Blue Skies

Okay, so no sewing again this week.  But I still have a thing or two to share from my rampage sewing weekend last month.

Dresden wedges before sewing. I take a photo to check placement as I go. Yes, the lighting is abysmal...

I was experimenting with improv piecing.  I'd actually started this project before Christmas but set it aside in the chaos and hadn't come back to it yet.  It started off with a delighting over Kona solid fat quarters at my local and an idea to use the dresden wedge rulers I'd picked up ages ago and hadn't touched yet.  I wanted to see if I could use different wedge shapes and lengths and still end up with something not entirely ugly.  Then I grab a bunch of blues as well and went to town.

I started with strips in various widths, sewing random strips together.  Then I cut those strips in various widths, and started making blocks.  Once I had most of the pieces in large chunks, I started fitting them all together and using leftovers to fill the gaps.  I placed them around a plain square where I thought my dresden would go. Who wants to cover up all that piecing?? Not this guy, though she occasionally rethinks her choices.*

Eventually, I had a squarish wall-hanging-sized top and I appliquéd my sun to it.  This is how it looks so far.

I am planning to free-quilt the heck out of it with all kinds of thread and embellishment so that the sun doesn't look like a bunch of solids sewn together all crazy-like. It's going to take some nerve-building to get to that point.  I'm a little nervous that what I envision in my head won't translate to the fabric. You probably won't see it for a while but I thought I'd share it anyway. Another work in progress for the pile, which I'm totally going to tackle.  And soon.  Just not today. :-)

Have a great weekend!

*I almost wish I'd done it all in batiks but I'm not about to tear it apart.  Plus, sometimes the all-batik quilts get a patina of boring over them.  Not all, but some.  I think it's a "too much of a good thing" issue.  They are lovely to sew with though, even if the odd batik causes me to wrinkle my nose with an 'ew' for colour and pattern..