Faffing About and Two Small Finishes

Because I will be traveling in June, I did get my second COVID booster on Monday .  Tuesday I was flat out with a high fever.  Wednesday I was fever free but fuzzy headed.  Thursday my head was mostly clear again.  

Needless to say, the only stitching has been straightforward things.  Wednesday evening I did some power sewing and completed the rest of the the four-strip polka dot sets for Ohana (label at end of post), but I haven't felt like pressing all of them yet.  

The yardage on the left (parrots) will be Ohana's eventual backing and the yardage on the right will become the vertical sashing (hence the way the four-part strip sets are laid out).

I also sewed up the last of the monthly pillowcases for Little Man.  

September's fabric features apples, which he loves.

And on Monday, before the shot's effects took hold of me, I finished binding the re-purposed Agglomeration-fabric placemat set.

See the Agglomeration label below for that 2021 Not a Mystery backstory.

Here, the top placemat is flipped over so you can see the backing fabric (Safari by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning - 2018).  

And lastly, Cathy L. posted about her current basket project and . . . because I love basket quilts and have long thought about making another one of my own, I used leftover 3" HST parts and some KF scraps to make this 18" test block.  

I'll size things down to 2" parts and make another test block to be sure before I fully commit to this basket design.

* * *

I have also added a new "gadget" in the sidebar with information on how I find/select names for my quilt projects.  

Quiltdivajulie

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“All you need is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust.”

Tinkerbell from Peter Pan

Agglomeration's Progression

Last November, like hundreds (thousands?) of other quilt makers around the world, I was drawn in by the colors for Bonnie Hunter's 2021 mystery quilt named Rhododendron Trail.

I knew I wouldn't make her mystery quilt design but I pulled colors from my stash to see what I might make instead.  2021's initial plan was to make a string quilt with broken grid (you can re-read that post HERE and see my other NOT a Mystery results HERE.)

Because I prefer scrappy, I also pulled smaller pieces from the resource boxes, but then the project stalled and the boxes sat.

At some point I cut WOF strips from the previously-pulled yardage so I could die cut HSTs for a second NOT a Mystery quilt project named FLANEUR  before putting the yardage back in the stash (I wanted/needed the piles off my cutting table).

And as usual, my plans changed again (and again) for both Agglomeration and Flaneur. 

Ultimately, I decided to make a set of spring/summer placemats with the WOF strip remains (shown above) instead of making a quilt named Agglomeration. 

Over the weekend I sewed rectangles from those WOF strips into scrappy back slabs for six placemats, substituting oranges in place of the yellows (which are now in their resource box).

 

I cut the reversible side for the placemats from Agglomeration's planned backing fabric.  

Once sandwiched with batting excess from larger quilts, these will have their turn with Max before being trimmed to 14" tall x 20" long and bound with my favorite black and white stripe.  

* * *

During this four-month journey, I've realized I don't want to make any more NOT a Mystery quilts because I spend far too much time dithering about how to use my mystery-inspired fabric pull instead of actually making what I want to make.  

SO, if I am ever tempted again, I will limit myself to a set of six placemats or maybe a runner for my sister (thank you, Little Man, once again).  

Piles of yardage can be intimidating.  

A pile of scraps on the other hand . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“To each his own magic.”

 Libba Bray

Flaneur - Little Man's Influence at Work

Some of you may remember my splashy announcement last fall about making TWO more quilts for my NOT a Mystery series (color palette inspired by Rhododendron Trail, the 2021 Bonnie Hunter annual mystery quilt).  Well . . . here's an update.

These were the strips cut from the scrappy assortment of colors meant to be paired with the dotted gray to make HSTs for the second of the two quilts.  (see photo below for the inspiration quilt).

I named the second project FLANEUR (meaning deliberately aimless).

I don't know if you can see it in this photo, but the gray fabric had issues.  There was an inconsistent "fade" in the gray.  I thought at first it was the lighting or my eyes, but as I cut more and more strips, it was obviously all through the yardage.  

UGH.  I stopped and put it all away.

Fast forward into 2022 and I decided to forget about using the dotted gray and use this Laura Heine Color Fusion multi-directional text print instead.  

I made it this far pinning pairs to leader-ender.  But my heart wasn't feeling much joy about the grayed text and . . . 

. . .  my original inspiration idea was no longer interesting so I stopped once again.

And then THIS incredible quilt made by Bertha Robinson popped up in my Pinterest feed.  (Birds in Flight Variation, ca. 1950, cotton, cotton/polyester blend, and polyester, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama)

I fell in love instantly.  

I also knew in that very same heartbeat that the wishy-washy text print would have to go.

Do you remember this fabric that I used as the background in Spotty Town?   (Pinkerville Fairy Dust in Cotton Candy by Tula Pink)

I used it to make a few test blocks . . .  and oh, yes - this is SO MUCH better.  

Now I will unpin the already-paired-with-gray sets and proceed to leader-ender the soon-to-be-newly-paired HSTs over the coming weeks.   

What I'm really looking forward to is playing around with the many layout ideas Bertha R. used in her incredibly interesting quilt.

* * *

And for the record, my plan to make Agglomeration (the other of the two 2021 Not a Mystery quilts) has been completely removed from my waiting-to-be-made list.  

I've waffled and faffed about since last fall worrying about the design (after deciding I did not want to make the originally identified broken grid string quilt).  

I'm tired of trying to make something happen that clearly wasn't meant to be.  Especially since Little Man and his Camp Sefton quilts reminded me just how much fun making quilts can be.

(and please remind me come November that I have decided not to start any more NOT a Mystery quilts when the 2022 color palette is released!)

Quiltdivajulie

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“You know what the issues is with this world?  Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.”

The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland

"Time to Deal" and "Planning Ahead"

I shared my plan for this year's 

Not a Mystery Quilt (Agglomeration)  HERE.

And since that post these stacks of fabrics

have been sitting and waiting 

and taking up valuable horizontal real estate.

With the Christmas decorating done,

it was "time to deal" with these.

Step One:  cut thirty-five 9" squares

of Ricky Tims' Stable Soft to use

when I make the string/strip blocks

for Agglomeration.

This comes in a roll and it wants to curl (a LOT)

so I have it flattened and weighted in hopes it will

curl up a little less by the time I start stitching.

(I have not used this product before so I'll be testing as I go)

I need to explain the "planning ahead" part before going further.

I have always liked this quilt top.

And since the fabric pull for Agglomeration 

includes so many of my go-to colors,

I decided to cut for this one at the same time.

I've named this second Not a Mystery Quilt FLANEUR

which means "deliberately aimless, as in a person who strolls

through the city in order to experience it."

Step Two: take the yardage in Agglomerations's fabric pull

and cut 4.5" WOF strips, then put the rest of the yardage

back into the stash where it belongs.

I also cut 23 WOF strips of the gray dotted fabric

to use as the constant for Flaneur.

I'll cut each of those gray strips into four

 4.5" x 9" rectangles for die cutting 357 HST halves.

Also for Flaneur, I will cut a 4.5" x 9" rectangle 

from the end of each of the fifty two colors.

(giving me four HST halves from each

or 208 of the 357 HST halves needed)

The remaining length of each of those 52 colorful WOFs

 will be sub cut into strips/strings for Agglomeration's

scrappy string/strip blocks.

I'll add more strips and strings for Agglomeration 

from these scrappy pieces to spice things up.

(I'll be cutting these as I go - not as a mass pre-cut)

These aquas will be cut into 2.5" strips 

for the sashing segments and I'll incorporate some

of the lights as strips/strings in Agglomeration's blocks.

You can see my cutting notes for Flaneur on the sticky note.

(I'll spare you my messy scribbled math notes)

Since the 52 color rectangles will provide 

only 208 of Flaneur's 357 HST halves,

I'll cut additional 4.5" x 9" rectangles from these pieces

to generate the remaining 149 HST halves.

This is the long-stashed backing

I plan to use for Flaneur.

The purple binding was made when

this was destined for another project so I'll wait

and see if it suits Flaneur when the time comes.

* * *

Since my short term goal for both of these projects 

is to move them forward AND get their

respective piles of fabrics off my countertop,

I'm pretty sure this approach is going to work.

I will wait until later to piece the strip/string blocks 

for Agglomeration and do the die cutting, etc. for Flaneur.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Each color lives by its mysterious life.”

Wassily Kandinsky

A Big Leap Forward

I bought this yardage a long time ago

to use as a quilt backing.

I've paired it with several tops along the way

but it has always been returned to 

the backing stash before being used.

Until now.

When I read Monica's latest post  about her recent fabric pull,

something in my head connected several sets of dots.

One - a stash pack of pinks and greens purchased 

during Wanda's most recent pop-up shop

which inspired the idea of a pink/green string quilt.

Two - the backing shown above with all its glorious colors.

Three - my series of NOT a Mystery quilts

And voila - 

another squirrel moved into my studio.

With the basic fabric pull in mind,

I went to my Unconventional and Unexpected 

(by Roderick Kiracofe) book

to look for inspiration and ideas.

This String with Broken Grid (NC, 1950-1975)

has always appealed to me and

will now serve as the jumping off point

for a quilt I have named Agglomeration.

(noun, meaning a jumbled cluster or mass of varied parts)

After pondering the fabric pull to determine

which of the colors would be used for the sashing strips,

I decided on the aquas.

Yardage was enhanced with a few fat quarters 

and pieces from the aqua resource box.

Each of the color groups was similarly enhanced

using their respective resource boxes since I am such

a big fan of scrappy overload (controlled or otherwise). 

After a bit of calculating with paper and pencil,

I will make thirty-five 8" (fin.) string blocks

using the neutrals, pinks, yellows, purples, and greens

for a quilt top in the 50" x 70" range.

And for now I am thinking I will use this for binding.

* * *

I really NEED to make another set of the gift bags

and/or spend some focused FMQ time with Max -

but I suspect I will find myself cutting strips instead.

(if nothing else so I can clear off the drafting table

in order to pin baste Merry and Bright)

(p.s. Our 5-year-old grandson HIGHLY recommends

this book and the two that came after it)

Quiltdivajulie

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“I went through this phase where I thought pink and purple matched.  To dance class, I’d wear purple tights and pink leg warmers and paint my shoes purple.”

Carrie Ann Inaba

Monday Musings

This is the stool in my design studio.

DH put it together using the base from a worn office chair,

a round piece of plywood, thick upholstery foam,

and now - a new purple vinyl covering.

SO much better.

You can see a piece of the former covering here --

bet you can tell why I like the new version better.

I have also spent a lot of time this past week 

pondering the current state of Pandemonium.

My main goal was to figure out 

why I haven't wanted to work on it.

I'm not wild about some of the combinations

the way things are now which, with the help

of my seam ripper, will be easy enough to deal with.

More of the reason for my procrastination

 centers on the fact that I pulled yardage 

to use for filling the interior areas.

Yardage Paralysis quickly took root.

I need scraps to work with . . . 

so I've come up with a new plan of attack.

One of my long-simmering ideas 

has been to make an all-triangle quilt top

to work with this backing (foreground).

Since there is considerable overlap in the pink range (left)

between Pandemonium and what I've named Agglomeration

(a mass or collection of things; an assemblage)

I went ahead and enlarged the fabric pull.

I'll cut my way through these stacks to generate 

lots of 6" squares to die cut the triangles.

That process will surely create 

the needed scraps for Pandemonium.

Stay tuned.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Everything should be available in the color pink, including monster trucks”

Richelle E. Goodrich