More Stripes

Did I mention I'm obsessed with this project? It's coming along!

It's truly a puzzle to put together, with lots of partial seams. The stripes are lining up surprisingly well, and all things considered the sections are laying nice and flat. I've tried not to seam across the long black and white stripes, but in a couple of places it can't be avoided. The bottom half still needs a few tweaks and needs more stripes added, but I can finally see this coming together.

Revising, Removing, Replacing, Rearranging...

... and a lot of seam ripping...

This is how the Color Spoke project looked on the wall on Feb. 11. It definitely needs some work. There are blocks I don't like, and some units I want to move, and just a lot of rearranging needed.

I've been moving elements around and adding sashing strips. This unit will be turned so the stripes run vertical.

All of the horizontal sashing strips are made of black and white stripes. The stripes will line up from top to bottom on the quilt.

I've been obsessed with this project and spending a lot of time on it. Just when I think I have a section laid out where I want it and I sew the parts together, then I look at it again and decide to change it and end up unsewing those parts. My seam ripper has been getting quite the workout.

What I've learned so far is that small fussy filler blocks aren't working. I made a lot of 3" diamond-in-a-square blocks thinking I'd need them for fillers as I puzzle this together, but they're too busy and their scale is too small.

Here's where I left it on Friday. The Drunkards Path and Scrappy Trips blocks have been switched and the modified Have Faith block has been replaced by a new block that mirrors the diagonal of the Scrappy Trips block. The entire lower half here still needs a lot of work.

I like where this is going. The original challenge was to choose one spoke of the color wheel and use only that hue plus neutrals in the blocks each month. I chose yellow green because I had some of these fabrics in my stash and they worked, but I ended up buying more. Although the yellow green blocks worked for the BOM challenge and they work okay here, a brighter color might have been visually more powerful against the black and white stripes in this concept.

(These dull indoor photos don't help the color any!)

This project is calling me. I need to get off the computer and back to it in the sewing room.


Link ups:
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Love Laugh Quilt

Accepted

Whoo-hoo!!!
I just found out my Checkerboards and Dresden Plates quilt has been accepted into the Spring AQS show!

Linking up with Whoop-Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

The Color Spoke Project

Last year STLMQG had a BOM challenge where we picked one spoke of the color wheel and used only that color plus neutrals to make the challenge block each month. A different skill or technique was featured each month. I chose yellow-green for my color and found a range of values to work with, plus black and white. Here's my block from the month we were to fussy cut something; I fussy cut my Dresden center.

The challenge resulted in a random selection of blocks, only unified by color. Now it's time to do something with them. My plan is to puzzle them together a la Gypsy Wife, and fill in with black and white strips.

First step: throw everything up on the wall.

Second step: Run away screaming.

Third step: Make some filler pieces and units.

Third step: Work on rearranging blocks and elements and see if I can make anything cohesive out of this.

Not there yet, but this is the state of the wall today:

Still needs work. I need to make the background black & white strips and spread them around, so I can see where I have contrast and where I need visual breaks. A lot more playing with bits and parts is in order here before this comes together.


Link Ups:
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Love Laugh Quilt

Have Faith Flimsy

The top I made using Jaime's Have Faith block is finally finished. The blocks were made by the girls in our Sew Bee It bee. I planned to add pieced sashing to create additional plus motifs, and I worked on the components for it at STLMQG's retreat back in October. Finally in January I was able to get back to this project and finish piecing it together. Many thanks to Jaime for the block pattern and the girls in the bee for making the blocks.

The top finished at 62" by 76" for a large throw size.

For the sashing, I used low volume "bricks" cut 2-1/2" by 4-1/2".  The Pluses in the sashing are accent color pieces cut 2-1/2" square and 2-1/2" by 6-1/2". Two bricks plus two accent squares make up the vertical sashing. The horizontal sashing is two bricks and a long accent piece laid out across the row. In this diagram, the sashing bricks are shown in white and the accent pluses are shown in black.

To complete the outer pluses, I added additional vertical sashings of three bricks each to the ends of each horizontal row of blocks before sewing the rows together. Then I added top and bottom borders with the final accent squares interspersed with three sashing bricks, and finished with LV 2-1/2" squares at the corners. (see bottom rows in flimsy photo above)

I'm hoping I'll be able to get this top quilted and finished this spring for a donation, but with all that's going on around here, I don't know if that will happen. I'm glad at least the top is finished!


Link ups:
Alycia Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Wendy's Quilts and More
My Quilt Infatuation

January Stash Report and Goals Update

Not as much time as usual was spent in the sewing room in January because of a lot of other stuff going on, although there were some accomplishments. Let's see how this month ended up.

January Stash Report
IN this month and YTD: 13 yards (4 yds potential bkgd fabrics from on line order.   4-1/2 yds daisy bkgd fabric from Jackman's and 1 yd vine fabric from Jackman's.  3-1/2 yards add'l vine background fabric)
OUT this month and YTD: 15 yards (Strip flimsy, incl border - est 4 yards.   Have Faith flimsy, 6-5/8 yards (not counding block fabrics from others).  Backing and binding fabrics sent along with donation tops, 4-3/8 yards.)

Bright Strippy Race top

I'm annoyed about the amount of yardage added this month but at least I have more out than in. I ordered a yard each of some potential background fabrics for my Fan Medallion and rejected them all. I bought yardage locally of what I thought I would use for it, then changed my mind. So I bought more yardage to have enough of the print I finally selected. This means I have 8-1/2 yards of yellow prints I don't need but can't return. Sigh.

January Goals Recap: 
1. Make progress on the Have Faith WIP left over from STLMQG retreat in October.  DONE, completed flimsy. No photos yet, weather hasn't cooperated. 
2. Do something with baggie of 1-1/2" strips that I've been moving around on my sewing table for months. DONE, made the bright strippy race top.
3. Add final bottom border strip to WIGSP Piecing Group project. DONE
4. Find or make decision about background fabric for Fan Medallion blocks. Yes, finally selected background fabric and started stitching fans down. 
5. Keep up with Bee blocks. DONE
6. Find homes for donation tops and/or quilts. YES, sent five unquilted tops plus some backing and binding fabrics to someone who can finish them and donate them to a good cause. 

Background chosen

Donated top

February Goals: 
1. Hand sew remaining rows of the WIGSP* together and attach to top; add final top border if possible.
2. Start figuring out how to put together the Color Spoke BOM blocks from last year.
3. Layer, baste, and quilt the purple chunky churn dash.
4. Layer, baste, and start quilting Have Faith.
5. Keep up with bee blocks.

I think February will be like January, lots of non-sewing activities going on, so I'm scaling back my goals for what I can achieve in the sewing room. I am going to push myself to do as much hand sewing as possible on the WIGSP, although hand sewing makes my hands sore. We'll see how much I can get done. The project is so close to being a finished flimsy and I want it finished to show the girls who have worked on it with me for all these years.

*Work In Glacially Slow Progress


Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Look What I Found

It's amazing what you might unearth when you sort through everything to decide what to move or leave behind after 35 years.

Or longer. I first moved to St. Louis from my parents' home near Kansas City in the summer of 1977, when I was engaged to a St. Louis guy. I moved into a small apartment above some stores. While I was living there I started making a quilt. I had no clue what I was doing, but I was an accomplished apparel seamstress, so I just jumped in.

I found that original project: Five blocks and a lot of cut pieces.

Lightweight poly-cotton background fabric. 

Crispy calico parts.

I am being ruthless and unsentimental about getting rid of stuff. This long-time UFO is now gone.

Also gone is my high school and college "time capsule," a foot locker full of memorabilia from back in the day. I read through a few pages of old diaries and shredded them. Junior high crushes just don't hold the fascination they once did! I dumped all the old theater programs, football tickets, etc. etc. etc. in the recycling. I put photos in an album (yes, I added pages into one of the albums I just worked on recently). Do you remember notes passed in class, folded into a tight triangle? Yes, I got rid of the first (and only!) note a boy ever passed to me. Also my first corsage. It was enjoyable to revisit all this stuff for an afternoon, but I don't need it and don't want to keep it. I filled several grocery bags with trash and took a load of paper stuff out to the recycling bin.

Have you done this kind of purging? How did you feel afterward? I'm feeling both lighter that this much is gone, and still overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in this house that has to be dealt with.


PS - that St. Louis guy? We'll be married 42 years in March. I think I'll keep him.