Monday, March 4, 2024

2nd Border Prompt for Bramble Blooms QAL {BBI}

Are you ready for the next prompt in the Bramble Blooms QAL? So fascinating to have others along for the journey and see where people end up, even when we all start at exactly the same place! Life is full of interruptions around here as usual, especially now that my husband is feeling just good enough to be antsy, though still not quite good enough to be back at work. We're getting there! This post ended up being miles too long. Consider yourself warned. Just too much information that I keep thinking someone might need.

Back to the reason you dropped by today! For this specific phase of the BBI Medallion quilt, the challenge is as follows: Put together a border that includes adding 4-patch, 9-patch, 16-patch or even larger patchwork blocks. You can set your blocks side by side {continuous block layout} or 'on point'. This border can be any width you like. It does not need to have the patchwork blocks throughout--use as few or as many patch blocks as you think will look good! Totally up to you if the blocks are improv. style or traditional-look.

The first Bramble Blooms quilt top is done!
That's it. Now go forth and create! I deliberately used these style blocks as they are a simple, time honored use of unexciting fabrics and also, they adapt well to the make-do look. If you're wanting a little more information, maybe stick around for a walk-through of my own Bramble Blooms creative process. I'll attempt to thoroughly bore you and ultimately, share some border guidance tips and tricks as well. To be perfectly clear, I'll be happy with any and all of your quilts that deviate from the prompt. Your creativity should always supersede whatever guidelines I suggest throughout the duration of this series.

GETTING STARTED WITH BORDER #2:

Most of us started with a pre-determined fabric stack that we specifically set aside for BBI. At this point in the project, you'll probably be noticing a specific color in that stack that hasn't been used very much. Unless the quilt is adamantly demanding a specific color for the next go-round, try starting with the left-behind color {or colors}. You might not even have to spend a lot of time auditioning, as we know the fabric in the initial stack already looked relatively good together. All the remaining pieces have the potential to fit into this quilt somewhere. In fact, this could very well be your last opportunity to include it into the quilt.

Starting with the patchwork blocks
Now, you can dither for a while and possibly overcomplicate things, or you can just dive in and test out a couple patchwork blocks. For the purposes of this prompt, these are blocks made up of equal sized squares, usually sewn up in units of 4, 9, or 16, depending on what size the finished block is intended to be. 
 
I generally start with some basic questions such as: Do I want smallish blocks or larger ones? How many squares needed to make this block hold its own in the border? Is a 4-patch too simple? Can I make a 9-patch block work out properly in an on-point layout if I only use two colors? Hmm.. I'm not sure that I want to use every single color in the blocks. Will a 16-patch be too busy for this particular quilt? Do I want scrappy or something more controlled merely using two or three fabrics? And on and on. It's all very stream of consciousness and you'll find yourself automatically narrowing down your preferred look in no time at all. Don't worry if you don't have all the answers. Just go with your gut.

THINKING ABOUT MAKING AN 'ON-POINT' LAYOUT:

Eventually you find yourself with a tentative plan. For me, it was this: Scrappy look border using only 2-colors {pinks and creams} in the blocks, but many different fabrics. A 16-patch traditional cut block with a finished size of 8". On-point setting. Mixed fabrics in similar tones of rusty browns for the setting triangles. Still considering whether there is enough larger fabric pieces to cut out enough setting triangles. Might have to consider doing something else?  

A quick check in with the chart below {from my quilt book 'Great Sets' by Sharyn Craig} and I could see for sure that the diagonal measurements would work. No doubt your plan will be totally different, as it should be.

A helpful tip for determining a pleasing width for an on-point border: The blocks in the on-point border shouldn't be much larger than the width of your previous border. They can be smaller, that seems to look great. Any larger and the border tends to get a little awkward looking {proportion-wise} very quickly. Of course this is just an opinion, not a rule or anything! My decision to sew up 8" blocks means that I am making the patch blocks exactly the same width as the previous border. The diagonal measurement {using the on-point layout} will then be 11 3/8". It feels like a good balance to me, but of course your discriminating eye might want something totally different.

A quick chart for diagonal measurements
Armed with this knowledge and a tentative plan, I cut out and sewed up a handful of 16-patch blocks. Just enough to do a good, solid auditioning. You can absolutely cut out and sew up all the patchwork blocks you think are needed. Dive right on into the deep end if you're ready. Go for it! Sometimes that's what our instincts are shrieking at us to do--to have confidence and own it. 

Other times, we'll find ourselves with the feeling that hmm... ' I'm not sure yet. Maybe it would be good to leave space for those variables that might possibly need adjustment?' Listen to that. Do not ignore! Even if it's the smallest niggle. It invariably means that our subconscious has picked up on something that hasn't been quite realized yet. We still have to forge ahead in order to get anywhere, but maybe with a more cautious commitment. Often it simply takes auditioning the blocks. That's all. We have to actually see it with our eyes, not just our imagination, and then we'll be feeling confident in our choices once again. The plan is ON!
A quick chart for cutting setting triangles
If you've made up your mind to do the on point layout, reference the chart above for help with cutting out corner and/or setting triangles. I use it all the time. Or you can check out this blog post at Spruce Crafts for further information. No one should ever be afraid of an 'on point' layout.

If your fabric choices are running low from the ordinal BBI fabric stack? You clearly have to address that. Dig around in your stash fabric for more options. Don't shy away from expanding on the chosen color palette if needed, going lighter, darker or brighter. You might need to go shopping. Or, may I suggest deliberately making everything a bit scrappier? 

For instance, making the uncomplicated choice of adding corner triangles to all of the patch blocks, instead of only cutting out larger setting triangles, has a lot of advantages. These advantages include making the math easier by virtue of squaring up all of the blocks, being able to cut into much smaller {previously unusable} pieces of fabric, and not least, easily making a limited fabrics and/or color palette stretch even further. Giving your quilt more depth and interest. How? One seemingly out of place fabric looks very wrong, two--kind of questionable and three or more--like it was purposeful. Do the purposeful and 'make-do' like you mean it!
Starting to audition setting triangle fabrics & color
WHEN THE PLAN STARTS TO FALL APART:

If the plan starts to fall apart, like mine did, don't worry. Working improv. is a process full of seeds of inspiration. You just never how they will present themselves. We tend to look at our plan 'failing' as a problem needing a solution. In reality, it's our brains way of saying, 'Hey, something else might look a lot better!' It's our instincts kicking in. Many of us like to say, 'The quilt is talking to us'. Don't worry, it always lets you know before it's too late to make proper adjustments and it hardly ever yells.

In the case of my Bramble Blooms, it was the color choices that started looking wrong first. It just crept up on my awareness. Here I was, busy adding fabrics and 16-patch blocks to the design wall and then, the quilt started saying, 'Yuck! Things are starting to look really mushy. Why is my lovely applique border starting to disappear?'  Ugghh. Not gonna let that happen! Being me, {we all have our default}, I threw some dark fabric up on the wall between the borders. The thought was, 'Ok, that clearly defines the edges of both borders. Problem solved!' Right? {I'm all about the coping borders as a first run at fixing those borders arguments.}

If I was deeply invested in the on-point layout, there could have been new patch blocks made out of different colors and probably cream fabrics used for the setting triangles or whatever.  Any number of choices are possible at any given phase in a quilt. You gotta remember, there are normally always way more than one or two ways to resolve things in a satisfactorily manner. It's not like you're trying to find a single grain of brown rice in a bag full of white rice.
Maybe a coping border will make it all better

CONSIDERING MAKING A CONTINUOUS PATCH-BLOCK LAYOUT: 

On to the continuous block layout. Because why not? It might have been in your plan from the beginning, but I just sort of stumbled on it for my own Bramble Blooms. I admit to being fairly tunnel-visioned about using the on-point layout. At first. It just seemed obvious that it had the potential for infinitely more room to use the leftover pink, cream and rusty brown fabrics in my stack. Sometimes we get an idea in our head and it crowds out any other thinking. Don't mistake what I'm trying to get across here. That resolved version {with the inclusion of the darker coping fabric} would probably have resulted in a satisfactory looking quilt. It wasn't wrong

Still, the prompt did mention two options. Of course I was curious! I went ahead and auditioned the patchwork blocks the other way--in a continuous border formation. Uh oh. No one was more surprised than me. The whole quilt lightened up and gave me the sort of instant warm glow that makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. Darn it. Cannot ignore the warm and fuzzies no matter how much I wanted the on-point layout!
This layout is the one for me afterall
And that's exactly how good, personal-to-you changes happen. You just switch plans midstream because the quilt has spoken. And it speaks to your heart. In order to make the 16-patch block border fit properly to the larger quilt, I only needed to add a single extra row {not a full block} on the left and right side borders. This made it possible for the cornerstone blocks to fit exactly in pattern with the every-other pink/cream patchwork look. See the picture below? Ta da! It seemed serendipitous. Always a great feeling.
Looking at the corner blocks in the correct pattern formation
It was a simple matter to measure the outsides of the quilt and count out how many more blocks were needed. Then I took a few minutes to mourn the lack of using the rusty, tan fabrics in the stack and second guess myself. Is this really how I wanted to continue? Which very quickly led to a lightbulb switching on. Hmm...  How about cutting out and sewing up similar, but darker, cornerstone patchwork blocks? 
And then I looked at them like this...
Which is how those came to be. As you can see, the red in the cornerstone blocks is much more distinctive looking than the lighter pink and ties back into the centerpiece very nicely too. I loved the red squares echoing the X lines from the previous border, a very unexpected result. Once I noticed that, I couldn't 'unsee' it. Uh oh. How to get the pattern to work out properly in the border surround?
The close-up view of the cornerstones 
As you can see from the close-up picture above, there is an odd, awkward looking area where the dark red squares meet up with the lighter colored pink ones. The pattern is interrupted for sure. I could have perhaps flipped the borders on the top and bottom, but do I honestly care? 

The weighted look to the corners just make me happy for what it does for this particular quilt. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else! The echo of the X blocks there in the corners, subtly creates energy and encourages the eye to move around the quilt. I also like how the pink squares form a diagonal line across the corners of the quilt, at the juncture of those corner blocks. Is there any part of this look/feel/vibe that I am willing to give up in order to 'abide by the plan or stick with the pattern formation'? This is what improv. does for us. It frees us from the have to's and gives us permission to think outside of the box. Be curious. Let yourself be surprised!
The completed BBI quilt!
Okay, here's all the tips and tricks you've been searching the post for. Hopefully one of these suggestions will resolve an issue for you and your quilt.

TIPS FOR FITTING A CONTINUOUS PATCHWORK-BLOCK BORDER TO THE QUILT:

Improv. comes with its own challenges and one of them is making new border lengths fit to odd quilt measurements. Do not be discouraged. There are several different ways this disparity can easily be overcome. For the best fitting borders, always measure the sides of your quilt and plan on attaching a border in the same exact size, pinning well before sewing together. 
  • Add an extra row {or two} onto the length of a short border. Does not have to be the full size of a block.
  • Remove an extra row {or two} from the length of the too-long border. Does not have to be the full size of a block.
  • If the border length measurement is too long to match up with your quilt, by less than the width of a single square in a patchwork block, go back and sew some extra large seams. Spread it out over the length of the border--doing it to several seams. Don't sew the extra large seams side by side or the 'fix-it' will be a little more obvious. Usually moving the needle over one or two spots will be enough to take up the extra length necessary. Keep measuring your border until the length has been corrected.
  • Can easily split the difference if the overage on a border length is only 1/4" or less. Trim 1/8" {or less} off of each end of the border length. Nobody will even notice.
  • If perhaps the border length is 1/4" too short, simply pin the quilt and border together at the middle points and gently stretch to make up the difference. Warning: Anything more and you're likely to have a wavy border and a sloppy looking quilt!
  • Add precisely measured Coping Borders to make your patchwork block border fit perfectly. A little more work, but sometimes it feels important. See tutorial here for guidance with that.
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TIPS FOR FITTING AN 'ON-POINT' PATCHWORK-BLOCK BORDER TO THE QUILT:

These are similar to the tips that were given in the first border challenge, but I will list them here for continuity:
  • Sew an extra block to a border of pieced blocks and chop off the extra. Very utilitarian
  • Add little narrow strips of fabric between each pieced block to stretch the row in order to make the length fit with the quilt. Add wider or narrower strips at the very ends of the pieced blocks, as needed, to finish up and get to the correct border length.
  • Deliberately piece less blocks than needed. Add on extra fabric at both ends of the border length until you have the correct length.
  • Make quite a few less pieced blocks than necessary, then arrange them tight together at one side of each border, say at the left side of each border moving around the centerpiece. Sew on a long piece of fabric to only one side of the blocks, making up the extra till it fits the centerpiece measurement. Do this similarly for every border length. There will be pieced blocks on every side of the quilt, but the arrangement will convey a certain symmetry.
  • Sew all of your blocks in a row {per border side}. Then add in a precisely measured coping border cut for the express purpose of fitting perfectly between the centerpiece and your newly pieced border length. See this tutorial for guidance with that.
JUST A COUPLE MORE PICS FOR THE VISUAL LEARNERS:
When the on-point blocks have corner triangles
Sometimes the on-point border layout is easier to play with if you can add corner triangles to the patchwork blocks, instead of trying to wrangle large setting triangles. The square-in-a-square blocks are just easier to move around and find a 'make-do' solution if/when the quilt measurements aren't being particularly cooperative. If you feel uncomfortable with these make-do solutions, that's okay. We're all wired differently! Just be prepared to do a lot more math and pre-planning before you end up with a finished quilt top. 

The cool thing about improv. is that it's wonderfully receptive to 'fix-it' solutions. Consider it a 'work around' for dealing with the side effects of flying by the seat of our pants. The more of it you attempt to do, the easier it is to find the coping strategies that make sense with the way your exceptional brain works. As long as your quilt lays flat and you're satisfied with the look? Who cares about the details?
Another border idea
Along with the tips and tricks mentioned above, a 'mirrored' block arrangement can often be a really fast and easy solution to the on-point border arrangement.--for those times when you don't want to spend time figuring out the math for setting triangles. It's not cheating, it's improv.! And it doesn't take very many blocks set 'on-point' to give the quilt the same kind of energy. 

It usually looks better to arrange blocks in unequal amounts per corner. In the picture above, there are two blocks on top and three at the left side, not counting the corner block.  With this arrangement, I would add fabric to finish out the needed length of the border, keeping the pieced blocks relatively spare. You can repeat this look at the lower bottom right of the quilt only, {reversing the unequal block positions as to sides for the mirror}. OR you could do every single corner. An arrangement like this definitely needs to be auditioned, as it can make all the difference in the world where the last block falls alongside the previous border. 
So happy with the cozy look to this
WRAPPING IT UP:

Okay, that's it. Let's go get creative! This will be the end of the prompts for Bramble Blooms I quilt. Getting this top together will hopefully give a better idea of how the process will work with Bramble Blooms II as well. This first quilt sets the tone for rest of the series. It establishes a common color palette and/or elements that we will change up and tweak here or there as we move along on our adventure together. 

The idea is that we start with a base of ideas and let our innate creativity expand, flourish and grow from that particular place. As each quilt progresses, we will try to push a little bit more, drawing from our well of experience with the previous Bramble Blooms {whether the experience feels successful or not}. We will probably not LOVE every single quilt that we make in the series, but hopefully we will end up with at least one quilt that rocks our foundations. Wowsers, did I really make that? Out of a stack of fabric that I'd grown so tired of? 

Wrapping this us, please remember that this is YOUR quilt. If you feel that it needs another border or two, then absolutely feel free to continue on with your journey.  Look for a Link Party for all the completed Bramble Blooms quilt tops towards the end of April. Shortly after that post will be the start of Bramble Bloom II. Looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful progress!

Monday, February 19, 2024

AHIQ:Sun Quilt Top and Autumnal Tulips #2

I seem to have fell down a rabbit hole this past little while. So shocking. This quilt top was a result of an AHIQ prompt from July 2022. I was really late getting going with my response and then even later getting it to finished quilt top stage. I was dragging my feet initially because it's just so different for me! Most of the applique pieces have been cut out and ready to go since sometime last fall though, and I've been positively antsy to see the end result.
Is it a sunflower or a daisy?
So yeah, it was time. Might as well take advantage! Working with quilt challenges is such an interesting way to grow in our quilting endeavors. To be quite blunt, a lot of the time my initial feeling is a bit of frustration. Why would I deliberately want to think about adding a 'sun' into one of my quilts? Or work from the point of trying to add in that distinct vibe? Or whatever the challenge happens to be--I'm truly not picking on that particular prompt! 

Sun of My Life a new quilt top!
The thing is, I don't generally love to be told what to do in regards to quilting. Most all of the new challenges take some talking myself into. {Yes, I'm telling on myself.} It certainly helps that the AHIQ challenges have been so open ended, but let's just say that it always seems to take a bit of an attitude adjustment. Gah! To willing embrace making a quilt from somewhere other than what I would consider to be 'organic' inspiration is just hard. Especially when I have an abundance of quilty ideas already bouncing around in my brain. Who has time to make something they have little to no interest in? But hey, wait a minute. How do we nudge ourselves out of our comfort zone if we never seek out a different perspective? 

I've learned to let these odd places of inspiration simmer in the back of my mind for awhile. Give them a lot of space and encourage my subconscious to take plenty of time to explore the many, many different ways that the idea could possibly be applied. Discarding most of them of course! And through the years I've realized the most fun is when the ideas can be manipulated to work in my favor. Like using one of the already marinating fabric stacks sitting around the quilt room or whatever. Or do a little play on interpretation. I try my best to work with {and answer} the prompt and yet, still convey something that resonates strongly as a me look, feel and vibe. That way, I will more likely follow through on the challenge to completion, maybe even enjoy the project and, bonus, sometimes end up with something amazingly better than ever expected. 

Looking across the quilt top is always fun
Sometimes it's a big fat fail, but it's so very beneficial to try! Take this quilt. I couldn't think much past using up yellow fabric, of which I have oodles of. So lots and lots of ideas about using up that. Meh. Not interesting enough on its own. Then I stumbled upon a block idea that seemed vaguely interesting. Yeah, not nearly good enough for the effort required. Everything seemed quite unsatisfactory and blah when thinking about in conjunction to this 'sun' challenge. Scratch it all!

How could the sun look any more
happy to be there?
And so it went. Me drawing up a potential foundation pieced sun block, pouring through antique quilting books, and looking for rising sun etc. blocks. Stretching my thinking even more and then finally, out of desperation, doodling a rough drawing of a large scale floral design with a big 'ol sun hanging out over the top of it. At first it felt kind all kinds of desperate. So obvious and over the top.

Loving the viny, bold flowers
A funny thing happened. Just the act of drawing the oh-so-improbable idea opened up my thinking even more. I remembered the times that I have wanted to deliberately piece backgrounds for applique and got mired in the details. Didn't gain any traction. Huh. Could this be the answer? Seeing the doodle in black and white made me contemplate how this could actually be accomplished with improv. piecing. Which of course I love doing. Would it, could it work? Maybe I could even add some orphaned parts and pieces too.... 
Subtle additions to the larger tulip
Eventually I combined all the good ideas and.... despite my very squirrely feelings of discomfort, made a plan of attack. Who cared if it was ridiculously large and naive in concept? I tried to consciously tweak each and every obvious detail into something that felt authentic, going over the details over and over till it felt right. Then, and only then, I dove into it with lots of nerves and a sort of steely resolve to see it through. No matter what kind of feedback I received, this was happening! And now, at the end of hand stitching the applique to this quilt top, I'm thinking it worked! It actually worked!! Wowsers, do I love this quirky, funky looking quilt already!

It's been a long journey with lots of hesitation and second guessing. It's wonderful to see the quilt really coming alive this last week with every single piece of applique that got sewn down. I just didn't want to quit, it was so quietly satisfying and yes, exhilarating! After all the larger applique was stitched down, then I had to add a few pieces of smaller things like the skinny leaves. Just for good balance and subtle definition.
And the value changes in the sun....
Looking so sweet to me
As an aside, the second {pink} sun has always felt like a rather silly addition. Why oh why did the quilt demand it? I so wanted to ditch the entire idea and find something else to substitute. Nope. It was the ONLY thing that looked right in that corner. And this week I think the answer made itself known in the new name for the quilt 'Sun of my life'. It sort of speaks for itself when paired with the applique design. In a surprising move, the quilt also decided that it doesn't need any sort of border whatsoever. Okay! I guess that's a wrap for now! Yay for challenges that steer us to good places!

The finished commission quilt top
I also remembered that I hadn't shown the results of the commission quilt that I had agreed to make last fall. If you think this looks like my Autumnal Tulips quilt, you would be correct.

It's a tiny bit darker than the original
A quilty gal had previously contacted me for the pattern, then later on decided not to make it after all. When she sent me the first email inquiring about me making a commission quilt {for her but for her daughter]} I instantly decided that it would be waaay to much work. Right? Then I decided to think things through a little better. Maybe give it a couple minutes to try to figure out what might make it worthwhile.

Autumnal Tulips #2
A bit of back and forth and surprisingly, we came to terms. I tried to be very straightforward about what the whole endeavor would entail--what we could expect out of each other. And Linda was super accommodating. So sweet! 

This is a smaller version of the original, but it does actually have some of the exact same fabrics included. {It was requested to be in very similar colors and fabrics.} I had to comb through the scrap bins looking for some of it, but eventually found all the important pieces! 

Like most of my quilts tend to end up, it's perfectly imperfect. Huge sigh of relief. Nothing like a bit of pressure to feel insecure about our work! And even though it's the 2nd version, it still has a nice, cozy, comfy vibe, very closely resembling the one her daughter fell in love with. You can only imagine how nervous I was to make a copycat quilt when everything I do is so scrappy looking! We only contracted for the quilt top which means I've been anticipating see the true blue completion some day in the future.Will it still look like a Quilty Folk quilt without hand quilting? Hmm... We'll have to see! Thank you Linda for being a gold star customer on my very first quilt commission!  And no, that's not gonna be my new thing. This is something out of the blue and just turned into an interesting experience! 

Okay. This time around, I'll really try better to put the bulk of my quilty efforts towards Bramble Blooms. It's not forgotten, just moving at a snails pace!

 

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

A Couple Good Finishes To Start the Year Out Right

So I actually finished two quilts in past couple weeks. Crazy days. The first one 'Positive Thinking', just needed the binding sewn on. It's been in that state for a couple months now and finally all the planets lined up or something. 

Bright flowers for the win!
This was an AHIQ challenge from 2020. I took the prompt and ran with it, using part of a biblical verse as inspiration. It had been pinned to my inspiration board forever, just waiting for the right moment to be included in a quilt.

Positive Thinking is a true blue finish!
With this particular challenge, we were encouraged to use some of our own clothing. It's something that I've been having fun with for quite awhile now, slipping a piece of my husbands or sons shirts into most every quilt. In this case, I used a couple of my shirts too. Some old favorites that had started to get a little worn around the collar or maybe too small.

Always a pleasure to look across a freshly
finished quilt
While I don't love sewing letters and words together, I absolutely adore the look in my quilts. A necessary evil I guess you would call them. It's well worth the time and effort to do any and all of the things that make a quilt sing for you!

Still wondering why these flowers didn't
need or seem to want leaves on the stems
I wanted a strong, lively border for this quilt and pondered quite a few different variations of appliqued vines and flowers etc. Then I contemplated a pieced border or two. Eventually, I stumbled upon an idea that was well past its time--a clamshell border. Hmm... I love the look so very much but have been pretty much terrified of the idea. Why? I'm not really sure. I've been pinning clamshell quilts on Pinterest for years. Drooling over most every one. 

A very cozy look
And this quilt jumped up and down for the idea and then wouldn't really allow anything else. Okay. Fine! Thankfully I found a tutorial or two that helped me get started. Once again, it wasn't nearly as difficult as my imaginations made it out to be. I didn't get it perfect or even close to perfect, but it works. It does the job. And I love what it does for the quilt.

The words here are so good
This has become one of my very favorite quilts that I've ever completed to date. Just so much to love about it! The hand quilting ended up being straight lines and a basic shadow quilting in the border. Nothing fancy. Nothing pretentious. Just a cozy, lovely handmade vibe throughout. Lots of old, languishing fabrics included in this quilt too! Weird colored blue fabrics that I was unsure if they could ever find a proper home. Isn't it so much fun to find the perfect pairing of inspiration, fabric and heart in one of our makes?

And another finish for 2024
The 'Improv. HST Medallion' quilt is the second quilt to be completed this winter. I have been slowly, slowly plugging along on the hand quilting for the past couple months. The center area of the quilt was a bit intimidating, so I went ahead and did a free hand {repeat} circle pattern. It's a little wobbly in a couple areas, but I think you have to be fairly critical to be bothered by that. I'm definitely not.

It's got the good vibes too
This quilt was started from {an almost expired} stack of marinating fabrics and a rebellious sort of inspiration. Do you ever get the urge to make a looser, wilder version of something you've already made?
Can't imagi8ne this one without the applique
I love when inspiration hits so sure and true for a certain stack of fabric. I mean, seriously, where else could these purple and cheddar fabrics have played so wonderfully well together? Without looking stodgy and staid like the unmarried aunties? This quilt is a perfect example of why I'm often so very reluctant to send oldish, simmering fabric stacks right back to the totes. What if they just haven't reached their prime together yet? What if there is something bright and shiny just waiting to burst into being and we're simply waiting on the key?

The little bit of pink makes it all better
I'm often blown away by the influence of working on older quilts and then starting the new ones. The fact that my skills, mojo, confidence, stubbornness, secret quilt longings and timing seemingly all come together to spark some of the best quilt ideas! It's not coincidence at all.

Winter light makes it look more blue
This quilt is also a recipient of my late crush on working with tulip motifs. Does it ever get old to hand stitch sweet little tulips to a quilt? I have to practically force myself to use alternate flower shapes, but then, unerringly, I come back to the tried and true, beautiful little tulip shape.
So glad for the outside border. This quilt 
definitely needed the last little bit of darker color
Because, why not? And looky, looky what they did for this bold, graphic look quilt? Almost instantaneously turned it into a 'me' quilt. Isn't that cool? Gotta love when our quilting voice comes through load and clear no matter the colors in the quilt. I may lean hard to the more mellow colors in most of my makes, but even the craziest color palettes can end up with this cozy, comfy, cuddle-up-with-me vibe that makes this quilty heart melt....



Monday, February 5, 2024

All the 2023 Quilty Finishes {Finally!} & A Little Bramble Blooms Progress

 A belated look-back at all the 2023 finishes here at Quilty Folk! Once again, life has gotten in the way of my quilty forward progress. What a shock and surprise, right? I must be human.

2023 Finishes--A
It was a very slow year for quilt finishes, coming in at 10 quilt total. Considering all that went on last year though, I feel like it was an amazing feat. 

2023 Finishes--B

Since I'm throwing this up on the blog for my own benefit, it's probably best to keep it brief.

The 2023 Finished Quilt Details:

  • 3 Baby Quilts
  • 1 Lap sized Quilt
  • 6 Bed sized Quilts
  • 9 Quilts totally Hand Quilted
  • 1 Quilt mixed Hand and Machine Quilted
As a note of interest, I gifted 12 quilts last year, which is more than I finished. Hmm... You'd think the stacks would be smaller by now? But no. That's not how it seems to work. Gifting quilts is really good for the soul and making friends though, so I guess I'm fine with that! Another item of note is that the quilt top drawers are getting easier to shut. By the end of 2023, there was only 20 tops left and 2 of them were donations from my sister a few years ago. Not really something that I'm stressing about ever finishing if you want to know the truth of it. Like I've mentioned before, they will probably end up as quilt backing some day. I'm just not that invested in them!

Another interesting thing is that I finished quite a few larger quilts last year. With lots and lots of hand quilting. Even if hardly anything else got done, I still managed some hoop time. That's NOT been the case this year. My hand quilting time has dropped to just a couple evenings a week the last couple months. So many things are getting in the way of my quality hoop time. Just drives me crazy, but what do you do? 

Just for the record and journaling purposes: I started out 2023 sicker than I've even been and of course that took awhile to power through and catch up from. Then we had our youngest sons wedding at the end of April. Our oldest daughter had her first child in August and somewhere in the middle was two wedding weekends for a niece and nephew who we feel quite close to. Lots of family shenanigans to attend to as well.

Unfortunately, the year also ended with my husband being sicker than he's ever been and now, somehow we're already in February of 2024. Whew. I'm still right smack in the middle of caretaking, which is not nearly as fun as quilting. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and feel thankful for any improvements as they are all quite hard won. Thank you all once again for your many messages of love and encouragement in this hard time. Priorities definitely ebb and flow throughout our lives don't they?
Moving along
Starting the Bramble Blooms QAL seemed like an exciting adventure back when the momentum was carrying me along with the inspiration and initial drive. Now, it's one of the few quilty things that I can think about without feeling completely overwhelmed and uninspired. Most days. Maybe just a little bit blank around the edges of my brain sometimes? Or panic that I might be letting you down? Uggh. There's so much to appreciate though: Using up the Oldy moldy fabric, an easy-peasy medallion quilt plan of attack, Improv-ish, open-ended, loosey-goosey style? Nothing to fret about or bother getting overly excited about, right? Except for the issue of time.*sigh

So yeah. Time is definitely problematic these days. Both for finding enough time in the day to do the applique work and then the computer time for posting. Wowsers, has that been a tough one! I keep telling myself that I did in fact warn everyone about the slower pace of this QAL. It's either bag the whole project or just keep plugging away at it and find the joy where it comes. You know me. Gonna keep after it until the challenge runs cold.

The picture above is the current state of my BBI. Both the top and bottom borders have been stitched down and all that is left for stitching on the side panels is the leaves. I have them pinned where they will probably stay. Still deliberating whether or not to remove a leaf or two from the top and bottom border and thinking yeah. Might as well leave them alone now. Afterall, it's extra work to take them off! 

Also, I keep making these flaky little mistakes {so surprising considering my state of distraction these days}. Right now the quarter triangle corner blocks are just a wee bit too small for seamlessly sewing onto the centerpiece. I've already cut the coping border down once, but may have to trim a little more off. Or maybe trim a bit of fabric off of the outside of the applique borders? Regardless, this phase of the quilt is very, very close to being done. 

I don't know about you, but I'm really liking the end result thus far! As per usual, I am a little shocked and dumbfounded by how interesting this older fabric can be made to look. It's nothing new to me as I've had this result before. But it always, always amazes me because in the fabric stack, the whole thing just looked pretty dismal if you know what I mean! 

I managed to squeeze in enough time to scroll though all the blogs and instagram accounts that have been linked up to the QAL. Very exciting work! Many lovely, exciting creations to contemplate and be inspired by! Wish I could be more present on the blogs especially but maybe later. I'm very encouraged by the creativity and courage many of you have displayed in branching out with this strange little QAL.  I'm hoping that if you manage to push through with the details in the first quilt, then my thoughts pertaining to inspiration and the connection to series work will start to coalesce in the 2nd and 3rd. It's a bit of a slog at first I know, but we have to get some foundational work in place before we can begin to build on anything personal.
  
I can't promise any hard and fast date, but my plan is to move directly into action with the next border phase of BBI. There is quite a bit of organization involved so please bear with me. Crossing my fingers I'll have all the details together before the end of February at the very least if not the six weeks I was originally hoping for. Don't be afraid to email me if you have a late start and want to be added to the link list!

Friday, January 5, 2024

Next Prompt for the Bramble Blooms QAL

I'm back! XXXX Thank you for all your wonderful thoughts and prayers, well wishes and check-ins. My husband is doing marginally better and we're very thankful for any and all progress. It just seems like time to throw some energy at this QAL. Avoiding leftover Christmas calories and cleaning up after the grandkids {though we adore them} is just not doing it for me! Please bear with me through this next phase as I'm a bit frazzled and wooly headed these days. 

This is the start of border #1--
still have some decisions to make
Okay, here we go: The Bramble Bloom QAL is a very free spirited, improv. sort of endeavor as you all know. That makes it extremely interesting to try and convey that same message, all while setting up a structure for the less confident of you to follow. Ack!! Please feel free to take what you will from what is presented and know there is zero pressure to conform.

BRAMBLE BLOOM 1ST BORDER: 
The next prompt for BB1 is this: Add a border with repeat applique motifs to your centerpiece, with quarter-triangle style cornerstone blocks. This border can be absolutely any width you choose. If you can't bring yourself to add more applique to this 1st quilt, then I suggest making a border of extremely simple (yet bold looking) pieced blocks such as the chunky cross blocks.

If you do applique repeats, they can be as simple as turning a leaf on its side or using a circle shape. Let's not delve into vines just yet as they will be a feature in the 2nd quilt.

Adding a coping border is totally up to you, but completely secondary. It will always be an option to add coping borders to any of these Bramble Blooms quilts without counting as an official border. 

The cornerstone blocks can be any version of quarter triangles you like. Make them simple, scrappy, free-style or whatever else you come up with.  Put fabric strips through the middle or not. Sew applique over the top if that appeals! It's completely your choice.

Alright, go forth and make your fabulous border! Or... follow along for a little bit more guidance and hand holding. I'm good with either.
How about a pink border?
GETTING STARTED WITH A BORDER PLAN: Let's start with color. With a project like this, where I'm starting from an intentional fabric stack, I tend to spend quite a bit of time 'auditioning' fabric colors. You can see that I played with pink as the next surround.
Really thought this would be it!
Then I looked at the rusty tan fabrics. Honestly, this was what I had my heart set on using here, but then I was supremely unimpressed.

Was always pretty sure this wasn't it....
Then there was the dark brown, because you just never know!

A green border is a total surprise to me.,..,
And then I threw the light green fabric up on the wall and found myself feeling all the feels. So surprising, but the quilt made it clear that it actually had a preference! I didn't even bother to audition the red fabrics as my mind was made up just that quickly. If you don't get that particular vibe, then just go with whatever fabric you want to use up right away. There are no right or wrong answers here. You can also wait and go with what makes sense after you decide on the applique or piecing plan. 

Thinking about a coping border
COPING BORDER OR NOT? 
Since the potential 1st border fabric is already up on the wall, then it's a good time to play around with the idea of adding in a coping border. You can do this before or after making a plan for the applique. All of our minds work differently! To be clear, we don't need a coping border for the traditional role of making this border fit well. There's not going to be any measurement issues whatsoever if you're doing applique repeats on the border. It would only be needed as a color accent or perhaps for a subtle framing of the centerpiece. Only you and the quilt can decide if this will be wanted or necessary!

You can see that I contemplated using a chocolate brown fabric for a coping border in the picture up above. It looks kinda blah. In the picture below, I mulled over the benefits of using a busy, cherry red fabric as coping border. I'm not even sure the quilt needs it, but sometimes I'm a sucker for trying to use up certain fabrics just because!
Talking myself into one so I can use this
specific fabric.....
DECISIONS, DECISIONS:  I am a big fan of auditioning color and fabric at different stages in the improv. quilt making process. That's partly why I love this approach so much. Comparing and contrasting what makes certain color combinations sing just gives me a thrill. I absolutely can and do experiment at whim! All you have to do is change the amounts of which color or value you use and wallah! Something in the quilt wakes up and starts making everything around it look so much better.
Playing with the possible applique shape

BORDER APPLIQUE:
I settled on these twigs with berries and leaves for my border applique as it suits the Bramble Blooms theme. I've admired them forever which makes it super easy to figure out a quilt that desperately needs them!  {Inspiration pic is several pictures below because I'm working on my husband's Surface Pro in the living room instead of my familiar desktop. Uggh.} 

Of course I won't be making exact copies of the original. How boring would that be? Instead, I doodled a slightly chunkier version of them and then cut out a paper template {see this post for tips}. You can see that I went ahead and cut the template out with the leaves attached, just until I get a good idea of how much room they will be taking up on my potential border. Go ahead and draw up some ideas for your border applique and play with how they might look on various widths of the potential border fabric. You could make a very narrow border here as your first border or something quite a bit wider like mine. Don't be afraid to draw up different heights of your potential applique motifs tool. It's whatever you think the quilt needs or maybe, whatever you're in the mood to sew on at this time.
This width is what I liked best

As an aside, after I measured the border width that worked best for my applique motifs, then I went ahead and measured for the possibility of an added coping strip. Will I? Still not sure, but there's no time like the present to take that measurement.
If I do a coping border, I like this width here
BORDER FABRICS:'
Next up, you'll want to figure out exactly which fabrics will be included in your border. I put the dark red and darkest brown fabrics up near my applique template thinking they might would work nicely for the applique repeats. I'll put them together for future perusal, but remember, I'm still in auditioning phase, nothing is settled yet. Only working on my plan of attack. 

If you don't have a single large piece of yardage for the border lengths, it's easy enough to use several pieces of smaller yardage in different, yet similar-look fabrics. Move them around until you get a nice flow or a perhaps a lovely blending. Don't get stressed about fabrics matching perfectly! So unimportant. This is another moment in the quilt to add energy and spark in a casual way. Notice that I like to keep things interesting and stretch the value quite a bit in terms of range. Might not be your cup of tea so don't push this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

Once I have the fabrics arranged approximately where I think they will land, then I start cutting the chosen border fabrics out in the intended width. Go ahead and cut them out longer than the intended use. The measurements I am using here are 7 1/2" wide {7" plus seam allowance} x however long the piece of fabric is. If I have two fabrics picked out for a single border length, then the combined piece will at least have to measure the side of the centerpiece that I'm sewing it onto.

Before you cut out your border lengths, do make sure you've included allowance for the coping border addition if that's part of your plan. Believe it or not, it does add inches onto your centerpiece once it's sewn on! Don't do like I did and put that decision off until afterwards and then think, 'Hmm..., how is this going to work?' It's hard sometimes not to get caught up in the flow of ideas and thoughts, jumping ahead and missing a critical step.
The berries will probably look better if they're
slightly different than the red in the center
When {or if} I include a coping border into the quilt, I'm going to have to make sure the cornerstone blocks are as wide as the border width and coping border widths combined. I somehow got ahead of myself and did the cuts based on the centerpiece measurements alone without any coping border add-ons. Ha! That's the kind of 'oops' that often happens in Improv. quiltmaking around here, espcially when there are lots of distractions. While frustrating at times, thankfully it's not usually a game changer. Just a matter of figuring out how to address the situation, either fixing it or making do.
The skinny strips are very sweet on 
this quarter triangle look block
So now you'll want to come up with four cornerstone blocks in a basic quarter-triangle arrangement. You can add in strips of fabric through the middle with a little connector square. Or maybe no to the connector square? Totally up to you! 

For this cornerstone block, I cut a square of brown fabric just larger than the green border widths, on the diagonal both directions. Not worried about precise measurements as I can easily trim to size before adding to border panels! I only have enough of this brown fabric left to cut two squares but I love it enough to try and work it into the quilt regardless. This means I'll have to cut two more squares in a different brown fabric {if I want to keep the brown throughout}. Will probably sew a combination of the two fabrics into all four blocks so they look uniform, it's easy enough to do! I'll sew the longish pink strips and a green connector square through the middle and iron carefully. After that, I'll have to trim the blocks somewhat in order to achieve the correct measurement.

Once again, feel free to make up your own quarter triangle block using a pattern, formula or whatever else works well for you. Make it improv. and wonky, all the colors in the quilt or sedate and traditional looking. You can even sew them together in the same fabrics as your border panels. We'll be using a version of this block in future Bramble Bloom quilts, so keep good notes if you like what you end up with!
My inspiration picture--
totally in the wrong place in the post
At some point, you should have a firm grasp on most of the variables needed to move forward. Once you do, go ahead and start cutting your border fabric lengths. If you get in the habit of cutting {and sewing} the combined lengths extra long, you can play with them arranged right next to the centerpiece. This seriously helps in determining where to make the first cut, which then allows you to easily measure out the proper border length from that specific point. This is so much more straightforward {to me} than trying to figure out the exact, perfect measurement {per fabric} prior to making the initial cuts. Also, when using multiple fabrics, you don't usually want the seam to fall dead center. It just looks odd. Shift the panels from side to side until there is a more pleasing vibe.
All the border lengths are cut--
trying to determine the appropriate color
for the applique and still wondering
about the coping border
After the border lengths are finalized {or maybe 1/2" longer for ease with the applique stitching}, then cut out a potential applique motif. Maybe audition it in the chosen fabrics if you have enough to play with. Do you like the look? I've cut mine out with the seam allowances included, but occasionally, you'll need to see one in the literal finished size. Just be careful not to use up too much of precious leftover fabric pieces! Count out how motifs you might need per side, and then cut out and arrange totally by eye. It's not nearly as stressful as you might think. Make a crease in the middle of the border if that helps. As you can see, I'm still trying to decide on the lighter brown fabric versus the darker brown fabrics. Or I can use both. Once I make up my mind, I'm pretty sure there will be four twigs and berries per side borders and three on the top and bottom. I like the idea of plenty of space between.
Maybe just leave the coping border off
and make the strips more narrow
on the quarter triangle block too?
Sill pondering whether I want the coping border hmm..., so tiresome, but some decisions don't come quickly. The good thing is that it won't change the length of my already cut green borders unless I decide to fix things. I can definitely move along with the hand applique details now regardless of either decision. At least I don't have to worry about what fabric to use for the coping border corner squares as they are totally a non-issue now.*sigh  Anyway, it's time for me to cut more applique motifs out and start sewing. My mind will mull things over while doing the busy work.

WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO DO BORDER APPLIQUE?
Obviously, if you choose to machine piece blocks together for the border, you will also be choosing the width of your border by default. Whatever the width of your blocks are will ultimately be the width of your border! But what about the length? Your centerpiece has a set measurement, probably a very unhandy one for precise matching up. Luckily with improv., you can smoothly make adjustments in several different ways.

1.  You can sew an extra block to the row of pieced blocks and chop off the extra. Very utilitarian.
2.  You can add little narrow strips of fabric between each pieced block and stretch the row in order to make the length fit with the centerpiece. Add wider or narrower ones at the very ends of the pieced blocks as needed to finish up.
3.  You can deliberately piece less blocks than needed. Add on extra fabric at both ends of the border length until you have the correct length.
4.  You can make quite a few less pieced blocks than necessary, then arrange them tight together at one side of each border, say at the left side of each border moving around the centerpiece. Sew on a long piece of fabric to one side of the blocks making up the extra till it fits the centerpiece measurement.
5. Or you can piece all of your blocks in a row {per border panel} and then add in a precisely measured coping border cut for the express purpose of fitting perfectly between the centerpiece and your newly pieced blocks row. Whew! Lots of work for you, but that's okay if that feels best! Here's a tutorial for help with that.

WRAPPING IT UP:  Okay. That's the new Bramble Blooms prompt guide, such as it is. Wish there was time to make it more polished and put together! I have a wonderful daughter who has graciously helped out so that we could get to this point, scattered though it might be. I know there are those who will be disappointed not to see my final version of border #1 yet, but actually.... this might work better as you can more readily see how the creative flow/decision making might happen. Be brave! This is the real improv. We're making it up as we go along!  This portion of the BB1 quilt will be finished in about six weeks to two months. Fingers crossed, things should be back to normal here at the home front.

I probably won't be responding to comments very quickly at all, so please don't take offense. Many of you have done lovely, amazing work with your centerpieces. I am in awe! Just know I'll be lurking every chance I get and cheering you on from the sidelines.

For those who have asked, each Bramble Blooms quilt will have: some sort of centerpiece {different prompts every time and not necessarily applique} plus two main border prompts before we move on to the next version. After the second border is finished, you can absolutely add more as you like on each separate quilt. After all, it is your quilt, not mine! Very understandable that you might want something larger or perchance more customized than where the QAL leaves off.

In an effort to keep our creativity engaged, I'm attempting to keep the medallion look very basic and concentrating more on playing with variables as we move along. Keep in mind that everything you do in this quilt has the potential to be included in some way or another in your very next version. Maybe not in the exact proportion or color, but fully expect to be asked to refer back to previous BB1 choices made throughout the span of the QAL! And don't worry if you end up not liking some choice you made. The improv. method assures that we can all gleefully change how each element or motif is represented as each new prompt is introduced.

Hoping this isn't too freewheeling and/or overwhelming for the more timid at improv. Just take each decision as it comes and try not to overthink. As things move along, your instincts and intuition will begin to kick in and most decisions won't feel quite so fraught. Promise!