Ukiyo - the Quilt

Ukiyo is finished.

(noun "living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life")

55" x 71"

This was the second quilt as part of the 2021 AHIQ Symmetry or Not challenge.

(the first quilt top was Pandemonium - later donated to Mercyful Quilts by way of Alycia during Hands 2 Help 2022)

No outdoor photos - just too darn cold thanks to Winter Storm Elliott.

I do love the binding (cut lengthwise from KF yardage).

Here Ukiyo is laying on the floor in the sunroom with late afternoon sunshine.

Quilted with Glide in Pink Rose using my liberated all over spiral fans.

I absolutely love this quilt!

* * *

Hoping to have one more finish by year end . . . wish me luck.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art is chaos taking shape."

Pablo Picasso

Raconteur - the Quilt

Since we had sunshine Thursday for the first time in ten days, I was very happy to take photos of newly-finished Raconteur that actually show how soft and pretty these colors are.

(Raconteur - noun - a gifted storyteller)

Scrappy binding all around.

I made up my own design for the two differently sized borders.

The narrow ones (top and bottom) have a single row of 'scallops' to complete each of the orange peels.

The wider ones (both sides) have two sets of scallops.

And in all cases, I continued the seam lines into the borders to hold everything together.

This is the scrappy back - it looks better in this photo than most but even this one doesn't show how soft and gentle it is in real life.

There are two full-width strips of leftover strip set squares along with three different low volume prints in the backing. 

In the full view photo you can hopefully see the symmetrical arrangement of the fabrics.

Here Raconteur is draped over the couch (my 2020 snowflake quilt named Yuletide is peeking out on the left).  

The colors here are very, very close to real life.

Quilted with my liberated orange peels using Glide thread in Whisper Yellow.

51" x 68"

And this is where Raconteur will stay until the Christmas quilts are put away and my series of low volume quilts take over as our January quilts (there's a label below if you want to see all of them).

(the other quilts on this rack are vintage ones made by my grandmothers or family / friends - you can read more about some of them HERE)

Quiltdivajulie

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"I love sewing, so I'm not trying to "get it over with." I'm not trying to wrap it up so I can go off and dust."

Gwen Marston

December Placemats - Finito

This month's set of six two-sided placemats is finished.

I started with a stack of 6.5" squares (or pieces sewn together so they could be trimmed to 6.5") cut from fabrics in the stash and/or resource boxes.

I used them to make twelve slabs, each 18" x 24".

The slabs were sandwiched in pairs and Max and I quilted them with my liberated spiral fans using Glide thread in Nickel.

Once quilted, each sandwich was trimmed to 14" x 20" before the binding was added.

We love this size - large enough to shrink a bit in the laundry and, more importantly, they fit in the buffet drawer in the dining room (next to the table where they are used every day).

* * *

Now it is time to start on the set for January using 2.5" strips cut from wintry neutrals for the top slabs and a stack of black and white squares to be sewn for the back slabs.

Quiltdivajulie

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"You're never too old believe in the magic of Christmas."

Janet Lee Logan

Weekend Plans

October's placemats are finished and ready to be used.

I'm calling these reversible since I honestly can't decide which side I like more.  

I have four or five more placemat sets planned for the coming months. When I did the clean out and reorganization of our seasonal decor in the attic, I figured out a good place to store the off-cycle placemat sets/napkins.  That lack of storage had been holding me back, but now I can go forward with my plan to have multiple sets of placemats to suit the seasons/monthly decor themes.  

(translation:  yet another opportunity to "use the stash")

* * *

The rest of this weekend is meant for cleaning up the studios, prioritizing projects waiting on deck based on when they will be needed, and maybe even some sewing or quilting action.  

However, our weather is still wonderful so I might decide to sit on the back porch and read or do some hand stitching on a project I hope to share on Monday.

Time will tell!

Quiltdivajulie

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"As my artist's statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and therefore full of deep significance."

Calvin (and Hobbes)

KOSELIG - the Quilt

This was Koselig beside my sewing machine just moments after I finished the binding.

And this is Koselig outdoors.  I took way too many photos because the light was being much too "autumn-y." 

This is the scrappy pieced backing that used up several odds and ends from previous projects.

I LOVE it.

Quilted with my liberated spiral fans using Glide thread in Pink.

Note to file:  I will definitely use the Hannah design by Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilts again (in fact I have a low volume version already cut out).

The best part is that I finished Koselig in time to ship it off to my sister in Michigan (to counter the grayer days of winter) AND have the quilt arrive BEFORE her actual birthday (which is today).  

(cue the Happy Birthday song)

Quiltdivajulie

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"Why shouldn't art be pretty?  There are enough unpleasant things in the world."

Pierre-Auguste Rodin

Dot to Dot - Big Brother's Quilt

As I was stitching the binding in place on Big Brother's quilt Saturday morning, a text chimed in from my sister.

Mommy's water had broken (four weeks early) so the parents were on their way to the hospital . . . and Miss Penelope was born early Sunday morning.

Dot to Dot, the quilt for her big brother, measures 48" x 64" 

Quilted with Glide thread in Nickel using rows of my liberated Baptist Fans.

I love these colorful iguanas on the cheddar backing.

The black and white binding is Michael Miller Clown Stripe, one of my favorites for multi-color rainbow quilts.

I hope Big Brother loves this scrappy polka dot quilt as much as I do!

* * *

Later today I will be shipping all three freshly-laundered quilts (Dot to Dot, Penelope Rose, and Winsome) to their new forever homes in Michigan.  

    

* * *

Reminder:  You can read all previous posts for Dot to Dot using its label below (or from the sidebar).  There are also labels in the sidebar for most of my quilts.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Everything starts from a dot."

Wassily Kandinsky

Penelope Rose and Winsome

Penelope Rose is finished.  

40" wide x 54" long

Quilted with my liberated fans/spirals using Glide thread in Pink.  

This will initially be Baby Girl's floor/tummy time quilt and later it can be used in her crib (she's due in October - daughter of our middle nephew and his wife).

Backing by Carrie Bloomston - Starry Elephants from her Wish line.

The toucan quilt clips are Alycia's fault - she uses flamingo clips to hold her quilts and shared the source in the linked post.    

I love having a fun new alternative to my giant clothespins.

Winsome (2021) is also going to Baby Girl.

It measures 51" x 62" and will be ready once she's bigger.

Here's a detail photo of Winsome, again with the fun toucan clips.

Both quilts will be laundered before they're sent so they're soft and crinkly - and so the parents won't have to worry about washing a brand new quilt before it can be used.

* * *

Next up will be Dot to Dot for Baby Girl's big brother.  

Thread has been chosen and the backing pieced.  Time to get the layers pin basted and start quilting.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art is important.  We tend to think of it as a luxury, but it gives people deep pleasure because beauty is the personification of hope that something grander is at work."

Gil Dellinger

La Colcha de Muchos Colores - the Quilt

I finished the free motion quilting on La Colcha after dinner Saturday and sent this photo to Little Man's mommy and daddy so they could show him the progress.

I used the excess trimmed from the quilt's backing to make binding and then called it a day.

Sunday afternoon the binding was sewn onto the quilt.  

As soon as the final stitches were completed I hurried directly outdoors to take photos with peals of thunder as the soundtrack.

La Colcha de Muchos Colores (the quilt of many colors) measures 61" wide x 78" long.

Quilted with my liberated free motion all over nested spiral fans using Affinity Rainbow (variegated) as the top thread and Glide Shadow in the bobbin.

(the last rain here was before my trip to NH so any rainfall potential is met with much anticipation - sadly, despite all the thunder, what had been predicted as over an inch measured less than a tenth of an inch at our house)

I love the pop of shifting colors along the quilt's edge.

Once again I have to say that Little Man chose the perfect backing for his quilt.

(you can read all of the previous posts for this Camp Sefton quilt project by clicking on the La Colcha label at the end of this post or in the sidebar)

The variegated top thread shows best on the dark blue Jumble and on the purple feather swirl print.  

On the other colors it more or less disappears while depth and richness to the quilted texture.

Am I happy with the results?  

YES.

Little Man took his new quilt home after Sunday's family dinner.  

He was pretty happy, too.

(an understatement if ever there was one)

This photo of Little Man and his daddy was taken near lunchtime on Sunday during a free roller skate rental event downtown.  

Photographic proof that time really does fly - Little Man is now just weeks away from turning six.    

Quiltdivajulie

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“I have always believed in the magic of childhood and think that if you get your life right, that magic should never end.”

Colin Thompson

Smitten - the Quilt

After sixteen months of start-and-stop work on Smitten, the quilt is now finished.

Measuring 54" x 70", Smitten contains 360 four patches made of 1,440 one-inch-finished squares plus another 360 two-inch finished alternate squares.

You can go back and read all previous posts for this project (including the inspiration quilt shared by Amanda Jean Nyberg in 2018) by clicking on the Smitten label at the end of this post.

The scrappy backing was originally made for another quilt but set aside as that project evolved.  

Happily it has found its forever home with Smitten.

Quilted with my all-over free motion liberated nested spiral fans using Glide thread in Graphite.

I had such grand plans for an away-from-home photo shoot for Smitten, but it has been so horribly hot here that I listened to common sense and quickly took back yard photos so I could get back indoors.

I absolutely love this gloriously scrappy quilt.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl

Scintillating - Start to Finish

Last September, Wanda sold me these eighteen multi-sized liberated/wonky log cabin blocks.  

I immediately named the project Scintillating (meaning animated, vivacious, effervescent)

Despite having lots of ideas, nothing happened other than these photos of the blocks.

Wanda generously included a small handful of KF strips in the package, so I put those with the blocks in a project box.

Fast forward to late February.  I decided to use the blocks for a wallhanging rather than trying to add more blocks to make a lap quilt.  Each block was enlarged so that it could be squared at 8.5"

In order to use all eighteen blocks, I went with a 3 wide x 6 long arrangement, knowing that the finished piece would hang in our dining room.

As things evolved, I decided to add vertical sashing strips between the three columns.  My first thought back when the blocks first arrived was to use one of the bold KF Collective black and white prints as sashing.  Time tempered that idea and I chose this KF print instead.  (and I'm very glad I did)

For the backing I chose one of my all-time favorite KF prints - Jungle Paisley - in green.  

Quilted with liberated all-over spiral fans using Glide thread in Lavender (top) and Basil (bobbin).

Binding is from the same yardage as the sashing.

The colors in this photo are very true to life.  

I am SO happy with the way it all came together.

Final size is 26.5" wide x 47" long.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Surround yourself with the risk takers, storytellers, creators, truth seekers, artists, adventurers, and dream makers, but mostly surround yourself with the people who draw that same magic out of you.”

Brooke Hampton