Always Late, but Still catching Up With the Prompts

 A little catch up post here for the latest challenges that I've been working on! I finally got the Positive Thinking quilt finished up. You can read more about it here if you like. This was an amazing outcome for a little seed of an idea that didn't seem super promising right at the beginning. For one thing, the color palette felt a little iffy to me!

And look at it now? It's the sort of thing that makes me so resolved to always try and meet these challenges, slow though I might be. It's just a good thing in terms of stretching ourselves! Just can't believe some of the quilts that I end up with by giving a little time and effort to an idea that maybe didn't feel genuinely inspiring at first. You know, because it didn't come from the heart. More like determination to see it through by hook or by crook? 

The free-spirited Sun of My Life quilt!

This quilt top is a result of working with the AHIQ:Sun prompt. Had to use up few yellow fabrics in another quilt before my mind would give me permission to start in on the 'real thing'. It's been quite the journey and yet, I'm so, so, so happy with the way it turned out. And with barely any yellow included? Isn't that interesting? These colors mixed with the improv. background, larger scale applique flowers and a funky sun? Too much fun. I find myself wanting to make more of these. Yes please!

Another sun 'cuz apparently one isn't enough!

Of course, I can see all the things that should've been done differently with the improv. pieced background, but how to successfully plan that part out  beforehand? Obviously more experience would help. You can read more about this project over here if you want. This has become a very late night for me trying to get these posts up so gonna have to keep this short and sweet!

I still intend to start a quilt with intended improv. borders like Janie has suggested for a new challenge. It feels like a good one! Really, really looking forward to this one after contemplating a half dozen possibilities.  Have to clear up my list a little bit and also, give time to one or two more starts before I dive into the brand new prompt. Just can't quite let a couple other ideas go in the event they languish too long and fizzle out on me....

p.s. I'm pretty sure these small, darker brown hourglass blocks were the abandoned parts from an earlier AHIQ prompt. I did eventually meet the challenge, but these hourglasses were the wrong size and had to be discarded. Love that they ended up in another AHIQ challenge attempt! 

These Books Never Go Back on the Shelf

Book inspiration

I love this 'inspiration book' prompt! After years and years of buying book after book and then watching them gather dust on the shelves, I'm much more conservative these days. Don't want to waste my money!

On my list

For the most part, project books aren't doing it for me these past several years. The 'Unconventional & Unexpected' by Roderick Kiracofe is much, much more the thing. If I'm feeling a bit dry and uninspired, then that's the book to get things sparking again! Currently I have a whole stack of fabric picked out for the largish courthouse log cabin quilt in the book. Was going to start it over the winter but then life got in the way.

Notice all the bookmarks?

So many good, quirky quilts to think about trying to interpret in a brand new way! Love the forgiveness factor especially. I've been eyeing this wheel quilt for years now too. It's so lovably imprecise that I just want to hug it.

Tried and true

Another one of my favorite books remain this 'Collector's Dictionary of Quilt Names and Patterns'. Something I bought at a quilt guild yard sale and never, ever regretted.

Always something else to think about

Don't think there are actually any directions for making the patterns in the book {or many}, but that doesn't bother me. Just looking through the pages usually inspires something! And the black and white is a bonus. Lots more room to imagine things in the colors that most appeal at the moment.

Antique inspo.

Another older book, 'Treasury of American Quilts' is one that I like to turn to when thinking about adding applique onto quilts. Such a rare, rare thing for me. ha ha! Wouldn't that folksy tree applique look spectacular up against some improv. piecing? *Swoon....  

Love 2 color quilts, but hate making them!

And while we're on the subject of applique add-ons, the Joseph D' Addetta book is hands down one of the few books I'd save in a fire. Seriously. So much fun to turn the pages and find page after page of different elements that could look amazing in many quilts. 

The Folk Art touch

In fact, I've used the pear shaped flowers on the front of this book for a quilt before! If you look in the gallery for 2019 quilts, I think you'll find it there.

Can you have too many birds on quilts?

While Pinterest generally has a lot of inspiration, there's nothing quite like opening up a book that hits all the right notes. 

P.S. I finished the #AHIQStringTulipsQAL quilt if you'd like to have a look. It's another one of those quilts that turned out just a bit different than what I expected at the start. Thanks for another great challenge! I definitely wouldn't have made this quilt without the initial prompt!

 

Getting the #AHIQColorPalette Prompt Figured Out

 The first picture is where I left off with the #AHIQColorPalette at the end of December. It was at this point that I sort of fell out of love with the look of the tulips. The colors seemed to be a bit brash for my tastes. The first painting below is the original inspiration for my answer to this #AHIQColorPalette challenge. There was just something about those colors that felt really, really challenging to try and duplicate in a positive manner. I very briefly even considered trying to copy the entire painting in fabric form, but no. Been there, done that. What sounded better was to use the colors, feel and vibe in a whole new set-up.

A bit too much

Much earlier than I expected, this week I started actually wanting to revisit this project. Maybe look at it with 'new eyes'? Was it really yelling at me? Or had I just not been feeling well enough to deal with the reality that when the tulips were finished being stitched down, then design decisions would HAVE to be made. You know how it goes. All the while you're working on something, there is always the 'next step' after. Very relaxing to hand stitch, but the after doesn't ever totally leave your mind!

Trying to make everything look like it belongs together

When I started doodling with different ideas to try and start the project, I remembered a picture that my sister took at a restaurant one time--the trio of odd looking tulip paintings. Hmm... Those rigid, formal tulips looked like a fun twist on what I've been gravitating towards lately anyway. And you know how I like series work!

It was all good until I went to cut out the fabric tulips according to scale {from the loose design that I had doodled onto paper}. That's where things really started falling apart. Just from a quick audition of the prepped applique laying over the top of the background blocks, it was obvious that what looked good on paper wasn't translating well at all in reality! The color palette that I had intended to use for this quilt didn't love the silhouette form and/or the plain Jane style from those restaurant paintings. Maybe if I had made the tulips out of the dark blue? And so I was a bit stuck until one day seeing the clunky looking flowers on one of my BlueQ reusable bags. Okay.... maybe my tulips needed to be fussied up a bit after all. Don't you just love when the lightning bolt of inspiration strikes at the perfect moment?

Original inspiration

I'm still working out the details of the applique, but at present, all the blocks are {mostly}stitched down with the exception of the little one at the very far, top, right corner. None of the leaves are stitched down on any of the blocks as that was another one of my creative blocks. While actively stitching on these blocks, I just could NOT 'see' that sour green from the original inspo. painting working well with my tulips or these particular colors. When doing the auditioning, I finally just started grabbing leftover leaves from the orphan applique pieces totes and arranging them here and there. My thinking was if I somehow got the look and vibe to 'work', then I would cut the real ones out in better colors. Ha! After doing one more re-arrange to move the leaves up tighter to the flower bloom, I pinned these in place and I'm calling it good. These orphaned leaves have found their new home!

The restaurant paintings

Since the creative flow was going so well, I also took the opportunity to try and decide what to do about fabric, color and various applique motifs in the long, narrow in-between sections. Way back at the beginning I intended to sew some appliqued scallops into those areas, but I'm liking the look of these circles just fine. Am still playing with the three blocky blue spots in the quilt and also the red/white fabric fill-ins at the sides and bottom of the quilt. Will probably try and keep those areas fairly simple, though I'm loving the look of the blue and white stripe fabric. Might have to add a little strip of that here and there for good energy in the quilt.

BlueQ inspiration

Overall, the #AHIQColorPalette quilt is coming together nicely and I'm starting to enjoy the puzzle piece of getting it 'just right'. As to what I'm wanting to work on later in the year? Something unexpected, impulsive, and maybe even a touch gaudy looking? I feel the need to push the boundaries of my color palette comfort zone a tad bit more. Get really uncomfortable with what I'm seeing right in front of me and make it all come together anyway! That might mean that I will have to make some sweetly boring quilts at the same time just to survive the ups and downs of this particular creative roller coaster!

Looking For Asymmetry in the Final results

 Here's my two attempts at working with the latest AHIQ prompt, symmetry/asymmetry. Or better yet, what I ended up with after winding through the process journey and hoping something would come up looking asymmetrical. While symmetry comes a lot more naturally to me, asymmetry does not fill me with terror or otherwise stop me in my tracks. I went with asymmetry mostly because it is the one that I'm least likely to attempt at first pass.

Ode to Joy

What I did figure out while tentatively {very open-endedly} pursuing this challenge, is that I do NOT like to start out with the idea that my quilt has to be either/or. It's like a huge, red caution light that I just didn't have the strength of will to shove aside at this particular moment in time. I kind of felt like making that line in the sand before the quilt was started would just shut off all the creative flow for that particular project and that was that.

A new, scrappy baby quilt

Hmm... Me-thinks this is a prompt that deserves further exploration in the future. For the most part, I can now see that I generally end up with symmetry, or as something Julie so wonderfully described as gently off-balance symmetry. Rarely unmistakably, true asymmetry. It's something to think about! You can read much more about the adventure of these two quilts over at my blog, Quilty Folk.

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? 

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...

Trying to Catch Up

I forgot to post a pic of the final result from the Hourglass Prompt. Using the hourglass units for the sashing turned out to be a fun play on connections. So interesting to see the unit totally change in looks and effect simply by placing them side by side. 

Hourglass prompt

I got very distracted, obviously, by the applique tulips and almost lost sense of what the prompt was all about in the first place! So happy that I was able to find a good place for these units though and not let them just languish untouched in the orphan totes. There's something niggling away at the back of my brain with the idea {or two} of another hourglass try, so don't be surprised if they come up again in the future. There's something very intriguing about the almost deceptive simplicity of this particular unit that makes me think it's a little under-appreciated!

Positive Thinking prompt

This other challenge has been tough to get focused on. I'm starting to think the reason was because I ended up going in a different direction for the background of the middle three words. Then I couldn't get a handle on how to bring it all together in a good way. The other day I brought the parts and pieces out and just MADE myself finish up the letters. Just said, 'That's it! Not going to work on anything else until something on this project is resolved!' Finished sewing the word 'willingly' together and then decided to use the original cream shirting print for sewing the last three words. It was touch and go, with barely enough left to get them made. Did you notice they are mostly skinny letters? 

For now, the goal is to get the words sewn into a background fabric and have one solid piece to work with. There's simply not enough of any shirting fabrics to use for that purpose, so I brought in a bit of yardage from the stash totes that I thought might work. Ta da! It's stripes! So complicated and yet, not at all. All in perspective, right? I'm cutting it all on the vertical stripe and letting it match up {or not} where the pieces join together. Then, and only then will I figure out the possible addition of applique, borders etc. 

Two Prompts Behind!

So this is where I am on the Hourglass prompt. Hey, only a year late! It's taken me forever to find time for this new project after I ditched the hourglass units on a previous effort. With all the little units joining up right next to each other, naturally it's going to be obvious when they don't meet up perfectly at the seams.

Adhoc. Improv. Hourglass

This is something that I considered and then decided to leave be {not trim to an equal, exact size} so as to emphasize the fact that they are in fact, separate units. This should result in a more 'human touch', utilitarian look which of course is something I adore. Knowing the limits of my sewing accuracy, I normally would never even attempt this hourglass unit method for this sort of design effect! I'd much rather cut out the squares and then add quarter triangles in order to have a much, much better chance of getting things to look sharp. That being said, if I'm going to be coming at it from this particular angle {Adhoc Improv.}, then I'm not going to stress over the sashing unit 'squares' not being square. Does that make sense? We'll see how it ends up. I'm hoping for a nice, cozy looking quilt!

After this quilt top is finished, then I will deliberately turn to the Positive Thinking prompt once again. Lots to love about that project and I feel about ready to try once again. For the past several months {year?}, it's been hard to focus on the positive and this was unfortunately an easy project to blissfully ignore.*sigh  As I am two prompts behind now, I've made the executive decision to delay starting the brand new strings QAL until I'm more caught up. Will be watching and enjoying everyone else's growing string quilts with envy!

Maps Quilt Finished!

Another AHIQ challenge quilt done and dusted! This one was part of the Maps prompt. Not much of a map really, but loosely based off an idea that maps and I don't always get along, especially the GPS kind. They tell me to turn right and I always, always turn right AFTER the turn instead of where I'm supposed to, so then I end up going in circles.

Turn Right...

Then that got me to thinking that I'm so much better with directions that include landmarks etc. Which led to thinking about the kind of directions that a local can give and well... this quilt just came to be.

Started as a U&U Interpretation and morphed into
an excellent Maps challenge quilt

It's very simple but hopefully effective in telling its story. You can read more about this quilt and how it came to be on my latest post. So happy to see this one finished up and ready to use. As always, I am very pleased to see one of the AHIQ prompts leading me down yet another creative ally with good results. Will have to think harder about the hourglass prompt and see what crops up....

I Guess This Will Be a 'Practice' Quilt For the New Prompt!

How funny that I was already in the middle of completing an hourglass quilt when the new prompt came out! It's a very simple throw quilt that was made to be used for the Christmas season, so already well in the works. Ann said that I should post it here, so why not! Hopefully there will be time to get it quilted and ready for use by next December.

A simple hourglass throw quilt

The colors were chosen based on some of these lighter greens that I've been attempting to use up and get out of the way. At first I thought to use a darker cream fabric, but together with some of these muddy looking greens, started looking very mushy together, even if only in a stack together. So glad that I found enough of these lighter white creams to use as they were probably the only color that would have made sense with these odd greens. 

Just a little bit of value change in the greens

As I said in the long, rambling blog post, it's probably good that the red border was added as well. Definitely helps make everything look a little more interesting! For this particular quilt, I just wanted a very, very easy way to use up a lot of the green and not be too cheesy holiday looking. Very happy with the overall simplicity and look to this quilt. Lots of ideas running through my brain for a good response to this latest challenge. I think it will take a while to narrow down and settle on one! Very simple block, but potentially, dozens and dozens of ways to implement this design into a quilt.....

The Flower Challenge Has Been Conquered!

So the last project of 2019 ended up being the #ahiqflowers prompt! I finally brought this one to finished quilt top stage which feels really amazing.

#ahiqflowers

I wrote about this quilt over my blog until your eyes will probably glaze over and/or you'll start snoozing. It was a great challenge by the end, and as always, a wonderful adventure to try and interpret one of the Kiracofe 'Unconventional and Unexpected' quilts all at the same time. These prompts start the process of looking and thinking about specific inspiration. Leading us you might say. But the results are totally unique and up to us. The open-ended perimeters are enormously attractive to me! From these seeds, it's so, so easy to end up on an unexpected journey ourselves. These simple challenges undoubtedly nudge us out of our safe little comfort zone if we want them too. If we let them. And that's a good thing. I could have started any number of quilts just using floral fabric, I love them that much! So glad that I went down this particular path instead. Some quilts just deserve their day in the sun. Thank you Ann & Kaja!

Checking In

Playing With Scale #2 is done and dusted! It's a concept that I have no doubt will continue to show up again and again in future quilting efforts. Am still very intrigued by free-cut strips too. There's just something about the off-perfect lines that appeal to this utility-look loving quilter! You can read more about this quilt at my blog if you like. Overall, I'd say this quilt idea was a success. I'm always happy when a fun stack of fabric winds up being turned into a spunky looking quilt!

Second time around

Also, I recently posted the update on this U&U interpretation project. It's the base inspiration for the #AHIQFlowers prompt. I'm leaving it up on the design wall until all the little pieces are decided on and sewn together. It may take me clear till the end of the year, but this one is going to be moved along one way or another.

U&U Interpretation quilt for #AHIQFlowers challenge

Was working late into the evening the other day, fiddling and fiddling and fiddling. Then finally something sort of gelled for me and the entire quilt started making sense. For the left side of the quilt I had only been focusing on getting the shape and spirit of the quilt to shine through. Now, it's slowly starting to become 'my' quilt and I can see bits and pieces of my own quilty voice coming through.*sigh  FINALLY.  

I'll show pictures when it's finished, but I just wanted to be on record that I am working on this quilt though progress is oh-so-slow. While process pictures are usually interesting, this quilt is not very receptive. I'm too 'in the moment' to want to disrupt any important thought process and derail an entire evenings momentum! One thing I got rid of was the big chunk of yellow numbers fabric in the bottom right corner. Just too distracting. Also, I changed out the peachy fabric in the upper right for something a bit stronger looking. Same color, just a bit bolder. Little changes. It's all good. Gonna turn out just fine in the end I think.

The Beginning of Something

This is the first part of my interpretation of a U&U quilt that caught my fancy. It's also my response to the 'flower' prompt given out earlier in the year. For some reason, this has been an especially difficult challenge to meet.

The first section completed

After thinking about it for awhile, I've come to the conclusion that the reason for that is very simple. I make a lot of flower quilts and so thinking up new flower ideas is something that happens around here on a regular basis! In my head, a challenge should take me out on a limb somewhere uncomfortable and definitely somewhere outside of my normal comfort zone! Regardless, I have kept after it and finally came up with the idea to try an interpretation of a old scrappy 'make-do' sort of quilt and incorporate a 'difficult' flower element into the quilt. 

Add caption

The flower will be the Lemoyne start shape in the far right bottom corner of the quilt. It's a pattern that might be easy for you to piece, but has always caused me no end of troubles. Plus, this time I shall be trying to re-imagine it as a flower! lol  

Yep, it's an idea that's been simmering for a couple months and not once have I soured on it. We shall see where it ends up, but for now, I'm very happy to have it started and now be fully 'committed' to moving on with the adventure. Points for starting out with a floral fabric. That has to count for something! You can read more about the making of this first section over at my blog if you'd like.

Two Good Finishes to Close Out the Summer

Here's the two latest finishes originally resulting from AHIQ prompts. One was deemed,  'Use Your Words' and the other was a later 'Coins' challenge. They were both started in the year 2017 and the quilt tops have been completed for quite some time now. 

Make Beautiful Things

As always, these prompts are open ended which is something that I appreciate very much. Having lots of room for creativity is something my brain seems to thrive on. Somehow I tend to merge most of the challenges with yet another one. The first quilt could also qualify for a response to the 'Two-Block' challenge or even 'Playing with Scale'.

Count Your Blessings

This Coins quilt has the 'Use Your Words' thing going on and also perhaps the 'Two-Block' challenge incorporated as well. Ann and Kaja are clever to take simple ideas and open up a whole new way of looking at them. Invariably, I end up with so many ideas that they predictably spill over into several other quilts! Of course I have written lots and lots more about these late summer finishes of mine if you're interested in reading anything extra....

Always Happy To Finish Another Adhoc. Improv. Quilt!

My Red is a Neutral quilt is finished! I've written all about it over at my blog. It's such a wordy post, I've almost bored with it myself. The post, not the quilt! I'll be having a hard time giving this quilt away though. It turned out so much better than I expected!

Lattice Quilt

Just wanted to pop in over here and give a shout out to Kaja and Ann. They always come up with the most interesting challenges!

Red is a Neutral has been such an interesting challenge! You can read more about my finished quilt top over here at my blog. I think after a couple other projects get some attention, this is one that I will definitely return to.

#AHIQRED and #UANDUQAL quilt top

My First Attempt at Red is a Neutral!

I've finished with all the Lattice blocks now and am attempting to figure out the proper layout. You can read more about this quilt over at my blog. This particular quilt is a combined effort of trying to play with the 'Red is a Neutral' and also the UandUQAL challenge of making an Unexpected and Unconventional inspired quilt. 

Throwing the first blocks on the wall....

I feel that there will probably be another Red is a Neutral quilt some time after this one. Sometimes there just needs to be a starting point to get the mind going in the right direction!

The Last Adhoc. Projects from 2018

It feels good to know that I've wrapped up the last two open-ended Adhoc. Improv. projects. One was a follow-up of our Playing With Scale challenge. You can read lots more about the quilt over at my last post as I rambled forever.

Lots of improv. piecing!

I can see that this concept is one that I'll continue to revisit through the years. Simple, repeating elements mixed with changes in proportion are a fun way to show off fabric or play with color. This quilt was a tough slog at times though, and in the end, I took advantage of my son being gone for the weekend in order to bring the quilt top to completion. I desperately needed that time to ponder and tinker and play with the pieces. His bedroom joins with my quilting area and so I essentially co-opted his bedroom floor for the duration in order to have plenty of  'design floor' time. Once I got the rows figured out--where they joined up with each other {side by side}, how much to chop off or add to the ends, overall color flow and balance--then all I had to do was make sure the components stayed in the proper order. The rest I could accomplish from the tiny floor in my quilting room!

Playing With Scale #2

I also wanted to post a picture here of my results to the Maps Challenge. As most of you know, it has been named, 'Directions From a Local'. When I posted about it the other day {over at my blog}, I completely forgot to make sure it was over here as well! This challenge was really hard for me to get started on. And in fact, I never really did. What happened was that I eventually attempted to recreate a Roderick Kiracofe 'Unconventional & Unexpected' quilt, which, as per usual, took a few detours.  Along the way, it unexpectedly blossomed into my answer to the maps challenge.  First when I added the 'turn right' arrow in the center and then later when I allowed the unmeasured, free cut strips to make a huge, wonky mess of the quilt.

Directions From a Local

I think some people were appalled when I subsequently cut into the quilt and straightened it up by easing out the wobbles. Oh it definitely lays fairly flat and straight now, contrary to what it looks like in the above picture. Believe me, it's just a bit rumpled from being folded and put into a zip-bag for several days! Something about hacking into my quilt and basically 'letting the chips fall where it may', actually felt very cathartic though. That was after I got over the initial trepidation of course.

Regardless, it definitely made it easier to add a 'road' to the quilt , which for some reason felt so silly when I was only 'thinking' about it. Then it all just sort of fell into place without the fussiness or detailed piecework that I had somehow imagined would be needed. The lettering was the most time consuming part of the entire project. It so easily said everything the quilt needed to say without having to wrap wording around the quilt on every side. That's what my brain was trying to insist had to happen in order for the message to read properly. Can you tell that I had really built this challenge up into something to be dreaded? lol 

So glad I went with that seed of the initial idea {the right turn arrow} and gently, slowly, let the quilt tell me what to do next. On another note, all the fabric was sourced directly from my stash with the exception of one piece of black fabric when I ran low and didn't want to substitute another color. There is also one piece of mixed cotton/poly fabric included {the brown/white gingham}--a definitely departure for me. It was not fun at all to mix in with the cottons, but really helped give the quilt more of that utility look that I love and adore. This quilt has a lovely, subtle glow to it, a nice feeling of old fashioned charm and also a whimsical message. What more could I ask for? Now the slate is cleared and I'm ready for the next challenge coming up! #unconventionalandunexpected

Finally starting the Last Challenge!

Well, I'm finally starting to have a plan for the Maps Challenge. It's been a long time coming and I honestly stumbled into it quite by accident! You can read more about it over on my last blog post.

Maps Challenge Start

I am enjoying all the different versions and responses to this challenge that I have seen. So intrigued by the way some of your minds think! Mine is going to be extremely simple and much more basic I'm afraid. Not really 'maps' so much as a general mindset about how I tend to be when finding my way? It's still very much in-the-works and nothing nailed down.

The only thing I'm pretty sure about is next up, there will be a single unit in a 'road' style. Then, I'm playing with the idea of putting some words on the quilt.  Maybe even include a couple more of those 'turn right' appliqued arrows? Told you--I'm keeping it very low key and still in the arena of uncomplicated sewing. Though if I get too many words, that will involve lots of time.*sigh These things just sort of build don't they? lol

It's Not Maps, But It Feels Like Progess

Quilting has been a little sporadic this summer. The latest Map challenge definitely sounds intriguing, but somehow my brain refuses to come up with any real way forward. The lightbulb is not going off. So I've decided to continue work on my open ended improv. projects for the moment and just try to be prepared for the eventuality of a map idea!

Score #5

I've had two open-ended improv. projects this summer that sort of stalled out. One is the Score #5 from Sherri Lynn Woods Improv. Handbook and the other is something that refers back to an AHIQ Playing with Scale challenge, and funnily enough, might also tie into Score #6 in Sherri's book. I just love when projects merge like that, so nice and convenient!

Score #5 has been very challenging on several different fronts. For one, I don't tend to follow directions very well so no real surprise when I immediately bogged down with the 'formula'. No problem, I just used the pictures as a guide. Yeah, well, I got it all wrong right away but decided to just forge ahead regardless.

That brought me up to the permeable borders which are a really important part of this quilt. Right off the bat I realized that my quilt was far too short for adding on the proper proportion of the would-be borders. Ugghh.. So I packed it up for a time and then much later, on a whim late one evening {the main reason there is no progress pics}, decided to tackle the quilt again. Amazing how working across the bottom, in a horizontal path, made it all seem so much more 'doable'. Something to remember in the future.

Then finally, I girded up my loins one day and pushed on with the border area. The left side went together so quickly it felt like a joke. Then the right side? Not so easy. It didn't need to be identical and in fact, like the original quilt portrayed, I didn't even want the fabrics to repeat very much. Using the floral fabric, which felt like a fantastic idea in theory, made the balancing act all the more precarious. Needless to say, that side took a whole lot longer than the other before I felt satisfied that it all sort of 'worked' and played nicely with each other.

Not having a large design wall definitely intensified my struggles. Not being able to follow directions very well for sure complicated things, gave me obstacles to overcome in the piecing and 'flow'. Working in random times and not keeping on top of it interrupted the flow too. I'm actually sort of surprised this is now a completed quilt top. Yay for the determined quilter! And yes, I have straightened and neatened this quilt top since taking pictures. Not squared it, no, that may be impossible--but tidied it for sure. Now it's on to the other one still in the works. Can't be giving up on the improv.!