For the Birds - the Quilt

For the Birds is finished at long last.

I made these twelve birds in 2016 when I was teaching.

In early 2019 I decided to turn them into a quilt for myself,

finishing the top in December.

(SO glad I persevered and made all those little HSTs - 

I was inspired by Glen's bird quilt)

Both of my other bird quilts (Eleanor and Just Wing It)

were quilted by my long arming friend Chris

who added fabulous feathers, leaves, and texture.

That meant I was totally intimidated 

by the thought of quilting my own bird quilt.

After far, FAR too much internal debate

I settled on rows of liberated fans -

enough to add the texture I love while

letting the birds, HSTs, and fabrics be the stars.

Quilted using Glide thread in white.

(I'm delighted at how it disappears into the fabrics)

It felt odd to deliberately NOT quilt the birds 

as focal points but now that the quilting is done, 

I'm very (very!) happy with the results.

(this is, after all, going to be a recliner quilt

meaning it will be used and not hung on a wall)

The 28" x 30" St. Louis bird surrounded by

even more HSTs and pieced into the backing

worked out just as I had hoped.

(previous photos taken in the early morning)

* * *

For the Birds measures 50.5" wide x 66" long

after being laundered with multiple Color Catchers.

(once again, they thankfully did their job)

I love its gently crinkled texture.

(final two photos taken just before dusk)

Quiltdivajulie

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“The pigeon here is a beautiful bird, of a delicate bronze colour, tinted with pink about the neck, and the wings marked with green and purple.”

William John Wills

Sea of HSTs - the Quilt

Sea of HSTs is finished.

Inspired by a Gee's Bend quilt (see link below second photo)

I started this one in early 2019 to use up a huge stack

of over-enthusiastically die cut HSTs leftover from 

the block corners for Someday is Now.

By July 2019 the top was completed.

I pieced a scrappy back using the last of the HSTs

and into the waiting-closet the top and back went.

Quilted with my liberated Baptist fans with spiral centers

using Glide thread in Sea Foam.

No - your eyes are NOT deceiving you.

We have lots of snow and VERY cold temperatures.

(we haven't seen this much snow here in thirty years)

This is something I have not been able to do before -

take a photo of a newly-finished quilt laying on almost 8 inches of snow.

And here's the back of the quilt.

The finished quilt measures 45" wide x 57" long.

While the adults worry about the weather,

Little Man is having the time of his life.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Be uniquely you.  Stand out.  Shine.  Be colorful.”

Amy Leigh Mercree

Someday is Now - the Quilt

After thinking about it for what seemed like years

I finally bought Sujata's Organized Chaos pattern in mid-2016.

One test block told me my wildly eclectic assortment of scraps was all wrong.

Those scraps were returned to their boxes 

and the pattern sat unattended for another year.

THIS POST tells the next part of the story.

(for more on Chihuly's glass on glass technique,

click here and scroll down)

* * *

Someday is Now's finished quilt top was finally shared

on February 1, 2019.

And since then the top and back have hung in the

waiting-to-be-quilted closet until I figured out a FMQ plan.

Sometime last month I came up with this idea.

Enhancing the secondary circles had been my sticking-point

but this approach made that happen.

(fine-point Sharpie on a black and white draft photo -

not to scale but enough to work out a plan)

I made these rough notes to remind me of the continuous line's quilting path.

After then it was time to sit and stitch.

Max doesn't particularly like heavy seam intersections

but there was no avoiding them this time.

Two needle changes (heavy seams and lots of batiks)

made things go more smoothly.

Glide thread in Nickel blended beautifully across all the colors.

I'm thrilled with the results

and grateful that my liberated unmarked FMQ skill set has

grown enough to be able to give this quilt what it has waited for. 

Taken with only side light from my window to show the textures.

If you look closely, you can see how I extended the arcs into the borders.

(I quilted the center first and then worked my way around the borders)

At long last this particular five-year-plus journey has reached fruition.

Finished quilt 49" x 63"

Quiltdivajulie

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“I don’t know If something can be too colorful.  Color is one of the great properties of glass and is more intense in glass than any other material.  Imagine entering Chartres Cathedral and looking up at the rose window; you can see a one-inch square of ruby red glass from 300 feet away.”

Dale Chihuly

Winsome - the Quilt

In early 2019 when I was preparing to teach

at the John C. Campbell Folk School,

I used a lot of my strips and strings to make strata.

The plan was to use these as teaching samples.

This was the very (VERY) long length of strata

that came from a good-sized box of darker pinks.

(the birds on the right are from the design stage

of a quilt top known as For the Birds

which tells you just how old this photo is)

I cut up the strata to make a quilt top/teaching sample measuring 44" x 55"

Once home, this was set aside to become a baby quilt

or gift quilt if and when it was needed.

(I don't think I've ever actually shared this quilt on the blog)

At some point in very late 2019, I named this WINSOME.

(sweetly or innocently charming,

winning, and/or engaging)

At the end of December 2020 I pulled out the top

and decided to add borders using Phillip Jacobs' Jungle Paisley,

one of my all time favorite fabrics.

Winsome as a finished quilt measures 51" wide x 62" long.

And that elephant print that has been moved

from project to project has now found its home

on the back of Winsome.

Quilted with liberated fans with spiral centers

using Affinity Mauve (variegated) top thread

and Pink Rose Glide thread in the bobbin.

Such an optimistically cheerful quilt - I love it.

Quiltdivajulie

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“We don’t need a melting pot in this country, folks.  We need a salad bowl.  In a salad bowl, you put different things.  You want the vegetables – the lettuce, the cucumbers, the onions, the green peppers – to maintain their identity.  You appreciate differences.”

Jane Elliot

Zephyr - 30th Quilt Top of 2019

The sewn together half-hexagons

 measured 40" x 52" so I added side columns 

pieced using random lengths of 4" wide scraps

to make the top 48" wide.

The top and bottom borders were pieced 

using 3" squares sewn into four patches

which made the top 62" long.

Then I spent a couple of evenings piecing other 

leftover end cuts, strips, and chunks of low volumes

into twenty slabs which were then cut into

uniform 12.5" squares and arranged 

more or less like a rail fence layout.

I needed a back 5 squares wide x 6 squares long

so I bordered the pieced squares with 

single-fabric pieces 6.5" wide x 12.5" long.

(only the side and bottom half-squares are shown in this photo)

I used the very last strip of batik

from Lynne's Hidden Potential quilt.

(above and to the right of the sunny rainbow)

I also used the last segment of the rosy circles

which has to date back at least 10 years.

2.5" squares from Bemused 

that were undersized were pieced together.

Scraps from the fabrics used in 

Tea Party's back were also included.

(the bowler hat)

The last of Rise and Roost's haymow fabric 

has now been used.

More undersized squares from Bemused,

and one of several strips of the sewing fabric

used to back Cherie's Broken Dishes . . .

What a gloriously scrappy combination of fabrics.

I can already tell that this back is going 

to become one of my all-time favorites.

Prior to piecing the scrappy back,

I had sewn together a lot of short lengths

of various low volume fabrics

to be used as binding.

(shown here laying on my ironing table

waiting to be folded/pressed)

I do love a great scrappy binding.

* * *

Zephyr now becomes the 17th quilt top/back

hanging in my "waiting to be quilted" closet.

(I did manage to quilt and finish 15 quilts

and a number of smaller projects this year 

or that waiting number would be much larger)

* * *

And for those who are wondering about 

the 30 tops completed in 2019 - 

three of those were for the 70273 Project where

others made the blocks and I assembled them into tops;

several were unquilted barn teaching samples that

were re-worked and turned into tops worthy of quilting; 

several were long-term projects that 

came to fruition this year; and one was a top that

was taken apart, rearranged, and sewn back together.

Looking at these stats, I'm amazed.

Clearly, a little along really does pay off.

Happy New Year to all -

see you again on January 6th.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Much silence makes a powerful noise."

African Proverb

Dumpster Diving 7 (Respite) - The Flimsy

One row at a time

I started stitching the long

previously-sewn-together-length-of-purple-scraps

to the bands with turquoise, green,

and the die cut triangle in square blocks.

After so many hours of sewing 1.5" scraps end to end,

it was a joy to stitch the long lengths together

and see the top begin to appear on the design wall.

Auditioning inner and outer border options.

(at least six inner borders had already been voted off the island

by the time I pulled this one from the stash)

And then there was a finished quilt top.

52" wide by 64" long (plus or minus)

(and if you're wondering, I had roughly

700 inches of purples left after finishing the top)

Another view of the top . . .

(you may recognize the border fabric

from the back of Grape Pansy Caper No. 2)

I found this fabric in the stash to use for binding -

turned it out was also designed by Chong-Ahwang.

So now the 12.5" squares for a scrappy back

are pinned to the design wall

waiting to be sewn together.

* * *

For those who have commented that I am on a roll,

it does indeed feel good to move these projects forward.

They've been in various stages of near-completion 

for weeks (some for months)

and I'm delighted to have them ready

 (or nearly ready) for quilting.

Working in short bursts is definitely paying off.

Quiltdivajulie

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“You should love turning points.  They’re called edges.  
That’s when the magic happens.  That’s the space you’ve been waiting for.”
Victoria Erickson