Vanilla Beauty

Created for QQ2020 Q.5 Trish challenge.

I met Trish when I joined the Lodi Valley Quilters Guild. She and my daughter-in-law, Kim, discovered very quickly that they were meant to be quilt sisters. So, when a group of friends got together to sew in Poymette, Kim and Trish joined us. This must have been early in 2013. At that time, I was teaching every November at the Quilts by Barb Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend run by my sister, Barb Raisbeck, and our project for 2013 was the Squarey Quilt.

 Trish was working on her Vanilla Quilt that day. As she was laying it out on the floor, I thought, "Hmmmm, that's a Squarey Quilt." I know I took a picture of it, but it must have been lost when my old computer bit the dust. Trish's quilt was made with rectangles instead of squares, but definitely the same idea. So, I decided to make a vanilla quilt for this challenge. This is definitely out of my wheelhouse. I'm into lots of color and lots of fabrics. But a vanilla quilt is made of vanilla fabrics. And it needed to be a New York Beauty because that's what I'm doing right now. So, I put in as many different fabrics as I could find a place for and added one chocolate fabric because Trish did in hers. I would have put it closeer to the center, but I forgot until I was almost done. Oh, well.

This will go to my daughter-in-law, Kim, for her master bedroom even if it was made in honor of Trish.

Created by Diane Lapacek, while looking forward to getting her real life back after quarantining in rural Poynette, WI.
4 1/2" square.

Happy Birthday, Trish!!!

Spotted Beauty.

Created for PQQ2020 Q.4 Spots challenge.

Since I've now become obsessed with New York Beauty blocks, this was a no-brainer for me. I pulled out a few of my "spots" fabrics and created this little quilt. It will go to my daughter-in-law, Kim, to add to the collection of 4 1/2 " square quilts she is hanging in her bedroom.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
4 1/2" square

Poynette Beauty

Created for Project Quilting Quarantine 2020 Q.3 Vintage challenge.

So, as I completed PQQ2020 Q.2. Floral challenge, I commented that my luck would be that the next challenge would be something upcycled. No, the next challenge is Vintage. HMMMMM..... I used vintage linens as part of the last challenge. OK. I guess we'll use them again. I have plenty of hand dyed vintage linens. And some of them need to be cut up, because they are not in good enough condition to be used for their original purpose.

I went looking for a simple block pattern to make a 4 1/2" mini quilt, since my daughter-in-law, Kim, (yes, the creator ot Project Quilting Kim) has decided mini quilts is just what she's needs in her newly painted bedroom. Hey, I can complete my challenge and win some Brownie points with my DIL. Everyone always need those.

So, I thought, find a simple block. But,last week, I started making a New York Beauty quilt. I've been possessed by string quilts for more than 2 years. And last week, I had to make a New York Beauty. New obsession. When it's time, it's time. Vintage linens and tiny paper piecing. Probably not a good idea, but, hey, how do you know that before you try.

So, I made this tiny New York Beauty block. Not simple, but worth it. 

Created by Diane Lapacek while quarantining in rural Poynette, WI. 

4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Everything's Coming Up Daisies

Created for PQQ2020 - Q2 Floral challenge.

I saw this challenge and thought, "Great! I did a floral quilt for the last PQQ 2020 challenge. Didn't Trish know that?" Because, of course, it's all about me. However, I do love making quilts with 3D flowers, so time to get my thinking cap on. Something textural and different and fun. Hmmmm......

I dug around in my strange fabric collection and found hand dyed pieces of an old chenille housecoat. (You might think it was a robe, but in my childhood it was a housecoat.) I have no memory of how it came to be in my possession or even when I dyed it. Anyway, these pieces were speaking daisies to me.  I sketched some flowers and cut out the individual petals. Laid 2 layers of chenille right sides together with the paper petal on top and sewed around the edge. Trimmed off excess, cut a slit in the back and turned each one. 

Back to the strange fabric collection for a background. I found home decorating fabric samples that I brought home with me when my daughter-in-law, Kim, was painting brightly colored wooden chairs and I was covering the seats using upholstery samples.

(These 3 don't usually hang out together, but they do all live in my master bedroom and bathroom.)

I found shades of white that I really liked together. A very elegant look. Probably why they didn't end up on a chair seat. Elegant I am not. I pulled out the ones that weren't too fuzzy and sewed them together randomly. They didn't want to lay very flat, since the weights and fabric contents varied so much, but I sandwiched it and quilted vertical lines that were slightly wavy and randomly spaced. I used a walking foot and a longer than usual stitch length. This brought it under control, so I sprayed it with some water and pressed it using a press cloth. I was satisfied.

I laid out the petals and stitched each through the middle to hold them in place while keeping the dimension I was looking for. Heavy upholstery samples were used to created the flower centers, which were stitched on by hand.

Various fibers twisted together made the stems, but I was unsure what to use for leaves. I didn't have any green chenille. No upholstery samples that seemed right. Then I came across pieces of an old hand dyed doily. When I have old linens, I dye them. Some have holes that keep them from being used again, but, of course, I always think I will someday find a use for that. Today was the day.

I cut the pieces I wanted to use and went looking for some fray check to keep the knit from unraveling. Yes, I had 2 bottles, both hard as rocks. Garbage them. Substitute Elmer's school glue. Dries clear. Art quilt will never be washed. Perfect!

I dreamed about facing the edge instead of binding, but remembered all the bulk in that home dec fabric background.  No. What to use for binding? Quilting cotton doesn't cut it here. I ended up using a hand dyed vintage linen tablecloth that had a hole in one corner.

So, in conclusion, other than thread, this was a 100% upcycled project. Even the batting and backing was a double layer of cotton double knit that came into my possession when someone moved. My luck the next PQQ2020 challenge will be something upcycled. 

Created by Diane Lapacek while social distancing in rural Poynette, WI.
24" x 19"

Diane's Flower Garden

Created for Project Quilting Quarantine 2020 Q.1 Big Challenge

I saw this challenge Sunday, and had no idea what to do.  Then I got out of bed on Monday morning to see sunshine! Spring! Hope! Gardening!

My first thought was one giant 3D flower. I started going through my saved ideas, but nothing felt right. I needed a full flower garden.  I've been making 3D flowers for awhile and had some (well, actually, lots) already made because when I start making them I can't stop. And when I want them for a project, I'm never sure how many or which ones until I'm sewing them on. Now, that means I didn't make them all this week. You may think that's cheating, but I look at these as embellishments ready to be sewn on. I did find I had no zinnias and I really wanted some, so I made up a few.

So, first a background. I started digging for one piece of fabric and soon realized that wouldn't work for me. You see, my name is Diane and I'm addicted to scraps. My quilting philosophy is, "Why would anyone use 5 fabrics when 50 will do?" So I made a scrappy background fabric. 

I decided I needed a fence. Here I went with just one fabric, because this is a one week challenge and I'm not totally crazy. And I have alot of hand dyed gray that had a previous life as table runners at my daughter's wedding. Perfect!

I sandwiched it all together and quilted wood grain into the fence and leaves and flowers into the sky.

I sewed on the flowers and added stems made by twisting assorted fibers together.  Now, some leaves. I liked the idea of home decorating fabrics, but it created a bit of a dilemma because I wanted them to have some dimension, but didn't have alot more time. Part of each fabric had heavy paper on the back. This would prevent fraying if I left it in place, but I didn't want white showing on the backs. So I got out my paints and painted the backs green, cut out leaf shapes and sewed them down creating the veins at the same time. This left the edges loose, so they had the dimension I was looking for.

Now, how does this qualify for the BIG challenge. Absolutely it is the most challenging thing I have worked on all year. All of my PQ projects have been quick and easy. And it put a BIG smile on my face during this time of social distancing. That's the most important thing.  Thank you, Kim and Trish and PQQ.

Created by Diane Lapacek while social distancing in rural Poynette, WI.
24" square.

VV Squares

Created for the Project Quilting 11.6 Vibrant and Vivacious

This was the perfect challenge for a week when we all needed a little lift. Bright sunny fabrics always make me happy. 

I went back to one of my old favorites, the Squarey Quilt. Inspired by a quilt made by Kim Lapacek many years ago, I have made this in many versions and sizes over the years.

I started out thinking I'd make blocks in 2, 3, 4 and 6 inch sizes, then fit them all together. I got started and decided 6 inches was too big for the small project I had in mind. And I soon found myself not making any 2 inch blocks because they were really small. Go figure! So I ended up with 3 and 4 inch blocks. Not really a good fit with each other. I thought about making the 3 inch blocks bigger, but instead each size got it's own row. It works for me. This is a nice table runner size and will brighten up my island.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
15" x 35"

Stripes!

Created for for Project Quilting 11.5 Give it Away challenge.

I was quilt retreating with friends a couple of weeks ago, and several people there were making quilts using squares of striped fabric. They were cutting them in quarters, then sewing them back together to create more interesting patterns. Seemed pretty interesting to me and I wanted to try it.

So I went looking in my fabric collection. (No, it's not a stash, it's a collection. Gudrun Erla spoke at our guild this week and she convinced me it's a collection.) Lo and behold, I had precut squares! Don't remember where they came from and they were not cut by me. Pencil lines were drawn and then cut with scissors! Definitely not me. Anyhow, they were 6 inches square.  At retreat everyone was using 10" squares, but a square is a square, so it should still work. I layered them up and cut diagonally in both directions.

I put a couple together using 4 identical pieces so it made a full matching square when finished. This is how it was explained to me. You can see they really pop in the picture below. I liked it, but it seemed like way too much work making all those stripes match up.  And, I'm not really all that good at following directions, so I shuffled the remaining pieces and put them together randomly. Way easier and more interesting!

I am going to give this quilt to the Hearts and Hands group at Lodi Valley Quilters Guild. It's the really wonderful, active charity arm of our guild and they give away lots of quilts every year. I'm sure they'll find a great place for this one.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
45" x 36"