A Charm-Hap 2

Just to commemorate that I am actually posting twice on the same week, here is Charm-Hap finished!

It was a beautiful afternoon in The Hill, perfect for picturing the colors and the textures...

There is another picture of the quilting in my previous post, but it was a smaller section. The sashing ended up with a herring bone design, and the border has a loopy design. Just like with the border sections, I wanted to have a similar kind of design, but with different angles.  

I was smiling when I was finishing this mini; it was very exciting to see this particular UFO turned into something nice - in fact, I like it so much that I'm having trouble with the idea of giving it away!  I hope it brings happy thoughts to the ones that will use it.

And the best thing of all is that it goes well with the gorgeous pear tree in the yard!  With no doubt, God is the best artist of all!

Playing with scraps

After "abandoning" my FMQ Adventures for a while, I decided it was about time to give a try, but this time in a serious project - and that's why this one is made out of a bunch of scraps!  I got a box of little pieces left from a previous experiment (WAY too experimental to be posted in any decent blog) and the Drunkard's path runner I finished about a month ago.  

My crafty bone started tickling with new piecing techniques and FMQ ideas, particularly after watching two Craftsy classes.  The scraps from my Drunkard's path runner would give me the great opportunity to try Improv Pods, a composition by Elizabeth Hartman, which you can see in Craftsy class, Inspired Modern Quilts. Angela Walter's Craftsy class, How to Machine Quilt Negative Space, was the second source of my inspiration for this quilt. 

When it comes to the quilting itself, something that really stood out for me was the texture of the quilting.  So far, I had only FMQed by using a contrasting thread, as you can see in previous posts, but this time, I had to try and see first hand how blending thread would look.  So... (drum roll, please) here is the result!

I'm really pleased with the finished look, but I also like how the back looks.  It's a great way to see the finished texture.  Also, I still haven't decided if it will end up as a runner; I thought it could be a pretty wall hanging, so I also sewed folded fabric squares to the back, just in case...

  

And the pictures started rolling... In here, you can really appreciate the unbalanced effect, by having a chunky blue frame at the bottom and a wider negative space at the top.  Also, I have seen here and there some quilts with a binding that has little piece of a different fabric than the main part of the binding.  I like the way that looks and decided to put some of the green away from the chunkiest blue to help balance the composition.

 

And here is a close up of the quilting. Another big idea I learned from the class is that the quilting can emphasize the piecing, so I tried to do so by quilting lines on the "frames" of the end pods. I micro-stippled the connecting strips and the frame of the middle pod. The inside of the blocks (excepting for the solid blue pieces of fabric) has a looser meander (or larger stipple).

And just because the wood looked so cute after the rain, here is another angle of the finished runner.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this post; I will probably make another scrap pod runner soon and I will be taking pictures of the process, so don't forget to stop by and see what's going on here at the Hill!!

Going along a Drunkard's Path!

No, I didn't start drinking of anything of the sort... Drunkard's Path is the name of a curve unit of a quilting block. It is made up of two pieces of fabric with one round edge that can be arranged into a bunch of different shapes and figures. Just to give you and idea, type Drunkard's Path quilt pattern, and you'll see what I mean.

A very interesting fact of this quilt, it that it has been linked to the Underground Railroad and the Women's Temperance movement. Kimberly Wulfert has a very interesting article about the Drunkard's Path on her blog.

Let's get to the sewing part... Start with a bunch of squares; mine were 3.5". Remember to use fabric combinations that will allow you to showcase the drunkard's path unit. You can either use print/solid fabric, or even play with value. In this case, I chose cotton prints and a neutral linen fabric. Later on, because of all the bias edges and curves, I sort of regretted using linen; I had to be super careful when handling the units because of the linen open weave.  You don't want to distort any of the pieces. 

Using a template, you need to cut the squares into shapes that look like pie slices.  I used Marti Mitchell's Drunkard's Path templates because they are thick, last longer and are super accurate. There is no need for trimming, which makes the process even easier.  And almost as everything else I buy, I got these at a very good price, so what could be better?  :)  You can also look up free templates to download.  This will give you the chance to experiment and find out if you like this shape so much that you would actually consider buying an acrylic template.

These templates come in different sizes. I used sizes C and B to form 3.5" Drunkard path units. The green fabric was a strip, and I you can change the template orientation to have a minimum amount of waste - which is another feature of these templates.  I guess that I'm trying to make a point and say that these are a good investment.  They also come with a guide to form different patterns, and if you visit the webpage, you can even download practice pages that you can use for coloring and experimenting.

Anyway, once you've cut the squares, you'll have two different pieces, one that looks like a funky "L" and one that looks like a pie slice. 

Find the center of each piece and, right sides together, take an itty bitty pin pinch in the center.  Take the sides of the "L" and pin them to the edges of the pie slice.

Take the piece in between your fingers and place two or more pins in between the first three pins you used.  Although it looks weird at the beginning, you can actually match the edges because of the bias cut.  Also, and maybe because of the warmth in your fingers, the fabric sort of sets into each other.  Once you have the fabrics lined up, stitch a 1/4" seam.  A little trick is to reduce your stitch length - this helps with round edges.  You can also try sewing slower than you usually do. Once this is done, press to the side that you want to emphasize.  In this case, I chose to press to the linen, and you can see it sort of seems to be on top of the print/color fabric.

Once you have the number of units you need for your design, stitch them in rows and columns, so that you can form the block of your choice.

But I just could not stop there. These little units are SOOOO addictive and fun to make, that I ended up with two more blocks, one to each side of the previous one. I also added a linen paper-striped border; I made it using the same technique for the paper pieced strip blocks.

And voilà!

Somehow I ended up with a super funky, modern Drunkard's Path runner!!! It's only pieced and patiently waiting to be quilted.  I still have not decided on a pattern for this runner.  I would like the quilting to enhance the piecing, not to distract from it. Of course, I'll be stitching in the ditch to emphasize the diagonal lines and give it a little bit more of body for the actual quilting. I also thought of echoing the shape once inside and once outside the diagonals to "frame" them.  Don't know yet... I will probably print a picture and start doodling on top of it, just to get an idea of what it would look like.

 

 

I actually thought of making it as a sort of runner to drape over a cart we have at the entrance. It would make things look cleaner and will also hide any unsightly views. With this in mind, it ended being very long and difficult to photograph - just keep in mind it's a tad over 50" long...  

It sound crazy because I'm all undecided about the quilting, but a part of me wants to have it ready to be draped on that cart...  I know it will be really cute there. The best part is that it can also be used as a table runner, so the possibilities are endless with such a versatile piece!!

So... the woman on the hill scores another "Yiya" with the first time making something!!!  Woohooo!!  (Remember the part where I said that I just got these templates?).  And with so many arrays, I wish I didn't have to do anything else so that I could quilt all the time... lol

I just thank God for the creativity and ability to work on such beautiful projects.  Now to ponder - how will this be used to glorify Him?

I guess it's time to go from practice pieces to blessing pieces... Who knows! :)

So, are you keeping busy?

You may wonder about the title of this blog; well, that is a question I often get. And if people ask something like that, it is obvious that they haven't witnessed the neat creativity display on the dining room table, which is more like a craft corner lately... :)

And to my ever restless crafty bone, the acquisition of a sewing machine as my Christmas gift last year is making it spin, twirl, loop, hop, and smile!  Or, as I have said before, it makes ideas in my head tickle! :)

And going back to keeping busy, this post is just one token of the ripple effects in the once-used-for-sharing-meals dining room (which I confess extends to the living room quite often...).

A good friend of mine got married last September, providing me with a wonderful opportunity for transferring those tickling ideas into practice...  After a little thought, I decided to ask her what their favorite colors are (blue and green, as you can see), and started the hunt for fabric...  It all ended up with a table runner and three thermal trivets; I thought this would be a neat, practical gift that they could use many times.  And they liked it!!  :)

I would have had more pictures of the process itself, but I took them while I was making the runner, back in July, mainly for documentation. I'll probably blog more about the "how to" later. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these! :)

This is the pieced table runner - that basically means the top part, made up of tiny scraps (or *pieces*) of fabric, in different shapes and sizes, sewn together.

Something that I discovered while making this runner is that the back is as equally interesting as the front.  So, just in case you're curious, here it is!

After the pieced top was finished, I prepared what is called a "quilt sandwich."  This sandwich consists of a pieced top, batting in the middle and the back layer of fabric, which must be sewed together. This makes the finished quilt (the table runner, in this case) have a sort of "puffy" look, which varies according to the stitch direction or pattern. A fun way of quilting is by "free motion quilting" the sandwich. This is the technique I used for quilting the runner. Basically, the quilt sandwich has to be moved in different directions in order to make a design with the thread.

This is the back view, after the quilting was finished. 

The finished table runner, front and back views:

So, how do you keep yourself busy when you're at home?