Scraps and Strings

good things in small packages

2010-01-05T09:35:00.003-06:00

I've made two more little quilts for AAQI as part of the Liberated challenge. The one on the left used more of the wedges/triangles left from cutting Dresden plates. I used curved strip piecing in a swirly b/w print to join them and machine and hand quilted it. The one at the right combines three of the free-pieced roses I made way back. I have another dozen, but they're hard to put together since the angles don't line up. These two join the string pieced one I did on the weekend and I'm going to register them asap and get them in the mail. I've found it's worth sending more than one at a time in terms of postage. I also need to name them. The one at the left sort of looks like quilts blowing in the wind, but right at this moment, my creative naming skills are a bit fuzzy.

On the weekend, I pieced together a long-promised coffee cozy for a French press coffee maker. It's just a rectangle with strings to tie at the handle part, backed with that metallic Thinsulate stuff and bound with a selvage. I find selvages are quick for binding -- I sew on the raw edge, fold over the selvage and sew it with a decorative stitch. You can see the words along the selvage on on the picture at the left, which features the back of the matching mat. As you can see, I had a dot theme going to make a bright cozy to match the morning jolt of coffee.

Liberated plates

2010-01-02T10:42:00.007-06:00

I began the new year in the sewing room, putting together this little quilt (8 by 10) from scraps of the Dresdens. I used the dozens of triangles left from cutting the blades, about an inch at the widest part, to make a string quilt for the Liberated quilts challenge for AAQI. I had resolutely thrown all these scraps out, thinking they were too small, but fished them out of the garbage and made a little quilt with about 100 little strings. It is quite stiff because of all the seam allowances, but isn't it fun? I used a b/w Mark Lipinski print for the back and binding. Thanks Clare and Michele for organizing this challenge.

Here it is in the midst of the Dresdens, which it matches nicely. These plates are addictive and I've been using three different templates with different numbers of blades. I've done some curves, some pointed, and some circular. I know that traditionally they're supposed to be each appliqued on a square, but I'm leaning toward a more organic layout and thinking of a phrase to go with them, something along a hospitality theme. How about: "We'll set a place for you?" or maybe these will become a set of placemats with a tablerunner. I'd like to eat my breakfast on one of these bright plates.

I'm really cooking now!

2009-12-30T10:52:00.002-06:00

Actually, it's more like plating. Yesterday was my first free day from family obligations during the holidays, so I made Dresden Plates. I used various patterns I found on Google Images and just played with them. These are all machine sewn, but I hope to make some with the curved edge as well.

This one is finishing at 15 inches. I've been cutting into yardage for these -- some Kaffe Fassetts, some American Jane, some Mark Lipinski I'd been saving for no particular reason, and mixing them with other saturated colours and scraps. I have 21 different fabrics in this plate. Because of my haphazard way of cutting, I don't have equal amounts of anything, and really, cutting is the worst part of this exercise. I dutifully made a plastic template and outlined it with black marker, but I'm still cutting slices off the edges. Arrrggh!!

Here's four of the big ones -- they're all different but the fabrics overlap from plate to plate. I'm finding the really light and really dark blades stick out, so I'm trying to space them out evenly when I can. I'm loving the colours here.

These two use a different pattern and finish at 8.5 inches. The one at the right is from BumbleBeans scrap bag that I won, and the left one is from my collection of 1930s reproductions. I have many more blades cut for this size, so I'm going to make more of these. These have 14 blades instead of the 21 in the big ones.

Here's everything on my design wall -- spiderwebs and plates. I have a circular thing going right now. Now that I've cut into my yardage, the scraps will find their way into the last 9 spiderwebs I need. I'm only using already cut strings and scraps for this project, so I'm happy that those colourful Kaffes can be part of the spiderwebs. I also did a bit of shopping at the post-Christmas sales -- five metres of fun Christmas prints and fun additions to the stash. I used the Peanuts print to make a pillowcase as a belated Christmas gift. I like how the b/w print on the cuff mimics the snow on the Peanuts print.

I just saw Santa and he looks just like the FedEx man!

2009-12-24T11:57:00.001-06:00

A friendly FedEx courier just delivered this package to my door, minutes before noon. Santa couldn't have better timing. Inside were my winnings from a recent C & T Publishing blog giveaway-- wool felt fat quarters in 14 yummy colours, plus a catalogue and samples from C & T. I gave that Santa in disguise some gingersnaps for his efforts (he says he has to work until 6 p.m.). Thanks for much C&T. I'm going to have fun with these!

Cobwebs in my house

2009-12-22T15:27:00.001-06:00

Actually, they're just on my wall. I'm still laying low on the housework front, and I'm sure there's real cobwebs growing somewhere, but today I don't care. I'm having fun making these, especially since I can play with new scraps.
Below left are the six new ones I've made so far, to add to the 21 I already had. I'm aiming for 36, and I have lots of strings left in the bin. funny how this doesn't seem to make a dent in the string bin.

Can Sew

2009-12-20T21:04:00.002-06:00

So I had a bit of minor surgery last week and although I feel fine, I can't lift, can't push, can't pull. That pretty much eliminates any sort of housework and even Christmas baking, but I can sew. At least I can in little bits.This weekend I strip pieced selvages and orphan blocks into four tea cozies. I've pictured back and front here side by side. The selvage ones at the right used up some of the selvage nine patch blocks I'd made earlier and the one at the top left are extra wide selvages of mostly Kaffe fabrics that were in the box of scraps I won from Bumble Beans.

Home and house

2009-12-12T11:13:00.003-06:00

Click on photos to see details.

Recently I saw 17 quilts celebrating the 140th anniversary of Manitoba, the province where I live. The call for quilts went out in January, and by November these full-sized quilts went on display. Many of them used traditional quilt elements, but this one by the Goodlands Forget-Me-Knots is really fun with all the people in the wonky houses, conneted to each other by bright threads. The photos may not show it, but over all the houses are quilted the names of towns, cities, and villages in Manitoba.

I've only managed a tiny bit of sewing this week: four quilt as you go placemats using Christmas fabric scraps and some Father Christmas panels. They add a bit of cheer to our family meals.

"I always wanted a quilt!"

2009-12-08T17:05:00.002-06:00

Today my quilty friends Cheryl and Val joined me in gifting this quilt to a mutual friend. She was surprised, but oohed and aahed, and then won my heart when she said "I always wanted a quilt." You can see the big smile on her face as she's wrapped in the quilt. Thanks to the community of quilters who helped me with this, and to those who chipped in to pay for the extra costs.

At right is one of her little boys hiding under the I Spy quilt. Obviously a great hit as well.

Thanks to generous bloggers...

2009-12-04T17:49:00.000-06:00

....I now have new fabric to play with. Bumble Beans sent me the contents of her scrap bag in a giveway on her blog recently. I'm thrilled with the variety of fabrics to play with, and lots of them are big pieces too, as well as strings and selvages. All fun.

Last month I swapped some 6.5 and 3.5 inch I Spy squares with Cheri at Jovaliquilts, and this is what she sent me. Most of my I Spy fabrics are from other generous quilters. Thanks to both of you. There's not any duplicates in my stash of what you sent me. I'm going to have some fun with my new scraps this weekend.

Quilted proof of my existence

2009-12-03T13:24:00.000-06:00

Here's visual proof that I still exist. I've been busy with work and studies lately, so not much quiltmaking going on here. This quilt is lying on my couch where I've been binding it in minutes stolen from other responsibilities. I have one long side left to go, some threads to hide from the machine quilting, and the label to attach. My friend Val quilted this in a large all over meander using her Quilting B machine and frame. I "helped" her by pinning it on the machine and moving the lamp, and when she had tension problems, I unpicked some of the stitching. Unfortunately, I put an half-inch gash on the back with the really sharp seam ripper. We marked it with tape, but the tape has since falled off and I'll have to take a close look to find the hole. You can see from the close-up that the front is a real mixture of fabrics from the scraps. The back is a Anna Griffin bird print I bought last year for $4 a metre. I was hoping I'd have enough of that bird print to make a matching pillowcase, but instead of 27 inches of WOF, I have about 9 inches of 2.5 metres. Good border material for another project. This is going to be gifted next week, so I have to keep handsewing here.

I've also been working on my guild challenge for this month. Cheryl asked for eight 6.5 inch drunkard's patch blocks to make the equivalent of two 12 inch blocks. I'm thinking she's going to mix and match them. The hardest part for me was accurate cutting from a paper template. Eventually I traced her template onto freezer paper and ironed it on the fabric and then cut it out. If I was ever going to make a whole quilt of this pattern, I might invest in those plastic (or whatever) templates. I used up a bunch of fabric with dots. Cheryl's only guideline was good contrast between dark and light. On the top left I've used some of that fruity women fabric we've been having fun with in my guild -- I think it's been used in some ways in at least three tote bags and as the basic for two picnic quilts. I've been using it for tea cozies.

Scrappy Scot's Plaid

2009-11-22T16:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I put the borders on this scrappy Scot's Plaid I made as a leader/ender project last January. It sat in a box for months as I debated how big to make it. So I decided just to go for a 1 1/2 inch inner border in pink and 3 1/2 out border in black, repeating the pink and black in the quilt. Click on photo to see the wide variety of scraps I used for this quilt, mostly from the bricks and blocks I cut using Bonnie's Scrap User system. The backing is a black on white Anna Griffin bird print. This is going over to a friend for machine quilting on her mid-arm, and then to its intended recipient by Christmas. I impressed myself yesterday by cutting, piecing, and ironing the binding as well.

Collaborative quilts

2009-11-18T15:35:00.003-06:00

Warning: quilt heavy content!

My quilt guild, the Strip Piecers met at my house earlier this week and we had much quilty goodness. Before they arrived, I moved my DR table to one end to leave a wide open space in the middle so we could layout quilt blocks. I have a really big dining room (11 by 15) so we laid out several at a time. Karen held hers up for everyone to see, and she made sure to tell me how my quilting style had influenced hers: note her freestyle letters and all the strip piecing (which I introduced to her in this quilt, after which our guild got its name.) Very fun. It's a wall hanging for her future SIL.

Here Cheryl, my partner in quilting crime, is holding up two 48 by 66 cuddle quilts for two little boys we both know. At right is the I Spy quilt I've shown before, rearranged a bit with more darks. At left is a strip-pieced quilt made from novelties from fellow guild member Bonnie, who gave us yards and yards of fabric she was done with. I supplemented it with the letter fabric and a few squares leftover from the I Spy. Cheryl strip pieced both onto navy microfleece backing, and brought the fleece to the front for a nice dark binding. Bonnie had enough yardage to make a pillowcase for both boys, which I haven't pictured. Thanks so much Bonnie!

Below are two of the monthly challenges. Each month a different guild member sets a challenge and we make the block in the colours or patterns she asks. At right are Laura's 6.5 inch string blocks which was our October challenge. She brought them back because she had a few more, and I gave her the 10 more that I made. Lovely, lovely, lovely. We tried out several b/w sashing fabrics, and she's hoping to make several quilts from these 99 she has. At right is Anne K's November challenge of Jack in the Box blocks in blues and purples. Mine are at the top right, including the mistake. I like the value combinations where the pinwheel appears to flip over , like the 2nd one from the left in the top row. At the bottom right is the bag of bonus HST squares we made when making the flying geese. Anne is the ultimate scrap quilter, so she'll find another use for these.

We have so much fun playing with these blocks and showing off our new quilts that some evenings we don't even get out our handwork. Thanks, Strip Piecers, for a fun and inspiring evening.

This is the day...

2009-11-14T17:56:00.001-06:00

that my two blogs converge. I've been writing about the psalms everyday for the past two months, today I'm writing about the psalm on which this quilt is based. Check it out here.

Round and round the circle

2009-11-15T10:28:00.002-06:00

Several months ago I started cutting into my hand dyes, making circles from some and 8.5 by 11 inch backgrounds of others. I wanted to practice my applique skills on small quilts, just the size for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, and perfect for taking along.

So far I've done six little quilts, and I photographed the tops before I basted them to the backing and batting.

I'm planning to put corner triangles on the backs to hang the quilts, and then they can hang vertically or horizontally. I'm having fun playing with the colours and I'm liking the applique. I gathered these around templates I cut with my circle cutter for paper, pressed them, popped out the template, and pressed again, and then appliqued them to the background. I'm going to hand quilt these minis free hand, so they'll be take along projects for the next while.

Not even one day of free motion quilting

2009-11-12T22:08:00.002-06:00

I've been watching what Leah Day is doing over at her blog, 365 days of free motion quilting fillers, and I have to say, she makes it look easy and fun. I admire what she's doing, especially coming up with a new design each day. But when it comes down to it, I suck at free motion. Maybe it's my machine, maybe it's me, or it could be the combination. Or maybe I need waaaaay more practice. So yesterday, when I should have been studying, I started practicing on some quilt-as-you-go blocks that I've abandoned. (Could someone tell me what to do with 12 or so of these 10 inch blocks? I was going to make a full-sized quilt for my bed, but I went another direction.)

At right is my pitiful free motion quilting, with jerky, uneven stiitches and no discernible pattern. This is with my old Elna SP with a plate covering the feed dogs and a darning foot. So I uncovered the feed dogs and put on my regular foot back and impressed myself with making this vine. Yes, I have to twist the fabric and stop to turn at the point of the leaves, but the stitching is even and controlled and the vine doesn't look too bad at all, considering I did it free hand. To prove to myself that this wasn't a one-shot wonder, I did three more squares, and they're OK too, maybe even good. So maybe me and this machine can't free motion, but we can machine quilt, even without a walking foot. Now I need to find a blog that has 365 days of machine quilting designs, but not free motion. Any takers out there?

I also made a couple of blocks for my guild's monthly challenge. Anne K. asked us to make the Jack in the Box block in blues and purples, which I did at right, using a yummy Kaffe print and some hand-dyed tone on tone white fabric that's now purple. Using this value configuration made the block too swastiska-like for my taste. The one at the left is the result of making twice as many flying geese as I needed, using the no waste method where you start with squares. I didn't have enough fabric to make two blocks, so this is a variation of the Jack in the Box.

While I was procrastinating from doing my homework yesterday (it did get done in time for my class presentation today) I made a dozen 6.5 inch string blocks for last month's guild challenge set by Laura to add to the 63 she already has. I'm valiantly attempting to empty my string box, or at least create some room in it, although I had to use some non-strings to get a pink block. I also made two black and white selvage blocks, as well as a word selvage one to match the dotted selvage one I made before. The blocks on my header are the ones I made for Laura last month.

I've been caught in the web!

2009-11-09T10:18:00.002-06:00

I'm up to 21 scrappy spiderweb blocks, hoping for 36 to make a comforter cover measuring 82 by 84. Since these finish at slightly under 12 inches, that means I'll put a border around the blocks. As you can see, I'm using a variety of 1.5 inch red strips and three different neutrals for the foundation. These are fun because they are mindless but I'm amazed how many strings remain in my scrap box. When this is done, I'm going to enjoy lazing in bed under my newly-washed and re-ticked wool comforter and looking at the history of my quilt-making over the last five years with all these yummy (and some not so great) fabrics. I'm using Bonnie's method but sewing directly on the background, since this will not be quilted and the extra layer of fabric won't matter.

I was a winner at Jill at Quilt Rat's postcard giveaway. She does beautiful machine quilting and she made the fabric for the exclamation mark by transferring her doodled design onto fabric with her printer, then colouring it with coloured pencils and fabric paints. Thanks so much for the inspiration and lovely postcard.

I spy lots of help from the quilting community

2009-10-31T14:03:00.003-05:00

This I Spy quilt for a young friend is made with the help of several of you out there in blogland as well as local friends who have been passing me bits of fabric over the last year. I've cut fabrics in 3.5 inch squares, 3.5 by 6.5 inch bricks or 6.5 inch blocks, and there's even a few 4.5 inch ones set in a 9 patch as well as one 12.5 inch block. Right now its laid out as 8 by 11 which will measure 48 by 66. My friend Cheryl is going to strip piece the rows onto a fleece backing, so we want to keep it narrower than a width of fleece. I've sewed together the 3.5 inch squares into four patches, and laid out the whole thing on the fuzzy side of a picnic tablecloth I bought at a yard sale for $1.

My inspiration was this Becky Goldsmith quilt on the Sept. page of my quilt calendar. She's got more darks in hers than I do, but I'm going for a similar colourwash effect.

Here are the squares I have left over. I cut another set of squares for another quilt, and I kept the off-cuts and strings for use in another scrap quilt. I tried not to duplicate the fabrics, or at least the images in the fabrics. I did use some of the same heavy equipment fabric twice, showing different vehicles and two different butterflies in the same yardage.

Here's a close up of the centre with light backgrounds. This has been fun so far, and I was spared the effort of collecting fabrics over the years. Thanks to Sharon and Laura and blogless Terry and my mother for their contributions. I still could be missing someone. Be assured this quilt is going to a good home, to a child who could really use the comfort of a cuddly blankee.

Ugly duckling no more

2009-10-26T18:14:00.002-05:00

I'm busy with writing deadlines this week, so the only quilts you'll see here today are made by someone else. My fellow guild member Anne showed off this top that's beginning to look like a swan. When it is finished, it is headed for a local charity. It is made from two fabric donations from my mother: the busy print was once a half-finished dress passed on to her by my aunt. It was simply quite hideous as a dress, even in the times of Laura Ashley floral prints, but the fabric was a nice weight, and there was lots of it in the full skirt, plus a bit of yardage. Click on the picture to get the full blast of the print. The solid purple is a recycled church banner, and when my mother heard that Anne takes donated fabric to make quilts to give away, Anne hit the jackpot. I think Anne did well with this project, considering what she started with. On the floor is a table runner made by Heather, who was just wondering when I'd update my blog. She's making it from leftover jelly roll strips, and was auditioning borders to get it a bit bigger. It's also a swan, but it skipped the ugly duckling stage. Thanks to both of you for the scrap quilt inspiration.

The web widens

2009-10-20T16:22:00.001-05:00

These spiderweb blocks are growing on my design wall. I need to make a new comforter cover, and I wanted to string piece on foundations instead of paper so I didn't have to pick out all the paper bits. These spiderweb blocks are an adaptation from Bonnie Hunter's pattern, and are pieced directely on the neutral foundation. I'm using various shades of red in the stips, but they're all the same size. I'm also using several neutrals, since I bought several metres in different colours this summer and I don't want to buy anything new for a string quilt.

I used a few selvages as well as many, many strips and bits from my scraps and strings box. Below is one where I've used selvages with the pattern printed right to the edge. I have lots of selvages like that, but it is a bit tedious to make the spiderwebs that way, since I have to sew on lots of strips.

Although the end product is neat, the process isn't. My sewing table has lots of little bits on it, and so does the floor. Hey, the creative process is often messy and so is working with strings. My garbage can is also full of little bits -- I'm proud to say I'm discarding all the tiny off-cuts without any pangs of conscience. When life gives you scraps, make a quilt, but when you're making a scrap quilt, you can throw out the scraps of scraps.

There's no place like a wonky house

2009-10-13T19:27:00.001-05:00

Click to enlarge -- it's worth it!

It's a flimsy! I've finished the top of "There's no place like home", which measures 50 by 60. I meant for this to be throw size, and I started making this as a gift for someone specific, but along the way, I've changed my mind. I'm pleased with how this turned out, but I just decided not to present it to the initial recipient for reasons that have nothing to do with quilting, so I won't bore you with that. I think this is a fun and lively quilt, and I counted about 50 different fabrics in here. I've been heavily influenced by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran and their Collaborate Quilts books. Moran especially puts in 100 different fabrics and lots of black and white. I didn't quite make it to 100, but there's lots of black and white. I made the piano key border with b/w prints, mixed in with some green. The words are a bit scrappier and wonkier than my usual style, but I think they work with the variety of houses. Now this goes on the "To be quilted" pile. I'm still a novice machine quilter, and this isn't calling out for hand quilting, so I haven't yet decided how to proceed.

Pumpkins for Bloggers quilt festival

2009-10-09T09:12:00.004-05:00

Stroke of Midnight, 72 by 80

Machine pieced, machine quilted

For the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Park City Girl, I'm displaying this bed quilt now owned by a friend (see her monogram in the lower right corner) because it was a quilt that almost didn't happen. I made the crumb blocks out of leftovers from an elementary school project where we made a string quilt together. I intended this to be a donation quilt, but somehow made it too small for their specifications. Then my friend saw it and loved the colours, and I added borders to get it to fit her bed. I love the pumpkin sashing and the random, graphic splashes of royal blue in the blocks. At a recent show, this quilt attracted a lot of attention because it was the only scrap quilt there and other quilters asked me how to make the blocks. So I'm posting this one here because it was a happy accident that celebrates a very tried and true principle of quilting: use what you have! Check out the rest of my blog at scraps and strings.blogspot.com

Sort-of-Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-07T16:55:00.000-05:00

Some fun with solids for a collaborative quilt.

Wednesday's houses

2009-09-30T08:07:00.003-05:00

I couldn't stay away from building my neighbourhood yesterday. I cut down some of the background of the tiny houses, built log cabins around them, and have most of the top together. I'm still thinking about the words that will be in the border. I solved my fabric problem by cutting strips off most of my b/w prints, and incorporating as many lime greens as I could find. I'm still thinking of a piano key border. I've had lots of fun with this, and its turning into a lively and joyful quilt.

Home sweet home again

2009-09-29T09:31:00.002-05:00

So I mixed up the houses, threw in a few string blocks and two words of the phrase home sweet home. or maybe there's no place like home. I'm resisting the temptation to shop for the perfect b/w and lime green print to fill in those empty spaces, and turning to the stash instead. I'm thinking of a black/white/lime green piano key border, but I'm open to suggestions.

home sweet home

2009-09-28T12:15:00.008-05:00

Houses are springing up on my design wall lately. I started with the row of four, and then was inspired to make the smaller houses I've been seeing in the blogosphere. To balance them, I made some really big houses. My theme has been black and white and touches of lime green.

Top left is a strawberry from Very Hungry Caterpillar scraps. At right are two houses made from a selvage someone sent me -- the green squares look like windows which is very fun.

Below are some of the greens in my stash that I'm auditioning for borders/sashing/piano keys. I'm hoping to get this to throw size.