Coming Up

I was cleaning up in my studio and came across a stack of squares I cut but did not use in the orange Carnelian quilt. So I cut them into Macnas-sized rectangles.  Once I had those, I had to figure out what to match them with. 

As it happened, I was watching Project Runway, and one of the guest judges (I missed her name), was wearing an orange and pink sweater.  Can you say … INSPIRATION?

So now I will cut some pink Macnas pieces.

Then, when I had a lot of time to fill, I worked up this design on my iPad. It isn’t perfect, but it gives me a place to start. I’ll use oranges, pinks and creams. 

Carnelian Quilt, Finished

 

The Carnelian quilt is all finished. I had never made an orange quilt, so I made this, and I am really happy with it.

Carnelian is a Flimsy!

 

This is IT, and what I will sew together.

And as you can see, I start where I can reach without getting out the stepladder.

Here I am pinning the two halves of the quilt together.

Ta-Da! Here it is all sewn up. 

I do not think I will add a border to it. Never say never and all that, but I just don't think it needs it.  

I have 36 leftover blocks I did not use, and about 50 more 8" squares of fabric I didn't use either. I thought about using them on the back, but I don't want there to be any competition on this quilt of which is more interesting, so while I might use the leftovers somewhere, chances are pretty good they won't be on the back.

Unless I have miscounted, this quilt has 46 unique fabrics in it. The pictures are pretty good, but this quilt really shines in daylight.

Carnelian Blocks First Pass

 

Here the design wall is full of the blocks for the orange quilt, called Carnelian. I haven't rearranged these at all, and I haven't replaced blocks or fabrics I think aren't working. I can tell you that I won't be tinkering overmuch with these. I have about two dozen blocks in progress to replace blocks I don't think are working. 

Yeah, I know, but "overmuch" would mean removing ALL the blocks from the design wall and starting over.

I had a LOT of orange fabric, but the problem was they were all so similar in value that it reduced the number of successful blocks I could get. It also meant I had to use some light coral fabrics which lean a bit toward pink in order to get some contrast between the two fabrics in each block.

These were some of my test blocks. I did NOT like the fact that the points didn't meet, so I had to figure out how to get the points to match. (You know I did that, right?)

I tell anybody who'll listen that if you know how to sew clothes, then making a quilt will be a snap. I matched the seams on both pieces, then worked backwards to pin the edges I would start sewing. (As in attaching a sleeve or adding a collar to a neckline.)  I didn't need to pin the whole thing. (The full instructions are in the book, and I want to respect Sujata's work, so if you want to know how to do these, you'll have to refer her book, Cultural Fusion Quilts.)

This isn't quite "IT" but it's getting close. I've replaced a lot of blocks. This is like the 6th iteration from the photo above. (Notice the blocks in the top and bottom rows are larger than the others.)

Thanks ever so much for your comments. It's nice to know I don't have rocks in my head and that this quilts sings for so many of you.

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On the health front, I saw my nutritionist last week. She was overjoyed by my progress. I have lost close to 10 pounds, and my A1C numbers are dropping steadily. Woo Hoo!

Wonky Orange Hourglass Blocks

I'm making slightly wonky hourglass blocks the way Sujata Shah makes them with gentle curves as seen in her book Cultural Fusion Quilts.

Because they use curves, the original blocks look very much like potato chips, which is to say, warped.

Trimmed, they are better, although this particular block has to go. That big teardrop shape on the left tends to blend into the adjacent block, and we can't have that.

This is about half the blocks I need, and the blocks are not arranged in any particular way.

NOW LOOK, I know this is not everybody's cup of tea. Orange is generally the least favorite color, and these blocks have a very narrow range of intensity (Brightness. Not Value.)  This is actually by design. I wanted something like a Turkish carpet or a mosaic. 

This is also a result of the color choice. Orange is a fairly middle value color, and when you make it ligher it gets washed out. You can make it yellower and again it's not particularly intense. If you make it darker, you get brown. That makes for a narrow range, and because this is an ORANGE quilt, and not ORANGE AND something else, the quilt has a compressed range of tones.

Remember, this is by choice. You are entitled to your opinion, which is, of course, subjective.

This is different from anything I have ever done, but to me it has a kind of appeal. and I really like it.

This is most of the blocks I need. Notice the large rectangular blocks at the upper left and right corners. I like those, and the top and bottom row of this quilt will be rectangular blocks instead of square ones.

There are some fabrics that I don't like, and I will have to remake some blocks. That will take time. The blocks aren't difficult to make, but the way they are sewn together makes me hunch over the sewing machine intensely, and that just makes me sore, so they are taking a bit longer than usual.

 

Oh Oh Orange!

 

Woo hoo! The orange fabric has arrived, and been through the washer and dryer, and has been pressed.

I have cut much of the orange fabrics I already have.

Now I have cut the new fabrics.

It's time to start playing. Originally I expected the fabrics in the quilt would be close in value. I wanted the quilt to read as "Orange."

But these preliminary blocks tell me the blocks should have more contrast to make a more interesting design. So I have more work to do.

I will name this quilt Carnelian, which is a semi-precious stone.

Orange

 

I'm wrestling with the idea of Christmas colored scrap slab triangle quilt. Mostly I'm stuck with how to make it colorful and yet balance the colors, so I've set the idea aside for now.

 I went through one of my big scrap bins and pulled out all the orange fabric.

I ironed my fabrics and paired them up.

Then I cut them up into Scrap Slab Triangles. It's amazing how quickly I made forty of these.

I've made a dozen Scrap Slab Triangle Quilts, and I know there are more to come. If you want to make one, you can get my tutorial here.

Oh Oh Orange!

This is another "missing U" block from Sunday Morning Quilts.  In the last block, I built around the white piece. When I made this one, I just pulled pieces out of my little orange scrap bin.

See? I wasn't kidding. Little orange scrap bin.

I pulled scraps out of the bin and sewed pieces together. Essentially I was making "made" fabric. Then I sewed them around the white block.