For Never Plaid 2

It only took 3 years and this is done.

The blocks for this quilt spent 3 years on my design wall. I was not looking forward to putting them together as they were different sizes and shapes with no straight edges.

Even after they were joined and quilted there were still a few problem areas. I did some serious trimming and blocking to make this lay relatively flat. The quilting also helps flatten some of the surface irregularity.

The facings control the fullness on the edges.

 

I will have to say I did not really like the quilt before it was joined, quilted and finished.

Now I love it. It is quite amazing what quilting does for a quilt.

I think it also is successful because even though you may not be able to figure out my plan, there was a definite plan (formula) to the quilt.

If you can figure out the plan then the work is not as successful. Sometimes when a piece is completed I can’t even figure out what my plan was!

 

Yes, there was a For Never Plaid 1! It was started and finished 3 years ago.

Something Bothered Me About Yesterday's Quilt

I took out a few seams and fixed it.

Do you see what I changed?

I wasn't bothered with the problem area when I looked at the quilt itself.

When I photographed it and put in on the blog I could really see where there was a problem.

One of my best tools when designing is my digital camera.

This quilt is about 21" wide and 18" high.

I will quilt it and finish it with a facing, rather than a binding.

Sunrise - Sunset Quilt - Top Pieced And Pressed

It didn't take long at all to piece this. In fact it took longer to cut the strips than it did to sew it.
This is the first photo I took to show you how it is coming together.


I'm heading for the home stretch now with the piecing.



The piecing is complete.
Now it is time for the dreaded pressing.



That wasn't bad - The pressing is done and all that is left is to finish it.
If there is anything about this I don't like, it is too bad. I am so glad I decided to add the black and white spacers between the strips. I think they added a lot. It would have been too "blendy" without them! It is pieced and no changes will take place.

I can't wait to get this layered as the machine quilting should be very enjoyable.

Sunrise - Sunset Quilt

I needed to do some sewing. I didn't want to do something that would make me work hard designing and just give me a little time at the machine. I had read on the Internet about a quilt that was made from a Jelly Roll.
The Jelly Roll for that quilt included 40 different fabrics cut into strips 2 1/2 inches wide by the width of the fabric.
Of course I couldn't find the directions when I wanted to do this so I decided to wing it.



I cut about 36 or 38 fabrics into 2 1/2 inch strips. Finding enough batiks in my fabric collection was a challenge. I was determined to do this without buying any. I only had about 27 batiks that I could find in my fabric collection. I then dug into some project trays and found more that I could use to make it work.

These are the fabrics I chose to use. They are all batiks and I knew they would play well together, in addition to being easy to sew without some of them stretching.



I joined each strip to another one with a small section of a black and white batik between them. That is what you see in this photo.

Now the real fun will begin as I create the quilt from this one long strip. Don't you think they look great?

It would have been much quicker and easier to make this from a precut Jelly Roll package. It also would NOT have been as much fun, nor as personal. I can't wait to finish piecing this as I know I am going to love it.

Sometimes simple is best. We need to leave our brain free to create while we do routine repetitive type tasks.

Insetting A Circle In A Piece Of Fabric

Today I tried a new way of insetting a circle into a piece of fabric.

I used 6 inch squares and inset 4" circles



This is the first one I did. I do like the colorations.




This is the second one I did. There is a lot more texture in the circle fabric in this one.

I did this with fabrics I had painted so they were a little stiff. I think it would have been a little easier with softer fabrics.



I am starting with these hand painted fabrics. I suspect I will add others.