Lazy Gal Liberated Amish 2010 Get Together

Finished

2011-12-19T17:23:00.000-05:00

Night and Day Quilt Finally Finished

2011-09-25T17:08:00.000-04:00

I finished the binding on my Night and Day quilt over the labor day weekend. I had intended to double quilt this project using turquoise and purple Aurifil thread. After spending two days machine quilting I decided that I was happy using only turquoise. Who knows, maybe someday I'll change my mind and add the extra quilting...

The day after I finished the quilting, I attended a local quilt guild meeting. The demo for the night was fine machine quilting. Our teacher mentioned that you should never cross over existing stitching when quilting. I just chuckled to myself because I had spent the weekend breaking the rules.

Thanks for hosting this challenge Tonya. I have really enjoyed working on this quilt and seeing all the other creative ideas everyone brought to this challenge.

Jacob's quilt--Liberated churn dash

2011-07-04T13:21:00.002-04:00

This quilt for Jacob is his present for going away to college--even though he hasn't decided which school that will be. I decided that I should make a color scheme that a man would like, and not a bunch of mixed colors. I got the idea for the block from Gwen Marston's book Liberated Quiltmaking II. You can see more about this quilt on my blog
http://roz-counterpane.blogspot.com

Irish Words

2011-07-02T19:14:00.000-04:00

Irish Words

This quilt is made up of Irish quotes, sayings and slang. The flower I found under Irish flowers ( sorry I do not have a name) the . It grows low to the ground and than the bloom pops up a bit like a crownf. The flower was fused on to the quilt and thread painted. I add a few beads and some dried foliage for effects. The Irish words were hand printed with a fabric marker. Machine quilting brought it together. Size is 24 inches by 24 inches.

I was apprehensive about the Irish theme in June. Being a free spirit I went into create mode. It was great fun looking everything up. There is is even a quote from Sandra Bullock and one from Gregory Peck. I totally enjoyed this challenge. I have never been to Ireland, however my Great Grandfather was born there.:)
SusanPI Ward
Quilting in Kentucky
http://artquiltssusanpi.blogspot.com/

Liberated linen wedding quilt done!

2011-06-08T08:27:00.001-04:00

It is done - what else can I say? Now I need to get it mailed.

My Double Nine-Patch

2011-06-01T10:59:00.000-04:00

Thought I'd show you a pic of where I am now. I still have a 9-patch border to do and then a dark wide outer border. Then it's on to the quilting.

Liberated Linen Wedding Quilt

2011-05-31T12:06:00.004-04:00

A couple of months ago I bought two pieces of vintage French linen on ebay to make a special quilt for my nephew who is getting married. He is an art history professor and had a show on the Travel Channel "Art Attack with Lee Sandstead". He has traveled all over Europe so I thought the vintage linen would be cool for a quilt.
My goal was to put a good dent in the getting the wedding quilt underway over this past long weekend and I am happy with the progress I made. I had dyed the fabric earlier in the week. The only time I left the house to plant my cannas in the front yard on Sunday evening and water them on Monday morning. I sewed Saturday from 7 am to 9:30 pm. I made three of those giant log cabin blocks and then decided that I wanted to not have so many blocks that looked alike. I made all of the blocke cutting the fabric with a rotary cutter, but no ruler. I wanted the pieces to be wavy. The only time I used a ruler was when I squared up the blocks to sew the rows together. I was thinking about just sewing the block together, but there is so much going on that I thought the quilt needed a little orderlyness. I could be wrong about that though. I think already I will make another quilt and not square up the block - hey, but that is another post!

Here is the big block cut into four.

I was also getting a pile of pieces that were too short to use that method with. It took longer to make the individual half square blocks, but I love the result. Of course, I ran out of the tan and brown fabric so I had to dye more linen and of course it did not come out the same color as the previous fabric, but that was ok. It just added more interest. So by end of day Saturday I had 19 out of 25 blocks done. The blocks measured 18" X 18 1/2" before they were sewed together.
Sunday I was up early again and finished up the blocks and sewed the top together. I dyed the fabric for the back, planted my canna rizomes and call it a day at 8 PM.

Here we are on Monday about noon all pin basted and ready to quilt. I have so many quilts pinned basted that I did not have enough pins to finish this job so I found another quilt that is mostly quilted and took a bunch of pins out of it. I guess I really need to get some quilting done!

If I would have more time I would quilt this piece using lines, but since I am in a time crunch my usual all over design will have to due. The wedding is June 18th.

I will be working on this hard every night after work and my goal is to have it done early next week. I will post the completed quilt.

Liberated Finish

2011-05-22T02:06:00.000-04:00

Finally! I might be the last one to finish, but I'm ok if I'm last. I'm finished and it feels great. I really stepped out of my box on this project. It stretched my imagination and my skills, both machine piecing and hand quilting. Thank you Tonya, for inspiring me and for everyone's kind comments along the way. It really meant a lot to me.

I used a stack of hand dyes for the stars, some with black centers and some with the colors. The blacks I used are different brands and shades.

It's quilted with rust YLI thread, I marked the feathers as I went along. It had it challenges with all the seam allowances where the letters were.

I chose the word Thrive as I knew this was going to be a special piece for me. I never liked the word 'survivor' after dealing with breast cancer, I think 'thriver' is a better word. So my quilt says "Thrive" I think that's the only way to live. Surviving sounds like you are just getting by, Thriving sounds so proactive, so positive. It sounds like you are making things happen!
Thanks to everyone!
Sharon

Heavy metal/hard rock quilt

2011-05-18T12:21:00.003-04:00

I needed to make a quilt that had a heavy metal/hard rock vibe to it. When I was out at Miller's Dry Good May 6th and 7th working I scoured the place for fabric that I thought would work. I snagged this flame fabric when a customer brought it to my cutting counter. I bought the 3 yards that were left. It was pretty cool and would add a little color to what was going to be a dark quilt. I also found a guitar fabric with a gray background and black guitars (forgot to take a picture, but you can see it in one of the pictures below - with the wreath design over the guitar it makes the guitar look like the end of the guitar is an ax. Very metal!) I was looking for skull fabric, but the lovely woman that is the assistant manager said in her sweet voice "we don't buy that type of fabric." I had a good laugh and the Amish women were chucking at me!

I started this quilt Sunday morning about 7:30 a.m. Here is the center. I used the Decolorant product that I bought at the Sewing and Quilting Expo in Cleveland a couple of months ago. It turned out ok, but I think I should have put the product on a little heavier. I used a stencil I had picked up cheap last year for the letters.

I decided to start out with approximately yard long pieces. I took the guitar and flame fabric, layered them (about a 12" wide piece) and double cut them, switched the pieces up and sewed them together. This was all improv piecing. I headed back into my fabric storage room to see if I could find anything else that would fit the theme of this piece. Score! I found some guitars on a black backgound, some fabric with Asian writing, and black sheet music fabric - perfect! I also had planned on using the fabric with words on it that are related to guitars so thank goodness for a stash and collecting music fabric!

All the pieces are layed out so now it was a matter of sewing and fitting them together.

Here is the top finished. It turned out 63.25" x 76.5". I had it done by 1 P.M. Sunday.

I had this gray music print in my stash that I got off the discount shelf when it was marked down again for just a few dollars a yard - its nice stuff too so I thought it would be a good backing fabric. Since I could not find any skull fabric for the front, I decided to put a strip of my "Quilting Pirates" when I joined the gray backing fabric together. I think it adds an edgyness and humor to the quilt. I had the quilt pin basted by 4 P.M. Sunday. I then went outside and did 2 hours of yardwork - weed wacked, mowed, and trimmed a tree.

After a focused week of intense quilting I completed the quilt.

Majestic Mountain - Double bed size quilt

2011-05-03T04:26:00.002-04:00

New Quilt Started

2011-04-06T20:29:00.002-04:00

I pulled some solid fabric strips and started a liberated Amish double nine patch

Anyone else still making Lib Amish quilts

Improv quilt is done

2011-03-23T07:25:00.001-04:00

Stick a fork in me I am done!

Shine

2011-03-17T19:55:00.000-04:00

"Shine" is quilted, bound and DONE! This was my first quilt for the Lib Amish Get Together.

I can't belive it's taken me a year to get this done. I just couldn't decide how I wanted to quilt this. I finally took my inspiration from antique Amish quilts (should be a no-brainer, right?) and machine-quilted triple diagonal lines. Free-hand, of course. I was liberated enough to use my sewing machine, or it would be a realllllly loooong time before this got finished . . . hee hee!

I didn't measure anything, and I didn't stress about it. It only took me a few hours to get this done, once I got going.

I really like this quilt. I think it finally came together just right.

Making progress

2011-03-14T14:36:00.007-04:00

I thought I would post a few pictures of the front and back as I am deep in the throws of free motion quilting the improv quilt. I need to have it quilted and bound by March 22 and I think I am going to make it. I have about 75% of the center quilted, then it will be onto the borders.

Improv quilt

2011-02-28T12:00:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine, K, decided at the last minute she would like a quilt for her daughter. K picked out the colors and saw a quilt in the direction she wanted this one to head. We shopped in my stash and found everything except the light red fabric which K bought. It will be used for the binding also. The blocks were made by making a large (about 28" across) log cabin block and then I cut them into quarters. I did all the cutting and sewing; K did the designing and pressing.

The borders on two sides are just pinned to the design wall

Pinned basted and ready for me to free motion quilt it.

Here is the pieced strip we made for the back. This is a queen sized quilt.

Here is the quilting on the back and front. I am using the same color in the bobbin as the top thread.

I need to have the quilting done by March 14.

Is it done ?

2011-02-06T05:18:00.000-05:00

Or is it boring, I just don't know. Here it is:

I'm happy I managed to continue the shape of one of the triangles in the binding:

And I added a tiny triangle in the binding on the left side:

I thought about adding another layer of machine quilting in another colour or maybe adding shapes of triangles hand quilted with thicker thread... but I really don't know. I don't want to 'overdo' it.

The hanging sleeve isn't attached yet...

Thanks for your suggestions !

Heidi

Plaidtastic, quilted, bound and done!

2011-01-29T18:46:00.003-05:00

Inspired by Amish designs, driven to wonkiness, with a splash of batiks, and quilted with the spirit of Gee's Bend, it's plaidtastic!

Liberated me!!!!!!!

2011-01-17T19:25:00.005-05:00

It all started with a request for help from a young mother in making a quilt similiar to this one.

I tried the technique here- sewing together strips, cutting the triangles and putting together the hexagon. It worked and I added end triangles to make it a rectangle. This will be for big brother. Then I had leftovers............so i became liberated and pieced this for the little guys' doll.

I could do the technique, so then tackled the baby quilt. The mom bought the fabrics and I added some yellows to brighten it all up.

This one will remain in the hexagon shape - something different.

Once again - leftovers!!!!!!!!!

This will be the crib quilt.

I really enjoyed using what I had and trying to get a rectangle out of cut off triangle pieces......

There is NO MORE fabric.........this is it!!!!!!!!!!!

No Words Necessary

2011-01-12T11:08:00.000-05:00

I believe this fabric might have been from the 80s. I had a whole bolt of it. Needless to say the rest of the bolt went in the trash.
One thing for sure I will really give black fabric a good test before I use any of it again.
I think I will see if I can quilt NO WORDS and just use it as a wall hanging once in a while. With a big label on the back to never ever wash it.
I wouldn't bother but this is the first Challenge I ever entered and my first Liberated Quilt and I hate to lose it.

Sad News

2011-01-11T19:13:00.000-05:00

Christmas 2009 I made a quilt for my Son in Law. He is a huge GA Bulldog fan. When my Daughter washed it for the first time disaster struck. The black I used for the inner border just fell apart.

Well, this is a sad enough by itself but the real problem is I made my Liberated Amish quilt from the same black fabric.

I can't believe I didn't notice the fabric was rotten.
I guess procrastinating isn't all bad because at least I haven't quilted it yet.

Day Dreams

2011-01-11T17:15:00.014-05:00

Last weekend I completed side two of of my Day and Night Quilt. The words have been pieced for five months but life got in the way and my sewing machine had to wait. I am so pleased to finally have the second side finished.

Next weekend I will start machine quilting this twin sized quilt. Hopefully side A and side B will line up easily when I baste them together. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This has been a fun project to work on. I love having a chance to let my imagination run wild.

Warm wishes from snowy Wisconsin! Chris Daly

Finally getting around to posting these

2010-12-23T09:34:00.015-05:00

I made quilts this past fall for a fellow and his wife who were expecting twin girls. The fellow's mother had save a lot of his clothes - baseball t-shirts, jeans, a favorite pair of Michael Jordan shorts, etc. I made two quilts - one for each girl out of these items. Here are pictures of one of the quilts in process. They were a lot of fun to make and the father was thrilled with the results.

These are also for the twin girls. Their father is a huge Notre Dame fan which explains the colors. I rough cut the centers then just started improvising. I ripped the strips for the logs and then trimmed them with the rotary cutter as I pieced them together. I think orginally we were suppose to use just sissors - oops I'm bad! I was pleased with the way these came out and so was the father.

Have a happy and safe holiday!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-21T08:01:00.000-05:00

.. and a Wip and a finish :-)

Here's my finished test piece for ( still ) the first challenge

here's a bit of 'Befreite Dreiecke' showing my machine quilting . I think it will be 2011 when I'll finish it..

and this is a small present on it's way to France

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Heidi

Orange Sqaure Quilt

2010-11-28T15:03:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun making this Orange Square Quilt. I pulled out a few orange and yellow fabrics from my stash. I used batiks, solids,plaids and a few reproduction fabrics...some would say you can never use all these fabrics in one quilt. But it is so much fun to break the quilting rules!

I love to stipple or meander my quilts.

I also love washed and crinkled quilts with simple clean lines.

Happy Quilting to all of you!

My Challenge quilt

2010-11-14T14:33:00.003-05:00

I'm so pleased to report that I have completed my challenge quilt . This quilt was a really big task for me. First, I researched Gee's Bend quilts and Amish quilts. I actually went to the library and looked in their reference books. I decided that Amish Bars pattern and some Gee's Bend quilts had a lot in common. The rules of Lazy Gal's Challenge were no rulers, templates or rotary cutters. And use a lot of solid colors. I found cutting long strips of fabrics using only scissors and by eye was difficult, unless I decided to simply have fun with it. You know that saying, "don't stress the small stuff." I pulled out a bunch of scraps for the scrappy row that I made going down the whole quilt. Then I used the size that that came out to be for the approximate length of the strips. If the strips were too long, I chopped them off, and if too short, I did what Gee's Bend quilt ladies do, and added a scrap to the edge. The edges of the quilt were quite uneven. So instead of quilting, I tied with size 10 crochet cotton. I use a curved needle when I tie a quilt. I think I ended up with what the quilting books politely call a "utility quilt." I didn't actually know if I liked this quilt all the way through the creating process. It was only after I finished hemming down the grey binding on the outside edge, that the full impact of the quilt was apparent. You know what, I decided that I like it just as well as any other quilt I have made!

Dancing Star

2010-11-12T08:11:00.000-05:00

Dancing Star is finally finished . . .

You can see read more about this more-Gee's Bend-than-Amish quilt

and the journey to completion here

on my blog.

Thanks for the challenge, Tonya!

Quiltdivajulie

Triangle Quilt - "Amish Lib."

2010-10-18T22:36:00.000-04:00

At last I finished!

I took the center panel with me to Gwen Marston's Beaver Island Quilt Retreat the first week on October, promising myself that I would get the words and the borders finished while I was there. Hooray, it happened!

After getting home I worked on the quilting, first covering those triangles with crosshatching.

Then I put uneven feathers in the two side panels, "echo-ed" the words, and put straight lines behind them. [I had decided that the YEAR would be easier in Roman numerals because there are only straight lines for 2010.]

I know I missed the deadline, but I am really pleased with the result.

It makes me smile!

Sara Homeyer

Pinwheel Parade

2010-10-07T12:25:00.000-04:00

I finished the quilt for the newest challenge. I hit a point with it that I didn't much care for it. So, I stopped. Then, the next time I looked at it, I liked it. Funny, that. Does it ever happen to you like that? I think it's just that we have to get distance from it and look at it in a different perspective.

It's square, it just doesn't want to hang flat and I refuse to pin it because it's SUPPOSED to stay up on the darned design wall all by itself. It's staying for now. Though I suspect when I come home tonight from work it'll be on the floor.

-Wendy

Letters

2010-09-27T06:49:00.000-04:00

I made my letters for my Liberated Amish adventure. The D and I had quite a tussle. I won, but just barely. I'll be working on the finishing touches of the top this week.

-Wendy

Diced pork is done

2010-09-21T22:38:00.003-04:00

I've finished the Little Pink Pig 2, which is what I've been calling it to myself, slightly meaninglessly. The big stitch quilting gives it a nice rumpled texture, but I'm not loving it - I find it unrestful to look at. My eye wants to follow those little pink flags all over the quilt, before collapsing exhausted at the edge.

But it was lots of fun to do, and the slicing and re-forming was a great challenge. It is much more interesting than it was before the chopping! Thank you all for your help and great suggestions.

Wonky Log Cabin

2010-09-21T02:41:00.000-04:00

The ' wonky ' log cabin quilt for my daughter is ready. It is machine sewn and machine quilted. I did a meandering in the log cabin part and a kind of freehand swirl in the border.

The size is 155 x 200 cm.

Amish Bars

2010-09-20T08:20:00.000-04:00

It's not finished, so again, you're only getting a partial picture. I hope to finish it this week during my two days off. I have some more applique and, though the challenge didn't call for them, some words (Tonya, you created a word fiend!). And of course, the quilting. I'm thinkin' straight-ish vertical lines. This is based on the Amish Bars pattern.

A Challenge is a challenge

2010-09-19T14:20:00.000-04:00

I really am grateful to Tonya for the challenge! At first, I thought that I was making the world's most unlovely quilt. But being as spontaneous as you can grows on you. And I found great satisfaction when combining the fabrics and colors. I have added three border strips to the quilt since the last post. And now I feel that I have finished the top. There's a bit of a way to go yet, as I decide how to quilt it. I'm thinking about hand quilting it, except that my arthritis might not like all that stitching. I may have to tie it. Because of the unevenness of the top, I think that machine quilting would make big puckers.

Liberated log cabins

2010-09-18T19:44:00.000-04:00

I finished this liberated Amish meets Gee's Bend table runner this week. It has grey-scale blocks surrounded by solid strips and strings.

Here's a close up of the quilting, which I think might be more GB than Amish. I used a friend's Pfaff with an integrated walking foot and stitched in the ditch and put freehand vines and leaves in the geometric blocks and geometric designs in the leafy blocks. No yardage was used for the front of the quilt and the back was purchased at a yard sale, so I say I've met the GB part of the challenge. I did use my rotary cutter for squaring up the blocks, but in my defence, I made this before Tonya posted her new challenge.

Liberate Nine Patch

2010-09-18T04:46:00.000-04:00

OK, I know I only joined a week or two ago, but I've changed my mind already!

Look what happened when I laid out my "ugly" Bali Pops green nine patches...

I reckon they look fantastic!

But I still want to participate, so I am going to come up with another "challenge". Until then, have fun liberating your projects!

Begun

2010-09-15T18:07:00.000-04:00

Remember these? I made them for the last Liberated Amish challenge. But, I didn't use them all. So, I snagged this opportunity to use up the last of those in pinwheels. Worked all day today on them and got them done. Don't you just love pinwheels? I do. Anyway, I put my planned quilt (in pieces still) up on the design wall, which has been attacked and mauled by the kitties. Boy are they in trouble! They're in the dog house, since a cat house is something else entirely.

Anyway, I put the proposed quilt on the design wall and I LOVE IT!!! Here's a little sneak pic of one of the proposed corners. You'll have to wait for the rest until it's done.

-Wendy

Needing advice

2010-09-14T14:13:00.000-04:00

Here is my work on the Challenge so far, and it has been challenging! I already posted a photo of this quilt top. Now I have added borders--so what did I do? I decided to do what Gee's Bend quilting ladies might do, and I added strips of fabric that were left over from making the backs of some previous quilts. I always cut a generous backing, and there is often a strip left over after I trim when adding the bindings. What the photo shows--I spread the quilt top on my bed, so please disregard the yellow edges, that's simply the background quilt. My questions are: Is this enough? What does the quilt need, within the requirements of the challenge?

Fractured and fabulous

2010-09-10T21:09:00.004-04:00

Well, here is the sliced and re-made number. It weighs a ton, waves like the Queen on Christmas morning and I will have to quilt it down ferociously before it even looks remotely square .... but I like it! The very strong horizontal isn't great, but I couldn't find a way to avoid it with the pieces that I had. Now on with the hand quilting! Straight lines I think, so that some exist on it, somewhere.

And Tonya, you have created a monster. I made a liberated chinese coin top this week because I felt like playing with scraps and when I reached the outer border I said to myself "You know what this quilt needs? Words! LOTS OF WORDS!!" What have I become???

beginning the challenge

2010-09-06T17:20:00.000-04:00

OK, I started on The Challenge. And the first thing I want to say is that I hope that I haven't offended either the great Amish or great Gee's Bend quilting ladies with my effort! Well, I got out the scissors (according to the rules, no measuring and no rotary blades) and I went to town. The quilt that I used for my basis is a typical Amish Bars pattern, such as in the book "The World of Amish Quilts" by Rachel and Kenneth Pellman. And the second thing I have to tell you is remember that perfect 1/4 inch seam that you pride yourself on--"fegget about it!" I mostly tried for about 1/2 inch. And the third thing is it ain't done yet--I have to add the borders. As far as the ironing is concerned, what you see is what you get--and it ain't pretty! That quilt fabric stands out like a sail in a breeze. Don't know how I'll ever quilt this thing--maybe I'll tie it? I'm glad that I bought some of that orange color fabric a few weeks ago, I must have known in my heart that I needed it. And I need to make a note to myself to buy more grey. I bought that a couple of years ago, and it's nearly used up now.

Nine Patch Variation

2010-09-06T02:20:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone, and thanks for having me!

I am inspired my the Nine Patch and the Double Nine Patch in the Brown Collection. I plan to use some nine patches that I made a while back, but in a liberated way!

These nine patches were made using mainly the Bali Batiks that were popular last year.

I'm looking forward to chopping into them and creating something interesting.

Other liberated stuff I'm working on includes this:

And this...

I recently made a liberated snowball doll quilt.

And hand quilted it (my first go at hand quilting!).

You can visit me at kitbikquilts.blogspot.com

Cheers,

Sarah

You ladies rock

2010-09-04T20:23:00.003-04:00

Your suggestions were genius! First I auditioned other colours - black, hot orange, red ... but didn't like the way they worked together. It looked a bit motley. So I thought - if I'm not using other colours then I'll get a bit more ....um .... unrestrained? unruly? in the slicing. So I sliced and added and ended up with these.

I've still got to fit the pieces together with more filler strips, which will be off centre. I like the diagonal light green in the middle piece. It has been wonderful fun, and it looks SO much more interesting than it did before. Thank you all!!!

PS no seam ripper was used in the making of these pieces .... I may never unpick again. :)

Make the Pink Pig Squeal

2010-09-04T09:10:00.000-04:00

Okay, Lynley, this is a Gee's Bend meets Liberated Amish class so it's time to play. I seriously want you to cut apart your quilt top that you're not happy with. It's the big blue rectangles that aren't working - so cutting them up reduces their impact. Plus, the pink triangles are the marvelous bit and this way they'd stand out. You can cut it apart any way you want - just don't use the seam ripper. Here are a couple of ideas. Straight lines:

Slanted lines:

Then you'll have some interesting pieces to play with. And yes, you're "allowed" to cut the new pieces down further - depending on how you cut you could end up with globs of seam allowance that might be better whacked off.

Add another really strong color and play with sashing idea or setting squares or who knows what you'll come up with. Cut them apart, play and if you have any questions, post another pic of the new pieces and we'll do this step by step!

Well, this sucks

2010-09-03T21:37:00.004-04:00

The post title is a favourite expression in our house - after watching 'Madagascar' a million billion times - we use this slightly inelegant phrase in all cases of general displeasure or disappointment. Or, in my case, when you have a brilliant quilting idea that turns out hideous.

I wanted to replicate the very strong diagonal effect of the small triangles in the original quilt, and instead just got these clunky blue crosses and slightly disturbing star/triangles things. No, no no. I shall try something else entirely and put this in the 'special shelf' for disastrous projects. Waaaay up high.

Finished!!

2010-09-03T11:42:00.002-04:00

Dear Lazy Gal friends!!
I hope that everybody out there has had a fantastic summer! All those who live in the northern most part of the world have had summer vacation now. Here in Scandinsvia-read Oslo, Norway- schools started up again 2-3 weeks ago, after many weeks of vacation. The bright summer is about to let go and we are again about to get darker nights. But that means, yes, that again I can start with my favorit hobby-quilting.

Now I´m done with my two projects in Liberated Quilting. I am pleased with how I have solved it. The quilting went a little fast. I should have had more appropriate thread. I have spent a lot of fabric that are self colored. A great way to make use of them. I have enjoyed participating in this project. So thank you Tonya, which has hosted it. I will maybe participate in the next project!!
Have a nice weekend, quilt greetings from Anne:-)

Quick update

2010-08-28T10:16:00.001-04:00

You can see a process-update on Dancing Star here.

Quiltdivajulie

Not avoiding the difficult bits this time

2010-08-24T07:40:00.004-04:00

What a fabulous idea for a new challenge - I'm in it. I love the idea of working in series (doesn't it sound ARTY) so I'm going to use this one for inspiration again.

But this time, instead of avoiding those little half square triangles, I'm going to make them. I'm going to make lots of them, and they're going to be small. Oh my goodness. At least I won't have to worry about them being wonky. My little triangles are always born with a certain ... natural liberation.

Lynley

My project

2010-08-19T09:23:00.001-04:00

I have had an idea for awhile now that's loosely based on Browns' collection #004:Bars Variation-Lancaster County, PA c.1915. I'm just making a wall hanging again.

I like that you keep adding challenges. The first one felt like I was just getting my feet wet. Eventually, I'd imagine we'll have to push ourselves to newer ideas. Great idea, Tonya!! What's the deadline for this one?

-Wendy

And So It Begins

2010-08-18T12:01:00.000-04:00

My inspiration quilt(s) for LAGT2 are

from The Quilts of Gee's Bend (pages 40 and 41).

A while back, I shared a post on my blog

about a future quilt named Dancing Star.

Along the way, those fabrics ended up

back in a box on the shelf . . .

They are perfect for this challenge!

"from this point on, no rotary cutters" - check

"Go for a Gee's Bend meets

Amish Improvisational Lollapalooza" - double check

"Use leftover strips and pieces

but work from here on out

only using scissors or tearing "- check

And so it begins!

Quiltdivajulie

Liberated log cabins

2010-08-13T21:23:00.002-04:00

I'm stalled on my challenge project Be Well (it needs tieing, but I want wool yarn that will felt and I haven't found any yet) but I spent a little time today playing with some black and grey blocks given to me. I thought the contemporary prints needed a bit of traditional solid so I turned them into log cabins. Not sure what's next with them, but here's a little variation on the liberated Amish quilts. Somehow I think if an Amish woman was given some printed blocks, she might be tempted to include that free fabric in a quilt.

Oops: I just read Tonya's new "rules" for the next challenge. I met some of the criteria, but I have to admit to using the ruler and rotary cutter for the final square up.

Next Challenge?

2010-08-13T20:25:00.000-04:00

You guys have made some absolutely awesome quilts. I am sooo very proud of you. I admit I've been neglecting to write a post because I'm embarrassed that I didn't finish a quilt top myself. eek. If you haven't finished either, keep working at it - I bet you'll make a great quilt.

I have to tell ya though, the letter tutorials are no longer at Quiltville. I had Bonnie take them down in anticipation of the book. (self-promotion: Word Play Quilts available December 7th) So if you still want to add letters to your quilt top, you can wing it and figure out your own great ways to make them. Or wait for the book.

If some of you want to keep playing, we can come up with another challenge. I figure we can just keep working in this blog. new folks can join in if they want. I'm thinking of it as "One Step Beyond" Amish or maybe Improvisational Amish.

As in, I'd love to see you take another step, push yourself a bit further. I figure you're challenging yourself, so you can decide just how far you want to go with it. So depending where you are in the liberated spectrum, you could:

make your quilt actually wonky this time.
piece crumbs together to make new "fabric"
don't make all the blocks the same size, change them up.
use half blocks as well as whole blocks.
Go for a Gee's Bend meets Amish Improvisational Lollapalooza.
Use leftover strips and pieces - but work from here on out only using scissors or tearing.
No rotary cutters or rulers used whatsoever.

"Rules" to this challenge:

use solid fabrics (or solidy, mottled, marbled, batiked, hand-dyed). this time you can add prints if you want.
state which quilt(s) from the Brown collection is going to be your inspiration OR be a rebel and pick an Amish quilt from a different source.
you don't have to use the same inspirational quilt that you did before, although it might just be fun to work in a series...
you do not have to use letters - just to make that clear.

What do you think? Anyone want to keep playing?

Using my New Skills

2010-08-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

No, this isn't liberated, or amish. But this is the next quilt I made after taking the LibAmish Challenge.

I NEVER would have put words in my quilts had I not worked through this process and watched everyone else's quilt evolve. I LOVE the word in this quilt and so has everyone else. Underneath IMAGINE I quilted "a world without Breast Cancer" My friend is doing a 3 day/60 mile walk to raise funds and this is my donation to her journey. She's walking for all of us! My goal is to have this quilt raise $1000 and everyone who has seen it has gone crazy over the word. Thanks to everyone on this blog for sharing and encouraging!
Sharon

baskets

2010-08-06T12:39:00.001-04:00

The quilting is finally done.

The binding is almost complete.

I sure had fun with this one!!!

Ready for the next challenge!

Lime it is!

2010-08-06T11:25:00.000-04:00

Lime it is! thanks for your input Ladies, I'm really proud of the way this came out.
Thank you Tonya for a inspiring challenge!
Happy sewing

audtions

2010-08-02T16:19:00.000-04:00

Okay.....auditions.......

which one? I'm leaning towards the lime green :0).

What color to bind?

2010-08-01T17:50:00.001-04:00

My little quilt came out to a 36 inch square. It is based on plate 60, page 110 from "Amish Abstractions",
and I also took inspiration from Rene a fellow Amish get together member.
Well I am NOT a hand quilter but I finally got through with all I am going to quilt on this little jewel and now have to decide what color to use for the binding. What do you think? Black, a lime green from the center, or turquoise? Thanks and Happy Sewing

Night Dreams

2010-08-01T13:52:00.006-04:00

Side one of my Day and Night Dreams Quilt is finished. I tried to use darker colors like blue black, navy and deep violet in this quilt top but my brain just couldn't work those colors in. I love bright, clear colors and gave in to a selection of my favorite color pallets. My idea for this quilt came from my passion for color. I love to dye fabrics and find it very hard to sleep on nights when my dye lots are batching. I just can't wait to see the results. I often use more dye solution than is needed so I can get faster results.

This pattern was inspired by the Bricks in Bars quilt made by Ada Gingerich of Arthur, Illinois. The inspiration quilt is featured on page 114, Plate 62 in the Amish Abstractions book published by Pomegranate for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Wishing you sweet dreams from Wisconsin! Chris

Finished! Little Red House in the Tall Green Grass Under the Gwenny Stars!

2010-07-24T10:31:00.006-04:00

First of all, thank you to Tonya for hosting such a great get together! I love seeing all the projects in all the various stages. It took me a long time to get inspired. Life got in the way...I just can't think after a long day at work or too much going on in the family. How about you?

I have been trying to get to this project forever. It took me several months but here is my finished project. I also quilted it on the Handiquilter. Fun times!

Wish the black showed up better. I will be teaching Gwen's star method on September 24th at Morning Star Quilts in Paradise, California. I am excited to share more liberated techniques with other quilters! Hope you are all having a great summer with sewing to keep you happy!

xo Pam in Chico

Tutti Fruitti

2010-07-12T17:40:00.006-04:00

Erin here. Yes, my top is done. I should have tried harder to get this posted before I had some house sitting jobs without internet access but I didn't. My mother has declared it to be the ugliest quilt on the planet. [Yes, the woman is a beacon of love and encouragement...] I don't really value her opinion very much any way. My oldest daughter loves it though and has to pet it on the design wall every time she comes in my sewing room. Her opinion I do value and not just because she likes my quilt. LOL I like it and that's all that really matters in the scheme of things I suppose. This is my original design idea based on the photo of my "inspiration quilt."

I think I successfully "liberated" the color palette and the setting. Except for the piano key border, it doesn't even look that much like my original design idea let alone the original quilt. Tee hee. I blogged a bit about the process of deciding on the center setting here and here.

The particulars:
Name: Tutti Fruitti
AKA: The Color of Fruit [from a line in the BBC production of Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South which I have watched w-a-a-a-y too many times of late...]
Finished size: approx. 61" x 61"
Fabric: Krystal by Michael Miller Fabrics
Quilting: I'm going to start hand quilting it with black perle cotton as soon as I make the trek into Las Vegas to buy some.
Batting: I haven't decided whether to stick with cotton or try some wool. I live in the desert. I'm afraid I might melt under wool batting.

No Longer Wordless

2010-07-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hi, Chris D here. I've been hooked on Tonya's Free Pieced Letters since the first time I saw the idea. When she blogged about this challenge I just had to play.

My quilt top is finally well underway. From the beginning I knew exactly what phase I wanted to use. Deciding on the pattern to use was the hardest part. There were so many gorgeous patterns to choose from in "Amish Abstractions" book!

I love Amish quilt patterns and color pallets. My favorite fabrics to work with are batiks and hand dyes. These fabrics can be so vibrant and allow more flexibility.

I plan to make a few changes to the colors I am using in my blocks but hope to finish this top by the end of this weekend.

Introducing Myself

2010-07-10T11:50:00.010-04:00

Hi, my name is Millie! I was so excited to see a Liberated Amish group. I absolutely love Amish quilts. I had leftover scraps from this wave runner quilt so I decided to use them for my first liberated amish quilt. The first pattern that came to mind was this log cabin quilt I made.

Later I decided to make a Roman Stripe quilt. I've made 16 blocks in two days.

Thank you so much for letting me join this group. I can't believe how many wonderful Liberated Amish quilts are on this blog.

Happy Quilting,

Millie

Backside of Triple Nine Patch

2010-07-01T20:07:00.002-04:00

This is the backside of Triple Nine Patch. Some people wondered how it was constructed. It measures 22 by 23 inches.........

I hope this helps............Linda

On the Edge

2010-07-01T00:30:00.002-04:00

debbi dw here - nothing like a deadline to get me going! I shifted from my planned Global Change (which I will do someday) when I got too close to the deadline to tackle the circles in my other plan. In this layout I have a twist on chinese coins/bars and bricks The coins in this one are on edge, and the stacks are on the edge of the quilt too. I hope to do something fun with the quilting in the big empty space. My words will go on the back and will be "On the Edge" - tricky to put the letters on the back so I could finish, hum? One of my favorite things about this top was running out of the green for the borders and using a similar shade pieced in - just like I've seen in Amish quilts! Tried to show in the photo below (sorry - the lighting at 11:30 isn't great!):

Triple Nine Patch

2010-06-30T09:09:00.002-04:00

This is made with my own hand dyed fabrics, machine quilted and mounted on strips of black fabric.........no fancy pieced letters, tho.
It won a ribbon at the 2010 Sauder Village Quilt Fair for Innovative Piecing.

a finish

2010-06-29T04:14:00.004-04:00

I wanted to share the finished quilt with you. There's no picture of the whole quilt, but a few more in my post, here.

Thank you, Tonya, for an inspiring challenge! And thank you all for joining in and sharing so many creative and beautiful quilts!!

; )

A perfect storm

2010-06-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

I have completed my quilt top! Between the constant meals in the kitchen and the road trips to Maryland and Virginia during the weekend, I managed to sew up last rows of my quilt.

This quilt top has been screaming hand quilting since last week when I began cutting the pieces. I will take my sweet time and enjoy that process just like I enjoyed puttign it together.

You can read more about it at "The Root Connection"

Tonya, I apologize for not putting any words on the quilt. I felt that it says too many things to me and I might restrict the true meaning of it to me by putting few words at this point. Between now and when I start to quilt, I may change my mind and come up with something true!

Besides, I am running out of time! REALLY!

I started out with this layout. I still love this one and plan to make another very soon.

But this one drew my attention. I studied calligraphy in art school and this reminded me of strong and powerful brush strokes resembling lightning in the stormy dark skies.

It reminded me of ocean waves once rotated the zigzag..

The gray background fabric is woven fabric form India called Khadee. It is made from hand spun cotton fibers. The various solids are from my stash which also include scraps of my husband's old shirt.

Tonya, thanks you for this fabulous journey!

Loved every minute of it.

Top is done

2010-06-28T08:49:00.005-04:00

Here is my top all done - yeah! I couldn't think of any words I wanted on it so I just pieced the year and put that in one of the skinny accent strips. I really like how the little touch of purple looks. I didn't think the hand dyes I had done would look so good together! I am very happy the way this turned out. Now I just need to concentrate on getting it quilted. Sorry about the shadow of my bicycle wheel across the lower right corner.

Here is the pearl cotton I dyed to compliment the colors in the quilt. I want to do both machine and hand quilting on this - I just have not figured out what I want to do yet.

Ocean Waves

2010-06-26T15:37:00.004-04:00

Here's a picture of my quilt top. I didn't want to miss the challenge deadline!

I know this may not look very liberated to most of you (it's definitely not very Gwenny), but if you knew me, you'd know this is about as liberated as I get. The top measures 76" square.

Now to get it quilted!

Kathy in FL

Finally getting it together!

2010-06-24T08:12:00.003-04:00

The fabric has been pinned to the design wall for several weeks and I have just gotten to piecing the fabric together. I am using my own hand dyed fabrics in neutrals. I am going back and re-reading the "rules" because I think I already broken several! If you would ask my quilting friend, P, she would tell you how I don't follow "rules" in quilting well! This is just a peek at what I am doing and I plan on having the top at least done by Monday to post.

The Eleventh Hour Quilt

2010-06-21T22:46:00.000-04:00

It's the eleventh hour quilt!

I could have started this quilt a while ago but we all know how it goes! Well, I guess you will see couple of more posts during this coming week and I truly hope to complete the top.

I chose to work with " Broken Dishes" pattern. I had a large piece of a gray Indian woven fabric and added some bright solids to get the contrast. These days, my primary goal has been to limit buying new fabrics so I am sticking with what's in the sewing room.

I made the blocks with freehand cutting and curved piecing.

Not sure what the words are going to be at this point. Realistically, it will be something short and simple.

I have been very inspired by all of your quilts.

It has been really fun watching everyone's quilts evolve and read the stories behind them.

Definitely a fun experience!

Stay tuned for more pictures soon!

Oh Baby - Quilting Arts

2010-06-15T16:12:00.000-04:00

Oh Baby - Quilting Arts

A Flimsy Finish

2010-06-11T00:15:00.004-04:00

Snuggle

54" x 68"

I finally got this finished and I love it!!! I'm so happy with this quilt top. It was painful at times, and I sometimes had to force myself to work on it, but I love it now. I can't wait until it's quilted!

I think I'll be putting my intials and the year pieced into the back. Just a last finishing touch.

You can read all about this and see more photos here.

Thank you, Tonya! This was the biggest bit of free-piecing I've ever done, and I learned that it's not as hard or as scary as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, I think I may have trouble "following the rules" now!

I Couldn't Stop!

2010-06-06T20:21:00.000-04:00

So I'm finally done. Wow, does this feel good. There have been so many creative and beautiful quilts posted here and I think that held me back, thinking I couldn't make mine look nearly as creative and individual as you all did. But I am very happy with how mine turned out. I took a break and came back to things and this is the final result.

It finished at approx 30 x 42. I want to hand quilt this one, maybe feathered cables up the black bars, I've never hand quilted feathers before so it would be another first....or I might "big stitch".
Background on this project/design:
My husband passed away in Dec 2007, a few months after we moved to a new town. I spent 2008 with lawyers and bankers and creditors trying to settle his estate (no will). Dec 08 came along and I thought I best take care of myself so I did all the dr check ups and everything was great. I'm thinking, 2009 has got to get better, this has got to settle and I have got to move forward. During this year, I was basically paralyzed with fear. Fear to spend a penny, fear that I was going to loose everything, fear that I would have to leave the U.S. (I was initially denied my green card right after my husband passed), fear that I was not going to be able to get up out of bed and go to work and function. 2009 rolls in and in April I found a lump in my breast. Yes, it was cancer, and yes, I had a mammo in Dec 08, so I spent the next 6 months dealing with that. And the estate did settle, in June 2009.
Anyways, people keep using the word "survivor" and I have never felt comfortable with that word. I was surviving when I couldn't function the year before. With cancer the doctors have a plan and you follow along and hope for the best. But I think the word survivor sounds like you are barely getting by. Thriving is how I like to think I am doing. I'm living, I'm thriving, I'm gardening, I'm quilting, I bought a home and I'm doing great. So this quilt has quite a bit of "recovery" in it, I'll treasure it and I THANK everyone for participating and making this a great project.
May you all be "thriving"
Best,
Sharon

My First Attempt at Letters

2010-06-06T14:03:00.000-04:00

It's been quite some time since I finished the center of this project. I am a procrastinator to the Nth degree when I have a task ahead of me that I'm not sure how to tackle. So yesterday I had a bit of time after putting in my garden and I cleaned off my cutting table, pulled out my scraps of black and brights and got to work.

This is my first attempt at these letters, the 2 was a challenge. Now that I'm into them, I want to put one word along the top, I've got one letter made so far. None are sewn together yet, but it looks like I may meet the deadline of having the top finished in June. I still have a few more weekends!
Sharon

I've liberated my project into a flimsy

2010-06-05T19:13:00.000-04:00

So I finally sewed on the last borders of this project, bringing it up to 56 by 68 and now I'm wondering if I should put on top and bottom borders to get it to a single size, or just stick to my original plan of a throw size. I had great plans of hand quilting elaborate Amish-style motifs on this, but I am going to back it with navy microfleece and tie it so it is done sooner. This isn't the greatest photo -- I need to pick off millions of thread and give it another good pressing.

All Quilted

2010-06-05T17:34:00.003-04:00

I've had my small Bars top done for some time, and now the simple quilting is finished too. I washed the quilt, because this deep dark Kona indigo simply grabbed every little fuzzy in the air-and I like the washed appearance. Wish I had made this a bit larger for a small lap quilt (I am a rather small person!).
The best part of this Get Together has been seeing how everyone has interpreted their choice of pattern, the colors they have used, the words they have chosen for their quilts--and reading the great stories that go along with each quilt. I definitely want to work more with solids. Thanks, Tonya!

not done yet

2010-06-02T14:13:00.003-04:00

I'm not the only one enjoying this quilt....

HI All!
Not done yet! But I am working on it!!

I finally have the letters the way I wanted...
now I have a full set of the others ones from m y first attempt.. what will become of those!
scratching my head....

Am going to try to finish this top tonight...
I'm so inspired by all everyone's finishes!

now what to do with my borders....
(she wanders off to ponder that)

have a good day!

Little pink pig is finished!

2010-05-25T20:05:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone - Lynley here in Australia. That title sounds awful, as if I'm ready to truss it up and send it off to be made into bacon. Not so! Here it is, quilted and bound.

This well-travelled little quilt has been to Samoa and Sydney, and I finally finished the binding at the daytime quilters meeting last week. I finished it in time for show and tell - Canberra Quilters don't really go in for gasps of delight but I did get a few chuckles at the words.

No matter where I am I can still put my foot in my mouth though. I was explaining the quilt-along concept to the woman next to me and that it included adding words, and said something like "I don't like using serious words, it seems a bit silly on a quilt, so I just put this" ... she nodded politely and showed me the "faith, hope and love" she'd spent the last year beautifully appliqueing on her very very gorgeous quilt. Why do I say these things, especially to the only woman with words in a room of 90 quilters?

And here's a close-up of my dodgy quilting. As predicted, I went with straight lines in the border because I wanted it finished!

Vernies Amish Pyramids

2010-05-25T04:41:00.003-04:00

The Color of Fruit

2010-05-23T21:14:00.004-04:00

AKA: Tutti Fruitti

Erin here. I thought I should show some of my quilt in progress -- well at least the words -- before I get the top together. I worked on the words first to be sure that the center of my quilt would be big enough for all the words. I was going to put "Tutti Fruitti," my name, town/state and Liberated Amish 2010 in the borders, but as you can see I changed my mind.

papaya, grape, mango, citron, plum, mandarin, raspberry, blueberry, pomegranate

The only thing I might change is the "r" in mandarin. Otherwise, I'm quite pleased with them -- even plum and blueberry which are a little dark against the black. They will be like a surprise in the borders you'll notice when you're close enough to read them.

Don't Give Up on Me Yet!

2010-05-17T23:42:00.000-04:00

Hi, debbi dw here. Though I have not posted yet, I have two LAGT quilts drawn up on paper (only the ideas, of course, liberated piecing to come). These fabrics are the start of my "Global Change" quilt, a liberated version of the Chinese Coins quilt (which is online, but not in the book, go figure). At least one top by the start of June - hold me to it!

Making Progress

2010-05-11T19:11:00.007-04:00

I 've been so busy working on the challenge, I've forgotten to post an update! So, here goes. . . .

Here's my progress as of yesterday, May 10th. I've gotten the center of the quilt all sewn together. I'm working on my letters/word, and then I'll be ready to add the border. I'll have another opportunity for creativity with the borders, as I don't have enough of any one fabric for the border.

As I was looking at the challenge quilt hanging on the design wall yesterday, I thought the top was billowing in the breeze. And then I realized that the wonky 9-patches are creating an "Op Art" effect! They look like they're bending or bowing out, due to the off-centered-ness of the blocks. That was a fun surprise that I never expected!

Quilting

2010-05-10T11:39:00.000-04:00

This is what I have so far, (it was stitched on the train) I'm thinking a cable design on this small first border,
what do you think? any other ideas?
Happy Sewing, how is everyone coming along?

Fan-tastic Finish

2010-05-07T20:28:00.002-04:00

Waste Not Want Not is finished!

Woo Hoo!

You can see more photos of the quilt (including the label on the back) here. Chris even used purple thread for the gorgeous Baptist Fan quilting.

Thanks, Tonya ~ this challenge has been a LOT of fun!

Quiltdivajulie

Liberated Stars Catch Up

2010-04-29T11:05:00.003-04:00

Hi sew along gals, I didn't forget about this but time did slip away while I was dreaming of what to make of my lovely solids. Finally I got a day to just sew and I used the new Gee's Bend Solids for Gwen's liberated stars...
I am not quite done as I need suggestions for the borders, corners etc...and I'll have to wait on those until we get back from South Carolina to pick up our dear daughter from college this next week. I added just a touch of some Kaffe roman glass on a couple of the small stars...maybe I'll work that into the borders, etc. I can't help but think that if those lovely Amish of the past had met Kaffe they might have had a few exceptions to their rules! I can see that these little stars do "twinkle" as Gwen says in her book...I really loved making them and will definitely encourage others to do so too!

Done!

2010-04-26T20:06:00.000-04:00

I've finished the LibAmish quilt. Thrill! Thrill! I love, love, love it! Thank you, Tonya, for putting our group together and providing the impetus to make this! This picture is a little fuzzy, but of the ten or so that I took, this one shows the quilting in the black the best.

The gridlines in the burgandy border were a bit free-rainging. In fact, they became downright unruly toward the end there. Still, I think it lends to the personality of the piece.

If I have enough time between other projects, I'm going to try another different one.

-Wendy

Crazy Star borders

2010-04-26T01:03:00.001-04:00

Well, here's the finished top. I went with all the suggestions and used yellow and purple both. I think this is by far the best of the three. I have new respect for working in a series- it really has improved my work. So much fun to see what everyone else is up to!

A Makeover Revealed

2010-04-24T15:53:00.005-04:00

I couldn't stand it ~ even though I had sent Waste Not Want Not off for quilting, I e-mailed Chris and asked her to send it back. Those fused letters just had to go!

Here is the now fully-liberated flimsy ~ MUCH better!

Quiltdivajulie

just right

2010-04-23T13:09:00.004-04:00

hi all! Victoria here,
just to say I haven't completely fallen off this project...
The last time I posted was when I had started my letters,
and ran out of navy to proceed.. ABOVE PHOTO
Well, I have my navy, but the letters just have not been floating my boat...
The way I have them going around is EXACTLY what I want.
But the style of the letters, I really wanted them to really
reflect more the half square triangle look....

It's taken me a while to figure it out...
But I think I got it...

Now just to DO..
Perhaps I should have take my words of wisdom slightly closer to heart?
(don't need to be perfect...!!! ha ha!)
oh well. It just feels right...
not perfect, but right.

quilting.

2010-04-23T11:36:00.003-04:00

I started quilting yesterday!

Yeah!

Perle cotton. 20 wieght.
wool batting.

I'm loving it!

PlaidtasticTop done!

2010-04-18T08:56:00.004-04:00

Wow! everyone has come along way with their projects and they look fabulous! I left mine for so long, I almost forgot about it....but I was in the middle of projects and I thought I should do my letters...I really like the way the block pops and the letters just become part of the background...I love staring at this and am so pleased the way it is, but now I am afraid to quilt it...I would like to keep the main yellow squares clean and free of quilting...

One thought I had, was to machine quilt with invisible thread, lines through the plaid parts, criss-crossing, leaving the corner blocks and yellow outer blocks free of quilting, then grid quilting in black the borders. I could hand quilt it, but I have so many other projects that need to be hand quilted, that I don't want to add to that pile. I also want the block to be the main focus and not the quilting.

No Words Needed ~ Finished!!

2010-04-15T05:00:00.001-04:00

The unlettered side.

The lettered side.

It doesn't work to assign front/back to this quilt ~ it works either way!

MAJOR kudos to my longarm quilting friend, Chris, for her custom quilting work ~ all I can say is WOW!!!!

You can see lots more photos of this quilt, including several showing details of the quilting, here in a Picasa web album (if you haven't tried their slideshow feature, it's worth checking out!). [outdoor photos taken at The Dixon gardens]

So how did the quilts showcased in Amish Abstraction inspire NWN?

The front came from the Roman Stripe c. 1930 of Plate 34 mixed with an altered setting of the Log Cabin Barn Raising c. 1925 of Plate 61. The borders of NWN echo the layout of those in Plate 61, with corner blocks added (of necessity as there wasn't enough of the border fabric).

The liberated-lettered medallion-based scrappy back incorporated ideas from Plate 51 Back of Ocean Waves and bits and everywhere else ~ like making do with what I had in my stash and using the leftover strip set ends from the front to create pieceable squares.

In the end, it just all came together . . . and I love the results.

Thanks Tonya for organizing this get-together!!!!!

Quiltdivajulie

Thank heaven for borders...

2010-04-14T14:09:00.000-04:00

I finished the center of my quilt top yesterday. I decided this week I was going to get all of my UFO tops done at least... they might have to wait in line to get quilted (on my new mid-arm and frame wheeeee) but I digress. I was holding it up and looking at it when my husband came in and said (as he always does) in a preternaturally cheerful voice "Do you like it?" To which I replied "No". Actually I hated it.... so much that I wadded it up and threw it unceremoniously into my UFO box. After a good sleep I decided to dig it out and at least finish it. So this morning I put the borders on. I am so glad I didn't give up... I actually like it now. It may not be my all time fave but I do like it, which is so much better than the unadulterated hate I was feeling for it last night. Oh... the Bs kinda suck but I figure not too bad for only being 3" :)

This Sort of Counts

2010-04-13T09:17:00.000-04:00

I'm doing a quilt top swap with Lynne. She's working on a secret project that just blew me away and I wanted one too. So I made this for her. She wanted something very me. Which this is.

Back when I was playing with Rumspringa quilts in Paris, I made lots and lots of extra L-O-V-E blocks. And I can't even remember what I was working on that I made some I's for Lives as well as Loves. (Definitely did that in the last year after Pokey got sick.) Anyway, it was easy to just put this top together with letter blocks I already had. The border is actually more purply than it looks here.

I have to admit, I have been struggling with a quilt for this challenge. I know, I know it should have been easy. I get started and then lose focus.

Meanwhile you guys are making some amazing quilts. I'm so proud of you all. Send me photos of finished quilts if you want them on the UnRuly Quilter website. Right now I only have Laura's.

New Direction

2010-04-10T10:10:00.000-04:00

Nancy again. Thanks for all the nice comments about my quilt. Everyone has been so helpful.
I thought about putting these letters on the quilt but I really like the suggestion of naming it New Direction so I may change my mind.
I see I have the a in necessary up side down - have to change that.
What about the quilting - are we supposed to hand quilt these?

New Direction

2010-04-08T14:27:00.002-04:00

Nancy here. Turns out those fans weren't as inspiring as I thought. I really didn't enjoy making them so I have decided to go in a different direction. I am using #25 as my inspiration now.
I used the layout I had planned for the fans and think I got a similar look.
Now my big problem - the letters in the border. I have no idea what I want to put there.

Inside Out Crazy Star No. 59

2010-04-07T21:28:00.000-04:00

This was fun. It is the opposite of the Crazy Star in Plate 59- the crazy is in the star, not the back ground. I like this method of making a star- it somehow makes more sense to me. I have to decide borders- it is 50 inches by 65 inches right now, so a bit big for the lap but too small for the bed. Yellow? Just more purple, in other shades because that is what I've got?

"Perfect" Amish quilt

2010-04-07T18:44:00.000-04:00

Thanks so much, Tonya for letting me join in this fun blog! My quilt was inspired by the book "Amish Abstractions." There are several string quilts in the book, a Chinese coin quilt, and a baby quilt called "Joseph's Coat." And I learned how to do the free-pieced letters from Tonya's blog

http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/

I've been enjoying the free-pieced letters for some time, and I've made wall hangings and a quilt incorporating them. This quilt was made using only solid fabrics. Over the past year or so, I've been collecting an assortment of solid fabrics. I purchased the hot pink especially for this quilt. The quilt is hand quilted except for the outer borders, which I sewed on the machine. I enjoyed doing the hand quilting very much, especially because in a liberated quilt, you can stitch with some abandon. If you are doing hand quilting, I advise getting a good light. I purchased an inexpensive reading lamp because the lamp that I've been using all along malfunctioned, and had to be disposed of. Now, about the binding. I make a straight of grain binding, which I cut 1 3/8 inches wide. I sew it to the quilt front in a 1/4 inch seam, then I turn it to the back and hand hem it.

Bow-Tie Blocks

2010-04-06T23:14:00.000-04:00

It took me a while to decide where to start, but I finally settled on the bow-tie quilt #21. So here are the first blocks:

At first they didn't look all that "liberated" but then I added some slivers to the triangles in the block, which you can see on the top left. It does add some movement, don't you think?
Next I want to try a few variations in size and color contrast because right now the pattern looks a little "chunky" to me. Back with more soon!

More stripes!

2010-04-05T16:24:00.000-04:00

I got inspired during our moovie marathon yesterday and made this top. I thought the stripes might look nice as a block, and I'm pretty pleased. I'd like to quilt this top and the other solid top as a two sided quilt- I have only been quilting a few years, but I am running out of room for quilts. What is the name of this pattern? I have seen it, but don't know the name.

another finished top

2010-04-04T09:48:00.001-04:00

I have finished my top and I'm happy with it. It sort of took on a life of it's own from what I first envisioned. It was very liberating for me. I decided to use my original words instead of being my usual unliberated self and making new ones. I was very happy with my words when I first made them but then as I started to see everyone else's, mine didn't seem so great anymore. Sometimes, envy isn't such a good thing.
I'll be quilting this by machine since it a good size....I'm thinking baptist fans. Not sure what color thread to use.
I think all the quilts that have been posted are awesome.....it's so inspiring to see how everyone else has made their words and used the different patterns and colors. I'm very glad to be a part of this challenge. I wish everyone a very Happy Easter.