Debbie of A Quilter’s Table posted pictures in her blog of her #BeeSewcial quilts over the past years, and they are fun to see.
This group (#BeeSewcial, which you can see on Instagram) gives each other “prompts” that solicit improv blocks that will be made into an improv quilt. They work in solids only.
Our local modern quilt guild has been doing this “prompt” method started by the #beesewcial quilters as a challenge for those in the group interested for the past two years. We do not limit to solids. I occasionally put blocks I have made for each person’s blog on this blog.
Even if you are not a quilter, it is fun to see Debbie’s wonderful improv quilts. If you are a quilter, you might want to follow her blog.
It is the first project for Sewtopia’s and Tara Faughnan’s online class The Color Collective in season 3. This project was all about color combinations and how color can change the look of a block. I also learned some new techniques—one of which was a new way (for me) for making flying geese
The block on the middle left is a happy accident. I cut the wrong side of a unit which emphasized the navy blue rather than the orange. I left it as I liked it.
I matchstick quilted on my domestic with a pale blue-grey thread, but every now and then I ran in a gold, or a pale orange, or a coral. You don’t really notice them overall, but they do add some interest and complexity I think—though it makes for a lot of re-treading of the machine.
The backing is “Newsprint” by Carrie Bloomston, and I had enough of the pale orange to make bias binding.
I did put a hanging sleeve on this quilt, but I don’t have a hanging place right now. Well, there is one place, but I’m waiting to see what other projects we do in The Color Collective this year.
AC and I were on the downstairs couch last night—I had a quilt over my lap, and he was on my lap. SUDDENLY he leaped from my lap like something shot out of a cannon, ran around the back of the couch between all the legs of the sewing table I’ve set up to do a quilting job while I watch tv—an area he has avoided—and there was all sorts of frantic scuffling on the wooden floor beyond.
By now I was trying to get out from under the quilt to see what on earth…
In about 3 more seconds as I was finally on my feet, he appeared on the rug in front of me shaking a dying chipmunk. What??? The whole event took less than 10 seconds. My heavens that dog can move fast.
Then I had to find something with which to pick it up and throw it out into the snow—which meant AC who was jumping around me had to follow. And for the rest of the night, he wanted to go outside about every 30 minutes in the bitter cold to check on it. And I’m sure that happened first thing this morning.
But how did it get in? And when? With this cold, the chipmunks would be hibernating. I am suspicious of the closet at the downstairs door. AC has been telling me that chipmunks are under the porch just outside there. Have they found a way inside? Could they get into the tv room by going under the closet door?
It’s a mystery.
PS: I wasn’t sure at first it WAS a chipmunk as the animal’s coat was very dark. But I googled it, and chipmunks lose their bright orange color in the winter in favor of a dark brown and black coat. Who knew as I never see them from the onslaught of cold weather until spring when they emerge to herald that spring is on the way.
Today will involve a thorough inspection of the suspect closet, which is full of coats, scarves, mittens, hats, and shoes.
I’m the queen of cream—local, raw heavy cream, that is.
I’m off coffee right now, so I’ve been looking for other ways to use my weekly heavy cream.
Look at this yummy, warm lunch.
I sautéed some veggies and herbs in duck fat: zucchini, onion, garlic, carrots, cauliflower until they began to color up. Then I added in some cubed roasted chicken from breasts I cooked the day before—just turned the meat in the veggies until it heated a bit. Add sea salt at some point.
Then the magic!
I poured cream over the whole mixture and stirred it until it heated and got bubbly. At that point it all needs to leave the frying pan and got into a dish that will hold the cream gravy.
Delicious!
I’ll be doing this method again with leftover meats.
It’s been such a fun project AND is a real stash buster.
I took a chance and used black and white striped binding cut on the bias, and I think that worked really well. The backing is Carrie Bloomston’s 108 inches wide “Newsprint.” Combining “Newsprint” with the black and white bias-cut binding and fairly colorful fabrics is something I like a lot.
I quilted with a medium grey thread that disappeared into the backing fabric and didn’t make any bold statements on the front of the quilt. And I used the Check and Chase Pantograph from Lorien Quilting which added some great texture.
The block is 3 by 6. And now I’m wondering about working with an even larger block. That will probably happen along the quilty road. In any case, this quilt is a delight—big enough to cover a bed well and bright with interesting fabrics.
As usual, I have multiple quilty and garment sewing projects going on. I move from one to the other as my momentary interest prompts. Joy and engagement prompts me, not stress to finish anything.
The as yet unnamed flying geese quilt is getting its binding sewn down at night. I’ve got a few more nights on this one. But I have to say, I’m really pleased with this quilt, and it was a huge stash buster. The striped binding was a risk, but I think that it is working really well. It is just fun.
Marrakesh, designed by Tara Faughnan for The Color Collective online class I’m taking, is ready to quilt. I started the first line of matchstick quilting and realized there was a HUGE fold in the batting, starting about 1/4 of the way down. How on earth…??? I put smaller quilts I’m going to quilt on my domestic on the longarm to layer and pin. I can’t imagine how I missed a fold in the batting along the way. The quilt WAS pinned more intensely, but I had to put it back on the longarm and take most of the pins out and then repin it. And, yes, the fold was bad and thick, so there was no choice. Anyway, I’ll probably spend some time with Marrakesh later today. I can watch tv from this spot I’ve set up. I really enjoyed Selena The Series on Netflix, by the way. I had no idea about this story.
I’ve got the rows sewn together for this very interesting quilt inspired by one Tara Faughnan made. She has classes on color in which she uses her quilt like this one as an example. I need one more row at the bottom—which should be lighter. It will finish at 50 wide by 60. Easy Peasy. I’ve taken a ton of pictures along the way while trying to check and recheck how the colors are working together. This quilt is made mostly from my solid scraps, not my larger pieces of solid fabrics. I think it will need a dark binding to hold it all together…
”Trees” is now the only leader/ender quilt, and it is growing slowly, which is ok. It is based on a block designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts. I think it will finish at 8 by 9 rows. And it, too, is meant to knock back my solid scraps, which it is doing.
The two Sugaridoo quilts are all ready to go on the longarm—as soon as I figure out how to quilt them. And the second project from The Color Collective is all ready go—my fabrics are washed and I’ll iron them soon. This project is all about curves.
Then, there are two garments that are all cut out and ready to sew, but neither is something I can wear right now, so they are still on pause.
I’m busy and engaged, despite being alone and staying away from people. And I’m grateful for my sewing projects. They can pass a lot of time, for sure.
So, Monday I undertook an errand in Damariscotta, which is about 45 minutes south of Camden.
We had been blessed with our first real snow and some, finally, cold weather. (It has been very warm this November.) It was good to be out on the highway and seeing how pretty Maine is, period, but with a new fall of snow, it is just beautiful.
Marsha Smith sent me these pictures taken by her son and grandson as they repaired a hiking shelter up on Ragged mountain. I’ve been meaning to put these pics on the blog, so today is the day.
That’s the bay out in the distance.
Maine in winter just has the most gorgeous colors due to the winter light. In these pics we get pastels. But in winter we also get fiery sunsets and dawns. And long lavender shadows on the snow when the sun is so low in the sky as it is now. And cobalt blue light at dusk that turns the world blue. And marmalade orange on tree trunks when the sun rises. I could go on. I could move to the starry cold nights where the full moon is so big you feel like you can reach up and touch it. But I will leave you with my joy about winter.
Solstice is coming, and them we start to climb uphill to longer and warmer days and all the lush green growth of summer.
I love our seasons, and I love being close to them, so I see most of the small, beautiful daily changes.
My “Funky Rail” quilt is all done. This pattern is from Sajata Shah’s CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS book, which I love. I will be doing more patterns from this book and will likely make this one again in different fabrics
Sajata Shah’s method for forming these blocks is different and amazing. I could never visualize a concept like this one on my own. The block is so lively and fun.
I pieced this backing from leftovers from the front and from my stash.
The line of rectangles is made from the trimming off-cuts from the block pieces. I couldn’t just thrown them away.
I quilted with an antique gold thread, which worked well I think. And the pantograph is “Check and Chase” from Lorien quilting.
I’m using this same pantograph for my wild geese quilt, which is now on the longarm.
More rain is coming in, so I’ll probably get this quilt longarm quilted soon now.
For the first project of Season 3 of the online class The Color Collective Tara Faughnan designed her “Marrakesh” block and curated a selection of 12 Kona cotton colors. (Amy Newbold of Sewtopia hosts this class. And congrats to Amy as she is now setting up an actual quilt store building in addition to her online business.)
Marrakesh is pieced and is all about manipulating color for different effect. (My top needs ironing, but I won’t do that until I get ready to layer it. And to protect the exposed seams from coming apart I staystitched the edges.) Precision is the name of the game here, and I learned some new piecing and trimming tricks. Tara’s method for trimming blocks with a 45-degree angle is really good and something I did not know.
I probably should have done more with the coloring page Tara included, so that’s a lesson learned. If I were doing a bigger top, I definitely would lay out the colors first. Other class members used different backgrounds as well—both light and dark. The greys are really nice, and one person used a rich red that is just yummy.
I have enough of the pale, pale orange to bind it—I have white, too, but am hesitant about using white for binding. The orange would have to be straight cut, and I prefer bias binding, so I’m still thinking about that issue. But I have not decided. This quilt, at 45 1/2 square, would make a nice baby quilt, or a table topper, or a wall hanging. I’ll put a sleeve on it probably. And I think I’ll quilt something a bit wider than up and down 1/4-inch matchstick lines. I have to do some measuring, and I’ll use a thread that kind of disappears. Perhaps a pale grey or a pale grey-blue. Or a mixture of those. Even a pale orange in places might be nice.
This one has been fun, and Project 2 drops tomorrow. The fabric for it has arrived, and it is lusciously delicious!
I was warned that the strawberry red—the middle one—ran, so I handwashed it. And, yes it did. A lot. So, I also hand washed the darker red, the orange, and the dark blue. The dark blue and orange were fine; the darker red ran a bit. I rinsed them all in a mild vinegar solution and rinsed again to be sure.
I’ve also read elsewhere that the Kona blacks are running, so I’ll be careful with those as well.
I don’t think we need to wash many quilting fabrics today, but I do as I react to the dyes. Plus, I don’t like to wash and dry a quilt I’ve just finished. I like them all crinkly and soft, yes, but for a time I like them not crinkly. There is no right or wrong here, but people do tend to fall into one camp or the other.
Today we are getting a big storm in the early afternoon that will go through until tomorrow. We need rain, but I could do without the wind. The ground is so soft in this warm weather we are having, and high wind will bring down trees. In any case, I am all ready to go for Project 2 tomorrow!
Winter is closing in now, and we are in the darkest time of the year.
But there are seasonal gifts to view, witness these beautiful red berries against the grey sky that I saw in my travels the other day. We’ve had some cold days, but I have not yet switched out my cotton socks for my warmer winter ones. That day is coming though.
I’ve spent some time playing with using up the scraps in my solid scrap bin. I had a lot of leftover bias strips sewn together and cut from projects like The Color Collective Lone Star quilt process and the Sugaridoo QAL rows (the pink strips). What if I used them on fun and funky “tree triangles” that so many people are making these days as they rise to quilter Nicholas Ball’s challenge.
I’m working away at the first project from Season 3 of the online class The Color Collective, hosted by Sewtopia, with designer/teacher Tara Faughnan. The first block is called “Marrakesh,” and it allows us to play with and manipulate color choices that can radically change how the block appears. There are also several construction methods that I have never made, and that’s always a fun learning curve.
I have 4 blocks done now—they will finish at 15 1/2 inches each.
I’ll make at least two more and may stop at creating a rectangle wall hanging. Who knows. In any case, I’m sure these blocks will get moved around more. If I make more, I’ll definitely stop at 3 by 3 blocks, which will be a bit larger than 45 inches square. Or a longer 2-block wide rectangle wall hanging. Time will tell…
I keep moving around these four blocks because I see something that just needs to be changed, but then I see something else. I definitely need more blocks.
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