Complications (Finish It Up Friday)

I am so excited to have another finish to share with you this week.  I guess that is the only good part about getting two quilts back at the same time.  It makes for a few quick finishes.

This is Complications!  It is made all from Bonnie & Camille fabrics and uses fabrics from Ruby, Marmalade, and Vintage Modern.  I had a lot of fun making this quilt despite the many times I was frustrated about it.  You can read more about the journey here, here,here, and here.  Overall I LOVE the way this one turned out.

My only complaint would be that it is too small.  When I first finished the quilt top it was 63 by 72 and I thought that was big enough for a good throw.  Since this one also doesn't have my typical warm and white batting and the quilting is pretty dense it shrunk a lot more than I expected it would.  When I laid it out to take the pictures it almost seems like a baby quilt to me.  Of course it isn't that small but I like BIG quilts.  I want to cover my toes and shoulders at the same time.

I used a single print for the back and the binding.  I found it on sale and had intended to use it for the back of my Marmalade Squares & Stripes quilt but I miscalculated and it was a smidge too small for that one.  So instead I used it here.  I was planning on putting a bright pink print on the back of this one but I think the grey grounds the edges well and it all worked out this way.

This one was also quilted by a local long arm in a pumpkin seed pattern.  I talked about doing a possible series of post on this quilt with some tutorials and instructions on how mine was made along with the inspiration behind it.  I'm still thinking all of that through but look for an update soon.  Head on over to Amanda Jean's and see what everyone else is finishing up this Friday.

It's Complicated-WIP Wednesday

I have started and stopped this post so many times today.  I don't know what I want to say, I don't get overly personal on here very often but sometimes I wonder if by not sharing more I'm being dishonest in a way.  So hang with me if you will and I'll try not to go on and on but maybe share just a little bit.

Sunday night I managed to finish up my Swoon quilt top.  I was excited about the finish because its been a long time coming.  Once that top was done I decided to go back to working on my Complications quilt.  Honestly, I picked it up and put it down about 5 times before finally just walking away and going to watch TV instead.  I really like the part of this quilt that is done so far.  You might remember I am putting it together in chunks and so I don't really have in mind what the entire quilt will look like.  I think I was feeling frustrated because while I love to quilt I typically follow a pattern.  I'm not very good at just thinking something up and pulling it out of myself and into a tangible form.  I like to have a plan and I find it frustrating when that plan changes.  Okay-yes you can laugh out loud now, I understand that plans rarely work and that part of life is adapting and modifying the "plan."

I was really struggling though with what to do next.  See I'm not particularly fond of all of the blocks in the original quilt.  They are all lovely and I don't mean to detract from what someone so graciously designed and then shared with me.  I am grateful because I don't think I ever would have made this quilt without that starting point.  But I just don't want my quilt to be exactly the same.  Of course it never would have been because of the difference in quilting, fabrics, and just general thought process but I was having a hard time with giving myself permission to do it differently.

Then on Monday as I was sitting in my sewing room crying listening to the news reports about Oklahoma and just being mad in general about how much hurting there is right now in the world I felt silly.  Here I was being super hard on myself because I couldn't figure out how to do something with a quilt, because I couldn't just make a choice about what to do next.  Here I was getting frustrated with myself and wanting to put the quilt away again when there was this going on in the world around me.  So while this quilt is not only complicated it is also forcing me to learn.  Not only techniques but about myself.  So maybe in the end I will have a beautiful quilt or maybe not but at least I will have learned along the way and I guess that is what matters.  After all if we aren't learning then what's the point of the experience.

Thanks for stopping by to visit and for listening.  Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is working on this week  Hopefully you will find something that makes you want to learn more.

Edited to Add:  Looks like there is no link up for WIP Wednesday today.  Thanks for reading a long and be sure to check back next week.

WIP Wednesday

Did you know it's already Wednesday again.  I can't believe how fast the week is going by but I guess that is a good thing when you are counting down the days to the weekend.  I haven't been doing a whole lot of sewing this week.  But I am making some slow and steady progress.  If you are following along you know I have finished up 6 out of 9 Swoon blocks.  Which is super exciting.

That of course also means more Ruby making it's way into my Complications quilt.  I've started piecing together the next larger section of complications.  You can see in this graph the parts that are done.  The pink section is the larger part i have all sewn together.  The purple section is what I have sewn together in this second large section so far.  I need to make a few more blocks before I can really go any further.  Of course I have been doing some juggling and rearranging to be able to connect the sections but so far I am still happy with the results.

I didn't get a chance to show you this block last week but I stitched this up for our guild meeting on Saturday.  Each member of the guild can select a month and during their month the bring instructions and fabrics for a block.  Much like a bee and then the next month they get back a slew of blocks.  This is the first time I have participated.  I didn't grab a block at the meeting Saturday because all of the packets were gone so quickly.  But it's a fun little way to sew something different from my projects.

The last thing I am working on this week is sewing binding to my Posh Enigma quilt.  I'm still not sure what I am going to do with this one when it's done but I am leaning towards donating it if my mom doesn't want it.  I offered it to her first but she turned me down.  I'll give her another shot but if she still says no then I'll be looking for a good group to send it to.  Does anyone know of someone collecting quilts for West, TX?  I am working on flags and blocks for Boston but I haven't heard much about West.  But if I know quilters I am sure there is someone organizing hugs for those effected by the explosion down there.

That's it for me this week.  Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday

I haven't been doing too much sewing this week but I did make a little more progress on my complications quilt.  I made several new blocks before adding on to the first part of the puzzle.  There are a lot of things about this project that I like including the fact that it is forcing me to think out side of my normal box.  When you make all of the blocks for this quilt there is still a lot of empty space left.  In the original quilt that space was mostly filled in with small squares.  I have used postage stamp squares in some cases but have also been trying out using some larger pieces as well to show off some of the larger prints in these fabrics.  I have also made duplicates of a few blocks to take up some of the larger spaces.  I'm still very much smitten with this quilt and for every frustration and complication that comes along I find something else to love about it too.

The next part of this quilt that I can put together has some strange angles so I am thinking about piecing another chunk of it before trying to attach it.  This piece still needs about this same amount on the right hand side.  Most of that space is blank in the original design so I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do in that space.  You can find the original directions here.  And see the quilt that inspired me to start this crazy project here.

Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else has been up to this week.

Puzzle Piece One

I made some progress on my latest quilt top this weekend.  While everyone was at Quiltcon the online universe was pretty quiet so the time I usually spend stalking flickr and my google reader being overwhelmed with inspiration was spent in quality sewing time instead.

Sorry for the poor photo.  I snapped it on my iphone
because I haven't been able to find my
camera since the move.

I mentioned before that the instructions for this quilt are all in German and while google translate does provide some help it is far from perfect.  So I spend a lot of time just looking at the pictures and then just winging it.  So far this method has worked okay for me for the most part.  I did choose at the start of this project not to sew all of the blocks together to avoid those partial seams which I am now pretty proud of myself for doing.  Because of that I was able to put together the first segment of the quilt top last night.  It might not look like much yet but I am already in love with this quilt top.  It's been a long time since I worked on something without sashing between the blocks so I really love how these different blocks just sort of melt into each other.  It's a lot of fun but I know I still have a long way to go.

Finally this block doesn't allow me to avoid those partial seams altogether so I am doing the best I can with it.  I was able to get to this far and then well I sewed it together and took it apart what seems like 100 times. I know I am suppose to sew those two little triangles on next but I'm not sure where I should be sewing them.  If anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.