Quilt Reveal: To Wash Or Not To Wash

 

The Project Quilting Challenge for the week is Common Blocks. The rule is to make a quilt with three common quilt blocks.  There is also a quote "No one owns the copyright on a 16-patch block, or an Ohio star."

You have no idea how happy this challenge made me.  I was working on a tutorial about whether you should pre-wash your fabric before making a quilt. I was thinking about making three nine patch blocks - one with all pre-washed fabrics, one with no pre-washed fabrics, and one with a mixture of both.  I was debating making three different quilts, but wondering if I could get away with putting them all in one quilt, separated by sashing. 

I wanted to keep as much similar as possible, so the experiment could focus only on whether the fabric was pre-washed.  I used fabric from the same layer cake, so that the manufacturer, the cotton, even the dye would all be the same.  I wanted to make the same block for all three blocks so that the comparison would be the same.

So when this project is announced, I read the post thoroughly.  Although I think there is an implication that the three blocks should be different, there wasn't anything that specifically said that. I didn't ask.  This challenge gives me permission, nay, it requires me to put them all three blocks in one quilt. Challenge accepted.

Making this quilt was fun. It took some added time to prewash the fabrics. I got impatient and pressed them dry, but they were small so it didn't take long, and these fabrics are not likely to shrink any more for sure. Strip piecing made the job easier, although with 10" squares, there wasn't much time savings involved with that. 

I also didn't plan the right set up for recording the process for the video, since I was using the same space for pressing and cutting, so I had to keep putting up and taking down the ironing board.

I had another, much busier, border fabric planned, so I added the peach sashing to highlight the three blocks, but eventually I decided to switch out the busy border. I did think about switching the peach with the green, but that would involve ripping out seams, and with the weekly deadline, I decided not to risk it.

I took the quilt outside to take a good photograph. The lighting is better outside than inside.

I thought I would ask Zoey to be in the picture, so I told her to come to me, but when she did, she jumped on the quilt.

And got mud on it.  It is a good thing I was planning on washing the quilt to complete the experiment.

Quilt Reveal: Sweet Ombre Butterfly

 I finished another quilt for the Project Quilting theme of Ombre.  I didn't think I had any ombre fabric and was thinking about creating my own, but I was hesitant to dig out so much fabric. I then thought about just skipping this challenge.

But then I remembered that the fabric I stole from the Glitter quilt for the Al-Buraq quilt was an ombre. So I stole some more. I love that I can make this quilt with only two pieces, and it was very quick and easy to make.

I woke up early and turned on the computer to get started on the day. I queued up some videos to watch while I had breakfast, but Zoey reminded me that I needed to get up and make the quilt.

So I made the quilt and was able to finish the quilt before noon, way before the deadline of 1 pm eastern, thinking I had plenty of time to upload the photos and post it on the blog and submit it for the challenge.

So I made my breakfast and started uploading the photos. And watch the videos I had queued up.

Zoey went outside so she couldn't remind me that I needed to submit the entry to the challenge. oops. Missed the challenge deadline because I lost track of time.

Quilt Reveal: Pajamas Doll Quilt

 

It's time for another Project Quilting reveal! The challenge of this week is Wearables.

Your project must be wearable, or have been made from previously worn items, or have another connection to clothes, shoes and fashion accessories.

I gave myself two choices: 

1. Make a blouse that I have been planning to make for a very long time. I already have the pattern and the fabric chosen.
2. Make a quilt out of all the pajamas I have been saving to make a quilt.

Since I hadn't made a blouse since high school, I didn't think I could handle the pressure of making it in a week, even though the pattern says it is easy to make. I am keeping it downstairs and hope to make it this year.

Making the pajamas quilt will help me reduce clutter in the sewing room since these flannel pajamas take up a more room than flat fabric would. 

I had seen a quilt in a show I watched recently that was a scrap quilt made entirely out of squares but it was set on point, which added a nice interest to the squares. I decided to do that.

So I cut up the pieces and laid out the blocks on the design wall. I am trying to use up all the fabric as I can and make a nice big lap quilt. Even though these girly fabrics would make a good gift for a girl, I don't feel comfortable giving a gift with my used clothes so I will have to use it or maybe I can give it to my dog Zoey.

I recorded videos as I was making this quilt to give instructions on how to make a quilt on point. I need to learn to be better about taking photographs as well as videos.

Cutting pieces out of clothing, even simple squares, takes longer than cutting them from a flat fold of fabric. Some of it is stretchy, and some of it is faded and I had to decide which part of the fabric to use. I soon realized that there was no way I was going to be able to make a big lap quilt, quilted and bound, by the Project Quilting challenge deadline, so I decided to make a small one out of the fabric I saved in case I needed to piece a block.

The smaller quilt also makes it easier to show in a video as I move pieces around for a tutorial. The squares finish at 1".

I pieced the smaller quilt, and then somebody stole an hour from me. Daylight Savings Time.

This meant I had only 15 minutes to finish it, so I quickly trimmed it and the backing, and sewed around the edges. I turned it right side out and didn't really take the time to carefully poke out the corners. I secured the edges and called it done.

The teal fabric in the photo above in the top left corner is the start of the Pinwheel quilt I will show you on March 21.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2024

I have been quilting every day this year.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7 days

15 minute days this year -- 70 out of 70 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with: Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Sonder

I made a terrible mistake the last time I presented my Project Quilting quilt. I wrote, out loud, that I had to go with the first idea that I came up with because I didn't have time for indecision. This was meant to be a guideline, not a rule. But it seems like my Idea Bank thought it was a free-for-all, and kept insisting on lots of unrealistic things for this week's challenge.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

John Steinbeck

Let's start at the beginning, and let me show you how the ideas had a free-for-all.

 

This week's Project Quilting challenge is to use the color pink. The pictures in the challenge post showed melon as a pink too. We already had a pink challenge, and even though this fabric is more orange than pink to me,  I decided this fabric was pink enough. The pictures in my post were taken indoors during winter lighting, so the colors in the photos are inconsistent. I did take the finished quilt outside for the reveal shot which will see later.

I found this border fabric that I wanted to play with. I had just watched a video about a type of stack and whack quilt. If you layer the fabric on top of each other so that each cut is the exact duplicate, it forms really nice designs when you sew them together.

I matched the design on one grain, but I did not match it on the other grain. I knew that precise matching of fabric would also mean precise sewing, and an improv quilt would be more forgiving to finish by the deadline. The quilt had to be finished in one week - by Sunday. Yes, I plan for failure. This meant I wouldn't have an exact kaleidoscope effect, but those lines did form  nice corners. I sewed the half square triangles together to form nine squares and sewed the squares into rows, and rows into a quilt top. Boom. Almost done. I thought I could birth the quilt so all I had to do was choose the backing fabric and I would be ahead of schedule.. 

I had two choices I thought would work well. I laid them on the stair ledge and decided to look at them in the morning light to help me make the decision. The dotted orange (which doesn't look orange in this picture) matched nicely in color and the pink would bring out the pink in the fabric of the quilt top. 

Then it happened. As I was on the exercise bike, I thought maybe I could use them both. Of course my idea wouldn't be a simple one to have an inner and an outer border. It wanted a scalloped inner border in fact. I asked my idea if it was aware of my deadline. I had to make this quilt in a week. But my ideas don't focus on implementation and deadlines. It was a good idea and Monday was a holiday. 

On Monday, I saw that I did not need an even number of blocks since I had a staggered layout, and I could make additional blocks to have a 3x4 layout instead of 3x3. But when I trimmed the blocks to square them up, I made them too small so they didn't fit. The 3x3 layout would have to work. It was a good idea; the fault was purely in the implementation.

I made the scalloped border,improv style of course, basted the inner border to the outer border first, and attached both borders to the quilt at the same time. I was still on schedule to birth the quilt and call it done.

Then I got another idea. I could add some bling to the scallops to make sure they don't flap out of position. I was going to quilt them down, but I liked their three dimensional quality. Again, I told the idea of my deadline; there are twenty four scallops on this quilt! But I can't resist the  impulse to add bling to the quilt, and I really like working on this quilt and I think it is pretty enough to make the extra effort, even if I can't be finished on time.

So, I added the bling.  I didn't have enough beads to go all the way around, and only adding them to some scallops would make it look like some were missing, so I found the wooden hearts to add to one side. I liked the beads too much to switch to all buttons.They have pretty colors and a sparkly jewel in the center.

Then I remembered that I would have to piece the batting. Which gave me another idea. I could piece the backing. This would let me use the too-small blocks instead of putting them in the Parts Department. I have been trying to use up scraps, and putting them on the back is a great way to do that. So I pieced the batting and the backing. I made sure to use the top border fabric as a border for the backing too, so there wouldn't be any other color showing if there were any issues with keeping the edges straight.

 

I used the acorn fabric scraps from the One Tree quilt. I did get another idea to add the leftover scallops to the back too, which may have worked, but I thought that might add too much bulk during quilting. As it turned out, I did minimal quilting, only around the edge of the borders. With the wooden beads, it is probably not washable so it didn't seem like a lot of quilting is necessary.

Ta Da! And because I was enjoying myself making this quilt, and enjoying how it was turning out, I was able to get it finished on time! With plenty of time to make this long blog post.

The front and the back of the quilt are so very different from each other, even though they have many things in common. As I was thinking of what to name it, I came across this word. 

Sonder: The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own -- populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness -- that you'll never know existed.

Julie names her quilts after words, and I think Sonder is a good word for this quilt whose front and back are so different from each other. It's got a backstory.