Chuggin' Along

I've been fairly quiet this past week but there has been progress on the two children's quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest. I don't think I showed you the fabric I chose to back the quilt for a little girl. It's called "When I Grow Up" by Debbie Taylor-Kerman for Henry Glass Fabrics. Perfect, don't you think?


Those strong lines framing the little girls really called to me. Since the top is so random I figured this would be a good time to have a go at quilting from the back. It required repinning a lot of the quilt sandwich but it was worth it in the end.

When it came time to find backing fabric for the little boy's quilt I chose the plaid flannel you see in the picture below. It was just ~that much~ too short so I had to add a strip. Fortunately I had just enough of the speckled blue. I decided to quilt this one from the back also. Of course I had all the pins in, from the front, before I made that decision so I had to repin this one as well. {sigh}

The end result looks pretty good though and the quilting went very quickly. I think both of these quilts will look better after laundering. That could happen as early as tomorrow. I have the binding all sewn down on the boy's quilt and am maybe half way around the little girl's quilt at this point.

While they are in the washer and dryer tomorrow I expect to get a back put together for my husband's skulls quilt. And then it's back to Churn Dash blocks and Flying Geese units and who knows what else!

Stolen Quilt

Not one of mine, thank goodness, but one we need to keep our eyes open for anyway.

This compass quilt was stolen from a vendor's booth during Quilt Festival in Houston. It looks to be an antique:

Lovely hand quilting.

It's easy to see why someone would want it. That still doesn't make it right to just take it. If you've seen this quilt (or think you have) since Quilt Festival ended last week shoot me an email and I'll put you in touch with the rightful owner.

A Word About UFO's

Over the weekend I cut patches for more Churn Dash blocks and sewed up some Flying Geese units. I quickly used up two of my background fabrics. That meant a trip to my LQS to see what I could find that would work with what I already had. Remember, this project started back in the day when I only bought the occasional half yard or full yard cut. I've always preferred multi-fabric quilts over those made of only two or three prints. Unfortunately, when a project gets put away for 15 years it can be hard to find coordinating prints.

When I think about it, I've never been one for planning very far ahead. If I'd been thinking far enough into the future with this project I might have purchased more background fabric. I would have realized I would need more in order to sash the blocks. But I didn't have enough experience back then to know how much fabric sashing eats up or even how many blocks it would take to make a quilt for a full size bed. I suspect in the back of my mind I pictured myself working steadily on this and being able to buy more fabric as needed. Live and learn!

Now I have more experience under my belt and I know myself better. Still, I found it hard to wrap my brain around the idea of changing this project from what it was going to be into something I would actually make and finish. In some respects I'm not so good with change. In fact, there were two quilts I wanted to make back when I first succumbed to the quilting bug. One was a Bear's Paw featuring burgundy blocks on a neutral ground. The other was this "Pioneer Quilt." Both were going to be bed size quilts. Ha.

Now I know I'll probably never make that Bear's Paw quilt (never say never!) but at the same time I have struggled with changing up the plan for this "pioneer quilt." It's been hard to let go of the original plan and change it into something that excites me enough to actually get it finished. I'm not sure why that is. I do know that unless some changes were made this would remain a UFO.

And that's what I wanted to say about UFO's: that they get put aside for a reason. Sometimes it's just a matter of not having time to work on them but sometimes it's because we've become bored or disappointed with the project and we may not even realize it. It was a big step for me to realize that I had outgrown the original plan for these Churn Dash blocks. Once that had come to light I was able to ask myself whether I still wanted to make blocks in this color scheme, whether I still wanted another bed quilt, and what process would make me excited to work on this again. I'm not interested in sashing a lot of the same blocks together but I have been wanting to have a go at a medallion style quilt. Voila! That's how the arrangement on the design wall came to be (see previous post).

Now I have a new dilemma on my hands. I want to keep cutting and piecing and put this top together but I made a commitment to complete the two children's quilts and get them in the mail before Thanksgiving. I think I can alternate machine quilting and cutting patches without disrupting things in the studio too much. So here we go...

:- )

The First Act of Avoidance

I pin basted Child's Play. Still debating whether to quilt it from the back, following major lines in the design of the backing fabric, or whether to basically custom quilt it on the front. I know, I know, if I would only give in and learn to free motion quilt I wouldn't have this issue. Well I'm not ready yet so let me show you what I'm doing instead. ;- )

Back in the day, when I was a fresh young quiltmaker, I had this vision of making a quilt that would be reminiscent of what I consider "pioneer quilts." I wanted to use simple pieced blocks in indigo blues and turkey reds with shirting print backgrounds. This is what I had when I pulled the bag out recently:

I thought there were more blue blocks but I guess not. I don't believe I'd thought about how to set the blocks. Back then I was lucky to get a block or two made in a sitting as my children were all still little and/or in school. Now I can't bear the thought of a straight-on setting with sashing. After I made a few more blocks I put the bag away again.

The other day I was looking for a quick something to do for my 15 minutes of play. I don't remember how I came across it but I found an intriguing block in an antique quilt. I went into the scraps I'd received from V~ and made up a sample.

Fun! So I got out my indigo blues and shirting prints and made a few more.

Wheeee! I like these blocks! I made a few more. Then I got out the Churn Dash/Monkey Wrench blocks to see how they would look together. One thing led to another and pretty soon I had this on my design wall:

I think I've made a breakthrough with my pioneer quilt. :- )

Cars, Trains, and the Great Outdoors

While I've been posting other things I've been working on a masculine quilt top to send to Margaret's Hope Chest. I am determined to send one for a boy!

The first thing I did was to go through my novelty prints, looking for those that might appeal to the masculine mind. They are definitely in the minority in my stash. These seemed to hold the most promise:

We have a camping print, some trains, and vintage cars. They don't exactly go together but I thought I could make them work.

The first thing I did was to cut the prints at logical places, not necessarily to a specific size. The camping print basically just got its' ragged edges trimmed off so it's still quite wide (or tall, depending on how you look at it). The other two ended up being pretty much cut in half.

So far, so good. This is when the real challenge began. I had to figure out how much fabric I needed to add to achieve the 60 inch length I wanted for the finished quilt. And then I had to find the right colors/prints to use.

Plaids seemed like a good place to start. And what boy doesn't like red? It only took a little fiddling to find the right combination of colors and sizes for the strips to go on either side of the camping print.

But making that vintage car print work with the trains and the camping print was another story!

I found a darker red I thought I would use between the cars and the trains but in the end it worked better as the final border. Then I found a red print with a light blue in it ~ it magically appeared to have just the right colors in it to tie the two focal prints together. During the process of looking for the right fabric I auditioned a small gray wobbly windowpane check. That was too bland for a wide strip but it worked wonderfully as a transition strip between the focal fabrics and the reds. If you click on this picture (below) you should get a really large version so you can see the details.

Yesterday I finally acquired the batting I need for the two children's quilts. So now it's on to basting (yuck) and quilting. I'm not really sure how I'm going to quilt either of them at this point. I don't have a lot of time to fret about it however. The finished quilts need to be in MI very early in December. That only gives me three weeks or so. It shouldn't take that long to do two small quilts but I am the Mistress of Avoidance. ;- )