Project Update: 17.06.2021

Hello Friends and Welcome!

After last week's Special Update, I'm back with a regular Project Update featuring all of my ongoing quilting experiments!

Since my last Update, posted at the end of May, I've started quilting Simply Woven, continued piecing Changing Pace, and made some progress on the National Quilt Museum BoM project. I also completed the assembly of my Wetlands BoM quilt top, which was the feature project in last week's Update, visit that post for more details.

If you're interested in catching up with one of my older projects, which I posted for the first time earlier this week, check out The Making of Rainy Day Friends.

Now Friends, without further ado, onto the Project Update!

Changing Pace

Since my last Update, I've assembled and attached the third of four outer rows. With only one row left, I'm getting really close to completing my first 100% hand-pieced quilt top!

As per my usual method, I marked the stitch lines on the backside of my blocks; I used a mechanical pencil on the white blocks, and a combination of chalk and thread on the black ones. To assemble the blocks and attach the rows, I've been using a hand-sewn running back stitch.

The longer I work on this project, the more comfortable I am with hand sewing, and the more excited I am to continue experimenting with it!

National Quilt Museum Block of the Month Program

For this BoM quilt, a new block is released at noon on the first of every month. The free instructions and templates can be found on the NQM website!

Last month I opted to postpone making the block, so I still haven't started the May block. If you're interested to learn more about my reasoning, check out my 13 May 2021 Project Update.

Since then, a new block has been released! The June block is called Circular Leaf and was designed by Cathy Erikson. She drew inspiration from the leafy wreaths commonly depicted in traditional Baltimore Album quilts, but with her own twist. This isn't a style I have a lot of experience with, but I was excited to give it a try!

The instructions provided are for fusible applique, but mention that the block can be made using the hand-sewn, needle turn method if preferred. Since I've been using fusible all year on my Wetlands quilt, I decided to hand-sew my applique for this block.

Before I could get started, I needed templates to cut my fabric. Rather than printing the one in the instructions, I drew a piecing diagram and templates for the stem, large leaf, and small leaf. The templates were drawn on light cardboard so they would be sturdy enough for multiple uses.

I am self-taught in the use of hand applique, so I use a thread-basting method that I made up; it bares more similarity to English paper piecing than the common needle turn applique method. I start by tracing my template onto the back of the applique fabric and cutting it out with an approximate ¼" seam allowance.

To prepare my applique, I hand-sew a running stitch along the line traced off the template, making it visible from both sides of the fabric. Next, fold the seam allowance to the back of the applique piece using the thread-marked line as a guide, and baste them in place by hand. Press the applique piece using a hot iron to set the edge, then remove the marking line so it won't get in the way of sewing the applique to the background.

With the applique prepped, I thread baste it onto the background fabric and secure the edges using a slip stitch. Once the applique is secured, remove all the basting threads and press the block to finish it.

I was inspired by the berries on one of the Baltimore Album quilts Cathy Erikson shared in the instructions, and chose to include some of them in my block as well! Rather than drawing my own template for those, I traced a dime to get a small circle, then repeated the steps above to add them to my block.

And here is my block! I'm really happy with how the applique came out, even though I used my own, very strange method. Since finishing the piecing, I've done a little research into needle turn applique and that method looks a little easier since there's a lot less basting involved. I hope there will be more applique in the upcoming blocks so I can practice!

In addition to piecing the new block, I've managed to make some quilting progress on one of the earlier blocks. I was most inspired to participate in this BoM because it uses a method called quilt as you go, where the blocks are quilted individually before being joined into a complete quilt top.

I was interested to learn this method because I love making large, bed-sized quilts, but because of their size, big quilts can be a challenge to quilt on a domestic machine. If I'm happy with the final look of this quilt, I may find myself using this method a lot more in the future!

I completed the quilting on my January block, Segmented Circle, back in April. Check out my 29 April Project Update for more details about that. This month I finally started quilting the February block, Beach Dreams.

This quilting design was based very heavily on the suggested quilting provided in the original instructions, but with a few tweaks to fit the changes I'd made in the piecing.

I hand quilting around each of the applique circles using a neutral gold thread, continuing the line of quilting even when the applique was overlapped by the piecing. Next, I machine quilted organic, wavy lines over the curved piecing, this time using a grey that blended in with the blue fabric. Sometimes I followed the curves of the piecing, and other times I improvised, but I chose to leave the space within the quilted circles unquilted.

The final quilted element was the sun's rays; the original block included triangular applique shapes as rays, accented with quilting. Since I didn't include these, I quilted straight lines out from the centre of my largest applique circle that radiated out in all directions. I used a mix of hand and machine quilting, and a combination of white and gold thread.

And with that, my February block is complete! I had a lot of fun adapting the original beach-themed block to a more abstract design, and putting my own twist on the quilting. I'm really happy with the mix of hand and machine quilting, I love the different textures they create!

Next in line for quilting is the March block, Firework, I can't wait to see how it goes!

Instructions for all these blocks can be found on the National Quilt Museum website. Many thanks to the amazing artists who designed this year's blocks!

Released so far are:

Segmented Circle by Cassandra Beaver

Beach Dreams by Becky Glasby

Firework by Christina Cameli

Angular No.2 by Audrey Essary

Honoring Today's Quilters by Becky Glasby (which I have not made yet)

Circular Leaf by Cathy Erikson

Simply Woven

After quilting the smaller size projects, working on Simply Woven is a bit more of a challenge, but one I'm excited to take on!

In my previous Update, I had just finished the process of planning out the design for this quilt, you can read more about that by checking out my 27 May 2021 Project Update. Three weeks have passed since then and I've been able to get started on that plan!

The quilting design began with two sets of edge to edge lines, which overlap each other in the top right corner. Those act as structural quilting and keep the layers in place as I begin working on other parts of the quilt.

I've also begun quilting the next design in the quilt top, a motif I've been calling the broken border. This consists of outline quilting around specific sections of piecing, sometimes spanning multiple blocks, that creates a selection of uneven rectangles. I hope this will help create the illusion of a border since I chose not to add a pieced border to this project.

I've quilted three of the twenty total bars featured in the quilt top, and I'm looking forward to adding some more!

Simply Woven was designed by Jess Kelly of Sew Crafty Jess. If you're interested in making your own version of this quilt, free instructions can be found on the Moda blog.

Friends, I am so glad you could come along with me for another Project Update! I'm so excited about the progress I've made on my quilting, the experimentation with different techniques, and the development of an original design! I can't wait to see how each of these progress over the coming weeks!

If you make, or have made any of the patterns linked above, I would love to see your project! Feel free to share it in the comments below, or by tagging me on Instagram @vafibrearts! If you have any tips for me that may help me with future projects, or techniques you'd like to see me experiment with, feel free to suggest those as well!

I can't wait to continue learning more about quilting, improving my fibre arts skills, and finding inspiration in the work of other artists!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

VA