Symmetry Challenge - Times Two

Pandemonium is my quilt top for the current challenge.

It was a long and winding road to completion -

you can read more about that journey

in previous posts here on the AHIQ blog

(use the Pandemonium label at the end of the post)

 and in the top's reveal post on my blog.

Ultimately the fabric on the left 

is what I've chosen to back Pandemonium.

(City View by Michael Miller)

Quilting will not happen until after the first of the year.

I had planned to use the leftover orphan bits

to piece a scrappy back for Pandemonium.

You can read THAT long and winding story HERE.

Instead of a back, those orphan pieces became

a second quilt top named Ukiyo.

(n: living in the moment,

detached from the bothers of life)

I pulled the yardage on the left from my backing stash

but again, FMQ will not happen until next year.

* * *

This symmetry v. asymmetry challenge

has been a very interesting process.

Ukiyo's asymmetry is far more obvious

while Pandemonium's is more subtle.

I wonder what the new prompt will be in January?

Quiltdivajulie

Tulips Made

 

 Life has been difficult here what with caregiving and trying not to stress about it.  But I try to do my 15 minutes a day quilting effort, and some days it does happen.  Here are my completed 4 tulips for the String Tulip QAL by Ann that finished long ago.  Little by little.

Two 'Challenge Met' Quilt Tops for AHIQ

I've been such a slacker about getting the latest projects up here on the AHIQ blog. Trying to fix that! First up is the latest improv. finish, Improv. HST Medallion. It wasn't started as a response any specific prompt here, but all along, the Playing With Scale challenge has been whispering in the back of my head.

Improv. HST Medallion 

Most every border added seemed to lend itself well to a 'larger' scale of the initial piecing. I even drew the look in a rough doodle right after the centerpiece made itself known. What if? Then the tulip applique jumped on and I had to let the whole thing marinate for awhile just 'in case' I was overlooking the obvious. Hmm..  Maybe not. I've been intrigued by this style of quilt for a very long time. So many antique lovelies to get inspiration from, though the best generally have much, much smaller piecing throughout.

Positive Thinking

Also, I wanted to get my version of the Positive Thinking challenge posted here where it all began. Most of the AHIQ followers have already seen this over on the very wordy post. This is another one of those quilts that I just don't think would have ever happened if not for the very challenges presented here at AHIQ. That's not a stretch at all to say this! These prompts have to have a start you know! And a theme! It was a lovely journey getting to this particular finish and I am happy, thrilled, and even a bit moved with how personal and unique this turned out to be. Who would have thunk it? 

First Improv

There is a symmetrical quilt on my pin board in the making but I want to show you my very first improv quilt first. I always struggled with my sense of accuracy and the improv idea. For the first time I cutted without messuring and let the quilt develop on my pin board. It was fun, really. And my inner voice didn´t protest. That´s the best of it. I´m very pleased with the result. 

The backside is nice too, isn´t it? I discussed with Kaja how to find the perfekt quilting pattern and got a lot of ideas. But I´m not yet sure how I will do it.

Completed, nicely symmetrical, top

 I've posted a bit about this finished top on my blog, but thought I'd save my reflections on working symmetrically for here.  In a word, it was hard!  Much harder than I anticipated.  The difficulty lay not so much in the method; after all the rules of log cabins are quite simple and I'm not an idiot.  It was more that I never got over that desire to mess it up.  Not in a "oh no, this is a disaster way", rather that I was constantly battling my natural urge to disrupt the pattern.

The compromise I reached, which just about kept me on the straight and narrow, was that I started piecing strips from mismatched fabrics, or joining them with little insets of a different colour, or used a strip both horizontally and vertically.  I also threw in those little wedge bits and the more random flying geese as I headed out towards the edge.  To be fair they were a pragmatic as well as aesthetic decision, since I was running low on fabric by then.  

Am I glad I kept at it?  Well yes, I am rather, since in the end there's lots about this that I really like.  Will I be looking at more symmetrical work in the future?  Not any time soon.

Challenge Project Update

 

I have lost count of the changes through

editing, unstitching, and do-overs,

but here is where things stand now

with Pandemonium.

More photos and details on my blog HERE.

Quiltdivajulie

Totally Finished Up With This One!

I feel like I've been a bit disconnected from the online quilting conversations for awhile now. Just trying to keep things rocking along at home and not finding nearly enough time to dedicate to the online quilting community at the same time.

AHIQFlowers is a completion!

AHIQFlowers quilt has finally, at long last, come to its final conclusion. Lots and lots of stitching on this one. At the start, I thought it would be completely quilted at approximately 1/4" apart, but then I pulled back and let the quilt dictate where it needed the most stitching. Doesn't that generally work out to be the better solution?

Something a little different for me. No tulips! lol

I've written more about the process and details involved in the making of this project over at my blog. As usual, I'm practically beaming at finding myself with another interesting U&U quilt interpretation. The fact that it was combined with yet another AHIQ prompt just feels like icing on the cake. I love how so many of the AHIQ challenges end up being merged with another idea I have waiting on deck! These prompts start out oh-so-simple with achingly wide parameters where it almost seems like the sky is the limit. How to narrow things down and get anything practical started? But then we set our mind to thinking about possibilities and eventually we find our little 'what if?' and off we go!

I still have one unfinished prompt left to finish up {Positive Thinking}, and then I'll attempt the latest challenge. Or maybe I'll start tomorrow. We'll see. Lots of energy has been expended towards wrapping previous undone quilt projects in the last couple weeks. Sometimes it takes a bit of clearing out the cobwebs and sweeping down the walls before we can wholeheartedly dive into the next challenge...