Updates from My Design Wall

My design wall hasn't changed much ...

I still haven't made much progress on the borders for the mini-Clover Blossom quilt ... I am procrastinating my decision to make 80-some more tiny triangles for the border.  My Curvy Rails block for the Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine's Challenge, Everything Old is New Again, is still there.  If you haven't yet voted for your favorite Modern interpretation of the traditional rail fence block, you can click the link to check out all the entries and vote for your favorite ... though Moira's block seems to be the Donald Trump in this social media vote.

The purple block is the redesign of Curvy Rails that I blogged about yesterday.

PBS kindly re-broadcast the finale of Downton Abbey last night, so I hand-pieced the new curvy units and watched it one last time.

I sewed them together on the machine this morning.




I DO prefer the redesigned block (which I am calling Wavy Gravy), but I can't say if it's because:

• I like the smaller size (8 inches square)
• It needed a fourth fabric
• It has much better value contrast
• I like it better without the center circle
• I prefer the scrappiness of the fabric choices to being limited to fabrics by one designer or one fabric manufacturer

What do you think?  

I plan to hand piece a few more of these blocks this week to see how they look together and consider it as a possible new big, long-term rainbow scraps challenge project. 

What do you plan to do this week? 

I'm joining the lists for Monday Making and  Design Wall Monday. 

Best of Show

Have you been wondering when I was going to get around to sharing the big winner from Fiber Arts Fiesta?  Here is the Best of Show winner, Little Slice of Heaven on Earth, by Susan Bowman.

This is another really small quilt, although it is in the medium art quilt category, I remember it as being smaller than some of the "small" art quilts, which were approximately the same size as the traditional miniatures. I'm sure there's a historic reason for the inconsistent size labels (and I figure if I blog about it, someone will tell me what it is . . .  )

This quilt was filled with 3-dimensional details and interesting materials.  The artist's description from the program simply says, "Pieced, appliquéd, embellished, painted."




Updated to add this link to the guidelines after reading the first comment. If you look at the measurements given, a "miniature" can actually be larger (up to 50 inches around) than a small art quilt (which is less than 40 inches). I suspect this quilt was right at the edge of the small/medium Art quilt border which put it in the same size range as the miniatures.  There are other criteria besides size for each of the categories, but I still find the inconsistencies distracting.

Miniatures

I'm two thirds of the way through the month of sharing quilts from Fiber Arts Fiesta and I realize that I haven't yet shown any of the traditional miniatures.

This is the first place winner in the Miniature category, New York Beauty by Jan Lehman-Shaw.

The colors of these hand-dyed fabric say New Mexico to me and I love the hand-quilting on this tiny wonder.

The second place winner was a tiny sampler, Maureen, Carol and Cynthia's Quilting Journey by Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer.

Third place was won by a hand-quilted, whole cloth doll quilt, Winter Roses by Norma Koelm.

I especially liked the play of color and line in  the Judge's Choice winner, Star Brite by Linda Erickson.  I think this would be a fun design to supersize for a bed quilt. 

Tiny Strings - My Quilt for Another Little Quilt Swap

Finished in early January, I waited to share this little 15 inch quilt until after swap decisions were made for Another Little Quilt Swap and it was sent on it's way.

I called it Tiny Strings because of those triangles which began as bits of string quilt fabric left after cutting shapes for a bed-size quilt.  They each measure 7/8 inch and contain 2-to-4 fabrics.  This quilt began when I came across a small ziplock containing a bunch of these sweet triangles that, I guess, I was unable to toss.

This photo, taken just after I began quilting it, shows some of the tiny strings and gives a little feeling of the scale.

I took a few other detail photos while I quilted it.  This quilt was made before Double Dare and you can see that the doodle-y style quilting in that quilt started here. 

1. Beginning to Quilt, 2. Doodle-y Quilting Design Fill, 3. Tiny Strings - Quilting Detail, 4. Tiny Strings - Border Quilting Detail

I'm happy to be able to share this secret project and am joining these link parties:

Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
FMQ Project Linkup at The Free Motion Quilting Project
Link a  finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts
TGIFF on Amy's Crafty Shenanigans
Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

A Little Finish with a Long Story

I call this little doll quilt, Upcycled Shoo Flies, because it was begun when I was cleaning up some small red and pink and white scraps (from making free-pieced loving words for the Block Lotto) on my work table and instead of tossing them, I made a dozen 4-inch liberated shoo fly blocks. The finished little quilt measures 19 by 24 inches.

If you like the wonky shoo fly blocks and think you'd like to make some of your own, check out my tutorial, Three Ways to Wonkify a Traditional Quilt Block.

After I put them together into this top, I wasn't quite happy with it.  When I won a strip of a vintage sheet, I  remade it with some of the floral strips.

When I came back to this quilt early this year, I thought it would be fun to try quilting from the back in the plain border. I didn't have enough of the floral sheet for a back, so I pieced the back and used it fo borders on the back. First, I quilted the center of the quilt–feathers winding around the white background, outlining, then echoing the print in the floral strips. Then I flipped the quilt over, used painters' tape to mark the inside edge of the border and quilted the borders by outlining, then echoing the flowers in the print.

I felt like Murphy's law started working overtime as soon as I decided to finish up this long-ago pieced quilt.  I mentioned earlier this week how I started quilting it shortly after my Bernina came back from a trip to the dealer for a routine maintenance.  Actually it was exactly 2 weeks after ... and the machine stopped working (again) soon after I started quilting the feathers in the white background.

When I resumed the quilting earlier this week, I managed to get to the borders before I ran out of thread. Usually, I celebrate when I finish off a coneof thread ... but not this time. I didn't have any more of the Lace White thread, but I was feeling so motivated to finish this silly little lark of a project, so I decided to use another "white" of the same type of thread.

A couple nights ago, I was determined to keep going until it was done ... my cat, Grace Hopper, had other ideas and late Wednesday night, insisted I stop quilting and go upstairs to bed now.

I was able to finish yesterday evening ... and Grace was happy to keep me company while I stitched down the binding late last night. I had pulled out the last of the vintage sheet with a plan to use it for a hanging sleeve, but decided I liked it for the binding.  The tiny pink piping was added using Susan Cleveland's Piping Hot Binding technique.

Here are a few more detail photos of the finished quilt.



This sweet little girly doll quilt makes me smile because it's truly a silk purse made from a sow's ear: a recycled sheet and small scraps that were on their way to the trash. Even though crazy things kept going wrong and a bossy cat got in the way, it's finally done.

Now I just have to decide where to hang it and appreciate it for a while.

I'm celebrating this finish by joining the linky parties on:
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
Finish It Up Friday
Link a Finish Friday

And because Grace helped so much with this quilt:
Feline Friday

Finished?

When you do you consider a project finished?

Is a quilt finished when the top is complete and it's sent off to a longarm quilter or added to the to-be-quilted pile? When it's quilted and bound, label and hanging sleeve added? This little quilt, pieced in December is now, as Amy once called it, "done, done."

For more details about this little quilt, and measurements for making your own mini-Tall Shoo Flies, see my post on the Block Lotto today.

Is a knit project finished when the knitting is done? When it's sewn together? How about when you wear it for the first time?  I finished the cowl to match my Aran hat last weekend–unfortunately, as a feared, the  yarn requirements in the pattern were wrong and so there will be no matching fingerless mitts.  I am otherwise happy with how it turned out and have been wearing it out in the cold and snow this week.  The cable pattern was easy to remember and fun to knit.

Last Fall, I finished another knit, the lacy mystery beret, Meret. When I failed to find a right-sized plate or platter in my kitchen to use to block it, I tucked it away ... until earlier this week, when I was making a stir fry and looked at the cover of my wok in a new away. It was perfectly sized.  After blocking, I added a ribbon inside to keep the edge of my extra-slouchy beret the correct size. Now, this one also feels REALLY finished and ready to wear. 

I'm joining the link list on Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?  Check out how productive quilters in blog land have been. 

Switching Gears: New Projects in-Progress

This week, after finishing up the scrappy comfort quilt, I started quilting the first of the four little quilts I pulled out of the trunk last weekend and put on the design wall.

 

The little shoo-fly quilt is so busy, I decided to quilt the starry background in simple diagonal parallel lines with black thread.  I marked the first seam with blue painter's tape, adding angles at the outer border. 

I used the width of the foot and the bar on the walking foot to quilt seams approximately 1/2 inch apart in the background, skipping over the shoo-flies and green border.

Last night, Johnny inspected the quilting and helped me look for any threads I missed while I trimmed ... or maybe he was just trying to convince me it was time to go upstairs.

I also started a new knit project–here's a photo of the project and the gauge swatch I started last night.

I've been in the mood to knit cables and this little book, Hats–A Knitter's Dozen, grabbed my attention when I visited Village Wools in Albuquerque while my sewing machine was at the mechanic. I hope this heathery blue-gray yarn will be light-colored enough that the lovely aran patterns will show.  The yarn shop was lovely and inviting.  If it were closer, I think I could spend a lot of time exploring all the books and patterns.

I'm linking to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday. 

Four Little Quilts on the Design Wall

On my design wall today:

Three of four of these little doll-sized quilt tops have been waiting for far too long for their moment under the needle.  It feels like their time has come.  Sunday afternoon, I pulled them out of the pile and put them on the wall to revisit my original vision and think about quilting designs.

• The maple leaf quilt is made from 3-inch blocks from a block exchange many years ago on a quilting forum.  
• I made the wonky shoo fly quilt from off-cuts from some lotto blocks–I blogged about it here, three years ago. 
• The tall shoofly doll quilt hasn't been around that long–it was made last month from leftover triangles from the Holiday Lane pillow when I was prototyping the Tall shoo fly blocks for the January Block Lotto. 
• The mini-irish chain is a twin quilt that I made when I messed up the math and made too many blocks for a quilt for a friend, Double Trouble, and then saw the opportunity to make a version for myself. 

Maybe I will end up packing some (or all) of them away unquilted (again), but I am optimistic and planning to have four little quilt finishes soon.

I'm linking with Judy's Design Wall Party post today on Patchwork Times–go share whatever is on your design wall today and check out what every ones is doing.

Lost & Found - a Doll Quilt

I hear yesterday that my last quilt project of 2010 has safely arrived at it's destination, so it can go public.



It's constructed of 3 inch house blocks - a smaller version of 6 inch paper foundation pattern I designed for the Block Lotto in 2008 (also the year I nearly finished this little quilt for Kate ... before I packed it up to move with me and lost it).  I found it last month when I turned my apartment upside down looking for my walking foot ... which I was afraid I had lost in my most recent move.

To make each of the house blocks, I only needed a charm square of fabric, these are from a set of Moda's most popular "marbles."  The background really is a dark navy batik--maybe a bit darker than the photo).

I had a lot of fun making the quilt ... and was a little brokenhearted when I thought it had been lost in the move from Michigan to Texas. The quilting is far from perfect (and in this photo, I can see a quilting thread that wasn't yet snipped--I sure hope I caught that before it went into the mail.) I remember tormenting myself over the choice of binding fabric. Along with my fear of the free motion quilting in the borders, that was probably what kept me from getting to done BEFORE the big move. It all seems pretty silly in retrospect.

I do hope you enjoy your Lost and Found quilt, Kate.

If you like this block, check out the wonderful quilt Julie made from the blocks she won in the lotto here.

Doll Quilts and Roses and Santa, my postman

In quilting, for me, one project often sparks interested in another, especially when it's been a while since any serious quilting--it's like I forget much fun and fulfilling it is when I make/take the time to do creative things.

After I finished the I-Spy play quilt, I couldn't resist finishing up the "lost" doll quilt I found during my hunt for the walking foot ... and christening it with a new name, Lost & Found. I will be mailing it today to Kate, but here's a teasing shot of the back of the quilt.

When I found the quilt in progress, there were some other quilt blocks I intended to send to Kate along with the quilt ... I know she's already made quilts from some of those blocks, so I think I will have to find another home for them, but a little gift I intended to send years ago, will also finally be on it's way. 

Finishing that project led me to pull out another doll quilt project--a second miniature Irish chain, made from blocks left over from Double Trouble, a doll quilt made for Terri and finished at the end of January.  My quilt, Trouble's Twin has wider simplified borders, but will have miniature feather wreaths, just like those that caused me so much trouble almost a year ago.  I guess that even though I haven't quilted much during 2010, I've become more fearless ;-)

Over the past week, my mailman has seemed a little like Santa.  Bringing me a couple packages of things I've won in Blogland (Frieda Anderson's book, Fabric to Dye For from Dragon Threads, and  some great IKEA fabric from One Red Robin).  Even though it was pouring rain on Christmas Eve when both packages arrived and the mailman could have just left a note in my box, he made the trip across the complex, down the stairs and to my door to deliver them.

He's also been delivering these beautiful rose blocks that friends in the Block Lotto group have been making for me.  I have a quilt in mind that will use these plus the word blocks I won in February ... and they are all helping me get a lot closer to "done."

Johnny was "helping" when I put them on my temporary flannel-backed tablecloth-as-design wall by pouncing on my hand from the other side each time I pressed a block into place ... and later, here, coming out from his hiding place to make sure he was in the photo.

These blocks were made by Caroline, Ginny, Janet, Kathie, Laura, Mary Jane and Michelle.  I don't know how they all found the time during this busy season, but they did and I just love the blocks.

Waste Not Want Not

The story of the scrappy red and turquoise doll quilt I finished piecing this afternoon can be easily expressed by a simple equation.

       

+     

_______________

 

In the past week or so, I've been working on the April Lotto blocks and writing directions for how to create the wonky Shoo Fly blocks we're making in flower prints this month. Here are my lotto blocks, you can find many more examples on the Block Lotto blog–the sneak peekers and I have already made a total of 80 blocks for this month.

My directions for making the 8 inch liberated-style shoo fly blocks are blogged here:

Three Ways to Wonkify a Traditional Quilt Block

After I had everything ready to go for the April Block Lotto today, I switched gears and started making the rose blocks that I shared earlier this week. As I sewed and trimmed those rose blocks, I noticed that I was accumulating a pile of small, irregular red and pink triangles and my mind kept thinking, Wonky Flies. Instead of tossing my trimmings, I put them aside and, last night I pulled out some white scraps and started piecing the small wonky shoo flies.

The scrappy shoo fly blocks are approximately 3" square . . . though none of them are actually square. All the fabrics came from the trimmed roses and my white and blue scrap bags. The top measures 18 x 24 inches. Now, I just have to decide how to quilt it.

Now that I've responded to my persistent imagination, I'm headed back to the rose garden and working on more roses for my border for the love letters word quilt . . . and wondering what my creative mind will cross-polinate next.

Did You Vote?

I'm not talking about the primary earlier this week–though I hope you DID vote in the primary vote–I mean the Quilting Gallery's weekly themed quilt contest.  The theme this week is Quilts for Little Girls. I entered the Doll Quilt I made for one of the Doll Quilt Swaps a couple years ago.  It was for a little girl named Ela, who lived in Turkey.  Here she is with her quilt–I think she really liked it.

Here's a detail of the appliqué, quilting and some of the many novelty fabrics I used in this quilt.

Do click over to the Quilting Gallery contest, check out ALL the adorable little girl quilts and vote.

Double Trouble

I thought myself so clever when I decided on the name Double Trouble for this doll-sized quilt.  it measures 17 x 22 inches and is machine pieced and machine quilted.

"Double" for the Double Irish Chain pattern, the Civil War Era "double pinks" repro fabric I used,  and the fact that this quilt is one of a pair of twin quilts: one for a friend and it's double for me.

"Trouble" for my personal troubles in facing my fears about quilting those 2" mini-feather wreaths in in the open blocks.

But I ended up wondering if I could have jinxed myself with that clever little name.

Although I have never had problems with it in the past and actually couldn't find any information online other than rave reviews of the Sewline fabric marking pencil ... the pink pencil marks made by the ceramic  lead pencil resisted several efforts to remove them. How frustrating after facing my fears and finally finishing the quilt that it might be ruined. If you look closely at the photo in my earlier blog post about this quilt, you can see those troublesome pink pencil marks. I ended up facing NEW fears that I might ruin the finished quilt with attempts to get the pink pencil marks out ... but I did face them and ultimately triumphed. Only the label show signs of intense cleaning ;-)

Once finished, I was excited to pack it up and send it off to its new home.  Tuesday afternoon, I headed off the post office.  On the way there, I realized I forgot my phone and had nothing else in my bag to pass the time if the line was long–working the NYT crossword puzzle on my iPhone is my default way to amuse myself when waiting in line or in Doctor offices if I have no handwork with me.  Sure enough, when I got to the downtown Dallas post office, the line was really long and there was only one clerk working the counter.   I waited, I waited, I waited, I got to the counter, opened my bag to pull out my wallet and . . . remembered that it was sitting on my desk at home.  When I told the clerk that I'd have to run home and come back, I could tell that she didn't think I'd make it in time.  "We close at five," she reminded me.  I quickly walked back, picked up my wallet, my phone and, on my way out of the building, my mail.  I was anticipating another long wait in line and, the second time around, at least, I would be prepared with stuff to read and do while I waited.  When I got to the counter the second time,  the clerk remembered me and couldn't believe I'd made it in time.  I think the fact that I had sprinted across downtown was obvious–I was out of breath and "glowing."

I left the Post Office hoping that the curse of the Trouble name stopped with me . . . and that this little quilt will travel swiftly and safely to my friend.

What holds you back from finishing quilts?

Yesterday, Linda commented, "Judging by the stack of quilt tops, actual quilting is definitely not a fav."

Judging from the stack of quilt tops around here, you might think the same is true of me . . . but it isn't, not really. However, I often fear that the quilting design that's probably been in my head since I started putting the blocks together either won't be as wonderful as I imagine it or (more likely) that my lack of skill will prevent me from realizing the design. And that fear, while not an actual quilt making step, is often a big hurdle for me when it comes to turning works-in-progress to finished quilts.

I'm working on the doll quilt in the photo. I feared that the diagonal quilting through the chains would reveal that all those 1/2 inch squares aren't exactly perfect . . . which it does if you look close. And now, I'm facing my fears about the 17 two inch feather wreaths which seemed like the right quilting design for those open spaces . . . with mixed results.

I know I could send out my quilt tops to one of the many talented long-armers, but the artist in me wants to control that design element of my quilts. So here I am, facing my fear and doing it anyway . . . knowing that not doing so holds me back from finishing my quilts.

Does anything hold you back from finishing yours?

Thank you, Michelle

Look what arrived in the mail, today.

It's an 8 x 11 inch little quilt with birthday wishes from my virtual twin sister, Michelle. (We share a birthday, she's the much YOUNGER twin ;-)

Thanks, Michelle. I love it.

I had to laugh when I opened the package because my sewing table looks a whole lot like this right now. I've been working on some ideas (and block directions) for future months of the Block Lotto which means I can't share any of it right now . . . and I'm really itching to share these blocks. Whether you dream it or just make your best efforts to come up with a colorway, you never really know until you actually make a few blocks that test the limits of the guidelines. I guess it's true that proof is in the pudding (or the quilt). I'm happy with my results so far . . . and anxious to see how well they will be received by the Block Lotto crowd.

World Wide Knitting in Public Day

Did you know? I didn't, until I showed up at the Farmer's Market and saw this sign.




And a group of knitters, who looked to be having a blast doing what knitters do, knitting, chatting, showing one another patterns, yarns, projects, etc.



I wish I'd had a project in my bag. I'd have joined them. But after a bit of shopping at the market–including a T-shirt for Pat from the Friends of the Library (because she has some fictional friends, too)–I came home, excited to get back to this project, my quilt for Kate's another little small quilt swap.



I have a few to go . . .

You might have noticed that my palette has changed . . . the cherrywood fabrics, while luscious, were just a little too beefy thick for some of those skinny slices and have been replaced by moda marbles. I hope _____ will still like the result. The little house blocks are three inches. Who knew I'd finally find a use for that "add an eighth" ruler I bought years ago.

There's only two little obstacles to getting things done today. My shoulder is still killing me and . . .



Since letting the cats into the new sewing space, they've decided that the sunshine is just PERFECT in this spot . . . even better than on the custom kitty window seat with a fleece-covered cushion that is right next to this sewing table. There actually IS one spot Grace Hopper likes even better than this . . . my chair ;-)