Blue Sapphire quilt in retrospect

I finished this quilt about a year ago and realized I didn't mention it in this blog.  So sorry if you were anticipating the outcome.   My son loves it and has it hung in his office.  When I finished the quilting I took a step back and decided it really didn't need anything else added to the design and to be honest, I was ready to move on to other projects.

This is the back.  You can see every "flaw" like merging over the echo lines, but it's free hand, free motion and certainly free drawing so in a sense it's like handwriting.  It's an individual style and I don't apologize for it.  If I used tracings, stencils or even rulers to quilt by machine I think I would be bored to tears and it wouldn't look like my own work.

 "Colorado Improv" was also finished about a year ago and was a fun little quilt.  This technique is a great way to use up scraps and just play with shapes without using precise cuts and measurements.  I want to explore more with Improv techniques using what I have in my scrap bag.

I've started on this little project, reminding myself to keep it small, as this one is made from non-traditional fibers like linen, polyester, rayon, wool, upholstery fabrics and denim (yikes) what will the end result be?  All I know is that it will not be utilitarian or large.  It would be too heavy and not hold up to everyday use.

Exploring the unknown is what keeps me interested in the art of quilting.  

Beyond Frugal

Warning, this post will be mostly ranting.  I just feel that I have to get my thoughts out there today. 

Ok, call it what you will.  Thrifty, frugal, tight, or the real hurt...cheap.  I am!  And I will sometimes add that term to my full name inserting the appropriate term into my middle name.  But, I look at it as being resourceful.  When staying in a hotel, I always choose one that offers free continental breakfast in the price of my room.  I eat until I'm full and carry a few bits back to my room for later.  Give me a break, who doesn't do this?  I'm not talking about plates full of food.  One sachet of peanut butter and jam and one apple is lunch to me.  And if saving over $15 a day just for lunch is what I need to do these days, then that's the way it has to be.  

Let's share a cup and ponder on this.

When I buy fabric, or threads, I always buy what's on sale.  I've never gone into a brick and mortar shop to choose designer themes and patterns and tools.   Oh the tools!  Tools for every little thing. This has turned into a multi-mibillion $$$$ industry!  Patterns for absolutely everything and then some.  Patterns that have been rewritten for rotary cutting or paper piecing.  The pattern library is enormous and you could spend a fortune on just a few patterns or books with patterns.

Threads are NOT something I cheap out on, however I buy the best when it's on sale.  I currently have 4 full drawers of threads.  I can safely say that I will never have to buy another spool of thread as long as I live, just hope everyone loves purple.  After all they were on sale or the "try me" price which was about 40% cheaper than a regular spool, you just couldn't always choose your own color.

 I got these free about a year ago and still haven't tried them out.  A good choice for my scraps.

Speaking of fabric.  Do you discard pieces smaller than say 2"?  My scrap bag is huge right now even though I sifted through it a few months back and donated some.  My pieces range in size and all jumbled up in one huge tote bag.  Not ideal, I know.  If I spent time sorting by size or color or both, I would never get anything done.  That would consume my life, no doubt.  The only type of sorting I've done is cutting off 1"-2" selvage strips and put them in a container.  

These are just selvage strips.  The top picture are mug mats I've made from strips like these.  

Back to patterns.  Remember having to draw out our patterns on graph paper, then draw that onto template plastic (or recycled card, the frugal choice), cut it out and draw it again onto your fabric and don't forget to add that 1/4" to your drawn pattern piece!  I still have my "1/4" seamer ".  Yes, and how many of those tools you had to buy for one class or one pattern are now unused and pushed to the back end of the drawer?   It doesn't matter if you bought the pattern from the teacher or a shop or downloaded it online and had to print it yourself, they cost a small fortune since you may only use it once.   The frugal choice.......wait for it..................buy used from sales, or google free patterns online (my favorite right now).  Social media like Pinterest can be a great source for inspiration.   Another great choice is the local library.  I love the library, and yep, free!  And, the library will let you photocopy up to 10 pages, at least ours will, yay!  Their quilt book selection is huge as well as their knitting and crocheting selection and instructional DVD selection.  Their web catalog lists other county libraries and will get you a title if it's available out of my area.  Did I mention that I love the library?

Ok, there it is.  I feel better and after reflection, will strive to not buy anything on a whim even if it's on sale and possibly explore my "hobby" in a tighter sphere honing one aspect instead of thinking that I need to try it all.  At one time, I wanted to create a technique book as I did in C&G years ago, but really, who am I kidding?

Turning Vintage Feed Sack scrap to Dresden Plate blocks

String piece the tumbler shaped pieces with RST along the wide edge, then fold to RSO and press to make a point.  

Last month, I attended a quilt guild meeting in my area for the first time.  It started off in the normal way with the business being taken care of so that the evening's program and speaker could take over the majority of the time.  On this night, the topic was flour/feed sacks.  I knew what they were, have seen only a few and knew they were used for not only the product intended, but also was an advertising and promotional tool as well as an upcycle textile for home uses.  Like making dresses for children, toys, pot holders for the kitchen, and all sorts.  They also purposely printed patterns for the homemaker to use after the feed and flour were used, sometimes being a dresser scarf or child's romper, even quilt patterns.  The promotions meant having to purchase more product to get the next step, block, or set of patterns to complete the entire set.

With RST, sew each petal along one edge until all 12 petals form a circle. Center onto the background square and pin.  

I learned so much about the age of these printed gems.  Our speaker's mother had compiled years, no, decades of samples which were published in a comprehensive book that has been accepted in the Library of Congress.  Quite an impressive task. 

Baste the petals onto the background to hold in place.  Applique by hand  and remove basting stitching.  

At the end of her talk she had a table filled with vintage pieces of calico feed sacks.  Of course, I had to purchase some.  So, now what to do with these small vintage scraps I've purchased?  Something vintage looking, like Dresden Plate.

In the final step, the center circle is appliqued in the center through all layers.   I have not done any of the appliqueing yet, so these pictures do not show the final block.

This square is 6" when finished.  I purchased the instruction book and template set a few years ago, but this is the first time I've used them.  The last time I tackled a Dresden Plate block was 35 years ago when I attended my first quilting class.  That was a time when templates were cut from cardboard and drawn out with a ruler.

Unconventional Pixels

After a long respite, I've been busy in my studio working on an Improvisational wall quilt for my son.
As soon as I started on piecing the top, I knew what the name of the quilt would be. "Unconventional Pixels".  A lot of my quilts are that way.  It doesn't take long before a clever name comes to mind.  This one is definitely "Unconventional" in every way. 

The strips were cut with scissors in varying widths and sewn together in their color categories which were lights, mediums and darks.  This generated 3 pieced sets which were cross cut with scissors into varying widths again.   My rulers went on vacation during the construction of this quilt. 

At first, I thought about putting them in a basket and blind pick each strip to sew to make blocks.  But, then I decided to piece them log cabin style.  Using the same light and dark concept, I chose the light blue and black fabric to space the blocks and make some of them float.  

My son is a film fanatic, so with this in mind, I wanted to add side strips that resembled frames from film.  I used the light blue with dark blue squares for one side and black with gold squares for the other side. Next, I sandwiched the top with the backing and batting using safety pins to hold the layers together while machine quilting the design.  I usually undo the pins about 6-10" in front of the needle so I am not running any of them over.

There is a sense of flow with the light and dark sweeping across the top.  This thought led me to decide the quilting design.  I rarely mark the top.  I love the random free motion doodling techniques.  I chose to make wavy intersecting lines.  I like to look of polyester and rayon thread with it's glossy sheen. The use of polyester is very unconventional these days.  The top and bottom thread is Superior's Fantastico thread in a slight variegated navy blue.  

Instead of adding a binding to the edges, I wanted the quilting to flow off the quilt and not end that look with the binding or looking like it was framed by the binding.  I thought of purchasing some wood slats to make a frame like a canvas and stretch the quilt around it, but I didn't want it to look heavy and bulky, so I decided to just roll the edges to the back and sew  them down to the back.  Perfectly "Unconventional".

Here it is, finished and ready for him to hang in his foyer which will bring lots of color to his bare wall.