Off we go again

Kicking off the next quilt.  I pulled these shirts, just because they pleased me.

I have it in mind that I would like to try adding some denim into a quilt and these seem like they might work.  Three shirts, though, isn't enough for a whole quilt, even with a load of denim added in, so I found a few more bits.

I started with some random wedge-y bits.  This was my first go at putting them together.  Don't like it much.  Correction, I do like the individual chunks,(3 of them) but not the way they look here.  I added the scraps of black floral and while I think they will do a job for me, the piece across the bottom is somehow too heavy and lacking in movement.  Luckily it will be easy to separate them again.

I should probably have made more pieces before I started sewing things into bigger bits, but I just wasn't feeling very patient.  I have learned my lesson.  On the bright side, I do like how they work with the denim.  It's early days, of course, so some wins and some hiccups is neither here nor there.  I shall just keep going and see what comes of it.

Done and dusted: Sugar and Spice

All this time quilting is paying off, as I have another finish.  This is a quilt that was pieced in 2019, so I am definitely catching up with myself, albeit slowly.  

I had a song-and-dance trying to get photos.  No prop for the clothesline, as previously mentioned, and no indoor options, so in the end I got creative with a length of downpipe and some clothes pegs.  (The builders are coming in October and once they're done my priority will be an indoor wall set up for quilt photos.  Something not weather-dependent.)  

Once I had things set up I took quite a few photos, trying to get the colours right.  I find these light pale shades don't always photograph so well.  I think some of these are okay though.

I like this picture of the back too, because the quilting shows up nicely.

I too-ed and fro-ed with this while I was piecing it: it pleased me very much that all the shirts came from one rack, in one shop.  When I saw them all neatly lined up, with their sugared almond colours, it felt as if they were calling me to take them home and turn them into something.  On the other hand, once I had started I was nearly overwhelmed by that very same sweetness and, briefly, came almost to dislike it.  Once I had figured out what I needed to add in to balance the sweetness, though, I came to love it.  I love that it has not one, not two but three different bird fabrics in there, that the magpies, which I had held on to for ages, found a home and that they let me to the little sparks of emerald green.  I love that in the end nothing about this felt predictable to me, but everything felt right.  

The details  

Started on 15th May 2019, the piecing was done by the 18th July.  I started quilting round about June this year, and finished on 12th September.

Made from that lovely shirt pull (yellow, deep coral, blue, green, pink and the print with little parrots on), plus a small selection of organic prints from stash, including the Charley Harper magpies. The batting is organic cotton, which is pretty much my favourite right now and the quilting was done with no. 8 perle cottons, again from stash.

This one's done for now

Like buses, my finishes are all  coming at once.  I have a finished quilt waiting to be photographed and this top too has gone as far as it is going to go.  It is a fair size - I think about 65" - and , more to the point, I am down to tiny scraps and in some cases there's not even that much left.  

Indoor pictures skew things, but my enterprising sister used the prop for the clothes line to mend a shed, so this is my only option until I acquire a replacement prop.  In reality it is not so wonky, just marginally longer than it is wide.

These colours are still much prettier than those I am normally drawn too but overall I nonetheless rather like how this had ended up.  The touches of much deeper red, burgundy and blue are enough to lift it for me, so I'm feeling pretty happy with it in the end.

Now off into the drawer it goes and I have to start thinking about the next project, though first I have a quilt to sandwich.

Going round again

As is so often the case these days, I seem to have trouble getting back to blogging.  Best of intentions and all that.  However, I had a lovely break in very beautiful places, swam lots in unfeasibly cold water and saw some much missed friends and family, so I do feel refreshed and ready for action. 

I have pulled the symmetry project out of its box and added a couple more rounds - not far to go with this now, I think.  Practically speaking I am down to scrabbling about in the odd shaped scraps for most of these fabrics, and although stubbornness might sustain me for a couple more sessions, that will be it.  

I am managing to vary things just enough to keep myself interested, although I have also been considering taking another run at this challenge but approaching it differently.  I often make a lot of chunks and then shuffle them about until the arrangement pleases me; I think I could make the chunks symmetrical but not worry so much about the overall arrangement.  However, there are other ideas calling me too, so who knows what next.

Occasionally I add a note here to thank all the no-reply commenters.  On my last post I had a particularly lovely, generous comment from Tawa, and couldn't respond directly, so I am hoping you might read this - thank you so much for taking the time, it made my day.  I am grateful, of course for all the comments I get, and if there is an email I always reply.  If you don't get a response, it means you are 'no-reply'.  If you feel inclined, you can add an email address in your comment, or send it to me separately.