My latest strip quilt

    My latest strip quilt

    Time for another change in direction!  Making strip quilts to donate is fun, and I’m really enjoying it.  It’s been a challenge to come up with a way to make them quickly, and I think I’ve finally figured it out.

    Here’s a picture of the strip quilt I finished yesterday.  It went together very quickly, even though I got a little arty with piecing the back.  That was fun to do, though.

    There’s no binding either.  I layered the quilt, backing, and batting and sewed them together, leaving an opening to turn the quilt along one edge.  I whipstitched the opening closed after turning it, and then pin-basted to keep the layers from shifting while it was machine quilted.

    Pieced back of strip quilt

    Pieced back of strip quilt

    The quilting is long wavy lines along the long axis of the quilt. The quilting only took about an hour. Not bad!

    This kind of strip quilt is very easy to do, and it’s fast.  By varying the width of the long pieced strips, getting a slightly different look is easy, too.

    This quilt is about 39″ by 47″.  Haven’t washed it yet, but it will probably shrink up a couple of inches.  I’ll have to remember to measure it once it comes out of the dryer.

    OK, so one challenge down.  Looks like I’ll be able to do some serious stashbusting this year, especially if I can make two or three strip quilts a month!

    So what’s next? One of my other goals for the year was to develop my own style as a quilt artist. I got off to a pretty good start with “Winter Journey,” shown here.

    "Winter Journey," my first AAQI Priority Quilt!

    "Winter Journey," my first AAQI Priority Quilt!

    This quilt definitely was a stretch for me.  I had never done anything like this before.  Maybe that’s why I haven’t done another.  It did take a lot of time and effort.

    But good stuff doesn’t come easy, does it?

    So my new goal is to spend two or three mornings a week working on art quilts.  This includes dyeing fabric and playing around with new techniques.  I have some ideas that I want to explore.

    I’ve also decided to join the Studio Art Quilt Associates.  According to their webpage, “SAQA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development and documentation.”

    I’d been tossing around the idea of joining, but kept putting it off because I didn’t think I was enough of an artist yet.  But Leni Weiner had a great post on her blog about why people should join SAQA, and she convinced me.  So I signed up earlier this evening.

    I’m also thinking of entering Fabrications 2, a show open to quilt artists in the Upper Peninsula.  It’s being run in conjunction with a SAQA show, Points Of View, which will be on display this summer down in Escanaba.  Having never had the nerve to enter a show before, this is a big step for me!  So first, I need to make some quilts to enter, and second, we’ll see if I get through the jurying process!  Whatever happens, this is bound to be a learning experience.

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      Filed under: Sewing Adventures

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