PQ 16.2 Uncle v2 Unfinished, Unironed, Untrimmed, Unispired 'Umbre' Quilt

You know that sinking feeling when you've spent the entire week knowing that you were absolutely NOT going to make a quilt for week 2? When even the fleeting notion of a bookmark of last resort is too much to contemplate? When you are completely uninspired by the challenge (sorry Trisha Priewe Frankland )? When your only glimmer of a fun project is shot down in the chat and is probably beyond the contents of your scrap bin?

And yet...

There you are. Standing in Hobby Lobby trying to buy buttons at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. When three bolts of fabric start screaming at at you at the top of their little linty lungs. It is hard. But you turn your back trying to find the proper size buttons. But you realize they aren't shouting. They are singing. (Poorly, because they only have little linty lungs after all.). You can just make out the words. It is something like, "We can show you a quilt. Show you fabric by fabric. Just find us two pretty friends...".

And there it is. A fully formed image in your mind. A quilt you can make in your sleep. And you don't even have to calculate yardage. Except it is Friday. Afternoon. And you have obligations all day and evening on Saturday.

Yeah. Sucks to be me. I present to you the Unfinished, unironed, untrimmed, uninspired 'Umbre' quilt. 44*64. Made from absolutely nothing in my stash in hours squeezed out of a rock, turnip and a hard place.

But it is at least a flimsy so I can't call it a UFO by my standards.

 

By the way... look at those corners!  And I wasn't really trying that hard.  Guess measuring carefully and practicing your seam allowances is a good thing.  

Oh, and I know, one of those two friends turned out to be a mean girl. But Hobby Lobby closes at 8 so whatcha gonna do?

 

PQ 15.1 Saving Bird Houses

Birdhouse ... nest ... tree ... forest fire ... smokey the bear ... saves trees ... saves bird nests ... saves bird houses

I bring to you my Project Quilting Season 15 challenge 1 'quilt' project.  It contains applique and it contains quilt blocks in the form of yoyos! 

This shirt has meaning for me on several levels.  I was a huge fan of Smokey the Bear as a kid and I still have my stuffed doll and ranger badge.  I also still have my turquoise Tonka jeep.  In fact I use it on my table as a napkin/salt/pepper holder.  All through high school and college I drove a 1953 CJ3B F-head Willys Jeep.  It was beige.  I worked as a research assistant on a project studying high altitude forest fire recovery.  Even though I have since learned the preventing all forest fires was a tragic ecological and environmental mistake, I still do like my smokey the bear. 

Back of the shirt with applique and yoyos.  The yoyos came from an antique store.  I kept looking at the bag thinking I should sew them into a pillow top but I never found the patience to do it.  When I pulled the bag out of my stash while looking for the lace trim, I decided this was a much better way to use them. 

 

An upcycled flanned shirt.  Front with machine embroidery.  Yoyo trim and hem.

 

Back applique.  Image printed on fabric.  Framed in embroidered sisal.

 

Collar trimmed with cotton lace... tiny pompoms on lace mimic yoyos on hem.

Pocket machine embroidered with modified club logo.  Trimmed with more antique yoyos.

Side panels have map fabric inserted into them.

Antique yoyos stitched to hem.  I learned it was easier to do this with a zipper foot.

Close up of yoyos on side panel.

PQ 12.6 AB INTRA: Crowded

 

My inner 5 year old is happy with the pink and lace.

 

My inner 12 year old is happy with the denim.

My inner environmentalist is happy with upcycling a messed up shirt into something useful.

My inner fashionista is happy with having something no one else will be wearing.

 

My inner quilter thinks we are nuts for starting on half in half square triangles the night before the challenge is due.

 

My inner old lady says what the heck. I always said I was going to wear purple.

And we all told the inner perfectionist to get back on that galloping horse 'cause we don't see anything wrong with it!

 

This week's Project Quilting challenge was AB INTRA, from within.  Well, there is a lot going on in here but what else would you expect?  

 This is an upcycled denim shirt made with lace and quilter's cotton. The wee small quilt in the pocket is a prairie rose block (from moda bake shop pattern).  It measures just under 4 inches square.  

 

I Followed the Snail's Trail! PQ 12.4

Busy Day.  Quick post.  

 This week's Project Quilting challenge was to be inspired by the traditional quilting block called snail's trail.  It is a pretty challenging block that has been giving even experienced quilters some starts and fits.  

I decided to follow the snail's trail to see where it would lead.  And look what I found!  The snail.

 Over the past year I have been working on understanding pattern design,  It is a non-trivial process.  This is really the first three dimensional pattern I have drafted with which I am some what happy.  I think the issues I have with it are more in the realm of sewing rather than in the pattern design itself.  I am pretty sure that once I shrink it down and hand sew it he will be just fine.  

 As it is, this guy is just over 9 inches long about a bit more than that high.  He is made from quilting cotton and stuffed with polyfil.  Just to be sure he meets the letter of the requirements if not the spirit he has some patchwork appliqued on his shell. 

Bearly There. Project Quilting 12.3 Virtual Vacation

 

 Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a true "cozy of last resort".  Well technically it is a mug rug of last resort.  

This week's challenge was to make a quilt that interprets the idea of virtual vacation, where you've been, where you want to be, where you actually are.  It was the perfect opportunity to pull out some of my 'travel' fabric.  I have a small set of cuts from Hawaii that my mom and my sister picked out for me when they were there a few years ago.  Since Spud 3 was known for his Hawaiian shirts it is a quilt project destined for him.  I also have a stash of fabrics picked up in Alaska on a trip with my sister, the mister and Spud 3. 

Our trip to Alaska was primarily a fishing trip for the spud.  My sister has taken all of the spuds to Alaska for their graduation present.  I just happened to figure out how to tag along one time.  It was a tightly scheduled vacation with lots of people and one car.  I figured I could finagle in one quilt shop during our travels.  I researched.  I really researched and settled in on the Quilted Raven in Anchorage.  It seemed the most Alaskan.  We had a few days there as we waited for my mom, my brother and my cousin, who summers in Alaska to arrive.  

So my sister and I ventured out shopping one afternoon.  We looked at art galleries.  We tried on mukluks.  We had a blast looking around and spent quite a bit of time in the Quilted Raven.  I carefully considered my options and I purchased a restrained amount of fabric and patterns.  

This table runner was made for a PQ challenge a couple years after our return.  It is from the that little stash of fabric.   

Much to my surprise, my sister declared the following day at I needed to go back to the quilt shop. I was happy to oblige.  I could look around again.  There was so much to see.  So we all piled into the car and went back to the quilt shop.  Much not to my surprise, after a very few minutes, my sister decided she was bored with the quilt shop and she and her husband went off to the mukluk shop next door.  

The mister and the spud found fabric.  They found lots of fabric.  They insisted I needed more fabric.  I ended up buying waaay more fabric than the day before.  It took up most of the spare space in my suitcase.  It really, truly wasn't my fault.  

So... I have a stash of fabric from Alaska.  I never had a plan for it.  It was purchased as blocks and fat quarters, a few yards here an there and a couple panel-ish cuts.  None of it is in my usual selection.  All of it is big bold prints with designs that need to be featured.  It has lingered in my stash for quite a while as one of those sets in need of a plan.  

 So I had fabric from Alaska where I have been and want to return and from Hawaii where I have never been but want to go.  Both fabrics seem destined for spud 3.  Fortuitously he was home this week.  So we looked at the fabrics and came up with a plan.  

North to Alaska.  North the rush was on.  

We decided to use the pack of 7 inch squares and one of the panel-ish pieces of fabric.  Spud 3 has an amazing eye for color and design.  He suggested we use brown as the sashing color.  Of course, my selection of brown was limited so.... off the the store to purchase what looked right.  And we auditioned them all.  We sent pictures to the mister to get his opinion.  We selected the perfect fabric and I got started.  

 

I had to do some math to figure out what size to cut the center panel so that the blocks all lined up and fit.  OF COURSE, there were 18 blocks in the pack and needed 22 blocks no matter what.  That meant I HAD to fussy cut four more blocks.  Those of you who know me, know that the two two things I truly dislike in quilting are fussy cutting and sashing.  Yep. This whole project depended on both of them!  

But I persisted. 

I love using clips to label each block.

I got everything cut and laid out and had to wait for the spud to approve the layout.  He can be very fussy about block arrangement and can see patterns that no one else will ever notice but will make the quilt over the top better when you follow them.  I carefully sewed the rows of blocks together.  I was extremely careful to make sure the seams were consistent so that things would line up in the end.  Things were going swimmingly.  And then.... 

My math was correct but I set up the story problem wrong.  Those  perfect 7 inch blocks actually finish at 6.5 inches.  Yep.  Amateur mistake.  So.  I had to figure out how to fix it.  It threw me for a loop and I lost a day. Then I had to work of the nerve to actually cut the panel down.  No way I could get a replacement.  Fussy cutting an order of magnitude worse.

I did get it done, with an assist from the mister.  I did get much of it pieced, just a few things left to do.  But by late Saturday, I knew I was not going to do the quilt justice if I pushed through and tried to finish it up.  This one is too special to risk making more amateur mistakes.  So I had to come up with the cozy of last resort.  

 

There were 18 blocks in the pack I was using.  Seventeen of them were gorgeous and graphic and wonderful.  And then there was the one that stood out like a sore thumb, or paw as the case may be.  This print was just plain awful in the quilt.  So I had to fussy cut yet another block.  ARGGGHHHH!

This little patch of paw prints was left over.  I decided to take one of the rejected browns, applique a bear on to it and make it a mug rug.  It reminds me more of Colorado than Alaska but as I am always going there on vacation it still works.  So.... Bearly There is my cozy of last resort.  

The real quilt will be finished in short order.  I want to have it ready for the spud to take with him when he heads back out.  

Bearly There.  PQ 12.3.  Virtual Vacation.  7 x 7 inch mug rug.  Raw edge applique.  Outline quilted.  Hand stitched binding.  Made near St Louis, MO. 

  

 

The RULZ of Quilting

 

 For any of you who are wondering...

There are only three rules in quilting.

1. Make sure it is structurally sound. (This can one can fly out the window if you are doing a wall hanging or art quilt.)
2. Done is warmer than perfect.
3. If you can't see it from the back of a galloping horse, it isn't there.

Any other RULE anyone tells you is just noise and can either be learned from or ignored.

Yeah, I might have an attitude. I respect and appreciate competition quilters. I admire the quilters who are able to match every corner, keep every point and make tiny perfect stitches. I aspire to their level of quality. I learn from them. 

 

However, it makes me sad to see quilters apologize for their work and point out tiny mistakes that no one else can see. Everyone should be able to enjoy the process and celebrate their successes and finishes. Few of us are actually doing this because it is essential to keeping our families warm.

 

And it hurts my heart to see self-appointed quilt police shut down the enthusiasm of other quilters. I was fortunate enough to have my first experience with an expert turn out to be incredibly supportive. I took my first effort to a quilt shop where the kind lady ever so politely explained to me how to match up corners. I was so green, I didn't even know that was a thing. When I asked if I needed to rip it all apart and start over, she said, "finish is up and move on, dearie. Learn what you can from this one and the next on will be even better." Had she treated me as I have seen some treat others, I would probably have trashed my first effort and never done another one. But she was kind. She was helpful. She encouraged me. And almost thirty years later whenever I am discouraged by a project, I hear her voice in my head saying " finish it up and move one, dearie." And so I do.

The Monster in the Closet: The Truth About Unfinished Objects.

At some point, every quilter discovers an unfinished quilt stashed away on a shelf or in a bag.  Some of us have several of them.  They can make us feel anxious, inadequate or just plain guilty. The longer they sit there the more we feel the them staring at us with reproach.  But it really shouldn't affect us that way.  

UFOs become UFOs for a reason.  They really aren't sitting there staring at us to make us feel guilty.  They aren't symbols of our failure.  We set projects aside because we run into technical issues, we made a mistake we can't see how to fix, we get frustrated, we start to question our fabric choices or we have emotional responses to the reason we started it in the first place.  

Each of those cases require some perspective.  Asking for help with technical issues is a good thing.  There may be a different way of creating the block that makes more sense or is easier.  There may be a problem with the pattern itself that some one has already identified and solved.  

With a little perspective, you can turn a mistake into a design element.  Add sashing, trim things down, insert a fabric that reads the same color as the one you miss cut. (If you look closely at this quilt you will see where I had to substitute additional fabrics to have enough to finish it.)   Remember that quilts come out of a make do tradition and those quirks add personality and truly make the quilt your own.   Figure out a plan and roll with it.  Advice helps.

Frustration is another thing that may just take some time to get past.  You can always pull out some scrap fabric and practice the technique with lower stress less risk to the project.  Ask for help.  Use the tedious piecing as leaders and enders and before you you know it you  will have it finished.  Give yourself a break and take the time you need.  

Emotional responses are much more difficult.  It is OK to donate a project that makes you angry or recalls emotions you aren't prepared to deal with.  But sometimes it is a good thing to see it through and finish it up.  I just finished and gifted a quilt I didn't finish in time to give to my mother.  It was hard and there may be a few extra tears in that binding.  But I felt good knowing it went to a couple who will love it and I don't have it around as a reminder.  I believe it helped me work through some of the grief.  

We all have reasons we quilt ranging from love of sewing to it keeps me sane.  Enjoy the process wherever it leads you.  Learn and "finish it up and move on, dearie."