Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

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The leftover Roman Stripe squares had roughly half in all-blue, to do the smaller quilt above with sashing, but the other striped squares had a strong propensity to have warm color motifs contrasting with their turquoises and aqua backgrounds. There was a hodgepodge of colors, but I just arbitrarily picked a fabric from the huge stash of cottons received a few weeks back that were filled with quality cottons from back whenever, and were either from an estate or someone who developed carpal tunnel or arthritis (she didn't say). The fabrics were well-taken care of, each piece was measured and an approximate width and length to give the next person an idea of what was in the piece, with some of them having curved cuts, straight cuts, square cuts, etc. at any given border. All the fabrics except for a few choice character prints were tiny and packed (close together) which interpreted, means they could have been used on anything from a miniature quilts that benefit from close small motifs to strip-pieced log cabin quilts that also bear tiny prints well.

Anyway, the rust was a polished 100% cotton that had some body, which is not easy to find. One run of polished cottons in the 90s were so thin and flimsy I actually hated them. This one was as polished as some of the polycottons that I also hated that came out a few years before the annoying thin polishes. So I'm just amazed at the collection's owner who was picky and collected a stash of peerless cottons that I am enjoying using from time to time with my stash, also fine cottons, but of another era in which fineness was desirable due to the high costs of transport since the 1990s and continuing higher with exponential gas prices.

The rust polished cotton is fun to work with, and glossy only on the top. I've already sewn two pieces on backward due to sharp sewing machine light obfuscating sheen of the right side from the dull side of the same color. Also, it's easy to put a fabric onto another when you're doing rows of alternate blocks. Unfortunately, my stash is run of the mill using dispersive prints, prints that are 2-way, and prints that are 1-way. Some dispersive prints aren't very dispersive on a small scale strip, so you have to pay attention to which way they're sewn and placed, too. A little caution can make or break a quilt in aesthetic pleasure of noticing that when the top is at the top, everything is rightside up. I did not take it as a sign of early dementia the first time my husband turned one of my quilts upside down. After I told him, it was like it didn't matter. I couldn't understand it. Now I understand. Some battles are unwinnable, but you just try to develop the best sense of humor you can about it and let it go at that. Around the same time, he started driving like Mr. Magoo. He wouldn't turn around for a mile after you told him to turn around he missed his turn. He would only turn around when you raised your voice in panic. Then he would turn around, but not right away in particular, but soon. He likes to drive, but he prefers driving along the beaten path, so I drive to a new place 2 or 3 times until he gets his bearings. Then the first 3 or 4 times, it's "Is this where I turn?" "Yes." or "Not yet, it's the third right, not the first."

Here's the first row (the quilt will be 6x9 squares wide and long, and the inner width with sashing is 38" with 6 Roman Stripes across.

 

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The sprinkling of various and sundry colors throughout most of these blocks made them not suitable to the glacier family monochrome quilt which was second in this series. This is the third. Together, a quarter of all the strips cut haven't been completely used up yet. Turquoise is pretty. The rust color is so deep it reminds me of the dirt you see in Nacogdoches county, where my grandma grew up. The stone-faced texas rocks there are deep reddish rust, too. Such delightful memories the few times grandpa took us up to the families that now populated the towns in and around Nacogdoches. And the red dirt grew the sweetest melons and canteloupes I ever tasted. They were sweeter and juicier than sugar cane. the watermelons were so sweet, I thought all the melons would be when I started shopping. Not a chance! The stuff in the store tastes like cardboard by comparison. There isn't any sweetness or goodness in some of the fruits shipped up to the USA from south of the border when they're still green. Even if you let them ripen on the counter, at best, store boughten canteloupe is mealy-mouthed. There's nothing like picking perfectly ripe canteloupes like walking over to a ripe group, thumping a few, and picking the one that resonates well.

As far as the reddish rust color is concerned, next to the blue lake color of the turquoise, the only thing missing is some grass.

Well, the hard part of this quilt is 4/9ths done.

And here's row 2:

 

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Yippee! It's done!!!! Yay!

 

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Yesterday, while something else was being sought, another 24" hero star log cabin square was found for the turquoise group. So yesterday, it received intermittent attention between the goings on of the household. Then, at 2 am, it was time to stop tossing and turning and put the border on that puppy! Four of the turquoise quilts have butterflies either appliqued or in the largest border. Here are the visual results of this one (see next 2 posts as well):

Scan 1 - center of hero star and quilt
Scan 2 - star points
Scan 3 - corner of star

 

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Scan 4 - Bottom edge of outer border
Scan 5 - Bottom corner
Scan 6 - Top addition (one is at bottom, also) to keep tiny toes warm 7 inches more on the quilt gives the toddler an extra year, but they do grow so fast.

Bless the child O Lord, who receives this quilt, and keep him safe, warm, and wise as he grows up and learns to be a good citizen in the world in spite of its troubles. Amen.

 

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Scan 7 - Top of quilt with info useful to quilter (another Charity Bee does the quilting for this 100-quilt project)
Scan 8 - A corner turned on point to show hero star points as well as possible
Scan 9 - Another of the 4 corners

 

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All morning till noon was spent working up the elephant design that started in my little pocket notebook always present in the purse, along with ruler and sharpened pencils, and making it into a quilt-sized "postage stamp" type quilt.

Scan 1 - 3-inch strips to cut (the cross cut by 3 inches to make the quilt large enough for a young child who might like baby elephants when he sees one at the zoo.

Scan 2 - 3 color groups of light and dark strips to cut in 3" crosswise cuts later- grays (elephant) turquoises (sky) and green/lime (grass). The border is begging for schoolbus and fuchsia already, I swear! But first, it's do the do, and this will take a long day tomorrow. Also, with no sleep last night due to forgetting to turn on the heater, the chill took hours for the heater to knock out. By that time, it was time to get up and finish the butterfly-bordered hero star quilt just above.

Scan 3 - the Graph. (the quilt started as 11x11 and is now 17 x 19.

This morning in the groggy hours, it occurred to me how much I love the little animals that have been designed for going on a year, and I only did a samplette of turtles, nothing fancy and too little to be more than a little part of a greater work.

This one can be made into any size, from the size of a piece of typing paper, but I'm enlarging the squares to 3" cuts because I had a feeling somehow I struck a good design on this one. That doesn't happen every day. I love the serendipity when something better than okay jumps out from the sketchpad.

The scans as described above:

 

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Well, I do see a necessary change. the hump on the elephant's back is offcenter. I'd prefer it to be a tad more ahem, symmetric. It was the head I liked. It just looks like a baby elephant. It's truly hard to get a feeling from such a small grid as 50, much less 15 to 20, that when something good happens that you like, you just want to see it to the end.

The other two scans were taken of something I rarely do--go to a smaller square, but I did not wish to applique on this particular quilt, so I fashioned the round eye into a small square, plus the tail just had to be there at the side view, imho, so the parts are 1x2 rectangles, proportionally, cut 1.75" strips into 3" strips and sewn together in the rhythm created by the use of light and dark squares. That reminds me, the width will have to come out 5 more inches (3" - 1/2" = 2 1/2" finished, x 2 = 5". That will make the quilt 50" wide before adding the border, which will be needed to even up warp and weft cuts that will likely be inconsistent due to the nature of the design.

The rough sketch done at Daisy's Diner last summer sometime, well, the ear just didn't work, so it's not in the semifinal version in the previous post which must now be amended, lol *sigh* Changes, changes.

 

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All morning to sewing strips into squares. This quilt is like a crossword puzzle. Occasionally a piece gets sewn on the wrong side, because it's puzzling. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Scan 1 The sky

Scan 2 The elephant's eye

Scan 3 Elephant leg showing pink toes

 

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Scan 1 Elephant's crown

Scan 2 Elephant's lower trunk

Scan 3 Elephant's tail hitch

 

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The Postage Stamp Baby Elephant Quilt is coming along nicely. The little illustration of the other day was divided into 20 parts and stitched, except the tail was separated and sewn early in order to facilitate a straight line. When a long straight line of many parts is desired, it takes all I got to keep them looking as if they were one fabric, plus the challenge of light and dark checkerboards throughout the quilt meant paying attention or paying the price of ripping and redoing, which was done a NUMBER of times in this quilt to make it come out okay. It was a puzzle. In a few hours, the puzzle will be solved, hopefully.

Below is a quilt or quilts done in past years, since there will be nothing to show for a few hours, until Mr. Elephant is one.

Scan 1 Sugarloaf Mountain, given to Sister & her Husband on their wedding.

Scan 2 Tell Them I'm A Child of God Quilt given to Casper Fire Department for Children of Family that suffered House Fire, total loss of home a dozen years ago. Our community was so sad for them.

Scan 3 Typing Paper-sized Squares for Wounded Soldier with tiny blue sashing and red square sets. God bless all our troops who suffered wounds, loss of friends in battle, and loss of their own life. That can never be made up for, but we can reach out with a tender word or deed.

 

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The "Grass" at the bottom of the quilt, as shown plus one extra row of green to balance the 4 blue skies above the elephant's crown with 4 green spaces below the elephant's pink toes.

Scan 1 - Grass panel showing 4 greens below feet

Scan 2 - Plan showing 3 below toes of feet

Scan 3 - Trip Around the World Quilt, extra fine 1.5" squares, made sometime between 1996-2008 and sold to customer for purchasing batting for wounded soldier quilts made after 2003-2008. Americans are so supportive of our troops in some places. I'm so grateful to people who just walked off the street, willing to give what was needed for our work in helping wounded soldiers. Cotton batting is quite expensive, so the help was appreciated! God bless our troops.

 

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The elephant quilt is done! I'm free! yayayayayay!!!

 

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This morning's work was all in log cabin sewing compositions.

When cutting the 2" Roman stripes quilt, 1.75" strips for other projects were sewn, too. By the time 2 Roman Stripe quilts were finished, there were 8 log cabin blocks that are about 9.25 inches square, and these were set aside in a gallon sized plastic sealed bag. This morning, remembering the start, I added enough squares to have completed half for a quilt--15 of 30 for a child-sized quilt that will measure around 42x52" after seam allowances are taken and before borders added. It was easier to sew each square in 2 colors--a light and a dark, and none re repeated, they're just singles. Thus the name "Singles Field and Furrows Log Cabin" (Fields and Furrows has to do with the arrangement of blocks per light and dark.)

So, there you have it--the Turquoise Singles Log Cabin Fields and Furrows Charity Quilt. Here's the work so far (except for a few more starts from this morning):

 

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Turquoise Singles Log Cabin Fields and Furrows
Scans 4, 5, and 6:

 

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Scans 7, 8, and 9

 

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Scans 10, 11, and 12:

 

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Scans 13, 14, and 15:

 

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The turquoise fields and furrows quilt is done, has 30 squares now, and a little border of some modern batik I had no earthly purpose for other than to get rid of it somehow.

Scan 1 Log cabin border
Scan 2 Made a Senior Pillow top and quilted it
Scan 3 Found a Sampler Quilt start and put a border on it (will show more in next frame)

 

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Everyone seems to have something negative to say about the sampler who's seen it, but I think it was made and designed with someone who believes in the Lord so much with all her heart it was a good thing for her to write it down in her own words... I don't know. It was part of an estate sale I found on Ebay and luckily, picked it up, not knowing what I'd do with it. I collect samplers, but this one is not one I'd care to hear 55 sermons about if I hung it on my wall. It took me two years of thinking what she could have meant to realize not everyone thinks like me. Duh!

Oh, and in vitro, it's truly pretty, it's just beautiful in every other way that what it says, imho. And to her, it said something that meant a lot to her faithfulness and expression of satisfaction in color and beauty of project.

I'm putting the two scans close together so you can see the message. The scan did not come out a fraction as beautiful as it is due to too much light, so I apologize for my equipment deficiencies of this scanner that does well sometimes, not well others. I did my best to pick colors that would go well with her work, but her work is just too pretty, and nobody bid against it but me, because I thought I could ignore the message for something that precious as her cross stitching work. It took me a long time to see what she meant. It's all good. To say that one would have to have total faith and a totally devoted heart to God.