Fall 2014 Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival: Broken Dishes Part Deux

I was unsure where to best place Broken Dishes Part Deux in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, but finally settled on the large quilt category. I love how Amy sets up so many different categories for us to choose from. It's almost like going to several different quilt shows at once, only we don't have to worry about combing our hair or wearing matching socks.

Broken Dishes Part Deux

This is the quilt that I finished up for my daughters graduation back in June. It was actually started back in the spring of 2012 though. First, I had a stack of interesting {for me} fabrics challenging me to try and make something interesting out of them. They were an odd color combination, funky prints and definitely not falling within my normal comfort zone at all. But I couldn't quite stuff them back in the totes. They beckoned and promised really good things if I could find the right key. One day I stumbled across an antiquish looking quilt in a Fon's & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine, drooled a little and then bingo! Lights went on and, well... it's pretty obvious what happened next.

On the floor...

Once I got to the sashing {don't you just love that wide, bold sashing?}, it seemed obvious to go with a good black fabric. Some people immediately think white with these colors, but not me. Black is just so much fun to work with. Kind of moody, but usually well worth the effort.

Then I struggled with the cornerstones. Mixed colors? Gray? Hot pink? Finally I settled on a stack of mixed black squares that I had exchanged with my mother years ago for squares of a different color altogether. Because all the blacks are prints--a mix of black with white or gray--they come off as a lovely gray right there at the edges of the brighter blocks. Wonderful how they make the pieced blocks 'pop' next to that black sashing and yet still stay firmly in the background of the quilt.

Draped over the railing...

Although I didn't originally 'make' this quilt for my daughter, it was an obvious choice to finish up and give to her as a gift. Because of the time restraints, I machine quilted in the ditch at the edge of every block plus halfway through the sashing. Then I went back and shadow quilted on the inside of the broken dishes. I tried to be really sneaky in a right-out-in-the-open sort of way and it mostly worked. Because I'm always transitioning from one quilt to the next, she never was sure if this one was for her {even though she made plenty of noises about wanting it} until she saw it in her gift bag. Then her face lit up and I could tell she was absolutely thrilled to have it.

A bit closer look...

Yay! And she has used it every single day since. Gotta love when a quilt is well loved and used well! It's an old fashioned pattern, but I think it made the leap to the more modern prints very well. Very fun to make a more graphic looking quilt for once too.

If you're interested in my first entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival, you can also read here. It's a different sort of quilt altogether!

A Very Wordy Post About Stuff That Probably Means Nothing to You and a Finished Quilt

Okay, wow! She did it. Our oldest daughter graduated from high school on Saturday. Such an emotional day although I didn't cry a single tear. Sometimes I cannot believe how very proud we can be of our children--words are terribly inadequate aren't they?

Broken Dishes Part Deux

I'm sure my family is rolling their eyes at me telling this story yet again, but it's important. You see, my daughter graduated with a 4.0 but was unable to be declared valedictorian. And that was her choice. A huge decision that she made about half way through her senior year. Let me start at the beginning.

Love the added texture...

The counselor messed up on the honors program back at the end of her sophomore year, not getting the proper paperwork to the kids and in the case of my daughter, throwing her out of the (small school) class scheduling loop. In order to graduate with honors (thus qualifying to be valedictorian or salutatorian), they had to sign a paper declaring their intent to complete the honors program and then of course make sure that they took those required classes in the next two years. Which means taking a class exactly when it's offered because getting out of the rotation makes everything really complicated.

It has a lovely graphic look,
very different for my quilts...

At the end of her sophomore year, my daughter was wrestling with the whole idea of being pushed into the academic tunnel vision  just because she happens to be a good student. What about personal interest? She talked to us a lot about what classes are necessary {for life and for the future} and in the end, she signed up for an art class instead of physics. Aha! When the honors program papers were finally produced during mid-semester of her junior year, she had a instant dilemma on her hands.

No physics class, no honors program. Is graduating with honors even important in the grand scheme of things? Lots of discussion ensued and with the help of the principal (not the very uninterested counselor), my daughters schedule for the next year and half were meticulously planned out so that she could complete the honors program after all. However, we had somehow planted a little seed of determination in our daughters heart that could not be ignored. A determination to allow for creativity in her life no matter the controversy.

Still enjoying the mix of eclectic prints I used...

She loved art class, actually flourished in it--wanted to take more classes. Jazz band was newly offered during her junior year and she chafed at the idea that she couldn't fit it into her schedule and still complete the honors program. By the time her senior year came along, she realized that classes such as art and band were the glue that held her together so that she could actually enjoy the required tough math, science and English classes. It absolutely was her key to just surviving high school. How could we deny her those choices? How could she deny herself those choices and experiences and not have regrets?

So much drama. And opinions. From. Everyone. But here's my point. The school has this attitude that if you don't complete the honors program, then you're not deserving of being valedictorian or salutatorian because you simply couldn't have worked as hard as the ones that did. You took the easy road. You're not as committed to success, therefore you're not worthy.

Broken Dishes Part Deux is finished!!

It's a box. A public school box that makes the school look good, but doesn't allow for much creative thinking. There seems to be an invisible line in the sand for those that are on track to be gold star achievers. Nobody ever really says it this bluntly, but here is the essence of what I believe they demand:  fit in the box or have all your hard work be dismissed and disrespected. It's not intentional and really, it's not even personal. There's just no room in the schedule to deviate from the properly sanctioned criteria. A person can catch up with the electives later on. {And yes, I'm sure it's a very different story in the larger schools.}

Basically, for us, it boiled down to my daughter bailing on the honors program the last semester of high school just so that she could experience jazz band and still stay with her art program as well. She was one pre-cal credit short of completing the honors program--absolutely her choice, but still an agonizing decision to have to make. Student that don't care about their grades might not understand all the angst involved, but for kids like my daughter, it becomes a point of pride, something they care deeply about. It's like allowing someone to paint a bulls eye on them that says something very negative about the type of student and person they really are.

Just enough hand quilting...

I don't care about the valedictorian title. My daughter made her hard choices. What I care emphatically about was the fact that she wasn't going to be allowed a gold cord at graduation or the little asterisk by her name on the program recognizing her all hard work. That made me a little sick to my stomach. So imagine my feelings when she walked up the aisle with a gold cord after all, and in the program they did honor her achievement of obtaining excellent grades throughout four years of high school. Someone came through for her at the end. She earned the respect, deserves all the credit and it was such a good day. Like I said, words can be terribly inadequate.

Anyway..... Back to quilting! Broken Dishes Part Deux was our gift to her. Well, one of them. I worked on it right in front of her and just acted like it was another one in the line-up. At some point she commented that it looked like a quilt she could see owning, but I brushed it off as wishful thinking on her part. Doesn't she have enough quilts? lol I tried to do the binding and label when she wasn't at home so she wouldn't realize how very close I was to finishing it. That would be suspicious! Very fun to surprise her with it at the celebration party. Wish all my quilts could be like this one, much better than the original planning anticipated! I think we have a winner.*wink

Some Simple Hand Quilting

I thought I'd show a few pictures of the hand quilting progress on my Broken Dishes Part Deux quilt. I almost took this camping with me, but I can't deal with seeing my yet-to-be-finished quilts being drug around in the dirt. Just a personal phobia, not criticizing anyone that does! Not that I got any stitching in this past weekend anyway. I just patted my applique bag when I walked by and thought good thoughts.

Broken Dishes Part Deux

The hand quilting is very basic--what you would call shadow quilting or outline quilting. First of all, it needs to fit with the machine quilting I already did in the sashing, but also, I'm hoping this quilt will have a comfy, drapey feel to it. Decisions, decisions.  Me thinks the sashing could have definitely have used more stitching lines instead of the three I went with (giving it a much more modern feel) and it was very tempting to do just that. But then I would have had to have much denser stitching inside the blocks, which then would have totally negated the soft, comfy look. Plus, I really like a good old antique block and/or lay-out done with a more contemporary feel--once in a while. You know, just to make things interesting!

A closer look at the hand stitching

On the evenings that I have had time (obviously not while I was camping), I've been trying to get three blocks stitched before it gets folded up and put back in the bag. Just a little goal setting that helps me breeze through to a quick finish. Ha ha Fingers crossed on the 'quick' as I have plans for this quilt already!

It's starting to look so much better already....

After reading through the comments on my last post I realized people were assuming a relaxing single-family type camping trip was taking place. Ah.. not so much. What our church does (annually on Memorial Day weekend) is this: we rent a forest service campground with rustic lodge facilities and 'host' a weekend for church members both local and from other areas and states too. The average amount of people attending usually comes to between 165-185 persons but it can be more or less depending on the year,  the economy and/or any upcoming weddings/events etc. Always lots of teenagers and lots of fun, especially if the weather cooperates! Also a lot of work for our home group as of course, we are hosting the event. One of the best things about it is the fact that there is no cell service, which of course is a great thing for our technologically addicted teenagers and um.. adults? I always assume that I can sneak in a little stitching time somewhere during the weekend, but in the time available it's usually dark, damp or I'm just too tired to go grab my stuff. Hey, we all know there's more to life than quilting, right? lol

Note to Self: It's Easier to Pin Quilts When the Children Aren't Home

Yesterday was the day I decided to sandwich and pin my Broken Dishes Part Deux quilt. It's a very lovely, darkish but still quite vibrant quilt. I intend to machine quilt through the sashing and then hand quilt each block, which totally distracted me from my normal routine of taking a picture of the quilt before any pins are added.

Broken Dishes Part Deux

I rarely machine quilt so it takes me awhile to determine the most efficient pinning for that particular application. Apparently I'm supposed to use a bazillion pins, which always seems incredibly unnecessary until I'm right in the middle of machine quilting the quilt. Then I tend to have tons of remorse and an overwhelming urge to bang my head against the wall. Because I NEVER learn. It's a vicious cycle. Probably why I love my hand quilting hoop to pieces. We completely understand each other and never have relationship issues.

It also didn't help that yesterday was a half day and my children were wandering back and forth through the living room. As you can see from the tennis racket inserted into the picture below, they were NOT helping me out at all. I usually take tons of pictures from a couple different angles which ensures that I'll get at least one or two decent pictures to post. Yesterday I gave up at five pictures. Yep, and there isn't a single picture where my quilt isn't washed out from the light shining in through the front door....

Broken Dishes Part Deux with the help
of my sons tennis racket....

Once I find a fabric that I like, then the binding can be put on my Spring Forward quilt and it will be finished. Oh I just love that word! And I know it's a quick change-up, one quilt out of the hoop and another one ready to put in (almost), but that's how I roll.

Spring Forward waiting for binding

These crazy spring day-- coming up on the end of the school year? I need my time with the hoop. Our schedule couldn't possibly get more hectic than it is right now and although I know it's just the normal having-a-houseful-of-teenagers routine, it leaves me a little bit breathless at times. Whew! These 'almost' adults are a lot of work!

Why Does This Happen?

The three youngest of my kids are back to school and so I made some time for quilting.  Yay!  Time to get some quilt tops finished up and checked off the list.  The first one on the list went nice and easy.

Ta da!  Completed quilt top!

Until...  Oh no!  Do you see what I see?  Two identical connecting squares framing the block in the very center of the quilt!  Which. Would.  Drive.  Me.  Crazy.

Why does this always happen to me?
I checked a bazillion times!!!!!

I didn't even hesitate.  Too many years of experience to think that I could live and let live with something like this.  I had the square ripped out and put back in place in less than 15 minutes.

That square is actually my dirty carpet....

Some things I let slide and allow myself to be amused at forever.  Other things you just know will always be an irritation.  Like a sliver under your skin.  It's actually a good thing to learn about yourself.*wink

And now it really is done!

So... problem fixed and now this quilt has been documented as a true blue finish.  Of course I'm not ready to start the quilting on it, so it gets to be folded up and put into my drawers of completed quilt tops with all the others for now.

Just because something needed to go right....

Then I went ahead and cut out my binding fabric, pieced it, ironed it and then sewed it onto this little table runner.  (I think the busy fabric will look excellent once it's folded over and hand sewn.) After the big 'fix-it' early in the day, I needed to end on a better note!

Taking Over the Living Room

Today seemed like a good day to take over the living room.  Everyone but me and one of my daughters will be gone for the majority of the day.  The thing is, I didn't realize how much time this whole process would take!  First off, I needed to cut my sashing squares down to the appropriate size.

Cutting my sashing squares down to 4".

Then for the hard part--Layout.  Wowsers, did it take me a long time before I decided to call it good!  So much contemplation.  Squinting.  Rearranging of blocks.  Flip flopping on minute points.  The fact is, I'm way out on a limb from my comfort zone.  This arrangement of colors and prints is very, very new to me.

Working on the layout....

I always feel like the layout part of putting together a quilt top needs plenty of time.   It's not that I'm a perfectionist or anything close to that particular description.  It's just that in too many cases, I sew my entire quilt top together and then suddenly realize that I put two blocks side by side that have the exact same fabrics!  How can that possibly happen?  And balance is so essential too.  You can't hardly spend too much time on that.  Then I moved on to a new (to me) idea.

Draw a line down the center, then sew an 1/8"
on each side to stabilize block before cutting.

I wanted to try out this neat little trick I read in the Fon's & Porter magazine about stabilizing setting and corner blocks created from pieced blocks.  It takes a bit of extra time, but let me tell you--it works beautifully!  Very much worth the extra time expended.

Cut block on the line directly down the center.

This block was the only block that had any stretching whatsoever and I think it's because of the woven fabric.  Otherwise?  All the fabrics cooperated just like intended.  Yes!

Setting Triangles are not ready to be sewn onto rows.

You know how much blocks and setting triangles get handled in the process of sewing rows together, not to mention what happens when you get to the quilting stage.  I am in LOVE with this idea for working with pieced blocks.  Such a great idea.  Where has this technique been all my life?

Corner triangles need to be stabilized from both directions.

It's all fairly self-explanatory once you realize the point of the entire process.....

Cut like before and then turn and cut triangle in half again
for corner triangles that won't stretch when you sew.

Nobody is insinuating that anybody reading through this excersise is stupid.  It just seems good to have lots of pictures for any and all interested.  Of course, I may be the last surviving quilter to NOT about this neat little trick.

All the setting/corner triangles are stabilized and ready to
be sewn together with the rest of the sashing and blocks!

I was in the process of trying to sew all my rows together before the hoardes return, but decided it was a good time to take a break and check out the blogging world.  You can also call it procrastination if you like.*wink

I just love getting the mail on days like today!

Oh yes!  I almost forgot. These little goodies arrived today!  Diane Knott from Butterfly Threads Quilting very generously sent these patterns to me to try out whenever I find some extra time!  The little Tumbler pattern is especially intriguing to me of late since I've been working on my little bow-tie quilt.  So much going on, but of course I always think I can do a little more.....

A Little Here, A Little There....

It's been an odd week so far.  Still hot and so my quilt room is not the place to hang around in for too long.  I've had these mini cake stand blocks all cut out for awhile and so I head upstairs and plug away at them a little at a time.  Doesn't feel like I'm making much progress, but there is an awful lot of them.  These are just the base block for each set (without the bottom of the basket sewn on yet).  I wanted to check and make sure the colors were playing nice before I went any further.

Partial Mini Cake Stands

All of my kids were gone for several hours one day, so I decided to take advantage.  I pulled out this Broken Dishes project and played with it for awhile.  I finally decided to keep to the original sashing width, chose a fabric and got it all cut out.  Then I contemplated the center squares for the sashing until my eyeballs wanted to scream.

Broken Dishes Park Deux

White seemed too bright and/or in-your-face and all the other colors were busy, busy, busy.  Then I remembered a stack of black and gray squares I had from a fabric trade a bazillion years ago.  Wallah!  Very exciting to me when I get to use up random bits and pieces of leftover projects or something that has been lying about feeling neglected for years.*wink

Now I just need to wait for another day when the kids are all busy elsewhere so I can take over the living room floor again.  This quilt top is obviously not going to go together easy and I want the blocks to be properly balanced if at all possible.  It is possible isn't it?  I'm still weighing my options for the setting triangles.  Traditional?  Or not?  Yes, no, maybe so.....

The Last Group of Broken Dishes Part Deux Blocks

Woohoo!  Now all 46 blocks are done and finished.  This last group is a little more dull?  Gray?  I do like how all of the blocks go together though, which is good.  Big sigh of relief there.  You just never know....

Will I really be able to chop some of these blocks in half?

I nixed the sashing fabrics I had picked out.  They just weren't doing it for me anymore, which is sad.  Not unusual, but sad.  Rarely can I ever predestine my sashing or my border fabrics, which makes me wonder why I even try? Those fabrics were supposed to make a very nicely pieced sashing pattern that I have been wanting to experiment with.  More and more I think I'm going to have to stick with the original pattern and do something very simple so that my blocks will be well framed.  If the sashing is too busy it will compete with the blocks and we can't have that.*wink

Where I started from.

The March/April 2011 issue of Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine is where I got my enthusiasm for this quilt project.  The stack of selected fabrics finally meets the perfect pattern and that's all it takes to get me to start cutting.  I only have about three (or four) more stacks of fabric waiting for the magic pattern.  Remind me to stay away from the Broken Dishes block though won't you?

And The Design Wall Fills Up

Broken Dishes Part Deux is starting to shape up into something interesting for me.  I ditched the way I was putting the blocks together, streamlined things a bit and started in on a major chain piecing effort.  

Starting to see some progress.

 I always have to work in fits and starts this time of year anyway, as things start getting busy on the home front.  Breaking it up this way seems like it should be more annoying because there are intense periods of much sewing, then ironing, matching pairs up, lots of pinning, then back to the sewing again.  Rarely more than one phase is ever accomplished before I'm rushing off to take care of something that needs my immediate attention.  You know.  Important things like getting the mail before the post office closes etc.  BUT--it's working so I will not question the why's of it!

About halfway through.....

I love mixing reproduction fabrics with brighter, bolder, more modern fabrics even when the combination sometime makes me wince.  I am completely in love with the bare bones of traditional/vintage/antiquey looking quilts, but I like to push the envelope a little and make people look twice to try and figure out what I'm doing.  Not that I always know or can properly explain it myself.*wink  Regardless of the eventual outcome, I console myself with the fact that my youngest daughter is loving what's on my design wall right about now.

Getting back to some chain piecing.

So..., I'm pretty sure I'm in the 'I think I'm gonna like it' stage of this quilt project.  Lets see what tomorrow holds!  Most quilts end up being a roller coaster ride of emotions for me by the time I see it through to the finished product.

Struggling a Little

So, I started to work on my Broken Dishes Part Deux quilt.  I love how the blocks are coming along with the funky mix of big print block pieces and the random big print background.  Truly a major challenge for this blendy, blendy gal.  But, I haven't been feeling super great this week so I lost steam pretty quickly.

Broken Dishes Part Deux

Must be allergy season already although there doesn't seem to be much blooming yet.  Whatever.  My head not feeling so great started making me feel cranky about all these triangles (of which I'm not good at the precision piecing thing).  Grrrr...  Sure, sure, there are other ways that work really slick and everything comes out wonderfully, but those ways irritate me at the best of times.  Besides, I had already decided to make sure and include some blocks where the piecing was off just enough to give the quilt that old fashioned utility, throw together look.  Hah!  I'm starting to wonder if I jinxed myself because I'm having to use a seam ripper endlessly to make sure they don't all look like a wandering chipmunk sewed on my blocks.

Pairing things up because I can be a control freak in my own way.

Told you I was cranky.  I decided to mix it up a little to get out of my very bad, no-good-mood rut.  I sewed all the inside triangles to the middle squares (one big stack of goodness) so I can work on the outside piecing in my usual sets of 4 to 6.  Maybe it will jostle something in my brain so the piecing starts working out a little better.*wink

My normal sets of 4 to 6.

Then I started wondering if it was all the lavender, purple, gray and black that was making me feel so moody.  All of my life, it seems like wearing purple or lavender has had the distinct effect of majorly depressing me lowering my mood levels just a bit.  It could follow that sewing those colors could be having a detrimental effect on my quilty mood, riiiiight? 

Sometimes I need to work with DIFFERENT colors.  The end.

I pulled out this project that has been languishing of late.  It's so sunny and cheerful that I knew it would be the one to get me out of the doldrums.  Usually letters are not my 'fun' thing to applique, but this quilt has had definitely worked its charm on me this time.  Thank goodness.  I was wondering if I should just set my quilt room on fire and get it over with....