A Farmers Life in Denim and Flannel

Created for Project Quilting Season 8 Well-dressed Man challenge.

I had really limited time this week.  Seems like that's been a theme this Season.  I got an early start on my Sun Prairie Heritage Quilters challenge this year, but the challenge was Hexagons!  Lots of hand work.  Lots of hours. It had to be in by March 1 and Kim (yes, that Kim) said she would deliver it if I had it to her by 4 pm Tuesday, February 28.  I sewed madly to the end and was only a minute or two late.

When my husband, Frank, showed up to his bachelor party some 40 years ago, one of his childhood friends had blown up a picture of him as a small child.  He was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt in the picture and they said he was still wearing the same shirt. I believe he's still wearing it today.

Fortunately, since it was already Wednesday and I had places to be all day Thursday and Saturday, denim and flannel calls for simple. It happens that I had some squares of denim hanging out on my UFO shelf.  Another time saver.  I cut squares of flannel plaids to match, and went to work. Since just squares was kind of boring, I added a circle to each square and alternated the denim and flannel blocks. The circles have no particular relationship to the theme of the challenge, but I seem to have adopted a go cutter, at least temporarily, and it gave me a chance to try it out since I had a circle die.

In the interest of saving time, I decided to make the quilt rag style with seams exposed on the back of the quilt. This was fun! When I ran out of flannel squares, I decided the size was just right.

Done!  I'll probably clip all those raw edge seams so they fuzz up a bit more when I put it in the washer and dryer.

     

     

Just so you all know, yes, Frank still typically dresses in denim and flannel, but back when I went to my first quilt retreat with a bunch of friends, I came back to my space and found a candy version of my Frankie in his speedo attached to my machine.  Maybe that's a quilt for another day...

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

Scrappy Fun

Created for Project Quilting Season 8 Brighter the Better challenge.

I've been making things from shreds for a long time.  Shreds are the smallest strips of fabric, often left at the end of a piece or when squaring up a piece of fabric. Selvages and anything narrower than 1 inch is a shred.

For this project, I used squares of black fabric as foundations. I simply laid down shreds and top stitched them in place, then put all the squares on another piece of fabric and top stitched around the edges of each square.  I decided it needed a little more fun, so I cut out circles and either rotated or switched them and top stitched the whole thing onto another piece of fabric.

Finally, I layered it with batting and backing and quilted it together with a few lines of stitching, then put it in the washer and dryer to make the edges fuzz up a bit.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
17" x 30"

Dancing Fire

Created for the Project Quilting Season 8 Tune in to Texture challenge.

What a fun challenge!  So many possibilities!  I found tons of inspiration in just a few minutes without leaving my basement.

The challenge was to pick something that I could get done this week.  I decided to go with one piece of hand-dyed fabric and overlay the texture I found on the bottom of a flat that bedding plants came in.

I found some ready made 1/4" black bias tape that was left over from the days when I taught a stained glass quilt class many years ago.  I started fusing it in place and figured I'd make some wider bias for the heavier lines in the inspiration flat.  My bias tape makers were visiting my daughter-in-law, Kim, so I asked Frank to bring them home.  Before he arrived I decided that I liked the look without the wider pieces added.  About that time, I was also really starting to feel like crap, so I decided enough is enough.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
28" 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"

Kaleidoscope

Created for the Project Quilting Season 8 Eight is Great challenge.

My first idea for this challenge was to make 8 evergreen trees and and make them into a wall quilt.  It seemed like a good enough idea and would go together quick and easy and I've been obsessed with these neat little evergreens.  

I decided to sleep on it before beginning and a Kaleidoscope using the technique from Ricky Tims found its way into my brain. Seemed like an idea that was more than just good enough, so I went with it.  It's the beauty of Project Quilting.  It takes you out of your rut and inspires you to make something that wasn't on your radar.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

28" x 28"

Spring Fury

Created for the Project Quilting Season 7 A Goose in the Monkey Wrench challenge.

I struggled with this challenge.  I started something, but wasn't happy.  I found excuses to not work on it.  And suddenly inspiration struck. A while ago Kim (yes, the Kim that runs Project Quilting and is also my daughter-in-law) gave me some Spoonflower fabrics she had designed by manipulating pictures of some of my quilts. She'd challenged my to make something from them, but I had not.  I decided now was the time.

These are the 2 quilts that were photographed to make the fabric.  Interestingly, both of them have been sold.

Spring Blossoms

Pansy Fury

So I fussy cut each piece of an oversize monkey wrench block and used the scraps to make flying geese to go up the side.  It was a really quick project that is very unlike me.  I feel like I played it safe with the challenge by not transforming the ingredients.  But I do love my finished project and it is a great reminder of the 2 quilts I no longer have.

The pieces of my first start to this challenge have found a home in my orphan block drawer until the day inspiration strikes me again and they become part of something wonderful.

Made by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
24" x 28"

Is That Our Orchard?

Is That Our Orchard? was created for the Project Quilting, Seasson 7, Through the Eyes of a Child challenge.

Children's art has always been important around here. I have a kid's art wall where I display some of my favorites, so inspiration was close by.  I started with the first piece of kid's art I ever framed.  It's an original painting by my granddaughter, Cedi, when she was 5.  She asked me why I framed it and I told her because every time I looked at it it made me smile.  Cedi is 9 now and it still makes me smile.

For a layout, I went to this great work by my granddaughter, Capri, done last year in first grade.  It hung in the office at her school for a few weeks before she gifted it to me.  I decided on 3 trees and I'd use that great echo quilting Capri had used in her project.

My third granddaughter, Pip, (age 4 3/4, just ask her) is big on paper chains, so I thought I'd create a paper chain border like the one hanging around the old window that displays lots of kid's art on my wall.

And I thought it needed a sun, so I asked Pip to draw me one.  She drew this great picture. First the sun, then the person on the left.  She said, "That's you, but you're going to have hair."  So she added the straight yellow hair that I usually get.  Then she said, "But today you have curls.  It's someone you know. It's Trish."  

Then she drew herself by me and said, "Sometimes I have a big hand."  A few flowers and my picture of a sun was ready.  Definitely, this one is going on my wall.

Pip wanted to cut out the apples, so those are also her contribution.  I resisted any urge to make them more round or more uniform in size.  This is kids art, after all.

I couldn't call it finished without one last thing.  Back in 2013, Capri was making 3D birds.  I needed one on this quilt.

 I don't think mine is nearly as cute as hers, but it makes me happy.

All done but the name.  Pip saw it when it just had trees and part of the quilting.  She took one look and said, "Is that our orchard?"  Well, yes, it is.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

20" x 26"