Pine Hollow Quilt

I've been busy with so many things and plenty of sewing, but finishing quilts has not been one of them. And neither has taking pictures of what I've been working on. 

But, it's December, so it's a great time to post this flashback quilt! I made this just last year, which means it's one that fell through the cracks between when I stopped posting on Instagram and started blogging again. 

As I was saying...I made this last year. The pattern is called Pine Hollow by Amy Smart. I had seen some of these quilts around social media and thought they were fun! So many different color schemes, I especially liked one that had been done in Alison Glass Christmas fabric. I can't remember who made it, maybe Angela Pingel? I can't remember. It was so fun. I wasn't ready to embrace butterscotch and pink and aqua in my Christmas quilts at the time (stay tuned, lol) but I thought it was just too fun to not make. And, I had made a bunch of the improv trees for my memorial quilt from Amy Smart's tutorial and thought it was fun, so figured it would be a great project.

 I used some favorite prints from years ago and some newer prints and I think it's a great blend. I do regret using the low volume Sweetwater Noel print, because everything else is just so saturated, but that's okay. What's a quilt without at least one regret, right? 

I backed it with minky and my kids just love it. It's pulling ahead with an early lead for being fought over come Christmas Eve...we'll see who the lucky kid is who sleeps with it! 

Slopes Scrap Quilt

I've been pretty into Amanda Jean Nyberg lately, I have her book, No Scrap Left Behind, as well as the one she co-authored, Sunday Morning Quilts. I love them both. And this is a quilt from No Scrap Left Behind that I just had to make. She calls it Slopes for how the blocks are angled gently to give it a sloping appearance, almost like mountains. 

I don't think mine turned out nearly as effective as hers did. She used exclusively cool colors, and it's a lot more unified. And I think some of my blocks didn't get the angled cuts quite right, like not angled enough maybe, so the gentle sloping action isn't as pronounced in all the rows. But, it was one of my first attempts at an improv scrappy project and I struggle with fabric waste. By which I mean that I am loathe to use the perfect color if I will have to cut off an unusable scrap to make it work. So, I tried to use strings that were pretty close to the right size (or twice the size so I could use it twice...) and that meant I needed to use a greater variety of scraps because I just didn't have enough cool colors to make it work.

Also, I really try to put my own color scheme onto a quilt pattern. I don't want to copy it exactly, because I want it to be mine. But sometimes, that means it doesn't quite work out. It's okay.

Since it's not really perfect, I"m glad I didn't put any effort into making it much larger. It's a respectable throw size, but not as oversized as I usually go for. 

I still really like the pattern, and my box of solids is still overflowing, so maybe I'll try again? Who knows. 

For the back, I opted to collect all my flannel scraps from previous backings and piece them together into a scrappy backing. I was just a tad short, so I bought 1/3 yard of flannel to finish it off. 

Slopes quilt, designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Seattle Quilt

 I’ve been admiring scrappy quilts lately, especially the work of Amanda Jean Nyberg. I’m still sad, years later, that she discontinued her blog but I’m glad she maintains her instagram for now. And with all that scrappy goodness, I’ve felt inspired to just sew. 

After finishing a more finicky pattern, especially, I was tired and really wanted to just sew. And I have loads of solid scraps that seem to multiply and never get touched. I decided to try out some improv scrap quilting and opted for a log cabin. Not very imaginative, I know this has historically been a staple of modern improv. But I’m still pretty new to improv and it’s a staple because it’s effective. So I went for it. I chose a color scheme of mostly blues and grays with accents in pink and yellow. 

I tried to be judicious on my scrap usage because I hate wasting fabric and didn’t want to cut pieces down by less than I could use elsewhere and that really drove a lot of the design decisions, which means some blocks aren’t necessarily very sound color-wise. That’s okay. I’m pretty pleased with my first go, even though there are blocks that aren’t effective. 

I was surprised it felt smaller than I expected. It’s 60x70, with 10” blocks. It’s a reasonable size, but it still felt small. It’s okay. I was really running out of scraps anyway. Rather, I was running out of different appropriately-sized scraps. My solids box is still overflowing, haha. 

As I was getting ready to make this quilt, I sorted out my solid scraps. I had them in a cardboard box because they outgrew my plastic scrap box they had been in. They’re still in the cardboard box, but I separated them into a few different groups and use bags to keep them separated. I have grays and blacks, warm neutrals and browns, blues, greens, and yellows, reds, oranges, pinks and purples. I struggle with solids storage. I also have some solid cuts in my stash drawers, but some are so small they’re barely big enough for a binding. But they’re mostly still intact so they don’t really seem to fit in scrap storage…it’s a problem. I’m trying to reevaluate how I store them, so I might switch things up. We’ll see. 

I pieced the backing from some of those larger small cuts that I don’t want anymore. Colors purchased for specific purposes that are now finished, and pieces that are too small to be usable. It’s not pretty. But it’s the back of a scrap quilt and I think that’s fine. I’d rather use it than have it languish in the drawer, and using it on a backing feels less wasteful than donating it or discarding it. 

I got it back from my quilter and had to wait to bind it because I had other pressing things. I was finishing up piecing the block components of the All the Good quilt and didn’t want to put on my walking foot, and then I had to dive into Halloween costumes. With those finished, I was finally able to bind it. Yay! The binding is scrappy from leftover bits of bindings from other quilts, in the colors of this quilt, so I thought it turned out great. And, it means that this entire quilt (save the batting...) is made from scraps. I think that's pretty great. What is not so great is the wavy binding. When this has happened in the past, I thought it might be that I was pulling the quilt and the binding unevenly, and I guess I must have been doing that this time. This time, I was too lazy to move my serger that sits next to my sewing machine, because this quilt isn't *that* big, but it looks like I needed the space. Oh well...done is better than perfect...

I thought about a possible name while I was binding, and it was hard. I thought about the colors...the wonkiness, the log cabin block...I felt stumped. And then I thought about Seattle, which often has such dreary weather, and gray and blue seem very Northwest to me. But when I've visited, we've always managed to get a few days of sun, like the bright pops of yellow. And Seattle, like the Northwest in general, is a little wonky and weird, which we love, right? Plus, I asked for a wavy quilting design, which kinda looks like waves, an Seattle is on the Sound...So, Seattle. *shrug*

Blog Revival

I think I might try to revive my blog. I’m dissatisfied with Instagram for a couple of reasons, and haven't posted there for over a year or so now, but I really like having a log of my makes. I haven’t blogged much because of the photo factor...getting pictures with my big camera doesn’t happen often anymore, and getting them from my phone to my computer isn’t always easy. However, pictures are the best part of quilty blogs, so I best figure it out, right? 

I also miss writing. I have dabbled in various writing for years; I majored in English literature in college, returned a few years later for a master's in English literature, and naturally spent those years writing papers. When there was an opportunity for slightly more creative writing in non-creative writing classes, professors complimented my writing. I didn't get as many (or any...) compliments in my creative writing classes, but that's okay. I've dabbled in children's fiction, and have several picture book manuscripts gathering dust on my hard drive, one of which I'm decently proud of, and one and a half rough drafts of children's novels. Those drafts were pandemic projects, and I really like the finished one, but revision is not a skill I've finetuned. I've always wanted to be an author, but the publishing world has shifted and changed over the past decade and I honestly don't think I would feel welcome or really want to participate in how it currently runs: marketing is not an interest I have and there is so much expected of authors today. 

The dream of publishing looms still, though, and I've had what I consider to be a good idea for a quilt book for several years. Will I ever pursue it? Likely not. There are too many other things, and I don't consider myself especially good at diligence. Look at my blog and Instagram page! :) I tend to be consistent for a few months, maybe even a year or so, before I lose steam. This revival may prove to be the same. However, this time, I am using it more selfishly. I won't be trying to drive traffic here through instagram or other socials. I welcome readers, but want to use this really as a platform for documenting my quilts, which I miss now that I am not posting to Instagram any longer. And for writing. 

So, here I find myself. 

What's happening in my sewing room right now? Lots. And lots has changed in my creative journey over the past couple of years. I'm still churning out quilts, more than maybe I should. I'm finished up a top this week, and I already have two ready to take to my quilter when I pick up the one she finished. One was a leaders and enders, so that doesn't feel as excessive as it sounds, and the one I'm finishing is an improv log cabin scrap project. Here are the blocks laid out. They are 10" finished, so this will be 60x70. And I still have loads of solids scraps...

 I'm not sure I'll finish it before I go get my quilt, but there's a good shot since this week is the last week before my kids head back to school (and my babies are off to kindergarten!) so I'm busy with preparations and last-of-summers. I want to clear out some of my leftover cuts of solids for the backing since it's a scrap quilt, so that may hold me up from delivering it with my others. 

My kids have largely highjacked my sewing room this week as well. On Sunday, I asked what they wanted to make sure we did before the end of the summer, and 3/4 said they wanted to sew bears. The one that didn't said she wanted to go to the beach. Sorry, kiddo, no beach days this week. *shrug* Sewing bears in a service project we worked on last summer. There's a local organization that has created a doll pattern and a bear pattern and they collect handmade dolls and bears and send them all over the world to other charitable organizations that request them. These organizations then donate these bears to refugees, victims, and other children who could use a little love. Last summer we made 27 bears and the girls loved it, mostly because we would watch movies in my sewing room while we worked. Here's our finished group last year.

But I love helping them serve, and so of course I'm happy to let them commandeer my space. I know we won't get 27 done, but that's okay. We've completely finished 12 already, and several more are stuffed and need to be closed. We'll get a good number done in the next few days. I'm proud of them for their desire and willingness to do something for someone else, and I love using my talents and skills to serve.