Open Jar PIVOT | Perspective

The word 'pivot' was rolling around in my thoughts for weeks before I actually pulled out some scraps to see what they wanted to say. I'd been thinking about pivot meaning  'change in direction,' or 'turning.' So with the initial fabric pull, I played with changing the orientation of the several striped fabrics, expanding out from the HST, which was my starting point, having found it already pieced in the scrap basket.

Then, this block - which I loved - hung on the design wall for several days, while I debated where to go from there. I really didn't want to make more of the same block, mainly because I didn't have much left of any of the fabrics. So when I finally faced it, I decided to trim those corners and add to the overall design, keeping the piece relatively small.

I decided, since the month was quickly nearing its end, and the Open Jar PIVOT prompt would soon be replaced with something else, that I was happy with this, even at just 10" x 12", and would move on to quilting. Since my JUKI was at the spa, the serpentine stitch on my brother was very accessible, and it seemed to 'fit' with the overall design, especially that curvy lined blue print.

So I sized the stitch down a bit from what I'd use on a full-size quilt, and quilted pretty dense vertical 'lines' with two colors of Aurifil 40wt thread - 2730 [Delft Blue] in the upper half and 1148 [Light Jade] in the lower half. 

One feature of the piece I really like is how each outer 'point' of the design kind of runs off the page so to speak.

Anyway, I finished this little one off with a simple backing and multi-stripe binding made of scraps. It's small, but I think the making of it served its purpose, and sometimes that's enough.

Open Jar SONG | Birdsong

At first when I saw the new Open Jar prompt, SONG, I thought, oh dear, been there, done that. I was thinking that I'd kind of recently made a quilt inspired by a song - Surrounds for the Seattle MQG "I Heard It on the Radio" Challenge/Exhibit. But in his prompt intro post, Bob @rjbosscher mentioned the birds feeding and singing outside his window. And that mention clicked with me. As a relatively new owner of a Bird Buddy smart bird feeder, I've honestly been a little obsessed with our bird visitors. So I decided to focus this month's Open Jar piece on them.

Here were my first few blocks. I made 'center squares' inspired by each bird. These three blocks were to represent the Dark-Eyed Junco, the Spotted Towhee, and the Black-Capped Chickadee. The blue represents the 'house' of the feeder, and the orange, the perch.

Problem was, I just wasn't settled with my blocks, even though I considered my possible quilt design over several days. So eventually, I knew I had to face it, and a little frustrated, I mentioned to my husband, "I'm not happy with where this is going." He immediately replied, "Well. You could toss it and start over. OR cut it up." Of course. I didn't really want to start over, as I like the bird representations. So I trimmed off the angled bits, and already felt better, arranging the blocks on the design wall.

I never did make more of a plan. I separated the blocks a bit on the design wall, pulled some Kona Acid Lime from the stash closet, and just started piecing things together, deciding what to do next at each new junction.

And after an hour or so, I had a quilt top that I really liked!

I made a pieced quilt back, combining solid scraps with a coordinating print from stash.

For quilting, I used Aurifil 40wt 2810 [Turquoise] to make rows of music staffs all the way down the quilt, with 1" between the groupings. Then I used Aurifil 40wt 5015 [Gold Yellow] to make one large sound wave. For me, those subtle quilted designs helped connect the overall quilt design to the SONG prompt.

To connect with the Acid Lime bits throughout the quilt, I chose to do a thinner than normal binding (cut at 1 3/4") with the Lime. Maybe a bit much, but I love that lime with the background of Kona Oasis. This little quilt finished at 15" x 22", and I gotta say, it was a joy to make.

Linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's Favorite Finish {April 2025}.

Open Jar SPRING | Springtide

Tasked with making a very long table runner - something I'll share more about later - I ended up having a pile of scrappy cross-weaves on my cutting table, and in the moment, they looked very spring-y to me. So rather than put them away, I decided to create something in response to the Open Jar @open_____jar prompt for March, SPRING.

Inspired by Crossover by Ophelia Pang @opheliapangg, I improv-pieced the fun mix of colored cross-weaves together, ending up with a small quilt top about 21" x 24". Just for reference, the background fabric was left from the QuiltCon Windham Artisan Cotton 2024 Fabric Challenge - Artisan Solid in White-Aqua. I really liked how it was light-colored enough to let the brighter colors really shine, but wasn't quite white.

I used more scraps to make a pieced quilt back, and then set to grid-quilting with several Aurifil 28wt threads: 1231 [Spring Green], 2530 [Medium Orchid], 2420 [Light Blush], 2845 [Light Juniper]. Per Aurifil's suggestion, I used 50wt in the bobbin, basically using up several already-wound bobbins in similar colors.

At this point, I have a confession to make about the binding. I was kind of in a hurry to finish this small (18" x 22") quilt for IGQuiltFest2025Day14's prompt, "Recent Finish." So I did indeed prep a typical faced binding, but after sewing the strips onto the sides of the quilt, under-stitching, and pressing well, I clipped the edge to hold it, flipped the quilt to the front side, and added another vertical line of quilting, securing the facing while doing so. Then I repeated the procedure for the other side of the quilt. You can see where one side turned out almost perfectly, but the other not as much, but still not bad. (scroll up a couple of photos to see both sides at once) This was a shortcut I would not and could not have done on most quilts, but on this one, it worked, and helped get me to my goal of a quick finish.

I'm curious if you ever take shortcuts like I did on this little quilt. Honestly, it added to the fun of making an impromptu improv piece influenced by the spring-y colors hanging out on my cutting board. Projects like this one are just plain fun, and give me the motivation I need to keep working on the larger ones that take more time and focus. 

Open Jar TEXT | UN(settled)

The @open_____jar prompt this month is TEXT. It could be used literally, or as inspiration only, so I spent some time mulling that over. I had a word that kept coming to me, and over the weekend it really took hold. 

The word was 'unsettled.' It was in my mind and swirling in the actual feelings enveloping me. I was concerned about the well-being of family members and about changes taking place in our country. As an introvert, I was anticipating the extrovert paradise that is QuiltCon. And of course, so much more. So 'unsettled' became the focus of my TEXT piece, and I began with pulling some scraps from the scrap basket - bright, bold colors along with various shades of gray and natural. The colors themselves meant nothing to me. They just felt like something I'd enjoy playing with in that moment.

I had a speck of time to sew a few days ago and as a way of expressing the inspiration word, I decided to use just two letters, un. They were easy to piece, and obvious in a way, but not overtly so. More of the inspiration would come in my sharing of the finished piece.

Once I had the UNs pieced, I filled in with Kona Dresden Blue, and then grid-quilted with Aurifil 50wt 2600 [Light Gray]. The grid is pretty dense - about 1/8" - 1/2", as the piece is relatively small - about 18" square. As I was piecing and quilting, I started thinking of other words that started with 'un' besides unsettled that were currently resonating with me.... unkind, unnecessary, understanding, undervalued, unfair, uncertain, undone, unlawful, unbelievable. The list could go on and on.

When it came time for binding, I used what Dresden Blue I had left to cut strips 2.25" wide. I would have liked it wider in this instance, but that was still wider than my normal 2" so whatever. What I was able to follow though with was in the trimming. Or lack thereof. I trimmed, but I didn't square. Let's call it unexpected, shall we?

The goal of making UN(settled) was to embrace a given prompt, and in this instance, it affected me in a personal and emotional way. Is it my best piece ever? I don't think so. But I appreciate what it offered me in the making, and that's worth a lot.

Linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's Favorite Finish {February 2025}.

Open Jar LEAP | DOT

When Jen Broemel @jen.broemel and Robert Bosscher @rjbosscher announced their @open_____jar collaboration on January 1, I was intrigued. A 'no rules' place for creatives to play and experiment, I decided to at least follow along. Then a prompt for January was announced - LEAP. "We encourage you to interpret what this means for you and entice you to express this interpretation HOWEVER YOU WANT! JUST FOR THE SAKE OF DOING IT! ... It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to work out, it just is." Oh I loved the sound of that. I already had a project list a mile long, but I added 'LEAP' to it just the same. Just in case.

Over half way through the month, I finally took time to respond.  I grabbed a scrap of inspiration fabric  that I'd picked off of the free table at our guild holiday party last month.

I also rummaged through my scraps to find pinks that would coordinate. Then I went back to the Open Jar post to remind myself what else Jen and Robert had said about the prompt. 

"We encourage you to interpret what this means for you and entice you to express this interpretation HOWEVER YOU WANT! JUST FOR THE SAKE OF DOING IT! What a beautiful thing, right? It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to work out, it just is. . . and it will benefit you, we promise. We challenge you to open the jar and take a LEAP!"

And so I did, and these 'blocks' were the beginning. I wasn't sure where they were headed, but they were inspired by a quilt I'd seen with pieced columns. I left them on the design wall overnight, liking very much what I had so far.

But in the morning, when I was ready to continue on, I decided to change course, and cut all the wide enough slabs into 6" x 7" blocks. Where needed, I pieced slabs together, or added more fabric, until I had 16 blocks.

I took another pause, and that led to me adding space between some of the blocks.

And from there, I began to fill things in. Where I'd begun with a dot fabric (unknown) by tildasworld, a stripe by Just Wing It! by MoMo for moda, and various pink solids, I used Kona Ash to help fill in and around. It took me a couple of sewing sessions, but eventually had a quilt top I was happy with.

And then of course, I whipped up a pieced quilt back, begun with solid scraps leftover from the front. The dotty fabric that brought it up to size was Now We're Goin' Places by Monica Lee for Timeless Treasures.

I chose two Aurifil 50wt threads for quilting - 2600 [Dove] and 2423 [Baby Pink].

An uneven grid seemed to fit for the quilting, and where I normally do minimal marking before quilting, with this one, I marked every single line with my trusty hera marker. Bound in Kona Ash, this little quilt, which I named "Dot," finished at 25.5" x 29".

This project gave me inordinate amount of pleasure, so I'm really glad I took the leap, so to speak. AND in keeping with the commitment I recently made to take more photos of me with my quilts, I had hubby do just that.