Our Row by Row pattern

I mentioned a while back that we are participating this year in a program called the row by row experience. it was this blog post here. It at that time I copied the information for how the program works. So if you are interested you can refer back to that post by clicking on that link.

The program starts on June 21. So to prepare for it, I had to decide on a pattern, sew it up, and plan on how to display it. It seemed simple at the start.  

however, first I had to decide on some sort of a design for our row.  

I sketched out a few ideas. The theme was water, so I focused on blues,

I started to test sew a few of the ideas.

and it wasn't too long before I had several possibilities: 

so I decided to sew them together into a simple row quilt, child sized to use as a sample.

i opted not to use any sashing between rows to keep it as simple as possible, and added only a 3" border of the white background.

the row I decided on for the pattern is the one that uses these strip pieced sections:

It uses a simple technique where you cut your background piece and insert a contrasting strip between the two pieces.  Just do that over and over....

i thought the design evoked the idea of rain, and it used many solids, so I am calling the pattern... Solid Rain!

Of course I had to sew parts again to work out the pattern, resulting in another project... for the table runner I used part of two different ideas, but still made it to be the 9" x 36" finished size, so a person can see the size of a table runner using only one row.

I quilted the projects very differently.  the baby quilt has very simple horizontal wavy lines.  the table runner is much more densely quilted.

I hope you have fun with the row by row idea, whether you collect any of the shop patterns or make a row quilt.  I think there is such a lot of potential from using a simple pattern as a jumping off point! 

i would love to see what you can make of this simple pattern!

You can pick up your free copy of the pattern starting on June 21st, and we're not allowed to send them out by mail or email, just hard copies given out at the store, so hopefully we'll see you soon!

Ambitious Quilting

 I started my quilt using Salt Water fabrics by Tula Pink.  I am quilting it in sections so that I can be a bit more ambitious in the free motion quilting areas.  I find that it can get quite unwieldy to twist and turn a piece if its too large.

The central section is pretty colorful, so I used a straight line diamond pattern:

 I drew it out to scale beforehand, so that I would know where to place the lines.
The pale gray sections were the place to do free motion,

 I decided on a pattern of seashells and seaweed, with little pebbles to fill in the side areas.
First I did the central swath, then I filled in the pebbles on the sides

 Before I started, I got inspired by leafing through "In the Studio", by Angela Walters, who has some really good information about how to plan out your quilting designs, especially with a view to "modern" quilts:

 One of her suggestions is to sketch out ideas before hand, so I tried that.  I did find it helpful, especially to figure out some seashell designs.

 I also warmed up by doing a little swatch

I enjoyed the whole process, and now I am ready to add another section when I come back to this project; it will use the turquoise fabrics, plus more gray!
I'm not quite sure how large I'll make this quilt.  part of me wants to make it large enough to use on the bed, but that's pretty big!  we'll see.

I'm linking up again to the WIP website, here , so be sure to click on that link to see what others have been doing this week!  Also, hello to all you who are visiting from there!

New Works (in progress)

Yesterday (Monday) I spent with some friends, sewing!  Of course.
This is definitely the best part of being in Saskatoon-- seeing friends, whether at the store, or elsewhere.  So, I didn't have a particular project to take.  I contemplated the stack of quilts that have the bindings just waiting to be hand-stitched, and then reached for a stack of batiks and black and white prints. Then I threw in a jelly roll by French General that I've had for quite a while. 
When I got there, I had a heap of fabrics, but no clear plan....

 So, I tackled the jelly roll.  A while back the "jellyroll race" was popular.  It is done like this:
1. sew the strips all end to end, cut a little bit off one end, like 15 or 20 inches.   
2. cut this huge 40meter piece into two equal 20 meter pieces and sew them together. 
3. cut the 20 m piece into two, and sew them together, and so on until you have a rectangle that seems like a good shape for a quilt.

 This is what I arrived at.  I thought that the stripes would be going vertically, but was told that I probably had used some of my strips for something else, and so it turned out different.  Okay, I won't quibble, since this could be the real explanation.
I think that this piece needs a little more work before quilting it, but that will be for another day.
On to start "New Project number Two"
I was intending to make some black and white nine patches to work into some sort of table runner.  Somehow, what with chatting and sewing, and resting, and eating, I ended up with rectangular nine patches and some leftover strip set parts.  So, I turned them into 16 square chequerboards and sewed a row of batik around each of them.  There are 14.  This project needs a little more work as well, but that can be a job for another day.

 On to the Third New Project in Three hours!
I started with the purple batik, and some orange ones cut into 2-1/2" strips--( just the same width as the strips in a jelly roll!)  I sewed them into strip sets, and then added a 2-3/4" strip of black and white print fabric to the sides of each strip set. 

 Then I cut the strip sets into 2-1/2" sections and sewed them together in a staggered staircase sort of way. 

 I was sorta suprised at how long it turned out..
Here is another view...

 It is pretty long.

hello down there......

But that's okay!  I have a long table.
Today I decided that another day had arrived and I'd better do something with one of my 3 new Work in Progresses, and so I am quilting this one.  (I just added 1-1/2" strips of the purple batik around the edges. 

Being a bit more adventurous in my Free motion quilting these days, I am doing some sort of vine.

Well, how many new projects have you started this week so far????

Bonnet Girls

Yesterday I did a little bit of sewing,
I wanted to do a few more reference swatches for FMQ (Free Motion Quilting), 

 and so I did these four, but then my embroidery foot/FMQ foot, broke, so I had to stop.  (The metal bar just broke off!)

 However, I am getting quite a library of swatches!

I moved on to another project-- the antique Bonnet Girls.
These are a group of applique blocks that I bought one year at Houston Quilt Market.  There are 15 blocks.  They were sewn into a quilt top with plain white fabric as a checkerboard, but it was really wonky, so I took it apart and washed the blocks.

 I decided finally to just start something using them.  So first I am sewing a 3/4" border of yellow, and then a 3/4" border of light grey around each of them.  (Oh, I trimmed them all to 10 inches, since they were pretty uneven). 
As I was handling them, I appreciated all the lovely fabric combinations that were made,
I also noticed the embroideries in the little bouquets were not all done the same:

 My personal favorite, with tiny little bullion knots,
Plus, this ladies bodice and umbrella is the exact same shade as the grey I am using for the borders!

I'm not sure what I'll do with them next.... thinking of various types of pieced sashing,  maybe I'll need to do some embroidery!! Who knows...
Any ideas would be welcome. 

My Spring Day

The past few days have really been spring here,  with azaleas Everywhere! and now the garden centers are bringing out bedding plants.  We had some grass dug up a couple of days ago to turn into a larger area with ground cover instead and so we went out and got some ivy and other stuff to put in there, and picked up some really pretty snapdragons as well-- I don't think I've ever seen this ombre effect before:

 Of course once we were out and about, we had to go for coffee!

 One of my favorite coffee spots here is called Foxy Loxy, and it's in an old house, and I think that they might make the best coffee I've had in Savannah,  (I know, I know, I love Gallery Espresso too!)  I took richard there today, and it has a courtyard in the back.  It was so peaceful and pleasant back there.

Home again, I have finished the double wedding ring quilt!  Yes, it even has the binding finished....

 and it lays flat! and I didn't have to quilt in the colored parts-- that tells you how wonky it was before i quilted it.

 These are some of the quilting designs that I was quite happy with:

4 leaves

flower garden

butterfly like flowers

wavy line cross-hatching

radiating bubbles

snail

like a field

 And this is the piece of furniture we picked up the other day at the garage sale;

 It has faux finishes, and some cute little lace paneled doors,
 and the front drawers opens up and down into a desk surface

 I love furniture that has curvy parts!

 Well that's my report for today.
Except that I have been bitten by the clay bug.
Also, I plan to make popovers now that Deirdre has sent me a link to a mouthwatering looking recipe.

Also... it is Wednesday, so It is ithe link-up to the needle and thread Network page:

click here