Kintsugi

The March @beesewcial prompt from my beemate M-R @quiltmatters is Kintsugi - the Japanese art of repairing pottery with lacquer and gold or silver dust. M-R provided a pin board for inspiration, and asked for specific colors - the backgrounds were to be a mix of navy/dark blues, with orange accents in each block, and the joins in silver. In my case, I used four dark blues in varying Kona shades (Navy, Windsor, Indigo, and Storm), Kona Orange for the accents, and for the 'silver,' I included Konas Silver and Ash, Essex in Gray, and bits of retroreflective fabric, courtesy of Stephanie @spontaneousthreads.

The first block measured 9.5" x 15", and honestly, I found working with the retroreflective fabric a bit tricky. You can't iron it, so finger-pressing it is, and even then, it didn't seem to want to lay completely flat.

My second block was a tad larger at 11" X 17.5". I stuck with more straight lines on this one, due to the laying flat issues. That seemed to help.

At any rate, it's a fun technique to play with. As always, I'm looking forward to seeing my blocks with the others made by my beemates. AND, though we have April off, I'm up for providing the prompt in May. Still mulling that over....

Kintsugi on Repeat

Four years after my first experiment with kintsugi, the table runner I'd made was deeply faded, as its 'home' has always been, by intention, in our living room window. Obviously, it had served its purpose and needed to be replaced, but I loved it so. Thus, I decided (obviously!) to make something very similar. Just for fun, here's the first one, that I made 

For fabrics, this time I used the same Essex Homespun in Natural for the background; but for focus fabrics, I chose several cuts from the Afternoon Bliss Fat Quarter Bundle from fabricBUBB that I'd gotten in March. For the contrasting joining lines, I used Kona Pimento.

I'd originally found the improv Kintsugi technique in Nicholas @quiltsfromtheattic's Inspiring Improv, and I referenced it again this time. I began by cutting 9" background squares, which was just a tad larger than what I needed, as after creating each kintsugi block, I trimmed it to 6.5". But that's fine, as it gave me plenty of wiggle room. I already knew I'd need a 4 x 7 layout of blocks, so that was nice not to have to do any extra calculations.

Once the top was pieced, I used the leftovers plus a couple more fat-quarters from the Afternoon Bliss bundle to make a pieced back. Deciding nothing too complicated was needed for quilting, I used Aurifil 50wt 2225 [Salmon] thread to stitch diagonal lines one-inch apart.

Bound in Free Spirit Tango, the runner finished at 24" x 42", and it feels great to have something new and fresh, yet familiar, on our living room table. Isn't it great to be a maker?

The Kintsugi Experiment

So I shared in my last post how I was trying out the improv Kintsugi technique found in Nicholas/@quiltsfromtheattic's Inspiring Improv. And you guys, I really really enjoyed the process. I'm not quite sure why, but I found the technique very enjoyable to execute, though I will say, it had an element of 'figure it out as you' to it, as after cutting each background square, I had to decide what feature fabric to sub in where. Personally I like that kind of puzzling, but just fyi.

It felt right to create a backing pulling from the same fabric pull, though I needed to add some orange-y solid to bring it to size.

Quilting was done in a diagonal grid using Aurifil 50wt #2310 [light beige] which nestled in nicely into the Natural Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun background, yet shone very subtly on all the non-neutral fabrics.

The piece finished at 24" x 42" and when we put it on our table in the living room, it looked like it belonged there. Love when that happens!

Linking up with Meadow Mist Designs' Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup!

Improv Kintsugi

These uncertain times resulted in, among other things, a cancellation of a planned quilt retreat this week, and a restlessness about what to even work on here at home. I finally settled on a table-topper of sorts for a vintage table in our living room that needed a little protection.

I flipped through Nicholas/@quiltsfromtheattic's Inspiring Improv to see what else might be fun to try and boy did I find it. Actually, I found a couple of things and asked hubby to pick one. That helped me settle on Improv Kintsugi - another thing I knew nothing about!

Picking fabric was really fun, as I worked to coordinate with our living room. I came up with an assortment of Carolyn Friedlander prints in brown and orange, a beautifully rich Kaleidoscope Persimmon from Alison Glass, and for a background, a textural Natural Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun.

Soooo, after measuring my table's top, I figured out that a 4 X 7 arrangement of 6" finished blocks would be perfect. So that's where I am now, piecing them together and thinking about quilting. This kind of diversion is the best!