One Step At a Time

 It's been good to get back into the more normal flow of quilting around here, though I don't know how long it might last! That often means that I'm checking in with the opened-ended projects list and trying to move things forward. Little by little, one phase at a time, one decision at a time, nudge, nudge, what does the quilt want now?

Stack of Primrose Patch blocks

I've had the Primrose Path applique done for months now and just needed to figure out how to get the corners added onto the blocks properly. All along, it's been intended that there would be a pieced sashing of sorts and I want for the blocks to sort of blend and become part of it at the corners. Hopefully this will do it! It actually took a bit of time to determine the absolute best color for these corners as the black backbround is quite, quite stark. The blocks have been trimmed to size and the underneath black corners cut out since this picture was taken. 

The first border on Herbs & Berries Baskets

The Herb and Berries Baskets quilt has also managed to be moved forward.... clear to the point of being a completed quilt top! Ta-da! I had all kinds of ideas for a pieced outer border, but just before cutting the fabric, kept changing my mind. Meh. Yuck. Ughh. Definitely not that. Are you sure? It was a bit exhausting actually.

A finished quilt top!

Finally, I just went with the warmest, most simplistic idea imaginable. A bit Jan Patek-ish, right? And I adore it. The quilt loves it. We're all happy as clams. Complicated is not always better. Another thing, the first border fabric was a cheapie, cheapie fabric gained from one of my relatives years ago. It had the perfect colors and subtle stripe look that I wanted so..... I obviously had no choice but to use it! I mean, what would you do? So annoying how it wanted to pucker though. Might have to throw the rest of it away 'cuz I'm just not sure it's worth the headache.

Looking a bit closer

Serendipitously, I was also able to get a big block of time with the upstairs floor open and free of people tromping back and forth. Uh oh. Time to quit procrastinating on the Hourglass Improv. quilt! I know it doesn't look like much right now, especially with that horrible carpet underneath, but wowsers. This work represents about four hours of really hard, keeping-my-nose-to-the-grindstone effort. Then I promptly stacked all the bits and pieces up and put them back into a tote. 

Next time they are taken out, I may or may not move them around again. Succeeding steps will be making big sections of string pieced slabs and then chopping those down into whatever size needed. Next week will probably be the next time the floor frees up again for auditioning and further layout decisions. And yes, I'm feeling great about making progress, but less great about the final results. Ho hum. Right now things seem to be looking a lot more tense than what I had hoped for. Definitely need to incorporate more light colored fabrics and work on opening up the overall flow somehow!

Hourglass Improv. progress

A big 'hope this can happen', but not entirely expected, was getting the Ormes Inspired hand quilting completely done by the end of March. Barely squeaked it into the timeframe. Wasn't it lucky that the binding was already sewn together and ready for phase one of machine sewing?*wink  Made me so, so happy! I know, I know, who cares how long it takes, really. Nobody cares but me. 

Ormes Inspired getting a binding

Next quilt up 'in the hoop' will be the Melon Patch Rows {Jubilee} quilt. The one that took years and ages to bring to quilt top stage and looks absolutely nothing like the original idea. 

Melon Patch Rows ready for pinning!

I'm usually a big proponent of cutting out the behind fabric for applique, but in this instance I took a pass for all the lettering. Just too many homespun fabrics used, which unfortunately has a tendency to fray. Normally I would do a Baptist fan stitching or something back and forth over all the double layer applique areas, but nah! This time I want to echo stitch inside all of the letters. Hmmm... Dreading it a little, but we'll see how awful it actually turns out to be. The beauty of homespun fabric is that it really is quite soft and the needle usually glides through like it's butter. Maybe a double layer of fabric won't be completely untenable.

Loving the look of the wording across the top

While pinning the quilt, I kept admiring the border applique. Really, really looks so sweet to me. Such an impulsive decision to cut those border scallops in half, but look how effective it is in that position! We just never know where a quilt wants us to go, do we!

And this flower and the border? Makes my heart melt!

So that's that. I'm feeling all sorts of creative these days, like maybe the floodgates opened up for awhile again. The main problem is that my opened-ended projects list has jumped from four or five to ten just in the past couple weeks. I should have NEVER rummaged through the orphan blocks & parts and pieces as four new projects seem to be the back up and try again sorts of effort. Oh well. It was really worrying me that the applique projects had dwindled down to a measly one on the list. Now that it's back up to a robust six applique projects {with the beginning stages prepped and ready to go}, things are feeling a lot more positive.  Just can't help myself for wanting to play with these orphaned bits and bobs right about now. 

Progress on Several Fronts!

It was a good week for quilting around here. The #AHIQTulipQal quilt is finished being hand quilted and the first phase of binding is already sewn down. I didn't expect to like the wavy stitching in the outside border so much. Just has adds a bit of whimsy that funnily enough, makes me like the quilt better!

Binding all ready for hand stitching

The next quilt in the hoop is 'Ormes Inspired', an impulse quilt started clear back in 2019. Most of the work was completed in the early days of the Covid lockdowns and finally, the bulk of the quilt top was finished up by May of 2020. Later on, I went ahead and added the word at the bottom of the quilt and that was that!

Ormes Inspired getting sandwiched and pinned

This was probably the trickiest all over applique that I had ever attempted to do for a quilt. It still boggles my mind that most of the placement was done by eyeballing positions and sort of working backward from large motifs to much smaller ones. When I go out on a wing and a prayer with the quilting efforts, I just don't know when to quit! Oh well. Look where I ended up! On a totally different note, this was supposed to be my January quilt in-the-hoop and thankfully, it has been sandwiched and pinned since sometime in early December! 

Almost ready for the hoop...

One of the things that I really wanted to get accomplished in the past week was to work on the 25-patch HST quilt. I was crossing my fingers to get to 'completed quilt top stage', but count myself fortunate to at least see progress in a serious way. This picture below is a stack of all the completed blocks. They are trimmed to size and nicely stacked into rows according to the layout that was deemed appropriate one late, late evening. 

A little nerve-wracking to be working on a quilting project so late in the day as occasionally my judgement does gets a bit impaired. There comes a point in most all layout auditioning sessions where we are just DONE with all the what-ifs and what abouts. I'm sure you know exactly what I mean! There's something here in this particular layout that is still bugging me but not enough for a do over. For now I will sew it together and just wait to see if or where things might have went sideways. It's not like it's a precious quilt with tons of hours wrapped up in the decision making or stitching. Who knows? It might just end up being a quilt backing some day. 

Getting ready for sewing

A couple more applique blocks finished up with the Herbs and Berries quilt. I'm still really enjoying the laid back feel of these blocks. And since auditioning seems to be in the cards this past week, I went ahead and rearranged the blocks on the wall to make way for potential sashing. Because this quilt was always meant to have sashing and I wouldn't dare try and cheat it out of what it expects!

Auditioning for Herbs and Berries

Another thing that caught my attention almost immediately since getting back into the quilting room on a regular basis? This orphan block project {plus fabric pull} from almost a year ago. There has been the odd, random moment of trying to gain traction, but somehow it never amounted to anything solid. So easy to  just give up and walk away rather than feel like I was beating my head against a brick wall.

Hourglass Improv.

The thing is, I have this idea that will NOT go away. It haunts me. There's a longing here that feels kind of important though the entire project itself has felt overwhelming. Or totally underwhelming? Boring at times. Or maybe just a hair above my creativity level? And I'm so tired of that particular mental block. What a waste of time and energy to go there and think things like that. Uggh. 'I'm not good enough.' Seriously, what's the harm of trying? 

So here I go, mentally picturing something about making an 'intentional' background piece and then perhaps absolutely going over the top with a big 'ol applique design. Nothing formal of course. There needs to be lots and lots of glorious imperfection in order for me to properly connect with the flow. If there ever actually ends up being one. Somehow I rather suspect that part will come fairly rapidly if the irritating background would ever get busy and properly manifest itself!

Here's the latest plan. Instead of trying to put the smaller abandoned hourglass units together first, {as seems perfectly logical but wasn't getting anywhere in almost a year}, I will now switch to making these slightly larger hourglass units first. A small but important change that looky, looky! is translating into sewn units and good things happening!! Then.... I will most likely try to puzzle piece the new units with the smaller ones until there ends up being a largish, potential background piece. I may have to make more hourglass units than what are currently cut out. No way of knowing how many will be needed! And this process will probably include having to incorporate various pieces of gray, beige or white/cream fabric into the layout as well. Hey, whatever gets the project moving forward, right?

Diving Back into the Deep End

It felt like a slow start getting back into some sort of quilting groove. My brain was very foggy and I struggled to focus properly. Looking at my quilting list just caused instant blankness and a general apathy toward all current projects. It was really quite sad.  Finally, I had no choice but to start a brand new project.*wink

Herbs and Berries quilt project

Well, in all honesty, this was sorta, kinda started back in late fall. I've had the stack of fabric forever and even had things narrowed down to a basket quilt idea in terms of design. Sometime during the end of November, I remember cutting out the nine background pieces of fabric, roughing out a couple basket shapes on freezer paper and then putting it up to percolate for just a bit longer. The main thing holding me back was trying to decide which fabric color to use where. 

Anyway.... when I couldn't deal with any of the current projects here in the past couple weeks, I fell on that project like a drowning sailor. I mean, it was so obvious that the baskets needed to be cut out of the darker cranberry red fabrics! Right? And it was a very soothing project to hand stitch on overall. Very easy to pick up or set back down, nothing jarring or too demanding in wanting solutions for further design dilemmas. Perfect project and place to pick for a 'restart'.

#AHIQColorPalette

Then, much to my surprise, the 'Revised' quilt started popping into my head once again. Hmm... what if I did this, or that? All those holes in the puzzle of how to fit the loud, obnoxious tulips together in a somewhat harmonious way began to slowly make sense. And I found myself getting the blocks finished up to a point where they could be laid out on the design wall floor for further design work. I played and contemplated and just generally enjoyed the feel of healthy creative flow. Ah! Where have you been my old friend? I've missed you so...

The brighter yellow fabric stack

While the sewing machine itself has barely been used of late, I have definitely been in and out of the quilt room. Mostly to pull out stacks of marinating fabric and take a good, long look. Refamiliarizing myself with old ideas and wisps of some sort of concept that may or may not end up being something wonderful. In all my overdue blog reading the past couple weeks, I stumbled upon this little snippet that greatly resonated, 'I have this constant tug, a yearning even, to just dive in and sew without a plan.  There are so many styles I want to explore, so many fabrics I’d like to combine.  I feel a pent up energy trying to break free.' Isn't that just the way it is for so many of us? That was from Hopeful Homemaker, a quilt blogger who I've followed for a couple years now, enjoying her unique outlook about quilting, creativity and life in general.

The mellow yellow fabric stack

As most of you know, for several years now, I've been slowly addressing overflowing stash totes in various colors. Yellow has been the latest and greatest to gain the spotlight. In July of last year, the Adhoc Improv. blog that I follow along even had a timely challenge concerning my over abundant color. But did that help? Nooooo. It simply paralyzed my thinking completely. Because now I was thinking 'improv.' and super creative and interesting etc. etc. I kept trying and trying to get a good group of yellows together, but every time I thought 'this is it!' then, basically nothing would happen with any of the fabrics or ideas or glimmers of greatness. 

Okay, long story made a lot shorter. After being sick for so long and then coming back into the quilting room looking around at everything like a newly hatched bird? I have come to the conclusion that I need to make a very basic, mellow looking yellow and cream quilt. Old fashioned looking and sweet as can be. Ditch the brighter yellows for now and then sort of work up to something that includes a more creative and interesting thought process. This feels like a breakthrough, a keeper of a plan and I'm actually sort of excited about it! And, wouldn't you know it, as soon as I decided on the plan {with the more mellow yellow fabrics that I'm currently crushing on}, and then tucked the brighter fabrics away? I stumbled upon the perfect idea for the improv. challenge. Or at lest the beginnings of the challenge! All you can do is laugh at that point. It's just too funny. 

But I'm still committed to the idea of making the more traditional, older looking quilt first and then diving into the improv. one next. A sequence or series? I really, really like this. Better get crackin-alackin' on getting those blocks cut out though before I lose the spark for the rest!

#AHIQStringTulip quilt in the hoop

I also managed to get enough hand quilting done {on the current quilt in the hoop} to finally reach the outside border. Whew! I was starting to think my get-up-and-go might be gone for good. As you can see, I'm stitching a wide echo stitch over the top of the basket handles. It gave me a bit of anxiety about overall look and vibe, but now that I'm on to the second border, it's looking pretty good to me. Am crossing my fingers that this quilt will be totally hand quilted by the end of February. Just feels so, so crazy that my first finished quilt of the year will probably be accomplished in March. I don't even know how many years it's been since that has happened around here!