Another Good Finish, Much Better Than It Set Out To Be

 I've been buried in the back office lately, working on the paperwork for my husbands business. I'm always determined to better keep up on it. And then I don't. He's not a paperwork guy whatsoever, which makes my job harder. Whenever I try to get everything in order and wrangled onto the computer or into reports etc., it's a frustrating time for both of us. Sometimes I think we'd both be better off if he could just pay someone else to deal with it, but I know we really can't afford it, especially now with the 2022 economy.

A little whacky, but so much fun!

Ughh. Anyone go to buy groceries lately? It's totally freaking me out, how high the prices are these days! Anyway, it feels like there hasn't been quite as much time for quilting lately. I did manage to get the binding sewn onto Chrysalis--all in scrappy reds. I'm always surprised when I use red for binding, but I do adore the look. It totally fits with the vibe of this particular quilt!

Loving all these colors together

This 2nd Roman Stripe quilt went together better than the first one. Of course I'm partial to the applique on it, and I did go ahead and do just a wee, bit more hand quilting on this one too. It really does make a difference!

Turned out very happy looking!

It's a super simple pattern and goes together very quickly. Would be great for a baby quilt I'm sure, will have to keep that in mind. It looks very soft and cozy now that it's washed and properly crumpled, like a good quilt should be! I'm actually very relieved to see this one rise above it's rather blah beginnings.*sigh  Some quilts are just more demanding about making extra time for.

Looks like a good one!

For now it's rolled up and languishing in a little basket in the corner of the living room. Weird I know, but I have a feeling this one is going to be used a lot in our living room!

Ignore the dust behind the basket, it's that time of year!

Speaking of which.... I went a little crazy this past week and sorted through all the plaid flannels that I tend to live in during the late fall and winter months. There was a whole stack of shirts in good condition that felt a little too snug, too short or even in the case of a couple of them, way too wide and boxy. Those extra wide ones were the Walmart ones I think. Just never felt like an attractive or comfortable fit at all. Shouldn't have even bought them, but I fell in love with the colors! And I don't know if anyone else has noticed this issue, but the nice Eddie Bauer button-down shirts that I've bought {for years and years and years} tend to shrink badly anymore. I'm getting very tired of it. I've gained a little weight since 2020, but the shirt shrinkage is very real. For the moment, I'm on a shirt buying hiatus from Eddie Bauer and searching out other brands, mostly second hand. 

De-constructing/ Re-constructing flannel shirts

I sewed up almost 2 inches at the sides of the largest, boxiest shirts and now they feel and look much better. You'll probably think this odd, but I took one nicely-made flannel shirt {rarely worn because the buttons looked like eyeballs} and replaced those buttons with other, plainer looking buttons. Rescued from previous upcycled shirts I'm pretty sure. Amazing how much better I like the shirt already! 

I took one of the 'too-small' shirts and cut some of the bottom half off in order to make a contrasting ruffle to one of 'too-short; flannels {one of my comfy faves}. The 'too-small' one was tailored very well with great, double stitched seams throughout. I thought these details would help to make the ruffle length look better than it might have otherwise. After that was done, it looked like it needed a contrasting pocket too. That was sewn on with the fabric edges exposed so that they will fray and look pretty shabby eventually {just like I want them to}. Overall, I was super happy with the look, though my daughter kind of smirked at my enthusiasm for the 'boho boutique' look. Probably won't do any more like that, but it was kind of fun to try my hand at something new!

Both the red and the green flannel shirts {in the above picture} have had extra flannel sewn into the sides of the shirt--under the arms--kind of a gusset I suppose. One of the flannels used for the addition was another 'too small' cut-up shirt, and the other, just some fabric that rescued from the flannel stash tote. There are at least 4-5 other shirts that I can play with still, but that has definitely took a chunk of my time these past several days. Great for distraction from the bookwork! My sewing is not the absolute best, but it's getting the job done. 

There's something incredibly annoying about wearing too snug-under-the-arms shirts around the house. Just can't handle it! I seem to have lots of hot flashes off and on these days and the unfortunate thing I've noticed is, wearing tops that won't swing and move easily with my everyday motions tend to set me off extremely easily. I have went and changed clothes after wearing them for less than half an hour before! One of my sisters has teased me quite a bit about wearing oversize tops, but what to do?  This was an easy fix, playing with these shirts, and hopefully it will get me through another winter without having to buy much else.

Hand quilting on the border

Still getting a bit of hand quilting in during the late evenings. Went ahead and marked out a rough crosshatch grid on the border of the tulip quilt after all. Just didn't have the inspiration for anything else so why not?

Gonna answer a couple quick questions for the 'Reasons for Quitlmaking' and then close up for the day! 

4. How do your family, friends, and community feel about your quiltmaking and your quilts?

I think my immediate family and probably even my siblings and parents are proud of my quiltmaking efforts. The broader family gets that my quilts are not just cookie cutter replicas of mass marketed patterns, but don't really understand all the reasons why that might be. Which is totally fine. We all have our fascinations! Overall they just seem to enjoy getting to be the recipient of any of my random quilt gifting. They often have a joke at my expense, something to do with 'watch out for your shirts' kind of thing and laughing at my constant prodding to my husband about leaving time in the schedule for quilt store stop offs! Which he does not do very often these days. Somehow we're always leaving too early or too late on the longer trips. Wonder why that is? lol

My daughters and husband have heard me babble on about the creative process {and all of my various challenges} more than they have wanted to through the years. That being said, they are probably the most invested in making sure that I don't ever give away quilts unnecessarily or to anywhere they might possibly be 'under appreciated'! Kind of frustrates me on occasion but it is super sweet of them to feel so possessive. I argue with them on occasion that I am not some exceptional quilter in the whole world-wide scheme of things--they are just looking at me through a very narrow lens! It's wonderful to have carved out a good spot in the cozy, come cuddle-up-with-me quilting niche though. Once in awhile I'll share a sweet blog comment with them and they always seem to appreciate the love and support.

 As to the community? Some people know that I quilt of course, especially after they saw the Fire quilt. It's just not that big a deal around here. The artsy people live up the valley and actually make money off of their interests! Which, to be fair, years ago I was offered a chance to sell quilts in a shop up the valley. Just don't think that's something I'm interested in doing at this time of my life.

5. What are your feelings about quiltmaking compared with other household activities?

Ha! I think we all know the answer to this one. Quiltmaking is vastly more entertaining and interesting than almost anything else around here! I have to work hard not to get frustrated and upset when life throws a curveball at my quilting 'schedule'. Unless the grandkids are visiting. That's a whole 'nother ballgame!

**On a different note. I have gotten a few requests again for making a hand quilting with perle cotton tutorial. At first I just thought 'No! Don't have time for this!' But then, I reluctantly reconsidered. It's something that I have probably gotten more requests for than anything else. Have been writing down some notes and thinking it through. Will make up my mind here in the next couple weeks about whether or not it's something I feel that can be properly or adequately done. Have always hesitated and decided against because I didn't feel like I was the right person to address this subject. Lots of little quirks, just doing it because I love the look and the process. Not the expert!!

Such a Good Finish!

 The HaHa quilt is totally finished up! So hard to believe after all these years that everything is done {except for a label}. It's been such a long time coming!

The HaHa Quilt is done!!!

As most of you know, I've always been just a little bit doubtful about the addition of the outside triangle border. Did it need it or not? I thought the added color would help make the center 'pop' better and give the entire quilt a bit more of a solid feeling. Then later I just wanted to rip it off because something about it didn't sit exactly right.

Looking so much better than I ever dreamed

Once again, I am tremendously relieved to see that yes, this design decision was meant to be. Every time I wavered or questioned, I ended up leaving it 'cuz what was going to replace it? With the hand quilting doing that lovely texture thing, it all suddenly makes perfect sense!*sigh  Did you notice the scallop hand quilting in the center area? First time I've ever done this motif and though I adore the look there in that spot, I'm very glad that I didn't end up stitching scallops over the entire quilt. Which I definitely considered doing for five or ten minutes. Hmm... No. Not today. So tempting and yet, it just didn't quite resonate with me at the time.

Loving the scalloped stitching texture

The color in the pictures is a little weird. The contrast between the creamy white fabric and the grayed down cream sections is very hard to get a proper representation of. And yes, I know it's not everyone's preference to blend all these shades of creams and whites into one quilt, but I personally love the juxtaposition. Looks so, so good close up and in person. No regrets there at all!

We'll all just laugh together...

I still have to laugh at the idea that the 'Ha Ha' portions of a quilt were due to me totally and completely miscalculating the measurements of the outside border. Obviously by a lot! Now I can say with absolute conviction--That was the very best mistake ever made around here!

So glad that I stuck it out with this project!

At this time that this quilt was started, zeroing in on solid colored fabrics and using lots of  'white' fabrics seemed very challenging to me. Lots of decisions felt excruciatingly difficult in terms of trying to 'see' through to the [imagined} end result. 

Testing out the look in the guest room

I wanted a quilt that gave off a whimsical vibe. Something cozy, not in the least bit cold or contemporary looking. The very last decision made, using the large, old fashioned red/white gingham fabric for binding? That almost seems like serendipity. One of those moth ball smelling fabrics given to me by my aunt last year. You know I would have never in a million years thought to go looking for that exact fabric, and yet it works wonderfully in that position. This turned out to be such a sweet, happy looking quilt. So thankful to see it finished up at at last!

The perfect binding

And 'Seedpod Flower' is next up in the hoop. I've been anxiously awaiting the time that I could spend with this beauty in my lap.

The new quilt in the hoop!

There's just something about the mixture of colors that makes this little heart of mine feel mushy and sentimental. Maybe it reminds me of colors that my grandmother used in her quilting? I did manage to slip one tiny fabric of hers into the quilt so there's that....

Scrappy, scrappy

It's been the usual CRazy around here so it took a couple nights to hand quilt the centerpiece of this quilt. Nothing flashy or extra special, just some basic big stitch diagonal lines and a little bit of echo quilting here and there. Next up will be the same, same, same throughout the rest of the quilt so mostly having to figure out colors of thread.

Just getting started with the hand quilting

All of my sisters have been in town this week, so yep, the six of us have been up to all kinds of trouble! Just kidding. Some hiking {not me}, celebrating moms birthday, thrifting, eating out, lots and lots of visiting. The thrifting stuff is right up my alley of course, and now I'm continually looking for shirts to repurpose for use in quilting. 

Adding some shirts to the fabric stash!

I try to leave the out-of-town family plenty of time to visit the parents on their own and not crowd in every moment of the visit. It's difficult not to want to be in on all the fun, but mom and dad are getting older and need some time for those good visits which only tend to happen during the quieter moments. 

So proud of her!

On a different note, mom had recently finished the machine quilting on her Improv. quilt and I had assured her that I could put the binding on for her. Just like I always did in prior years. Can you believe this is the very first quilt that my mom has completely finished since their house burned down in a fire back in 2014? She has definitely started several quilts in the ensuing years, but something changed after that event and she became very insecure about her quilting, often forgetting many of the things she knew about the process. She had difficulties with her new sewing machine. Her vision would get bad at the times she wasn't feeling good, which was often. Or her design wall too small to bother with. Long story short, we believe she has been dealing with Alzheimers for many years now, no doubt set off by that trauma. 

She was extremely excited to take part in the Improv. meetings I held earlier this year. Crazy happy to have a plan of attack. Often trying to jump ahead with the project even though she had zero experience with this method! Early on I determined that if it was remotely possibly, we were going to make sure that mom ended up with a true blue finish at the end of this effort. And so it happened. Just take a look at her proud smile! Lots and lots of hand holding and seam ripper sessions. Me trying to give suggestions and/or talk her out of something she was determined to do. Sometimes mom got mad at me or ridiculously irritated with 'Improv.', blaming all the mistakes on the method, her machine or 'the thread'. Other times she went ahead with the way she wanted to do something and then I had to come in and help her out of a bind. 

I am positively blown away by how much this quilt looks like a 'mom' quilt {colors etc. she would have used years ago} but still holds true with the improv. formula everyone used. Her memory might be a little tricky these days, but she remembers more than she knows that she knows. This was a very sweet moment, her getting to hold and peruse a quilt that was made by HER. She gets all the credit. Then she got to show it off when her daughters came to town. How perfect is that?

Making It Up As I Go Along

The hardest part of blogging lately is actually making the effort to write the post. I usually don't wanna these days! Then, deciding what to touch on, what to highlight and even more importantly, what to leave alone. Ughh. Does anyone even care about quilting these days? Such crazy, crazy days indeed. Oh well. Quilting is what makes me happy, so here goes!

Strippy Triangles

This is the quilt that was started impulsively back at the first of May. Mostly I just wanted to chain piece and not think about design. It's now a completed quilt top, so yeah. Really fast finish for me! I've had the fabric stacked up together and simmering though, for well over a year. That was during a time when I purposefully dove very deep into the red stash tote in response to the Red is a Neutral AHIQ challenge. The first two fabric pulls of red didn't end up quite making the grade {here's the challenge quilt with the fabrics that won out} but I couldn't just dump these straight back in. Oh no. There was just something about them that pulled on my heartstrings.

A completed quilt top!

Maybe it was because there was a small piece of a leftover plaid from my youngest sons baby years {do you know how little fabric is in a long sleeved toddler shirt?}. Regardless, it was the 'go-to' fabric stack when I recently wanted something simple and low-key to immerse myself in.

Loving the soft, mellow look to this one

I am so very satisfied how successfully the lighter areas of the quilt turned out! I consider this quilt a victory because... one of my worst default decisions is usually to pick a whole stack of fabric in a similar color with very little variation in tone or pattern. Something I'm working on changing, little by little! This time, I deliberately stretched and made sure to have better range of colors, albeit in the light to very light spectrum. There are creams, lighter pinks, light grays and in addition, very light blues. If you look closely, you will also see that on the rare occasion, medium-dark pink fabrics from the darker areas were purposefully used in place of a light triangle. But overall? The lighter area definitely reads 'light' {without being choppy}, even though up close there's more going on than perhaps is normal with my efforts.

Definitely got an old fashioned look and vibe!

I kind of love the energy and depth it adds to this sweet looking quilt! Those unexpectedly placed pink triangles really aren't dark enough to fully stop the eye from perusing the quilt. None of that, 'Hey! Those are in the wrong spot!' moments, it just adds an amusing utilitarian touch. I like to think of it as whimsical, unstudied, and kind of old fashioned looking! Basically, I just divvied the cut triangles up into 18 stacks of half light and half dark and started sewing, one light triangle to one dark triangle, one after another. And then once in a great while, threw a darker pink over into the 'light' pile just for the fun of it!

Don't what I'd do without the railing to hang my rows on
and keep them sorted! 

After I got the initial pairs sewn up and ironed, then I started joining those pairs together. Then four with four, until a whole row was able to be sewn together. The most important thing being that there was no repeat of fabric sewn closely together. Otherwise I just grabbed and sewed. Once I got larger sets together then I quickly laid them out of the floor to see if the row looked okay, then sewed it up and moved on to the next row!

The page you see pictured below has been in one of my inspiration binders for close to a decade. Though I didn't closely follow the pattern directions  {my triangles are larger for one}, it's from the 2009 July/Aug. issue of  'Fons and Porter' Love of Quilting magazine. For a rough idea of how to make a similar quilt to mine, cut out approx. 100-5" squares of dark fabrics and 100-5" squares of lighter fabrics. {I think I had to go back and cut just out just a few more when I decided to add extra rows!}. Cut them on the diagonal and then cut on the diagonal again. Sew light triangles to dark triangles in sets {iron with a light touch!}, until you have 16 rows measuring 85" plus. Sew 2 rows measuring approx. 65" for the top and bottom of quilt.

Cut 15 strips @ 2 1/2" x 82" in whatever alternate strip fabric/color you like. The fabric that worked best for me was a woven so I intentionally cut my strips on the lengthwise grain for better stability. Since I had slightly less than 2 1/4" yards available, this meant that I had to cut an extra strip and sew length to length, then later measuring and cutting each strip at the desired 82".

Lay out all the pieced rows in the configuration shown below {light triangles to the outside} or perhaps like I did, {dark triangles to the outside}. Though the quilt is very scrappy, I did try my best not to have identical fabrics lined up in rows exactly side by side. This meant of course, that I had to change out pieced rows here and there until the color flow to the quilt worked the best.

Seeds of inspiration

As most of you know, my piecing isn't ever strictly precise, and so I took the {deliberately} extra long pieced rows and fiddled with them a bit at this placement stage. Moved them a little up or down so as to further distract from the fact that they were never going to match up in straight lines at the point of the triangles all across the width of the quilt. That meant that I cut a little off the top of some and a little off the bottom of others, whatever it took to make them all 82", but still have a good 'mismatched' flow overall. The one thing that I did NOT want to see happen was for them all to start out with an intact triangle at the top of the row, and then end up cut off willy-nilly across the bottom of the quilt! Then it would be altogether too obvious that I was a failure!

The top and bottom pieced rows ended up being cut at 62 1/4", but really, it's best if you measure the width of your quilt in three places, and then take the average before cutting. One thing that you might like to know too, is that I did not trim all the pieced rows to an exact width of 2 1/2". What I did do is take a ruler and trim a straight edge alongside both sides, just eyeballing things as I went. After all, it is a utilitarian look quilt, so who really cares? The original quilt in the picture dates back to the late 1800's. What do you want to bet that it isn't perfectly square either!

Cutting up shirts from the closet

On a different note, the new AHIQ challenge has been issued! For the first time in a long time I haven't even finished up the last challenge, but that won't stop me from thinking about the new one. This one is called 'Positive Thinking' and one of the ideas is raiding our closets for the start of a new quilt. Making do is something I love so of course I promptly went looking to see which shirts of mine and my husbands could be spared. Shh... hopefully he won't notice the empty spot in his side of the closet...

Positive Thinking in the works

Then I looked sown at my choices and had to smile. Me thinks this latest quilt top has greatly influenced these particular choices! {Not that I had very much to choose from as we do need to have things to wear} Whatever, I went ahead and ditched the darkest fabric {for now} thinking to uplift the color mood {positive thinking?}, and went looking in the stash totes for another spark. I guess that's going to be orange. Instead of putting the cream stripe {used in the Strippy Triangles quilt} back into the totes, I added it into the stack too. Grabbed a white/clue/orange/pink vintage fabric that never seems to find a good home and just kept flitting around in the stash totes till I felt that little hum of satisfaction. Okay. That's a good start. Will leave it there to marinate until some more definite ideas for a design gels! Will probably end up calling this quilt 'My Happy Place', but only time will tell how it turns out....

Creative Distractions

Sometimes I just plain forget how much 'work' some quilts require.  I am totally cracking myself up with my complete and total inability to focus of this quilt at this particular phase.  After I get one (yes, that would be ONE) row sewn together, I'm immediately looking around for something else to do for awhile.

A couple rows sewn & the mending

So far I'm catching up on my mending pile with unprecedented speed.  So silly.  Apparently I'd rather put new buttons on an old favorite of a sweater than push through and finish a great quilt top.

My new Levi skirt that would have fit 2 yrs. ago

I even attacked a couple pairs of old Levi's and made myself a long denim skirt, something I've wanted to attempt for years now.  Up-cycling is so cool now.  The only problem is, I've uh, gained a bit of weight since these jeans have been put to good use.  So much for that distraction! lol