I joined Quiltfolk's BOM for 2024 - Break the Rules! This month they discussed a 4-Patch quilt that is featured on the cover and inside Roderick Kiracofe's book, Unconventional and Unexpectedd: American Quilts Below the Radar, 1950-2000.
I wanted to make a replica of that quilt. I looked through my stash and came up with these Essex Linens, a canvas print and a few others.
Here is the original:
I recently bought some fabric online. I was a bit disappointed when it arrived - it was darker than I had wanted. It was suggested by a friend that I try using Rit Color Remover to tone it down. That sounded like a great idea. Here's what happened.
The directions and reviews were adamant about doing this process outside because of the fumes. So I took my hot plate and big dyeing pot outside and got some hot water started. The water needed to be above 200*. It was suggested to bring it to boiling. I waited and waited and waited. I finally got out my food thermometer - it was 160*. It never got any hotter than that. After waiting for over an hour, I gave up and boiled the water in the house and then took it outside to the hot plate and stirred in the solution. That was going to be as good as it was going to get.
Experiment Fail:
It's Tuesday at 1pm! Time for Cheryl Arkison and her Quilter's Playcation 2024.
Here is this week's improv block.
I finally got that first section of the quilting on my Coordinates quilt done and was able to roll it forward to the next section.
Of course there was a bit of fussing to do to get the top lined up to continue the parallel quilting lines.
Finally, I got back to work on the quilting of my Coordinates quilt. It's been on the longarm for quite a while, languishing. I had a lot of other things on my mind, was preoccupied and a bit stressed out. So, it didn't get the attention it needed.
But, I'm back at it and making progress.
I'm making more blue Slabs and adding them to the wall. When should I start thinking about joining them together?
Not yet.
I got out the blue Slabs I made last Friday with Cheryl Arkison on Sew Squad. And, got busy making more.
I put them up on the wall as I made them.
Love it!
And then, since it's Tuesday at 1pm, it's time for Cheryl again! It's the Quilters Playcation 2024.
This week's block is about pointy things. This is week 15.
First thing up in the studio, I started cleaning up. I've finished working on the scrappy Checkerboards but the two scrap buckets were a mess. They were all mixed together.
During the Brave Patch Monday Sewcial I started sorting them back into their buckets. I didn't think I'd made a dent on them, but I was surprised that they fit much better now - not overflowing anymore. So, I guess it worked!
I also put all of the fabrics, mostly greys, away that I had used on the Sunrise quilt. So the studio is looking a lot better and the cutting table is cleared off.
After lots of missteps, backups and restarts, I finally got the Checkerboards 15-17 top done!
Yea! It's about 70" by 87".
While at the birthday party yesterday, I gave my cousin some baby quilts to donate to an organization she is familiar with.
I also gave one to another cousin to give to her brother's brand new grand-baby.
She sent me this picture today of the happy recipients with their quilt.
My cousin Clayton was born on my Mom's 21st birthday. He says they've never celebrated their birthdays together. This year was Clayton's 70th, so we figured it was time to remedy that.
A lot of the family got together at cousin Ron's in Lacey for a big birthday celebration. It was so nice seeing everyone. Ron and Marva have a beautiful home and everyone had a great time.
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| The April birthday kids. |
I signed up for Sew Squad so I could go to a SLAB Workshop with Cheryl Arkison. And it was so much fun.
I took out my Blue Scrap Bucket and got to work. First Cheryl had us sort our scraps. She started with color first, but I already had mine sorted by color. Then we sorted by size. I had a lot of narrow strips, so I sorted those into their own pile.
Then we started with sewing the little pieces into a bit bigger pieces. And we were off!
Here's my interpretation of Cheryl Arkison's week 14 of Quilters Playcation 2024 improv block:
I'm making quicker progress now that the squares and blocks are a little bigger. I got the top half of the Checkerboard quilt top done - all except one seam to join the two big chunks together. And, with the bottom half half-way completed I'm more than half way done. But, then I'm probably going to take off some of the border I've done and re-do it. Two steps forward, one step back.
I made this month's blocks for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the Month for 2024.
I've been working on this scrappy Checkerboard project for a while now. I've got the left side pretty much together. Almost every seam is a partial seam. There's a lot of head scratching and figuring and constructing more pieces to make every thing fit together.
It can be exhausting, but it's also very exciting.
Here is my improv block that I made with Cheryl Arkison's Playcation Adventure.
