Tag: Slopes quilt

Turkey Tracks: Cotton+Steel “Slopes” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  December 21, 2019

Cotton+Steel “Slopes” Quilt

It’s finished, and I love it.

The design is by Amanda Jean Nyberg in her book NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND.

I used all Cotton+Steel fabrics.  (They are now Ruby Star Society and released their first collection under a new manufacturer last August.)

See the little row near the top of small solids, which are not C+S.  Nybeg’s “Slopes” is made from solids, so her inclusion of this little row stands out more than mine.  Still, it’s kind of a cute surprise when your eye lights on it.

The backing and binding are also Cotton+Steel.

Here are some close-ups of these fun, often quirky, delightful fabrics:

One of my favorite fabrics is the one of bears.  And here you can see the little row of solid squares.

Turkey Tracks: Sewing Projects, November 2019

Turkey Tracks:  November 7, 2019

Sewing Projects, November 2019

Winter is my intensive sewing time.

The bed is the bedroom next to my quilting room is my project staging area when the longarm holds a quilt.  On the bed there’s a finished quilt top and its backing and binding fabric all set to go when the longarm is empty again.  There are garments—saved to sew in winter.  And, all sorts of other projects, from an EPP project, to The Color Collective blocks, to my own inventions.

Here’s what my design wall looks like now.  The top blocks are meant to use up the solids acquired for The Color Collective projects.  The 14-inch block is from Then Came June’s Checkered Garden Quilt, and I’ve written posted about it before now.  It’s a leader/ender project from Bonnie Hunter’s method.  The big blocks below it are the 20-inch Radiating Log Cabin blocks from Tara Faughnan’s The Color Collective Season 1, hosted by Amy Newbold of Sewtopia.

To the right are various projects—to include just playing with shapes with ideas garnered from a workshop with Amy Friend (curved foundation piecing) and from Nicholas Ball’s new book INSPIRING IMPROV, which I high recommend.

I think there is a flying geese project in the making, done with 6” wide blocks and bright colors.  And the Jen Kingwell “Glitter” blocks are ongoing and will probably wind up in an improv quilt.

Below, hidden are the improv bird blocks I’m making off and on.

My quilting life is very rich I think.

I’ve moved blocks around and around below, but I think I like this arrangement, so will sew it together later today. L Then I have to decide if it is a 60-inch wall hanging or a lap quilt AND how on earth to quilt it.  Hand or machine, for starters.

The “shapes” blocks are fun.  I’m going to cut the teal blue/green block on the right in half and see what develops.  These blocks will go into my Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild “prompt” quilt where other members will make blocks for me as well.  But, my turn will not come up until NEXT November as there are many of us in this challenge.  So there is plenty of time to play with shapes and clear colors over the year.

My Cotton+Steel “Slopes” quilt from Amanda Jean Nyberg is on the long arm now.  I quilt until I get tired, then stop and play with other projects.  It all gets done.

The winterizing outside is DONE, so it’s time to move into my winter sewing in earnest.  And we may get SNOW tomorrow.

I love the change of seasons and enjoy each and every one.

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild October 2019 Stay Retreat

Turkey Tracks:  November 3, 2019

Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild October 2019 Stay Retreat

It was fun.

A Stay Retreat means those who can’t travel elsewhere for various reasons can quilt for two days at our local Lions Club alongside other Mt. Battie Modern QG or Coastal Quilters members.

A Retreat offers a time for intensive sewing where projects can be finished while sharing time and projects with other quilters.

I finished the top of this YEARS LONG project:  a quilt made from Bonnie Hunter’s Wild and Goosey quilt block—an intense foundation pieced block that is fun, but time consuming to make.  Look at all those tiny, tiny pieces

I like how the neutral border came out—a light grey binding will stop the eye and the light border holds the quilt middle nicely.  Thanks Betsy Maislen for this idea.  I like, too, the bits of color in the neutrals.

This block can look very, very different in other hands—like Linda Satkowski’s.  Her quilt with carefully chosen colors and a darker background is so handsome.  She has been my quilting companion during this long, long project—for both of us.  At this retreat she is sewing rows together—I think there will be 7 or 8 rows.

I have a very cool backing for this quilt—again thanks to Betsy Maislen who found it summer before last and brought me a fat quarter of it.

I have the Slopes quilt top on the longarm now—from Amanda Jean Nyberg’s NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND.  Mine is made from Cotton+Steel fabrics—the dark colors, not neutrals—collected over past years.