Making It Up As I Go Along

The hardest part of blogging lately is actually making the effort to write the post. I usually don't wanna these days! Then, deciding what to touch on, what to highlight and even more importantly, what to leave alone. Ughh. Does anyone even care about quilting these days? Such crazy, crazy days indeed. Oh well. Quilting is what makes me happy, so here goes!

Strippy Triangles

This is the quilt that was started impulsively back at the first of May. Mostly I just wanted to chain piece and not think about design. It's now a completed quilt top, so yeah. Really fast finish for me! I've had the fabric stacked up together and simmering though, for well over a year. That was during a time when I purposefully dove very deep into the red stash tote in response to the Red is a Neutral AHIQ challenge. The first two fabric pulls of red didn't end up quite making the grade {here's the challenge quilt with the fabrics that won out} but I couldn't just dump these straight back in. Oh no. There was just something about them that pulled on my heartstrings.

A completed quilt top!

Maybe it was because there was a small piece of a leftover plaid from my youngest sons baby years {do you know how little fabric is in a long sleeved toddler shirt?}. Regardless, it was the 'go-to' fabric stack when I recently wanted something simple and low-key to immerse myself in.

Loving the soft, mellow look to this one

I am so very satisfied how successfully the lighter areas of the quilt turned out! I consider this quilt a victory because... one of my worst default decisions is usually to pick a whole stack of fabric in a similar color with very little variation in tone or pattern. Something I'm working on changing, little by little! This time, I deliberately stretched and made sure to have better range of colors, albeit in the light to very light spectrum. There are creams, lighter pinks, light grays and in addition, very light blues. If you look closely, you will also see that on the rare occasion, medium-dark pink fabrics from the darker areas were purposefully used in place of a light triangle. But overall? The lighter area definitely reads 'light' {without being choppy}, even though up close there's more going on than perhaps is normal with my efforts.

Definitely got an old fashioned look and vibe!

I kind of love the energy and depth it adds to this sweet looking quilt! Those unexpectedly placed pink triangles really aren't dark enough to fully stop the eye from perusing the quilt. None of that, 'Hey! Those are in the wrong spot!' moments, it just adds an amusing utilitarian touch. I like to think of it as whimsical, unstudied, and kind of old fashioned looking! Basically, I just divvied the cut triangles up into 18 stacks of half light and half dark and started sewing, one light triangle to one dark triangle, one after another. And then once in a great while, threw a darker pink over into the 'light' pile just for the fun of it!

Don't what I'd do without the railing to hang my rows on
and keep them sorted! 

After I got the initial pairs sewn up and ironed, then I started joining those pairs together. Then four with four, until a whole row was able to be sewn together. The most important thing being that there was no repeat of fabric sewn closely together. Otherwise I just grabbed and sewed. Once I got larger sets together then I quickly laid them out of the floor to see if the row looked okay, then sewed it up and moved on to the next row!

The page you see pictured below has been in one of my inspiration binders for close to a decade. Though I didn't closely follow the pattern directions  {my triangles are larger for one}, it's from the 2009 July/Aug. issue of  'Fons and Porter' Love of Quilting magazine. For a rough idea of how to make a similar quilt to mine, cut out approx. 100-5" squares of dark fabrics and 100-5" squares of lighter fabrics. {I think I had to go back and cut just out just a few more when I decided to add extra rows!}. Cut them on the diagonal and then cut on the diagonal again. Sew light triangles to dark triangles in sets {iron with a light touch!}, until you have 16 rows measuring 85" plus. Sew 2 rows measuring approx. 65" for the top and bottom of quilt.

Cut 15 strips @ 2 1/2" x 82" in whatever alternate strip fabric/color you like. The fabric that worked best for me was a woven so I intentionally cut my strips on the lengthwise grain for better stability. Since I had slightly less than 2 1/4" yards available, this meant that I had to cut an extra strip and sew length to length, then later measuring and cutting each strip at the desired 82".

Lay out all the pieced rows in the configuration shown below {light triangles to the outside} or perhaps like I did, {dark triangles to the outside}. Though the quilt is very scrappy, I did try my best not to have identical fabrics lined up in rows exactly side by side. This meant of course, that I had to change out pieced rows here and there until the color flow to the quilt worked the best.

Seeds of inspiration

As most of you know, my piecing isn't ever strictly precise, and so I took the {deliberately} extra long pieced rows and fiddled with them a bit at this placement stage. Moved them a little up or down so as to further distract from the fact that they were never going to match up in straight lines at the point of the triangles all across the width of the quilt. That meant that I cut a little off the top of some and a little off the bottom of others, whatever it took to make them all 82", but still have a good 'mismatched' flow overall. The one thing that I did NOT want to see happen was for them all to start out with an intact triangle at the top of the row, and then end up cut off willy-nilly across the bottom of the quilt! Then it would be altogether too obvious that I was a failure!

The top and bottom pieced rows ended up being cut at 62 1/4", but really, it's best if you measure the width of your quilt in three places, and then take the average before cutting. One thing that you might like to know too, is that I did not trim all the pieced rows to an exact width of 2 1/2". What I did do is take a ruler and trim a straight edge alongside both sides, just eyeballing things as I went. After all, it is a utilitarian look quilt, so who really cares? The original quilt in the picture dates back to the late 1800's. What do you want to bet that it isn't perfectly square either!

Cutting up shirts from the closet

On a different note, the new AHIQ challenge has been issued! For the first time in a long time I haven't even finished up the last challenge, but that won't stop me from thinking about the new one. This one is called 'Positive Thinking' and one of the ideas is raiding our closets for the start of a new quilt. Making do is something I love so of course I promptly went looking to see which shirts of mine and my husbands could be spared. Shh... hopefully he won't notice the empty spot in his side of the closet...

Positive Thinking in the works

Then I looked sown at my choices and had to smile. Me thinks this latest quilt top has greatly influenced these particular choices! {Not that I had very much to choose from as we do need to have things to wear} Whatever, I went ahead and ditched the darkest fabric {for now} thinking to uplift the color mood {positive thinking?}, and went looking in the stash totes for another spark. I guess that's going to be orange. Instead of putting the cream stripe {used in the Strippy Triangles quilt} back into the totes, I added it into the stack too. Grabbed a white/clue/orange/pink vintage fabric that never seems to find a good home and just kept flitting around in the stash totes till I felt that little hum of satisfaction. Okay. That's a good start. Will leave it there to marinate until some more definite ideas for a design gels! Will probably end up calling this quilt 'My Happy Place', but only time will tell how it turns out....

A Sweet Cozy Finish

It was a strange Memorial Day weekend. Usually we're up camping in the woods with a bunch of friends, young adults and teenagers, roasting hotdogs and trying to keep dry. This year we had a houseful of family and a little tiny campfire on the edge of our property. So nice to avoid the big push to get everything ready to go, but also a little bittersweet not being able to share that time with so many of our friends.

Makes me want to go to the beach!

Our son unexpectedly brought his family home for the entire week prior to the holiday. It was a last minute decision due to his work 'slow down', but very welcomed on our end.They're trying to get their house fixed up to put on the market later in the summer. It was chaotic of course, as the grand daughters are quite young, but such a delight to have around! We have missed them so very much....

Quarter Log Cabin is done!

Quilting-wise, I stitched the binding onto this Improv. Quarter Log Cabin quilt and also finished up the hand quilting on I am a Maker. Both were easy projects to pick up or put down at a moments notice. It felt kinda wonderful to finish up another quilt as most days it feels more like 'drifting' than real, tangible forward progress.

Simple stitching....

For the binding, I ended using the back side of a very bright blue fabric. Didn't want to order anything on-line and have to wait and the local quilt stores are still closed due to the state lockdown. On the website, it says that they are open for a couple hours a week for mask/hospital gown drop-offs and to replenish supplies, but somehow I don't think that translates to the browsing I had in mind! Regardless, I think the quilt turned out very nice. Overall, it seems to have a very cozy, snuggable vibe, and as you all know, that is top priority around here!

A cozy vibe

The next quilt moving into the hoop is 'Antique Crows'. I pinned it to easily stitch-in-the-ditch between all the blocks, something that {thankfully} happened before our company arrived. I had hoped to have made in-roads on the hand quilting this past week, but somehow it never got touched.

Antique Crows is ready for the hoop!

Not that I'm the least bit regretful. We don't get to see our granddaughters nearly enough these days and the quilting will definitely keep!

Love the look of this one

Last night was the first night that I was back in the quilting room for any decent amount of time. Felt so good to just sit and chain piece on a scrappy project! Really expected to pick this Antique Crows quilt up later in the evening, but once again, I ended up choosing something else to work on.

Should all look even better with some good texture!

It's not that I'm avoiding it, just isn't the time for it quite yet! For right now, I'm eyeballing it over in the corner of my bedroom, kind of anticipating the moment when it starts hanging out in my lap and giving me all the feel-good endorphins.....

The Applique Queue is Growing

If it takes two months for new habits to form, I might be in trouble. Lots of new starts, especially with applique, but little to no interest in follow-through. Out of curiosity, I decided to post an applique update, or current status? on the ongoing. Lots of hand work taking place at the start of our Stay At Home order, but lately it's been much more fun to chain piece or just sort and stack fabric. So moody.

4-block Tulip Medallion quilt blocks

The Four Block Tulip Medallion quilt has gained a teeny tiny bit of traction {all the triangles are now sewn on the baskets}, but these initial blocks might be the boring part of this quilt. You know, the one I'm envisioning in my head. Someone commented that it seems more 'traditional' compared to my latest quilting efforts. We'll see. It's true that these fabrics have been gathered for over three years! Can't really move on till I have a better idea of how the middle goes together though. Also, I've determined that these need to be done before I'll let myself move forward with any of the rest of the applique in the queue. My carrot and stick approach and I'm sticking to it!

Chunky Tulip blocks

Chunky Tulips has went absolutely nowhere. So sad as I was initially very enthralled. 13 blocks total, I really need these blocks stitched down before determining how exactly to proceed with the AHIQ hourglass prompt. It's not like I've fallen out of love with them. No, it's more like there is other, more interesting things to do, or on the flip side, I just can't make a firm decision to start. Big plus is that they should stitch up in no time flat once I have them in my sights again. On a side note, I've have also been pondering if maybe it would be better to just start an altogether different hourglass quilt. Why not? That way I could take my time with this quilt and still get the AHIQ challenge on board for a June quilt top finish... So many ideas and so little so very much time with which to do them....!

Melon Patch blocks

The 20 Melon Patch blocks have been a source of some irritation. Somehow the applique ended up too narrow for what I was expecting. They've been pulled out of the little tote and dissected every which way until I think {crossing my fingers}, I've finally figured out how to proceed with them. If the middle medallion flower wasn't already stitched to the background blocks there would be many more options, but I'm not tossing all that previous work. No way. Am just having to change my expectations a little. No big!

Coronacrazy

Coronacrazy is definitely not the only quilt that I've impulsively started during this strange period of time, but it's the only one that I am pinning this particular label on. All the 'hills' have been basted and now two of the rows have been stitched on the underside of the hills. {There might be 14 in all?} Will probably work on stitching the undersides until the entire quilt top is complete, then come back and work on the plan for additional applique before attempting to stitch the top of those hills. If I decide to add flowers with stems for instance, then those stems might look better buried into the applique on the hills. Just trying to think ahead here. Hate, hate, hate having to re-do!

Love Apples quilt start

Love Apples is the quilt that I've come up with as a result of having several long rows of pieced pink fabrics abandoned from a previous quilt attempt. There's been more time spent on this than I probably want to admit to, but the planning is ever so much fun at times! What if? How about? The current idea in motion is there will be 21 applique blocks using the mixed gray for backgrounds. All the background fabric has been cut out in the appropriate size which means that I am seriously committed. This is definitely a 'go'!

However, I have not allowed myself to cut and prep the applique pieces as that would be tempting fate a little too much. Still trying to get a few things moving along before I dive wholeheartedly into this impromptu project! One thing you probably ought to understand though, is that I've only been wanting to make another Love Apple quilt for hmm... 5 years or so? This one will look totally different of course, but I find it ironic that many of the colors used will be similar!

Orphan blocks and bits and pieces

And then I somehow fell down the rabbit hole with yet another brilliant idea. Hand quilting on the latest has only served to remind me how much I love and admire orphan block, scrappy make-do quilts. Hhmmm... don't I have more orphan blocks and parts and pieces just waiting for their time to play? 

Beginning of Spring Flower blocks

And that's how the 'Spring Flowers' project has made its debut on the current applique to-do list. In less than an hour, somehow these cut-off circles {from behind other, older applique units} decided they could very easily be turned into sweet flowers. No time at all! See, it was meant to be! Not sure what all of those parts and pieces {see previous pic} will be included in this particular quilt, but I sure am excited to see how these green, blue and cream flowers will present! In fact, it's these specific pieces that are proving to be the 'carrot' in my carrot and stick approach. Who would have thunk it? Out of all the mixed bag of applique that I have going on, these are proving almost irresistible! Why is that?

On another note, thank you once again for all the comments that post on this blog, but am unable to reply to personally as there is not direct link back. Diane Koch, that was a lovely recent comment that you made. I appreciate the sentiment and thank you for it! To you and to others, Quilt Granma?, Juliana? I will always respond directly to your comment if you could just leave an email within your comment. I do not respond directly here on the blog unless it's something that would be of interest to everyone. Regardless, it's wonderful to receive feedback am I'm always amazed at the persons who comment again and again without ever hearing back! Believe me, it's nothing personal!

They tell you when you first begin blogging to try and imagine exactly 'WHO' you are writing to. What might be of interest to THEM, whomever these people are. For me, it's always been more interesting to write about the things that engage me, and then try to convey all of that passsion in a sort of conversational way. Like we were having a chat about this most fascinating but sometimes baffling craft. I can't always get a firm picture in my mind about who my followers are, but I'm sure we'd have lots to talk about if we ever were to meet up in person!

Gonna Take Another Brand New Project Just To Get Through...

Some days I can focus and some days it is pretty much impossible. Definitely dealing with some depression over all this, though I know you don't want to hear that. I am not a happy person all of the time, not do I suspect, are you. It appears that we are on the slow-boat to open-up plan here in Washington State. Had to laugh at something Lori posted today about her state. Oh my. Sounds too familiar! On impulse the other day I started a new project. Yep. This could get dangerous as a feel-good activity....

Strippy Triangles , the new project

Just cut a whole bunch of 5" squares in a 'light' grouping of fabrics and also a 'dark' grouping of fabrics. It's got interesting vibe going on that I hope bodes well for the entire look of the quilt. Strippy Triangles is what I'm calling it and the plan is to mix these long triangle rows up between long strips of sashing fabric. Very scrappy antique. So far I have 8 out of 14 sets of the strippy triangles pieced together into stacks of 4-triangle units. Once the longest measurement of the quilt is determined, then I will go ahead and sew those units into long rows. It might all depend on the length of whatever suitable fabric that I find for the alternate sashing strips!

Starting to sew the lengths together

Then I saw a post over on Clare's Instagram. She's doing a QAL for her lovely 'Big Kiss' quilt starting this week. Most QAL's haven't tempted me in the least lately, but this one grabbed my attention.

Big Kiss quilt fabric contemplation

I pulled some likely fabrics from two different, simmering stacks of fabric {made a lovely mess}, and am seriously contemplating making an attempt. The problem is, most of my fabrics are not nearly long enough {she indicated 38" long for the longer pieces} and that might make me change my mind. Maybe. This is a very sweet quilt and one that I have long admired! Just noticed that she has the tutorial posted on her blog now. Hmm... This could be my happy place for this coming weekend. And don't worry. There is a top limit for open-ended projects around here....

I Am a Maker in the hoop...

And, as usual, I am still hand quilting late in the evenings. Not been picking it up quite as early as usual and some nights I am only managing a good solid hour with the hoop. Love how much it is picking up the stitching texture though and am so, so glad that I chose this one for this particular 'time out'.

One of the things that is driving me insane is that we have so very little time to ourselves these days. Love my kids and all, but wowsers. Sure miss those days when we had the occasional evening alone, just me and my better half! Cannot even imagine if we all didn't get along as well as we did! After dinner my husband disappears out to the garage {it's so tidy now!} and the rest of us head to the corners of our home or in the case of one of my kids, out to the garden. Oh well. We definitely can't complain about being lonely, which is apparently something many other people are having to contend with. But no matter which way any one of us are experiencing this, nearly everyone seems to be on the same page with the difficulty of having our existence suddenly narrowed down and tightly controlled. I'll admit, there is starting to be some rebellion, visiting extended family members and running to the store just for ice cream...

Ormes Inspired For the Finish

So... How bout a hundred pictures of the recently completed 'Ormes Inspired' quilt top? It was one of those spring days where it was overcast one minute and blazingly bright and sunny the next. Hopefully you can figure out the true color of the quilt eventually if you look at enough pictures!

Ormes Inspired 

This quilt top was started back in August of 2019. Sort of a spur of the moment project but then, not really. I had been eyeing this pattern for a very long time and in fact had recently gotten permission from the very talented artist Jane Ormes. Even then I was a bit dubious that it could be done. So much drawing. Trying to make all fit proportionately. Eek! The subtleties were marvelous. Pretty sure that would be way beyond my meager capabilities. Such a large, large applique background! Hands cramping just thinking about it! But somehow I got up the gumption one day and just dove in. Took it one step at a time and kept the decisions small. 

Working on borders

You know how sometimes there's a quilt that won't let you be? Eventually you find yourself starting it {almost in spite of yourself}, thinking, 'Oh well, if it ends up looking terrible, I'll just hand it off as a comfort quilt! Surely someone will appreciate it!' One decision after another, a very few 're-do's' and finally, the entire applique center was finished in April of this year. Now what? Well, it was a very odd shape, almost 10 inches wider than it was long. Not a good look for a quilt unless it's meant to hang on a wall! So then I was left contemplating borders. Which I love and adore. Easy, right?

Needing a change!

This one was such a puzzle. I almost didn't dare to put a border on it because it was so good without. But then it was driving me crazy that one of my quilts would basically have to be put on a bed sideways in order for it to look all right. Or even if used on someones lap, the design would always end up presenting cockeyed. Somehow I ended up coming up with the idea of a narrow coping border to frame the quilt and ease the transition into a more formal looking border. The coping border fabric was deliberately chosen in a print that created a lot of movement and play in the color changes. Perfect colors actually! Love that floral so much even though my youngest daughter was a little iffy about it. That part made me very happy!

Okay, now it seems like a finish...

Then I plowed ahead with the short, brick-like border that seemed promising, at least initially. The design was simple, not something that appeared likely to compete with the middle of the quilt. {Little did I know!} I liked how it was versatile in regards to using up almost all of the colors in the quilt without a lot of complex piecing, that it would be oh-so-simple to add on a second row, top and bottom. Sometimes adding borders on two sides of a quilt and not the others just increases the awkwardness factor. This seemed doable. All the single-fabric borders that I auditioned fell very flat or had that entirely-too-formal look that makes some quilts look ordinary and dull.

Somewhere along the line, it also occurred to me that adding a random white brick could essentially ease the stark white background into the border. A little bit better flow from inside to out would/could? help lesson the rigid framing that borders often immediately create. That was good. I really wasn't trying to lasso the entire quilt into a tight little cubby, just stretch out the {whole quilt} sizing just enough to make it more user friendly.*sigh...  Overall, it probably came down to the fact that I just couldn't think of anything better.

Liking this upper corner

I should have known when I first auditioned the bricks, but you know how it is. I was on a mission to get the borders figured out and stitched together! It wasn't until the second day of working on them that I finally took a good long look at the quilt--all the it, laid out fairly flat on the floor with the first row of bricks SEWN {of course} onto the quilt. And that's when I panicked. My beautiful, colorful, complimentary border had in effect, made the entire thing look child-like. 

Still in love with the applique

It was busy. Loud. Circus-like.... And so I paced and I pondered. Why did I ever think working in these particular colors would be a good idea? So out of my comfort zone! And so I brought in a daughter to give me her opinion. Which she didn't want to do and pretty much questioned why I even ever ask for her opinion because she almost always likes what I end up doing anyway! {She reads this blog and will be mentally telling me to shut up anytime now.} 

The thing is, what I needed to happen was to 'put voice' to what I was feeling when looking at the border. Saying it out loud was important. Questioning the validity of my feelings was imperative. There WAS something wrong. What was it? Struggling to put it all into words ultimately helped clarify the problem and eventually lead me to a solution. It helps tremendously to have a sounding board! We all know that! Sometimes it doesn't even matter what 'they' say, so much as it matters that we're actually just taking the time to listen to our quilts. Okay, so that was confusing. But you probably get the gist. I couldn't have got to a solution so quickly without her.

The problem corner

Anyway, long story short is that I knew there wasn't any point in reverting back to a one-fabric border idea. No matter what color it ended up with, the look would only succeed in dumbing down the entire quilt. After a bit of time, I found the lighter black text fabric and started playing around with ideas that involved using some of the already pieced together border. At first it seemed pretty hopeless, but I didn't give up. There was just a germ of an idea that somehow that particular fabric could work magic that a much darker black couldn't manage. Or any color. Or white, which I did actually contemplate for longer than I want to admit to. But seriously. White? Doesn't that take it right back to 'wall hanging'? Why not just get rid of the borders altogether?

Everything looks good from here though!

You might think that I missed the boat by a mile, but this border is so much better than what it looked like before. I like it a lot. Like, A LOT! Yes, I'm a bit disappointed in how obnoxiously colorful the outside border is. Not what I intended at all! On the other hand, I'm absolutely delighted with how easy it was to add a little bit of that darker fabric in {here and there}, and change the focal point from the busy border right back to the center of the quilt where it belongs. It took time for sure. That seam ripper of mine and I have had another falling out, we might not recover.*wink

Wish you could see the upper left corner better!

The only thing that I couldn't totally settle about, would be the larger black rectangle in the far left bottom corner. It looks better when the quilt is laying down than when it's hanging up. How weird is that? Oh no, not in the pictures, could never get a good enough angle to show you. But go ahead, I know you want to. Tell me. What do I need to do different there?  Do I need to take that out and make it more narrow? One row thick instead of the two? Go back to the colorful bricks completely? Make an every-other black/color corner in that area? I won't promise to change anything but I'll definitely listen!

Satisfied with this corner too...

'Cuz I'm open to ideas. It's not packed away yet, still simmering on the countertop in the quilt room. The rest of the border area are pretty much set in stone now though. Don't bother instigating any change there! One of the ideas my daughter and I discussed was the possibility of adding a word down there in that black hole, um, rectangle... Not sure how that won't busy the quilt up even more, but it's something I'm willing to contemplate.

Uh huh, I knew it beyond my expertise to figure this out....

In the mean time, this quilt is giving me the side-eye for not creating a border that adequately honors and makes the applique shine. It could have been better. But maybe not during Corona-crazy days. Perhaps this is as good as it gets!

Playing With Fabric

I seriously thought about not posting this week as nothing very interesting has been happening around here. Life has been very quiet and restrained and as Kyle noted, creative juices seem to be acting rather sluggish. But I still have my quilt in the hoop and it's almost time to move the current one along and replace it with the new.

I Am a Maker next up in the hoop!

'I am a maker' is the next up in the hoop apparently. It's not the one that seemed like the most logical or sequential choice, but nevertheless, here it is! This quilt was put together last year out of orphan blocks and random bits and pieces that I just cannot throw away. Love the happy, sunny vibe to it. Should be extremely therapeutic to have in the hoop as there will be absolutely no wrong way to attack the stitching.

Orphan blocks and leftover bits & pieces

Most of you know that I generally sandwich and pin two quilts in the same afternoon. It's such a hassle to move the dining room table and get everything out of the way, I always try to be efficient about it.  This time, sewing two quilt backings turned into a several day affair, and wowsers! I somehow ended up with seventeen quilt backs!

A whole stack of quilt backings. Will properly iron when it's time...

They are each made specific as to size for the quilt top {of course}, but I am very blase about the backings. It's a sad failing of mine. No fabulous quilt backing around here. Oh no. Except for the fact that the colors have to at least 'blend' with the wonderful quilt top, anything goes.

Took a little bit of extra time with this one, just because it felt good to do so....

Most of the time there is a larger chunk or two of fabric that starts off the whole venture and then it's a case of finding some complimentary fat quarters to add on until the needed size is attained. These are almost always older or more awkward fabrics that I have fallen a bit out of love with, or perhaps they have proven to be difficult and grouchy about playing nicely with other fabrics. Putting them into a backing absolutely helps get them out the door in the nicest way possible.

The quilt backing for 'I Am a Maker'

A good solid ironing and then some careful attention to stretching that backing out generally takes care of the worst of the warples--all from not measuring and pinning precisely while sewing. I know it's a bit casual for some of you, but I never seem to have trouble with puckering on the back of my quilts except for that rare occasion when machine quilting more densely. Which I abhor doing anyway. Ughh. So not good at it. Hand quilting is much, much more forgiving.  

Fabric that I don't need anymore....

Throughout the year I tend to check the clearance bin at the local quilt store and buy several yards of potential quilt backing as the frequently updated list in my purse indicates a need. If a quilt needs 5 yards and I only find 3 yards in an appropriate color, then I don't sweat it. Usually there is something in the stash totes that can make up the difference. I'm always glad for a reason to use up some of these picked-over fabrics, whether I actually spent money on them or perchance they were given to me. It's just one of life's sweet little pleasures, getting to sew a languishing piece of fabric into its lovely new home and know that it's finally going to be appreciated.

After slogging through a couple days of making quilt backings {more than I've ever made all at once}, something did finally occur to me. There are fabrics in those totes that I will never, ever, in a million years choose to incorporate into a single one of my quilts. Not even cut down into teeny tiny little strips. It just isn't going to happen!*wah!!  Hard as it is for me to get rid of any fabric, all the truly awful {to me} prints have been culled today. I actually did it! An entire white kitchen bag full of fabrics is now awaiting the day they can be handed off elsewhere.*whew  That felt good!

Still trying to use up these old tired greens....

And....  because I was digging through the stash totes for days, it's only logical to assume that some new sparkly fabric stacks have appeared.

Second go around for this color palette...

They are simmering on the countertops for now, right out in plain sight.

Just appeals to me right now & yep, more of those old greens....

If I like them well enough, they will end up being moved onto shelves here and there with potential ideas drawn up and slipped into the smaller totes {kept just for these purposes}.

Might be a baby quilt for my sister-in-law. Maybe not....

Some of them might end up with more fabrics included before they become a final fabric 'pull', more colors added or deeper value exploration needed.  Others might end up being dumped back into the stash totes when I find them ultimately uninspiring. You just never know. Every quilt around here doesn't have to start from a well gathered stack of fabric, but it's often the first place I go looking when an idea flashes into full-on illumination. Where are those fabric stacks? Will this one work? No, this one? Maybe, Ohh... This one... Yes. This one.... And then I'm off and running, all ready to cut out and get started on a moments notice!

Quarter Log Cabin Quilts Coming and Going

As usual, I've been hand quilting in the evenings. It's amazing how quickly the meditative stitching always calms me right down. What's that word again? Oh yes, Woosah.....

Quarter Log Cabin #1 in the hoop

Finished up the quilt top for Quarter Log Cabin #2. The current quilt in the hoop was definitely good inspiration and motivation for round two. This was one of those projects where I kept on plugging and powered through until it was all done, very weird for me. The new name is 'Patina'. Not sure why, but that's the word that popped into my head while I was taking pictures.

Quarter Log Cabin #2 {Patina} is a completed quilt top!

Originally, I thought to combine the red with pinks instead of the greens, but it just wasn't working out. There's something about this entire color combination that feels timeless, though I couldn't begin to explain the reasons for that either. My main thought was that I didn't want it to look Christmassy and whatever else it might look, Christmas isn't the first thought that pops in my head while looking. {Mission accomplished.}

Strips were cut improv., free-wheeling style

After making the predetermined amount of blocks {sewn to a min. of 14" and then later another strip added on to ensure a 15" cut}, I suddenly latched onto the idea that the quilt could not be square after all. That left me scrambling to cut more strips in order to make six more log cabin blocks. Does not seem like a lot, but 15"? There's some time involved there, count on it! Making more blocks wasn't a problem though as I loved being able to completely use up some of these fabrics. They are a rather oldy, moldy bunch of fabrics after all, give or take a few prints. Getting them out of the way in such a positive manner is so heart warming. Gives me all the frugal thrills!

Really, really like the pieced side setting triangles...

The off-pink gingham fabric is a cut up button down shirt acquired from a rummage sale years ago. I absolutely adore the homey look it adds to this particular quilt and also, can't help but admire the little bit of 'clash' it adds to the blocks {when you look at the blocks very close-up}. That clash is something that almost always makes me smile as I consider it the secret sauce to a good scrap quilt. Gotta have some squabbling going on for good energy!

So nice to use up some of these older fabrics

As the quilt top neared final quilt top status, I became determined that it needed a floating border of the lighter pinks. Though it's hard to tell, all the very light strips are some very pale shades of pink, there are no whites at all. It seemed like a good idea to extend those tones out into a border and wake them up a bit from where they were so overpowered by other colors. No problem. I'm generally quite willing to spend time on a quilt to makes things better! So I set about cobbling together a pink patchwork set of strips from all the bits and pieces and then....

Glad I didn't sew this border on!

Was completely underwhelmed. What was I thinking? Total waste of time and effort. This quilt does NOT need a border of any kind whatsoever as it dulls it everything down and takes away from the wonderfully graphic look. So now I'm casting about for ideas that would incorporate these currently useless, scrappy strips into another quilt altogether.

The next project? Yes, no, maybe so...

I've scribbled up and/or envisioned several potential designs and even found some fabrics that might play nice. Definitely ready for a change of pace from using the older, tired green prints! If nothing ends up happening here, well, at least I tried. I can just pack the strips away in the orphan block totes and forget about them for now. Wont' be the first time that's ever happened!