On the Design Wall...

I've been doing more applique this summer so the projects that take shape on the design wall have been few and far between. I do have some finished appliqued wallhangings on there but they'll stay there until I decide how I want to finish them. And, knowing me, they could be there a long time. I read a few blogs everyday. One is called Mary Quilts (http://blog.maryquilts.com/). I like her style of writing (very casual) and I like the scrappy quilts she designs, makes and gives away. And she always gives step-by-step instructions so that if you like the quilt, you can make one for yourself. I really like that. When I saw the lattice quilt design, I knew I needed to make one. Earlier this spring, Randy's cousin gave me some yardage that she'd picked up at a garage sale. There are quite a few yards and it's a pattern I've always liked. In fact, I had the same fabric in 2 other colorways...and still have a bit of each! Since I'd gotten a lot of the blue colorway, I decided to use it, along with a navy-on-navy floral and a rose-on-pink fabric ...to make my own lattice quilt. I cut and pieced enough for a few blocks on Friday just to see if I liked it. Then, Sunday, I cut and pieced a few more. One thing I really like is that you oversize the blocks when cutting; then square them up after piecing.It makes for a bit of waste...but more importantly, it makes for very square blocks!

Now that I've got a few blocks done, I'm thinking I may need to applique something in the middle where the four blocks come together. To me, it looks a bit blah:Since the 4 blocks together make a 12" finished block, I could applique something, but what?

And that's why it takes so long to finish quilting projects!

Midnight in the Tropics - Block 3

I really thought I'd posted last week. Really. So imagine my surprise when I pulled up the blog this morning and see I've been very negligent in getting Midnight in the Tropics - Block 3 pics loaded.This is a challenging block for me because again, I wanted to use a variety of colors. Tropical flowers are very colorful and I really want that reflected in this quilt. The flowers in this block are nasturtiums. After a lot of debate, I decided that I'd do the four flowers in four different tones - even if nasturtiums don't come in these four shades. It is my quilt, after all, so get to I make the decisions. One flower is shades of tangerine/oranges (with a touch of pinks):

One in shades of pinks (with a touch of yellows and oranges):

One in shades of red-oranges (with a touch of yellows and a bit of shiny gold):

And one in yellows (with a touch of pinks and oranges):

I made many different star centers in many different fabrics before deciding on the black batik. I love the irridescent look; like tiny spots of light might be shining through fence or hedge and onto the flower. I also settled on a blue/purple/green variegated batik for the flower buds. And yes, I went through several fabric iterations before deciding on this fabric. My first inclination was to stay in the red/orange/yellow tones. But the buds in those colors seemed to get lost, rather than stand out within the block. To me, this fabric works because the buds hold a promise of a beautiful bloom; however, I'm left to imagine what the color will be. It's like a surprise waiting for the right time to happen.

Another choice was to decide on the fabric for the radiating spokes of the leaves. This was my first choice. But I think it's too blah and a bit too gold.

This is the one I think I'm going to use. (Of course, I retain the right to select a different fabric later - that goes with being both a woman and a quilter!) I like the color tone better against the darker green, and I like the patterned fabric better; there's more life to it.

I just think it plays better with the other colors, and brings in just a touch of the blue-greens from the buds and the background fabrics.

So, block 3. I like it!

Like the other blocks, I wanted some consistency within the block itself; a place to rest your eyes, if you will. So, my constants for Block 3 are the leaves, the buds and the star centers, although I think there's enough variation in the batik bud fabric to give a sense of change there without being overpowering.

Three down, one block to go! And a note: I have finished most of the applique on block one (lower right corner). There are three small leaves at the pointed end of each stem that I still need to cut and applique but that should go quickly!

Midnight in the Tropics - Block 2

So, block 2 and honeysuckle flowers. For me, selecting the fabrics to use is still the hardest part of any quilting project. I get bogged down with too yellow, too light, too much contrast, too wild, too overpowering. It's just too much too! I started by pulling out all my yellows because I decided I wanted my all four of my honeysuckle flowers to be yellow...nice, bright, bold yellows. With maybe a bit of orangey-red thrown in. Just because.

The first fabric I used is this batik. I love batiks because the fabric has so many possibilities, especially if the pattern is random like in this piece. I struggled with how to position the pattern until I decided to think of the darker stars as shadows falling across the flower; some are closer and some farther away just like they would be in any garden. Oh man, is that artistic thinking or what?

I got this great yellow and red piece of fabric at my favorite quilt shop (http://www.creekside-quilting.com/) in Des Moines, IA during a business trip. It reminds me of fireworks exploding in a summer sky.

I've had this yellow-on-yellow fabric with the tiny squares for many years. I loved it when I bought it and still do.

I went through a phase where yellow didn't fit into anything I did, so this fabric sat in my stash, patiently waiting for its time to come. In my everything-is-black-and-white-technical-writer-world, the squares needed to be cut in perfect little up and down lines. It certainly couldn't be set at an angle! Setting things at an angle was, well, it was a bit daring for me.

And maybe a bit too artistic.

And anyone who knows me, knows I'm not typically either of those things.

Realizing that there is no right or wrong for pattern placement when it comes to applique was a light-bulb moment for me. Really.

I know light-bulb moments for most poeple are life-changing; earth-shattering even. Me? Well, I take whatever light-bulb moments I can get, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem to others.

The fabric in this next block is a companion fabric from a Laurel Burch collection that features a mermaid and various sea creatures -- it's a darn cute collection and someday I'm going to make a sea-life Laurel Burch wallhanging with the mermaid as the focus. It's going to be daring. And artistic. And I'll smile every time I look at it. But I digress.

So, here's the block with all the flowers on it. And while I questioned doing all the flowers in yellows, I do like the final result. I am trying to keep a bit of consistency among the individual blocks (the technical writer in me still demands a bit of standardization). For this block, it's the stamen. The fabric I chose has a lot of bright tones and a bit of gold sparkle to it.

Two down, two to go! (Did you just hear that big sigh of relief from me?)

One last note: there will be small leaves scattered on both of these blocks. Like the stems, I'm planning to go wild and use different fabrics for each leaf.

Because I'm daring.

Really.

Midnight in the Tropics

I've started cutting out the pieces for an floral applique wallhanging. I love the pattern and saw a quilt made from it at a local quilt show last fall. It was stunning...and not just the quilt itself but also the quilting. At that point, I decided I wanted to make a similar one with just 4 blocks. The blocks are large - the pattern calls for ~21-inch backgrounds; I increased that to 24" because I wanted a bit more of the background to show along the edges. And I'm happy I did that. I do like it better than the original pattern sample. I also decided that I wanted my flowers to be bright. As in tropical bright because (in case you didn't know) I LOVE the tropics. Put me in the South Pacific and I'm in heaven. And with that in mind, I'm calling my creation "Midnight in the Tropics" because it makes me smile and recalls for me some wonderful times we've spent in the tropics. Here's the first block: I'm using a navy-blue floral for the background. If you look closely you can see the darker flowers on the background fabric - it's subtle but it's there. I've cut out all the pieces except for the small leaves that extend from the point of the flower stem. I'll do those after I finish appliquing down the flowers and stems. Selecting the fabrics really stretched me. It's not really in my nature to "boldly go where no quilter named ME has gone before" when I select fabrics. I love greens and blues for most things but this was supposed to represent the tropics, right? And other quilters use bright plaids and stripes so why couldn't I? Oh my! There are some quilters who would say it's wrong to mix batiks with their wovens and marbled cousins, but you know what? I don't care. Once I started putting the colors together, all I cared about was that I liked it. I'm the one who's going to applique it; I'm the one who has to live with it. And frankly, the fabrics remind me of the tropics where everything goes together.

Another thing I love about this pattern is that the pieces are Huge. Jumbo. Gigantic even. And for a novice appliquer like me, that's a bit deal. The pieces have soft curves and there are very few itsy, bitsy places that require the kind of teeny, tiny stitches that more experienced appliquers make.

One other thing for those who might be in shock at the size of fabric I've left outside the turning line. Yes, I will be cutting that down at bit when I do the needle-turn on it. Although, truthfully, it doesn't both me if a substantial (read: greater than a eighth-inch) amount of fabric is turned under. I'm not a perfect quilter. Or a perfect person. But I'm going to love Midnight in the Tropics in all its imperfection.

Woodland Lei applique quilt top

I started this applique project about 2 years ago. Most appliquers would probably be able to finish it off in fairly short order; however, I'm pretty new to applique. Not to the craft of applique but to the idea of me doing applique! I'm typically someone who needs to get things done in a short amount of time. If a project is going to take more than a month, well, it's not for me! It gets balled up and thrown in a corner.

I suspect that thinking comes from my journalism and technical writing background. Working in either of those fields means deadlines are always looming. You never think more than a week or two out because requirements change daily, new software releases happen, and the paper is "put to bed" and new assignments are handed out.

But my tangly friends from Tangled Threads encouraged and helped me throughout this applique project. They are all experts in applique. They've won awards and ribbons and accolades from all over, and they deserve all the praise they receive.

Even though my stitches aren't even and (more often than not) show on the top, they said I did a nice job. They're kind to a fault!

So, this is done. Finally. After two years.