Things get bad for all of us, almost continually,
and what we do under the constant stress reveals who/what we are.
~Charles Bukowski
Quilting
Inner borders benefit from SID (stitch-in-the-ditch) to keep them straight and that's what I did first here. But what to do next? The improvisationally cut hourglasses don't lend themselves to diagonal stitching although straight lines could run vertically. That's one of my default quilting designs.
Then I recalled the quilting design on kawandis. It's a simple squared-off spiral from the outside in. And usually hand quilted. Starting at the outside meant the back needed to be carefully basted because there's no way to smooth bumps out as quilting progresses. And yes, there was extra at times. Fortunately, those fit between the rounds. Since no stitching crossed any other, there were no pleats.
The inner border was filled with free motion loops in dark brown and the outer border returned to the squared-off spirals. Feathers and Baptist fans didn't seem like they would show against the strong fan pattern of the print.
The back started with a yard of an alphabet print purchased {a couple of years ago} for use on a baby quilt. It's enlarged with a tone-on-tone beige and a tiny green remnant. That green was wider but part was trimmed once the quilt was finished.
The binding is a wonderful multi-color stripe that looks hand painted. It has every color in the quilt: red, yellow, white, brown, and green.
Quilt Specifics
Size: 52" x 52"
Design: Improv Hourglass
Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton
Thread: Superior brown and Gutermann multi-yellow cotton thread
Quilting: Walking foot spiraling squares and FMQ loops
Approximate yardage: 5.75 yds
Previous post: Improvising the scraps
Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate)
Two quilts finished this month. Most excited that the Wheel quilt is finally a finish and it looks beautiful. Plus this small one has gone to a new baby. March = 24.75 yds. YTD = 42.625 yards.
Reading
Somehow I quit reading Clare O'Donohue's Someday Quilts mysteries but I'm making up for lost time. This week I finished The Devil's Puzzle where a skeleton is uncovered in Eleanor's backyard. It's been buried for thirty to forty years so there's not much chance of discovering who it is or who murdered him. There are only two more books in this series and I hope to finish it by year end.
EDIT: Clare was a producer for Alex Anderson on Simply Quilts.
18 comments:
Congratulations on another wonderful finish. This one is so fun and playful - great job!
Love this improv scrappy piece. The red is joyful.
I really like the splash of yellow across the hourglasses. (Sunshine peeking in?) Thanks for the book recommendation!
It's so interesting and that binding is perfect. I'll check out those books thanks for the review Ann
Good idea for quilting, I'm glad it turned out with no puckering or bunches. Always a plus. It looks great!
A lovely way to quilt it, and I too am glad there were no puckers! That binding was the prefect choice too.
Thanks, Patty. It was a good way to use up more of those squares I'd squirreled away.
Thanks, Jocelyn. It's interesting to see the difference between casual and precision cutting on these blocks.
I enjoyed figuring out how to arrange these blocks. I don't use much yellow and really should try to incorporate more. Clare used to work for Alex Anderson. She has a new series without the quilting link. I'm going to start those when this one is finished.
Thanks for writing, LeeAnna. I think you'd like Clare's books.
It's always a good day when a new quilting idea works. No lines cross and that probably helped. Thanks for writing, Robin.
It's good to figure out a simple, new way to quilt things. The binding still makes me smile. Thanks for writing, Linda.
I do like the way you've treated the corners in the outer border Ann. You speak of the simple Kawandi style quilting in the body of the quilt, I'm all for simple quilting, to me less is more but having made that statement there are quilts which lend themselves to more detailed quilting. Love this little bright quilt.
It seems very brave to me, to quilt from the outside in, but it is a lovely solution.
There are quilts that should have detailed quilting. I thought about orange peels here but because they are improv instead or traditional, the peels wouldn't line up properly. Nothing but echo quilting will show on these strong prints and parallel lines would have meant a lot of stopping and starting at the inner border. And that's how I ended up with the spiral. Next week I have something fancier.
I think it was, too. It's easier with hand quilting - at least it was for me. But there's still stuff to work in. Fortunately, none of the lines cross so I could ease the excess in. Next time I'd start at the inside and work out.
Oh, it's great to catch up and see where that hourglass prompt took you! I really like what you did with the layout. Great finish!
Thanks, Monica. They are a good design to play with.
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