Project Update: 01.07.2021

Hello Friends and Welcome to Another Project Update!

I'm excited to be sharing my recent progress on all of my quilt making projects, and I hope all of you have been keeping up with your own projects as well!

Since my last Update, I've made some progress on my Changing Pace quilt top, planned a quilting design for a block of the month project, and started a Summer Mini Quilt Challenge! Read on Friends, to learn more!

Summer 2021 Mini Quilt Challenge

In case you missed the announcement a few weeks ago, I've challenged myself to try some new quilting techniques this summer by making a series of mini quilts! I've set up a list of different prompts, including a variety of techniques that I need more practice with and some that are totally new to me, and a few guidelines for a bit of an added challenge. Check out the original Challenge Announcement for more details!

For the first week, I chose the wholecloth prompt! Wholecloth is a style of quilt with no piecing in the quilt top, instead, a whole piece of fabric is used. Because of this, all focus is on the design and texture of the quilting!

I wanted to combine traditional and modern methods in this project, so I used both hand and machine sewing, and organic and geometric motifs. I've already shared a post with the full making of this project, so check it out if you're interested to learn more!

I'm now in the middle of the second week of this challenge, and my current prompt is facing. Facing is a finishing technique commonly used in garment construction. While binding is the traditional choice for quilters, facing creates an invisibly finished edge that's popular among fibre artists and art quilt makers.

Since this week's prompt focuses on finishing, I was free to design the top however I wanted. I chose to use one of my favourite blocks, the rail fence, to piece together some pride flags in celebration of pride month! Unfortunately, it has just ended, so I’m a little late, but I'm happy to be sharing them anyway!

My facing research yielded several different methods, so I made two quilts to test a few of them. I'll be sharing more information about the making process for these two mini quilts in my post on Monday, so check back then to learn more!

National Quilt Museum Block of the Month Program

Since my last Update, I haven't made a huge amount of progress on this project, but I've definitely been thinking about it!

The next block in line to be quilted is the March block, Firework. This block was designed by Christina Cameli and uses straight edged shapes and templates to create the illusion of a circle. It's a really interesting design, but takes a lot of precision to get the pieces in the right place.

If you're interested to learn more about my experience piecing this block, check out my 25 March Project Update.

I haven't started quilting it yet, but I've been working on my plan for doing so. Unlike the previous blocks, Firework didn't have a quilting design written into the instructions, so my design was inferred from the sample photos of the block made by the designer.

The quilted design looks like free motion to me, with the same design repeated in each wedge. I've never used free motion on an actual quilt block before, but regardless, I'm excited to try!

I decided to use the original motif in some of the wedges, but added my own touch with a few alternate designs. In my diagram, you can see Christina's design in orange and a vine inspired design in pink. Both of those will be quilted using machine, free motion quilting, but the corner design, drawn in blue, will be hand quilted. The corner designs use a feather motif, which I still haven't quite finalized.

I'm excited to see how all these motifs will look on the quilt block!

One final exciting announcement about this project; since today is the first day of July, the instructions for this month's block will be released at noon! If you’re interested in making this quilt for yourself, you can find instructions for all past and upcoming blocks, once they’ve been posted, on the NQM website!

Changing Pace

I am so, so excited to announce that I've finally finished sewing together my Changing Pace quilt top!

At this point, I've been working on this quilt for almost a year. I started hand piecing it in August 2020, and have been progressing slowly but surely ever since!

This quilt uses a modern design approach, including lots of negative space, asymmetry, and an alternate approach to borders. I really love the irony of making a very modern quilt entirely by hand, so I challenged myself to give it a try!

I learned so much while piecing Changing Pace; I started using a thimble, improved the quality of my hand work, and experimented with different hand-sewing needles. I'm really proud of all the work I've put into this quilt so far, and I'm looking forward to the next step in this project, hand quilting!

Look forward to more updates on Changing Pace in the future!

That's everything I have to share this week! I'm really happy with the progress I've made on Changing Pace and my mini quilts, and having a plan in place should help me move forward with some of my other projects!

With all the time spent working on those, I did, unfortunately, neglect Simply Woven. I'm still a little intimidated by the large size of the quilt and the challenge of quilting it on a domestic machine, but if I work on it a little at a time, I will make progress! I'll be sure to prioritize that project in upcoming weeks.

If you'd like to keep up with my projects between Updates, feel free to visit me on Instagram @vafibrearts! I share photos throughout the week, including works in progress and post announcements.

And Friends, I would love to see what all of you have been up to as well! Let me know in the comments by sharing photos and stories!

I'm excited to see what I get up to in the weeks to come! I can't wait to experiment with more techniques, learn new skills, and continue to be inspired by other creators!