Remember this quilt top from the Autumn Abundance Blog Hop that Bernie from Needle and Foot hosted last October? You can read about it here and on any of my posts labeled Autumn Abundance (on the right side bar).
I finally got to the quilting this week. It's been five months since I've machine quilted, and I was eager to see how it would go. I had some down time with my other current project this week while waiting for some batting to come in the mail, so I figured it was a good time to test out quilting to see if my healing shoulder could handle it. I'm still recovering from a shoulder fracture and going to therapy twice a week to build muscle strength. I can do quite a bit now, but I still have trouble reaching out or up and holding my arm in those positions. I wanted to see what I could do with actual quilting, and this little project was perfect before tackling a larger quilt.
At first, I was going to do an all-over minimal design, but I wanted to push the limits for my arm, and I think the quilt--with it's traditional fabrics--wanted more, too. So I chose to do a combination of walking foot and detailed free motion quilting. Using the walking foot was easiest, and free-motion worked best with small movements. I can't keep up large scale free-motion movements for very long. (Yet.)
My goal was to quilt pretty densely in the scenery and background areas so that the window frame and geese would stand out the most. In person, they do. Maybe not so much in pictures.
Last night I put on the binding, and even though this post is on Saturday, it was a Friday Finish. Just barely. I lost a needle at one point and spent a good half hour looking for it. (I live in fear of a grandchild or my husband finding my lost needles in a painful way.) I couldn't find it and finally went back to quilting, promising myself I'd look more today. Then, just before I went to bed, I brushed my hand over a little pillow that sits on my recliner, and sticking up just 1/16 of an inch was my needle! Whew! I have no idea how it got there.
We had a bit of sunshine here this morning, so I popped outside to get some pictures that I hope show the quilting. It was really cold, so I didn't spend time trying to get artsy. The quilt top pictures from my previous post will have to do for that.
So, anyway, here it is:
And the back:
I used a single piece of backing to reduce bulk because there were so many seams on the front to quilt through.
Close up of the center block:
Do you see where I FMQ'd my initials/date? (I need some practice, but at least it's there.)
I used a single layer binding on this quilt. I don't usually do that, but I had only a scrap of the yellow fabric left. I found it more tedious to hand sew to the back than with folded binding, but that might be because I was in a hurry and didn't take time to press the fold back before stitching it down.
Here's a view of a clash of the seasons:
And how I envisioned the quilt on the front door from the street:
But you know what? Now that the quilt is done, I'm thinking it won't ever be displayed there. I have other mini quilts that I hang on the front door lately. They are simple one-block quilts that I made years ago, and it seemed like a good use of them rather than having them jammed into a closet. But boy, do they fade!. So maybe I'll hang this quilt on the inside of the door instead come next autumn--or somewhere else in the house--and make something simpler for the door. I do like how the picture looks from the street, though.
Here's a recap of some of the stats with additions about the quilting:
Center Block: Autumn Harvest pattern, designed by Soma of Whims and Fancies
Border design: My own, using Quiltography app.
Fabric: Front fabrics were provided by Paintbrush Studios (Into the Woods collection plus selected solids from Painters Pallete--details are on my blog hop post). The back is Moda Bella Solids in Fog--seemed appropriate for the flip side of sunny autumn days,
Finished size after quilting: About 20 3/8 inches square.
Batting: Scrap of Quilter's Dream Select in white.
Quilting thread: Superior Masterpiece in Granite in the bobbin for all quilting and in the top for the light areas. Assorted all-purpose sewing threads (mostly Coats and Clark) in gray, green, gold and rust in the darker areas.
Quilted on my 100+ year old Singer 115 Treadle machine.
Now I'm celebrating because I can quilt again. I may continue to do a combination of walking foot and free-motion until I'm fully functional again, but we'll see. What I learned from this is that quilting is definitely therapeutic, both mentally and--especially right now--physically.
I'm linking up today with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Summer Lee Quilts (TGIFF). Because, you know, I have a finish!! I hope you're having a good weekend. I think the rest of mine will be spent seeing what the rest of you have finished.
Hello, everyone. No more dithering here. For this quilt, anyway. Thanks for all of your input after my post last week. It was fun to read your opinions. Here's the arrangement I chose. It's pretty much the layout that got the most "votes" with just a couple of tweaks. Still low light for picture taking. January. Sigh.
I had started thinking that was the layout shortly after I hit the "publish" button, so of course I was pleased that a lot of you agreed with me. I still like the layout with the line of dark hexies down the side, but I was having some trouble with the distribution of those hexies given the assortment I had available. Maybe the darker coral hexies I rejected early-on will find themselves with some partners in that layout in another quilt. I feel like I've learned a lot about what I might want to put with them.
When I put pictures on Instagram of what I was working on, I got a couple of comments about the construction. Sewing hexies by machine can be intimidating because it's basically a lot of Y-seams, which can be off-putting for a lot of quilters. Let's not call them Y-seams. That will help. And using large-sized hexies probably makes it easiest. Sewing hexies together by machine is pretty much the way quilters years ago sewed Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts by hand. (I'm sure some people still do--when they're not doing English Paper Piecing.) When sewing by hand, you don't cross seam allowances, and this is the same technique. I'm not going to explain the whole process here, but there are lots of tutorials online that show how to do this, and I encourage you to check them out. The ones I'm most familiar with are Jacquie's at Tallgrass Prairie Studios and Lorna's at Sew Fresh Quilts. There are also some good videos if you look around online. Each does the process slightly differently from the others. After reading several sources, I did what felt best for me, using tips from more than one.
One of the things I did that helped me start and stop seams easily was to draw little registration marks on the diagonals.
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| Close up |
When sewing a hexie quilt, you first sew the columns and then join them together. Here I have the first two columns joined. I'm doing the joins as I go.
Look how neat those corners come out! And they haven't even been pressed. (That gets done after it's all put together.)
Anyway, I'm having tons of fun. I'm taking my time sewing one seam at a time instead of using shortcuts like chaining, but that's most comfortable for me right now and keeps me from getting sloppy.
I did take time out for a couple of other things this week. On the top of my rehabbing shoulder, I have a muscle that wants to take over and do all the work. Sometimes it gets pretty tight and sore, so I made a new rice bag heating pad that I can drape over my shoulders while I sew. It has lots of channels so it bends easily. Here's how it looks naked:
And here it's in its pillow case on Teddy. Isn't he a cute model?
I also spent an evening de-papering the quilt top that I made for the Autumn Abundance blog hop hosted by Needle and Foot. One step closer to a finish.
I'm linking up today with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.
Have a good quilting week, and if you haven't machine sewn big hexies, consider trying them yourself. They're fun, and not hard at all.
I haven't had an opportunity to quilt in the last week, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about quilts or what inspires me in color and design. And right now my inspiration is definitely autumn. We've had a long-lasting color season this year. Most of the reds are fading or gone now, but there are still yellows and oranges with just enough green for contrast.
I love how the yellow veins in this leaf contrast with the orange. It would make a good model for a wall hanging. The leaf isn't perfect, but that's what makes it interesting.
We took a little trip to the Grand Rapids (Michigan) area on Tuesday. It was a balmy 78 degrees and a bit hazy. I love those kinds of (rare) days in November. We spent some time at the Grand Ravines park by the Grand River.
Muted colors by the river--
I like to try to frame my photos with a tree branch/trunk when I can...
...or a railing--or both.
The woods in the protected areas of the ravines still had quite a bit of green.
But the colors kept changing depending on the sunlight. Look at those interesting lines. I think they were a vine winding through the trees.
I've always admired quilted landscapes with strong vertical trunks. There are so many techniques available to construct them. I really need to try one. (That's why there are so many pictures here.)
An overlook by a deep ravine. Kind of chapel-like.
Lovely path.
Spots of red. Twins.
And another view.
Such a beautiful day. I haven't been able to get out much this autumn--but this made up for it. And now a shout out to Soma, whose pattern Autumn Harvest is featured in my Autumn Abundance project this year. Thanks, Soma, for your wonderful paper piecing patterns and for encouraging us all to seek inspiration with our cameras.
I'm linking up today with Wandering Camera, hosted by Soma of Whims and Fancies.
I hope to be back next week with some quilting. In the meantime, I hope your week is inspiring!
Thank you to everyone who commented on my post for the Autumn Abundance Blog Hop last week. I was overwhelmed by the compliments and good wishes and had a blast reading about everyone's autumn projects and favorite things about autumn.
Last night I used a little program to choose a random comment for my giveaway, and the winner is Kathryn, the 36th person to respond! Here's what she said:
"I love the return of cider to my local stores in the autumn. Best wishes on your recuperation from your 'autumn' event. Thanks for the giveaway."
Last night she told me that she has some fabric that will work very well with the bundle of leftovers I'm sending her. Congrats, Kathryn! The fabric and little collection of binder clips will be on the way to you soon!
And here are some awesome mums. I'd like to say they were the inspiration for my quilt, but I didn't see them until yesterday near my dad's condo.
Everywhere I look right now there is great color inspiration for quilts. I display a calendar in my living room as part of my decor. For many years, it was a quilt calendar, but this year I had to choose something else because the calendar company discontinued the quilt-themed one. So I bought a landscape calendar instead. I love it! Every month is new inspiration for color and even design for a quilt. This was October:
And today I turned the page (yes, I know I'm a day late), and there was this!
Those colors look kind of familiar, don't they? Yay, Autumn!
Happy November! As I said, I know I'm a day late, but I was busy yesterday enjoying our gorgeous autumn weather (upper 70's with hazy sunshine). Maybe tomorrow I'll post some pictures of my little field trip. Not exactly quilt related, but oh so quilty inspirational. And since I've had to take a little break from quilting, this is the next best thing. See you then!
Linking up today with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.
Welcome, everyone! Today is my day on the Autumn Abundance Blog Hop hosted by Bernie at Needle and Foot and sponsored by Paintbrush Studio Fabrics. (Be sure to read to the end--there's a giveaway.) Bernie had the idea for this blog hop way back in the summer and did all of the leg (finger?) work to make it happen. I'm so glad she did. Autumn is my favorite season, so I was eager to participate even though I was a little nervous about sewing on a timeline. I had a project in mind and was thrilled when one of the available fabric collections provided by Paintbrush Studio looked like a perfect fit for what I had in mind.
Be sure to check out the other bloggers in this Hop. Here's the schedule:
Monday October 24: Our Host, Bernie from Needle and Foot
Tuesday October 25: Hey, that's Me, and you're here!
Wednesday October 26: Mari from The Academic Quilter
Thursday October 27: Tish from Tish's Adventures in Wonderland
Friday October 28: Sandra from Musings of a Menopausal Melon--mmm! quilts
Here is the collection of prints I chose. It's called Into the Woods. The solid fabrics along the left side are from their Painter's Palette collection. I chose Rice Paper, Mist, and Azure to provide a pale contrast with the prints, and a dark brown called Expresso.
As you can see, most of the prints are what I think of as blenders or tone-on-tones. When I look back over my years of quilting, I can see that I have been most comfortable working with these types of prints. And the special thing about these particular prints is that most of them have an added sparkle of metallic gold in them--so festive for autumn. This collection was just what I needed for my small scale quilt.
Now I could hold you in suspense and slowly tell you about the process before showing my project, but I just can't do it. I have to show you now! (Then I'll tell how it came to be.)
The center block is a paper pieced Autumn Harvest pattern by Soma of Whims and Fancies that I won from her in a giveaway on her blog a while ago. I had a long-time plan to use it in a wallhanging--or really a door hanging for my front door. What I love about the pattern is how well it portrays what I love about Autumn--the abundance of everything: rich colors, lovely produce, beautiful skies, and the delicious tastes of the comfort foods we associate with autumn and cooler weather. I'm grateful to Soma for the opportunity to sew one of her delightful designs. Here are some of my pattern pieces with the colors labelled:
When I chose the solid colors, I wanted strong contrast with the prints--necessary so that the design stands out to passers-by. So instead of a bright, clear blue typical of the sky at this time of year, I chose the color of a more hazy sky when the weather is more balmy. We've actually had a lot of those skies lately. The Azure I chose is just right--and I was thrilled that it looked just as I expected it would.
The fields in our area at this time of year are generally not really colorful. Much of the corn has already been cut, and the soybeans have gone from yellow to dull brown. The produce is in the markets and numerous farm stands along country roads.
I tried various combinations of colors for the field.
But I wanted my fields to sing with color. So I chose the brighter orange print and the yellow to represent a fields of mums, much like the dig-your-own field a local garden center used to have. Using a solid brown for the fence helped it stand out more from the printed background.
I originally planned to use the orange/yellow/green leaf print and darker green for some of the hills, but I needed better contrast and scale.
So I chose the lighter green instead. The shadowy print and dusting of metallic gold suggests trees just beginning to change color. The dark blue of the farthest hill helped create some depth in the scene.
And did you see those pies? Yum! Pumpkin is our favorite. My husband bakes the best pumpkin pie using dark molasses. So of course I had to use the darker orange print for that slice on the windowsill. We also love apple pie. Our local high school swim team makes ready-to-bake pies as an autumn fundraiser, and we always buy them. With teenagers making pies, you never know how the crust will look. Some are a little clunky, but they are always delicious. One year, a math enthusiast used the pi symbol for the vents on top. Fun!The light brown fabric in the collection was the exact pie crust color! How neat is that?
I used Mist for the window frame, and finished the center block on August 30.
I was pretty pleased with myself. I was way ahead of schedule for this Blog Hop. Then disaster struck.
On September 1, I broke my shoulder in a fall from my bicycle, and on the 15th I had surgery to repair it. (That fall is now the reason I am meticulously using the word "autumn" in this post. Don't want any reminders of fall.) Recovery will be a long process. I thought I'd have to give up on the project and the Blog Hop. But eventually I figured out how to use technology and alternative sewing methods so that I could continue designing and finish the quilt top one-handed. Good thing I was making a tiny quilt!! You can read about what I did here and here.
First, I used my Quiltography app to plan strips of flying geese around the center block. I first heard about this program from Bernie, our host for this Hop. The program allowed me to even see how the fabrics would look. Here's how my final plan looked (with tan subbing for the center block):
I won't go into the process here. You can check out Bernie's post about it or check the Quiltography website. When I did the actual sewing I used the Azure, Rice Paper and Mist randomly to create sky with autumn clouds. I also spaced some of the geese out to represent the stragglers that you see overhead. (Maybe the flying geese design is supposed to represent whole Vs of geese. Oh well, mine are individuals.) We have an abundance of geese this time of year.
I used a free template from Quilter's cache to paper piece the flying geese using a variety of the fabrics in the collection. After sewing a strip of the lovely black larger-scale print from the fabric collection to my center block, I added the flying geese strips using partial seams at the corners where the strips met. Then I added a wider strip of the black print.
I still need to quilt this little gem. But I'd like to do it by machine, and my arm is not strong enough yet. I do know that I will bind it in the yellow fabric. I will be sure to show you when it's finished.
I am so happy with how this little quilt top turned out. The fabrics were easy to work with, and the colors and scale were exactly what I needed. I really enjoyed making decisions about where to place each fabric and how to make the most of the contrast.
Here are the finished measurements for the quilt if you'd like to try one yourself. Remember to add seam allowances where necessary.
Center block: 10 inches square
First border: 1 inch
Flying Geese Border: 2 inches wide by 14 inches long
Outer Border: 2 3/4 inches wide
Total size: 21 1/2 inches square
And now for the giveaway. I was really planning to make a couple of mini minis (mug rugs) with flying geese to give away, but that's just not possible right now due to my limitations and therapy schedule. So, if you leave me a comment on this post telling me about an autumn project you've made or your favorite thing about autumn, I will randomly choose one lucky respondent (I'm sorry, but North American residents only) on November 1 and send you my leftover fabrics from the Into the Woods collection. If you are a no-reply blogger, please give me your e-mail address in your comment.
You might want to make your own autumn mini. And if you haven't paper pieced before, maybe you'll consider making some flying geese strips. I highly recommend them as a beginning project. You can make one continuous strip, and the piecing is repetitive with regular shapes--a very friendly first project.
Along with the fabric, I'm including these little binder clips. They have nothing to do with this project, but they're cute and would be useful for any project where you want to keep patches or blocks together.
*This Giveaway is now ended. Check out the next post for the winner.
Thanks again to Bernie for hosting this hop and to Paintbrush Studio for sponsoring. Be sure to check out their websites if you haven't already.
Okay. One more picture--
I'm linking up with Freemotion by the River and Sew Fresh Quilts for their linky parties this week. Buttons are on the sidebar to the right.
Have a beautiful week, and remember to hop on over to the other Autumn Abundance bloggers.
