A Day in My Youth

 Created for Project Quilting 17.4 Of Another Era challenge.

For this challenge, I close to go way back to my childhood. I grew up on a dairy farm and was one of 13 kids. I did milk cows before school when I was a teenager and I'm sure it made me a better person, but it wasn't my favorite thing. I learned to sew in 4H and made many of my own clothes. It was where my passion for sewing began and I even won a trip to the state fair for a few days and modeled my dress in the daily style shows there. 

So, I decided to go back to those days and looked for some garment fabrics in my stash. There were a few, but, fortunately none that old. Polyester was the hot new thing then! I did find a few pieces that I thought I might use for an embellishment or something one day.  

I cut squares from them and stitched them together. And it was not fun. They slipped and stretched and I wanted to go back to cottons. I pinned every seam and I very seldom pin anything when I make quilts. When I got ready for binding, regular cotton did not go with these shiny fabrics and there was no way I was going to make a binding from any of the fabrics in the quilt. So I found some satin ribbons and braided them together and hot glued them on. Yes, I hot glued them to the quilt.....

Then, being me, I thought it needed a tree. This tree represents the apple tree that was in our back yard. I was home for hide and seek and home plate was under it when we played softball almost every night after chores. I never became much of a ball player, but I have many fond memories of those games. 

My youngest brother was 12 years younger than me and when he was about 4, my older brother decided this tree would be used to play monkey in the tree. That meant my little brother was put on a low branch and my big brother would ride up on his horse and grab him, then gallop back to the starting spot. Pretty scary for me to think about today, but nobody got hurt and it was great fun.

The tree trunk is miscellaneous fibers twisted together and stitched down. The leaves were made by sandwiching snippets of green fabrics between 2 layers of water soluble stabilizer and adding lots of stitching until they stayed together. 

Diane Lapacek, Poynette, WI

12" x 15"

Shade for My Horse

Created for Project Quilting 17.3 Year of the Horse challenge. 

The year of the horse is being celebrated in the upcoming Chinese New Year. Instructions were to "find your inspiration from the turn of the year, in the animal, in our hopes and desires for the near future". I was not inspired by the horse or the hopes and dreams of the near future.

I clicked on the link provided by Trish and discovered that red is used in almost all Chinese New Year decorations. Red is something I can be inspired by. So I went with that. Since I'm the scrappy strip quilt lady, I opted for string blocks using as many red fabrics as I could find and adding in touches of gold because all the images of the Chinese New Year included pops of gold. I sewed them together in rail fence fashion, then quilted it with gold metallic thread because it seemed appropriate.

I liked it, but thought it needed something. Not a horse because I'm not into horses. Maube a tree. I like textural trees and have added them to several quilts in the past. But did this fit the theme this time? Well, yes. I made a ltree and added it to my quilt. Next summer that tree will provide shade for my horse. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And I have a quilt that will go on my wall and make me happy.

Created by Diane Lapacek, Poynette, WI.

16" x 20"

A Tree on Plaid

 Created for PQ 17.2 Scads of Plaid challenge.

I wanted to create my own plaid for this challenge. I have made several quilts over the years using Ricky Tim's convergence technique and have always thought it had a plaid vibe.

So I dug in my hand dyed fabric for a piece with enough colors flowing across it. I forgot to take a picture of it before I started. Sorry. Anyway, I cut 4 squares from it and converged them according to Ricky's instructions. 

I liked it, but, being me, I thought a tree would make it better. So I pulled lots of fibers from my supply, wound them together and stitched them down to make a tree, then appliqued it on. I bound the quilt and called it done.

Created by Diane Lapacek, Poynette, WI.

21" x 19"

Drunken Flowers

 Created for Project Quilting 17.1 Clean Slate challenge.

Last summer I got an inkling to make a low volume quilt. Low volume has never been my thing. But I made one. And then I made another one. And another and another until suddenly there were 8. I  was thinking maybe just 1 more before going back to my usual lots of color style. Then this challenge came out. It was telling me it was time to wipe the slate clean and go on to my next thing. I had recently seen a picture with drunkard's path blocks put together to make flowers and knew it was time to play with it.

So I drafted a drunkard's path block and ended up with this quilt. I thought I was making a table runner, but now am thinking maybe I'll hang it lengthwise. And, if I'd used a softer yellow instead of gold, I'd have made another low volume quilt. Hmmmm.

I think drunkard's paths might be my next series.....

Created by Diane Lapacek, Poynette, WI.

Squirrely Kim

 

 

Created for the Project Quilting This or That bonus challenge. Full disclosure here. Kim is my daughter-in-law. When she was dating my son, they would come for dinner at our house once a week. Then the guys would clean up the kitchen and I taught Kim to quilt. I helped her learn the basics and then she inspired me to be more creative. The ideas flying through her head always amazed me. They still do. So I got her bundle. Actually, I got Trish's, too, and Kim bought them both for me for my birthday in January. I decided to make both of them in the style of me. I love super scrappy. And Squarey has been a favorite of mine ever since Kim made a Squarey quilt for her bed many years ago. So Squarey it is for the Kim bundle. 

Then, because I could and I love textural add-ons, I added a tree. I used multiple fibers and twisted them together and stitched them down to a foundation, cut it out and sewed it on.

And I thought it should have a squirrel (or three), so I cut some out from the squirrel fabric in the bundle and fused them on.

In the interest of full disclosure, here's the rest of the story. I originally hung this quilt the other say so it had a branch coming across from the right instead of a tree. I took photos and was playing with them when I decided that I liked it turned this way better. It meant removing a couple of smaller branches that would have been too low on the tree when turned this way. I also had to cut away the hanging sleeve and add a new one to a different side. And I had already fused down the squirrels. I heated them up with the iron and pulled them off. I wasn't sure how it would work, but it was fine. There was only one spot that I ironed with a paper towel over it to remove the excess stickiness. A quilt is never finished until it's finished, after all. 

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

35" x 27"

Button Blooms

 Created for Project Quilting 16.6 Button it Up challenge.

What a fun challenge! This is why I love Project Quilting. A new challenge comes out and you create something you had never imagined before. And, before you know it, your walls are filled with amazing quilts.

I was immediately excited about this challenge because I have a dishpan full of buttons that I've collected over the years. And using something that has been on a shelf for a long time always makes me happy. Of course, I started with a crazily pieced background. After all, why would anyone use one piece of fabric when 50 will do. I layered it and quilted it with wavy lines going top to bottom, then pulled out my buttons. Some were handmade, many had been recycled from things headed for the rag bag and many had come from who knows where. I chose a few to get started, then found some fibers to make stems, adding knots to them to make them a little more interesting.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.
12" x 24"

Which Way???

 Created for Project Quilting 16.5 Follow Your Arrow challenge.

For this challenge I created string blocks with arrows in assorted sizes, then put them together pointing every which way. Then I quilted it with lines that went every which to add to the confusion. Of course. it needed to be named Which Way??? And, although it's not my favorite, I like it way better than I thought I would. 

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

14" x 27"