Hopeful Homemaker

Do you ever have things to say through fabric?  I do, all the time.  Increasingly I find myself trying to express complex emotions through fabric.  This new project is no different.  I’m curious to see where it leads as I continue.  For now, I have a fun improv flower quilt block.  It’s hanging out in my sewing room as I consider what to do next.

I used a rotary cuter to cut all my pieces, but no ruler to guide my cuts until I began putting all the pieces together.  I’ve always loved improv piecing, but haven’t actually embraced it enough in my own work (though my improv log cabin quilt is a treasured favorite, both for the improv piecing and the quilting).  This quilt block was a LOT of fun to make.

I’m using Art Gallery Pure Solids (almost) exclusively in this block.  The only exception is the deep red stamens.  The lovely “pink” is actually called cinnamon, and that gorgeous lime green is dark citron.  I love the way they both glow against the dark nocturnal background.

Wherever this project goes, there will be little quilt blocks “hidden” throughout.  This one I also did in an improv style.  The blues together might be my favorite element in this block because they’re subtle but add an important style element to the quilt block .  But as for the piecing, I have to say that the leaves were my favorite part to sew.

This happy, sort of minimalist, improv flower quilt block is fairly large.  The block measures approximately 15 x 19 inches at this point.  My heart is tender from the recent passing of my aunt.  My middle name is hers.  She advocated putting on your “red lips of courage” and heading out to face and do the thing that scares you, but which needs to be done.  Since her funeral, the stamen in this flower remind me of her “red lips of courage.”  I love how much I learn at funerals, both from listening to the memories of others and reflecting on my own.  She made everyone feel important.  I hope to be more like her.

Seeing my quilt block on my grandpa’s old door makes me smile and remember him fondly as well.  I sort of wish I could just leave the block like this though, as a simple piece of art on an old white door.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll pivot and do something else.  What would you do?

We’re almost at that point in late summer when the evenings feel cool and refreshing.  A couple of mornings have felt slightly crisp when I leave on my walk, but that burns off quickly as the sun casts its light across the valley.  I confess I’m looking forward to fall, though it is so short.  I’m ready to live with all the windows wide open again.  While summer’s heat didn’t invite me to stitch often, I have managed a few evenings of applique.  And so, here is my Wildabon progress report.

You may remember the beginning, where I started on the small blue flowers at the top.  I have stitched my way through all the blues, something I did to avoid switching thread colors often.

I was about to dive into the large peach and orange flowers but stopped myself.  It would be terrible to get those done and be thrilled with them, but dread all the little buds around the edges of this quilt.  I tackled those little flowers instead.  I had more than one moment of questioning why I added extra buds to this quilt (answer: to use more Liberty lawn fabrics).  Finished, I’m once again glad I included them.  They are cute.

Now I’m at the point where I have a few sets of leaves still to stitch.  They will go quickly, as their shapes are simple.  Once they’re done I’ll begin the large flowers.  I hope to finish this in the next few weeks.  Hopefully my next Wildabon progress report will be a finished quilt top!

 

Today I’m wondering how to quilt it.  Originally I considered hand quilting, but I have TWO hand quilting projects that are literally taking me forever to finish, so this one needs machine stitching.  Hmmm.  If you’re unfamiliar with the Wildabon pattern, it’s an applique pattern by Carolyn Friedlander, one of my favorite designers.  I particularly love that this was a collaboration between Carolyn and Leah Duncan, who is another favorite artist.  Creatiivity abounds!  There’s room for so much of it, from all of us.  I love that!

I hope you’re enjoying the beginning of September.  I’m off to stitch a bit.

Once upon a time I made the Starlight Lily quilt as a pattern tester.  I also made a scrappy version with low volume fabrics, just to see how it looked.  All this while later, I have finally finished binding my Starlight Lily Scrappy quilt.

When I added borders, I broke them up into pieces so I could continue using my low volume fabrics, and because it seemed like a lot of negative space.  Honestly, I’m not sure it was the best decision for this quilt.  A green border would probably have been better.  But that’s part of the journey – trying things to learn from them.  More practice.  We get better.

I do like that scrappy center!  When I quilted this, I had it on my longarm machine and was very much a beginner.  It’s a series of experiments and different stitches.  Some of them too long, some of them with tension issues.  I didn’t even know I was messing up in places.  So it’s quilted, but NOT well.  And yet it’s functional, although I don’t know how much washing the quilting would stand up to over time.  So what do you do with a mostly functional quilt, whose workmanship you’re not proud of, and that you don’t really love?

I don’t know.  And that’s probably why it sat for so long, binding attached but no stitching.  This summer, because I’m tired of the piles that come with unfinished projects, I stitched it down.  Binding finished! I keep a roll of binding scraps to use for scrappy bindings.  This one was fun, and the right binding for the quilt.

 

Yet the question remains:  what to do with the starlight lily scrappy quilt?  I’d like to donate it to someone, but I also want to give good gifts.  I don’t like gifting something that isn’t my best work.  But I also know that it’s not likely to see use at my house; we have so many favorites already in rotation.  Any suggestions for me?  What would you do with it?