Quilt Festival Reticent Stars

This is my entry in the Bloggers Quilt Festival in the wall hanging category. I have posted about it as I was working on it and when it was finished. In this post, I put it all together for the Bloggers Quilt Festival.
I named this "Reticent Stars"; although I wanted the stars to show up, I did not want them to be the main attraction. For that reason I quilted them with black thread and not metallic thread as I had intended. My original choice for a binding was solid black but when I was ready for the binding I changed my mind and went with the black and white stripe cut on the bias.

Reticent Stars 33 x 49

Here are some close up views of the quilting. The straight line quilting is about 1/2 inch apart and follows the overall shape of each diamond.
I belong to a group of fun and creative ladies who have been meeting for a few years to explore new techniques and avenues of creativity. We have always been rather loosely organized meeting as friends and not as an organized "group".

About 2 years ago we got together after a rather lengthy hiatus and  set a definite date each month to meet. We settled on a name "The Basement Diva's" and set some goals and challenges.

 

Here are the rules for our challenge.

The challenge shall be black and white and, if wanted, one other color. Color being defined as a color family. Quilters are to do something they have not done before using a book, pattern or tool that the quilter already has. No, that doesn't mean finish the thing, Yes, a book that has been used before can be used but not the same pattern in said book. No, it does not mean you can make "that pink quilt you made before, in black and white".
There is no size limitation or finish date established yet.
Quilter's should be ready to start, or have started at our next meeting in October.

We try to have as few rules as possible for our challenges so there were not many. Later we added an April meeting deadline to finish. You can see the Basement Diva's Challenge quilts here and here

 

I had the book "Quilts from a Different Angle" by Sarah Nephew and the smaller Clear view Triangle ruler to go with it. The publish date in the book is 1986 so I had it a long time (26 years can that be?).

 

I designed my quilt in EQ7 and I had many versions before I settled on one. the quilt I made evolved as I went along and I would go back and audition my revisions in EQ before proceeding. All final decisions were made on the design wall.

This was my start and I used most but not all of the fabrics that I cut, I  have a stack of leftovers and discards eliminations.

Sewing the diagonal rows together was a learning experience and sometimes a challenge as it was hard to tell at times if I had everything where it should be. As the rows were sewn they shrunk and when up on the design wall next to the unsewn rows I sometimes lost sight of where the pieces were in the overall pattern.

 

 Here is the back view of the top. I really did press all those seams open. When I work with triangles I have better results when I press the seams open; it  really is worth the extra effort.

 

 

 

 When I finally got it all together I made the changes in EQ to reflect the actual quilt and colored the EQ version with lighter values to save my ink and it be able to see quilting lines that I would draw on the printed quilt to experiment and as a guide when I started to sew.


I don't know why I never used my triangle rule until this challenge. I remember I was very enthusiastic to make something when I bought the book and ruler. I am probably going to do something again soon with the ruler and pair  up the triangles with hexagons and diamonds as I bought those rulers recently to go with the triangle ruler. I better not wait 26 years to start; I may not be sewing when I am 104.

A Finish

I finished the little quilt made from the Missouri Star Falling Charms quilt pattern. It was a nice easy pattern to follow using 5 inch squares of "made fabric" instead of charms. I made my squares about 5 inches and trimmed them to size. I did make anther bunch from a larger piece of made fabric and cut ome squares fro it. I liked doing it that way. I think I prefer making each block to a predetermined size and shape and trimming it. I can see that with some patterns making fabric to cut more pieces from will be an advantage. Though I have done this for years there is a lot more exploring to do. This could be a series, I could even clean out my scrap boxes, bags and bundles and all  the hidden accumulations. That is probably a pipe dream.
The quilt is 43 x 60 which makes it a generous baby quilt size I guess.

 I quilted in the ditch along the staggered  rows and then went back and quilted along the lines in the blocks so they don't poof out. I ditch  quilted with off white thread in the seams where the white strips on the blocks came together with the next blocks white strips. I knew it needed more and I thought about some free motion quilting, maybe feathers or vines moving down the stair step pattern but in the end I marked straight lines with my trusty old (dull) pizza cutter and used it as a guide for the Bernina #4 stitch.

  This shot above shows the quilting a little better. I  was not too crazy about the seams between the white patches but in "person" the are not really so much of a distraction.

In these top two shots You can see the binding that is the same white (Kona Bone) as the background patches in the body of the quilt.
The top two photos are border shots and you can see where I have used a little left over end of a strata from the piano key piecing . I just turned it sideways to fit. After all, you can't waste precious fabric.
The bottom two were made using left over pieced units as starters. I've  used several Half Square Triangle starters and 4 Patch starters.
I am looking forward to Saturday when the Diva group will get together to play with "making fabric". It is always eye opening and inspiring to see what someone else has decided to do.
I think we have the best kind of challenge rules, loose, few and not designed to shut down individual inspiration. If this works out to be a challenge probably the only rules with be in the way of size and a finish date.

Yesterday, after dinner, Jack convinced me we should get out for a while and we went to the Arboretum. He should have convinced me to dress warmer too. We were  going to walk around among the lilac plantings and take some pictures. We only walked a short way before I was freezing so we went back to the car and I got a few picts from the car window. The top photo here is a small weeping (something ) tree. I couldn't read the sign without walking up to it. The bottom photo is  own of hundreds of lilacs, each more beautiful than the last and the fragrance is wonderful.
Maybe by Thursday it will have warmed up and hopefully the lilac display will still be spectacular.

A few more to Boston With Love

I acquired a few more flags for To Boston with Love.  I probably won't get anymore tomorrow but I will wait till Tuesday morning to mail them as that is what I originally said I would do.

Four of these are from my group at church. There were only a few of us there this month but those of us who came made a flag. The two little hearts on the lower left are from one of the Basement Divas and she dropped it off today. I think these are all so cute that we should  definitely plan to use this kind of banner in another way.

To Boston with Love

So far I have seven little flags to send to Boston with Love. I will be sending them on Tuesday May 14 so I am hoping to have collected a  few more by then. I am meeting with our group at church on Saturday and hope to get a few there. Maybe some of the people in some of the other groups I belong to will drop them off or let me know and I can arrange to get them. I know the Priority mail envelopes or flat rate boxes will hold more than 7.

Scrap Obsession

I think if I am ever going to get my shoe box ready for our meeting to "make fabric" I am going to have to put my sewing machine away. I keep picking something up and putting it with something else and then I sit down and sew the two pieces together and then I pick up another piece and sew it on and then etc. I am not even doing it efficiently by working on 4 or 5 and chain piecing. This is addictive.

 Those 7 blocks up in the top right corner were cut from a piece of "made fabric" and because it was oddly shapes I had a couple of incomplete blocks and I spent some time fixing them. It doesn't help that I was already playing with my scraps before I started to get my shoebox of stuff together. I really want to quilt my little quilt that I made using the Falling Charms pattern from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. I used 5 inch "made fabric" squares instead of charms and I am eager to finish it. That requires a rearrangement of my machine and tables and I can't do that until I get all this stuff put away.

We had to run some errands today and took the long way around. We drove through Headlands Park, hoping to see some Bald Eagles or some migrating birds as they stop to rest before they fly across Lake Erie. All we saw were baby geese.
 It looked like gosling day care. there were 2 sets of adults and about 30 babies. I couldn't get a good shot of them as the sun was behind me and shining right on my camera viewing screen. It was really point and shoot and hope for the best.
On the way home we passed the fabric store and I stopped and bought some fat quarters to cut up to fill in the scanty places in my color families. I can't believe I am buying fabric to make scraps.

I bet I am not alone in doing this!

Final Tree Update of the Season, Etc

 The maple tree has filled out in the last two days and the Oak tree now has tiny little Oak leaves. From now on until autumn there will not be much of a change in the maple tree. Am I obsessed with these trees? I guess I am, the maple tree is so close that it is almost like being in the tree branches. When it is heavy with rain drops some of the branches touch the living room
 window and when it is windy they kind of tap against the glass.

The top two photos are taken from my sewing room window. The Oak tree , on the left is near our bedroom window and the top right is a shot of the maple.
The lower left photo is from our living room and I was standing about 5 feet back from the window, on the right is a close up of a branch that touches our window and I took the shot with my camera right up on the glass.

When I have not been admiring the trees I have been getting fabric bits and pieces ready for the  next Basement Diva meeting in two weeks. We got the guidelines for what we should bring and we have a loose outline of what we will be doing for the next meeting or next few meetings. We make the rules change the focus as we go along. Being the compulsive organized person that I am I have been separating small bits and pieces,  medium size strips, chunks and long strips. I was sorting by color as well but I probably don't need to worry about color. I think the plan is to put it all together, not sorted, into one (fabric) gene pool from which we will all select, either blindly or intentionally, a bunch to work with and just get started "making fabric". In keeping with our loosely organized tradition, what we will do with this made fabric and or blocks is yet to be determined.

Everyone is to bring a 1/2 yard of a favorite fabric that we will each be using  for continuity in our "made fabric". My 1/2 yard is in the top left in this photo group. On the right are some starters I made with small pieces that were not much good for anything else and below are medium and small pieces and longer strips and chunks. My organization has gotten looser and looser as I have been going through all my scraps. We are each to bring a shoe box full of fabric to put in the group pool and I think I am going to have to pack mine pretty tight and  probably everyone else will too.

Another Tree Report etc.

I just can't resist documenting the changes in the maple tree. It has really been filling out these last two days. It will get more dense as the leaves get bigger and we will benefit from the shade in the afternoon when the days get hot. Today the sky is clear and blue and as the sun comes over our building the tree is casting a shadow over the yard to the west that reaches to the next building. No pics of the oak tree it is not catching up fast but when you look at the whole tree there is a green blush over the whole tree though not anything in the way of individual leaves.   I love spring.

I made another "To Boston with Love" flag. I missed the instructions for the width to cut the ties and cut it 2 1/2 inches instead of 1 1/2, rather typical of me. So that is a good excuse to make one that is more appropriate. A few of my friends have said they are making them to send with mine and I can't wait to see them.






As I was looking for my blue and white star fabric I found  more scraps in Ziplocs. I think when I am organizing from time to time I have an idea for a group of fabrics that are left over from something recent so I put them together in a Ziploc. When I come across them later I have lost the idea changed my mind so they need to go in with the general population of scraps. I should put the bags there in the first place instead of here and there so they would be available to use and at least a visible reminder of something I had intended.

I think I border on

being compulsive about order and neatness,

 not that you would know that

 from the disorder I create when I work.

To Boston with Love

I came across a  link to "To Boston With Love" today. Quilters and sewists are making 6 x 8 inch flags to show that we care. I made mine in about an hour and I hope friends in my quilting groups will make one too. they will be flown in Boston Memorial Day weekend.


I got all enthusiastic about it and wanted to make something right away. I used one of the motifs from my Spoonflower fabric and I stitched over the long connected lines with red thread.
This has no batting and it is stitched to the backing and turned; there is a 16 inch tie across the top.
Check out the link above for details and a tutorial and links to flags that others have made and posted on Flicker.

Made fabric starters

I left the small scrap pieces out where I can work on them when the mood strikes. I dumped them all on a tray that is 16 x 20 which makes it easy to look through the scraps and easy to clean up and put back in the box.
I decided that I should only sew 2 or 3 scraps together if these are going to be starters; otherwise they stay small if I continue to add very small pieces.

So..............Here we are, sometimes, something catches my attention and I get caught up in one piece. Instead of continuing to chain piece adding the second or maybe the third scrap I started adding more to one piece and I got a piece that was about 5 x 7 1/2, a bit big for a starter.

I added another piece that didn't go all the way across the seam and I made a cut at that place, then I had 2 pieces and I added on to them.






Now I have one piece that is large enough to cut a 6 inch square or I can keep adding to it  to make something that I can cut into shapes. The other piece is more of a starter size and it will be trimmed before I add anything else to it. Maybe I will just add it as is to the starter box.




I was feeling pretty good about cleaning up all the small pieces I had and making them into something more useful as starters for something larger. I found another small container that I been feeding with small pieces. I dumped them on the tray and decided to take a picture of them.


Oh my, this is starting to look like a lot more pieces.

I put a quarter on one scrap as a reference to show the size of the scraps and I moved the tray to a better place to photograph it.







Wait!
What is in that bag under the tray?
Guess what!










More small scraps. When I cleaned up these were pieces that I didn't deem large enough to sort into color families.

I might be making "made fabric'

 for the rest of my life.

15 minutes ? or more

I find it difficult to work for only 15 minutes but if I only had 15 minute intervals here and there I can see that I could still accomplish a lot. Yesterday, when I was working, I set the alarm on my cell phone for 15 minutes and then I set it for a 1/2 hour and then I set it for an hour. I am really not speedy and someone else would have accomplish more in the time I allotted, I'm like the tortoise instead of the hare;I keep going slow and steady.
I had the sewing room in order again and re-sorted the scraps by color and put them away. I had one box of small pieces that were to small to be of much use except as starters or centers for larger "made" fabric pieces. they were too small to put away with the larger strips and pieces (most people would throw them away). I started stitching pieces together to make "starters". It will be good to have shoe box of these on hand.
This is what I made yesterday. The largest pieces here are about the size of my hand and one or two of them are almost right to cut a 4 or 5 inch square. All the longer pieces have been put away for now so this is as big as these will get for the time being.



These five were  all made using something that had already been pieced. The two on top have pieces left over from the piano key border I just added to my Falling Charms quilt. That narrow red strip and the multicolor strip were trimmed off  the end of a strata.
The black and white  center was a left over 4 patch, the blue and yellow was a section of a Birds in the Air block that I sewed together wrong and the little red and black and white block was made with 1 1/4 inch HST's  that I put together from the pieces I cut away from connector corners ( I am never going to make a lot of those).

Starting next month the Basement Divas are going to work on making fabric, as in Victoria's  (Bumblebeans) "15 Minutes of Play" book.  We are all going to bring strips and chunks to put in a fabric pool for everyone to work on. I am bringing these along as starters for myself and for anyone else who would like to use them.  In the meantime I am going to see if I can use up this shoebox of little scraps.

Tree update and a flimsy

This is my view today while sitting at my desk looking out the window. It is a rainy, gloomy day but look at that bright green grass and the water droplets hanging off the tree branch. In real life they sparkle, a little bit of  bling; that cheers me up.



 Here are some more tree pics.
Top right was yesterday, top left is today.Maybe the difference is not noticeable in the photo but I can see the difference in how the filling out of the leaves is filtering my view of the other buildings. The bottom left is a close up from another angle. The leaves are not so bright green now; they have more of a bronze color than they did a few days ago. I can see the little maple seeds starting to grow but it is hard to gt a good shot of them. The bottom right is the oak tree that is closer to our bedroom window and I can see the leaf buds. I am happy to see this tree thriving as several years ago the whole top of the tree broke off during a storm. It seemed like the tree could not survive but it compensated by growing its lower branches veeeeerrrry wide and in the last few years it has been growing a new top. In the summer there is not much to show that anything happened to it.

So.... here is my flimsy! I finished the piano key borders and sewed them on this morning. These are the real thing not virtual borders. There is a 2 inch inner border strip that really doesn't show but it made easier the task of sewing on the piano keys. I'm not sure how I will quilt it but I will use Kona bone for the binding.

Now it is time to clean up the sewing room. For the last two days every time I put something down it got lost in the mess. I had to resort to putting the quilt on my bed to pin the borders because both my cutting tables are pure ordinary disaster.

I always feel

more energetic and ambitious

about cleaning

when the sun is shining

but this

is not going to wait for the sun.

 

 

Made fabric quilt

I have not had much luck in getting my sewing room in order because I have all my bags of scraps out and I kept dragging some scraps out to play. I even got them them all put back in their respective bags and I still couldn't leave them alone. I decided that the  only way I was going to get them put away would be to make a quilt. I have had a quilt in mind since last week so I went ahead and got it together. I showed the blocks up on my wall  in my post yesterday. I sewed the 2 1/2 inch strips of Kona Bone on 2 sides late yesterday. Today it is a partly done flimsy; I still have to make the borders.

This is a pattern from the Missouri Star Quilt Company called Falling Charms. Click on the link for the Your Tube video. The quilt in the video is so pretty made with a nice soft floral charm pack and that is what really caught my interest. After I started to play with making fabric I decided to make 5 inch squares and use them in a small quilt, maybe a baby quilt.

 In the quilt picture shown here the body of the quilt is a photo of the actual quilt that I sewed together today. I imported the photo to EQ7 to audition a virtual piano key border in EQ. This is a new feature in EQ7 and I dicovered it about a year or so ago; it makes pieced border decisions easier. It was either piano keys or prairie points. I have a lot of bright strips cut but not very many bright 3 inch squares so the piano keys it will be.

Of course that means

I will not be able

to put those bags of scraps a way yet.

I better get busy.