Quilting on Different Fronts

Historically, I've made myself finish a quilt project before I allow myself to start another.  I might collect fabric and look at it, but that is as far as it goes.  I'm trying something different for 2016 and letting myself go where the inspiration takes me.  I'm a great starter and middle project person -- so this will be a test to see if I can finish up a project or two as well.

On Sunday and Monday, I worked on my improv squares that I began at the workshop in Burlington at the beginning of the month.  I finished two more 16" squares.

Blocks #3 and #4

So now I have four.

Blocks #1-#4

I'm thinking of having this one be a non-traditional size.  I'm going to test 4 or 5 blocks wide by 2 blocks high and see if I like it.  The title is Sunset over Great Bay and I envision it to be like a panorama of the bay as I drive over the Sullivan Bridge.  That might end up being too weird and I go more traditional.  That alternate layout is ruminating for now.  I still have more blocks to go before I have a better feel for the finished piece.

On Friday, one of my favorite quilt bloggers, Cheryl Arkison posted that she was designing blocks for a sampler quilt found at The Splendid Sampler.  I've never done a sampler before and that piqued my interest.  The first block released on Sunday, Hearts Aflutter, has a big ole heart appliqued in the center of a 6 1/2 inch square.  Dang.  I've done some hand sewing before, but not traditional applique. Before I made my decision to quit before I started, I went to my sewing room and began pulling fabric that I might use in this year-long sampler project.  I took the map print from Kaffe Fassett as the inspiration and went all through my stash and bins of scraps.  In the end, I found too many pretty fabrics to be deterred by a little applique.

The colorful print gives me options for down the road

Fabric from my stash and scrap bins

Some of the scraps are so old, I was using pinking sheers to cut instead of the rotary cutter.  That means I used them between 1990 and 1992 or so when I lived in New Hampton and used a ruler and tailor chalk to draw squares on the fabric before cutting.  And I sewed with Mom's sewing machine on the floor because I didn't have a table big enough for it to fit on. Yikes!

Fabric from my first ever quilt project

I made the block in stages.  I constructed the background and basted on the heart yesterday.  After work I removed the basting stitches and made my way around the heart in little stitches.  It is a bit wonky in its placement, but overall, I'm happy.  I hope with block #2 we move away from applique.

Stage #1

Finished Block #! Hearts Aflutter

Fortified with that success, I went back to the bonus features on the web site and found a pincushion tutorial.  While Selim working on his math homework, I tackled that project.  I used scraps and fabric from the heart block and came up with this.

Cathedral pin cushion

Block and pin cushion

Coordinating fabrics

It may need a bigger button in the center...I'm not sure.  I'm pleased and it will make me smile as I go down this road of trying new sewing and quilting things.

I'm liking this freedom to work on projects as I'm inspired.  This is going to be fun!