The Accidental Quilt just needs binding

New commitments have slowed down my progress on tackling my UFO list, but I have managed to keep inching forward.  A little bit at a time, I have managed to quilt the Accidental Quilt.

I named this the Accidental Quilt because I accidentally made a quilt top when I thought I was piecing a backing.  I originally pieced this in August 2022 to be the back of my Starlit Picnic quilt.  I made that quilt top entirely from stash and pieced a batting from batting scraps, then challenged myself to not buy backing either.  I failed the challenge because I ended up really liking the pieced back.  While I could have made a reversible quilt, the quilting I wanted on Starlit Picnic wouldn't have looked great on this pieced backing and I thought it deserved better.  I ditched my self-imposed challenge, heading to the quilt shop to buy wide backing for both Starlit Picnic and this one.  

Piecing the Accidental Quilt exercised a different set of creative muscles than I usually use, which was fun.  I usually plan everything before I start piecing.  In this case I started with a selection of orphan blocks and scraps and made it up as I went along.

Start with orphan blocks

Add some coordinating scraps, and build a few more blocks from smaller orphan units

Start laying things out to se how they might fit together

Move things around and add in a few more bits to fill in spaces

Start framing the center with a common fabric to give the eye somewhere to rest

Build up a wider border from scraps of assorted sizes

My next challenge was to find time to quilt it.  In the end, I'm glad I wasn't able to quilt it right away.  If I had found time right away, I would have quilted one big spiral radiating from the center all the way to the sides.  It would have looked fine, but this summer a different idea  emerged and I think it adds more interest.

Here are the new options I hastily recorded when they popped into my head in July. 

I opted for the one I circled in the picture above.  The biggest challenge was marking the lines to divide the quilt into quarters.  I originally planned to draw those lines from corner to corner, but the lines were at an angle that clashed with all the 45 degree angles in the quilt and made it look like the quilting lines were unintentionally skewed.  I readjusted the diagonals to cross at 90 degrees and match directions of seams in the piecing.

As you can see above, I didn't stick to the plan as drawn.  I got bored sewing all the lines in one quadrant in the same direction. I ended up filling some space with lines running vertically down the quilt.  Though it shows up well in person, I had trouble taking a picture of the front that lets you see the quilting.  Here's the back instead:

The quilt still needs binding, but I paused because I need to trim a bit more first and I'm not sure quite how I want to handle it.  Either during the basting or the quilting I distorted the quilt a bit.  The top was perfectly flat and square before I basted and quilted, but now it's a bit skewed and I'm going to have to trim a little off the bottom border to straighten things.  Do I trim the same amount off the top border to even things up?  Does it really matter?  Probably not...

I will say I'm a little bit salty about the distortion.  I haven't had that issue in the past and I'm not quite sure what I need to do to avoid it in future.  Suggestions are welcome!

Also, I'd love to see pictures of quilts you have made from orphan blocks.  I'm thinking about compiling a list of tips and strategies for fitting assorted blocks together.  Would you find that useful?  Do you have any tips you'd like to contribute?  Please share in the comments or send me an email!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

Quilt Retreat project Plan A...or B...no C

My guild had a quilt retreat last weekend.  With my travel in August followed by an unidentified virus that took me out of commission for another two weeks, I was completely unprepared when the date rolled around.  I had planned to have fabric cut and ready to sew when I arrived.  That didn't happen!

I ended up tossing a few things in my car the morning of the retreat and hoped for the best.

Fresh Wrapped, in the upper left, was the only project already in progress.  In fact, it was almost finished, with binding already attached to the front of the placemats and runner. My plan was to finish the binding while I decided which of the other projects I'd work on for the two days of retreat.

So far, so good.  By mid-morning, I had a finish!  That felt like a pretty good start to the weekend.

I made the tops for these last November during the Placemat Party I hosted.  I didn't quilt them until June.  I'm so happy to have this version of Fresh Wrapped finished.  I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but every fabric has silver metallic accents.  While I'm generally not a fan of metallic accents in my fabric, I make an exception for Christmas projects!

With one project down, I moved on to Plan A.  I bought these Northcott Stonehenge Oh Canada fabrics when I was in Fredericton, NB in the summer of 2022, planning to make a set of Flipped for Canada Day 2023. That day came and went with no placemats so I'm looking ahead to July 2024.

Just before I cut into these at retreat, I realized I had not prewashed them.  I don't always prewash my fabric, but I always prewash for placemats.  I've found that if I don't prewash, my placemats come out of the laundry all wonky the first time I spill on them and have to wash them.  

I'll admit I did a bit of grumbling at my past self at this point.  Seriously?  These were on my shelf for over a year, always intended for placemats, and I never got around to prewashing them?

On to Plan B!  Honestly, Plan B was a little vague.  I bought this stack of Christmas batik fat quarters on impulse 6 years ago. I've struggled to decide what to make with them.  

When I tossed the stack into my retreat bag, I had a few ideas, but they all needed extra yardage for background.  I really, really tried to find something at the shop hosting the retreat.  They had a such a beautiful selection of fabric, but I didn't find the right background to go with these.  I guess this little stack will just have to look pretty on my sewing room shelves just a little longer.

Plan C was to start the blue and white floral version of Quartz Clusters.  Connecting Threads kitted my pattern and I liked it so much I ordered the kit :)

This was the last project option I brought.  This one panned out!

I spent half the day on the first day of the retreat cutting out the fabric.

I was able to make all the strip-pieced blocks before heading home.  On Day two, I got a good start on the rest of the units, but a few distractions slowed me down so I didn't get as much done as I thought I would.  That's OK.  It was lovely to be in a room socializing with other quilters.

It's a little hard to believe this will become this:

Despite the great start I made at retreat, I'm not sure when I'll finish this top.   When I got home I went back to quilting the Accidental Quilt.  I also had some design deadlines to meet, and now I have some writing deadlines because three of those designs were selected.  It's a good "problem" to have, but it means projects in progress are going on the back burner again.

I'd love to head to retreat again, but I think I'd like to plan a little more next time.  Please share your tips for prepping and packing for quilt retreats so I can be better prepared.

Happy quilting,

Joanne

When you make a purchase from my Etsy shop from a link in this post, I may receive a refund of some of the transaction fees Etsy usually charges me for a sale.  There is no additional cost to you.

Chips and Dip

 I think I already established I really like placemats.  I really, really like this set I sewed last winter and can now share.

This is Chips and Dip, made with fabrics from the Natural Healing collection from Island Batik.  It was super quick to make, with strip piecing and stitch-and-flip corners.

I chose to make these with yardage for a cohesive look across all six placemats.  You could use a strip pack of precut strips instead.  Half a package (20 strips) plus a little yardage for the accent triangles would be enough for 4 placemats and a runner or for 6 placemats.  Or maybe assorted contrasting scraps for the triangles would look cool!  I need to go play with that idea...you know, because I can always use more placemats :)

I try to create designs that will look good in various fabrics.  I really think I hit the mark with these.  My test pieces were made with Island Batik scraps from previous projects and a completely different vibe than the ones above.

Hmm.  I'm not sure about that light-coloured binding anymore...  It's different from my usual choices.  I was limited by what scraps I had to match though, and this seemed the best available choice.

I'm still plugging away at finishing projects.  What are your sewing plans for fall?

Happy quilting,

Joanne

The Chips and Dip pattern is available as a PDF download in my Etsy shop.  You can ask for a print version at your favourite quilt shop.