Another UFQ Adventure and Some Ideas on Getting Unstuck!

Once again, there is nothing like a deadline to motivate me!

I started piecing Lucy Carson Kingwell's Smitten over a year ago and as is so often the case with me, other projects pushed in and took priority.

This year, I listed it as one of my "goal" projects for the APQ Resolution challenge which helped me get back at it briefly earlier in the year.  Then a student asked me to consider using the pattern for a future workshop and the idea formed to follow through on that for my 2017 Farmpark Workshop.

 

It's too early to book for it at this point, but I can tell you it's

Friday and Saturday, March 17 and 18

at Lake Metroparks Farmpark Quilt Show!

 

So back out everything came and the finished blocks took over the design wall.

Now I have a deadline to motivate me but I need stimulation to actually do the work!

I find that a good place to start is to sort through all that fabric pulled for the project and reorganize it.

Nothing gets my juices moving like sorting fabric into color and value piles!

Another useful strategy for me is to start cutting pieces without making "matching" decisions.  For this set of small blocks I needed a central hexagon.  Cutting some that I thought were pretty is the quickest way to move forward. 

The "visual" of the shape laying there suggests what to use more quickly than other approaches.

And as I was handling a piece of fabric, I cut some extra pieces -- large diamonds for fillers I would need, a set of background diamonds for a small star, triangle wedges.

(A good pot of tea and a lovely teacup help stimulate creativity.)

Soon I was back in the groove and piecing blocks at a productive rate! 

By adding the newly pieced units to the design wall as they were finished, I can evaluate where I need more of the three main color families -- pink, green, and yellow.  If you don't have a design wall, it is such a helpful resource you might want to give it some thought.

Even though I haven't finished all the interior blocks, I stared to create the half blocks needed for the upper and lower edges.  I have a photo deadline I'm trying to meet!!

I've also begun to incorporate ideas from other sources to build my enthusiasm and maintain momentum -- sometimes I get bored with doing what someone else has done and just need to give it a twist!  Treehouse Textiles is a shop in Australia that I follow on Instagram and they often post ideas for using vintage textiles in their quilted projects (such as this). 

I had three of these tea towels too precious to "use" but if I didn't do something with them, they were doomed for a donation box someday -- now they will always be fondled and appreciated!

I've started to assemble the upper left side working in diagonal rows. 

Friday, I'll share some tips on how I manage this part of the process.

Must head back to the studio for now and stitch, stitch, stitch!!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Importance of READING ALL THE WORDS!!

Now you would think with over 35 years of teaching quilt making and writing instructions, I would not need to be reminded of how important it is to

 READ ALL THE WORDS, not just look at the pictures!!

Sometimes it results in a subtle "design variation" like the diagonal cross blocks which were "supposed" to be framed with the background fabric rather than a third fabric. 

But this time, it resulted in the beginning of the backing?!?

In other words, units not usable to create the intended design.  The fifth set of blocks for Anneliese's #smorgasblocks Instagram follow-along reminded me how important it is to read all the words.  I rushed past a critical sentence and was so puzzled with the results of my first work session.

There was no way I could organize these blocks to make the intended design!

Long story short -- an exasperated Mary went back and read ALL the words slowly and made half the blocks over so that I could finish part five!  It's very cool but it's a bit embarrassing to admit that skimming the words and trying to glean all the information I needed from the pictures stopped me in my tracks.

I've put the first four parts together at this point (following Anneliese's instructions), stitched this Twizzle band together and am in the process of cutting and piecing part six (after reading the instructions carefully, twice).

If you are curious about the sew-along, you can read all the posts HERE.

I'm enjoying discovering new designers and the piecing challenges!

And if you an Instagrammer, search for the #smorgasblocks hashtag and see all the color variations -- very inspiring!!

Just remember to READ ALL THE WORDS!!

Thanks!

Mary Huey



A Day in the Prairie

Like most of you, I don't quilt all the time.  My other passion is exploring natural areas.

A couple years ago, I joined a group of like-minded folks here in Ohio who love our natural spaces and work hard to protect them by supporting the skeleton state staff of the Natural Areas and Preserves section of Ohio's Department of Natural Resources.

This past Saturday, a large group of us enjoyed a warm sunny visit to the founder's beautiful 20 acre prairie in central Ohio.  Twenty years ago, he purchased a fifty-plus acre farm and began to convert the abandoned fields into a showcase for native plants.

As one walks past the small barn, a vista opens up before your eyes of native grasses and blooming plants that is breath taking. 

Wide mown paths allow one to wander around and through the grasses that tower overhead.  The paths are lines with a variety of flowering prairie species which are visited by hummingbirds and dozen of species of bees and butterflies during the course of the growing season.

I took two walks around the entire prairie -- the first time with a guided group for a refresher on the names of the plants.  The tallest plants in this picture are prairie dock -- their rhubarb size leaves are hidden in the tall grasses but the golden flowers wave high above at 7 and 8 feet.

The owner of the prairie includes native plants from around Ohio such as this royal catchfly which is commonly red, but Adams county has a small population of a salmon variety.

This gray-headed coneflower is an easy species to grow and my own specimens of it attract lots of insects.  This dragonfly (a common whitetail) is likely looking for other insects rather than nectar. 

Two ponds have been incorporated into the landscape and the native hibiscus had just started to bloom along the edges.

After lunch, I returned to the prairie for a solitary walk to enjoy the sights and sounds without any narration from other admirers.

There were more butterflies about than earlier and this red-spotted purple gave me a run for my money but I did manage to get two or three "not-blurry" photos of him.

This meadow fritillary was one of the reasons the purple was constantly moving around -- it seemed like the purple was chasing the fritillary away, protecting a section of the mowed path.

As I walked I reviewed the names I learned in the morning in hopes that I'll remember them on a future prairie visit -- this is downy (or hairy) sunflower -- facing the sun of course!

The rattlesnake master (on the left) is another one I grow here in my garden, but the Virginia mountain mint (on the right) was new to me.  There was a viceroy butterfly fiercely patrolling this patch but he eluded my camera.

The mix of purple coneflower (front), native monarda (center) and gray-headed coneflower (back) near the end of my second trip around the prairie had attracted a beautiful and rare (to me) butterfly.

The giant swallowtail -- 50% larger than other swallowtail species -- perhaps the size of a hummingbird.  This one was freshly emerged with no signs of wear on his wings.

What a lovely way to spend a summer day!

 

If you are interested in learning more about ONAPA, you can visit their website HERE.

They sponsor many work projects to help preserve unique Ohio natural areas as well as enjoying trips to explore and learn more about the flora of Ohio.

If you join, perhaps we'll meet face to face one of these days!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Another Finish for July!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's nothing like a deadline!!

This is my second finish for the third quarter of the 2016 Finish Along!!

I'm still burying thread tails and stitching the binding down, but by the time you read this, it will be on it's way to the Appleseed Quilters Guild in Ft. Wayne, IN to recruit students for my workshop there in October.

I will be in Southeast Ohio cooking for my church's mission team for a week and this is my last task before I leave.

It only took three days to quilt -- I'm not able to quilt for hours on end thanks to arthritis but I can manage two or three hour-long sessions spread through out a day.  My standard design for 8-pointed stars is to do continuous curve quilting around the entire star.

I did some parallel lines through the sashing that intersect in the cornerstones and then took a pause to decide whether and if to quilt the background of the stars.  I didn't like the un-quilted look but it took a day to get inspired.

In the end, I settled on "simple" by expanding a box in each corner to a maze-like design that crosses over the sashing.  I like it!

I practiced the best route to take by finger tracing the design several times and then used my straight line guide for the stitching.  Love that tool!!

Keeping the designs simple meant I was trimming and ready to bind on schedule!

Happily, there was a good batik for the binding on my shelves that repeated the cool colors of blue, green, and aqua in the quilt.

I used Marti Michell's 2 1/2" Stripper Set to create these 9 1/2" stars and assembled them using the Set-In Piecing Simplified technique from my DVD.  Even after 4 years of teaching the technique, I'm still amazed at how consistent and perfect my y-seam blocks are!

If you don't have the DVD yet, you can order it HERE.

I've taken some hand-stitching with me for the week, but I'll be itching to get at my machine come tomorrow morning!!

Mary Huey

Linking up to the third quarter 2016 Finish Along Link-up HERE!!



2016 Mid Year Goals Review

Back at the end of 2015, I looked at past goals and set some new ones for 2016. 

You can check out that post HERE.

Not surprisingly, I forgot about the specifics of them until Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl reminded me last week that I had linked up with her goal setting collection and invited me to participate in a MIDYEAR REVIEW HERE.

I guess that is a good thing -- not that I forgot, but that I was reminded -- and reviewing progress mid-year gives one an opportunity to evaluate and reassess. 

So . . . . . here goes.

So glad I keep a daily stitching journal!!

"First, I'll try to finish a UFQ each month!"

My thought was to use the APQ Resolution Challenge to stay on track with this goal.  If you study my list closely, the first thing you will notice is there are not 12 projects listed and the second thing you will notice is that two of them (so far) have been relisted because they didn't quite get finished during the first month they won the lottery. 

There are two DONE's -- but not six.

Some progress is better than none and both of the "DONE's" were over 12 years on the shelf!!

"Second, I'm going to try to generate four new twin size scrappy charity quilts."

I've finished two smaller ones.  One is in this box on it's way to the Orlando MQG for their #quiltsforpulse drive!  On track but perhaps I'll modify this goal to "large lap size" quilts.

"Third, I want to get the last half dozen sets of quilt blocks malingering in boxes and baskets pieced into quilt tops."
Hmm, I think I forgot about this one completely though I did take a set of blocks that I made for a workshop that never happened and finish them into a charity quilt.  I also found a couple more piles of blocks during the studio thinning out this spring so I think there are more than six?!? 
This is a good retreat project. 
I need to go on a retreat!! 
Anyone up for a retreat??
Wait, wait -- I did get that star tumbling block top set together in May (or was it June?)! 
And the birds -- I didn't just get them set together, I finished the quilt!!
Extra points!

"And finally, I want to continue to explore piecing designs and offer workshops where quilters can apply the Set-In Piecing Simplified technique featured in my DVD." 

As predicted in January, this has been the easiest goal for me on which to stay focused.
I introduced my pattern, Dresden Stars, in the spring along with a workshop.
I continue to help my students and blog followers learn to recognize when to apply the chain piecing y-seam technique while working with patterns such a Jen Kingwell's Glitter and currently Barbara Brackman's Morris Hexathon.
And I'm currently planning a new two-day workshop for making hexagonal block samplers.

One goal I didn't set but looking back I should have because I've been doing so well at achieving it!!

"To get distracted easily by all sorts of lovely ideas on Instagram."

Nine of my thirty finishes so far this year fall into this category -- and there are a couple more in progress!!  I think I've seen a few quilters refer to this behavior as "proquiltinating".

It's significant that I've finished all of them that I've started!!

Says something for tackling small projects with a high level of excitement!!

There is still 5 months of 2016 left -- but I'm going to put my "list" up on the wall in the studio as a friendly reminder that I do have goals.

In the meantime, we'll all just keep stitching!!

Mary Huey

A Quilt for Comfort

The comfort quilt for Pulse is finished and on it's way to Orlando!

I know some of you are making blocks or tops or quilts for this project because I've seen your blogposts and Instagram posts.  For those who haven't heard about this, the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild is spearheading the collection and they directed interested quilters to Allison at www.cluckclucksew.com who has a tutorial for the heart block in a variety of sizes.

As you can see I did a mix of the sizes.

I auditioned a few prints for the borders but anything with enough color was too kitschy so I settled on a rainbow piano key border using random width strips from the cutting scraps for the hearts.

I assembled them into groups of the six colors and rather than a rainbow order, I paired them by their opposite position on the color wheel -- green next to red, yellow next to blue, orange next to purple -- to get more contrast and sparkle. 

I made the strips 1" longer than needed to allow for wobbles and trimmed them towards the end of process.

I made four more small hearts to turn the corners of the borders and sashed them on what will be the outside edges of each corner -- this is a close-up of the upper left corner heart.

I added a border of the background color and then the pieced borders doing the sides first.

Then I added the background border across the top and bottom from edge to edge as you see below. 

The corner hearts were added to each end of the top and bottom borders with a strip of background aligned to match the side borders.  That took some fiddling and ripping but it was worth it. 

Extending the background border all the way to the edges of the quilt helped float the corner hearts and gives the quilt a unified look.

Simple quilting finished it off.  It is "raining" more hearts onto the surface of the quilt.

I alternated straight lines with curvy lines vertically through the central part of the quilt to maintain a gentle look.

The vertical straight lines have various size hearts inserted randomly. 

A heart is an easy shape to "draw" with your needle.  Once the heart was stitched, I continued on by stitching down through the heart.

Here's one of the 10" hearts with the alternating lines and the random hearts. 

In this photo you can see the alternating wavy and straight lines of the border as I stitch down the last 6" of the binding.

Choosing the binding fabric was probably the most difficult part of making the quilt because of all the color in the quilt and the stripped border.  After making a blue binding which clashed terribly with the backing, I settled on this bright print which was laying on the cutting table for a second Pulse quilt top.

It's been fun to watch the quilts roll in to the Orlando MQG -- they are probably past the 200 mark at this point -- and their Instagram hashtag, #quiltsforpulse is climbing steadily toward 3500 posts.

The Dallas and Ft. Worth Modern Quilt Guilds have started a collection of the heart blocks for #quiltsforpeace -- blue prints with white backgrounds, same tutorial from www.cluckclucksew.com and you can get to the guild website HERE for more information.

Quilters do such a good job of sharing their work and bringing comfort to others!!

Now if we could just get politicians to be so positive.

Mary Huey

Linking up to the third quarter 2016 Finish Along Link-up HERE!!