ONE!

Created for PQ 14.1 The First One

So many ways to make this theme work. 

    Number one quilt finish of the year.

    Number one challenge quilt of the year.

    Number one PQ quilt of the year.

Easy peasy. Whatever I can make anything work! I was doing some minor winter cleaning in my fabric room. Yes, it's a room. I have been on the stash reduction project for many years. That means I only buy fabric if needed for a CURRENT project. I make several big quilts every year and I still have a fabric room......!!!!!?????

Anyway, I found a stack of pretty cool hand dyed fabrics that I thought I should find a use for. It occurred to me this was the perfect thing for a One challenge. I would use One amazing piece of hand dyed fabric and converge it using the Ricky Tims technique. So I started with this one. 

I decided to use half because it was already Thursday afternoon and I had more things to do in the next couple days.  After all, grandkids are always more important than anything, even quilting.Also, this size will make a great table runner.😀 So I picked half, cut it down the middle, flipped one half because I could and converged it using Ricky Tims technique. I could have converged it in the other direction, too, but this is the challenge of one, after all. I added simple quilting in diagonal lines and bound it using the same fabric. 

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

17" x 34"

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"

Carolina Lily Table Runner

Created for the Project Quilting Season 8 Carolina Lily challenge.

I had no clue what to do with this challenge. It was super icy here, so Frank and I spent Monday and Tuesday in the commercial kitchen at the orchard making Caramel Apple Jam and Honeycrisp applesauce. All of a sudden it was Wednesday and I knew I needed to start something, so I decided to do a quick and simple table runner. I started with a striped fabric for a background, layered and quilted it, then cut triangles to make the Carolina Roses.

I simply laid the triangles down and stitched around them, then added skinny strips of green for stems and added a little butterfly.

Then I threw it in the washer and dryer to help the edges fray a little. Done in one afternoon. Perfect.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

16" x  34"