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.
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.
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.
I have FOUR quilts to longarm now—each is all set up with all their parts organized, including their labels and bindings.
And while my quilt room is feeling MUCH less tangled with projects now, the bed in the adjacent bedroom is piled high with these projects.
First up to quilt will be the Wild Goose quilt, seen here on the design wall a while back:
Next will be the funky rail fence quilt designed by Sajata Shah and which can be seen in her book CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS.
The TWO Sugaridoo QAL quilt tops are finished as of yesterday. These two quilts have been a year-long journey. Here’s the rainbow solid one. You can see a piece of the backing fabric on the cutting board. I wanted something quiet, though I was tempted by the very bright choices others are making. I am going to bind in the darker grey accent fabric.
Here’s a close up pic of the LAST row, row 11.
Row 11 is so graphic. It was so fun to make. And in general, I have learned a lot during this project and have now 12 new patterns and several quilty methods new to me.
Here is the Cotton+Steel version:
And a close up of those bottom rows:
I have absolutely no idea how I should quilt these quilts. At 70 by 90, they are just way too big to be done on the domestic machine with a grid. And I don’t do intensive longarm quilting with rulers. I just don’t. And I don’t like intensive quilting on a functional quilt as it makes them too stiff. So I will do something overall—either freehand or with a pantograph.
I have TWO leader/ender projects on the design wall; each is endlessly fun and are using up the solid scraps. The tree block is inspired by a quilt by Crazy Mom Quilts, and the striped quilt is inspired by a quilt by Tara Faughnan.
AND, in the relatively clean quilt room, I will now wade into the first Color Collective project as the white background fabric I ordered arrived this week.
People taking the class are showing their completed blocks now in the online social media groups (FB and Instagram), and their different color choices are so fun and so inspiring to see.
I have been having so much fun playing with these two projects on my design wall. They have been wonderful ways to cope with all the political chaos of an election in the middle of a pandemic.
Both of these projects are meant to use up solid scraps acquired with two years of The Color Collective online class on Sewtopia, with Tara Faughnan as the teacher and curator of fabrics.
On the left, the “trees” quilt was inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts. And on the right is a quilt inspired by Tara Faughnan’s quilt made with this kind of method.
I pulled out the bin of solid scraps and sorted it—I have piles where the fabrics need to be cut into useable sizes—like, at the very least, different sizes of square blocks. The strips are going into the developing quilt on the right. Occasionally I dive into the bigger bins of bigger pieces of solid fabrics to get a color I want to go with what is here, or to cut new squares for the trees quilt.
I’ve washed and ironed all the fabrics for the first project of season 3 of The Color Collective. The block is “Marrakesh.” The first set of fabrics is a luscious combination.
The funky rail quilt top from Sajata Shah’s CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS book and all the needed parts for the longarm joins the Flying Geese quilt with all its needed parts. I’ll start to longarm quilt these quilts pretty soon now.
The funky rail fence block is super fun to make. I used a suite of fabrics I’ve never used—and added fabrics from my stash. I pieced the back with the remnants, so that’s a lot of fabrics out of the stash. And does it count as an almost-created Unfinished project since I did have a suite of fabrics kept together? I think so. I do NOT want to be one of those people who dies and leaves a huge amount of fabric for my family to manage.
I LOVE this flying geese quilt and can’t wait to see it finished.
I worked on the last row of the solid Sugaridoo QAL quilt yesterday. Along the way I added sashing that is a bit too wide, and the quilt is way, way too long. Sugaridoo planned it at 70-90, which is not a ratio I like. I spent the evening ripping out some of the sashing, and I have at least gotten the quilt back to 70-90. I’ll likely finish these two quilts in the next few days, and I have enjoyed the learning curves involved and all the new block patterns. I have backings for both quilts, but need to organize bindings. Completing these two tops will make FOUR quilts ready for the longarm and binding.
The third row of the EPP project “36 Ring Circus” is going faster than the first two. I’m making all the center blocks in a row at one time now. And I pretty much have all the parts that surround the center glued and ready to go.
I also have two knit garments cut out and some patterns I really want to make. That’s a bit harder since I’m not really seeing anyone with the pandemic situation and so have no place to wear new garments.
My sewing life is rich and satisfying during the winter season here in Maine, and it feels good to get unfinished projects completed and to take on some new challenges.
The blocks are done, but not sewn together. Sajata Shah designed this “funky rail fence” block, and it is in her book CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS.
Yesterday I started piecing a back and pulled out leftover batting strips to sew together. The binding is cut, but not sewn together. It’s one of the reds in this fabric suite. I was able to add some greens from my stash to this mix, so a lot of fabric has gone flying out of my stash.
My pile of longarm projects is growing…
I think I would love this quilt in shades of grey and black. AND in modern bright fabrics with, maybe, some neutrals. But, maybe no neutrals. And of course it would look great with solids as well.
So, someone please tell me how—in spite of my vow to NOT start anything new—that this happened? It comes from playing with a new block, of course. And the excitement of getting a new book with LOTS of fun projects. Can I count having a suite of unused fabrics an “unfinished” project?
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