Optic Strings - the Quilt

Optic Strings is finished.

Started in June 2019 as part of the

Unconventional and Unexpected QAL 

hosted by Sujata at Basket full of Scraps.

 

After getting the blocks designed and all the strips cut

from my stash of solids and reproductions, things stalled.

I used the format of the 100-Day Challenge as a jump starter.

Quilted with my favorite liberated unmarked spiral fans

using Glide thread in Pink.

Backed with Michael Miller's "Bellflower" print.

There wasn't enough yardage to match the print 

along the long center seam so I reversed the two lengths.

Since there is no defined top or bottom to the front

this made perfect sense to me.

Laid on the leaf-covered khaki grass,

the quilting disappears and the quilt's surface

looks so "flat."

I like the colors against the brown leaves - 

(this quilt has always read "warm" 

(as opposed to "cool") to me)

. . . color vs. drab . . .

And honestly I could not be happier with

my decision to change the binding fabric.

* * *

You can read all of the posts associated with this project

by clicking on the Optic Strings label below.

And you can read about its off-shoot companion quilt

named Conundrum by using its label.

I'll also be posting this finish over at 

Basket full of Scraps.

* * *

I have the January utility mats to finish up

and hopefully one of the two waiting low volume quilts

to FMQ and bind before month end.

But first, Little Man will be with us this weekend

and we'll celebrate Early Christmas

with his family on Sunday.

Time to sit back and enjoy the moments . . .

Quiltdivajulie

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“Brown is neither one of the basic color perceptions nor a primary color used in color mixtures, but for human beings it is constantly present both in nature and in their everyday surroundings. It is the color of the earth itself — of rocks and sand, of the bark of trees, of the fur of animals. In that sense, at least, it could be called the basic color of everyday life.”

Kunio Fukuda, The Colors of Japan, 2000

Conundrum - The Quilt

Conundrum is finished!

Measures 30" wide x 42" long

Created using the cut off corners 

from the blocks for Optic Strings.

Layout inspired by the "String Grid" quilt on page 22

of Roderick Kiracofe's Unconventional and Unexpected.

I'm counting this as a finish for Sujata's UandU QAL.

(Luminous, InspiRED, and Optic Strings 

are still waiting to be quilted)

Backing is by Keiko Goke ("stripe plaid")

I used the single leftover triangle to create a label.

Quilted with Affinity variegated Rainbow thread

(with Glide Bark in the bobbin)

using my unmarked liberated free motion all-over fans.

And here is where Conundrum will live

for the foreseeable future -

what you see when you first step through

the door to my design studio.

This is the view as you leave the design studio.

* * *

Next up under the needle?

Dumpster Diving 6 - Lagniappe

Quiltdivajulie

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"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery.  There is always more . . . "
Anais Nin

Conundrum - The Flimsy

This is where Conundrum was earlier in the week.

And despite making these decisions,

I shared that the jury was still deliberating.

While the deliberations continued,

I kept sewing sets of four triangles into blocks.

(it took longer to press the many seams in 

the 35 blocks than it did to sew them together)

After seeing the pressed but untrimmed blocks 

laying on the table, the jury came back with a verdict.

NO sashing -- NO cornerstones

So the blocks were squared to 6.5" 

and laid out on the design wall accordingly.

And I realized almost immediately

exactly where this wall quilt will hang -

on the entry wall of my design studio.

(the blue kaleidoscope quilt has been there for years

and it's time for a bit of a shake up)

Optic Strings and Conundrum waiting patiently

on the ironing table for their turn to be pressed.

What a transformation!

30.5" wide x 42" long

And yes, I did stitch all around the edges

to help stabilize the many, many seam ends.

The secondary designs move and shift

depending on where you are standing

and whether or not you squint a bit.

Not too shabby for a stack of 

sacrificial scrappy corner segments.

I've chosen this well-aged Keiko Goke for Yuwa

"Plaid Stripe" yardage for the backing.

* * *

Like Optic Strings, Conundrum is

part of the UandU Challenge.

There are a few linked posts

at the bottom of this page

if you want to read Conundrum's back story.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Because most of the time, things that are worth doing are either massively inconvenient, exhausting or terrifying.  Does this mean you shouldn’t do them?  Absolutely not.  Step out of your current reality and then take another step.  Believe.  Expand.  Ride out those chances while you still can.”
Victoria Erickson

Optic Strings - The Flimsy

The top after being sewn together - before pressing

I started this project in mid-June of this year.

I had cut the sets of strip pairs earlier in the year

but was stalled - until I discovered The 100 Day Challenge.

One block a day . . . seemed like a reasonable approach.

Back side of the quilt top after pressing

As things progressed, the one block a day turned into

seven blocks per week (or 14 every other week).

You can read through the update posts 

using the links listed HERE.

Optic Strings - the flimsy

48" wide x 64" long

80 blocks - each one with a unique pairing of 

a reproduction print and a Moda Bella solid.

Along with the 100 day challenge,

Optic Strings was also part of Sujata's

Unconventional and Unexpected challenge.

I shared my first post about this UandU project

on Sujata's Basket of Scraps blog - click HERE

The inspiration quilt was made with

rayon, velvet, and sateen and was tied.

Mine will be machine quilted in the very near future.

And the best part is that I finished this top

right at the 100-day mark.

 (give or take a day or two)

* * *

Stop back on Friday when I'll share a major update

about the "squirrel" project named Conundrum

that sprang from the leftover corners 

saved while making Optic Strings.

" If you give a mouse a cookie . . . "

Quiltdivajulie

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"A sense of wonder is desperately important."
Dr. Jane Goodall

Conundrum (f/k/a Optic Geese) - The Plan

(the pins indicate where additional blocks will be placed)

This is the first bit of sewing I have managed

since coming home from teaching at JCCFS.

First I randomly sorted the triangle units

into 35 sets of four using my plate system.

(there was no way to sort them other than randomly)

But this first glimpse of sewn blocks

on the design wall gave me pause.

So I went back to the inspiration photo.

After dithering around for a couple of hours

with the blocks and then auditioning sashing options,

I decided enough was enough.

I'm rapidly approaching the ending point

of this 100 day challenge

and even more than that artificial deadline,

I am ready to move on to other projects.

I shopped the stash and chose 

this reproduction birdhouse print for the quilt's back 

and two well-aged brownish pieces of yardage.

The diagonal gingham will be used for cornerstones

and the brown with oval spots will be used for sashing.

The soft brown tones play off the other colors nicely

without seeming wimpy or demanding undue attention -

and I hope my head can now stop feeling 

like it might explode from trying to be 

overly scrappy with this whole project.

* * *

At this point it looks as though the blocks

 will be squared to 6.5" - but I won't know 

for sure until they're all sewn together.

Meanwhile, despite my desire to find closure,

the jury is still deliberating . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“The stars align more often than we realize – but we’re usually too busy staring down and our feet and wondering why we feel stuck.”

Amy Atherton

Optic Strings - Blocks on the Design Wall

Eleven weeks ago . . . 

Eighty sets of WOF strips

cut from solids and reproductions

and paired to make string blocks

 for a quilt inspired by the one below:

Attributed to "Aunt Etta"

from the Texas Panhandle ca. 1940-1970

and shared in Unconventional and Unexpected

by Roderick Kiracofe.

All eighty of my blocks are now on the design wall.

I may move a few of them around or

I may leave things pretty much the way they are.

Sometimes with scrappy it's best not to tinker too much.

I won't have time to sew the top together 

until after I teach at The Folk School Sept. 8-14

but I am SO enjoying the layout in the meantime.

I've had the yardage on the left for a long time

and it will make an unexpected but beautiful back

for Optic Strings when the time comes.

Hooray for reaching this point in the process!

Quiltdivajulie

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"The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist.  
For man it is to know that and to wonder at it."
Jacques Yves Cousteau

Lagniappe - The Flimsy

Lagniappe - Dumpster Diving 6 - is now a flimsy.

It was made using bonus HSTs cut while 

making Dumpster Diving 5 - Catharsis.

Inspired by two different but very similar vintage quilts.

When it came time to add the sashing strips,

I auditioned ever so many fabrics.

None of them worked - mostly because

the geese were so very scrappy.

So I pulled out this beloved green batik

that has been hoarded in the stash

and VOILA - the geese were happy.

The finished top measures 49" wide x 65" long.

This is the backing fabric:

Romantika from Peacock Pavilion 

by Vikki Chu for Michael Miller fabrics.

YES!

It feels marvelous to be moving projects forward

instead of just shuffling their boxes around.

Quiltdivajulie

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"I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly - or ever - gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe."
Brian Greene

Optic Strings - Final Fifteen Blocks

Week Ten - first four blocks

for Optic Strings,

my #100DayProject

inspired by a vintage quilt in

Unconventional and Unexpected.

(click the labels at the bottom of the post

if you want to see other posts on this project)

And Week Ten's other three blocks.

Week Ten - Seven more blocks.

SO close now . . .

I just couldn't stand it

so I went ahead and pieced the blocks

for Week Eleven.

Here are the rest of the blocks

from Week Eleven's stack.

All 80 blocks are now pieced.

HOO-RAY!!!

Next Monday I'll share photos

of them pinned on the design wall.

I am SO excited to reach this point

well ahead of the 100-day mark.

Oh, and the mysterious nagging pain in my right foot

now has a name - it's called an evolving stress fracture.

Three weeks in this boot and

then we'll see how things are healing.

Good thing I know how to 

drive my machines left-footed.

* * *

For those who like wood art 

DH has published two new posts on his blog

for his most recent finishes:

Shall We Dance

and

Profound

Enjoy!

Quiltdivajulie

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“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”
Rachel Carson

Conundrum (formerly known as Optic Geese)

These are the trimmed corner triangles

from this week's batch of Optic String Blocks.

Same parts sewn together into pairs and 

randomly plopped on the design wall.

This is the new inspiration quilt

from Unconventional and Unexpected.

(click here for that story)

A quick side note for those who have asked.

I am using this large triangle ruler

to cut away the sewn on corners

from the previously shared flying geese blocks.

I am not unstitching all those corners.

Here are a few more blocks on the design wall

with spaces added for future sashing and cornerstones.

Interesting to see how the different colors

appear to create such different patterns

when reduced to black and white.

Same blocks but in a different arrangement.

Again in black and white.

This has possibilities, 

but I need to work with it some more.

Checked the inspiration quilt in black and white

(phone photo of the computer screen)

to help reassure myself I'm on the right track.

And then . . . 

it happened again . . . 

What if I turn the squares on point?!?

And what if I mix up the colors

instead of keeping them in pairs?!?

* * *

Time to let this simmer until next week when

I'll have more triangle units to play with.

While you wait, 

I've completely updated my Studio Space page

here on the blog - click here to go see.

(there's also a tabbed page link at the top of the blog)

Quiltdivajulie

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“The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids!  
They ask questions and have a sense of wonder.  They have curiosity.  ‘Who, what, where, why, when, and how!’  They never stop asking questions and I will never stop asking questions, just like a five-year-old”
Sylvia Earle