Getting Caught Up On the Big Basket Series

Gather Ye Roses is the first finish of the year! Yay! This quilt is the first in my big basket series, but somehow the last to be a true blue finish. For some reason, I was intimidated at the thought of quilting all that 'blank' cream space around the basket. After stitching on the other two though, then it all felt so much easier. Amazingly enough, procrastination does occasionally pay off...

These quilting lines are 'eyeballed', not carefully
measured out for accuracy and precision....

And though I liked this quilt, it had become the least favorite of the three. Why in the world? It looks ever so better with the hand quilting than it did as a quilt top! Not sure why that continues to be a problem for me after so many years, under-appreciating the effect that quilting texture can just generally bring to the table. A quilt top can look so well..., lifeless before the quilting. There's just no comparison and really, no possible way to imagine the entirety of the final results.

Gather Ye Rosebuds the first finish of 2020!
Big Basket #1

The whiter areas of the basket handle continue to amuse me. Should there have been an extra stitch or two down the middle of the basket handle in order to dull all that brighter area? I decided not to, time and again. Second guessing just gets tiresome. I decided that it makes for an extra interesting element, having the basket handle fade in and out of the background. In years to come, it will no doubt become another one of those 'what-was-the-quilter-thinking?' questions we all love to ponder.

Gather Ye Roses. Or whatever else flower you might love...

I quickly figured out that making large baskets for a centerpiece would create all sorts of problems in the border areas. Proportion, proportion, proportion! I emphatically did not want these quilts to all be king sized! In the first quilt, I kept to a simple, much smaller basket block repeat on two sides. The purposeful asymmetrical look resulted from adding 1. a different color border on two sides, 2. a larger border width on those two sides, 3. a distinctively different design application in the break from blocks to applique vines. Easy peasy, but yes, involving a lot of different design decisions.  Should do this more often. Love, love a good asymmetrical border application....

A few little flowers in the baskets...

Working with an asymmetrical design idea also totally ended the dilemma of what to do about a long gawky basket surrounded by too-narrow borders. Which just made the basket look even more awkward and weird. So what to do? More borders? One fabric add ons? Ugghh.. I just wanted it to look interesting and somehow maximize the effect of the super large basket. Seriously though, all along I was hinging the entire success of the quilt on the hope that the final quilting stitching would create important depth and texture there in the centerpiece. So, so happy when that came to fruition....

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but all the brown in the applique area is made up of several different brown fabrics. Very subtle difference, but something that I find much more compelling than using all the same fabric. From a distance, the change from medium to darker brown creates depth and movement in the quilt, and close up, it just gives it that utility 'make-do look'. In my opinion, that adds to the sneaky charm of this quilt, the overall coziness, not having everything come off as matchy-matchy.

Possible rosebuds on the vine?

Of course, the fact that I didn't actually have enough brown fabric in any one piece of yardage helped make those decisions come about more easily. However, if it was a truly awful idea {after carefully auditioning whatever there was available from the stash}, I do know where the fabric store is. Rare though it may be, I have taken that option once or twice before in my life! How much more rewarding {for me, can't speak for you!} to find a good use for fabrics languishing away in the stash totes. 

Mixing several different blendy-type, printed fabrics that have a similar color feel to them is a puzzle, but being able to totally use them up and maybe even have to search out more feels great. I love it! I mean, it's not like you'd actually consciously build a quilt around these fabrics, right? Ahem, yeah. Quick disclaimer, I might actually starting to do this very thing, just for fun? lol  For example though,  the brown fabric with the tiny white flower on the corner of the quilt was a 90's look print that I had been trying to use up for years. Why toss the idea of finally getting to use it, when it's an absolutely perfect match for this particular quilt? Oh, there's obviously not enough, bummer. Guess we'll give that idea up. No! Find some fabrics that play reasonably well with that one wonderful print  and make it work. 

Nothing helps out a red, white a blue quilt better
than the perfect amount of brown...

The sweetest thing about this quilt might be the words with the red flowers nearby. Not all the flowers are rosebuds of course, but the sentiment still makes me happy. Words to live by! The binding is several random lengths from the leftovers binding tote and a couple other scrappy pieces of red fabric that blended well. So easy to go scrappy on a quilt like this. Although it never really, truly reduces the sheer amount of leftover binding lengths does it?  Not in the long run. No matter how much I kid myself, there always seems to be just a little bit leftover to dump straight back into the tote.*sigh  Maybe it's like sourdough starter....

That soft, striped homespun was a bear to work with
but looks so good in the background position!

So there you go. That's the sum total of the Big Basket Series {thus far}. Gather Ye Rosebuds was the first Big Basket in the series to be a completed quilt top, but the last one totally finished up. Improv. Woven Basket, below, was the second quilt top and the first one totally finished up.

Improv. Woven Basket, Big Basket #2

Big Tipsy Basket was the third in the series and the second one to be completely quilted. It's interesting to see the overall comparison at a quick glance. The first quilt was started in 2016 on an impulse {really had no idea that I even wanted to make big baskets}, and that quickly led to the idea of series work. Kind of impossible to stop at one! There was supposed to be a fourth quilt, but somehow that particular idea never got off the ground floor. 

Big Tipsy Basket, Big Basket #3

Never say never! When Jolene shared her beautiful Tribute To Gwen Marston basket quilt earlier this year, it definitely got me thinking again. Hmm... Maybe. Maybe? I might just one more big basket quilt in me. Or two. The series is only over when I say it is.....

Finish It Up January

It's amazing how quickly something can happen once we're in the right frame of mind. This quilt project has been on the back burner for practically forever. Then comes January and I'm chomping at the bit to clear off the 'in-progress' list. Gotta free up space to start new projects!

Shimmer is a finished quilt top!

All the blocks were done, but I was dragging my feet big time. All those strippy pieces cut, sewn and then cut again? Yep. Though I pinned at every seam, just the weight of the rows kept pulling seams apart until I wanted to scream. Finally, I hit on the solution to fold the rows up accordion style {while resting in my lap} to take a majority of the weight off. That was way better. And for the record, all the seams nested together wonderfully, could have eliminated many, many pins if the seams had just behaved better!

The full quilt

Love the scrappy look so much and yes, the design is a bit mushier in my quilt than in Diane's {look for this quilt pattern in Strip Quilt Secrets book by Diane Knott}. These fabrics choices pretty much guaranteed a soft look which is very sweet to see closer up. So glad that the red and yellow bits add just enough spark to keep things interesting. I was afraid they might end up being too distracting in the overall scheme of things, but hey, look at that, they might actually help! I spent so many of my early quilting years trying earnestly to make 'blended' quilts, that sometimes I think it happens almost subconsciously, my inborn saboteur. Then I can end up with these terribly muted, 'flat' looking quilts that I'm looking at thinking, 'What just happened here? {Never said my blended quilts were successful, now did I?} Seriously though, have to fight that habit off all of the time.

I had thoughts about adding a border after, 'cuz you know, BORDERS?  but couldn't come up with anything that set my pulse racing. Never say never as it's not quilted yet! There's still time to drag it out of the drawers and slap some fabric along the outside edges if I so get the urge....

Love the scrappiness!

Though it should be way down at the bottom of the quilting queue, I already have someone in mind for this quilt, so that feels good. Wonderful to have a destination already in the works. It just somehow looks like great potential for excellent snuggling and with all the purple involved here, maybe I won't have to intentionally make a purple quilt, which has been stressing me out. Just a little, nothing important. Definitely not my favorite thing though, to try and make a quilt FOR someone, with all their potential likes and dislikes in mind. Not that I ever ask, but we can only imagine?

So much easier to end up with a great 'match' at the end of a enjoyable little quilting adventure that had nothing at all to do with anything, other than the fact that we were just having fun. Did you catch all that? The point is, I'm exceedingly happy to have another stalled project checked off the list and team that up with 'maybe I don't have to make a special quilt for so&so after all, 'cuz hallelujah, this little quilt will work out just fine there.'  There's something about starting a new year that helps motivate me even more towards crossing things off lists and moving them along. It seems to come free with the frosty air around here!

Pattern is much more obvious when it's laid flat..

I put the last {quilting} stitch in 'Gather Ye Roses' quilt just the other day too. I had completely underestimated how much time I would be willing to put into this one. One area would be quilted and then I'd go back and add in more stitching. Just because it didn't look right. There's even more stitching that could probably be done, but I just don't wanna. I'm done. This isn't an heirloom quilt after all, and it's time to move on. The binding was put together from various, scrappy lengths of complimentary red fabrics, though darker than the reds used in the center of the quilt. It's a perfect quilt for the make-do, use-it-up binding look, and much, much easier on my pocket book!

Waiting for binding work

The next quilt in the hoop is 'Directions From a Local'. It has such an old fashioned, serene color palette, perfect for our very cold, winter weather of late. Been itching to get this one in the hoop! So looking forward to the simple quilting too. Nothing complicated about a big 'ol Log Cabin quilt.

Directions From a Local next up in the hoop

This project was started as an interpretation of one of those 'Unconventional & Unexpected' quilts that I so love to play with. Then later, the idea morphed into a blend of that, and also, meeting the Maps challenge over at AHIQ. I obviously went my own direction, but it's something that has made me smile. Never underestimate the power of a quilt that can make you smile!

Getting it sandwiched and pinned

So yeah, it ended up being a 'don't-take-me-seriously'' type of quilt, which is good, as I am absolutely loving jumping into the hand quilting now. Some quilts want to be stubborn and reticent, won't tell you right off what they need for the stitching. They make you attempt several different designs or colors of thread, and basically waste a lot of time with guesswork and what-ifs. This quilt doesn't seem to be the least bit interested in anything complex or different. So relaxing and chill, makes easy to settle into my corner of the couch and dive right in.

Already started with the stitching!

It's been a little challenging to carve out enough time to hand quilt,as my mind has been turning to hand work and attacking the applique projects once again too. You know how I sort of cycle back and forth with the hand work, sometimes expending big chunks of time on it and others, barely pecking away. Lately I've been wanting to do more with the hand work projects {they are starting to squawk loudly from sheer neglect}, but then found myself getting completely sidetracked on the latest Ugly quilt. Was gonna get it totally finished up and then... once I started working on it, decided to play with even more applique. Why do I do this? I have perfectly good applique projects begging for attention! Anyway, the real problem is that my sit down time is about the same time of day most days of the week, and it's usually either or. Either the hand applique or the hand quilting. Do one then their's not a lot of time for the other. I've been trying to squeeze in more minutes there and that does help. Maybe if I could kick myself off the computer more often?

Also, the upstairs has been in a constant state of uproar since sometime in October when our youngest son moved out. I wrote a long segment about that and then deleted it. Suffice it to say that my husband has completely taken over most of the upstairs with all his stuff, sorting, organizing and even tossing. Good stuff, it definitely needed to be done, but wowsers does he take forever. And a day. My brief time with laying quilts out flat on the floor nearby the quilt room has been done and over with for at least 2 months now, and now I'm basically just squeezing through, past all the rubble, just to get back to my area . I'm trying to be patient and supportive and have gained extra shelving in my quilt room as a result. Yay! No extra floor space, but a good place to get stuff up off the floor and help in de-cluttering the counter tops. Pretty amazing. Of course that means a little bit of time sorting and tidying myself. So ready for that chaos to be over and done with, but I keep telling myself, 'At least it's not in the living room'. Right?*sigh 

Just Hitting the High Notes Then I Gotta Run

Life has been so busy lately, it almost feels like I'm in free fall, no control whatsoever. I know that's not exactly true, but with Thanksgiving right in front of us {and a litany of things going wrong lately}, it's definitely been hard to manage all the things that need attention. Quilting is happening in very random moments of time and blogging is all about the speed reading and smiles.

Joining the rows for Roman Stripe quilt

I'll catch up real quick and then probably disappear for another couple weeks. Whatever little bits of time I have for quilting need to be just for that, not for proofreading my babbling blog posts! Roman stripes, above, is a project that was started back in September. It's a super easy project that concentrates more on the fabrics than on design and will probably turn out just fine, if not the 'fantabulous' that I usually strive for.

I LOVED the fabrics back when first stacking the fabrics together, and honestly, if I would have made the quilt at the same time? I'd be over the moon in love. Now I just feel happy and pleased, but ready to move on to a different quilt. We just never know how quickly our tastes can change do we? Somehow I cut out a lot more pieces than needed for the throw quilt suggested in the pattern and now am committed to making two of them. Oh well! Comfort quilts always seem to find a home around here and it will be good to have a couple ready to go when needed.

Blue Plumes

Blue plumes is currently out of the hoop and the first phase of binding is sewn on. I'm not sure exactly why, but this binding is taking me forever. I've been hoping to get this one completely finished up by Thanksgiving so I can gift it to the intended recipients for an 25th anniversary quilt! Almost there....

My washing machine went kaput this past week and I'm so ready for the situation to be resolved. A part is ordered and we're all crossing our fingers that my 'jack-of-all-trades' husband can fix the current issue cheaply. If not, it's black friday appliance shopping for us! Thanksgiving week company means lots of extra laundry plus I'd really like to wash this quilt after the binding is finished up. Gotta get rid of the blue marking lines and also, what's a quilt without that lovely freshly washed and dried crinkle look?

Autumnal Tulips

It felt really good to get all 30 tulip blocks stitched up to the point of needing leaves. First opportunity to lay them all out, I was busy trying to figure out the rest. The first leaves reminded me of slugs so that was a no-go.  All it took was a quick trim-up though and I felt satisfied with the resulting shapes. After a lot of time dithering, I finally decided to cut out the leaves in the rust, dark browns and also some navy fabrics. These are colors that I absolutely want to include in the quilt and in order to not lose the 'lightness' of the quilt, the sashing needs to be similar in color to the block background. So that's it. The leaves have to be dark. Decision made, time to trace and cut out the pieces!

Freehand applique

Lots of inward panic here with the holidays so quickly approaching. We've had different times of company being here with more to come, and in just a couple weeks there will be a Christmas tree in the house taking up room too. These are things which radically hinder my ability to sandwich and pin quilts, which of course, is a major problem. How can I survive the holiday season without a quilt in my lap Every. Single. Evening! Oh, you thought I was panicking about holiday preparations? haha  A person needs to have their priorities firmly in place!

Next quilt tops for quilting

I've desperately wanted to work on quilt projects 'in progress' but it seemed more expedient to get a couple tops ready for hand quilting. I sewed three {mixed fabric} backings together and then got two quilts pinned and ready for the hoop. That ought to be enough to take me clear though until January! If there's a good chunk of time between now and when the tree arrives, I might even get the third quilt sandwiched and pinned for machine quilting. Pushing my luck there, but it'll be nice to have it ready if somehow there's a window of opportunity.

Gather Ye Rosebuds getting sandwiched and pinned

I ended up choosing this 'Gather Ye Rosebuds' quilt for next-up-in-the-hoop. It's not one that I've been super anxious to work on, but the flowery vine is slightly reminiscent of Christmas Cactus and it's been in the drawers for ages now. Hmm... I can actually see this one becoming a quilt that only comes out during the holidays in years to come. Why didn't I think of that earlier?

Should be a good one for working on during the holidays

We made several trips over to Spokane in the last couple weeks so I took advantage and made a list to stock up on Perle Cotton thread that I might need for the next several quilts. Sew-EZ-Too on Garland street {where I take my Bernina for annual maintenance}, has Finca threads and now, a nice little section of Valdani too! Hey, hey, hey! Look who has less money in the bank account now! lol 

Love quilts with words

For the harder to find Valdani threads {usually the variegated}, I generally shop an Etsy store called 'NeedleCaseGoodies' first. After that, I will browse other Etsy stores and then, failing there, go to larger quilting stores if I'm looking for a specific number/color. And yes, I will use DMC threads or Presencia too--it's all good. I don't feel exceedingly picky, just preferential?

And baskets...

A couple of the quilt stores that I used to pop in occasionally have closed up shop in the past couple years. So disappointing, but it's not like I've been a regular customer myself, living three hours away. The good news is that the new quilt shop on main street, Reardan, Washington is a brand new fave. Check it out if you get a chance! I finally got to pop in an take a look about a week ago and am so happy that I did! Such a fun store. Love the exposed brick look and wow, really lovely fabrics and everything displayed in a wonderfully engaging way. I'm quite determined to dig deep and clear out some oldy moldies in the next year, but it's amazing how much easier it can be with some new lovelies mixed in. Okay, that's it for now. Hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving! I'm so looking forward to the family and food. The kids and granddaughters arrive in two days!! Still pinching myself over that term. Granddaughters. I'm not even 50 years old yet! Super sweet though. We're absolutely loving it! As my late father-in-law always used to say, 'If we'd have known how great it was to have grandchildren, we'd have had them first.'*wink

Progress on the 17 UFO's

Last week saw me with the quilt top finish of Chunky Crossroads. This week Gather Ye Roses and My Quilty 365 got crossed off of the 17 in 2017 list as well. I only committed to quilt top finishes with these particular projects as Meredithe assured us that progress was the point!

The three latest quilt top finishes!

Gather Ye Roses started out as tumbler block leftovers and then eventually morphed into a large tumbler basket after one day of play. At that point, I knew it needed more, but wasn't sure where to go from the over-large basket piece. Medallion style quilt? Pieced blocks? More flowers? There are so... many options you know!

Gather Ye Rosebuds looking a little washed out..

Finally I settled on a very rough draft that included smaller basket blocks, a flowing vine and space for some appliqued words. The baskets were easy, just took some time for the details. Then for the rest? Hmmm... In the drawing, my vine had what looked to be fat berries on the vines, but when I settled on 'Gather Ye Rosebuds' for the saying, the berries looked extremely wrong. Not that I'm a purist, but seriously, mentioning the word 'rosebuds' might, just maybe? create an expectation of buds on the vine as well as in the occasional basket.*sigh  These quilts, so demanding!

A look at the bottom of the quilt

However, the flowers are all just a mishmash of whatever blooms I decided to cut out at the time. Tulip shapes and other assorted floral shapes that made sense to me. I refuse to get too worked up over making sure every single detail is just 'so', and I do so love the primitive look to this asymmetrical quilt. Especially done up in the classic, traditional colors that I'm seemingly drawn to, over and over and over again through the years. I will say though, that the applique was a bit brutal at times in the overall effort of making this quilt. Hardly any machine piecing at all which means progress always comes along at the speed of the turtle, not the hare....

The large tumbler basket centerpiece

And then there was the day I spent appliqueing the centerpiece for my dear Quilty 365 quilt. Nothing else quilty that day at all, just this deceptively simple addition to my circle quilt! Words are tricky, but oh, so fun looking on the occasional quilt.

And now it's a quilt top finish!

Surprisingly, I've also moved a very little bit forward with the make-piece triangles for Shattered. It's a quilt that is primarily going to be made out of the scrap bin and while I love the look, it does get a bit tedious at time. Just saying! 76 out of 208 triangles made so far, which by my calculations is just over a fourth the way through. Every time I think, 'This is it! I'm done making these forever!'. Then I take a couple days break, think about it and come back with fresh eyes. It may be a project that takes the entire year to plow through, but I know it will be worthwhile if I just stick with it long term.

Make-fabric triangles

The really exciting progress was finishing up the hand quilting for my Geese Tracks quilt. Yay! It needs binding of course, but it's always such a great motivator to get this close to a true-blue finish. I don't even have to put the binding on for a month and I already feel like it's amazing progress.*wink

Geese Tracks and Black Shadow Applique quilt

So far, it's been really good for me to have this list, reminding me every single time I walk in the quilt room, but the years' young! There's a whole long list of projects I still want to attack, most not even cut out yet. When there's time, I'll be checking out everyone else's progress over at Meredithe's 17 UFO's in 2017. Right now, my youngest son thinks dinner is much more important that mom's quilting stuff and you know how hungry teenagers get when their stomach is empty!

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...

A Reflection of the Past Year {Quilty-wise} and Essential Elements for 2017

2016 has been such a busy, scattered year for me. I've felt rather like a leaf floating down the currents of a river at times, totally at the mercy of all the elements. Now that we're full swing into the holiday mode, I've found myself very reflective about my quilting. I suppose that's why Kaja's latest post really struck a chord within me and I decided to join in with the latest fun over at Quilting JetGirl too!

Goals for 2017 quilting:  1.  Fabric Love. Flitting in and out of my quilting room this past couple weeks has made me realize how delighted I am to be greeted by colorful, ongoing projects. I want to be more intentional about digging through the stash and using the fabrics and colors that speak the loudest to me--working to get it 'right' no matter how much time that may take.

Working to put Quilty 365 together...

2.  Applique. So very key for me. Sometimes I feel almost overwhelmed by all the projects that need/want/demand applique work, but in the long run it makes me very happy. Doing this sort of hand work helps settle me and causes me to look a little closer at the details--very necessary in my busy, busy world!

Vintage Coxcombs applique coming along slowly but surely...

3.  Repetition--very often a part of my quilting. Call me old fashioned, call me whatever you like, but I really, really like the structure and framework of having 'repeats' in my quilts. This is an element I want to remember to use moving forward.

Next border on Peachy Cameo Medallion

4.  Which leads me to borders. Oh how I love me some borders! The sheer challenge of making it all work is so good for me and there's nothing quite like finishing up a border and feeling that sense of accomplishment! Lots of small victories in this type of work which absolutely gives me energy to do more designing and brainstorming. Bring on the medallion quilts, 'cuz they aren't going away anytime soon.*wink

Another border on Folksy Flowers. Going to have to address that bias edge soon!

5.  Scrap Attack quilts. So overlooked. Do you know that the scrap attack quilts are the ones that generally end up being the most used on my beds? I just can't seem to resist their charm. In 2017 I want to keep 'working straight from the scrap bin' part of the rotation. There's nothing quite like taking those insignificant little scraps and creating something surprising and yes, genuinely lovely. I adore the unpredictability of using those scraps!

One of my favorite Scrap Attack quilts

6.  Ad Hoc Improv. Quilting.  Love, love, love this freewheeling style that by turns makes me feel like a total moron and then flips around and makes me feel quite brilliant in the very next quilt project.  If it wasn't for challenging myself to break free and work in this difficult-for-me method of quilting, I wouldn't have my big 'ol Improv. Woven Basket centerpiece. That would be sad. Big intentions to do more and see where and how it evolves in the future.

Improv. Woven Basket quilt

7.  Simplicity. Something that is almost stark in terms of emotion, but whatever that emotion may be, is solely up to the maker! The deliberate choices that have to be made seem to gain in importance--that's just reality when working this way. Whether or not I do another 'wholecloth' style quilt, I want to at least start with simplicity on occasion. It's such an interesting way to work and I simply love how it strips all the pretense and/or fussiness out of the equation.

Be Still, my sweet little wholecloth lap quilt

8.  Series Work.  There are often repeated elements from one quilt to the next in my quiltmaking. Whether this is deliberate series work or simply my subconscious operating behind the scenes {I've done both}, it is a very meaningful in a sense of  'progression' of personal style. Sometimes my knee jerk reaction to 'yet another basket quilt' is a feeling of despair or inadequacy that I can't come up with something new and exciting. I want to remember that those elements {that I continually seem to connect so personally to} are part of my quilting voice. I need to be unafraid and unashamed to be the 'basket queen' or whatever it is we're focused so intently on. Continue to let those elements be fine tuned and honed into that someday amazing quilt we're always striving for!

Gather Ye Roses quilt project

9.  QALS and Connections.  I prefer the open-ended QALS and no-pressure outcome. For instance, the quilt below {my most recent finish!} was a result of joining Wendy's Basket Galore BOM a couple years ago. Make the blocks, do whatever you like with them sort of thing. Lori made one as well and it's so interesting to see how we all ended up adding applique blocks to go along with those very challenging basket blocks. In my case it was probably a case of busying the quilt up so the mistakes are not as obvious!

Completed Red and Green Applique & Baskets Galore quilt

But the real point is the connections we make. Making something similar but different is often quite eye opening. I tend to shy away from QALS, but I can definitely see the benefits from these types of projects. Hopefully in 2017 there will be another QAL or two that fits into my personal requirement of 'has-to-be-on-my-bucket-list-to-join-up'. I never know where it just might lead....

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10. About that 'Process' thing which {should} eventually result in some really great quilts. In theory! Full circle brings me straight to the Cactus Basket quilt finished earlier this year. It's absolutely a direct result of that red/yellow basket second over in the previous picture. I had so much trouble with making that particular block, I decided to try it with hand piecing. Wallah! One things leads to another blah, blah, blah. Somehow I ended up with a totally different kind of quilt. And it feels more like a 'me' quilt in some perfect and indescribable way. In 2017 I need not forget the sheer value and importance of the process. That pure and simple doing.

The Cactus Basket quilt

Sorry for such a lengthy yawn of a post, but it helps to have a clear examination our of quilt-making once in awhile! At least for me. Thank you Kaja for the nudge and thanks to Yvonne for the initial inspiration!

2017 Planning Party Link-up

Now I'm off to finish baking my sugar cookies and other assorted holiday goodies! Merry Christmas to all of you. Hope your weekend is filled with lots of love, laughter and good eating...