No. 15

No. 15

49" x  29.5" 

Design.

This one had a number of design temptations.

It was originally designed in my sketchbook to look like this:

It was a white background variation of No. 6:

But after the blocks were stitched, I decide to play with the layout because I had another idea:

I had a hard time deciding which one I liked better, but ultimately went with the second version.

Making it:

I can do the math to get the right sized white pieces to construct this, but, I fail on sewing accurately enough for the math to work. So this time, I decided to measure as I went along. It worked much better!

After constructing all the blue arches/bridges/hurdles I played with putting a large or small white border on top. In my mind I envisioned a really large blank white canvas above the blues.

So I placed some fabric behind the piece and looked at it. Then I tried a smaller border on top. 

After looking at these, I didn't really like either one, so I opted to just truncate the top with the last blue section. It is funny to me that sometimes what I think will look good, does not. 

Quilting closeup:

No. 14

No. 14

43" x 43"

I love the simplicity of this one, in both pattern and color. It is soothing.

Making blocks...these are ready for trimming.

The marimekko test... (always a favorite of mine, if it goes with the unikko mug, it must be good!)

Yep, this works! The project has a green light to proceed now!

Channeling Salvador Dali as the quilt top 'melts' over the edge of the ironing board.  Ha ha! I also love how well it goes with the quilt on the wall!

Photo bomb... I can't decide which one is better? 

AKA: the camouflaged cat...

Happy coincidence? Or am I just drawn to the same colors?

And last, a close up of the quilting.

No. 13

No. 13

42" x 42"

This is the quilt that is made from the other half of the blocks I used to make No. 12. I was curious how it would look with the blocks slightly removed from each other, so I moved them apart on the design wall.

I really like how much lighter the quilt feels. Next up was to make the white sashing for the new arrangement.

And, I am always fascinated by how much a quilt shrinks after sewing the seams! 

And, for the quilting, I opted to use a warm thread color in one direction, and a cool thread color in the other direction. For all the angst of choosing quilting threads, I still maintain, that it does not really matter that much. In this piece you can see the quilting design and the texture, but the thread colors don't really show up. 

And last, a photo of my quilt, in the wild! ha ha!

No. 12

No. 12

30.5" x 31"

No. 12 in the wild

This beautifully painted utility box in my neighborhood seemed the perfect complement to my little quilt! I wish the artist had signed their work. It is a perfect blend of garden themes in the intersection of representative and abstract works!

The idea for this one came from the color palette of No. 11.  I wondered what a quilt would look like with the HSTs made from the color gradients of the background for No. 11. I reduced the selection down to 12 colors in each color path because I wanted to make a smallish quilt. 

Then I started cutting out the squares and arranging them on the design wall. Here is the first layer of brown to greens. 

Now to add the layer of warm fabrics in the other direction on top. Each block will have a different combination of colors, no two will be the same.

As you may have guessed and what has become apparent to me, is that each combination will make 2 identical blocks. So this quilt and No. 13 will be inherently tied together by sharing the same blocks. This will give me an opportunity to try more than one idea with this color palette! So fun!!

Here are the trimmings from all the blocks. I love how colorful they are!

Here's the very first idea arranged the way I thought I would like. Except that it didn't really sing to me. It is lovely, but I was still wondering what else I could do. 

So, I tossed all the blocks to the floor, and picked them up randomly and placed them chaotically...

Also nice, but it doesn't really give me that meadow experience I was hoping for.

Third try was the final outcome where I rotated every other line of blocks so that the colors blend into diamonds. It is appealing and so saturated with color, it jumps off the page!

Next the basting and quilting.

To finish up the quilt, I opted to use the yellow from No. 11 that was not included in this selection of colors. It is a nice bright edge for this quilt and I like the way it refers back to No. 11.

And last, a detail photo!

Next week, I will share with you No. 13 made from the same selection of blocks. It looks VERY different from this one. 

No. 11 Part 3

No. 11

78.5" x 53.5"

Part 3

Taking a negative and turning it into a positive. This was made from the outtakes of No. 9, and has been turned into the central theme of No. 11. Working on this project was so very helpful. I firmly believe that art heals. Gardening also heals and helps manage my depression and anxiety. So when it is too early in the season to work in the garden, this project was a perfect distraction!

Note, while this quilt does not technically have any half square triangles, it was the next in this new series of work. And it was made from parts from a quilt that does have a lot of half square triangles. It feels like it belongs, and so I am keeping it here.

After the background was quilted, I appliqued the flowers and stems by hand, and then I needed to quilt the flowers. I used a cutout freezer paper template (pressed into place), to help design the quilting lines for the flowers. The 1/4" masking tape is a bit difficult to turn such tight curves smoothly, but it gets easier as the curves get bigger. 

Ready to free motion quilt now! (and then repeat the process for the other 3 flowers!).

To finish the edges, I saved the very last color at the ends of the gradients for the binding. My binding was going to be 1/4", so it blends seamlessly with the color strips. 

I also opted to extend the flowers into the binding. I don't know why, it just looked right to me.

Last is the hanging tube, label on the back, and photographing the completed work. We took it up to the top of Mount Bonnell for a "quilts in the wild" photo! I didn't realize it was so windy that day, which made it a big challenging! For your viewing pleasure!

No. 11 Part 2

No. 11

78.5 x 53.5

part 2

Once I inserted the first set of strips, I opted to rotate the entire piece by 90 degrees. Notice how subtle the effect of the gradation is now with the 1/4" strips sewn into place.

Then I began slicing for the next step, the insertion of the other colorway of tiny strips of warm colored fabrics. 

Here is the obvious reason for turning the piece sideways.  Once the cuts above have been made, I can now pin the color strips in position, and with gravity, they hang down with a single pin.  Also note that my fabric stash did not always have pieces that were long enough for a single strip, so some of these had to be pieced together before inserting.

My hand for scale to show how narrow those little strips are!

Nearly there, approaching the last seams to sew for the background.

Next up, I decided to quilt the background before appliqueing the large foreground design. The advantage is that I will not have to do a lot of starts and stops while quilting, and no ensuing threads to tuck. It is an edge to edge quilting design without the applique. The disadvantage is that appliqueing to a quilt top is easier than appliqueing to a quilted quilt because there is less bulk to hold in your hand, and especially true for a large piece. Nonetheless, that was my choice this time.

First, the basting, then the quilting. 

Note that I have my quilting guide attached to my machine! Love that little tool. 

It is amazing to me how much work is involved in making a piece that will read so simplistically!

Trying out the placement of a flower before quilting.

For my next post, the big reveal, some additional shots of quilting and the specialized binding.