I had actually finished binding this one a while back, but it wasn’t straight and that was bothering me, so I took the binding off one side, trimmed it, and re-did the binding. I’m much happier with it now! (For the time being, some of the photos of that process are up on my Instagram “stories” about this quilt!)
Quilty Details:
* 55 x 68″ finished size
* Improvisationally pieced - no templates, mostly freehand cuts with my rotary cutter
* Used a variety of prints and solids, including the text prints from “First of Infinity” by Lecien fabrics
* Matchstick quilted on my domestic (that is, straight lines close together, about 1/4″ apart)
I’m happy that this one is done! It’s the only one that I’ll enter this year to Quiltcon. I think it will be tough competition in the improv category, as it always is. I’m not sure this one will make the cut - but regardless, I want to make the effort to try to submit something annually!
We made Kaleidoscope Blocks, designed by Lee Heinrich (of Freshly Pieced), in various colours of the new basics. The blocks from all the quilters involved are going to be pieced together and made into a quilt - I can’t wait to see what it looks like all together!
Bequest fabric - Plaid lap quilt: Over the past few weeks, I have been working on a project using Bequest fabrics, by Briar Hill Designs for RJR Fabrics. The ladies who make up the Briar Hill Designs team are fellow Canadians, and I’m happy to participate and support them!
The Bequest line is basically a gradient of blue fabrics, which is a really fun idea. I knew when I saw them that I wanted to try my hand at a plaid design to use all of the tones of blue.
After a few sketches, I came up with this design that has skinny and thicker stripes. It was fun to piece! Each block is 7.5″ finished, and this lap quilt ended up at 43″ square. With the leftover fabric I had, I pieced a back to show off some of the beautiful prints. I did some basic straight line quilting in a grid to finish up, which I hoped complemented the plaid look. Overall, I’m really pleased with how it turned out!
Furrow Cowl: When I did my indigo dye day, I over-dyed some yarn that was leftover from a sweater that I knit last year. After knitting a whole sweater with it, I was pretty tired of looking at the same colour (that pale green in the first photo). I dyed it and was really happy with the colour that it turned out.
I decided to use the indigo-dyed yarn to knit up a Furrow Cowl (pattern in the book “Woolens” by Jared Flood for Brooklyn Tweed). The dyed yarn wasn’t quite the same as in the pattern (was a smaller DK weight rather than worsted), and I didn’t have too much of the yarn, so I figured I’d make a slightly smaller version of the cowl.
I am super pleased with how it came out. After blocking and washing it, it’s very soft and comfy. I’ve been wearing it regularly already, and it makes me really happy to wear something that I both dyed and knit myself!
I have made many maple leaf blocks and (many!) maple leaf quilts from when we sent charity quilts to Fort McMurray (and even have this tutorial)! So, I wanted to try something a little different than I’d done before.
I made two maple leaf blocks and a bunch of half-square triangles. I played around with the layouts until I found something I liked, then adding the blue and grey to square it off. I quilted with straight lines and did faced binding (so the binding doesn’t show on the front) to keep things simple and modern. It ended out at about 16 x 30″ finished.
I decided on a “courthouse steps” variation for my block, which was a first for me! I’ve done a lot of log cabin blocks before including a quilt I finished earlier this year, but I’ve never tried the courthouse steps arrangement. I liked how from afar, it has the clean look of using solids, but that the tone-on-tone prints give close-up interest - tiny white cherries, cream scissors and grey stars.
I did some big stitch quilting in a contrast colour, to give it a bit more texture. Then, I added basic machine cross hatch quilting to finish up!
I am finally finished one of my oldest works in progress - the Fly Away quilt that I started back in 2016! I wasn’t sure how to quilt it for a long time, but once I decided to use straight lines, I was able to get it done relatively quickly.
A couple weeks ago, I tried indigo dyeing for the first time! I thought I’d share some of the process.
I had already prepared several pieces of fabric for dyeing, by stitching them up with various shibori stitch patterns. I used Kona PFD Bleach, and some painters canvas that I had pre-washed before stitching. I also had yarn that I wound into skeins.
I collected other supplies over the last month from various stores (mostly Giant Tiger and IKEA, and white buckets from Canadian Tire). I was careful to get only stainless steel, glass or plastic because other materials could react with the dye or alter the process.
I first made the indigo stock solution. It started out pale blue but soon turned bright yellow! (See below). When I added it to the bucket, it turned a pale yellow-green, with a coppery sheen on top – which is apparently how it’s supposed to look.
When I put my first few items in the vat, I wasn’t sure if it would work! I left the items in for about 15 minutes then slowly took them out. They were bright chartreuse coming out, but quickly started turning green, then aqua, then blue. It was amazing!
I did several “dips” in the vat for each piece -letting them sit in the vat for 10 minutes or so, then taking out to let oxidize in between dips. For my canvas, I did 3 dips each, and for the cotton squares I did 4 or 5. I also overdyed some yarn (more on that in another post!)
Then, it was the moment of truth - to see the final results! After the last dips, I rinsed the pieces in water, took out the stitching, and rinsed again. I was so pleased with the results and how the shibori stitching turned out! Here are the results from stitched piece to final design!
Now that I have all the supplies, I will do indigo dyeing again for sure! This time was definitely a learning process and I know next time I’ll tweak a few things. It’s so fun trying something new!
