Saffron - Some Scrappy Goodness

Saffron

80” x80”

A delight for all, full of energy and life. A hippie child, some might say. The only direction she is going is forward, but boy has she picked up some stuff along the way. And maybe left quite a bit behind too. You love her or you hate her, but you can’t deny her brightness.

Did I ever tell you about my dream? I don’t know what it is about perimenopause but my dreams are so vivid and bold, every single night. So when you have a dream about a quilt it feels right to run with it. Of course I did not intend to make a quilt, only make a few blocks to scratch the itch the dream started. But they were too good and too much fun.

The block is one I picked out from Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Blocks. After the dream I came in to the studio, made a cup of tea and pulled out the book to find the literal block of my dreams. It’s called Crockett Cabin. I chose to make it as an 8” blocks because it is a 16 patch and 2.5” blocks are easy and I knew would use scraps nicely.

In the end, the fabric came from whatever scraps I could cut enough of and then whatever I picked from stash to play with them. My only rule was that there be no black and white prints. Some blocks have pretty strong contrast and some, not so much. I really love the interplay when you do this. It creates a lot of movement in the overall quilt. That contrast also applied to the temperature - warm or cool colours. Sometimes a contrast, sometimes not. This doesn’t always make it easy when it comes to figuring out a final layout, but that creative challenge is worth it. (And my favourite part of making a quilt.)

I did have a different layout in mind as I made the blocks. So much so that half the blocks have the dark as the motif and half have it as the background. The layout I was planning was 100% based on this. However, when making a scrap quilt like this, finding order can be harder than anticipated. My original plan looked like a hot mess. So even though I always say that value is probably more important than colour, in this case, colour cannot be discounted. Creating colour stories and laying out all the blocks in the same direction provided an order even better than I could have predicted. Is the layout you would have chosen? Probably not, but that’s okay. This is my quilt.

There is absolutely no point getting too fussed about the quilting on a quilt like this. You really aren’t going to see it. It serves the purpose of holding the quilt together and adding texture, but fancy designs would only disappear. I quilted this one with an overall loopy meander. Easy peasy. And in green, because it serves as a great neutral on a multicoloured quilt. Plus, it went well with the floral I picked for the back.

When it came time to pick binding I did not want to go with classic black and white on a multi-coloured quilt. It wouldn’t have been right. Truthfully, almost any other colour would have worked, but I liked the idea of yellow. It goes well with the back and it brings out the glow at the centre of the quilt.

Now I have this treasure of a quilt, full of so many favourite fabrics. Yes, I’ve already been snuggling under it.

Renata - Improv Log Cabin Variation Writ Large

Renata

Approximately 98” x 98”

In public, she is a force of energy and joy. Alone, she is introspective and prefers to cuddle up with her puppies and a bowl of pasta. In public, people want to hear from her and they listen. Alone, she would rather keep her mouth shut and hear what others have to say. In public, she gives. Alone, she regroups.

This quilt started as a sample on how to use an ugly or simply hard to use fabric. In my case, it was this vintage fabric with cocktail scenes. So very Mid Century Modern, which is why I was gifted it. But it sat for years because I had no idea what to do with it.

Now I have this gorgeous, giant quilt to gift a friend. Improv log cabins to the rescue! Well, three sided logs.

To finish her I rented time on a long arm. I wasn’t planning any fancy stitching but the long arm is a lot more efficient than basting and wrangling this large of a quilt through my domestic machine. Wavy lines to evoke some water inspiration (see it in the fabric?). And nothing to take away from all the gorgeous fabrics I used.

I’m on a finishing kick here, and this was the first one in that. I quilted 4 that rental and another 3 a few weeks later. Which means I have been binding a lot! Having used all my fabrics in this palette, and then some, I did have to shop for some binding. This green was perfect. Nothing fancy on the back, just a serene pale grey in case the recipient needs a change.

Vintage Inspired Log Cabin Variations

Phew! That was a lot of sewing.

When I started playing around with the blocks I did not anticipate a quilt at all. It was just play. Standard, for me, of course. It was a challenge to use a fabric that I had laying around with no clear idea how to use it. In all honesty, it was a sample for a class I was teaching on using ugly fabric. It’s not actually ugly, but I was stuck on how to use it.

So, together with my students, we played around with some ideas. In the end, I settled on a three sided log cabin, made with fabrics picked to match. I stuck to lights and low volumes in order to keep with the breezy feeling of the inspiration fabric. I made a few blocks, smiled, then packed them away. A few years later I pulled them out and made a few more. Then, earlier this year I noticed that a quilt I gifted a friend is getting worn out - it is very well loved. I started a replacement, nearly finished the top, then realized it was completely the wrong quilt. But these blocks? Perfect!

Knowing she uses her quilt on her king bed I went for big ambitions. We know I love a big quilt! But it meant a lot more blocks. And more fabric. Then judicious use of the new fabric with the original fabric so it didn’t look like two different quilts coming together.

It is all improv, so trimming is where I found some order. Each column is unique in width, made up of blocks cut to maximize their use/minimize trimmings. Of course, each column wanted to be a different length so some additions were made here, some subtractions there. It all worked in the end.

Off to quilting so I can get her a fresh quilt before the weather changes.

Quinn - An Improv and Quilt As You Go Experiment

Quinn

72” x 72”

She’s quiet on the outside but inside she is full of energy and desire. You wouldn’t know it, but she is a lover of dance and travel and experimentation. She only needs a fellow warm heart to open her up, then all the colour and joy pour out.

You’ve heard me say before that I am easily swayed by suggestion. I was teaching my Braided Rug class and someone asked about a square block. My samples were all rectangles at the time. So we made a square together. I liked it so much I made more and more of them. Actually, I made 36 of them. And now, if I teach the class again I will need another sample!

The bin of scrap strips was not emptied, but this did put a dent in it. And it forced me to sort those fabrics! I did have to supplement with some fresh strips cut from the stash to get enough in a few colours. Remember, though, fabric is fabric.

Around the time I finished most of the blocks - I sewed each colour into a 4 patch as I completed each set - I cleaned up my batting scraps. The pile was unruly and large. That spurred a decision to assemble this in a Quilt As You Go style. It used up most of what was left of my old design wall (it was wrapped in quilt batting) and a few other pieces. Brilliant!

I want to do a proper comparison of the techniques, but here are my initial thoughts.

1. It uses up more material on the quilt back. But only because my blocks were 24” square, which means more than a half of a width of fabric with an odd cut left over. That’s why I don’t have all the same fabric on the back, I didn’t have enough.

2. It is very handy to quilt in smaller sections. I could change the thread colour to match and there is no wrangling of a large quilt.

3. Assembly is both easy and fiddly. Just a straight seam joining the front seams, but trimming and hand sewing to finish the back.

4. I don’t think it necessarily saves time, because of the hand stitching required, but not a bad technique overall.

This is not the first time I’ve done Quilt As You Go, but the previous time I used strips as joining, an entirely different technique. For this quilt I followed the instructions laid out my Judy Gauthier in her book, Quilt As You Go For Scrap Lovers.

To finish the quilt I found a brilliant Tula Pink stripe. Not exactly a rainbow, but it had all the same colours as my colourful quilt. Originally, I thought I might match the binding to each block, but this was too perfect. One last bit of hand stitching to finish the quilt.