Optic Strings is Finished

 

Optic Strings is finished!

This quilt was started in 2019

as part of the UandU QAL.

You can read the full reveal post

over on my blog - click HERE.

Quiltdivajulie

Conundrum - The Quilt

Conundrum is finished!

Measures 30" wide x 42" long

Created using the cut off corners 

from the blocks for Optic Strings.

Layout inspired by the "String Grid" quilt on page 22

of Roderick Kiracofe's Unconventional and Unexpected.

This is my first finish for Sujata's U and U QAL.

Backing is by Keiko Goke ("stripe plaid")

I used the one leftover triangle to create a label.

Quilted with Affinity variegated Rainbow thread

(with Glide Bark in the bobbin)

using my unmarked liberated free motion all-over fans.

And here is where Conundrum will live

for the foreseeable future -

what you see when you first step through

the door to my design studio.

And this is the view as you leave the design studio.

* * *

There are three more UandU quilt tops to be quilted.

Sooner rather than later, I hope.

Quiltdivajulie

Optic Strings and Conundrum - Two Flimsies

Optic Strings - the flimsy 

48" x 64"

Inspired by "Aunt Etta's" string quilt on page 135

of Unconventional and Unexpected.

Pieced using Moda solids and reproduction prints.

You can read the complete reveal post on my blog HERE.

Conundrum - the flimsy

30.5" x 42"

Pieced using the corners cut from Optic String's strip sets.

Layout inspired by "String With Grid" on page 22

of Unconventional and Unexpected.

You can read the full reveal post on my blog

by clicking HERE and scrolling down a post or two.

* * *

The U and U QAL has been so interesting.

Thanks, Sujata for posing this challenge!

With four quilt tops waiting to be quilted,

I think I'm "done" with the challenge for now . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

Optic Geese Has a New Name - CONUNDRUM

These are the trimmed-away corner triangles

from this week's batch of Optic String blocks.

These trimmings have turned into a second project

for the #UandU quilt challenge.

Initially named Optic Geese,

I have now renamed this quilt-to-be

CONUNDRUM.

Read on and you'll see why.

Same parts sewn together into pairs and 

randomly plopped on the design wall.

This is the new inspiration quilt

from Unconventional and Unexpected.

(click here for that story)

A quick side note for those who have asked.

I am using this large triangle ruler

to cut away the sewn on corners

from the previously shared flying geese blocks.

I am not unstitching all those corners.

Here are a few more blocks on the design wall

with spaces added for future sashing and cornerstones.

Interesting to see how the different colors

appear to create such different patterns

when reduced to black and white.

Same blocks but in a different arrangement.

Again in black and white.

This has possibilities, 

but I need to work with it some more.

Checked the inspiration quilt in black and white

(phone photo of the computer screen)

to help reassure myself I'm on the right track.

And then . . . 

it happened again . . . 

What if I turn the squares on point?!?

And what if I mix up the colors

instead of keeping them in pairs?!?

The Evolution of an Idea (or how my mind works)

This IG post by Edith aka piecing passion 

recently caught my eye.

I love the red cornerstones, 

the scrappy sashing, 

and the wide possibilities for fabric choices.

When I asked, Edith shared that this IG post

was her inspiration so  I spent the next hour or so 

with pencil and graph paper to see if I could 

come up with dimensions that worked for me.

But as I pondered whether or not to add this to my 

ever-increasing project list, I kept thinking about

one of Audrey's posts at Quilty Folk

and this phrase in particular: 

"What really interests me right now 

is recreating old utility style quilts."

Honestly, that feeling is what drew me in so quickly

when Sujata announced the U and U quilt along -

I flagged at least a dozen quilts in the book

that I wanted to make using fabrics in my stash.

Another click or two on the Internet led me to this photo

of a one-patch quilt c. 1940 by Magalene Wilson 

who is one of the Gee's Bend quilters.

And another click to see more of her work

led to another of her one-patch quilts

with more red cornerstones . . . .

At which point, I had to get up

and walk away from the computer

before I found any more inspiration.

Once I was safely in the studio

I pulled out my copy of U and U

and flipped through the pages.

And my eyes landed on this one -

yet another fabulous inspiration quilt

which turns out to be one and the same

inspiration quilt Maureen chose - click HERE.

I have plenty of shirting, reproductions, and solids . . . 

but I also have too many other things going right now

to be able to drop everything and start on this idea.

Circumspect - meaning "well considered" 

will simply have to wait until October or November.

Between now and then

I'll be doing a lot of pondering

on which direction I want to go with this.

Stay tuned.

Quiltdivajulie

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.

Optic Strings - Another U&U Project

I ran across The 100 Day Project last week

and realized it was excellent motivation

for me to work on one of my projects 

for the Unconventional and Unexpected QAL.

I have always loved this quilt 

in Roderick Kiracofe's book.

My version will feature a mix 

of solids and reproduction fabrics.

It will also be smaller than the quilt in the book

with a layout 8 blocks wide x 10 blocks long.

Here is the information on the inspiration quilt.

This photo shows my nearly-final fabric pull . . .

And this is what 80 sets of strips look like

when sorted using my paper plate system.

This is that same group of 80 sets of strips

but shown from a different angle.

I can't wait to get started on this one

which I have named Optic Strings.

* * *

My goal is to make a block a day

during the next 100 days  --

and if I get the blocks done in time,

I will include the layout process

as part of my 100 Day Challenge.

Each Monday I'll share an update post on my blog

with the blocks from the previous week.

Here's to making progress!

Quiltdivajulie

A Bit of Progress

After many, many days of working/playing 

with small pieces of purples, greens, and grays,

I needed a change of pace color-wise.

Time to pull out my Not a Mystery project.

I pieced ten more center string/strip sets

and trimmed them to 4.5" wide before

adding 1.5" red batik strips to the sides.

(this process was inspired by Teresa Rawson's

X Marks the Block tutorial)

The red, green, blue, and orange segments

 in the project box are wider and I am using those

for the ends of the strip/string sets to avoid

too-small pieces in the block corners.

(I re-discovered them when I pulled out

the box to get my red batik strips - after

I had pieced these ten center sections)

Eighteen blocks done.

Seventeen more to go.

(original plan was for a layout

5 wide x 7 long with 10" finished blocks --

but I'm also thinking about a minor adjustment to that plan)

Quiltdivajulie

NOT a Mystery Begins

This is the quilt from Unconventional and Unexpected

that Sujata suggested for our quilt along.

I knew from the beginning that I would not

be making mine in the style of the original,

so I've been waiting to see which direction

my version would take.

In the meantime, I ran across this vintage beauty

photographed by Ann Champion and shared on Flickr.

And my brain immediately leaped to a quilt design

I've made twice before.

This version was named Happy Happy Joy Joy 

(or HHJJ for short) was made 

during the 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

And this version, named Girly Girl,

 was made shortly thereafter

to celebrate our great niece's birth.

In HHJJ, I used strings to fill in the side triangles.

In Girly Girl, I used half square triangles.

So with the design method settled,

I moved on to my waiting fabric pulls.

I had pulled these scrappy pieces

shortly after Bonnie Hunter introduced

her 2018 Good Fortune mystery quilt.

I never planned to make her mystery quilt

but I was drawn to the colors and her inspiration.

This photo was taken by our DIL in the Forbidden City 

during one of her Asian business trips.

It captures Bonnie's inspirational color palette perfectly.

(I even used this photo as my desktop wallpaper 

back when I was working at the law firm)

I also had this fabric pull set aside

for the current AHIQ Red challenge.

Once I started looking, the overlap between the two

was obvious and they quickly became one project

that suits both the UandU QAL 

and the AHIQ Red challenge.

With the intensity of my colors,

it was clear the low volume prints

needed an upgrade.

This long-stashed Marblehead was my choice.

  

I pulled these four fabrics from the stash

to use for the quilt's pieced back.

Initially I was not going to add the narrow strips

along the sides of the center insert.

But when I cut one WOF strip of a well-aged red batik

and laid it alongside the first pieced center segment 

you can see the results -- Those rich red 1" strips 

simply HAD to be part of this quilt.

I'm planning a layout 5 blocks wide x 7 blocks long

for a top that will measure 50" x 70" 

8 blocks made, 27 more to go.

And when I trim the center strips to 4.5" wide,

these marvelous lengths are the cutaways.

I already have a plan to use them 

in another small quilt!

Hooray for the UandUQAL 

and the AHIQ Red challenge

and for shopping my stash to create this project.

Quiltdivajulie