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"

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"`

Easter Egg

 Created for PQ 13.6 Flying Geese challenge. 

Of course, I did flying geese for 13.5. So my challenge this week was to find something new to do that would work for the remaining space on my hallway wall. It needed to fit next to that 8.5 x 11 piece I did for the last challenge. And since I never want to make pieces that will hang side by side the same size, it needed to be smaller. Why not the same size? Because if they're not hung perfectly, it's really obvious. Precision hanging is not my superpower. Why invite frustration if you can avoid it?

I thought of geese in the round, but didn't want a square. Not the right fit for the space. Maybe an oval with geese in spiral. After sketching, I decided on 2 spirals going outward with lights and colors reversed on the second spiral. 

Not the most fun paper piecing I ever did. Some of those pieces are really small. Also, I will confess, this is not one of my favorite pieces. In retrospect, I think only 2 colors, or 4 with 2 on each spiral would have been more dramatic. No, I am not going to make another.  And, note to self, when you sketch something kind of complicated, always make a copy of it before you cut it apart to paper piece.

Many times with these challenges a name for the quilt has popped into my head early in the process. Not so this time. Not a clue. As I finished it, I thought it looked like an Easter egg. So Easter Egg it is.

I have been staging the PQ 13 quilts together on a spare bed. I forgot to account for the light switch, so my planned arrangement went out the window. Finally I ended up with this. A great memory of this season of Project Quilting. 

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

7" x 10"

Ab Intra Garden

Created for Project Quilting 12.6 Ab Intra challenge.

For some reason I forgot to look at what the challenge was this week until the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Of course, I had to look it up right away, then laid awake thinking about what I could do. I had a fairly busy week because I have been planting lots of seeds in my basement.  I have a great space down there that was built as a mother-in-law suite by the previous owners. It's now my quilting studio complete with kitchen, guest room and sunroom. 

I use the oven in the downstairs kitchen as a germination chamber. I replaced the light bulb with a curly florescent and it stays at a pretty steady 72 degrees with high humidity. Perfect for germinating. I germinate lots of things in little cups with damp napkins and it seems they all were ready for planting at once. They need to go back in the warmth of the oven until they pop through the soil before being moved to my sunroom where the temperature is in the 50s most nights. So, I have 3 flats in the oven, 3 on top of my upstairs refrigerator, and 1 on top of the water heater.

So it's no wonder my mind went to gardening. I remembered I had done some quilts using a garden path block back in 2015 when we used it as a project at the Quilts by Barb Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend where I taught. Project decided. Go back to sleep. Babysit little grandchildren on Tuesday and see my sisters for the first time in many months on Wednesday and the week is slipping away. Especially since all those flats are calling for attention and there are more seeds ready to be put into soil.

So a simple table runner using the garden path block.

I had some border fabric with apple trees a friend had given me, and, since Lapacek's Orchard is part of my family, I stack n whacked some up for the centers of my blocks. I had a fabric with stones in my stash, so that became the paths and assorted greens created the rest of the gardens.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

14" x 44"

And here are the garden path quilts I made back in 2015.

   

   

Ok, I know the pillows don't match. I didn't have a picture of this one, but wanted to include it and these are the pillows that were on my bed... with a different quilt.

Table Trails

 Created for Project Quilting 12.4 Snail's Trail challenge.

I figured a simple table runner fit my bill for this week. I started some blocks and soon realized that a snail's trail block is a pineapple block with a different coloration. Why did I never notice that before? I decided to use strips of varying widths because snails never travel an even path, just like many of us. 

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

16" x 32"

Seasons

Seasons was created for the Project Quilting Season 7 Seasons challenge.

I really enjoyed making Confetti Fall, so I decided to go with similar techniques for this challenge.  A bigger, wider tree.  More confetti for spring, summer and fall.

But what to do for winter?  I went looking in my collection of old craft supplies from my days of mad crafting and found a jar of snow-tex.  It was kind of hard, so I scooped off the top layer and threw it away, then added some water and stirred.  Perfect!!!!  Supplies can sometimes last for years without using them!

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
20" x 38".

Focus Through the Prism - the Series

My Project Quilting Focus Through the Prism Challenge series is complete.  I hung them as a group over my dining table and they make me very happy.  I'm not very happy with the pictures.  There are windows on both sides to confuse things and the quilts all look like they aren't exactly straight.  Good thing I'm a quilter and not a photographer.

Simple Charms

Time was tight this week, so I made a 3 hour project.  Part of the challenge of Project Quilting is making it fit your life, so I consider this one a success even though it's not the most exciting project I've ever made.  Maybe if I have added a fairy tree.....

I started with my stack of charm squares.  These were all cut by me a few years ago when I was teaching a class all about different options to use charm squares.  So I went through the stack and picked out the ones that fit a nice bright and happy theme.  I thought 36 was a good number.

Then I sewed them all together in a 6 x 6 layout.  No, I did not sew them like they are laid out above.  I just sewed them together randomly.  For some reason I didn't take a picture after they were sewn.  This blogging is new to me and I'm still working on taking more pictures.

I laid the finished piece on my cutting mat and cut it into 6 1/2"  strips horizontally and vertically.  I started at one edge and when the cut was going to end up almost right the seam near the middle, I cut the seam out and kept going.

I assembled the new blocks in a 3 x 5 layout to make a table runner.  I had one block left over.

 Since all this was really quick and easy, I thought I'd try making the binding out of charm squares, too.  I picked out 12 more charms and sewed them together. (It seems like one square in the middle was cut a little big, but I didn't worry about it because of how this piece would be used.) I should have pressed all these seams open.  I didn't so I re-pressed them all after they were cut.

I next cut diagonally into 2 1/2" strips.  Since I had that one block left over, I decided to cut it the same way.  I then joined all the strips end to end.  The ends were already cut on the diagonal, so they went together easily.  I didn't do any calculations to figure out how manycharms  I needed, but it came out pretty close.

Simple, fast, done.
Finished size 18" x 30"
Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI

The Heart of the Fae

I created The Heart of the Fae for the Project Quilting Season 6 Have a Heart Challenge.

I've been on a fairy tree kick ever since the PQforMe Retreat.  This is my 5th one and my last.  I promise.  At least for now.

I started with a piece of my hand dyed fabric and added a textural tree using various fibers. The heart ends of the branches were stitched free form with black and brown thread together in the same needle. 

Then I added backing and batting and quilted it all with a swirling heart design, added binding and prepared to add some beads.  

Luckily my granddaughter, Pip, was hanging out with me, so we got right to work.

We previewed the quilt when we were at this point and I thought it was done.  Pip informed me it was not.  So we added more beads.  I have to say, I think she was right.

And, of course a door for the fairies.  Why I didn't make this one heart shaped, I don't know.  But I didn't, so it's not.