WIP Wednesday

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for a Works-in-Progress Wednesday post!

In Progress:

Spring
What started as a sampler to use up scraps quickly morphed into a an all-out study in green and yellow. I've now got 13-18 blocks, depending on how they're grouped, and I'm trying to figure out a way to put them into one cohesive unit. More on that here. (Warning: this post is a bit melodramatic. The soap opera that is my quilting life...)

Well, I'm happy to say I've made some major progress. First, I ditched the white background. It was a sheet I found at Goodwill. It's possibly the softest, weighty-est, coolest-to-the-touch sheet in the world...but it's a bitch to cut and sew, let me tell you. Lesson learned: stick to 100% cotton for piecing and save the crazy-cool finds for backing.

Lucky I just happened to have a bit of Kona Coal lying around...

Yes!! Much more like the rainy spring day I had envisioned when I was inspired to start the project. Which called for a new title: 'Lemons and Limes' becomes 'Spring.' (Whew, that's out of the way. I find titling quilts awkward. But I can't keep calling it 'that yellow and green one.')

I've been adding borders to my improv blocks to make them all 18" square. I can't decide if I'll add sashing as well, or if a few gray borders will be enough.

Brother Quilt
Obviously, this is for my brother (to commemorate high school graduation). As for titles, my husband suggested...wait for it.... 'Quilt-ageddan' or 'S'ain't Nothin' Like a Quilt' (the school's teams are the Saints). While I'm mulling those over...

I have all the blocks done, but I'm still playing around with the layout. So much yellow and purple intermingling is sort of a puzzle since it's outside my normal palette. I played around with these tradition layouts first:

What do you think? Does it work? I'm a little...bored by them. But maybe I should fight my tendency to eschew simplicity? There is something nice about big, bold, and simple.

Hmm. Next I tried out some modern layouts. I like them much better, but I'm not yet ready to commit to one.

So far this one is my favorite. Don't mind the living room furniture! :o)

Do you have a favorite?

Paisley Sunrise
I'm still plugging away at these liberated Amish cables. I like having a little hand-quilting around to drag into my lap on winter evenings, so I don't mind if this one takes a good long while.

Finishes
Nope!

New Projects
Since I only have three projects in the queue, I'm planning and plotting what I want to make next. Here's the short list:

Wonky Crosses
Liberated Churn Dash
Wonky Stars (probably my favorite block ever...why haven't I done this yet?)
HST Cross (aka Criss Cross)
Liberated/Wonky Nine-Patch

Probably the hardest part is choosing a color scheme for each one. I like a lot of things I've seen on Flickr, but I don't want to copy! Hmm hmm...

Let Block Party Bee Begin!

Friends, I live in San Francisco. Where everything is hip, modern, and progressive...except quilting. Since the amazing Peapod Fabrics closed, going to the fabric store means a) sifting through bins of fake fur, glitter spandex, pleather, and felt in search of material for a Halloween/Pride/Street Fair costume, b) paying $100/yard for designer silks and upholstery fabric to go in your fancy mansion, and/or c) finding the 2-3 bolts of outdated cotton stuffed into the back corner and wishing you were into something else, anything else-- since the materials for knitting, painting, decoupage, re-upholstery seem to be on hand at every turn. It makes Joann's look like Mecca.

How does such a beautiful city lack beautiful fabric choices? I don't know.

For example, I once made a t-shirt. After a 3-day, 4-store hunt for a piece of jersey. Not that I found some options and didn't like them, no, I mean I bought the first one I actually found (it wasn't ugly, but it was expensive).

It gets worse! I lived in the same building as a fabric store for a year and didn't buy anything there except elastic and ribbon. Yeah. It's like that.

I guess the best city in the world has to have at least one flaw.

Anyway, the point of this rant is to say that the virtual modern quilting community has become my water in the quilting desert. Which is why I was SO EXCITED when my first package of fabric arrived from Shelley, officially kicking off my FIRST BEE EVER, the Block Party Bee!

For our first month, Shelley picked the confetti block. Here's what she sent:

Don't know how she knew, but I'm glad I got a ton of green :o) So I added a bit from my stash:

Looks pretty good, if I do say so m'self. I'll be cutting into this one today.

Since I was laying out fabric, I pulled out this little square of Canyon Flutter by Alexander Henry (sent to me gratis with an order from Fresh Modern Fabrics!) and set up some pieces for another block in the yellow and green sampler I've been working on.

I've also been cuddling up with a little hand-quilting in the evenings. My liberated cables are progressing nicely, now that I've got the hang of it.

Much much better than trying to make them perfectly even! I love the organic flow of the curves.

It's hard to get a good pic of the white on white pattern, but I can assure you...it looks cool ;o) Time to go play with confetti.

Improv Blocks

Why am I so compelled to use these ridiculously small scraps. Who cares. No one will know if I throw away a 1" square of fabric.

And yet...I pull out these scraps and stare at them, waiting for some puzzle-like fit to make itself known. They WILL be pieced, damn it.

Yesterday I saw an "O":

 

And then a couple bars in a frame. These are so simple, but I really like them. There is something calming in the symmetry and simplicity of these blocks.

I'm channeling my inner-Amish.

Today's project: 1 case for all 3 of my iPods (I know. It's a sickness.) I'm scouring tutorials for iPod cases but somehow I can't conceptualize how to make dividers so I can stow all three. I'll let you know how it works out.

WIP Wednesday

Well, everyday is WIP-day at my place :o)

Another log cabin scored me some points in the epic battle of the scraps. They seem to be multiplying, not diminishing. These helped a lot too:

This tutorial gave me the idea to put a scrappy frame around my favorite Modern Meadow trees. This is a departure from my normal style (I sort of dislike things "floating") but this project is all about trying something new, right? Anyway, all these cheerful yellows make me happy!

Appreciating the Tortoise

This sampler is forcing me to go slowly. I keep staring at those bits and scraps, waiting for inspiration...something I want to make, that uses the pieces I have. Ideas refused to be rushed. But it's a pleasant sort of preoccupation...as long as I don't pressure myself too much.


I tried some wonky churn dash blocks:

 

And another log cabin:

The next project might have to be a design wall. So far all the blocks are heaped up on a chair, and, true to my measuring phobia, I've been making them all pretty random sizes. I have no idea how they're all going to go together.

Lovely carpet background, huh? Yeah, a design wall is getting put in the queue...

More Samplin'

Don't get used to these everyday posts, guys. I'm going back to work soon, and I'll be way less productive (at least in sewing)...which is why I'm trying to soak up all possible creative goodness over the next few days. And this sampler is doing the trick to keep me motivated. It's fun to make just one of each block. They become more unique and special.

I tackled the HSTs first (I'm not sure what the name of this block is?). I'm seeing these everywhere on Flickr and had to have my very own! But wow, it's been a while since I did any precision piecing, and let me assure I did not achieve the perfect accurate points I was going for.

I'm trying to banish "perfect" from my vocabulary. Perfection is a myth, anyway...why should I put so much stock in something that doesn't exist? This project has been going on for several years now...still a WIP :o) On the bright side, I did something with those HST that I think looks really beautiful.

Next I wanted to do some freestyling. This lovely quilt captured my imagination a while ago. So simple, yet it really gave me pause. There is just something peaceful about it. So I grabbed this guy and gave it a gray frame...

...stepped back, and realized I was re-creating a rainy day-- the gray clouds, the raindrops and puddles, the way that everything growing becomes greener. True to the scene, I cooked up a little sun that may or may not look much more like a rose:

But even so, I love it! These pentagon improv blocks are rocking my world. So satisfying to make and very delicious eye candy. And now for the big reveal...my fabric version of a cloudy, rainy day:

 

Eeekk!! Why does this make me so happy?!!

Up next: these little orphans. Looking forward to sewing them into something tomorrow...

Scrap Bustin' Sampler

Today, my overflowing jars of yellow and green scraps were calling my name. This (entirely candid!) shot captures the mood-- gray and windy, a typical San Francisco summer day. At least my fabrics could be warm and sunny!

But what to make? A little rooting in the ol' quilt cupboard yielded these forgotten finds:

A log cabin made from scraps sometime last year, with no purpose in mind other than to get that sunlight-through-the-forest-canopy type feeling...
















...and three little trees left over from these potholders I made my sister-in-law last Christmas. They have been patiently waiting to participate in a quilt ever since.


Since my attention span for repetitive block-making is at zero lately, this is the perfect opportunity to try my hand at a sampler. Some new blocks, a few old favorites, bustin' scraps...yay!

It's a challenge to stick to the scraps. I want to leap into yardage! But so far I've been pretty good. The trees got some roots from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow (which I horde):

I don't love how it looks right now, but I have some ideas on how to improve it. Like maybe adding a lil sun:

I'm reflecting that I may be a bit obsessed with sunshine. I'm a native of San Diego, and while I love the Bay Area (and the fog that comes with it), I often miss the desert and the big open sky. Especially in the summertime.

I also found some 3" HST. (How am I just "finding" this stuff? Who cut these?!)

Endless possibilities! Yet I had nothing big enough to put them together with, so I made some green "fabric" from the thin strips I had on hand.

 

I find myself doing this increasingly. It's a pretty effective base for any and all wonky projects (not that I've done that many), but I'm getting kind of bored with it. You see why I was so excited by those HST...I've been living in line-land.

I haven't committed to these pinwheels yet. They seem a little...pukey? Sorry, pinwheels. Just calling 'em like I see 'em. I need a sharper contrast. It may be back to the cutting board on this one...