Life lessons from fabric

Welcome if you are coming over from Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  Often it's so hard to decide which quilt to showcase, but it wasn't this time.  Many of you will have seen this quilt recently in this post but if I think back on the quilts I've made/finished in the last six months, this one makes me smile!  A lot.

Let's start with the fact that the scraps from the trimming are my "avatar" in my blog heading!  That should tell me something.  When I thought the leftovers that were too too too tiny to repurpose were beautiful, it means I was loving the fabrics and the quilt.  And I was.

This is from Victoria at Bumblebeans and a tutorial that she created. When I saw her quilt and the others that popped up afterwards, I immediately started collecting solids.  I even used them in a challenge with two friends in order to buy more.  That's explained in the original post.

I pin.  I measure.  I like matchy-matchy.  I prewash fabrics.  I like to iron fabric.  I starch.  I rip if it doesn't suit me.  I am not a perfect quilter -- far from it.  Lightyears from it, actually.

But this quilt and process opened up pockets of freedom that I don't normally use.  No need to pin.  Eyeballing is close enough.  Trimming supersedes cutting...why take the time to be fussy!  It was so much fun and went so fast.

I smile every time I see this quilt and even unfold it occasionally to look at it.  I've decided that I will hang it so that I can see it more often -- and others can as well.  So - this time, it was easy to decide which quilt I wanted to share.

I hope you are making quilts that are giving you joy and expanding your horizons and teaching you all kinds of lessons -- both life lessons and quilt lessons.  This wave runner has definitely done all that for me!

Keep piecing!  Jan

First Break All the Rules!

Seriously!

I love this quilt but it took every ounce of effort I had to "let go" and let it flow.  This is from Victoria at Bumblebeans and is her Waverunner quilt.  I fell in love with it when I first saw it and knew that I wanted to make one.  But I had no solids.  What's quilter to do?

Buy solids, of course! So when it was my turn to host a challenge for MacQuilts and Mom22smartchix, I bought nine different solids (Moda and Kona) and we each took 1/3 yard.  We could then add up to 4 different fabrics to the collection but you had to use every fabric in whatever quilt you chose.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot convey the look on MacQuilts face when she saw the solids--and especially the tan and dark brownish-burgundy.  She is a batik and Kaffe girl for the most part and it was priceless.  "Horror" is slightly overstated -- but not by much.  She added a great batik and made very modern quilted placemats which are used daily and the back has the scary fabrics on the back.  Clever!

Mom22smartchix made an incredible Amish themed quilt which still needs to be quilted and will also be spectacular when it's done.

For me -- this was hard.  I am pretty focused on good process and quality control so letting go and following the "waverunner way" took some getting used to.

Cut on a straight line?  Goodness no!
Press not iron?  Heck no -- steam the fire out of it!  Make it fit!

Measure twice and cut once?  Why would you do that?
If a block doesn't work, rip it out and redo?  Of course not. Add a strip!

1/4" seam allowance?  Sort of!
Square up blocks before sewing?  Well you could, but why bother?

Follow a pattern?  Why?  This is yours!
Same fabrics can't touch?  Are you nuts!  Who cares if yellow and cheddar are side by side!

Amidst the dogwood petals that are letting go this morning.  Alas....they were beautiful.

In the end -- this was a blast and I love the quilt.  It's bound in red and I smile every single time I see it.  I'm not exactly sure why I waited six months to bind it -- that was silly now that it's emerged again.   There are a few tucks in it and once I wash it, I believe that the crinkles of washing will really blend with the quilting.

This little gem will be entered in this spring's Bloggers Quilt Festival sponsored by Amy's Creative Side.  Have a go at it if you've never had a chance to see what she does. It's amazing and there is so much inspiration over there, it will make your head spin.  Seriously!

I hope you're having a wonderful day and following the rules if that makes you happy or making your own rules if that's even more fun.  I get it!  Jan