Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I am still piecing this top together, not because it is difficult, but because I haven’t had enough time to focus on it.
Finally, I am able to say that the blocks are all sewn together. I have decided to put a border on it and that is not yet done.
I know it seems like this is taking forever. I have it on my design wall and every time I have a spare moment, I am working on it.
Overall the piece looks good and I am happy with the color choices I made.
I am making good progress. I now have three columns of 4 blocks sewn together. I still have another two columns to go, obviously.
I am beginning to wonder if I need to make this piece larger. I *think* it will end up as a large lap size. Is that large enough?
I guess we’ll see.
I pressed and trimmed all the blocks I made at Cyndi’s. Then I spent a few hours putting them on the design wall and preparing the final layout. I am ready to get sewing.
I went over to Cyndi’s the other day to sew. This is not Cyndi of the bag, but Cyndi of the Guild. At first, we were going to work on the Enigma Bag together, but she hadn’t had time to cut out her pieces, so we’ll do that another day.
I took three projects over to her studio and ended up making good progress on Metro Twist. I sewed about 40 blocks, most of which I was able to trim as well. I am super happy that I got back to this project.
I put all of the existing blocks up on the big design wall (I had to take Scrappy Celebration down temporarily) and took a look.
The other day I talked about selecting a large print fabric to add to the Metro Twist. After that whole selection process, I pieced some blocks using one strip of fabric to see how they would look.
Here is the before and after:
The veggie print makes the quilt look darker. The quilt will be given to one of my nephews so I think the darker look works.
As promised, I got back in the Metro Twist groove last weekend. I cut up some of the foreground fabrics I selected and made more blocks. I didn’t work my way completely through the stack I had cut, but I made a dent. The blocks are somewhat time consuming and I didn’t want to cut out a bunch of pieces all at once.
As I did so, I thought the of large print fabric I had selected. I thought the green would work very well with the overall color scheme. Also, I thought the scale of the print, when cut up, would add interest, but not be too girly looking.
I never cut up pieces when I cut the other foregrounds out. There was something not quite right about it, though generally the look was good.
On Sunday, I decided that I really needed to add a fabric with the large scale. At the same time, I decided that I would confirm that this was the print for the job. I have quite a few large print fabrics, so I dragged a few out, though I looked through a lot more.
I thought the dark green in the second photo might be better. I thought the dark green would pick up the other dark greens in the tone-on-tone foreground fabrics.. This one was my front runner for awhile.
I tried some other darks, then gave up. I wasn’t able to find anything better than the one above.
For kicks, I tried some fabrics with more pinks. I didn’t want girly, but there are already a few pinks and they don’t make the quilt abhorrent to men, I don’t think.
I like this fabric a lot and I liked the lavender background. I thought it added something to the quilt. However, I didn’t like the red for this quilt. The red works well in the fabric, but with all of the burgundies and red-purples, I want to keep that clear red out of the quilt for now.
Finally, I tried one of the lush Chrysanthemum prints. This was better than the dark green and I liked the way the print pulled out the other pink foreground fabrics. I also liked the mustard-y color (see lower right of the Philip Jacobs print). The problem, again, was the red.
By now, I was kind of desperate. I thought I would go with my original choice or the Floral Burst, but I wasn’t 100% on board with those. I took another look through my large print fabrics and came up with the perfect, if unorthodox, choice.
I don’t even know why I have this fabric. I loved some of the other colorways of this print and probably just snapped it up because of the imagery. It has been in my palette for awhile. There are certain colors, which are perfect for this quilt. The burgundy and fuschia are obvious. The greens and that little bit of blue used as a shadow are also good.
I am pleased with this choice, if a little unorthodox.
I decided that I would try to make the Metro Twist larger.I have a possible recipient for this quilt and I want it to, at least be lap sized.
I have plenty of foreground fabrics, even though most are fat quarters. I needed to find more of the background fabric. It is always a challenge with solids. Since I buy limited solid brands, I thought it was doable.
Normally, I write the brand and color in Sharpie on the selvedge, but the grey I used for Metro Twist didn’t have it. Either I cut it off and tossed it or never wrote it down.
I also didn’t have a picture of the grey with other purchases. Usually, I photograph my purchases so I have some hope of finding fabric and supplies again.
I looked at my color cards and thought the background might be from Pure Elements. I bought some Pure Elements Ash first, but when it arrived, I could see that it wasn’t quite right. I can use it for something else, but disappointing nonetheless.
Back to the color cards. This time I pulled them all out, but immediately put back the Kona color card. I very rarely buy Kona and I knew this wasn’t it. I have the American Made Brands color card. Bingo! I bought some of one of their Gray. I am pretty sure that is the right fabric. I suppose I’ll see when it arrives.
I haven’t worked on the Metro Twist for a few weeks as I tried to catch up on Scrappy Celebration and The Pantone Project. I was able to make some progress this past weekend with the background pieces I have already cut. I have a bit of the background left and want to save it until the reinforcements arrive in case I need it and can’t find the right solid.
The Metro Twist is going. I need to make more blocks, so it is going slowly. I have some more pieces cut so I can sew more blocks; I just need some time to do it.
I am in a place where I feel like I have too many things going on at once.
The next Sew Day will be a Super Sew Day/Meeting combination. As mentioned, I will be assisting Amy to teach the Metro Twist pattern.
One thing I did was look through the fabric pulls that I had saved. I chose one with a large number of prints to use.
A lot of these are Art Gallery fabrics. I may not use all of the grid fabrics and I may change out the focus fabric (4th from left, top row), which I added quickly before I took these to Sew Day. There is already a lot of green in this quilt and that might send it over the edge. Still, maybe not, we’ll have to see as I cut and start putting blocks together.
Metro Twist** is another pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful that uses their Quick Curve Ruler**. You might remember that I made Metroscape** a few years ago with this ruler.
I showed the quilt that Amy made at the Retreat using the Metro Twist pattern in a previous post.The colors she used and the curves made this a very popular project at the Retreat.
At the last Sew Day, she was putting on borders and preparing the top for quilting. I was able to take a photo of the quilt and it looks great!
I didn’t really realize how popular this project was until I heard that Amy will be teaching the guild how to make it at the next Super Sew Day, in July. I also had a clue when Mary C said that a bunch of people bought the pattern and the ruler after seeing Amy’s quilt.
I talked to Amy and offered to help her teach. She hasn’t told me what she needs me to do yet, but I am kind of excited about it. I really need to find some fabrics I want to use. I love Amy’s choices of Tiny Dots and Tiny Stripes, but I don’t want to copy what she did.
The quilt on the cover of the pattern isn’t super appealing and I don’t think the Tula All Stars (if even still available) would work for this pattern.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I also got to see Metroscape in the wild. I feel like I am educating people in Austria about quiltmaking
My class is designing circle quilts. I decided that I had better try some of the rulers I have been suggesting my students try.
I tried out one of the new blocks using the Wonder Curve ruler. This is one of the blocks from their recent sew along. Sadly, they do not have a photo of the finished quilt in their IG feed. I think it will probably be a pattern sometime in the future. I wasn’t super enamored of their sampler, but I did like this block. I did think it would be a good test of the ruler, so I made one over the weekend.
I am still liking the blue and red-violet combination that I used in Frolic!. This blue is more turquoise than the blue-violet I used in Frolic!, however the combination is interesting. Also, the fabrics were handy and I didn’t have to rummage.
This is the first Sew Kind of Wonderful project I have made since Metroscape and Mod Lights. As I mentioned when I made those projects, I really liked the Quick Curve ruler and the mini Quick Curve ruler. The Wonder Curve ruler does those nice petal shapes, but I didn’t feel the love quite as much with this ruler. It could be that it was new to me and I only had a block pattern for directions. I didn’t watch the Live demos.
I am interested in seeing what patterns the SKOW team produces. I wouldn’t make or put the Rock the Block sampler together like they did. I didn’t think the design worked, though the individual blocks were appealing. You see the sampler top finished in a video at minute 5:30.
This block, after cutting the petals and putting the individual units together is a regular 9 patch. I thought about making a quilt with these blocks, but it doesn’t have enough appeal at the moment to make me do it. I do like the way the center layout makes the block look woven.
I am pretty impressed with SKOW, in general. Their rulers work well.
Recently I talked about some fabric I bought and some ideas for a new project. I have pretty much ruled out the idea of the complicated design I drew up. Not forever. Just for this fabric bundle.
While I have been thinking about it, I have thrown in a couple of other bits of fabric.
Recently I bought a pattern called Country Revival by Sew Kind of Wonderful. You know what that means, right? Yep, Quick Curve Ruler.. Ever since I made MetroScape, I have wanted to use that ruler again. This might be the time.
The example quilt has a limited color palette, which I like, though I think it might be interesting to use the fabrics above, carefully, in the different circular designs.
This tablerunner (buffet runner) is finished and I couldn’t be more pleased.
The photo, left, shows where it will go in my house during Christmas. I am pleased because I had to adjust the pattern slightly and it worked! The runner fits perfectly on top of my buffet.
As mentioned, this is a quick curve mini-ruler pattern from Sew Kind of Wonderful called Mod Lights. The pattern has 3-4 patterns, so you wouldn’t just be getting this one.
I used some Free Spirit solids bought at QuiltCon in 2018. They were lovely to work with-not much fraying and great colors. The green is a Pointillist Palette ombre I have had for awhile and the background is the same background I used for Metroscape.
I also did the quilting myself. I don’t do much quilting, but I decided it was too small to take to Colleen and I could do it. Also, I wanted it done, so I spent a Saturday quilting it very slowly. My body is still complaining a bit from the exertion.
I had some tension issues, but learned a bit about my machine in working them out. I didn’t see the computer display change as I adjusted the tension, but I did see a difference in the stitching, so I guess it worked.