Linda - September Morning Make 2022

Linda

79” x 72”

Linda is a force to be reckoned with. A retired educator she may be seen as not much to society now but she still brings joy to people and holds the world together for her family. The matters. She matters. She knows pain and joy, she struggled and fought but is coming out better for it. And now, as a grandmother she gets to see her children blossom more and those babies bring light to all.

This quilt came together in the month of September. Each day started with a scrap of batting and a handful of scrap strips. Trying to avoid a log cabin I sewed the strips to the batting one at a time. When the batting was covered I added a backing piece and quilted lines over it all. Sometimes straight, sometimes curved, sometimes on the diagonal. Then I trimmed it square. Repeat the next day. Essentially, I was making mini quilts, without the binding.

The technique is known as quilt as you go. There are actually a few different ways to approach the technique and, more importantly, how to approach attaching each piece to the others. Before I started I did some research and landed on the way that Marianne Haak teaches. I liked hers because I could quilt to the edge, rather than have to stop, and the joining method would use more strips. For my particular intentions this was perfect. I joined pieces every few days so it would keep me on track for a totally finished quilt at the end of the month.

You can see the back of the quilt here. Initially, I used the large scale print fabric. It is one from my 2017 collection with Connecting Threads called Tag. Unfortunately, I ran out of what I had left partway through the quilt so I had to back half the blocks with something else. With a busy fabric you wouldn't likely see the joining strips. In the end, I rather like the effect of the two fabrics on the back.

One of the great things about this technique is no basting! You quilt each block as you finish piecing and none were big enough to even need a more than a few pins. Then, at the end of it you have a finished quilt and it didn’t take much longer than the regular piecing. Brilliant! So all I had to do was pick the right binding and stitch it on. In the end, I chose this great pale yellow print from Heather Givens from Crimson Tate.

I used all scrap strips to make this quilt. I deliberately chose not to use blacks, dark greys, dark blues, or any muddy colours. As a result, the quilt is bright and sunny. It certainly made a dent in the strip bin, but I could easily make more quilts this same way. Indeed, I have a few more ideas for playing with this quilt as you go technique. It’s a win win situation too because I have a whole pile of scrap batting!

All the photos taken in the space that will become both our family business’ new workshop and my new quilting studio.

February Morning Make 2022

No, you have not gone back in time. It’s February and I made crumb blocks for Morning Make. Again. That’s because the scraps never disappear and there was a whole year of quilting between now and then. Besides, you can never go wrong with crumb blocks.

The technique is the same, the collection of fabric is 95% my own scraps, but there is one difference between this year’s blocks and last year’s: the size of the crumb. When I went to sort the scraps into size - always the first step in these crumb blocks - I realized that my scraps were just that little bit bigger. What counted as a small in this collection was a large in last year’s. I debated cutting things down for a brief moment, so that the blocks were similar. Then I, wisely, decided that that would be ridiculous. Extra work and it would then barely make a dent in the scraps.

Design wise, I was sure I could make a combination of the blocks work. You can see above a hint of what might happen when they come together, as the first few blocks made with smaller crumbs are in the center. With small bits in all the blocks regardless you can make transitions come together.

Of course there is still fabric left. Of course.

One of these days I will get last year’s blocks up on the design wall with this year’s. Then I will use the scraps I have left to fill in any gaps. After that? Well, I make no promises on the scraps’ fate.

Elodie - A Bold Quilt of Half Square Triangles and Circles

Elodie

84” x 84”

Elodie is a lady of optimism. Sure, she’s a realist, knowing that work is always required in life and love, but she chooses to seek the sunshine in every moment. It isn’t easy and, frankly, it doesn’t always work. Elodie wasn’t always this way. Not so long ago she stayed under the covers, under the quilts, as much as possible. The world felt like a lot too much. It all changed the day the sunbeam hit her. It had been gloomy outside and in. Like most gloomy people Elodie lay napping fitfully. Then the sun broke through the clouds and hit her square in the face. Without thinking about it she breathed, nestled, and relaxed like a cat curling up in the sunbeam. Her nap became restful and when she woke the clouds had broken. Elodie could see the sun again. She vowed then and there to seek it out. Tropical vacations or moving to the South of France not being an option, she looked for ways to bring the sunshine to where she was as much of the time. Being optimistic doesn’t automatically make the sadness go away, but stepping into the light is the right step for Elodie.

This particular quilt nearly did not make it. It started from a random block, a sample made for a class. That block ended up in the donate pile that never got donated. A random rediscovery and the right timing turned that one block into a quilt top.

To make the blocks I shopped first in my scraps, using any piece in the colour story that was big enough. After that I went shopping in my stash. That makes this quilt both scraps and scrappy. (Ask me the difference in my trunk show Scraps Vs. Scrappy.)

It took me quite a bit to take the blocks - some plain half square triangles and some of those turned into circles - and find a layout that felt cohesive. I made the blocks in a colour story or orange, yellow, green and blue in 3 different sizes": 6” 12: and 18”. Some have high contrast, some have low contrast. When it came time to get them all on the design wall the challenge was evident. I tried laying it out my value, by colour, by size, and many options in between. In the end I played with colour more than value (against my usual advice) and keeping a strong diagonal component in the design. I’m pretty happy with how it ended up. And the original block found a home in it.

The quilted was completed by Phillipa Gelinas. I chose this great circle panto to compliment the design of the quilt top. Elodie deserved a fast finish. Rather, she deserved to be welcomed and used quickly. Deserved/needed.

My original plan was hot pink binding and that was before I picked out the backing fabric! When it came down to it though it didn’t look right. We know I like a contrasting binding but it just wasn’t the right thing to do here. I found this fun strip in my stash that ended up being just perfect. Like it was meant to be. Perhaps like that sunbeam?

Gremlins

80” x 80”

Named because scraps, like gremlins, multiple at night.

If I’d started this project thinking I was going to make 400 4 1/2” log cabin blocks I never would have started. Thankfully, I started with a bit of play; just seeing if I could use a pile of skinny scraps in an easy and useful way. One block, then another, and another. Indeed, the pile came from the trimmings from yet another scrap quilt. The scraps truly never end!

As I was binding the quilt I kept examining the blocks, looking for memories. You know what I mean - oh, this fabric is from that quilt, and this from that one! The truth is, though, so many of the fabrics I use find their way into multiple quilts. That is that whole scrappy look I seem to be known for. Needless to say, I couldn’t find a single block where I could identify each previous use of all the fabrics. Even the binding was leftover from a previous project. (Only it that case it was the background material, not the binding.)

My plan was to get my friend Phil to baste the quilt for me. I wasn’t keen on wrangling the pins through all those little pieces. I changed my mind on her front steps though. She does lovely panto work and I really just wanted this quilt done. A dense panto called Time Warp done in pink thread provided amazing texture and stability to all these pieces without overwhelming the value work of the block placement.

Months ago I grabbed yardage of this amazing Allison Glass print for the back. I didn’t have quite enough to match the print when piecing the back but it is so busy that only I (and now you) will know. Such a perfect compliment to the scrap goodness of the front.

To end, I want to share a little unknown fact about scrap quilts: they are heavy. Because you are using smaller bits of fabric than most of us sew with and you are using a lot of it to make a functional quilt, the extra weight of the fabric in the seam allowances adds up. That added weight to the quilt is glorious. You don’t need a weighted blanket if you have a great scrap quilt!