Blog banner quilt is Scrappy Trips

    I have been quieter the last few weeks, slower too.  I had debated on resting a longer while from blog posting and not really starting anything new.   I wasn't going to close my blog, but I did feel I had repeated myself so much that I was boring.

Insight:   Things occur and happen to direct you along the road 

you are suppose to take.  There are signs we can chose to ignore, 

but with advanced age I have learned to be more 

receptive to directions.  At least sometimes. 

   All of this to say......this has been a week for emails and questions....not just requests for patterns.  Questions are a good thing.  Questions ask for help, provide direction, point up details I have forgotten, and they let me know what readers/followers want to know.   So after 3 questions about the quilt shown in the blog banner, I think I needed to provide details.  A hunt thru past posts revealed a big lack of details.  I have no idea what happened about that.

   Trippin'  Thru the Flowers is from 2014.  I began working on this as a Let's Book It project in April/May 2014.  The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.    She calls it Scrappy Trips.   It is a Trip Around the World variation.....many small trips in fact.  My version is based on value rather than one color.   So.....chains of value radiate around the center square creating diamond bands of value.   Doesn't that sound rich?

  Value......not color.  Value is the lightness or darkness of the fabric.   And the secret to a quilt with the changes in value like this is variety.  You can't have enough floral prints to chose from :)   

 Three things I use to work with value in a water color (or a scrap quilt) are

•  a value viewer (ruby beholder), 
• a design wall, 
• and a camera.   

Learn to sort your fabrics into correct value groups.   I use a ruby beholder viewer.  Additional tip....... Visit Exuberant Color for some good lessons... variety of value  ,  a lesson on value .  I learned great lessons from Wanda's blog, and there is no reason to create my version when she is a master at this.  

Design wall.....big, small, permanent or portable, it is so important.  I can stand back from a design layout about 8-10 feet and see how the values are working together.  In this design I wanted to  see distinct lines of dark and light.  I needed areas of medium value fabrics to blend to the dark and to the light fabrics.  

A camera....if all else fails, take a photo.  Look at it on the computer and amazingly, I can see where problems lie that need to be fixed.  Added tip....turn the photo into a black and white version and you will see instant photo based on value!

Back to the quilt............  

This is how the Scrappy Trips is put together.  4 blocks come together to make up the small trip around the world unit that you see.   If you read thru Bonnie's pattern, you will know that it takes 6 strips for each block unit.    So I had to make several variations for the variety in the full quilt.

   I laid out the strips according to value from dark to light before sewing them together.  It was important to be sure the dark and light fabrics were distinct and not too "mushy".   The lowest block on the left is just a little bit too mushy.  Compare it to the upper corner block that is diagonal to it.  Much stronger light in the center creates the radiating diamond.     So yes, I did have to do some planning--not too much--- to be sure I had light center units forming as well as dark center units.  

 And now a little further along.

   I got better as I went along....selecting fabrics to put together to blend and to have contrast.  

  In the pattern instructions, after you make sub-cuts you unpick a seam to join the rows.  The strongest dark or lightest light fabric was needed to run thru the center to get the pattern.  

   So many Scrappy Trips became Trippin' Thru the Flowers.   And  then became my blog banner.......as it speaks dearly of the floral fabrics I love.   The blended values  remind me of shadows  in the garden in the evenings.  Movement can be strong and still gentle and that is what this quilt says to me.  

Happy stitching.

No reason

  I added a few more of the colorwash blocks to my design wall.  Not that they will stay in this arrangement,  I am enjoying the view right now.   And I am beginning to do the sewing of the fused units.  That way I will have a better perspective and reality  of the size.

  Yesterday I worked on the bargello piece and added a couple of borders.  The borders really altered the feeling of the piece.  No photos.....keeping you in suspense.  Lol.

   No reason....just because, he said!  Sir Old Man knows I am battling and struggling with the weekly B-12 doses.  I am feeling stronger and better with the shots more often.  I am riding the stationary bike....right now I am doing 3 miles.  I will move up the 4 miles next week, I hope.    My vision seems more stable too.

  One of the  draw backs is the hot flash.  At least that is what I call them.....they are more like an oven roasting event.   More overwhelming than anything I ever experienced.   The other thing I battle is the brain fog......It can come on suddenly and stay for a while or disappear just as quickly.  While putting on the borders to the bargello, it hit and I could not figure out which strip went where.....I could not remember how to attach the border.   It was time for a nap to let the fog dissipate.
    Yesterday I caught the lesson on  Handi Quilter Live featuring Helen Godden from Australia.  She is a free motion instructor for HQ.  She did a few demos....like how to do a faux buttonhole applique stitch with the HQ16!
Great tips too.  They usually do a live session once a month.
  A gentle reminder to me.....time changes on Saturday.  At least no one around here has been making statements to confuse me :)  Happy stitching.  

Put value into your quilts

  The email basket has been full the last few days with questions about the watercolor and color wash quilts.  I have been asked for patterns, and instructions, and for how-to-dos.
    First, I do not have patterns for the water color quilts, or wall hangings.  Each one is unique, and I couldn't reproduce it if I tried.   Each 2'' square is different and will be used or placed differently in different quilts.   The fabrics often dictate the design that emerges.  I work from impressions of things I see, from photographs that I have saved, and from sketches.

  Second, for instructions please see here......Tutorial to Design a watercolor.  It is a page at the top of the blog.  I have links to several posts of questions.  I work through fabric selection---so important---and then on to a tutorial to design.   I talk about the technique of using fusible interfacing, of how I blend the fabrics, how to use the value viewer, or Ruby Beholder.  The entire page is a how-to-do this thing I do :)

  There are books, and photos, and other blogs to research and study, but the best way to learn is TO DO.    I learn best by doing something.  As much as I love to read, if I want to be proficient at something, I must try it for myself.    So I suggest, if you want to do a watercolor quilt/wall hanging, first try to improve your skills at using value by putting some value into your quilts.

   Here's a simple example from last year.  The block is the Bow Tie block.  Block size is 6 '' here.  I used all floral fabrics for the bow ties, and the background fabrics were mixed from white, ivory and tan, to grey, light blue, and light greens.    The lightest value blocks were grouped in the central area.  The layout progressed to medium value to darkest in the corners.
   That simple arrangement fools the eye and gives a color wash effect to the overall quilt.  Of course, I threw in a zinger by twisting a couple of blocks and making a circle too :)

   Pretty much the same thing for the orange peels.   Once all the blocks were made, I divided them into 3 stacks....light blocks, medium, and darkest ones.   Then guess what came next?
   I arranged the lightest blocks first on a diagonal through the center.  Then the medium value blocks blended into the darkest ones, which I placed on the edges and in 3 corners.    A traditional pattern with a colorwash effect......all because I paid attention to the value.




    One last example from my Year of Floral Quilts.  I should say, I am still in my year of florals......I may need to rename it to the decade of florals.  Oh, well.
  The barn raising layout is off set and then extends into the border on one side.  Note the dark center, and then the lighter ring......Value!

  All time favorite pattern for so many quilters is the log cabin block.  This is a log cabin variation, the half log cabin. This past post gives the details.  

  The small photo shows the value arrangement that I used in each block.
  So pick a favorite or traditional pattern add value into your fabric/color selection.  Cut fabrics, make the blocks.  Sort blocks into light, medium, dark values based on the overall effect of the fabrics used.  Play with layout to show case the blocks based on their value.  Stand back and be surprised.

  Maybe I can inspire you to try putting some value into your quilts.  It is more that just contrast.  It is light and dark, sunshine and shadow.  It is spark and movement, and energy and drama.  A small project is the perfect way to experiment, test your self, and to train your eye.  Please try :)
Happy stitching.

Of Squares and Strings

   String blocks continue.  I ran out of cut telephone pages and thought to go look for my basket of very thin, very light weight shirting fabrics.  Found it.....pushed to the back of the bottom cabinet behind the scrap bin of batting parts.  I am no longer good at standing on my head to search for things.....not that I ever was, but even worse now...lol.  I was given yards and yards of off cuts from men's shirting fabric several years ago.  It is perfect for string foundations.  

   I had questions about all the paper on the first sets of string blocks.  The telephone book pages come away easily....with a tiny stitch  it almost slips off.   The down side to using paper, besides having to tear it off, is the possibility of stretching on the edges.  A row of stay stitching around the  4 edges will prevent that.









   Here are two blocks with different width strips in the center diagonal.  The narrow one looks the nicest to me.  The narrow strip is probably 1'' to 1 1/4'' wide.  The wider strip is probably 1 1/2'' to almost 2''.   I don't really like them mixed together, so I will be careful how I place the narrow strip blocks /wider strip blocks together.   They should go into different projects probably.



   The last thing on my to-do list for the month involved squares...batik squares of
 2 1/2''.  I purchased a set of batik squares earlier last year from Wanda at  Exuberant Color, and I have been wanting  to create something with them.
  I started on the design wall and began placing them by color family.....very much as I did before in Wonder of Color. 


    Needless to say, I was not happy with the repeat.  So thought maybe shaded block units would be a better thing to experiment with.  Then I thought why not change the size of the units to a rectangular size.  So I decided to play with that option.    I cut interfacing to size for 5 rows and 3 columns.  Here's the first colorwash group of greens from my stash pieces.   Now to fuse and stitch.








   Then again  after sewing and pressing.   I'm not sure yet how I will set this together, but for right now I will enjoy just playing with a few color families to see how I like them.  These units could always turn into a table runner or narrow banner.
   I think I will play with purple next....that is this month's color :)   And it is about building up parts to complete a whole top/quilt.  Not every quilt begins as a full plan for me, and so I choose to enjoy the adventure that is created by experimenting and playing.  

  Happy stitching.

Last one of the year

 
   I found this photos of my Bow Tie blocks in my photos album from April.  April?  Nine months ago......let's just say before the stuff that happened.  
    I found the top  earlier this month on a hanger, awaiting its turn under the needle.   My goal for the month for this was to get it pinned and quilted.  And yesterday, it got binding done too!









   Bow-quet of Florals got bound yesterday.  I love a finish:)   I quilted it with open swirls, edge to edge.

   I am not sure if I showed this label yet.  I did this one a little differently.  Once the word part was printed off onto treated fabric, I simply added scraps to either side.  Rather than turn the edges under and hand stitch, I used muslin as a backing.   I sewed around all 4 sides and then slit the muslin to turn the label right side out.   Then I top stitched it onto the back.



  Time to shoot a few outside photos.  Please ignore my weeds.

 





Size is 48'' by 66'' ----perfect lap size to enjoy.











  To share:
    I ran across a really good, really simple color combination cheat sheet.     I know I hated the color wheel lessons, too. But they are soooo important!    I actually printed off the long list of color combos to keep handy.  You know, in case I have a no idea in mind day and need a color scheme.  Check it out.
  So the count down is near, as the new year arrives.  I am glad to get back to the usual routine again.  Happy stitching.   

Bow Ties on design wall

  Along with making circles, I have been putting together bow tie blocks.  One or two each day........They are taking over the design wall.  I am up to 50----6 '' blocks.
Don't worry, I know some are turned the wrong way....I will play with them when I finish another dozen or so.

 











   I took the same photo and turned it into black and white for  value comparison.  If I end up doing a true color wash effect, you can instantly see which blocks need to be switched around or moved.
  This little trick is helpful to remember for even a scrap quilt.  Do you want to concentrate the values, or spread them out?  The color can confuse the eye....but black and white won't lie.


   I had a question over the weekend from someone working with charm packs.  Her design was looking flat and had ''no life in it''.  From the photo I could tell she lacked dark values to show up the light and medium values.   To me, that is the biggest problem with charm packs, etc.......most of the values are medium and light with maybe one dark.  Even a 4 patch or 9 patch design benefits from a good dose of dark to make the lighter fabrics shine.
   I'm quilting on the Let's Book It re-make......almost to the edge, so I need to dig out bindings soon.    Tomorrow is clean up the sewing room day and put fabric back in the closet.  It looks like a tornado when through it after a cutting session for the bow ties!  Wish I could live in the chaos but not possible.  
Happy stitching.

Testing blocks again

  This is a second try on the stacked strips block.  I put the light in the center surrounded by darker values.  The corner pieces are part of background....and I kept it consistent using only one fabric.
  Result:  It is blah to me and not what I was going for.  It is that "background" fabric that is too consistent with no blending.  I want the block to be noticed but I do love that blended look.










  This photo shows the second try at the top....and the strong/stark block.  The lighter values in the center are better.....but I am not liking the background.

  At the bottom for comparison is the first block with the dark in the center.  It is very muddy and the block disappears.  I also do not like the striped effect that I used for the sashing here.  That has to go.

  So yesterday I made some adjustments.

 
   I removed 3 of the corner pieces on the second block with the lighter center....on the bottom now.  Much better, as I can still see the block but it is softer with the new corner pieces.

  Second adjustment was to  try different fabrics for the sashing piece.   Both of them work....and I will mix in whatever else I find in the stash closet.
  Result:  This is more of the effect that I was after....a softer, blended look.   I want the block to be seen or noticed but not jump out at you.  I like the edges to blend and fade into the background.


  Now I am ready to slice up some very special fabrics that I have been saving for a while.    And a binding to attach....almost to the finish line with one  :)   Happy stitching. 

May already?

  Time is flying by again......April was full of projects.



   A scrap quilt made from the Carolina Chain block from Bonnie Hunter was quilted and bound.  I named this one Home Ties.











 The pattern was in an old Quiltmaker magazine....but it is an easy one to figure out.  I used 2 1/2" strips for this one.  Light center squares go on one diagonal and the darker center squares go in the opposite direction.

   I spent a few days playing around with the 2+4 patch block scrap project.  My stack of 2 patches is piling up as I am making them as a leader/ender unit while I work of other quilts.  That means I have 3 things going on right now......that is enough.

  Then I spent a week making table runners from the Piano Keys pattern from Connie at Freemotion by the River.  I love this pattern and am planning /cutting out one in fall tones!

  The floral string quilt got a change up in the layout, which really slowed me down.  But I like the blocks so much better with the sashing strips.  I have just uncovered a fabric for a border, so I can get this one completed next month.

   I finished up the floral log cabin blocks....and decided on this layout.  It is simmering on the design wall until I get the border onto the string quilt.


  May looks like it will be spent on completions.....the string quilt, the log cabin watercolor, and  more blocks for the scrappy rail fence of 2 + 4 patches.
More than enough to keep me busy.  As much as I want to jump onto a new project,  I will stick to my limit of 3.....and maybe just add in a plan or two.   Happy stitching.

Let's Book It April

    Let's Book It at Vrooman's Quilts.....this is the project I started in March of  floral strings in light and dark blocks.   I got this far.....and decided I did not like it.   Here is the original post.

  Maybe it is the diagonal setting, or the lack of concentrated focal point that made me feel blah about it.  So instead, I did something I hate.  I added sashings.

 
   The sashing creates a window pane look. Now I was able to concentrate the light blocks  to show a light source.   Apparently that is what is important to me and satisfies my eye.

   I used a combination of two different fabrics of similar value  for the sashing.   One of the fabrics was  shaded from dark to light.....and I let it fall where ever it landed.

   Now it is time to add a border to frame my window and then get it quilted.  Tthis Let's Book It will carry on one more month, it seems.

Linking to Let's Book It for April.  The link is above, so check out what other projects are going on.

Happy stitching.

Remembrance

In honor and memory of our Veterans, our heroes. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2014

Welcome to the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

I always enjoy this on-line quilt show.  and give big thanks to Amy at Amy's Creative Side for hosting this.





 

   My entry has been sitting around unfinished for a couple of months, so the quilt festival was just the motivation I needed to get it completed.  At the end of August, this is where it was.....did I need more blocks, or borders, or not?   I was so undecided that it got pushed aside as other things in life intervened.




 About 2 weeks ago, I saw that the Blogger's Quilt Festival was quickly approaching......so out it came again.   Decision made----I was keeping this one. A perfect small throw size, just for me.

  

   The pattern is Scrappy Trips from Bonnie Hunter's tutorial.  When 4 blocks are joined, a Trip Around the World style unit appears.  I used 2" strips to make these.
   There are  six floral fabrics in each block, blended by  the value of the fabric  in each block---either light to dark or dark to light.   I can say that each one is different.....repeated fabrics, yes.....but in different combinations.

   What could be better than viewing the last of the garden blooms sitting under a lapful  of favorite floral fabrics!
And a wonderful reminder of a perfect fall day.

   For the quilting,  I used an overall pattern of swirls and a few leaves thrown in.  I kept the quilting open and not too dense.  A softer effect to blend it all together.

     Finished off with a label.

Category is Small Quilt.
Tripping through the Flowers
is 56 " by 56 ".
Machine quilted by me on Tiara.

 Time to grab a cup of coffee, settle in under your favorite throw, and view some quilts in the festival.

 Here is the link to the main festival page.   Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the festival! 

September is a wrap

   September felt very busy, but looking back I did not have finishes.   We were gone for the first couple of weeks, so......progress counts, doesn't it?

Two scrap projects underway are still in progress.    The scrappy project for Let's Book it from August has grown and looks so much better because of the extra variety of fabrics.  I assembled the completed blocks into 4 patches, using 2 dark paired with 2 light or medium blocks.   That will keep the values scattered and running on the diagonal line.  I probably need about 24 more blocks before putting this one together.

  A stack of 62 blocks for the Carolina Chain.  These are only 6" blocks, so I will need to keep on adding scraps to get the 120 blocks I think that I need.


     




  The small watercolor is off the wall, fused and under the needle.  I have had a very hard time locating gridded interfacing locally.....and on line the price has jumped dramatically.  So who needs those lines, anyway.  I purchased regular interfacing---lightweight---and drew a couple of reference lines on it myself.  Then just fused away.





 The blended Many Trips is pinned and ready to quilt....progress at least.   This will be my main focus for October....get this one finished as I want to use it in the trunk show in November.  And then there are all the quilts to pull out and get ready for that program.....and a class to teach.  So light plans, will give me time to breathe, relax, and plan.   Happy stitching.