Come Take A Look At All My Basket Quilts

It was an interesting exercise to go completely through the blog from beginning to end. All very quickly of course, just looking for anything 'baskets'. The first several years of the blog found me very tentative about posting pictures and I know there are several quilts missing in action. Such a shame.

More modern looking basket wall hanging

And no, I couldn't find pictures of them elsewhere either, because the main reason I started taking pictures of any of my quilts was for the sole purpose of posting them in a blog post. In those first years, it felt very nerve-wracking to throw up a picture and basically say 'Hey! This is my work. Love it or hate it!'.  

The basket wall hanging posted above was finished in perhaps 2011? I just can't remember much about it other than it was made all in a rush one week when I was feeling desperate to have something pretty hanging on a wall in one of our bathrooms. A new shower curtain probably inspired the on-purpose color palette, but it's never been taken down since as I've always found it cheerful. The middle part is very closely based on a quilt out of 'Intuitive Color & Design' by Jean Wells; however, the border was all my own imagining.

Little Prim wall hanging

This primitive little wall hanging with the tiny little basket was the very first wall hanging I had ever made and perhaps the first time baskets were ever attempted either? If so, that would mean that I've only been indulging my love for stitching basket elements since the year 2002. Wowsers. Only 17 years? It's from an ancient American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and I assure you that I felt all the anxiety of the doomed upon starting it. Bear in mind that this little wall hanging was also the very first hand quilting attempt by yours truly as well. My hand quilting mentor was quite, quite dubious about the predictably shaky results, but I showed her. Here I am a million stitching years later, still slogging it out with the hand work. She has thoroughly moved on to bigger and better hobbies, leaving us plebeian quilters quite firmly behind in the proverbial dust. {Btw, do you feel that your quilting hobby is ignoble or unworthy? Nor do I. Her loss, really.}

Vintage Lily in the hoop

Vintage Lily is the latest quilt in the hoop and by chance it has a basket motif in it as well. I know, so very shocking. This quilt was made in response to one I saw hanging in a quilt show back in 2017. It lit a little fire in me and finally, I was able to come up with my very own interpretation.

Baskets still remain extremely inspirational to me, even after so many years of playing with them. There's a timeless beauty and charm to them that easily translates into many different styles. As you can see from comparing the Vintage Lily basket {above} to the original inspiration quilt, simply changing colors and prints can create a completely different look and feel to an entire quilt! Love that!

After considering all the different ways to show you the lineup of basket quilts made here throughout the years, I decided to keep it simple. Here's the link to my brand new Pinterest board: Quilty Folk Baskets. There's about 40 different basket quilts to look at in all. At the very least, the quilt will have a basket represented somewhere. Many of them are my own design, though some are not. Obviously. Baskets are pretty universal so don't expect anything breathtakingly new and different. If you click on a picture, it should take you directly back to a post on my blog where hopefully you can read more about that particular quilt. Please don't be shy about asking questions concerning any of the quilts pictured. Writing about each and every quilt just felt a bit too daunting for this moment in time! 

Time to See All Those 2018 Finishes Together in One Post

Some years there are more finishes than others. The last two years have been especially good ones for bumping the oldest quilts off the list . It's often difficult to want to work on the oldy moldy quilt projects, but they never get any easier to work on by just ignoring them!

2018 Finishes

It's always great fun to slip a baby quilt or two into the mix and have a fast finish. And this year I even made an oversize doll quilt {hmm... is that actually a baby quilt too?}

2018 Finishes

As usual, I kept my hand quilting hoop busy all throughout the year {both of them, if you want to know the truth of it!}. It's become an oh-so-important part of my quilting journey and I can't even imagine life without that little bit of stitching time late in the evenings. Those peaceful, meditative hand quilting minutes have become something I unabashedly crave at times. It positively grounds me in the best way possible and dare I say, nourishes me as well.

2018 Finishes

The program used to group my picture collages didn't have a good 4-picture setting, so I put my Quilty 365 in two different groupings. It's been on our bed for quite awhile now. I adore waking up to it and then later in the day, snuggling back into bed with it once again. Move over husband dear, I got a good quilt now. lol  Sometimes I think that all my quilting years have led up to this one quilt, in terms of making a quilt that resonates on almost every single level.

2018 Finishes

Overall, I'm not sure how much these quilts represent 'me' as a whole--the way I've mixed up the old quilting projects with the new. It's something that I always find very interesting though, these end of the year quilt reviews. You pop over to someones page and in one click, get to see an entire lineup of the years finishes! What fascinates me the most, is the quilting voice that is always so immediately apparent! There's rarely any doubt whose quilt page you're viewing and that's the very best thing about this time of year. I bet most of us could look at any of these picture groupings and immediately tell what quilter made each of those quilts. Love that!

So now with the details: 2018 found me ending the year with 19 finishes again! That kind of suprised me as it didn't feel like so many. Yep, I was on a finishing mission once again. Trying to get some of those very old, not-as-interesting quilt tops out of my hair.*whew! It was very, extremely, tedious at times, I kid you not. Crossing my fingers things won't get quite that bogged down ever again! Want some year end statistics? I do like to keep track just for curiosities sake.

• 1 Doll quilt
• 2 Baby quilts
• 1 Comfort quilt
• 7 Lap quilts
• 8 Bed-sized quilts
• 6 quilts were completely hand quilted
• 9 quilts were a mix of machine and hand quilting
• 4 quilts were completely machine quilted

By the end of the year I had also given away 17 quilts, a mixture of new and old quilts. That was a little nerve-wracking at times. My family lives in dread that they'll wake up one morning and all our quilts will have been given away! hehe  One was given for a church raffle, for helping to make money to buy their building. Still waiting to see who winds up with that one as I do like to keep track of where my quilts end up!

Lots of ideas for the next year. Stacks of fabric that have been simmering on the counters for months and months and need a little bit of attention. Mostly I just intend to quilt the things that I find interesting without getting too far into the weeds with those pesky squirrels! There are 5 or 6 open-ended quilt projects that will hopefully get wrapped up and around and around we go. I loved diving into the orphan blocks totes and intend to try that some more of that. Adhoc. Improv. is definitely still a happening thing and umm..., there is a scrap bin monster that just has to be addressed soon. No ifs ands or buts about it! Taking up way too much room over there in the corner of my quilt room.*sigh Oh, and don't forget about those oh-so-tempting QAL's popping up all over blogland. Probably gonna join in on with the Unconventional & Unexpected one and also, Lori's String Quiltalong. Sounds like a good start to me!

And To Think, When I Was 16 I Hated the Color Purple

Basket Love is the fourteenth finish of the year! To some, it probably looks like I'm racing through the quilts and never stop to take a deep breath. Others see it for exactly what it is--Quilting is my happy place. Well, right after the husband, kids and grandchild. Never want to minimize the importance of those particular persons in my life!

Basket Love is finished!

But quilting and more importantly, working with my hands, keeps the endless worries and cares at bay. Long ago I made hand quilting an important and necessary part of my daily and weekly routine. The stitching isn't usually super complex or detailed, but it is extremely peaceful and meditative. In our fast paced culture and lifestyle, that fills a valuable space in my life. At this point, I honestly think I could hand stitch a whole cloth quilt and be happy. Oh wait! I already did that once before!

A little longer than I intended, but I think it works!

Also, I genuinely love to play with color. So much potential. So many unexplored ideas! The slightest deviation from something tried before makes for the most interesting change or look in a quilt.

Basket Love was started in May of 2017 as an extension of a AHIQ 2-block challenge. Mostly I just wanted to play with some more baskets and the idea of incorporating string/coin columns helped fill the quilt with minimal effort. Plus, the previous attempt at the challenge had left me feeling a bit let down. Totally my own fault but something to be expected after a series of missteps and a boring color palette failed to generate much enthusiasm.

The greens look different depending of the light

This particular blend of colors really intrigued me. Previously, I had scoured the stash totes for all the sour, sharp and/or muddy looking greens that I could find, and just sat there, looking and looking at them. It was way.... past time to move these out of the totes and make way for other newer, prettier fabrics. Was there any possible way to make these fabrics look well loved and appreciated though? Once upon a time I had paid good money for these fabrics because I just couldn't resist! Eventually other colors joined the stack and the bedrock of a quilt started to form. Imagine how incredulous I was when the quilt started getting more and more purple included. When I was 16, that was the color that I loathed with all of my heart!

Simple stitching as always...

The basket idea quickly coalesced into the perfect launching pad for these fabrics/colors and I was off and running. Quilting has a way of making us appreciate all the colors under the sun, right? When the supply of  'good' greens ran short, I dug even deeper and found more fabrics to add in. These later additions didn't feel quite as friendly, and I found myself working hard to spread out the brighter, happier colored green fabrics throughout the vertical string rows. Waste not, want not. Our quilting ancestors didn't give up in despair, they learned how to make do with what they had!

Probably gonna have to keep this one.
No one will ever like it as well as I do!

This quilt top went together very quickly. While it doesn't feel like the best, most vibrant, or even the most charming quilt ever made by 'moi', it does make me very happy. There's just something about the slightly imperfect balance of the setting triangles, the mishmash of basket sizes and coping strips, and all those improv. strings that fits together into one perfect whole. At least in my mind. And the hand stitching is icing on the cake, even in the areas where you have to get close to better appreciate the texture.

Love the carefree look to this quilt

All serious quilters understand what matters most. It's when a quilt made by our hands speaks loudly to our head and heart! I have to say that I also truly loved the challenge of working with long overlooked fabrics in the stash totes. Love, love, love when it works to the good in a quilting effort. Trying to manipulate oldish, stale looking fabrics into something that looks very purposeful and important. Boom! Dontcha want some nice fabric like me? lol  Cracking myself up over here....

The secret ingredient is always and ever the same though, isn't it? Usually just gotta add in a a few 'much newer' fabrics to hold the main stage--have that important 'contrast' so as to be used successfully in a limelight sort of effect. Then the less favored fabrics can do the steadfast and reliable work of filling up the background. What happens when a quilt is full to the brim of only fabulous fabrics? We've all seen it and yes, it sounds crazy. I call it an over-saturation to the senses--too much of a good thing. But maybe that's just me. I've always had a soft spot for those older make-do, utility sorts of quilts anyway. You already know that if you've followed me for very long! The best quilts are the ones that somehow manage to say 'Don't take me too seriously, I certainly don't!'......

Never Enough Time

How about a good long catch up post? First off, the HST Medallion quilt has been front and center for well over a week. I made the determination that nothing was going to get between this project and the sewing machine until all the small hst rows were sewn on. Two hundred breaks later for hand work or changing out the laundry or whatever else I could invent and....

More progress on HST Medallion!

Here we are, finally, at hst row #10. Woohoo! That's three more row sets added onto this quilt since the last time I posted any progress! I was pretty sure if I didn't do all three of them, one right after the other, this quilt would just die a slow death. It took days longer than I expected. It's all just so very tedious. Made me want to pull my hair out sometimes. Scream. Run away. What is it about excessive repetition?

10 rows finished

I mean, look at how innocuous these hst's are. So simple and unassuming. Ugghh... Who's idea was this anyway? The last round brought the total count up to just over 1300 hsts. Which is a lot. But honestly, it feels like about 5000! All that's left now are the last two rounds {if I follow thru}, which are larger. That should help, larger is good.

The last light pink border was a calculated risk. I totally know you've been eyeballing that one and wondering....  Audrey? Hmm.. What?  I'm still using fabric from the stash and thought maybe a 'disappearing' border would be interesting in the big picture of things. Taking a look at what fabric was left helped to make the final decision. If the quilt would have stopped off at that round, then yeah, it would have been a huge mistake. So far I'm perfectly okay with the look. It's not like I do polished looking quilts. Gotta have some quirks!

So...  accuracy? I'm within an inch or less of where its supposed to be, no matter if I measure directly through the center or along any particular side. That's pretty impressive {for me} considering how many, many, many seams there are. Sometimes I pay more attention to accuracy than others, but seriously, who has the time? Mostly I fudge if its close and the black single fabric sashing rows tidy things up before the next round. The saving grace has been that my cutting efforts have been more precise and careful. Daylight hours only!

Doesn't look like much

Lots of hand work to choose from when I'm fleeing the quilt room. I've really been enjoying do some hand stitching on my Dried Flowers {squirrel} project. The colors are particularly soothing right now--spot on for early fall.  At this point I'm stalled on what kind of leaves to add on though. Maybe I'll just have to do some of both!

Auditioning leaf shapes...

The project below is one that was started from leftover quarter circle pieces cut out from the back of a long ago quilt. It's been keeping me company as well. Instead of some complicated piecing thing that would be driving me bonkers, I decided to do an applique version of a simple New York Beauty block. After all the chunky spikes are sewn down, then I will probably stitch on an arc of gold fabric, over the bottom part of the spikes and covering the edges of the curve. These colors still make me very happy, which I find interesting as I've been playing with this particular color palette off and on for years now.

Getting started on a pile of 64 blocks total

And then there is the Off On a Tangent quilt. All the hand work is finished up and yep!, I made a mistake that always makes me feel a little twitchy. All the letters are in green fabrics that blend well with the quilt, but do not show up very emphatically when all is said and done.

Got the hand stitching done

Much too late to take them off now and start over and I don't want to anyway. They look just fine up close so that is that. Don't know why I keep making this same mistake after all this time. If you're gonna go to the trouble of adding words, for goodness sakes, do them in a color that has some impact!

It's not the best color, but it'll probably do

I guess I was thinking of serenity and peaceful feeling vibes? This quilt has already jumped to the head of the line for sandwiching and quilting. Very fast turn around for me, but this quilt is determined to go live with someone else.

Ughh... Sandwiching and pinning

In fact, I already machine quilted {stitched in the ditch} thru the inside of the quilt. Now that Basket Love, shown below, is out of the hoop, I can do some quick, big stitch quilting around the borders and move it on down the line. Oh how I wish that every quilt was as easy and rewarding to stitch as the quilt below. I adore hand quilting on string quilts! I'm sure it would get boring though if that's all that ever passed thru the hoop.

Ready for binding work!

Because the HST Medallion quilt took so long to work through sewing on the rows, I totally blinked on getting to the AHIQ work this month. That kind of annoys me 'cuz I love the improv. stuff, but there will be time for that later. Right now, things are happening that are a bit beyond my control. My sewing machine is scheduled to go in for a maintenance {in order to keep up with the warranty}, and that totally rearranged my priorities as well. The only machine quilting I do these days is on that particular machine 'cuz it has a bigger harp! Quick, what needs done before I have to do without! The quilt store where I drop the sewing machine off is three hours away so that means I'll be using a back-up machine for quite awhile, maybe even a month.*sigh  Not going to tackle big quilt work on the smaller machine.

I managed to arrange the initial drop off with the same timing as taking my kids to the airport and also an Apple store appointment. My phone desperately needs a new battery and apparently we can't do that without their help. If Bloglovin' gets any slower, the phone will be in total meltdown. Or maybe I will? Anyway, when you live out in the boondocks, these sorts of trips take some strategic planning. There is usually shopping involved. Things like that.

**Per the question asked after my last post, referring to the days when I said I would never, ever hand quilt? Well, that was 20-25 years ago, when I first started quilting. A lot has changed since then, including the fact that I don't have littles hanging on to my ankles and demanding every second of my attention. Also, I don't like doing machine quilting. Really, really don't care for it at all and in fact, when I attempt anything close to free-motion, it feels like the top of my head is going to come off. I push myself learn a lot of techniques and things that feel important to further expand my ability to make unique and personal looking quilts. Someday that may come to lessons in free motion quilting, but for now, hand quilting is as essential to me as air, both in the doing and the seeing. Quite simply, it's now part of my quilting voice, regardless of the time it may take... What elements of this craft are important to you and your quilting?

What's Happening in the Quilt Room Today

It's been nice to spend some time in the quilting room and take stock. A couple days saw me sewing together quilt backings, something I don't generally enjoy. However, I have discovered that sewn together in batches, one after another, then it's not really quite as tedious as normal. I just use a couple big pieces of yardage and then scrap together the rest with something that blends from straight out of the stash totes. Saving myself time for that day when there's actually time to sandwich and pin means a lot in the long term.

Quilts tops next up for quilting

I won't bore you with pics of the backings as they aren't the prettiest things in the world {I tend to use fabrics that would never merit prime time on the front of the quilts}, but I try to make sure they won't embarrass or cost a boat load of money. All my quilting pennies go toward beautiful fabric for the quilt itself and the backings are leftovers, fabrics donated by others or clearance stuff that 'will do'. Basket Love {below} is the next quilt up for getting some attention in the hoop.

Basket Love moving into the hoop

For some reason, this particular quilt has been calling my name rather loudly. Maybe it's because I've been working with light, bright quilts lately and needed the moodiness this quilt presents.

A closer look

Whatever. I have been absolutely relishing getting started with the hand quilting on this one. Wowsa. Does it ever make me happy having it in my lap! The only thing I might would change is if I had a deeper variety of thread color to work with, but no matter. I'm not taking the time to order anything extra online.

Soaking up the stitches

Another thing I have done lately is very deliberately pull out every single, lurking, fabric stack and try to take a good picture of it. Check it out for positive feel goods. You know what I'm talking about, that glimmer of excitement that a particular blend of fabrics helps generate in our creative consciousness. These are fabrics that have somehow managed to pull together and sit marinating somewhere on the counters or in little totes throughout the quilt room, almost as if a magnetic force is keeping them anchored together!

Stack #1

To my surprise and yes, a little consternation, I seemed to have collected 12 such stacks. Oh my goodness gracious, it seems that I have become a hoarder! lol  Don't guilt me for my obvious fabric love. I'm confident that it is much, much cheaper than therapy...

Stack #2

This year in particular has been one for tamping down on the new starts. Just a little. Trying to narrow down the open-ended quilt projects has been challenging to say the least and honestly, I'm not sure it's a beneficial thing to keep doing that to my creativity.

Stack #3

There's something about getting started on a new project that signifies giving a measure of importance to a creative idea that might possibly disappear into the ether otherwise. Once started, it rarely gets completely lost or completely abandoned. Might take a while to see it through, but the idea that I have committed fabric and space makes it worthwhile.

Stack #4

Writing and doodling ideas on paper is a good way to ensure that the idea is not completely lost for eternity, but still, real enthusiasm and spark tend to wane and lose strength in time and the busyness of life. Might have to work on balance again in regards to this.

Stack #5

There are lots of ideas floating around for many of these stacks of fabrics. For example, the previous two stacks were compiled in direct response to the idea that I might make a quilt for a specific person. This lovely person adores dark, dark reds such as maroon and are quite adamant about it. Ughh. So difficult to work with! So I started with the brighter, happier reds and added green. Nahh... They would hate that for sure. But it's so, so  pretty! Can't get rid of it now when there is such potential. hehe  So I eventually started the Stack #5 and have piddled around with it for months trying to fine tune the look. Adding the lighter red stripe with the blue floral is finally, finally starting to make sense to me. No matter what anyone else might or might not like, if the fabrics/colors don't work for me? The quilt isn't going to sing and that's just fact.

Stack #6

Several of these stacks have a pretty concrete design idea that all I'm trying to nail down now is certain, specific details before I start cutting and sewing. Proportions of color usage in particular tend to get me bogged down prior to a quilt start. I hate the idea of making a lifeless looking quilt. What, pray tell, is the point of making a boring quilt?

Stack #7

You probably already know that I have ideas for a couple basket quilts {shock shock}, a medallion style quilt, a log cabin, a vertical, strippy sawtooth, a couple detailed applique quilts, maybe an alphabet quilt?, a traditional, repeated block layout and of course I'm being opened minded about something for improv. as well. These are things that might be as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning, but still manage to keep me very engaged, quilty-wise. And of course, I'm rarely adverse to hopping onto a new challenge if the right one happens along....

Stack #8

It was interesting to see how many of these fabric stacks look very familiar one to another. As Ann mentioned in her latest post, 'we all have different color combinations and values we prefer'. So, so true!

Stack #9

Oftentimes, we unintentionally find ourselves perfecting the use of a specific color palette. I used to shy away from this as it felt a slippery slope towards making quilts that seemed to copy-cat another. Now I just look at is as 'series' work. Sometimes we work on certain design elements over and over and other times we zero in on a specific color blend. We don't feel free to give up until we've learned about all that we can from it! Why are we so quick to brush off the direction into which our instincts are trying to guide us in?

Stack #10

One thing I've learned through the years, is that any of these fabric stacks will end up making a far better looking quilt than anything that can be dug out of the stash totes in a single setting. Or started up lickety split. Or bought altogether in a shopping trip. Take a closer look at the fabrics stacks that might look similar one to another with just a quick glance. The fabric print will probably read completely different which means the look/feel to a quilt will automatically read as unique. For instance, Stack #12 has a lot of reproduction look fabrics which hopefully will translate as a more antique/vintage look/feel quilt.

Stack #11

Although, in the interest of true transparency, that stack below is working on it's third year of quietly simmering on the back burner.*groan...  Might have to fish or cut bait there?

Stack #12

And because I was so taken aback at all the bright, happy tones in most of the fabric stacks, I just had to make up a slightly moodier selection of fabrics. My goodness, it's an interesting exercise to make these sorts of comparisons and really SEE the seeds of evolution and change! Which meant Fabric stack #13.... Yep. That happened. Funny how timely that was with this great idea that popped into my head though, just before falling asleep last night. Uh huh. That's what I'm talking about. The fun just never ends.

Stack #13

Will some of these fabric stacks be tossed back or possibly combined at some later date? You betcha. That's the way it works. And I don't know about you, but when I'm looking for a particular color or value, I have no problem with raiding one of these fabric stack for the much needed element in a current quilt. That always, always takes precedence and nothing, no fabric stack or design idea is sacrosanct around here. My projects are very fluid and as always, very adaptable to the whims and fancies of change.  

Sorry for the long post, but a reader or two had previously asked for inspiration pics in the form of my long-time simmering {by now, probably infamous} fabric stacks. Here there are, the whole glorious lineup! But yeah, it's just how things roll around here and I'm not gonna pretend otherwise. Also in the general tidying up/taking stock in the quilt room, I remade a couple lists. It was time. There are currently 23 quilt tops ready for quilting and 6 open ended quilt projects. Plus, 2 or 3 squirrelly sets of orphan blocks gleefully gravitating toward one another for those days where I'm bored, a little antsy and well, most probably procrastinating about having to make major design decisions....  You did come here to read about a quilters crazy life, right?

Basket Love, A Completed Improv. Quilt Top

First off, I'd like to say congrats! to Paulette from The Way I Sew It blog. Her comment came up as the winner to my 7 yr. Blogiversary giveaway! The whys and wherefores of what might motivate any of us to comment on blog posts made for great conversation! The main thing that stood out was that most of us like to feel a connection, however that might come about. Time is too precious to comment just for the sake of commenting. And that's okay. We all seem to prefer those comments that feel heartfelt and sincere.

Improv. basket blocks

It's time again for the AHIQ monthly linkup over at Kaja and Ann's. These lady's are so talented, it's hard to keep up! I love the open ended style of their link-ups though, and the fact that they actively encourage learning and growing in personal technique and style, plus instinctual decision making. After over a year of dipping my toes into this adhoc. improv., I have to say that I'm having so much fun with it! Not ready to quit yet!

The green string columns

This particular project was in response to the 2-block challenge set up by Kaja last quarter. I determined to make free style basket blocks and then join them with vertical columns of strings. As usual around here, I pulled my fabrics in advance, tinkered with them awhile {weeks actually} and then started cutting and sewing only after I felt satisfied with the newly blended palette. The interesting thing about these colors is that I didn't choose the sour greens until all the other colors were stacked together and seemed to be missing a necessary spark. Then they just sort of jumped into the pile as though they couldn't help themselves. Okay! I'm game for about anything that looks intriguing, even if I'm not sure why!

Sewing the first set

It's so much fun to drag difficult fabric colors out of the stash totes and try to give them their moment in the sun. Really quite addictive in its own way. I'm always confident that playing with them one more time will give me the clues to getting all sorts of kinks worked out. This time could be the magic moment when that perfect blending of colors is found!

After I had enough baskets prepared, I added a darker coping border to the blocks in order to bring them all to the same exact size. Then I moved on to the green coins {or strings}. With these, I free cut strips--in sets of 2 fabrics each--until I ran out of at least one of the fabrics. That determined the length of each particular color blending as I decided to leave the string sets in two color groupings {sewing them length to length} rather than mix up single strings throughout an entire column.

Since I was working strictly with the greens for the strings, it was easy enough to divide them into rough groupings of light, brights for one pile and medium, darks for the other. That value change is stronger in some sets, but subtle enough not to make the quilt read as a super bold 'stripe' quilt. The columns actually read more as a background and allow the baskets to steal the spotlight, which is totally what I was hoping for!

Basket Love--Approx. 70" x 91"

It was only after the entire length of the string columns were sewn, that I went ahead and added the setting triangles to the basket blocks. I wanted high impact, heavily saturated and light or bright colors that would 'pop'. Initially I intended to mix them up a lot more and have all four corner triangles be a different fabric. Then for some reason I changed directions and decided to make it less busy, which meant cutting more fabric repeats. Sometimes that makes for a stronger look. This is probably the most purple I have ever intentionally put into a quilt and the crazy thing was, it didn't even make me wince. Not my favorite color! The more I quilt, the more it seems that there isn't any truly ugly color, just meh! {to me} color palettes! And yes, I'm well aware that I don't always get it right! lol

Looking at the quilt with the sun shining on it!

An interesting side effect of sewing such long lengths of strings together was having the seam allowance rip out here and there from the weight of the fabric. I pinned at every single seam, tried to be very, very careful in the way {and amount} I handled the columns, and even went back and backstitched where it was coming apart too far into the seam allowance. Hopefully next time I'll remember to use a smaller stitching length when sewing the original string sets. This was NOT fun! And after the entire quilt was together, I sewed a basting stitch on the sides of the quilt too. Fingers crossed that will stop any more unraveling!

So that's it. I'm calling this a completed quilt top. No borders for this one! I'm proud of how far I've come feeling comfortable in free cutting my string sets, excited to use up some oddball green fabrics, and thrilled at ending up with such a bold {for me} looking quilt! And, drum roll..... there was almost no waste with these string sets! Yay! I'm starting to get the hang of that basic math which makes me feel like the super, good, frugal quilter lady.*sigh  Gotta take our victories where we can!

Linking up to Kaja and Ann for AHIQ #23. Moving on, I'm pondering yet another 2-block improv. quilt, perhaps a Sherri Lynn Wood score? the next interesting AHIQ challenge {of course}, and oh yeah, trying to make a Kaja style improv. quilt--one little unit at a time. Oh well, there's a couple weeks to make that decision. So many possibilities.....

Working on the Wall or on the Floor. It all Works!

Here's the project taking up my design wall today. I was hoping to be further along with it, but lately the family has been quite demanding of my time. So, three more string sheets to sew up and things should start moving along very quickly.

Basket Love on the wall

The baskets are interesting as they are all various sizes, but finally the decision was made to square them up. Oh, not all the same size or anything boring like that, but at least get them square so that the handles will be pointing up. That was the deciding factor in the end. I really, really don't want the handles tilting in all directions! With the darker coping strips added and then trimmed down, they will all be the same exact size and hopefully, pointing straight up. And although that seems like a cheater thing to do in an improv. style quilt, it will actually make adding the setting triangles onto those vertical rows much, much easier.

Starting with the improv. baskets

I can only take so much chaos in a quilt project right now before I'm working at complete overwhem! Just too many outside distractions at the moment and quilting is supposed to be my happy place.*wink  I thought all the colors had designated spots in my project and then of course the quilt balked on me. It didn't want the sour green around the blocks like I had originally planned out and the stringy rows? Not going to be mixed browns in this quilt. No sirree! And so it took some time playing with the fabric, auditioning possibilities before any cutting and sewing could be started.

After I finally settled on the mixed greens for the vertical string columns, everything else just sort of fell into place with ease. Most of my string sets are wide enough that I will be cutting them in half and then joining them end to end. After much contemplation, there are about 10 baskets that won't fit into this particular quilt. I'm sure they will find a home somewhere else along the way, possibly even a more puzzle piece sort of quilt. Maybe when things settle down I will have more of a mind to do a trickier layout. Those requires more layout time on the {quilting room or living room} floor as my design wall is so small--I'm constantly jumping back and forth depending on what is trying to be accomplished. Some weeks, the {much larger} living room floor is pretty much out of the question!

Working out the color plan on the floor

With my limited time in the quilt room the last several days, it felt like everything was moving in very slow-motion. I am positively itching to get this particular quilt where I can SEE something happen and interruption after interruption has continually bogged me down. Stop and start. Stop and start. You probably all know how that goes! 

This is the only open-ended Imrov. project I have on the go at the moment, but this has been a surprisingly good month for finishes. Coins and Baskets as well as Patchwork Doodle were both brought to the quilt top stage in June! I always count quilt tops as a finish as it feels so very good to get to that point. Then later on when they are truly a finished quilt, well, that's another finish! 

I was also able to sneak in one, true-blue finish with my green Floating Squares quilt! I've tried to mix my improv. quilt tops into the queue of quilts that need stitching. They always seem to come together so much faster than the more traditional style of quilting. It can stack up really fast, but there's no percentage in putting my creativity off for another day, or month, or year in an effort to stay on track. That ship sailed a long time ago and I'm mostly okay with the idea that I'll always have more quilt tops than I could possibly complete in a year. As it is, I have two more improv. quilt ideas that are very close to being put into action, and also, all the fabric picked out for the next Improv. Handbook score. It's almost addicting to start working in this no-rules, no-ruler, no-boundaries sort of way. All that quick machine stitching and slashing into fabrics has become a very nice balance to the applique work that I so love to do!

Linking up to Ann and Kaja for AHIQ #22! Why not hop over and check out Kaja's wonderful new quilt top. It's a beauty!

Just Enough Progress

Over thirty basket handles stitched on the background fabrics and ready for further sewing. Hoping to see some progress this weekend, but it's not looking super promising for the marathon sew-in I was hoping for. Who plans a baby shower for 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon? People with zero hobbies?

Basket Love

I spent quite a bit of time in the quilt room the last several days, playing with fabric stacks, drawing quick sketches and thinking about new quilt ideas. There have been at least five different stacks of fabrics that I've been contemplating for awhile, wondering which direction to go. Several of those stacks have very similar colorways {I do tend to get in a rut, ahem! groove}, although possibly in darker, lighter or brighter tones and shades and in every group there is at least one different color introduced as I continually play and experiment. The brightest fabric stack always causes me the most self doubt. I have one stack I've put back into the totes at least twice now and then pulled back out again at a later date. It keeps drawing me in, trying to get me to play, but I am sooo... nervous to dive in and test the waters! What if it ends up looking exactly like every other quilt I see on the Net these days? How boring would that be?*wink

Yesterday, after spending way too much valuable time seam ripping the hems out of several pairs of {my sons} khaki shorts, I finally gave in to temptation and started a new project. For real this time! Not just dreaming and a stack of fabric anymore, but actual cutting into fabric and applique prep. I still need to fiddle around with proportion, but I'm well on my way to taking the first stitch to the foundation of my new Big Basket. It's going to be a charmer, I can already tell....

Another Big Basket

 And then there's the new quilt in the hoop. The flowers in Scrappy Tulips are made strictly out of the scrap bin and all the fabric in the quilt top came straight out of the stash. I adore these stringy tulips, and as always, wonder why I don't make ALL my quilts exactly like this one. There's just something about a random mix of scrap bin prints that completely melt my heart.

Scrappy Tulips

These kinds of quilts are so easy to hand quilt because I just soak in the colors and fabrics and it never gets old. I started out hand quilting because I love the look and all these years later? Still loving the look, only maybe a teensy, tiny bit more because of the Perle Cotton. That texture. Hhmm, hymm good....