Feisty - the Quilt

Feisty is my 2019 "Not a Mystery" quilt.

(for more on that, click HERE)

After countless evolutionary steps,

I used Marit's spiderweb method.

(you can read all of Feisty's previous entries on the blog

by clicking on the label at the end of this post)

I am beyond happy with the playful interaction

between the colors of the top and back.

Younger son and I ventured out for a photoshoot.

This was part of the scene - so peaceful.

The light was a bit harsh due to the hazy cloud cover.

In the shade under a tree.

A closer look at the back

under that same tree.

The finished quilt measures 51" x 66" 

Quilted with allover liberated fans 

using Glide thread in Nickel.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing?  Can one really explain this?  No.”

Pablo Picasso

Next Up Under Max's Needle - Feisty

Feisty is next up on the FMQ list.

(quilt top reveal post HERE)

This is the variegated top thread I've chosen.

The backing plan has changed.

And yes, this is the same backing fabric I used

for Dumpster Diving 11 - Mischief Maker.

(Alexander Henry "birds of a feather" 2007)

This is the single-color bobbin thread I'll use.

At the last minute I decided to add 3" borders all around.

The top looks more grounded now -

and yes, I'll square those corners after FMQ.

Here's a better look at the Kaffe fabric I used for the borders

and the binding (another last minute change).

Stay tuned . . .

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“I don’t start with a color order but find the colors as I go.”

Helen Frakenthaler

Namaste - the Flimsy

Introducing Namaste - the quilt top

(click HERE to read about the meaning of the word)

This collaborative effort will be one of younger son's

40th birthday presents.

(he paired the light blues with the center triangles and

did the layout after I had sewn all the 4" blocks)

Fabrics in the 'prayer flags' were harvested from 

the cut off corners of Feisty's spiderweb blocks,

excess trimmed from the backing of Halcyon,

and a few others from the resource boxes.

The quilt top measures 53" x 66"

That glorious Philip Jacobs Agate yardage 

will be the quilt's backing.

Less than a week now before his big day . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“Brown is the color of hearth and home — of dried herbs and stone-ground bread and freshly baked cookies. It represents all of the nurturing, life-sustaining, down-to-earth qualities of terra firma, the very shade of earth itself. Just as in the sturdy oak, brown represents roots, a steady, stable source of security, comfort, and normalcy. It is the color of fertile soil and plowed earth, buckskin and rawhide, weathered redwood, bison and mustang, frontier land — rugged and outdoorsy. It is pinecone and bracken, chipmunk and acorn, beaver and doe. Brown is considered a classic shade of solid substance.”

Leatrice Eiseman

Feisty - the Flimsy

Feisty has become a flimsy.

(or quilt top if you prefer that term)

This is my fifteenth quilt top of 2020.

From the opposite direction . . . 

And yet another perspective.

SO scrappy and so gloriously colorful.

* * *

On the renovation front:

You may wondered how we were going

to get all that flooring from the garage

to the second floor bonus room.

Well, here's your answer:

DH installed this lift a year or so ago

and we have never been sorry.

It lowers into the garage from the second story.

(notice the lighter gray painted landing area)

Here is the lift in action.

(controlled by a remote that lives in the garage -

and as a precaution, DH added safety features 

to prevent the lift from being operated

when the garage door is open)

And here is the lift (shown with different cargo)

where it appears on the second floor.

Like I said, we have NOT been sorry

that we invested the money and space for this lift.

DH has spent this week leveling the flooring in the room.

(darker areas are still wet)

We always knew that floor was unlevel

but we had NO idea it was as bad it really was.

Even though the surfaces are hard enough to walk on,

we need to wait another few days for

the compound to lose the rest of its moisture

before installation of the flooring can begin.

Progress is happening!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“I want to say THANK YOU to the rare few individuals in my life who have listened without judgment, spoken without prejudice, helped me without entitlement, understood without pretension, and loved me without conditions.”

Unknown - from QuotesCollective.com

Feisty Returns

I finally moved the blocks for Feisty

from the design studio into my sewing studio.

You'll notice they are back in their original layout.

The offset version was interesting

but it annoyed me every time I looked at it.

I had to work too hard 

to make sense of the random colors

and their irregular pattern.

This was the first block I put together

after it the project had been stalled for weeks.

(shown here as four quadrants 

before they were sewn together)

I won't square any of the blocks until all of the are done.

It didn't take long before a second block was done.

At that point, I decided to change my process.

Instead of picking one string at a time

and sewing it in place, I took my bins of strings

and set up on my drafting table.

I laid out all the strings for each set of four quadrants,

trimmed them to length, then

stacked/clipped each side's grouping 

so I can just sit down and sew

instead of having to make decisions as I go.

This is the most recent block.

And for those who are wondering how the back looks,

here's a photo with the extra kite fabric trimmed away.

And this is the current scene on the design wall.

I have four more blocks to make

and then I'll tweak their arrangement.

(one will replace the gray in the bottom row)

DH and younger son spent one morning

picking up and then unloading the new flooring

for younger son's new living space.

And here is the current scene inside our garage

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“Once, Picasso was asked what his paintings meant.  He said, ‘Do you ever know what the birds are singing?  You don’t.  But you listen to them anyway.’ So, sometimes with art, it is important just to look.”

Marina Abramovic

Another Block for Feisty

After deciding NOT to use 

this beautiful but too-dark olive green

in the next spiderweb block for Feisty, 

I found this light-ish purple with white dots

lurking in one of the resource boxes.

But there wasn't enough to cut a 16.5" square

and quarter it like I had done with the others.

So I improvised.

Using one of the green triangles, 

I marked the center kite and then  cut 1" away 

from each side  to create a fabric template.

I had more than enough of the lighter purple

to make four center kites like the one shown above.

The two stacks of strings shown above are the ones I selected 

for the side wings, which were pieced using the green 

as a reference for placement.

The string on top is pieced along one side of the kite,

then the next string in the pile is placed beside the first one,

the third string goes next, etc. until it is time for

the triangle at the bottom to cover the outermost point.  

(I'm choosing the strips first because otherwise I spend

way too much time making decisions between stitching seams.)

Stacking the strips from last on the bottom to first on the top

 is a trick I learned in one of Christina Cameli's Bluprint classes.

(Have you have heard that NBC 

has decided to close down Bluprint?)

Once I had two of the four quadrants pieced,

I placed them at the bottom of the first column

to get a feel for the eventual length of the top

with a 3 wide x 4 long layout.

When I finished the other two quadrants,

I moved the sections up to the top

to get a feel for how the rivers of color

would look running vertically through the top.

Next I shifted the sections to the side . . . 

And in block formation on the left.

After the four sections were sewn together

and the block was pressed, I  moved all six blocks

from my sewing studio to the design wall in the design studio.

(if you're curious about my work spaces, check out

My Studio Space - tab just below my blog header)

* * *

Why did I move Feisty's blocks?

I need that design wall for another project.

I'll share that story on Wednesday.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say."
Bryant H. McGill

Making Progress

A few blocks at a time

Fourth of July is moving from the trimming stage

to hanging out on the design wall.

My only rule for placement is 

not letting any two lights touch each other.

I love that when I look at all 80 blocks

on the design wall I see so much movement

as well as stars and/or pinwheels

depending on where I focus my eyes.

Next step will be to clip these for webbing into a top.

Frabjous made another big leap over the weekend --

it is pin basted and ready for quilting.

I pulled out the remaining plates of strips

to see just how many more slabs need to be pieced

for Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella.

There are only twelve more to go!

And Feisty has undergone a significant design change.

I love the saturated scrappy strips

 and the varying star colors but

for some reason forward motion had stalled.

When I was tidying the studio, my eye fell

on the cover of Bonnie Hunter's latest book -

the one with the cheddar serpentine spiderweb on the cover.

And stalled became motivated to move forward again.

By offsetting the blocks 

Feisty will have some marvelous winding rivers of color

running from top to bottom of the quilt.

And I swear the stars look more sparkly this way.

Onward!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

Feisty and Bella - Another Update

This is the second spiderweb block for Feisty.

After making two blocks (four quadrants each)

I decided to revise my work area --

larger boxes for the color groups made life much easier.

(I slid out the small table from underneath my sewing table

for the blue/green boxes and borrowed a Raaskog cart

from the other room to hold the brights on blacks)

Block three in progress - four quadrants pieced.

Block three sewn and pressed.

Block four.

With four blocks pinned side by side

the secondary design begins to appear.

Feisty indeed.

* * *

Oh, and 21 of the 38 slabs 

for Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella

are sewn and pressed.

One slab at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
“When we listen to certain types of music or soak our eyes with paintings or fill our lungs with poems, it all begins to blend and run through us, quietly becoming part of our blood, flesh and bones.  We always carry the art we’ve loved.”

Victoria Erickson

Feisty Wins

I know . . . I know . . .

I said I was going to finish sewing 

all the blocks for Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella

and turn them into a quilt top

BEFORE I started making spiderweb blocks

for the quilt to be known as Feisty.

(click here for that post - and see below

for the current state of Bella's slabs)

But the colors of Feisty kept calling my name

to the point that my new plan is to 

sew at least one or two slabs for Bella each day 

while I work on Feisty's webs.

At that rate, it won't take terribly long to get

 all of Bella's slabs ready to trim  into blocks

and I won't get as bored by the process.

(AND once I get Bella's blocks trimmed

the top won't take long to come together)

This photo shows the color sorted strips for Feisty

plus a smaller box with charm squares 

cut on the diagonal for the skinny tip ends.

(top to bottom: pinks/reds, purples, brights on black,

greens, blues/aquas, and yellows/golds/oranges) 

Gotta love all that scrappy goodness.

Here are all four quadrants for the first block.

I used the technique from Marit's method 

of flipping the large triangle ends out of the way

for all but the first two strings.

I hope the following photos

make that process a little clearer.

These are the back sides of those four quadrants.

If you look closely, there is only one line of stitching

on the foundation triangle on either side of the center kite.

(I measured 2.5" to each side from the tip

and used the line on the ruler to mark the bottom point)

Here is the first trimmed quadrant 

with the trimmings still visible.

I then trimmed away the excess foundation triangle fabric

by measuring approx. 1/2" away from the two seam lines.

Here are the four trimmed quadrants . . .

. . . and here they are sewn together.

WOOT!

I have waited SO long to start this quilt top . . .

The finished blocks will be close to 16 inches 

but I'll trim all of them to equal the smallest block.

These are the other sets of background triangles.

The plan is for 3 blocks wide x 4 blocks long

making a 48" x 64" ISH top.

Depending on how the blocks size out after trimming,

I may need to add a border strip -

but that's a wait and see idea.

* * *

These are the first four 

(of 38 non-center stringed) 

slabs for D D 8. 

One day at a time . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
“The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes, or dark lake with the treble.”
Wassily Kandinsky