It was challenging to work with half square triangles. I know I said I was done with them, however, most house blocks have pointed roofs.
I finished the first two and made them in red to resemble (in my mind) a farm house, barn and silo. Red needs to be used sparingly or it dominates the project so it will be interesting to see how this evolves. Again, scrap quilting is challenging simply because of the matching it requires.
I want to turn my attention to the quilt next and get it on the machine. I did spend time with swap bot exchanges and am caught up with them. After some sticker shock at the PO, I have withdrawn from a lot of swaps for now, and the ones I kept were ones I am hosting and actually created.
I couldn't get to sleep thinking about this new scrappy quilt. One of the things that some quilters say about scrap quilting is that they don't like the chaos of it and that they need a plan. Well. It seems smart to have a plan.
I have three Great-Nieces. Their Mother passed a few years ago and their Daddy has remarried. The blue Bird Quilt is for the oldest, and the Hallows blackwork is for the middle grrrlie-girl. I didn't have a plan for the youngest, whose birthday is the day after the 4th of July.
Moda puts out a free pattern on: moda-be-my-neighbor-2016/
There are 16 blocks to the quilt, plus sashing and borders to finish it up. I went through several ideas for it and then realized that I didn't have a quilt concept or pattern for this youngest of my Great-Nieces. Of course, I could pull out red, white and blues, with a few accents thrown in for contrast. The challenge for me will be to use red sparingly. It can really dominate anything creative. I made the first two blocks in reds because they look barn-like to me. Now, to find some interesting squares with faces or animals to go in the windows.
Well, to bed, to bed, says sleepy head.
Yup. that's right. Over my lifetime, I've been told I am an over-achiever, a Personality Type A, and having perfectionist tendencies. Just because I finished all my projects for the year didn't mean I could stop. My closet is still full. And I am still able to quilt.
I continue to hand quilt the table runner and spent time cutting and piecing some scrappy blocks for the back of the blue Bird Quilt.
After joining these into 8 rows, I set it aside and returned to the table runner.
Another thing I did recently was to join a quilt-along group using a Moda pattern. Its for a scrappy quilt, so it touches on two of my interests, scrap quilting and house blocks.
The hardest thing about any scrap quilting is selecting fabrics. For instance the blues in that back have just enough contrast colors to make it interesting.
The new quilt-along isn't a mystery quilt for one reason that I am so far behind the group and was able to down load the patterns. I printed off the general finishing information and the first row of 4 blocks. Because it is a scrappy quilt, each block breaks out what is needed to make the house and accessories. Then quilters look through their stash and select what is needed, block by block.
As I looked at pictures of the work others posted, some used one background fabric and others used a different one for every block. That has to be the way I go because I simply do not have any neutrals to do it any other way.
For whatever reason, this is as close as I can get to being random. Its as close as I can get to being artistic. All I know is that when I quilt, I do the best I can and just hope it turns out. Actually, every once in awhile, I didn't like a finish, but let it go. That is huge for me. But it has to happen sometimes.
It is said that we feel the most anxious when we live in the future and when we are depressed, its because we are living in the past.
I took the list of 2017 UFO's from my sidebar on this blog, and brought out the first three projects from the bins in my closet. Oh of course, I had to take out the bins, go through them and stack them back in the closet. One emptied to hold two of the projects, now WIP (works in progress) rather than UFO's. 2017 has begun.
This one is a table runner I started making for Mother many years ago. It needs hand quilting and then binding. Mother has gone to a nursing home and can no longer use this where she is. I cannot believe how hard it is to return to this particular project. I could say I am anxious because I don't know what to do with it when it is finished. However, closer to the truth is that I am sad and bordering on being depressed about it. Am I living in the past? Maybe. Its not that I didn't finish it for her in time, its that life moved on and isn't finished between us. It needs hand quilting and so will be a start/stop project until all three of the stars and the first row of stitches around the center are done.
The next one requires embroidering 15 blocks state birds/flowers, so that too is hand work. The third project needs a back. Somewhere I decided to gather up all the blues in my stash. I think I will simply cut 8.5" squares and join them to fit. Then, from all the blues, there will be enough to make binding strips. That project will be the easiest to complete.
I did find a bigger piece of fabric that will go on the back of the quilt. I also found enough batting pieces to join for it too. I will call for an appointment to baste early next week, and then be ready to machine baste and bind it. I am surprised how the scraps came together for this one. The success of it all inspires me to take action to use up more of them.
Every year, I experience some amazing stress to finish projects and get things shipped back to the Midwest for holiday gifts.
Every year, I try to figure out what to do earlier and easier. My drop-dead-date to get holiday quilts or projects sent is THIS week in November before Thanksgiving. My idea is for gifts to arrive so that recipients can put holiday themed things out when they decorate their homes. Its all pre-holiday isn't it, because the PR becomes exhausting and after it is all done, those things get stored for the next year.
I finished that yesterday shipping. Two trips out. Done. Of course, I have packages for the youngest kids that will go out during that red-bar week for optimal shipping. I know they rip open the packages rather than save them for Winter Solstice, so later is better for them. And the older ones get money, so whenever is fine for that gift. Because I live far away from relatives, I will send out cards with personal letters. And I will do a cookie baking extravaganza in early December. Then, one last post office shipping experience for the youngest of the kids will be the time I wait in line.
Meanwhile, the studio needs to be set up for the 2017 projects, which are all those UFO's (unfinished objects) listed on my sidebar. This will be the year I finish the Bird Quilts, and work on other embroidery projects. I've held off sending those embroidered quilts to them for a couple of reasons and now just need to get on with it.
I don't know why I let the stress get to me. And I do think there has been change over the years to lighten it. For instance, instead of shipping off Thanksgiving Turkey cutout cookies, I got a full body massage. The kids love getting cookies, but each box ships for over $10 and there is only about a dozen cookies in the container. That is plain silly. Its not like they miss having homemade cookies. If they get one package of cookies through the holidays, it will be a sweet treat that they will cherish as more of a memory rather than a taste.
Weather is shifting now and my studio has western windows. Trees were trimmed back so much that there is little to break the wind, so it feels colder. This is the time of year that I notice how it is to be in the mountains at a higher elevation. I keep candles burning, add Amaretto to my coffee in the morning, and layer clothes to stay warmer.
The quilt top came together nicely without a pattern. I don't really have purples that were requested and found this piece that worked for a background, borders and potentially the binding. It seems to photograph almost a gray but it reminds me of a grape soda. I used every scrap of purple I could find in my stash. The big challenge is what to do with the back!
It lays across my queen size bed, and will be a personal lap quilt when finished. I have yet to go through the bins to see what will work for the backing. A lot of the 2.5" squares went for the blocks and most of the 6" squares made up the second border. I really like the look of it and hope she will too. It will look nice with a diagonal channel quilted stitch. This is the size limit I want just to make it easy on myself when I am at the machine.
There are certain colors that are not in my stash. Remembering that what I received from others came from women who might have liked a fabric in the store and then either never used it or used very little of what they purchased. I know it is the practice of many women to buy just a little extra in case something changes. And that is a smart practice. If you don't finish your project in a timely fashion and run out of a fabric on it, chances are that the fabric store will have sold out. Usually they only buy one bolt of a fabric and the total yardage is less than 10 and more often 8 yards.
This back will take about 5-6 yards total. I don't have anything that big any more. Or at least I don't think so.
Louder than words. So it is written.
I think it is true for me. I've been making a 6" border out of scraps, and it would be so much easier to go to the fabric store and buy a yard of material. Like I've written earlier, scrap quilting is actually hard. Yet, there is a sort of artistry with it too. And it is an eco friendly action I can take.
Admittedly, it takes time. The only way it becomes art is when I actually take the time to design something that makes use of my stash. With all these strips there may be enough to do the border around the center of the quilt. I've tried to be as random with the joining as I could, yet admit to mindful selection of the pieces. It is my hope that the purples in the strips will pop next to the foundation borders.
Fear of failure reigns through this because I am working without a pattern, working without anything but a hunch that the strips will make a good border for the quilt. I am working on a quilt that I didn't know I was going to make! It is important to me to 'shop from the closet' but its not just about making quilts with a pattern. It is about using up what I have unless what I have is not here.
I think that once I have completed all the known or designated projects for the year, that going through the stash and making quilts from it is a good thing to do. This will be the second project I've started since finishing my goals for 2016. However, unlike the holiday scrap fabric quilt, this one is designated and will be finished to send out ASAP.
