The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Success…and Failure

This last week has been a mix of successes and misses but I’m confident that the misses will enrich my “learning curve”. I’m really trying to get outside of my normal box and when I do that, I’m bound to have some misses. This is a bit of an ADD post since I worked on three separate projects this week, so stay with me!

I wanted to try the Daisy Fill motif on a scarf-I thought that would be easier and faster than a vest-wrong! It took me 4 days to make this simple scarf out of rayon batik.I like the basic look of it but it faded, frayed and rumpled.

I pre-washed and dried the batik, then layered it between Misty Fuse-my thought being that the Misty Fuse would barely alter the hand (true), yet control some of the whispies that result from the cutting process.

I encountered several surprises-the first was that that the fabric faded! I have no clue why.

I used some water soluble stabilizer in a portion of the scarf (didn’t work-not enough stabilization). It must be rinsed out so I rinsed it well in the sink. It came out stiff as a board since all the stabilizer did not come out. I did it again and again and it was still stiff.

I took it out on the patio and gently hosed it down for a loooong time and it’s much better but still, a bit of stabilizer remains. I used only cold water throughout this process-why did the fabric fade? Furthermore, the whole scarf just scrunched up in this rumply mess-agh! I like a “Bohemian” feel but the fading coupled with the scrunching just ruins the whole look and feel of the scarf. I need a new plan-stay tuned.Taking my loss on the scarf, I decided to try some free form piecing like Rayna Gillman writes about in her article for the latest Quilting Arts magazine. I have long been inspired by Kathy Schmidt’s blog-QuirksLtd, and her free form piecing-it was time for me to try it!I began by following Rayna’s directions, starting with the strip piecing. She admonishes us to not audit our decisions, to just sew fabric together. OK, so you see here, I did not audit my decisions! I continued to follow her directions and came up with this. I see it needs some work with the use of value, but I’m pleased with the result. In the Well-Aged section of my stash I have yards of these scallops that I made for an Opportunity Quilt long ago. Who knew how handy they would be? There will be a bit of hand embroidery and beading before this is done. Plus it’s not quilted yet-maybe more blocks will join in the fun….Moving right along to the third activity of the week…. I have had this fill motif rolling around in my head for awhile. I have sketched it but not stitched it up until now. I really like it! It looks more complex than it is. If you can do lazy s’s, Diane Gaudynski’s “Bouncing Bananas”, and feathers, you can combine the 3 into this fill. I hope to figure out a way to do a tutorial on this-I’m not up to making videos yet so this may be a challenge. Under the title of “The Biggest Event of the Week” I put the arrival of two 700 meter mini cones of YLI Sparkle. NO ONE has this in inventory and I need it for my next project. And it was nowhere to be found on-line! I finally called YLI and got 2 spools after trying to locate it for over 3 weeks. Frustrating sure, but happy to finally have it. Hope you are enjoying spring (or fall for my down under readers) where ever you are! Love spring, don’t you? The sight of azeleas in dappled sunlight-just makes me smile.

Comments

  1. Wooooo-hoooo! You are trying free form piecing! Don’t ya just love it? Can’t wait to see further experiments…and your scarf looks like a candidate for dyeing or painting or yarn couching or…or…or…you are really getting outside of your box now, aren’t you? But your quilting is still so very, very beautiful…I may be able to go free form crazy, but I am so envious of your quilting skill. Just plain beautiful!

  2. Thank you! Yeah, I am surprised at the free form piecing experience. I started out with some pretty ugly or non-descipt strips and made mini decisions as I progressed, resulting in something pleasant. Having “seen” your work online, I see this piece with different eyes-it needs beads! And hand embroidery!

  6. Oh wow!!! I absolutely LOVE the faded rumpled/soft look of your scarf. The stitches look gorgeous and remind me of waves in clouds. Your art is just so wonderful Jenny! Thank you for sharing it with us.

  8. Hi Jenny, Do you mind if I use your quilting design for a project I am working on. I have a large area of fill and I think this will be perfect, as it involves several elements of the stuff we learnt to do in our Paducah class with Diane. I promise to send you a link to my results.

    I agree with the commenter above, about doing some dyeing, etc, with the scarf, you could turn it even further into a real work of art!

    Carol

    • Of course Carol-thanks for asking! I would love to see what you do with it. I know there are all kinds of interesting “combos”-just need time to figure them out.

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