A glimpse into my compulsion to create.
Pardon me, but I’ve developed an obsession with itty bitty scrappy blocks. Now I am sewing rainbows upon rainbows in various little blocks.
Knowing that folks are always looking for ways to not be overwhelmed by their scraps and actually enjoy them I am hosting a Scrap Sparkler Party through the Quilters’ Playcation. You too can make your own itty bitty rainbows, or starry night, or treasured bits showcase.
October 28 10 AM - 2 PM Mountain
In the meantime, enjoy my rainbows...
Queenie
Not going to lie, this might be one of the best quilts I’ve ever made. That is, from a quality perspective. It might be one of my favourites, from a fun factor perspective.
This is the 3 Solid Version of the 2022 Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong. Each week I made two blocks: a print version and these 3 solids version. To be fair, the quilt ended up being 5 solids because I grabbed the wrong white a few times and then had to improvise with a non matching grey when I ran out as I was piecing the top. C’est La Vie! That’s what improv is partially about - just moving forward when faced with a challenge instead of letting it bog you down.
From week one of the Adventure Sewalong I knew I would use the colours of the block to help guide the lay-out, wanting blocks to disappear and have shapes emerge. It works well on the abstract blocks, but the representational ones change it a bit. I played with many, many layout options over a few weeks. Quite a few of them worked well, but didn’t grab me. With all my blocks a different size the possibilities were truly endless. It all clicked when I put that block in top centre. It was the top of my mountain. This was the jolt I wanted.
(It also reminded me of what I said about my hiking challenge last year and the link to improv.)
Once she was all pieced I decided to take her to the long arm. Mostly, I was impatient to finish her and my machine was not acting very powerful anyway. I chose a yellow thread and doodled all over the quilt. As usual, I like a dense pattern. Through out the quilting I added a shape of a person cheering. Pure joy! The yellow thread (from Superior, but I can’t remember the colour) added a highlight that I loved on all the colours of the fabric. This was not a time for the quilting to blend into the background, it’s part of the story. And knowing that I’d always planned a contrasting binding I just had to choose between a few colours. My first two choices were pink and mint green, but at the end of the day, neither felt right.
So much of quilt making is trusting your gut.
The yellow colour was also chosen not because of my bad photography, but because of the backing fabric choice. One of the girls suggested a hot pink backing and I whole heartedly agreed with them. Unfortunately, I did not have enough of anything to piece together a backing from my stash so I went hunting for a wide back. While a good pink was elusive, I did find this great Anna Maria Horner print that included the exact blue I had on the front. Kismet! This is what ended up dictating the yellow thread choice and the yellow binding.
Now when I say this is the best quilt I’ve ever made, technically, here is why I say it. The piecing of the blocks together was far from straightforward. There were partial seams a plenty and I got them to all lay flat. With fillers and creativity I got everything to fit and still look good. I’m very proud of the quilting as my tension was perfect and the doodle came out better than when I was practising at home. Finally, by binding finished very nicely. Good, even stitches by hand. Bonus, the whole thing lays flat and square! Taking your time does wonders for quality. And for your joy in making.
Thank you to everyone who participated, watched, sewed along, and asked questions. Our weekly playtime was such a wonderful experience and I am so glad to have these quilts as reminders of our time together.
Polly lived most of her life following the rules. Getting married when she was supposed to. Having kids when she was supposed to. Baking all the things, keeping a clean house, volunteering at church. Her life was as it should be. It was also painfully boring and Polly had no idea who SHE was in the midst of everyone else’s expectations. Finally, with the kids gone and her husband on the golf course Polly had a chance to explore herself. That meant figuring out what she actually liked in bed to what food she wanted to eat for herself. She took herself out almost daily and explored the world around her one little trip at a time. It’s not that she hated her life, but she didn’t know if she actually liked it. Little by little she explored, experimented, and learned to enjoy what she, herself, could give and get out of the world. She finally knew who she was, who she wants to be.
This quilt is a culmination of the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong 2022. Each week for the year I shared how to make a unique improv quilt block. One version shared was a three colour solid and this version was love affair with prints. When I started the year and I stressed leaving open the finished block size so layout possibilities were endless. By the end of the year I knew this version would have blocks all the same size. After measuring my blocks I picked a 10.5” square as my default size and got down to the business of cleaning everything up. 52 blocks, however, does not make for even sides on a quilt, so I used scraps to make a handful more blocks to get to 56 blocks. This gave me a 7 x 8 block layout. Sashing in this collection of red-orange prints framed out each block. I’m not generally a sashing girl, but I think it absolutely works here!
She’s a big quilt so I knew that quilting her would not be easy. I had a friend baste her on the long-arm to save me some time. Turns out that this layout and the use of sashing actually simplified the quilting a lot. I used the curvy stitch that comes on the Bernini in the sashing. That was easy. Then I just quilted each block on its own. Free motion quilting is very manageable when you only work one block at a time. Each block got quilted uniquely. Sometimes it was an all over design, sometimes that outlined or directly highlighted the piecing. The decision was most dictated by my mood when I got to that block. I switched out threads between peach, pale grey, light blue, and an olive green. I filled a bobbin and when that or the spool ran out I switched to another colour. All the threads blended very well on the wide back Kaffe Fassett I used on the back.
The original plan was for a dark binding, with a bit of green piping. I did not have in my stash nor could I find anything in the store that was a good blue that worked for this. Grey washed things out too much. Also, I had deadlines for a local show. So I used more of one of the sashing prints and extended that orange line. The green did make an appearance in my stitching though. I chose to use a Perle thread (from Valdani) to stitch down the binding in a visible manner. I love this way of finishing a quilt. It’s fast and has a great effect.
Polly is ready to explore the world now.
View all the free tutorials here.
Check out the layout discussion for all the quilt blocks.
Sew along with the 2023 Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong.
I’m either really late finishing a Christmas quilt or really early for next year. Let’s go with the latter, shall we?
This quilt was started in the Quilters’ Playcation Cut Sew Repeat Party in December. It’s such a quick way to make a quilt top that I had it done a few days later. With a long arm appointment already booked I decided to go ahead and finish her quickly.
It was a quick make, a fast quilt, and a quick finish. I still didn’t get it done before Christmas. It’s all good, I’m just ready for next year! I used a light turquoise thread for the quilting in freehand, wavy lines. It’s almost garland like.
The fabric all comes from the Alison Glass Holiday collection. Buying a single collection bundle is not my norm, but I’d picked this up early in the pandemic as an example for a stash class I was teaching. It is an unconventional holiday fabric and I love that. Using a single collection is a fantastic way to explore the Cut Sew Repeat Technique AND show off the fabric at the same time.
When I finished quilting I took a quick look around My Sewing Room, where I was renting the long arm time, and found this coral fabric in the clearance section. What a find! I had been thinking hot pink but there are just enough hints of this coral in the multicolour prints of the collection that it worked perfectly. It was a lovely way to spend a few afternoons of winter finishing up the binding by hand.
The Cut Sew Repeat Party is returning on March 18. I’ll have a different stack of fabric, but the same great fun ready for you. Even if you attended the Party last time, we will have new treats and tips to explore as we play with our fabric. You can register here.
