Welcome

* * * Canadian Craft Federation / Citizens of Craft.ca Podcast Series! : ) I'm in Episode #4... but you should listen to them all. : ) LISTEN

Friday 11 February 2011

What 800 Triangles Look Like, and Other Stories

Hi!  If you are just joining in (welcome!!)  I have been working on a quilt commissioned by Jesica.  After the passing of her beloved Grandmother, she sent me bags and bags of her grandmother's well kept fabric stash and asked me to make a big white quilt full of triangles.  Well, I've been pressing and cutting and pressing and cutting.  I finally did sew all the fabrics together and re-cut them to form little half-square triangles.


I spent several hours pressing them open today.  And here they are!


I figure I will arrange them with the strongest & darkest colors in the centre, and lighter toward the edges.  The corners will be solid white where she has asked me to applique some special images to further symbolize her grandma.  I began arranging a small position of the quilt to see how I feel about the layout.  Like this?


or like this?


Here's the same two arrangements in a different perspective.



ps- Jesica, if you are looking, please let me know.  If you cannot decide, click on each photo to enlarge them and take a step back.  : )  Each photo is about a tenth of the quilt...  Each square is about 3 inches, and will be a little smaller than that once it gets pieced together.

In other news (oh I have so much news!), I am unhappy with the way the tree is on Mandy's quilt.  Mandy is having the fabrics from her baby carriers & slings made into a wallhanging.  I've come very far on this one and I feel stuck.  I phoned her to discuss it and she agrees.  I asked about changing the tree color and she would like the style to be different.  I feel much better about finishing it now.  I was really not satisfied for some time.  Perhaps I shouldn't have made the ground so realistic.  Now the tree needs to be upscaled a lot.  It's nothing some embellishing cannot fix though.


I have officially finished the pink / white / brown owl quilt!  The hanging sleeve is attached, the buttons eyes are sewn on, and the whole quilt top has been cleaned up of thread tails and such.  I'll add a label to the back and bring it to the next guild meeting for show and tell.

the top of the owls are raw edge applique so the will ruffle when washed : )

the flannelette backing : )

pretty binding fabric from Periwinkle Quilting and Beyond

From there it will be hung for sale at McNally Robinson's Booksellers from the upper railings around the children's reading section.  (Isnt' that fantastic of them to offer that exhibit space to our guild!?).  This will be the 4th and 5th quilts I've hung there.  My country courthouse steps will go up there too, both until the end of May.


AND my final news is that me and Christie from Describe Happy are on a fitness challenge for eight weeks.  We'll be reporting our progress to each other and sending each gifts of support.  The idea is that if one of us can't keep up, they will owe the other some serious fabric.  If we both keep up though, then we both win and prize each other.  I challenge you to find a partner and do the same.  Quilting is not good for the butt and it's been a long long winter.  ; )

~Monika K.

11 comments:

Angie said...

I am so in love with the leaves on your tree! Great work.

Evelyn said...

I vote for the first triangle layout. And I love the idea of your fitness challenge - good luck to both of you!

fabriquefantastique said...

i also vote for the first layout.That stack of triangles look very satisfying.

Anonymous said...

I like the first layout as well. What are you doing with the tree? Maybe just some fabric paint to darken the bark would make you feel better about it. Love your owl by the way and wish you luck with your challenge. I've challenged myself to train to walk 5k in the MS Walk 2011 on April 17th.
Stay inspired!

Simone de Klerk said...

Dolores linked to you on her blog. What a lovely time I had, visiting you. Some great tutorials and lovely inspirations!
I will put you on my blog roll to be able to see the loveliness you make (o:

Anonymous said...

I also love the first layout! I also love the quilting on Mandy's quilt! So amazing! I just joined your blog and I look forward to more great posts :)

Mandy said...

I love Mandy's quilt too!!! :)
Just let yourself awesome self go and release all of your creative juices into it - I trust you!! When you sew your love into the piece it will hold and carry that energy and that's important to me too. Your work and skill is amazing and inspiring and I can't wait to see how this hodgepodge of crazy colours continues to be transformed in your hands - so far... loving it!

Becky said...

I love love love the owls!! Did you know I used to work with Spotted owls in the PNW? I heard and saw all sorts of owls late at night. They're such neat creatures! I haven't seen the whole Mandy quilt, but love the leaves none the less. And I like the triangles all facing the same direction. Just my 2 cents, but with all the different colors, I think they need to face the same way to pull it all together. you can get away with the different directions if they're all the same fabric or color, but with the scrappy look, it's hard to follow with the eye if that makes sense. I don't quite know where to look. And that binding is killer-sweet!

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

Great post. The quilts are so pretty nd so much work. I admire you for getting fitness challenge going, too. You're right, quilting and skinny butts don't go together. Ha! Ha!

Janice Reynolds said...

first layout. Its too confusing and has no rhythm otherwise.

Bee said...

I agree....I like the first layout best. There is a rhythm and flow that the second one does not have. I also love your tree quilt...the leaves are great! I'm wondering if you darkened and/or shaded the trunk with something like Tsukineko ink... would you like it better?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

* * * Here are some of the most viewed blog posts this month * * *