Quilters' Playcation Adventure Sewalong Update

It’s hard to believe that we are 28 weeks in to this sewalong. Mostly because that means we are more than halfway through the year already!

As a leader/instigator/quilt teacher I get such joy from seeing my students and followers enjoy the process of improv quilting. I never anticipated how much joy I would get joining in with you. It is a great comfort to me to show up each week and sew with people. On the occasions where I missed and had to reschedule I’ve been quite sad. I feel like I am letting everyone down, for sure, but I also just really miss it.

This year’s Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong is different for me. How many times have you heard me talk about NOT squaring things up until you are making layout decisions? (Hint, almost all the time.) This time, however, I started squaring up and sewing the blocks together right at the beginning. This means I am composing the quilt as I go. It’s a different thought process. It’s a good challenge for me.

So long story short, I love everything about the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong this year.

Yes, You Can Change Your Mind While Making a Quilt

Did you know that you are absolutely allowed, even encouraged, to change your mind while making a quilt? Far too often folks think that because they started down a certain path in the quilt making process they are not allowed to veer from it. This isn’t school and standardized testing. Or, as my husband likes to say when the children complain about him changing his mind: I’m an adult and I can do whatever the eff I want!

Definitely applicable to quilting.

These blocks started as class samples. I use them in my Scraptastic class as one option for when you are playing with scrap strips. I make one in a class, put it with the others and move on with life. I had zero plans for the blocks, they served as a teaching tool.

Last month I was teaching a virtual workshop with the Thompkins County Quilters’ Guild out of New York. I had a pile of these blocks on my cutting table and starting arranging them to show possibilities. Quite quickly I was struck by a certain layout of 8 blocks. I don’t think I even had 8 blocks at the time, but I could see potential.

After the class, I finished up those 8 blocks and quickly sewed them together. Smitten, I decided to make more blocks. A lot more blocks. My initial plan was that top picture there. Every 8 blocks sewn together with them all assembled in an alternating layout. In my mind it was perfect.

Not so much on the design wall. My seemingly brilliant idea looked a hot mess.

When I am lecturing and teaching about using scraps one of my big messages is about finding order. When people complain that scrap quilts look messy it is often because they do, because they are lacking order. You can find that order with colour selection, playing with value, or through shape. My blocks are multicoloured, improvised, and made without regard to the value placement of the fabrics. That meant that shape matters the most.

Now my initial blocks - an improv variation on the Prairie Braid - are all trimmed to the same size. That helps. I thought the block layout made with 8 blocks would be totally fine in repeat. As you can see in that top photo, I was wrong. Even with the repetition of the original block shape/size and the repetition of making the larger square block, it still looks messy.

Here’s the thing, nothing was sewn together or set in stone. Even if it was, I would have taken it apart. If it’s not working, it’s not working. If you subbed salt for sugar in your cake would you still eat it? If you installed a bathtub too small for the space you framed, would you just live with it? No matter what, you aren’t tied to finish something that isn’t working.

So I tried something different. I played around and realized the second layout was much stronger, way less messy. Better yet, it used the exact same amount of blocks that I had planned to make!

That is, until I changed my mind again.

Unquilting

Sigh… Big sigh.

Last week I was all excited because I gave myself a day to quilt. It’s been a stressful few months and I needed a day to myself. I also needed a quilt finish or two in order to clear my brain. So I booked a day on the long arm, got a few quilts all prepped, and went in to My Sewing Room to hang out with Emily, who runs the long arm department there. She helped me load my first quilt and thread the machine - the two tasks I always forget how to do. Otherwise I feel pretty comfortable on the long arm. I started up and went along merrily.

Yes, I checked my tension - once - at the very beginning. Admittedly, it was hard to see as it was yellow thread on a yellow part of the backing, but it looked okay. And so I rambled on. Nothing fancy with my quilting, just loops and stars all over. I was listening to some upbeat dance music and in my groove. Emily was doing her thing and left me as I felt more than confident.

Overconfident.

About halfway through I noticed that the tension was off on the stitching. I saw the blue fabric of the background as it wound around the bars and I could see my tension was off. I made some adjustments on the computer of the long arm and continued. Folks, it did not get better. Finally, I conceded to my mistake and called Emily over. I should have stopped there but I decided to proceed, after she made more adjustments. Bad move. Long story medium, we never fixed the problem. I pulled the finished quilt off the frame and set it aside. Maybe it will get fixed with a wash? I foolishly thought to myself.

Emily tinkered with the machine - the bobbin casing was a bit off - and we loaded the second quilt. This time I pulled out an extra bit of fabric and tested the tension before I touched needle to my quilt. Much better! I proceeded to quilt the second quilt without any problem and in the course of those few hours accepted what I needed to do on the first quilt. While waiting for me to finish Emily graciously started the job of ripping stitches for me.

It’s been a long time since I made a mistake like this. I don’t blame Emily, even though I was renting and she was technically supervising me. I know enough, and made that clear when starting that I should have caught this myself. It would be easy to get really frustrated and beat myself up. Or I could get angry and blame Emily too. Neither action is going to help. The only thing to do is let out that big sigh, find your favourite seam ripper, and sit down to rip. It’s just a mistake on a quilt, it isn’t life threatening or even life changing.

Ripping stitches when the tension is loose on one side is actually quite easy, just very time consuming. This quilt measures over 60” square and I have a tendency to quilt things to death, so there was a lot of ripping to do. Thankfully, my son and I have been rewatching Ted Lasso so I sat with him and ripped, and ripped. He would fiddle with the pile of thread that grew with each episode. Therapeutic for both of us in many ways. It took me the entire third season and almost all of the Netflix series One Day to finish ripping. I only put one hole in the backing so that will be an easy fix.

It was all just a mistake, it happens. I know many of us would get ourselves quite worked up over this. Maybe call ourselves a few names? Cast blame and shame? Perfectionism is a nasty beast. Of course we want to improve, not feel like we are wasting time, and get things finished. That’s normal and understandable. But making ourselves feel bad over quilting? Totally uncalled for and unnecessary. Shit happens. Acknowledge it, clean it up, and move forward.

Time to rebook in to the longarm. This time I will remember to bring an extra piece of fabric for testing tension. I will also not be so cocky and use the resources there (Emily) to make sure I am doing things right.

Sunshine for Days - A Bold Star Quilt

Bold, full of sunshine and memories.

This quilt top began its life as a leftover stack of fabric squares. On our big trip to Egypt and Turkey last year I travelled with a stack of 6.5” squares. I made a block each day to reflect our travels - a trip diary of sorts. That turned into this quilt. The scraps from making all those blocks then turned into this quilt. Of course, I cut far more fabric than I needed and carried it around with for the entire month. When I got home and finished those other quilts I was left with a stack of pre-cut squares.

You know me, nothing it going to waste! I pulled them out and played until I landed on making HSTs with the non-yellows plus yellows. That gave me nearly enough to make 4 stars. I did have to augment with a bit of stash for all colours, but not much. My goal was to use the leftovers and that’s it.

I made the HSTs and sorted out a layout early in the winter. Then the blocks got put aside (all numbered and ready for assembly). A few weeks ago I needed some no-brainer sewing. After consulting my big list of quilts under construction I decided to turn these into a quilt top. I did, then I realized it was too small for me. It came in, with only the leftover squares, at 44” square. A good little baby quilt. The problem, however, is that I have no need of another little baby quilt. So I debated my options.

1. Accept it’s size.

2. Make a border of some sort.

3. Make more blocks.

Truth be told, I am incapable of making small quilts with no reason. It is very, very difficult for me to stay small. When pressed or shockingly motivated I can stop at a small size, but it is not my norm. Option 1 was out.

Borders… oh borders. Any fabric I used on a conventional border was only going to take away from the stars. I did debate a yellow patchwork border, two rounds of squares all around. The yellow and feature fabrics, however, are pretty close in value. I felt that the stars would too get lost this way. Besides, when do you ever see me use a border? Option 2 is out.

That leaves me making more blocks. This is almost always the best option. You can see that it worked well too. With HSTs finishing at 6” this was easy and relatively quick sewing. I did have a lot of the fabrics from last year still so it was easy shopping. My yellow supply, however, was very slim so I did spend some cash to fill in the gaps (and fill up my yellow bin again). Luckily I was able to get some of the same fabrics so it really doesn’t look like I have two separate sections.

She is done for now. I am debating adding that patchwork border too. Maybe just one round of yellow squares all the way around? Yes, I am suggesting that despite what I said just two paragraphs above. We’ll see. For now, I have some sunshiny memories sewn into this quilt and that makes me happy.