Before our recent move, I was actually able to make significant progress on two secret projects that I've been hinting at for way too long... I'm in the process of writing my own quilting patterns! Since it is such a lengthy process not only to write the pattern, but also make a sample quilt, it's been hard keeping it under wraps... week after week making lots of progress, but nothing to show!
If you have seen very many of my quilts, you may have noticed a little addition here that doesn't usually pop up in the rest of my projects, and is definitely not a staple in my fabric stash. Somehow I felt like that this quilt just needed to have grey in it! So, am I the only one who chain pieces paper pieced patterns?
... but behind
the scenes, this quilt top is getting close to being finished! The first
pattern will of course be a paper pieced pattern with some applique... what else, right? Somehow I'm
just not ready to step away from my jewel colors, and this palette has
made it back up on my design wall once again.
There's no offiical release date lurking around the corner, and I even hesitated about letting the cat out of the bag too early. There are still a few boxes in random corners throughout the house waiting to be unpacked, and our big guy starts school this next month (!?!), so needless to say, my plate is pretty full. Are you working on any summer sewing projects?
Linking up to Let's Bee Social.
If you've followed me on any of my quilting journeys you know that color is my favorite part of the quilting process and feels easy to me, while the actual quilting part is what I struggle with the most. Since my Jeweled Improv Mini is my first improv project, I really was a little clueless where to even start quilting. Sometimes balanced designs give you little hints, but
there's nothing symmetrical here!
Somehow the obvious choice seemed to be to shadow the points: Obvious, but perhaps a little too obvious... predictable was not what I wanted on an improv project. Instead I really wanted to challenge and push myself, not to mention avoid the downside of having several points that would have to be backstitched since this gal doesn't bury threads!
In the end, I actually did let the design dictate the quilting to me. I started by making the white open V at the bottom of the quilt my starting point, and filled it in. Once the radiated V was in place, I changed the direction of the quilting lines into an L shape on both sides.
I really wanted to use my variegated threads that I had purchased a while back (with no particular project in mind), but I decided that to use it all over might be too much and take away from the overall design. I used a white Auriful thread for the main quilting, and simply accented a few random points, which I think continues with the improv style.
This past Saturday was the first HH Patchwork Treffen with my girls since we've moved, and my first time back at the sewing machine in three weeks!?! Let's just say that it was a much needed sewing time, and I'm super excited to have my first project checked off my Q3 Finish-A-Long list!
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social.
If you somehow happened to miss randomly dropped mentions here and there from my previous posts, we've moved! This has not been an easy decision, but we are hopeful that it was the right one. With all that being said, this girl has been desperately missing her sewing machine!?! Like a good little quilter, I gave up my Bernina a week before the move to have her serviced. It's when you have to give something up, that you start to notice that you are a total addict! Anyone else out there who exhibits major withdrawl symtoms when away from the sewing machine for too long? This whole last week has been about unpacking boxes, finding new spots for things, and making our temporary living space a home.
Since I will be looking for a little direction once I am able to sit back down at the sewing machine, the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q3 linkup couldn't come at a more prefect time! I had two finishes last quarter (here and here). This quarter I will have two projects that I will carry over from my Q2 list, and two that have been recently added:
1. My Churnstile blocks are now a quilt top, and I was able to get it basted before we moved... and now there's just a little simple quilintg ahead.
2. Green Smoothie Quilt... even though this is the second project that is carried over from the last quarter, it won't make it to top of my priority list because buying a new bed is. All the leaves are finished and connected, but since I want to custom fit this to a bed that we don't have yet, it will have to wait.
3. Jeweled Improv Quilt... this was a result of using up leftover scraps from my bees blocks, but instead of letting all that scrappy goodness go to waste, I started my very first improv project... well, at least I've found the perfect thread to quilt it.
4. Jeweled Mystery Quilt... this is one of my undercover projects that I have talked about several times, but I've not even given the smallest sneak peak anywhere... until now. This might actually be top of my priorty list to finish soon, because I can't hold it in much longer... a Q3 finish is a ambitious goal, but I hope doable.
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social and 2016 Finish-A-Long
P.S. If you've commented on my blog the last several months, and have not heard anything back from me, now you know what has been keeping me so busy and from writing back... but I do appreciate each and every comment!
It's no secret that I've become a huge fan of paper piecing since the very first stitch... but what I'm not a big fan of is the amount of seemingly still good and usable scraps that can be produced throughout the process.
I really wish that I could make grandiose claims of being a good little quilter that uses every last little delicious bit, scrap, and snippit that one creates when cutting up fabric only to sew it back together again... but I have to admit that large amounts of scraps overwhelm me, and in a big way! No worries, I don't throw away every little snippit that happens to fall to the floor, but the reality of it is that if it's too small then it lands in the trash before it lands in the scrap bin.
After finishing a few of my bee blocks, I realized that I had too many great scraps to just scrap (pun intended!) So, I decided that it was time for me to try out an improv project. I made up several long, wonky half square triangles and played around with a few design layouts.
This is the design that I finally settled on, and I kind of like how it's come together. It's not a highly improv piece, but improv enough for me. I have a few more projects and techniques to get out of my system first before I jump in with both feet.
How do you use your leftover bits and pieces? Do you save every little scrap or are you able to let the teeny tidbits go?
Linking up to Let's Bee Social and Sew Cute Tuesday and Scraptastic Tuesday.
