A finish for 2013

Happy New Year. 2013 will end in Auckland in 7 hours and I managed to finish one more quilt with about 12 hours to spare. I started this scrappy quilt in August after tidying up my sewing space and realising that I had (have) too much fabric. This quilt was inspired by one I saw at a show and it seemed like the perfect way to use up some fabric. Yes, I used up some fabric, but I will need to do a few more to make a difference in the stash.

I really love the contrast between warm and cool colours. It really makes an impact.

The quilting gave me some grief (nothing new here). I wish the diamonds were a bit smaller - they were just a little too big to quilt with the Swiftquilter so I had to do quite a bit of adjusting of the frame while quilting. Next time I'll think ahead.

I chose a blue and green polka dot print for the binding. I thought it was a good contrast to the mostly warm coloured diamonds that are on the edge of the quilt. I used a slightly different method for this one - I sewed it on the back and then edge stitched it by machine on the front. I've been experimenting with binding lately and this seems like the quickest approach.

I had to wash the quilt before I put the binding on and I think that has caused a bit of a wave on the edges - I am hoping this will sort itself out when I wash it again. Unfortunately, my new kitten decided to leap onto the bed where the quilt was folded up and vomit his entire dinner. Needless to say, a trip to the laundry room was required.

Hot and cold quilting

This quilt top was set aside a few months ago. I finally setup the Swiftquilter and am ready to go. The problem is, I really didn't know what to do. I had a few false starts and had to unpick what I started twice.

My problem is that I need to think about the quilting (or at least the area I can work in) when I start designing a quilt. As usual, I want to quilt a motif bigger than my working area. I am sure that if I had a full-size longarm setup, I would still want to do something an inch bigger than I can.

I finally decided to do some ferny feathers within a smaller diamond. Then I started adding a squiggly line border (times three) around it. This is working okay, but I have to wind up/down the quilt because it's still bigger than my working area.

Somehow my heart just isn't in this. I think I have too many other things going on. I know that I will like the finished piece, but maybe I just need to do something else for a few days. Too bad the frame (with extension) is taking up my living room and half the dining room.

What to do with of all these scraps

My recent flurry of activity is slowing down. I still have some threads to deal with on the green hexi quilt (I'm calling it Hexi-bee now). This is not a very inspiring task, so I thought it was time to find some creative ways to deal to my stash.

One of the problems that I have (I am not alone) is that because I don't use patterns and tend to make things up as I go I never know how much fabric to buy. Add to this my need to have a wide variety of fabric mixed into every quilt. The end result is that I always buy too much fabric. Way too much.

When I first started playing Block Lotto a few years ago, I had to go out and buy fabric to make many of the blocks - "oh no, I don't have any blue fabric, I'll have to buy some." This is no longer a problem.

On the weekend I stopped in to a quilt show called Road to Colour. It was very inspiring - the hall was filled with bright colours, many courtesy of Kaffe Fassett. The quilts gave me a lot of ideas about using up my stash. So many of the quilts used lots of different fabrics all mixed together without looking old fashioned scrappy. Let's call it new fashioned scrappy.

One particular quilt caught my eye. (I don't remember who made it, sorry.) It was made up of string-pieced diamonds using dark and light fabrics. I've started my own version using warm and cool colours.

The size of the block was determined by the size of my phone book which I am using to foundation piece the strips so that they don't get too wavy.

Each string rectangle is trimmed down to 7" x 9-1/2" and then cut along the diagonal. I do this in sets of 4 with two rectangles of each colour. I stack one warm and one cool rectangle face up and cut from corner to corner (for example, upper left to lower right). I then repeat the process cutting the second pair on the other diagonal (for example, upper right to lower left).

Match the left warm triangle with the right cool triangle (and so on) to make 4 sets. Sew them together. I've been pressing the centre seams open to reduce the bulk. These 4 rectangles can be arranged to make a diamond (either ward in the middle or cool in the middle).

Half-rectangle triangles do not behave nicely like half-square triangles. They need to be cut, rotated, and matched in pairs. I tried sewing either side of the diagonal like I normally do with a HST and I made two kites (now I know how to do that if the need arises).

I can't complain though, they are going together quickly. I am debating if I should just use the warm and cool diamonds or if I should make a border with neutral darks and lights (I have lots of blacks, greys, and beiges). I will need to do a few to see how it looks - maybe that will end up being the start of a second quilt.

No specific plan for this one. Maybe it's time to give a few away.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday