Scraps and Improv

I am teaching an improv piecing class in Paris (in Ontario, not France!) on Saturday and am getting all my samples out of the closet. I decided that I really wanted to have my Scrap Vortex finished to show the students. It's one of my favourite quilts and it demonstrates how you can use crumbs, scraps and letters to make an "interesting" quilt. 


I started this quilt in June 2015 and this is how it looked when it came out of the UFO closet this week.

I still loved it, and particularly loved that the 'S' in SCRAP turned out to look not as bright as the rest of the word. That's seredipidy!
However, I really wanted to have the word 'vortex' in the quilt, so I pieced the letters, surrounded them with scraps, cut the quilt top in half and inserted the vortex strip.

Here it is...
UGH!
OH NO! 
Definitely not serendipity!

The R's cannot be right above each other! That just didn't look like how I had envisioned it!




Out came the seam ripper, and the quilt top was dissected again! 
I inserted a scrappy strip between the words. 
Better.
But there are a few things that need to be changed so I can like it more. And a great border idea popped into my mind, so this project isn't close to being a finished quilt top yet! But it's ready for a road trip to Paris on Saturday!

Linking up to Cynthia's Oh Scrap! party!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Crumbs

I put the pedal to the metal this week and sewed together my rainbow crumb blocks. I had to make a few more blocks for a layout of 7 blocks across by 10 blocks down. That's a total of 70 blocks measuring 6" finished, so right now the quilt top is 42" x  60". The orange is a bit out of control, but that's okay :)








It was a riot of colour in my sewing room joining these crumb blocks together. Just look at all those tiny bits that are finally being used up in a quilt.
I'm not sure if this quilt is done or if I might add a border, but for now it is making me happy just to look at it as it is :)
To see more rainbow scrap challenge projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

One Last Quilt Canada Post

I have already treated my Dad to a special meal for Father's Day, and now I'm watching PGA and FIFA while editing my Quilt Canada photos. Are you tired of hearing about the conference yet?!? As soon as I'm off the computer, I'll be back to some relaxing hand stitching. But for now... one more post about my conference experience.
I took a 2 day class on Improv Piecing with Cheryl Arkison,

Cheryl shows the quilt in her book that my
friend Barb is sewing in brown scraps!

author of A Month of Sundays. If you read my blog regularly you might remember, I won a draw for an autographed copy of her new book last year (read about it here). At that time I had just finished sewing a quilt from her first book Sunday Morning Quilts. 
I love both of these books, so it was great fun to meet Cheryl in person and learn from her for two days about improve piecing.










This is Cheryl's sampler quilt that inspired us to get sewing our scraps and try out some of the techniques of improve quilting.

Improve class Log Cabin blocks

We started with wonky log cabin blocks and that was fun. It was a good place to start since most quilters have sewn a regular log cabin block or two in their quilting history, so making an improve version was comfortable for everyone.

Improve class criss-cross blocks

Then we moved on to criss-cross blocks. 
It's funny how the electrical cord hung down the middle of the photo like another line across the blocks!

Improve class slab blocks

Then we started sewing my favorite block... "slabs". 
I have sewn these before  (click here and here to see them) and I really love this method for using up scraps. I have called it crumb piecing since I love to use up tiny little crumbs of scraps.
We also made free hand curves, stars, and anything else we were inspired to try.

One possible "down" side to improve work ... your sewing table becomes a real big mess in a hurry! There were times when I wondered what I was doing with all this mess! But then I'd look around and see that all the other quilters had the same kind of mess on their table. There is no way around it with this technique! It was a fun class with many interesting blocks sewn and a ton of creative inspiration! 
Thanks Cheryl! And thanks to your family for sharing you with the quilting world!
I will unpack my suitcases and put my blocks up on the design wall... check back tomorrow to see them.

Last Scrappy Saturday Post for 2013

I have been participating in Angela's scrap challenge since January 2011 and it has been such a great experience!  I am so delighted that she is continuing the challenge into next year!! I have made so many fun blocks, sewn up a ton of scraps and enjoyed the comradery of fellow scrap lovers every Saturday on the scrappy link up party.
For the last few weeks I have been thinking about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects that I have worked on over the past year, and have been trying to decide which ones will continue and which ones might need to be finished. 
Here is the list of my scrap challenge projects:

1) Palm Branches 
This block pattern ("Red Herring")is from Kristy at the Quiet Play blog. By the way, Kristy has a fun free BOM starting in January - Sew Kitschy. 
It has been a while since I sewed some palm branch blocks, but I still really like them. They are great for using up really small scraps since the blocks finish at 6" x 7".  I enjoy paper piecing, and am happy to have a regular chance to make one of these blocks.  I would like to add more blocks to this collection, so this project will continue next year. 



2) Carrie Nation 
This project is just "OK" for me. I wouldn't mind finishing this one up in early 2014 since I don't really enjoy piecing them. I don't seem to have 2.5" squares readily available and have sometimes ended up looking for yardage to cut into and that is not really the purpose of this challenge. Also these blocks lack challenge for me and I'd like to do something else, although they do make a great scrappy quilt. So the plan for this one is to make a few more blocks and make it into a finished quilt asap. 


3) Alamo Stars 
OH yah... I love these tiny little star blocks. They are 2.25" and are like little sparkly diamonds. I like how some blocks have the star fabric centers and some have background centers. That was a good decision!  
I sure have used up a lot of tiny batik scraps... and these blocks are a perfect leader/ender project. It is hard to describe why these blocks make me so happy, when I am sewing them and when I am admiring them!!  There are many more finished blocks which I have to find somewhere in my sewing room, and then will take a more recent photo of the whole collection. The Alamo Stars will definitely continue into next year.




4) Pumpkin Seeds 

I started this project to try to improve my applique stitch, and I think  have accomplished that goal. My curves are smoother and my points are pointier, and I think I'm ready to move on to other applique challenges now. But I do want to round out the balance, so this year I will focus on adding more colours that are needed in this quilt. The challenge with this project right now is the goal that I set of making this a true charm quilt and finding different neutral background squares. I think this would be a fun quilt to hand quilt next year... or the year after that!


5) Omigosh 
This is a multi year, long term scrap project. The blocks are tiny and are perfect for using up my 1" scraps. It will continue into 2014 and likely in the years to follow! I am just really getting started on this one.






6) Spools 
What can I say? I love these little scrappy blocks. They will continue next year for sure! Sometimes they are leader/ender blocks and sometimes I just cut and sew them for relaxing fun! I need to get a more recent photo of this block collection too and start to figure out how many more blocks are needed for a bed sized quilt (this one is for ME!) and in which colours.



7) Crumbs
I don't know why, but I seem to have lost interest in this project over the year. There are enough blocks to make a nice size lap quilt for the comfort quilt collection at my guild so maybe it's time to finish this one up.





As I write this blog post I am thinking about how amazing it is that little bits of fabric and time add up to such beauty! 

Each of these projects uses up specific kinds of scraps and participating in this challenge has helped me be more organized and thoughtful about my scrap problem collection (although you wouldn't believe that if you saw my quilting studio!)
Also I am thinking about how much I love each one of these projects. But I also know that it is important to clear out old energy to make room for the new... and we all know how much I love to start new quilting projects! So for 2014, my plan will be to finish up two of these projects (Carrie Nation and Crumbs) and continue with the other five. To see what other scrap challenge quilters are working on at the end of 2013, hop over to the SoScrappy link up.

Scrappy Saturday - Orange

I missed the scrappy saturday posting last week, but this week, I'm on it!  It's the last week for orange, so I finished a couple more orange crumb blocks for my crummy rainbow quilt, bringing the orange total to 19!! I was surprised to note that I now have more orange blocks for this quilt, than any other colour...wierd, since I rarely buy orange fabric! Where are these scraps coming from?!? 

I also finished up a few more leader/ender Alamo stars with my orange batik scraps. In the last 6 months I have sewn more than 60 of these blocks and I still adore them, so I will keep making more.
Wow...that blue one really stands out like a sore thumb! I either need to make more blocks with that blue, or throw that one out.
Hop over to SoScrappy and check out the other orange scrap projects. Wonder what the new colour will be for April!?!?

March 16th - National Quilting Day!

Friday Night Sew-In was a success! 
I got 4 more crumb blocks sewn in the colour of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
These blocks will join the baggie of blocks that I showed on my design wall in January - click here to see them.

And today is National Quilting Day! How wonderful that I get to spend it at a mystery quilting class! Such a sweet treat for me! My quilt guild is hosting a "past presidents mystery" event for the guild. I spent part of last evening cutting up the fabric for the mystery and picked these springy colours to work with. Happy Quilting!

Design Wall Monday #4

My January UFO is off the design wall, the backing is sewn, and the batting is cut. Next step is pin basting...only 4 more days in the month to finish this thing and I'm going to pull out all the stops to get it done!

So the design wall was free...what to put up there? 
I gathered up all the 6" scrappy crumb blocks that I've been sewing for two years with the Rainbow Scrappers, and put them up on the design wall for a blast of mid-winter energy boost. 
I LOVE it!
I think the pink blocks need to be between the red and the purple ones, and there need to be more pink blocks. I think I need to make more blue ones too. But it's coming along just great! 
Hop over to Patchwork Times to see more design wall postings today.

And come on back tomorrow to see my Dare to Dresden post. Here's a little teaser photo...I'm adding some beads tonight and can't wait to show you my mini Dresden!

Pink Crumbs and leaders/enders

I can't believe this is the last pink Saturday link up over at the Rainbow Challenge! I love pink, and haven't even made a dent in the pink scraps! Oh well, pink month will come around again next year!
Where did this month go?!?
I made a few more 6" crumb blocks for my collection.
Do you need inspiration to make some crumb blocks (and to NOT throw out your little scraps?!?)... hop over to Jane's blog and see the three quilts she made all from crumb blocks - so beautiful! I dare you to go see her quilts and then try to resist sewing up a block or two right away! 

I also worked on my leader/ender project and cut more pink scraps for some tiny Alamo stars. Organization is the key to a leader/ender project. If I have blocks cut, I sew them up, and if I don't have anything cut, I use a scrap to start and stop my lines of stitching, and that just wastes thread and accomplishes nothing. 


Well, I guess it does result in a collection of "hairy guys"!
But what good are these things?!?
Why would a sane person even keep them?!?

When I have the 17 pieces cut for a star block, I put a little Clover clip on them so they all stay together. And then I put them in the leader/ender storage box I received from Julie 3 years ago. It keeps everything for this project in the same place...strips to cut, prepared block pieces, and finished blocks.

These are the two pink star blocks I stitched this week...love 'em!

Hop over to SoScrappy and see the other pink scrap projects being sewn.

Leaders - Enders

One of Bonnie Hunter's greatest influences on my quilting journey is the concept of leaders/enders. It's truly amazing how much you can accomplish toward building a new quilt, and save thread by using this system. 
This week Bonnie posted another leader/ender project idea on her blog to sew spool blocks - click here for the instructions. I can barely find my reference book in amongst all my scraps and am in danger of drowning in scraps... it's time to get them organized to sew!

I have not had a leader/ender in development for a long time (and have wasted a lot of thread) because of starting and ending seams on a scrap, or cutting long thread tails. 
First of all, I didn't have any fabric prepared, and you need to be well organized to machine piece two projects at the same time. 
Secondly, I was a bit overwhelmed by my last two leader/ender projects because they are still piles of blocks, and I was thinking...I can't start another one, with two sitting there as a mess!
Here are those two project boxes...
just waiting. Once the leader/ender part was over, the fun was gone for me and it seemed I couldn't make the necessary decisions to make any further progress.  So I took another hard look at these projects and made some decisions (and wrote down some notes so I will remember!) and put them on my UFO list for 2013. Now I feel ready to take on another leader/ender project.
But what to sew? Then I came across Beth's blogposts on her "Dump and Sew" method, and it reminded me how much fun I had sewing crumb blocks last year (click here to see them).  No precutting required, just a bag of scraps and sewing bits together in a liberated, random way...this is the perfect leader/ender project for me!

FNSI Report

I spent a lot of time cutting fabric last night for FNSI. It's not my favorite job to do, but I needed to get my civil war quilt sorted out. I got all the remaining blocks cut out and will post them as they get sewn together. That was a big job finished!

Then I had a grand time playing with my purple scraps and made some scrappy 6.5" crumb blocks. It was very fun, and rewarding to create something useful out of piles of unorganized scraps. Hop over to SoScrappy to see other purple scrap projects.

Crumb Quilt Update

Jo is having a crumb quilt check in today. I must admit that I have not made any progress since November in sewing together my batik crumb quilt. 

But the good news is that I have figured out what I want to do and finally have a vision for this quilt! I want to add 8 letter blocks, and have a few more crumb block to sew as fillers. 
So now I have a plan and a new deadline/goal of March 2nd. 
Wish me luck!
I have been distracted by working on a thousand few other quilts, and also by this glorious winter weather. We haven't had nearly enough snow here this year to suit me, so I have tried to enjoy each and every snowfall. So beautiful!

Big Girl Panties!

While I'm on a roll of challenging myself, I "put on my big girl panties" and put my 45 crumb blocks (from Jo's Crumb Quilt Along) on the design wall. Take a deep breath...

I was surprised that I actually like the effect of my random colour play!
Here are some of my thoughts:
*the star blocks don't fit in. They draw the attention to themselves and don't look right anywhere. The colours are too contrasty, and not blendy enough. I want to remake them.
*I really like the flying geese blocks and want to make more of those in different colours.
*there seem to be 3 colour groupings: orange/pink, blue/green, and rust/gold. I would like to make a few more blocks blending the 3 colour groupings.
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear your creative ideas on layouts, sashings or not, borders or not, etc.

Crumb Along

I am crumbing along with the gang over at Jo's and here are the four log cabin blocks I made. I started with a triangle shape in the center (instead of a square) just for fun, and think that they turned out quite cute.

Jo suggests that we should lay all the blocks out to see what kind of blocks we might want to make more of, and to check if the colour balance is how we wanted it. Now I'm breaking into a cold sweat. I'm scared to take this pile and spread it out. 

Why?

I'm scared of the dreaded IOP boogie man!

Just like when I made my IOP (Indian Orange Peel) blocks, I  LOVED making each block. On their own, each block is a wonderful combination of scraps and I think each one looks so pretty. But what if I put them together and they don't play nice, and hate their neighbours, and I see that I have spent a huge amount of time making a big ugly mess???

This is how I drive the car too... I just start out in a direction that is probably going to get me there, get lost along the way, meet some nice people while asking for directions, meander around the countryside enjoying the scenery, and eventually arrive at my destination (drives my husband absolutely crazy). But it's fun and it makes me happy...unless of course I get hopelessly lost and the trip turns into a disaster and then it's not so fun!
What kind of trip is this crumb quilt going to turn into?!?
I think I will just keep making blocks, and putting them in the block baggie, and keep enjoying the journey as long as possible!

Crumbing Along

What a fun scrap project this has turned out to be! 
Some of these blocks I showed last week, but since then I have added a new heart block,  a new 9 patch block, two more 4 patch blocks and a cute 4 patch star block.
I was starting to worry about how frenetic the whole project was appearing, and I was also starting to fuss about my lack of a plan (as in I have included all colours and nothing is co-ordinated). Angela reminded me that this project could be all about the process if I wanted it to be...and I do! But sometimes I need to be reminded to have fun and stop worrying about the end result! Thanks Angela!

And in this week's crumb post, Jo has focused on the amazing versatility of the triangle. I have made 4 blocks so far, including a couple of bows, a shoo fly, and a broken dishes block. I have no idea why they are mostly in blues, but I can tell you that it was the most relaxing sewing I have done in a long time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Scrappy Sunday

This has been such a busy week with family and work commitments, that I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I had hoped. I had too many things on my "to do" list and didn't even get to see one of my favorite quilt shows this weekend :(
I have been thinking about the thought provoking post by Julie of Me and My Quilts (click on the link to read the "Thinking Thursday" post) and plan to do some writing to focus my thoughts a little more.

When I did have time to sew, I was tired and found it difficult to focus, so I just cleaned up a bit and then started sewing some blocks for the crumb along. I made two 4 patch blocks (on the right) and two 9 patch blocks (on the left). They turned out OK, but it was even more relaxing to just sew bits together with no plan.

The colour of the month for the Rainbow Challenge is orange, so I got out some orange crumbs and managed to get one orange block sewn before I became distracted with mixing orange with pink!





And by then I was feeling very relaxed and happy! I love these blocks and hope that they will play nicely with all the other blocks that I've already made. Making these blocks sometimes feels a little bit like painting...add a little of this colour and a splotch of that, and see what you get! I also learned from the comments on last week's crumb post that I should leave each block alone and not fuss over them... maybe I should do that in real life too! LOL

Crumb Along

It's week #3 at Jo's Crumb Along and this week we're making stars and hearts. 
Here are my first two stars using the flying geese blocks from last week...

Then I tried a heart within a star, but it turned out a little odd (I think it's because the top inside corner of the left side of the heart is too dark to feature the heart shape... should I unstitch and put a lighter corner on the heart??).

Then I moved on to making more heart blocks. I like the block on the right the best...the heart on the left is a little too wonky for me!


I just love working with these little crumbs but seem to reach a tolerance plateau where I HAVE to quit, pack up the mess, and get my sewing space organized again!

Crumb Along

I can't believe I have started another quilting project!  But in my own defense, I am almost finished my 36 patch blocks, and with this new project I will be using up more stash (really small bits) so it's almost a given that I HAVE to make this project...how's that for rationalization!?!
I have started a Crumb Quilt with Jo's instructions. The first blocks are crumby flying geese blocks.

My first one was too dark, but I liked the look of 6 small flying geese in one block.






The second block, again using 6 flying geese (the top one might be trimmed off).


I think it's too light.

This is sounding like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"!


My third block (using 4 flying geese) was JUST RIGHT!


Crumb Along Project Specs:
Fabrics: all batiks from my scrap boxes/bags/bins
Colours: Any - whatever I feel like working on at the moment.
Block size: not sure of what the trimmed size will be (because I can't find my 6 1/2" ruler)  but it will be approximately that size.
I thought I would make the blocks using Bonnie's leader/ender technique, but it's just too messy on my work surface and I can't stand it! So, I will set aside some time each week to work on the blocks and get another, more orderly leader/ender project to work on.
These are my extra flying geese blocks to use in a future step.
Thanks to Jo for the fun project inspiration, and great instructions! If you want to see other quilter's beginning crumb quilts, click here.