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

Ready to FMQ

Someday is Now has been pin basted . . . 

( earlier posts are HERE and HERE )

I've worked out a light-custom continuous line FMQ design

and I really want to get started on it yet this week.

I also decided to make some whole cloth utility mats for March.

The scattered floral will be the "top side"

while the sprinkles fabric will serve as the back.

I'll bind these with the scattered floral when the time comes.

This one will be a runner for the top of my grandfather's cedar chest

which is now used as our "coffee" table in the living/family room.

The batik fabric at the top of the photo will be the backing.

The middle fabric is a linen weave (Warehouse District line) 

and it will be the "top" of the runner.

I plan to use the Bella solid as binding.

*

Time to wind some bobbins, fire up Max, and start stitching.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.”

Pedro Calderon de la Barca

January Wrap Up and Goals for February

I quilted and finished three quilts in January --

Haimish, Sukoon, and Winsome.

I have pulled and prepped three more long-waiting projects

for quilting during February --

Sea of HSTs, Heliophilia, and Someday is Now

have their tops and backs rolled onto pool noodles

ready for batting and pin basting.

(and for the record, that broken window shown in Heliophilia's post

was at long last replaced with a complete new installation just last week)

I moved one project to quilt top status in January --

Dumpster Diving 10 - Do Tell

And I finally settled on the design I want to use

for my twelfth and final Dumpster Diving quilt.

There's lots of prep work needed before

any stitches will be taken on DD 12 -  Journey's End

so please don't expect an update any time soon.

February's quilt top/back goal is Lagoon,

the kitchen table quilt planned for June.

The blocks are sewn and the borders are cut

making these one ready for layout and assembly.

(plus a pieced backing to design and sew)

I've chosen and started two longer-term projects that will help me 

use up many of the leftover Dumpster Diving strips and segments -- 

Nubilous and Hoppipolla

There are others still in the gestation phase.

I'll share more on those if and when they actually happen.

I finished at least one of each of the differently sized

lined drawstring gift bags.

These quickly became my "tomorrow" project

which needs to change if I'm going to have the stockpile

I've planned by year end.

(truly, they don't take that long once fabric choices are made

and the cutting out is done, especially since the biggest part 

of my learning curve has already happened,

so I"m not sure why they fell victim to such procrastination)

Beginning with February, I plan to choose fabrics and cut out 

all of the bags during the first week of the month

 AND I'll make all of the drawstring ties first 

so they're ready to insert as each bag is ready.

I also want to try some of the 

paracord for ties in the smaller bags.

The largest bag (upper right above) is huge.

In the photo it is filled with FOUR of our couch pillows.

The other bags in these photos are filled with an assortment

of Little Man's building blocks, hot wheels cars, and a couple of books

making those sizes more likely to be used more often.

I do think that some sort of assembly line process

will work better than this month's start-to-finish with each individual bag.

We'll see how things go with the next batch.

And unexpectedly, I completed a Do-Over

for Trick or Treat, October's kitchen table quilt top.

* * *

Away from the machines, I rearranged the closet where I keep my project boxes

so that the ones slated for attention in 2021 are front and center

with the others moved off to the side.

Here's to the month ahead . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“Listen to the colour of your dreams.”

The Beatles

Sea of HSTs - From the Beginning

This is the quilt that inspired Sea of HSTs . . . 

that and the fact that I was left with 

a large stack of leftover batik triangles

after making Someday is Now.

"Triangles in Squares"

Maker Unknown - Gee's Bend, Alabama - 1970s

76-3/8" x 76-1/2"

Part of the Ella King Torrey Collection 

of African American Quilts

at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Accession No. 2006-163-4

I've posted about the background work for this project

HERE and HERE and HERE.

This past week it was finally time

to start laying out parts on the design wall.

LOTS of experimentation was involved

including raiding the project box

for Lagniappe to swap out several fabrics.

By Friday the layout was settled

and a plan for the extra pieces devised.

Clearly this one is a challenge to take photos indoors.

(my design wall is NOT that pink)

The sewn-together center measured 

33" wide by 45" long.

Once the borders were sewn in place

the quilt top measured

45" x 57"

And then it was time to work with 

the leftover HST blocks.

I created two 67" long insert strips

to use in the quilt's back.

From the Outside In by Malka Dubrowsky 

and Typewriter Keys by Julia Rothman.

Both of these have been in the stash

waiting patiently for a long time.

The colors in the top in this outdoor photo

are closer to reality but now they look faded out.

The neatly folded top and back are headed

to the closet of waiting-to-be-quilted projects.

I hope they don't wait there too long

because I really like this one's quirky nature.

(I'm thinking August needs to be a month

for quilting and finishing . . . )

* * *

There were nine extra sets of 4 HTSs plus one single

left behind after making inserts for the back.

I'll share their fate next week -

and it did not involve the trash can.

Quiltdivajulie

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"You need to let little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you."

Andy Warhol

USE those scraps!

When I cleaned out the project box

mentioned in #2 of the Realizations post,

this was one of the groupings of scraps I found.

Those strips from sCRUMBtious and Flummadiddle 

were sewn together and prepped for quilting.

I used Glide thread in Pink to stitch

more-or-less diagonal rows of

 multi-sized and echoed swirls -

my take on Dwirling by the Pajama Quilter.

I backed the piece with this gorgeous floral.

Here is it laying on one of our back porch tables

to show the colors and texture with different lighting.

Ditto for the back side.

Finished piece measures 12.5" x 12.5"

And then there were scrappy bits

from making Someday is Now.

(which is still a flimsy waiting to be quilted)

I quilted it using Leah Day's crazy weave design

and Glide thread in Aquamarine.

I backed it with a piece of this hard-to-use Yuwa fabric.

Again - what a difference lighting makes.

Finished piece measures 10.5" x 11.75"

Both of these minis/table mats used 

scraps and partially-wound bobbins from previous projects,

leftover lengths of binding,

and frankenbatting cobbled together 

from random batting scraps.

Less to store and more to enjoy.

* * *

There are four other pieces under construction

using scraps from that project box.

I'll be sharing them later in the week.

Quiltdivajulie

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“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” 
Marcel Proust

Someday is Now - The Flimsy

After years of thinking about this project

and quite a few months of actual making,

the top for Someday is Now is FINISHED!

Inspired by Sujata Shah's Organized Chaos,

my quilt top measures 50" wide x 64" long.

I am SO glad I changed to this batik for the borders.

The top literally glows!

(and by the time this is quilted,

the weather should be better so I can

take the quilt out for a proper photo shoot)

Quiltdivajulie

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p.s.  You can see lots of photos of student work from my recent LQS class over on the Cultural Fusion Quilts blog by clicking HERE (week one) and HERE (week two).  

Oops - I Did It Again

When I cut HSTs for the corners 

of my Someday is Now blocks,

I cut twice as many as I needed.

Sheesh - you'd think I'd learn after

cutting twice and then some too many

a few years ago during Vicki's HSTeria QAL.

That mistake resulted in THREE quilts  - 

Karma and Poolside plus Oasis

This time my mistake will mean TWO quilts.

I'm going to call the second one Sea of HSTs.

It will be made with the fabrics shown above.

The lower group represents the HST combinations

and the upper group will become scrappy backing.

The top right piece should work as binding.

And ALL of it is from the stash!

Meanwhile I've made progress with Someday is Now.

I auditioned the long-planned 

border and backing fabrics but no longer

feel any love for the combination.

So back to the stash I went.

This combination is much, MUCH better.

The first five rows are sewn together.

The last three rows are pieced and pinned in place.

It won't take long now to turn this one into a finished top.

Note added for those who asked:

The quilt pattern is titled Organized Chaos 

and it was created by Sujata Shah.

Sujata blogs at The Root Connection 

Quiltdivajulie

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"We teach children how to measure and how to weigh.  We fail to teach them how to revere, how to sense wonder and awe."
Harold Kushner

November Recap for 18 in 2018

Someday is Now (shown above) 

is the last project on my

18 in 2018 Piecing List.

I haven't touched it in the past week

as I've been finishing two shop sample tops.

* * *

I have quilted eighteen quilts since January

so I'm calling my Quilting List DONE.

* * *

And I've finished with the comfort quilts for this year

so I'm also calling that list DONE.

* * *

Over the next few days I hope to

get my Colorwash 360 top sewn together

and a scrappy back stitched together for

Dumpster Diving 4 - The Christmas Edition.

Beyond that, I also have four quilts that need sleeves.

Once I get the sleeves made 

I can hand stitch them in place

during our Wednesday morning

quilt group gatherings.

And I really do want to get 

the top for Someday is Now

assembled before the end of December . . .

Quiltdivajulie

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