Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Tag Archives: Valerie Root


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String Finish

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I’ve been sewing and sewing, but not reducing much stash.  I don’t like to think I have very many UFOs, because I usually finish projects straight through, but I do have a few.  I pulled out these 35 string blocks that are 6-9 months old.  They were made with remnants of the Midwest Modern fabric I used in this quilt.  I think I probably meant to sash them to make them large enough for a donation quilt of some sort.  I tried them with cream, gold, and pink, the consensus on Twitter being the pink and yellow batik.

 

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They were numbered, so I put them up on my design wall, and really liked the set without sashing, so I used the pink for borders.  The blocks are so busy that I didn’t think intricate quilting would show up on them.

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I stitched three wavey lines on alternate rows and columns.  In the empty blocks, I put a free-hand rose with four leaves.

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The borders, though, were ripe for feathers!  They were a bit wide, so I did a scalloped border first.  Then I marked a curvy spine and lower boundary for the feathers and had at it.  I used a butterscotch-colored Living Colors thread from Superior, 40 wt, I think.  I was in a great feather zone and had a lovely time working on them.  Unfortunately, I also sewed feathers every time I closed my eyes that night.  Ah, the price of great art.

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The back is just barely pieced, and used the rest of the batik, plus a pink and yellow piece  for which I was happy to find a home.

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This ended up 52″ x 67″, which makes a nice throw, and I put it in my shop.  I have no idea where Yuri was during these pictures, but I managed without him.

I hope you’re playing with fabric today.


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Sunday Stash: 9/22/13

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Well, it wore Yuri out, but we finished this pretty string quilt today (photos coming!) to put a little dent in the stash, in addition to the half yard for the landscape quilt.

This week:  +0 yards,  -8.5 yards

YTD:  +123 yards,  -193.25 yards

Net stash used in 2013:  -70.25 yards

The weather has been cool an comfortable here for sewing lately.  How are you doing with your destashing?

I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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North Dakota Landscape Finished

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My landscape quilt based on a vacation photo is finished, and, I think, successful.  This particular scene was in North Dakota, but we saw many similar landscapes as we crossed the U.S. To the west, and then came back east through Canada. Here was our route. Making this really didn’t take that long (it’s only about 18″ x 24″), but I kept puttering around on other things because I wasn’t that comfortable working with images and applique.  My friend, Carol, of LandscapeLady fame, guided and encouraged me on Twitter.  Ironically, while I was working on landscape, she was dipping back into patchwork.  Always good to stretch a bit.

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Interestingly, I didn’t use any fusibles on this project.  It has very simple pieces, so I cut freezer paper templates, ironed them to the right side of the fabrics, and cut around the templates.  I used spray adhesive to hold everything in place on a muslin background.  In addition to the muslin, I used two layers of water soluble stabilizer on the back as I machine appliqued everything down and did some decoration with thread.

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This spool of Perfect Quilter variegated thread is what I used to stitch millions of blades of grass in all three layers of the grassy field.  I thought it added texture and helped to unite the three different fabrics a bit.  The top green is less saturated than the earlier photos because I turned it over and used the reverse of the fabric.  That left it a little splotchy, so the stitching helped to even that out.  Then I clipped the top edges of the grass fabrics, frayed them with a brush, and put the top only through the washer and dryer.

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I quilted everything using invisible thread.  It gave it lots of definition.

 

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Design-wise, it was tempting to add some object to the foreground for interest, even though there was nothing in the original scene.  I decided that I really wanted to keep it all about the grass and sky.  I am fortunate to live surrounded by farmland, but it’s cluttered (in a nice way), hemmed in farmland.   The Great Plains are so much about space and distance.  I hope I captured that in this piece.

 

I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Applique Tuesday on A Quilting Reader’s Garden.

I’m also linking up to Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Contest at Celtic Thistle Stitches. Come look at the great entries!


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WIP Wednesday: Scrapitude and Landscape

 BT6RdC7IcAAVc1fLast week I heard about the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt at Quilting for the Rest of us, so I pulled out my scraps.  It’s heavy on 2 1/2″ squares, and I have plenty.

I think I’ll use this in my guest room, so I tried to lean toward a palette of wine, green, and brown.  That yellow came out of there, but I left in a lot of diverse fabrics, so it really will be scrappy.

IMG_00000038I chose a dusty pink for my background, and actually labeled the stacks I cut, since this will be worked on monthly.

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Then I got down to chain piecing and soon ended up with Step 1 finished.  See what everyone’s doing on Sandy’s site or the Flickr group.

 

Once I had those all tidily back in their pink basket, I got back to work on my landscape piece.  Here’s what I have so far.

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I hope you’re playing with fabric.

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced, and with Scrapitude Progress on Quilting for the Rest of Us.

 


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Design Wall Monday: Vacation Image

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On my wall today is the beginning of a small quilt based on a photo of a North Dakota scene from out summer vacation.  Nothing is sewn down yet.  I’m living with it and studying the value.  I wasted time explored using the photo tracing tools on EQ7 for this, but couldn’t quite get to printing it quilt-sized.  This was such a simple scene that I just free-handed the cartoon on freezer paper.  Then I cut the sections apart and ironed them to the front of the fabrics for cutting.  They’re sticking to the piece of muslin with spray adhesive.  This is different work for me, but I’m enjoying it.

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In the meantime, I’m finishing the first sewing step in the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt on Quilting for the Rest of Us.  There’s plenty of time to start if you’d like to join us.

I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.


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Sunday Stash Report: 9/15/13

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Just a little fabric in this week, just barely offset by what I used, but it was in the right direction and the math was easy.  I needed some fabrics for my landscape quilt, and the two on top were very much on sale.  And sprinkled with gold metallic spots.  Obviously, I had to buy them.

AND, I’ve embarked on a great destashing project:  the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt at Quilting for the Rest of Us.  There’s a Flickr group, and it’s being heavily discussed/shown on Twitter, #scrapitude.  It’s just starting, so join us.

 

This week:  +3.5 yards,  -4.5 yards (wall hangings)

YTD:  +123 yards,  -184.75 yards

Net stash used in 2013:  -61.75 yards

 

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Instead of Yuri, whose main accomplishments are catching chipmunks to release in the house, and getting in the way of quilt photographs, I thought I’d show you my son today.  He is accomplished at many things, including playing trumpet in the Marching Thunder band at Marshall University, Huntington, WV, where he is a sophomore.  Yes, We Are Marshall, the movie.  They march about 300 instruments.

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I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

 


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Fall Wall Hangings Finished

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Both of these hangings are finished.  And they will look square when I sew down the hanging sleeves and press them a little.  These string blocks were fun to do.  The blocks were 6 1/2″,  and the quilt finished at 24″ square.  So much fun to quilt small projects!  All the fun and none of the bulk dragging on your shoulders!

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I practiced swirls in the “sky”, and did a leafy vine in the border.

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The feathers in the leaf at harder to see.  I like them, but I should have added an extra layer of batting in that area to make them pop.  I’m still happy with it.

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The Fall Cabins wall hanging turned out very well, too.  It’s 32″ x 40″.  Someday I’d like to make a larger quilt like this.

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Remember the plan on EQ7? Occasionally, I scan in fabrics and do a care full design. Usually, I just do it this way, to get a rough idea of the values and any secondary designs, and to check the math.

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I quilted straight diagonal lines in brown Bottom Line through the dark areas, and used yellow Sulky for feathers through the lighter areas.

Now I’m at work on a couple of things, including the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt that Sandy is sharing with us on Quilting for the Rest of Us.  It just started, many people haven’t cut their scraps yet, so you can certainly join in.  Several of us on Twitter are doing it, #scrapitude.  Great stash buster!

Can’t wait to see what you finished!

I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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WIP Wednesday: Still feeling like fall

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This week I combined two of my favorite things, rich autumn fabrics and string blocks.  This is 18″ square, and will be the center to a small wall hanging.  I think I’ll surround it with Candy blue, and bind it in a dark print.

I hope you’re playing with fabric this week!

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I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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Sunday Stash Report. 9/8/13

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Yes, a bit of new fabric, but it’s necessary!  The solids are Kona Water, Kumquat, Candy, and Bluejay.

And, of course, I finished the Coffee Quilt, so that more than offset the purchases. 

This week:  +5 yards, -7.5 yards
YTD:  +119.5, -180.25
Net stash used in 2013:  -60.75

I think I’ll get to my 100 yards destashed goal by the end of the year, don’t you?  How are you doing?

Thank you to everyone who left such nice comments on my Blogiversary post yesterday!  It was great to hear from you all.

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Coffee Quilt is Finished!

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I used the Labor Day Sew-In on Twitter ( #LDSI ) to make myself focus and get this quilt completed!  On and off all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we sewed and tweeted away.  Everyone else shared multiple finishes ( it seemed to me), but they encouraged me through the various steps and cheered me along.  Monday morning I finished quilting the border and put on the binding.  Yay!

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Others agreed that we don’t enjoy piecing a large quilt back, but I really think the results were worth the work.  Love this!

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I quilted free-form feathers in all the card trick blocks using orange Highlights from Superior, and did a small stipple in dark brown Bottom Line on the espresso backgrounds.

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In the borders,  I outlined all the cats and books using smoke invisible thread.  I swear by Superior’s Monopoly.  I zoomed through the borders at a fast speed and never had the least bit of trouble with thread breakage.  That’s very important because I can’t see well enough to rethread the needle with that darn transparent stuff!  Honestly, I did not sew around every book;  I “laddered” back and forth, alternating books, which I think still give the appearance of them all being quilted.

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That border gave me fits.  I had found three yards of the out-print-fabric on Etsy, and expected to have enough to use on the back, too.  Au contrare.  First I discovered that the rows of cats did not contain enough space for cutting and seams, so I had to sacrifice a row of cats every time I cut.  Then I discovered that the rows were not all the same width.  Sheesh.  Who’s the nimrod who designed this?  So, in two corners the border miters nicely, and in the other two there is no way.  I feel that it looks as if I were careless, but it was the best I could do.  I trimmed the outer edges in such a way that I think is looks matched, if you don’t look too closely.  Oh, well.  It is a great border print.

This turned out dark and rich and cozy.  I think it will be just right for curling up with a good book, your favorite cat, and a glass of wine or cup of coffee.  And one of my Christmas gifts is finished!

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I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday on Crazy Mom Quilts.