Argyle in Pink

Created for Project Quilting 14.2 – Pink Tint challenge.

As I pondered inspiration for the Pink Tint challenge, I looked for something not too taxing. My brain seems to be on winter break lately. I remembered the Argyle Answer, created for Project Quilting 9.2 - Triangulaton Challenge.  Pretty easy and I really liked it.

So much so, in fact, that I made Illuminating Argyle for Project Quilting 12.1 – Illuminating + Ultimate Gray challenge.

I decided to change it up a bit for this one by making it smaller and the white diamonds half size. What was I thinking! My brain was forced to abandon its vacation and go to work. This took twice as long as it should have and I don't think it's different enough to justify the extra time. Live and learn.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI

14" x 31"

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"

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"

Yoyos and Geese in Rhythm

Created for Project Quilting 13.5 Rhythm and Repetition challenge.

When I saw this challenge, I thought it was perfect for this busy week.  Trish has done a really great job with the challenges year. Of course, she always does, but this year she pretty much hit what I needed to meet my goal of a really great display at the end of my hall. And, as you know, it's all about me.

I had some time Monday and Tuesday, but needed to be ready to leave town early Wednesday morning. Rhythm and Repetition! Easy! I grabbed a sheet of paper and sketched some geese flying across it. Paper pieced them in rainbow on black, then looked for a great background fabric. 

OK. So I'm not into one background fabric. Or one of anything. I'm the, "Why would anyone use 5 fabrics when 50 will do?" type of girl. Or, at this point, old lady. And it's only noon on Monday. I need to make this more interesting.  After all, it's for MY wall. So, I took another piece of paper and drew some lines on it and paper pieced a background. 

OK. I'm not out of time yet. I thought some black circles would add some extra interest. I would make them from black fabric and fuse them on. Of course, my iron picked this moment to die. Wouldn't heat. Thought about giving it up, but then I realized I could make yoyos and they wouldn't require heat. Printed some circle templates and threw some black fabrics and bright buttons in a travel sewing bag. 

Today we drove from Wisconsin to Cincinnati. Cloudy most of the day. Perfect for some hand sewing. I made yoyos in graduated sizes. (You know, rhythm and repetition.) 

I attached them with bright buttons for centers. The criteria here was size and variety because enough is enough and all this structure is getting to me. I really needed something random, so I added that one little car I found in my button collection. 

Obviously, my sewing machine was not available in my car, so I had to attach everything by hand. I don't object to some hand work, but if you put these on by machine, you can hold the yoyo in place, add a few stitches, then put the button on top, hold it straight and stitch it on. By hand, the first stich doesn't hold anything straight and you have to fight with every stitch to keep the button the way you want it. Good thing I had lots of free time in the passenger seat today. By the way, it's really fun to sew these things on in your lap. I only sewed the quilt to my pant leg once, after all. I used my phone as a tray to hold the buttons and yoyos and only had to remake a couple that got lost. When I find them eventually and I'll have a head start on another project. Or the next owner of our car (which is being traded in for one that's supposed to manufactured next week) will get a bonus. Maybe they will inspire the new owner to become a quilter. You never know.

I made one row and decided I needed another on the other side. Kind of wanted to put all the bigger ones on the same end, but they didn't fit right there, so I reversed them. Great rhythm. Very happy with the end result and it's only Wednesday night. I'm here in my hotel room texting with 3 sisters, a brother, and my daughter and finishing this up. (And my oldest granddaughter just chimed in, too.) Life is good. Off for sibling time for a few days. Never enough of that.

So, after all of this, I'm looking at my piece and thinking maybe I should hang it the other way. You know, vertical instead of horizontal. For some reason I think I like that better. Sometimes quilts have a mind of their own. Hmmmm. 

I'm not home and can't check out what this does to the arrangement that is now 5 quilts big to go on the wall in my hall. I had thought this would be the last one and PQ 13.6 would be a stand alone project. When I get home, I'll check that out. Some buttons would need to be shifted, but I think I could just turn them a quarter turn, hold them in place and stitch by machine. And 13.6 would probably need to be added to the wall. We'll see. For now, I'm good.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, Wisconsin, and on the road between Poynette and Cincinnati.

I don't have a tape measure here, but I'm guessing the size is pretty close to 8.5" x 11" since that's the size of the paper I started with.

A Garden of Diamonds

 Created for Project Quilting 13.4 Mining for Diamonds challenge.

When this challenge came out, I thought, "Trish has been in my brain." I'd been seeing a diamond quilt in my head for days. Of course, the quilt in my head was bed size and this one needs to fit in the arrangement I’m making for the end of my hall and one week of time. So, maybe a diamond background with something on top to make it worthy of my wall.

I started making background diamonds while working it out I my mind. Flowers lodged in my brain and refused to leave. Not “In Silhouette”. I’ve already done that twice. 3D Flowers are one of my things. Haven’t done any in a while and they’ll look great in my hall. But they cannot go on a background of brightly colored diamonds. 

New plan. Diamond flowers. I started with strips of fabric cut with a wavy rotary cutter blade. I ran them through the ruffler attachment on my sewing machine to gather them, and sewed them in layers around diamond shaped bases. Add some beads for flower centers. Pretty fun.  

By now, I’m running out of time, so the background is one piece of fabric quilted in diagonal lines to create a diamond effect. Stems were made of assorted green fibers twisted together. I fused green fabrics together and cut them into diamond shapes for leaves. Finished the binding just as time ran out on my Friday. 

We were on the road at 8am this (Saturday) morning and I got some pictures just before we left.  Our 10 year old granddaughter, Pip, did us proud today in her biggest basketball tournament of the year and I’m so glad we were there. We should be home by about 9 pm and I’ll add in the links and pictures and get this posted. (I’m working on my iPad and need my laptop to do that tricky stuff and, of course, it picked this week to refuse to work unless plugged in.) Tomorrow it’s back to the tournament. Life is good. I’ll get to that other diamond quilt one of these days.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, Wisconsin.

14" x 33"

Peas and Carrots

Created for Project Quilting 13.3 Kitchen Influence challenge.

I'm still looking for a long, skinny quilt for the collection that will go on the wall at the end of my hallway, so my first thought was to go for that. And for some reason, circles were in my brain. Hmmmm. Maybe peas and carrots. They're circles. They're food. I think this works.

So I made some circle foundation pieces and used selvages and super skinny pieces for the peas. Because the carrots were bigger, I used strips and strings for them. (It really had nothing to do with how long it took to make the peas. NOTHING.) I could have made them each from one fabric, but my motto is, "Why would anyone use 5 fabrics when 50 will do." Adds time, but also adds interest to any project.

So, I probably shouldn't go here, but I will. See those diagonal dark lines in the background? I had this together without them, and felt it needed something more, so I looked for embellishments. I tried some different things and decided I needed this burgundy ribbon, but only in the background. Way harder than if I'd added it before the circles.  Also should have quilted it before adding the circles. Oh, well, what was I thinking?

I will admit to waking up today thinking, "You are not going to get this done!" We have had a crazy busy week. Appointments. One vehicle in the body shop and needing picked up. The brand new truck that needed a minor fix when we got it that had to be taken in. A lunch with a couple sibs. My 97 year old mother-in-law who still has her own apartment needed a visit. Lots of basketball for the granddaughters. (10 games total, we saw 7.) All those things that make life worth living. I wouldn't have missed any of them. So, I added those lines this morning and sewed the binding on. Took it to the 10 year old's basketball tournament. Not the best tournament I've sat through, but our Pip did hit 3 3 pointers today. Go, Pip! She is 10 and hit her very first one in a game last weekend. I'm very proud of her. I hand sewed the binding between games and got it all done. Life is good! Very good! 

But, looking at these pictures, I see where some of those background ribbons don't really line up. I'll probably fix that, but not today.  I might add some beads, too, but not sure yet. For now, I'm done. 

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

48" x 12"

 

Good Morning, Capri!

 

Created for Project Quilting 13.2 In Silhouette challenge.

I saw this challenge and thought I'd made the perfect quilt a couple of weeks ago. A Tree for Me  would have fit perfectly for this challenge. I walked into my kitchen and told my husband he could take the quilt down from above the sink and I'd photo it and be done. He was willing, but I knew that was cheating. The quilt was On the Road Again which I had created for the Season 7 I need a Vacation challenge. 

Time to quit whining and come up with something new. I thought maybe a tall flower on a long skinny quilt would look good in the grouping I'm planning for the wall at the end of the hallway. I scouted lots of flower pictures and clip art, but nothing felt right. Maybe I could find a picture to use. Looking through my photos I found some pretty cool pics I took as we crossed the Mackinac Bridge. Maybe. Then I came across this one. 

It features my granddaughter, Capri, and Freedom and Froto, the bottle babies Capri and her sister Pip raised. Capri is our crazy animal girl and this picture is really her.  I would name the quilt Good Morning, Capri! 

The photo needed some work. The goat on top was jumping onto her back from the tree stump, but I thought having the goat standing on her back would make a better silhouette. The goat on the ground needed to move over so he looked like he was going to give Capri a kiss. And Capri is faced toward the camera, so she had no face in silhouette. I tried drawing her one, but I have finally learned that I am an artist, but that doesn't mean I can draw. Capri was playing basketball out of state, so I sent her Dad a message and asked him to get me a straight on profile shot of her. 

Perfect! I cropped out her head, made it the right size and it was just what I wanted. A piece of hand dyed fabric became the sunrise. I thought a tree would be a nice add, because I'm into trees and there are pretty good tree silhouettes in the original picture, but anything I tried just took away from the main focus, so I stopped there.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, Wisconsin.

12" x 16"