Makes Me Want to Make Another

I'm not sure how many quilts I've made with Sujata's free-pieced blocks, but I'm always encouraged by the outcome. There's just something about the method that resonates so well with me, helps me to not get bogged down in decision fatigue I can often experience with other styles of improv.

Vintage Lily

Vintage Lily above, is the most recently completed quilt made with help from the 'Cultural Fusion' book. Love the old timey vibe from imperfect piecing and a scrappy fabric pull. This one even managed to incorporate some reclaimed, well loved shirting fabrics! You can read more about it on my blog if you like or maybe take a look while its hanging in the NCW Quilt and Art Festival later in August. {If you happen to be in the area, that is.}

Chunky Crossroads

Chunky Crossroads, above, is an earlier attempt at yet another free-pieced block in the book. I meant for the blocks to look even 'chunkier', but we all have our natural rhythms when cutting! When thinking to post the Vintage Lily quilt, I remembered that this one never got posted over here on Sujata's blog. These blocks turned out to be such a wonderful base for the applique border that I was itching to do. So many times, I'm really just looking for a great, but unobtrusive compliment for whatever applique that is on my mind. Thinking about complex piecing can just make my head hurt! This quilt was given to one of my sister-in-laws shortly after finishing and I'm pretty sure she loves me just a little more now....

Optic Strings - an update

I've been making a block a day.

(or a total of seven blocks per week)

I'm thrilled that my plan to use 

a wide mix of solids and an equally wide 

group of reproduction prints is working so well.

Part of me wants to rush ahead

but reality is keeping me to my weekly plan.

And because of the way I'm making my blocks

there are corner cut-offs that just begged to be used.

So there is now a second quilt in the making!

Quiltdivajulie

p.s.  You can see the introductory post for this project HERE.

Overlapping Octagons

As I haven't posted here for some time I thought an update on my Overlapping Octagons was due.  This is the last photo of my Overlapping Octagons before the final Y-seams to bring it all together.

This has certainly been a challenge. The challenge is not yet over! Because a photo is flat it's difficult to show how the triangle sections between four red squares are refusing to lie flat.

bubbly triangles!

I have re-sewn some of the seams in the bubbly triangles; the rest I'll try to tame by hand when I finish joining all the columns. I think I probably have more control over the fabric when hand sewing.

Much as I like the effect of the vertical white fissures in the first photo, they are not a design feature; my next task is to join columns 1 and 2, and then to join that section to columns 3 and 4. Lastly I'll be joining the seams between columns 4 and 5. Somewhere along the line I see I need to add a couple of small triangles in the edges, and to add triangles to three of the four corners. I haven't yet decided whether or not this quilt is calling for a border. What do you think?

Happy sewing

Marly.

Spring Housetop - a Gee's Bend Inspired quilt!

Ever since I’ve immersed myself in Gee’s Bend quilts, I have LOVED the housetop block which these quilters use liberally in their quilt making. They come in all sizes in their quilts and it seems to be a common ‘go to’ block for them.

This past April I began piecing simple 19-inch housetop blocks. They didn’t really turn out to look like Gee’s Bend blocks because I used mostly prints - which is predominantly what I have in my stash......although lately I have been trying to add more solids to my quilts because I’ve noticed so many of the quilts which I like have solids in them! I call it “Spring Housetop”.

In this quilt is fabric from some of my other quilts, fabric from a dress I sewed for myself years ago, dresses I sewed for my two daughters many years ago, and simply stash. There is also a thrift shop cotton shower curtain fabric in there!

In process on the wall....actually the center fabric in two of these blocks got weeded out in the final edit....the black in the upper right corner read too dark....and I can't remember why the utensils didn't make the cut!

The fabric in one block was too thin so I backed it with another fabric to give it bulk....

Here are some of the blocks before being quilted.....the lily fabric is left over from an apron I made my mother years ago.....the two tone purple print is from binding on another quilt. I really like it when the same fabric shows up in several of my quilts.....it makes the quilts seem like sisters...like they're related and connected by a common thread. Ha! One big happy quilt family!

The daisies on the navy background (below) is fabric that I used with a smaller size daisy print in the same colors to make dresses for my two daughters years ago.....so that reminds me of them! And the turquoise with purple circles is from shorts that my son wore when little. Okay, enough with walking down memory lane!

I like that it sewed up very fast with such big pieces and I sent it to My Long Arm Quilting Service in New York for a Baptist fan quilting treatment. Just got it back recently, sewed the binding on, and called it finished! (Still have to do a label.)

One more quilt on the stack!
Happy Piecing!

~Edith Yoder Schmitt