Back to Pink

Now that the Holiday Banner is ready for quilting, I have to figure out what to do next. I have an idea for a scrap slab triangle quilt rolling around in my head, but I also have the second student bird quilt to assemble and a lot of other stuff to sort through.

Back in September when I took the pink zebra quilt apart I sewed together the leftover pieces into a very interesting design. I had a lot of those pieces left, so I decided to add them to the original chunk. You can see the origin of that here. In the photo above, the original piece is on the left and it's folded so you can only see half of it. The pieces I will be sewing together and adding to it are on the right.

That was great, and I had enough extra pieces to make another section, but both of the new ones had very busy fabrics and I didn't want the quilt to be half one thing on one side and half something else on the other, so I decided to sew each new section on either side of the original chunk.

And this is where I get so caught up in working that I do not take pictures.

So this will be what I sew together. The big piece is in the middle and the new pieces are on either side. It isn't all sewn together because there are only so many hours in the day.

Rotating it 90 degrees, here is another view. The thing is six feet square. Not bad for a bunch of duds.

By the way I am 3/4 the way around the binding on the PRIZM quilt. Should have that done soon. I've binge watched Stanley Tucci's show about Italy an In with the Old about renovating old houses, and I've read the first two of the Secret Scone & Book Society mysteries. I think that's the title.

Anyway.

By Jove!

 

There's really nothing more annoying than thinking you have it, only to realize there is a fly in the ointment.

Some of you probably think this is pretty good. I know Jean from NZ said she'd be happy with this, but alas, I see something that bugs me (several things, actually) and I had to ORDER MORE FABRIC, DAMMIT.

And then I had to WAIT!!!

Oh, the indignity!

Anyway, the light fabrics for the darkish triangles arrived (I already had replacements from my stash for the dark fabrics), and after a trip through the washer and dryer, and after being ironed, I cut strips and made my blocks. OF COURSE this isn't IT.

I needed ten more iterations.

THIS is it.

This I will sew together.  It needs a title, or a suggestion for one. It will need a narrow border, and then it will be ready. I will also work on the pink one. (Darn it, I needed to order more fabric for that one too.)

AND... I found a slightly more efficient way to cut fabric for this particular variation of the Zebras quilts. this one needs 24 different fabrics that play nicely together in interesting and subtle ways, but sewing a WOF panel of 8 strips (for each pair) is a bit wasteful, and I figured out a better way to do it. So at some point a revision to the Zebra quilt tutorial will happen.

AND EVEN BETTER... I am going to make a Zebra variation that I have NOT done before. Right now that will be a Red, White and Blue quilt. That may change as I have not yet even started to cut fabrics, but I think it will be fun and summery!

WOO HOO! I have my mojo back, finally!

This is a Zebra Quilt Variation. You can get my tutorial for these here, at my Etsy shop.

Being Green

 I'm pretty sure these are the greens and pairings that will make it into the new Green Zebra quilt.

From One Thing to Another...

 

These are some of the greens for the new green quilt. As you can see, I have set out the dark green fabric strips over the lighter green to see how it might work together.

I had thought that these two would work, but as you can see, this pair don't bring out the best in each other, the way the pair at the top photo do. This is why you have to put things next to each other and try them out

These are a couple of samples I've sewn together to see how it's going to look. I have several fabrics on order, so I can't really get started until those arrive. I thought to myself, DAMN! I don't want to wait. Then I looked over at my worktable and saw lots of PINK fabrics....

I bet you can see where this is going.

(What? You never associated a humpback whale with the color pink?) The photo above shows something I always do when I make a Zebra quilt. I try to sew the fabrics together in such a way that the alternate strips keep the pattern on the fabric going. You can see it in the whales above,

And also in the lighter fabric above. I think this helps the design flow because your eye connects the shapes and continues the design. In other words, it LOOKS right.

So here are some pink ladies dancing. (Maybe that's a quilt title?)

So this is a Zebra quilt, and you can get a tutorial here on how to make it. You can see more examples of my Zebra quilts here.

Tutti Frutti in the Sun

 It's hard to see the true colors of something in a photograph, especially a quilt that's five feet wide and six feet tall from a distance of ten feet away in an enclosed space. If  you take a picture of the same quilt outside in the sun, a lot of the colors are a bit washed out. If you take a picture of the same quilt on a sunny day with the quilt in the shade, the colors will have a bluish cast because of the reflection of the blue of the sky. If you take a picture of a quilt when it is overcast, the colors are much closer to reality.

LAST WEEK, the Firebird quilt was photographed on an overcast day.  

As you can see it was sunny the day I took these pictures of Tutti Frutti. But I needed to show that this is not a dark quilt, that it is bright and fun and cheery.

I live in New England, in the northeastern US. It's very green. It's something that's easy to take for granted. So when I have an opportunity to take a picture of one of my quilts in very green New England, I do it. So yeah, if you visit me, when you are in the driveway and look up, you see this.

Tutti Frutti is a Zebra quilt. If you are interested in making a Zebra quilt, you can get the tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Tutti Frutti is Finished

 

The Tutti Frutti quilt is finished. I'll take it outside tomorrow and hang it up so you can see the whole thing.

 

I really like this one. I like the pizzazz.

This is a Zebra quilt. If you would like to make one, you can get my tutorial on my Etsy shop, here.

BTW, the Firebird quilt now lives at my sister's house. (Yes, the same sister who helped me build my ironing table. I only have one sister.) She has a yellow living room and a red sofa, so the quilt is right at home. She loves it. I can't visit her at her house (sigh) so I don't have a picture of it, but I'm working on it!

Yellow Ribbons

 I added a border to the Yellow Ribbons quilt. I didn't want one that was too light or too dark. This was just right. Now I will hunt for a backing.

This is a Zebras quilt. If you would like to make one, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Firebird Outside

 

Here is the Firebird quilt, all finished, hanging outside so you can see the real colors. 

It looks good from across the street too.

Firebird is Finished

 

I've spent the last few evenings sewing the binding on the Firebird quilt.

 

 I love the paisley binding.

I love the quilting.

 

I love the fabrics.

 

This is a Zebra quilt. If you would like to make a Zebra quilt, you can get the tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away.

 Although it looks really nice on the back of my couch, this quilt will not be living here.

 

Yellow Ribbons

 As soon as I backed up and looked at this from across the studio, I liked the way the bland blenders made a waving shape up and down the quilt. I immediately wondered if they were getting TOO much attention. Should they be swapped with the big busy prints? Only one way to find out.

Starting at the right I began to shift the triangles. As soon as I had done two columns I knew this was better and that it was a layout I would sew together.

But OOPS, I saw a mistake (again!)

This is almost it. The layout is all set, but I am a bit concerned about the light streak in the middle and the slightly too heavy right side. But this is 95% there. I wasn't sure I'd EVER like these fabrics all together, but now I do.

 

THIS IS IT! And it has a name. Yellow Ribbons.

 

THIS, believe it or not, is a Zebras quilt. If you would like to make your own Zebra quilt, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Break It! Break It Good!

 It is said that before you can get out of a rut you have to know you're in one. When the wind blew the blocks off my design wall it was as if Fate was sending me a sign. MOVE ALONG. But where?

I sat at my sewing table, looking back at the mess on the design wall. I shifted in my seat, knocking something to the floor. I bent down and picked up this page. It's a page of triangles from the Zebra tutorial, designed to be cut out so students could design their own arrangements. I looked at it and saw six distinct vertical columns. Maybe I should arrange my big prints in half diamonds facing in one direction and the blander ones facing in the other...

I got up and took all the blocks off the wall and stared to lay out the big colored triangles. but then I remembered this, from the Parade of Zebras quilt, where, if placed correctly, a series of four big triangles could suggest a curve.

So I arranged my big prints

and used the bland blenders to fill in around them. As soon as I did I knew I had an arrangement I liked. I rearranged the blenders a bit to get the best effect.

This wasn't quite IT, but I liked it A LOT better than anything else I had tried. I stepped back and realized I had made a mistake.

The big triangles with the big prints weren't directly above and beneath each other, as they needed to be to make that S shape I wanted, so I fixed them. I really liked this, but it was late, and I was tired. Something was jiggling in my head, but I knew if I didn't get to bed I'd stay up another hour or two.

Sleep matters, so I went to bed. I knew what I would do next, and I could wait.

Slogging Away

There's an old saying, "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince."

I discovered a few fabrics that just didn't fit. They were too brown or too orange or too pale.  Ok, no problem. Those went.

 

.

I was not happy with this. I worked all day long and just couldn't get it to come together.

It wasn't like I didn't know where I was going. I had a plan. (Thank you Cathy, for making me make outlines to draw on for the Zebra Tutorial.)

I kept at it. Finally, after almost 12 hours, I surrendered and went to bed.

The next morning I bowed to the inevitable, and admitted my previous plan just wasn't working. I began to arrange the blocks in the Golden Zebra layout.

But that didn't thrill me either. It wasn't even OK. I didn't even LIKE it!

But me being me, I persisted.

And persisted.

And persisted. Finally I just walked out of the studio and ignored it for a couple of days.

When the big storm Isaias (?) blew through, the winds knocked some of the blocks off the wall.

I left them there.

Good riddance, I thought. It's BROKEN! HAHAHA! Let it stay broken.

Then I remembered that sometimes you have to BREAK something in order to FIX it. Break it again, and break it good.

As usual, when I get stuck, I walk away. I spent the rest of the evening on the couch reading. I could fix it TOMORROW.

And I did.

Mo Yo!

My mother wants a yellow zebras quilt. I'm not going to make her one exactly like mine, so I had to work out just what I did want to do, and wait for fabric I ordered online. That fabric has now arrived, and I'm in the process of washing and ironing it. Regular readers know that no piece of fabric comes into my studio without going through what I affectionately call "the washing machine shuffle."

I arranged my leftover triangles into something I might make for my mom. This is just a preliminary idea, a sketch, a doodle. All that will change when I start sewing strips together and cutting them into triangles. Speaking of which...

When I was picking up some quilts at Janet-Lee's I showed her a printed copy of the Zebras tutorial. She told me she knew of a person who could create plexiglass templates if I wanted real ones made. At first I rejected the idea, but then I thought, why not, and gave the person a call. These lovelies arrived about a week later.

I thought THAT was such a good idea, I decided to have a 2-3/4" ruler cut as well.

NOW BEFORE YOU ALL GET ANY IDEAS...
I am NOT going to have these to sell. I do not have the place to store an inventory of them, and I do not have the kind of packing materials needed to ship them, and I do not have a relationship with a carrier to deliver them. The world changes every day (don't we all know THAT right now) so this may not be a permanent decision, but for now the answer is no. Don't even ask me for the name of the company that made mine. They won't inventory them for me.