Adhoc. Improv. #26 Progress

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my last post! Such an interesting and lively discussion about keeping and/or gifting the quilts we make. Congrats to the winner of the magazine giveaway--Georgia! I've sent an email your way as well as announcing it here.

The Ugly Quilt is finished!

Knowing that AHIQ #26 was coming up, I was rushing to get in another good finish. This 'Ugly Quilt' was started clear back in the late fall of 2015. It was a rough start, just playing around with a couple fabrics I liked and no pattern at all. Just at the point where I thought it needed to be round-filed, the quilt finally started developing a personality. I decided to incorporate some of my tentative improv. skills for the last border and after that was sewn on, the quilt decided it was done. Finito.

Loving the stitching....

Some quilts just wanna be square! I still smile at how quickly this one turned from really ugly to starting-to-get-sorta-interesting. It has several pieces of 90's calico in it, some make-do piecing and one lovely Coxcomb applique attempt. The free-style Baptist fan stitching makes it look so wonderfully cozy and now I just want to snuggle up with it for the whole rest of Fall. I couldn't believe it had been almost two years since I started this one. Where oh where has the time gone?

I can wholehearted say that I'm much, much more confident about improv. now than when I started this quilt. And also, I noticed while stitching on this quilt, that my initial goal in joining up with the Adhoc. linkups is starting to be realized. I am slowly, slowly starting to think about ways I can use different improv. looks to use in most all my quilts, whether in block piecing, borders or just attitude. While branching out from my safe space occasionally in color and style, simply by using the fabrics I love and continually working on that timeless 'utility' look, my quilts are starting to look even more make-do'ish than ever. And I adore it. LOVE that it doesn't look so forced and cheesy now.

I'm always happy with a good medallion look!

This past week I've also tried to make time for the 'Use Your Words' quilt. I liked the simple, almost stark look when all sewn together, but thought it needed just a touch more color.

Make Beautiful Things

And so I added on a mixed green and bright pink repeating squares border. Hmm... Maybe a bit too in-your-face now? The borders are not sewn on at this point so there's plenty of time for changes. I almost want to cut the sides of the borders down--change the look from fat squares to skinny rectangles. There would be lots of waste, but it might be worth it. Oh my, life has been a little bit too busy lately for me to properly concentrate on getting the best solution figured out. Maybe next week?

Auditioning a border....

This project was a result of last quarters prompt over at Ann and Kaja's. I took their prompt, grabbed some some orphan blocks and tested myself with a challenge to learn improv. letter piecing--wallah! Somehow that quilt top above happened. {I still call it a squirrel!}. The next quarter will be a 'consolidate and review' so yay! for me. Lots of time to get this quilt top squared away and maybe even dive into another improv. idea niggling at the back of my mind. Or two. Wouldn't want things to get boring around here!

It's also that time of the month to link up to sew-stitch-snap-SHARE#15. Progress is progress is progress....

The Obvious Dilemma of a Prolific Quilter

I finally got my sewing machine back from the maintenance/repair place and wow have I been antsy to get something ready to stitch on! So yesterday saw me sandwiching and pinning two quilt tops--one for machine quilting and the other for hand quilting. Later in the day I actually started machine quilting the Random Sampler quilt and it got me thinking. Uh oh... Get ready for a long post....

Random Sampler quilt--getting ready for machine quilting!

Why do I always have to have this mental discussion with myself: Am I giving this quilt away? Should I? Who to then? Then if I decide to keep it, why is there {on occasion} this guilty little feeling of possession or even greediness? And yesterday I thought to myself, 'This stops now!'

Julie's recent post and the subsequent comments really brought all this into sharp relief. First of all, if you read her blog, you'll instantly get that Julie is a giver. Some of us give quilts away and some don't. She does. Whether she gives of {what she determines to be} her very best, shouldn't really matter because hello? She always does excellent work. So good for her, coming up with a good plan of attack for how to gift in the future.

And then I thought about another recent post that resonated greatly with me. Debbie talked about when someone determines that one of our quilts has greater value or is better than another one we've made. They can't possibly know 'what lies within' like we do. That can really smart if we have a deep fondness for the one they've ultimately declared less than. I love how she further writes in the post, '.... acknowledge that what we do and what we have is something pretty special.' 

Eagle quilt--finally about to be in the hoop....

Basically, we need to just let people see what they are going to see, but know within ourselves the gift of our own creativity. It's a great post! So back to my original point--whether we give away our quilts or not is absolutely nobodies business but ours. And circling around to Debbie's thoughts and applying them to 'gifting', whatever quilt we give should be deemed good enough and special enough without having to go through these stupid mental gymnastics. We don't do shoddy work my friends! Let's try and put this into perspective. 

I started in with my love of quilting some 20 plus years ago. My skills were extremely questionable in a myriad of ways and I positively wince at some of those efforts! That didn't stop me from lovingly creating {and gifting} anything from baby quilts to what I considered to be great lap-sized quilts--all to people who I knew would appreciate the love. Here! Have this awesome quilt I made you! And as happens with many of us, my love of the  hobby {and more emphatically, my love for the process] grew to a time when yes, I do have quilts stacking up all over my house. There are some amazing quilts and not-so-amazing quilts sitting in those stacks but all are special as they have been part of my wonderfully creative journey. I have reached that pinnacle in time when I always, always wonder if the next quilt will be given away. If it should or could be. What an incredible place to be in. But that's where I think I have recently stumbled and desperately need to reassess. 

This is my love and my hobby. It's perfectly okay if I choose to keep every single quilt made for the rest of my, hopefully, long lived life. Okay, I know--definitely not going to keep them all, because I looooooove giving quilts away. That being said, new parameters probably need to be determined so as to get rid of this creeping feeling of obligation. Prolific quilt-making does indeed have some consequences, thus the gifting. However, it never feels good to give special things to persons who won't appreciate the effort involved. Hmm... 

I'm going to start by recalling a moment when my husband walked in the house with a brand new baby quilt 23 years ago. He went out on a construction job one day, as was usual, and when the elderly woman of the house found out that he had a 1 month baby boy? She immediately went to her stacks of completed baby quilts and gave him one as a gift. She loved to make and also, she loved to give, even to the construction guy who was working at her home for maybe a total of a week. Was I arrogant enough to think that particular quilt was her very best work ever? No. Did I care? Absolutely not. Happy dance everyone! We got a new quilt!! It was an awesome moment. 

Another moment in time that settled deep into my consciousness was when the 2014 fire burned through our community. We stuffed as many quilts {and other important things} as could possibly be carried into our suburban and then drove away from our house. KNOWING that our house was going to burn down and there was nothing to be done. In a very surprising and miraculous turnabout, our house did not burn, but alas, many others did. Will anyone ever know exactly how many quilts burned just from my mom and sisters possessions burning? At one point we guessed well over 40 that they had been fully completed--they were very prolific quilters so maybe even more than that. Plus they had been peronally gifted quilts--I counted 4 quilts burnt just made by me! But the greater point was this: although my sister had gifted many of her quilts, my mom had not. Only one or two people in the entire huge family have one of her quilts!! That hurts so much.

So you see, maybe it's okay to sometimes gift quilts that perhaps we feel aren't our perfect work. Would I even care what the quilt looked like if I could just have ONE of my moms quilts? After that experience I started occasionally gifting an older, gently used quilt depending on the recipient. We give for all sorts of reasons. Why do we have this perception that only newly finished quilts are acceptable for giving? That it has to be tailor-made for someone in specific? That it has to be super-duper special or our intent is somehow suspect. 

I think it all boils down to the recipient and the reasons we're currently wanting to gift. We have to keep in mind that our creativity really is a special thing--from the least {in our minds} to the greatest of our efforts. Finding a way to share that creativity is a gift to ourselves--letting it go into the world-- as well as to the recipient of that physical thing--a  warm, cozy quilt. A close, personal friend or beloved family member is probably a better bet to gift the bazillion hours of hand work sort of quilt to, not the construction guy with the new baby. Just saying! And we all have those relatives and friends who wouldn't recognize a fantastically implemented quilt from a Thimbleberries knock-off. You know exactly who I'm talking about. That doesn't mean they won't positively adore having a quilt made by yours truly. So be it. 

From now on, the plan is this: I'm gleefully keeping all the quilts that I really don't want to get rid of just yet . Who cares exactly why they might tug on my heartstrings at the moment! That is totally beside the point. These are going to decorate my couches, snuggle with my kids while they're watching a movie, hang off my bed at nights and warm my nieces and nephews when they visit. When I finish the next ten quilts in line, which of course will be amazingly better than the ten before, then I'll slowly find the right recipient for the quilts I've grown tired of or feel less of an attachment to now the new, improved ones are currently staring me in the face. {That doesn't mean they are suddenly undesirable to everyone else, duh!! It's just part of the journey!!} And when a brand new finish wants to go live with someone else, of course I'll work with that. But it's not going to be all about someone else--all of the time. I vow to enjoy this creative outlet I've been blessed with and not wallow in guilt for when and why and how I decide to give away the results.*whew! Glad that's all settled. So exhausting to try and analyze all the quirky thought processes we go through...

If you're still reading along, thank you for your patience! I've got a simple giveaway for one lucky, but loyal reader.

A giveaway

Simply Moderne sent me two magazines by mistake this month {my last issue, boohoo!} and it's a great one. Really, Sujata Shah and Rachael Daisy both! Just leave a comment telling me your thoughts on why and how you gift quilts and/or if you even do. Maybe you plan to gift more in the future or keep them all till you die and let the kids sell them at the estate sale. Whatever! I'll randomly choose a winner sometime next week!

Always An Excuse Handy to Start a New Quilt

Although the picture is a bit deceptive, please believe me when I say this hst medallion is actually square. Every added border is definitely an experience though. Wowsers! I certainly don't have the most accurate piecing skills these days after playing with so much improv. in the last couple years...

Hst Medallion

Not sure what I think about the first blue hst border, but I'm gonna leave it be until the next couple rounds of pink and blue are added. They are going to be switching back and forth every other row so hopefully it will all make perfect sense eventually.

It was interesting to pull out the next potential quilt tops slated for sandwiching and quilting. There are a couple ones older than these {of course}, but I just couldn't bring myself to care too much. Apparently I am in the mood to work on fallish looking quilts, but maybe not drown myself in browns like the two quilt tops I am steadfastly ignoring. We shall see. For now I am just contemplating.

So many choices

I also jumped into another brand new project. This one is a little different than  what normally happens around here these days. Uh huh. I am mostly attempting to follow a pattern. Yeah, crazy stuff! It's from the Quilt Sampler Fall & Winter 2013 magazine--a very simple and straightforward pattern that should go together super fast with no major design boondoggles and hopefully just lots of mindless sewing.

Straight & Narrow, a new start

I need want a quilt to 'gift' to someone and there is nothing in my quilt stacks or even the quilt top drawers that will work. It needs to be very nice looking but honestly, perhaps a bit bland? Just not thinking the recipient would be pleased with one of my more creative adventures. I went digging around in the binders where I store quilt inspiration from magazines and found this pattern. It's a little modern looking but when it's made up in these particular fabrics, I think it will present more 'formal' than modern looking. And that's okay. Nothing wrong with that.

The cut list

As usual I had to re-write the cut-list. It really helps me to not make weird mistakes and mess up those precious bits of fabric. I'm actually really happy to be using these {mostly} older looking fabrics and look forward to how this quilt might look in the end. And too, I've already made a mental note to make changes to the long vertical strips of chunky crosses. IF, and I say 'if', they remain in the quilt, they will have to be sewn into the quilt in an applique process rather than piecing. There is a subtle, but cool looking reproduction fabric that wants to be the background for that particular strip of fabric. It won't look good with lots of seams so..., I guess I'll be making some changes and not following the pattern to a T. Did you really think that was possible with me? Oh well, I'm getting the cart before the horse because I certainly don't intend to do anything with that part of the quilt until all the rest is sewn together. Onward ho! Still scratching my head that I'm actually making a quilt for someone specific. I don't do that. Like ever.....

Little Red Riding Hood

So here's Lil' Red Riding Hood, the latest finish. It was started in fall of 2015 on a total impulse one day. I had been making a series of circle quilts and this one incorporated some of the leftovers from the other quilts. Don't you just love the feeling of 'using up' and being frugal!

It's finished!

It also included 5 fat eighths from a traveling stash that I had received back in 2014. These fat eighths were {'little red riding hood'} conversation prints, something I don't usually buy and potentially a good challenge for me. One day, after a little bit of play, the entire plan for the quilt came together all in a rush. Overall, it was a fast little quilt and one I don't remember feeling a great deal of angst about. Maybe it was the idea that anything was better than having orphaned bits languishing in the totes. Or perhaps it was just one of those days when all the stars appeared to be in alignment!

Loving the texture

Whatever the case, it felt like one of those quilts that practically make themselves. I completely hand quilted Lil' Red Riding Hood with #8 perle cotton thread {just got done a couple weeks ago} and fell in love with it all over again. It may seem soft and sweet--totally non consequential--but up close, it has a lovely, cozy feel. It's absolutely a feel good quilt. Nothing to be ashamed about that! The hand quilting added a much needed texture and all together, the process seriously helped soothed some ragged edges around here. For me. Who cares what anyone else thought about the quilt draped across my lap in the evenings!

This one actually looks good on the back too....

Another thing that made this quilt interesting to me was the fact that this quilt has lots of soft blue/green fabrics in it. They were fabrics that I'd tried and tried to play with so many times in the last several years. And finally, they found a home with Lil' Red Riding Hood, a quilt that basically sprung up out of nowhere. So ironic when that happens. I guess that just proves that we can't force anything when it comes to quilting!

Lil' Red Riding Hood

This quilt ended up being 58" by 63", pretty small for my personal preferences, but a decent sized lap quilt. I've had to teach myself how to stop when a quilt says it's done. Too many over-sized, design monstrosities through the years until now, mostly just-the-right-size-at-finish. Well, that's what I tell myself anyway!  Linking up to sew-stitch-snap-SHARE #14.

Some Things I've Been Working On

Life has been craaaazy for us lately, I think it's been mentioned once before here on the blog. We've had company something like every weekend but two? out of the last 8 or 9 weeks? Yeah. Fun stuff. Anyhoo--hand quilting and applique have been the go-to stress relief for yours truly.

Next up in the hoop

Immediately after dumping the last quilt out of the hoop, then it was on to the next. This one is a decidedly fall colored quilt which makes me just sigh in complete and total satisfaction. It's been awhile since I attempted any Baptist fan stitching, and this one seemed like a perfect match for that. Because this is such an 'imperfect' quilt, it seemed wildly appropriate to stitch freehand fans, right? Well, like I said, it's been awhile.

The first two frames were stressing me out so much that I almost ripped ALL the stitching out. The blue perle cotton thread was getting lost in the piecing and I couldn't see anything. What a disaster. After I slept a night or two and did lots of contemplating, I decided to keep going. But from now on use a blue wash-out pen to mark my fans as I came to each particular frame. Still a freehand look as I'm not using any sort of template, just drawing the 5-arc sets prior to stitching.*whew!  Glad to get that figured out! And now I'm happy as can be and things are going swimmingly. I am loving the sweet texture and am so very glad I didn't default back to a more formal look. This quilt definitely needs stitching with the look and feel of 'the human touch'.

Peachy Cameo Medallion

And my Peachy Cameo Medallion quilt got a good fixer-upper this week. I was a little unhappy with the top and bottom borders and in fact, got out my seam ripper and took the bottom one off, flipped it upside down and then just sat there and sighed with exasperation. I knew it. Even though it makes everything wonderfully balanced, I don't like the look. Not with this quilt! So while that border was off I did a quick measurement and sure enough, it needed trimmed about 1/4". Hmm... I thought the two borders looked a little out of whack. So I went ahead and ripped off the top border and hello? it was 1/2" too long. Working too fast because of time crunch issues and just not paying enough attention.

The long and short of it is that in trimming both of those borders, I had to take off a couple of those green leaves there on the sides of the quilt and move them over. Which made my brain spin and next thing I knew, there was a great solution to my borders making itself known. Yep! I quickly picked some fabric out and mocked up some simple little flower pots to put my vines in--elongate those side borders down into the bottom border. Problem solved! So yeah... all that 'fixing' took a couple hours, but it was so worth it. Now it looks right and good. Ready to move on to the next border!

Vintage Lillies

And I warned you that I was probably going to start 3 new projects? I was serious about that. This one is a project I've been deliberating about since Kaja started this quilt much earlier in the year. The colors were so intriguing that I couldn't help but start pulling fabrics. Yum... Various fabrics have migrated over to that stack in the last couple months, but I just couldn't pin down where and how to start the quilt. Finally, after the quilt show in September, the starting place hit me like a bolt out of the blue. What about a Lily block centerpiece? And from there it's just been a matter of finding the time.

A fabric pull

I cheated on the lillies, and just drew up a simplified version, totally skipping the diamond piecing. Who cares about that? I just want the look! All the pieces need to applique stitched down and then I'll probably have to cut the top of the block down for reasons of proportion. My daughters were less than impressed, but I am really excited about this new start. It feels really good. Maybe some improv. can be incorporated into this quilt too?

Trying to take the Family Pic

And just as a side note in the interest of keeping things real. My plan has been {all year} to get a family picture sometime this fall. One good picture of my mostly adult children with their dad and mom--it's gonna be blown up pretty big and will hang on our wall forever. My parents always had a big pic of their huge family and I loved it, always wanted my own. So... plans were made, schedules were checked and finally we had a date where everyone could be in town, not working, no company, yada yada yada. It was a beautiful day, but my oh my, were the family members grumpy. Normally I'd have made meticulous plans to make sure we all had new, spiffy clothes and, no. 

We totally lost track of time. Okay. What colors do we ALL have in our closets? It seems that we are a casual, blue-jean sort of clan. There was a football game in which cell phones were making their way into pictures on a regular basic. NO! This is picture day! My oldest son was on call with his work. Don't answer your phone! This is important! My husband has been sick off and on all summer. He looked tired, desperately needed a nap. Eyes open everyone! He's lost almost 60 pounds in the last two years. Yay! Good for him. Apparently I picked up 15 or 20 of them.*Ugghh  Was I not planning the picture for over six months? Seriously. How hard is it to stay away from the desserts? and so on and so forth. I'm depending on my amazing photographer sister to make US all look amazing. That's not too much to ask, right?

Applique and More Applique

There's been a little bit of progress on my 17ufosin2017. Mainly I was focused on getting this particular border finished up and sewn onto my Peachy Cameo quilt. Originally I was going to just have the simpler border work shown in the first panel on top. Bleh! Too boring. So I played around with some ideas and came up with the idea to add on the blue flowers.

Border work on Peachy Cameo Medallion

I was worried about too many 'circle' shapes and how that would look. Yes, no? and then in the end decided the quilt needed that bit of orangey-coral to connect back into the centerpiece. I'm all about creating movement and energy in a quilt and one of the easiest ways to do this is by strategically using color!

This plain peach background fabric has been really different to work with. Not sure I LOVE it, but overall, it's been a very different and a fun, albeit challenging, change-up. Looking at the quilt with these borders all sewn on, now I'm wishing I would have extended the long 'vines' down into the bottom border. Oh well. Hindsight is most always 20/20. At this point I'm trying to decide if I should pursue the next, but last border that was roughed out in the basic plan, or leave it 'as is'. Also, I'm contemplating taking the bottom border off and turning it upside down. Hhmmm.... So many decisions.

Another border on Peachy Cameo Medallion

 On another quilt in this challenge, all of the Solids Challenge blocks are finished! Yay! Only nine blocks and they have taken me well over a year and a half! Some quilts are just not in a hurry. And yes, I designed and drew them all out myself. Of course there have been many influences from the lovely applique I have seen and been exposed to for years. That's the beauty and charm of quilting. Trying to make something new but using the genesis of so many beautiful quilts from before!

Blocks for the Solids challenge

If I could point you to a single piece of inspiration for any of these blocks, I would. But honestly, when doing applique like this, it's often just wispy little memories and a basic idea being drawn and then re-drawn onto paper. From there the shapes have to be manipulated into fabric form and many times there's a detour at that point as well.

This is one of those quilts where the original plan is not wanting to play nice and so I'm staring at my blocks and scratching my head. I don't want to make more blocks, that's for sure. Guess I'll have to let these simmer awhile longer until that light bulb goes off. Somehow I have a feeling this isn't a project to force into submission. Might inadvertently lose all the charm....

Linking up with Meredithe and many others trying to check things off that 2017 list!