Onward to the Applique

Here she is, at a mere 1280 pieces (plus outer border) and only 67" square (well, mostly!). And best of all, I have not purchased a stitch of fabric for this quilt. I got really tempted to get something for the narrow border, but held off. I have some applique being designed for the outer border. The prep-time of starching and pressing all of that is innundating. I never thought that this quilt would be pieced as fast as it was. I fully expected that this quilt would be ready for quilting first. But it, too, is awaiting applique, and monopoly thread to sew on the applique, and for an unknown reason, Superior is not able to keep this item in stock. I hope to find a substitute later this week. These lone star or carpenter star quilts are challenging to make, even for the most patient of piecers. The number of Y-seams is higher than I can count. I'm not real high on that patience scale, nor am I all that eager to pin every single unit that I stitch. And I do mean EVERY one. These pieced diamond units are somewhat strip-pieced (or I'd definitely be certifiably nuts), but because the units are on bias, if you don't pin the heck out of this, no seams match up. On the areas that are more "colorwashed", that is no biggie, but where dark green meets ivory, it doesn't look so hot. At a close look, you can see areas that don't align exactly, but what the Hell. Take off your glasses, have a glass of wine (yaddy-yadda) and it looks pretty good. Pretty I think. Best of all, it may hang (if not too large) in my new dining room, and look just smashing when this is on the table (which I made last year sometime). I guess you can tell what colors I am drawn towards :-)

I'm off to MQX tomorrow for the week. I'm taking classes with some of the great longarmers, hoping to bring home some good tips, ideas, and of course purchaseable goodies! There will be plenty of pictures to show as well.

Mother Nature is the April Fool

It was getting pretty exciting watching the back deck being taken down 3 days ago. Our long awaited addition was set to break ground next week. And then Mother Nature delivered this, on a fairly appropriate day: April Fool's Day. Funny, old Lady. Funny. She must know how much I hate winter, and that my tulips had broken through the ground last week. Or that my kid got a skateboard for his birthday that he really wants to use! It's not that I don't embrace the seasons, I just have a very strong preference to summer (and a long one too). I am taking an online Whole Cloth class at MQResource. We've had 2 of our 5 lessons. I am also doing both Trapunto and Whole Cloth classes at MQX in 2 weeks, but this is low cost, and where it is online, I can do the lessons when they are convenient. The last 2 weeks have been about sketching. We are learning how to sketch out feathers for one-eighth of the quilt. Then we get to mirror them and see what the quilt would look like. This was my 1st try (all fillers are omitted).

It looks neat enough, but when I mirrored it, I did not like the middle section. So...I modified that and tried again. This is only 1/4 of the quilt, but I really like where it is going so far.

I am also playing with some heavily pieced diamonds. I thought it was simple until I tried laying out the diamonds 2 different ways, and was no longer sure which way I liked best! I still lack a little bit of the applique on three of the squares, but you get the idea. The original plan was to have the aqua at the points (like the left side), but I'm not entirely sure.

I have pieced half of the inner star together, and am on hold until the rest of the applique is completed. There are also 4 outer diamond blocks that come nowhere close enough to the pattern size so I have to modify them before piecing, or else it may not lay anywhere close to square and flat. The Y-seams in and of themselves are not hard or intimidating until there are 32 of them on the quilt, and I refuse to do them with catywonky pieces! Simpler to fix 'em now than to curse all those unmentionables later.Oh, did I mention that this quilt is being made all from fabric I currently have on hand. I have vowed not to purchase anything but backing for it. I have used a 1yard piece of striated McKenna Ryan fabric in green in about 4 different places (see the border on the block above) - It goes from very light yellowy green to a deep forest green, all in a matter of 42"! I only wish I had bought 3 more yards :-)

Friday's Fun

So aside from still battling a sinus infection (yes, I will give in and go visit my doc today), I am also celebrating a birthday. Joy! Woo-hoo...Somehow when those birthdays are no longer in the 30's they are not as much fun. Being under the weather, too, makes me feel so much older. And grumpier.

So I decided that I'd do a little shopping to celebrate. I'm not really sure what I will make, but I have a few yards of Tree-Top Fancy and a few coordinating other odds-n-ends coming to me.

I have been trying to work through some other odds-n-ends of fabric that I bought last year. I had gotten some 10" Kaffe Fassett squares last year, thinking I'd know just what to do with them. I was wrong. First I didn't want to hack them up. Then I just didn't want a quilt of 10" squares. Now, I just don't want a pack of squares laying around. So I strip cut about 2/3 of the squares and made these. I saw this quilt and loved it. Mine is not quite the same, but I still like it's busyness and color. Pardon the blurry-dim lighting; it's in the basement still.
I also endeavored to clean out my stash some this week. I have pulled all purples, blues and greens that I can only envision using for a donation quilt. Many of these are either under a quarter yard or were donated to me, or acquired somehow. Many are also something I don't love, but could use creatively to make something for others. I carefully did not label them as "Ugly", but some are not lovely :-) I estimate (by weight) that there are about 1100 4-1/2" squares, or about 15 yards of fabric. I still need to conquer the red, orange and yellow bins...phew~!

Here's my attempt at a watermellon. It's about 18" across, and is a simple table topper for a special person. I opted to not do the ants or black beads, so maybe it's not really like a watermellon.

The back is just Kona in red, and really shows off the feathered quilting (actually done all in 1 thread too!).

...and a closeup...