A progression of quilts

A little while back, I stumbled across this post from Daniela of Block M Quilts.  She had taken a class from Katie Pederson of Sew Katie Did.  There were blocks from her Emerald City quilt which is a version of a Psychedelic Baby quilt.  After a brief aha moment and a bit of searching, I decided that I wanted to make one.  Originally, I was going to try to make the center medallion setting, but that requires some wall space I don't currently have set up.  I went for easy.  And blue solids.  I had a fair amount of blue solids and I do like seeing them all together as this is not the first set of blue solid quilts that I have made. 

This was my oops moment of realizing that the white stripe did not line up and I would be bothered.  Using the new optional reading glasses did not seem to help much with picking out seams.  My strips were about 18" long and wide.  The blocks are 12.5" unfinished as that is the size of the ruler.  These create some wonderful quarter log cabin blocks when you trim the blocks.  Correction, one has to sew the off-cuts to create the quarter log cabins.  I chose to do this quickly since the edges are bias and that meant I did not need to worry about the bias edges anymore.

I put these out on the floor like this and liked it so that is the final design I chose.  Rather than piece together blocks of multiple sizes, I either added additional strips or trimmed them to 8.5" unfinished.  

Both of the first two quilts led to some scraps of strip sets.  Since I had a small amount of blue solids left, I chose to cut 7" squares of solids.  These squares were cut into 2.5" and 4.5" pieces to which I added a multi-blue strip set of various sizes.  They were trimmed to 7" squares again to come up with the third quilt top.  

This one might get quilted today if I can finish my work obligations, clean the gutters, clear some ivy and clean up part of the basement.  And why is there a balloon in the toilet?  No, if I did not put a balloon in the toilet, I do not have to take it out of the toilet.  Do not complain to me about how gross it is.  

Both quilts are quilted with a meandering stitch in an attempt to make sure I went over every seam.  I have no idea what all the blue solids are.  They are a combination of various manufacturers.  And none of these have a designated recipient yet.  Most likely, at least one of the three will be donated to Katie's Comforters' Guild.  And, just in case you think this was all this weekend, it has been the work of the last month or so.

Nearly done

     Another co-worker is having a baby.  The sheet on the left is what was registered for.  I stole colors from the quilt on the right which coordinates with it but that she did not register for.    

Using fabrics from my stash only, here is what I came up with based on the quilt on the right.

    The binding will end up being a blue green Tula Pink print from Flutterby I think.  It seems to pull from quite a few of the colors and I have enough.  This had a blue background with no white because I had the blue solid and not white.  So, the fabrics include Green Nature Elements, Yellow hummingbirds from Tula's Acacia, Raindrops from Elizabeth Hartman, Ladybugs from Birds and Bees by Tula and Metro Living Circles.

Purple chicken

     I started going through my scrap bins and cutting them into squares.  I finished the purple bin today.  I think I might need another scrap quilt planned for my 3 inch squares.  It seems like there will be a bunch of them.  As I needed a purpose for the 3.5 inch squares, I decided to start an urban chicken quilt using my scraps.

     Last weekend I finally started quilting my Arts walk challenge quilt.  As I started the quilt right after the election, it felt slightly therapeutic to quilt it on MLK day and then start the hand binding on Friday.  It sparked from reading "And Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou shortly after flipping through A Quilter's Mixology by Angela Pingel.  Hopefully I will finish it shortly.

Let what I have dictate what I choose to do

     Moving had me stuff a lot of fabrics into a lot of places.  It's been frustrating looking for fabric I know I have, and being unable to find it as it's been stuffed somewhere.  I have attempted to reorganize my fabric collection back into the plastic shoe boxes.  It feels a bit better but not perfect.  So I spent a large portion of my holiday break cutting and prepping projects so they move beyond fabrics intended for specific projects to actual works in progress.

     While I have seen many stashes that are way more extensive than my own, I have more than I could possibly work on in a year unless I quit my job and sewed full time.  Even then, I doubt that I could finish using the stash and the scraps.  An extensive fabric stash sort of makes me happy, but it also just stresses me out a bunch with how much I have and the guilt of not using it.

    In 2009, I did not have a fabric stash and shortly after, plenty of bloggers wrote about cultivating a stash and choosing fabrics so I chose and cultivated.  Unfortunately, I did not know that really, that is not how my process works.  I seem to like to buy fabrics for the project when I have a project in mind.  I do enjoy buying fabrics just to buy fabrics as well and to have them, but I often don't use them as quickly as I'd like, which results in a ridiculous amount of fabric in my house.

  In 2015, I read a few books about the disposable fashion industry and decided that I needed to choose quality over quantity and get rid of the urge to purchase a good deal.  Flash sales and the creation of a shortage had already started to bother me.  The MQG challenges where we had to use only the manufacturer's fabric, bothered me.

    There are many people that want to shop their stash first before buying.  That sort of works for me, but I decided that I just need the stash and scraps to dictate the projects.  I'm ok with deviating from this a bit, but I'd like to work on this first.

My list of projects that I'd like to work on this year includes:

Anna Maria Horner value quilt using six inch squares:  I've been collecting AMH fabrics ever since I took the value class my guild offered from Katie Pederson.  I made a wonderful value quilt then, but decided that an AMH value quilt would be one I would like to keep.  A ridiculous amount of fabric hoarding and cutting later, and I have a six inch square of every AMH fabric I own as well as a 1.5-3 inch strip x WOF.  The stack in this picture might be over three inches tall.

AMH Candy Coated quilt:  Using the strips cut above, make a Candy Coated quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts.  The first one I made like that was so mindless and easy.

Flea Market Fancy Arkansas Crossroads:  I bought the reprint FQB and have meant to do something with it using white fabric as that is how I've liked seeing FMF quilts.  I finished cutting the 6.5" white squares this morning and the 3.5" squares last night.  It is now sitting in the box ready to go.

Meadow Mystery Quilt:  This is the quilt along for my guild this year.  I picked out scraps and stash to make it after I remembered that I had 4.5" light blue pearl bracelet squares cut already from a Bizzy Kid project fail.  I think we were only supposed to think about picking fabrics, but mine is cut and I've sewn and trimmed the HST and hourglasses.  Need to do the squares and flying geese, but I am way ahead of the guild schedule.

Starburst Brambleberry Christmas.  I like Violet Craft's fabric collections.  I like the color of her Christmas collection.  When it went to 50% off at my LQS, my mom and I bought some.  From what we bought, there was enough for three Starburst quilts.  She's making one, I'm making one and the other one needs a neutral and for one of us to make it.  So perhaps, by next Christmas, I will have at least one Starburst quilt finished.  This is the fourth Starburst quilt I've made.  Large blocks make it easy.  Thank you Melissa Corry for your quilt-a-long.

Brambleberry Ridge Christmas Candy Coated:  With the extra Christmas fabric, I'd like to make a Candy Coated quilt.

Tula Hexagon Quilt from the ORB quilt along way back when.  I bought a Modern Meadow jelly roll way back when this started.  I never started the quilt.  I still have the jelly roll.  I need to make a minky quilt for my oldest, so I cut up a bunch of blue, red and yellow Tula prints that I have to make a hexagon quilt similar to Jaybird Quilts' Neptune Hexagon quilt.  I might have a Neptune jelly roll waiting to make that quilt as well.

And Still I Rise:    This uses our Artswalk challenge fabric for the guild.  This year's requirement is that we use a template and the red fabric (or gray or blue depending upon which one you chose).  I chose to use the Drunkard's Path template and Angela Pingel's book, A Quilter's Mixology.  I made a variation on the butterfly quilt.  It is basted and waiting for me to decide how to quilt it and dedicate the time to do so.  It probably needs spiffy quilting.

I have spent quite a bit of time ironing my scrap bins and cutting them into squares.  The orange and yellow bins are done.  Two scrap quilts I am planning for are:
Scrap Plume quilt: From Fat Quarter Style
Scrap Star Value: 

I think I started this post more than two weeks ago.  If I do not finish it now, I will continue to be distracted and never post it.  So here goes and hopefully, someone's stomach has settled and does not see his food twice today.  That would make me happy.

   

Just use it up

I decided to try to just use what I already have on hand for new projects.  I really have no need to go shopping for fabric except to help finish projects that are on the docket.  And I really don't need to add to my wish list of projects.  Binding fabric seems to be a sticking point in my mind.  During the inventory clearance sale at my LQS today, I just bought batting with the 40% off one item coupon.
 
A co-worker who is retiring this year likes blue.  I showed her a few pictures of fabric and made sure to include mostly what I already owned.  She seemed to like all of it so I decided to break into the Parson Gray stash that I accumulated in the past few years.

And then, since I did not want to put the fabric back away, I kept going and kept cutting.  4 quilt tops later, I have a quart size ziploc bag or less of the remaining Parson Gray fabric.  Here are the quilt tops.  2 are plus quilts, one is a group of random blocks to attempt to mimic the Road Trip Quilt by Cluck, Cluck, Sew but in a bigger size, and one Candy Coated from Sunday Morning Quilts.

The back of the co-worker quilt.  I only had about 2 yards of the navy flannel and managed to just use a strip from Candy Coated that would have pushed that quilt over 90".  I wish I would have kept it all solids on the stripes but I'm not changing it now.

Candy Coated which I think I am keeping.  The first picture has the stripe of 4.5" strips for the back across it.  

 The bigger Road Trip Quilt (6.5" squares, 9.5" or 12.5" blocks).  This will probably end up being a gift for my brother.  It was meant to be fairly mellow and it is.

And the second plus quilt.  I assembled this one in smaller components to not take up as much floor space as I did with the first one.  Oops, not enough value difference in the middle for far away pictures.  I did not look at the overall layout but was concerned with smaller parts so I didn't notice the values until taking the pictures.  I may donate this one to a local school auction if I get it done in time.

Since the majority of my coordinating fabric got used for the quilt tops, I do need to purchase some fabric for binding.  And yes, plus quilts are mighty easy and quick to put together.  There are at least two that are my intended quilts list and have been for multiple years now.  Soon, I will manage to quilt the first two and then progress to quilting the other two.  And probably I will purchase some navy quilter's linen to use as binding.

After the Epic Meet-up this summer, I did not put away the 6 free Clothworks batik fat quarters I received.  Today, I cut them up to make a Starburst quilt from Melissa at Happy Quilting.  No recipient, just a "let's use this up."

Pacific Crest quilts

The two Pacific Crest (sort of) quilts for my in-laws.  Rows are now assembled, but not sewn together.  How much could I complete without needing to iron something....

And since I waited a few more days to post things, now both of the tops and backing are pieced, and one of the quilts is basted.  It's not getting quilted this weekend.  Do I have enough pins to risk starting to baste the second one?  hmm....

The purples joined the club

The purple blocks joined the club today.  I started later in the day so I didn't get as many done as I wanted.  Five is nothing to sneeze though.  It was a rainy weekend.  I'm thinking that perhaps these will get sashed in a gray solid and trimmed to 15" square with the gray around it.  But, I have a long time to make that decision.  Right now they are getting trimmed to rectangles as large as they can be.  Why make uniform sized blocks?  

I made very little progress last weekend on the quarter log cabin scrap quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts.  The main parts of these larger blocks have been sitting untouched for over a year in a visible location.  This is not my favorite form of scrap quilting.  It just takes me too long and I have to think too much to try to keep it square.  I think this will become some other slab scrap quilt with multicolored blocks.  A string quilt with my string scraps will probably happen instead because I like making those and they are fast for me.

 And here are two random bits of improv scrap quilt block making from leftovers of the Birch Tree quilt blocks I made for the guild charity blocks of the month.  I will develop this idea later.

And here is the stacked coin quilt for Katie's Comforters Guild.  I chose the binding fabric, but have made no effort to go beyond that today.

Until next time....

Nearly a clean slate

     I don't do well with unfinished quilting projects.  Blue hourglasses, Purple Crazy Piecing and Blue HST have been bothering me for some time but I haven't done much to fix that problem.  Until the last week.  Hourglasses got pieced first, and then the purple one.  Finally I dug the blue squares out of the box, finished trimming those already sewn and turned the rest of the squares into HST yesterday.

     By late this afternoon, with the help of a wonderful spouse and a nice mother, I had the quilt top finished.  Color placement was nearly all random other than trying to make sure I didn't pair up too many dark squares at any time.  It wasn't until I had the blocks of 16 squares that I bothered to pay attention to placement.  Random is good.  Knowing that I would manage to mix up the order if I were to carefully place all 288 of the squares before stitching makes random sewing totally acceptable.  

     I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this quilt as I was piecing it together today, but as soon as I assembled it, I decided that I was going to keep it.  I really haven't kept many of my recent quilts.  The flannel backing I recently purchased for another project will now give me the backing without needing to purchase any more.  My mother was nice enough to give/loan me one of her batting packages so I could postpone the purchase of additional batting.  

     And although this quilt could be described as a bit chaotic, I calmed down other aspects of sewing life by sorting through all my bins and drawers and putting fabric away where it belongs.  I've been looking at bins with random bits in them and it has been irritating me but I feel much better looking at the more organized chaos of fabric bins.  So on the first day of the new year, I feel much better about nearly having cleared the slate of unfinished quilting projects.  Now to start working on those projects I intended to make but haven't gotten around to yet.

Hourglass quilt top finished

I'm not sure why this quilt top has given me such difficulties.  Determined to get it off the wall and in one complete piece, I set to finishing the component hourglasses the past two days.

     It has been taunting me on the wall for months now.  But finally I have a completed quilt top.  

      So here is how it currently looks.  Quilt holder wasn't very happy and wasn't quite tall enough to get a good shot of the quilt top.  I wish I would have picked a different background when I made the second batch of hourglasses, but I didn't realize that I wouldn't like it as much until I was laying out the completed pieces on the wall today.  The density of the dots just changes the coloring.

     This will now sit until I feel like quilting it.  I have three months until it needs to be completed and I'm currently just happy to have it off the wall and in a semi completed form.  Apparently I couldn't count the number of hourglasses that I needed and ended up with a whole bunch of extras.  After two additions to make the quilt bigger, I decided that it was big enough and would do just fine in the size that it is.

  Hooray for another project off the plate for now.  Just having it sit in quilt top form really does make me feel much better.  Perhaps tomorrow I will just finish it up.

Super Kids Quilt

     The quilting co-worker group is behind on baby quilts.  Two have been born and one more is expected and we haven't managed to kick it into gear and get anything done.  Today, the plan was to at least finish two quilt tops, possibly get more done and run some errands.  Enter the reality of a really late night at work last night, knock knock jokes starting at 5:30 this morning and a power outage and the hope of completing two quilt tops went out the door.  But I sort of managed to take a nap, frequently interrupted, and chose not to run the errands.  

Using a pattern from the Cloud 9 website, Spaced Out baby quilt, I spent the morning cutting and marking squares.  I didn't want the quilt to scream novelty fabric, so I only used 4 from Super Kids.  The second quilt has very similar fabrics, just slight variations.  I think there is one less blue and one more red in it.  All the hexagons for that are sewn, it just needs to be assembled.  Co-worker 1 plans to make that into a quilt top this weekend.  

The pattern seems to have a flaw or two in it.  Well, the finished size of 44 x 51 is mathematically impossible as written.  8.5 x 5= 42.5.  And that's without the seam allowances removed.  I didn't bother doing the math for the other direction just because the 44" irritated me.  Re-read, check measurements, re-read, ask 7 year old about 8 groups of 5, check for borders, ask someone else to read it...  Silly, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

We chose to draw the second line across the white square so now we have about 120 HST for the next project.  I definitely could see some fancy quilting if I chose to do this pattern again, but I am guessing that I might settle for get it done quilting on this one.  3 months later than we wanted to be, get it done quilting it is...

Pink Plus quilt top

I kept looking at the Acacia quilt tops from yesterday and decided that perhaps I should make a nearly all pink quilt.  With Modern Meadow and Hope Valley fat quarters which were acquired at the beginning of my quilting habit, I started this top today.  I do have a bit of fabric acquisition guilt, but I'll keep working on dwindling the stockpile before resupplying.

With the crafting space being in the middle of a family room and home to two kids with active imaginations, an interlocking quilt design is not the most practical.  The squares on the floor became a hopscotch game (the three year old ran through the open spaces and called it hopscotch) or a river to jump across by the seven year old.  It also is their play space and where most of their toys live so I really shouldn't get upset.

 Somewhere in a fabric bin are a bunch of blue squares from the same lines cut to make a plus quilt using leftovers from my dad's quilt in 2012.  It didn't really take too long to piece this one, perhaps I should do that next weekend.  Nope, I should be finishing a quilt for a co-worker that's been basted for two weeks.  Or basting and quilting the three tops from the weekend.  Or making boy quilts for two other co-workers to give post delivery....oops.

If works in progress only count quilts that having some sewing done, here's my list:

Basted:  
Pam's quilt

Finished tops:
Pink Plus
Birthday Cake 1
Birthday Cake 2

Piecing:
Blue half square triangle
Purple Crazy Piecing
Blue hourglasses

Wonder if I can quilt four quilts in a two day weekend....

Two Birthday Cake quilt tops

The aunt I see most often is welcoming a granddaughter in December.  I've had little contact with my cousin just because of distance, and apparently his wife likes things that are pink.  Attempting to clear out some of the fabric that is in my house rather than acquire even more, I pulled out Acacia by Tula Pink.  I did need to supplement the pink colorway with four 1/4 yards as I primarily bought the blue/purple one.  I decided on Elizabeth Hartman's Birthday Cake pattern just because I wanted to try something quick without vast negative space.  

 I chose to make two versions because I had half yards of most of the prints and the pattern calls for fat quarters.  I plan to donate the second one.  Neither quilt really screams "baby" to me so I may change my mind and do something completely different for my cousin.

The pink one is growing on me a little bit.  Or perhaps I just make a third quilt top and see which one I like best.  I think I miss the negative space.

A better weekend

Last weekend was filled with work and thoughts of work beyond what was reasonable and normal.  This weekend was filled with a better balance of family and some Mother's Day sewing.

This weekend I managed to quilt the Sunbeams quilt this weekend and attach the binding.  It's only been sitting in my house basted since mid-March.  I've had quite a bit of quilt guilt for letting it just sit there and not just finishing it off.  Now I just need to find thread to match the binding and hand stitch it down.

     We also have a few co-workers that are having new babies or grandbabies.  The first one is having a new granddaughter.  Way back in 2011, the first granddaughter came along and we used Little Apples to make the Charm Squares baby quilt.  Because I was not the one who quilted it and bound it, I do not have a picture.  I do have a picture of the Sherbet Pips version we made for another co-worker at the same time.  2.5 years later and there will be another Sherbet Pips version of Charm Squares.  Well, actually four versions of Sherbet Pips this time.

      The first one will be gifted to our co-worker.  The other three will go to Seattle Children's Hospital through Katie's Comforters Guild.  My Riley Blake Challenge quilt will be going there as well.  Today I managed to get one quilt top finished and basted, and 10 more rows stitched together but not pressed.

     So this weekend removed one of the two basted quilts from my guilt list.  Never mind that I added one basted quilt to the list right after removing the first one, but it is a wee tiny little thing.  I'll probably try to piece together the other three Sherbet Pips quilts this week because it seems manageable to do so during the work week.  By the end of the week, I hope to have used up all the Sherbet Pips I could find.  I'm planning on using stash fabrics for the backings and piecing batting scraps of unusual sizes to try to not purchase anything new to complete these.  Quilts go to a great cause, and I use up my fabric collection to support the cause.  Yay!