Saturday, May 05, 2007

I am not missing having the huge pile of scraps! I even went to the LQS and bought some new fabric, something I haven't done in a long time. It was very refreshing to see bolts of fabric, instead of shreds.

The materials for the borders, sashes, corner-posts and future binding all came from deep stash. That's stash that's more than 4 years old. I wanted another fabric for the small pink border, but I only had a FQ, which is why I was at the LQS trying to match it. 'It's, oh, about 2 years old...' I told the assistant. No Luck. When I got home I looked through my fabric books, and found that I bought that FQ in Paducah, 5 years ago. Time does march on.

My resolution not to make large quilts went out the window with this quilt. It fits the QS bed, and that's bigger than I intended but it just wanted to be like that. I am helpless in the face of such insistence. I just do what I'm told. Several blocks, like the diamond star and the one to the right of the M block, are pieced with leftover strips from the 1" checkerboard of the Maverick Stars.

I did get a bit desperate towards the end, when I needed three more crumby blocks and the pile of scraps was blechh and down to the dregs. That's when I raided the orphan block pile, and came up with the larger bits and pieces to use as the beginnings of a crumb block. They turned out to be my favourite blocks, that's always the way.

The Initial blocks were just because I've never monogrammed a quilt before. If I had any sense I would have made a '7' block to date it to this year. I may applique that on one of the blocks still, wouldn't take a minute. And I made them blue because it is so out of character for me to be noticeable; I like to be wallpaper, in the background observing, quietly enjoying. I don't do the centre-stage thing happily, and I still feel uneasy at how noticeable these letters are. How bizarre! It's MY quilt! I need to get over that.

I had another border planned, and it was just beautiful. Wrong border for this quilt though, so it's in the ideas basket and I will get round to developing it with another quilt. It was sooo pretty; it always amazes me that in the process of finishing one quilt I stumble across ideas for at least three more. That's why there will always be new quilts to make.

What to start next! I think I may actually quilt something, and then there's a darling thing that Mereth is working on, and I could do some blocks for that to help out... I love this moment, when there's so much delicious choice of what to do next. Once the project is begun I get obsessed at seeing progress and work too hard, so I really enjoy the deep breath before it all starts again.

Who am I kidding? I enjoy all of it. (Though the other night I cleaned the dishwasher filter rather than face those sashing seams right away...)

22 comments:

Mary Johnson 10:25 AM  

It looks great - I love those bits of blocks among the crumbs. The initials do jump out but who says we have to *sign* our quilts discretely on the back?

Diana 1:35 PM  

Keryn, this is so beautiful--and so much fun to look at! Using the orphan blocks that way is inspired.

Nicole & Phil 6:28 PM  

great job on this one...now all those precious scraps is a precious quilt!
Enjoy!

Bonnie K. Hunter 9:27 PM  

It's wonderful Keryn!! I love it!! And it is so fun to see that we have the same fabrics in our stashes and scraps. I love stringy crumb quilts, and yours is FAB!!

Bonnie

Anonymous,  11:08 PM  

Keryn, I think it's fabulous!

Anonymous,  11:59 PM  

That's a WONDERFUL quilt. I love each and ever block. You did a great job. Love these crazy/string/crumb quilts.

meggie 8:23 AM  

Yes, that quilt is such a lively wonderful journey! So vibrant & alive.

Fiona 5:57 PM  

Just fabulous - so much to look at and the use of the orphan blocks just adds to it.

Helen in the UK 8:28 PM  

What a fantastic quilt made with lots of scraps, including the really tiny and most would throw out! Love the initialling too. An inspiration to scrap hoarders everywhere :)

Saska 1:31 AM  

Love it! I've made one crumb quilt and didn't put sashing inbetween...it was huge and heavy! Need to do another one to get rid of even MORE scraps.

Looks good.

I REALLY like your Maverick Stars. Need to figure out how you made those....

MARCIE 8:39 AM  

This quilt is so awesome! I love addition of orphan blocks framed all goofy. I love your "deep stash" comment. It makes me think "Deep Stash Nine", a new TV quilt program for the next generation...or something.

YankeeQuilter 4:43 PM  

Love the way this one came out! I've been rearranging my growing pile of crumb (crumby?) blocks debating with myself what to do next. Congrats on a good finish!

Cher 10:20 PM  

crumb quilts are so much fun! it's great to see you threw in orphan blocks etc...and it turned out great

swooze 5:53 AM  

What an awesome quilt. When I read your post about it I had something else visioned. The actual product is so much better!

Nettie 5:20 AM  

Ah, what a wonderful quilt. Such fun to look at and the quilter's "hand", like the artist's hand, is so clear in the making of it.

Anonymous,  4:36 PM  

Your quilt is fantastic !

ForestJane 9:22 AM  

That turned out very nice!

I'm like that about quilts too... sometimes the quilt just knows what it needs, and I end up with something ungainly between twin and double size... but it's an artistically balanced ungainly! :)

Tonya Ricucci 10:05 PM  

this is truly wonderful. I love how the orphans shine out from amongst the crumbs. Congrats for daring to boldly place your initials in there - woohoo, this quilt is YOURS! Could always embroider the year in -- that was done a lot in the old days.

Quilts And Pieces 5:13 AM  

Keryn, this is truly wonderful! Of course it is my colors. I just love how it turned out!

Dianne 7:14 AM  

Just saw this quilt after Tonya linked to it, Keryn. What a stunner! Really just a fabulous quilt in every respect. And I love your initials in the gorgeous blue. Wonderful!

Magpie Sue 12:37 PM  

I'm here from Tonya's blog too.

Great quilt! I absolutely love the initials in the center! You've given me new ideas for using up some of my old orphan blocks. (I'm chipping steadily away at both old blocks and old stash/scraps.)

Judy 1:53 AM  

Tonya sent me over and I must say...very well done!!

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