Scrappy Little Journal

I've had this little moleskin journal floating around for while and I've been thinking about adding some strips of washi tape to add a little color. I rounded up my washi tape and then I thought of all the pretty fabric scraps that I have and started wishing I could find a quick easy way to use them instead. Hmmm? How to turn fabric into washi tape? I thought I'd seen someone online use double stick tape but of course it wasn't in my drawer. (Someone in my house loves to tape her art work up on random walls. And she's six. And the tape doesn't always make it back where it goes.)

Then I remembered that I had some adhesive in my scrapbook supplies that might work well. It's strong, double sided and also comes in rolls with different widths available.

I headed to my bowl of ticker tape scraps and then to my bowl of selvages to pull out some colorful pieces.

I peeled off one layer of the adhesive covering and arranged the scraps on two pieces.

I flipped the adhesive over, fabric side down and trimmed the scraps with a rotary cutter and ruler. I was surprised at how easily the rotary blade went through the adhesive without gumming it up. I did use the cutter reserved for paper though. I didn't want to dull my sharp fabric blade.

After I trimmed up the scraps, I played around to find a pleasing arrangement.

And played a little more to see if everything would fit. I had to do a bit more trimming.

  
I peeled the final layer of adhesive covering off and pressed all of the scraps into place.

And there you have it! A journal decorated with fabric scraps! Once this little journal knows what it's destined for, I'll add some words and embellishments and fill it with great things.

Home on the Free Range Chickens - A Collaborative Quilt

I have been so fortunate to get to know and quilt with a group of women and one young lady (9 years old). Camille, Sheryl, Darcy, Diane, and Lydia have been meeting to work on various projects over the last few months. This quilt is our second collaborative project.

 Here's how it came together:

Sheryl suggested we create a chicken quilt inspired by the style and techniques in this book. We each started making chickens on our own and in Darcy's wonderful studio. Thank goodness, Darcy made me a step by step cheat sheet/pattern because I don't think I would've ever been able to figure out how to put one of those chickens together just looking at the directions in the book. After a few chickens, Camille got started on making "parts" (borders, eggs, a star) that could be added somewhere. We brought all of our chickens and parts with extra fabric to a retreat that some of us were able to attend and put the top together there.

Several people asked how it was possible for all of us to work on and come up with this quilt together. I think we might all have a different answer to that question but I can tell a bit from my perspective. We used a design wall at the retreat and put our chickens on it. We had many different sized chicken blocks and played around with different layouts and putting different parts in and around the chickens. Ideas where thrown around. Other retreat friends shared some ideas and opinions.

At some point more stars and a length of half square triangles were created and moved around to different positions. We would sew some and stare some. We'd take a break from a meal and come back with more ideas and a fresh eye. When someone suggested that we get all the chicken blocks to the same size with a log cabin style border, things seemed to really take off. It took a few minutes to figure out how we wanted the colors and sides of the log cabin to look but then we had a more solid plan.

The chickens came together on the design wall and then it was decided that we needed some sashing to separate them so they didn't get lost in all the craziness. More playing and shuffling and it just came together!

Sheryl took it home to quilt and of course she is incredibly talented. (You may have seen here quilting here.) She quilted a yellow loopy pattern that hints toward the egg shape. I love this design and want to try it on something.

I added the binding and appliqued the eggs that Camille made onto the top. Darcy is finishing off the hanging sleeve right now and then it will be handed off to Camille for a very cool label that she's designed.

It will be displayed at the Kaw Valley Quilters Guild Annual Show in Lawrence KS, April 30 and May 1.

{Anything I should add ladies?}

This is what I learned:

1. Step out of my comfort zone. When Sheryl suggested making chickens I wasn't so sure about it. That was the last thing from the Collaborative Quilted book I would have tried. After a bit of thinking time, I decided why not. It was something different to piece and it would be fun to try something new.

It was completely different for me to go into making a quilt without some idea of the end result. It was definitely something I wouldn't have tried on my own. It was very eye opening to go through the process and see that it really will come out okay in the end. You just shift things and adjust.

The wild color scheme was way, way out of my comfort zone. I love scrappy quilts with lots of fabrics but usually with a lot of white space in between or with a simple repeated pattern throughout. But once we got started, it really worked well and the more free I felt to throw just about anything in.

When we got the chickens on the design wall with some other pieces, I really like it. By the time I was binding this quilt, I truly loved it.

2. I'm slow. And I'm okay with that. Seriously. I'm slow and methodical. With pretty much everything in life. I spend way too much time deciding, adjusting and lining things up. I do need to probably let go of some of the perfectionist tendencies but I sew because I enjoy it and really don't feel the need to rush through. I spent enough years as a teacher telling my slower readers not to worry and to just enjoy what they were doing that I just believe the same thing about sewing. I think as I gain more experience, I will get faster with a lot of things but I'm pretty sure I'll never be one of those people who can crank through much of anything. My favorite 30 minute meals still take me an hour to cook.

3. Sewing with other people is a great thing. It goes without saying that I love the virtual world of blogs and flickr and message boards for learning and inspiration. But sewing with other people is priceless. Not only is the company enjoyable and friendships made but there are so many little things you learn while sewing around other people. For example, I wanted to put together the rectangles in the outer border of this quilt and started cutting out individual blocks of a certain measurement. Luckily Sheryl caught me before I got too far and suggested sewing random strips together and then cutting the group of them down to the size I needed. Hellooooo! Brilliant and so simple! There's been countless other little things I've learned about color selection and techniques just by being around my sewing friends.

Sooooo, long post but inquiring minds wanted to know and it's nice to have this experience recorded to look back on.

Have any of you been involved in a collaborative process? I'm curious to know how you liked it. If you haven't, is it something you'd try?

No Prints Allowed Challenge

Thursday night was the big reveal of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild's "No Prints Allowed Challenge." Robert Kaufman donated charm packs in every color grouping. Participants chose a charm pack, used each color in the pack, and added any fabric as long as it was solid...no prints allowed.

I had such a hard time deciding which direction to take with my Brights Charm Pack. I sketched out a ton of ideas and kept changing my mind. The only thing that really stuck was the idea to use a circle. I had seen Paula do the 6 Minute Circle in a demonstration at a guild meeting and have been thinking about circles ever since. But I kept coming back to layering them and decided to try applique. 

In the end I used this as my inspiration. It's a paper book cover from Target's dollar bin that I gave to Jenna to color. 

I used this fusible web to create the circles. I chose the size circle I wanted, stitched on the solid line, trimmed on the dotted line and then turned it inside out through the cuts in the middle. When I first started, I thought I would only use circles but after sewing about two blocks it already seemed a bit boring. 

So I just started throwing and stacking different shapes up on the design wall (squares, circles, and rectangles) choosing the layers and color instinctively. I decided to just play and see where it would lead. Starting with the bottom layers, I fused and appliqued the shapes onto the charm square. I worked my way up to the top. The only thing I changed was to add an extra small layer on some blocks to include more colors.

I was left with four charms and decided to try incorporating them into a scrappy binding with a couple scraps from my stash. I love the look and it was super easy. The back was also from my stash. I just finished up by quilting a grid along the seams. 

If I had to do a project like this again, I would go with a circle cutter to get a perfect circle and use Wonder Under underneath it rather than the method I chose. I think I'd end up with rounder circles.

It was such a fun and inspiring meeting! We had record attendance of about 91 people (I think because of the Kansas City Star article on modern quilting) and it was great to look out into the crowd and see people of every age from teenagers up to great (great?) grandmas (and grandpas!). A couple of people used this challenge as an opportunity to finish their first quilts and received a standing ovation. I know I say it every month but I'm just so amazed at the talent in this group, at their willingness to try something new no matter what level of experience they're at, and the warm, sincere encouragement they give to new quilters. Every meeting seems like a celebration!

If you'd like to see some great pictures of other quilts in the challenge, visit Carla at Lollyquiltz. She stood at the back and got some great shots.

I'll wrap this up by asking for suggestions on naming this little quilt. It's a bit over 18 inches square and will be a doll quilt for Jenna. I'm terrible at naming quilts! Help!