Wednesday, June 24, 2015

What's Next?

I usually have several projects going at once - each at a different stage. This habit allows me to work on what suits my mood of the moment. There is often a backlog at the FMQ stage since that is where I am weakest and trying to skill build. Here is what is hanging ready to be quilted. On the left is my overlapping squares top, in the middle is my strip quilt of Barnyard Buddies fabric, and on the right is Bugs R Us. I will probably do the center one next since that is the one for which I have the clearest idea of a stitching pattern.


These sheep will get something with loop de loops to accent their curly coats.


This scenic section will get some long sweeping curves to echo the shapes of the hillsides.


While I am thinking I resort to my soothing and mindless production of burp cloths. Here I've cut the fabric for eight. The fabric will be paired as it is laid out from top to bottom; bubbles with plaid cats, elephants with giraffes, diagonal stripes with reindeer, and polka dots with hot air balloons. I plan to post pictures of the eight complementary pairs once I've sewn them.


When I set my camera down next to the tape measure on the countertop upstairs I accidentally snapped this photo. I thought it was cool enough to share. See where the mind wanders when I do not know what comes next?


I am also at the very beginning design stages of a new quilt for which I have no pattern. It will be made from a repurposed cloth book panel by John Butler, children's book illustrator, titled Who says Woof.


Here is my design wall. Background fabric will be a gray mini-print. Three pseudo-solid fabrics that echo colors in the page outlines and lettering will border the pages in some way. The colors have a softened tone to them, yet they are not pastel.


Here is my Power Point playing. I took screen shots of each page from online sales of the book fabric panel, inserted them into a Power Point file and drew triangles around them. I will group the pages rather than bordering each separately. I got the idea from a book I recently bought, Panel Play by Barbara Becker. I have not decided how big to make the points on the stars. I also do not know if I will use solid stripes and solid corner accents or if I will insert sawtooth-strips instead. It may depend on how far my fabric goes. I have only ½ yard each of the soft red, soft blue, and soft orange.


The last time I posted my projects status list was May 13, 2015. If I do not know where I am going, at least I can show where I've been.

Completed projects since May 13, 2015:
    1. Traveling Mandala (June 7, 2015)
    2. Simple Gifts (June 10, 2015)
    3. Fun Guys (June 17, 2015)
    4. Dinosaur Crib Sheet (June 22, 2015)
    Ongoing projects:
    1. Bugs R Us  (May 31, 2015) awaiting FMQ
    2. Barnyard Buddies strip quilt (April 15, 2015) awaiting FMQ
    3. Overlapping square wall hanging - (March 4, 2015 post) awaiting FMQ
    4. Mask quilt (October 19, 2011 post) - packed away... again ... may abandon
    New projects since May 13, 2015:
    1. Mandala
    2. Who says Woof?
    3. Crib Sheets
    4. Burp cloths
    I am hooking up to today's Freshly Pieced post for WIP Wednesday.

    2 comments:

    1. That Panel play is a really great book - Thank you for my copy! Playing with it in power point first does seem like a really wise idea, and I do love the colors you've picked; the brightness is a surprise, but it does help the stronger colors in the panel stand out.

      And, exciting ideas for the FMQ - I have a quilt in that stage, I guess I need to get it out and start thinking about it.

      I am starting to think that Tie-Dye Peasant dress is my "thinking" project - it's a bummer that I can't churn one out in a day (at least, not if I don't cut the pieces out ahead of time and do the diaper cover later), but they're fast becoming my go-to gift for quilt-worthy friends with female babies. Now if only I had a pattern for a good male analog...

      I love all those burp cloths - especially the elephants, reindeer, and balloons, and hope I will soon get to see them in person!

      And those sound like fun ideas for the farm strip quilt. I do think that the less intricate the piecing design, the more room there is to play in the FMQ stage, and that is fun in its own way.

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      1. In terms of FMQ ideas, I find smooth sweeping curves are harder to execute than I thought. My FMQ creativity has to be tempered to fit my FMQ capability. As to "thinking projects" I am about to add crib sheets to the burp cloth mix along with cloth books. Can't stay in the same rut all the time...

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