Plitvice • Quilt Finish

March 29, 2019June 29, 2019 Elizabeth E.29 Comments

Plitvice Quilt_6 with poppies

Plitvice
Quilt #218 • 76 1/2″ square

Plitvice Quilt_1 full

After four years, I finally finished up the quilt of multiple pieced hexagons. Yes, every seam on that top is hand-stitched. I’ve had many posts about this, but here’s its final and complete post: it is done!

Plitvice Quilt_2 back

Back of the quilt, using an Andover Fabrics wideback fabric. No piecing, no fussing around. This was so slick–just buy the three yards and send it off to the quilter, Darby of Quilted Squid, who did a great job.

Plitvice Quilt_3 label Plitvice Quilt_4 OPquilt

About that edge binding: it was supposed to be a faced binding, tucked behind the quilt, but once I saw it on the edge, that was the missing piece that fell into place for me. I wasn’t quite sure I liked this pile of English paper-piecing, until I saw that. But I stab-stitched the facing in perle cotton all the way around, to get that nice tight, bound edge look. That’s why it’s so large on the back–I didn’t want to cut down the width of my facing, so I went with it.

Plitvice Quilt_5 detail Plitvice Quilt_5a Plitvice Quilt_7 on poppies

And if you’ve been reading my Instagram account, you know we are poppy-crazy out here with our California Superbloom, so we took the quilt on one of our poppy-hunting treks to get the two photos you see in this post.

Plitvice Words on Label

Plitvice_1 — *Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia*

You can use the tags on this post (click on them) to search for other entries of this quilt, if more information is needed. Many thanks to Katja Marek for starting us on the Millefiore road.

EPP

Millefiore Quilt Update

November 28, 2018November 24, 2018 Elizabeth E.22 Comments

Millefiore mood board

It all began here, with my Millefiore mood board, drawing on colors from the National Park in Croatia, Plitvice Lakes. I had decided to jump in and go with all of Quilting America that year and join the The New Hexagon Millefiore Quiltalong. I was pretty much nuts to do this. This was photographed on January 19, 2015.

Millefiore first sewing

First glued-up paper pieces: January 19, 2015.

First Rosette.png

First public appearance for Rosette #1: March 14, 2015.

All Rosettes_OPQuilt

Last public appearance for quilt, mocked up in Photoshop: July 15, 2018. That’s over three years, if you are doing the math.

As you know, I hated the crenellated edges on this particular quilt. So the quilt sat in the corner until this week. Then suddenly it was do or die time, and I picked up making little sections to fit into the cut-outs.

Millefiore Center_2

And here it is today, all edges filled in.

Millefiore Working Mess

I pretty much used all the papers I’d taken out of the rosettes — once they were sewn together — and categorized these pieces into bags, using paper clips and rubber bands to keep them organized.

Millefiore numbering cutouts

To keep track, I took a photo, and numbered the half–hexies I was making. I ended up not needing to do this for every corner, as I used long triangles that fit into the zig-zaggy sides (#5-12) in a variety of darker fabrics (taking cues from the adjacent blocks).

Millefiore place tryout

I kept one half-hexie out on my cutting mat and tried different “puzzles” of what could go in that shape. I had pretty much determined that I was not going to use a full half-hexie; I’d seen others and to me they looked bland, like they didn’t add anything to the quilt. I did end up using one, but the fabric had a print that just worked.

Millefiore pinning

I used triangles and a variety of other shapes to fill in, always letting the adjacent fabrics dictate what I’d use for the fill-in fabrics.

Because I like to keep records, and because I’m hoping this will help others when they try this technique, here are all the filled-in shapes and the marked spaces (scroll past fast, if it doesn’t interest you):

Millefiore Fillins_1 Millefiore Fillins_1A

I did my own thing on this rosette.

Millefiore Fillins_3 Millefiore Fillins_3A

I liked how I was able to complete the “bird points.”

Millefiore Fillins_5 Millefiore Fillins_5A Millefiore Fillins_6 Millefiore Fillins_6A

The half-hexie on the lower left is the only one cut from one piece of fabric, but I think it reads as more complex.

Millefiore Fillins_7 Millefiore Fillins_7A Millefiore Fillins_8 Millefiore Fillins_8A

I used a floral Kaffe fabric from deep in the interior (just barely out of sight on the middle left).

Millefiore Fillins_9 Millefiore Fillins_9A

Millefiore Center_3 — *Stained Glass View*

Millefiore Center_4

This is the rosette that started it all, and I still like it.

Quilt Stand

More info on my new quilt stand, coming in a couple of weeks. But now I have my final Frivols to attend to!

Quilt-A-Long · Quilts

Hexagon Millefiore Update, July 2018

July 15, 2018July 16, 2018 Elizabeth E.17 Comments

Rosette 10b Finished

And with this Rosette (#10b), I finished up The New Hexagon Millefiore Quilt-A-Long.

All Rosettes_OPQuilt

Contractually. At least according to the rules of the The New Hexagon Millefiore Game.

But I really hate the crenellated edges. I don’t mind the zig-zag edges on the sides, and have loved what others have done, by appliqueing the quilt down to a solid border.

Millefiore border maybes

But for this quilt, these colors, every border fabric I chose just looked terrible. Clunky. Admittedly they are kind of wild, but really, the quilt is kind of wild.

Millefiore border fillins

Instead, I’m try to fill them in.

All Rosettesbeginning fillin

You can see what the first two look like. There are 9 crenelations on the top and 9 on the bottom, so two down, 16 to go. This is actually not as hard as I thought, as the fabric choices have already been made, and it’s just sort of filling in and figuring out how the pieces will work. I am trying not to use just one-fabric half-hexie blocks, but instead, create interesting seamed fill-in pieces. I figure the sides will be faster–just a sort of background fabric from the nearest rosette.

Stay tuned.

Research photos (culled from the web, from Instagram and from the Facebook page):

Millefiore v5 — This one looks great with the appliqued-to-borders treatment.

Millefiore v12 — Not technically a Hexagon Millefiore quilt, but those borders!

Millefiore v2

Millefiore quilt again — Another that is not a hexagon-based EPP, but I love the way they broke the borders.

Millefiore v4 Millefiore v1 Millefiore v3

Millefiore v8 — This one filled in many edges, and moved a lot of the rosettes around.

Millefiore v7 Millefiore v9

Many of these quilts turned the design on the its side, or upside down. I should note that I also changed the lower edge of mine, melding 4 different rosettes into one gigantor rosette, plus I tweaked a few more places (there is NO star in the middle of my quilt, for example).

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Millefiore Quilt July 18_2 — My leftovers (paper pulled out that was still in good shape). I’m using them to build the edges.

Quilts

Update on New Hexagon Millefiore

June 26, 2018 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

I ~~dragged~~ pulled out that hexagon millefiore ~~mess~~ quilt and decided I had let it linger too long. Waaaaay too long, and that it had lurked, like some amorphous creeping thing in the corner of my guest room (aka Sewing Room Overflow), haunting my dreams and certainly messing up any perky UFOs to Finish list that I may draw up.

Rosettes_all

This is the last composite photo I posted, back in August of 2016. I’ve since put together most of the rosettes that are grayed out. I decided to combine all the lower left rosettes, which gave me a new appreciation for Katja Merek’s work on the (what she has titled) The New Hexagon Millefiore Quilt-Along. Here is my version of the corner:

Rosette #8_opquilt variationsmall.jpg

And I also changed up some parts of the outer edges, making these (in the last few weeks):

Teeny Upper Leftsm.jpg

Rosettes 9_11b small.jpg

Rosette 12b small.jpg

Rosette 10somethingsmall.jpg

So now my quilt top looks like this (digital version):

All Rosettes_OPQuiltJune2018.jpg

I’m now working on that last one, which has turned out to be exceedingly difficult, because it has to be just right. But then other days, I’m quoting my motto to myself (The perfect is the enemy of the good. Or in my case, the done) and keep trying to get on with it.

At this point I just want it to be like Laurel’s:

Retreat2016_12

Yes, I want it to be DONE.

In other beginning-of-summer news, I planted my garden again, which then was invaded by fungus (a common problem here, apparently) so it looks quite wimpy. We still harvest a few tomatoes here and there. I sprayed last week, yanked two particularly sickly plants, and re-planted more in their place, so we’ll see what happens.

Optimism in the Garden.jpg

I found this on The Internet, which about expresses my attitude. There’s just something about an empty garden box that sends me to the nursery to find something to plant in it. It feels kind of similar to entering a quilt shop, and thinking about all the possibilities I can find in there.

Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. (Nelson Mandela)

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. (Dr. Seuss)

So today it’s back into the sewing room, back into the garden…back to work.

Creating · Gridsters · Quilts

July’s Gridster Bee Block

July 24, 2017July 27, 2017 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Here’s the block I made for the July Gridster Bee, for Carol. It was a fun make, made easy by this tutorial from Sara Noda. (She also has a blog post on her completed flag quilt.)

I also dragged out my hexagon quilt, and got started again. Here is Rosette #7, isolated (above), and below as it looks sewn into the quilt. I took the blocks and quilt rosettes with me on our recent family trip — since we had a lot of driving time — and was able to get the rosettes sewn together and one more completed.I’ve totally revamped Rosette #8, because frankly, everyone on the Facebook page was having real troubles with it, so I thought I would have a go at creating my own hexie arrangement. I’m choosing fabrics for it now.

I also picked my classes for Road to California 2018 (above)…

…and my classes for QuiltCon 2018, too. Anyone else going? Are we in the same classes?

And in case you think you only need fabric to create quilt patters, Sabrina Gschwandertner acquired a collection of old instructional films on the textile arts and has been creating quilt works of art. I will spare you the mumbo-jumbo about quilting from the LA Times, but here’s the article if you want to read it.

Film Quilt2 — *(PS Ignore the random “A” up on the right side)*

I actually wanted to see the movies, after reading about her and seeing images of her work. Now it is lost forever. Will we feel that way about the millions of YouTube videos? I doubt it. There is something about the tangible presence of film being cut up, the scarcity of that resource being destroyed to begin again. But I do like looking at her works. If you are in LA, the article has info about how to see this in the gallery, but the show closes soon.

And today is six months since my shoulder surgery. I’ve seen the surgeon for the last time, finished my formal PT. Now just the challenge of walking, getting back into some semblance of shape after sitting around, and doing the PT exercises on my own.

LASTLY, thanks to all who entered the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway (snazzy title, don’t you think?).

Here’s another:

Amy Friend’s Intentional Piecing, a look at using fussy-cutting to make spectacular quilts. She has a range of stellar projects, plus some fun paper-piecing designs to sew into various quilts and hand-mades. It’s signed by the author.

Again–leave a comment letting me know if you are interested in receiving this book in the giveaway. I’ll notify the winner by email.

Update: Roxanne was our winner from the last giveaway. Thanks again for all who entered!

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EPP · Quilts

Rosette #6 for the New Hexagon Millifiore Quilt-A-Long

September 20, 2016September 30, 2016 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

Here’s my rosette #6 for The New Hexagon Millifiore Quilt-Along.

And here is the original.

Why did I change it? I started looking at all the composite views of the rosette and just thought the star was too prominent, that it started a new conversation in the middle of the living room when the party around it was already having a nice chat, thank you very much. While I thought the original design was very clever, I needed it to change.

Here are the changes I made:

In the black Circle #1, I created a new piece — that of two tall 30-60-90 triangles merged into one equilateral triangle. I studied my friend Laurel’s rosette (she is all finished with her quilt top) and noticed that in hers, as well as in many others, the right triangles of 30-60-90, when placed back to back with another, create a third pattern. It does the same thing in the original block, above. But I wanted to use this bargello/flame fabric and I only had a little bit, so that made my decision for me.

In the dark pink Circle #2, I looked at other blocks that I’d sewn in my previous rosettes, because I wanted to nab their papers and re-use them. I found this shape in an earlier rosette, figured out that it would work, and am happy with the “ribbon” the multi-colored light-green fabric made.

I had to sew on my equilateral triangles on the center section first, then the next inner row of partial hexies, in order to make it fit (the ones with the bold radiating circle design). Then it was add the last round, alternating the birds and the citrus fruit hexies.

Here it is, laid out in Photoshop, which isn’t really the greatest approximation of how it looks in real life, but I’m not yet to the sewing-it-together phase. I’m still not 100% sure about the colors of Number Six, but I will try to bring in one more yellow spot somewhere — maybe in 10a — so I can balance those brights.

Stay tuned.

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