The Latest AHIQ Stuff Going On Around Here

Just a quick round-up of the latest AHIQ work being done around here. No improv. piecing at the moment as I am mired in hand work. And no, I'm not the least bit upset about it! Chunky Crossroads below is moving on, gaining a border. All the prep work is sooooo tedious, but it is what it is and applique work cannot seem to exist without some effort.

Chunky Crossroads

That interesting border motif was inspired by a 'Mad About Folk Art' book {by Gerry Kimmel}. I found this oldish book in a collectible-type store bargain bin early in the year. Hello! Come to mama! My mind is busily considering whether or not the open leaves need a little addition of color--perhaps a round little flower bud instead of the single fabric print suggested in the book.

Improv. Wheels below is what is left of my improv. pinwheels, straight out of the Sujata Shah book that I can't seem to put down. After all the centers are sewn down, then we will start getting serious about a layout. I'm really hoping to keep the slight vintage feel to the blocks so probably won't get too crazy with the setting.

Improv. Wheels

The Tumbler Big Basket 'centerpiece' is all set, ready to go forward as well. I lumped it in with the other AHIQ projects because of the tumbler block experiment. Such an improv. attitude to take a full sheet of 'piecing' and cut it up! With the basket stitched down now, it just barely needed that little bit of 'framework-type' border to make me happy--set the stage for the rest of the quilt. And yes, it has a lot of open space around that big 'ol basket. Something I can work with later if turns out to be too white and bright!

Big Tumbler Basket

All these smaller baskets will be sewn onto the big basket {top and right sides only}, and are now totally completed. Would you look at that? A couple of them even get an extra pop of applique in the guise of a cheerful little flower. I know. Just can't seem to stop myself....

Little Baskets

Then I'm thinking maybe a long flowy vine thing down the left and bottom of that big basket. Hopefully with some roses and rosebuds too? I keep drawing lots of berries in my vague 'what-if'' drawings, then remember that no, this particular vine seems to need more of a flower shape. Do you ever do that?

The little block below is what I'm testing out for the bottom right corner of the quilt. Sort of a 'title or introduction' block for the quilt. I do love words on a quilt. So yeah, if the vine side of the quilt ends up being slightly wider than the little baskets, the entire quilt will present slightly asymmetrical. If all works out as currently envisioned of course!

Gather Ye Rosebuds block ready to applique

And the Improv. Woven Basket has been left on the wall. Still pondering border ideas so as to make that quilt larger without losing any of the current charm. It's something I worry about because little quilts are not nearly as 'usable' around here. I find myself constantly trying to push all these quilt projects into something more efficient for the long term, because in my world, quilts need to be well appreciated to make this all worthwhile!

So..., lots of applique work in the queue before moving on with any of these projects, but it's usually very intriguing to push through the steps. Right? Gotta love this wonderful process in quilt building: What's next? What works? What color? What shapes does it really need? My mind as always, is constantly working in the background, making those wonderful connections that can {hopefully} lead to a better, more individual, quilt.

Circles, circles and more circles....

Ahem. Well, it appears that I don't have a problem with appliqueing circles anymore. Just needed a different format? lol

Improv. Woven Basket quilt

I present to you the proof. Here are 28 circle-y type flowers {including 28 roundish circle-y centers} that I worked on. All. Weekend. Long. Cut, cut, stitch, stitch. Who knew? I'm thinking it was the colors that drew me in for a great big 'ol quilty hug, 'cuz I just didn't wanna quit. You know how it is when the driving 'need-to-see-the-results' overcome the logic.*wink

Hand Quilting on the Pickle Dish

This is a quilt I've had in the hoop probably since the end of July? The goal was to have it finished by the end of September, but alas, there have been way too many interruptions. And distractions. Plus too much time spent reading the latest election coverage really gets in the way of my evening quilting time.

Loving the stitching...

I've closely mirrored the stitching on this quilt to what LeeAnn did with her 'Eyelashes' quilt. The minute I saw her finished quilt, I said to myself, 'Gotta bookmark that quilt because the stitching is perfection!'. Thanks LeeAnn for the great inspiration! So many times we need a nudge in the right direction to solidify what we really want for our own quilts. You know it when you see it!

My little bit of applique that just HAD to be included

I'd only been stitching on this quilt for a short while when I realized that something kept nagging at me. It didn't feel finished. Not 100% complete yet. So I considered. And thought. Wondered to myself. Really? It needs applique? You must be kidding me.

But yeah, I finally relented and experimented with a few things until coming up with a simple silhouette in the bottom, far left corner. It looks vaguely like a weather-vane to me, but whatever. I LOVE it and that's all that matters.

You might think the quilt is too busy for that little bit of applique, but it makes me smile. And you should have seen me grousing as I pulled all the sandwiching pins out {in that particular corner}. Then, I had to fiddle around with the weight of the entire quilt, all while trying to applique that little dab of fabric. Yep. That's how I roll.*sigh  Knowing if I allowed myself to say, 'Nope! It's too late for that!', I'd bitterly regret it for like, forever. Plus the quilt would haunt me and cry and whine every time I used it in the future. And I'd know in my heart--it could have been better....

Working on the border

I do think there needs to be a little more stitching in the side borders of the quilt. Just too much area left 'undone'. So I'll be adding in one more orange peel in the middle of each diamond shape, which should hold the borders just fine. Yeah, I know it looks close to a finish, but there's still lots left to do as always. These borders generally take more time than we ever expect!

October Quilty365 Linkup

Here we go again, a round-up of all the little circles for the past month! Adding these to the stacks gives me a total of 341. Wowsers! Counting the extra circle needed for leap year, that leaves me with only 25 left to stitch! Woohoo!

September Quilty 365

Okay, that feels like a walk in the park at this point. And some people get squirmy when I fess up, but seriously, I. Am. So. Tired. Of. These. Circles. Which is why I finally drifted away from raiding the scrap bin and starting digging {straight from the stash totes} for fabrics that made something inside me do a happy dance. Totally the point of the entire exercise at the beginning, but somewhere along the way I just narrowed my options--and then dug in until almost too late. Kept challenging myself to be frugal as an additional challenge, just because it sounded fun, and clung to the idea of being able to say 'Yep, and it was all made directly from the scrap bin!' So stubborn.

Yeah, well, about that. It was 'fun' for a long time and then I burnt out big time on that big 'ol monster scrap bin, which lead to being weary of the circles. Almost tossed all those bits and pieces piled up in the corner straight into the dumpster if you want to know the truth of it. Then something made me hesitate. Turns out I might just have another scrap bin quilt waiting in the wings of my imagination. One without any circles? hehe  I might have got tired of the repetitive-ness of these too.

All the little circle blocks....

But even as I write this, it's obvious that this circle quilt means something to me. It'll get done, you can bet on that. Getting disinterested in a project from time to time is just part and parcel of the creativity process for almost every single one of us. I talked about it over here once, the way the creative process works. With most projects there's just gonna be a tedious phase. That's a fact. Or perhaps two or three tedious phases.*ughh  Totally normal for almost all of us though!  It's that prep time or 'implementation' that is the work so it gets tiresome. So boring. It requires a little grit to get through--some determination and follow through. And if nothing else, having a daily, year-long project has taught me oodles about the in's and out's of how I actually like to work.

This daily, scheduled plan of attack {which eventually went to once a week and then thrice monthly?} has been a little tough on me, especially this last couple months. I've itched under the skin from the frustration of it all, groused to my family and friends, changed things up in little ways and then finally, just made myself be patient with the entire process. I'm so ready to charge ahead with the layout, but nervous too. What if I don't like the end results? What if, what if, what if? Yeah...., but.... What if I love it? What if it doesn't matter what it looks like as a whole 'cuz I love how it makes me feel? Huh? What about that? 

This is the creative process my friends, when we make it up as we go along. Plowing through the monotony. Coming up with solutions. Fixing mistakes or perhaps cluing in to what might have been overlooked {'it could have been so much better if only...'}. Finding a way to make everything look cohesive and like it was totally meant to be. LOVE that part. Don't you? Makes everything completely worthwhile.

So, please, please link up with us if you haven't already given up and moved on to something much more interesting. Frankly, I'm kind of surprised to make it this far myself! Link a thumbnail picture to a current post on your blog detailing:

• What particular day you happen to be at now {such as 'day 300'}
• A picture of all your September circles whether they are stitched to the background fabric or not
• A link back to this post
• Any thoughts or introspection you might want to add about this particular project

   

    An InLinkz Link-up