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!!