Pre-election Jitters Quilting

I won't deny it.  I have been a very jittery poll watcher these last couple of days.  My family is rolling their eyes at me, because I just can't settle.  How could we possibly end up with an election that matters quite so much?  I decided I needed a fresh, shiny new project to distract me the other day (justification to start a new project is always so sweet) and somehow ended up working with these colors. lol

Wondering what I'm doing.....

The scrap bin is overflowing once again and when I was trying to clean it up a bit, I chanced to see a very complementary pair of fabrics laying on top of each other. That's about all the inspiration I needed to jump into yet another Scrap Attack project!  See?  Nothing subliminal going on at all!  hehe

The scraps that started it all.

The little bit of Gwen Marston influence the other day undoubtedly influenced me as well.  I actually did spend about an hour combing through my books and patterns to see if I could find a very simple pattern that would transfer well to scraps.  Truthfully, that was a bit disappointing.  My mind was thinking of big things and the scraps are mostly about small stuff.  I finally came up with a basic scrappy log-cabin-like brick block.

What to do, what to do???

I managed to sew about four blocks before I ran out of time in my day.  Yay for the blocks!  Looking good.  Sort of.  I went to bed and then, of course, laid awake forever wondering what and how I was going to manage with my (by now) seemingly way too small amount of scraps!  See, it's all about perception.  First off, I was being over-run with scraps and then, after a few short hours, I was bemoaning my pitiful little offerings!

Fixed a couple blocks and looking at border fabric.

Just before I fell asleep (which I have discovered is the very best time to be making quilting decisions), I finally figured out how I needed to proceed.   The biggest challenge to myself was that I really only wanted to use fabric from my scrap totes.  I love challenges to myself.  Don't you?  It keeps things very focused and forces the mind into unbelievable contortions of what if? what if?

It's starting to look like a quilt!

And so that's how my alternate blocks came into play--block after block.  After I got the main part of the quilt together, I had to finess a few blocks for better drama until it finally looked 'together' enough to quit.  I did look at the rest of my scraps and contemplate a very scrappy, improv border, but I decided to relax my Scrap Attack mentality for the next step.  It worked out very well for the main part of the quilt, but I thought the border might need something different.

I always knew I'd been hoarding these muddy, purple-brown fabrics for a reason.  Every time I buy this color, I wince and wonder what strange reason makes me buy such a sad, sad color of fabric!  Let me just tell you that I might seriously question my reasoning, but I've learned to go ahead and just buy the weird, random fabrics for my stash.  They have been some of the most important fabrics I have ever used in fact!

Now I have dug through and found a few little orphan blocks to add for the impromptu border.  Yes, these are circles from the 9-patch series #4 quilt border.  No, I did not steal them from that particular project, as they are the LEFTOVERS.   And yes, there definitely can be leftovers even when that other project isn't even done yet. lol!  I know, it's complicated.  I'll just stop trying to explain now and leave you to enjoy the rest of your day.  Mine is a little better though after working through some of my pre-election jitters.*wink

Bloggers Quilt Festival 2012

I finished this quilt awhile back so there's been numerous pictures of this throughout my blog--this is not a new project!  'Be Thankful' just seemed like the right quilt to use as my first ever entry into Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Not so soft looking outside in direct sunlight

I bought a beautiful floral fabric back in 2008 that was the start of one of my infamous 'got to make a fabulous quilt out of this' stacks of fabric.  At some point, I realized this particular fabric stack belonged in a Pat Sloan pattern I'd been drooling over for years and the cutting began!  Ironic how I never did find a proper place for the original floral fabric in the quilt so it ended up being permanently booted from the project!  I tried so very hard, but it sincerely wanted to go join up with another quilt.....

Inside with the shadows shows off the quilting better

 The quilt is hand quilted in a light green thread throughout in a semi-freehand style.  Let's just say that my quilting lines would not please most quilt police and leave it at that.*wink  The interesting thing is that I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable with this look--kind of an organic, yet still very structured look.

Hand quilting makes the world go round.....

'Be Thankful' is a wonderfully glowy quilt in the right lighting, especially in the evening light that I often worked on the hand quilting.  This is a lighter, brighter look for this slightly primitive style than I'd ever attempted before.  It's definitely sparked an interest in me to 'lighten up' in all areas of my quilting!

The Scrap Attack Momentum

Somehow with all this Scrap Attack thinking, perusing of beautiful pics of scrap quilts, drooling over beautiful pics of scraps, and reading about individual scrap collecting habits, I managed to organize my quilting area--all without making a conscious decision to do so.  I think it's called momentum or something. It started when I pulled out my brown, green and gold scrap fabrics the other day for my own Scrap Attack project.  Then when I bought totes to further contain these scraps from the hoi polloi, it all started spiraling on me.  That tote thing looked good.  Very organized.  Which is always helpful in my little 16 1/2' by 6 3/4' quilting area.*wink

Plaids/stripes and wovens.
These managed to survive the scrap siege.

After I started this project, I stumbled onto a few ideas that have really made me think.  Why did I not know that there are quilty people out there that do not keep scrap fabric.  The fact that I keep any and all pieces of fabric down to 1 1/2" square is not the norm.  Some people actually make an effort to contain their scrap fabrics into something that looks sort of like, well, quilt room decoration?  This was a wake-up call and got me to thinking, pondering and seriously considering my quilting area in greater depth.

All cleaned up and ready for play....

 The results were of course, a quilt room siege of sorts.  I won't confess all, but I will say that I cleared out two large totes of pre-cut scrap fabric (from literally years of collecting) and then, I went even further.  I dug through my unruly scrap heap over in the corner until I was about ready to cry.  My first efforts at dumping any scrap fabric whatsoever had me staving off a panic attack, so I had to develop an impromptu plan of sorts.  First off, I decided that all plaids, stripes, and wovens could be saved regardless of color, age or pedigree.  After that, cheap, ugly or bright fabrics were fair game.  I know where to find those fabrics if I suddenly have a need for them!  With these perimeters, I actually got rid of a serious amount of what other people have always called trash.*wince

I'm sitting on my counter for this pic.:)

 As you can see, I still have plenty of scrap fabric willing to slide off the pile at any given moment.  And now, I'm seriously considering buying a couple more totes.  The problem is, I'm getting scared I'll get all ocd about it and freak myself out.  After all, this IS my hobby and I really, really need to be able to relax in my quilt area.

Wow, I can see the 7-up advertising again....

 Anyway, it's all looking good to me right about now.  I put binding remnants, bias remains and various applique shapes into small totes, organized projects into the right size totes with corresponding pattern info., got books put back on the shelves, fabric stowed away in appropriate containers and the floor even got vacuumed.  Some of this is not new to me.  I do have a small space that requires a certain amount of organization.  I just find myself amazed that I'm still learning new things and new approaches to quilting AND this time, it was all because of a little Scrap Attack Project....

Everything in it's place!

A Year of Quilty Blogging

I have had my quilt blog for just over a year now. Does that mean I can finally quit with the hand written journals already? I love, love, love the fact that, if I remember, I now have pictures that visually record the various stages of my quilting journey. Also, in a happy coincidence, instead of writing about each quilt at the point of completion only, many of my ideas, inspirations, motivations, learning curves (and false starts too) are recorded throughout the life of each quilt, which sometimes take me a year or two (or three!) from start to finish. There are things I'd like to do better with (get rid of the run on sentences maybe? ), pictures I wish I'd have taken (more please), and the unbidden Blogger guilt to deal with. I hereby, solemnly profess to take up the 'Blogging Without Obligation' motto because I don't want to feel any pressure whatsoever with my on-line quilty journal. Trying too hard has almost made me quit more than once in previous months. That and the occasional comment. I'll just say it straight out. I love and adore comments, but they seriously freak me out. My blog is public because I am an unashamed quilt blog lurker and I want to extend the same courtesy to my fellow 'everyday' quilters; however, when I have proof positive that somebody has checked MY blog out? I freak, plain and simple. It's completely unnerving to lay out my good and (sometimes exuberantly) bad quilty process/product out in front of everyone in Bloggee land to judge! Okay, I know, I KNOW most people aren't really judging. They, like me, are mostly cruising around to find someone that 'speaks' the same language, makes the same sort of quilting decisions, and has some form of the same quilty compulsive, obsessive disorder that seems to affect me--validation that WE are the normal ones and the ones supremely uninterested in quilty stuff are the weirdos. Do not scoff at this comfort!*wink So I will continue to open up my blog to the strangers, the lurkers, to the learner bees, the perfectionists, the wonkiness quilters, the quilt-by-the-rules traditionalists, and all the other myriads of everyday quilters that put themselves out there all year long to provide inspiration to the masses and expect nothing in return. Bring on the next year of blogging! And please! Don't be afraid to comment. I will overcome.:)

Trusting My Instincts

This was the initial inspiration for my quilt. Simple and understated. Which I promptly changed up. Don't I always?
Of course I wanted to use prints, NOT solids--resulting in a totally different impact. I did try to mix up some more modern prints with the small florals and prints and of course I used plaids and stripes. They tend to be the bedrock of my own personal style for some reason.
The 'floating' 4-patches definitely did what I wanted them to do, which was move the eye around. So why did the whole quilt top look flat? Sometimes this is just a temporary thing until the actual quilting adds texture. This time I decided that my interpretation of the original quilt lost out somewhere in transition, but with a little help from my friends, we would go forward! After much searching and playing around with applique ideas, I came up with this little trio of lollypop trees and the owl from a picture on my sisters blog (actually an ad picture if you want to get technical). I LOve, love, love my red leaves on the trees. They absolutely shine. I find it very interesting that I used such pale blues and dark pinky reds together. I think I am finally trusting in my instincts to do THE RIGHT Thing. It's a scary process. Very hard work for the insecure, easily intimidated quilter of which I am trying shed through trial and error and lets not forget experience......

Lots of Productivity in a Very Random Way

Lots of progress this weekend in a random, restless sort of way. I got my trees appliqued on my quilt top with an extra branch for an owl perhaps? I know they are terribly trendy right now, but they make me smile. I just about settled on red leaves for my trees which is very folky I think. I admit to totally stealing this idea from an ad somewhere and remaking it to fit my quilt (not for sale or anything, just for my personal pleasure). I wanted SO BADLY to go buy fabric this weekend. It was a itchy craving that would not go away. It's been several months since I had the privilege of buying fabric and I just keep telling myself that I'm happy to still have a house to live in and a car to drive--fabric is not that important in the scheme of things. lol! I'll keep telling myself until I believe it, okay? I did get my binding sewn on the log cabin quilt, so that is done. I've wanted to make a log cabin quilt for over 10 yrs. Crazy. My sister and I were walking around a quilt show a couple years ago and were consistently drawn to the simple, but subtly complex quilts. And what was stopping us from making them but our own inner critique of thinking we ought to make more difficult patterns. huh. Like that was more worthy or something.:) This Log cabin pattern is based on a quilt in the 'Quilter's Color Workshop' book by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. The biggest lesson I learned from this was "Not to Paint out all the White". I adore the faint tones of yesteryear with the mix of floral, darks and scrappy prints. And last but not least, I started in on my Series #4 quilt from our Pieceable Souls challenge we've been working on since last year. I'll post about that another time. I just wanted a picture on my blog as PROOF of my productivity.*smirk

Weird and Wonderful Hobby

Last week was one of those busy, action packed weeks. I had quite a bit going on to distract my mind, along with pockets of time where I normally could get much accomplished, if I could have but FOCUSED.:) So, after reorganizing part of my quilting room, and then finding myself twiddling my thumbs in indecision, I decided to start in on some quilting backs. I have been so lazy the last year or two, buying a single piece of fabric and cutting and stitching for my quilts backs. Borrrrriiiiinggggg. lol! I decided that there was no real way to ruin the back of a quilt, especially with my undemanding level of expectation. The funny thing was, after I got started, I ended up piecing together 5 different quilt backs altogether.:) Some turned out better than others, but the real joy is that now I have 5 quilt tops plus backing that are totally ready to go after a little bit of ironing and cutting out the batting! woot woot!! It just goes to show what a weird and wonderful hobby this is.

Desperation, The Great Motivator

I finally picked up my hand quilting again. Life is stressful and I just couldn't handle it without a needle in my hand. No ideas or brainstorming breakthroughs, but I determined that something needed to happen. I grabbed my hoop, got all situated, threaded my needle and perused my quilt. Hmmmm, I looked at the oblong lid to my little plastic catchall for needles, thread etc. and thought 'why not?' I placed the lid vertically in the center of my scallops, outlined it with my marking pencil--then quilted it. After that I marked (freehand) just inside of that by about 3/4 of an inch. Then I placed the rounded end of my thread spool directly in the center of that and marked and quilted the rest. Eureka! After I quilted about three sets, I began to see some definition that I could see was positively inspired. lol! They do say that desperation is the mother of invention! I like it! It's going well now and I'm starting to sleep better at night again.:)

Outside My Comfort Zone

I think am trying to go outside my comfort zone--just a little. The goldy orange print fabric cut into triangles in the first picture was actually my catalyst for the entire quilt. Shortly after I saw it (while looking for fabric for another quilt mind you), I starting bemoaning the fact that I had so little of it left and wouldn't it make a gloriously beautiful quilt? I had about an 1/8 of a yard left and decided to use it as the 'focus fabric' for an entire quilt idea. This vintage quilt pattern caught my eye and suddenly I was rummaging through my totes of fabric for the perfect blend of fabrics. I sometimes get a little tired of the sheer TIME involved in doing applique and this quilt pattern seemed like a gorgeous alternative, while still allowing me to play with the whole 'scrap' look that I seem to be addicted to. Never mind that it involves hundreds of equilateral triangles. blerk! I am cutting this quilt out one row at a time and since I am using templates (Ugghhh!), this is a completely different process than I am used to. Sometimes different is good? A shake-up/or and a different perspective? We shall see, but meanwhile this is feeling Really good to me.:)

I'm Getting There

I like quilts. All kinds. Sometimes I think I'm all over the place with my quilting preferences, but in fact I'm not. About 10 years ago, I went through all my quilting magazines and books and made a very long list. I wrote down every little thing that I liked about each quilt that caught my eye. I discovered some interesting things. I like the log cabin pattern, no matter what color it is made in. I like utilitarian and traditional quilts. I Love antique quilts. I liked every scrappy quilt I saw--the pattern didn't matter. I'm very drawn to applique, esp. flowers and birds. I like the primitive, folk art look. If a quilt is done in medium to dark reds, yellows, greens, blues, (bubblegum) pinks, oranges, browns or blacks, I'm looking at it. Now I know that I like the new modern quilt look too with it's bold patterns and faintly vintage attitude. This list gets updated every couple years and helps me figure out what I need to be working on in order to end up with quilts I fall in love with. My goal is to learn how to make the quilts that I used to DREAM of owning. I'm getting there.:)

Trying To Be Frugal

I'm trying to be very frugal in this particular year of bad economy and uncertain future. It's a challenge to use 'just from my stash' and create something I'm proud of. Thankfully, I usually buy fabrics that I love/adore/are intrigued by/know are useful/and/or are in appropriately lovely colors. I gave up buying fabrics I feel sorry for or think are languishing away from lack of serious creative effort several years ago. lol Combine my wonderful, yet surprising meager now that it's all I have to choose from, stash with my love of scrappy quilts and I'm not getting stalled yet. However, I have this tremendous urge to go buy fabric just BECAUSE!! I'm sure there's lots of fabric out there that would love to belong to me. I'm positive I'm missing something wonderful by staying home and being good.:) But maybe I'll learn something for my fabric buying habits of next year and future years to come if I stick it out--something really momentous, like 'always buy a full yard of black'. I'm a teachable quilter. I think.:)