Friday, July 25, 2014

Primitive Garden & Improvisational Quilting

This is Block 6 of my Primitive Garden Quilt . . . still a work in progress! It's called Sap Bucket.
 Here are some components left over from the Chevron Baby Quilt I made in February. I just bag these pieces up when I finish a quilt in hopes of doing something with them later . . . Well, now is later!
Hmm, here is a possibility for the squares.  . .
 Lots of little odd triangles. There were no blocks in the quilt like this but the easy technique used gave all these leftovers.
 I began experimenting to see how to put them into a new quilt.
 Another way . . .
 and yet still another.
 Okay, this is a possibility for a strip quilt which I really enjoy doing!
 Just going to line all these up as far as they will go in rows.
 And now it's looking a little unorganized and boring so I think I'll add a little contrasting color - red seems good to me!
 I just happened to have enough red left from the construction quilt a few months ago to make all these 1inch finished strips.
 I've almost used every single piece I had of leftovers
 and here it is quilted - still on the longarm machine.
I used a pantograph I've been wanting to try for a while - Basket Weave - actually gives it more of a contemporary feel. I'll finish this with a red binding soon. 

Thursday, July 17, 2014

WIP

 My Words to Live by is coming along. All pieced EXCEPT the last border which has those hundreds of half square triangles to sew together plus four more pretty appliqué blocks in the corners.
 After getting this far, I just needed something quick and easy to work on. I will say the HST's ended up very accurate using the triangles on a roll paper. I am having a hard time knowing how to press them best so they will all lay flat. With those in the center, I pressed the seam allowances between the rows open. Any more suggestions? 
 Here is the FUN project for now! Under the Big Top 2. These fabrics are leftovers from a baby quilt I made last summer for a great nephew. This will be a charity quilt.
 I really love working with scraps like this. Just take the leftovers - lay them out - and see what comes to mind. I had so many cool triangles leftover that I began sewing them together. 
 What would be the best layout?
 I sewed them very similar to the original quilt but didn't have quite enough to go around the border. No problem!!!
I improvised and filled in with some other leftover fabric. I pieced a backing and now it's waiting to be quilted. . . more when that is finished!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Words to Live By and More!

 Block five of my Primitive Garden is complete! This is a slow journey but I am enjoying the stitching!
Block 2 of my Sunflower Gatherings SBOW 2014 is ready to stitch. My goal is just to get the blocks pieced and the wool fused, ready to stitch.. . . . . . .
 because I am trying to finish my SBOW 2013 which is a large quilt. I must say it is very organized and that is a good thing, because there are 762 triangles to make and stitch. Lisa even has a cool way to lay them out so the triangles are organized for each border.........I do like that!
More triangles!

 My design wall as I tried to get the large triangles placed around each block.
 Now they are sewn and I'm working on the center small HST (half square triangles).
I hope to get those center triangles sewn today.

Meanwhile, I am still posting on my other blog to keep up with my finished quilt projects. It's been a year now since I began and I am pleased with my progress. For me, seeing it 'spelled out' with pictures helps! Happy Stitching!