More Leaves Quilted

My One Monthly Goal for January was to hand quilt 15 of these leaves to give me a total of 29 quilted blocks.  So far this month I've quilted 19½ blocks, for a total of 33½ blocks quilted.  Goal met.    

The colors in the photo below are odd and far from accurate but I've included it because it shows the quilting.  Sometimes it worked for the arcs to continue from one block to the next, other times it didn't.  I think the quilting will be okay but it's hard to tell how much I will (or won't) like it till it's bound, washed, and dried.  Do you ever not know how much you like (or will like) a quilt until it's finished?

With 33 of 80 blocks quilted, it's just over a third finished.  I must always remind myself that just because the center is quilted, I'm not yet halfway done with the whole quilt.  But that's okay.  I love quilting these leaves, putting the hoop around one and quilting just it, then moving to the next.  I think this may be the first time I've been able to quilt a block without moving the hoop.  I love doing it that way!

I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal January Finish Link-up at Elm Street Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Patty.

--Nancy.

The Conversation I Overheard

In a previous post I showed photos of possible border fabrics for these leaves.  (So many of you weighed in on your preferences and shared your observations.  Thank you!)   I left the potential border fabrics around the edges until I finally narrowed down the choice to the teal/blue fabrics, leaving only those.  As I glanced at the quilt while walking by one day I thought I overheard this conversation.

The border fabrics said, "Look!  We are the perfect color for this quilt.  We look great with you leaves in the center."

To which the leaves replied, "You are not perfect for us.  You are too loud and noisy.  You want to claim all the attention and overpower.  We are the center and focus of this quilt.  We don't want you.  Go away and stay away!"

My first thought was, Gosh, those leaves are really bossy.  And then I thought, But they're right.  All the time I'd been admiring the beauty of the color of the border fabric without thinking of what the leaves really needed so they could be the focus of the quilt.

When I first made this top and posted it, just before I folded it up to work on again later, I think it was Lizzy who suggested no border.  I was so tired of making leaves I didn't want to hear it.  But this time, when the leaves said they didn't want a border and the quilt was a tad small without a one, I dug deep, came up with 17 more autumn fabrics for leaves, and stitched them around two sides of the quilt.  And the leaves are happy.  It's now 8 blocks x 10 blocks and approximately 72" x 90".   (It will shrink with quilting and after being washed and dried.)  Perfect for a twin bed or an afternoon nap.

Good photos are hard to come by--we've had either glaring sun or stormy, grey clouds, and I'm not a great photographer, anyway--but here are a few.  None shows the true colors.

I love this autumn quilt.  It brings to mind some of the things I love about fall....  Sunlight dazzling through leaves on the trees, the swirl of leaves drifting to the ground, and kicking through bright leaves on a walk.  I'm looking forward to fall.  It's my favorite season.

I hope I can find backing fabric that does justice to the autumn colors of this quilt.  If you happen to see a great fabric maybe you could let me know?

Do your quilts ever argue, make demands, or carry on conversations?  Mine seem to more often than not (and sometimes I wish they wouldn't!).

I'm linking this post to
> Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

Thanks so much for visiting!
--Nancy.

Into 2020 with Too Many Unfinished Quilts

You haven't seen a quilt on this blog for weeks.  Christmas, family, illness....  You know how it goes.  It's almost true that I haven't touched a quilt in that time but I have slept and napped under a few.  Now that Christmas is over and we're into the New Year my mind is drawn back to all the unfinished quilts I have from last and previous years.  There are eight! Here they are in no particular order.

Baskets of Plenty needs sashing and border, at the very least.  It probably also needs another basket and maybe a substitute basket for the horizontal one.  This will finish as a smallish quilt if I don't somehow increase its size -- more blocks, wide sashing, wide borders, etc.

The Blue and The Gray blocks and corner stones are finished.  The hold up was grey sashing fabric.  Now that I have enough of that I just need to cut sashing, arrange a layout, and sew everything together. 



Cheri Payne's Everyday Patchwork Sampler has 30 6" blocks with 1" borders attached.  They need sashing between (Cheri used black scraps).  If I'm satisfied with a quilt that's 48" x 58" plus a border these blocks are ready to be sewn together.  But I'm thinking I should make at least 5 more to have a 5 x 7 layout for a larger quilt.  (Why is it I can't be satisfied with anything smaller than a bed-sized quilt?!)  Cheri's pattern for this quilt also includes applique on the border.  Maybe or maybe not.

Maple Leaves is ready for sashing.  I just have to choose fabric, measure, cut, pin, and stitch.

Linda Brannock's Flowers.  This is another quilt in which the pattern creates a smaller-than-bed-sized quilt.  I tried to enlarge the sashing by adding more triangle squares than in the original pattern.  But I find it looks odd and doesn't work.  I may just add a border or I may unstitch some of the squares to create the quilt the size Linda originally made.  I know most quilters probably look at unstitching as an awful chore.  I don't love it but I'm happy to do it if it will help the finished quilt.

Red Circles on Green Squares.  I pull these out these quirky 5" squares every once in a while and consider possibilities.  The inspiration for these blocks (which I began making in spring, 2013) was a garden market stand with roses in bloom.  Do you you ever begin a quilt only to stumble along in its creation at some point along the way?  That's what's happening with these blocks.

And Cheddarback has about 3 more months to go.  This month's blocks have three of the hardest so far!  Paper pieced.  I've never paper pieced (and am not really interested in learning how to but I don't think I can escape doing it for several of the blocks this month).  I can't decide whether I'll be happy when Cheddarback's over or sad not to have the challenge every month!

And last (I think), are the Quarter Cabins, just waiting for some decisions about the strips with vines/flowers to go between the cabins. 

I guess I lied when I said I'd only slept under quilts these last few weeks.  I've also been hand quilting Little Rubies.  I have just over two rows of Baptist Fans to finish this quilt.  This is one of those quilts I loved, didn't love, and now I'm thinking maybe I can love it again.  So often I second guess my quilting decisions. 

I think I have too many quilts in progress.  There are eight  -- EIGHT! -- not including tops waiting to be quilted.   I don't think I should dare start another quilt until at least several of these are to the finished top stage, though several are on my mind....

I'm so glad 2019 is over.  It was one of the hardest years of my life.  I hope 2020 will be wonderful for all of us!

--Nancy.
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Auditioning Borders for Maple Leaves

I found just enough time to sew the maple leaf blocks together--after Thanksgiving, I think.

I forgot to take a photo before auditioning border fabrics.  The first photo is without a flash, the second with a flash.  They look like different quilts!  I think the true colors are somewhere between the two photos. 

It seems I make most quilts one step at a time.  Choose a block, choose fabrics.  Make a few blocks to see how they look.  Make a few more and lay them out together.  Keep adding.  Decide on sashing or not.  Rearrange till satisfied.  Sew blocks together.  Then consider a border.  That's just where I am now.  Considering a border.

I always thought an autumn-colored border would be good for the maple leaves, but when I placed these first two fabrics around the edges, they seemed to drag the whole quilt down.  (I've always had the impression of seeing the autumn leaves as they just begin floating gently to the ground.)

Then I thought maybe light blues similar to some of the ones used as backgrounds in the blocks might work for a border.  Like these two.  I hoped the blues would help the leaves continue to float.  And in the very last photo I added some dark blues.

And then I remembered this brown/black/gold print that I thought might be great.

Here are a few more photos with some fabrics placed around the edges.

I don't suppose short strips of fabric give a true indication of how a complete border would look, do they?  But I don't want to cut the fabric in strips to go around the quilt only to decide not to use that particular fabric.  How do you audition border fabrics?

Below you can see the two different darker blues I auditioned.  I tried a red/orange fabric but wasn't impressed (and didn't take a photo).

Possible border options include

• a narrow one-inch, dark border next to the leaves with a wider, light/medium border around the edge, and a dark binding
• a border the color of one of the backgrounds.
• a dark border
• a light border
• or...?

I don't have too much time to devote to this quilt just now, and it can't stay on the floor too long with family coming again soon for Christmas.  I thought if I could just decide on the border fabric I'd know the next step to take when I have time to work on it again.  But then again, rushing through a decision on a quilt is never a good idea (at least for me).

--Nancy.
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Almost Enough Leaves

A few leaves, side-by-side, in no particular order.

I have 56 leaves, enough for a 7 x 8 layout, with another bunch in progress to replace several too-light, too-yellow blocks and enough more to make a 7 x 9 layout.

When I began these leaves a few weeks ago I was wishing for the autumn color we didn't have and imagining the wind rustling them as the sun shone through their bright colors.  Sometimes the leaves almost shimmer when the sun glows and the wind blows.  Some falls the colors in Ohio are amazing and truly, every leaf color in this quilt is a color we see on trees -- during a good autumn.

Now that these blocks are sewn and I see them on the floor, I question having used seven or eight different background fabrics.  The backgrounds began with leftover scrap fabric, continued with a few 3½" strips cut from yardage, and finished with fabric from several shirts.  I love the colors and I love the colors together but will I be able to arrange them in a way that creates a unified quilt?  I hope so!

One more consideration is sashing.  I've thought of a narrow 1" sashing between all the blocks.  From the beginning the fabric below was in the back of my mind as the perfect fabric.  But when I tried it this morning it seemed to darken the quilt too much.

When all the blocks are finished I'll play around with the arrangement of the blocks and fabrics for sashing.  To me, that's one of the fun parts of making a quilt.

I love these simple leaves: 14 pieces, 13 seams, cut, pin, stitch, press, and zip, they're done!

I'm linking this post to
> The Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Off the Wall Friday at Creations... by Nina Marie
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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Making Autumn Color

Ohio's autumn colors are usually spectacular, but not this year.  We think it's the lack of  rain that has prevented most of the leaves from turning colors.  Since the trees aren't providing the color I love, I made these.  (Please ignore the light rectangles, the tape that's holding them to the wall.)


I'd thought about making leaves for a week or so but didn't have a vision of how they would look -- light background, dark background; solid fabrics/plaids/prints; one size, two sizes, three; sashing/no sashing; etc.  Cutting and sewing them was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment decision.  I now have a dozen 9" leaves with eight more in progress. 

I love these leaves all together.  I love that their bright colors almost glow against the darker/neutral backgrounds.  (They're maybe just a tad brighter than in real life because of the camera flash.)  They're not in any order or particular arrangement other than that the stems don't meet.  They're just taped in random order.

If you have beautiful autumn colors where you are I hope you'll enjoy them for me, too!

I'm linking this post to
> Wednesday Wait Loss 141 at The Inquiring Quilter
> Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
> Friday Night Sew-In at Sugarlane Designs
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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