Waiting In The Wings

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Crossroads!!!!

I'm not referring here to the Anna Maria Horner quilt, although
I have bought the pattern, but I feel as though I am stuck
at a crossroad with my quilting!

Too many ideas, books, scrolling through Instagram and thinking
"oh yes, I'd like to make that" and adding to my
mental list.
I want to make traditional, I want to make improv,
I want to use my patterns designed a number of years ago,
there just doesn't seem to be enough time
to achieve what I should like to achieve.
Is this just me or does anyone else get totally frustrated?
Whichever, I need a big re-think.

Rant over, sorry about that,  been a bad week.

On a positive note I have made a start with my new
Hindsight fabrics.
Cutting into strips using the method demonstrated by
Kathy Doughty at
a while ago on
The Quilt Show


Usually I would have two 24" rulers, I iron the fabric first off and
then I can adjust the meet up of the selvedges to make sure
the fabric hangs correctly  ( always have done this). Kathy gets a straight RH edge
and lines up the edge of
a ruler on it, as you can see here I'm using the full width
of the ruler for a 6" wide length.
I bring the LH ruler up to the edge of the RH, remove the RH
and then cut - a a beautifully straight, equal 6" all the way along.
Thanks to Kathy!


I  can then cut into other widths using the same method.

So this is the start of a new piece using 2 and 1/2" strips and
cut into 14" lengths


this was one seen on Instagram - Scrap Buster Quilt -
more sections to come and I'm doing things a little differently.
One of the reasons I love to cut these multi-coloured, bright and
bold fabrics into strips is that sometimes little surprises come along

Example - four strips not yet sewn and randomly picked
and placed on the wall, second strip


see how the large butterfly wings sort of meet up with the half of a flower
in the next strip down? I like that.
Similar thing in the next few strips, third strip down, large pink
flower with limey yellow leaves meets up with a strip of
Echinacea, same colour and I see a little surprise.
Fluttery eyelashes!



Now, remember my little wall quilt top made for the
Red is a Neutral prompt with


this is next up for machine quilting and
there will  be kiwis on the back


and KF Spot black with purple for the binding


it blends pretty well (perhaps too well) which is what was hoping for.

Feeling somewhat more cheery now for having written this post and here
is a photo of the last of my
white camellias


this is one of my favourites, I love the
symmetry, all those petals whirling around.

We're heading to Level 2 tomorrow here in New Zealand, hopefully
everyone makes a huge effort to stick to the rules!

See you soon.

Maureen

13 comments:

Julierose said...

I know, I want to make them all too--every one I see says "Make me, no--wait,,,make me!!" And then I seem to return to real life sewing and make my usual stuff...
And, that is why I have a whole lot of books, patterns, clippings from mags, etc etc...that I pore through and end up not making...aren't we quilters funny?;))))
~ ~ ~ waving and feeling better, Julierose

Debbie said...

So many quilts, so little time...left to make them. Do what you love, do what you enjoy. As always I enjoy your colorful way with fabric, whether they are scraps or not. So exactly where is this scrap busting project taking us?

EYSchmitt said...

I, too, can totally relate to your opening paragraphs....ALL the ideas and quilts floating around online, old and new, patterned and improv, in my books and then in my own head simply overwhelm me almost constantly and I hardly know where to start sometimes....we are just SO rich in ideas and the raw materials to make them concrete that we have almost given ourselves too many options and too many decisions. I frequently think of the Gee's Bend quilters who, back in the day, had limited materials on hand (often worn out clothing) and only the quilts of other area quilters to compare with....and their imagination....and look at what transpired there! It is a challenge to deal with all the riches! Sometimes Less is More?

Linda Swanekamp said...

You must be hearding the thoughts in my head. Too many ideas and paralysis in starting. I pulled out some UFOs. Deciding which Hindsight fabrics to buy. I am not sure why we get so mentally bogged down with quilt ideas and possibilites.

Ann said...

I've quit looking at Instagram because it's too distracting right now. Like you, I have more ideas than I will finish in my life and a bunch of quilts in progress. It's easy to see I prefer making the tops to quilting. Sigh.
The block you used for Red is such a charmer. Perfect for scraps. I made one years ago but can see I want to do it again. The binding does blend into the border but there's a subtle darkening. I think it's perfect. You don't need another "star" on this beauty. That shade darker marks the edge well. Congratulations.

Louise said...

I'm having the opposite problem lately...I don't want to sew anything! But I'm motivated to cut my scraps into nice, uniform sizes so that's what I'm doing. Your Red is a Neutral piece is giving me idea, though :)

O'Quilts said...

yes yes yes....When I finished my finishes...I was at quite a loss...So I made a rope bowl..ha...I am going to make another one soon and then I will see where I am...Your work is lovely.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

You are right the happy accidents of deisgns when putting strips together in a project are pretty exciting.

I'm thinking maybe a small quilt/tablerunner/table centerpiece might be the way to try out some of the many ideas before committing to another whole quilt. I know the small things don't get the respect that large quilts do but doing something rather than paralysis is better I think. I can see another orphan block quilt in my future with some of my tryouts too.

Janie said...

Very exciting colors here! And that red improv quilt is fun, good for you.
And yes, stagnation does happen but the good news is it doesn't last.

Rosemary Dickinson said...

I know how you feel! There are so many projects out there and so hard to decide what to work on. We all need more time! Your fabrics are gorgeous! I love scrap projects. Instagram is so fun to look at but it's almost too much! It gives us overload!

Quiltdivajulie said...

I keep a file on the computer for images of ideas I think I want to make -- I try hard not to dive into anything right away as the urge too often passes and I'm left with a pile of cut out fabrics that no longer fit with anything I want to make. So I play with fabric pulls and put labels on them and then wait to see which ones survive the gestation period. Seems to work - and when the assorted pulls begin to annoy me, I cull out the ones I no longer love and go back to whatever I was working on. It's a journey and a process with no perfect road map - we each work differently but Wanda is definitely right. Something small is better than being totally stalled. Placemats, pillow covers, mug rugs - they've kept me going many times. And they're almost always made of scraps (big surprise, right?). Love the strips you're playing with - that saturated color is balm for my nerves.

Anne / Springleaf Studios said...

Totally feel where you're coming from. Too too too many ideas added with way too much beautiful fabric that I want to use and I get overwhelmed with it all. I have tackled this in a couple of ways. For one, I sometimes do better when I just dive in and start. To make it doable I have also taken to making smaller lap quilts. I prefer to use that size on the couch anyway and small quilts get done faster which allows me to move on to another idea and another fabric group. Down side is it doesn't use up much fabric so barely makes a dent in my stash. Although maybe that's a plus too. I also love the surprises of combining strips together. Look forward to seeing what your strips become.

Pip said...

I can sympathise with you, I had slightly similar feelings last year, I was feeling as if it was a competition to make many quilts as fast as possible. I decided to only make things I want to make rather than being sucked into making what everyone else was making (although sometimes that does coincide). I use a similar method to cut strips except I move the RH ruler from the top to the bottom to check that the LH ruler is straight. You have inspired me to cut some strips of my KF fabrics and play around a little bit, I love that kiwi backing fabric, very cute.