Inspiration Abounds

I have quite a few "favorite" quilt books . . . in no particular order, these photos will show you which ones I pull off the shelf first.

Having started making quilts in the time frame of the Gee's Bend quilt explosion, their work had a huge influence on me.

Both of these books featuring more African American quilts are well worn.

When we visited St. Louis a number of years ago, we visited the Art Museum.  

The Heffley Collection was one of the featured exhibits and, unsurprisingly, this book came home with me.

You can tell how much these have been used given their spiral bindings . . . 

Like so many others, Roderick Kiracofe's book is on my shelf.  I have spent hours studying the array of unique and original quilts he showcased.

I was a latecomer to the work of Roberta Horton - I honestly wish I had discovered her earlier.

I would be terribly remiss if I didn't mention Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran as major inspiration sources.

I absolutely love both of these books and have many (many) others by these two artists.

(Freddy's book is an absolute blast of joy, especially on a dreary day)

Wild by Design has more words than photos but I have referred to it again and again through the years.  I also have another of Janet Catherine Berlo's books, a small paperback titled Quilting Lessons: Notes from the Scrap Bag of a Writer and Quilter which was one of my very earliest inspiration sources (as in there are NO quilt police).

And in 2014 I was privileged to spend most of one day absorbing the Quilts and Color exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts with my friend Lynne.  The quilts in this book never fail to enthrall me.

And if all of these books don't satisfy my inspiration itch, there are plenty more on my studio bookshelf.

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Thanks for sharing this talking point topic, Kaja - it's a great one!

Quiltdivajulie

 

My Biggest "Challenges" for 2023

It took me a while to sort through my "wishful thinking" list of projects to choose the "biggest" ones.

The first (truly a squirrel project) has to be my version of the Lancaster Diamond quilt shown above.

You can read my introductory post on my blog by clicking HERE.

 

After considerable thought, I've decided to go with this scrappy color palette to make my diamonds.

I posted a second time on my blog about my go-forward plan - click HERE to read that one.

Number Two:  A while back I made the decision to go ahead and finish out my series of Dumpster Diving quilts with number twelve - aka Confetti. 

The color palette inspiration comes from our grandson's stash of Lego bricks.

Here is the initial group of bits and pieces pulled from the resource boxes - these will be die cut to 1.5" strips before being chopped into smaller lengths.

I've narrowed my design choice to a block format akin to the very first DD quilt I made named Willy Nilly.

The end goal is to be able to use all twelve DD quilts for my 2024 calendar that is gifted to family and friends at the end of 2023.

There's a page on my blog dedicated to the DD series - if you are interested, it is HERE.

The third challenge is this - "Inspired by Memphis" for the November 2023 Davies Manor Quilts and Fiber Arts Show.

(I have a vested interest in the success of the show since I'm on the Board for the Davies Manor Association.)

I've found my inspiration and chosen my palette (not my usual brights).  

The dark print at the bottom of the stack will be my backing and the print at the top of the stack is what I think I'll use for binding.

The range of Bella solids will be used to create the body of the quilt - time will tell if I can really turn my idea into reality.

(Much as I'd like to, I will wait to post about this one until after the show happens.) 

* * *

Of course there are plenty of other goals for the year  -- quilt the tops waiting in the closet, finish up a baby and big brother set of quilts for early April delivery, chase a few more squirrels, and continue to USE the stash for a long list of "I really want to make" projects.

Time will tell how any or all of these develop.

Quiltdivajulie

Ukiyo - the Quilt

Ukiyo is finished.

(noun "living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life")

55" x 71"

This was the second quilt as part of the 2021 AHIQ Symmetry or Not challenge.

(the first quilt top was Pandemonium - later donated to Mercyful Quilts by way of Alycia during Hands 2 Help 2022)

No outdoor photos - just too darn cold thanks to Winter Storm Elliott.

I do love the binding (cut lengthwise from KF yardage).

Here Ukiyo is laying on the floor in the sunroom with late afternoon sunshine.

Quilted with Glide in Pink Rose using my liberated all over spiral fans.

Quiltdivajulie

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

Luciferous

Luciferous is now a quilt top (aka flimsy).

SO very far from my original idea, but so completely "me."

To assemble the top I stitched sets of rows (3 then 4 then 4 again) instead of working from the top to the bottom.

MUCH easier to work with.

This is the bottom set of four before the final yellow row was added.

I am really, really happy with the way this came together.  

The top measures 57 inches wide and 66.5 inches long.

Before putting Luciferous into the "waiting to be quilted" closet, I made some notes to myself about how I want to piece the back.

A week or so ago I realized that this backing, originally intended for Razzle-Dazzle, was actually better suited to Luciferous.

(Tropical Flair by Hello Angel for Wilmington Prints)

The Rollicking Robots "Glitch" yardage by Patrick Lose will be used for the binding and also for the inserts in the back.

Luciferous will definitely be a colorful scrappy happy quilt.

* * *

You can read the rest of the winding back story by visiting my blog and using the Luciferous label at the end of this post.

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

Response to New Challenge

Last week Ann shared the latest prompt for the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters.  

I came home from my visit with Lynne with a huge stack of scrap slab triangles that I'd made from her leftover blocks and scrap stash - including these forty-seven yellow triangles.

I have a good sized box of yellow bits and pieces to make enough more for a generous lap quilt (same size as Kefi).

So the "yellow" part of the challenge was easy.

But what to use for the side triangles?

Initially I thought about a blend of aquas, light blues, and turquoises along the lines of Poppyseed's Quilt (gifted to one of our nephew's families).

I even thought about using the elephant fabric for backing.

But this mix didn't make my heart sing, so I put the aquas and elephants away and went back to the stash.

During a long telephone call with Lynne we discussed the option of using greens.  The contrast representing sunshine and green grasses is powerful but I wasn't convinced I wanted to make such "dark" side triangles. 

So the greens were returned to the stash.

A while back I mentioned wanting to make a pink and yellow quilt inspired by a photo of Lynne's mom sitting under the Yellow Zebras quilt while reading her new Christmas book about Yellow.  So I pulled out a batch of pinks to see if that might work.

Again, I like the colors together but the intensity still felt too strong for an entire quilt top.

So the pinks were returned to the stash.

Eventually I realized I had been fighting with myself over NOT using my black and white stash.  

For some silly reason I had convinced myself that was the "easy way out."

So I pulled out this box of 10" squares cut a long time ago for a project that went in another direction . . .

. . .  and I found the obvious answer for the side triangles after using the black and white squares for this "mock up."

 

I then went to the stash and chose these black on whites to use for the side triangles.  

So my project in response to Ann's "Here Comes the Sun" prompt will be a quilt I've named Luciferous.

(adjective meaning "bringing or giving/providing light or insight")

Quiltdivajulie

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“People often called us perfectionists, but we were not looking for perfection. We were looking for some kind of magic in the music.”

Paul Simon