Posts tagged: Meta Quilt

History, Part One (a Portfolio of Sorts)

I finished this in late May 2017, but just got around to taking all the photos!

In the fall of 2016, I shared progress on a long term project—a meta quilt, if you will—containing a block for each quilt I’ve finished. At the time, I still had a few blocks to make for older quilts, and have finished another four quilts in the months since.

At my guild’s spring retreat in May, I took along scraps I’d pulled out for a few more blocks, and came home with the energy to finish up the final four. That energy extended to putting rows together (quilt-as-you-go style), then finishing the edges with a facing. It ran out right around the time I needed to take photos and blog about it, as seems the norm of late.

"History, Part One", Rachael Arnold, May 2017, 24"x72" — “History, Part One”, Rachael Arnold, May 2017, 24″x72″

Each quilt has a nine patch dedicated to it. Each block has at least one square of Cloud9 Cirrus Ash as a cornerstone, and as many 2″ finished squares of the original fabric as I could scrounge up. Some quilts only had a few fabrics in them, and some I only had a few fabric scraps leftover, so extra space is filled in with the grey solid. I had no scraps for a few quilts, so those are represented by a solid block of the right color (or, in one case, an approximation of a logo for my alma mater).

Each block is rotated 90° along the row, which means my fussy cutting is sideways or upside down, but that’s okay. I found additional scraps after I’d already finished a few blocks and set them into the quilt, but decided to leave them be. They still capture the spirit of the quilts.

I put the rows together in a quilt-as-you-go method, so there’s no true quilting, except for a stitch in the ditch 2″ in from the edge that secured the facing to the back.

"History, Part One" (back detail), Rachael Arnold, May 2017, 24"x72" — “History, Part One” (back detail), Rachael Arnold, May 2017, 24″x72″

Here it is, row-by-row, with links to posts about each quilt. All told, there are 48 blocks representing that many quilts from my very first in 2010 to a few baby quilts finished in early 2017.

"History, Part One" (detail), Rachael Arnold, May 2017, 24"x72" — “History, Part One” (detail), Rachael Arnold, May 2017, 24″x72″

I completed my 49th quilt at the same retreat and completed another three throughout the rest of 2017, so there’s no slowing down yet! Maybe in another seven years or so, I’ll have another 48 blocks to finish a second panel. My goal is to keep making panels, then sew the panels together to form an ever-larger quilt.

My blog has been pretty abandoned this year. At least I finally caught up with my history blocks (all four finishes since May, all unblogged). Just realized they are in the wrong order though. #ablockforeveryfinishedquilt #historyquilt #ninepatch

A post shared by Rachael Arnold (@raevenfea) on Dec 10, 2017 at 3:06pm PST

I may also eventually embroider years in the corner gray patch of the first quilt of the year, and add more info to a label on the back side. For now, I think this is going to hang in my studio if I can ever clean it up enough to have space for it.

My History Of Quilting

Posted in Quilting

At my guild’s quilt retreat last month, a project I’ve been working on for six years (sort of) finally started really coming together. I’ve tried to save 2.5″ squares of the fabric I use in my quilts to make some sort of meta-quilt patchwork. Last year, I finally decided on how to piece the patchwork squares together and made the first eight, and I’ve kept up with my quilt finishes ever since, so I had the latest 12. The 24 in between were another story.

I dragged my entire tub of scrap fabric to the retreat with one goal: to sort it out and find the scraps for those other blocks (oh, and sort all the scraps by color [done], and maybe make scrap bins [haha, no]). I spent most of a day on the project before deciding I needed a break, and made a lot of progress. There are only nine blocks left, and I have most of those scraps set aside ready for piecing. The solid blocks signify a few unique non-cotton-patchwork quilts—t-shirt quilts and a chenille whole-cloth one. A few 2.5” squares had to be pieced together from even smaller pieces.

I thought I’d share the progress now. After piecing the different blocks together, I decided to put the rows together in a quilt-as-you-go method, so I basted my batting and backing together and started sewing the rows available when I could. The rest of the blocks are just pinned on for show and tell.

I’m not sure how I’m going to quilt this. Some days, I think I should quilt each square similar to how I quilted that quilt, since quilting can make such a difference in the final product. Other days, I think I’d like the fabric and project to stand on its own, and say stitching in the ditch is the right choice. Maybe I’ll add something via quilting or embroidery to mark the different years.

I think I can squeeze in one more row before quilting and binding (once I piece the rest of the rows together), then I’ll start a second panel. If I eventually finish that (another 48 quilts!), I’ll sew the two finished panels together side-by-side and start another. It’ll truly be a life-long project, but I love looking back and remembering each quilt.

A Long-term Scrap Project

Posted in Quilting

I’ve tried to keep a 2.5″ square of most fabrics from each quilt project I’ve done. This week, I finally decided on a layout for a meta-history quilt of my quilting journey and started piecing together some of the blocks.

So far, I have a block for the first eight quilts I made (2010-2011), and one for the quilt I need to baste and quilt this month.

The eight early quilts represented:

I’ve filled in with Cloud9 Limestone Cirrus where I didn’t have enough fabric scraps for a project.

I’m considering doing this as quilt as you go row-by-row, but am not decided. I’m looking forward to watching it grow.

Mid-year Progress

Posted in Quilting

At the start of the year, I made a resolution to address all of my works in progress in one way or another. I cheated in a few ways (mostly unintentionally), as I only listed quilt projects and accidentally left off one entire quilt. Then, I spent most of the spring not sewing anything at all.

I haven’t made as much of a dent as I’d hoped, considering it’s the start of September (even my mid-year progress report is behind), but I have whittled down the list.

Finishes

Wheeling Ruffles (Sevillanas)—this quilt wasn’t on the list, but was one of my oldest planned quilts.
Altered Steps—my very first-ever quilt blocks (Altar Steps blocks) pieced into a finished quilt.

Progress Made

High-school T-shirt quilt—I pieced the entire top together in July, and the backing is in the mail. Status: plan to finish by the end of the year.

EPP Crosses (née Farmer’s Wife)—I’ve continued to slowly piece these EPP blocks together, although months go by between times I work on it. Status: long-term project, no estimated finish date.

Witches Bubble Brew—I sewed the background together, and added embroidery to the concept. There’s still a ton of qpplique and quilting to do. Status: plan to readdress in 2016.

Meta History quilt—I scavenged the scrap bin for 2.5″ squares from older projects, made sure I have squares from all of my recent projects, and modified my plan a bit. Now, the squares have a dedicated home and I’m committed to adding squares of the scraps of each quilt to this box before I call a project “done”. Status: long-term project, no estimated finish date.

Miniatures 9-patch—I’ve been using the strip-pieced chunks as leaders and enders for another project, and have 75% of the blocks finished. I can’t find the heart section that I pieced 5 years ago, so that will keep me from finishing until I figure out where I put it. Status: blocked, plan to finish by 2/2016 one way or another.

Still In The Box

Organic Spins
Drunkard’s Compass
Double Wedding Ring
2013 Sampler Blocks (Cottons, Etc. and Tiger Lily)

Two finishes, one more almost done, and progress on four others is a solid start. I have a couple of new projects I’d like to finish before the year is over, so we’ll see where the others fit in.

Perhaps 2016 will be the year of dusting off wearable projects that are as of yet unfinished.

A Pincushion & Scrap Progress

Posted in Crafting

Speaking of scraps, I made a (very small) dent in mine yesterday.

First, we’ve started Cathedral Windows (on machine) at Sew You Want to Quilt, and we made one using one possible technique in class yesterday. Since I haven’t decided what I want to do for my project, I just grabbed some coordinating scraps that were large enough, and ended up with this pincushion/pattern weight/thing-that-takes-up-space: