It's a Wrap!

Last week found me taking pictures in anticipation of another blog post and then life just got way too crazy. Still running very behind with household chores, errands, bookwork etc., so I'm doing this as quickly as possible.

Wing and a Prayer is done!

Wing and a Prayer is now completely finished up, including being washed and achieving that wonderfully crinkle goodness! Don't know why, but it's suddenly in the 'favorites' group!

Scraps a few plus a few orphan geese

Not exactly springlike, but still, very bright and cheery! This improv. quilt was a great project, start to finish. I look at it now and wonder, why don't I do this more often?

Lots of good color

And yes, it was challenging, in its own way. All the best ones are. The fact that this one ended up being so cozy looking {in spite of the black fabric use} makes me very happy. Scrapbin quilts need to make the scraps look irresistible. That's just their sneaky super power.

Hand quilting for the texture...

Finally got the Positive Thinking words all wrangled into a quilt top too. Once I found the time, it wasn't nearly as daunting as I supposed it would be. And despite anything you might think looking at the pic, it does actually lay fairly flat.

'Center' of Positive Thinking quilt

So, so happy with the pinstripe fabric used for the background. It's subtle, sure. But wowsers, up close? It's just makes me sigh with pleasure! I'm a little stuck from the overwhelming This-Is-The-Message look to the quilt, but there are a few ideas competing for the next step.

Had to use every scrap of the backing fabric in order
to properly float the words...

Next up will probably be an applique border of some sort. Color us all SHOCKED! Still pondering the messy details of what that might entail. And well, it might take awhile to unwind all the strings. Don't want to ruin the vibe of this particular quilt just because I'm in la la land with oodles of applique ideas right now!

A completed quilt top!

Speaking of which.... The 4-Block Tulip Basket Medallion quilt top is all finished up now! Yay!! Love it! Lots and lots of hand stitching time involved in making this happen of course. Never you fear, there's much more of this stuff on the list these days!

Making it up as I go along

So glad I kept the applique motif relatively simple. The curve of the flowers are very basic and I didn't bother to make deep, sharp cuts down into the flowers. Did you notice that every flower {other than the matching  3 tulips shapes in the center} are different? That was just too much fun trying to make the borders have a more organic and 'flowing' look than what I would more generally do. It's something that interests me more and more as time goes on and quilt projects tend to proliferate. 

A few more leaves than I intended, but 
gotta do what the quilt demands

And those smooth lines! Keeps the hand stitching part down to a much more doable time frame with very naive and simple shapes happening. Not an accident my friends....  And those corner 'wheels'? Leftover blue wedges to the rescue! Just had to fiddle around a bit to figure out how to get the specific look that I wanted. Or not! There's a bit less of the quarter circle thing that I was shooting for, but same impact and yeah, who's complaining?  I adore how easily they give a bit of interest to the corners of the quilt..

Had to applique a few of the flowers
on after the borders were sewn onto the center

The most complicated part of the applique was the addition of the year. I totally admit to dithering back and forth with that idea. Yes, no, maybe so.... I LOVE seeing a year on certain kinds of quilts, but we all know this won't be a complete and total quilt finish until at least 2022 and it will probably be closer to 2023. Which might annoy me when reading 2021 on the quilt? Or it might remind me that 2021 was right after we survived '20.... 

Too much yellow?

This quilt is basically the manifestation of a feeling that there are just some projects that don't need to be given up on. This speficic quilt idea has been haunting my quilt room for a LOT of years! Maybe it really is worthy of whatever time it takes?

Inspiration never gets too old for use...

My kids are united in thinking it's sort of a 'meh' quilt because it has a lot of yellow and looks kind of oldish. In my mind, it's soft and sweet with a bit of old fashioned charm. Like antique quilt sort of charm? Who knows, that's definitely all in the eye of the beholder. They did NOT hurt my feelers the least little bit. The pattern page pictured above is the original inspiration for the quilt, though of course I took many, many liberties with the pattern. Including changing the way the tulips themselves were pieced. Picture me shrugging. My way was easier! 

It Doesn't Feel Like Much

Got a busy weekend ahead so I wanted to throw some progress pics at you before things spiral out of control. It doesn't feel like much, but every bit of prep is another step forward! First up is the HST Medallion quilt, all quilted, first phase of binding sewn on and ready for the hand work. Woohoo! I didn't get it out of the hoop by the end of February like I hoped, but let me tell you, my fingers were burning up trying to finish things up!

HST Medallion ready for binding stitching

Next up in the hoop is the Scrapbin Improv. quilt, otherwise known as Wing and a Prayer. It's exactly what the name implies, a lot of scrappy scraps coming together in an earnest appeal for it to mesh and look right.

Wing and a Prayer

It most definitely appeals to me! And it's exactly what I need in the hoop right now. Having so much fun stitching on this quilt after the monstrosity that took up the past six weeks or so!

Loving having this one in the hoop!

Once I put my mind to it, the last border of Rhi's dress quilt came together relatively quickly. Simple, minimal and understated was what I was thinking, and of course, using up as much of the sunflower fabric as possible. 

The last border

I tried to add in several other small cut-off bits of the floral fabric, but it just made things look really busy. The bright floral yellow on the bottom was extremely hard to cut into. Been saving that for something special for a very long time. Then I thought, if my daughters quilt isn't special, what is? I am loving the black and white drawing-like motifs in this sunflower fabric though. Isn't it gorgeous? There's just something about it that melts me!

Such a good idea to rescue this fabric!

The backing is already cut out and sewn together for when I'm ready to sandwich the quilt. Probably gonna happen sometime in May? Have to take a short break first and focus on some other finishes though! These Melon Patch petals {below} have been sewn into four rows now, all ready for the next phase of the quilt. This quilt just keeps changing its mind about what it wants and now I'm leaning quite heavily towards making it a wordy quilt, intermixed between the petal rows. Been looking at available fabrics and pondering deep thoughts. So ready to move this quilt off the current UFO list, but ahem! So many appliqued pieces, it's somehow morphed into three quilts by now. I know. All will be explained in due time....

Figured out that I only need 4 borders, not 5!!

So easy to get going on the applique prep for 4-block Tulip Medallion. I've only been thinking about it for years! This quilt is starting to feel like an old and very comfy friend. Everything that I do to it just settles in like it was always meant to be. Wish they were all that easy, but then I suppose things would get terribly boring!

Getting these borders ready for the flowers

And then there is the squirrel quilt. I don't know what there is about this particular quilt, but I just can't seem to stay away. It's not even the right colors for the season, nothing springy about this on at all!

How bout some more tulips?

I've played with some quick drawings and doodles for potential ideas for this one, and occasionally I've even drew in a bit of applique. I mean, we're talking about me and my specific brain waves. Applique might possibly be part of how I'm hardwired? Anyway, always, without fail, I toss those ideas and go back to the idea of a medallion quilt in increasingly larger sizes of hst units. NO APPLIQUE. And then this happened. Seriously. Do I look like I need more applique projects waiting on me right about now?

Love Seeing the Abandoned Bits Come Together

So the Scrapbin Improv. {Wing and a Prayer} quilt top is completed. It ended up being 51" x 57" after I decided to throw on the black print border.

Scrapbin Improv. quilt top is finished

That's barely up to a size that seems properly useful, but I had started running out of anything except itty bitty pieces. Ughh.. Not in the mood to work with those right now at all!

Just trying to see what can be done with the scrappy bits...

The black border is the remains of leftover strips cut off from a backing on some other quilt. Love that it carried on the use-it-up mentality of this particular effort! I'm thinking these were good colors/fabric to use for my first time attempting this style of freewheeling scrapbin sort of quilt. All the bright, happy colors just seemed more than ready to match up to each other with little to no fuss. Eventually I hope to try something similar in a much more subtle or muted colorway. This may be the start of another series, we shall see...

Love all the different pieces that ended up being included

On another note, the last three weeks have been brutal. When I posted last, I was just finishing up with a nasty flu and then promptly relapsed. Probably because I've been having to take care of my husband who had the flu, recovered, worked one day and then started having other health problems. He isn't always a particularly healthy person and has some ongoing issues which this flu has seemed to exacerbate. February has been going by in a blur of coughing, hacking, tending, and oh yes, little pockets of hand work. Not getting a lot accomplished in the quilting room, but it sure feels good to have a needle in my hand elsewhere. So very grateful for a well stocked hand work bag! We are definitely on the mend finally, but I just cannot find time to connect better. Will return when things settle down...