Improv. Wheels My Pick for 2018 Bloggers Quilt Festival

Oh my, how the time does fly. I've been working on this quilt for over 2 years now! It was a project started in order to play with an improv. method from Sujata Shah's 'Cultural Fusion' book. Finishing it up at the time of the Bloggers Quilt Festival made it a shoe-in for entering!

A closer look at the blocks

I liked funky pinwheel look to the blocks, but it just seemed like they needed a bit more focus. Thus the idea of trimming the edges and giving them more of a 'wheel' look. I do tend to veer toward a more circular look at the slightest provocation.

All washed up and crinkly looking

Then of course, the centers appeared to be in need of a brighter, more unifying color, of which I was happy to oblige them with. But what to do about those white, vacant looking connecting squares?  That yawning emptiness?

The birds are little but I like the whimsical touch

It only seemed right to add a busy little bird and on and on like that, it just happened. This quilt seemed determined to tell its own story and it was my job to figure it out and narrate it properly.

Improv. Wheels finally a finish!

Looking back, I'm not sure the flower border was the right element for finishing off the quilt. It does give it a rather dated look! Oh well, I fell in love with the way that floral motif blended in so well with the rest of the fabrics in the quilt and all along, I was rooting for a vintage vibe. Just might have to wait another 10-15 years for the 'vintage' to kick in. lol

It looks good for snuggling

The entire quilt was hand quilted in perle cotton #8 and #12, my go-to threads for the last couple years. It's part and parcel of what tipped the scales in the direction of being happy with the ultimate finish. Hand quilting texture in a quilt is just so very yummy. I'm quite the addict by now and still have to grin when I think of those years when I was so vocal about never, ever hand quilting anything!

I'm also very pleased with the recycled mens shirts included in the quilt and the one vintage piece of fabric I bought special at a quilt show a few years ago. I don't do much of that, but it always feels good. Plus, as an added bonus, there are many oldy, moldy fabrics in this quilt that have been languishing in the bottom of the stash totes for sooo many years that it feels quite ridiculous at times.

Not my normal colors, but it all came together in the end...

There is a very real resistance to throwing out fabrics on the basis of 'Well, I haven't used them thus far, so I probably never will!'. Oh no. That's just like waving a red cape. Throw a few beautiful new fabrics in with the lot and just wait and see what I can come up with. Challenge thrown down, challenge accepted!*wink  Now to find times to peruse all the wonderful quilts over at Fall 2018 Bloggers Quilt Festival. Always a good time to find new inspiration!

Fall 2017 Bloggers Quilt Festival: Flocks of Geese

Okay, here we go! This is my second entry into Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival! There are a lot of entries, so I am planning on catching up by this weekend. Flocks of Geese is a brand new finish so thought this was a good way to show it off.

Flocks of Geese

This quilt was another one started in 2014, but was finally put into the hoop in August of this year. It's a little different style than what you might expect from me, but I think you'll find parts and pieces of my quilting 'voice' regardless! I'm honestly not sure what propelled me to start in on this quilt, but for sure, I remember the taupe, linen-like background fabric {for the geese} was part of the initial motivation. What to do with this beautiful fabric? And then it sort of evolved as always.

Looking at the stitching!

I stole the bird pattern from another quilt I had finished up early in 2013. There's just something about that bird template that just makes me happy and it seemed like it could add a certain amount of necessary whimsy lacking in this quilt. Just a quick photo-copy and reduction in size and wallah!, the bird fit perfectly into these six inch blocks.

Love how sparky it looks....

Generally I'm not one to fuss too much about the backing fabric, getting by with clearance fabrics and random chunks of fabric I've fallen out of love with. If the colors blend and the pattern isn't too offensive, then it's a go for use as backing fabric. And you wondered why I rarely show the backs of my quilts?

This time I made sure the backing fabric was in a color and print that added to the overall look and feeling of the quilt. Having used that dull grey-brown fabric throughout the quilt, I knew a rich looking backing fabric was key to, well, loving the quilt. {It also has about a half yard of a blue/white plaid up in the corner.} It was a bit flat looking compared to most of my efforts and honestly, none of my family really likes it. They say things like 'That's nice' or 'I like other quilts of yours better'. Wah! Just kidding. I much prefer my family to be honest and not shower me with false platitudes.

Washed and crinkly straight of the dryer, but still a bit damp...

I did make sure to add several different light through medium colors of green for the binding in order add another level of interest. It needed that bit of spark on the outside edge. Between that and the hand quilting, it finally had enough texture and interest to make me happy. All the flying geese blocks have a straight line stitching through the middle of the geese {in various colors of blue and green thread} and the wide sashing has a overlapping circle design in a darker variegated blue and/or wine colored thread. Most of the thread in this quilt is Valdani #8 or 12, my absolute favorite threads to use. Beautiful thread. I think that's part of why this quilt feels more like 'me' now that it's done. I know this stitching! We have many secrets together....

For those of you that are interested, I have another entry in the festival as well... Scrappy Tulips. More my 'normal' style I suppose. And why not check out all of the other great quilts too? I've found some good blogging friends this way! As always, a big thank you to Amy for putting this festival togehter!

Fall 2017 Bloggers Quilt Festival: Scrappy Tulips

It's time once again for Amy's wonderful Bloggers Quilt Festival! It has a special place in my heart as it's what propelled me to first start lurking on quilt blogs and get interested in the online quilting community. My first entry is Scrappy Tulips, a quilt many have already seen here before.

Scrappy Tulips

Scrappy Tulips was finished up this August, but was started sometime back in 2014! {Not an abnormal lag time between start and finish time around here.} It is one of those quilts that I adore because the paper pieced tulips came straight out of my scrap bin. Oh those sweet little bits of fabric we are always discarding--so many good uses for them! The tulip pattern is out of an older book called 'Quick and Easy Strip Quilting' by Helen Whitson Rose I bought at a guild yard sale. I am always extremely intrigued by the idea of new adaptations or interpretations of old patterns, and this one certainly didn't disappoint.

Scrappy Tulips hanging on the railing

Otherwise, I made the design up as the quilt progressed, picking and choosing fabrics and colors as seemed to work best with the original tulips. Or as the quilt seemed to demand. As you can only imagine, the red/brown stripe being used as a background fabric completely set the tone of the quilt going forward. From there it was mostly a matter of trying to make everything come together without ending up with a circus of colors! It was a very fun quilt to play with and it also gave me a chance to use an old, funky blue fabric that never seemed to play well with any other quilt. Stuff like that makes me do a little {mental} victory dance. Wouldn't want to scare my kids with the real thing. They already think I'm weird enough!

Always love to see this particular border!

And all the fabrics in this quilt did come directly from the scrap bin or from my stash. That's always a fun line in the sand. Make do or somehow make something work? That's the sort of challenge that keeps me going. Love that.

The border was something I had to think about for awhile but eventually decided on a lighter look for the outside. As I currently had a fascination for snowball quilts {never made one before, but thought they could be interesting}, it seemed like a good time to experiment. From there, it was a short jump to continuing the dive into the scrap bin to find those little bits of color for the corners. I am so, so happy with the border on this quilt! I love how it give a lacy, sort of yo-yo look to the quilt. My regular readers know that I'm somewhat compelled to add borders, pieced or applique, to almost every quilt made around here. Can you even imagine this quilt without a border?

And a look at the stitching...

The entire quilt was hand quilted with various colors of #8 perle cotton thread, my go-to these days. Since most of my quilts are hand quilted, this is a super easy way to give instant texture {yum} and also, to get through the quilting in a speedier fashion than traditional hand quilting thread. If you're interested, I also have a 2nd entry in the quilt festival, Flocks of Geese, my brand new finish. Thanks to Amy Ellis for her hard work in putting this festival together. Always fun to cruise through the entries and find new inspiration!

Yeah For Viewers Choice Nomination and More Ad.-Hoc Improv.!

Wowsers! So exciting to see 'Things Will Never Be the Same' voted into the finalist round at the Bloggers Quilt Festival! Thank you to everyone who has {or will be} voting for this very-special-to-me quilt. A Viewers Choice nomination always feels like such an honor.

Things Will Never Be the Same

So today I finally have all my {Cultural Fusion piecing} improv. blocks sewn together--20 of them! When I put them side by side, they look like such a jumble. Meh! The applique circles I intend to sew onto each block will certainly help bring these blocks into better focus, so that's a given. I like that part a lot because it just feels right.

Improv. pinwheel lbocks

This has been an odd project for me. Trying to experiment  more with these sort of controlled, almost formulaic 'improv.' blocks is very intriguing to me. It gives me the perfect setting to be free; ie, cutting the single print squares out and then free cutting the shapes. I like a certain amount of clear cut boundaries, even if self inflicted. But, it also feels sort of like cheating. How 'free' it is when the shape is basically pre-determined? I am having such a hard time getting away from the idea that 'improv.' should have absolutely no barriers!

Considering a corner triangle fabric....

But that's okay. I'm getting around that notion just fine because the fact is, working in this manner allows me to take greater risks with my fabric choices--sort of stretch myself outside of that safe little comfort zone. And these fabrics are some that I've returned to time and again for some crazy reason that only makes sense inside my head. Wondering how they could be used.  Greatly enjoying the faintly 'vintage' vibe that I keep sensing and hoping that same vibe can be made even stronger by careful manipulation of fabric and piecing.

Thought about using yellow instead, but too blendy...

Do you ever feel that urge? To try and communicate a 'feeling' in your quilts? So ambiguous and ill-defined. Fabric is fabric is fabric, right? But we all know there's a key to putting it together. Because some quilts feel flat and uninspiring. Some quilts look like the 80's. Others are joyful or heartwarming. There's all sorts of feelings to convey in the quilts we make. I really, really want to make this quilt feel {and look} retro or vintage. A good challenge always keeps me interested and more focused. How about you?

Really like this floral on white fabric!

To that end I have kept with the aqua, red and yellow colorway that people are getting so weary with these days. There are whole lines dedicated to this particular look, but I didn't want to have someone dictate my specific fabric choices. Digging deep into my stash, here's what I ended up: There are polka dot prints, a bright, clear red fabric and a solid aqua as well, different stripes, small and mid-large florals--vintage, 30's and modern, a check fabric and also a re-purposed small blue/white plaid fabric. Some of these fabrics have been floating around in my stash for well over ten years! I wouldn't want to use a pretentious word like 'curated', ha ha, but I've certainly carefully weighed the value of each particular fabric choice. These colors and prints don't come naturally to me as a unit, so I've been second guessing myself every step of the way!

And love how it starts looking more focused when
the corner triangles get larger plus lighter!

And finally I've decided there needs to be more white. What would a vintage looking quilt be without a solid white fabric? Which is virtually non-existent in my stash. Creams, tans and golds, yes. White? You're looking at all I have.*sigh

So that's it for the September AHIQ. All I have to show you! Still prepping for applique work to finish up on my other two AHIQ projects, but eventually I'll have more to post there.

Why don't you join us in our Ad-Hoc Improv. fun?  It's a great crowd!

Not So Citrus Squeeze--Fall 2016 Bloggers Quilt Festival

It's so rare that a quilt gets finished up the same year as it was started around here. I'm still in shock that 'Not So Citrus Squeeze' is now a true, blue completion! ! Love that the timing coincides with Amy's Quilt Festival too. Are you like me and find yourself disappearing down the rabbit hole whenever this wonderful event crops up? 

Not So Citrus Squeeze

This particular quilt was started early on in the year as a challenge to myself to try and interpret one of Diane's quilts in her new 'Scrap Quilt Secrets' book. I wanted to see if I could keep to the integrity of one of her patterns {I'm so terrible at following along with the rules and not going my own way} and yet still end up with a quilt that genuinely looks like a 'me' quilt!

It has quite a few 'modern' looking fabrics {check out those yummy text fabrics!} incorporated into this quilt, but you know me. I also dug really deep into my stash totes and added in some oldy moldies. It does my heart so good to see them coexisting side by side in the same quilt like they have always been the greatest of friends!

Loving that texture!

I did really well with my challenge, staying on the straight and narrow right up until I reached the end of the pattern. Huh. Then, it's like I couldn't help myself any longer. I un-repentantly jumped ship and added on a smallish, nondescript border {don't you like that floating effect?} and well, of course! some of that simple applique I love to play around with. The quilt was practically begging for it, you know it was!

Such a sweet quilt....

Then I challenged myself to machine quilt the top. The organic straight lines went rather well for awhile and then my machine starting having major tension problems. The long and short of it being that it's now in the shop being completely rebuilt. Just like I thought it needed the last {three} times it's been in the shop.

Feels like a happy quilt!

I didn't like the pink thread on the outside, side borders and so had to do a little seam-ripping. Ughh.  Hate that, but after I finally settled on a dark, bluish gray thread for those borders, I fell in love all over again. So subtle, but just perfect for the overall texture. I also had to add just a smidgen of Perle Cotton around each appliqued flower. What would one of my quilts be without some lovely hand quilting?

Everything looks better in the quilt room!

It's ever so much more fun than machine quilting, but each to their own. I'm still quite, quite terrified or ruining one of my quilts with horrible machine quilting if you want to know the truth of it. I always have to psyche myself up and keep telling myself 'You can do this!'  And to be honest, this one could use some ripping out here and there if I wanted to be a perfectionist about things. But I'm not. It is what it is and I refuse to lose any more sleep over it!

This quilt has been entered into the small quilts category over at Bloggers Quilt Festival if you have time to peruse the whole lineup. I also entered a larger, more, shall we say, infamous! quilt into the applique category as well.

Things Will Never Be the Same--Fall 2016 Bloggers Quilt Festival

It's time for that wonderful on-line Bloggers Quilt Festival once again! Amy does a great job putting this together and I'd like to thank her for her efforts! The quilt was one that I questioned very seriously whether it should be included. But then, I thought, if even one person gets inspired by this quilt to make their own story quilt, then it will all be totally worthwhile.

The story of a fire in our town

These kinds of story quilts are quite grueling actually. I don't think I realized the depth of emotion required to get to a finish, until last year when I finally took the last stitch and just sort of sagged back into my chair. My story is similar to lots of other people's across the USA {and Australia} in the last several years, only we didn't actually lose our house. Almost! But to some people that doesn't matter because 'almost' can't possibly be traumatic. lol  Yeah. Still laughing. But at least it was nature, not people causing the damage like in the case of the current rioting issues across the nation. I think that would be harder to process, don't you?

Trying to figure things out

There's always so much mental conflict, emotion and horror at dealing with these destructive acts of nature. Feeling completely out of control and wanting to place a little blame, figure out what went wrong and what we might do differently the next time. Feeling so fragile in the face the aftermath--what our family and friends are having to deal with. Trying to give real, true help and not just throw a little pity their way and then forget about their pain. Planning and working through the implementation of this quilt really helped me put all those feelings where they belonged and worked as a sort of therapy. Oh how I loved and hated this quilt!

Lots of crazy emotions

So much harder than I thought it would be, but I felt so driven to tell the story. Because it matters! And if you're a quilter, how else to tell the story but with fabric and thread? Stitch after stitch, I could feel the emotion being embedded into the fiber, almost beyond my control! Little details being added in constantly to add more emphasis--such as the little red and white dotty circles representing the embers flying through our town, setting one thing after another on fire. The flag that flew upside down in our town for months, signally our great distress to outsiders. The way I tried to write 'Pateros' to emulate our town sign that eerily burned {completely into two and then incinerated} and  now can never be replaced because of new zoning laws.

The pain of determining the value of our belongings

I posted a bit about the process on my blog here and there, but always felt so inadequate. Which then got a lot worse when I entered the quilt into our local quilt show {on the 1 yr. anniversary of our town burning} only to be basically shunned. {Yeah, it's true 'cuz this year I didn't even get my usual email to enter quilts!} My emotions were ALL OVER THE PLACE after that, but as my mom says, it got my 'mad up' and gave me the motivation to enter the quilt into a larger venue.

It really happened just like that

So terrifying, but at least it proved to me that I wasn't a complete and total whacko. Genuine shock and awe followed when I got the first glimpse of my quilt hanging in that much larger show. A Best of Show ribbon!! and whenever I made my way back over to look at my quilt, people standing in front of it for a very long time. This happened at the one other show I entered this quilt into as well. People standing, reading through the quilt, taking pictures, talking and crying with their friends as they took the time to process the message. So gratifying that the message was able to resonate with strangers. So humbling.

Things Will Never Be the Same

I don't care if this quilt gets voted on or not in this festival. It just seemed like a good place to enter it and say I'm so grateful to be a quilter in times like these. Whether or not I have another story quilt in me remains to be seen. This one still gets my nerves humming along just by reading through the words and remembering that day. That summer. And yes people in our community have moved on, recovered and/or rebuilt. Their lives have definitely improved, most of them. But not all. Some will always view that summer as the moment when their lives took a turn for the worse. That seems to be the capriciousness of life the world over.

Anyway, thanks for reading through if you did. My loyal readers have already heard the whole story over and over and over and over.*wink  I'm entering this quilt into the Applique category if you'd like to go have a look there as well!

Scrap Basket in the Fall 2015 Blogger's Quilt Festival

Scrap Basket is my first entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival this fall. This quilt is one that I started a couple years ago very impulsively with a very tiny germ of an idea!

Scrap Basket

The ideas for this quilt seemed to build, change and merge until somehow I ended up with this. So much more than I could ever have imagined at the beginning!

A closer look at the centerpiece

I loved being able to finally incorporate the rolling stone block pattern into one of my quilts and in such an unexpected way. The color combination of this quilt was something that I found myself really pushing and pushing in an effort to make the centerpiece come alive. That red ABC fabric is great fun to use as a background, but it was just a bit dull. There were many fabrics that I felt the quilt needed but they clashed when laid side by side until I finally just went with my gut.

Love how the rolling stones block 'pop' and then recede

I am so in love with the 'newish' folk art look to this quilt. I couldn't even imagine doing anything other than hand quilting on this quilt, but found myself attempting some machine quilting anyway. Yeah, you all know how that ended up being a couple hours worth of seam ripper work. So... #8 Perle Cotton stitching in the centerpiece and regular hand quilting Gutterman thread in the rest of the quilt.

And another look....

After being washed and dried, it more than exceeded my expectations! All in all, I'd say this was one of the more difficult quilts I've ever put together, second guessing myself all the way. But... It was also one of the most fun quilts I've ever pulled together too. It felt exciting and 'right'. It's a ME quilt. And that's why I'm entering it into the Original Design Category.

Don't forget to check out all the other entries into the Quilt Festival! Amy does such a fabulous job with this every single year. My second entry is here if you'd like to go have a look.

Old Fashioned Strings in Fall 2015 Blogger's Quilt Festival

Old Fashioned Strings is my second entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival. This is a scrappy little quilt made directly out of my scrap bin so it seemed fitting to enter it into the Scrappy Quilts Category!

Old Fashioned Strings

It was great fun to try and use up some leftover bits and pieces, plus this was the first ever string quilt I'd ever attempted!

Always looking so cozy

Old Fashioned Strings is hand quilted with #8 and #12 Valdani Perle Cotton thread in a very loose Kantha stitching style throughout each block. I love the simplicity of the this kind of stitching against the scrappy bits. And honestly, this quilt just makes my heart melt a little every time I use it or see it or see myself using it. I'm sure you get the idea...

Simple stitching....

To find out more about how the blocks were sewn together you can go here. They were really, really easy to put together and I've often wondered if it's time to attempt another?

And another view....

After all, I do have about a gazillion more fabric scraps taking up space in my quilt room.... Go ahead and check out all the other wonderful quilts entered into the Festival! It should keep you busy for a couple days at least. And if you'd like to see my other Festival entry, go here.

Quarter Circles in Spring 2015 Bloggers Quilt Festival

Okay, this is one of my all-time favorite quilts that I've ever made! I just adore it, in spite of the slight fading it has from near disastrous bleeding issues. I'm entering it as my second quilt in Amy's Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Quarter Circles

I'm being very, extremely brave and entering into the Hand Quilted category! Normally I would leave that for the much more talented hand quilters, but I'm having trouble figuring out where to place this particular quilt. It could go into large quilts, applique quilts, hand quilts and maybe even original design quilts.

Hanging on the railing....

Einie meinie mienie moe and hand quilting won out! This quilt started out being a pile of low volume prints that just sort of spoke to me. Some had been in my stash practically since day one, some were given to me {basically rejected fabrics} and others had been bought personally by me, but had never found a proper home.

Looking at the texture...

I have always loved the use of red mixed with cream and then combined with slightly floral prints--something those talented Netherland bloggers do so very well. It took me awhile to get up my nerve to try it out and then once I started, I just fell in love. And kept on falling.

A close-up of some stitching...

I started small and took it slow, beginning with a cream dotted fabric. Then I took some {freehand cut} printed fabric circles and needleturn appliqued them onto the cream. From there I cut those squares into four pieces {the quarter circles} and started working out how to make my sort of wonky looking sashing. That process certainly had its ups and downs but eventually I conquered all and built me a quilt to be proud of.*wink

The back side of the quilt...

And I thought it was wonderfully beautiful. Until I finished it all up and washed it for the first time. And sure, having the bleeding issues and getting-the-bleeding-issues taken care of, sort of out took the shine out of the brighter areas. But it also gave me a lovely, faded, antique look that I have always loved and admired. After having plenty of time to think about it, I still think it's wonderfully beautiful, just in a little bit different way than I intended. So I guess you could say it all worked out well in the end.

Almost looks like a postcard!

My Quarter Circles quilt is about 70" x 85", just perfect to lay on the foot of my bed and pull up over me on the colder nights. I have a second quilt entered into the large quilt category as well if you want to go have a look-see.

Vertical Baskets in Spring 2015 Bloggers Quilt Festival

Time for spring Bloggers Quilt Festival again over at Amy's Creative Side! Love this mammoth online quilt show to pieces. So many wonderful quilts to look at and admire!

Vertical Baskets

I've been dragging my heels a bit about getting the binding finished up and then remembered the quilt show. Sadly, extra motivation is always a good thing when it comes to the binding around here.

Looking at some of the texture...

This was a quilt I made after buying a yard of the brown fabric for my birthday one year. I think it was 2012? {Oh yes, I can work on my quilts for a very long time.} Then I went back to the store later and saw it in the clearance bin. Oh no! Not this great fabric! So I bought up enough to use as vertical panels in a quilt that quickly materialized in my brain.

Hanging on the railing....

Not that I had all the pieces figured out until much, much later, but somehow it all came together anyway. All the rest of the fabrics were straight out of my stash {I tried to use a lot of reproduction fabrics} and the pattern and different basket handles were sort of made up as I went along. I ended up using a lot of different fat quarters to make up the setting triangles and I love how the value change creates movement in the quilt.

And another view...

It could've been a very dark, somber looking quilt because of the colors I used, but somehow there's just enough lighter colors to generate a bit of energy. The different colored diamonds in the center panels were created when I decided to try inserting two other fabrics behind the panel and attempted some reverse applique. So easy to do and I think it completely changed the look of the quilt for the better. Just a little spark of color can go a very long way.

A close up of the stitching

It's hard to get a good picture of this quilt, but I wanted to show you the texture of the quilt too. I ended up hand quilting this one a little more than I meant to, but I think the effect is well worth the effort!

Taking it out of the dryer this afternoon was a really big highlight of my week. Why do I ever procrastinate on the binding anyway? There's just something about a freshly washed, crinkly quilt that always makes me have a great big ol' smile! So that's it. You finally get to see the whole, entire quilt finished and ready to start snuggling with.*sigh This 81 1/2" x 86" quilt is entered into the large quilt category of the quilt show. My other quilt is entered into the hand quilted section.