Monday, September 23, 2019

A Time for All Seasons - September



The calendar turned to a new month and SOME HOW it is suddenly September!  ALL the fall colors, hoodies, sweaters and fragrant fall scents are appearing everywhere!  Even the cooler temperatures are finally arriving.  


And Joan's "sunflower" block (also known as the Missouri Puzzle) which is part of the Sew Incredibly Crazy & Friends block of the month is no different...



My green scrap stash is well picked over but I thought the gingham would offer a nice country look along with the brown calico... and my black batik looks much more blue than black.  **sigh**  I should have taken a photo of my fabric pull BEFORE cutting and piecing it... (I refuse to dwell on such things for too long)

BUT because Joan emphasized in her pattern the need for SCANT 1/4" seams on the tiny 9-patch and strip-pieced blocks my seams nested beautifully!  

At one point in my quilting life I probably would have avoided such a block or been frustrated because my seams would line up.

However, it is because of my willingness stubbornness to not give up on improving my skills that I have grown as a quilter.  Just last year I improved my (raw edge) applique skills and no longer shirk from the blocks that include it.  Maybe some day down the road I will attempt needle turn applique.  However, I think a class may be the thing to get me try it.  It is the only way of improving anything that you do... continue to challenge yourself and try new things!


What sort of quilting skill do you want to improve?  

I feel quite comfortable with free-motion feathers and vines, but I still hesitate when I think of free-motion stippling.  Any tips or suggestions you have for this skill would be welcome!  Of course, I know that practice is the thing that is really best. 

Leave a comment telling me what quilting skill you would like to improve... or learn. I would love to hear from you.  Let's be each other's cheerleaders!

Quilt Happy!

Melva
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:
BOMs Away at What A Hoot Quilts
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney
Main Crush Monday at Cookin’ Up Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
A Time for All Seasons BOM at Sew Incredibly Sew

12 comments:

  1. I like to practice "quilting" on my Sunday bulletin at church...there are rules, though - no going over any letters and all the white spaces must be filled in!! It forces me to think about my pathway, vary the size of my design and it is an easy place to play with new designs. I'm always looking for more "fills". I always see custom quilting on any quilt, so coming up with an E2E design is always a challenge for me! I did a stipple on a couple of quilts when I first started quilting...in my head I was the leading ant, everyone was following me and I could not cross the line or chaos would ensue!! It worked, but I since then I have only used micro-stipple. I find it to be boring. Maybe that's why I like super custom quilting...I don't just do one thing all over the quilt.

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  2. I would like to be confident sewing blocks with curves, something I've never attempted. Well, once, but I never took it any further. You're right - practice makes better. Now to find time to get in my sewing room! :)

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  3. I would like to be able to do the quilting on my quilts. I am not confident in deciding how to quilt the top nor am I confident with free motion quilting. I do like to hand quilt but it is slow. I enjoyed renting a long-arm machine at a local shop and using pantos but the shop closed so now my tops are not getting finished.

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  4. Yep, and September is almost over. Scary how time flies! Nice sunflower block.

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  5. Haha. I think feathers are way harder than stippling. My suggestion is just draw stippling on paper for a while. Use newspaper if you still get it. Do the stipple drawing with a red sharpie or something similar so that you can see it. Make some squares or rectangles that are big and try to stipple within in them including not getting stuck in corners. Good luck and happy playing.

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  6. Your block looks great, and I love the gingham star points, and the black that isn't black. =) I periodically work on improving curved piecing.

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  7. Quilting straight lines with a ruler is the only thing I can think of at the moment. It has been the only thing on my list since purchasing my LA. I shy away from scant seams, your block looks great. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.

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  8. I'm really liking your block. Your piecing is excellent!

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  9. Lovely block! It’s always cool to push ourselves outside our comfort zone sometimes. The older I get, the more comfortable I am about doing that.

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  10. Practice is definitely key! I want to do more invisible machine appliqué. Thanks for linking to Colour & Inspiration Tuesday.

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  11. Love that you still want to improve your quilting skills! Yes, practice is what it takes. Not sure what I'd like to improve but it should probably be everything. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait LOss.

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  12. Fun block - isn't it weird, sometimes, how much the look of fabrics change when you sew them up together? Quilting skills to improve - right now, I'm focused on getting better at tiny fill work. I think it's just a matter of keeping on doing it so muscle coordination and memory finally click to the level I want. :)

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