flippytale's STASHbusting (works in progress)

Eames Inspired Bed Quilt

2010-03-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Modern Shapes Bed Quilt:

Potential names:
something with "DNA" in it
something about evolving or a new strand of
the name has to be as personal as the design.

2009 When I got home after that retreat in 2007 and looked at the back I was heart broken to see that I had basted wrinkles into it. Finally last year I had the courage to take out the basting and the two pieces are waiting in my sewing room for a brave and open afternoon when I will baste it the was I always have, on my bed. I have another king size quilt that came out just fine.

11/11/2007 (Wow! I can't believe it has been since February that I worked on this last)

I arrived at our annual quilt retreat with the top and the two side boarders to finish, so I got to work on Friday:

Once those two borders were finished and sewn on I realized that I had a big gap at the bottom and had to extend the bottom border so that it would be even.

I finished the top just before dinner on Saturday and me and two of my friends took it outside to photograph it from the back stair case. It measures about 105 x 110 inches! A monster! Here it is hanging side ways:

Can you see some of the lovely setting we had to work in?

So, after dinner is when the "real" quilters get busy. It is our last night and everyone wanted to sew on their projects. Myself included. I got busy with the back and managed to keep working on it until 1 am. I am such a pansy! Many of the other ladies were still going strong when I walked around to say good night. My roomie worked until 4:30 am!

Well, I woke up Sunday morning around 5:30 and realized I might have a chance to finish that back in time to baste the quilt before we had to leave at noon. So I got busy again. Just about everyone had stayed up late and were fast asleep when I crept out to my work space. I got the back finished just before breakfast! I had enough time to spread it out across 6 tables put together before I ate. I don't want to miss the meals because that is when I get a chance to chat with everyone and we do fun things through out the meal.

Miracle, Miracle!
Several ladies volunteered to help me baste after breakfast and I worked on it steadily through the morning and just around noon I finished basting it. But, I couldn't have gotten it done with out so many wonderful friends to help me.
Here is what the back side looks like:

We basted a few wrinkles at the edges, but the center is together and that is where I will start quilting. So I will just adjust the errant basting later on. I've figured out the quilting for the long vertical sections, but not yet for the two center regions.

2/20/2007-I was busy this weekend putting together the last two strips and boarder, it is folded in quarters in this picture because it is too big to hang fully on my design wall. Right now it is about 100+ x 100+" (That should just about do it for size)

2/16/2007-put on a couple more strips, trying to confirm the final dimensions, how big the border should be..
what I found so far....
King Size
86"x92" to 110"x96"

Cal King Size
101"x86" to 110"x96"

Right now I have sewn the length already, about 105", but width is about 70" right now, so I need about 15-25" more inches for the width.

Had it on the bed to make measurements and Timon had to get up on it just after leaving the litter box. A close encounter, and luckily he didn't mess up the top, just my bedding... yuck! I would rather wash bedding than try to figure out how to clean a quilt top while it is still being sewn.

2/3/2007 - I am currently working, it is on the First layer of my design wall, but the rest of my life keeps interupting, love the colors, I want to work on it again, but have to remove the ones on top first.

2005-2006 - I started it because to our guild's 2005-2006 President's Challenge: "Make the Quilt you have been wanting to make but keep putting off". So I dove in and got started. I had been collecting inpiration photos and fabric colors, I was very clear what my pallet would be.

I can't say Eames in my only inpiration, but a lot of the graphics from the Mid-Century Modern furniture and fabric of the 1950's and Mod 1960's as well as contemporary sources. A common motif is the TV shape from this era that I really like
Here are some of my inspirations:
ANGELA ADAMS

EAMES

Denyse Schmidt

Timon has to "inspect"

CRAZY Martha

2007-10-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

10/23/2007

I have been doing my best to save this quilt top. It is nearly done. I added the criss-crosses and some "sashing". I am losing hope that this top can be saved, but am so close to finishing it.

10/14/07

I have been looking at this pinned on my wall for the last month and it just couldn't find excitement over it anymore, not the way the last quilt did. I realized it was just too regular and predictable. So, I put some of my crazy (and there has been a lot of it in me these days) into it and added something unexpected, and to bring some sanity to me. It, again, may not be my best work, but at least I like it better than I did a few days ago and it has gotten me to sew again.

I think I am a little more nuts when I am not sewing. I always feel a bit more stable when I am sewing, making a progression to some sort of completion. Finding some kind of sanity amongst the chaos, some small bit I can control and conduct.

I think I am calling it "Crazy Martha" because most of it made with Martha Negley Prints, and my part of crazy is making it.

9/16/07
Whew! I did a lot this weekend, including sewing! I really like when I have good energy!

This is the pattern I created:

And the results so far:
(I am feeling so smart, because I am using up the fabric left over from the other quilt! So far the green flowers and the purple fruit are all gone)

9/15/07

As I was finishing my other quilt up I started to get an idea for this. Similar to the other but without the purple "sashing". I am bothered that viewers keep seeing a stained glass since that was not my intention.

It is roughly based on this design:

....and surprise, surprise. While I was cutting out the pieces for this one I got another idea for the next one. So, I will have to start drafting it too.

Modern Quilt with Amy Buttler, Valorie Wells & Friends Fabrics

2007-10-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

10/7/2007

I put a label on and finished the binding. Tied off the last of the quilting and pulled all the basting stitches out. It is going on my bed at retreat this November.

All the rest of my process is here
Finished

100 Yard Stash Bust 2006

2007-09-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

Whoo-Hoo! I just added up how much fabric I used on this quilt and the last on and I surpassed my goal for this year buy more than double!!!!

So, I reset the ticker to "0" and will do it again for 2007.

Now, can I finish any actual quilts????

Lone Star Quilt

2007-06-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

6/26/2007

Here is the center that I completed at retreat, it is about 60" square. I am still thinking of what to do for the border. I decided to put the bright yellow at the tips to make it glow. The background fabric was picked from another project that I had with me. I couldn't have planned that it would be the background until my star points were done. But, don't the yellow points match perfectly with the lettuce leaves? I am thinking of calling it "Loose Leaf Lettuce".

One of our guild members taught us how to make a lone star, and naturally I had to go for the gigantic size, then I can make it into a bed quilt. She is a really good teacher because many of us had some issues with our project, mine was all slanty and off of the 45, and she could help us correct each problem with ease. Overall it was a great weekend.

6/21/2007

Tomorrow I leave for a three day quilt retreat. It is a small group of us, just us board members from our guild. I can't wait! And, I am so not prepared, I haven't packed a thing! I am so glad I picked out the material for our class already. It will be a lone star pattern. Now I just have to finish my day of work and gather up all my quilting accoutrements so I can have FUN the next three days.

Here is a mockup of what it might look like when I get done....
I took pictures of my fabric and imported them into Adobe Illustrator to create this little picture

HTML Table for UFO Tracking

2007-06-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

I like HTML code, it is simple to rewrite, though a bit primitive compared to all the other fancy web editing programs out there. I and saw a table on Sewprimitive Quilting and really think it would be great for tracking my UFOs, I am putting it here and plugging in my own projects to see if it works. If it does then it may eventually reside on my side bar.

STATUS OF MY UFO's

	Project	Block	Top	Sandwich	Quilting	Binding	Status
01)	Blue Geometric	X

Storm at Sea Challenge Quilt

2007-06-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

STORM AT SEA CHALLENGE - For for our guild challenge that requires using the "Storm at Sea" block and the theme "Blooms & Birds". Deadline: March 27th, 2007 (Actural journal about this quilt is on my regular blog)

I got the idea to make the block the same size of the quilt. The flowers were modified from Ruth McDowell's book "Pieced Flowers" to fit my block sizes.

August 2007
My quilt was shown in Nashville as part of our guild group challenge.

3/26/2007
Some Technical Notes:
PS, I didn't actually stitch through the tissue paper, I used it to "trace it to memory" a few times before I stitched the real thing. I also had a practice piece that I do a few warm ups on before I got started each time.

Upper Left is an overall sketch, Upper Right is the nub I would practice sewing on, Below are the tissue drawings of how I wanted to quilt.

3/23/2006
Final Push:
The only parts left on my Quilt are

-Quilt the Corner Blocks
-Quilt the Cosmos Blocks
-Quilt the Daylily Blocks
-Quilt the Center Rose
-Embellish above with some clear and gold beads in the centers
-Sew sleave on
-Print & Sew on Label

some sketches of my quilting ideas:

3/21/2007
Stipple quilted the background areas, only the blocks of flowers left to do. Sewed on the binding and just moments ago put my final stitch in on that.

Binding Making Progress:

Free-motion Quilting in background:

Only part to quilt are the flowers:

3/12-3/15
I ripped out stitches from the center so that I could add the center corner blocks. Once it was reassembled I added the two outer sides, I discovered I had sewn the to outside panels on upside down! Bleah!!!

I sewed the two side panels on correctly it was worth the effort. I began sketches of quilting strategy, make the sandwich and get started with the final leg

2/10-
Almost done, but I don't like how big the blue corners are in the center, love how the outside corners came out. Means some stich ripping (un-sewing) if I change the center. In the mean time I pinned what might work on the right side of the center. Better with less light blue, I think, but even better after a late lunch.

12/13/06-
I drafted the left and right sides to look like Day Lilies, the top and bottom are Cosmos, and the center is a Rose. All of these flowers were modified from Ruth McDowell's book "Pieced Flowers" to fit my design. So, does that still make that my design, I guess that the overall is, but maybe not the details.

Not sure what I will do in the corners yet. Would like to put a hummingbird in there somewhere too. I am using colors from my scrap bag to piece the backgrounds of the flowers!

This is what the overall block looks like....

Some of my patterns and Work in Progress...

Cut pieces layed out, ready to be sewn together (I think is the best part)

Cutting fabric with Freezer Paper pattern

Adobe Illustrator sketch

Printout, trased onto freezer paper, colored, some lines are modified

The Center Rose before I cut it to fit my Design

Started November, 2006

Corduroy Quilt Top + Purple Triangles

2007-05-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Two are combined into one quilt!
It will be mostly Tucker's Quilt since I've positioned it at his favorite spot on the bed. He happy to model for me as well as test drive it right away.

Click on Tucker to read about my thoughts and progress:

Medallion Quilt

2007-04-20T18:26:00.001-07:00

Hidden behind my Blue Geometric Quilt is this top. I made it nearly ten years ago, just playing around, it would make a nice lap quilt if finished, I could give it away and let someone enjoy it.

The bits and yardage to finish the Medallion Quilt

Applique Grandmother's flower garden

2007-04-20T18:25:00.001-07:00

Wanted to make a "quicker" grandmother's flower garden top, but it is another of my perpetual projects. Not to worried about when I will finish it.

String Quilt

2007-04-20T18:24:00.001-07:00

2009-Update

I decided that I wasn't going to finish this project so I gave all the pieces to our Community Service quilts at Guild and two quilts were made up to give to a local Hospice

Here is one of the quilts that someone created with my pieces, I am so proud that they are finally done!

String Quilt, made from hundreds of 1-1/2" strips I had rolled up on cardboard paper towel tubes that I decided to sew all together, I sewed together 10 yards (yes, TEN) of strips...

The bits cut from the yardage and stored in a box....

BOM Winner from 2002

2007-04-20T18:22:00.002-07:00

I am embarrassed that I won these and never put them together, from 2002 and a guild I belonged to in California

Blue Piet

2007-04-20T18:22:00.001-07:00

All the yardage is there waiting to happen...

Blue Geometric Quilt

2007-04-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Pattern I designed nearly ten years ago, have made it twice, this one. The one shown here was started in 2004. Earlier I made one in red and white using templates, it is basted and ready to quilt. Both take A LOT of fabric.

Wanted to work out the yardage and rotary cutting technique with this one and publish the pattern, but I still didn't calculate it right and had to add some more fabric at the end. Just need to finish the top, I don't know if I will ever publish the pattern, it may be too complicated. Would make a nice double bed size quilt.

and all the bits that go with it so I can finish up

Yellow Stack 'n' Whack

2007-04-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

A Border and a back and it could be done!

Arabic Lattic

2007-04-20T18:17:00.001-07:00

Tumbling Blocks

2007-04-20T18:16:00.001-07:00

Why did I choose these colors?

Fabled Flowers

2007-04-20T18:14:00.003-07:00

I do add these to quilts as I see fit...

Tiny Triangle Blocks

2007-04-20T18:14:00.001-07:00

Postage Stamp Squares

2007-04-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wild Roses (Sketch)

2007-02-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Wild Roses Sketch, half the size of image in the next entry below, pinned a bunch of fabric on top of it working out color fixes that I incorporated into the below composition. Haven't decided how I would attach those pieces on top, because I like them.

My idea is to keep the pinned on fabric and just raw-edge quilt it down, just as it is. I like the bits of color, but it would never make sense to take it apart and sew it in. It is more sensable to just sew it on top of what is already there. Now it has had time to marinade I feel like I can finish it!

Big Wild Roses

2007-02-28T05:10:00.000-08:00

Wild Roses Big, made it, first picture piecing I drafted myself, not that thrilled with it when I got it done, so I hung it up hoping I would like it again someday. It is about twice as big as the 05 sktech

I may go a head and put it into a quilt after all (see 05)

My First Quilt

2007-02-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

My First Quilt: I started after a saw an exhibit in San Fransciso in 1988 at the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum about quilts that were made from different types of fabric. They were called improvisational quilts. Wild colors were used, the corners didn't match, some women didn't even use templates! None of the quilts I saw were traditional by any stretch. My Artist eye saw abstract compositions and fantastic art, a voice in my head said "you can do that". Everything about them sang to me. Soon afterwards I got aquainted with the the local fabric stores in San Francisco and started collecting fabric. I had to make a quilt that was improvisational. Forget that I didn't know anything about proper quilting, I knew how to sew and I had a sewing machine. I've never been one for following directions.

Thankfully, Mom bought the exhibit catalog, I've since adopted it into my collection and still never tire of pulling it out and reliving that day those quilts caught a hold of me.

African American Improvisational quilting has influenced my work ever since, but I am afraid I will probably never be free enough to be truely improvisational. The latest sensation to come around is Gee's Bend and I just LOVED that exhibit too.
Gee's Bend

Here is a picture of the top when I revealed it in 1990, not exactly improvisational, but I did design my own pattern and each block is slightly different shades of the same pallet. The light areas of the blocks are just that, different colors that I tried to arrange in an interesting way. I started quilting it, but haven't pulled it out since the mid-nineties. I still have it tucked safely away. I like order too much to not make each block exactly the same and arrange the colors symetrically

Everything was stiched down onto a foundation piece of fabric, there isn't any batting because it is already so heavy. Each block is carefully quilted with matching thread. It is about a queen size top.

New Timon

2007-02-07T04:50:00.000-08:00

New Timon is a quilt of an image of my orange tabby Timon. It is all hand pieced using English Paper Piecing. It will be approximately 48" x 72"

2/24-
New Timon is making good progress

One section ready to be sewn together

Inspector Timon checking on my progress

My work area while taking the fabric and basting it to the paper foundations

This is while I was cutting the fabric to fit the colors in the image, I started it in 2002

This is the second quilt I've made of Timon using this technique...

Here is the first one, and the first one I ever made. I've learned so much more since then:
The new image is less abstract, his eyes are open, and is easier to tell it is a cat. My stitches are better, my colors were more planned out ahead of time. I am more organized as to how I am assembling it.

"Taking the Train with Timon" 41" x 49" (2001)

New UFO's Archeology (Ten to Twenty years ago)

2007-01-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

This morning I unearthed a four more UFOs that I need to decide what to do with. Most were started more than a decade ago. I have a Stashbusting group meeting this Friday with other guild members, I may bring a few of these for advise.

Flying Geese

2007-01-23T20:29:00.003-08:00

Flying Geese - I made this about fifteen years ago from old clothing that I had because at the time I believed that quilts should be made from true scraps and recycle old clothing. The black is very thin and I would worry that it would tear easily. Do I put it together? Do I burden someone else with it?

When I showed it to my stash busting group to determine what to do with it, everyone seemed okay with the debatable fabric I had used in it. Can I still commit to finishing it?

Pink Log Cabin

2007-01-23T20:29:00.001-08:00

Pink Log Cabin - Twin Size. I started this for a childhood friend of mine about ten years ago, we fell out (as usual, a long complicated story to explain why someone I know most of my life is no longer in it) It is about half done, all hand quilted. These are not my colors, but would be nice to give to someone, but who will appreciate the hand quilting?

Fall Leaves and Acorns

2007-01-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

Fall Leaves and Acorn Quilt top - I still kind of like it, especially the individual blocks, and spent a lot of time arranging each of the blocks. I started it about ten years ago, then other projects, life, and a few moves interrupted my momentum. I would like to finish it. But, simply assembled...

4/20
Found the bits that go with this for the final assembly...

The leaf pattern was from a Quilter's Newsletter in the mid-nineties, and I sort of made it up from there. The leaf pattern is pretty common, here is one pattern that I found....
LEAF

The acorn I saw somewhere and drafted it to fit the leaf. All was made a long time ago using templates

UFO's to be finished and some to give

2006-10-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

4/21/2007-am moving some of these to their own blog entries...

Grape Geese: Need to put this one up on the wall and figure out the boarder. I still have the left over fabric reserved for this project. Fun to do, it was shown on a "Simply Quilts" episode and I made the majority of it while my parents were out of town for the weekend when I was living with them in 2001-2002. It would be a nice lap quilt and I still like the colors.
HGTV's "Simply Quilts" episode #758 A Gaggle of Geese with Linda Ballard

Leaf Silk Organza Doilies: "Doilies" for lack of a better description, started these a few years ago, still like them, but just need to sit with them and finish them. Didn't have a place to put them out until the house I am in now and they would be perfect for fall.

Crazy Tipping Nine-Patch: Made the top, need to make backing and buy some batting for it. A fun fast top to put together. I want to give this quilt away...

Plaid Quilt: started to quilt it, but tension was wrong...need to work on it again so I can finish it, but haven't felt like ripping the icky stitches out yet... I want to give this quilt away...

UFO's in Boxes

2006-09-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to the "Driven to Quilt" pod casts and Nadine's 7th episode about UFO's and was abolutely inpirational!

DRIVEN TO QUILT

UFO's in boxes, loved and not forgetten... all my children will grow wings and leave my stash.

Indigo Garden: A completed English Paper Pieced top, Queen Size. I am hand quilting it, it is nearly 50% complete.

Flower Patch: A perpetual project that I add to periodically with scraps from things I've collected or other projects. Not to worried about finishing this one.

U F oez

2006-09-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

All I had to do was go into my sewing room and take pictures of what is up on the wall and found that I have TEN ufo's pinned up... and I haven't even looked in my boxes yet...

3/25/07 - I started with ten, am removing them to their own blog entries...

Snow Flake block, only made one, would make a nice pot holder!

Watercolor Christmas Wreath, would make a nice wall hanging. Comleted one into a wall hanging, had enough pieces for another one, this one, and some more elsewhere, I think...