Friday, March 15, 2024

Scrappy Batiks, Cool

 A Friday Finish, for the first time in ages! 

The girls in the Hive have been busy. We previously made the original Scrappy Celebration, then the second version in brighter colors, then the patriotic version. We weren't tired of making blocks yet, so we moved on to black and black-alternative blocks with bright batiks. We made too many blocks for one quilt so we split them up into Cool colors and Warm colors. 

The top with the cool colors is finished. Several of us worked on the layout on the design wall in PCQ's quilting room, with lots of input from our friends. Here's the finished version of the top, assembled by Linda:


Wherever the original pattern called for a white or a white-based low volume fabric, we used black or a very dark print. 

Here are some of the blocks I sewed in February. We ended up not using one of them because it stood out too much. 

The warm colors version is still in work; we need to make about 20 more blocks. 


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

February Stash Report and Goals Update

Life happens, teaching has kept me busy, and I haven't posted in awhile, so I'm late with my monthly recap. Here's a quick catch-up post. 

February Stash Report:

IN this month: 4-1/2 yards from a quilter's estate sale.
OUT this month: 0

IN YTD: 4-1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 7-1/4 yards 
YTD Net Change: 2-3/4 yards out

Warm Scrappy Batik Blocks made in February

Goals: 

February Recap

1. Continue prepping for and teaching weekly color classes. Yes, February classes went well, one more left for March.

2. Continue making blocks for SC4. Yes, we have enough blocks in cool colors for a twin size quilt. Need a few more in warm colors for a second quilt. 

3. Finish Kaffe gradient flimsy. Progress, only one more row to add. 

4. Figure out a plan for how to salvage Road Trip. Slight progress, I labeled the blocks and took them off the wall.  

Cool Scrappy Batik Blocks made in February

March Goals:

1. Make new rayon batik bathrobe. 

2. Prep for and teach final color class.

3. Prep projects for April retreat.

4. Continue making warm color blocks for SC5.

5. Find sea turtle panel and start baby quilt for Emily.

6. Finish Kaffe gradient flimsy.

7. Work on revised layout to salvage Road Trip.

That's a lot for this month and I don't know if I'll get to it all. Some of it is deadline-driven so those are the priorities, and Road Trip may have to be postponed for awhile. 

Friday, February 16, 2024

This is Not Working

My design wall is filled with blocks for my Road Trip quilt. The concept is to have the ones with all khaki backgrounds at the center, and lighter ones going outward toward the edges. 

It's not working for me. I don't like having the light blocks at the edges, they just kind of fragment apart and the whole thing fades out. It looks like I ran out of khaki fabric and had to use something else around the edges. 

Here are the upper left and lower right quadrants. The fabrics themselves are fine, but the placement of the blocks, and maybe the placement of lights and darks within some of the blocks, isn't working. It might work better with light background blocks at the center of the quilt and darker ones at the edges, to frame it and hold it all in. Or maybe sprinkle the lights among the darks so it's more evenly spaced across the whole top. 



I think I know what to do to attempt to fix it. I printed out the photo above. I'll number all the blocks on the photo and put corresponding labels on all the actual blocks. Then I'll cut apart the photo, rearrange the layout, and see if I can get it to work better. Then I'll put the blocks back up on the wall in the new arrangement. 

I may have to take apart and reconfigure some of the blocks. I have about 1/2 yard of the khaki Grunge left but I can't get more to match - it was leftover wide backing from several years ago. I have exactly enough of the license plate print left to cut four more 3-1/2" squares, so I'll have to carefully reuse what I already have made. There's enough of four of the five colors to make more block parts, as well as more of the small multicolor print. I have a few rejected blocks that I could bring back or cannibalize.

I fully admit I have been procrastinating on this. I've been doing other sewing in the meantime to avoid dealing with this, although it would be nice to have my design wall back.  

I welcome any ideas and suggestions you might have for making this work. I still like the prints, the colors, the general concept. Please comment. 


Link Ups: Alycia Quilts (Friday),  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts (Monday)

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Comments

Hello friends, 

I haven't been getting blog comments lately. They used to come into my email for moderation. I thought it was probably because I've been blogging less frequently lately, so fewer followers, and people have backed off from visiting and commenting. But it seems something changed awhile ago and the comments are there, they're just not showing up. I went into the comment section in Blogger and found comments going back as far as November. 

So if you've left a comment and I haven't responded, that's why. I'm sorry for the lack of response. Comments are always appreciated and I like to acknowledge each one. Since I missed so many, I can't go back and reply to them all.

I went into my Blogger settings and nothing has changed; I don't know why the comments stopped coming. So I will check in Blogger for comments every day and catch them that way. 

If you requested a charity pattern in a comment, please request again and I'll send it to you. Be sure to type your email address within the text of the comment so I can send the PDF to you. 

It's distressing that I didn't get all those comments in a timely manner, and again, I'm sorry I didn't reply. 

Jan

Friday, February 9, 2024

Edna's Stars, Pattern in Development

 Back in December my friend Edna made a quilt that she thought would be a good charity pattern to offer to PC quilters, easy enough for beginners and quick to make. She asked me to write the pattern for it. Here's her original, in her favorite palette of patriotic colors, intentionally very scrappy. 

I drafted the design in EQ and we reviewed it together, recoloring and adding borders until she was happy with it. I made a couple of modifications to it, enlarging the blocks to 12" from 10" and changing the construction from oblongs with flip corner triangles to half square triangles. The size came out to 56 x 68". 


We talked about how this pattern could work in other color combinations and how it didn't necessarily have to be scrappy. I showed her a couple of color options in EQ. 

To verify the pattern I made a test sample. Since I don't have much in the way of patriotic colors in my stash, I used what I had enough of. My version is one of the alternate, non-scrappy colorways I showed her, very girly. 

The placement of pink and turquoise is as she wanted reds and blues placed, with blue for the outer border. 

My test top came out fine. The pattern instructions have been written and are ready for someone else to pattern test. I did have a little trouble with some seams not nesting as I thought they would and further pattern testing could lead to suggestions for improving that. We'll offer it at PCQ's next meeting and ask for a pattern tester. It's intended as a free charity pattern and eventually I'll add it to the free charity quilt patterns tab above. 

Meanwhile, if you would like to make a test version of Edna's Stars and are willing to send me your comments on how to improve the pattern along with a photo of your top, I'll send you a PDF of the pattern. Please leave a comment, and be sure to type your email address in the text of the comment, otherwise I can't send the PDF to you. 


Link ups: Alycia QuiltsConfessions of a Fabric Addict

Friday, February 2, 2024

Friday Finish: Scrappy Celebration 3, Patriotic

Back in December the "hive" that's been making Scrappy Celebration blocks finished the patriotic ones, and Linda assembled the top. I had some yardage of wide backing in the right colors, so I passed it to her for the back. Last week she quilted and finished it. 

 

photo credit: Linda L. 

Like our other Scrappy Celebration quilts, SC3 will be a donation quilt. It's approximately 63 x 81" for a large throw. 

Did it bust any scraps? Didn't make a dent. I had so little red, white, and blue in my own stash that the girls shared theirs with me. I've ended up with more R-W-B scraps than I started with! 


Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

January Stash Report and Goals Update

A new version of Scrappy Celebration with friends, this time in batiks with black, got me sidetracked this month. In addition, my color classes are mostly one week apart this time instead of two weeks apart, so a lot of my time has been spent reviewing and updating my previous lesson plans and prepping for teaching. Therefore, not a lot of progress was made on some of my other projects. 


Stash Report: 

IN this month: 0
OUT this month: 7-1/4 yards (Backing for patriotic Scrappy Celebration, 2 yards wide backing. Test blocks for Edna's pattern, 7/8 yard. Pattern test sample for Edna's Stars, 4-3/8 yards)

YTD Net change: 7-1/4 yards out.

Fabrics being used for batik Scrappy Celebration have not been counted. When the top is complete, we'll estimate the total consumption and divide by the number of participants. 

Goals Update: 

January Recap: 

1. Prep for and teach first two sessions of Color Class. DONE

2. Finish the Kaffe Gradient top. No, not touched.

3. Continue working on Road Trip. Worked on layout and filler blocks. Not happy with the result. 

4. Work with Edna to draft her pattern. Make test sample. DONE.

5. Work on a UFO or an Adopt-a-Quilt. Not done

Other: Made more than 20 blocks for Scrappy Celebration 4 in batiks with black. 


February Goals: 

1. Continue prepping for and teaching weekly color classes.

2. Continue making blocks for SC4.

3. Finish the Kaffe gradient flimsy.

4. Figure out a plan for how to salvage Road Trip.

I'm keeping the list short this time because it's a short month and I have four color class lessons to prep for. Wish me luck!