Project Quilting 12-4 Snail Trail block

 We have Snow! 

I've been looking out the window a lot this week. I'm not a big fan of cold, but I like when there's snow on the ground. So, as I finished up my quilt today, this is the accumulation of the snow... so far... it's still snowing here. It's a fine snow, so it's taken quite a while for it to pile up around here. It's fun looking out this window and remember all the years my kids would be out there playing and sledding. Such wonderful memories. If I get motivated, I'll take a walk to the Lake and take some pictures there. It's been a while since we have gotten this much snow and our lake is so deep it doesn't freeze. Anyway, onto the challenge...

The Cats are Cold

25" x25"

I had done a snail trail block a few times in the past so I was familiar with it but I was adamant I was NOT going to make a bigger quilt this time. Still, snail trail lends itself to the best impact being repeated in several blocks... But I really didn't want to make a big quilt. I found this one on Pinterest which uses just one snail trail for it's tails and then simple blocks for the rest of the cats. It seemed like something I could sketch out easily. I saw it made both like this and with a snowballed corner on the cat body. I liked keeping it more geometric. 

Every source I looked at for making a 12" BLOCK, gave different cutting instructions. I decided to make an 8" BLOCK and cut the pieces , 5 1/4", 3 3/4", 3', and 2", then sub cut the first 3 into half squares on the diagonal.

I practiced, and started on my precious Cherrywood fabric. These cats are using some fabric from the  "Alaskan Sunset" collection. I liked the humor of using that in the week of sub freezing temperatures. 

Both of my girls, who are living on their own, decided to own cats. We have had cats while they were growing up, but now we have the two dogs and no cats after ours have passed away from old age. So, it's a tribute to Psyche, Bob, Luke and Star. Maura's Luke is quite the scene stealer in her Zoom classroom. Cats are fun.  

So, what did I learn this time? I am usually clueless about quilting. This week, I became a bit more adventurous about free motion quilting. I gave myself permission to play and not be perfect. I also tried sewing a binding on totally by machine. I sewed it on the back and flipped to the front and I used a foot called a piecing foot guide which kept my stitches running right along the edge. I was mostly pleased with that experiment too. 

I had some thread breakage. I noticed when I went to block the piece, the water evaporated quickly. I'm wondering if the humidity was affecting my thread.. or if it's just too old? Maybe I should just get rid of it? Not sure. 

Calling this challenge done and happy with what I've learned. 

Project Quilting 12-3 Virtual Vacation

 Virtual Vacation

It's cold in the winter here and, unlike last year with it's spectacular sunrises, this has been gray (oh so gray) with few actual snowfalls to brighten up the place. I would normally think about a trip, but Covid has squashed that thought. I just need to be happy snuggled up in my house with my quilt making. The theme this week made me remember a couple years ago when I was able to spend a couple weeks at the beach in the Emerald Coast of Florida. Destin and Pensacola area, where the beaches are sugar sand and every day was a different version of a beach paradise. Sigh! I photographed so much and I have so many spectacular views of that area, I decided to upload them to Spoonflower and have them printed. I wanted to work in some of the proofs I made as well. 

 My shop is called  "Elijahbluewallacestudio" 

Gold Coast Dreams 

44.5" x 40.5" 

I used a larger print of a sunset and then added in a few smaller pieces of proofs and colorful fabrics. The darker fabric I used looked informally woven and I liked how it made the brighter pieces pop. 

A closeup of the pieces show some of the different sizes of the Pensacola Beach sign I had printed. This is the vintage sign, which they recently replaced. It was so well loved, the new one really mimics the old one in design. Then, of course we ALL have scraps of fabrics around and they just seem to multiply. You would think this project might have gotten rid of a lot, but no... still a bin full. 

  Quilting (my nemesis) Continues to frustrate me. I used a pastel thread for the whole piece, mimicking the cloud lines in the sky and then carrying that down onto the sand area. The borders are all stitched a simple back and forth (wiggly at times) in different directions, crossed in the corners. 

  I'm seeing a trend this year of making basically a baby quilt sized quilt every time so far and I am pushed to finish in time. I like how I was able to use some of my spoonflower proofs. I don't know why I'm making this size this year. 

  I was talking with my daughter the other day and I mentioned just how much PQ has started to influence my fabric choices. Opening my eyes to a different esthetic for sure. 

Now for a totally off topic bit-

One day this week, I had to go out and mail off packages (including the cherrywood challenge) and I decided to get my hair cut. I was able to get an appointment fairly easily and I walked in and tried to explain what was going on with my hair.  The simple truth is that I shed hair. A lot. All the time. Everywhere. Then I also grow hair, constantly losing and growing. I am not a fussy person and I gave up with styling it a long time ago. Thus, I usually just washed my hair, then put it in a ponytail or sometimes braided it and let it go. That meant that when I was shedding hair, it was a very long piece of hair. So I had layers of length from 3 ft to about 4 or 5 inches, depending on the stage of growth. So anyway, my only instruction was to try to make it look better. So, quite a bit of the length is now gone, it's layered to work in the new growth and the bangs are also part of that. 

  My husband's first comment was to ask me why my hair looked like platinum blond . I had to laugh at him. Didn't notice that literally feet of hair was missing, it was just whiter. So, there you go. My gray shows up more. Other than my husband, there's really no one else to see it except at an occasional trip to the grocery store. I'm sure no one there really cares. 

Project Quilting 12-2

 Fussy Cutting

This challenge was a real challenge for me, which is a good thing, because that's the reason why we do it. 

The first challenge was to find a fabric I wanted to work with. I tend to use solids, atmospheric sorts of fabrics, batiks, etc.. all the sorts of fabrics that I can manipulate for art quilts I make. Finding a good pattern that was large enough to fussy cut was going to be a challenge. 

We all have random fat quarter packs that have pieces you like and some ... not so much. I looked through these and found a cute little deer print. I had enough images that I could make a small quilt of 9 blocks with these deer as the center. 

Back to my stash for coordinating fabric and, again, challenged! Just not a lot of the colors I like to use and, again, hit up those odd fat quarter pieces, or remnants of other projects. I made some math mistakes and cutting mistakes and generally grew frustrated with this project. Revisions upon revisions of my original idea gave me a basic plan and resurrecting some really ancient stash fabrics and I had a plan. 

So this is a close up of my feature fabric. Cute right? 

I ended up with a design plan that gave me an opportunity to Make an applique of the deer and other elements from the print. I'm just now realizing I'm doing an applique element like I did in 12-1 challenge. Sigh! It's wasn't intended but solved a problem. Anyway, I thought it needed it and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

To make the deer, I used a photo of the deer to enlarge and create a pattern for my applique. I added a few flowers from the scraps I used for the blocks to add design elements matching those in the feature fabrics. 

Speaking of using elements from the feature print, I used some elements like stars, clouds and swirls to form my quilting lines. I drew them out using heat sensitive pens. With the exception of making a star template, it was basically just free drawn. It was easily followed in the lighter fabrics, much harder to follow in the darker block areas and, in the end I just sketched out the stars and just decided to "wing it" for the rest. I was happy to try a new technique. I was frustrated at times. I don't think it ends up looking absolutely fabulous and I'm happy that it doesn't make much of a visual impact in the end. It's quilted and that's about the best I can say about it. 

Deer One 

42" x 38.5

Final thoughts. Man! Quilting and binding is my very least favorite part of making quilts. It's always a struggle for me. But, I sure remember the first time I was able to upgrade my sewing machine to one that CAN do free motion quilting. It was a game changer for me. But time has moved on and, unless I win a quilting machine, I'll still struggle with this part. 

I was very happy to find a home for some of these odd pieces of fabrics that have been lingering in my stash for years (if not decades). 

Limits in coordinating fabrics and the limited amounts of such fabrics (not to mention a few mistakes) defined this design. It's a true "Make it work" project. I think it turned out ok in the end. Thanks Ya'll. 

PQ 12-1 Illumination +ultimate gray

 It's that time again!

Project Quilting season 12 begins! This week's theme was based on the pantone colors of yellow and gray. I have been drawn to grays lately but yellow! As much as I always think I need to get yellow in my stash, it's always the color I have the least of and is the most challenging for me to find something I like. 

   When I began working on this, I was still working, so it was a struggle to head into the sewing room after I had 8 hours of bending and stretching to count the store. I knew it had to be something simple to get it done in a week. I had found the bee fabric in a small shop in upstate New York last year. I recognized it from a fabric line I had seen at Houston Market years before and had only been able to find the blue colorway locally. I originally thought I could use it in a bee quilt I was working on, but, in the end, it really didn't fit in. The gray I had in my stash and it's an interesting gray wood grain pattern and the yellow is two different shades of yellow from my Cherrywood stash. 

  The  Quilt is a super simple design like the beginning of a "Trip around the World". I added the bees on Wednesday  when I realized I was done working for the season and it could use a bit more interest.

  Someone asked about how I made the bees. They are a raw edged applique, sewn on with a satin stitch. I basically cut out the black and slipped the white and yellow in between the black and the quilt top. 

  To quilt it I just did a basic grid with diagonal crosses both ways. This was my first time trying out a mid tone thread as I talked about in my last post here so I picked Lilac! I like it too. It will be something I will consider again in the future. 

Bee mine 40"x40"

 So here's my entry this week all quilted. The binding is the same as the backing, another gray patterned fabric. Finished in a week. 

Joy in a time of Uncertainty

   Where does this story begin? 

I'll start with Project Quilting. It's a fun challenge oriented event, scheduled in the early winter, by Kim Lapacek. I think I stumbled across this challenge two or three years ago. It mostly corresponded with my time off from work, so it was something that kept me focused on quilting to a theme and I enjoy it very much. If you complete the challenge, your name gets put in a drawing. There's weekly drawings and then a final grand prize drawing. I've been lucky enough to win a few times and lucky enough to get to try out new products and be gifted with some fabric as well. Such is the case of the layer cake I used to make this quilt. 

  I'm not a modern quilter (for the most part) but I tried some of the predominant traits I see in them. Namely, Larger blocks more focused on the fabric than the piecing and More negative space. 

  So, I made this top and shared it with Project Quilting folks.  Joy@The Joyful Quilter  contacted me. I missed the email. She contacted me again. Joy offered to quilt this piece for me for free. ( WHAT!!!) Joy explained that someone did something nice for her earlier and she wanted to continue in that vein... sharing it forward. At the time, I was still in lock down from Covid and couldn't go out shopping. I explained I didn't have backing fabric that large here. (Remember, I'm mostly an art quilter) So Joy said," Nevermind, I'll do the backing fabric too." So, I mailed it to her. 

  Meanwhile, Covid continued, then my husband when back to work. Then I did as well... at severely reduced hours. I'm not going to say everything is back to normal at this point because it's not. I am not an essential worker but I go out among the public every day and try to make people happy, with all the precautions of mask wearing, temp checks, sanitizing, etc.. We just hope everyone plays along and remembers to keep their masks on. Some just don't. 

  Anyway, a package arrived and in it held a beautifully quilted quilt back from Joy. I just had to bind it and it would be finished. So, I jumped onto that as soon as I could. Hours at work changed from day to evening, so some was done in the evenings after work and some in the morning before. It's done! And here it is!   I dreamed of doing a better photo shoot for this, but at the moment, this is the best I can do.  

I never would have thought to do swirls on this. Let's be honest, I never would have made it this wonderful. It's quilted with a  light turquoise colored thread. I never would have thought of that either.  

I recently listened to a YouTube called "Karen's Quilt Circle with Anita Zorbens". It's a new off shoot of "Just get it done Quilts" You Tube channel. Anyway, it was about thread and needles. One thing Anita was saying is quilting with "in between" colors or pastels would read as white on white fabrics and blend nicely with others. I had an ah ha moment because I had Joy's example right before me. The thread reads white and gives dimension on the whites while blends nicely with all the other colors. So, Joy taught me a wonderful lesson. Thank you again for that, Joy! 

 

Now a brief word about generosity and making connections. I'm a introverted artist. I observe and I'm not particularly good at socializing. I'm not saying I glower in the corner of all gatherings, but my first instinct is to sit in the corner and watch everything rather than wear the lampshade. Communicating on the computer is easier for me, even though I keep having to learn all sorts of technical things and still type with two fingers. 

I've spent a lifetime now in the arts. Quilters tend to say we are the most generous group of people.  I've seen, over the years, just how generous quilters can be in making quilts for those in need. Veterans. Hurricane survivors. Children at risk. All the masks quilters made for Covid. Quilters are generous people, no doubt about it. People who receive these gifts have no idea how valuable they are. The money involved, certainly, but also the time involved. 

For me to have received this gift from Joy, it's a bit different. I'm not in need and I know full well the value of this gift. Her final response was:

Thank you, again, for trusting me with your quilt. It was an honor to do this for you. I hope you will remember the experience fondly as one of the GOOD things that happened during the pandemic and "pay it forward" at some point in the future.

I certainly will, Joy. Thank You again. 

the End of PQ Quarantine

I think people are just getting tired of this challenge, frankly. Many people have been able to go on with their jobs and life, therefore, this challenge is not so much fun as a burden. I totally understand it. I see all sorts of people going about their business and ignoring the Virus. 

I am still waiting for my job to open and I think they are waiting to see how other theme parks go about opening and what the outcomes are. I get it. I think there's going to be a point where we just can't do it safely and we'll just have to throw our hands up and do it. 

In the meantime, I'm still sheltering at home and just made a trip to the grocery store yesterday. I think that was my trip for the week. 

People are not exactly following simple rules anymore. 

It is crazy how many items are out of stock at the store, most notably meat, but odd things as well. Every time I go, it's an adventure that I've never experienced before. 

  Anyway, here's my latest piece, because I'm still in  self- quarantine and still quilting. But, my quilting has slowed down as the garden takes my focus and, frankly, I'm not very inspired to quilt this week. I am still making a house a day. I'm on week 11. 

Quarantine Challenge- Spots

Spots

Quarantine 

13.5" X 12.75"

This week's theme is spots. I used the opportunity to try a technique using my Cricut to cut out shapes in the fabric. In this case, I cut out the "holes" in the black fabric and backed it with a patterned Batik. I chose an irregular circle pattern and, to me it ended up looking like cells. 

 I decided to commit to my first piece  addressing the Covid-19 Virus. I found a picture of a Corona Virus and manipulated it to be cut on my cricut from green fabric. I fused that to some black fabric to give it more definition and then Cut this shape with scissors.I decided to go ahead and cut out the words in the Batik and fuse it onto a black border. 

Because this is a small piece, I decided to do some simple  Quilting stitching using clear thread on top and black thread on the bottom to hold all the pieces down. 

 I like how it all turned out. It reminds me of a poster presentation of this subject. The entire project went quickly. I started this morning and finished the piece by early afternoon. 

 I am emotionally struggling this week and doing my best to evaluate why and address issues as they come up. I think it's important to keep a welfare check going for myself at this point. Generally, I'm still in good shape. 

  I've been spending a lot of time (on my 9th week now) sheltering in place and, at first, I was keeping myself so busy making quilts I barely looked up from it. I could not separate my anxiety of the news from any sort of artistic processing. Last week, I just made a list of things, phrases, and touch words to begin to deal with it. I continue to make a house every morning to record the time I've been in shelter-in-place. Now, I've made this piece, just naming it.