Collaboration With a Stranger

I purchased several boxes of lovely yardage two years ago along with a vintage sewing machine all at an estate sale.  Mixed in with the yardage were a few ziplock baggies with cut fabric, some already pieced into blocks, some just kitted up and waiting.  Exactly the sort of thing you might expect to see in anyone's quilting collection.

One bag of cuts particularly grabbed my attention.  Many different floral fabrics each with one 6 1/2"x 3 1/2" rectangle and one 3 1/2" square.  I puzzled over them for a while, wondering what the quilter who cut them had planned for them.  I wanted to do her work justice, but I had no idea who she was or what she was like except that she had very good taste in fabric and she cared for it well.  

Eventually I decided to make the simplest blocks I could with these cuts.  I added my own neutral fabric and then layed them out on my bed and scooted them around until i got the closest I could to a color wheel.

I kept the quilting simple with apple cores, too.

Dear Unmet Friend, thank you for letting me collaborate with you on this quilt! I'll do my best with your other leftovers, too.

Recent Quiltifications

Beth's Double Delight

Babs' Pink Random Boxes

Two donated panels turned into donation quilts

A Quilts For Kids donation quilt

A delightful drunkard's path variation pieced by Michelle

...and the Attic Windows donation quilt our monthly group made last time.

Sometimes I don't have much to say about what I'm quilting, but I always enjoy it.  Thought I'd share.  :)

At It Again

...again...

Millie shared a customer quilt with the world a few days ago. It really caught my eye. I fiddled around with it in EQ6 for a while and decided I liked it best just like it was. Didn't really want to do red and beige though. I showed it to Beth - you can see what's coming, can't you? - and she said it would look really good in black and white (she's been wanting to try black and white for a while now). This time though I was thinking icy winter colors (pale blue and grey). What a switch! So stay tuned for the latest breaking news as this one unfolds.

...and here's the EQ6 version of what I'll be working up.

Random Box Follow-up

Beth and I have received several requests for the pattern for this quilt. I've worked it up as a web pattern for you HERE. Free. Have at it. If you make this quilt and it wins ribbons in your local show, please credit me for the design and Peg at IvyArts for the inspiration since it was her quilt that inspired mine. Thank you all for your lovely comments and emails on both quilts. To the most common question asked on all of them, no, we haven't chosen another pattern to work yet, but it never takes us long to choose another and yes we will happily consider any pattern you suggest!

The Instigator Justified

Beth has finished her random boxes and they are BEAUTIFUL! Get a load of this:

she has used her signature colorwork - several coordinating fabrics with one color that reaches out and grabs you by the throat (or maybe pokes you in the eye - I guess it depends on her mood). This top is so lovely in person. I can't wait to see what she does for the back and the quilting.

Sure, I bullied her. I pestered her from the day she said she'd play along with me on this quilt until last week when I found out she was assembling the blocks. But LOOK! It was so worth it.
Ok, here they are side by side, Beth's and mine...




The benefits of seeing two quilts in the same pattern worked in totally different colorways are just too numerous to be believed. Go find a friend and try this for yourself. Pick a pattern or create one of your own and get after it. Comment me here when you do and I'll link your work in. I'd love to see it.

Quilted, not Bound

There was probably a more exciting and dramatic way to quilt this than meandering, but I wanted to get it finished and on my bed rather than stare at it for weeks thinking up clever things. I meandered everything but the wavy striped focus fabric and the centers of the squares. From time to time, when I got bored (meandering reallly isn't very much fun compared to just about any other kind of stitching, it's just very fast - I'm so spoiled!) I doodled something; a leaf, a dragon, a flower, things like that. Gotta get the edge bound and then it'll be finished.

Finished Random Blocks

Assembly was sooo easy for this top. Nine blocks! I feel like I got away with something! It came out about as well as I expected. The palest grey is maybe a little too pale really, but it's for me so who cares! It has been really hard for me to decide whether to put borders on this quilt; right now I'm leaning towards a two inch solid black just because I like outlining things in black. There just doesn't seem to be any kind of pieced border that would add something to the quilt, for the most part it seems piecing would detract from the jumbled up beauty of the top. I'll set it aside for a day or two and then look at it again before making any real commitment.

On an unrelated note, my buddy, Scrappy, has a dilemma she's working out. A friend of hers asked her to work a top in progress (a row robin) into something beautiful. At first Scrappy was going to pull the rows apart but now thinks adding borders will be good enough to bring the top into a cohesive whole. I agree with her. Ok Scraps-me-girl, what do you think of this idea? It means lots of work for you, but it sure looks good in eq6. I know the rows aren't exactly right, but I just didn't want to put that much work into a sketch, so pretend.

Last Three Blocks

Ok Scrappy, I'm game. I don't have all day to quilt along with you, but I have this morning until around noon. These last three blocks on my black random boxes quilt need finishing (who am I kidding? They need starting). If I can end up with a completed top sans borders this morning I shall be a happy camper indeed.

You say your iron is already hot and you're ready to sew. I guess that leaves making the coffee to me. Cream? Sugar? I'll post an update in a couple of hours.

I know Beth was working on her tan and teal boxes yesterday. Got any pictures for us yet Beth?

11:00

Seven of nine is complete. Sewing like mad on 8 and 9.





11:55

Yes! Steaming right on through #8. Sewing continues on #9. How are you coming along Scrappy? Got your mom's top finished yet?

12:50

Hoo boy am I ever running late. But here's #9 all done. I'll assemble the top this evening.

Five of Nine

Just over halfway there. These blocks are really fun to assemble in part because they are so big. When I first designed this quilt I didn't think it would need borders, but now I'm not so sure.

How's yours coming along Beth?

One of Nine

Here it is. First block of my nine patch. It sounds silly calling this thing a nine patch, but that's what it is. Nine of these blocks will make up the quilt. Each is a 30" square, each one will be different from the others.


Beth, where's yours?

At It Again

Beth and I are going for a rematch. We're both very interested in a variation of Peg's boxes that I ginned up in EQ6. Here's my version in ... you guessed it, blacks!

Beth will use browns and turquoise.


I'll be cutting for this quilt this weekend. Check out Beth's blog to get her initial comments on this quilt.

Double Double Delight

We've done it! Beth and I have finished our double delight tops. Here they are:

Like two peas in a pod, eh? and both so very like Bonnie's original work!

Working with a friend on a design is a little like having a study group in college. It keeps you on your toes and you just never know what kind of extras you're going to learn along the way.

Now it's time to quilt them!

Put Up Or...

Come on Beth, show us what you've made so far! I've made ... A MISTAKE! That's right, first block I made for my version of Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight was a mistake block. Betcha didn't know there were any of those in the quilt, did you? I managed to sew together this block grey purple grey instead of purple grey purple. I'm off to a terrific start! Naturally, all the points came out picture perfect on this block and it sized exactly right.

Otherwise, everything is cut out and I'm ready to get started sewing. I won't be cutting the setting triangles and borders until the rest of the top is assembed because of a traumatic experience many years ago when I was still new to quilting. No thanks, I still don't want to talk about it.

Ready, Set, GO!

Beth and I are of a mind. She likes autumn, I like stark contrast. She's going five colors, I'm going two. She started on the square in square units, I've started my nine patches. See how similar we are?

There's a bit of history here you haven't heard... As always we both watched Bonnie's most recent mystery unfold with interest. We were both fascinated with the block choices but neither of us wanted to make the quilt in her color way. In fact, we played with the coloration so much as we passed it back and forth between us in EQ6 that the blocks take a second look before you even recognize Bonnie's hard work is at the core of these quilts.

Like the sequel to any movie, the characters will be familiar to you, but the ending should still be a surprise. Stay tuned as we diverge from Bonnie's Double Delight in our own directions.