Binding finished

Some of the 3-D bow tie blocks were turned into a small table runner for Christmas---all the "knots" were in a red print and the rest of the bow tie were green prints.    The other bow tie blocks are now joined and waiting to be quilted.  Maybe after the holidays!

The mountains are now called "My Carolina Byways" and it is bound and labeled.  The borders are different sizes on this one....top and left are 3" and the bottom and right are 4 1/2".  Huh?  That's what was in my scrap boxes and I decided to mix it up and use up the stash.  Same for the bindings.  It's a great snuggle lap quilt....just for me. 

While I was putting  the leftover scraps away from this, I ran across a box of leftover blocks.  Well, actually, the box fell off the shelf and almost  landed on top of me.  The point being I had forgotten about the odd test blocks, and leftovers from many projects.  I found a few "gems" in there and bingo!  I was off on a new binge.  I put together about 6 Mug Rugs and got 4 of them quilted last night.  What a great way to use up some scraps and have some small projects to share.  I think I will include one with the tote bag I made for Billie and her travels.
  The worktable is cleared off now, so onto the scappy braid.  More instuctions tomorrow.

Sorting fabrics for the scrappy braid

Life interfered this week and I have only just begun to sort the 3 shoe  boxes of strips.  Our guild meeting was Monday night and the speaker was Dixie Haywood, a quilting pioneer for modern  crazy quilting and foundation piecing.  What a wonderful showing of her quilts--and her winners  at Houston in past years.  She was probably the first quilter to use the "tilted" setting, using long triangles for the borders.  And she still hand quilts....just beautiful.

On to sorting.....oops, I found another partial box.  Some strips are full width of fabrics, others are from fat quarters, and lots of short pieces left from other projects.    Beware when I open one of these and get started, the strips seems to multiply.

Here are stacks of strips  from the first box that are sorted into "color families"....blues, purples, yellows, green, red, and orange to browns.
Some fabrics are easy to identify because they read as a solid--- think tone on tone fabrics and batiks.  But what about multi-color prints and designs?  My first sort goes by first impression as I glance at the fabric, or by the background color.  Example is the dark blue background fabric with the large leaves.  I put it in the blue stack for now.  Next to it is the purple stack and the floral print on the top has several colors in it.  But the first impression is the purple color and that's where I put it.  I may or not be able to use these busy fabrics in the planned braid design---they may just appear too dominant or stand out too much.  If that happens,  I will put them back into the box for another project.   But hopefully, the busy prints will be the transition pieces that will allow me to jump from one color family to another. 

The purple stack is now sorted by value. All the purples were spread out on my work table.  Piece by piece, I judge the value....I use a value viewer when in doubt.  The lightest go to the left, and the darkest go to the right.  What is left in the middle are the mediums.  Simple as that! I have lots of saved lids from shoe boxes, so each color family will have a separate "tray" that I will work from.  I have a lot of sorting to do before I begin sewing the long braids, but I will try a short segment to decide on how long to cut the strips. 
Next time, I'll show you how to get the braid started....I hope! 
Happy stitching.

Clearing off the design wall

I finished up the quilting on the mountains, and just need to get the binding on.  And all those small landscapes were hogging the rest of the design wall.  So I managed to get the beach seascape quilted and the borders on the rest of them.  I tried adding rocks to extend into the border and just didn't like it that way.  I gave up and just quilted it to pieces!  I do like the "barn wood" type fabric I used for the border, as it has a bit of turquoise in it to pick up  the water color.   This one goes to Steve and Doreen....Sun rises over Cadillac Mtn in Maine.

These are the  Spring, Summer, and Fall small landscapes.  I ended up using fabric markers on the Spring one--to shade and blend the strip fabric that looked like a road.  then I thought it needed a fence on the fall side of the road.....too tiny pieces.
Summer finished off better, I think.  I extended the foreground of rocks and some more flowers into the border.
Fall looks good in the photo, but trying to come up with the right reds and angles to make it work was a challenge.  Finally, I realized everything was on the bottom with just a tiny strip for the hills and then the lake.  I added a second layer on the far side of the lake and got the depth I needed.  I changed to a different piece for the very bottom---leaves of different greens and some reds and was able to blend a tree into it.  I was happy with how it ended up.  I have not done the Winter season yet, but I did thread paint a few small pine and fir trees for it....maybe. 
Part of this exercise for the 4 seasons was to understand the choice of fabrics and shades of colors will convey an impression of the time of year.  Spring colors are lighter and more yellow based---my choices were a bit off in this one.  Summer colors are deeper and brighter greens and the shadows are stronger because of the sun.  Fall colors, well guess we just look out the window right now.....rich reds and golds and tans. 
Insight:  Do the exercises--like them or not---you might learn something in the process.
I bought the book to learn, and I would be wasting my $ if I only looked at the photos.  Time invested was small in comparison to what I gained.  So I will get the Winter season done. 

My evening stitching project of the 3-D bow-ties is ready to be put together....all 20 blocks.  I only made a small dent in my 3 1/2 " square stash.  But back into the closet they go, because I am ready to begin sorting through 2 1/2 " strips for the scrappy braid.  Stay tuned.
Happy stitching,

Got strips?

Got strips?   I do.  And it is time to use up all those 2 1/2 "  strips and pieces that fill 3 shoe boxes in my closet.    My de-stash project will be  a scrappy braid quilt, where anything goes, or at least almost anything.  So if you want to sew along, I will be giving details and explaining how to put a scrappy braid quilt together. 

 I love scrap quilts, but there does need to be some sort of order or plan to make it successful.  So I plan on working in colorways and blending by value.  A simple braid ends up appearing complex,  because it is "on point" or diagonal when finished.  Yet it  is very easy to sew and it "grows" in length quickly.  

  This is a snapshot from EQ5 of a "block" done in a simple braid, so you can see the easy construction.  It is kind of like a log cabin--you just keep adding to one side instead of going around the center.  The braid will not be done in blocks but in one long strip.  And you have a zigzag edge to it that will be trimmed when the strip is finished. 
 Rather than re-invent the wheel or construction wheel, I guess it would be.....visit Bonnie Hunter at quiltville because she has a great tutorial on the pioneer braid construction. 




So how do I plan and figure out how much fabric I need?  Decide on the size I want to end up with....a lap size of 50 " by 60 " is what I usually aim for.  In general, that size will require about 3  yards of fabric....so I think I have that in the 3 shoe boxes of strips. 

The math:    I am working with 2 1/2  inch strips .....remember to subtract the seam allowance.  Finished  at 2 inch  works out to be-----  2 times 1.414 equals 2.8 inch diagonal measurement. (Note*  refer to the photo above to see how the strips end up on the diagonal).   Each strip in the braid will give me a diagonal length of 2.8 inches.  I want a length of about 60 inches.  Divide 60 by 2.8 and get 21.4.  YUK!  Don't like those fractions.  So I will work with 20 strips for each braid and should finish up about 56 inch in length for the braid.  That will give me room for adding a border. 
So how wide will each braid strip be?  That depends on me!  I plan on using a separator strip of black---2 " that will finish at 1 1/2 " ---between each braid.  I want an odd number of braids---design principle that odd is better than even.  That means 5 or 7.....using 5 braids runs and a 1.5 inch strip between each one, the braids would need to be 7 inches wide to get the width.  If I make 7 braid runs (again with a 1.5  inch strip between them), the braid width will be narrower, probably 5"  or 6"  which will be good for using smaller strip lengths. 

So here's a mock up I created in EQ5 using 5 braid runs to give  a better idea of what all those words and math figures meant. 
Got questions?  Ask them.
Got strips?  Get them out. 
 I am going to check my stash and see what I have to work with. 
Then  I will explain how I will sort them and get ready to sew.










Here's a signature creator that I ran across last week for bloggers.  Just thought I would share.
Happy stitching.....

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome to the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Kit Kat has always been one of my favorite quilts.  Naturally, it is a watercolor--strip pieced-- and tells a story.   I took a class on the technique in 2000 and really found my quilting heart in watercolor quilts.  I love to blend the fabrics to fool the eye and make you look closer to see what is beyond. 

For this technique you use 25 different fabrics for each block.  Using full width of fabric cuts, you get about 18 blocks that are alike.  Using fat quarters, you would get 9 blocks.  For this quilt, I  used up a lot of short lengths of strips  and made  about 4 different combinations to get enough blocks.  

The challenge with this technique is the layout.  You can't be sure what you will get until you try....very subjective.    Some block combinations have more light areas, and others more dark areas.  No matter what I plan before sewing,  the blocks seem to have a mind of their own.    Yet, for a large lap quilt size (this is 50" by 65"), it is the way to do it.  

 

 The story......  

I tried all kinds of layouts before settling on this one. It reminded me of the trellis on the back deck that had a Clematis vine growing on it.  And our cat, Pookie, loved to nap in the sun near the trellis.    One day I watched as she patiently watched the butterflies flit all around her.  And then that paw flashed out as she tried to catch one for her own.  Thankfully, she missed, but I loved the moment. 

So as I studied the trellis layout, that picture in my memory came back to me.  I machine appliqued a couple of vines, leaves, and blossoms along with a pink butterfly.  The silhouette of Pookie was drawn from a photo and raw edge appliqued too.  I added 2 narrow strip inset borders before the outer border.  I love the way it frames the quilt like a photo.  
So this quilt became the photo of that special memory.  Each quilt tells a story.  It is part of the threads of our lives.  And that's my secret to share....I stitch a little piece of my heart into each quilt I make.  That is what gives them life.
May each stitch you take create a special memory of your life and those you love.

Happy Stitching....Debbie

Small Landscapes are addicting!

The first practice piece  is now ready to finish off.  I am just turning the border to the back and stitching it in place rather than a full binding.  Looking at it now, I wish I had extended the base of the  tree into the border.  I'll try to remember that for another one.

I put together the Spring scene yesterday and added the details this morning.  One thing I did differently this time was to use a piece of muslin as a base to work on. I cut base  fabric 7" by 10".   I  just top stitched the pieces to the base.   I don't like the striped fabric....instead of looking like a plowed field, it looks like a road!  And I think the golden piece should have had a flatter curve.  The little fence worked great, even if the tiny sticks were a pain to work with.  I cheated and  used Pigma pens  to add shadows at the base of them,  and for the details on the lighthouse.

  

Then I pulled fabrics out for the Summer.  I decided that the sky was too stormy looking for a summer day and switched it to a lighter blue.  Matter of fact, I switched most of them and added water after all.   I'm not sure what details I will go back and add to this one.... maybe a boat on the lake, or a tree overhanging from the border once it is attached.  I ended with the road/path at the bottom, like you are over looking the whole scene.    

So exactly what have I learned from doing this practice..........

 Insights:

I need a base fabric to sew on.  It keeps the top fabric from shifting so much.

    Study photos for shading in the landscape.

    Add details, it gives the scene  life.

    These things are addictive....you can't make just one!

    And I need a new camera.  Mine died while trying to take these photos.  Or else I need to learn how to use Russ' better!

Tomorrow the Blogger's Quilt festival begins......

Happy Stitching....Debbie

Bucket List Day

No sewing on Tuesday, as it was a Bucket List Day.  If you haven't seen the movie, The Bucket List, you may not understand this post.  Basically the bucket list is all the things you want to do or see before you kick the bucket.
  I heard that a group of vintage war planes were in town for tours and rides.  I told Russ, "No work on Tuesday.  We are going to tour the planes.  You have your orders."

 And we did.  I crawled, climbed and squeezed through the B-17, known as The Flying Fortress, and the B-24, known as The Liberator.  What an experience, from the tiny flight step--not deck-- to the bomb bay and the waist gunners, to the tail.  I was over-whelmed by what those men did for our country and our freedom.  This  top photo is the B-17, the last of it's kind that is still flying.   The second is inside looking towards the front and the pilot's seat. 

The P-51 Mustang was a real beauty.  This plane is a small 2 seater and known for speed.  Everyone wanted to just touch her.
There were over 240 WWII Vets that came out that day, and it was a special treat to hear some of their stories.  Several of the men had actually piloted planes like these.




The special surprise Russ was the end of the day.....when he got to take a ride in the Flying Fortress.   He even crawled into the nose gun area during the flight.  

Just nothing like sharing a special day and crossing something off your Bucket List.

It's not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.

Happy Stitching....Debbie