Yesterday I made some major progress on the freeform scrap fabric log cabin quilt I am making in browns and golds.
I got the blocks framed with the taupe fabric – I used 2 inch strips to frame each block. I also cut a couple 5 inch border strips to mock up the border.
Here are a couple photos (I could’t decide which one I liked better):
And here is a close up showing how the blocks will float with a 5 inch border all the way around of the taupe:
As I mentioned in that post, when making freeform (I think this is what I am going to call them from now on) log cabin blocks, you might want to mock up (or actually sew) one completed block to verify that you like where you are going with you design.
I did this with one of the 42 (well actually 43 – I made a spare one) freeform log cabin blocks I made from my pile of brown, gold and orange scraps:
I decided that I needed something to break up the gold, I did not want to place all the gold framed squares side by side, so I decided to try floating the blocks in a taupe Peppered Cotton.
I’d originally trimmed the freeform log cabin block trimmed in gold Peppered Cotton and trimmed the block to 9.5 x 9.5 inches with my 9.5 x 9.5 inch square ruler. Then I tried framing it in the taupe and trimming it to 12.5 x 12.5 inches using my ruler of that size (the next size up ruler I own after 9.5 x 9.5 inch).
(By the way, I highly recommend some type of rotating cutting surface if you are trimming your freeform log cabin blocks to a uniform size with a square ruler – I have the Martelli Round Cutting Mat).
I realized a problem after I made the demo block: I have 42 blocks and my plan was to make a quilt for my home library for snuggling under while reading that is 6 blocks by 7 blocks.
At 12.5 x 12.5 inches each (12 x 12 inches finished) it would become a bed size quilt…oh no – let me try some fake math – the quilt would end up around 72 inches by 84 inches…actually larger if I added a little border around the quilt to make the blocks “float”.
I did revisit just sewing the gold framed blocks together and it does not make a large enough snuggle quilt. You might be thinking: what about just adding more of the gold fabric on the edges of the quilt as a border to “float” the blocks? Well I’ve run out of the gold fabric! I have less than a 1/4 yard left.
I was pondering my quandary when John asked about latticing instead of floating each block in the taupe – to use the taupe as a “lattice” instead. So I tried it out:
I like it! The taupe quiets the gold and it will all go nicely with the colors in my home library.
(The quilt currently on the loveseat and two little matching pillows, from orphan blocks, I plan to sell on my Etsy shop someday as they are not really my style and I want someone else to enjoy them.)
So that is where I am at in my design process.
Here are the 42 completed 9.5 x 9.5 inch blocks awaiting their lattice:
I am getting ready for a “Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat“, which I share more about in tomorrow’s “ScrapHappy May” post, by starting a scrappy log cabin using my ridiculous collection of fabric scraps.
I decided to limit myself to black, white, and gray fabric scraps. First I dug into the bag I have of “fabric strings” which are thinner fabric scraps that I’ve been saving (yes for year, ha!) to make a “String Quilt” someday.
I dug through this scary mess to find the black, white and gray strings and then ironed them (as they were wrinkled/crumped beyond easy use…):
I thought I might have enough to get started but I ended up having to dig into my wine crate box of black, white and gray scraps:
I ended up piecing 35 blocks, which I trimmed to 9.5 inches x 9.5 inches each using my 9.5″ by 9.5″ square ruler:
I started this quilt as an example as the Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat will be at my house starting Monday and I am going to teach my friends how to do improvisational scrappy log cabin blocks (also know as “Log Jamming”) and we are going to use my scraps! (A great way to use up your scraps – dump them onto your quilting friends under the guise of showing them “scrappy quilt making options”…evil laugh!)
More on that tomorrow on the 15th which is ScrapHappy May posting day!
Oh by the way, when I got done piecing 35 – 9.5″ x 9.5″ blocks I did actually (sort of) make a dent in my black, white and gray scrap fabric collection. Here’s what the wine crate looks like now:
(If you can’t tell the difference from the previous photo, just know before it was overflowing and now everything fit nicely in the wine crate with no overflow…)
The Colour Wheel Quilt is finally done. I just finished quilting and putting on the binding today.
It’s come a long way from this:
Here is what the sample from the book Quilt Color Workshop by T. Bruecher, B. Greenberg, L. Goldsworthy, and J. Adams (2014) looks like:
I made some changes to the original pattern and added a header created from the trimmings from the 30 degree wedges of each colorway I cut to create the wheel.
My plan is to use this quilt as a teaching aid when I cover color theory in the workshop I’ll be providing next year (which has now become two workshops at two different venues…more info to come someday…).
If you need a legend for the labeled colorways, here you go:
Primary Colors
Red (R)
Yellow (Y)
Blue (B)
Secondary Colors
Orange (O)
Green (G)
Violet/Purple (V)
Tertiary Colors
Red-Orange (RO)
Yellow-Orange (YO)
Yellow-Green (YG)
Blue-Green (BG)
Blue-Violet (BV)
Red-Violet (RV)
As you can see from the list above, “Secondary Colors” are formed by combining “Primary Colors”; and “Tertiary Colors” are formed by combining a “Primary Color” with a “Secondary Color”.
Here is an update on the Colour Wheel quilt/wall hanging that I am making as a teaching tool on color theory when I teach an art quilting course in 2024 (see post A Year of Finishes: The Pivot) using fabric scraps.
The pattern I used is from the book Quilt Color Workshop by T. Bruecher, B. Greenberg, L. Goldsworthy, and J. Adams (2014) and the quilt is supposed to look the quilt on the book’s cover:
But I decided to modify the quilt a bit as I will show you below.
In my previous post on this quilt Colour Wheel” Quilt in Progress, I had a collection of 24 trimmings from making the “spokes” of the 12 sectioned color wheel and I was deciding what to do with them.
Well I decided to piece 23 of them together (1 trimming was sacrificed while I was experimenting with options) to make a banner for the top of the quilt.
Banner? What do you mean by “banner” Tierney?!?!?
Well I decided if the quilt was going to be a teaching tool I was going to add some additional details to the quilt as you will see below.
Before I get to that, let me show you the backing fabric I found in my stash for the quilt – a colorful butterfly fabric that had most of the colors from my the color wheel.
Here is the banner pieced from the trimming scraps, the backing, and the pieced main part of the quilt up on my design wall.
Looking at it on the design wall, I decided it was all feeling a little boring and it needed something. Then I remembered it is was to be a teaching tool so why not fully commit to it being a teaching tool and add letters and words to it?
So I did, and here is what the quilt currently looks like on the design wall.
I added “The Colour Wheel” to the banner made by the trimming scraps; and labeled each of the colorways.
The letters are just tentatively laid out, when I remove the quilt from the design wall I will measure out the proper spacing of the letters and words.
Thought I would share a quick update on the Colour Wheel quilt/wall hanging I am working on using a pattern from the book Quilt Color Workshop by T. Bruecher, B. Greenberg, L. Goldsworthy, and J. Adams (2014).
I labeled the image with the colorway name, I don’t have my actual design wall labeled.
Over the past couple of days I’ve ironed and trimmed the scraps to the size required by the pattern:
Then I made the strata for each colorway, cut into a wedge with a 30 degree ruler and put them backup on the design wall in order:
It is really cool in person, I am surprised how nice the color wheel layout looks!
Now to sew it all together, add a white center, and appliqué it to a background square.
I have two sets of trimmings (from each side of each strata to create the wedges) of each colorway and I am working out an idea of what to do with them.
Most likely I will use them for some type of inner border for the quilt. I laid them out on the design wall to hang out until I decide what to do with them.
I did not realize the scope of the project when I decided to do it…
This is a follow up to the post Color Sorting, in which I share my plans to make a Color Wheel out of fabric scraps like in the book Quilt Color Workshop by T. Bruecher, B. Greenberg, L. Goldsworthy, and J. Adams (2014), that I borrowed from the library.
I didn’t realize how ambitious this project would be when I decided to create the Color Wheel to use as a teaching resource when I teach an art quilting workshop in September 2024.
I’ve finally completed sorting 8 different scraps for each of 12 colorways to create the quilt, and it is all up on my design wall:
It took a long time to get to this point and it involved a lot of fabric scrap archeological digging through my fabric scrap collection!
I started with reds, purples and oranges using this box of scraps:
By the time I got to greens and blues, which I saved until the end, I was coughing from fabric scrap dust!
I feel like I really know the color wheel now after a couple days of working on this project. I feel like I’ve lived and breathed (literally) the color wheel in fabric!
If you are curious how the colors breakdown, or want a refresher, here you go:
PRIMARY COLORS
Red (R)
Yellow (Y)
Blue (B)
SECONDARY COLORS
Orange (O)
Green (G)
Violet/Purple (V)
TERTIARY COLORS
Red-Orange (RO)
Yellow-Orange (YO)
Yellow-Green (YG)
Blue-Green (BG)
Blue-Violet (BV)
Red-Violet (RV)
I’ve labeled them on my Design Wall image below:
Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange and Blue-Violet took me a long time to figure out. I thought I knew color but I did not know/understand Tertiary Colors as much as I thought I did.
It was a good, even if painful at times, exercise to complete.
Now I need to iron all those scraps, cut them to the size in the pattern, sew each set of the 12 sets of 8 strips together and use a 30 degree ruler to cut them into wedges.
The order you see the individual strips arranged in might change as I refine the order of the fabric strips for each of the 12 colorways.
I am hoping to eventually get the fabric scrap lint out of my lungs…
I am a nervous front seat passenger in a car. My best bet is to do something to distract me while I am a front seat passenger (especially when my partner John is driving, ha!)
So I started carrying around either a little knitting to work on in the car or a crochet project (usually granny squares) in this bag:
Last year, after I finished making the granny squares for the granny square blanket I share my finish of this in this – First Finish of 2023 – Granny Square Crochet Blanket Done, I began a new set of granny squares for a future blanket to have something to work on in the car. Here is what I have completed so far, laid out on the “design carpet”:
I am using black and gray acrylic yarn I got from the thrift store, including a variegated yarn of grays and black. So far I have 34 done and I think I will eventually make 100 granny squares to someday join into a blanket.
I am working very casually on this project (only when a passenger in the car with John and only if I am not working on knitting a hat) so who knows when it will be done!
I’ve made quite a bit of progress on the table runner I was making from my collection of batik fabric scraps using the pattern Bamboo Shade by Aardvark Quilts:
Here it is up on the design wall as I tested the layout and built it to the desired length:
And here are a couple photos of the pieced table runner which is nearly 72 inches long and used quite a bit of my batik fabric scraps (yay!):
It is nearly ready for me to machine quilt. I’ve already made the “quilt sandwich” of batting and a dark cream color batik backing. I just need to pin it down for quilting.
Oh and here are some photos of Mike the Miniature Schnauzer hanging out under my studio table (providing crafter emotional support, ha) while I put the table runner quilt sandwich together:
This post is not about starting a specific art quilt* (though I will share an art quilt I am in the progress of making), it about a little of the process I use to design a new art quilt.
*When I use the term “art quilt” I mean a quilt using an original design that you design/create; not based on an existing pattern (though a pattern could inspire it); and either improvisational or based on a specific idea/concept/photo that inspired the quilt.
What do you find successful when you are creating a design?
What is one thing you do that helps you focus and get rid of all the noise and clutter that come with color, design, prints, etc.?
There are so many complicated variables (in making an art quilt), how do you start?
I let her know I would answer her questions in a blog post in case anyone else finds my musing interesting and possible useful. (And at the end of this blog post I am going to invite you all to weigh in with your answers, so start thinking about them now as you read mine!)
What do you find successful when you are creating a design?
THE MEMORY QUILT
What I find successful in creating a design is to sit down and write out my general concept and what I want to accomplish with this quilt. For example on the memory quilt I made my friend I wanted to 1) make a quilt from as many of her mother’s favorite clothes that I could; 2) make something that feels like it is a hug from her late mother; 3) try and use some of the more challenging fabrics in the design.
In writing out my general concept, I consulted some traditional quilting books for ideas. I did not want to make it “improvisational” with a lot of little pieces placed randomly (or in a format such as a free form log cabin). I wanted it to have some defined structure.
During my research (looking through my collection of quilting books) I found a pattern that had hearts appliquéd over plaid (via four patches) squares. I thought – “yes that is it!” – the hearts could represent love from her late mother; and the plaid design (four patches) was doable with the challenging fabrics I needed to work with (like velour, a polyester scarf, etc.).
MY CURRENT ART QUILT IN PROGRESS
Recently I’ve started a new art quilt for a special show I am hoping to get into. It would be my first international show. I’ve been invited to submit a quilt for it but it has to be acceptable for the exhibit in order to make it into it. That’s all the details I’ll provide on the reason for the quilt for now, but more to come in the future.
My art journal where I sketch out ideas, I made a cover for it to make it special
Ideas about the quilt are not just focused on how the finished quilt might look. They are also about what I’d like a viewer of the quilt to see, experience, think about, etc. What feelings and thoughts so I want to evoke when someone looks at the quilt? What do I want the quilt to say (or try to say). What is the theme of the art quilt, what is it about. I might also start to write a draft Artist Statement for the quilt to really get me thinking what I want the quilt to “say”. See my little “side bar” below for more discussion on this concept.
*** SIDE BAR ***
For example, all of quilts I’ve made for the Women of Color Quilting Network (WCQN) shows that I’ve been in had specific themes so I had a starting point. I knew what the quilt needed to in general “be about”and from there I had to narrow it down to what I wanted to share about that topic. Example below with the quilt I did for the WCQN show “Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience“ which was inspired by the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I was assigned (actually I got to select which Article from the Declaration I wanted to use) Article I: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
So that was my starting point. I knew what I needed to portray in the quilt, I just had to figure out how to get there.
Here is an early sketch from my journal as I was working on the quilt:
And here is the completed quilt:
I am not sure how to put in to words how I got from the sketch to the completed quilt but it was through trial and error, and lots of experimentation. But I knew I wanted it to be a classroom with a person who looked like my father in the 1970s teaching because he was the one who taught my two siblings and myself the values in Article I. Also I come from a long line of teachers and I wanted to honor education/teaching.
If you know what you want to accomplish with the art quilt, then it helps you have a clearer vision.
Okay that the end of the side bar, so back to the current art quilt in progress….
This time the quilt was inspired by a collection of machine embroidered blocks a friend gave me years ago along with coordinating 10 inch x 10 inch sections of coordinating fabric; as well as a group of fabric printed “trees” I designed and printed years ago in a fabric ink printing class.
What I want to accomplish with this quilt I am still working out. I am thinking through whether I want it to be a deeply personal piece about grief based on the somber colors of the quilt and the tree images, or it if I want it to be more uplifting (or some blend of both).
After I came up with my initial concept/idea/layout, I laid out all the fabrics I’d selected for the piece on my cutting table in my studio:
All the fabrics I am considering laid out on the table
Then I put up a sample of each fabric and the special blocks (the embroidered blocks and the printed trees) up on my studio’s design wall:
One of each laid out on the design wall
Having the fabrics up on the wall helped me think about addition and subtraction (what I need to add to the design as far as fabrics, and what I need to take away) and I decided not to use the gold tinged fabrics in my design. I decided to just stick with muted grays, browns and taupes.
Here is a close up of some of the embroidered blocks I am using in the piece, one of the printed trees, and an example of the cool fabric my friend gave me:
If these fabrics looks familiar (and you’ve been following my blog a long time) I first shared them back in 2018 in a post called What’s Simmering on the Design Wall. But I abandoned the project as something else caught my attention (I guess I let it “simmer” too long and the inspiration evaporated away!).
Here I am with the quilt design right now – I am thinking of a medallion quilt layout…
Okay time to move on to the next question…
What is one thing you do that helps you focus and get rid of all the noise and clutter that come with color, design, prints, etc.?
Writing down my ideas on in my art journal, that is the number one thing that helps me focus. If my ideas change as I play with the fabrics on the design wall or the table I have them laid out upon, then I write down my new ideas.
As far as eliminating “the noise and clutter”, for me that is reduced by having a clear concept of what I want to accomplish (see “SIDE BAR” above).
I usually select a color palette early on in designing a piece. I’ve noticed that I am attracted towards “Southwest” and “Desert” type colors – rusts, beiges, greens, sky blues, etc. and I have repeated that palette in several art quilts. I read somewhere that if artists select a palette that they usually work from it can become a signature of their work.
Here is an example of an early art quilt I did called Central Oregon is Central to Me which uses that palette:
And then you can see I repeated this palette years later in a quilt I made for the WCQN show Yours for Race and Country: Reflections on the Life of Colonel Charles Young”. The name of this piece is Giant Among the Sequoias.
Color is very powerful and I’ve read a couple books about select coloring in the design of quilts. Two that I highly recommend were written by one of my teachers when I lived in Central Oregon – Jean Wells Keenan: Intuitive Color and Design and Journey to Inspired Art Quilting.
It was actually in her Journey to Inspired Art Quilting Workshop series that I took at the Stitchin’ Post in Sister, Oregon that I began the quilt Color Story V: Abandoned Water Structure, which was the first of my art quilts purchased by the City of Seattle for their Portable Works Collection (the City of Seattle now owns 4 of my art quilts made from recycled silks which they rotate through their municipal offices).
I might be rambling at this point, but I want to take a moment to share two additional major things that have helped me “get rid of all the noise”: 1) reading books about art quilting; and 2) taking classes with experienced art quilters (ongoing workshops are especially helpful – a series of classes with the same instructor helps you build upon concepts learned). You can also find a mentor and that can come from joining either a local or national art quilting group.
You cannot become an art quilter on your own (well maybe you can but I couldn’t) – you need mentors and teachers and it is very helpful to learn some formal art quilting concepts and techniques so you have them in your “tool bag”.
I know I need to take some more in person classes in the future. For now I just read art quilting journals, watch YouTube videos, and read books. So many awesome books have been written by some very talented art quilters!
Now on to the last question.
There are so many complicated variables (in making an art quilt), how do you start?
See above (smile).
So those were my answers to the three questions:
What do you find successful when you are creating a design?
What is one thing you do that helps you focus and get rid of all the noise and clutter that come with color, design, prints, etc.?
There are so many complicated variables (in making an art quilt), how do you start?
I INVITE YOU TO SHARE YOUR ANSWERS AND FEEL FREE TO RAMBLE AS I DID 😉
I keep getting away from blogging as I seem to be having a very busy summer. We just returned from Chicago where we met up with my brother and his family for the weekend. Tomorrow my sister arrives and we go on a road trip to celebrate her birthday for a couple days and I show her a little of Colorado. Then the following week I head to a quilt retreat on the Washington coast.
I did in between traveling, get the quilt top done on the quilt I discussed in the post The Challenge… , of my friend’s late mother’s favorite clothes that she asked if I could turn into a quilt. As I shared in that post, here is what I started with:
The challenge laid out
The sweatshirt, T-shirt, jean jacket, jeans and shirts did not scare me. The sweaters, scarf and the velour robe did!
I bought woven interfacing (like 12 yards of it) and fused it to all the deconstructed clothing (my first step was to deconstruct the clothing).
Deconstructing the clothing
I was able to pull out the logos on the t-shirt and sweatshirts; and embroidery on the jean jacket. After fusing all the non denim fabrics to the woven interfacing, I was able to cut them into 5.5 inch x 5.5 inch blocks and create 10.5 inch by 10.5 inch 4-patch blocks.
What to do with these sweaters?
I did consult with my friend Wendy who suggested Solvy, a water soluble stabilizer. Wendy has a lot of experience with Solvy. Wendy did a little workshop for me at her house years ago and I made a little thread bowl with thread scraps like in her book Fast, Fun & Easy Incredible Thread-A-Bowls: 2 Techniques-5 Projects-Unlimited Possibilities. I still had a sample of it that she gave me.
image credit – amazon.com
Solvy is a little on the messy side and I decided to just try using the woven interfacing on a section of one of the sweaters as a test. It worked, not perfectly, but good enough. I was able to cut some hearts out of one of the sweaters, and then fuse the heart to a 10.5 inch by 10.5 inch block and satin stitch it down:
Ta da – was able to use one of the sweaters
I did not use the other two sweaters, I am returning them to my friend.
So here is the completed quilt top which I will machine quilt myself to batting and backing fabric; and then figure out what to use for binding.
up on the design wall
It’s not my greatest work as the fabrics were very challenging to work with and I cannot believe I added a thin polyester scarf to a quilt, but I did it! Don’t even get me started on the velour robe – the deconstructed fabric shed everywhere and was a disaster when I tried to press the blocks with it in it. But I made it work also…
It does look better in person, you’ll just have to trust me (smile).
When I get it quilted and the binding sewn down, I will give you all the final photo as well as what ended up being the measurements on the quilt.
My friend lost her Mom, who she was very close to, and she is having a difficult time with grief.
She’s kept some of her Mom’s favorite clothes and she asked if I would make a quilt out of them.
I agreed to making the quilt, without knowing what the clothes looked like as she planned to snuggle under the quilt and feel comforted by her Mom’s beloved clothing.
When she dropped off the clothing, I realized I had a challenge ahead:
I’ve made art quilts from recycled clothing; and when my Father passed, I made my brother and sister each a quilt from the T-shirts he used to wear, so I was comfortable with the idea of deconstructing clothing and turning them into fabric for a quilt.
However, I’ve never worked with knitted fabrics such as these in a quilt:
I think I can work the first two sweaters on the left into the design, but I might have to return the black and white sweater to my friend to just keep. I bought some special interfacing (and softer one, not the Pellon SF 101 I usually use that I think would be too stiff). I am sitting outside (lovely day) writing this blog post and sorry I do not feel like running upstairs and seeing exactly what interfacing it is – ha!
I also have this challenge – a scarf, but I think I can just use interfacing for it also and work it into the design:
I have found a pattern that I want to use (I think) that I will share in a future post. Right now I have deconstructed the clothing and sorted them.
I am looking forward to working her Mom’s favorite T-shirt and sweatshirts into the design, as well as her beloved velour robe:
And the embroidery from her Mom’s favorite jean jacket should be fun to incorporate also:
I’ve deconstructed the jean jacket, saving the embroidered flower separately and saving any salvageable denim as fabric for the quilt.
I’ll update you as I make progress on this challenge!
I welcome ANY THOUGHTS on how to best interface the sweaters to incorporate them into a quilt.
Whew, I fell seriously behind in blogging again. Let’s just say I’ve been distracted by curious things going on in the country I live in (and somedays I am thinking of moving to a different country, I might be over the United States…).
I know you might be tired of reading about this quilt, but I have this one more post on it before I send it off to the longarm quilter for professional quilting.
This is a follow up to the post – And then there were 100 (yay)!– I’ve sewing together all 100 blocks for the Tula Pink’s City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks quilt:
I had looked at those blocks on my design wall so much my eyes were crossing, so I asked my partner John to come out with an initial design/layout. He likes symmetry and order and he created an initial layout and then I refined it a little.
He did it in “color rings”, where the outer ring (well square ring, ha!) is teals/blue-greens and greens with gray blocks as corner anchors. Then the next set of rings are yellows, browns and reds. The inner ring is purple with then blues in the center.
I know to some it looks like a “hot mess” but I love it!
Sewing together 100 blocks can be daunting so I sewed it together by breaking it into 4 – 25 block sections. I sewed 5 rows of 5 blocks together to make each section twice and sewed those two sections together. I repeated the process for the other side and then sewed the two halves together.
As there is so much piecing of small pieces to make each block, I stitched the entire edge of the quilt with a 1/8 inch seam to prevent unraveling during travel:
In case you are curious – the actual measurement of the quilt top came out to be 60.5 inches x 60.5 inches.
Currently I am piecing together the backing with a collection of teal/blue-green yardages I have:
And then off to the longarm quilter. You won’t see another post about this quilt (whew) until it returns to me quilted and I have put the binding on. Then I will show you the finished quilt!
We are continuing to experiment with meal prep and making meals out of the cookbook Damn Delicious Meal Prep by Chungah Rhee.
Recently I made Skinny Gumbo (a lower fat version of Louisiana Creole gumbo) and I was able to have enough for dinner that night and 3 additional servings. John’s father is in his 80s and lives alone since his wife passed in late December 2021, so we bring him meals (he lives less than a mile away) and this new meal prep process is great to make up meals for him also!
Also, strawberries were on sale, and I made homemade vanilla sugar scones and we had strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream for dessert!
I’ve decided to sew the blocks together without any lattice or other design to separate the blocks; and to not add a border. As a result this will only be a lap size quilt (100 – 6.5 inch x 6.5 inch blocks, minus 1/4 inch seams to join the blocks…no sorry I do not want to do that math* but will let you know the final measurements when I sew the blocks together!).
Next time I post about this quilt, I will share the quilt blocks sewn together in their final layout – I still need to decide how I want to organize the 100 blocks…
Oh if you are just joining us and want to see the evolution of this quilt, I put all the posts on this quilt under a new category I created for my blog:Sampler Quilts. I am hoping to do more sampler quilts in the future to go under this category. Note if you click on the link for Sampler Quilts you will see this current post again also.
*Okay I did sort of do the math and I am guessing around 60 inches x 60 inches will be the final quilt size. But let me know if you disagree (I took 10 x 6.5 inches = 65 inches, minus 20 x .25 seam allowances which = 5 inches – for 65 inches – 5 inches = 60 inches…)
Recently I’ve been hiding away in my sewing room to escape the world. I’ve been productive during my escape, and I’ve now completed 88 of the 100 blocks for Tula Pink’s City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks quilt I’ve been working on.
This is not the final layout for the quilt, I’ll decide that after I finish the 12 remaining blocks. It seems a little overwhelming to decide the perfect layout for 100 blocks, but I am going to just try to make them look as random as possible (and try not to let the same color touch…we’ll see…).
If you are just joining us and are interested in the progression of this quilt, check out the previous post about it which also has links to the other blog posts on it – And then there were 70….
For the remaining 12 blocks, I decided to stop trying to find pieces long enough to make each block (a lot of the remaining blocks need fabrics of at least 6.5 inches) from this pile:
Instead I cleaned up my cutting table, putting fabric scraps away by color in my fabric scrap storage system:
And I am going to be very deliberate about color choices (based on what I have too much or too little of in my quilt so far) and shop for fabric scraps from my collection of fabric scraps organized by color in my wine crate storage unit:
I am going to try and use these remaining fabrics, from the initial pile, that I did not put away with the rest:
I want to try and repeat those fabrics.
I’ve decided on how to finish the quilt – I am going to sew the blocks all together in a 10 by 10 row with no lattice, and no borders. Just plain and simple, allowing the blocks to just shine through without any clutter.
I realize this will make it only a lap size quilt instead of a Queen or King size which you could get by using some of the layouts in the back of the book Tula Pink’s City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. Lap size works for me as I might actually just hang it on a wall and display it. I’ll decide after I get it back from the long-arm quilter.
Well back to hiding out in my sewing room and finishing up the 12 remaining blocks to get to 100 blocks, which at one point seemed so far away!
Postscript
I developed a sort of production system to sew so many blocks.
I would pre-cut a large amount (15 or more) of blocks; and then sit down and sew them, trying to use chain piecing as much as possible, even working on two or more blocks at the same time.
Well my partner John took an old folding table and put a wooden table top on it for me to add to my existing work table to act as a “return” and give me space for ironing while piecing and any trimming needed.
This really added to my efficiency in block making!
And here is Mike the Miniature Schnauzer hanging out under my sewing table while I am at work:
Here is an update on the Tula Pink’s City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks I’ve been working on since February.
I now have 70 blocks done, 15 more blocks since my previous post What’s On The Design Wall: Over 50% Done! . So I am 70% done (well if you do not count sewing all the blocks together, making the backing, and putting on the binding after I have it professionally long-arm quilted, ha!).
I am getting some use out of the Ring Light I bought last year and figured out (sort of) how to use it photograph these blocks on my design wall late at night when I didn’t have any natural light available.
I continue to enjoy “shopping” for fabrics in my pile-o-fabric-scraps, now sorted by color, to make each block:
If you are just joining us (and you are really bored and need posts to read, ha!) here are the previous posts on the evolution of this quilt:
I’ve been thinking about the layout of the final quilt top. There are many ideas in the back of the book – Tula Pink’s City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, but I am thinking perhaps of a Dear Jane Quilt setting and looking at ideas such as those I found on this link – Dear Jane Quilt Inspiration. Another thought is just sewing all the blocks together without any type of sashing/setting. But I’ll revisit these ideas once I’ve finished all 100 blocks!
I am now cutting the next batch of 15 blocks and looking forward to getting to 85!
Here is a follow up on two posts about a freeform log cabin quilt I’ve been working on using Northcott’s Stonehenge fabric line scraps, that I named “Scraphenge”:
Well Scraphenge is “done and hung“! I received it back from the longarm quilter last week (I used Missouri Star Quilting Company longarm quilting services).
I decided instead of a binding to put a “facing” on the quilt since I was going to hang it on the wall:
Instead of the cumbersome method I’ve used to put a facing on in the past, which I learned from an art quilting book, I searched YouTube to see if there was an easier method and voilà I found one:
And it worked perfectly! It was much easier than the previous method I was using!
So here is the quilt hung in the hallway next to the entryway to our home. I took a couple different photos as due to the stairways to upstairs and the basement it was challenging to photograph the quilt straight on:
Here is a close up of the quilting:
I love seeing the quilt as I descend the stairs from upstairs to the main floor:
The cool thing about this quilt is most of the quilt top is made from Stonehenge fabric scraps that friends have given me and some Stonehenge fabric scraps I had from a quilt I made. So the quilt top was primarily made from stuff that would have ended up in a landfill. I LOVE SCRAP QUILTS!
I discovered while working on these 12 blocks that my current system of organization for the fabric scrap collection selected for this quilt did not work. My system was a haphazard pile:
So I spent the time organizing all the scraps selected for this project into piles of color. Now that I have a bigger studio now (see my post A “New” Studio ), I can leave these piles out on the table in my studio until I complete the quilt:
It might still look like a hot mess to you, but for me I can now “shop” by color and pattern easier.
Plus by organizing these piles I got to refresh my memory of what I have to work with; and got some ideas on how to use some of the multicolored fabrics at the top of the photo in future blocks I’ll be making for this sampler quilt.
48 more to go!
Postscript
I actually cut fabric for 15 blocks but I was only up to completing 12 blocks by last night (the deadline I gave myself so I could write this post):
But then this morning I had some renewed energy and completed the 3 additional blocks to bring my total to 15 completed since my previous post on this quilt:
So here are 55 blocks now completed! (Only 45 to go now…)
My sewing “mojo” was hiding somewhere for a while and I had little desire to sew. I had a “sewing-block“. Turns out the best way to resolve it was to sew a block!
I’ve been distracted from time in my sewing studio by some recent travel, visits from out of town friends, and a couple challenging recent life events. A couple days ago I knew I needed to get my back to sewing (as there is just so much fun stuff to be made) and decided returning to working on my Tula Pink City Sampler (100 Modern Quilt Blocks)would be a good place to start.
Once you get started up sewing again, things get rolling, and I was able to make also blocks 32 – 40 over the next several days (my sewing was “un-blocked”!):
10 block recently completed
Today while taking photos for this post, I discovered I did not like the gray “frame” in one of the blocks (too overpowering):
see block with red arrow
So I redid it this morning with a red “frame”:
New block frame
Now I have 40 blocks out of 100 now complete!
Only 60 more to go (oh my…)
Not sure why my photos came out so dark from my design wall, I guess it was the lighting in my sewing studio this morning.
I am enjoying working from my piles of scraps selected for the 100 block sampler, and I’ve decided to just keep the piles out until I finish all 100 blocks.
I’ve been making a bunch of small scraps while cutting the fabrics for the 6.5 inch by 6.5 inch blocks and I plan to stuff pincushions like I did in this post – Stuffing it the Eco-conscious Way!
I plan to continue working on the blocks for the sampler and maybe whipping out a pincushion or two between sets of blocks if my tiny pile of scraps gets larger than my little basket for tiny scraps.
This post is a follow up to my previous post What’s On The Design Wall: Stonehenge Scrappy Freeform Log Cabin, where I was using the freeform/improvisational log cabin block piecing technique – “log jamming” – to create a scrap quilt from my Northcott Fabrics Stonehenge line scraps.
I completed all the blocks and was deciding on a layout.
The layout I came up with was one in which the blocks set in other colors besides the cream Stonehenge fabric, were set in the center of the quilt (except for 4 I saved to use as cornerstones).
I decided to name the piece “Scraphenge” since it was made from Stonehenge fabric line scraps!
It is not a very large quilt, it measures 55 inches tall by 48 inches wide (139 cm by 122 cm).
Right now I am trying to decide whether to quilt it myself or send it to a long arm quilter. However for now I am just going to leave it up on the design wall as I have other projects in queue I want to work on (smile).
I mentioned in my post Things to Do When You Have a Bad “Cold”, that I’ve been working on a scrappy improvisational “log cabin” block style quilt. I thought I would show you my progress on the piece so far.
All I’ve done is lay the blocks out for now on my design wall, this is not the final design. I have a name in mind for the piece but I am keeping that under wraps until I see if the final design will work.
Each block is 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches and was made using scraps of Northcott Fabrics’ Stonehenge line which I love, as well as some small yardage pieces of Stonehenge I had in my stash.
The scraps primarily came from this quilt I made a couple years ago:
This was my pile of scraps that I started with for the piece currently up on my studio design wall which include scraps from the quilt above and scraps given to me by quilting friends:
Eventually I decided not to use the Stonehenge animal print scraps that someone gave me (and recently I donated a pile of them to a local charity thrift store so they can be enjoyed by another crafter).
Here are photos of me chain piecing the improvisational log cabin blocks via a technique I learned from Jackie Erickson at the Stitchin Post when I lived in Central Oregon.
Jackie told us in a class I took at the Stitchin’ Post that “log jamming” that is technique originated in Africa – the using of scraps to randomly put together fabric and create a larger piece of fabric, etc.
While writing this post I googled “log jamming quilting” to see if I could find any official history on this technique and found a VIDEO by the Stitchin’ Post about log jamming!!!
If you want to see a demonstration of the technique, here is the video – enjoy!
Jackie has a pattern she sells on making a log jam quilt and here is the link to it: Modern Log Jam.
image credit: stichinpost.com
I have used the technique I learned from Jackie on so many quilts over the years (as well as taught the late Terry the Quilting Husband to make quilts this way also – see post What’s On The Design Wall: Flannel “Log Jam” Blocks) that she holds a special place in my heart (and she is an awesome teacher!).
In her class she would use a shoppingbag of random scraps and you just pull from that bag and “jam on” while chain piecing.
Okay I went off on a tangent on log jamming, and let’s get back to the story on this current log jam quilt in progress…
Originally I wanted to frame all the blocks in a cream colored Stonehenge fabric I had in my stash, but it turned out I did not have enough. So I used a smaller brown yardage as well as a couple fat quarters from my stash that I thought would coordinate.
Here are the resulting four (4) types of blocks:
Yes, I have not cleaned up all the loose threads from all that chain piecing I did. But I’ll do that as I sew the blocks together in whatever their final configuration.
For now they all sit on my design wall awaiting my further musings on layout…
I realized I had not shared a follow up to the August 2021 post Creating a back for a “Legendary” quilt. I received the quilt back from the long arm quilter just before Christmas and shared the finished quilt on my @tierneycreates Instagram, but not on my blog where I had talked about it in several posts over the years.
I was able to get the binding on right before Christmas and I gave it to my partner John for Christmas. Below are photos of the quilted quilt including where John keeps it on the sofa in the basement where his “man cave” is:
I was trying to take pictures of the back of the quilt and a miniature schnauzer slowly snuck into the photo (photo-bombing)!
Mike: Hey what you doing?Mike: Don’t mind if I sneak right on to the quilt while you try and photograph it!Mike: Hi, I am cuter than this thing you are photographing!Mike: Pay attention to me now!
This was taken before he got his haircut at the beginning of January. He got a bit furry through the holidays!
Oh the the extra tree block you see on the back of the quilt is by my friend Kathy, who gave me the scraps to make the quilt (plus scraps she got from our friend Dana). It was an extra she had when she made her quilt. That block reminds me/connects me to the love and generosity I constantly get from my long time quilting sisters!
I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER! Unfortunately now John has my “cold” but it seems to be milder for him.
I’ve been making quite a bit of progress on the quilt I showed you I started while self-isolating due to me “cold”. I should be able to share on my next post what it is looking like on the “design wall”.
This time we worked on the Firefly Tote by Noodlehead. A month ago I shared photos of the quilt shop’s class sample of the tote:
Class sample photo 1Class sample photo 2
The pattern has instructions for two sizes – a smaller “project” size; and a larger “tote” size. I figured I would make the tote size.
I decided to make it in the same fabrics as the Range backpack also by Noodlehead that I made in the previous class and here are photos in progress during the class last night:
My partially finished Firefly Tote
That was as far as I got (photo above) during class and I still need to make the lining and the drawstring topper. I found the “blingy” gold handles at the quilt shop and they go with the shiny gold zipper I used also in my coordinating backpack, also found at the quilt shop.
One class attendee got way farther than I did, and she was making the “project” size tote bag. Here is her nearly finished adorable project size bag being held up by our wonderful instructor:
Another student’s nearly finished project size Firefly Tote
Another student in the class brought her finished Range backpack to class and it was so cool I had to photograph it – she has it lined with a custom Yellowstone map fabric she found on Spoonflower:
If you are just joining us, here is the Range backpack I finished a couple weeks ago from the class I took a month ago. As you can see my Firefly Tote will coordinate with it:
And speaking of backpacks, I am currently working on a commission project of a scrappy Tula Pink Range backpack for a gift for someone who is a Tula Pink aficionado. The family member who commissioned it as a surprise gift asked me to include lots of Tula Pink fabrics. I am trying my best but I have a limited range of her fabric lines (but lots of scraps!)
Lots of Tula Pink All Stars line fabric scraps in my stash
Here is my design wall in progress as I work on piecing together/creating my own “fabric” to start cutting the sections for the backpack:
This is just a little bit of the fabrics I am using, it will be super scrappy. I am going to first make “fabric” from the scraps and do some simple quilting on it to reinforce it before I start cutting sections for the backpack pieces. I will share a photo when it is done!
I have to set finishing my Firefly Tote from last night’s class aside for now as I need to get the backpack done and shipped so they can surprise their sister for Christmas!
Are you working on any last minute December projects?
Lately my blog has primarily focused on my recent travels and I’ve joked I should change the name from “tierneycreates” to “tierneytravels”. Well over the past 6 months I’ve been tierney-creating a lot (when not traveling!) working on a “secret quilt” for a Women of Color Quilting Network (WCQN) show that opens next year.
The name of the show is Black Pioneers: Legacy of the America West and it opens next spring at the The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art in St. Petersburg, Florida. After a stint at The James Museum it will tour nationally (museums across the U.S. have already contacted the curator and head of the WCQN, Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi to request that the exhibit show at their museum).
Recently I put the final touches on my quilt for the show and sent it off to the curator to be professionally photographed for the book, etc.
We were provided with a list of Black Pioneers that contributed to the growth of the American West and my quilt is about one of those pioneers.
You’ll have to wait until Spring 2022 to find out more as the museum asked for no social media images of our quilts prior to the opening.
I am pretty excited about participating in this show; and this will be my third WCQN exhibit (see posts Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part I and “Giant Among the Sequoias” Returns Home). I’ve had the opportunity to participate in several other WCQN exhibits since Yours for Race and Country: Reflections on the Life of Colonel Charles Young (“Giant Among the Sequoias”) but I’ve had artist block when it comes to art quilts for a show over the past several years since my husband Terry died in December 2018.
I finally figured out what it was (beyond part of grieving) – I used to, in my previous home I shared with Terry for 14 years, work on art quilts in the giant design wall that spanned our small hallway of our home:
Working on “Giant Among the Sequoias” in Spring 2018
I loved creating textile art in that hallway and I would always have Terry down the hall watching TV, playing a computer game, or reading a book while I worked. Occasionally he would walk by on his way to the bathroom and give me an approving nod.
In my current home in the Denver metro area, I have a large design wall inside my lovely studio that my partner John put together but for me creating art quilts was about being in that hallway.
So I had to overcome that, and it was more difficult than I thought, to be able to work on the quilt for this show. I knew I did not want to pass up on any more WCQN exhibit opportunities (nor did I want to give up making art quilts) so I had to overcome this hurdle to my creativity.
All I can say is widowhood is a long road filled with potholes (some you think will kill you or at least break both your legs) and pits of muck getting you stuck.
Image credit: Firestone
But then ever so often the road smooths out and you can travel peacefully for a while. You can also learn to avoid some of the potholes and pull yourself quickly out of the muck when you slip in.
You keep learning that you are stronger than you think you are.
Glad I got unstuck from the muck to create this quilt. I will update you in the future on the creation of the quilt, the finished quilt, and more information about the show.
tierneycreates 