What's on the Design Wall

Seattle Scrappy (What’s on the Design Wall)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a follow up to my recent post What’s On the Design Wall.

I’ve decided to name the freeform log cabin scrappy quilt I’ve created from my friend Dana’s scraps (see post What’s on the…Design Carpet) – “Seattle Scrappy”.

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The name was inspired by the scraps coming from the Seattle area and that it is gray and in Winter it is fairly gray in the Seattle area.

Above you can see my current progress on the piece. I am nearly done with the top, I just need to frame the whole thing in rows of dark framed blocks.

This was my original concept – a center dark shape, created by freeform log cabin blocks with dark gray outside borders:

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Then I would add lighter gray bordered freeform log cabin blocks around these blocks to float the center shape. However, as the black and white image I took of the quilt, the concept got a little muddled:

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But you can still sort of see the concept and make out a darker shape floating in the lights blocks (I hope!)

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I am hoping adding in a border all around of dark gray framed blocks will help my center pop a little more. A quilting friend said the piece looks like an aerial view of a city – I hadn’t thought of that!

More to come on “Seattle Scrappy” and I am currently trying to decide when I finish it, whether to:

  • Have it professionally quilted (a.k.a. “quilting by check”)
  • Machine quilt it myself
  • Hand quilt it (how about some kantha stitching like @ marissthequilter/fabrications)
  • Tie the quilt (yes, “old school” quilting tying)

If I cannot figure it out, I might ask you all to vote on it (smile)!

Postscript

Additional follow up from the post What’s On the Design Wall.

Do you remember the free large table I got from a community for sale board? Well I put risers (to make it “counter height”) on it and turned it into a large cutting and project table in my temporary studio (until I move to the new house in progress of being built some time in April):

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I then snugged my sewing machine against the table to create a yummy temporary “Creation-Station” (patent pending? can I market that!??!):

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Now I can comfortably watch the telly (well Netflix, ha!) while I sew.

I also added some quilts about the house. As I mentioned in a previous post, the house became sort of minimalist (and kind of sterile) when we staged it for the real estate sale photos that a professional photography came and took for the future real estate listing.

Since have delayed putting the house on the market until mid/late March, I was getting weary of living in basically a “model home”.

So I pulled out some of the quilts I had stored away and put them up on the wall with Command Strips!

And I placed an old quilt at the end of the bed where Mike my dog hangs out in my temporary studio while I sew:

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Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

26 thoughts on “Seattle Scrappy (What’s on the Design Wall)”

  1. This is such a vibrant quilt. Yes, I know that sounds contradictory for a mostly gray piece. But, it has movement and grace. The central dark area is obvious to me. Well done.
    Also love your cosy sewing spot and your cleverly raised cutting table.
    Happy sewing!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. With quilts like this where I am more interested in showing of my piecing than the quilting I do straight line with my walking foot at a diagonal. Beautiful quilts you have. Love this piece.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Wise decision to put some of your quits on the walls–anybody walking in will get a definite feeling of warmth and welcome. Might help in selling process as well as being more cheerful while you are still there.

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  11. Your sharing of the design wall is so cool. I love having a peek at what’s to come.
    Your idea of the black and white picture of the design is brilliant. It’s a perfect way to check contrast and balance between darks and lights.

    Finally, I love your phrase, “quilting by check”. The Kantha stitching is cool and would look great too. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks so much Sandra I really appreciate you stopping by and all your delightful comments! Yeah I learned the black-and-white photo trick in an art quilting class. I guess we use a lot of “mediums” in Quilting and taking a black and white photo allows you to see where you might need some lights and some darks for a better contrast.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Tying is traditional for log cabin quilts because of all the seams, I believe. I recently found a log cabin quilt I made in 1988 and tied because I was using very lofty batting. It is still in good shape as far as holding together, though the fabrics have faded.

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