Cherie's Broken Dishes - The Quilt

In September 2016, Cherie gave me

a 2-lb. blueberry box filled with pieces and parts

from her fabulous shirtings project stash.

Within just a few weeks

I had turned them into a scrappy quilt top.

Since then the top has been waiting patiently . . .

At long last,

Cherie's Broken Dishes was quilted and bound 

during the last week of December

which technically makes it a 2018 finish.

42" wide x 50" long

Quilted with liberated free motion fans and petals

using Glide's Khaki thread.

The quilt is backed with a long-stashed Melody Ross print.

And since this photo was taken,

the label has been stitched in place.

Cherie - THANK YOU

for sharing your scrappy leftovers.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
G.K. Chesterton

"Tis the Season - Dumpster Diving IV - The Quilt

Dumpster Diving IV - The Christmas Edition

also known as 'Tis the Season

was actually finished the last week of December.

Since then we've had soggy gray days

which are not great for outdoor photography.

Saturday we actually had sunshine and blue skies

so I hurried outside to get these photos.

This is the quilt's back - and it is scrappy, of course.

I used Glide thread in Khaki (top and bobbin)

and quilted long wavy vertical lines

in every other column of segments.

I had originally thought I'd use 

a green stripe for binding but 

this black and white was a much better choice.

So now there are four Dumpster Diving quilts

(click the link above to see photos - with links to their reveal posts)

with a fifth in the early stages of construction

and a sixth in the very early planning stage.

SO many possibilities!

Quiltdivajulie

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"People travel to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars; and yet they pass by themselves without wondering."
Saint Augustine

Marathon - The Quilt

Binding time!

I love this little battery-operated task light,

especially for hand stitching on dark fabrics.

And if you haven't checked out 

Lynne Tyler's new binding tutorial,

you really need to -- 

I'm so happy my binding stitches no longer show!

Here is a view of the back with the binding stitched in place.

Corner one of the front . . . 

Corner two of the front . . . 

Corner three of the front . . . 

And corner four of the front.

Max and I quilted this one using Glide thread in Nickel,

Warm and Natural batting (Wanda's recommendation),

and one of my straight-edge rulers.

The vertical lines are 1/2" to the right of each seam line

and the horizontal lines are 1/2" below each seam line.

Just enough without being too much.

Then I took the quilt upstairs 

to take a proper (straight on) photo for Wanda.

But I couldn't resist taking this one.

Two different ways of making quilts . . .

both valid and both beautiful.

Looking to the right . . . 

And looking to the left . . .

And here is that high resolution straight-on photo.

* * *

So what are my take-aways 

from Wanda's Colorwash 360 course?

I am very glad I took the class.

Wanda is an excellent teacher

and I learned several things

that will help me be a more efficient 

and intelligent quilt maker.

I learned that I CAN do something like this

despite the many challenges involved.

(the first time I tried, I bailed and made Colorwash 4.0)

I also remembered why I call myself

 an eclectic liberated scrappy quilt maker.

Is my finished quilt perfect?

No.

But like last weekend's marathon runners, trying and 

finishing are more important than maintaining perfect form.

THANK YOU, WANDA

for helping me further refine my skill set.

Quiltdivajulie

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p.s.  I owe ever so many of you a not-yet-replied-to-comment apology.  I've read them all and appreciate your kind words, but I need to call comment amnesty for several previous posts.  Hoping to do better in the coming days/weeks!

p.p.s.  I'll be back with new posts sometime next week.  Gotta get caught up with cleaning, laundry, and paperwork in the meantime.

18 in 2018 - October Recap

On the PIECING list,

I completed my Shibori do-over 

which is now known as Shift Happens.

I've also started working on

Someday is Now -- the last project 

from my 18 in 2018 Piecing List.

On the QUILTING front --

I completed Tea Party,

my challenge quilt for our 

rapidly approaching local quilt show.

(I've also prepped six more of my quilts

to hang in the show Nov. 2-3-4)

AND I finished sCRUMBtious.

The squirrels in The Squirrel Club

 encouraged me to make thirteen autumn pillows 

and a new table runner.

I am participating in

 Wanda's Colorwash 360 class.

My own version is currently stalled 

on the design wall until after the local quilt show 

is set up, held, taken down, and the quilts returned.

I really want to work on this,

but there just aren't enough hours in each day.

I taught two two-session classes on

Sujata's Peppermint Pinwheels

at my local quilt shop.

You can read about that HERE.

I've washed, ironed, and cut into blocks

the many yards of donated white fabric

for the 70273 Project block drive

that will happen during our local quilt show.

I've also sliced and diced a lot of different reds,

and gathered a goodly assortment 

of red trims for the pairs of red XXs.

I even did my first-ever podcast 

with Jeanne Hewell-Chambers,

the woman behind the 70273 Project.

I wrote and shared three more posts

for the mapping of my own quilting journey

as part of the current AHIQ 

maps and mapping challenge.

Years 5 and 6 are HERE

Years 7 and 8 are HERE

Years 9 and 10 are HERE

And while you are visiting

the AHIQ group blog,

be sure to check out the other posts

to see how others are handling

this particular challenge.

* * *

And finally, since today is Halloween,

HAPPY and SAFE Trick or Treating 

to all those who will be out tonight.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap 
but by the seeds that you plant."
Robert Louis Stevenson

Let It Snow - The Quilt

Earlier this month, I taught two LQS classes

(day and evening sessions)

for Sujata's Peppermint Pinwheels 

from her book Cultural Fusion Quilts.

I made step-out (demo) blocks

using my stash of Christmas fabrics.

Between week one and week two,

I turned those demo blocks into a quilt top

and found time to get it quilted and bound.

I had long-planned to create this scrappy back

using a really nice deep-discount panel with

lots of other scrappy holiday fabrics.

Quilted with simple wavy horizontal lines

using Glide thread in Buttercup.

The block centers were machine appliquéd in place.

(no fusible involved)

When I made No Ugly Flowers

I left off the centers.

Two very different looks . . .

I used candy-cane red and white striped 

binding to tie it all together.

Come December

 this quilt will be put to use in the recliner.

* * *

I posted about the students' work 

on the Cultural Fusion Quilts blog.

Click HERE for week one

and HERE for week two.

They did a GREAT job

and we had a whole lot of fun.

Quiltdivajulie

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"In the end, we'll all become stories."
Margaret Atwood

sCRUMBtious - The Quilt

sCRUMBtious is a finished quilt!

48" x 64"

Striped binding and Tula Pink's squirrel print backing.

Quilted with lots and lots and lots of 

large open spirals and echoing lines ala Dwirling

(a style taught by Dawn Ramirez - the Pajama Quilter)

using Glide's Nickel thread on top and in the bobbins.

That striped binding includes a flange -

this is the second time I've attached this kind of binding

and it went on much more easily than the first time around.

Thanks again to Cathy L. for a such a super quilt name.

* * *

I am delighted with this gloriously scrappy quilt!!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Only after looking and listening closely can one make these various subtleties work magic."
Lu Chi

Tea Party - The Quilt

My challenge quilt is quilted and bound - hooray!

You might remember the flimsy reveal post

when I shared that no matter what the challenge

I needed to LIKE what I was making.

I rarely work with panels

other than piecing them into a quilt back

so turning one into a quilt front

with pieced and appliquéd borders

was a conundrum to be solved.

I'm very pleased with the end result

but still thinking I shall resist future challenges.

Quilted with liberated swirly fans and flowers

using Glide thread in Warm Grey 4.

Finished size is 47" wide x 63" long.

(challenge requirement was for sides 

greater than 36" but less than 74")

The sleeve and label are made

and will be sewn on today

and I'll fill out the paperwork before the weekend.

When turn-in day arrives next week,

I'll be more than ready.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours."

Noela Evans

September Recap for 18 in 2018

For this month's recap, 

I'm starting with three projects

that seemed like marvelous ideas

but turned out to be less than I'd hoped.

The first involved a bundle of scraps from Mari.

I had planned to keep them all together,

plus adding in a few more from my stash,

to make a scrappy string-ish kind of quilt.

The more I worked with it,

the less it spoke to me . . . 

So I am going to share 

the low volume strips and bits

with a friend who is short on those 

and the rest is now back in my stash.

The second involved these fabrics 

from the Outback Wife line.

I love their stories and textures,

but no matter how I've tried to use them,

they came out dark, off-balance, and un-inspiring.

As a result, they've been handed off to someone else

who is wildly excited about them.

The third change-of-direction this month

involved my autumn tree quilt.

These untrimmed blocks left me disappointed.

The individual fabrics are okay,

but the feel of the mix just doesn't work.

It doesn't help that autumn is not 

my favorite season of the year, either.

This idea will return, but not in this form.

(go check out  Lynne tree plans shared here)

On the QUILTING front, 

I quilted and finished two quilts this month.

Scrappy Bow Ties (above) 

and 

Flummadiddle (below)

I didn't get to the other two 

that were on my September goals list,

but they will happen during October - 

one way or another.

One the PIECING front:

I pieced this top and donated it to 

a local guild's Hospice project

as part of my 2018 comfort quilts effort.

I converted my 25-patch low volume project into 

Just Because - a modified scrap vortex style quilt top.

This one really helped empty the neutral crumb boxes.

I finally finished piecing the London Fields quilt top.

AND I finished piecing the top of Tea Party

for our local show's annual challenge.

(this one MUST be quilted during early October

since turn-in days are October 30-31)

And last but not least, on the Squirrel Club front:

I spent a lot of time rearranging the stash

(and the studio itself)

due to the arrival of this bookshelf.

I spent time putting together 

annual photo books for the quilts I've made

during the last fourteen years.

I celebrated a major milestone birthday

and our older son celebrated his 40th.

I turned these into a series of step-out blocks

for the two Freeform Pinwheels classes

I'll be teaching in mid-October.

(design from Sujata's Cultural Fusion Quilts)

After week one's classes,

these step-outs will be turned into a quilt top

so I can use it in during week two's classes

when we talk about layout and assembly.

I also cut out pieces and parts to make

four additional Christmas quilts.

* * *

It was a busy month for so many reasons

and October promises to be even more hectic.

One stitch at a time . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

Steve Jobs