Miscellany

Right as I was finishing up on the machine-quilting on my Quiltober quilt a week ago, I came down with a nasty cold that slowed things down considerably. I mean seriously slowed. So those last stitches... trimming... binding... and getting a photo... all took way longer than normal. But happily, though the cold is still nagging me, the quilt is done.

I'm calling it "Miscellany" - a mixture of various things. Although I did indeed respond to the prompts set out by our sewalong host, Nicholas @quiltsfromtheattic, I definitely did my own thing, with much less actual Halloween inspiration as might be expected. But I'm good with that, and had a really lovely time improv-ing my way through the month.

I may have mentioned I ran out of the Kona Pepper background, so used some Kona Black to finish the puzzling, and honestly, I like the subtle contrast a lot. 

I made a pieced backing from mostly project leftovers. Though the palette - front and back - was a bit of a stretch, I'm super fond of it, and really like the mix of solids, prints, and wovens. For quilting, I did straightline quilting with four Aurifil 50wt threads - 4241 [Very Dark Grey], 5004 [Grey Smoke], 2975 [Brass], and 2515 [Light Orchid]. The somewhat random placement and color of each line of stitching was determined often by the fabric it would cross, and overall is at 1/4" widths, though also often more - or less.

The finish measures 44" x 48", and I had restocked Kona Pepper in time for binding, and I like how that turned out. Just overall, this was a fun one, and I'm definitely glad I joined in the Quiltober sewalong.

Quiltober Quilt

The project I really wanted to get back to once I returned from Houston, was my Quiltober quilt! If you want a refresh on the propts, see links at the bottom of this post. Meanwhile, I have a quilt top to share!

The puzzling was a little tricky, as I was running low on several of my key fabrics. In fact, I had already run out of Kona Pepper, which I'd usde for most of the 'black' in the quilt blocks; and my Kona Black was dwindling quickly. I'm happy how it turned out, though, and used the remains of my original fabric pull to piece a simple backing. 

I was inspired, and got right to basting a quilt sandwich! Then I started considering threads, and I've pulled several Aurifil 50wt spools, and am inclined to use all of them.

So stay tuned. I'm pretty motivated to get this one finished before month's end.

I - Crooked

II - Buried + III - Moon + IV - Spell

V - Bones + VI - Carve + VII - Spikey

VIII - Mummified + IX - Teeth + X - Tome

XI - Witch + XII - Shadow + XIII - Rune

Quiltober :: XI - XII - XIII

It's hard to believe that today is the final day in Quiltober, hosted by Nicholas Ball @quiltsfromtheattic! I've thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Quiltober22 prompts with some improv, and the fabric-play that ensued was so relaxing and fun. Here are my final three blocks.

Day XI - Witch :: I struggled with this one! Depicting witches isn't my  norm, so I was thankful when I thought of focusing on her broom. Then I knew exactly what I wanted to do. [10.5" x 12.5"]

Day XII - Shadow :: This was another prompt that stumped me for a while. Can't say this one was easy, even once I'd settled on two trees. The larger one was totally figuring-it-out-as-I-went improv. For the second, I used my hera marker first to reproduce the lines on another piece of background fabric. Then after deciding how it needed to be pieced together, I sliced along the lines with my rotarty cutter, and it was quick work from there. [11" x 15"]

Day XIII - Rune :: Ahhh, Rune. I'm sorry, but I wasn't even sure I knew what the word meant! According to dictionary.com: "any of the characters of certain ancient alphabets" or "something written or inscribed in such characters." OK. That I could work with. Somehow in my search, I happened upon a rune translator on pbs.org. (!!) Rather than type in my name, I entered 'Quiltober' and this is what came up!

So I set in to improv those 'letters.' I have to tell on my hubby though.... I'd left the set of letters on my cutting table one night, all ready for me to piece together the next day. I saw him glancing at the letters, and he finally turned to me and said, "I know it's supposed to say something but what is it?" haha. I wouldn't have known myself a few days before.

Below is the finished block. I may add a frame to it later, but I decided to wait until I start puzzling the blocks together. [7" x 34"]

So my 13 Quiltober blocks are done and I confess I love each one way more than I expected to at the outset. They'll hang out on my design wall for a week or so while I head to Quilt Market, but I fully plan on continuing work on this project and hopefully have a finished quilt yet this fall. I'm curious, do you have a favorite block, and if so, why is it your favorite? 

Quiltober V - VI - VII

I've really been enjoying the fabric-play inspired by the Quiltober prompts, and my interpretations continue to be rather loose. All's good.

Day V - Bones :: This is one of my favorite blocks so far. I used one of Carolyn Friedlander's bone prints as my feature fabric, with a few more added in for contrast. [13" x 16"]

Surprisingly, my blocks have grown larger with each prompt! Not sure what that's about, but I'm really liking them together.

Day VI - Carve :: My first thought when I saw this prompt was how I slice through fabric with my rotary cutter when I do improv curves. So I combined that slow, easy motion with skinny inset piecing. I don't even remember why I added a width of background fabric to the bottom at the end and added one last curve, but I'm glad I did. [7" x 11"]

Day VII - Spiky :: I kept this one super simple and just made a couple of short spiky strips using the scraps on my cutting table. I may sew the two strips together eventually. We'll see when it comes time for puzzling the quilt top together. [4" x 14"]

Quiltober II - III - IV

So Quiltober is proving somewhat challenging. With Halloween-related posts, I'm definitely making it my own and where my mind is going is very loosely connected. With the first prompt, Crooked, I could be fairly literal, but not so  much in the following days.

Day II - Buried :: I was kind of thinking of a grave, and used a Carolyn Friedlander bone print for the center fabric. The surrounding rounds were supposed to give a notion of depth, though I'm not sure that was entirely successful. I 'see' it though. [9.5" x 9.5"]

Day III - Moon :: Once again, I could be pretty literal, and used the Rings method in @quiltsfromtheattic's Inspiring Improv, which I really enjoyed.

For the final block, I surrounded my 'moon' in black and sliced into it to insert a wedge. [12" x 12"]

Day IV - Spell :: Honestly all I could think of were the 'sparkles' made by a Disney fairy godmother's wand. Go figure. But I went with it, and had fun with the process. [11.5" x 12"]

So even though my responses to the prompt have been questionable, the chance for free fabric play has been delightful. Behind the scenes, I've just finished up a long-term project, so Quiltober has been a welcome respite.

Quiltober I

A few days ago, it dawned on me that if I wanted to join in Quiltober with @quiltsfromtheattic, I should have some fabric ready. I don't actually have Halloween fabric stashed, so curated a fall-ISH grouping of 25 fabrics.... solids, linen-cotton blends, wovens, crossweaves, and prints, most of which are from various Carolyn Friedlander lines, including the odd scrap. It's a starting point, and time will tell if I draw from it all or swap in some other choices.

So yesterday was Day I, with the prompt being "Crooked." Comparatively, this was one of the easier prompts, and implementing some slice-and-insert was a fun way to ease into this sewalong. For me, Quiltober will be used for pure improv fabricplay. I have no vision of what my improv-pieced bits will become at the end of the month. 

This first piece measures 2.5" x 13". With just 13 prompts, I plan to let each sewing session and prompt dictate the size and shape of the result. So yeah, that means some eventual puzzling, but we'll face that in due time.