Party Time - The Finalé

Yes,  I have a finish for this month!  The Party Time quilt is all bound and labeled,  washed and dried.  And best of all it is on MY bed. Tonight I will get to sleep on this beauty.

Party Time is a wonderful mishmash of color, shapes and textures.  There are curved pieces and wonky pieced blocks.  There are two pineapple blocks - one of them is a variation on the pineapple. There are  log cabin variations and tumblers. 

The binding is made of several pieces of fabric in a variety of colors. Most of it was scrap fabric, also. 

The fabrics range from shirtings, to calicos, hand dyed fabrics to batiks and prints. The quilting is as varied as the blocks and fabrics.  This quilt is truly a "party" to look at.  My friend, Kitty, and I decided that this quilt reminds us of the TV show "Laugh-In."  I said, "Yes, I can imagine a young Goldie Hawn wrapped up in this quilt using it as a dress while she tells a joke."  

I am sure I will enjoy the colors and textures of this quilt on my bed.  And I love the scrappy binding too!

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Scrappy Binding- Party Time!

The two panels have been added to the Party Time quilt.  Thus, it was time to decide on binding.  I knew that I had several small rolls of leftover binding stored away.  I pulled them out and sadly discovered that over the years I have used at least FOUR different widths of binding strips.  One of those completely baffles me - it is a three inch strip folded in half. That makes a VERY wide binding.  I don't even remember the fabric. Now, don't go into shock, but I trashed several of those pieces of binding - especially the 3 inch strip, because trying to trim a bias cut strip would likely result in frustration. 

I took one nice piece of leftover binding and added to it by cutting strips from scraps.   This made a very nice scrappy and FUN binding.  

Some of those fabrics are in the quilt, while others are not.  I think it will carry the party theme right to the edges of the quilt.  I am sure this will become the quilt that I keep on my bed for a while now. I truly love the way this quilt looks.  It is difficult waiting for a perfect day to get a good photo of this beauty.  Now I am thinking it may just have to wait until the binding is on it.  But in the meantime, here is a peek at the quilt showing one of the edges where a panel has been added. 

I think this party was held in the psychedelic era. (Think late 60s early 70s.)

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Sewing - At least a bit.

I have been somewhat unproductive at the sewing machine lately.  But I got off my duff when I had a few minutes to spare and made these joining strips for adding the panels to the Party Time scrap quilt. 

I decided to use the green as the "main color" for the strips that go on front.  I pieced in some reds and blues to carry over the scrappy appearance.  I should mention that it was because I didn't have a long enough strip of the green anyway. Ha ha. 

I also pieced the back strips as none of that fabric was long enough either...but the backing will still be all one color. 

Now that those are prepared, I may finish that quilt in a few days. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Puzzling

Mom and I have been working on  a new puzzle for a few days now.  And in my usual fashion, I have been a bit lazy and haven't sewn a thing while we have been working on it.  

Yesterday I finally took a photo of our progress on the puzzle.  Here is where we are on it. 

We have all the birds and most of the sky completed. Those two big birch trees are going to be the real challenge.  And so you know, we got a bit more done after the photo was taken.  The yellow cardinal's tail is there now also.  There is still a piece to find for the breast of that one. I am sure it is mostly "white" and looks a lot like a piece of the birch tree.

No fears, I will be back to sewing soon enough. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Some of the Second Panel

Feathers are becoming easier for me to stitch, so there are three sections (so far) in the second panel with feather designs.   These are so much fun when they are working and I am enjoying seeing where I can "push" them.  

First of all, here is my second feather circle/wreath design.  It still isn't exactly what I was trying to achieve but I am still happy that it came out this well.  

For the second one,  I started with a circle in the center and stitched feather shapes 

leading up to meet at the circle. 

Then in this green section, there is a feather going from one side to the other. 

Next up is just a fun section that I quilted very randomly. I just let myself 

go and do whatever came up.  I like it. 

For this last one,  I used a wash-away pencil and traced two partial circles. 

For the size, I used one of the bowls from my kitchen.

I outlined the circles and filled them with swirls.  

The rest was filled in with organic "straight-ish" lines. 

There are two small sections of this panel that are not yet quilted.

There are a few pieced sections that I haven't shown, mostly because the quilting

looks so much better on the solid areas of the quilt. 

By the end of the week, this panel should  be completed. 

Then I will be able to join the two panels to the Party Time quilt 

and bind it for a fun finish. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Side Panel One is Quilted

The first side panel is quilted and trimmed.  There are a few sections I haven't shown yet, so let's look at those. 

The first photo shows a circle feather that I quilted. 

While it isn't a smooth as I would have liked, 

it is still rather nice. Perhaps I need a stencil to 

mark a sample sandwich so that I can practice 

doing the circle feather. 

Then there are the vase shaped pieces that I filled 

with feathers also. That was a fun, spur of the moment idea.

Next up is a random paisley design in the top section.

The bottom is a checkerboard grid simply filled with 

lines that alternate directions

And of course a lovely texture photo of part of the back.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

More Quilting Fun

Yes, of course, I am still quilting on the Party Time panels- although at a slow rate.  I am having fun and trying to decide what things work best and make me happiest with the quilting.  

On one piece section,  I simply did some meander quilting. 

As you can see that is the section adjacent to the feather section that I showed in the last post. 

In another pieced section, I did random quilting designs in various parts of it. 

I really like the "wavy angled line" on the left side.

I did another feather section.  I think this one is better than the previous one.  

Perhaps it is finally "clicking" between my head and hands with feathers.

Then, drawing a grid with a pink chalk pencil, I did an orange peel design.

It isn't perfect but I am still happy with it. 

And yes, a bit of the pink pencil is still there.  It will be gone as soon as it is washed. 

There is more on this long panel to be quilted.

There is another panel that is the same size.  

Stay tuned to see how I quilt those areas. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

One Small Section

That is what I quilted this morning -February 9, 2022 - one small section.  But I did start quilting the side panels for "Party Time" the scrappy quilt.   I am really happy with this section so I think I am off to a great start.   You may know that sometimes feathers and feathery shapes work for me and sometimes they don't.  In this section, I think they worked. 

Next time I try feather shapes, they may not work at all, but this shows me that I can do it- sometimes. 

Hopefully, I will have more time to quilt a bit more on the first panel this afternoon and evening.  But first while it is warm enough, I need to go out for a brisk walk.  

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Slowly Moving Forward

The Party Time scrappy quilt is slowly moving forward - very slowly.   Why? (you may ask.)  The reason is that I have been enjoying time reading a lot of books.  I have read some books that will be published soon.  *I am in a group that reads books prior to publication for review purposes.  
I have also been re-reading some old books that I remember enjoying.  Some of those are mysteries. Fortunately, it has been so many years, with so many books between, that I don't remember the plots or "whodunit" much at all.  

However,  I did some quilt prep today.  The two side panels for the Party Time quilt are layered and basted so that I can start quilting on them in spare minutes or while watching somewhat mindless comedy shows.   

These are long and narrow so I have them rolled up on the sewing machine table.

 The top one is unrolled far enough that you can see part of the piecework.  I think these will quilt up quickly. Then I will join them to the quilt and finally put on a binding. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Weaving on Hand Dyed Warp

Way back in November of 2020, I  hand dyed a warp and put it on my loom.  I had every intention of weaving the entire thing with only black weft (the threads that go across the warp.)  I did weave on it for a while and yes, it is pretty.  

With Black Weft

But, I get bored weaving with only one color, so today when I finally started back on it, I finished off the bobbin of black and decided to use a blue tone similar to the turquoise dyed sections.  I did weave one full bobbin of it. 

Blue/Turquoise weft used.

What I noticed, and you may also, is that the black makes the colors appear more vivid, while the blue (or really any medium to light color) mutes those colors.  

Quilters, take note:  This is why a black background makes your quilts really pop with color. 

Here is a picture of the next section I will be weaving - and yes I am thinking seriously of using black weft once again. 

Just for fun, I took a picture of the warp from the back of the loom also.

I love how the colors merge and blend where they meet on the warp. The white bits are where the warp was tied up for dyeing.  The ties create a resist, causing those bits to not get dyed.  I consider that a bonus feature. 

The two panels for the Party Time (scrappy) quilt are finished and waiting.  I don't have a picture to share as we are having a very rainy day.  Hopefully I can get a photo of them soon. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Panel One- Adding to the Scrappy Quilt

I had a one day sewing binge yesterday.  I have decided to add panels on each side of the scrappy "Party Time" quilt.   I decided to use a unifying fabric to tie the sides together.  I also wanted one that would pull in some fabrics from the center panel.  I decided on a lime yellow/green.  It is bright and pretty.  The bonus is that this makes it a "green" quilt, a first (I think) for me. 

Since the panel is long and almost impossible to photograph easily, I decided to show it in sections. 

In keeping with the original plan for this quilt the only standard size I used is the ten inch width.  I used some already pieced chunks of fabric.  Some of them needed tp be trimmed and some needed fabric added. I made sure to have some curved piecing,  odd angles and a variety of fabrics.  The green and tan curved block is made from a mask that I didn't like. So I cut it up and used the pieces for quilting. 

You may spot an abstract log cabin in the mix.  I even spot a piece of fabric from the second quilt top that I ever made that found its way into this part of the quilt.  I think I used another scrap of it in the big center section.  I think that is one of the fun aspects of scrap quilting.  There are memories of other quilts and other times in your life as a quilt artist.   

Now, I will need to make another panel the same width and length as this (more or less.) This one is a couple of inches too long but that is okay.  Once it is backed and quilted, that will give me a creative design choice. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.