Which Way is Up?

Inspired by Irene Roderick's quilts displayed at QuiltCon, I purchased her book Dancing With The Wall by Irene Roderick. I find Irene's work to be fascinating and while I hope to take a class from her one day, this book was the next best thing.

The process of creating this quilt has been so very interesting for me. Besides using her book for some starting points for improv blocks, I followed her concept about leaving the piece on an otherwise empty design wall. It sat there for 4 months and I captured progress shots along the way - from getting started (mid-May) to making block (mid July) to combining block (early August) to almost done (mid-September). It is quite interesting to see all the places it has been!

The quilt is now basted and I plan a combination of dense walking foot quilting plus some big stitch. I can't wait to get started!

All four of these photos are an audition of which version I like better. The first orientation shared is the way the quilt has displayed on my design wall for months. But I'm leaning towards the third one. The uncertainty is where the quilt name Which Way is Up? originates from!

Which one do you like best?

Have a wonderful day! Patty

September One Monthly Goal Finish

Ready to link up your finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until September 30 at 11:55 pm ET.

This is the 93rd and final month that I've hosted One Monthly Goal! Next month (October),  Anne-Marie from Stories From the Sewing Room will be the host. (Anne-Marie and I have been co-hosting since January.) For today, you can link up at either of our blogs and your OMG project will show up in the same link party!  Anne-Marie will be taking over as the sole host of OMG in October.

Thanks for everyone that has joined OMG since November 2016. I greatly enjoyed seeing your work progress from goal to finish. I'll be joining future OMG at Anne-Marie's blog so I'll see you there!

My goal for September was to turn my scrappy HRTs into a quilt. I am excited to share my latest finish called The Twist. Read more about my quilt The Twist!

Now it's your turn to link up!  Please add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - September Finish Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty

The Twist

Ta da! Introducing my latest quilt, The Twist!

I shared all about the process of piecing the quilt on this post. Each of the HRTs were paper pieced and other than the black (which all came from scraps) there are no repeated fabrics.

I wanted lots of texture with the quilting without the interference of thread color so I used the mono-poly thread by Superior. Other than lowering the tension a bit, my Janome machine handled the thread just fine.

A dense grid was quilting inside the circle and a series of concentric circles followed out to the border. The spacing between the quilting lines is 1/4" or less.

I've done another quilt using HRTs to create an illusion - that quilt is called Illusions!. It is really fun to play with block placement to create something new.

The quilt measures 22" x 22". It was faced using the tutorial from @cottonandburbon.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pincushion

Sometimes you need step aside from making big quilts and do a simple project. 

My pincushion is filled with crushed walnuts. Our guild had a pincushion exchange - which I didn't sign up for - but there were some extra crushed walnuts left over. Filling a pincushion with crushed walnuts is quite tedious but I am happy with the result.

This pincushion is about 4.5" wide and sits right next to my machine. The inspiration came from this tutorial. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Improv Update - Almost Done

This is what my improv quilt looked like on September 1 after not touching the project for the entire month of August. I looked at it every day since it was the only thing pinned to my design wall but other projects caught my interest. 

When I met a friend for coffee recently, she commented how much she loved the piece and wanted to buy it from me. I was so incredibly flattered! I am not currently planning to sell the piece but it certainly left me with a nice feeling.

Here is where it stands now after my first September sewing session. I think all the blue bits are done and the next step is to assemble together and fill in the white bits.

I am in love with the process of working on this over a longer period of time. More soon. Until then, you can see more of the progress photos as the quilt developed on my last post. The inspiration comes from the book Dancing With The Wall by Irene Roderick.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scraps and HRTs - an update

Remember when I started playing with HRTs and scraps a few weeks ago? (see that post) Everything is all sewn together, twisted around and now is a new quilt top that I've tentatively named "The Twist"!

I am so very excited about how well this entire quilt top came together - exactly as I had planned and hoped! I started with two semi-identical pieces. The one of the left used some scrap leftover fabric since it was never going to show. From the piece in the middle, I cut out a circle.

Then with the use of many many pins, I appliqued down my circle. (I'd briefly thought about machine piecing but went the applique route for more control and, hopefully, accuracy.)

Once it was appliqued down, I cut away the bottom bit and pressed those seams open and flat.

Much to my delight, the whole quilt top lays flat! Before pressing the seams open, the circle was raised and I was trying to decide if I would embrace this with a bit of trapunto or not.

Now the quilt is pinned very densely and the quilting can begin!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Colorful Baby Quilt

Every Friday evening, my daughter and I watch a movie and I sit with a glass of wine and sew. She likes to watch her favorites over and over (and over) again but really enjoys herself which means I do too. I like to have a project of simple sewing for these wine events.

I started working on a baby quilt using a pattern and fabric supplied by Fat Quarter Shop in support of their upcoming pattern launch.

I am using two lines from Ruby Star Society - Hole Punch Dot (left over from my Spools quilt)

 and Jolly Basics. The bits of gold sparkle in these fabrics is quite fun!

No rush for this one but I expect I'll be done next month. The quilt will be baby sized so I'll be ready for the next time I need a gift!

#RibbonBorderQuilt #ClassicandVintageSeries

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Summer isn't Over Until Fall Begins!

Summer!

Despite the heat and humidity, summer is by far my favorite season of the year. I like long days of daylight and I really like to swim. To help me find more joy in my day and create more joy for me and family, I joined the Summer Lovin Seaglass SAL hosted by Kitty @nightquilter and Allie @exhaustedoctupus.

When the Summer Lovin Seaglass SAL started - see my Kick-off post - I was thinking I would earn about 100 seaglass pieces. Now through the end of August, I am at 156!

Things were off to a slow start in June - earned 43 pieces. Photo is where I was mid-June.

It was really helpful to lay things out because it challenged me to really think about recognizing joy and to seek out more opportunity. By the end of July, I earned 104 pieces.

And now, as I reached the official end to the SAL on August 31, I've earned 156 pieces. A quick layout of pieces shows it overflowing off the piece of linen fabric I wanted to use. All those red bits coming down the left side are there simply because I ran out of room. But that can easily be fixed by trimming some of the larger pieces of seaglass.

But I'm not ready to acknowledge that summer is over so I've decided to keep tracking joy and collecting seaglass until September 23 which is the first day of fall!

Regardless of when the SAL ends, I do hope to keep the practice of seeking joy as part of my mindset.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

September One Monthly Goal

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus, some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or  and add that photo to the link-up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link-up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

This is the 93rd month that I've hosted One Monthly Goal! It is also my final month. Starting in October,  Anne-Marie from Stories From the Sewing Room will be the host. (Anne-Marie and I have been co-hosting since January.)

My very first blog post as host was in November 2016 (see that post) when I picked up the hosting role from Heidi @ Red Letter Quilts. For many years, I ran the monthly link-up with sponsors and highlighted designers each month. In 2022, I stopped having sponsors (it is a lot of work to line them up) and no one seemed to mind. Turns out, joining the OMG link-up and sharing your goal is enough incentive to get something done!

I want to thank everyone who has linked up over the last 7 years. It has been great fun to see your projects and celebrate your successes with you. Now I look forward to seeing you link up with Anne-Marie.

Enough said - let's get September's One Monthly Goal started!

My goal for September is to finish quilt top assembly and quilting on my scrappy HRT quilt. I am a bit further along than this picture shows.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for this month?   The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on September 24.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link-up from your blog.  Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal September Link-up

Take a few minutes to visit others and make new friends!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty