Go For the Gold

 Created for Project Quilting 16.1 Mythical Creatures

I have to say, this challenge was a challenge for me. (I guess that's what it should be, right?) Mythical Creatures? Not my wheelhouse. So, I did the smart thing and searched for mythical creatures. And I came across the leprechaun. I grew up a Donahoe and, although I was 1 of 13 children and my parents seldom left the farm, we always knew Dad would take Mom out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day every year. So a leprechaun seemed like a good inspiration for me. Leprechauns are said to bury pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. A workable inspiration  and a great memory of when my family with Mom, Dad, all my siblings and the grandkids would spend a weekend at Joy Lake camping each summer. There was a year when we had a rain shower and a wonderful rainbow. The kids ran through the campground looking for the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold. Great memory! So, I made a rainbow. And put gold at the ends.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

20" x 40"

Royal Irish Chain

 Created for Project Quilting 15.6 Irish Chain challenge.

 

For this challenge I did a pretty standard Irish Chain. Because I am incapable of finishing a project that isn't super scrappy, I made the entire project from 1 1/2" finished squares. I had thought to use blues and greens with gold for the chains. I even went so far as to pull out a collection of fabrics. I was straightening up my studio before starting to cut and came across this basket of scraps in pinks and purples already cut into 2" strips and left over from a project I finished last week. 

I decided it was a sign that I should change my color scheme and save myself some time. In the end I had almost the exact strips I needed. Good planning!

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

14" x 40" 

Wear No More

 Created for Project Quilting 15.5 Wearables challenge. 

I was on a road trip with my husband, Frank, on Sunday when I read this latest challenge. "RULE ONE: your project must be wearable, or have been made from previously worn items, or have another connection to clothes, shoes and fashion accessories." 

A very different challenge. We were to return home Tuesday evening, so I needed to have a good plan. I made lots of wearables in my past after learning to sew in 4H. I earned myself 3 days at the Wisconsin State Fair when I was in High School, so I did have some skills and made most of my own clothes for many years. 

I learned to quilt about 35 years ago and it's been my passion ever since. So, I had no desire to make something wearable. But, because I can see everything as part of a future quilt, I do have a collection of things that were once worn. 

Maybe denim for a background and some 3D flowers on top. 3D flowers seem to be a theme of mine. They've been made of many materials in the past and I knew I could come up with something.

I returned home and immediately started by cutting pieces from worn out jeans using a pinking blade on my rotary cutter. I simply layered them on a foundation square and top stitched them down. I probably made this more complicated than it needed to be, but, hey, it was fun.

I found a bag of previously made flowers in my magic dresser of future embellishments. I rejected all those that were not made from wearables and ended up with this collection.

You might say these were not started and finished this week. That is true. However, I consider them embellishments that I made instead of purchased. I decided on a wreath shape, and used hot glue to attach them. Sounds like cheating, but I am the artist and it works for me.

Here are some closeups where you can see the variety. There are t-shirts that had been hand dyed. Mesh bags that Matilda Jane clothes came in. (The bags were never worn, but the clothes certainly was and still is.) Those big beads that came from the ponytail holders my daughter used to wear in high school. Various other clothes that may have been worn by members of my family or hoarded by me after someone abandoned them at a garage sale because I thought the fabric was interesting. Buttons. An old chenille robe that I dyed. 

I wanted to add some leaves, so went looking for materials. I found a couple of things in a stack of cut off pieces from t-shirt quilts I had made. These are cotton and make great rags. I was thankful to find something green. A bridesmaid's dress and lining and the white net underskirt. And one of those Matilda Jane mesh bags. I layered them in different combinations to give me a little variation in color and stitched leaves. Then cut thin strips to form some twining vines.

Okay, one more thing. This is pretty heavy. Layers of denim and lots of flowers. So, I decided to forgo quilting. Instead I took a piece of cardboard and topstitched the front and back together around it. And I did stitch through all of it including the cardboard in a few places near the flowers to, hopefully, keep it from sagging in the future. Then I hung it on the wall by using straight pins through it all in each corner.

Once again, something it would never have occurred to me to make without this great challenge.

Made by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI

24" x 24"

Disappearing Hourglass

 Created for Project Quilting 15.4 Hourglass challenge.

Sometimes I see these challenges and need to let them incubate a bit before and an idea forms in my brain. This one I just greeted with a smile. I have been contemplating disappearing blocks for a project in my near future. For the Project Quilting 14.3 I made a 54 40 or fight block disappear. Fun! I was looking at pinwheel or hourglass blocks as future as possibilities. So, thank you, Trish, for making the challenge match the idea in my head. 

I started by string piecing half square triangles, then assembling them into hour glass blocks. Why string piecing? Because my basic philosophy is “Why would you use 5 fabrics when 50 will do?” Please note, tis is the hourglass in my project. It's harder to see it later because I made it disappear.

My unfinished blocks measured 9 1/2”. I lined up the 1 1/2” line on my ruler with the center seam and cut, then cut again 3” from the first cut. This left 1/4” inch waste at the edge and I discarded it. I rotated the block and made the same cuts on all 4 sides.

Next up, I needed to decide how to “disappear” the blocks. I tried 2 different layouts. The first was by rotating the middle piece on each side so the pointing out parts pointed in. 

For the second choice I rotated the corners and the center. I think both are interesting, but I went with option 2.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

15” x 30”

New Life on the Outside

 Created for Project Quilting 15.3 Inside Out challenge.

When I saw this challenge my first thought was a simple rag quilt. After all, I had a stack of flannel squares already cut and I'm trying to use up all that random stuff.  And it fit the challenge. I even started it, but after a couple of hours I was bored. I reminded myself that Project Quilting was created to inspire all of us to do something special we wouldn't have done. So I dumped the rag quilt and decided to honor the challenge.

I have lots of things INSIDE baskets and boxes and drawers that I thought I might take OUT someday to be part of a quilt that would make me happy. Things that were too cool to just throw out, because, hey, I've made some pretty special quilts in the past using things any normal person would have thrown away long ago.

I decided to start with this one. It's an old picnic basket with selvages and shreds, which are strips of  fabric too skinny to be sewn in with a seam. Basically, anything less than 1 inch wide. I thought I could make a background. I cut squares to use as foundations, then took selvages and shreds that were "white" from INSIDE the basket and brought them OUT to live forever in my quilt. I made a decision to not iron or clip the loose threads from anything that came out of the basket. After all, I was looking for a very casual, raggedy look.  I laid them on one at a time and used one line of stitching down the middle of each, then sewed the squares together rail fence style.

I chose more pieces form the same basket, but decided I needed a little more pizzazz, so I went to my dresser full of treasures.

 

Yes, It's a dresser. But only the top 2 drawers are full of cool things. Fibers and ribbons and miscellaneous trims. Anything I thought was interesting enough to possibly use in the future.

That shiny red thing on the right is the foil bag from the Smithfield ham we ate last week. Don't judge. It might be something really cool in a future PQ quilt. I took miscellaneous stuff from INSIDE here and brought them OUT along with more selvages and shreds and created the vine running down my quilt, then wound pieces around my fingers and stitched them down to create the flowers. It's starting to make me happy! Now for some leaves.

  

I chose a collection of greens from INSIDE both the basket and the dresser and brought them OUT, then cut them into shorter pieces and sprinkled them on a piece of a damaged vintage tablecloth that I had previously dyed green. I laid a piece of solvy (water soluble stabilizer) on the top and used lots of free motion stitching to hold the pieces in place, wet it down to dissolve to solvy, and cut out leaves.

After stitching the leaves to the quilt, I figured I was getting close. Maybe some viny things. Pieces of fibers and ribbons curved around and scouched down. Almost there. 

I found another box with lots of flowers and yoyos and whatever that I had previously made. I usually have an idea and just start making parts. I preview them on the quilt and decide what stays and what does not. Often pieces are left over. 

I found a few little flowers INSIDE this box that wanted to come OUT and be added as the final touches on my quilt. Kind of like little flower buds .For some reason this closeup is upside down and for some reason I can't turn it right side up and it's my bedtime. :)

So, in the end, I have a quilt that makes me happy. I used some of the things that have been languishing INSIDE my sewing studio and brought them OUT where they can be enjoyed. 

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI

16" x 32"

Sky Colors

 Created for Project Quilting 15.2 Sky Color challenge.

I started with a quick pull of fabrics I thought fit the Sky Color theme.

I simply cut a 5 inch square from each, then stacked them in 3 separate piles. One pile was cut at 1.5 inches, one at 2 inches and the last at 2.5 inches. I worked with one pile at a time putting the top piece from one stack on the bottom and sewing them all back together. 

After all were done, I mixed them all together and made them into 3 new piles. Each pile was cut  perpendicular to the first cut, again using 1.5, 2 and 2.5 cuts. then sewed them back together working on one pile at a time and moving one piece from the top of one stack to the bottom.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, Wi.

11" x 33"

For the Love of Birds

 Created for Project Quilting 15.1 Bird House challenge.

For this challenge, I decided to create some little birdhouses hanging from a branch. I started by making a background, then layered and quilted it.

I sketched a branch on a piece of brown fabric, then added texture by taking assorted fibers and twisting them together and stitching them down. I cut out the branch and stitched it to the background.

I added small birdhouses cut from orphan scraps to give them a quilted look. All the birdhouse holes are hearts because I heard birds really like hearts.

Created by Diane Lapacek, rural Poynette Wisconsin, where the wind is blowing and drifting my LONG driveway in...again.

20" x 30"`