More Quilt Show Pics

A few more pics to show and then I'll get back to regular posting. Loved this solid fabrics version of an old quilt block! It's one that's been on my bucket list for a long time. 

So bright and happy!

And here it is, my favorite part of the whole show--the Jim Tharpe guest collection. Ahhh.. I am such a sucker for vintage and antique quilts. Some dated back to the 1800's!

From the Jim Tharpe collection

I love the whimsical fabric usage so very much. Probably up-cycled old clothes?

From the Jim Tharpe Collection

The way they used a couple colors in almost every block until obviously they ran out of a fabric. Then they made-do.

From the Jim Tharpe Collection

Have to smile at the new addition of background fabric. Why the green? And you know me, this was probably my favorite in the whole show just 'cuz I found it charming, especially that little tiny sliver of green added onto that next to last block in the bottom row.

From the Jim Tharpe Collection

It all makes me even more determined to be less self conscious about fabric pairings. I mean, look at the sashing in the top and bottom rows in the quilt below? And the gingham strip added onto a smallish block there in the far right row? I don't know if I could ever deliberately do that, but it's so charming. Love it!

From the Jim Tharpe Collection

I entered four quilts in all, all pictured below. The first one is Geese Tracks & Vases. One of my favorite quilts I've ever made. And yes, I have lots and lots of favorites....

Geese Tracks & Vases

The second quilt is the marsala challenge quilt. I just wanted to see it hanging up in a show 'cuz I thought it was an interesting quilt.

Unexpected Crossroads

The third quilt is Learning Curves which they hung sideways for some funny reason. I checked and the label was in the bottom corner of the quilt like always. I'm curious if they thought it didn't matter which way it hung? Oh well. I entered this one primarily because it was fall colors. Always good to see in a fall show.

Learning Curves

And the fourth quilt is the Pickle Dish Insanity quilt. I left this picture unfiltered as it was an interesting view, kind of a faded look from the bright lighting I think. The value changes were still very evident so that made me happy. And the piecing and hand quilting looked good. I always have to wonder about that....

Pickle Dish Insanity

I don't want to add any other observations about my quilts as I'm obviously in a funky mood. We've had a very long, tough summer in a lot of ways that I don't feel free to discuss completely. To give you just a quick peek into our lives--in just the previous last two-three weeks my husband has been sick once again with a recurring illness, a cousin and her family stayed with us for several days immediately after breaking her ribs in a car accident, my mother-in-law needed some help because of her bad health and we've had other company. More company to come this weekend that we're actually kind of excited about {except for having to clean the house!} and oh yeah, we also went to a funeral. I am not complaining as this is just a season in life and what we do. It's part and parcel of large family dynamics and involvement in our church. We have much to be thankful for, especially when all we have to do is read the news to hear of so much destruction and devastation in other parts of the country. My heart goes out to all those who are just trying to survive!

So yes, absolutely, I am head down in my stitching every chance there is. No I am not going to quit making quilts in my weird and wonderful style, thank you for all the reassurance offered. It would have probably would have been better to just attend the quilt show this year and not have to deal with the emotion of having my quilts involved. My emotions are, well, possibly a bit frayed these days? Don't mind me. Really, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna go find some fabric and start three new project first chance I get....

Yay! Another Quilt Crossed Off the List!

Another finish today! This one is 'An Uncertain Crossroad' started back in March 2015 as a Marsala color challenge. I'd been slowly collecting the drab, clay/maroon looking fat quarters for awhile {who knows why?} and jumped at the chance to incorporate them into a quilt.

Uncertain Crossroad is finished!

The quilt design had a couple influences {click on the link above for the first idea}. Together with the color challenge and a bit of secondary inspiration, it just sort of melded into something that felt right. I had a lot of fun stitching this particular quilt and the brighter, sparky circles still make me smile.

So graphic and fun!

One thing I've definitely discovered over the years is this: if you are continually drawn in to a specific color or color family and you don't know why? Don't sweat it. Just buy the occasional fat quarter in those colors and eventually, maybe even a couple years down the road, you really will find a way to build them into a quilt! It's actually quite fascinating to dig challenging prints/colors out of the stash totes and finally be able to bring them to life.

Love it laying in the sunlight....

Sometimes in very surprising ways! You can see that the color family {mixed medium and dark tones} of marsala is used as the background fabrics with the lighter strippy cross sections in what I'd call the lighter version of marsala--mostly mauves, light and/or dull pinks. Some of those fabrics seemed destined to remain in the stash totes forever as they were so... boring! Surprise, surprise!

Used in this pattern, all the colors, including the sparky colors used for contrast, make for a bold, unexpectedly graphic quilt. Who would have thunk it that marsala could be used in such a way! I certainly never would have.

I have returned again and again to Roderick Kiracofe's 'Unconventional and Unexpected' book as a way to soak in some wonderful make-do quilts and ponder the effects of this type of piecing. It's something I personally adore and have tried to incorporate into my quilting. If you click on that second link above, it will take you to a older post with the inspiration from this book. I bought the book sight unseen and have never, ever regretted it. Some books are important and meant to be on our bookshelves.

Love the circus poster below where the tiger is roaring! 

This quilt was deliberately put together in a 'not quite perfect' manner that nonetheless required matching cut-to-size background units. I would have to say, this is one of my favorite quilts ever made, in how the various prints ebb and flow throughout the quilt. The effect is probably more obvious in person, but there is a great, {subtle} background texture that would not be possible with a one-fabric background. Or probably the hand quilting?*wink

A close up of the circles and that perfect striped binding!

I was amazed to find the perfect striped fabric for binding in the bottom of one of my totes. I couldn't have found anything more perfect for the quilt, bought for a border that never worked out! Finishing this quilt makes me think about other ways to play with backgrounds and even possibly the idea of attempting another color challenge quilt some day. It feels like a good finish. Not giving this one away!

Saturday Odds & Ends

When we jump from project to project and then back around again, it often feels like {watching} a chicken peck, peck, pecking away. That's the way I like to approach my quiltmaking--little bites. Thank goodness I have lots of lists. They help keep me on track so that my inevitable restlessness will eventually add up to something of substance. The Marsala quilt below currently has all the hand quilting completed, a binding attached and is now awaiting the final hand sewing stage. Which I will do later 'cuz I'm just not quite in the mood yet!

Marsala {An Unexpected Crossroads} ready for binding

All in due time. For over a year I have tried to sandwich and pin two quilts at the same time. It's such a hassle to get help moving the dining room table out of the way and finding that block of time when the whole clan isn't tromping through the room. Next up in the line-up is the scrap-bin tulip quilt and Learning Curves, where I challenged myself to get drunkards path units figured out once and for all!

Next in line for quilting!

I stitched-in-the-ditch in between every 16-patch block and now I'm coming back to hand quilt the quarter circle units. It probably didn't need the machine quilting, but it was fast and easy to do and now I can hand quilt without any pins in the way. This is a large quilt so the hand quilting may take awhile. We'll see how motivated I get!

In the hoop...

After much contemplation, I finally settled on a solution for the blue applique heart blocks that had been shown before. Sadly, they will not be residing with the brown coin units anymore. This idea has completely separated itself into a new project that makes a little more sense. When I distilled all the elements down from the project before, it seemed like the two blocks {blue applique blocks & the coin units} were both equally determined to have their own way. So different directions here we go! I found a classic, ticking fabric to use instead of the coins and a Liberty look-alike voile to use as the cornerstone squares. Together, alongside the blue applique blocks, it starts taking on a much more serene look. Hopefully that doesn't mean boring!

Preparing Blue Plumes project

My rough drawing pattern has been edited and changed so much it's starting to get thin in places, but it served well enough to allow the basic rows to be sewn together. So far I'm leaving them in 2-row sections. This will keep the units small enough to manipulate while I applique the blue 'plumes' into place. Most of them at least! The ones at the top of the quilt will have to be attached after the entire quilt top has been sewn together. Ughh. Hate that. But there's no way around that as the plumes will overlap the seams above.

Units ready for more applique work

In the end I just couldn't discard the 'plumes' or exclamation marks as one person called them. It feels whimsical and fun. Right up my alley and it always seems worth it after the work is done.*wink  So that's the prep work--just a few hours. That's all! Done and all ready for the next phase though, that's the important part. It helps more than most people realize to have the prep work totally ready for the exact moment {or window of opportunity} when our hands are itching to dive in and start stitching. I get tired of a project, look around for the next eye-candy project and you just never know, it could be this one!

I've also figured out the direction forward for the brown coin blocks and hopefully will have some progress on that front sometime next week. It's a constant source of amazement to me that even when I'm deliberately trying to tamp down on the amount of open-ended projects around here, they just sort of happen anyway!

Inch by Inch, They All Meet Up With a Finish Eventually

 You know me, always trying to move forward, one little phase of a quilt at a time!

Another quilt top closer to a finish!

Now that the hand quilting is done on Flowering Snowballs, then it's time for binding! Can't leave that hoop empty for long, so for now my Creative Process quilt is going to be getting some hand stitching details to go along with the basic machine quilting already done there. I went ahead and changed out the picture for my 'Current Quilt in the Hoop' caption at the top of my blog.

Getting ready to sew on some binding strips

But well, that might not take very long and I did have a very quiet day on Friday! Two more quilt tops sandwiched and pinned, including this Marsala challenge quilt. Something I've been itching to get my fingers on lately. The colors--they are calling my name....

Marsala quilt--the Unexpected Crossroads quilt

Summers End was the other quilt that got some pins in it and I'm really not feeling very thrilled to be working on that right now. I intend to stitch in the ditch around all the blocks and then come back and do some hand quilting on the little baskets. Big stitch of course. Is there any other kind anymore? Plus, I had a crazy idea that I might, just maybe, hand tie in the middle of each empty block. It's an idea. One that kinda makes me smile because it's different...

Summers' End quilt. An project that didn't do what it was supposed to do....

Really though, it's been one of those weeks where I've been focused on finishing and getting things wrapped up at the end of the quilting spectrum. I even sewed an extra two quilt backings and delivered the quilt packages to my longarm quilting friend. One has a deadline of the end of April and the other sometime by the end of summer. My friend is a busy gal and I don't want to pressure her, BUT I am loving the idea that within just a few months, my quilt top list could have 7 quilts checked off! {That's including the St. Paul quilt I'm still stitching the binding onto.}

All ready for action

Plus, all the rising sun blocks are done. Whew! I pulled out these five blocks to see if I could conjure up an idea or two for a traditional setting. So far my mind is pretty blank and everything I audition makes me feel very bored. They will just have to hang out on the wall for awhile I guess, soak up some creative spark from somewhere else.

What's left of the ruined Rising Sun blocks

Right now all the spark seems to be directed at the base blocks for the make-do rising sun quilt. The one where I'm going to chop those rising sun blocks in two and use them for an outside border? Yeah, that one.

The Make-Do Rising Sun Quilt

Very simple applique on very simple, but similar {18" blocks}. Sounds like a winner to me!

Finding Balance or Finding my Quilty Self. And Never the Twain Shall Meet...

I think I'm in a bit of a sluggish, slummy slump lately. Never really feeling like I get anywhere. I play, dribble and dabble at things but it never seems to add up. Am I ill? Look at this gorgeous fabric! And I haven't even cut into it yet. So indecisive. What if I ruin it I think to myself.

A potential quilt top

And I'm being sneaky and working on this quilt already. 'Cuz I just can't stand not to. Plus, my word for the year is 'mindful' and I've tried to think about what and how I work. What my goals are or if I even have any. I'm not sure about that yet. But for now I'm thinking this particular quilt may go into a show. If I get it done in time and if I don't chicken out. Oh yeah. And if they like it well enough to give the go-ahead. It's part of my 'what is my style' considerations. I seem to be all over the place and it's a curious thing to me.

The log cabin quilt...

And Yay for me! I got 2nd place with my marlsala entry in the quilt top category! When I opened up to the announcement post, I was so very shocked! Wowsers. The hosts and judges are primarily modern quilters and my stuff really isn't. Am I slipping over to the dark side? hehe Totally kidding. I think there's room at the table for all of us dedicated quilters and no labels required.

Marasa and An Uncertain Crossroad

The biggest source of my sturm und drang is no doubt the quilt project below. As of yesterday, I finally feel like I got through the very worst part of the dreads with it. {I hope.} The part that makes my arms feel enormously heavy as I'm stitching and causes me to feel incredibly restless the whole time it's staring me in the face. It's so painful and yes I'm whining. blah, blah, blah... Don't bother reading, I'm just getting it off my chest.

It takes me an hour {an hour!} to sew about four or five letters and the entire time, I'm think, think, thinking. I'm sooo.... tired of it and I just want to be done. Yet at the same time I'm getting very excited to see it start coming together. It's exhilarating to lay it out on the floor together and imagine what it will look like all together. Exhilarating is good. I don't even care if it turns out to be a mess, it's exhilarating! And now you think I'm crazy.

Auditioning some fabrics....

So it all adds up to not having much mental energy to put into any other quilt project 'cuz I'm a bit drained. Plus my kids are crazy busy with tennis matches and baseball games and I'm back to the book work in the office. Ughh. Let's not go there.

Lovin' these thoughtful and/or funny posts lately too.... so funny, too funny, and something to think about. There's something to be said for balance. In everything.

Marsala and An Uncertain Crossroad

My Marsala Challenge quilt top is finally sewn together! It's been such an interesting color to work with. When I first read about the color, I couldn't believe it had been chosen as the Pantone color of the year. Wowsers! Such a drab color. Now I can't believe how much fun I had working with it. Kinda funny to think there were actually fat eights and fat quarters of this stuff already squirreled away in my fabric totes!

A quick look at An Uncertain Crossroad on the floor...

And well..., yeah. Nobody had to twist my arm to buy it. If you really stop to think about it, this color is a foundation sort of color--an earth tone. Colors from nature are always among the first ones I'm drawn to even if some think they're on the shh... ugly side! Come to think of it, my favorite quilts have always seemed to incorporate a few questionable colors. Nature plays very well with colors like marsala, so why can't we?

Love the chunky circles!

For this challenge, I didn't want to run away from the color at all--or try and bury it in the details. I wanted to give it some respect! And although it was tempting to overwhelm the marsala with some of its prettier cousins, I decided to play with how the color might work as a base for making other colors shine or possibly intensify. All the very light strips of sashing in this quilt are what I consider to be the very lightest version of the color marsala. Some are more dreary looking than others, but used as an accompaniment for the unassuming marsala, they work very well. I really like how they provide a strong, vital foundation to help make the rest of the quilt sort of 'pop'.

An Uncertain Crossroad

As many of you know, I've also been playing with quarter circles for awhile. It was an easy jump to come up with the idea of blending the marsala challenge with yet another circle quilt. The older 'crossroads' block just seemed to perfectly bridge the gap between the antique look {where I get so much of my inspiration from} and the {slightly} more modern look I was hoping to achieve. It was a really great block for playing big slices of colors off of a receding background and I got to do my needleturn applique thing too. Win, win, all the way around.

And again....

Too, I love how my instincts steered me towards cutting the circle units in four different widths, making sure that the circles would come out less than perfect.  The crossroads in my life aren't usually what you'd call a smooth transition, so the somewhat jagged edges of these circles feel very right to me. For once I'm not adding a border onto my 61" x 72" quilt top as this one looks very happy as is! Time to link up with the Marsala Challenge over at On the Windy Side and play crafts. Thanks to the hosts for all their hard work and effort in getting this together!

Figuring Out the Mini Cake Stand Quilt Once Again

These little cake stand units have been ready to go for quite some time now. I just needed to remove threads and put them back into some kind of order. Ripping blocks apart is a messy job! Ugh! So many hanging threads to take care of.

Mini Cake Stand units

I decided to go with a plain Jane background of various cream backgrounds and keep the emphasis on the mini cake stands. There are three  or four original blocks with dark brown fabric used for the connector blocks, but that should just make things interesting in the final quilt. Or not. We'll see when the quilt gets closer to layout if I have to change those out too.

Sewing them into the larger blocks...

Figuring out how I wanted to put the larger blocks back together proved to be the bigger challenge. This entire quilt was originally based on an antique 'make-do' style of quilt. The fussier I get with the layout, the farther away I get from my intended goal. The thing is, just using a square of fabric {no piecing} for the every-other-block isn't getting me very excited either. Finally, I decided that over thinking the entire quilt is driving me batty. What am I trying to make, a masterpiece? Bah on that. The every-other-blocks are going to be scrappy nine patches set on point. And yes I'm adding in some pink. My gut says this quilt desperately needs pink!

Some of the fabric cut out for the alternating blocks.

Also, I have come to the end of the handwork on my Marsala blocks. Basically all that is left to do is to trim off the excess applique fabric on the edges and sew the top together. Must find time for that...

Marsala blocks ready to sew together...

And.... another wedding to attend on Saturday (this is apparently the wedding year for our extended families) and then I have a yard sale to get ready for next week. I am still reeling from shock that someone actually got me to agree to ever having another yard sale. In my opinion they are an enormous amount of effort for a very small reward--it's not like we sell anything worth keeping! lol  Although I do remember selling a quilt once to help pay the electric bill. Thankfully all we're trying to do this time is de-clutter.

Easter Weekend Gone in a Flash

We had the busiest weekend! Easter was here and gone in a flash. On Friday we left home and drove south to Oregon to attend a cousins wedding. Got in a bunch of good visiting with family, loving on a new-ish roly poly niece and then came home via the Oregon coast on Monday morning. It was a 'business' related detour, but at least we got to wave at the ocean in passing.

Another Crossroads block

Whew! Are we ever tired today. I was able to grab my bag of applique but honestly, there was very little time spent with the needle unless I was in the car and the scenery quite drab.

A stack of finished blocks....

I feel sort of like a hamster on the wheel this week as I prepare for company myself this coming weekend. It has been a steady stream of company all spring as everyone wants to help get my parents into their new home as soon as possible.

It's extremely hard to believe it's already April and so much has gone unattended around our own home of late. We won't even talk about all the many, many things that need attention as it just makes me get a splitting headache and a burning desire to hire a handyman. {And who can afford that luxury?} I want to stick my head in the sand and pretend all the neglected parts and pieces will magically take care of themselves, but of course they never do and still, we survive. Amazing isn't it? So glad we don't live in the era where people felt they had to whitewash their porches!

Some Crossroads blocks on the wall...

In the meantime, I will keep plugging along with a few of my interesting-to-me quilty projects. Hopefully all the lovely colors and textile petting will help to soothe away the ragged edges of our very messy lives...

'Cuz I Know You're Just As Thrilled With the Marsala Quilt As I Am

Right? It's gonna be fabulous when it's all done. Trust me on this! lol  I am having a lot of fun with this quilt in case you hadn't already figured that out. First I went through my stack of potential fabrics for this quilt and pulled what I thought would add a nice bit of spark.

Some brightness for the quilt....

Then I drew four different quarter circle units (each on a specific size square of plastic template plastic), making sure to draw them all different widths. I want to have plenty of interest, which for me means not a lot of 'perfectness'.  Is that a word?

I went back to the 'Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar' book by Roderick Kiracofe out of curiosity and also for more inspiration. Yes, I finally caved and bought it. {My goal the last couple years has been to only buy books I'm positive I'll use, peruse, and be happy with long after the first day they reach my quilting room}. It's a truly amazing book and I love adding it to my collection! This particular quilt really drew me in from the moment I saw it, but then you know me and my current weakness for circles in quilts!

Another little bit of inspiration...

Not that I want to make an identical quilt. I did after all use a completely different block. The crossroads block looked like it would work better for this quilt considering the fact that I'm trying to use lots of marsala (and its lighter colored cousins). Some of those cousins are very dingy and boring looking too--a real challenge to make this quilt look happy and fun! Which I don't have to do. It can be any style I want to make it, but why make a dull looking quilt that I'll never feel happy using?

Trying to lay out the circle units.

Here's the first block after getting all the applique units stitched down. This one looks pretty good, but several have a little bit of poofiness in the center from where the bias stretched a little. I tried to be careful and pin well, but you know how quickly it happens. I'm almost positive it can all be dealt with when I attack it with my hand quilting some day....

One block finished!

Checking out how the blocks are looking side by side--there is going to be some obvious mismatching seams. Yep, it is bit startling at first! But it's exactly the look I'm striving for so I refuse to stress out about it, and in fact, I am NOT fiddling with any of the circle placement. At all. Every block is going to be stitched as-is and then meet up where they meet up.

The first three blocks on the wall....

I really, really like the close-up of some of the blocks where I had to use more than one background color. And also where I had to piece my strips! That make-do look is something I adore and some of you probably think I'm nuts for actively trying to implement the look. Each to their own. I honestly feel very impressed that I've grown enough in my quilt making to be comfortable making this sort of quilt. It's not a product of mistakes afterall but elements I've consciously decided to incorporate. Believe me, that makes all the difference in the world in how much I can appreciate the look in my own quiltmaking.

Looking at it a bit closer....

I'm hoping to make the April deadline, but no real worries about that. My entry will just be a top, not a completed quilt. There's only so many deadlines I can handle in a year and this is just meant to be a fun change up from my Fire quilt applique. And get me one more quilt into my quarter circles series.*wink  Hey, did I just skip past the second one in the series or what? hehe

The Marsala Quilt and My Doll Quilt Finish

Working with the color 'Marsala' has proved to be irresistible to me. Not sure why as the color is singularly unimpressive, but challenges often make it easier for me to willingly step out of my comfort zone. Good  for all of us, stepping out of our little boxes occasionally .

Getting ready to sew some Crossroads blocks....

Awhile back I found an interesting block called 'Crossroads' or 'Crossed Roads to Texas'. It was in an older book {The Collector's Dictionary of Quilt Names and Patterns by Yvonne M. Khin} that I picked up second hand somewhere. The block has been kind of buzzing around in my quilty thoughts ever since and then, combined with the Marsala idea, it all sort of melded into my latest quilt start.

A few blocks ready to be trimmed and some applique added....

There are no actual directions in the book, but it was easy enough to figure things out. I'll admit to doing some dithering over whether or not to make the circle pieces with applique or curved piecing--both have their advantages. And yes, even though I'm practically drowning in applique work lately, I ended up settling for just that. I am such an admirer of  the primitive and folksy look a little judicious {and imprecise} cutting and sewing can give to a quilt.

Auditioning some potential circles. I think we'll go with a more roundish shape....

Now to find the time. haha I can see that I'm going to have to make another goal list in order to get anything done in that department. Maybe if I eliminate the hours I sleep?*wink

Second finish of the year...

The little doll quilt finished up very nice and after looking through several stores, I finally found the doll bottles I wanted at Fred Meyers. We already attended a bridal shower today and now for my nieces birthday party tonight. Maybe I should skip dinner too?