more pineapple...

Badly lit, un-sewn and poorly pressed here's a shot of the first 12 pineapple blocks. So far I like the effect of the uneven stripes and their off kilter movement. Was asked how I am making this quilt. I started off using a conventional ruler but it was time consuming and my cutting completely inaccurate. Someone suggested foundation piecing but while precise that's not the way I want to be sewing right now. In the middle of the night last week, I remembered buying Gyleen Fitzgerald's "Trash to Treasure" book and specialty ruler for making pineapple quilts. True to form, I purchased the set, put it away and promptly forgot about it. Basically you sew log cabin style around a central square trimming after every row with the ruler. Unlike other products I've seen, this tool is very simple to use with few registration lines. It has made the process of making these blocks mindless and enjoyable. One of my favorite bloggers described making a certain quilt block as being like potato chips as in you can't just have one. With this ruler the same can be said about these pineapple units. I'm having fun and just have to carve out more sewing time. You can find Gyleen's excellent book and ruler set here...

pineapple...

I've been in a real slump creatively lately. A dear friend advised that I should just start and make anything without over-thinking the design part of the project. Looking through my images of vintage quilts for inspiration, I found this one which sparked a little something...

It is a pineapple quilt probably from the 1800's. What is interesting about this one is that it is made of a single striped fabric on muslin. The patterned fabric has faded so that the backgrounds merge. It looks like someone has drawn crosshatches with a red pen. I've started making blocks in batches of six with a bin of scrap white-based shirting strips. Some of the strips are cut on grain and others wildly off grain. They are not finished but here are the first blocks with four rounds completed. I'm hoping for a similar drawn effect as in the antique quilt but with more colors. Am not sure that it is successful at this stage but the process is fun and it feels good to be sewing again...

resolution 2013...

                 

    use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without

This expression was all over the internet in 2012. While I did my best to ignore the wisdom of this homily I can't help but admire the bloggers that took its sentiment to heart. Many people and in particular Mrs Cactus Needle are inspiring me to try to sew solely out of my stash in 2013. I  have so much fabric and my tastes are changing that I've decided to "make" like a maniac this year and donate or swap fabric that I know if I'm honest with myself will never be used. Am going to pledge to buy only what I need to finish projects such as thread, batting, backing and maybe the odd fat quarter or thrift shop score. With a January birthday as well as Christmas presents, I also have gift certificates in my arsenal. After they are used, no more...

In the interests of full disclosure, I will say that I received lots of textile goodies over the holidays including "Architextures" by Carolyn Friedlander and "Type" by Julia Rothman. Am besotted with both these lines. I love this trend of illustrators turning into fabric designers...

Any New Year's resolutions out there or are you all laughing too hard at the idea of not buying new fabric???