Current Series, Parts 2 and 3

Posted on February 24, 2019 by zippyquilts

In our “first exciting episode” about this series, I showed the fabrics and the first set of improvised blocks, which were based on triangles cut from a strip set…

I trimmed each block to 6-1/2″ wide; the length is random

For the second set of improvisational blocks, I set these rules:

Start with a strip set
Cut and recombine the strip set in random ways
Continue to do the final trim so that each block is 6.5″ wide; any length is OK

Here are the blocks:

I wasn’t crazy about these and decided to return to a more planned approach with the next set. The rules for it were:

Start with a strip set
Recombine it into loose grids
Keep to 6.5″ in one dimension for each block.

I’m marginally more satisfied with these, but that 3rd block in this set makes me think that the next set will need some diagonal lines. Stay tuned! And thanks for visiting 🙂

Thrift Shop Finds

Posted on February 17, 2019 by zippyquilts

My friend Tierney occasionally blogs about fabric she’s found in thrift shops and I’m always envious 😉 The good news is that I recently found a new (to me) and really good thrift shop. (Better news: it’s near an excellent bakery. Oops!)

A recent trip yielded 3 flat sheets, all in the same floral print. They seem to be twin size.

I think they will make wonderful backing for some quilts! Back in the day before there was much wide fabric available, I usually bought sheets to back my quilts, so this is a great throwback!

On the same trip I found these pewter buttons, which I believe to be good quality because they have detail on the back, not just the front. I will use them to decorate a quilt at some point.

Oh yes…cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, and cookies 😀

A New Series

Posted on February 10, 2019 by zippyquilts

I’ve made quilts in series before, including this series of 12″ square quilts inspired by Gwen Marston’s work and the refrigerator quilts by Bev Mannes.

This experiment led to a larger quilt in the style of Gwen Marston:

Cherrywood Toss, 2016.

And this small quilt, made for the Quilt Alliance annual contest:

“Gwen Visits the Farm” is the quilt I made for the Quilt Alliance contest

Although I didn’t think of it as a series at first, I’ve made a many-years-long series of scrap quilts, including these:

Donation quilt from single-color scrap blocks

Scrap quilt made with strips that finish 1″ wide

Smaller pieces make a quilt with more triangles

Improv orphan blocks

More recently, I was inspired by an article by Jill Jensen in Quilting Arts Magazine. You can find a similar article here on the Quilting Company blog. I also bought a new (to me) book:

Visual Guide to Working in a Series, by Elizabeth Barton

It’s an art quilt book, but I consider all my quilts art, including the bed quilts.

I decided to make a series of blocks rather than a series of quilts this time, trying out various improvisational techniques.

I plan to use this collection of fat eights from Cotton & Steel:

After auditioning several options, I selected royal blue for a solid to go with them. It’s in the upper right corner of the picture.

Here are the first 4 blocks. My theme was triangles, and I started by making a strip set:

I trimmed each block to 6-1/2″ wide; the length is random

I’m going to make a set of blocks every month until I either get tired of it or run out of fabric. To be continued 😉

Another Scrap Class

Posted on February 3, 2019 by zippyquilts

Here are some pictures from the recent scrap quilt class. The block is directional, so it is considerably more difficult to get right than it looks! Nevertheless, everybody got it right by the end of the day. Here are a few of the blocks with their makers: