Braided Rug Quilt Coming Along

There are a lot of different reasons folks make scrap quilts. And many for why they don’t! I go over a lot of them in my presentations and classes. I can say that one of the key reasons to make a scrap quilt is to clean up/use up scraps. There comes a point where the pile/bin/basket is too much and to avoid throwing them out you have to find a way to use them up while making yourself happy with the process.

That’s exactly what happened with these blocks. I have 3 more to make to get the quilt to where I want it to be. Have I used all the fabric yet? Nope. Am I sick of making these blocks? Yup.

Now I could just stop, set everything aside, and come back in a year or so. I do that a lot and have no problem doing so. But that itch to clean up/use up those scraps was strong. Very strong. So I did the math on what was required to get where I want to go. That is, after changing my mind. I’m so close now that I am excited by the finish.

Besides, my new studio is so very nearly ready and it will be great to go in there just a little bit lighter on the scraps.

Theodora - A Modern Tree of Life Quilt

Theodora

50” x 50”

It wasn’t her greatest desire, moving West. She had a comfortable life in a respectable home. Growing up in town, in a house her father purchased, not built, meant that Theordora had no notion of what it might really be like to move to the Wild West. But she was in love and her husband wanted to go. At least she wouldn’t have to be a farmer. That’s what she told herself, at least. Her husband was a gentleman and would be working for the government. In the city, not the farm. That notion was small comfort when she arrived in Calgary. It was still rather wild for her tastes. They found a small house, she joined the church, and soon made friends with the other women brought by their husbands. It was one of these friends that introduced her to quilting. Needlework, she knew, but quilting was a new skill and a handy one when the long winter nights settled in. She could piece her little triangles while her husband read and it almost made it worthwhile, the homesickness.

Theodora is a modern interpretation of a Tree of Life quilt I found in the Heritage Park quilt collection. I’m making up the story here, but the original quilt inspired both it and the quilt here. A few years ago I was asked to teach at Heritage Park’s Festival of Quilts. My idea was to look at quilts in their own collection and create a modern version of it for student’s to play with.

I took the original quilt, wrote a modern pattern that uses only half square triangles and squares for simple patchwork construction, then had some fun playing. This is one version I made, drawing from the original colours but scaling up the size of the block.

Theodora takes blocks I made as samples for that class 3 years ago - made into a finished quilt top earlier this year - and finishes it up. My daughter’s pentathlon coach and his wife are expecting their first baby. With a woodland themed nursery and a love of Heritage Park this seemed like the perfect gift for them.

To tone down the greens of the front I added a contrasting backing with fabrics hiding in my stash. They provide a bright contrast in colour, making this truly a double sided quilt. I love doing that, especially for baby quilts, so there are more options for use. Continuing the woodland theme I quilted it with a woodgrain free motion pattern on a rented long arm machine. While I often recommend olive green as a magical blending colour for quilting, this time it was perfectly on the nose.

To make the binding I hunted through my stash for the perfect green. Normally I like a contrasting binding but that didn’t seem like the right move here. With so many greens - shades, tints, low volumes, perfect hues, limes, emeralds - in the quilt itself, any green can indeed be perfect. The perfect green ended up being the only green I had enough of in my stash. So I am calling it perfect. I did a common 2.5” inch double fold binding, hand stitched on the back.

And I can’t let you go without a bonus treat from the photo shoot. To capture this quilt I stole away to the area just outside Heritage Park. There is a little wooded area next to a wetland. It’s at a confluence of a parking lot and a couple of busy roads, next to the main reservoir for the city. It may look like I am in the middle of the forest, but I am actually in the middle of the city. And just as I was hanging up the quilt on a line strung between two trees a friendly visitor joined me. She was calm with me being in her space so I thanked her, took my pictures quickly and left in the opposite direction to avoid bothering her further.

Quilters' Playcation Adventure Sewalong Update

It’s hard to believe that we are 28 weeks in to this sewalong. Mostly because that means we are more than halfway through the year already!

As a leader/instigator/quilt teacher I get such joy from seeing my students and followers enjoy the process of improv quilting. I never anticipated how much joy I would get joining in with you. It is a great comfort to me to show up each week and sew with people. On the occasions where I missed and had to reschedule I’ve been quite sad. I feel like I am letting everyone down, for sure, but I also just really miss it.

This year’s Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong is different for me. How many times have you heard me talk about NOT squaring things up until you are making layout decisions? (Hint, almost all the time.) This time, however, I started squaring up and sewing the blocks together right at the beginning. This means I am composing the quilt as I go. It’s a different thought process. It’s a good challenge for me.

So long story short, I love everything about the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong this year.