New finishes and RSC update

 Last Saturday I took a class hosted by Rachel Pierman of #craftymonkies. This was the second class I took taught by the talented @victoria_vanderlaan. Her technique is called intuitive stacked forms. The results are unique and amazing! You can read about the 1st class and my finish here.

This 2nd class was a follow-up class - Explore your Intuition Further. I started several quilts in the class and here are 2 that I recently finished. 

This mini I'm calling 7, 8 Lay Them Straight

It was inspired from Victoria's blunt edge quilt that she showed in the class. It was inspired by a pile of sticks she found on a walk. 

I choose a plum fabric I had in my stash as my background and scraps of light gray and a bright orange from my scrap bins. It is intuitively machine pieced and densely straight-line quilted every 1/4". It finished at 14.5" x 18.5"

This mini is called Disconnected

The forms in this quilt mini are cut-offs from the wedge table topper I made. You can see it here. I chose Kona butterscotch as the background. Butterscotch was also one of the colors in the wedges so after sewing them into this piece, I realized that the middle disappears into the background creating a disconnected look. I was pleasantly surprised how this piece turned out. 

When you sew intuitively, what you think the finished piece will look like doesn't always happen!

It is machine pieced and densely straight-lined quilted about every 3/8". It finishes at 14.5" x 16.5" 

Both of these quilts are faced as the finishing. 

I'm linking to Off the Wall Fridays @Creations-Quilts, Art and More, Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Linky Party @Patchwork and Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss @The Inquiring Quilter

I also want to mention that I was featured on Wednesday Wait Loss last week. Thanks Jennifer!

April RSC color is purple and I have made all 4 button blocks. Here are the 3rd and 4th blocks and all 4 together!

Linking up to ScrapHappy Saturday @SoScrappy

Next up is ORANGE!

A finish and RSC and Sparrows QAL

 This week I finished the quilting and binding on the second quilt from last year's Stash Buster Challenge. The original quilt was so big that I wasn't comfortable quilting it. I intended to send it out to charity as a flimsy but the postage was so much. I ended up taking it apart and making 2 quilts instead. The first (larger) quilt was gifted to friends. This quilt will be sent to charity as part of the Hands2Help 2023 campaign hosted by Sarah @Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  

I changed the layout to a 4 x 5 grid and quilted vertically in straight lines about 1" apart.

I used a piece from my stash for the backing and a coordinating piece for the binding. 

I'm calling this quilt Play Nice!

Linking to Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Linky Party @Patchwork & Quilts, and Wednesday Wait Loss @The Inquiring Quilter

I also finished 2 of the purple button blocks for this months RSC.

2 more purple buttons to stitch! Linking to ScrapHappy Saturday @SoScrappy.

My Sparrows top is all put together! I'm loving it. More to come soon!

Wearable Art

 I have a lot to show today! 

I can finally share a commissioned project that I finished. It is not a quilt per se but does involve quilting. My Music teacher/colleague asked if I could make a banjo for the back of her jean jacket. I showed her this quilt I found on Pinterest and she loved the idea! So the design process started! I didn't want to applique the banjo (as the quilt inspiration) but wanted to piece it. She plays a 5 string bluegrass banjo which has a longer, thinner neck. We decided to let the arm just run off the top instead of trying to fit the whole banjo on the back. I also needed the head to be big enough to stitch the chorus of a song she chose.

Once the design was finished, I shopped for 14 different rainbow colors of fabric.

 I stitched the bottom right first.

After I made the bottom left but I didn't want a seam in the larger white piece because I would be FMQ words on it. So I figured out how to keep the white intact while still piecing the rainbow head. I was happy that it worked out! I continued with the top right and then added the rainbow strip to the right of the white for the remainder of the neck. The piecing was a bit tricky but it all worked out!

Next I added the chorus to the white head section. I used a fusible woven interfacing to stabilize the block before FMQing. I wrote the chorus in water erasable ink and I stitched using 40wt navy blue Aurifil thread. On the left side, I stitched the same chorus in larger font twice to fill the space. 

I stitched the piece onto the back section of the jacket and between the colors. I stitched 2 rows with white between the chorus on the left to keep the large sections secure. 

It was fun to create this wearable art piece! My friend was thrilled with it as she stated "Even better than I imagined."

Linking to Off the Wall Fridays @Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever and TGIFF @Tamarinis

Melodic Mystery finish, birds, and buttons

 I just realized that I never posted about my Melodic Mystery finished quilt, Jolly Holly Christmas, that I finished in February. Yikes, I'm just in time to not miss the parade over @MeadowMistDesigns!

Since I had a lot of Christmas fabrics, I choose to make this mystery in Christmas colors! I am happy with how it turned out! Bonus: It is ready for next Christmas without the usual last minute rush!

This is my 4th QAL @MeadowMistDesigns and I have enjoyed them all. Cheryl makes the QALs easy and at a great pace. Her designs are great and come together precisely.

It is all machine pieced and quilted by me using fabric from my stash. 

I FMQ poinsettias in the star blocks and holly leaves and berries elsewhere. 

This quilt finishes at 69" square.

I'm linking to the linking party here.

Even though it is April and the new color was announced as purple, I was out of town and unable to post my last green buttons. So here it is

That make 4 of each color!

I'm linking to ScrapHappySaturday @So Scrappy!

Now moving on to purple buttons!

I also joined the Sparrows QAL with @penandpaperpatterns on Instagram! I love Lindsey's designs and have several of her patterns. I bought the Sparrows pattern a while back and even most of the fabric but then it sat. When Lindsey announced the QAL, it was just what I needed to get it done! 

Aren't they cute!

Four different color combinations for the sparrows. All facing the same directions.

All sewn together in rows.

Now to make the same sparrows facing in the opposite direction. 

These little birds are so fun to sew! I'm trying to pace myself with the QAL. Going out of town for a few days helped! 

Another project I've been working on is a commissioned jacket by a music teacher and banjo player (she plays many instruments). She wanted a banjo quilt square quilted onto the back of her jean jacket. The colors were to be bright rainbow. She requested the chorus to a song stitched onto the back. The inspiration came from here. I didn't want to applique it so I needed to design it so it could be pieced.

A few attempts during the design process. (Notice the white out.)

Fabric selection-14 different colors

I pieced in sections (also a few attempts.) Then marked, cut and sewed the white sections.

Once assembled, I needed to determine the placement of the lyrics.

Here it is sewn on to the jacket.

I hope she likes it!