New Blocks from Old Fabrics

Can someone please explain why I suddenly feel like finishing this very old project? It's become my latest obsession.

Here are 40 of the 54 blocks I've accumulated since uncovering the package of 35 blocks and many many strips from a fabric swap in 2002, some still hermetically sealed in their press-n-seal wrappings.

Since sharing this very old scrap project over the weekend, I have since found a link to the designer's quilt pattern - showing two possible layouts:

Summer Vine and Ebb and Flow

I also found the original block directions from Simply Quilts on the internet Wayback Machine, here:

Two-Sided Quilts

My design wall shows another layout possibility and the one that I am considering, which will include a combination of thick and thin sashing between the blocks - please excuse the oops blocks in the second row ... how come we never see these things until after the photo is taken and posted for the whole world-wide net to see?


If I ever wondered about just how old some of the fabrics in my scrap bins are ... how about this side-by-side image.

On the left is one of the Violet blocks I made a few weeks ago, using a blue-violet print from my scrap bin for this month's Block Lotto–at least I paired it with a very modern Allison Glass background.  On the right is a block that I made in 2002 from the same fabric, which was likely purchased for this fabric swap.

As soon as I prepare the sneak peek for the Block Lotto that will be going out tomorrow–so be sure to post your violet blocks if you haven't already–I will inevitably be returning to this very old UFO that now urgently wants to be finished ... maybe it's not me being compulsive, but the quilt that is pushing me to finish the darn thing ;-)

I am linking with Linky Tuesday and Mid-week Makers with this WIP Wednesday post.

What I did Wednesday

I am still procrastinating the cutting/making of the half-square triangle units I think I want for the border of my mini-Clover Blossom quilt, so I returned to another idea that has been percolating a while and completed this set of little letter blocks. Each block is 3 by 4 1/2-inches (finished size).

Cathy suggested that the words I had made from these letters were link "subliminal messaging" and so I have come to think of it as a Subliminal Alphabet.  

Fabrics were pulled from my blue, green and black & white scrap bins.  If you have ever seen a face in an inanimate object or letters where none were intended, you'll understand how I came to create this alphabet from a rectangular log cabin block I pattern I created for the Block Lotto a few years ago.

Constrained by the block pattern and the idea of making each letter unique, some of the letters are admittedly abstracted beyond recognition on their own ... but I think context and the quilting I plan to add will help the viewers brains to connect the dots ... 

Proof of Concept

If you can read this  . . .  I don't know what, if anything, it says about your beautiful brain, but I'd be interested to know.

Yesterday afternoon, I needed to do something completely different and resurrected an old idea/pattern for a set of abstracted alphabet blocks.

Rather than making a set of letters, organized alphabetically–which would make some of the more abstracted ones easier to "see," I decided to piece a few words.  These are the ones that popped into my head.

I used part of a layer cake for the letters and a neutral solid (that admittedly contrasts better with some prints in the collection than with others).

I like what I see, but do you see what I see and can you read this?

Joining the list for WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.

QOV Works in Progress

I feel stalled on my quilts for Quilts of Valor ... so maybe blogging about these works in progress will help me kick my butt into gear.

My guild's QOV mini-group has started a challenge.  We each start with one of two panel designs ... and make a quilt (top) by January. This is mine.

I have an idea about where I want to go with this, but ... haven't yet actually done ANYTHING beyond thinking about it.

Since I haven't EVER made a quilt using a panel, this may turn out to be more of a challenge than I envisioned ... but, you know, I have a very hard time saying know to a challenge ...

The colors are actually more dull and muddy-together than they appear on my screen. One of my goals is to do something to help pull apart the image of the eagle from the top half of the U.S. by repeating all the colors in my quilt.

In the meantime, I have started using the bag of 1 1/2-inch QOV strings that were gifted to me.

I simplified a block that caught my eye when reading blogs–I can't exactly remember where, does anyone recognize it? Anyway I drew a foundation pattern with pencil and paper and have been paper-piecing these blocks.

After making a couple test blocks from my hand-drawn pattern, using a leave-in stabilizer for the foundation, I decided I liked it well enough to create something more precise in EQ.

Then, I woke up a few weeks ago, on the morning when the QOV mini-group meets, thinking about using the method where the foundation is printed on (the non-shiny side) of freezer paper and you don't sew through the paper. I thought it would be an easy thing to print some foundations onto freezer paper and try it at the mini-group ... turns out the hardest part of the process is getting the freezer paper–cut off the roll–to become flat enough to go through the printer. This is easier said than done ... but I did it, though I was late for the mini-group.

These eight blocks represent the original 3 (with foundations) and 5 made using the freezer paper method. I will need 80 of these 7 1/2-inch blocks to make a quilt that is 60 by 75 inches.

And then, there's this ... still waiting for me to quilt and finish it.

The backing and batting are ready ... I think I just needed to think through the how and where.  There isn't enough space in my sewing room to open the work-table I would ordinarily use to baste a quilt and I am still thinking about the best way to do it in the space I have.  I may take it with me and see if I can use the tables at the quilt shop after the meeting today. I am looking forward to quilting it ... as usual, it's the basting that slows me down.

Joining all the pretty appliqué project links at Esther's WOW (WIPS on Wednesday) and WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.

Row Sampler Progress - Week 2

The second row I added is made from the Many Triangles blocks we made in August. You can find the link to the block pattern for the blocks (which are 4 1/2 by 18-inches) in this post on Blocklotto.com

Earlier this week in another Block Lotto post, I blogged about how I modified the pattern to create a row from 3 1/2 of the wide blocks and my thinking when I chose the fabrics used in this row.  You can find the details here:

Week 2 of 12 + 12 = 1

Below is a closeup to show you the black bean tamale sacks (printed with black ink) I used for this row and how they look in combination with my other fabrics.

 

And here's how the completed row looks next to the the row of tulip blocks. 

I am joining the party for WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.

Symbiotic Projects

Soon after I blogged about joining the Tokyo Subway Map QAL, I had one of those, "what was I thinking?" moments.  I never cut all the fabrics for a quilt before sewing and I hated the idea of spending all that time doing nothing but cutting.  While I confess that I am going to cheat a little, the quilt, as designed, is made from 1600 squares cut from 12 colors plus black and white.

Playing around with the very scrappy Tulip blocks gave me an idea and a way to break up all that cutting ... and reward myself for slogging through it.

As I was going through my scrap bins, I pulled scraps large enough for either project, and after I cut everything I could from the scraps in one color, I took a break and sewed 4 tulip blocks in that color.

Now I have all the colored squares cut (and about half the black-on-black squares I'll need) AND I've made 25 Tulip blocks, enough for a throw-sized quilt.

In case you missed it in an earlier blog post, the Tulip block is this month's pattern for the Block Lotto and you can find the link to the pattern in this post on Blocklotto.com, and there's a badge in the sidebar of this blog that will take you to the details for the Tokyo Subway Map Quilt-along.

I picked up some a white-on-white print for the background and I am itching to start making Tokyo Subway Map blocks ... but maybe I should use that as the reward for getting the Tulip blocks sewn into a top and keep the symbiosis going to get both projects closer to "done, done."

I am joining the list for WIP Wednesday with these two projects.

Scrap-Happy Works in Progress

This is how scrappy projects begin at my house, with my sorted-by-color scrap bins. They go from neatly folded 5 inch squares, stacked on end with everything visible, to this messy (non) arrangement ...

The bins are re-used produce containers which once contained spinach or mixed lettuces.

In this case, I used some of these fabrics to make a couple of Sunrise blocks (from last year's Block Lotto).


Some friends from the Modern-ish mini group asked me to demonstrate Dale Fleming's 6-minute circle technique and I was working on some samples to use in my demo–hint, it's a great technique for other kinds of curves besides those perfect circles :-)

As someone who already has more orphan blocks and UFOs than any sane quilter should, I didn't want to produce more, so I'll be using my demo-samples to make placemats for the guild's community service group's annual effort.  The placemats go to Kitchen Angels.

A couple of days ago, I had a little idea about how to use this month's Block Lotto pattern and so yesterday, pulled out the purple bin of scraps and made these five scraptastic Tulip blocks.

There are 25 different purple fabrics used in these 5 blocks. I like them, but not for the original project idea, so I'll be pulling out some more of the scrap bins and making more for my new idea :-) 

My quilting mojo must be coming back in a fashion, because I also had a new idea for some 1 1/2 inch strips gifted to me by someone in the guild's QOV mini-group.  At our meeting last week, I created some test blocks. 

Here are the first two. I think it has possibilities and plan to make many more.

The foundation pattern I used was drawn with paper and pencil. Now I am struggling playing with EQ to create a more precise version. It looks like it should be so easily done, but for me ... not so much.

I am amazed at this group, not only for the beautiful QOV quilts they create, but how they all show up SO organized and focused and ready to sew for three hours before they pack it all up and take everything home again.

I am a lot LESS organized.  Here's a peek at my work area last week. I usually take Isaac, my trusty workhorse of a sewing machine (AKA a Singer 301).

Now that I've decided to move forward with this block idea, maybe I can get things a little more organized for next time. 

As you can see the mojo's coming back, but maybe I could use a bit more focus ... 

I am joining the lists for Scraptastic Tuesday and WIP Wednesday. 

Play Day (with Dyes)

I am still in dealing with the aftermath of my move mode, but I took a break yesterday for a Shibori play date with the guild's Surface Design mini-group.  I haven't yet washed out all of my pieces–I dyed cotton fat quarters, silk scarves and a straw capeline (which will become a hat soon)–but, here is the first.

What do you see in this arashi shibori? 

Common answers of the day were petals, yucca plant, dragon or alien skeleton.

There is a nice tutorial for shibori here:

Shibori-DIY

For our workshop, we used an indigo-colored procion dye.

This (and getting settled into the new place) is my work-in-progress this week. Like Lee, there will also be painting.

My sewing space is still unpacked (and I still cannot find the box with the sewing essentials like scissors and needles in it).  Right now, the cats are spending more time there than I am.

And the design wall is still just a piece of insulation ...

They are checking out the neighbors. Isn't he a beauty? 

   

Cogs - Work in Progress update

I have spent a little more time quilting the doll quilt.

It's providing a break from what is turning out to be a more-stressful-than-necessary move.  I'm not sure why I expected my often dishonest, negligent landlords to behave any differently now that they are selling the house and I am trying to gracefully leave this house ... sigh.

I originally had a different plan for the quilting, but the idea of using a variety of designs based on a equilateral triangle grid took hold ... here's a closer look at the first two.  Both are unmarked, using a ruler.

(I haven't decided how to quilt the centers of the "cogs"or if/how to quilt the ghost cogs.)

I am joining the lists for:

Scraptastic Tuesday (June)
Esther's WOW (Wips on Wednesday)
Let's Bee Social on Sew Fresh Quilts
WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced

Challenged by Challenges

I love challenges, but may have over-challenged myself a bit this year ... to give you an idea, here are some of the things on my plate.

I have previously participated in one of C&T Publishing's Creative Troupe challenges - to use their paper-based kraft•tex™  product in some new colors.  I received a sample of the new light gray called stone.  I wanted to take advantage of the leather-like stiff nature of the product and designed this cell phone wallet.

You can see all the other projects made on C&T's kraft•tex™ Pinterest Board. 

For me, it was fun, functional and I always intended to make another for myself adding some fabric for my version ... but procrastinated while I thought about buying a new phone.  I mention it because that experience led me to sign up for another Creative Troupe callout–to use their TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) product in an interesting way ... the deadline is approaching and I am still creatively stuck.

I know that sometimes I am a little frozen by fear.  I've blogged about my scaredy cat ways in the past and you would think that by now I would have just gotten over it.

Another example is the current round of the Cotton Robin (which I cannot share until after the round robin quilts are finished and home again).  I love the idea I have for the quilt at my house, but ... I am afraid that I will not be able to accomplish it. That deadline is also coming soon ... so I will be forced to face that particular fear soon.

I am curiously drawn to the Modern Quilt Guild's fabric challenges ... probably because making a quilt from a single fabric line is not the way I usually work and it is challenging for me to do so. I can't resist trying ...

I missed the announcement about the spring challenge, but when Marie offered to send me a package of the fat eighths of the challenge fabrics, I said yes, please.

Unfortunately, when I went to my local quilt shop, they had none of the Riley Blake Cottage Garden fabrics, nor coordinating solids ... fortunately, I found a layer cake and some yardage at fabric.com. Part of the challenge is to try something new ... I am planning to include some sashiko stitching–something I've long wanted to try, but never have.

The deadline for this one isn't until July, but some quilters already have finished quilts and a lot of others are much further than gathering fabrics.  You can find photos on instagram with the hashtag #mqgfabricchallenge

You'd think I have enough on plate ... but I have also signed up for the Poster mini-group at the guild (you create a piece of 6 quilts based on posters, with deadlines every 6 weeks).  I am also committed for the H2H challenge and haven't made much progress on that front ... and when Bridget sent email out last month about a scrap bag challenge for the Chicken River Modern Quilters and I had a conflict for that day, I promptly turned around and suggested it to our local Modern-ish mini-group.   The challenge comes from Victoria Findley Wolf's 15 minutes of Play.  The basics are you fill a quart-size ziplock bag with scraps, swap them, then make a quilt using ALL the fabrics in the bag you receive.

Here are the fabrics I pulled from my scraps.

It's probably because I have packaged up and mailed fabrics, blocks and quilts so many times over the years, that I neatly pressed and stacked the fabrics in the ziplock I created.

It also helped me see the mix of fabrics that would be someone else's challenge.

The result was that my bag looked neat and flat (on the left) and most of the others looked like the one I received (on the right).

I came home Monday night with the idea of making some liberated basket blocks, probably because it's on my someday list, but woke up yesterday with a new idea.  I unpacked the fabrics, considered each one, pressed them, and lined them up on the table ... asking myself if they could work in a quilt now in my head.  So far, so good ... just have to meet a few other deadlines first so I can dive in.

Add to the pile a couple of personal challenges–I heard last week that the owners of the house I rent will be putting it on the market and terminating our lease early–which will mean a lot of downsizing (I'll never find a sewing space like this one) and packing and moving a lot earlier than I planned–and well,  I am definitely feeling challenged by challenges–in quilting and in life–right now.

I am joining the lists for WIP Wednesday and Ester's WOW ... even though most of the projects listed here are just barely in-progresss ... the good news is that I should have lots of progress to share going forward ;-)

Scattered Progress

I've been working on a brand new project, a very old project, and a couple of projects you've seen before.

I resurrected another of my moldy golden oldie UFOs–a string star quilt top–pieced a back, and pulled out the stencils I planned to use for part of the quilting design.

I don't usually mark quilts and I think my fear of trying this is what has kept it unfinished for so long.  I decided that it's time to face this particular fear ... and do it anyway. If you have a favorite tip for working with quilting stencils and/or marking a quilt, I'd love to hear it. 

Speaking of fears ... it turned out that my fear about the dyes in the backing fabric for the kids charity quilt was unfounded.

It came through the wash fine and is now softly crinkled and ready to be trimmed and bound.  I am planning to use a red tone-on-tone print for the binding.





All the English paper piecing and hand appliqué on my little hex project is complete and it's ready to be quilted.  I decided to try this new metallic thread from Artistic in gunmetal.





I think the best excuse for starting a new project (when you have a plethora of unfinished ones like me) is to make a quilt for a good cause.  I caught up with the guilds QOV mini-group and started a quilt that will be made from blocks like this one.

Lately, I have been feeling scattered and have allowed myself to flit from one project to another ... I am hoping it will end up resulting in a bunch of different kinds.

At least it makes for an interesting WIP Wednesday update ;-)

A Scrappy Puzzle

I haven't yet jumped back into the Rainbow Scraps Challenge this year (and it's already March!), but since I did make some blocks from yellow scraps, I am considering myself officially back in the game.

Besides the yellow hexagon ring I shared on Sunday, I also made 4 of the foundation pieced Briar Patch blocks.

I've now made around 50 of these paper foundation pieced blocks.  It felt like time to figure out how they would be set and how many more of what colors I need.

I can't say why I have been in a "finishing" state of mind–it's so unlike me. Rather than making new rainbow scraps challenge blocks for new projects as I planned, my focus has been on finishing up the blocks and quilts from RSC projects from the past.   So, while I haven't been regularly checking in with something made form the designated color each week, I have been digging into my scraps to work toward some scrappy finishes.

And now, I find myself looking at the Briar Patch project to see what I need to take it to a finish. At this point, it feels like a bit of a scrappy puzzle to be solved.  I thought it was a good time to pull out the blocks and put them on the design wall in an approximation of the layout to see what I thought and where I am.

As you can see, I need to make quite a few more blocks in almost every color. If I decide to split the "purple" blocks into red-violet and blue-violet, as I have them on the design wall now, I'll need even more of those.  But even in this state, I can see that I'm going to like it.

A big chunk of time spent paper-piecing blocks is just what it needs to get the rest of the blocks done, which may make this project is a good candidate to take to the guild retreat next month.

I'm joining the lists for Scraptastic Tuesday and WIP Wednesday and (kind of late to the game), Scrap-Happy Saturday.

In the Meantime ...

I am still thinking about the details of how to quilt the bright boomers and log cabins.

I have a pretty good idea how I will approach it, but am mulling over some of the details.

And I need to decide on thread color(s).










I am also still playing around with ideas about what to do with those big scrappy Oak Leaf blocks–my goal for March.

I have decided to make a few more of the large scrappy Oak Leaf blocks and which colors I need to add.

In the meantime, I pulled out a little finished quilt top–made in a workshop long ago and far away–and I'm quilting it. Here it is, in progress, under the needle, almost quilted.







Working on this reminded me of what I didn't like about my piece–the raw edged appliqué leaves stitched with an open zig zag–and what I loved about the workshop–the sketching exercises that led to my original design.  And maybe those reminders are a good reason to work on finishing more UFOs.

I'm joining the lists for WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced and Esther's WOW (WIPS on Wednesday).

Free Motion Quilting ... with Help

The only thing Grace Hopper likes more than helping me change the bed linens is helping when I am layering and pin basting a quilt on the work table. It usually ends up looking something like this.

Grace is also a chaser of light and shadows, so as soon as she noticed the small red light coming from my camera as it auto-focused, I had no chance of getting her to look up at me and away from where she had last seen the red light.

I basted the flannel quilt on Saturday and started quilting it on Sunday.  At the end of the night, I folded it, with the pins on the inside so that neither cat (but most likely, Johnny) wouldn't try to help me remove them ...

I came home from work on Monday, ready to quilt, but found myself in a stand-off with Grace, who didn't want to give up her new soft perch.  She refused to even acknowledge me, she was so insistent that I didn't need to quilt right now ...

After I displaced her, she played another game with me which involved her running to the far end of the studio, meowing up a storm until I got up to see what was wrong at which point she raced back to my sewing chair, jumped into the seat and held on tight.  Apparently, I had taken her seat and she was now taking mine ...

Some quilting did happen Monday night, in spite of the kitty antics ... at times, both cats settled into a spot on the large quilt on the table, as I worked my way across it and were irritated with me when I needed to shift things around.

My approach to quilting this big flannel zig-zag design is:

1. Stitch in the ditch along the edge of the white strips (done)
2. Quilt feathers in the white areas (done) 
3. Switch thread color and try something new (a sort of pod shape) in the plaid squares (in progress).  

THEN, I'll figure out what to do about the borders.

I'm joining the list for WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced. What's in progress at your house: something new or are you, like me, working to finish an old project?

A Different Kind of WIP Wednesday

Over the past couple days, the old cracked boiler has been removed and a new one, which didn't work, installed in it's place. Electricians were called, circuit boards were replaced and late this afternoon, someone called the manufacturer's tech support line and troubleshot the problem--there was a tiny little missing jumper wire.

So, the work in progress around my studio looked like this:





Because it's a radiant heat system and the house has become very cold over the past week, it's going to take a while for things to warm up ... but this is progress in the right direction.

Something Old, Something New

I've been making blocks for a new project using an idea I've had almost as long as I've been quilting.

It's one of those What if questions.  What if I made log cabin blocks with a random number of colored logs with a random placement ... determined by a throw of the dice.

I used the pattern for the rectangular log cabin variation we made for the Block Lotto last year, called Steps (you can find the block pattern on the Free Block Patterns Page.) The blocks are 6 by 9 inches (finished size).

I need to make more blocks before I decide if I can work with the result, but here are the first sixteen, parked on the design wall.

That's what's in-progress for me this Wednesday.

I'll be joining the WIP-Wednesday list on Freshly Pieced later today. What have you been up to? Starting something new or racing to finish an existing project? 

Projects in Progress

I'm getting back into the swing of things and my design wall is filling up with signs of my progress.

 

I've got last month's Little Windows Lotto Blocks to be mailed and 14 more, made for my Mod-Mod Sampler. Some more words and a Rose, to be added to the back of the quilt I shared on Monday, a couple of this month's Sweet Dreams Lotto Blocks, waiting for some friends and the twin center I made for my Cotton Robin quilt, still waiting for me.

And that's what in-progress on Wednesday at my house.

Red Projects in Process

The practice silly strings blocks have become a quilt top, with the addition of tomato red squares from my red cotton scraps and a bit of linen.

I thought it might grow larger, but as I extended the red background, when it grew to this size, I decided it was "done." 

I had some leftovers squares and rectangles that will likely become a messenger-style bag.

I haven't been quilting much, as I pep are to jump into some new contract work. I haven't yet made any of the blocks for my Mod-Mod quilts–the July update was published yesterday on the Block Lotto.  I plan to make the spokes blocks I need for these quilts during this month's Friday Night Sew-In.  Some of them will be red– this month's Rainbow Scraps Challenge color.

There's been a bit more red progress going on around here.  I've made a couple more red Briar Patch blocks for the scrappy version of that quilt.  I'm joining Lee's party for WIP Wednesday.