Project Update: 13.05.2021

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

I hope all of you have been having a fantastic spring! Now that the weather has become more consistently warm, even more flowers have opened, leaves are unfurling, and the world is becoming more vibrant.

With the earth renewing itself, I felt it was important that I renew my tools a little too! I've put a new blade into my rotary cutter for the first time since I bought it over a year and a half ago. The old blade has worked on many projects and served me well, yet I hadn't noticed how dull it had become. Somehow this single tiny change has dramatically improved my quilt making experience and instilled some extra enthusiasm to create!

In case you missed my announcement during my last Project Update, I've decided to return to my previous schedule of posting every second week. My next Update is scheduled for 27 May.

I've also chosen to slightly alter the structure of my updates; I'll be breaking them down by specific project rather than project type. I think it'll be a little more organized. Feel free to let me know how you feel about this change!

In the weeks that have passed since my last Project Update, I've received new instructions for both of my ongoing Block of the Month projects, read on Friends, for more about them!

Wetlands Block of the Month

May marks the final month of this exciting and beautiful BoM project. Though I'm sad it's wrapping up, I'm equally excited to see my blocks become a quilt top!

To prepare for the conclusion of this project, I've spent the past several weeks making more curved background blocks to use in the border! Check out my 29 April Project Update and curved piecing research posts for more information on the methods I used.

Since my last update, I've figured out that I want three 7" × 14" rectangular and four 7" square blocks per side. The colours and block orientation used in the borders should match the gradient in the quilt centre, so I needed to take those into consideration while piecing my blocks.

Because of this, I've decided to start with the top and bottom borders. They will be predominantly brown and yellow respectively to fit in with the gradient I've planned. Since these borders will be using a lot of their respective coloured fabric, I wanted to start with them to ensure I have enough.

I've completed the piecing of all seven blocks in the bottom border, as well as two of the rectangular blocks for the top border, and one of each sized block in yellow for the side borders.

At this point, I think I'm a little less than half done the piecing. I plan to add some applique before sewing the borders together and attaching them to the quilt centre. On that note, let's talk a little more about the quilt centre and this month's applique block!

The instructions for this month include the creation of a dragonfly applique block, and assembly of the quilt top. Those instructions can be found on the MQG website, along with all other blocks in the pattern.

As with all my other applique blocks, I drew my own template based on the one provided. Doing so has allowed me to apply my own artistic style to the quilt and to design each with a specific species in mind.

For my dragonfly block, I wanted to feature the white-faced meadowhawk. This species of dragonfly is commonly found throughout Southern Ontario, and I've seen it in the wetland I grew up in! I referenced photos to get accurate shapes and proportions for their wings and bodies. Following the original template, I made three dragonfly silhouettes.

With the templates drawn up, I transferred them to fusible and created my applique! By spacing the applique unevenly across the background fabric, the block imitates the sporadic movement of real dragonflies, I love that the designers thought of that!

As usual, I completed the block by securing the applique edges with a hand buttonhole stitch.

With all of my blocks complete, I was able to start the assembly of my quilt top! I laid out all my blocks as planned, referencing some of the diagrams I've made throughout the development of this project. I ended up deciding to change the placement of most of the pieced blocks in order to distribute the colours more evenly.

At this point, I've completely sewn together the quilt centre! I won't be sharing any pictures of the full quilt centre until I've gotten my borders attached, hopefully my quilt will be ready to share in my next update!

The Wetlands BoM is run by my quilt guild, all instructions can be found on the MQG website. If you're interested in this project but are intimidated by the curved piecing, don't worry, it's not a part of the original pattern! You could definitely choose to try it for yourself, but you can also create a beautiful Wetlands quilt without it!

National Quilt Museum 2021 Block of the Month

After completing the April block, Angular No.2 a few weeks ago, I decided I needed a little more green in this quilt. I bought some green fabric for use as backing in February and ended up using some of it in the piecing of my March block, Firework, where I love how it interacts with my other fabrics!

I've decided to include them in the piecing of future blocks as well, but in order to have enough for both piecing and backing, I thought it would be best to buy more. I bought an additional 0.4m of each.

The lighter print is from Northcott's Canvas line in the colour 'crocodile,' while the darker is Northcott's Toscana, I'm not sure if it's 'basil' or 'hemlock.' Both were designed by Deborah Edwards.

While my original goal was to make this quilt primarily from fabrics already in my stash, buying additional fabric for the backing has always been something I expected to do. I also feel a lot more comfortable experimenting with my blocks knowing I have some extra fabric on hand.

The more exciting progress on this project is the release of the May block! This month features a whole cloth block, meaning the block is a single piece of fabric with the emphasis on quilting rather than piecing. The quilted motif is a view of the front of the National Quilt Museum, including the adage "honouring today's quilters," from which the block gets its name.

Glasby, Becky. "Honoring Today's Quilters." 2021.

This sample was designed and quilted by Becky Glasby for the National Quilt Museum's 2021 Block of the Month program. It's a really lovely block with a beautiful sentiment attached, but the motif doesn't hold a lot of personal significance to me specifically. Since I've never been to the museum, and don't know where my quilt will end up once it's finished, I would prefer to continue using abstract variations on the blocks.

I also have a few design concerns regarding this block; neither the quilting nor the piecing (of which there is none) features circles as the previous blocks do. Without seeing the upcoming blocks, I don't know if this marks a move away from circular designs or if this block is totally unique within the quilt.

On top of that, my focus fabric is a busy floral print that would only act to obscure the quilted motif on a whole cloth block. As much as I want to include it in every block, it certainly wouldn't work well in this one.

With both of those thoughts in mind, I've decided to wait a few months to make my May block. After I've seen more of the upcoming blocks, I'll know if the move away from circles was unique to this block, or if it's the beginning of a new trend, and adjust my motif accordingly. It also gives me a better idea of the colour balance between the other blocks, which I can then use to pick my background fabric for the May block.

Since I don't plan to show my quilt at the Museum, I will probably make a few changes to the quilting design. I may pick something a little more personally significant, or I may choose a more general aesthetic design. Either way, I plan to use elements of the original block as inspiration; whole cloth or at least minimal piecing, architecturally inspired motif, and the use of a variety of quilting techniques.

I know I won't be working on that block for a while, so instead, this moth I plan to focus on quilting the other blocks. Segmented Circle is already complete, so next up is Beach Dreams!

I've been thinking a lot about the way I want to quilt Beach Dreams; according to the designer's suggestion, I plan to quilt wavy lines across the curved piecing in the middle of the block. However, unlike the original block, mine doesn't have rays radiating out from the large applique circle, so I won't be able to echo their shape in the quilting. Instead, I plan to fill the off-white background space with lines that radiate out from my largest circle.

My description was a little confusing, so here's the diagram I drew up for reference:

I loved the effect of mixing hand and machine sewing on Segmented Circle, so I'd like to add some of that to Beach Dreams as well. I can't wait to get started!

Instructions for the National Quilt Museum's 2021 BoM can be found on their website. All future blocks will be posted to that site at noon EST on the first day of each month. In order of release, the blocks whose instructions are currently available are; Segmented Circle by Cassandra Beaver, Beach Dreams by Becky Glasby, Firework by Christina Cameli, Angular No.2 by Audrey Esarey, and Honoring Today's Quilters also by Becky Glasby.

As well as my BoM projects, I've been making some minimal progress on Changing Pace, and conducting research in preparation to quilt Simply Woven! I haven't progressed enough on either of these to warrant sharing more photos, but I wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten them.

Friends, I am so glad you could join me for another Project Update! I've been having a blast working on these projects! Though I'm sad to see some of them coming to an end, they aren't complete yet and I still have some work ahead of me.

I would love to know what all of you have been up to! Feel free to share stories and pictures in the comments or share them with me on social media! If you'd like to keep up with my progress between updates, you can visit me on Instagram @vafibrearts or join my Facebook group.

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

VA

Image Citation:

Glasby, Becky. "Honoring Today's Quilters." 2021. May 2021: Honoring Today's Quilters, National Quilt Museum, 2021, p. 5. https://quiltmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/may2021botm-final1.pdf.