SUNRISE, SUNSHINE, SUNSET

I live in the banana belt of Colorado, where the sunrises are glorious, and the sunsets are wonderful going down behind the mountains.  In between the rise and set, we have sunshine 300+ days a year.  It is a blessing to live in my native state of Colorado.    

This is my last quilt for 2023.  A New Year is upon us, and the sun will rise again tomorrow. 

 I wish you the joy of God's love, health, safety,  and peace in 2024.

This is the beautiful photo of a sunrise by Cindi Colbert that was my inspiration for this quilt.  Cindi also makes beautiful cards with inspiring messages.  

THE STATS:  Sunrise, Sunshine, Sunset, 2023,  32"x20", Paper pieced, Machine pieced, Machine appliqued, Machine quilted.

 

STARDUST

I've mentioned before that I never follow an existing pattern.  By doing so, for me, it takes the fun out of making a quilt.  I enjoy the prep work as much as the actual sewing and quilting.  If I'm not making a scrappy quilt, which I usually just design as I go; this is what I do to figure yardage requirements, patterns, etc.

I know it doesn't make sense to everyone, but I find it a fun and creative activity!  I, also, realize I'm a number's nerd.

THE STATS:  Stardust, 2023, 36"x36", Paper pieced, Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

I don't often critique my quilts on this forum, letting the readers form their own opinions.  However, this quilt bothers me on several levels.

1.  When I designed this quilt on paper, I intended to make the individual blocks 3" square.  In some memory lapse; when I drew the blocks actual size, I made them 4".  By the time I discovered this, I was into the making of the quilt and continued on.  To me it would have been much better in a smaller format with less negative space.

2.  The accuracy in piecing is good.  I liked the colors and the fabrics of this collection very much, so I bought them specifically for this quilt.  However, in my frugal nature; I don't usually do that.  There are no scraps of fabric purchased in the past at lower price in this quilt.  It was, therefore, an expensive hit to my quilting budget; and also now the quilt appears boring to me.

3.  I did use a fabric from my stash for the backing.  It is too plain for my liking, but I felt I had to use what I had because of the budget.

4.  My machine quilting on a domestic machine is always questionable.  This is no exception, but acceptable for the amount of quilting required in the negative space.

5.  On the positive side, I enjoyed the geometric challenge of design and the piecing process was fun; and with quilting complete, it appeals to me a little better.

It is what it is -- always a learning experience.  Your comments????

BAA, BAA, PLAID SHEEP

 After 8 years, I have finally finished this wool applique project.  There are too many reasons for the delay to explain, but I set one of this year's goals to complete it.

All of the wool in this project is reclaimed fabric.  Ten years ago is was easy to find wool garments from Pendleton, Ralph Lauren, etc. at thrift stores for very little money ($3-$5 a garment).  I bought many during those years; and would then deconstruct the garments, felt the fabric by washing and drying in hot temperatures to keep it from fraying, fading, or shrinking resulting in 2-4 yards each of usable fabric.  I have used the wool for projects over the years, but still have a nice supply of this fabric. 

 "Baa, Baa, Plaid Sheep.  Have you any wool?  Yes sir, yes sir, at least three drawers full!"

The Stats: "Baa, Baa, Plaid Sheep", 2023, 30"x27", Hand Appliqued, Hand Embroidered, Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted.

Here are some of my wool projects from the past.  Some of these former projects also include purchased 100% wool felt.

STICKS AND STONES

 

Time for some string piecing to use up the many brown and beige strips in my scrap bins.  The blue accents are to keep the project from getting boring!

I have a love/hate relationship with string piecing.  I love choosing the fabrics, colors, and embellishments; but hate the mess as I can't seem to stay organized when dealing with strips!

THE STATS:  "Sticks and Stones", 2023, 33"x33", Paper Pieced, Machine Pieced, Machine Embroidered, Machine Quilted

I have had this quilt percolating in my brain for some time; it finally became reality and is finished, and has become my favorite for 2023!!

GOOD CHEER

 I wanted something new to use this upcoming Christmas season, so I went with red, green, and beige; and two simple paper-pieced blocks.  I didn't count how many different fabrics I used, but it was a bunch in my ongoing efforts to use up my scraps that I have accumulated over 40+ years.

THE STATS:  "Good Cheer", 2023, 33"x33", Paper pieced, Machine pieced, 

Machine quilted.

THE NAME:  "Good Cheer" comes from a poem I was supposed to say as a four-year old at the annual Sunday School Christmas pageant.  It goes like this:  "Christmas comes but once a year; and when it comes, it brings GOOD CHEER".  Well, Sally couldn't follow the rules even then.  Instead, I said, "I'm a cute little girl with a cute little figure; stand back boys until I get a little bigger."  My family and the Sunday school teacher were horrified; thus ending my acting career forever.

FLOAT MY BOAT

I know absolutely nothing about boats; I'm a dry-lander by experience and birth.  However, I do know what "floats my boat" when it comes to fabric!  

This was definitely a "use it up, make it do" project that appealed to my frugal nature.  The top is all from my scrap bins; the batting is pieced from five pieces leftover from past projects; the backing is pieced from four scraps; and the binding is pieced from eleven leftovers.  Plus, I used up several partially-filled bobbin spools!  Time consuming yes, but I have more time than money.

This was a different  project for me; and who knows, I may someday have a great-grandson who needs a baby quilt! 

The Stats:  Float My Boat, 2023, 27" x 27", Paper Pieced, Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted.

Hidden in one block is a shark just lurking around.  He looks friendly enough!!!

APEX

 If a person can have a favorite geometric shape, mine is an isosceles triangle.  Guess that is why they keep appearing in my quilts. 

THE STATS:  APEX, 2023, 31" X 31". Paper Pieced, Machine Pieced, Machine Applique, Machine Quilted

 A personal story to end this post:   I know I'm a geometry and numbers nerd. This is the story how I grew to love math. The saddest time of my entire education was in third grade.  I was sick and out of school for six weeks; my great-grandmother even came from California to take care of me, so Mother could continue to work.  I missed the whole unit on the multiplication tables in those six weeks.  Sadly, no home-school from Grandmother; but I was determined to catch up and loved it.  I ended up taking lots of college-level math classes, but I still rely on my calculator for multiplication.  Never underestimate the importance of a third-grade math teacher.

GARLAND STREET

 

I've been reading recently about Broderie Perse quilts from the 1800s. The concept used motifs cut from floral fabric, then appliquéd by hand onto a different background. That fascinates me; but with my vision and arthritic issues I knew I would have to use a method I could accomplish.  Simple solution was to use a heat and bond product and my sewing machine for applique/embroidery.  It is not as elegant as an antique Broderie Perse quilt, but was a creative and fun project.  With each new quilt, I try to think 'out of the box' just a little!

THE STATS:  Garland Street, 2023, 24" x 24", Machine Appliqued, Machine Embroidered, Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted

Each flower and leaf was individually fussy-cut, bonded to the background. The applique and embroidery (I guess the new name is 'thread painting') was then done on the sewing machine.  

The binding was applied with a flange .  At first, I was apprehensive about getting the corners right by the machine, but it all went together easily.

THE NAME ----

At the age of 22, we bought our first house; and it was on GARLAND STREET!  We should have been named the poster children for "Joy in Home Ownership".  We painted, refinished floors, replaced curtains, etc. in that older three bedroom, two bath, half-acre-lot house; and we made it our home.  It was the start of our love affair caring for quite a few homes over the years.  Sorry kids, your inheritance has been invested in many buckets of paint!

MELODIC MOTIFS

Occasionally, I like working on a quilt that focuses on the features of the fabric --- stripes, motifs that can be isolated, and the saturation of color.  This usually requires more time in the cutting process (fussy-cutting); but, in my case, larger and fewer blocks.  This is a challenge that I find fascinating.

This quilt is the result of focusing on the features of the fabric rather than a geometric  design.

THE STATS:  "Melodic Motifs", 2023, 33" x 33", Paper Pieced, Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted.

There is always a choice to be made when I think about a new quilt -- Do I want the geometric design or the fabric do the talking?  I'll let the fabric do the talking this time!

BREAD AND BUTTER

It happens!  Sometimes I can't get going on a quilt I want to make. Maybe I just need a couple of fat quarters of a particular color or even a whole infusion of fabric.  Or, I need something like a heat and bond product, or more of my favorite piecing thread.  Whatever -- I need a trip to my out-of-town quilt shopping sources, and our schedules (my other life) or the weather preclude the trip.  Well!!!  I get 'out of sorts' if I don't sew each day, so I need what I call a placeholder project.  This usually involves a simple, small block from my scraps and repeated many times for a geometric design; lots of mindless, repetitive sewing over an intermittent period of time.  This is such a quilt, and I finally finished the sixty-four 4" blocks needed.

The simple block repeated 64 times --

THE STATS:  "Bread and Butter",  2023, 40"x 40", Paper Pieced, Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted.

It may be nothing special, but I like it and enjoyed scrounging through my brown, yellow, and beige scraps which span several decades!  

Not just bread and butter, but probably a little peanut butter thrown in!

Edited to add:  These aren't very good photos -- the sun was so bright and hot that I didn't have a lot of patience.  I'll retake them for documentation someday when conditions are better.  The quilt is not that spectacular any way, but the pictures didn't help!!

MOD MEETS REPRO

In the tradition of frugal quiltmaking, most of my quilts are made from the scraps of previous quilts and sewing projects.  However, a couple times of the year; I think about making a quilt requiring only 5 or 6 different with larger amounts of fabric.  Most of my scraps are very small pieces of many different fabrics.  I NEED an infusion of new fabric.  So what do I do --- Sally goes shopping!  This is what I came home with -- some reproduction fabrics.

 I off-set the blocks in half of the rows.  It is always interesting to see how that impacts the design.  In this case, it hints at a contemporary, modern vibe. Does that mean that repros from another era can coincide with modern design?

THE STATS:  Mod Meets Repro, 2023, 25"x 34", Paper Pieced, Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted.  56 3" blocks

This was my favorite book as a child.

 My grandmothers taught me how to shell peas, snap green beans, and quilt, etc.  But, it was my mother who taught me how to shop!!