Caim - the Quilt

CAIM - "Sanctuary; an invisible circle of protection, drawn around the body with the hand, to remind one of being safe and loved, even in the darkest times."

Started in August 2022, Caim is now a finished quilt measuring 54" wide x 70" long.

Quilted with rows of liberated (unmarked) free motion spiral fans using Glide thread in Robin Egg.

Finished off with this turquoise pinstripe that has lurked in the stash for a long, long time.

I love the backing fabric (Junebee by QT Fabrics).  I purchased five yards at a local town's quilt shop closing sale a year or so ago.

This is an older fabric and one I've used previously, including my last few pieces in Sea of HSTs (2021), so I was delighted to find it still on that shop's shelves.

Here Caim is casually tossed in one of our back porch rocking Adirondack chairs.

My introductory post for Caim is HERE.  

You can find the rest of the related posts by using the CAIM label below.

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It does feel good to get another of the long-waiting quilt tops finished after a slow start for finishes in 2024.

Next up is Dumpster Diving 12 - Confetti (currently pin basted and  waiting for me to wind bobbins now that I've chosen my thread color).

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos."

Saul Bellow

Caim and Spoondrift Move Forward

I first posted about Spoondrift last October (click HERE).

I shared an update HERE.

A few weeks ago, these squares that were cut for the corners.

A little here and a little there the corner squares were stitched to the low volume blocks.

The blocks were sewn into sets of two and then sorted into groups of five on fourteen plates.

From there it didn't take long to assemble the randomly scrappy 50" x 70" quilt top.

I had "just" enough of the aquatic watercolor-ish backing by adding a full length strip of extra squares.

So now the quilt top, the backing and the long-ago made scrappy binding are on a hanger in the infamous Waiting to be Quilted closet.

Oh, and the top for Caim did get pressed, its backing has been pieced, and its binding is made.  

Caim has joined the others in the WTBQuilted closet.

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My goal moving forward is to quilt at least two and hopefully three of these waiting projects each month until I get the backlog cleared.

Quiltdivajulie

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"A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions and the roots spring up and make new trees."

Amelia Earhart

CAIM - the Flimsy

I last posted about this project HERE.  

Last week I finally reached the "I can't ignore this any longer" point and spent what felt like a very long time pressing the huge stack of four-part blocks (above).

This was always meant to be a very scrappy quilt and there was no good way to plan a layout - so I decided to just sew the blocks into rows of fourteen (meaning 28 rectangles and 28 squares in each row).

To have some sense of order I sorted the blocks onto twelve paper plates.  That way the black rectangles would be more or less evenly distributed amongst the rows.  I then repeated that sorting process for the aquas, salmons, and greens.

Obviously the backing yardage and the top were not pressed when I took these photos.

The top measures 56" wide by 72" long or it will once it is pressed.

I have to admit - I nearly scrapped this project more than once along the way.

Now I am so glad I didn't.

Quiltdivajulie

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"If I waited for perfection I would never write a word."

Margaret Atwood

Progress on Several Fronts

When I shared photos of the segments for CAIM, I mentioned cutting too many rectangles.

I did indeed - enough to make a second bricks and squares quilt top!

Here are all 360 rectangles clipped in sets of ten.

This time, instead of warm neutral squares, I plan to cut squares from three lengths of aqua yardage (lower group).  

I'll use the five yards of aqua yardage (upper group) for a pieced back and one of the two stripes as binding.  Of course, as usual, some of that will probably change once the project is actually under construction.

On another note, I had at some point pulled these four pieces of leftover yardage to make a scrappy backing for an undetermined project.

Rather than squirrel them away in the stash again, I decided to use the Hannah design from Kitchen Table Quilting to make yet another comfort quilt (this brings the list to nine - no time table, only as time and energy allow) to use up a even more of the leftover 2.5" strips.

These cut segments ALL came from those leftover strips and/or pieces in the resource boxes, which makes me VERY happy.

I used almost all of the Tula Pink "Macaw ya Later" yardage for the background rectangles (right).  That felt pretty good as well because I've had a hard time finding a good use for that fabric.

And the stack of leftover brights on black strips (left) are most likely going to become the quilt's binding.

WIN - WIN - WIN 

Since this will be another 60" x 72" top, I added a few more pieces of leftover backing to the collection. 

The 120 segments were sorted into thirty groups of four . . . 

. . . then gently folded into their groups and put into their labeled project box.  

I've named this KOSELIG, a Norwegian adjective that means "a feeling of deep contentment, provided by a person, place, or atmosphere; experiencing happiness and personal well-being through a combination of nature, companionship, and coziness."

And, for the record, I did get all five of the utility mats made from pieces of previous quilt tops/projects free motion quilted.  (these will all go to my sister in Michigan)

Next step will be to check the drawer of leftover bindings to see if any of them are suitable.  Fingers crossed!

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Here's to the concept of “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”

Quiltdivajulie

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"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."

James Whistler

Another Scrappy Quilt Begins

Comfortable (above) began in 2018 when I gathered all of the random 2.5" strips into one box.  From there, I made several quilts - finishing Comfortable in 2020.

Interestingly enough, while I created my own layout without consulting a pattern, tutorial, Pinterest, or Google Images, it turns out that this approach has been used in many different ways.

There is a pattern named Zip It by Emma Jean Jansen, a design named Now and Later by Kathie Holland that was sent along in an American Patchwork and Quilting marketing mailer, Jo from Jo's Country Junction shared this tutorial on her blog after making her Brick House Quilt, Katy from Katy's Quilts just finished her version done all in 30s prints, and I am sure there are other patterns or tutorials out there.

Clearly there is very little new under the sun.

Anyway . . . I spent most of Saturday cutting up leftovers from the resource boxes.  Some of these were rotary cut (2.5" wide by whatever length was available) and the wider pieces are ready to run through my die cutter (8.5" width yields theee 2.5" strips) so I can make another version of Comfortable.

The current plan is for this to become a comfort quilt, one that will probably not be finished until 2023.

I also die cut a group of warm neutrals into 2.5" squares, using up the last of each of these fabrics.

Since I didn't pre-calculate exactly how many of either shape I needed, I'm pretty sure I cut too many squares and rectangles.  I'm not worried about it though.  More fabrics makes it easier to design once the segments are sewn together and we all know that leftovers are, as Wanda puts it, seeds for another project.

The box above contains roughly half of the rectangles and all of the neutrals.  Time will tell how closely their numbers match up.

It was so nice outside Sunday that I spent some time on the back porch pairing and pinning so I can use these as leader-enders when I web the two waiting tops, etc.

I'm not in a big rush for this new project, although I'm sure that will change at some point.  

I've given it a working name of CAIM which means "Sanctuary; an invisible circle of protection, drawn around the body with then and, to remind one of being safe and loved, even in the darkest times."  

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Note to file:  My "word" for 2022 has been MAGIC with each post ending in a somehow-related quotation.

Starting with this post, I am going to deviate from MAGIC and use quotations that relate to ART or ARTIST instead.   I have a large number of quotes so this theme may well carry over into 2023.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else."

Sydney Gurewitz Clemens

(chosen in honor of Little Man's first day of kindergarten)