Raft Island 2015

One of my favorites weekends of the year occurs in the summer.  Six of us get together and create a large flimsy.  Each of us makes 15 12" squares. When we started down this path 5 years ago, none of us were quilters, we could all sew, some better than others, but we were not quilters.  As a result a 12" square was just that, a square when finished (but not within the quilt) measured 12". 

You can imagine the frustration we felt when we finally figured out the perfect 1/4" seam on our individual machines, but were ending up with 12.5" squares!  And when we thought we had 1/4" seams and ended up with 11" squares!  For me, I just cut down and live with the not so perfect points!

Each year the recipient chooses a direction for the quilt.  The first year was a free for all.  The second year was lean to blues, but definitely no pink.  The third year was blue, green and orange.  The fourth year was purple, lime green, magenta, and teal.  This year, our fifth was batiks and frames.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't to thrilled to be creating frames.  So, in order to avoid actually sewing: I bought a ridiculous amount of batik when a local fabric store went out of business, I bought bold patterns in fat quarters to use as the focal point of the square and scrounged through a remnant table (stuff a 9x12 plastic bag for $1) in a local fabric recycle store from August through May.

Finally, in May, I broke down and began sewing ... and found that I was really enjoying the creative process of pulling together all sorts of fabric from my stash to create "frames" and a few non-framed squares.  I was spending quite a bit of time scouring the web for patterns and digging through my stash to find the right combinations of colors.
 
Over the years we have accumulated a pile of leftover squares, gorgeous pieces, but they just weren't needed. We have lovingly referred to it as the reject pile.   We figured there were approximately 20 squares, if we each made a couple extra, we could create a second flimsy, even if it involved a couple of single cut 12" squares.  We'd all agreed on the recipient of the "Reject Quilt".

I was really enjoying this creation of framed squares.  I figured I could easily make extra squares if I cut once for 2 or more squares and pieced in an assembly fashion.  Then I'd have more squares in a little less time.

In the end, I made 30 squares.  Many patterns repeated at least twice and several centers repeated twice.  The duplicates were split between the "Frames Quilt" and the "Reject Quilt". 

Update

Cacophony has found a home

If you've been following my blog you know I've had a hard time letting go of Cacophony, but I finally did it.  Well, sort of ... I gave it to my son. In all honesty, I had offered it to him before and he just "mommed" me.  But, last weekend as I changed his sheets, I noticed he was still using his down comforter.  As the weather is getting significantly warmer ... I tossed the down comforter down the laundry chute and put Cacophony on his bed.  He came in to check it out ... and darned if there wasn't a hint of a smile as he ran his hand over Cacophony on his bed.  Will tends to return unwanted gifts.  You'll find presents out in the hall, in the room of the person who gave it to him.  Cacophony is still on his bed!  I guess that means it is home.

 

My annual island quilting weekend is coming up

Every year for the last five years a group of  us have gotten together for a long weekend to create a flimsy.  We have a year to make 12 squares each using a color scheme picked by the recipient of the flimsy.  This year, instead of picking a color scheme, the recipient asked for "frames" in batiks and brights.  I was not looking forward to creating the squares ... a bit mystified as to how to go about it, I procrastinated until mid-May.


Once I got going, I found that I was really enjoying it.  I am scouring the internet looking for patterns to use.  Two sources on the internet that I use often are Quilter's Cache (quilterscache.com) and Jinny Beyer Studio (jinnybeyer.com).  When I don't have time to sit down and put a square together, I find myself going between my stash and sewing room putting together fabric for possible squares.  The first square is from "Vintage Quilt Revival" (http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/). The second square is from Quilter's Cache. 

The third square is from Jinny Beyer Studio.  This one was a challenge for me.  I tried following the sparse instructions on the website and ended up ripping out the seams.  The instructions were to sew all four dark blue triangles to the center and then sew the cream triangles in.  Never having done "Y" seams, I gave it a try.  Did not work out well.  Instead, I sewed dark blue triangles to opposite sides of the center, sewed two cream, dark blue, cream panels and attached each to the center.  It was much easier and I only had to work around a bit of a "curve" to ease the fabric together.  I'm pretty pleased with my fix.

I'll try to get more squares up later,  am hesitant to put them all up at once ... rather time consuming and I'd also like to get better pics.

Naming Quilts

Routine Chaos to Scattered Jewels

Last weekend I finished Routine Chaos.  I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.  My husband's first reaction was "that's a lot of white!".  I agree, but love the delicacy the white adds to the quilt.  

The size of the quilt is a bit unusual in that it is narrow and long, it'll work perfectly as a lap quilt for my 6' husband, not a lot of excess on the sides, but plenty to tuck under feet on cold winter nights. 
 

 


I am very pleased with my hand stitching of the binding, along with how well my corners turned out.  If I can just duplicate on future quilts!










 I've also decided upon a new name for the quilt: "Scattered Jewels". 

 Mug Rugs

  

I decided to make a couple Mug Rugs for a gift.

 


I managed to find all I needed in my stash.  Using the last bit of horse fabric from a project of my daughter's, some olive scraps and two fat quarters in aqua.

I used a quilt as you go method to quilt it and then used two different methods to attach the bindings. 

Naming Quilts

In the past when I've made quilts for someone, as I've worked on them I've always thought of them as Nikki's quilt, Katherine's quilt, Will's quilt and so on.  Spending the time on them and then giving them away to the intended person was never a problem.  

Last summer, I was thinking about a baby quilt for a baby due later in the summer.  My daughter challenged me to make a non-gender specific quilt.  My idea was to use up fabric from my stash.  It would be easy to cut leftovers into 3" squares and randomly organize them in the quilt.  I would include traditional gender specific colors and patterns, but would also include fabrics that did not shout baby or gender.  The progress on the quilt was much slower than I expected it to be.  But what surprised me more than anything was the memories many of the fabrics brought back.  

As the baby had not been born ... I didn't have a name to attach to the quilt.  Around the same time I joined an online quilting community and was introduced to the idea of naming quilts ... the name that jumped out to me for this quilt was "Cacophony" ... and so as I worked on "Cacophony" my love for it grew ... "Cacophony" was a quilt of firsts for me.  The first time I cut over 500 pieces for a quilt, machine quilting, bindings, squaring up pieces, burying threads, and more.  In the end I couldn't bear to give "Cacophony" away.  And then I again named the quilt - made from leftovers of "Cacophony" - "Routine Chaos/Scattered Jewels" and cannot let it go either.  

I've started to make a couple of quilts for a Children's Hospital -- in order to assure they are delivered, they have been named -- Mary Bridge 1 and Mary Bridge 2. 

Mary Bridge 1

 

My next project will be to make Summer Baby's quilt.  I should have that done by next fall!

Cacophony, Routine Chaos, Jelly Roll Race and Pinks

 Cacophony is finished.  When I put the binding on I machine stitched it all the way.  Then I ran the quilt through the wash and I wasn't at all happy with the way it looked.  I ripped the binding off and redid it, hand stitching the final seams.  Another problem I ran into, a seam in the binding landed on a corner and I had quite a bit of trouble getting it to lay nicely.  Well, truth be known, not only does it not lay nicely, it may be troublesome on future washes.  I also needed to mend one seam in the middle of the quilt after washing.  So, with the little fixes and imperfections, I've decided to keep the quilt.  I can always mend it along the way.

Routine Chaos has been quilted and I'm in the process of burying the threads.  The quilt reminds me of the Christmas ornaments made by my husband's mom and aunt out of styrofoam balls, upholstery/drapery fabric, dressmaker pins and costume jewelry. Perhaps a Scattering of Jewels would be a good alternate name.

I'm also in love with this quilt.  Not surprising as it is the made from the leftovers of Cacophony.  I'll be keeping it.



I made a bit of a faux pas purchasing 2.5 inch strips online after Christmas.  I thought I was buying one pack of discontinued strips ... instead I'd joined a strip of the month club.  Okay, so I now have strips coming every month ... this could be interesting.  I decided I'd give it a try and see what I could do.  To the left is January and February together in a Jelly Roll Race.  I'm leaning towards a double border of aqua and then gray, backed in gray.  This one doesn't have a name, maybe it'll be easier to give away!

Lastly, in an attempt to make a dent in my stash I thought I'd see what I could create with these fabrics.   One set monochromatic pinks and the other set fabrics with pinks in them.

I've got three designs in mind, Cacophony in pink, stacked coins, and a triangle strip.  I have no idea how much I'll have/need to do the three.  Or if I'll be able to combine the two sets of strips. I'll just adapt as I go.

Cacophony: nearing completion

I finally found time after the holidays to get back into my sewing room and work on Cacophony.  The more I work on it the more I'm falling in love with it.  It originally started out as a way to use up scraps in my stash and give as a gift.  As I worked on it many of the fabrics brought back memories of past comforters, quilts, Halloween costumes and other projects.  Some are just fat quarters my daughter and I fell in love with.  

I used spray adhesive to sandwich the layers together and am very pleased with the results.  I did not catch any fabrics on the back as I machine quilted.  I also like that I wasn't constantly navigating and removing pins. 

I originally started out running one long diagonal stitch down the center of the quilt and then realized on the next diagonal that the sashing throws the diagonals off!  Mind you I have a degree in Math Ed, you would think I would have known better to begin with!  I pulled out the seam ripper and pulled the 1+ rows of quilting out.  I really wanted diagonal stitching, so I settled on doing each set of squares individually.  And then about halfway through, past the point of no return, realized that perhaps horizontal or vertical stitching would not have run through the squares that I'd carefully cut to highlight a bird, bunny or  other pattern!  It also would have been much quicker to finish. 

The binding is all that is left and the quilt will be finished.  Below is a close up of the stitching.  I alternated the direction of the stitching by rows giving it a bit of a chevron look.

This quilt started out as a baby quilt that was not gender specific.  It was going pretty well, until I chose the blue for the sashing.  No other color seemed to give pop to the squares except this blue or maybe because blue is my favorite color!

Once finished, my dilemma will be whether or not I can give it as a gift.  Is it made well enough for a gift?  Or am I so invested in it that I can claim it is not and keep it for myself.  How does one let go of their first quilts?  The intended recipient has no knowledge of it ...

Disclaimer: This is not my work!

On Saturdays my husband, Bob, and I often walk downtown to the Farmer's Market.  The city has many urban trails and we can make it down there walking on neighborhood streets and through woods.  After Farmer's Market, coffee, lunch, and other local shops we head home.  Just outside of the downtown area is a new fabric store ... it's all about upcycling fabrics, yarns, and other textiles, Ragfinery.  They often have finished items the staff and others have made from the donations.  A few weeks ago, there was a finished quilt top tacked on the wall.

As we walked home, my husband couldn't stop talking about it.  He wished he'd taken a picture of it.  Thanks to Zenia Rene I was able to identify it as a One Block Wonder.  I also found a book on One Block Wonders.  So the next step would be to find similar fabric.  We headed 60 miles south to a fabric store on Black Friday to take advantage of their 20% off the entire store ... we did not find any fabric that felt right.  I actually was a bit relieved.  I am leery of tackling a project this big and would really prefer to try it with some heavily discounted fabric first! 

A week later we stopped by Ragfinery again after our trip to the market and the top was still there.  We asked about it and the backstory is it was donated by a woman in the county who gave up quilting due to health issues.  It was so beautiful to the both of us, we brought it home.



We've started discussing backing for it and the possibility of another border or two.  We're thinking this will be a couch quilt.  Our daughter will be home from college later this week and we'll definitely get her advice on the backing ... she has an interesting approach to color that always turns out well.

 

I currently have 4 quilt tops that need to be finished, including this one.  I'll save this one for last and if I'm not confident that I can do it justice, I'll either set it aside until I'm ready or take it to a professional.  

The fun part of this is my husband's taken an interest in quilting.  He's even been asking about how a long arm works, did I get to see it when I dropped my other quilt off, and so on.   While I don't see a long arm in my future, I suspect he won't be as bored if he gets coerced into stopping at a fabric store any time soon. 

Routine Chaos

Twenty-one years ago when our son was born the professionals were quite insistent that we would have to keep to a strict routine as people with down syndrome had to have routine.  My thoughts at that time were we would just need to develop a new normalcy for the family as anyone with a new baby would.  We would also establish chaos as the routine in the household! Today, chaos is still the basic routine with adaptations made to accommodate each individual in the family.

Will was born a week before Thanksgiving, so he's always been my Thanksgiving baby.  This year due to an aging dog, we were unable to leave town for the usual family gathering.  We had a quick simple Thanksgiving dinner, but with all the trimmings.

The rest of the day I split between the sewing room and family room keeping the dog company.  This morning I finished the top to "Routine Chaos"

When I originally cut up my 3" scraps for "Cacophony" I also cut 2" squares from the smaller scraps.  Then I used the 2" scraps as leaders and enders while working on "Cacophony".  By the time I was finished with it, I had nearly finished with sewing the 4 x 4 blocks. I have to add that on occasion I just sat down and worked on the 2" squares when I had a few minutes.  Over the weeks, I toyed with ways to put the squares all together and decided that I liked the idea of the squares turned on point, but didn't want all of them.  I also thought about rows of diamonds and rows of squares, in the end I went with alternating the diamonds and squares. 

So, here is "Routine Chaos" a tribute to my Thanksgiving baby, beauty in the unexpected.