From there, it continued to take shape until I got here.
I think I am just filling in negative space now, but who knows.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Scrappy Improv Mini Quilt
I ran across the notion of improvisational quilting on someone's blog a while back. I wish I could remember whose it was so I could give credit. That led me to a FB group by Sherry Lynn Wood based on her book of improv quilting scores. I don't have the book yet, but the idea of just starting to piece and seeing where it leads is very appealing to me. I have a hard time envisioning a whole end project, but often have a strong sense of what should come immediately next.
Having recently finished a postage stamp quilt, I had a bag full of rejected four-patches and component blocks, along with a bunch of scraps left over from my bordered squares and serendipity quilts. The postage stamp quilt used some new and a lot of scraps from the log cabin quilt tops I did last year. I started off sewing and slicing and ended up with three "blocks" that ultimately went together like this.
From there, it continued to take shape until I got here.
I think I am just filling in negative space now, but who knows.
From there, it continued to take shape until I got here.
I think I am just filling in negative space now, but who knows.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
2016 First Quarter FAL progress - Serendipity
We had a quilting day at church this week, so I made progress on two of my Finish-a-Long projects. I completed the top of the Serendipity quilt.
I also worked on my bordered squares quilt, unseeing the blocks, squaring them, and putting them back together. I've got a ways to go with this.
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| Serendipity Quilt top. |
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| Bordered Squares squaring up in progress |
It's supposed to be extremely cold tomorrow--sub-zero F temps, so I hope to make more progress. Caring for my mother-in-law slowed me down this week. She is always a higher priority than quilting.
Monday, January 11, 2016
2016 First Quarter Finish-Along Projects
My first quarter 2016 Finish Along projects (edited to add photos):
1. "Serendipity" lattice quilt using Robert Kaufman Whisper Prints charms and Artisan Batiks Spring Mod II jelly roll strips. This was the spring 2015 class project at church quilting. All the blocks are done and two rows of 5 sewn together. Two more rows to go, plus backing, quilting, and binding. Deadline is 1/16/16 for the church quilt show.
2. "Bordered Squares" quilt using Benartex Burlap and Lace charms and Robert Kaufman Whisper Prints jelly roll strips. I started this in January 2015. All of the 64 blocks are complete. I need to finish squaring them and sew them together, plus borders, backing, quilting, and binding.
3. "Log Cabin" using yardage in red/maroon and yellow/gold started December 2014 for one of my twin nieces. Pattern is all sevens. Quilt top is complete. I need to back, quilt, and bind it.
4. "Log Cabin using yardage in greens and blues started December 2014 for the other twin niece. Pattern is barn raising. Quilt top is complete. I need to back. Quilt, and bind it.
5. "Disappearing Pinwheel" friendship star layout using yardage in black, white, and gray with turquoise piping. This was the fall 2014 church class project and was my first quilt. Quilt top is complete. I need to back, quilt, and bind it.
6. Unequal nine-patch quilt. I don't know the name of the block pattern. I used Flight Patterns by Tamera Kate for Michael Miller layer cake and yellow dragonfly yardage from Joann. It is our Spring 2016 class project. I started it in November 2015. All of the blocks are completed. I need to do the sashing, borders, backing, quilting, and binding.
I got the pictures loaded, though I'm not happy with their placement. Live and learn.
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| 1. Serendipity |
1. "Serendipity" lattice quilt using Robert Kaufman Whisper Prints charms and Artisan Batiks Spring Mod II jelly roll strips. This was the spring 2015 class project at church quilting. All the blocks are done and two rows of 5 sewn together. Two more rows to go, plus backing, quilting, and binding. Deadline is 1/16/16 for the church quilt show.
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| 2. Bordered Squares |
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| 3. Red Log Cabin |
3. "Log Cabin" using yardage in red/maroon and yellow/gold started December 2014 for one of my twin nieces. Pattern is all sevens. Quilt top is complete. I need to back, quilt, and bind it.
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| 4. Blue/Green Log Cabin |
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| 5. Disappearing Pinwheel |
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| 6. Unequal Nine-Patch |
6. Unequal nine-patch quilt. I don't know the name of the block pattern. I used Flight Patterns by Tamera Kate for Michael Miller layer cake and yellow dragonfly yardage from Joann. It is our Spring 2016 class project. I started it in November 2015. All of the blocks are completed. I need to do the sashing, borders, backing, quilting, and binding.
I got the pictures loaded, though I'm not happy with their placement. Live and learn.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Beginning in the Middle
I have been doing some kind of handwork for the last 45 or so years. Sometimes sewing. Sometimes beading. Sometimes painting, or crocheting, or building things. I started quilting about 18 months ago, when I realized that I had been so busy taking care of my children and elderly relatives and making an interstate move that I hadn't done anything that felt tangibly creative in way too long. My beads were boxed up, I couldn't find my paintbox, and my sewing machine was buried in the garage, along with my boxes of fabric, fripperies, and notions.
I started looking through our church website looking for some kind of class to take. Anything to take my mind someplace other than whether my disabled eleven year old would make it through his school day or my mother-in-law would be making another ER visit--things over which I had no control and nominal influence. The first listing was a quilting class that, providentially, was starting its first session in an hour. I ran through the shower, jumped in the car, and registered online from the church parking lot before dashing inside. I had always assumed that quilting would be far more complicated and difficult than it is. Doing it really, really well is difficult. But I quickly learned that a finished quilt is always better than a perfect quilt and that the wonderful group of women I would be spending my Mondays with--most of whom had been coming to the class for many years--just wanted me to love quilting as much as they did. Not one person was critical or discouraging. Many encouraged me to reach for artistry and to consider altering my path on that first quilt. I made lots of mistakes and learned a lot about the "why" of the rules. My first quilt won't win any prizes, but it was a good effort and my daughter likes it.
Since then, I've made six more quilts and have two in progress. I've also made 12 ER visits, built, planted, and harvested 400 square feet of vegetable garden and filled a freezer with homegrown produce. And I'm back to homeschooling my now 12 year old. The transition to middle school was too much for him.
I used to sing opera. Quilting is like the opera of sewing. Instead of having the plot, the libretto, the music, the singers, orchestra, the acting, the ballet, the set, costumes and lighting, you have the block patterns, the colors, the prints (or lack thereof) the layout, the sashing and/or piping, the borders, the backing, the quilting, the binding, and the label. There are so many ways to be creative--all of which are significant factors leading to the final outcome. Change one thing and you have a very different quilt. Do one thing poorly, such as forego squaring up as often as needed, and the whole quilt is affected. When it all comes together just right, the satisfaction is enormous.
This year, I am looking forward to trying some new ways to be creative with my quilting. I intend to work on improving my skills while following the rules, but I also want to step outside of the rules and use those skills to do some things that are outside of the block. I have nothing to lose but some thread. Even if I don't like what I end up with, I can always cut it up and sew it into something else until I do like it. So here goes . . .
I started looking through our church website looking for some kind of class to take. Anything to take my mind someplace other than whether my disabled eleven year old would make it through his school day or my mother-in-law would be making another ER visit--things over which I had no control and nominal influence. The first listing was a quilting class that, providentially, was starting its first session in an hour. I ran through the shower, jumped in the car, and registered online from the church parking lot before dashing inside. I had always assumed that quilting would be far more complicated and difficult than it is. Doing it really, really well is difficult. But I quickly learned that a finished quilt is always better than a perfect quilt and that the wonderful group of women I would be spending my Mondays with--most of whom had been coming to the class for many years--just wanted me to love quilting as much as they did. Not one person was critical or discouraging. Many encouraged me to reach for artistry and to consider altering my path on that first quilt. I made lots of mistakes and learned a lot about the "why" of the rules. My first quilt won't win any prizes, but it was a good effort and my daughter likes it.
Since then, I've made six more quilts and have two in progress. I've also made 12 ER visits, built, planted, and harvested 400 square feet of vegetable garden and filled a freezer with homegrown produce. And I'm back to homeschooling my now 12 year old. The transition to middle school was too much for him.
I used to sing opera. Quilting is like the opera of sewing. Instead of having the plot, the libretto, the music, the singers, orchestra, the acting, the ballet, the set, costumes and lighting, you have the block patterns, the colors, the prints (or lack thereof) the layout, the sashing and/or piping, the borders, the backing, the quilting, the binding, and the label. There are so many ways to be creative--all of which are significant factors leading to the final outcome. Change one thing and you have a very different quilt. Do one thing poorly, such as forego squaring up as often as needed, and the whole quilt is affected. When it all comes together just right, the satisfaction is enormous.
This year, I am looking forward to trying some new ways to be creative with my quilting. I intend to work on improving my skills while following the rules, but I also want to step outside of the rules and use those skills to do some things that are outside of the block. I have nothing to lose but some thread. Even if I don't like what I end up with, I can always cut it up and sew it into something else until I do like it. So here goes . . .
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