Making Fabric

Maybe it was all the snow we got this past weekend.  Maybe it was just a longing for Spring.  Maybe it was a longing for colour.

Maybe it was all three.

Whatever the reason, I found myself in lock-step with a quilty associate of mine, another Albertan -- artist, traditional quilter, long-armer and blogger, Cathy Tomm.  

Both of us, it seems, have been working on string blocks in swaths of monochromatic colours -- she, green and purple, and I, blue, purple and red (with green to follow).

I'm working on a new piece, large for me, which (if it turns out as envisioned) I'll enter into SAQA's "Season After Season" juried exhibit.  I may have alluded to this project in a past post (or two), but now it is on one of the front "burners" in my sewdio.  It has to include an Artist's Journal, so I am trying to keep that up at the same time.  This is not my habit, so it's been a bit of a challenge to make the effort to translate what's in my head onto a journal page!

Blessedly, as I am now really working out the process, I've begun taking photos.

Sorting colours

I determined that as far as possible, for this project, I'd use up stash.  They were all a-jumble in a basket or two or three 😉 so I had to sort them out to get the colours I wanted.

That done, I thought I'd do it with random piecing, but I discovered that most of said scraps are in strips, so I decided to string piece them.

I began with the blues.

And moved to blue-purple, and then purple...

Added some red-purples.

The blocks are rectangles that will finish at 6" x 8" -- or 8" x 6", depending on how they're laid out.  In the photo immediate above, I laid them out on the guest bed to get a feel for how big the piece will be.  Depending on the layout, they'll be 5 blocks x 6" by 9 blocks x 8" OR 4 blocks x 8" by 12 blocks x 6".  

I don't know yet.  Time to get back to that journal and draft out a couple of alternatives, complete with colours.

Meanwhile, there's other fabric-making going on.  I'm exploring some different techniques, inspired by the inimitable Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn, for small pieces that will be heavily hand-stitched and put in shadow boxes or on mat board or canvases, for the Lacombe Art Show & Sale (no news yet on my application but I'm hoping for later this week!)

Inspirational photo

Materials for "Flora"

On the bottom right of the second photo you'll see some of my recent snow-dyed efforts -- cheesecloth and/or scrim, which features in the stitched material.

Fabric scraps, sandwiched between Sticky
Solvy layers, backed by a synthetic evenweave
and free-motion stitched

Solvy washed out, fabric backing trimmed -
ready for next steps

And so the fun continues!

Getting back to my more usual way of working, I've finished a second 'mini' in the series based on photos taken a local ranch...

View Over the Valley I - (C) 2018

View Over the Valley - Detail

And yes, that's a slice of needle-felting you see creating the forest on the horizon.  😊

There is clearly more to be done.  The blocks for the "rectangle quilt" -- taken from a pattern in a recent issue of Simply Moderne -- are finished and need to be sewn together.  I've managed to lay out several rows "in a way that pleases me", and have to get them together so I'll have room to lay out and assemble the rest, and then...the entire top!

On the guest bed -- view from the door!

On the guest bed - view from the 'side'.
Pay no attention to the quilt underneath!  ;-)

Not to mention...that I'm still plugging away at the units for Clue #6 of Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake mystery.

And the rest of the fabric needed for my daughter's "Random Rails" quilt top has been delivered -- so must get those washed and cut and assembled into blocks to finish that top.

My long-armer doesn't know it yet, but I hope to have four tops (the Rectangle, the Rails, the Ringo Lake and the now-finished "Not So Grand Illusion") delivered to her for quilting by month-end!

On ward and upward but first I'll belatedly link this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's talking about the legacy of an artist who's filled our lives with colour and whimsy -- if we've been fortunate to see her work...and may of us have (including me!) without knowing it.

Now...must get out and shovel that last bit of back sidewalk so I can put out the compost and the garbage!

Stay cozy; surround yourself with colour and whimsy; Spring's coming to these parts soon!

Kinda Neat...

That my quilty associate, Cathy, and I seem to be on the computer -- reading and posting -- at just about the same time every day.  That makes me smile!

She -- and her work -- has been just one of the people I've gotten to know a bit (better) via the Orca Bay Mystery Quilt project and its regular Monday link-ups.  Today is the final link-up, and it's fun to see what the other quilters have done with their tops (or TIPs -- Tops In Progress)!  It's also inspiring and interesting to see what others have done to interpret the pattern via colour(s), or the border(s).  I stuck to the black-white-blue-red combo because I love those colours and have (yes...still have) a good amount of them in my fabric stash and scraps.  However, I did do a couple of wee things with the borders: I used black (instead of white) for the inner border, and I inserted my left-over blue strippy squares into the top and bottom borders instead of making more quarter-square triangles to fit.

Now the top is resting until I can a) finish cleaning up my studio from the explosion of scraps generated during the project; b) figure out what I have on hand for backing and batting; and c) finish taking my online class on "Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine", taught by Ann Petersen over at Craftsy.com. (Totally worth the price of admission -- and it's currently being offered at a discount! And no, they didn't pay me to mention this!)

In addition to studio sorting, I have continued to stitch.  :-)  Once again it's time to post my block for the Crazy Quilt Project and TAST Week 5 -- Herringbone Stitch.  Unlike the stitch for Week 4, I really enjoyed this one.    The tie I managed to pick from my stash (remember, I dig into that drawer with my eyes closed.  Honest.) was a pretty one, too.  Here's the block and a couple of detail photos:

CQJP - February 2012

Detail 1

Detail 2

Now I must dash -- it's Monday, and I'm due to spend the rest of the day (as usual) in Lacombe.  Have a good one!

Unfolding the Mystery

Cathy was right.  She affirmed that once I began to sew the pieces together, the shouting of all those high-contrast colours would stop -- or at least, begin to quiet down.

Two rows sewn together is definitely calmer.

And three rows is calmer still.

I'm starting to like this quilt again!  :-)

Call me crazy, but...

it's snowin' and blowin' to beat the band this morning (started over night), and I'm getting into hibernate-in-the-studio mode!

Yes, I am working on a mosaic patchwork (aka English Paper Piecing) sample for my C&G, and a Christmas stocking for yet another new baby (not the same parents as last year's baby!)...and now...well, I just read Cathy Tomm's blog...and she mentioned that there happens to be a mystery  quilt starting over at Quiltville, and I have so many scraps that I have to get rid of...so I'm in!

Orca Bay, Alaska

Now most of you know I don't make many bed-sized pieces anymore, but at this point I am in such danger of being buried in an avalanche of scraps, that I'm willing to do just about anything to use 'em up!  And with a quilt inspired by this photo...what's not to like?