Tula - Using a Single Fabric to Make a Quilt

Tula

78” x 78”

Years back I worked with Lucky Spool, the quilt book publisher, on some challenges. Called Mighty Lucky, a group of designers came together for some fun challenges for participants. This particular year my challenge was to play with a single fabric. (The year was 2016!)

I finished this quilt top in 2018 and then it sat. It sat for no great reason, just hung out in the quilt top pile until motivation hit. Motivation came in the form of wanting to complete a long overdue wedding present and this top seemed right for the couple.

In the end, I quilted it with a unique response to each round of the quilt top. Using a deep rose pink from Aurifil to match the tiny pink strip in the Tula Pink fabric. Honestly, you don’t really see the quilting much. It doesn’t add much to the overall design, but it does help define each round a little. And, of course, it makes the quilt cozy!

While making the quilt I returned to the store on 4 separate occasions to buy more fabric. I would have been better off buying a bolt! Somehow, I had the foresight to buy an extra meter for binding. Considering how long ago I made the quilt that is some serious foresight! I’d always had it in my mind to make a bias binding for this. As I was stitching it down, however, I realized that a plain stripe would have complemented the last round of the quilt a bit better. The bias doesn’t look bad, not at all, just that the plain stripe might have been a better choice. Oh well!

If I had bought the bolt I might have had enough fabric to use it on the back too. Alas, I had to make do with another Tula Pink fabric, this time in pink. It’s quite a nice contrast to the stripe, but still coordinates in colour. Geez, have I ever been this matchy matchy?

Turns out you can still access the 2016 Mighty Lucky Challenges as a PDF. Check it out!

Quilts Under Construction September 2018

It was time.

I counted up all my Quilts Under Construction again. I haven’t actually done it since my QuiltCon lecture a year and a half ago. A lot has come and gone, mostly come since then.

So many metaphors come to mind but I find them all negative. And I don’t see this as negative at all. Every single quilt or project on this list represents creative action. It’s all about process. If all I cared about was a finished quilt I would go to the mall and buy one. Nope, I would rather make, getting lost in the process and the mess of creativity. It’s all awesome. All positive.

I divide my list into 3 categories: Being Quilted, Quilt Tops, and Blocks. Those categories work for me. Once I have something quilted I am usually quick to bind, so it would only go on a list to get crossed off within days. (Okay, there is a certain satisfaction in that.)

Being Quilted

1. Low Volume Circles

Quilt Tops

1. Orange and Servil

2. Ripples

3. C’est La Vie (Improv Curve Sampler)

4. Names for Snow

5. Single Fabric - Tula Pink Stripes (Mighty Lucky Quilting Club)

6. Tag Fabric Improv Applique

7. Park Quilt

8. Amanda Jean Made Me Do It

9. Morning Make II

10. Y2K Quilt

11. Arkison in Australia

12. Mindbender

13. Mod Christmas Tree 2

14. Solid Sunday Morning

15. Red Oh Canada

16. Circle Lattice

17. Improv Sampler

18. Giant Slab Hexagons (It is a completed top, I promise.)

19. Checkerboard

20. Heather Ross Circles

Blocks

1. Tie One On version of Lilla Quilt

2. Gremlins (Little Log Cabins)

3. Firefly

4. Mighty Lucky Year of Colour

5. Itty Bitty Curves

6. Solid Triangle Improv

7. Euroa Quilt

8. Splendid Sampler

9. Hand Pieced Diamonds

10. Small Wonders Flying Geese

11. Bronco’s Blocks

12. Places I’ve Taught

13. Desks

14. Evil Genius Triangles

15. Kid’s Cloths/Gee’s Bend

16. Neutral Values

17. Studio Slash/Edges

18. Mid Mod

19. X Plus Blocks

20. Pink Pinwheels

21. Screenprint Log Cabins

22. Pink and Black Broken Logs

23. Respite

24. Meadow Quilt

25. Water

26. Liberty Circles

27. Sherbet Stars

28. Beach Grass II

29. Morning Make III

30. Mila’s Name

31. Bookof Negroes quilt

32. God’s Eyes

33. Pastel and Grey Slab

54!

Whew! Biggest number yet. And I still love absolutely every project on this list. It just depends on the day for what I feel like doing. If I could function without sleep, tea, feeding my family, carrying on our family business, or generally anything else I could get a few of these further along. I’m good, though, making in the moments I can and doing all the other stuff too. You only ever make a quilt one stitch at a time.

Mighty Lucky Quilting Club Year of Colour July Challenge

Welcome to the fourth instalment of the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club! I am rather thrilled to be bringing another challenge to subscribers. 

This month is all about two things - bossy fabrics and improv curves. For the full low-down on bossy fabrics you will have to get the challenge itself. But I will let you know that it is all about managing those dominant fabrics to use them effectively in quilt design. 

The improv curves you can see above. There is the beginner option and the full star treatment. This is a great intro to improv circles and I am really excited to see what people make. This row is the final frame before the center block. I maybe had a sneak peak at the plans for the center and let me assure you, the whole quilt is coming together amazingly!

This whole experience is rather fun. I am making the quilt myself, not just my rows. Some quilters are ready and waiting for this instalment. Some, like me, need to make some more. No pressure. Sew what you can, when you can. I love checking out the #mightyluckyquiltingclub hashtag on Instagram.

If you are joining us here from the group, I want to encourage you to have fun with this block. It might seem intimidating and more than a little awkward. If you've never done curves, improv or otherwise, before have faith that the process will work. I believe in you! Yes, there are scraps. Hang in for a few weeks and I will show you a couple of ideas for your scraps. I have quilt a few myself, from all the rows!

Now, to get back to my own CMYK inspired version!

For all the scoop on Mighty Lucky and what you might be able to discover through the challenges check it all out here. 

CMYK - First Mighty Lucky Row Done

Paper piecing 12 blocks isn't so bad if you do them half a block at a time. 

That's what I kept telling myself, and it worked. Carolyn Friedlander's patterns are easy and graphic. Each one of these blocks is made in sections so I did a section at a time. Low stress. And sure enough, they add up. Sometimes it was Morning Make, sometimes I snuck in a bit of sewing in the sweet spot between when the kids go to bed and I crash. Seam by seam it gets done.

These are the first rows of the 2018 Mighty Lucky Quilting Club. Month one was about making a colour story. Mine was inspired by the CMYK issue of Uppercase Mag. It's been different for me to work in such saturated colours and just them. I quite like it. The key, I think, has been to vary the fabrics in print and texture. That's how you get distinctions, almost like value, when working monochromatically on blocks. Sometimes the distinctions are subtle, sometimes strong. Overall it works well.

And yes, my sandals match. True fact: I nearly entirely match the quilt. I have these sandals in turquoise, yellow, and red (not pink). But now that we are mentioning it...

On to the next round  - little improv crosses.

Check it out for more info on Mighty Lucky and to sign up for the entire Year of Colour.