Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Blog Break

In case you missed my earlier announcement ...

I have some large quilty deadlines looming on the horizon. The smart (grown-up? sane?) thing to do is step back from this space for a bit. So Im going to take off the rest of March and all of April. I expect to be back in early May, right in time to celebrate 10 years of blogging, with new posts and finishes for you. Until then, happy sewing!

Friday, March 15, 2024

How Not to Piece a Quilt Back / Beauties Pagent 249


A show of hands, please: Who among you loves a good pieced back?

Me, too! Sometimes you will find me using a wideback (remember these ladybugs?), but its a rare occurrence, because for me, a pieced back is an opportunity to use up some fabric—fat quarters or yardage—that might otherwise linger in my stash.

My tried-and-true approach to piecing a backing is this: I take a cut of fabric that is the length required by the project, I cut it lengthwise, and then I fill in that space with enough fabric to create the width required. Heres an example, on the back of my Rain or Shine quilt (you can see additional pictures illustrating this technique here) ...

There are times, however, when Ive mixed things up a bit with good results.

Take the back side of my Norway quilt as an example. I didnt like this block enough to place it on the front, but set here on the back, it becomes something special ...

An unused panel became the focal point of my Square Deal quilt back, with equally great results ...

I wish I could say my pieced backs are always a success. This is not the case. In fact, I seem to create problems for myself when I try to do anything fancier or more fiddly. 

Take, for example, the back of my Lotus Blossom quilt. The quilt front featured fabrics that suited the recipients taste but not my own. I knew if I didnt use them on the back, I wouldnt use them at all. A few math mistakes created problems for me, and I ended up with a backing that is not my style ...

I found myself in a comparable situation recently, shown in the picture at the top of the post. (I have yet to reveal the top of this particular project.) My goal, as usual, was to use up as much fabric as I could. In this case, however, some of that fabric was 2.5-inch squares. The process was more fiddly than I had hoped, and the result is OK but not awesome. To me, the way the pieced swath cuts off at the edges of the quilt looks like a mistake. There is something to be said for big chunks of fabric on a back, I think.

The moral of my pieced-back story is this: The simpler the plan for a pieced backing, the better. I spend less time thinking and sewing a pieced back—and like the results more!—when I keep the approach straightforward.

Blog Break

Friends, I have some large quilty deadlines looming on the horizon. The smart (grown-up? sane?) thing to do is step back from this space for a bit. So Im going to take off the rest of March and all of April. I expect to be back in early May, right in time to celebrate 10 years of blogging, with new posts and finishes for you. Until then, happy sewing!

Follow Me On ...


 
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  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Friday, March 8, 2024

In the Irish Chain Tradition / Beauties Pageant 248

Irish Twist in Strawberry Lemonade by Sherri and Chelsi

I have had Saint Patricks Day on my mind lately. In part, that is because March 17 is on the horizon and I live outside of Boston, where the holiday is a big thing. Ive also started a second listen to the Last Seen podcast, which documents the theft of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 

If youre unfamiliar with that story, in the wee hours of March 18, 1990, and in the wake of Saint Patricks Day festivities, two men posing as Boston Police made their way into the museum, tied up the night guards, and stole 13 irreplaceable—and still unrecovered—works of art. Its a fascinating story, in part because the burglary was so brazen and so easily accomplished. (You can read more about the theft here.)

And the third reason Ive been thinking about all things Irish lately is that Ive been wanting to make another Irish Twist quilt. This design, following in the long Irish chain tradition, spotlights the space in between the chains to make a uniquely modern quilt.

Ive had an Irish Twist project in Aneela Hoey’s Sherbet Pips collection cut and ready to be sewn for months now, but there are so many awesome collections out this spring. I couldnt help but mock up Irish Twist in a few of Modas latest lines.

I think my favorite is the version in Strawberry Lemonade (by Sherri and Chelsi), at the top of the post. Those colors and prints are so spring-y; they have me wishing away these last few weeks of winter. Old Glory (by Lella Boutique), directly below, is the most "me" of the collections. I love red and blue together, but I think Id put those prints to work in something with a Fourth of July feel.

The third mockup surprises me the most. I tend to be rather blue-averse (when asked for my color preference the last time I bought a car, I asked for the color not-blue!). But Water, a collaborative collection from Ruby Star Society, goes all in with blue, and I like it!

These three mockups were made possible by EQ8, and experimenting with them scratched a creative itch for me. What do you do when you want to play with fabric but dont have the time in your quilty schedule to take on a new project?

Irish Twist in Old Glory by Lella Boutique

Irish Twist in Water by Ruby Star Society

Follow Me On ...


 
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The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter