Peaks and Valleys

Many years ago, before I had my own blog and when I was just getting into quilting, I followed a few other quilt blogs and made mental note of the quilts I'd like to make some day.  This was before Pinterest, so I likely had those sources of inspiration bookmarked in my browser, in some less-than-ideally-organized system of folders and subfolders.  Sort of like my old recipe files where ripped out magazine pages and scribbled cooking instructions were tossed willy-nilly.  

Who am I kidding, I still do that with recipes.  Only now I'm printing them from the internet instead of ripping them out of magazines.  

Anyway, I finally made one of those quilts I'd unofficially bucket listed all those years ago.  The memory of it drifted back into my awareness as I was making an effort to organize the pile of thrifted shirts on a table in the sewing room.  (Hm, sensing a theme?)

Here is the link to the quilt that inspired me way back when.  Lynn called hers "Dragon's Teeth," but the pattern the quilt is based on is called "Lounge Lizards" by Karla Alexander, found in her book Stack a New Deck.  Somehow, in the intervening years, I'd bought two books by Karla Alexander, but not that one.  So first I had to buy the book I needed. 

I'd been using some solid scraps on the interior sides of the masks I was making, so was in and out of the box of solids regularly.  With this new project in mind, I sorted through the solids and put aside the colors I liked that were also big enough pieces to use.  I decided the background shirt plaids would be mostly blue, to give a sense of cohesion to the background and let the colorful peaks take the spotlight.

Sometimes a quilt is limited in size to the fabric one has available.   That was especially true for this quilt, since it was being made during coronavirus lock down.  I wasn't going to be going to a fabric store (or thrift store) anytime soon.  Although, ideally, I would have made a throw size, this ended up to be baby quilt size, which was just fine.

Once I had the blocks made, it was time to play with the layout on the design wall.  I tried three different configurations.

(Option 1)

(Option 2)

(Option 3)

Ultimately, I chose to go with Option 3, alternating columns of upward peaks and downward valleys.  

As I was putting it together, I thought of possible quilt names.  Maybe "Hide and Seek with Gnomes"?  "Plaid Peaks"?  "Peaks and Valleys?"  

When I posted a picture on Facebook, my cousin Juli said she saw "Vests and Pants."  That made me laugh!  (Once you see it, it's hard to un-see!)

I used a piece of fabric for the backing that had been in the stash for a very long time.  I'd originally intended to make a bag with it, but the statute of limitations had run on that idea, so it was fair game for this project.

Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out, and I could see making a larger one, throw size, in the future.

I had one leftover block, which, after some multicolored wavy vertical line quilting, became a little mug rug.

There were also a bunch of leftover plaid triangles (cutouts from where the solid triangles went).  I sewed these together and then cut randomly shaped triangles from the made fabric.  

I envision a mini-quilt where these little "trees" are appliqued on a background.  Maybe a winter theme of some kind.  Don't you just love inspiring leftovers?

Linking to:  Can I Get A Whoop-Whoop?

Starts and Finishes

To begin with, the finish is my Quilt for Pulse.  It's done and ready to go to Orlando, as soon as I attach the label later today.

I really like how this quilt turned out with the made-fabric hearts, and hope it gives comfort to a family of the Pulse nightclub victims or a first responder, etc.  It was an honor to put my thoughts and energy into making it.

I used an almost pastel variegated quilting thread, which blended well.  Funny (and serendipitous) that I found it while rummaging through a different drawer than the thread drawers.  I was looking for a fresh rotary cutter blade, but found just the right thread instead.

 The back is pieced, and the binding is a diagonal stripe.

As far as the start, I am beginning a baby quilt that a friend commissioned for her new granddaughter born in May.  This is how the HST blocks look on the design wall at the moment.

I'm using the colors in the baby's room—lavender, navy, aqua, and gray—which I had a hard time imagining all together in a quilt, but it works! To get an idea before I started cutting fabric, I Googled "lavender navy aqua" and it seems like it's a thing.  As in there were a lot of images incorporating those colors for weddings, decor, etc.  So I was out of the loop, apparently—which shouldn't really be news, least of all to me!

Speaking of loops, we did a little bike loop this weekend which took us through some beautiful farmland.  Wisconsin has a lot of rolling hills, but this particular area where we biked is a pretty flat expanse. 

Along the way, we spotted a pair of sandhill cranes.  They blended in  with the landscape and we almost peddled right past, except that I noticed a little movement in my peripheral vision and turned to see what it was.  Can you find them?

Sandhill cranes have a unique rattling bugle call, but this pair was being "vewy, vewy quiet," as Elmer Fudd would say, and looked as though they were tiptoeing through the field. 

Quilt for Pulse

It's a good thing I finished all last month's Quilty 365 circles by the middle of June (that post is HERE), because it was right about then that I read about the Quilts for Pulse drive headed up by the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild.

I decided to use the made-fabric I had been assembling from various monthly one-color scraps from the Quilty 365 circles, and use that in making rainbow heart blocks for a donation quilt for the victims' families and survivors of the Pulse nightclub tragedy.

The top is now done, and my trusty quilt holder-upper helped me get a few pictures of it today.  He has impressive technique and flair, no?  Just look at those fingers.

The light was shining through it in this spot on the deck, which made for a neat effect, but then we moved to the shade for a truer shot.

The backing is now sewn together as well, and I'm ready to baste and quilt it after the 4th of July.

* * * * *

In other news, we continue to enjoy the trails and this gorgeous summer weather.  

 

I have rediscovered a new "happy place," other than my sewing room:  On my bike.

Where's (one of) yours?

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict-Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Things in Motion

I went a little crazy at Fabric.com this week.  I was thinking about making a quilt I'd bucket-listed a couple years ago.  There are only three colors in the quilt: green, red, and a neutral background.  So I went online fabric shopping, looking for something that grabbed my fancy, and came upon "Essentials Cosmos."  Hello, gorgeous.

Now, when you only need three fabrics in a quilt, you need quite a bit of each one, as you might imagine.  I've been sewing scrappy for so long, I'd almost forgotten how much yardage actually goes into a quilt.  But I went ahead and ordered what I needed, had a moment of excitement followed by what did I just do? but then recovered my equilibrium.  Until I got the emails.

Email #1:  "Your Fabric.com order has shipped!"  

Yay!

Email #2 (90 minutes later):  "Fabric.com has issued you a refund of $8.42."  

Um, why?  No explanation.

Email #3 (three hours later):  "Fabric.com has issued you a refund of $16.84."  

Now I'm really confused.

So what, I wonder, will come in the box from Fabric.com?  Will I get all of my order?  Sure hope so, but right now it's a mystery.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I made a sample of the block that will be in the new quilt, except the background I'd cut for the sample didn't seem quite right.  Enter Plan B:  I made a strata of neutral strips/strings and cut my template from that.  Much better! 

If this block looks a bit familiar, it may be because it's a variation of the block Sandi had drawn it up in EQ around the time we were finalizing the TML pattern, and it was love at first sight.  I'm excited to be able to start making this quilt soon—hopefully.

I decided my sample block needed to become a holiday wall hanging, so I made some corner triangles of "made fabric" to set it on point.  It was an afterthought to add the narrow stop border, but I really liked it with vs. without.  Of course, then I had to make all of my "made fabric" triangles a little bigger.  

It is now basted and ready to quilt, but I have things ahead of it in the quilting queue, so it'll have to wait a bit.

In other endeavors, I made a quilt backing for the 16-patch and X blocks (aka "Goodnight Irene") quilt from earlier this year.  Here is the back, draped over the ironing board (and other things).

I needed to make the backing it just a bit larger, so I inserted a strip using many of the remaining hand-dyed fabrics from Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber.  I'd used the brighter hand-dyed fabrics in the quilt top, but the fabric for the backing lent itself to the more muted tones.  Every bit as gorgeous, and very autumnal, too.

Now that top and backing can go on vacation to the long-arm quilter, along with the Scrappy Mountains Majesties quilt top.  Things are moving, and that feels good!

Leftovers and Fresh Ingredients

I love leftovers.  Scraps seem to hold such creative potential.  Maybe it has to do with the inherent limits of scraps (size, quantity, finding what works with what, vintage, out of print, etc.).  Then again, maybe they're fun because the pressure is off, having used the larger piece for its intended purpose, so what's left is free to play with.

And play is what it's all about.

That's what I did with the leftovers from the Little Bitty Batty mini from the previous post.  First, I made a 6 x 4-inch postcard for the Pet Postcard Challenge at 15 Minutes Play.  A little bitty birdie.

In hindsight, I guess I could have made the bird green, like the parakeets I've had as pets through the years, but that's another postcard.  Maybe it's a baby myna bird, like the one they used to have in a cage at the back of the department store when I was growing up.  It could say hello and a few other phrases.  Talk about a great way to occupy the kids while mom shopped.

I also made some spool-type blocks from more of the triangular strip pieced bits left over.  One ended up pretty matchy with the points and the others are wonkier.  Not sure what I'll do with them, but there they are.

On Saturday, we took a little drive to visit a quilt shop I hadn't been to before but had heard good things about, Mill House Quilts.  It was wonderful!  Friendly staff, nicely organized, and all sorts of fabric.

There was one room of just batiks and a bargain room, where I found all of these, with the exception of the two blue pieces.

 

I've noticed a lack of blue in the stash, as in pretty much nothing that's true blue (not aqua or turquoise).  That was fixed.

I could have spent a lot more time (and moola), had I not a husband in tow.  Try as I might to enlist his assistance in finding certain colors, he, too, was easily distracted by shiny things.  But he was helpful in giving the nod of approval (or not) to the bolts I held under his gaze, though he did ask a few times, "Do you have a plan for that?"

And I laughed and laughed and laughed.  

Just kidding, I didn't laugh (on the outside).  "Oh, I'll use it," I said.  Translation:  Not exactly, and what's your point?

Okay, I do see the advantage of having a game plan, but this was mostly a scouting mission.  Next time, maybe, I'll have a list.

Block Busting

I've been busy making blocks this week for Alycia Quilts' Big Blowout Block Drive for Quilts of Valor.  Thanks to Kevin for the heads up on this block drive!

There are two blocks being collected, one a flag string block and the other a log cabin type block in blue and yellow (links to instructions).  They both went together fast and used a good amount of my overflowing strings and scraps, which made me happy.

Pretty soon, I had 25 done.

Check it out if you're inclined to make a few QOV blocks.  The drive goes on until October 30—and there are prizes!  :)

The flag string blocks are sewn to a foundation fabric.  Here's a tip that's helpful for when you sew a large piece of fabric to  one corner of the foundation.  To keep the two pieces of fabric from flapping apart, use a tiny dab of washable glue stick on the foundation fabric to keep them together.

I kept pushing the trimmings off to the right of the cutting mat as I made blocks (can't be bothered to be tidy when I'm on a productive streak).  This resulted in quite the pile.

Victoria of Bumble Beans had asked for Anvil blocks for her charity quilts, so I knocked out a few of those as well.  Some inspiration came right from that pile of trimmings.

The pink rose of made fabric with the dragonfly was something I had puttered around with in the spring and just pinned to the design board.  It was nice to be able to put it to use.

Next up will be quilting and binding the improv baby quilt, which will be a donation to Project Linus as part of the 100 Quilts for Kids Charity Quilt Drive at Swim Bike Quilt. 

Linking on Friday with:

Tess Waits No More

Tess, fair lass of the tea towel, is done waiting...for me to quilt her, that is.

I had this Tea Towel Challenge quilt basted together and sitting in the middle of the living room floor for several days, with no firm idea how to quilt it.  It needed movement, I knew, as there were too many interesting curves of her skirt and tartan and tendrils of hair to ignore.

Before my trepidation could turn to full-on procrastination, it was time to begin quilting.  Not without a bolster of confidence in the form of coffee and chocolate, though. 

I figured once I got started, the rest would hopefully follow instinctively, so I began with the lower half of the center part, quilting along the lines of her plaid wrap and skirt fluttering in the breeze.  How about continuing those lines out to the edge of the central portion?  Yes.  Honestly, though, I sort of suck at following lines when free-motion quilting, and my stitch length tends to be all over the map.  So I put on a walking foot and got out the painter's tape (my white quilt marking pencil was useless).  I knew I'd have to curve the ends of the stitched lines away from the straight edge of the painter's tape, but at least I'd have a visual reference.  Wonder of wonders, it worked!

(Click any picture to enlarge)

I used a fine variegated thread meant for machine embroidery on top and an off-white Aurifil in the bobbin.  The two different threads were compatible, and when it came time to switch out the walking foot for the quilting foot, I didn't even have to adjust the tension.  Anytime I don't have to mess with the tension is a very good day.

Pretty much as anticipated, one thing led to another and I just went with what seemed the natural next step on the quilting.  I quilted along the tendrils of her hair (the variegated thread added a nice dimension there) and then her necklaces and various other parts of her figure, leaving the face unquilted.

Then the tree trunk (the idea was to quilt an impression of bark) and the green hillsides in the background.  Finally, I did a small meander in the tan area at the top, which I guess is supposed to be either tree tops or clouds, or maybe both.

Then I did a line of curlicues along the left side in the green plaid strip.  They're not perfect but I refused to rip stitches and risk losing my mojo.  Finally, I did a larger meander stipple in the string-pieced drunkard's path parts.  Thought briefly about following the lines of the strings or the curves of the blocks, but then figured that would be too distracting from the central part.  Besides, meandering I can totally do.  Play to your strengths!

Last night the binding went on, and I tell you what, I had juuust enough of that fabric.  I cut all I had left of it into binding strips and, no kidding, I took a scant quarter-inch seam to join the two ends at the finish and squeaked by.  Whew!

Part of the Tea Towel Challenge was to use a new technique you hadn't tried before.  Making string pieced fabric on phone book paper was not new to me, but cutting it into curved pieces and making drunkard's path blocks was.  Following the curves and lines of the tea towel print in the quilting was new to me too.  Working with warm and cool colors to make them play (reasonably) nicely together was certainly one of my major design challenges.

I really enjoyed this project.  As for the finished quilt, I love it!

Tea Towel Tess is hanging in the living room with a watchful eye toward the front door.  That seems right!

Linking to:
A Stitch in Time 2013 Finishes
Link-A-Finish Friday
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?