Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Tree of Life in the Hoop and the Other HST Quilt in the Works

Like most other diligent hand quilters, I tend to roll straight from one quilt in the hoop to the very next. This 'Tree of Life' quilt has been calling my name lately, sort of impatiently if you want to know the truth of it. It seems to be the time
Tree of Life in the hoop
So, okay, I'm fine with working on these colors right about now. Winter is settling into it's 'Oh no! There's more snow! mode and everything is sooo cold and chilly. These colors are bright, peppy and just feel good in contrast. This quilt was one of those bucket list quilts but also a very whimsical start. I need to remember that all those stacks of fabric piling up around my quilt room will eventually find their day as well.

Also something important to remember is that just because a quilt was on my bucket list doesn't mean that it will end up looking exactly as imagined. This crazy blend of busy-ish fabrics tend to make this quilt look a little more vintage that all the patterns and photos I usually admired. I really stretched myself with this fabric selection and that's a good thing. It feels unique and makes each block feel a little more special. I had to work harder to feel satisfied if you know what I mean. Plus I learned a lot. I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for making and learning from these sorts of choices 3 1/2 years ago! And yeah, it's a little wonky from using homespun fabrics in the setting triangles and not trimming every block to exactly square. Hand quilting will take care of the worst of it {it's very forgiving} and then washing and drying after should take care of the rest of the wonk. In spite of the fact that this quilt rejected most all the fun colors of perle cotton, {it wants to do boring white/cream thread}, we're all good here.
Tree of Life
This past weekend saw me working on adding another round of borders to my HST Medallion quilt too. It was the 5th round of first the black coping strip border and then the pieced triangle border. I tend to lump them both into '1 border round'. It never seems to photograph well when the pink hst's are on the outside edge, especially if they are sewn in the lightest pink colors. Ughh...  Oh well. You can get the idea of where I'm at--exactly halfway through the 10 rows of hst border work! Uh huh. It's gonna be a big one....
One more border for the HST Medallion
I am extremely pleased to report that this hst border went on together as well as the last one did! Yay! Improvements have been made and might be here to stay! {Well, for the life of this quilt anyway...} Lots of notes to refer to, but basically there are specific perimeters that make all the difference in precision. So proud to know that all that improv. work hasn't quite ruined me yet....
HST Medallion about halfway thru....
And because I couldn't bear to take if off the wall just yet, I simply piled all the quilting paraphernalia back on the counter like usual, pushing and stacking it way to the back. Can you believe I iron large quilt tops in this space? Without emptying the countertop first? If you've been following me for very long, you understand that my quilting room is quite small. There is absolutely no room for complete chaos and I often have to tidy up just to jump to the next quilt. Projects are almost all in small totes or the 'in progress' units piled right on top. I have to be extra efficient with all my under-the-counter-space and try really hard to always have my iron and cutting area board ready at a moments notice too. Seriously, I am not complaining! Anythings better than having to work from the corner of the living room, dining room table and/or hall closet like I did for so many years. Having a dedicated quilt space is divine. I'm imploring you, please make room for your own if you haven't yet! You'll never, ever regret it.

Linking up with Linda and Julie for sew, stitch, snap, SHARE!

21 comments:

  1. how you can press a quilt in that small space is beyond me I would be walking back and forth to wherever I could put out a large ironing board - my hat is off to you! I like you as soon as one quilt is done the next is going on the frame I hate an empty frame. Love all your work as always!

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  2. Aaaaahhhh, you're a glutton for punishment but they are beauties. I made one tree of life with Edyta Sitar on a quilt cruise and it's finished. But no more. LOL (and I do love it!)

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  3. You're so right, a dedicated quilting space however tiny, is essential to our sanity. I don't recall seeing your tree of life top before, but I do love it! How many HST's do you guesstimate you'll make/use to complete all 10 rounds in that quilt? I have nearly 500 from all the stitch-and-flip cutoffs on the top I just completed, and I'm guessing they wouldn't go all that far!

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  4. Two wonderful quilts! I'm really loving your HST medallion quilt, gorgeous colours and all those HSTs - quite an achievement! Thanks for sharing with 'sew stitch snap SHARE'

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  5. Those colours are lovely and warming, I am in awe of anyone who sews that many HST.

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  6. The tree of life is on my wishlist. Yours is beautiful, love the colors. And the HST medalion quilt looks good. I love seeing it grow.
    Warm greetings

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  7. You are so right about having a dedicated space ... for whatever it is that makes your heart sing! I'm looking at your Tree of Life and, while I do see a couple of pins, I don't see any basting at all. So here's my question? Do you or do you not baste your quilt before quilting?

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  8. Love the Tree of Life quilt and I'm sure it is happy to be in the hoop. I am finally getting back to my Quilty 365 after almost a year in the closet. I want to get it done for this summer's show and I am beginning to wish I had done big stitch! Your HST medallion is killing me. I really, really love this quilt!

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  9. I remember these trees! :) And the HST project is looking wonderful.

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  10. Your post today is all about what you can do with hst's. Wonderful things! Your hoop never gets a day of rest. I've been fortunate to have always been able to carve out a small spot for my quilting stuff. It sure makes a difference when projects are ready when ever you are.

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  11. Your HST Medallion is looking awesome!

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  12. The hst medallion is really coming along. It looks great! I'm so glad the borders are cooperating so that it's easier for you to sew. I've got to make a Tree of Life quilt someday. I like every one I see. Maybe I should collect them (ha!) like Bill Volkening collects New York Beauties. The problem is I'd rather make them than collect them so I guess that will never happen.

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  13. I love these tree of life blocks so much! So happy to see them in your hoop. I can't wait to see how the quilting texture adds it's magic :0)

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  14. The background variations in your ToL are great. They give it the sparkle with the other darker colors. A bit of intentional or even unintentional wonkiness is wonderful IMO. This is going to be a beauty. But your HST Medallion is also wonderful. Medallions are probably my favorite style to work on because it's all out there in front of you all the time. No guessing if one block goes with another. More like painting than sewing. Busy lady, you are pushing me to take a day to just sew my heaping pile of trimmed triangles into HST and see what happens. Might be the ticket with all this rain here. For a tiny studio, you have a lot of output!

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  15. Your scrappy tree of life is wonderful! Your inspiring me to maybe make this the next quilt on my list to do.

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  16. I added a couple of trees to the one Christmas quilt I made years ago but you and Monica have such enticing trees I'm tempted to make another. I love the sprinkling of different fabrics in your trees. And love the medallion. Keeping one border dark and alternating the dark and pink HSTs makes a beautiful rhythm.
    I sewed in my closet for years then on the dining room table. Like you, my room is small but it's (usually) all mine. Although I walk to the big ironing board in the kitchen to press. How do you do it?

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  17. Oh yes! Your Tree of Life inspired me to make one. Nice to see it at the hand quilting stage. Mine is a different pattern and needs more blocks. Now where did I put it...?

    That Medallion HSt seems to have a 3D look to it - like looking down into that center piece.

    Wonderful stuff! and I'm not exactly sure how you iron a big quilt in that little space. I'd be ironing in wrinkles!

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  18. I'm full of admiration for your piecing in the medallion and very glad you are still going. The 'extra' you put into your Tree of Life was well worth it.

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  19. Visiting from Stitch sew snap and share! Your Tree of Life quilt is beautiful and it sounds like you have had quite the journey with it. It sounds liek yu will enjoy the process of quilting it now. And your HST medallion is a stunner too - that looks like a lot of HST to control for each border! Having a dedicated sewing space is great isn't it, in spite of the size of yours, it sounds like you've got it functioning well for you.

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  20. Love the Tree of Life especially the colors. I hand quilt my personal family quilts which serves as therapy.We quilters make quilts no matter how small a space we hav

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