Ugly Duckling No More

Remember these awful fabrics that I blogged about here...

Well, I turned them into this...

This was the result of the first challenge presented by my mean girlfriends art quilters' group. Click on the link at the beginning of my post to read about the challenge.

Earlier this week, the group got together to reveal our projects (I'll show a photo of all of them in another post next week). What you see today is my finished piece -- it's about 13" x 16".

The fabrics that I was given sat in my quilting studio for weeks before I figured out what to do with them. Everyone said they were Civil War-style fabrics, but they reminded me of colonial/revolutionary times more than Civil War. The fabric with the cherries made me think of George Washington (the fabled cherry-tree story), which then made me think of making a quilt with a tree or cherries or something, but nothing really thrilled me. Nothing was inspiring me.

That is, until a friend of mine gave me a quilt top to machine quilt for her. It hung on my design wall for a day or so while I figured out how to quilt it. It was a Gee's Bend-style quilt, with the usual improvisational piecing. As I was deciding on a quilting pattern for my friend's quilt, something hit me and told me to make my challenge quilt in a Gee's Bend style. So I quickly started cutting and sewing and before I knew it, I had a piece that I actually liked (even though I can't stand the fabrics by themselves).

I added the white fabric and the striped binding fabric. The cherry fabric is on the back. The piecing is all improvisational and the quilting was done to mimic hand quilting (my Bernina has a "hand-quilting" stitch). While I was researching Gee's Bend quilts, I read a description of the quilting that was something like this -- "Somewhat parallel lines, random distances apart". So that's what I did. And I love the result!

Unfortunately, my friend's quilt is still on my frame....

Modern BOM Block 5

This is my version of block #5 of the Modern Block of the Month Sew-Along on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. As I've said before, I'm making these blocks using leftover fabrics from my son's high school graduation/going-off-to-college quilt. If you're new to my blog, you can see his quilt here.

To see my first four blocks in this series, click on the "SMS BOM" label on my blog sidebar.

Still Working Toward the Goal

9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0...

This is "LS-12, Button Hook", an intermediate-level triangle that I mostly paper-pieced and then added the two diamond shapes using the raw-edge machine-buttonhole stitch method of applique. The one piece of background fabric that looks different from the others bothers me a bit (it is the same fabric, just has a bit more color to it), but not enough for me to re-do the triangle...

Onward....

The Final Countdown Has Begun

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0...

This is "LS10, Megan's Cathedral", an intermediate-level triangle that I paper pieced.

Now we're down to 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0... (5 triangles and 4 corner kites).

Not So Mean After All?

One week from today, this project will be revealed to my mean girlfriends art quilters' group. Although I hate the fabrics (see my post here), I am really enjoying the process of making my quilt. When it's done, I probably won't be able to say that I love the finished piece, but I think I can probably safely say that I like it!

No Waste Quilting (continued)

Some of the scraps shown in my previous post were sewn together to make new crumb fabric like this...

And then I used my GO cutter to cut out some crumb tumbler blocks from this new fabric...

So far, I've made 11 of these tumbler blocks...still have some scraps left, but this project will be put aside while I concentrate on a few other things that have deadlines. Maybe after the new year I'll figure out what to do with these.

Oh, and the pile of really small scraps that was on the left side of Friday's photo went into a bag that I will give to a fellow guild member who makes animal beds for the local animal shelter. The slivers of fabric and batting that most quilters throw away are used by her as stuffing for the beds.

Voila -- no waste quilting!

No Waste Quilting

I had these scraps left over after I made the tumbler quilt I blogged about last week...

 I cut them up into two piles....small scraps and even smaller scraps...

Believe it or not, none of this will go into the trash...Stay tuned...