Fall Inspired

So technically, this is a fall inspired quilt. Well, it was when I started it last fall. The colours and energy reminded me of a oh so brief yet spectacular fall season here in Alberta: blue skies and all the colours of the changing Prairie. I’m not sure what motivated me to pull out the blocks, add some more, and finish the top this past week. It certainly wasn’t the snow covering the sprouting crocus and green grass growing. Or maybe that is precisely what did it?

The blocks began in my Improv Square in a Square Playdate hosted through Quilters’ Playcation. I was enamoured with the technique and the colours that I committed to a quilt top. Just five blocks put together in a free hour here and there. No pressure making, just the way I like it! Play for the sake of sewing. I think that is what I needed over the Easter/Passover long weekend - sewing for the sake of sewing. Then, when I counted the blocks, I realized that I was pretty close to finishing up the total needed. Some quiet evenings, a snow storm, and a sick kid home from school meant that I was not only able to finish the blocks, but get the quilt top pieced!

These blocks are all improvised. That means points are sometimes cut off and they don’t always match between blocks. On a moving, used quilt though that will never be noticed. This construction technique is so much more relaxed than a paper pieced or precision pieced version, at least for me.

This entire quilt top was also an excellent way to play with fabric and colour. I chose my colour story - blue, coral, orange, and yellow - and explored value, hue, and tint in each block. Some blocks have bold contrast, some are subtle. Some move from light to dark, some are less prescriptive. The constants were the construction method, overall size, and the transition from warm to cool with each square in a block. Then I made half the blocks starting with warm, half starting with cool. That meant for a great overall pattern when assembling the quilt.

The weather is doing it’s normal, indecisive thing these days. Not yet spring but not really winter. When my son - who helped me with the photos because he is out of school with a bad cold - lamented that now we would have to baste the quilt I told him not to worry because it is definitely not fall. This quilt, well, it makes me think of fall. Don’t worry, son, we’ll probably be basting it next September! Or the one after that.

Gemma

Gemma

60” X 60”

This was the first iteration of the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong. Every decision, from inspiration to binding stitches was voted on my Instagram followers. I needed to play and taking the decisions out of my hands was a unique way to do so.

She is a free spirit. Sure, she knows the rules, but she also knows that life is more fun when you veer off track a little. Or, a lot. Unsure where she will actually end up most days, Gemma is a risk taker. She might go too far sometimes, but she has good friends who will always help her pick up the pieces. No matter how many times she screws up. No matter what, she is always willing to go an an adventure.

Week by week I asked my Instagram followers to guide my decision making on this project. From the inspiration to fabric to block choices, from layout to thread to binding choices. It was a bit like designing by committee, but I found that most people leaned the way I did. Or maybe I led them to the same decision? No one will ever know.

It was an excellent exercise in letting go. Definitely a moment for the process to shine.

One area where my idea was not the winner in voting was the quilting. I’m not complaining about the 80s school photo laser background, but it is not the curves I was initially thinking of doing. You know what, though? It looks fantastic!

When it came time to bind the quilt a classic black and white stripe won the popular vote. Not a bad choice at all. When someone, however, suggested pops of the quilt colours in the binding I couldn’t resist that idea. To finish I wrapped the binding around to the front and used an 8W Valdani to finish with nice, prominent stitches. A perfect finish.

My idea for the back was thwarted by an odd alphabet print. Seriously, who makes an alphabet print and doesn’t include all the letters? Oh well. Some orphan blocks from the front, a good reminder to play, and a collection of fabrics from the stash all pieced together work just as fine.

In the end, it was a fantastic exercise for me to bring some real play back into my quilting practice. Truly, this was making for the sake of making. And an excellent reminder to look for that lust for life.

Fleur - Paint by Numbers Inspired Quilt

Fluer

16” x 20”

A sweet mini inspired by that hummingbird paint by numbers. It is clear I am much better at quilts than paint by numbers!

In June of 2021 my kids bought me the paint by numbers for a new Morning Make activity. Each day I patiently worked my way through the numbers. It was the right kind of meditative play for me for Morning Make, but when I finished halfway through the month I declined the offer to start a new one. Just not my thing. Then a friend suggested I make a quilt inspired by the painting.

Once finished, it, like many other quilt tops of mine, sat. And sat. A few weeks ago I was in the mood to play with some free motion quilting. Having a mini on hand was fortuitous. It’s an easy baste and in 20 minutes I was stitching. Once I completed the leaves to the flowers (in a perfect olive green from Aurifil) I decided the hand stitch in the centers of the flowers and leave the rest unquilted. Simple, yet graphic.

So now they are both done. Will they hang together? Probably not. For one, I did a pretty crap job on the painting. And two, we have a no quilts on the wall rule. That’s okay, I’ll just bring her out every now and then when I need a little pick me up.

February Morning Make 2022

No, you have not gone back in time. It’s February and I made crumb blocks for Morning Make. Again. That’s because the scraps never disappear and there was a whole year of quilting between now and then. Besides, you can never go wrong with crumb blocks.

The technique is the same, the collection of fabric is 95% my own scraps, but there is one difference between this year’s blocks and last year’s: the size of the crumb. When I went to sort the scraps into size - always the first step in these crumb blocks - I realized that my scraps were just that little bit bigger. What counted as a small in this collection was a large in last year’s. I debated cutting things down for a brief moment, so that the blocks were similar. Then I, wisely, decided that that would be ridiculous. Extra work and it would then barely make a dent in the scraps.

Design wise, I was sure I could make a combination of the blocks work. You can see above a hint of what might happen when they come together, as the first few blocks made with smaller crumbs are in the center. With small bits in all the blocks regardless you can make transitions come together.

Of course there is still fabric left. Of course.

One of these days I will get last year’s blocks up on the design wall with this year’s. Then I will use the scraps I have left to fill in any gaps. After that? Well, I make no promises on the scraps’ fate.