Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I finished Gerre’s piece on Sunday. I was almost done on Saturday, but had a bit more to do.
This did not come out as I envisioned, but I still like it. I saw that butterfly and it made me think of Gerre.
On both pieces, I had blocks on the mind. I really didn’t feel Improv in my piecing plan this time, so blocks it was. I had some leftover bits that I didn’t use, so I included them with the packet as well.
I spent most of the day with my in laws cleaning my MIL’s house. She is 91 and lives alone, but needs some extra help now and again. I spent my time cleaning her fridge and running errands for her upstairs. Everyone else worked on the garden except YM who scrubbed her outside stairs and the tunnel to her front door.
The first thing I did when I got home was to take a shower, but after that I had several hours to sew. I decided to leave Sunday all free for something new and to try to cross some to dos off my list.
I had an idea for the Color My Quilt pieces I owe Gerre and Annemarie, so I decided to work on those.
They didn’t go completely as planned. However, I ended up with something I think will work with the other pieces. Annemarie received pieces at the June meeting, which I missed, so I really don’t know what Annemarie’s shards looked like. I hope the apricot I added gave her the look of southwest without the coyotes and saguaros feel of kitschy Southwest.
The guild meeting was Saturday. It was a good time, but I wasn’t really in the mood for some reason. Last week was busy and I had a lot of people to deal with in stressful situations, so I might have just been overloaded with external stimulus. Still, I was glad I went.
I always feel like I am offloading a truck when I go to a BAM meeting. I hand off donation quilts, pet beds, donation blocks, free table items. At the meeting last weekend I also had a Color My Quilt piece to show and give.
It was Kelly‘s month and she she had an interesting idea. The responses were very cohesive, I thought, which was great. Some others seem to think we weren’t doing the challenge right, but I like cohesion in a quilt, so I thought this group was very successful.
My piece is at the top and I was pretty happy with it. It was one of the largest, as you can see. As someone pointed out, I don’t make small quilts. 😉
I learned this technique when I took my second quiltmaking class at Fort Mason from Sonya Lee Barrington back in the Dark Ages. I really had fun using it this time. It was nice to make swooping curves. I didn’t want to use black and didn’t have the Pepper that Kelly suggested on her sheet, so I stayed with brights.
There was some discussion about ‘chunks’ at the meeting.I have used free form piecing on two of the pieces. I thought I used that technique on all of them, but I made a checkerboard for Cheryl’s. This has led me to think about what could be a chunk besides free form piecing. I know a strip of Flying Geese could be a chunk, but blocks seem to be out of favor in terms of chunks. If I get a month, it probably won’t be until next year, so I have a long time to think about it.
Kelly seemed pretty happy with her chunks. I talked with her about her thoughts regarding putting them together. Obviously, it is too soon to really know what she will do. In the course of the discussion, it occurred to me that I could make chunks to intersperse among those from friends and that could help to bring the different pieces together.
So far, I have participated in:
This month is Gerre’s month and I have to get busy on her piece as I have a lot going on between now and the next meeting.
Cheryl was fortunate enough to grab the February spot and her piece was the second on which I worked. As I said Saturday, I had two pieces on which to work right off the bat. I missed the February meeting, but got my hands on the color sheet and made a piece.
For some reason I wanted to do something a bit more straight-laced and block-like. It couldn’t be too straight-laced, so decided on a checkerboard.
Kelly is next and I am curious to see what she comes up with as her colors.
I have making my own color sheet on my list. I have an idea in mind, but need to find a photo. I’ll wait a few months so I can see what other people bring to the meeting. I doubt my slot will come up before next year.
Karen, last year’s guild challenge coordinator is leading a new challenge. This challenge is in addition to whatever challenges the new challenge coordinator comes up with. I have decided to join the Color My World challenge.
As is her right, Karen was the first person to provide a color sheet for the challenge. As I join somewhat behind the rest of the group I had two to complete at once. I did Karen’s first and will talk about the other one tomorrow.
Karen used a landscape photo as the inspiration. I followed that idea and used curve strip piecing techniques to mimic the landscape idea. I am pleased with the way my piece came out.