Coddiwomple - the Quilt

After 5 days of heavy gray rainy days, the sun has finally reappeared, meaning I could take Coddiwomple outdoors for photos.

This one was taken in the shade on the west side of our house (all of these are early morning photos).

I cannot tell you how just much I love this utterly scrappy quilt.

I tried laying the quilt on the grass (very soggy so I didn't step off the patio).

Finished size is roughly 49" x 64" 

This close up shows the liberated free motion unmarked quilting - a design I call Fins.  The quilting thread (Glide Bark) blended even better than I hoped it would, leaving only the texture behind.

(I came up with the Fins design when I quilted Spots and Dots).

Next I laid the quilt on a dry section of the concrete.  I much prefer late morning / afternoon for taking photos, but I'll take what we've been given and be entirely grateful for the not-gray-today skies.

Finally I hung the finished quilt over our back porch swing - this shot is one of my two favorites from the outdoor adventure (the other being the second photo above).

* * *

The word CODDIWOMPLE is a verb - English slang meaning “To travel purposefully toward an as-yet-unknown destination.” 

The HSTs for Coddiwomple were die cut in April 2023 (introduction post HERE).

The top was finished in late August 2023 and the backing pieced in September of 2023.

The aboriginals in the quilt top were purchased from several sources, primarily Etsy sellers.

The backing fabric and binding are from the Pannofia collection - Butterfly Flight in Magenta by Oasis Fabrics design 59-562 (purchased in late 2022).

Quilted using Glide thread in Bark and my Fins design.  

And now Coddiwomple, the finished quilt, is on the back of my recliner ready for the cooler evenings.

Quiltdivajulie

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"You have to pause and listen to the space quilt wants to be, and it will unfold itself to you."

Designer Theodora Esparza

Moving Things Forward

Coddiwomple has been pin basted and is partially quilted.

The top was finished in August 2023 so it's about time that I get this one finished, especially since the colors are perfect for November.

I pieced the backing for Kefi using the insert strip of leftovers from Dragon Fyre in the not-in-the-center seam.

Again, the top has been finished for a too-long time - summer of 2022 in fact.

I want to get this one quilted and finished in November.  

I've sewn the first four rows for Enchanted, number 9 in the Macnas series.

Here it is pinned across Incandescent's quilt top, which needs to come down off the design wall and move to the waiting-to-be-quilted closet.

Interesting how the colors are quite similar but still very different, especially with Incandescent featuring warm neutrals and Enchanted using black on whites.

After Coddiwomple was pin basted, I went ahead and pin basted Wallaroo, Macnas series quilt number 6.

I also changed my mind on the planned binding (second change so far).  I'm going to use the same fabric as the backing and the strips have been cut, sewn, and pressed.

That is unless I change my mind again once Wallaroo is quilted . . . 

* * *

Making progress feels really good. 

Quiltdivajulie

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"I believe in the ability of art to heal the spirit."

Colleen Gray

An Aboriginal Fabric Saga

In August 2023, I finished the quilt top for Coddiwomple (which is still waiting to be quilted).

This was my first foray into Aboriginal fabrics and the stash enhancing aspect got a bit out of hand.

In late September 2024, Lynne started sharing posts about what became her Nightingale tutorial and I offered to be a tutorial tester.  

I didn't want to use brights on blacks like Lynne (and later Susan) did, so I pulled out the darkest of my aboriginal fabrics.

A week later, when my foot surgery was delayed due to the hospital's water damage, I went on a cutting spree.

I cut way too much fabric - as in WAY too much fabric.

I even had backing chosen along with a name for my quilt - NIGHT OWL.

But after the foot surgery happened and I lost three months of studio time,  I lost interest in making these into a Nightingale quilt.

Sigh.

Since then, I've been sifting through ideas for how to use all those cut up fabrics.

Decision One - I'll use the widest strips to make a four patch quilt top using these warm camel tones as alternate squares.

I'll keep the NIGHT OWL name and backing fabric as originally conceived.

But then there were the rest of the aboriginal fabrics staring at me . . . 

DECISION 2 - I decided to use a stack of 2.5" strips to create another Macnas series top (number 6) named WALLAROO.

(click here for the name's background info)

I'll pair the aboriginals with a mix of scrappy grays, use this long stashed steampunk yardage as backing, and use the black/white aboriginal print on the left as binding (eventually).

But even after two quilt projects, there was still more aboriginal fabric to be dealt with . . . 

DECISION 3 - I cut the smaller pieces into 7.5" long random width strips to eventually make a scrappy coins quilt top (actual design TBD once the sewing process begins).

I've named this one DIGERIDOO (click here for the name's background info).

When the time comes, I'll use any remaining fat quarters to piece a scrappy aboriginal backing/binding.

And if there are aboriginal fabrics leftover at that point . . .  

* * * 

HUGE REMINDER TO SELF - I am a liberated, eclectic, scrappy quilt maker and running out of a given fabric is a good thing that forces me to use the stash in ways I might not have expected.  

NOTES ADDED SHORTLY AFTER POSTING:

I found most of my aboriginal fabrics online, especially through Etsy sellers - notably DarkStarFabrics.

And yes, Grace - these fabrics are indeed an embarrassment of riches.

ADDITIONAL NOTE added mid-2025:

1.   Night Owl's pieces and parts were gifted to a friend (who may or may not ever make them into the Crossroads design).

2.  Wallaroo was made, although not as shown above.

3.  The remaining aboriginals were gifted to another quilt maker after I realized I was never going to actually make Digideroo or any other aboriginal quilts.

And so the saga ends.

Quiltdivajulie

Here, There, and Coming Soon

The backing for Coddiwomple has been pieced and pressed.

I used the same fabric for binding.  

I debated on a border but decided "no" since I love the top just the way it is.

This pin basted panel has been quilted and finished meaning Autumn Ridge is ready to hang on the dining room wall come October first.  

(finished photos later)

Heart Throb, a wall quilt for February is noodle-rolled and ready for pin basting.

(also a panel, it won't take long once the opportunity to sit and FMQ presents itself)

And then there is January.

I had cut a LOT of grayed neutrals into 2.5" strips to make a couple of comfort quilts that didn't happen.

The strips have been reclaimed and will be used to make a new January kitchen table quilt named Brumous.

(more on that in another post)

The rest of the strips will be used to make January's dining room wall quilt.

Some of you may remember my quilt named Comfortable that inspired Jo of Jo's Country Junction to make her Brick House quilt (see this post).  I'm going with a variation of Comfortable's process to make Gnomeville.

Why gnomes?  Scroll through this post and you'll see how this all fits together.

Gnomeville's segments have been cut and pinned - ready for leader ender action.

My quilt ladder had to be temporarily moved from its spot in our home office.

It now resides between Max's tables and my pressing table.  I like seeing it there so it may not go back to the office.

And since Little Man is with us until mid-month, I have his Gone Dotty quilt on my design wall.

I've made the binding (left) and hung the laundered backing fabric (to be pieced and pressed once I know how large the top finishes). 

Border strips were cut per Little Man's previous instructions. 

As time permits while he's here we'll work on this so he can, hopefully, take it home with him.

Needless to say you may not hear as much from me for a couple of weeks.

(this silly photo was taken during his first 'dress uniform day' as a first grader)

Quiltdivajulie

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"That's what it takes to get what you want.  Not big scary leaps once a year.  It takes small, but irritating moves every single day."

Mel Robbins

Coddiwomple - the Flimsy

Here are the lower section and the five-row upper section waiting to be sewn together.  

(I finger pressed the seams as I assembled the blocks/rows and will press with the iron after the top is finished)

And then there was a completed (and pressed) quilt top - at this point it measures 49" x 64"

Here's a photo showing more of the fabric details. 

I had my doubts along the way but I am SO glad I kept going.  

This quilt top makes me very happy.

(you can go back and read the previous posts for this project by using the Coddiwomple label)

* * *

p.s.  On Friday I'll have a major update for Dumpster Diving 12 - Confetti.

Quiltdivajulie

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"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit."

John Updike

Coddiwomple - an Update

Instead of standing on a step stool to add the final five rows of Coddiwomple (and another earlier post here), I opted to start sewing rows together. 

Once that is done, I can move the whole lower portion down and not need the stool for those final rows.

At this point, eight of the rows are pieced and sewn together.

I am always amazed at the shrinkage once the seam allowances are used - a reduction of roughly eight horizontal inches in this case.

p.s.  I am really liking this almost-all-aboriginal-fabrics quilt-to-be!

Quiltdivajulie

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"An artist is an explorer."

Henri Matisse

Twelve More Rows to Go

The first ten of Coddiwomple's 22 rows are laid out on the design wall.  That means only twelve more rows to lay out before I can start sewing this one together.

(all but the center column of HSTs were randomly sorted onto 22 plates so that the B&W were even distributed amongst the rows)

You can double click to see more fabric details.

In the other studio room, DH got involved when I suggested shifting my art table and supplies into the closet (he didn't think that was such a good idea for multiple reasons and I agreed).

After studying my existing arrangement, he suggested my folding table was too small and flimsy and I added that it was also low and not adjustable.

The well-aged stretching table (shown above) was taken apart (that's the foam LM was using in his fort) which freed up a goodly bit of space under the drafting table.

Here is the view after both tables were moved out of the way.

An evening trip to Ikea netted this new office table with adjustable legs.

It is longer and deeper than what I had before which makes me very happy.

It is sturdier, too.

DH also suggested that I borrow the desk chair from our office since the stool I had been using was causing some back ache.

Oh, yes - this is MUCH better - and adding the chair mat also helped make things less uneven.

Everything is back in place.  I found a decent office chair at Costco earlier this week and put it together one evening so the chair shown above could go back into our office.

I'm ready to get back to work on several smallish journal projects as well as finishing up the foundations for the Rolodex cards.

All in good time.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet."

LM Montgomery

More Moving-It-Forward Progress

I gave up on the leader-ender approach in favor of an hour or so of power-sewing.

Now, all of the HSTs for Coddiwomple are sewn together and finger-pressed to the darker side. 

I've decided on a layout but it will be a little while before I start making the units.

I measured the fabrics for the back of Razzle-Dazzle and found that they will not be long enough without some additional inserts.

So I sewed together these leftover brights on black 2.5" strips to create two 14-inch WOF strip sets.

I still need to press the strip sets and then sew up the backing so my sewing machine table is cleared off.

I'm also leaning to the stashed binding on the right side of the quilt top (double-click to enlarge the photo). 

It is much more lively and plays well with the colors in the top and back.

The reason that I went ahead and finished up the HSTs for Coddiwomple is that I have a new leader-ender project.  

I've agreed to do an IRD presentation (interactive remote demonstration) via Zoom for a small quilt guild in Pennsylvania next January and Confetti - Dumpster Diving 12 will be my work-in-progress while sharing my series of DD quilts and process.

I asked Little Man to help choose pairs of fabrics to be pinned - it was very interesting to listen to his logic for why he put this piece with that piece.

When I asked him about putting two reds end-to-end, he calmly replied "this one is a pinkish-red and this one looks like a shiny, clean fire-truck so it is okay to put them side-by-side because they're NOT the same color, Mee Mah."

(and I'm continuing to include his sensible approach in some of the pairs I'm piecing instead of following my normal method of pairing high-contrast colors)

This is the box with the beginning group of pairs ready to be stitched.

And this is the box for the first few sewn pairs. 

There's LOTS more cutting of segments, pairing, and stitching ahead but that's why I enjoy the whole Dumpster Diving process - using up those smaller bits of perfectly good fabric and remembering the projects where they have been used - all while creating something totally unique, scrappy, and colorful.

Quiltdivajulie

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"We teach children to color inside the lines, and then expect adults to think outside the box."

Frank Sonnenberg

Progress

At this point, all eight of the columns for Coddiwomple are pieced and sewn.

Hopefully by early week, I'll have the columns sewn to each other.

We shall see what the weekend brings.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Look closely at the present you are constructing.  It should look like the future you are dreaming."

Alice Walker

Better Approach for the HSTs

I was not particularly happy with the mash-mash of fabrics in the previous post. So I spent a morning sorting out the "lights" and the "darks."

You can see the result in these twenty-five HSTs on the design wall.

And then a little here and a little there, I paired and pinned nearly 300 pairs of aboriginal fabrics (shown here in the plastic shoebox).

I need about 80 more HSTs with the black and white alternate.  I have 20 pieced and the rest ready to pair and pin.

Coddiwomple can now return to leader-ender status while I get back to piecing blocks for Razzle-Dazzle.

And we had to say a sad farewell to our mature front yard tree this week -  a victim of Oak Wilt.  

For those who might not be familiar with this term - Oak wilt is considered to be the most important disease of oaks in the eastern United States. Few other diseases encountered in forestry can kill large mature trees as quickly as oak wilt. The disease is caused by a fungus that spreads through a tree’s vascular system. In response, the tree plugs up its vascular system to stop the fungus from spreading, but this also inhibits water movement, so the tree wilts and dies.

(If the video doesn't play properly, you can watch it HERE instead)

Quiltdivajulie