all of the quilts

Having just finished a quilt, and TAing a quilt class: now I have the fever now and want to make all the quilts.  While iIve probably got enough fabric in my apartment to go ahead and do that, I love starting things and buying supplies so really this is about new project mania more than anything else.

I've got all these new quilts in my head right now, on top of some long term projects and half-finished things.  The purpose of this post is to dump them out so I can stop obsessing about them and calm down (and close some of these browser tabs)

First of all, two quilts that have been simmering in the background for a while and will continue to do so.

1) a coin quilt using pieces of all the extra special scraps + pieces of the fabrics I love too much to actually use (in hopes that having a piece in a quilt that I can have FOREVER frees me to use some of the rest of the fabric).  Probably something like this, perhaps with a pale grey/mushroom linen or a quiet ticking stripe as the "background" fabric.  (The pictured quilt is the one that inspired this plan, so this has been in my brain since 2005.)

2) a quilt using scraps of 60s/70s bedsheets.  I'm not sure what pattern i'll use - maybe flying geese since this quilt is super pretty.



The next three quilts in my head are things I started-then-abandoned a while ago, and I feel like I need to finish at least one of them before starting any of the exciting new ones.

3) a pink/orange patchwork duvet cover iI was supposed to make as a gift for my best friend several years ago.  This might just be patchwork and not a quilt, or he might not even want it anymore (I asked him this morning - awaiting reply) but the bulk of it is done and I feel pretty guilty about never finishing it.  It's just patchwork squares alternating in orange and pink.  I had to dye a lot of the fabrics myself because I couldn't find enough oranges I liked (this was something like 10+ years ago and there weren't as many options then).

4) my first quilt ever (which was a terrible choice for first): the quilt on the (hardcover version) of Kaffe Fassett's book, Glorious Patchwork.



I guess I thought it would be a good first project because it's technically not a quilt but just patchwork (there's no backing or batting - it's more like a curtain, and when the sun comes though it looks like stained glass).  It was all paper pieced and complicated and took me years. All the patchwork is done, but I had an issue with tension on my machine so when I went to rip the paper out, the stitches also ripped out.  It will take me a lot of repair to get this to a usable state, unless I make it a wallhanging and just leave the paper on it - but I don't like the color scheme anymore so I'm not jazzed to finish it.

5) a triangle quilt from the same Kaffe Fassett book (on the softcover version's cover).

I probably have enough blocks to finish this one too (and without seam-ripping issues) but I just don't like the colors anymore.  I believe my solution here is to eliminate some of the blocks (probably the ones with brown in them) and introduce another color I like better to replace them.  To avoid wasting my rejected blocks, I should be able to make them into a baby quilt to donate to project linus or a similar charity.  Or I might just finish it as-is and donate the whole thing.  I think this is my most likely candidate for the project that I finish before starting a new one.

Finally, the the shiny new ones:

6) a chevron quilt in pink, aqua, lime/chartruese green, orange, and grey.  The colors are similar to the quilt I just finished, but those are the colors I like!  Also those are the colors I have a lot of, so except for the grey, I shouldn't have to buy very much fabric to finish it.  I'd like the colors more saturated than my finished quilt, and I'm considering adding some bright acid yellow and some black-and-white fabrics to give it more punch.  I'm also very interested in doing some printing and dyeing for it.

I'm probably using something like this pattern (funny enough, it's a similar palette to what I want):

(Also I definitely want the cameras from this fabric collection for it.)

7) a postage stamp quilt in 30s repros.  This is the fault of my Blythe friend SewPixie, who has been doing that "scrappy tripalong" thing and posting it on Instagram.

I wanted to know what it was, so I looked up the pattern and liked the enforced randomness (after putting too much effort getting my finished quilt to look random) but I know that I'd need a palette conducive to putting whatever color next to whatever color to keep me from thinking too much about it.  Luckily I have a lot of 30s repros and those look good all mixed up with each other.  I think I will do a postage stamp quilt though instead of the "trip around the world" because I found a tutorial that keeps the strip piecing ease but without undoing seams which would drive me insane.

I just have to figure out if I want colors butted up next to each other like above, or if I want to put in solids for breathing room.  (For some reason i have a resistance to mixing solids and prints even though so many quilts I like have that.  I'm curious if alternating the pastels with 30s prints in black would look cool instead - still have to work that part out.)

8) I have a fair number of navy blue prints and after seeing this fabric line on Etsy I kinda want a nautical quilt in something like navy blue/sky blue/pink/lemon yellow.  This totally came out of fabric browsing and is very nebulous, but I can't seem to shake it, so I'm including it.

Okay, I think that frees me up a bit to think of other things.  I have a couple other non-quilt sewing projects I also need to do before I can really delve into any of this (mainly Lolita stuff - a dress for a very patient friend, and upcoming fashion shows) but being in that quilt class every Monday keeps me thinking about this stuff :p