March Butterflies

The Kaleidoscope of Butterflies continues this month, and I've been stitching all weekend to get my next butterfly block done.

I'm glad this link up came along! I've been feeling a paralyzing amount of angst about the fabric choices for this project. But, these stitched sections are all decided, so I can do them now, and worry about the rest later. And I have a feeling that once these are done, and I can put everything up on the wall together, it will be easy to see what's next. Or at least, easier.

This is Block 2 of Leanne Beasley's stitchery quilt, Down in the Garden:

There was a lot of stitching on this one! And most of it yellow and gold. I seem to be on a yellow theme right now. But, given that this is the scene outside today...

 ...I think it balances out. No real life butterflies here! A spring green needleturn butterfly will have to be enough for now:

For more kaleidoscopes and butterflies, check out the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up, right here.

Basking in the Sunshine

It's Improv Week again over at the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters link up. I was so busy quilting Mod Trips this month, that I had no time for improv. But, I figured, why not start now?

For this week's trick, I'm using Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion techniques to make curvy half square triangles...

...and curvy rail fence units...

...and combine them into curvy churn dash blocks!

A churn dash quilt has been on my to do list for several years. Then when my guild started its crayon challenge, I hoped for a yellow crayon so I could make a yellow and white churn dash quilt. I got purple, but I liked this idea enough to make it anyway.

And, I've been thinking for a while that Sujata's elements could be combined to make interesting traditional blocks.

So, this is Modern Utility Quilt #2, which I'm calling "Sunshine." It's possible that this could turn into a series. And it's also looking likely that these Riley Blake ginghams will keep showing up:

I went to a lot of trouble to get the complete set of those ginghams in all 11 colours and 3 sizes when they were released. I thought I would put them all in the same quilt. But once they arrived, that seemed uninspired, and they sat in a box in the basement. Now I think several quilts will be better!

All the fabric is stash, like my first Modern Utility Quilt, and it seemed like a good chance to use all those large and small scale florals I used to buy. These are the first two blocks I made:

I have to say, I was feeling some doubt at this point. But I had the fabric cut for the first eight blocks, so I kept going:

It was all darker and browner than I expected. And was that citron Mini Pearl Bracelet really a good idea?

In improv theatre, the formula is to always say "yes, and..." So I squelched my doubts and thought, "ok, where do I go from here?" Most of the really pale yellows I'd pulled went back in the stash. The rest I pinned right up on the wall with the finished blocks:

This seemed like a crazy idea at first, but it turned out to be really helpful to sit back and see how everything was working together. So on Monday, I'll be linking up to Design Wall Monday as well!

All the fabrics fit into that range between the citron and gold of the first two blocks. I think the pure white fabric makes the dark fabrics look darker, so there will be less of that combination in the remaining blocks.

I've been looking at this pile of yellow fabric on my sewing table for a few days now, and I'm feeling good about where it's going. But, I promised myself I would get some more things quilted before the hot weather returns, so I will have to pack it up soon.

And before I go, look what I found when I logged into Blogger this afternoon:

I always enjoy these little synchronicities, which I know is why I keep finding them. This is a particularly good one. And it's probably why I "accidentally" logged into Blogger before I had my photos edited. And, check out the rest of the page:

LOL!

Don't forget to check out the rest of the improv quilting at the February link up, right here. Happy quilting!

Mod Trips Finished

First finish for 2016! This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World. I call mine "Mod Trips."

Mod Trips, 60" x 60"

I started this project on a snowy day in February, three years ago. No snow today! But, it's predicted again for tomorrow.

My goal with this quilt was to make a version that was different from all the others out there. I think I succeeded!

It is straight-line quilted in a diamond pattern on my home machine with the walking foot:

I didn't mark it, just sighted along from corner to corner by eye. There was 28 wt white Aurifil thread in the top, and 40 wt in the bobbin. I used a longish stitch ("3" on my machine, and I usually piece at around 2 1/4), and I was happy with how that looked.

But it was not smooth sailing! I was very tempted to title this post...

Dratted Walking Foot

Three weeks ago I had about a third of it quilted, but the back looked like this:

You can see I originally planned twice as much quilting. But, why was it getting all bunched up like that? First, I thought I did a poor job basting it, because I had to do it on a smaller table than before. Or, somehow the fabric stretched out.

Eventually I realized the problem was the feed dogs. I had them on the highest setting, and they were pulling up the back as they worked. My machine has a pin feed, so I switched to that. Then everything flattened out and the walking foot chugged along beautifully.

But, I couldn't have half of it bunchy, and half of it flat, so I spent a day and a half pulling out all the quilting and re-basting it. I was very glad I'd used a longer stitch!

Except for a little cross in each corner, I decided to leave the quilting at every other row the second time.

It's been so long since I finished something, that I totally forgot how fun it is to sew on the binding! It really is satisfying to wrap up all the raw edges and close out the project.

I don't know how practical this scrappy white binding will be, but it felt like the right choice.

So, yay! One done. The pillows are also quilted, but still need backs and binding. To read all the posts about this project, please click here.

Although I didn't make any formal New Year's resolutions this year, I do kind of have one:

One old

One new

One flimsy

One quilt

Since this is an old project and now a finished quilt, I'm free to start something new! And yes, I already started today:

It is so nice to get the walking foot off the machine, and get back to regular sewing!