawkers, and some people rode rides. I didn’t have as much time with the quilts as I would have liked, but got some nice pictures and will have some time to look at them carefully later.
These are the blocks that my SIL sent to me via DH-mail. I think i will be interesting to take a photo of all of the blocks together.
I made another couple over the weekend, but am writing for an even number before I photograph them. It is more interesting if I have a few to show you.
I was out of the house almost all of last weekend, which is not my usual routine. While I had fun, I was disappointed not to get to spend copious amounts of time working on my projects. Still, as I mentioned on Wednesday, I did fit in a bit of work around the edges on the Tarts.
Tarts, Pie with no stitching
I played around with different looks for the piece of pie. I drew one, first, that the viewer looked at straight at, e.g. the viewer did not see the top of the pie at all. It didn’t really work for me. I didn’t like the look, so I reworked it so that the view had a more angled view.
I didn’t have a good pie crust color that I wanted to use (‘wanted to use’ being the critical phrase, here) The orange makes the viewer do a double take, IMO. I will do something, perhaps, with the quilting on the piece to tone down the orange a bit. The orange does blend in with the other orange fabrics in the whole piece.
Tarts, Pie with Stitching
After I place everything the way I want it on the background, I stitch it down. In the last few pieces I have also been topstitching in addition to the machine appliqued zigzag stitching. I don’t think you can see the topstitching in this picture, but people who are able to view the piece in person will be able to see it, I think.
I picked the background to make a triangle with other purple pieces at the top of the piece. I picked it after I picked the ‘filling’ fabric. I wonder if they don’t allow each other to shine? I think this particular block looks better as part of the whole than by itself.
I left a bit of the fabrics above and below showing so you can see how it fits in close up.
Tarts, June 14, 2009, with Pie
Here is the whole current piece. I kind of miss that big white rectangle at the bottom and am having trouble assimilating the pie. I think I will manage to get used to it. I can’t imagine a big white rectangle in the piece would be a great design decision.
Am going to try to get to some studies for the silverware next to the red cups. I am also thinking I will add a few more black and white squares to the checkerboard on top of the frothy drink.
As with the Nosegay, I wasn’t able to get the whole Eye Spy quilt in the photos. Still, I am happy that I finally got a mostly entire picture of the quilt.
The Child loves his quilt, which makes my heart happy. He doesn’t search out the pictures that I carefully fussy cut. He arranges the quilt and folds it carefully over him.
On Sunday, the sun was right, I had an assistant and time to fool around, so I went outside and made an attempt to take full photos of the Nosegay and the Eye Spy. They are large and hard to photograph in the house.
The session wasn’t quite as successful as I had hoped. I did get more of the Nosegay in one picture than I ever had before, but not all of it. I have to face reality that it is a HUGE quilt and I may never have the space to photograph the whole thing. I may break down and take it somewhere to be professionally photographed.
Nosegay, corner detail
I took the opportunity to take some straight on detail shots. Right, is a corner – or most of the corner. There was a slight breeze that seemed to kick in just as I snapped the shutter.
Nosegay, center detail
This bottom photo is the center of the quilt. The whole reason this quilt is so big is because I put everything on point and had to have all the blocks spaced a certain way. I hope it brings tears to the eyes of quilt historians someday, because at this moment the quilt feels like a big pain!
I am glad I got the photos I did. I had waited for a long time for everything to be right to photograph this quilt.
I spent 10 hours in my workroom on Sunday. I spent most of it machine quilting Beach Town. The piece is relatively small, so I was surprised that it took so much work. The really surprising thing is that I have more machine quilting to go!
It was surprising, because I thought I did most of the machine quilting during my last session. It turns out that I really wanted the quilting much closer together. I filled in some areas I already done. The new areas were quilted much closer together – only about 1-2 stitches apart.
The skinny tree needs some more stitching. It is raveling away and I’d like to save it before it goes completely.
Beach Town, Machine Quilting detail
I really hope you can see the machine quilting in this picture, because that is how it is almost all over the piece. There are a few sections left to do, but the bulk is done.
I was thinking, for future Pamela pieces, that I really needed to get the machine quilting done before I start in on the hand stitching. Not that the hand stitching hampered my machine quilting at all. It just makes better sense to do the machine work first and finish with the hand work.
Most of the work on the Tarts has been mental lately. Those of you thinking mental case, may be right. 😉
With all of the rote sewing I have been doing lately I haven’t made the time to sit down and do the next drawing, which will be another pastry.
I am liking this layout. I think it adds a bit of movement at the top, though I am not sure why. I like the vertical checkerboard next to the tea kettle and will put a piece of it above the tall frothy drink as well. The orange squiggles between the red cappucino cups and the tall frothy drink will probably be replaced by some vertical silverware. Onward!
Here is one last choice that I couldn’t resist. I am kind of liking this one best, but I think that is because it is new. I still like the China Cake Plate in the Tarts Cake Plate Conundrum post.
Summary: Different options for one new element in the Tarts Come to Tea.
This is a quick post to see what you think about cake plate options.
Tarts Come to Tea, 4/19/2009
Here is one of the renditions of the Tarts Come to Tea from 4/19/2009. As you can see I redid the cup in the middle with a to go cup. I am pretty sure I have moved elements around since I took this picture.
One issue with selecting fabrics is I still have a Pamela Allen hangover and I want more pattern. The Child was in the room doing his artwork and offered up his opinion, strenuously!
Cake Plate Tryout #1
I really liked the fabric with the flowers. This was the first fabric I tried and it reminded me of a china pattern.
Cake Plate Tryout #2
I thought this was more like a china pattern than the fabric in the first example and less regular.
Cake Plate Tryout #3
The blue plate special fabric was appealing. The Child thought it was too regular.
Cake Plate Tryout #4
The pink melted a bit into the orange background, though I thought it picked up the other pinks in the piece.
Cake Plate Tryout #5
I finally gave in and tried a dark-ish blue. Before I did, The Child would just roll his eyes at me when I showed him the above choices and remind me that none of them were solids. He didn’t really care about any other fabrics or patterns in the quilt.
Cake Plate Pottery
I finally gave in to certain individuals and created a solid blue cake plate.
China Cake Plate
I wanted to see a different cake plate, so I made another pattern and cut it out of patterned fabric. I really like this version of the cake plate. It is definitely busier and the cake isn’t highlighted as much.
Yes, I have been working on the Tarts, but often the work I am doing seems like no progress rather than actually work.
Drawing for tea kettle
I started out with this drawing for the last block, presumably for the space in the lower left hand corner. I found a drawing as inspiration and once I had that crutch to get me started, I took it off in my own direction. I kept thinking about a tea kettle I once knew in Austria.
Once I had a drawing I liked, I had to pick fabric which turned out to be much harder than I thought. I think I have said before that there just aren’t enough colors for me. I thought a pinky-orange would look good, but couldn’t find he appropriate shade in my fabrics, so I tried others. As Lorraine Torrence says “make visual decisions visually.”
Auditioning Fabric #1
I started with a green as background even though I really thought the pinky-orange would be better.
Auditioning Fabric #2
The green is okay, but the kettle color isn’t quite right.
Auditioning Fabric #3
Moving on and trying other colors. Finally tried a pinky-orange I had. It wasn’t quite right with the reds near it.
Auditioning Fabric #4
Still not right, though I liked the purply-pink background better.
Auditioning Fabric #5
The orange is a little too brown!
Auditioning Fabric #6
I am no longer having fun.
Auditioning Fabric #7
Will this torment ever end?
Auditioning Fabric #8
A bit closer???
The Tarts Come to Tea, 4/12/2009
Finally, I decided on the purply-pink hand-dye with space alien lime green. It was okay at the bottom of the quilt, though I kept thinking that the thermos-like block might be better at the bottom. I changes a lot, but I am trying it out.
Most of what you can see is the Tarts Come to Tea, but some are other projects, which I will talk about later. Progress is being made, despite seeming to make only very tiny amounts of progress every weekend.
Cupcake,detail
I thought of putting a cupcake in the line of cups instead of another cup for a couple of reasons:
I couldn’t find another cup that I liked immediately.
I thought I had made plenty of cups already; all over the piece there are a total of 11 cups.
If the title of the Piece is the Tarts Come to Tea, then there should be some blocks showing items that could be construed as ‘tarts’. I am not up for creating sexy women in machine applique’ right at the moment. 😉
Frothy Drink, detail
Here is the new frothy drink. The one with the background plaid is gone. I have it in my scrap pile and it may be reborn as a teacher pillow or something. We will see.
