Decisions, Decisions

Sometimes I know months ahead what my next quilt plan for Faith Circle will be. Then again, like this month, I may change my mind again and again. I finally settled on a quarter log cabin block, reminiscent of a favorite quilt from Heather Jones.

We'll be using my Improv Quarter Log Cabin Block tutorial as a reference, though our palette will be totally different.



Blocks will be sewn in orange, shades of blue, and off-white, while not going quite so creamy as the bottom chip below.

{ color view } image via: @colourspeak_kerry_ on Design Seeds

Rather than a solid off-white such as Kona snow, I used two of Carolyn Friedlander's low-volume prints, and there's the catch. To create a sense of unity between our blocks, I'm asking that if my bee-mates have and want to use one of these two low-volume fabrics, great. If not, I'd prefer use of an off-white solid.



The blocks will be trimmed to 12 1/2", and quilt layout is to-be-determined. Faith circle gals, see our Flickr group for specifics. I'm looking forward to seeing our final quilt of the year come together!

Army of Self Love :: Improv Hourglass

For Bee Sewcial this month, Kari/[quiltsforthemaking] chose a theme uplifting the beauty of diversity, specifically of women. The simple hourglass block was selected to represent and embrace the many shapes, proportions and colors all women come in. Of course, our blocks were to be created improvisationally, which I found a bit tricky but fun to explore.

Click here to see the photo Kari provided as inspiration - an hourglass quilt by Eleanor McCainwith with alot of variation in shapes and sizes. After working on my own blocks, I thought it might be worth sharing some process photos. 

Truth be told, I worked from the scrap basket for all of the blocks, and found that odd-shaped fabric pieces weren't a detriment in the least. So start as you would with more traditional hourglass blocks, with two fabrics right-sides together. I used my hera marker to mark a diagonal line. Note that it isn't necessary to mark exactly through the corners, 

Stitch 1/4" on either side of the marked line, then cut the two halves apart and press.

Place the two pressed pieces right-sides together, with colors opposite. Mark a new hera line, stitch on either side, cut apart, and press. Note that with the pieces below, I didn't match the seams, but left them separated slightly.

With these being improv, matching or not matching the seams adds to the irregular appeal of the blocks. After piecing, the blocks are really ragged-looking.

It's all in the trimming, which I did haphazardly on these sample blocks. Obviously you could square them up more. Or not. And notice, left to right, the different look depending on how closely you 'matched' the seams (separated, matched, overlapping).

So this just may be a technique I'll explore more. Whatcha think?

Linking up with Tips and Tutorials Tuesday.

Off the Cuff

It was weeks ago when I agreed to make a quilted wall hanging for a friend's auction, so it was silly to wait till the week it was needed to get started. But that's what went down, basically because I couldn't decide what to do!

Rummaging through my solids scrap bin for bee blocks the other day, I unearthed some leftover Improv Under the Influence strips from my class with Krista Hennebury last year. [Here's my original project.]  I found a yard of Essex Linen in Graphite in my stash, and the ingredients were sorted out.

As you can see in the top photo, my design wasn't earth-shattering, but I figured I could spice things up a notch with some improv quilting, echoing the shapes in the strips. Most of the quilting was done in Aurifil 50wt #5004 (Grey Smoke), but I did a ghost strip in #2140 (mustard), then did the same quilting in the colored strips themselves. This was fun quilting! 

In the areas without a colored strip or ghost quilting, I stuck with straight-line, in 3/8" increments. Sadly, the ghost strip isn't that noticeable in the finished quilt - a good reason to try some thicker thread for accent quilting like this. Note to self!



Of course there was one strip that called out for some matched-binding, and why not?

Finishing at 34 x 42", I'm not quite sure this little quilt has a style that will most appeal to the auction crowd, but I managed to create it from stash and had fun making it up as I went, which was a good deal for me.

Hourglass Diversion

The other day when I needed another diversion from the larger quilts in my queue, I turned to Stacey/SLOstudio's Hourglass Block tutorial, which had just inspired my latest newsletter round-up. Things happen like that.

Something small was what was on my agenda - a chance to play with a simple block and seasonal color.... and of course some fun quilting.

Mom had commented early on that she loved what I was working on, so 'it' became a table topper for her. (about 20" square)



Lucky for me, her yard was full of beautiful fall foliage, so why not snap a few photos right there?

Stay tuned - there are more hourglass blocks to come, but next up are improv!

Taking the Inspiration Somewhere

After coming up with my own design during the "Every Day Inspiration" workshop with Michelle/Factotum of Arts a week ago, I found it had really captured my interest, and small as it was (10 1/2" x 14"), it was pretty quick and easy to make the one block into a mini quilt.

The quilting was the most enjoyable bit! The 'X' area got matchstick quilting in Aurifil 50wt #2140 (mustard); the rest of the quilt was straight-line quilted at 3/8" intervals with #2600 (light gray).

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the finished quilt with a local road sign, as Michelle has a fondness for them, and they were a source of inspiration for us attending the workshop with her.

Once again, a simple little project was the perfect kind of "let's just make this to make" fun, which totally refueled me. Plus it may just have inspired another quilt plan, and of course time will tell if that becomes a reality. Meanwhile, this little one now hangs by my computer, a reminder to keep exploring....

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday!

A Divided Basket + A Tip

It's not my preferred mode of operation, but this month has me working on a variety of projects, with not much to show for it. In amongst the works in progress, though, I finally got around to trying Anna/noodlehead's Divided Basket pattern, and I'm a fan. 

Made with Carolyn Friedlander's carkai and doe, it was originally destined for a swap until I realized I didn't quite follow the rules of the swap by making a quilted item.

My bad, but luckily I still had time to correct my error, and at least I got to try a pattern I'd been wanting to try, and I love how it turned out. And it's much larger than I expected, so good to know.

One little detail I wanted to comment on, though, that being the handles. I really love the cotton webbing Anna used for her basket's handles, but I just didn't have the webbing on hand, so decided to make the best of things, creating a more than suitable substitute. 

I constructed a small 'quilt' of sorts - main fabric, batting, and backing - quilted it heavily, then cut it to the size detailed in the pattern for the webbing.

 From then on, I made the handles as directed, and I think they turned out pretty nice.

So I've snuck in a couple more small projects into my week, and you'll most likely be seeing them soon. I find that's sometimes my tack when overwhelmed by larger projects, but I really need to focus on the larger things too. Soon!

Every Day Inspiration

Talk about luck. So it was when my friend and guild-mate Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty won a free workshop for our guild with Michelle Wilkie/Factotum of Arts [ml_wilkie], Modern Quilt Design: Every Day Inspiration.

Active in Quilt Design a Day QDAD, Michelle says the design process is her favorite part of quilting, and she gave us alot to think about in creating our own designs.

Even so, I found it a bit of a struggle, but did my best to work through the prompts Michelle gave us, based on photos of her choice, as well as ones we'd each brought with us. Then later in the afternoon, there was a different kind of promp.... Michelle had a collection of art books set out on a table, and we were invited up in small groups, each getting just 30 seconds to flip through a book or two until a design caught our eye. Then we went back to our seats and came up with a design inspired by what we had seen. For some reason, this exercise came easier, and I had a design in no time, inspired by a work by Lucienne Day.

As I was drawing, Michelle happened to mention that we should consider paring down our design. One way was to create a 'window' in a sheet of paper and move the window over different areas, seeing what spoke to us. Compare my drawings above and below and you'll see the portion of my design that I chose to create in fabric.

This is where I slid into my groove. I'm pretty sure I'll quilt this mini up just for the fun of it, and at some point, explore the design a bit more.

So going forward, I hope to sketch a bit more, even though it doesn't come easily. I find it so much more natural to just 'design' with my fabric, rotary cutter, and design wall. But the truth is, inspiration in the every day is as real for me as for many of you, and I'd really like to incorporate more of that into my work. Baby steps....

#seamswap

It was swap time at our guild meeting this week! I had drawn Ginger/@illstickwithgin's name to create for, and after perusing her list of what she'd like, I collected some of my favorite fabrics [Carolyn Friedlander's carkai and doe] in her favorite colors - peacock blue, navy, white - and hearkened back to those crosscut blocks.

I fashioned the blocks into a table runner, quilted in the same fashion as my previous crosscut quilts. Something about that organic zig-zag just seems to suit these blocks, and it's alot of fun to do! Just mark a zig-zag with your hera marker every 6" or so, then wing it in between.

For this version, I included some 'plain' squares scattered among the crosses, the perfect opportunity to incorporate some matched binding.

Meanwhile, just look at what I received from @sadiesews! The pattern for this beautiful fabric bucket is by Anna Graham, found in her book, Handmade Style. But my partner took it to another level by making the sides of some woven fabric, aka modern meshwork. This design choice felt a bit serendipitous, as I witnessed @sadiesews create her first meshwork at our guild retreat a few weeks ago. I remember enjoying checking in on her progress several times. Very fun.

So good times! Check out #seamswap if you want to see more of the beautiful projects made for the swap.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

Tuesday at the Table

Visiting Chicago a couple of weeks ago wasn't the first time we'd planned a get-away destination for the food. In all truthfulness, this time it started when a friend told me about their recent visit to Eataly about a month ago. Hearing about that alone - the largest Italian marketplace in the world, comprising a variety of restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakery, retail items, and a cooking school - was enough to convince me to go home and tell hubby we needed to go, and soon.

We got in town on a Friday night, rode the L downtown to our hotel, and hit the streets to find some dinner. The Purple Pig, also recommended by our friends, was probably our favorite meal of the weekend. It might have been partly that we were truly off on an adventure, but in fact, everything we ate was innovative, unique, and oh so tasty. Plus we were seated at a community table, and that just added to the fun.

Saturday morning, we were off to Eataly, one of 17 world-wide locations, and the largest Eataly in the US. The Chicago location is co-owned by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, so expectations were high. Arriving relatively early, we settled in for coffee and pastry at Caffe Vergnano - definitely a little taste (and reminiscence) of our time in Italy. 

We scoped out the entire store, with it's specialty counters (butcher, panini, focaccia, Nutella(!), gelato, etc.) spread throughout the first level, and its six larger restaurants on the second. 

After wandering around, we agreed we'd come back for dinner at Osteria di Eataly, which proved a real Italian feast.

While in town, we also made it a point to try out the Chicago staples, going twice to Portillo's, as that was reportedly the place to have the best hot dog, Italian Beef, and chocolate cake. So of course we did. Don't want to offend any Chicagoans out there, but I'm not a fan of the huge pickle as big as the dog. But I tried it!

  

Totally not Chicago tradition (I don't think.), but fun nonetheless, was a quick stop in at Three Dots and a Dash on our last night in town. A Tiki bar! It we hadn't been told, we wouldn't have known to look for the blue line along the top of the building and head down the alley...

And last, but certainly not least, we had to have deep-dish pizza before we left, and we chose Gino's East, which was another very good choice.

Photo courtesy Gino's East

Don't worry, we did more than eat - we enjoyed The Art Institute of Chicago, walked out to Navy Pier to see Lake Michigan, and went on a river cruise hosted by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Let's just say we got a good "taste" of the city in just a few days. So yeah! That was great, delicious fun!