trees, not hearts

finally, something other than pink to share, even if it is dreadfully out of season. i finally got a chance to work on the quilting of my last batch of basted quilts. first up was "bright forest" because of the color that was on the machine that had the walking foot attached.

this golden tan-ish aurifil 2318 was on the machine that d1 was using to attach her binding. the correct foot was also on the machine, so i looked over the available quilt options to see if any of them would look good with this color and save me the trouble of changing thread.

at first glance, none of the quilts were obvious candidates, but as i thought about what it would look like on "bright forest," i decided it would be a subtle golden holiday touch to the otherwise very bold and bright quilt. using a more intense gold color would compete with the fabric colors in a way i didn't fancy but the soft gold would add a touch of holiday sparkle without competing or clashing. and i'm happy with the results, so i approve of my choice.

i chose a simple quilting pattern: straight lines through the middle of all the sashings and cornerstones and then straight lines through the horizontal and vertical centers of each block.

with the quilt rolled in at the sides in preparation for feeding through the machine, you can see the different fabrics of the backing and how well they compliment the random collection of colors i used on the front. i'm really so very pleased with how this back turned out and feel like it just makes the quilt. i was rather ambivalent about the top once all the blocks were done, then the sashing and cornerstones helped me like it more. the backing makes me like it a lot now. those boxy bears and the trees were worth the price i paid for them for the way they elevate the overall quilt and enhance the vibe. plus, the selvage, which is included and shows in the backing, has "2020" printed in it, the year this quilt and its companion got their start from a random collection of kona colors i ordered at the same time.

i'm not even minding the christmas colors and motifs in the month of hearts and flowers and all things love. it does make me think i should pull out those "cute betsy hearts" since it's february, but we'll see what i get around to in what's left of the month. knocking out a few more hearts would be fun . . .

what was not fun: finding a pin stuck in the quilt while i was working on the quilting. d5 was sitting at the machine across from me working on her 16-patch blocks and i thought she'd let a pin go astray, but on examination discovered it was actually embedded inside the quilt sandwich. i must have accidentally let it fall on the backing which was spread on the floor before i added the batting to it. so very odd! fortunately, i discovered the pin by the smallest of pokes to my finger while moving the quilt around under the walking foot and at an early enough point in the process that no unpicking was required to reach my hand inside the sandwich and remove it.

this is all worked up now, so which quilt do you think i put under the walking foot next? hint: it's not from the same batch but from a previous basting batch. if you look under the "quilting queue" on my "wips" page, you might be able to guess.

some backs in detail

 

this older alexander henry print (circa 2010) of mod flowers in warm, deep pastels is a major fabric crush of mine. once i used it for an apron. scraps of it appeared in the original hst block for my gypsy wife quilt and subsequently in the gypsy child hst quilt. a few years ago when i was going at the hst quilt full throttle, i looked to see if i could find yardage of the print for the backing. i got lucky and found an etsy seller who had used it in her custom-order business for household goods and still had some on hand. it's been patiently waiting on my fabric shelves ever since. getting it out and spreading it down the hall to let the folding wrinkles relax a little before i pressed it made me so happy.

when i'm preparing to use large pieces of yardage, usually for a backing, i tend to spread them out to full length while i'm working my way up to them. this particular weekend i was hoping to back a couple of quilts, so there were several pieces laying about in the afternoon sun as i worked.

although the hst top was the first completed of the grouping, it ended up being the last one i basted together. it was well past midnight by the time i got it done, but i pushed through and saw it to completion. i knew i wouldn't have another chance for a while to do this and had no where to store all the big pieces, so it felt necessary. 

this backing might have taken the longest because i decided to do one of my "large strip down one side and pieces along the other" backing, and had to hunt out and cut several pieces of fabric used in the top for the small side pieces. that took quite a while. the results are worth it, so no regrets. i included several selvages in the pieces and was pleased they showed up so well.

the first quilt i backed of this bunch was "fairytale meadow." after that, i went the easy(ish) route and backed "frosted forest star" because the top was already complete and was sitting on top of the gypsy child, making it more easily accessible. i had a few pieces of yardage i was considering for backing but was still unsatisfied with my picks. that large open-pane white-and-dark green plaid woven was going to be my biggest piece of the backing, but it needed some supporting pieces to round it out. it's not a wideback, so i had to supplement it somehow. the colors in the snowflake fabric went really well with the top except that the background color was a warm, creamy ivory color and this quilt is definitely crisp and cool. it just didn't work. the aqua print matched really well, but there was only half a yard. the ginghams felt woodsy, but the color tones were off. i pulled several more fabrics from stash and finally found the perfect pieces.

this random green from my stash, recently purchased as part of a christmas stashing buy, was just the right color. in that same christmas order i found a pinecone and sprig print that coordinated really well and fit the theme of the quilt. it felt so good to have these finally come together! i decided to do a 3-strip-striped backing, another go-to formation of mine. the strips had to be a lot thicker because of how much space i needed them to take.

because i was piecing the strips to be the length of the back (over 72" long), i decided to flip the outer two fabrics at the seam for a little interest. then i decided to make one more cut and do it again for even more fun in that party-on-the-quilt-back. which i later regretted because it started to feel patchwork-y and this quilt top has a very clean, crisp, modern look to it. ah, well. it's on the back and won't matter much.

why i felt the need to take this crummy night photo of me basting the quilt, i don't know. but there you have it - quilt number two for the night, three for the weekend, is a "samich."

"bright forest" took some more thinking and scheming. fortunately, i picked out two of the fabrics in advance in december while working on the top. the ruby star society bears and trees print was basically perfect for the blocky, modern tree top. the colors were just right, too. i have a fat quarter set of the "flurry" line from 2020 that the print comes from, which is how i knew it was just right for my trees. what was wrong was the perfect fabric was out of print, impossible to find in quantity, and too pricey. but i found just enough of it, bit the bullet and paid the cost, knowing i would supplement with something else when the time came. i found less of the "spark" multi-bright snowflake/star print from the same line, which also coordinated really well, but there was enough of it to work into the backing. 

the trees for the top were made in pairs, but my 7x7 top used only 49 blocks, so i had one extra tree for the back. i included the tree in a strip with the "spark" print, and sandwiched that in between the bear print and the perfectly colored deep teal green small checked print i found in my stash. 

whew! done. and i'm very happy with it. i think this backing levels the whole quilt up a few notches.

this post is all out of order for how i did this batch, but there is one more quilt i backed and basted (the day before these three): fairytale meadow.

the top is composed of orange, green, and low-volume heather ross prints. these were the components i decided to echo on the back. ages ago i knew i wanted the green floral print from the "trixie" line for the backing and got several yards, so i had that covered. for the orange, i had one print in enough yardage to make a strip across the width of the back, so that was an easy decision. same with the strawberry print for the low-volume. this one was probably the easiest to decide on and to put together. i was able to include the fun selvages from two of the prints, which i always like to do.

i think the "trixie" mouse detail is one of my favorites of the bunch. 

it was pretty exhausting to get these quilts processed in two days, and my body hurt for a few days after, too. but i'm so glad it's done.

too late?

just found this mass of yardage of the absolute perfect print (from denyse schmidt's "katie jumprope" collection) for the backing to my “sunny yellow crossroads” quilt hiding in my stash! 

i have a step ladder folded up leaning against my fabric shelves. the seat of the ladder blocked my view of this gem hiding in my DS stash when i was searching for a backing the other day. i need to look more carefully in future. what a find. the orangey-red daisy centers perfectly mirror the center squares i chose for the blocks. 

i’ll be saving the bees i ordered for something else. maybe my “grellow garden geese?” that quilt is also subtly garden themed. looks like I can get to work on the backing now! 

party with the quilt back pieces

as i've been prepping my handwork to go, i've been entering my sewing room a lot more often than i have been the last several months. i mentioned it was a complete disaster because i haven't been using it and that i have been studying ideas for decluttering and organizing it. so as i've been in the room the last few days, i have been doing as much or more cleaning in it as i have been doing actual sewing.

each time i walk into the room to sew, i start with decluttering/organizing first. it's kind of addicting. i just want to clean it all! getting one space cleared motivates me to do the ones next to it or whatever else catches my eye.

saturday afternoon i walked in to do some machine quilting and my eyes fell on the mess of things stuffed under my pressing table. i got everything cleaned up spic and span in about 20 minutes, then i saw this basket on the floor next to it. when i'm done trimming the quilts, i grab all the trimmings of batting and backing and stuff them in this basket which is suppose to hold it until i can separate the parts and store them in their proper places.

only i don't ever get around to processing the pieces in this basket.

there are so many long strips of backing and batting all wadded up and stuffed in this basket. it's overflowing and looks a wreck. sort of like this photo does. it was supposed to be a picture of a big long strip of fabric and batting being separated from each other. that doesn't really come across with me using one hand for a photo and one to just hold, not separate, everything, does it?

i felt like doing this project next, so i started digging through the contents and separating the pieces. i considered immediately processing the fabric scraps for storage, but that would require pressing, because all the wadded fabric is wrinkled, and a lot of cutting, which could take hours or days. i only wanted to get the basket empty, so i opted to just separate and fold the pieces. pressing and cutting can wait for my next burst of cleaning mojo.

one of the helpful decluttering ladies i've been listening to, dana k. white, says to take a photo before you begin decluttering a space so you can see the progress you make. i wish i'd done that with the other spaces in the room i've recently cleared rather than just taking a finish photo when i have it looking nice. i decided to document this little project from the beginning for myself and to share. maybe it will encourage someone else to get moving.

i did not anticipate what a trip down memory lane going through these backing scraps would be! it was like revisiting the making of many of my quilts from the past nearly decade. (yes, it's been needing cleaning that long!) i'll add in some photos of the quilt backs so this isn't just a bunch of ugle scrap photos. there's a popular IG hashtag #partyinthequiltback celebrating all the fun things quilters do on the backs of their quilts. well, the hours i spent cleaning up my backing scraps felt a little like a party with my quilt back pieces. it's the kind of fun quilters have on a saturday night, right?

some pieces were skinny strings, some were massive pieces of backing, several inches wide and the full length or width of the whole quilt, which is several feet. i found this one (folded twice already) from my older son's "blue and orange wonky" quilt that will make a nice start on a different quilt back. i'm setting it aside to use on another boy quilt at some point, maybe for one of his kids someday.

sometimes when i trim quilt sandwiches, i don't cut the different sides apart from each other. i leave them joined at the corners, like i did here on "spare pennies."

these joined pieces don't fold nicely, so i had to decided where to make a cut now, then fold the individual pieces for storage. 

nicer for storing now. still so wrinkly! you can see why i decided to stick with the first step of separating and folding, leaving the pressing and cutting for later.

apparently when i trimmed "dreaming easy," i didn't even cut any of it apart. it was one big joined up piece still. 

 this is one of my favorite backs ever. i love a pieced backing, but i think my favorite pieced backs result from joining two large fabric panels with scraps or blocks from the front, like this. it feels more intentional and orderly, which my eye appreciates.

also, this quilt was completed in december 2015, by the way. i told you this basket has been doing duty and not been cleaned for a long time.

some pieces filled me with nostalgia and i literally cooed or exclaimed when i unearthed them, like these liberty scraps. i was like, "ahw, look! it's capel and mitsi valeria from 'liberty makes do!'"

this was the only bits of liberty in the basket. i think i'm generally good about processing the liberty right away because i'm either using it again soon or just because they're so precious and i make a point of saving every usable bit. i probably thought these strips were too small, but there was an inch there, so i did immediately trim these and add them to the scrap drawers.

and to my credit, there were a lot of quilt backs i've trimmed over the last decade that weren't present in this basket. sometimes i do actually put that stuff away. sometimes. but not all. in future, i hope to do all processing when i'm done trimming the quilt sandwiches.

some of the quilts had loads of leftover pieces, like grandma s's "groovy summer lover letters." 

big quilt, lots of scraps from those long quilt sides.

look, we're getting somewhere on this mess:

i'd say this basket is half empty, which is the optimistic view when you're talking about cleaning out something. half empty, not half full, is more encouraging in this situation.

one hour later: the batting scrap pile is getting bigger and the basket is slowly emptying. the stuff at the bottom was compacted (from being at the bottom), so halfway wasn't really halfway. but it's progress.

these two little pieces are very well attached to the batting and not worth unpicking. however, i can make them into small needle minders that are useful for my various handstitching cases. so i'll put them aside for now.

oh, the pieces from marmee's quilt - "penny patch 2.0, school pennies." the quilt i was making for myself, then gave to my mother to love her through her cancer, and got back in the end. very sentimental, lots of memories in these scraps. 

i found trimmings from each of my kids' stella grande quilts, all except for d3's "radiant suzy." there is a vague memory just out of reach of me processing those scraps for something i needed them for. or maybe for once i was good about separating the pieces and putting away scraps. if i find them in the scrap basket (which still needs to be processed), then i'll know.

there's a nice tidy pile of scraps from almost all of them. these could definitely be the starts for another quilt each. i like the idea of incorporating them in quilts for my children's children someday.

so much has changed since these quilts were made and this picture was taken eight years ago. another eight years and there could be a whole lot more people with more me-made quilts wrapped around them. so far i have 2.5 grandchildren, 1 grandchild quilt complete. what will happen in the next eight years? my children could have one each at least. it's a little mindboggling to consider.

i kept finding little pieces of d3's "star cookie" i made when she was four. as i found them i kept texting her photos. she was so thrilled. there are plenty of ideas we're floating for how to use these.

mainly she's just interested in having them for herself. fifteen years later she's still quite attached!

these scraps are actually a mystery because i used the exact same side strip on two different quilts. 

it could be from "star of the circus" . . .

. . . or from "valoe." 

hard to say since i used this strip on both of them. actually, thinking it through as i type, i bet it's from "valoe" because the reason i had it to use on "valoe" was that there was a large piece still left over from "star of the circus." ha! mystery solved. i definitely used the trimmings from "circus" on the back of "valoe," so anything further left would be cut from "valoe." in the end, it came from both of them, didn't it?

this is another type of quilt back i like to make: a large strip down one vertical side and several coordinating cuts stacked horizontally to fill out the rest of the backing. it's another pieced backing that has some order and polish to it.

some strips i found were quite narrow. for these, i lay them out on the cutting mat and cut off anything narrower than 1" wide. then i folded the strings up and put them in the 1" scrap drawer. in this case, processing is quick and makes sense to do promptly.

oh heavens, look at these gems i found at the bottom of the basket, haha. one of my girls must have made these totes out of plastic shopping bags with fabric scrap string handles. how fun. the clear one has all the scraps from "love all around" rolled up inside.

two hours later and i have the whole basket emptied, all the fabric scraps folded and semi sorted into piles by size.

there is so much fabric here! i did not anticipating it ending up this big. i could make a couple more quilt backs from these scraps alone.

in fact, while i was working on this project, i thought of a fun quilt idea: a scrappy top with all my solid scraps and a backing from all these backing scraps. wouldn't that be fun? i need to come up with a plan for how to make it not just a great big, jumbled, hot mess, but i have some ideas for that already. let's add it to the wip list!

just looking at the batting pile. the large pieces i folded up and put back in the basket. the smaller ones i bagged to use for stuffing.

the fabric pieces filled up a whole basket. these can now be processed for scraps when i'm ready. it's a lot more organized, accessible, and neat looking than the mess that was stuffed in and spilling over that round wicker basket.

the pressing table corner of my room is looking so much better! i can see floor and no crummy mess. everything is contained and neat. there is still a ton of visual clutter in the room because it's all open shelves storing a bajillion different items, many of them small. but when everything is stacked neatly, it looks a whole lot better.

what's next for my declutter/organization spree? i'm looking at this basket under my sewing table that has more fabric scraps in it. i've got my eye on you basket. i'm coming.

basting away

this weekend i unexpectedly got some freetime and i decided to get some quilt tops out of the "needs a backing" queue and have a back-making & basting party. once i have quilt tops pieced, i enjoy moving several of them through the next phases to finishing in batches.

i had 5 completed tops that needed backings: "frosted forest star", "fall paint lake", "aunt bets mother's day", "melonaide brightside", and my crossroads quilt.

i had already ordered backings for "fall paint lake" and "aunt bets mother's day", so i started with making those two backings. the first was just two large prints sewn together - easy and done quickly. for "aunt bets" i wanted to add a strip of scraps from the top between the two large pieces i had selected for the back. that took a bit more time, but not much.

a little tip from when i was basting "fall paint lake" - the seam wasn't laying down well (i may have actually neglected to press it when i finished the back a few days ago), so i grabbed my little manual seam roller i keep at my sewing machine for pressing open small seams i don't want to do at the pressing table. i baste on my tile floor, which made a great place to press with the roller. it worked like a charm! i didn't have to untape the whole thing from the floor and wrestle it across the pressing table, which would have been so much more work.

friday night, when i got the two decided backings done, i took a break from backings and pieced a bunch of strips together for a fall scrap quilt i'm working on. then i started looking for a back for the "frosted forest star" and got stumped. it has very specific colors on the front, and not many at that. plus, it's supposed to feel like a winter forest, so i wanted any print i might use to fit that theme somehow. finding that combination proved impossible in my sewing room and online (where colors are especially hard to discern). i'm just going to keep my eyes open and wait that one out. or maybe eventually decide on a solid  backing in colors from the top.

that was basically the end of my productivity until this morning, when i knew i needed to either get those babies basted before anyone woke up or it wouldn't happen. it was finish up or clean up because there was an explosion of fabric all over the front part of the house and that needed to end. three days was enough.

i got up early and basted the first two quilts as soon as i rolled out of bed. that was going to be it, but i thought i should go ahead and see if i could quickly knock out "brightside", too. over the weekend i had begun to consider a butterfly print from the "stay gold" collection by kimberly kight for ruby star society. after i decided on it, i began to have a vague memory of maybe actually purchasing it for that purpose. remembering that would have saved me some time, for sure!

i had quite enough to make a full backing from just this one fabric, and i was tempted to do so, but i didn't feel like piecing it together because i didn't think i could do it in a way that would make me happy with the results. 

i remembered there were leftovers of a coordinating melon-colored sateen that we used as the backing for d5's "the pleasantest thing", and i decided to use that as another piece for this backing. they coordinated perfectly and i zipped that up quickly, too. the spray basting part takes maybe 25 minutes, start to finish, so i managed to get that done also.

this quilt happened to get the very last piece from my 2nd giant batting roll of "warm and natural" quilt batting. when i saw the roll was getting low last year, i tried to replace it with a new one from joann crafts, where i had purchased the 1st two, and discovered they no longer sold that brand. i couldn't locate it online, either. i don't know if the company folded or if joann crafts just switched brands. i've been satisfied with this brand and really liked having it on a roll at my disposal in my sewing room. i bought the new brand joann craft now carries, but it doesn't seem the same at all. i guess we'll see soon what it's like. it's the end of an era in my quilt making journey.

once i had "brightside" basted, i began putting away all the things i had pulled out of my sewing room and spread around the adjacent piano room floor over the weekend. there were also a few already basted projects i was taking stock of which i had laid out on the floor. when i pulled them up to put away, i found "crossroads" top laying there under them! i hade completely forgotten this was another top i wanted to get backed and basted.

i was supposed to be going to the pilates gym in less than an hour, but i was itching to see if i could get just one more basting job done, so i began rummaging through my stash to come up with a backing. i found enough yardage of a lovely heather bailey print to make up one side of a backing. if i was going to piece the rest from smaller fabric cuts, i wasn't going to be able to do it before going to the gym class, so i was looking for another large cut. there is lots of heather ross also in the "crossroads" top, but i couldn't seem to find a large piece.

then i spied the beautiful yellow sleeping beauty print and there was enough of it! most of the yellows in the top are more gold in color, so i was wavering a bit. i looked at the light blue owl and pussy cat print and rapunzel prints. they would have also coordinated well and been lovely backing picks, but i would have to order yardage of them, which would mean waiting to back and baste this quilt another day. so i decided to go the easier, more cost-effective route and used the sleeping beauty print. i'm happy with it, no regrets.

i hustled and got the two pieces sewn together, then basted as quickly as i could. i went 5 minutes over time, which would mean being a tiny bit late to class, but i was so happy i'd managed to get everything done.

then i tried to quickly rinse my feet off to remove the spray basting they had picked up, as well as the bits of thread and fuzz stuck to it. my girls had been saying all morning, "mom, your feet are so dirty!," and i knew they were right but i hadn't realized just how dirty they were. four spray bastings had taken it's toll. 

after a full minute i did not have trying to get everything off, i knew i was beat.

 

pilates is a barefoot practice at my studio and there was no way i was going in there with grimy, grey, sticky, thread-covered feet. so i missed my workout for the day.

but hey, i now have FOUR quilts backed and basted!