Ta-Daa!!!

A few nights ago now, as my son bathed, I sat and watched him and put the last stitches into Escapees.  I tacked down the hang tabs, and then threw it in the wash with my laundry.  I was a little nervous - this is the first quilt I've done without pre-washing all of my fabrics first, in forever

Not the  best picture - I'll have to take another when I've got a proper wall display set up.  Escapees is a bit too large for the three meager pins holding it up at the moment, so it's a bit saggy.

I'm very pleased with the quilting.  I straight line stitched throughout the piece, which nicely emphasizes the simplicity of the shapes as well as the floral print - if I do say so myself, lol.  Actually, the floral panels are done in a diagonal cross hatch pattern.  I'd originally planned on doing those panels with free-motion flowers, but a test run showed that free motion flowers detracted far too much from the print itself.

I outline stitched around all of the triangles, 1/4" in from the seam lines.  I used two different colors in the top thread:  a burnt umber to match the sky and a blue that matches the floral print.  The burnt umber thread was used in the robin's egg blue geese.  The blue thread was used in the burnt umber sky triangles. For the green and black sashing strips, I stitched 1/16" away from the seam lines to out line the black.

Throughout the quilt, I used black thread in the bobbin, giving the back what I think is a really cool graphic quality.  I'm really enjoying playing with my threads, so it's a theme I'm sure I'll continue with future quilts.

And now that I have this one finished, I might have a second quilt finish to show off soon-ish.  I'm prepping the backing for Flying Geese II, and I'm hoping to get the works on the quilt frame tonight.

Never Say Never...

I'm still working on 'Escapees'.


I know!  I know I said that I was done with it, that I had machine-stitched the binding and:

"It's still not perfect, but it's better, and something I'm going to just live with, since there's no way in heck that I'm going to hand-stitch that sucker down."

I lied.


Well, not really.


I just kept looking at the back of 'Escapees', and my fingers kept twitching for the seam ripper.  So, August 19, I ripped all the stitches out - for the third time.  Yeah, that's two days after I posted that I was done, for those us keeping track.  It wasn't good enough for me, because I know I can do better than the half-assed job that I had done.


Tonight, I bit the bullet, and began hand-stitching(!!!) the binding down.  Thank goodness for Netflix, and the arrival of the first disc of Castle: Season One.  (I highly recommend this show, btw!!  I LURV me some Nathan Fillion!)  I worked through the first four episodes for a second time, first getting dinner ready, then hand-stitching while Zeb slept on the sofa.


I've got a lot more to go.  I don't even want to think about it, but I have to say, I'm much, much happier with the way it looks now.  I might have to convert to hand-stitching all of my binding down in the future.


Now, I'm off to break out the thimbles, since I'd forgotten how tough hand-stitching could be on naked fingers, and get back to hand-stitching.  

Progress Report: Escapees

Last night saw the binding (finally!!) successfully attached. I attempted to sew it down twice before, and ended up ripping the stitches both times, displeased with the way it looked.  It's still not perfect, but it's better, and something I'm going to just live with, since there's no way in heck that I'm going to hand-stitch that sucker down.

The hang-tabs are also attached, which leaves a some thread tails to bury.  Once that step is done, I can move on to quilting the last two rows of triangles.  I'm so looking forward to having this one done.  Other projects have been calling out to me, luring me with their siren song..

I Love...

...when my sandwich goes from being three distinct layers to being a quilt.

It's practically magical for me to feel that floppy trio of layers take on that newly quilted feeling.  It's the feeling that I look forward to the most.  There's nothing like feeling the bite of the rotary blade into a bright, new fabric, but nothing tops the effect of stitching top, batting, and backing together.

Almost as good is that satisfying little 'clink' of the safety pins hitting the bottom of the bowl.  It's the sound of progress.

Life is good right about now...

One Thing, One Week Challenge

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side is hosting a weekly challenge, the One Thing, One Week Challenge.  To participate, all one has to do is decide on ONE goal to accomplish in a week's time.  This first week ended on Tuesday, July 27, 2010.


My goal, as stated in the comments for that post, is:


"...to finish up the top for my newest flying geese wall-hanging. I've been having weird issues with it, and the thing seems to have a mind of its own. I had an over-all plan, but then it decided it wants to be something else."


I worked on this top while at the most recent meeting of the Milwaukee-Madison Modern Quilt Guild, and had the vertical rows all done.  I thought I was done, until I set a row of geese that I was going to discard along the top of the thing, running horizontally.  


Well, nothing else would do until I got enough fabric to add two more strips of geese along the top and bottom.  A chance comment from Kait, a guild member, convinced me that 'Flying Geese III' needed to undergo a name change.


But without any further ado...


Say 'hello' to 'Escapees'!  (Those silver dots?  I have this baby pin-basted already!!)

I'm quite happy to be able to say that I completed my goal, well before today's deadline.  It took an emergency trip to Tea & Textiles in Jefferson, WI, but I did it!  See, I had originally started this quilt using some purchased acrylic templates.  Well, lo and behold, the acrylic templates were not accurate.  My geese started flying in arcs instead of orderly rows.  


That's what I get for not doing my own math.  


So, anyway, I finished the vertical stripes, and realized that I needed a half yard each of the blue and burnt umber solids.  The shop still had them in stock, though my burnt umbers look to be out of two different dye batches, as there's a small variation in the shade.  While buying the fabric to do the geese over again, I decided to use the burnt umber solid for the backing.  I also picked up Aurifil in two coordinating shades:

I have a quilting plan in mind, and I'm intrigued to see how my machine likes the Aurifil.  But anyway, let's see how long it takes me to get it quilted and bound.

Flying Geese III

Remember these?

Yeah, I know.  I just showed those fabrics off.  Well, I couldn't wait to cut into them and start piecing, so I didn't pre-wash and iron.  *gasp*  I know!  I'm almost sort of horrified too.  Of course, now that I've gone done it, I'm really thinking that might become my modus operandi.

But that's a tangent!  Look, look, look!

Heehee...  At Sandi's suggestion, I'm incorporating a few geese in the focal print.  I know it's just a start, but I'm super excited.  I'm just totally in love with these fabrics, never mind that  two of them are solids.  I'm in a state of creativity that is very receptive to solids at the moment.  Actually, let me re-phrase that:

I'm in a state of creativity that is very receptive to non-neutral solids at the moment.  I've always loved solids, but they were always neutrals: white, black, gray, beige...  Colored solids are damned near an innovation for me.

On the topic of fabric...  The above is a perfect illustration of why I dislike matchy-matchy fabric lines.  There's no focal point in a quilt that uses fabrics from the same line.  There's no star, no pop.  Just a lot of the same shades and tones, and similar shapes.  Boring.  Very.  Boring.

If I limited myself to working within fabric lines, I'd never have given that focal print a second glance.  Hell, I probably would have never noticed it.  It wouldn't have spoken to me.

And, yes, I know that fabric lines can simplify the buying and planning process.  But where is the artist's input into that quilt then?  Yes, you, the artist.  You, the person buying and cutting and sewing those fabrics, should have a deeper investment into the fabrics that you're pouring your creative energy into.

Go wild!  Get out of that matchy-matchy box.  Experiment!  Live a little!  Play.

It's just fabric and thread.  It's not like you can't pull out your seam ripper if it doesn't match your mental vision.  The process of taking a cut of fabric into a work of art should be fun and engaging, challenging and inspiring.

Not an exercise in how well you can display someone else's vision, as pretty as those visions are.

Now, off my soapbox and on to another subject... I was surfing quilting blogs, and came across Naptime Quilter, who is amazingly talented as well as being a funny, intelligent writer, and this particular post.  What really caught me was this quote:

Well, I would now argue that modern quilting is actually just really, really traditional quilting. Before people got caught up in intricate pieced patterns with a million different templates and detailed quilting.

Followed by this:

Oh, and just because you throw the word wonky or improv in front of it doesn't necessarily make it modern.

Teehee.

A woman after my own heart.

Don't get me wrong.  I love the 'modern' quilt movement, and I am happy that I'm participating in my area Modern Quilt Guild, but really, the quilts I'm most attracted to, are most similar to very traditional quilts, barring modern color choices.  And really, I can't say that my quilting predecessors wouldn't have picked the very fabrics that I select now.  They just didn't have the same options I do now.

Anyway, I encourage you to go and check out Naptime Quilter's blog.  Enjoy the reading, and enjoy looking at the pretties ;)

MMMQG Meeting - June 18, 2010

We met at Tea and Textiles, a wonderful quilt shop in Jefferson (sorry, no website).  I am totally in love with this store!  The owner is older, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the selection of fabrics on the shelves.  Food themed fabrics are clearly popular - I spotted French fries, raspberries, and chili peppers, to name a few.  I'm pretty much 'meh' on the whole subject of novelty prints, but I understand that some people just love them to death.  But anyway, Tea and Textiles has, by far, the best selection of bright fabrics that I've seen in a while.

Unfortunately, this particular Saturday, only three of us got together: Sandi of Piecemeal Quilts, Cheryl of Cheryl's Chatelaine, and myself.  Sandi and I showed Cheryl some paper-piecing, though Sandi is a far better teacher than I ever will be ;)

I brought a plenty to do...  I had intended to finish Block 12 of Sandi's Basket Blocks, and got through the handle - or so I thought.  Somehow, I had print and cut two of the same half of the basket handle.  Thankfully, it took a simple flip-flop of a single piece to make it all better, but that pretty much took the wind out of my sails for that particular project.

Tucking that out of the way, I decided, "Fine, I'll piece the sashing strips for setting the basket blocks."  That went well.  For the most part.  In showing Cheryl paper-piecing a square in a square, I decided to use the scraps from my sashing strips.  Then, silly me, I set that square-in-a-square next to a sashing strip.  My brain went on a creative tangent and said, "THIS IS A QUILT!!"

I quickly auditioned white, to sash the square-in-a-square blocks with, and decided it was too harsh.  Sandi made the brilliant suggestion that it needed something more silver-y, and we headed back to the sales floor.  She pulled out a bolt that we both loved, a gray paisley.  It was pretty, but not right - too dark.  However, just a few bolts down was a bolt of Michael Miller's Mirror Dots in a silver-y print.  It was perfect!  I'm going to fussy cut the Mirror Dots, so that there's a full line of dots in the sashing, but that's gotta happen after I was the fabric.

The quilt, unfinished as it is, already has a name!  "Japanese Disco".  Cheryl made the comment that the sashing strips looked like obi from kimono (if I remember right, lol), and Sandi said that the Mirror Dots gave it a disco look.  So, "Japanese Disco".  I hurried up and borrowed a pen from the shop owner and sketched out my idea, so that I would have a record of it.

The Mirror Dots was actually my second purchase of the day at Tea and Textiles.  After lunch, which was an awesome burger at a place called Urban's, Sandi and I did some shopping.  First, I thought I would buy a print that incorporated asterisks, to go along with the beginnings of a mini-quilt that's been burning in my brain for a couple of weeks.  But then I put the fabric along side the stacked coin strips I have pieced already, and it was just too white.  (I'll go into more detail about "Asterisks" in a later post, when I have more to show for it.)

So, I put the bolt of asterisk print back and wandered some more.  I kept getting drawn back to this wonderful print of simplified flowers.  What kept drawing me was not only the great graphic sense I got  from the fabric, but the unusual color combinations: robin's egg blue, burnt umber, deep orange, cobalt blue, kelly green, cream... I was in love, and after going back to look at it a third time, I decided to buy it.  Then, I had to get some solids - this fabric needed solids to ground, yet uplift it.  I picked up some Kona cotton in a robin's egg blue, and another in a burnt umber.  The solids are just a couple of shades off of those in the main fabric, but they're perfect because they don't match perfectly.  They give just a bit more interest:

These three fabrics will end up being a Flying Geese quilt (Edit: Now titled' Escapees'), because I love that print, so much!  However, I'm totally stuck on the idea of adding a green solid, to border in the print before adding the strips of Flying Geese.