QAWM: Expanding my options

Well, I consciously broke the cardinal rule of the Quilt-Along-With-Melody quilt challenge, which was to use only fabrics from one’s own stash.  I have decided that Melody would understand, given my paltry beginner’s-size stash.  To wit, here is my ENTIRE stash shown below, 98% of which are fat quarters.

So I took myself over to the 25%-off 6th anniversary sale at Bella Quiltworks on Friday and supplemented with the four fabrics above – 3 solids (blue, yellow and pink) plus an orange-yellow stripe. Then in an effort to quiet things down a bit, I proceeded to rip many seams and replace 14 centers.  It feels a bit better. 

Then I went to sleep and dreamed that I ripped MORE seams and removed all the large black strips.  I admire quilters who work so magnificently with black.  This is my first quilt using black – and lately I’ve been feeling it will be my last for a while, LOL!

I’ve gotten some great feedback from Melody, Wanda Hanson, Sheila from Scotland, Gail Baar, Lesley and Marlene.  I plan to make up a few more blocks using the quieter solids, perhaps incorporating them into the existing blacks, perhaps subtracting a lot of black. All along, my big intention is to make this feel art-quilty, so I will be abandoning this traditional setting but here are the doctored blocks:

QAWM: Cast your votes

Here are 3 setting options for the Quilt-Along-With-Melody quilt.  Which do you like best?  Lettuce decide…  ;-)  I am also open to any suggestions!

Setting 1: Small squares centered in blocks

Setting 2: Small squares on outsides of blocks

  Setting 3: stacked/stair stepped

QAWM: Day 4 -- Moving along

Day 4 of Quilting-Along-With-Melody.  These blocks are approximately 10 inches square.  They are not sewn together – I plan to let them percolate for a while and I’m sure I’ll play around with a few other settings first, with and without sashing.

QAWM: Oh dear, too…

These blocks looks much nicer individually than they do all together.  Ugh.  Teetering on feeling not-so-hopeful about the outcome of Quilt-Along-with-Melody, LOL!  And I did not even bother to photograph the first two setting attempts because they were so bordering on awful.  One setting actually struck me as garish.  Imagine!  Now I am thinking it would have been entertaining for you to see them after all, haha!

How does Wanda Hanson of Exuberant Color pull it off? By “it”, I mean fearlessly combining wild prints with fabulous outcomes. I am sure it is practice/experience, a really good design eye, AND a monster stash of amazing fabrics – and being willing to fall flat.  I present my case for falling flat – at least temporarily!

 

Time to let these puppies percolate for a few days.  No answers are coming at the moment.  I want to eat some chocolate. Though, when I cut into the big blocks to make them into four smaller blocks, I felt I wanted to keep them at the half-block stage, so maybe I will sew them back up and try setting them again as rectangles. And last night I dreamt of adding curves somehow.  I also have some more blocks to make with some coordinating fabrics, so that will change everythin’ too…  hmmm…. 

Quilting-Along-with-Melody this month…

My fabric stash, above

One of my creative heroines, Melody Johnson, has issued a fun quilting challenge on her blog for February…  she’s calling it QAWM – or Quilt-Along-With-Melody.  The idea is to make a big dent in our commercially-printed-fabric stashes. 

Melody is famous for using (her own gorgeous!) hand-dyed fabrics for her quilts.  Fabric dyeing is something I fantasize about evolving into over the next year or so as well.  Given that, there is a growing tendency to overlook the stash of brilliant commercial fabrics within easy reach:

…so this challenge is designed to remedy that!  Part of the deal is to post our progress and Melody will share participants’ reports on her own blog.

I plan to start with this mix of greens since I have been hankering for green lately!

Amber’s Quilt top done!

Amber’s Home. Approximately 58” x 58”. Commercial cottons and batiks. Copyright 2010. Claire O’Connor.

I am making this for my oldest niece Amber. She lives in New Jersey and she’s 8 years old. Since we are both born under the sign of Cancer, and since I love home so much, I imagine she will as well. (Or is it just projection?)  Hence the house in the center and the log cabins blocks around the perimeter – with a few nine-patches thrown in for good measure.

Now on to 6-year-old Cassidy’s quilt (Amber’s sister) – I plan to finish all the tops, then get into a groove and do all the quilting at one time.  Here is 3-year-old Kristina’s quilt (Cassidy and Amber’s sister).

Here’s a close-up of Amber’s border:

Working on strips for the house quilt border

I (think I) have decided to turn the quilt in my last post into a top instead of a back.  It will need some lively help around the perimeter, so I spent the morning piecing strips of leftover fabric from the last two quilt tops – see above. Tomorrow, I’ll sub-cut these into a narrow-ish border – maybe 2.5 to 3 inches wide.  The light in my studio is quite yellow, especially at this hour of the day, so the colors came out a bit more muted than they are in real life. 

I think/hope I will have some leftover strips to launch into the next quilt top, as I would like to do a trio of nap quilts from related fabrics as gifts for my 3 nieces in New Jersey, Cassidy, Amber and Kristina (left to right) pictured below with my gorgeous sister Colleen.

Is it a quilt back, or a quilt top…?

Originally intended as a back for this quilt, I’m thinking that with some sweet borders, it may stand on its’ own as a quilt top…

My 2010 Tucson Quilt Show favorites

Our local quilt guild show was this past weekend – here are some of my faves (yum!):

Parcheesi by Susie Bright – this one is hand-pieced and hand-quilted!  Sheesh!

Nature’s Gems by Susie Weaver

You’re Not the Only Starfish in the Sea by Mary Vaneecke

Ring Around the Aloe by Lois Podolny

Fireworks a la Bumbleberry by Nancy Landon et al

Pretty Polly by Janine Holzman
See Polly close-up in border below…

Toe Jam Hill by Maria S. Groat

The Way to True October by Diane Ellison

Sarah’s Wedding Quilt by David Landon & Nancy Landon

Hosanna by Diane Ellison.  Detail below:

 

Cereus-ly Cactus by Laura Steiniger

Just Do It by Nancy Arsenault.  Detail shot below:

 

For the Grandmothers by Barbara Hall

Tonight’s “golden moment”

Shortly after we moved to Tucson, we learned about the Tucson “golden moment.” Occurring at sunset and typically lasting no more than 5 to 10 minutes, the Santa Catalina Mountains north of the city act as a mirror perfectly reflecting the setting sun.  The rugged mountains turn all glow-y -- magical enough to schedule one’s dinner plans around. 

Tonight was especially dee-vine with all the recent snow majestically capping the mountained perimeter of the city.  Quite rare and breathtaking. Sadly, by the time I saw that the mountains were afire and ran into the house to get my camera, the moment had passed.  But I did catch the image above – the western sky over our pool in the backyard.