Frabjous - Kitchen Table Quilt for May

I finished Frabjous last November

but with May's arrival it was finally time

for its outdoor photo shoot before the start of

this quilt's month of use on our kitchen table.

My 2020 series of monthly kitchen table quilts

was, like so very many things in this world,

interrupted by the COVID pandemic

causing our younger son's move home and the

weeks and weeks of renovations for his new living space.

But as of this month, the kitchen table quilt project 

is back on track for the remainder of 2021.

That means seven more quilts, all of which are in

various WIP stages - two are cut out/ ready to sew, 

one has its  blocks pieced/ready to web the top, 

and three others are waiting to be quilted.

You can read about the beginnings of Frabjous HERE.

I'm so glad things evolved the way they did.

Back flipped to the front.

Front flipped to the back.

One last outdoor look.

And finally, indoors looking out.

Quiltdivajulie

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“I myself am quite absorbed by the delicate yellow, delicate soft green, delicate violet of a ploughed and weeded piece of soil.”

Vincent Van Gogh

Frabjous - The Quilt

Let the finishing marathon begin . . . 

This is Frabjous.

 (pin basted since last May)

Frabjous is a word coined 1872 by Lewis Carol 

in Through the Looking Glass; 

perhaps meant to suggest fabulous or joyous 

(from Dictionary.com online)

After a lengthy conversation last week with DH

about a lot of different topics,

the door to my sewing studio has been reinstalled

and I've made a series of door hangers

to alert the family as to WHY my door is closed.

I had forgotten about the impact of being able to

close a door and be in a room without interruptions.

This is the quilted texture on the center portion of Frabjous.

I'm calling this my liberated orange peels and hourglasses design.

It is actually a mash up of ideas from books by

Christina Cameli and Kathleen Riggins

that involves combining designs to create new ones.

Frabjous measures 63" x 63"

which is perfect for its intended purpose

as our Kitchen Table Quilt for the month of May.

Next spring I'll do its proper backyard photo shoot.

* * *

One to-be-quilted project done.  

Twenty-nine more to go.

The next three on to-be-quilted list

are the Christmas quilts.

Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride are ready to pin baste.

Yuletide's blocks are clipped and ready to web into a top

for pin basting to a scrappy back that is ready and waiting.

Between now and the end of 2020 

I will also work on piecing the blocks/tops 

for Merry and Bright (a kitchen table quilt)

and Deck the Halls (snowballs and nine patches).

They can then go to the end of the line

for quilting next year.

Quiltdivajulie

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“I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, 

listening is a responsibility.”

Nikki Giovanni

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

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Frabjous - another Kitchen Table Quilt Begins

Frabjous is the name of our next Kitchen Table Quilt.

This was the August 2019 fabric pull.

January 2020 during the cutting out process.

A couple of weeks ago 

the squares were finally put up on the design wall.

The original idea had lost its appeal and

the colors were too much like those in Awaken.

What to do instead?!?

I had started cutting out these fabrics

to piece a top from the Wintersweet pattern

but the effort had become seriously stalled.

Hmmmmm 

I could repurpose those already-cut squares . . . 

In short order they were sewn into four patches.

The four patches were then laid out on the design wall.

Random scrappy didn't work at all 

so I opted for this scrappy diagonal arrangement.

After rotating the errant pink block on the top row,

I clipped the blocks to web into a quilt top.

For now they're in the formerly empty tray

at the bottom of my work-in-progress cart.

(the cart is also a temporary home 

for Bella's slabs and strips-to-become-slabs

along with three more placemats for Meals on Wheels)

You'll see more of Frabjous in the not-so-distant future.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Your mind doesn’t always know what it’s talking about.  Sometimes it’s better to listen to your heart.”
Elle Sommer

Redefining my Focus . . .

As typically  happens after a week away at JCCFS

(and a long weekend away with family)

I need/want to re-visit my project list

and waiting fabric pulls.

The biggest decision is that I'm going to take

several projects already underway and

re-design them to become 60" x 60" table toppers.

That way we'll have a different one to use each month

AND 

I have a year-long-date-oriented project list 

to help  keep me on task.

 (see list at the end of this post)

* * *

This revised approach meant that

I needed to change my plan for Halcyon 

(my Granny Cabin qal project)

 from a 48" x 60" lap quilt to

the designer's 58" x 58" throw design.

A new coloring sheet was completed and 

a few more squares of certain colors were cut.

Now I'm ready to sit and sew.

I also pulled a scrappy assortment from the stash 

that suits Halcyon's color palette.

I'll go with the 10.5" square approach

so I can mix these colors around.

* * *

Shifting gears for a moment --

Some of you may have seen this photo on IG.

When we met up with my sister and her husband,

I delivered these four bags filled with 17 quilts.

(and four recently-turned walnut bowls)

One bag for each of the nephews and their family

and one for my sister and her husband.

They all love quilts and live where it is cold.

(except one family that now lives in FL)

It makes me so happy to know these

 will be appreciated and enjoyed.

After all, isn't that the real reason we make quilts?

Back to my revised game plan --

I came up with a way to incorporate

all three of the JCCFS strata leftovers into

ONE quilt instead of three smaller projects

Meet FAUVE (adj:  Vivid in color)

The former wall quilt will became the center 

and I'll use the long columns as borders.

I need to play with the inner stop border

and the outer border fabrics - I like 

this BOB but these strips are too narrow.

And in the Squirrel Club department,

I've been cutting 1.5" squares 

for several weeks now --

Wanda and Lynn D. and so many others

are making 1" postage stamp blocks

using solids as the alternate squares --

and we already know I have a thing

for scrappy 1.5" strips.

When I found this 2012 tutorial online 

I knew I would go this route instead. 

I will need to make 48 of these 12" blocks

with 144 1.5" squares in each one

for a lap quilt that measures 48" x 60"

At this point I have cut about 1/4 

of the tiny squares that will be needed.

But since I am delighted to have found

 a plan that works for me,

I've named this one BONHEUR 

which means "happy."

* * *

There's a lot of other pondering 

and planning going on in the background;.

In between cutting out pieces and parts

for a number of waiting projects

and stitching the blocks for Halcyon,

I want (need) to spend some time quilting with Max.

* * *

One stitch at a time.

* * *

Recap of My Table Topper Game Plan for 2020

January - Squares Aplenty

(minimal redesign needed for sewn top - 

back pieced - ready to quilt)

February - TBD

(waiting project not yet shared)

March -  Bemused

(2" scrappy postage stamp ala Red Pepper Quilts - 

sewing started - not yet shared)

April - Reciprocity (side one)

(top sewn - ready to quilt this two-sided project - 

formerly known as the Double-Sided Four Patch)

May - Reciprocity (side two)

(back sewn - ready to quilt this two-sided project -

formerly known as the Double-Sided Four Patch)

June - Halcyon

(Granny Cabin QAL project - work in progress)

July - Frabjous

(fabrics pulled for coins style design - not yet shared )

August - Farmland

(another waiting project - 

Crazy Quilt design from CFQ book - 

not yet shared here on the blog)

September - Shift Happens

(top and back sewn - ready to quilt)

October - Sweater Weather (side one)

(waiting project not yet shared)

November - Sweater Weather (side two)

(waiting project not yet shared)

December - Merry and Bright

(waiting project not yet shared - 

Christmas fabrics cut and ready to sew)

Quiltdivajulie

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“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.  It is the only true guide you will ever have.  And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”  

Howard Thurman