034 - Coasters

Inspiration

When I came across some small scraps of this black and white print of birds and birdhouses, I thought it would be perfect for the quilt with birds and birdhouses and lots of black and white prints.

But because it was a very small scrap, I decided to try to use it in the corners of the flying geese border of the crib quilt ... but after making the square in-a-square blocks didn't like them for the quilt.

The four blocks became coasters.

Details

The coasters measure 4 1/2-inches square and are made from quilting cottons.

The pieced square-in-a-square is paper foundation pieced. They are layered and quilted simply, along the seam lines, AKA stitch-in-the-ditch, with yesterday's quilted feather design in the turquoise triangles. They are bound, like tiny quilts, in a traditional way with solid black cotton.

They will live in a drawer in the studio, ready for the morning latté or iced water or tea that is I often have sitting next to the sewing machine or keyboard.

028 - Feathery Abstract Journal Cover

Inspiration

Begun as a stretch goal, I wanted to attempt a more complex quilt block using curves.

The Seagull block inspired a quilt design idea, using Judy Dale's technique for curves, but I knew it would become more complex and I would need to improve my skills.

Details

The design is a variation of another of the patterns in Judy Dale's book, Curves in Motion, called Practice Petals. It is offered as a challenge to those of you who wish to try long, skinny curves, or those who just wish to hone their skills. It was a challenge for me ... which means, I'll probably give myself a second chance for something similar in the future.

I added fabric to create a rectangle large enough to cover the composition books I use for my morning pages–three pages of stream of consciousness written in the morning to clear my head and capture ideas. I layered it with a lightweight batting and backing and quilted it with unmarked free-motion quilting (which was pretty stream of consciousness, too.

After quilting, I added flaps on each end (to hold the cover on the composition book and bound the edge.

The open cover measures 10 inches high by 16 inches wide.