Quilt Reveal: Orange 2-2-22

 

The Project Quilting Challenge this week is Kitchen. There were two things pushing me to do the challenge. 

1. Today is February 2, 2022 and I wanted to put that date as a finish date on a quilt and it is taking me too long to finish the back of Lansing Leaves. 

2. I got the idea to make an orange quilt and there are orange scraps on my table.

It is raw edge applique. The orange is a scrap from Lansing Leaves. The blue is from Amalfi. I hope I wasn't saving it for the binding. If I was, I am going to have to make a scrappy binding for it.

The batting was a fusible, which I hadn't realized before I pressed it, so I didn't get a second pass at those corners.

I got the bright idea to make a cut underneath a label to turn the quilt right side out, but it turns out that I put the front layer on top which did not give me access to the cut. Luckily, I figured that out and left an opening along the edge. I was able to make the edge pretty neat, but I ran out of bobbin thread so that kept it from being as neat as it could be.

 

It was still a fun little quilt and now I have a quilt with 2-2-22 as a finish date. I embroidered it on the front so everyone can see it.

There is a new quiltalong that began yesterday. It is a traditional quilt called Aunt Daisy. It is not a mystery, but the pattern will be released monthly. The pattern is free on the blog and there is a Facebook group if you want to see everyone's progress and fabric choices.

The Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery is showing a tour of the Quilt National 2021 exhibit on their Facebook page. If you can't go in person, this is a great presentation to watch.

2022: Week 5: 15 Minutes to Stitch

I started to cut the scraps from Lansing Leaves to use in the Postage Stamp quilt, but I decided that I didn't want that much orange in that quilt. I spent the week piecing the Lansing Leaves scrap for the backing. There isn't any room to store any more scraps so I need to use them up.  Normally I try to make a generation quilt, but this time, the next generation will be the back. At least this will keep the baby grandchild quilt from being born before the parent quilt as so frequently happens here. The baby was born first with Project Quilting last week, Flight.

 

I have been enjoying piecing the back. Just joining the scraps based on their size. I had tried this before with a utility quilt that gave me trouble, but I think I must have been trying to make sure everything was balanced and cohesive.

I have found that I have trouble when I am trying to make one piece, and adding to it, like the first Project Quilting piece I did this year. Even though I used Postage Stamp as a leader and ender, I found it to be a constant interruption in working on the one piece, since the stamp had to be every other thing I pushed through the machine. For this back, I am piecing two parts of the backing at a time that will eventually be joined together. It feels like less interruption to keep one train of thought.

 

 

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 5

I had a solid week of quilting again this week. Besides piecing the back, I went through a bunch of craft magazines to donate. Those blocks in the photo are from the orphan box - they were rejects from Life of Plenty and I think they will fit in perfectly here.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 30 out of 30 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Oh Scrap

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

 There haven't been any changes in this chart, so I didn't update the date. But since I have made so much progress on Lansing Leaves, I am closer to having more finishes than starts for 2022.

If you are interested in bright, colorful crochet, Lucy at Attic24 always shows lots of beautiful photos and free patterns. I don't crochet, and I still really enjoy looking at her blog posts.

If you are used in learning how to use repurposed textiles in quilts, Rhonda Cox Dort offers lots of information on her blog, including beautiful free patterns and free classes.

StoryGraph turns your book reading into beautiful graphs. It analyzes your reading to find patterns and reading preferences and offers suggestion. It looks like an alternative to Goodreads.

Week 4: 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

It has been below freezing a lot of this week, and although I generally walk unless it is below zero, I took a break this week. We had snow and I didn't want my dog Zeus to slip and slide on the street with his hip trouble. He did not insist on walking, and was happy to spend time out in the back yard. He enjoys the cold.

This means I didn't take a lot of pictures, so I found an old one from 2009.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 4

I had a solid week of quilting this week. I made the Project Quilting challenge quilt which I showed you in my last post, Flight. 

The borders I added to Lansing Leaves last week didn't pass quality inspection, so I ripped out a couple of small sections and sewed the entire borders again. I pressed them and sized up the last two borders. I added one, and it didn't pass quality inspection either. It had a tension issue after I refilled the bobbin so it got a second seam too. The last border passed quality inspection, but I was tempted to reinforce it too since all the other ones did.

I am declaring it done, even though I still need to press the last two borders. Since I have the backing and binding fabric chosen (they were in the drawer), I think I will continue on with this quilt so I can get a finish.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 23 out of 23 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

Quilt Reveal: Flight

 

I tried to avoid temptation by not looking to see what the challenge for Project Quilting was for this week. I want to finish a quilt.

But I won a prize from Project Quilting last week, and I accidentally copied and pasted my 15-minutes-to-stitch stats last week without deleting the sentence that said I was working on the Project Quilting challenge. So what else could I do? I had to take a peek to see how hard it would be do do.

The challenge seems easy enough - silhouette. 

“Birds learn how to fly, never knowing where the flight will take them.” -Mark Nepo

 

 I had some black fused fabric left over from the Halloween House quilt when I realized that I didn't need half of the tree that was going to be cut off the edge of the quilt. I could just slap it on some fabric and call it done.

The more I look at the picture above, the more I like it. But I was worried that it would make me look lazy. I wanted to make something where I could be lazy, but not look like I was lazy. I think it would probably require match stick quilting, and I don't want to take the time to do that.

I didn't want to take too much time to look for a background, so I decided to use the scraps from Lansing Leaves. I really like the way the bird looks on this fabric.

Then I realized that the whole piece looked like a kimono. Mary Fons was talking about the time period where quilters made a lot of kimono quilts. Why was there an obsession about kimono quilts? Was there an Olympics in Japan in the 70s, 80s or 90s that started the rage?

I decided to go with the kimono, so I folded it in half and cut so both sides would be somewhat symmetrical. It looks more like a dress than a kimono. Once I decided this was going to be a dress, I liked the bird on the top and not on the skirt part.

I had just thrown the fabric on top of the yellow fabric and I liked how it looked so I sewed it on. My girl is modest so the bottom of her dress needs to be closer to her knees.

To make it quick, I knew I wanted to birth the quilt. So I sandwiched it and sewed all around the shape. If you look carefully, you can see I made a slice where the bird will be since I need it a place to turn it right side out. I love that I could do this because I have a hard time keeping the edges neat when I have to close off an opening.

The batting was exactly the right size, and wasn't big enough to fill the entire quilt, but the missing parts are in the seam allowance so I don't think it will matter.

I had to be careful when turning the quilt right side out to avoid tearing the small cut that I had made, but as you can see, I was able to do it.

 

I poked out the corners, straightened out the opening, and pressed it flat. Here you can see that I had sewn in a piece for the neckline.

 

Finally, I added the bird. I quilted in the ditch, and sewed the bird and sun down.

So far this year, I have started two quilts and have finished two quilts, so although I don't have more finishes than starts yet, I don't have to play any catch up.

Linked with:

Peacock Party

Finished Or Not Friday

Next Edition of Lansing Leaves

 In case you missed the story, I went across state lines and stayed in a hotel room for a month. That is where Lansing Leaves was born. Apparently, like Las Vegas, what happens in Michigan, stays in Michigan. So I have no idea the purpose of this piece that was in the drawer. 

 

Was I planning on putting this quilt on point? And if so, why is there only one of these? Shouldn't there be four since there are four corners in a quilt? What was I planning on using on the sides to make it big enough to put on point? Is there enough fabric for this plan?

Maybe it is good that I don't know. Current Me has vetoed the idea of putting it on point. Although I should look in the drawer again to make sure I don't have missing pieces.

What was the plan for these triangles? They are the same size as the background triangles on the migrating geese. Were they just rejects before I came up with the background fabric, or was there another plan?

Why did I keep sewing the migrating geese as I found there wasn't enough contrast? Did I have a plan for that?

Some of my quilts are very choosy. "I don't care if that blue matches, I don't want it." This one is happy with whatever I do. "Not enough contrast, no problem. Do what you feel is best." So annoying. Usually when that happens, the quilt becomes subject to the whims of whatever I see on my social media feed. Medallion quilt? Sounds good. Migrating geese?. Sure.  On point? Yep. Applique? Hmmm

I have added most of the extra migrating geese pieces that were available to make all the rows the same size. I ripped the last four geese pieces and used the background fabric to finish off the rows. Debra suggested I add the sewn migrating geese without adding more geese and fill in with a solid piece. This is a great plan because I don't have a lot of background pieces to add more geese. I do have a big piece left but I want to use it for the back.

Once I finished off the migrating geese and trimmed the dog ears, it looks much better to me, and it looks like it might work okay on the quilt. 

I don't have enough background fabric for the cornerstones and remaining border, so I used the scraps that I had available. I really like the extra zing they give to that border. I have added two of the sides and hope to add the other two soon.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 3

This year, I would like to have noticeably more finishes than starts, and starting a new quilt is probably not the best way to get that result. But the Project Quilting challenge is posted, and since it forces you to finish a quilt in a week, it won't be counter-productive to that goal. As you saw at the top of this post, I worked on the borders of Lansing Leaves this week.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 16 out of 16 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Lansing Leaves Continued

There are drawers in the desk where the sewing machine sits. These drawers store the supplies - threads, rotary cutter, mat, iron, and other things I need. I took inventory of what is in the drawers so I can declutter and organize. 

I found two projects I had put away when there was room in the drawers.

I found Lansing Leaves and Elephant Parade. I put both of them in the WIP drawers for now to see if I can make some progress on them. I might switch them out with other projects, depending on my whims.

For Lansing Leaves, there is the quilt square, some migrating geese units that is mean to be another border, and some fabric. There were no directions or notes, but I think I can figure out how to make the rest of the geese.

I think the reason this quilt got stalled is that the geese don't have a lot of contrast and I am not sure they make the quilt any better. My choices are:

• stick with the plan and finish the quilt
• quilt the square and save the geese for another quilt. They might work better as a background instead of a border
  

Now as I am typing, I think I could finish making the geese, attach them to the quilt and, if needed, attach a vine or something on top,

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this quilt. I will try to add some geese and see if I have enough fabric and can figure out what size to cut the triangles to continue.

All of the work on this quilt was done in 2014. You can read the whole story by reading all the Lansing Leaves posts here.

Linked with:

Monday Making

Quilt Reveal: Pink and Other Colors

Announcing the first finished quilt of the year, at least here on the High Road. It is a part of Project Quilting challenge, which means it had to be made in a week. I have already told you the inspiration of this quilt in another post.

I started with a pink scrap and added more pink scraps for the stack. I soon realized that I don't use a lot of pink, so I was very liberal in what I considered to be pink, and included reds and purples.

 

The end result looks more purple than pink, but there is pink in there, and maybe when you are looking for the pink you will see that there are lots of other colors in there to meet the challenge guidelines, which is to use at least five different colors.

 

I have been trying to use darker and busier fabrics in my selection of low volume backgrounds, and this quilt gave me the perfect opportunity to do that since most of my "pink" stack were pretty dark. My usual for a challenge like this would have to use a lot of bright colors, like in the Postage Stamp quilt, but the fact that my "other colors" are in the low volume sections makes me very happy.

I decided to make it a bars quilt, and resisted the temptation to make it a checkerboard. The end result was a trapezoid shape and it was tempting to leave it that shape, but I decided to trim it into a rectangle. It is the noon deadline that makes it look like it is not a rectangle.

 

2021: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 53

So much for weekly challenges, I am already late in posting my 15 Minutes to Stitch Report.  There was a flurry of quilting activity the last week of the year. Besides making and finishing Get Well Wishes for the World, I also posted a lot of year-end reports.

15 minute days this week --5 out of 5

15 minute days this year -- 300 out of 365 days

Success rate  = 82%

 

I finished at 84% in 2020.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Weeks 1 and 2

This year, I would like to have noticeably more finishes than starts, and starting a new quilt is probably not the best way to get that result. But the Project Quilting challenge is posted, and since it forces you to finish a quilt in a week, it won't be counter-productive to that goal. As you saw at the top of this post, I finished the Pink and Other Colors this week.

15 minute days this week --9 out of 9

15 minute days this year -- 9 out of 9 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Oh Scrap! 

Needle and Thread Thursday