Quilt Festival Fall 2018

It's time for a virtual Blogger's Quilt Festival organized by Amy Ellis from Amy's Creative Side.

To participate, you get to show off one or two of your favorite quilts!  Today, I thank you for visiting, and share with you a quilt I finished early in the year, Adinkra.   It is one of favorite quilts for many reasons.

It started out very slowly, one block a month in 2016. This really helped me during the times of the year I was incredibly busy, as it was easy to make a block (fusible, machine stitched) there was no guilt for not finishing a whole quilt. One block was a finish. The slow pace slowed me down on this quilt, and I took my time making each decision on this quilt without rushing through and accepting the first choice.

I changed the size of the applique blocks, and made a mistake in sizing the economy blocks so I lost the sharp points on the yellow, but that made the quilt turn out even better. I didn't have to fix my "mistake" and I really like how the same yellow fabric in these blocks looks like it is a different color. That open area in the intersections work to prove that it is the same fabric.

I was able to use my precious African fabrics that were waiting for just the right quilt to use. Each of the fabrics worked so nicely together too.

The quilting on the quilt was so incredibly fun. I learned about doodle quilting, and I did exactly that. Instead of making a plan for each area, I just doodled different designs as it came to me.  The thread hides most of the stitching until you take a closer look.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt, and everything tended to work out on this quilt. As you can see in the picture above, even the join I had to make in the border worked well. The top of the head seamed nicely with the body on the next piece.


Even the binding went on well, with four sharp miters in the corners that look beautifully mitered.

All the pictures, and the rest of this post are from when I introduced it in February. Unfortunately, I haven't made a label for the quilt yet.

Quilt stats:

size:  44" x 44".

pattern: 2016 BOM by Debby Kravotil. Thank you so much Debby!

fabric: variety of African fabrics, most of which are metallic

quilting: free motion echo stitching around motifs, doodle stitching throughout border and remaining blocks

what I learned:

• Expanding the definition of what "matches". This quilt has lots of combinations I wouldn't have thought to use together, but my limited selection of fabrics made me stretch, and I think the result is fabulous.


• I really enjoy combining applique with piecing. The applique and the quilting were my favorite parts.


• When I first learned about free motion quilting, I thought it looked like doodling on fabric, but then I learned rules about not crossing lines, and saw lots of videos about proper quilting designs, and breaking the quilt into sections and choosing a different design for each section and lost the fact that I could truly doodle.  I truly doodled on this quilt and it was exhilarating!

I plan to make up a label that explains all the symbols on the quilt.

Linked with:
Friday Photo Fun

Quilt Reveal: Adinkra

My latest finish is Adinkra.

I took it outside to photograph since the sun is shining, but the pictures still came out dark and I had to correct them with the photo editor.  They are pretty close though.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt. It was fun to make the blocks once a month. The blocks were easy to applique and the anticipation for the next block was fun.

The economy blocks had a problem with the size, but that made it easier because the sharp points were guaranteed.

As you can see in the picture above, even the join I had to make in the border worked well. The top of the head seamed nicely with the body on the next piece.

The doodle quilting was freeing and went on smoothly.  The fabric is busy enough that the flaws, if any, are easy to ignore.

Even the binding went on well, with four sharp miters in the corners.

Quilt stats:
size:  44" x 44".
pattern: 2016 BOM by Debby Kravotil. Thank you so much Debby!
fabric: variety of African fabrics, most of which are metallic
quilting: free motion echo stitching around motifs, doodle stitching throughout border and remaining blocks
what I learned:

• Expanding the definition of what "matches". This quilt has lots of combinations I wouldn't have thought to use together, but my limited selection of fabrics made me stretch, and I think the result is fabulous.
• I really enjoy combining applique with piecing. The applique and the quilting were my favorite parts.
• When I first learned about free motion quilting, I thought it looked like doodling on fabric, but then I learned rules about not crossing lines, and saw lots of videos about proper quilting designs, and breaking the quilt into sections and choosing a different design for each section and lost the fact that I could truly doodle.  I truly doodled on this quilt and it was exhilarating!

I plan to make up a label that explains all the symbols on the quilt.

Linked to:
WIP Linkup at Silly Mama Quilts

Sunday Recap

The month is coming to  a close, and I am trying to finish up things so I can have a good report for my One Monthly Goal.  To do that, I have been binding the Adinkra quilt.  It takes me a good four or five days to bind a quilt, so I am always amazed when other people finish it in one day.  I guess I am slow because I have to check each stitch to make sure the needle isn't going through the front of the quilt.

I have been keeping track of how many days I quilt at least 15 minutes a day.  Here's my recap for this week.

Days with stitching this week:  7 out of 7
Days with stitching this month:  28 out of 28
Days with stitching this year:  28 out of 28
Success Rate:  100%

Woo hoo! And this week, I made sure I didn't have any stretching of any rules. I truly stitched at least 15 minutes every day this week, and usually quite a bit more.  I have also been trying to spend a few minutes a day cleaning my sewing room.  It is difficult because there is so much temptation to start new projects or work on other existing projects.  Having been very productive this week, I think I was way too ambitious with my quarterly goals. I guess they were meant to be far reaching.
15 Minutes to Stitch at Life in Pieces
Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts<>


>P.S. Marti showed her progress with such a pretty picture so I made my own. Thanks for the idea Marti!

I didn't use an app though, just an Excel spreadsheet. I decided to keep the data about the days of the week I worked so that I can see if some days are better sewing days than others. I know weekends will be better, but I was surprised that I missed a Thursday.

 

A Whole Lot of Stitching Going On

I was so busy stitching, that I didn't have time to update my progress!

Days with stitching this week:  7 out of 7
Days with stitching this month:  21 out of 21
Days with stitching this year:  21 out of 21
Success rate:  100% 

On Thursday, I wasn't in the mood for stitching, but since I stitched more than 30 minutes every other day, I am going to go ahead and give myself credit for Thursday.  Actually, I was in the mood for stitching - I wanted to start a new crazy quilt, but since I already have two crazy quilt UFOs, I decided that I should probably get bonus points for not starting a new quilt on Thursday. 

I did start a couple of new quilts yesterday though.  I joined a quilt swap, and decided to make two similar quilts. Sometimes it is difficult to give away something if it is successful. And if it isn't successful, having two will give me a way to have a backup, which hopefully is more successful.

The eye candy picture shows the progress on the binding of the Adinkra quilt.  I was handstitching it down while watching Victoria.

Linked to:
Oh Scrap! I made sure you could see the backing on this quilt so you could see I am using blue!
15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilting Adinkra

I've been quiet lately because I have been quilting the Adinkra quilt.  I've cut some pieces for Ringo Lake mystery, but I wanted to make progress on the Adinkra quilt while the machine was set up for quilting it.

Quilting is always scary for me, especially if I like the quilt top, because I am afraid I will ruin it with the quilting. I could have mechanical problems with thread tension or needles breaking, or I could make bad choices of quilting design and thread.

 In this case, I forgot to change the thread to a lighter one, so it was even more scary.

I chose to echo quilt around the applique and choose a different design for each row of economy blocks. After seeing some information about some doodle quilting, I decided that the echo would not be perfect echos, but a doodle that somewhat resembles echo quilting. This makes the quilting easier and more fun, since the rules are very relaxed, but even more scary since there is a greater chance that I could "ruin" the quilt with the quilting.

After a few scary "what did you do?" moments, I decided to push through, and now this is growing on me. I like the boldness, the exuberance and joyfulness, the variety and the disregard to the rules of precision. I think that if I had to be represented by one of my quilts, this is the one I would chose.

Linked to:
Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday 
ScrapHappy Finishing Fiesta - it isn't finished yet, but I am enjoying finishing it!
Moving It Forward - it still looks pretty much the same, but I've moved on to the borders now!

The Cave of Wonder

Since I have finished piecing the Adinkra top. it is now time to quilt it.  Quilting a top requires finding a backing fabric.  I decided it would be too difficult to find a backing fabric for an African quilt in my stash, and should quilt something else.  After all, I have several quilts ready to quilt, all lined up on hangers, with backing pieced and ready.

I couldn't help myself, though, and took a quick peek at the stash to see if I might be able to find anything that might work for Adinkra.  My modern fabrics won't work as they are too light, and the only thing left is my stack of blue fabric.  I might have bought enough fabrics for several quilts when I was making the (still unfinished) Shakespeare in the Park.. There is blue in the Adinkra quilt, but the SITP is a traditional quilt. Wouldn't hurt to look though.

 I looked at that stack and found it.

Imagine going to a wise elder in Africa, and asking for a backing fabric. The wise elder isn't going to give you choices.  He or she will say "this is the fabric you need."  No choices, but it will be the right option. When looking for blue border fabric, she chose a green and orange print, and yet when looking for a orange/brown/yellow print for the backing, she chose a blue one.  Who am I to argue?
 

It's not an African print, but I am pretty sure I bought it to go with the blue African prints. Everywhere on the internet today, people are showing off their new fabric purchases.  I don't need new fabric purchases. I have renamed my sewing room the Cave of Wonder.

I have a Cave of Wonder that always delivers.

Why My Sewing Room Doesn't Get Clean

 I was in my sewing room straightening it up.  I came across a box that had the Adinkra BOM quilt top and the leftover fabrics I was using and auditioning for it. It was too full to close properly.   Since the quilt was already pieced, I figured I could take the extra fabric and put them away for future quilts.
 
Then I could just leave the quilt top and any potential border, binding and backing fabrics and put the box back in the WIP /UFO stack.  I opened the box that held the other ethnic fabrics so I could put the extras away and came across another piece that I thought might work for the border.

I brought it downstairs where I could properly lay out the quilt to audition it.  The faces make me think of ancestors, which seems appropriate since I have been obsessively working on genealogy all week.  [I banned myself from doing any genealogy research yesterday, and I had withdrawal symptoms.  I got a fix by indexing some records. Today I am devoting to quilting. There's nothing like substituting one obsession with another.]

It's a little plain, which would work on keeping the attention on the center.  I liked it, but realized that the faces weren't going to be in a nice straight line, unless I cut the fabric on the bias, which I don't like to do for borders. I guess it  would be okay if they aren't level.

I went back upstairs to find my original potential border fabric so I could properly compare which one I like better. While I was in the box, I found another piece of fabric I thought might work.  I auditioned the original potential border again.  Busy, but looks okay. It is a smaller piece and I will have to be careful to cut a border size that will border the whole quilt. I've shown this one to you before.

Hard to pick which one is better.

Then I auditioned the other piece. Pick me!, it said.

 It is probably a piece I had rejected in the past; my ethnic fabric collection is small; but today, it makes me happy. It still has the ancestors feel, but has plenty of plain background to keep it from looking too busy.  The orange and green colors aren't in the center, and I'm probably mixing and matching cultures, but I think they still look good together.

Linked to:
Let's Bee Social
Oh Scrap!

Adinkra Borders

One set of borders have been added to the Adinkra top. These were tricky, since I am only working with fat quarters, have a limited selection, and since I fussy cut to get the motif. But I really like how these work with the quilt.  The side borders don't show the blue as much as I would have liked, but there is a faint blue, and is the same fabric as as some of the blocks (the bird, comb, and star). 

The top and bottom border fabric hasn't been used in the quilt but the gold echos the gold in the economy blocks, and the blue-purple helps tie the blue and the purple of the two types of blocks together.

I had to add cornerstones since there wasn't enough of either fabric to make it all the way across the quilt without additional piecing.  I thought the purple might be too bright, but in the picture it looks like it blends right in. And the gold works with all the rest of the gold. I don't think it is African fabric, but I must have bought it at about the same time since I stored it in the same box.

The original plan was to add an outer border using the fabric left from the economy blocks.  What do you think? Does the quilt need outer borders? If so, how wide should they be? What should I use for a binding?

Adinkra Topped

While checking my Bloglovin' feed on Friday, I noticed how many bloggers were able to show their Friday Finishes. To keep from showing my embarrassing Friday Finish - "Look, I finished sewing down half of the left side of one of the blocks of this very simple applique," I decided it would be better if I made some real progress.

As you can see, not only did I stitch down all the remaining blocks, I also managed to put the blocks together on the weekend. As a bonus, I auditioned my African fabric to decide on a border. I don't have a lot of African fabric, so this part is fairly easy. I was afraid I would have to turn to my non-African fabric for the border, but it turns out that the fabric will work perfectly.

 I was planning to start another quilt (the surest way to remedy quilt guilt is to completely smash a rule that doesn't exist by starting a new quilt), but I really like the way the fabric looks against the quilt, so I am going to finish the borders on this top before starting the new quilt. That won't stop me from choosing the fabric for this new quilt though!

Linked to:
Moving It Forward

Quilt Guilt

It happens every January, and this year is no exception. I feel quilt guilt as I try to work on quilting.  Somehow over the holidays the momentum has been lost, and the new year means I must decide what to pick up next. 

I pick up the Daisy quilt, for which I have sewn down the binding. I still need to sew down the label and the hanging sleeve.  But then something else calls me - I should work on cleaning and organizing the sewing room.  I pick up a few things, but then those blocks of the month pop up on my Bloglovin' feed, and I feel like I need to work on them. I started so many projects in 2016 that I feel I must make myself finish them in 2017. But of course, there are new projects coming into the feed too. But then there are two quilts I promised other family members.

Phew!  I was able to quilt without guilt in 2016 (probably not in January though), so I am hoping that I only have a couple more days of this before I can establish a more forgiving routine and enjoy the joy of quilting again.

To that end, I have prepped the final three blocks of the Adinkra quilt and will be stitching all four of them down shortly. As it turns out, I have been spelling this wrong. I think in 2016 I spelled it Adrinka- I thought I even checked it several times, but now I think it is supposed to be Adinkra.

The fun begins soon!  February and March are generally more productive for me, sewing-wise, and I am looking forward to that time this year.

Circle 365 Resumes

Hello and welcome back to the Quilty 365 circle project, where I make small circle blocks, presumably one a day until I have made a whole quilt. It is a daily dose of quilty vitamins!

We won't talk about how many I should have finished by now. I had not cut any more background pieces , mostly because I was thinking that I should have some pieced backgrounds to make it more interesting.  But that made it harder to motivate myself to just throw some fabric on the background and get it done.  I decided to cut some pieces to shock some life back into the project.  There will be pieced background blocks sometime in the future.

Block 168

Most of the blocks in this batch use fabric scraps I received from another quilter.

Block 169

This means that they match each other very well. Hopefully they will blend into the quilt.

Block 170

A circle made out of lines and a decorative stitch. If you squint, you might make out the circle.

Block 171

Pretty, springy block.

Block 172

Bambi wants to remind me that it is now entering fall and it is getting colder outside.

Block 173

Kanga reminds us that it is now springtime in Australia.

 

Adrinka Block

I have caught up with the Adrinka blocks.  I've prepped the next block, but do need to sew it down.

Linked to:
October 365 Linkup

August Adrinka Block

I know last time I said I had all month to make the August block, but my finish didn't feel finished, so I went ahead and made it.  It is the middle one in the second row. Only a few more blocks left to go.

I am now working on catching up with the 1857 blocks.  This will take longer since there are several blocks that are released each month.  I think I have a better chance of catching up with the 1857 than I do the circle quilt, since each day the circle count I need to make keeps going up.

Linked to Let's Bee Social. I really enjoy seeing all the different types of projects quilters are making.

Caught Up with Adrinka Blocks

I sewed the second round of triangles around my square. I decided to make this round the same as I did the last round, cut slightly bigger than I needed and then trim to size.  I cut the squares the same size as the outside square. In this photo, you can see the shiny gold on both of the African fabrics.

I've always liked the look of square in a square blocks . In fact, my very first quilt had them.  And I realized from the beginning that while I like the look, I don't really like making them. These weren't too painful though since they were cut big and there weren't many to make.

I then trimmed the squares to size. The resulting block shows less of that busy triangle fabric, which hopefully will let the applique stand out more. I know that the blue and the purple don't really match, but do they look okay together?


I stacked them all neatly. I realized that I had caught up with all of the Adrinka blocks, and since I had done all I could do on this BOM, I actually had a Finish for the month.

While I was trying to decide what to Finish next, I went to Debby's website and saw that she had released the August block.  I realize I have all month to make that one.

I am linking up to AHIQ sponsored by Kaja's Sew Slowly and Ann's Fret Not Yourself. In case you are wondering what is improv about this quilt, I have improvised the alternating blocks that started out as economy blocks.

Adrinka Progress

In my last post, I showed you that I had caught up with this BOM. Instead of calling it finished (for  now) and moving on to another project, I decided to honor the Finish goal for this  year, and make the alternating blocks.

I checked several websites for the proper sizing of economy blocks.  I have a sheet that provides sizes but I have misplaced it.  There were several different sizes provided on the websites and I didn't know which one was correct, but I finally found one that provided the exact measurements and showed how she had rounded up. I decided to go with the rounded up measurements to be safe.  I counted the number of alternating blocks, thirteen, and started with the center square. All the websites were consistent about the center square.  I fussy cut the widths, but decided that I didn't have enough fabric to fussy cut the lengths too.

I was hoping to show you excitement in this post about how quickly these blocks go, since they can be chain pieced, assembly line. But I cut out the first set of triangles - 13 X 4 = 52. That's a lot of triangles for someone who hasn't made repeating blocks in a long while. I sewed them on.  I have to say that I really don't like using oversize pieces.  There is some laxness, since a lot of it can be trimmed off but then you do have to be careful at the part that will not be trimmed off.  Also those long triangle points tend to bunched up in the machine.

That was when I realized that I hadn't sized the original blocks. I had cut all the squares when making the first block, and I assumed they were 7 inch finished, but they aren't. They are smaller.  So now, instead of standard economy blocks, I will trim the corners of the yellow off and have a different kind of block. And I will have to do the math myself to figure it out. I don't want to waste my African fabric by making it too big and trimming it down.

I think it will still look pretty good that way though.

And no, I'm not going to take the tag off Schweetheart the Orangutan. One day, that Teenie Beanie Baby is going to be worth a fortune!  Besides, how would I know her name if I took the tag off?

Linked to Oh Scrap!

Adrinka Progress

I caught up with the Adrinka BOM.

All of these pieces have been appliqued down and are ready to put into a quilt.

I have been tempted by more new projects, but have kept busy working on moving the current projects along. This one is all caught up now, waiting for new blocks to be released once a month.  I did think I could start sewing the alternating blocks, though so I am not sure I am ready to call this set finished for the month.

Linked to:
Moving It Forward

15 Seconds at a Time

For years, I have been telling people that they can make a quilt with just fifteen minutes at a time. Build up enough of these fifteen minute sessions, and your quilt is made!

Well, today I am here to tell you that this also works with just fifteen seconds at a time.  Truly, some of these blocks were made just fifteen seconds at a time.  I did manage to sneak in more time and eek out a whole fifteen minutes some days.

I decided to spare you and not blog about each fifteen seconds of activity, mostly because it would take quilting time away to photograph and blog about it, but I do have some results to show you now.  I am much happier with these blocks than the last batch I showed you.

Block 162

This one uses leftovers from an 1857 block.

Block 163

When I met with June, she gave me a baggie full of scraps for me to use in my circle project.  All of the fabrics in this block are from that baggie, and I am sure you will see quite a few more blocks using her fabric. Thanks June!

Block 164

This is also from June's fabric.  This was already pieced, so all I had to do was cut it into a circle. So easy!

Block 165

This is the one that makes me the most proud.  It truly was made 15 seconds at a time. Every time I walked by it, I felt compelled to do something else to it, and over time it switched from being an abstract oval into a little chick. All the fabrics are from the 1857 quilt. I still need to sew down the applique on this one and the next two.

Block 166

This one was inspired by a book that cut fabric like a paper snowflake and appliqued it onto a background.  Mine looks like nothing like that, but hey, there are circles in there! It looks vaguely like a face to me.

Block 167

This one is a leftover from the Adrinka block I made.  I decided to leave the shape as it was, and in case the circles in the fabric wasn't enough, I cut a couple more circles out. This one looks like a face to me too.

Adrinka Blocks

I have caught up with the Adrinka blocks.  If you notice, all of these have been sewn down. The center of the top left was block 167 of the circle quilt.

Garden

Here's a picture from my garden.  It may be shabby but I have planted some flowers and the rabbit came to inspect the changes I've made to his home. The dirt bed behind him is filled with flower seeds. I am looking forward to seeing more blooms.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hello my dear readers and welcome back.  I hope you have a splendid Valentine's Day.

There isn't much to show you, but there has been a great deal of progress.

When last I left you, I had pieced another set of circles.  This week, I pieced that set of circles into the row, added the big circle.  I am now left with two parts, which makes me happy.  I haven't made many more circles so I will show you those later.

The 1857 quilt has been tempting me and I have decided to make it.  Since I promised June,  I decided I needed to get the rail fence quilt into a top first.  Here it is.  I need to do a quality inspection step and press it.  I really like this layout because every time you look at it, you see a different configuration.

I could have balanced the darks better.  I had laid it out in a balanced way, but when I sewed it together, I made some impromptu changes.  I wasn't thinking of the pink and black block as a dark, but it certainly looks like it from this picture. I am going to think of some simple changes I can make to balance this more. I think the top row just looks darker because of the lighting, but I don't like that diagonal row of darks.

I also made another block for the Adrinka 2016 BOM and a corresponding Circle 78.

Linked to:
Moving It Forward Monday

Quilt Reveal: Dog Gone Cute

Dog Gone Cute is ready for a quilt reveal.

This is Lorna Mahon's pattern from Sew Fresh quilts.  She offered it on her blog for free.  She has many other dog patterns as well.  She is also getting ready to host an Ugly Sweaters quilt-along.

I adapted this one - okay, it was partly an error that I decided to keep because I thought it would get a longer nose this way.  Then I looked at Zeus and realized that I only see his nose when he is looking down but when he is looking up, I see his mouth and chin.  So I  gave the quilt dog a chin.


I quilted straight organic lines, like Lorna would do, but it looked like the Bad Dog picture in the Small Quilts photo album. He looked like he was in jail. I then quilted wavy lines between all the straight lines. I started on the right side, and didn't like the really wavy lines so I made them less wavy as I went to the left.

I bound it with a solid brown. To make sure it got finished this month, since I don't have hand work time, I sewed down the binding on both sides by machine.  It isn't perfect, since I am not used to doing to sewing down the binding by machine (and I was sewing from the front where I couldn't see if the binding was catching on the back), but I managed to get it done, and pretty quickly too.

I showed you the back of the quilt yesterday. With so many finishes so quickly and limited space, the improv elephant quilt didn't get to stay on the bulletin board very long.

It is 17"  x 17 3/4". To see other posts about this quilt, click on the Dog Gone Cute label under this post or in the sidebar. To see other posts about finished quilts, click on Quilt Reveal label under this post or in the sidebar. I think I finished more quilts this month than I did all of last year combined.

Wanda said that for each finished quilt, I can start three new ones. Who am I to argue with that?  So I have picked out three quilts to start!

Shirts Quilt

I received a stack of solid blue shirts from my brother-in-law and I have decided to make a quilt with these to give back to him.  I was considering all kinds of quilt patterns to make but I recently saw the Gee's Bend documentary, and saw a quick glimpse of a Courthouse Steps quilt. The steps are on two sides instead of all four sides.  It only uses two colors and there is very little of the other color.  I figure I could use a pair of jeans for my second color, and make this simple quilt that showcases the shirts.  I won't make it improv method though; I think he would prefer straight lines.  This will be a pretty big quilt though, even if it means I have to buy more shirts, so it won't be a quick finish.

Adinkra Quilt 2016

Debby Kratovil is offering an Adinkra Quilt 2016 block of the month.  I have decided to join her, because this quilt uses African fabrics in a beautiful way and I want to use my African fabrics. It is a simple quilt. Alternating blocks are pieced, and one design is appliqued every month. When I printed the pattern, it printed smaller than the size needed to make the block. This is probably my fault, since I didn't check to see if the printer was going to print actual size.  I was going to consider reducing the size anyway, and now I didn't need to. I decided to use the smaller size. I am going to have to remember to make my alternating blocks smaller.

Scrap Quilt

I am going to start cutting fabric for my next scrap quilt.  When I pull out scraps for the Quilty 365, I wind up having to put the remaining scrap away.  I think it would be better for me to trim these scraps down and get them ready for a scrap quilt.  I am thinking Quilt Vortex, which lets the scraps be the size they are for the most part.  I also want to start cutting fabric for the triangle quilt for my own bed.  I haven't made a quilt for my bed, and although it hasn't bothered me before, it is bothering me now. Mostly because my Walmart quilt is shredding to pieces day by day.

Linked to:
Fabric Tuesday 
Linky Tuesday 
Let's Bee Social #110