Moving Another Quilt To the Finish Line

So Chunky Crossroads quilt is now a true-blue finish! Started in February of 2016 as an Ad. Hoc. Improv. challenge, this quickly became a color challenge as well. Basically I took a stack of fabrics that had been simmering for awhile and said, okay, lets just DO SOMETHING.

Chunky Crossroads a completed quilt!

I love quilts with lots of block repeats where the fabrics and colors get to shine. However, these colors were tough for me as they weren't exactly in my comfort zone. I ended up adding in some brighter, hotter pinks and also some lighter greens and that's where I turned the corner from drab murkiness to just having fun with value and sparkle. When I see potential for colors to dance across a quilt, then that's where I dig in and start to get serious. It's one of my favorite creative grooves, really.

Loving the simple texture from the stitching across the crossroads...

 As you can see, there isn't the usual skinny little coping border between the main part of the quilt and the applique border. I'm earnestly trying to audition each part of the quilting phase for what's best. Not just rely on the same 'ol, same 'ol. I know some of you don't especially care for borders, but they are incredibly intriguing to me. This was one quilt that obviously didn't have to have one, and so the challenge was to find a border that said 'neener, neener, neener... Wanna bet I won't look better without a border?' lol  They are always an option around here, but that doesn't mean I'm oblivious to the fact that it's not always necessary....

Amazing how much difference a little bit of binding can make!

This applique border design was cherry picked out of an older book called 'Mad About Folk Art' by Gerry Kimmel. The original design was only the solid fabric vine, bulbs and leaves. After getting that part figured out, measured properly for this particular quilt size, then cut out and tentatively placed, it just wasn't enough. The background fabric was one of those Basic Gray tone on tone fabrics I love, but with just the lime green applique on top, it was a bit too blah. Not in the least willing to ditch any of that cut out applique vine, I finally determined to add the different colored 'flowers'. It was a simple fix but wowsers, upped the time factor considerably. Of course.

Just enough hand quilting in the border

So that left me with lots of time to consider how crazy I am, taking a straightforward improv. style quilt to the next level of complicated. First of all by placing the applique on what is more or less the color of fresh concrete {who does that?}, then playing around with a tricky one-piece applique vine, then saying, nah... 'Not good enough'.... By the time all the hand stitching was done, it was hastily folded up and put out of sight.*sigh  Can I never truly just do simple?

A feel good finish....

But the funny thing is, this quilt has been beckoning to me. Because I really do adore the colors in it. In spite of all the frustration in getting the colors balanced out properly across the quilt and trying to determine a great add on border look, dealing with puckering issues on the back etc.--it's been such a fun, delightfully playful quilt. I mean that sincerely. It must be some sort of illness, thriving on these ups and downs of the endlessly fascinating quilting process! The icing on the cake with this quilt was when I found a perfectly, hideous binding fabric hiding in the stash {given to me by a quilting friend years ago}. One that was exactly the right color. Bingo! Cut small enough, almost any fabric can work as a great binding! It took care of ALL the remnants of worry left about the quilt not being one big cohesive whole. I am still marveling at how that light pink pulled all the lighter colors from the inside of the quilt out to play with the outside edges. Don't you love it when it all gets wrapped up with a bright shiny bow!

For the most part, it always came down to, 'What do I have to lose?' 'Is this idea worth exploring?' The fabrics were all from the stash except for the long border pieces. Time is just whatever I choose to commit. And who cares? It's really all about the process anyway. I'm starting to get a little worried though. Each new foray into different and challenging color palettes seems to take me further and further away from those original 'safe' colorways. I tell myself that it's the benefit of learning and growing, but is there really any going back after a certain point?

Another Day, Another Quilt in the Hoop

Chunky Crossroads is the current quilt in the hoop. I started it sometime in April of 2016 as an effort to play with improv. and maybe challenge myself color-wise. This color palette does not come naturally to me and it still amazes me how very much fun I've had working with it. Even now, getting it in the hoop, I am delighting in the mixture of colors staring back at me!

Chunky Crossroads getting some hand quilting on the border!

The entire middle of the quilt was machine quilted in a very simple wavy line crosshatch. Yep. I have zero originality when it comes to machine work. Love how it emphasizes the crossroads blocks though. This was one of those quilts where I grimaced a lot and worried that my feeble skills had ruined everything.  That's because I was an idiot and mixed in a small strip of cotton/poly with the rest of the backing and well, it caused a lot of puckering issues. Lo and behold poly/cotton does not stretch quite the same as the cottons.*sigh  Will I ever learn that using up just for the sake of getting rid of fabric {and not buying new}, is not always the best case scenario? Whatever. I used my trusty seam ripper and ripped out the worst of the puckering and then decided to let the other minor ones be. 

Yeah. Not showing you the back of this particular quilt, but my oldest daughter assures me that what's left looks sort of like it's been done on purpose. I guess us older folks would call it a mild shirring effect? The funny thing is that once I gave up on fixing the back and turned my mind to hand quilting the front, it's all perfectly okay again. I don't even care anymore and honestly, most people wouldn't even notice. The simple echo {hand quilting} is working wonders to pull all the applique elements together with the center of the quilt and I'm loving the whole thing again. No. That applique border was not overkill like I worried about and no, I didn't waste my time doing it. Sometimes it does cross my mind that I might be taking my applique love a little too far....

Trying to decide on colors

Which leads me to the next quilt I've been working on like a mad woman. There are so many projects that need some hand work done around here. To keep myself from starting the next couple that I'm itching to work on, I decided that at the very least, the foundation of this basket quilt HAD to be done first. No excuses! 

Playing with a vertical repeat as opposed to a horizontal one

After all the lattice applique was stitched down, then I needed to make a decision about the little 'button's. I had to figure out what colors and then how to do the repeats. You can see from the top picture which fabrics will potentially be used in the flowers, stems and leaves. I didn't want the little buttons on the lattice to compete too much with the flowers, but it seemed boring to not bring another color in to play.

And looking at all the basket after all the hand stitching is done!

So now the foundation is done, all except for the top horizontal row for the basket. And that can't be stitched down until the flower stems are put into place. My daughters had a young friend visiting yesterday evening while I was stitching down the last several buttons. She never said a word, but she definitely looked at my quilt like it was a foreign object. Maybe she's never been around quilt making before? This has been such an interesting project, watching it grow and change through every design decision. Sure, there's been some delays while I mulled and contemplated how to move forward, but never any regrets. Crossing my fingers the flowers will come together as well as planned and I can convince everything to stay in proper proportion....

Moving Things Forward

I am always uncertain about committing to any QAL involving finish-it-up goals. Frankly, it sort of panics me, which sounds very odd as I actually do finish things occasionally! But... Meredithe is a great friend and her '17 in 2017' sounds very no pressure. Thanks to Kyle I had access to a nifty little pdf and so now, after much pondering, here is the list.

17 in 2017 QAL

After perusing the other links, I noticed everyone has their own way of listing the projects.  Mine is simple: #1-11 are quilt projects still currently ongoing. The only really dusty one is 'Shattered', and I totally credit Meredithe for helping me dig that one out. #12-17 are completed quilt tops that hopefully will become a full fledged quilt sometime this year. Along with others of course, but I can't know exactly which quilt tops I'm in the mood to get started quilting. This leaves me lots of wiggle room!

Vintage Coxcombs

In the meantime, I've been trying to be very disciplined about not starting a new quilt project just yet. Tho I am itching, itching, itching to do just that! My tentative plan is to get three of my eleven ongoing projects to the completed quilt top stage before allowing my greedy self to jump into something new and shiny. Lots of applique work here, so I need to get cracking!

The quilt above, 'Vintage Coxcombs' includes 20 blocks. {Because I am insane and don't know when to stop.} Most of the background blocks are sewn together in similar, but different looking fabrics, pieced together as the leftover bits dictate. Since I mostly buy fatquarters, getting 20 similar background blocks can be complicated at times, but I love the look of this way versus made up of all of one fabric.

After I complete appliqueing the coxcombs to the oval shape {done!}, then next up is the possible star background. I'm going to do a test block to see if the triangles are large enough and proportions work out properly. This is the part I hate--thinking the triangles look perfect as is which would means re-cutting and adding the seam allowance once again. And yes, I've already cut out ALL of the triangles for 20 blocks.*sigh Thus the test block. I've been fooled once before.

Chunky Crossroads

Don't judge me by my crinkly looking applique, It's all coming along rather nicely! Two borders out of four down with two to go on the Chunky Crossroads improv. quilt. I ended up adding the fat looking flower buds as it just looked too barren without. I'm still a little {okay, a lot} waffle-y about whether the quilt sincerely needs the applique borders or I'm just indulging myself. Ahh... Self doubt. Always there to rain on our parade.... Too, I get kind of jumpy after sewing the same exact thing for hours on end and usually make myself a bargain or two just to keep going. It helps to have perspective and not let sheer tedium come up with our answers!

After completely two borders, then I gave myself permission to go straight to work on the 'Gather Ye Rosebuds' quilt which includes the  Big Tumbler Basket and a whole bunch of smaller baskets. It's going to be an asymmetrical quilt with a vine running down the left side and across the bottom before connecting with the text block on the right side. I'm trying to do as much applique as possible before joining it to the larger basket and thus making a big 'ol awkward mess to do my stitching on. Lots of work to do here, but then I'll probably jump back to the Vintage Coxcombs test block before yes, you guessed it! finally diving back into the Chunky Crossroads borders once again. I really do like to mix things up and having smaller goals helps keep me on track for feel-good finishes along the way. Hey, whatever works!

Gather Ye Rosebuds

And of course, there's always a quilt in the hoop around here. The middle portion of this quilt is finally done and next I'm going to be starting in on the outside two borders. Last night I marked off a simple grid pattern and with stitching one or two frames an evening, this could be done by the end of January!

Geese Tracks & Black Shadow Applique

I put this particular quilt off for a long time as I just wasn't 'feeling' it. And honestly, it took getting the entire geese-tracks/applique section getting stitched and finally working of the basket quilting before I finally settled in and started loving it again. So funny. I've always appreciated this quilt, enjoyed working on it so much and then when it's time, I can't feel the love while starting to quilt it.

But that's the way quilting works with me. I often have to reconnect. Just the steady stitch, stitch, stitch, hearing the needle slide in and out, staring down at the quilt, remembering the whys and wherefores. It all works to remind me of what's so great about quilting. This quilt? I'm the one making it, but it has a few fabrics from my grandma who was a quilter too. Just another in a long line of 'makers' allowing the work of quilting to quiet and soothe our {often} worried and troubled minds. I can tell--this quilt's gonna be a keeper...

The Latest AHIQ Stuff Going On Around Here

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

Chunky Crossroads

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

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

Improv. Wheels

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

Big Tumbler Basket

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

Little Baskets

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

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

Gather Ye Rosebuds block ready to applique

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

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

An August Bit of Play With Adhoc. Improv.

I often feel like I'm flittering and fluttering from project to project, much like a butterfly, never sticking for the long haul. Then, slowly but surely I begin to see things start pulling together and wowsers! Why should I do things any different when it's mostly working out for me? Besides, it's so much fun to play, don't you think?

Testing out a center applique idea

This summer-y looking set of pinweels is a result of starting in on another one of Sujata Shah's block sets in her 'Cultural Fusion' book. I haven't gotten very far. Mostly because I mixed things up and am working with 5 fabrics per block set, not 4. Which incidentally makes balancing the colors a challenge. Not sure where it's going or how excited I am with it, but I'll say it's growing on me. I absolutely love the addition of the vintage floral fabric. Trust me when I say that it does add depth to these funky blocks.

Wonky Pinwheels

And then I just couldn't resist any longer. This strings project has been nagging at me for literally months, so what's a girl to do? I went back to my book 'The Improv. Handbook' by Sherri Lynn Wood and refreshed my memory on how string sets might be formed. Yah, yah. Recommended to use the complete width of your yardage....

Improv. String Sets

Oh, I just balk at trying to cut 42" strips in any freehand sort of way. {Pretty amazing that I even had anything larger than a fatquarter!} But my mind sort of freezes up and says 'no!' Not enough room at my cutting counter and I do so hate moving fabric while in the midst of cutting. So I simply folded the fabric in half and then once the 21" length was cut, I sliced the narrow end off. There. That took care of the {worst of it} weird ripply off-bias result quite well and no time lost trying to maneuver partially cut fabric masses.

I made sure to add enough strips on the horizontal {me thinking ahead for once} so that each strip set would result in two 8 1/2" string blocks. Which I promptly stuck on the wall and admired as a potential basket. Oh yeah! First part of this particular mission accomplished--just as soon as I sew them all together. And all the leftover strippy pieces can be revamped into the basket handle too. What's a basket without a proper handle? Sorry about the bad color in photo below. Too much direct sunlight I suppose?

A new large basket emerging

And because I know you're all wondering, here's the all-sewn-up version of my Chunky Crossroads quilt--yet another set of blocks sewn from the Cultural Fusion book. Plain and simple but with so very much spark.*sigh Believe me, I was a teensy bit worried about that concrete gray dulling everything down! Love the imperfect matching up of each crossroads blocks in the corners and those limey greens--just yummm....

Chunky Crossroads quilt top

But you know it's not finished until the applique genie has made the final decision. hehe  Yes.... that's right. I'm contemplating adding on a border with some, gasp! applique details. 'Cuz that's the way my mind operates and really, it makes me happy in a folksy, primitive, quilty sorta way.

Okay. That's my Adhoc. Improv. wrap up for the month of August! I had to smile at Ann's mention of the 'need to quilt'. Such a real thing for so many of us! And taking off on that theme, have any of you read the latest installment of the derivative work discussion going on in blogland? I am personally enjoying the refreshingly, frank look at how all of us {as whatever genre of quilters we happen to be} inspire and are inspired by others--regardless of the increasing dictatorial narrow view of the current 'modern' quilt leaders. Playing with fabric is what we do. There's bound to be some crossover and eventually, if we're dedicated and serious about our passion, a bright new spark of originality!

More Crossroads Blocks

These are such interesting blocks. The entire approach of first cutting large squares and then free cutting, sewing, free cutting again and then sewing some more is very different from the normal piecing application. It's so nice not to have to worry about matching up every single piece though.

Chunky Crossroads blocks

And it's easy to get into the flow of making these blocks {after I re-orient myself as far as the cutting/sewing goes}, four by four until the design wall slowly fills up. I'm a bit nervous about how drab some of my blocks are, but looking at them en masse, those particular ones don't jump out at me as boring. Rather, the brighter blocks are looking quite outgoing, trying to hog all the attention. So glad I trusted my instincts and added in that bright, hot pink fabric!

A closer look

Right now I'm slightly over halfway through the making of these blocks, with 100 blocks as my goal! Wowsers. What was I thinking? There's a lot to trim off though and then there's that seam allowance that disappears into the quilt. I was quite determined to make this quilt a bed size as lately I seem to keep making those namby pamby lap quilts.*wink  

Lots going on right now so my sewing time has been feeling very scattered. We've had company all week which means my youngest son is sleeping on the hide-abed in the living room. All good and fine except he's kicking me out of my comfy sewing spot every night about an hour {or more!} before I normally go to bed. Hand quilting, where art thou? And good news! My oldest son is moving back to our area after living in Oregon for the past couple years! It's going to be tough for him to find a rental after so many of them burned two years ago, but we are excited to think of him living nearby. Gonna have to stock up on groceries though. I have a feeling my refrigerator is going to be raided on a regular basis once again and you know what? This momma doesn't even care....

February AHIQ Play

For some reason I experience a lot of resistance to starting my 'improv.' quilt projects. Yeah, yeah, I wing it all the time with applique, but that's different. Applique improv. is easy peasy.*wink  So even with lots of ideas percolating in my brain considering future improv. ideas {including three current stacks of wonderful-to-me fabric blends}, I pulled a brand new stack of fabric and did something completely different.

The first four

For the moment, I feel that boundaries are needful to me. A starting point and perhaps something I can 'see' will truly come together. A promise of success. So I returned again to Sujata Shah's 'Cultural Fusion' book. I love how she gives you the plan and then tells you to make it your way. My kind of thinking.

I've been wanting to make some chunky looking crossroad blocks for awhile now. Obviously. They've been simmering in the back of my brain {taunting me} and every now and then I see them flash across my vision like a mirage. Here and then, poof! they're gone. I see them a little bit wonky and LOVE that they aren't perfect--will never match up in a million years. But I never really did the work of figuring out how to make them. Or even look for patterns. There are so many quilty ideas floating around in my brain, who can keep track?

Looking at 12 blocks already!

Turns out I don't have to. In a maybe, what-if I look in the Cultural Fusion book? I found pure gold for this months AHIQ. On a different note, what really, really does need to happen is for me to learn how to follow a pattern correctly. I 'get it' and then as you see below, promptly forget it. Maybe I'm a visual learner? Huh. Probably 'hands on' judging by how often this happens.*sigh

Whoops!

Thankfully these are sewn together in sets of four. I might have given up if I'd already sewn all 100 squares that are cut out for the quilt! And I could feel myself relaxing by the third set of blocks. Whew!!! Wondering about cutting a curvier line, getting excited about the slight wonkiness I was achieving so easily. This is good stuff. No guilt here about starting yet another project. And I am using good fabric for this project. Really dug deep and used {mostly} fabric that I love. Fabric that I'm curious about--with colors that speak to me right now. I'm excited. Only 88 blocks left to go....

Linking up to Ann and Kaja  for the February AHIQ!