Thursday, March 21, 2019

Adventures in Piecing, Hand Quilting and Border Choices, Cotton+Steel's Les Fleurs, Spring and Butterflies!

Improv pieced units auditioning in relation to the center piece.

More piecing auditions.

We went hiking on the Los Liones Canyon Trail.

We saw wild parrots, lizards and wild flowers.

This is now pieced, bordered and basted, 20 x 38". I'm beginning hand quilting.

Hand quilting started with basting in orange thread.

I can't remember the inspiration for this project. It'll come to me.

Next border (1" wide) for my improv 'low volume' log cabins, Kona cotton solid in berry.

Next border (2" wide) for my HST 'Barn Raising' in Cotton+Steel's Les Fleurs. Love the blue and coral next to the reds.

Happy blue floral.



Hello from Rancho Palos Verdes!

Where it's officially spring. Last week or two there's been an amazing Painted Lady butterfly hatching out around here. There were butterflies everywhere, in the parks, streets, yards and along the coast trail. They were dancing around and wouldn't hold still for a picture. Beautiful.

I've finished piecing and basting my runner, hand quilting is started. Its center piece I had used in the backing of my Butterfly quilt, but I decided it needed to be on the front and center of a quilt, it was too fun to be just a backing. So I unpicked the machine quilting on my Butterfly Quilt (now hand quilted) and took the center piece out of the backing. Now I've added to the center piece and I'm very happy with how it looks.  I forgot where my inspiration for that piece came from. I need to remember to figure out a name, it'll come to me sooner or later.
  
And I've decided on the next border colors for two of my projects. Now the borders are cut out ready to be pieced on and then on to the next decision.

My Traditional Bright Sampler is now layered and basted and hand quilting will soon begin. I roughly followed the free BOM patterns from Piecing the Past Quilts, their 'Times of Refreshing.'
I used bright modern colors and chose to arrange the blocks differently and finish the borders differently.

Also we hiked along the Los Liones Trail in Malibu last weekend. A flock of wild parrots flew in and squawked at us. We heard quail in the brush and saw wild flowers and tried to stay clear of the poison oak. An invigorating hike.

That's the news from the rancho,
 where progress is being made and I'm remembering to be thankful.

I'll be by to visit!

9 comments:

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Love the addition of the berry border on your 'improv log cabins', a deep warm colour that will bring out lots of other surprises I'm sure. And the blue & coral floral is looking lovely too!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

P.S. I did smile when I read your long title :)

Pamela said...

Hiking and quilting - perfect activities! How exciting to see wild parrots.

Kaja said...

You have been busy! I love your table runner - it's a bit different from the colours you use most often but it's very effective, especially the way the pops of yellow and coral sing out amongst the neutrals. It reminds me strongly of something I can't put my finger on so I'm hoping that when you remember your inspiration all will become clear.

Anonymous said...

I can see a lot of text in the prints of your quilt. In Japan such fabric is very popular. The white sets off the prints nicely.
Queenie

Janie said...

Thank you, Queenie.
Yes, text prints are a favorite of mine too.

Janie said...

When I remember where the inspiration came from I will certainly document it!
I'm curious now, must do research.

Janie said...

Good, I'm glad it brought a smile!
Spring and butterflies are especially cheerful aren't they?

Magpie's Mumblings said...

A butterfly hatching - I can but dream. When I first saw the orange stitching I thought you planned to leave it there so was somewhat surprised to realize it was basting. I rather like it!!