Being Sewcial

Towards the end of last year, I said farewell to 3 bees that I'd happily sewn with for the past 2 years - Always Bee Learning, Mid-Century Modern, and That Stash Bee. I made lots of good friends in those bees, friends I definitely want to keep in touch with, and we've made some beautiful quilts together - all really good stuff, right? But the bee blocks were stacking up in the ole stash, and honestly, I guess I just needed a change of pace, feeling that sticking with my one charity bee, FAITH Circle of do.Good Stitches, would be enough bee action for a while.

And then I got an invite to a new bee starting up. Bee Sewcial was different. It was all about using solid fabric. It was all about improv. It was all about derived inspiration. And it sounded challenging in a new way that quite honestly, I just couldn't resist.

So it started in January with Stephanie/Spontaneous Threads at the helm. With photos from a Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Denver Botanic Garden as inspiration, and an extensive list of Kona cottons as a suggested palate, we were given free reign. As in, anything goes - follow where the inspiration leads, creating our best improv interpretation on the theme.

I admit I was frozen for a bit, but one night I just jumped in, with my stack of solids on my cutting table, and my rotary cutter gripped tight. I had flipped through Lucie Summers' book Quilt Improv a few days before so I guess I had the reverse applique "porthole" on my mind, though how it came to be fractured in the block below is all due to the mystery of improv.

As I began my second block, all I knew was I wanted lots of dark blue (Kona Nightfall), and there was a vague notion about slicing through the pieced strips at some point.

The requirement for this bee is 2 approximately 12" blocks (or the equivalent in 1 large block or several smaller blocks). And 1 terrific-to-me feature is that we've been told not to trim the blocks up. So they'll be heading out just as you see them, fresh from a good press. 

So I'm in! This should be a stimulating experiment in stepping outside one's comfort zone. If you feel like checking in on us, just look for #BeeSewcial on Instagram. We just might be going where no bee has gone before . . .

Stone-Stepping

It feels like ages since I've had a quilt finish, and alas, I don't have one today either. But I did finish a set of table runners that were quite enjoyable makes, and I am pleased to be able to mark them off my list.

They were inspired by a quilt by Lisa Call in the book, We Love Color. You can see Lisa's "Stepping Stones #1" quilt in her blog post here.

The tricky part was that I had very specific dimensions I wanted the finished runners to be, and none of the quilt block dimensions quite fit. So I got out my handy-dandy graph paper and sketched out 2 arrangements just the size I needed. To simplify things a bit, I made all the background strips between the blues and lighter grays to be 1 1/2" unfinished, and then basically did all the math one block at a time.

For quilting, I did straight-line throughout, 3/8" apart using Aurifil 50wt. #2625 (Arctic Ice), and I think it suits the "stepping stones" just right.

Just for the record, the square piece measures 24", and the oblong is 16"x53".

It was challenging yet satisfying to make these pieces "my own" while clearly inspired by the quilt in We Love Color. But letting inspiration take me to a whole new place won out once again.

This project was on my Q3 Finish-A-Long list. Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and Fabric Tuesday.

For the Love of Solids2 - Given

The For the Love of Solids swap last year was so fun and gratifying, there wasn't really any doubt if I would participate again for round two. Obviously yes. And fresh from the Japanese x and + block swap, I was easily influenced  to go rogue and make some solid blocks. Playing with some photo graphics of blocks I'd made for the x and + swap helped me figure out a plan for a variation all my own.

I pretty much grabbed the majority of my solid stash and got to work.

After stitching up the first little 5" block, I was encouraged.

This was one project where my design wall was my friend.

Bit by bit it all came together.

When it came to quilting, I wanted to show off the small center blocks as much as possible. So after detailing each of the small blocks, I echo-quilted around the large '+', moving farther apart with each row. After much deliberation, I had succumbed to the temptation to use variegated thread - the wonderfully colorful King Tut "Joseph's Coat" by Superior Threads - and was really pleased with the results.

As a final touch, I made pieced binding, matching up with each color in the big block.

For my small project, I used solid scraps to make a Lined Drawstring Bag made from Jeni's pattern. (Love the chevron twill tape I found at Amy Dunn's pinked fabrics!)

So there's the saga of FTLOS2 - sure hope my partner is pleased!

Linking up with T.N.T. Thursday and Finish It Up Friday.

Socken

I've joined a second quilt along, Socken (German for "sock"), sponsored by Cherry House Quilts. Cherri of Cherry House LOVES solids, and pretty much uses only them in her quilts. Solid quilts are very trendy right now, and this project looked easy and fun.

The schedule:

2/1/11 CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

2/8/11 PIECED COLUMNS

2/15/11 ASSEMBLE QUILT TOP

2/22/11 QUILT THE TOP

3/1/11 FINISH THE QUILT

We were encouraged to use Kona Cotton Solids, of which there are over 200! I had enough 'Ash' for the background, so just needed to choose colors for the squares (Black, Coal, Purple, Marine Blue).