A little more Improv…

I have done quite a bit of Improv quilting over the course of the last year or so…. for me it is a great way to dust off the cobwebs, particularly if I have lost my sewjo a little.

So this wonky log cabin was a fun project that started after I had collected a hug bag of navy scraps….

So I started with the navy scraps and as I begin putting the log cabin blocks together the navy seemed boring… it needed a little something to give it a lift. It just so happens that I had a small scrap pile of orange bits that were left over from another quilt and the navy and orange were the perfect combination.

The orange is the perfect contrasting color to the blue… these two colors are actually opposite each other on the color wheel…. which just enhances the impact of the color splashes.

The trick is to only put a few pieces of the highlight color in each of the log cabin blocks…. some of the orange is a full strip and other bits of orange are only inserted into the navy strip…. and I think those little splashes are the most successful pops of color.

Because of the randomness of the orange inserts your eye moves around the quilt more… hunting out those little splashes of contrast.

This quilt is also already out in the wild. I made it after the hospital said they needed a few more quilts for older teenage boys. I am a pink girl through and through but I loved the challenge of making something not too girly.

10Dec2021

A year of Bear Paws….

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

2020 was definitely the year of Bear Paw blocks for me. I taught a color class for Modern Domestic, a local quilt store, which was all about color in quilting. We used a fabulous book by Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color called a Quilters Field Guide to Color as a resource… and like Rachel does in the book we workshopped color using Bear Paw blocks. What this means is I made enough bear paw blocks to finish up 8 quilts… you are going to see a lot of bear paws over the coming months.

But before I started my over zealous production of bear paws for class, I set the block as my Do Good Stitches block. Actually in May 2019 I posted about making two blocks at a time in various sizes… the result of the tutuorial and my Bee mates work is this stunning quilt…

This quilt uses blocks that are 3, 6, 9 and 12 inches big… a whole rainbow of colors…. and tons and tons of scraps.

Each body of the bear paw is made up of four squares which allows for maximum fussy cutting potential and scrap usage. I know with the blocks I made I had a blast finding different novelty prints to cut up.

Now laying out this quilt was not to hard because there was a logic to the size blocks I chose – using a 3 inch grid…. but being a perfectionist I did um and ah about it a lot. It sat on my design wall for a bit before I was happy with it.

It was slightly tedious to sew together…. I grouped blocks together where I could and only had a few partial seams to deal with. I could have made it easier on myself and just gridded the layout so there were no difficult seams but in the end I loved the layout I had put up… it does not feel regular or predictable.

So this post I am giving you half the Nick pinkies photos to end… as well as the a full body shot. Mr Wombat is usually pretty camera shy but I snuck this picture of him. His identity is safe as he is fully masked LOL.

This quilt headed into the wild last year via the Portland Modern Quilt Guilds charity quilt program… which we somehow managed to keep going despite a world wide pandemic… actually we managed to get 15 to 20 quilts a month to our local Pediatric Intensive Care Unit which was quite a feat.

4Dec2021

Lets play catch up…

Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilts, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

First I want to say thank you to everyone for the well wishes and kind comments on my last post. I read them all… and will slowly work through responding but know I was really touched by the reaction to my news. It was not an easy post to write but now that it is done I can start with the quilt catch up…

And first up is one of my favorite finishes over the last year or so… an improv cool tree quilt…

I started this top in 2019 when I was teaching Improv quilting at Modern Domestic…. I had a pile of light blue fabrics and wanted to use them…

I have definitely made improv trees before usually with green follage of varying shapes and brown trunks… but with this quilt I limited myself to triangle trees in navy blue with dark grey for the trunks.

I used up a bit of my navy/blue scrap pile but really busted through my light blue/light grey stash and scraps. There is a fun “anything goes” with improv and it all seems to work… as long as you define some rules to begin.

For this quilt my parameters were for the background either light blue or light grey or low volume with blue print. I wanted the background to read overall cold. You can see from the pictures the cream based fabrics have a little warmth to them but they are not over powering.

The trees were navy or a dark blue. The touches of different shades of blue, like the royal blue add interest to the tree tops, so that they are not just a solid navy.

For the back of the quilt I used a piece of Tula Pink wide back that I was gifted by a friend. In the last couple of years I have been piecing a lot of my quilt backs….using up bigger cuts of fabric and scraps of wide back. I am not sure the long armers who help with the charity program as thrilled by my backs, but they make the quilts fun.

I have to finish with the obligatory photo of Nick’s pinkies. Mr Wombat has been such a support the last year…. not just holding up quilts but holding me up through some not so fun times.

7Jun2019

Another Do Good finish…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

I am back with another finished Do Good Stitches quilt… actually the weather in Portland has been lovely these last couple of weeks so I had the chance to photograph a few quilts which I will share over the coming weeks… but first up…

These blocks were made by myself and my fellow Hope Circle Bee hive members. I love a good wonky star and this block was extra fun because of the low volume background.

Using blacks and dark grey for the stars meant that the fabric we used as the background could have more color and interest in it. The stars were going to stand out against just about anything we threw at them… so we went fussy cut, novelty print crazy. The background does make for a good game of I spy.

The only low volumes that were a little problematic were the black and white ones… and only when they were used in making the star points. When choosing your low volume fabrics for a project it is always a good idea to:

(1) double check that they read low volume…. I do this using the mono chrome setting on my phone camera. Some low volumes can be deceiving and are tonally much darker than they appear.

(2) check that the print does not interfere or intersect with the foreground or main fabric. I have had this happen when the low volume print have had a strong print with the same color in it as my foreground fabric (this is why the black and white prints could be problematic with this quilt).

Because of the structure of this block you have a bit of built in negative space to play with. The block uses 3 1/2 inch squares, so one side of the block is just negative space (you can find the directions for the block here)…

Scrappy wonky Star 12 inch block

This allows you to play with the layout of the stars on the finished quilt. The layout can be uniformed or more off grid, like I did.

I must admit I loved the randomness of the star layout in this top… I think it gets your eye moving around the quilt in interesting ways.

As always this quilt is heading out into the world to do some good… at our local Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. So many hands help make this beauty and I am constantly reminded how many good people there are out there in the world, trying to make a difference.

Quilt Details:

Block: 12 inch off set wonky star
Fabric: Scraps and more scraps
Size: 60″ x 60″

5May2019

Back for some fun little Bear Paws…

Posted in Quilt patterns, Scrap quilts by wombatquilts

This month I am the setting the blocks for our Do Good Stitches Bee… and I find that it is easier for me to blog the block instructions that to try and do it all on Flickr…. Of all the social media platforms I use Flickr is really the one that constantly surprises me that it has not died yet. It is so clunky and not at all very user friendly for some things. Anyway rant over… here is the blocks.

color bear paw

I went with a simple Bear paw section… I have a ton of little scraps and this seemed like a great way to use some of my precious little bits… I have decided to do the block in two sizes – 6 inches and 9 inches…

finished blocks

And I worked out a way to make both sized blocks at the same time… so here goes….

fabric requirments

Cutting Instructions:

Background fabric (we are using low volume or white on white):
5 (five) x 3 1/2 inch squares
1 (one) x 2 1/2 inch square

Colored fabric (we are using bright primary colors):
8 (eight) x 3 1/2 inch squares of various prints
4 (four) x 2 1/2 inch squares of various prints

Step one:

Choose four of the 3 1/2 inch squares and four of the 2 1/2 inch squares for the center part of the block . When I was choosing these fabrics I selected the more interesting fabrics for the center squares (ie. the ones with fussy cuts).

The remaining four 3 1/2 inch squares will make the half square triangles (HST).

Step two: Make the HSTs.

mark fabric

Mark a line down the center of the back side of your background fabric, going corner to corner.

Then mark another line 1/2 inch from that line. These two marks are your sew lines – you will be sewing directly down these lines.

cut hst

Cut down the middle of your sew lines… you are actually cutting 1/4 inch from the center line. You now have your two HST components.

Press your HSTs (I usually press my seams open).

trim hst Trim each of the HST components .

Your 3 1/2 inch HST will not need much trimming (it should be almost perfect).

There is a bit of wiggle room with your 2 1/2 inch HST so you will have a little bit to trim off.

Remember to use the center diagonal line of your ruler to make sure you are trimming straight.

Step Three: Sew it all together.

rows

Sew your block sections together in rows.

With my blocks I have been ironing my seams open… but you can also nestle the seams. It is up to you.

iron seams

Then sew your rows together to make your blocks… and trim as needed to the finished size.

Just for fun I have made a couple of tiny versions of this block…

3 inch bear paw. Scrap quilt block

This block finishes at 3 1/2 inches… all the bits are 1 1/2 inches which is a little crazy but also kind of fun. I have been having a blast finding little bits to fussy cut at this size.

I am having a blast with this project. I have actual work sewing to do and I do not want to do it… all I want to do is cut my scraps up into little bits and play.