Playing with Scraps

I can't get away from this, these scraps just won't let me put them away. I have been using some of the scraps I picked up to refill my shoe box and they fit right in with my stuff at home.
Judy inspired me to do some piecing on paper triangles. I decided that eight was enough, you all know I am have been a reluctant paper piecer, even when I don't have to sew on the lines. I liked what I made but thinking about removing the paper kept me from wanting to make a lot more.
These top two shots are auditions. I thought maybe I wanted to separate the triangles. Below that is the piece sewn together. Yes, I do have a plan  that I am working on (and it is taking me a lot longer than I thought it would).

 
 
I think after all that I will make more triangles. The paper almost fell off by itself and I like working with triangles.

Here is my messy design wall. I have been sticking things up there so I won't forget them or lose them. I want to thank whoever put the green strip set in the fabric pool. You can see that I have used 3 of the fabrics in my 6 /12 inch square.

 That little rectangle with printing, up on my design wall, is something I printed (but didn't use) for a Friendship block for Kathy's words of wisdom quilt.  I found this as I was looking for something else. When Kathy said proverbs I took it literally as Proverbs.



 A quarrelsome wife is like a

constant dripping on a rainy day;

restraining her is like restraining the wind

or grasping oil with the hand.

Proverbs 27:15-16.

I am going to put a border around it and put it above my desk. I got a little irritated yesterday and Jack was the recipient of my not so sweet and gentle words.

Do I have to tell you he likes this Proverb?



May ... Play

Another great Basement day!  Thanks to everyone for being good sports with a new technique.  I must also credit Judy with the stacks of pre-cut telephone book foundations, too.

I had planned to work on some 15 minutes practice exercises before the May meeting but, of course, I got busy and never got around to it.  I hoped that practicing would give me some ideas for strategies.  A couple of years ago, I made some improv wonky log cabin style blocks and they were pretty disappointing.  I couldn’t decide why I didn’t like them, but I didn’t.  Here are some of them. They were about 12”.  Sorry for the lousy pictures but this was a late night photo shoot.

 

 

 

 

 For Saturday’s sewing, I decided to use a random (lazy) approach and, again, my blocks were disappointing.  I should have learned from the examples Ruth showed me the week before.  She had a very controlled set that used only about 5 fabrics.  I thought if I used some muddy fabrics and some brights, it would be a good combination (sort of the “give the eye a place to rest” theory).  In the end, I think that the contrast of the different fabrics and values was distracting and using one common fabric wasn’t enough to get a sense of continuity.  These are the blocks I made Saturday.  I trimmed them to 6” square. 

Since these were uncontrolled and unplanned in every way, I thought maybe I should cut 6” squares from the larger blocks.  It’s only fabric, after all, and the larger blocks weren’t going to get better without some sort of intervention.

 

I am not sure where I am headed with these.  They may become the centers of some star blocks, maybe with reds for the points and black on white prints for the setting fabrics.  I must be feeling the influence of Wanda. 

I hope to find the time to try another working session before we meet again.  This time, I will do a fabric pull from my stash first then pick out scraps that coordinate with them.  I think I will use this Sassaman scrap for inspiration.  I picked it on Saturday from our lovely table pile.  I am also pretty excited about all of the HSTs I scored from Dianne.  I just couldn’t bear to see them go in the dog bed bag.

 

Making Fabric etc.

As usual we had a good time getting together. We had decided that for May we would all  bring a shoe box full of fabric scraps and pool them, using the "15 minutes of Play" book by Victoria Finlay Wolf, we would make fabric. Some us had a plan but most I think had a wait and see how it goes attitude.

This was the way the fabric pool table looked when I got there. Lori had cut some squares and triangles from phone book pages to use for foundations. On the right is Diane's contribution, some big shoe box I'd say. As more of the group arrived the table filled up and spread out to other places.

 We were all  to bring  1/2 yard of fabric to use ourselves for continuity; this is Lori's fabric. I brought a multicolored mostly yellow Kaffe fan fabric for mine. I did  not get any shots of anyone else's 1/2 yard. Most seemed to forgo that suggestion.











I think most of us were making blocks vs. larger made fabric pieces to cut into blocks. I did not  see a lot of finished blocks.


These 3 blocks on the top left are Maryann's blocks, very precise as usual. Below that are Judy's triangle blocks which she pieced on phone book paper foundations. Judy seems to have a plan and is still deciding which way to go. On the right are Gwen's blocks, she has a color scheme in mind and she too is still processing ideas as to how to use her blocks.



 Here we see Kathy and Gwen at their machines. I only got a couple of shots of people working. I thought I had more photos but I think I deleted some while I was reviewing them.

At the end of the day we selected fabrics from the table to fill our shoebox to take home to work on making fabric. We will do this again in June, hopefully the rest of the group will be with us at that time.

 

After lunch we got around to our other agenda. We were to bring a UFO that we decided to commit to finishing.

 

These are Maryann's two UFOs. They are not both the same size; the one on the left was make with the Lil Twister template so you can gauge the size. She wanted suggestions for quilting and Fran gave her a really good suggestion for the twister.

These are Lori's two UFOs. I was so interested in all the different fabrics that at first I didn't realize that the 9 patch blocks were wonky.

I had another photo,which somehow got deleted of Lori's e other UFO blocks. She wanted suggestions for centers and seed shapes for her pieced arcs. I suspect that this is going to be a WIP for awhile as that shoebox is full of arcs that seem to be all batik fabrics. Lots of work ahead on this UFO.

 Diane has been working on a Stack and Whack quilt that she started in our basement meeting a few months back. Our Stack and Whack guru Kathy on hand that day to give her suggestions. She has the pieces laid out on a sheet and had pinned tissue paper over it to bring it along to the meeting. It is only partially sewed together.




 Here is a close up of a piece of the original fabric. It is a very large floral print that makes a  stunning "Stack and Whack quilt. Below that is a close up of a few of the blocks. Those 3D hexagon blocks add a lot of interest.





Here are Guru Kathy's Stack and Whack UFO blocks.  Top left is a bunch she laid out 3 x 3; I failed to notice that there were also several blocks on in a  pile on top. Top right is close up of one block and below are close up of two different size blocks. One is a small version of the square blocks and the other is 2 of several hexagon blocks. Kathy is still  thinking about what she wants to do but this is the UFO or UFOs that she has committed to finish.

 This is my big 13 year old UFO. These blocks were made by the Friendship swap group the first year I was part of the group. Several of these ladies are Basement Divas. On the right is the 12  inch block showing the pieced sashing on 3 sides which formed another secondary pattern. These blocks have lot of pieces and I asked for 2 blocks with the fabrics to all be different and to give me any left over 4 patch blocks for the sashing. It is a testimony to how nice they are that we are still friends. I  have committed to work on the hand quilting one day every week until it is finished.

Here we have: a Diva who shall remain nameless, Syd, and Kathy all worn out at the end of a good day with good friends.

 

 



 

 

 

Landslide

The 15 Minutes of Playing turned out pretty well. Lori set up two tables and people just put things there for use or trade. At the end Lori and Dianne went through it all to put in a large box to use next time but pulled out the not so great stuff for a bag of dog bed stuffing. We will continue to work on this project next time because we had quite a fine time. We all took stuff home to work on as well.
 Some of us had unfinished projects to commit to finishing. There was much advice given. Some really good advice. If anyone out there ever needs advice, we have it in spades and not limited to quilting.
  Lunch was fantastic as usual.All three of the Maxwell boys were gracious hosts. We missed the Divas not there and almost forgot to talk about them.
  Ruth,who kept insisting that it Lori who was the Slave Driver, took lots of photos. I will look forward to seeing them.

Ready to rock, or roll , or not

  Another basement adventure coming up tomorrow. We will be short a couple and that's always sad but then at least we know who to talk about. Sue will be with grandchildren, Jan will be becoming more beautiful with her daughter, Laura is involved with her daughter's bridal shower and Lynn's son is getting married. When the hell did we get old enough to be doing those sorts of things.Cripes. Lori needs to find some younger friends.
 I'm not so sure about the 15 Minutes of Play thing. I have had at least 15 Days of Dread getting ready for it. Bring a shoebox full of strips and chunks for communal use. The worry starts, what if I bring the wrong stuff, what if no one takes my stuff. It's lunch time at school all over again. I have a shoebox of the lad's and I have filled it but am so very tempted to take a shoebox that I have from a pair of Margie's baby shoes. Way easier to fill. And an unfinished project to commit to. I think Susie wanted us to re purpose ( I hate that phrase almost as much as I hate the term "up cycle") an old piece but I think I will finish a Stack and Whack I started for the lad when Mary was in the old shop. Decades ago. I found and sized the blocks but the setting is bothering me so I will work on that and maybe the kid can have it when he graduates, again, next year.
Without Ruth-the-Slave-Driver quilting life would be less  stressful but not as much fun.
I suspect there will be pictures up after tomorrow.
  I hope I can sleep tonight.

To Boston with Love

I received some more flags  from the Divas to send to Boston. I am sending these 8 from our group. I know if we had known about this sooner or if we could have waited till next week to mail them we all would have made one.
On the top row from the left are the flags from Lynn, Suzie, 2 from Jan.
On the bottom there are 2 from Lori and 2 from me.

Thanks to Berene Campbell and the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild and to Amy Friend in Boston for making this happen..

To Boston With Love

Ruth sent out a link for To Boston With Love  a couple weeks ago.  A call went out to quilters for 6" x 8" flags to be tied together and displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for their Memorial Day celebration.  The Museum will retain the flags and display them again on the first anniversary of the bombing.  

Ruth made a couple really cute ones and they can be seen on her blog Gigi's Room.  I felt inspired to try one too. 

Lynn made an adorable t-shirt flag and some of the other Diva's were planning to make one too.  Ruth generously offered to collect our flags and send them together.  Check out the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild for details, pictures, and links.