Bringing Myself Up to Date

This is Concatenation ("a series of interconnected or interdependent things or events"), my quilt top from the AHIQ Color Palette challenge.

It measures 56" x 72" and is promised to our younger son once quilted and finished.

 

Here you can see the backing (upper left) and the binding (lower right).

You can read more about the quilt's story HERE on my blog or by using the labels in this blog's sidebar.

This is Pandemonium from the AHIQ Symmetry or Not challenge.  

I donated the top, back, and binding during the 2022 Hands 2 Help effort.

Alycia of Quilty Girl quilted and bound Pandemonium and then shipped it off to Mercyful Quilts.

Here is another photo of it finished.

You can read more about this quilt HERE on my blog or by using the labels on this blog.

You can also see Alycia's finished reveal post HERE.

(finished photos from Alycia)

And this is Forty-Six from the AHIQ String Tulip QAL challenge.

I also donated this top, back, and binding during the 2022 Hands 2 Help effort.

Alycia of Quilty Girl quilted and bound Forty-Six and then shipped it off to Mercyful Quilts.

(finished photos from Alycia)

This is the back side of Forty-Six.

You can read more about this quilt HERE on my blog or by using the labels on this blog.

You can also see Alycia's finished reveal post HERE.

* * *

So this brings me up to date with three recent AHIQ challenges.

And I'll be back with another post next week to share the finish for Ukiyo, my second quilt from the Symmetry or Not Challenge.

Quiltdivajulie

Concatenation - Version Four

It started here in February - this was my initial post for Concatenation on the AHIQ blog and the "Pick a Color Palette" challenge from Kaja.

And this was the initial fabric pull.  From here things have only "gone south" instead of moving forward.

In June, I shared this update post on the AHIQ blog after the initial design idea was abandoned in favor of a Scrappy Trips.

And this was the enhanced fabric pull to brighten and lighten the palette.

But still nothing happened and the yardage shown above went back into the stash.

Somewhere since then the design idea changed again, from a Scrappy Trips to a Two by Four layout with the blocks oriented on their sides (inspired by one shared on Cathy L's blog).

Over the weekend, I pulled out the already cut strips (half-WOF in length) and sorted them into pairs, just to see where things stood.

My reaction?  

Ugh - too dark.  And too muddy.

Not to mention there are only half as many strip pairs as I'd need to make 70 blocks for a quilt 56" x 70" in size.

I pulled out the backing yardage and hung it alongside the strip pairs.

Just not loving this plan at all. But since I still love the elephants, I am going to give these strips one last chance to become a quilt.

Version 4 will be inspired by Cluck Cluck Sew's free tutorial for her Scrappy Summer double four patch quilt.

Step one was to check the drawer where I keep the random leftover 2.5" strips.  

The weathered gray would make a good alternate color . . .  

And, given the past "stalls" on this project, I decided to forge ahead with this latest plan rather than setting it aside.

It wasn't long until I had paired the two different grays with some of the already cut strips to create 126 four patches.  (my version will be slightly smaller that the one in the tutorial)

The four patches are now pressed and ready to help guide the choice of scrappy alternate squares from the resource boxes.

Onward.

(originally posted on my personal blog / cross-posted here for "the record")

Quiltdivajulie

In the Background . . .

I last posted about my project for the current "color palette" challenge in February (click HERE).

Since then I had chosen a design and cut 2.5" strips from each of the fabrics in the initial pull.  And then things sat . . . and sat . . . and sat.

Younger son claimed the quilt as his (despite its very UN-made status) and I showed him the design.

We both agreed it was B-0-R-I-N-G.

After a bit of brainstorming, he decided he would really like me to make him a Scrappy Trips quilt.

And again the project sat.

Until today.

 

I was tired of the pile of WOF strips on my countertop so I cut them in half and sorted them into the beginnings of thirty blocks using my fold-up laundry dryer (purchased exclusively for projects like this).

He and I had both agreed the palette was pretty dark so off to the stash I went to brighten things up.

96 more half-WOF strips are needed to make the thirty blocks so I pulled 48 more fabrics from the stash.  This is half of them.

This is the second half.  

These will definitely brighten the overall palette and add a lot of interest / curiosity to the mix.

So here is where things stand now.  Backing in the foreground and fabrics pulled to cut the additional WOF strips.

Once that is done at least I'll be able to clip the sets together and put them into a project box for easier moving about until it is time to sit and sew them together.

I am quite sure that this will not be completed within the current six-month challenge period!

Oh, and the project/quilt has been named Concatenation (noun: a series of interconnected or interdependent things or events)

Quiltdivajulie