Repose - the Quilt

Repose is now a finished low-volume quilt measuring 54" x 70"

Made using roughly 375 four-inch tumblers die cut mid-June 2024 from 69 unique stash fabrics.

I'm glad I decided to use a darker backing instead of another low volume.

Quilted using my liberated free motion all-over nested spirals and Glide thread in Pink Rose.

Here's a photo of the backing and the Cherrywoods off-center strip.

And a detail of the binding - no info on selvage aside from the fact that it is a Free Spirit print (several years old).

* * *

Repose was intended to be finished for use in January with the rest of our low-volume quilts, but that month has come and gone for 2025.

However, I'm totally ahead of the game for January 2026.

(you can see the earlier posts for this project by using the Repose label below)

Quiltdivajulie

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"Cultivate the habit of being grateful."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Repose - the Flimsy

REPOSE is the first finished quilt top of 2025.

55" wide x 70" long (before trimming the sides).

Here's a detail showing some of the fabrics (taken while I was pressing the top).

And here's another detail with the lamp light (the one that let's me know my iron is ON) in the upper left corner.

A bit of the top's pressed back side . . . 

And another view of the finished quilt top.

Once I pin baste and quilt LOGOPHILE (waiting on the noodles since September) and quilt the six pin basted since September birthday placemats, REPOSE will be next in line.  I'd like to say it all of those will be quilted by month end, but I know better to make promises I'm not sure I can keep.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Nothing is stronger than gentleness."

Abraham Lincoln

Today's the Day

These are the first six tumbler rows for Repose.

I ended up sorting the sewn pairs onto plates and I'm assembling them in two-row-pairs so I can rearrange if necessary before final assembly (hopefully before year end).

Here are those same rows but viewed from the opposite end.

I'm looking forward to more sewing time towards the end of the week.  

* * *

Later today DH has his second cataract surgery . . . fingers crossed all goes well and he no longer has the brain strain of one "new" eye and one "old" eye.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance."

Coco Chanel

I Sewed

I sewed -- I actually sewed!

I told DH it was easy to tell it had been a while since my wall calendar was still on October and today is December 1.

The individual low volume tumblers for Repose were pinned in pairs before my surgery so they were what I pulled for this initial sit and sew session.

Once all the pairs were sewn, I sorted them loosely by the dominant fabric or color.

I haven't decided yet whether to (a) sort 9 of these pairs onto 18 plates and piece the rows from those, or (b) sew these pairs into fours, the fours into eights, and the eights into sixteens before adding the necessary single tumblers for a row 19 wide once the rows are arranged on the design wall.

My guess is that I will go with option b . . . I'm in the mood to sew, not move back and forth between the machine and the design wall.

These are my two newest nutcrackers who stand guard near my computer.  

And LOOK - one of my two cactus is blooming!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it's just a daisy in a jelly glass."

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Eye Candy to Share

I spent some time in the studio on Saturday taking inventory and making some longer term decisions about my pending project piles (amazingly, several fabric pulls were put back on the shelves - they just weren't going to happen).

There was a lot of moving around between piles until I had a mix that made me happy and were most likely to be turned into quilts that look and feel like "me" rather than the designers.

I also made a lot of notes in my project files, especially with the new changes, so I would be able to remember what I was thinking by the time I get back to these.

There was quite a bit of "pick up and put away where it belongs" as well.  When I can go up and down stairs again, it will be so much nicer to walk into reasonably tidy rooms.

And about that inventory . . . 

I  have four projects previously blogged about that are cut out and ready to start stitching (Repose, Rubricate, Shirts and Such, and Vellichor).

There are eight pending projects with fabric pulls, design plans, and backings from the stash (three of which are shown above).

And then there are the fourteen quilt top/backs waiting for their turn with Max.  Spoondrift is pin basted ready to FMQ.  Logophile is rolled onto the pool noodles ready for pin basting.  The other twelve are neatly folded onto hangers in the "waiting to be quilted" closet.

All in good time.

(you can use the labels below my signature/quote to see previous posts for the projects named above)

* * *

Surgery tomorrow - once I am clear-headed enough to post, I’ll share an update.

Be back soon.

Quiltdivajulie

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"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."

Henry David Thoreau

A Bit of Studio Time

The other day Lynne shared a new project she's working on using her bright on black fabrics.

That sent me upstairs to look at my bright on black stash.  

Hmmm - it was getting messy so I've been tidying and refolding.

So many pieces left from previous projects .  .  .

Some of the yardage came from backings and bindings . . . 

Other pieces were used in B.O.B.  (flimsy) and its backing and Razzle Dazzle - which may or may not get quilted before the end of the year . . . 

These half-yards came from a recent eQuilter sale . . . 

And these were going to be used for the back of Tuxie-Tude but with the change to black and white backing, these can go back in the stash.

I'm itching to make something with these, but obviously it will be a while before I start anything new.

At the other end of the color spectrum -- one of my goals this week was to finish die cutting the rest of the low volume 4" tumblers for Repose.

(The squares from a mix of 69 unique fabrics had only been waiting since June)

My next step was to pin pairs of tumblers and sort those into groups of ten for easy counting.

There are 320 tumblers in the 16 clipped sets shown above, plus 9 more pairs (bottom right), and 18 single tumblers for the row ends (bottom left).

My plan is to make a top 19 tumblers wide x 18 rows long (342 tumblers) 

I won't start stitching these until later in the year - but at least the project is ready to go when I am.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Gazing at beautiful things acts on my soul."

Michaelangelo

Ready for the Die Cutter

I decided to do something about this box of low volume fabrics.  

What if I make an all-low-volume tumbler quilt?

So I spent a few hours cutting squares for my 4" tumbler die.

This is roughly half of the 350+ squares.

And this is the other half.

And as I was cutting, I remembered the stash of gifted low volume squares left after making Spoondrift so I added those into the mix - better to use them than continue to store them.  

(note - both of the quilt tops/backs in the linked post are still waiting to be quilted . . . hopefully before yet another year goes by)

I think I'll name this project REPOSE (noun - a disposition free from stress).

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art is the soul of the whisper of the cloud on the horizon."

Peter William Brown

Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz- The Quilt

The Dr. Seuss quilt is finished.

And the weather even cooperated

for outdoor photo taking.

Nineteen 4-inch tumblers wide

by eighteen tumblers long,

the finished quilt measures 54" x 70"

Quilted using Glide thread in Basil

and lots of horizontal organic wavy lines.

Backing - Jumble (in green) by Brandon Mably

Binding - Michael Miller's Clown Stripe

The insert in the back was made from

lots and lots of end cuts that were

just too good to throw away.

(you can read all of the previous posts for this project

by using the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz label below)

Why the random "Sam I Am" patch?

I found a weak spot (aka hole) in the yardage

so I added a 'band aid' to cover the boo-boo.

Now . . .  about the quilt's forever name.

This is a "yawning yellow yak with Yolanda on his back."

And right above Mr. Yak are three ZZZs.

Mr. Yak was in the row of my 

last FMQ pass across the quilt and . . . 

. . . those ZZZs made me think 

of THIS character from that same book . . . 

(Dr. Seuss's ABC - an Amazing Alphabet Book)

And lo and behold, there he is in the quilt.

I always knew I wanted the quilt's forever name

to be more interesting than just the Seuss Quilt, and

this combination of thoughts was just too good to ignore.

* * *

Little Man is going to love having this

as his sleepover-in-the-tent quilt.

And I'm going to love watching him enjoy it.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Children see magic because they look for it.”

Christopher Moore

The Seuss Quilt - a Flimsy

And then there was a quilt top all sewn together.

It still needs a final pressing 

but it is 100% off the design wall.

Nineteen 4-inch tumblers wide x eighteen rows long.

That's 342 tumblers die cut from 

approximately fifteen different Seuss prints.

(most from a recent line by Robert Kaufman)

Once quilted with the side edges trimmed 

The Seuss Quilt should measure in the 56" x 72" range.

My goal is to get this quilted before year end.

Time will tell . . .

Quiltdivajulie

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“Where yellow dives into red the ripples are orange.”

Derek Jarman

Where Things Stand

Little by little, between rest breaks,

things are being moved forward.

(at least some things anyway)

I've stopped working on RUSKA  INGLENOOK(my Gridlock project)  for now but you can see the first six blocks the design wall.

The ten Size L (Project) 

lined drawstring gift bags are waiting for me 

to stitch their casings and insert the drawstrings.

(pattern link in my sidebar)

And Merry and Bright has been pin-basted.

(it needs to be ready for action on Dec. first)

A couple of days before my COVID booster,

Optic Strings was pin basted, but having lost 

a full week of focus, the FMQ will have to wait 

until after Merry and Bright is quilted/finished.

(this is the reproduction binding I made

back when the top was completed but

I'm now leaning to a solid pink instead)

The remaining Dr. Seuss fabrics arrived late last week.

The additional tumblers have been cut 

but I don't feel energetic or focused enough yet

to adjust the layout and add the two rows.

I did have enough energy one afternoon

to trim up the big stack of 6" strip ends left

after die-cutting the original batch of tumblers.

Those strips made for an evening of mindless stitching

resulting in a long strip to insert into the seam

of the quilt's backing (the green Jumble).

Meanwhile, Mother Nature continues to thrill us

with some of the best leaf color we've had for several years.

These are the two Japanese Maples in our back yard.

Glorious!

Quiltdivajulie

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“Everyone knows that yellow, orange and red suggest ideas of joy and plenty.”

Eugene Delacroix

Dr. Seuss - the Layout

The Dr. Seuss tumblers are laid out on the design wall.

19 wide x 16 long / 4" finished tumblers

Here's a closer look at some the many fabrics . . . 

. . .  and here are the others.

Truth be told, a 64" quilt isn't going to be 

long enough to sleep under so I've ordered a few more

Dr. Seuss fat quarters to make enough tumblers 

for two more rows and a 72" quilt.

(I'll make a scrappy reversible placemat

with the miscellaneous leftovers)

And this is where the Dr. Seuss quilt will be used

whenever Little Man spends the night at our house.

(Tent by Privacy Pop, twin mattress by EnerPlex)

***

And while I wait for the "foggy brain" after-effects of my 

COVID booster shot to subside, I'll be unstitching the 

annoyingly-perky-and-far-too-bright-yellow borders 

from Hoppipolla so I can replace them with this

delicious version of Brandon Mably's Jumble.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Whether you color the world or light it up blue, you are making a difference.  So keep being you.”

Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel)