March Mini - Flower Power 3

 

Another little flower collage study - on a deep purple background - using just scraps I have in my little baskets.   

  

They are so fun to make... 

Layers of indigo, Japanese floral, solid, Liberty, and tenugui:  

Some Liberty, orange Tilda, a bit of kimono silk:

Thank you Wendy, The Constant Quilter, for gathering us month by month to show our mini quilts.   Everyone - Wendy has an exhibit going at the New England Quilt Museum.  See a glimpse of it  HERE.   I'm in awe of her quilts and they reflect the wonderful person Wendy IS. 

I am absolutely thoroughly enjoying cherry blossom season.  

Lunchtime selfie: 

I love the "volunteers" springing up out of the old trunks: 

gratefully xo

Cynthia 

  

February Mini - Flower Power 2

Time flies when I am working on a little improvisational collage.... feels like pure play.  Lots of Japanese fabrics and some sashiko.  

A little 12"x12" mini for February - 

I enjoy the challenge of using *only* little scraps from my scrap basket, some of which are too small to be useful for anything else.  The blue polka dots were from my grandma's stash. 

I pre-made hanging triangles and little labels for the year.  

A list of fellow mini-makers can be found on The Constant Quilter.  I really enjoy seeing what everyone has made.  Thanks Wendy for gathering us and inspiring us each month!  

xo gratefully, 

Cynthia

Two December finishes and looking ahead

Happy New Year fellow quilters...

December brought this finish - scrappy improv log cabin.



Oh, I loved working on this quilt.  Scrappy and for a dear friend.  We've known each other 18 years, we raised our kids together, their family took Molly our Standard Poodle when we lived in Japan and loved her as their own.  The list goes on.  But when Tona's Mom (a fellow quilter) gifted me some scraps (lots, and mostly from family clothing), I knew a quilt for Tona was in order.





It was her birthday in December so that became my deadline and I snapped this picture with daylight left, but before I could tack down the binding.



I was super happy with the casual machine quilting.... all free motion and so fun to do.  If you are NOT a perfectionist (and I'm not), machine quilting on a home machine is so fun and gratifying... and it helps get our quilts DONE!



Next came Christmas and a house full of kids including soon to be new son in law Keenan (with the long curly hair matching Noelle's long curly hair:).



Kaela was racing to finish up a T-shirt quilt for her hubby Joe.  He was a swimmer in college - lots of great t's - and his college colors worked nicely with the aqua background.

Kaela did a beautiful job and I provided a little help and lots of moral support ;).  T-shirt quilts are tough!  We backed it with minky and used high loft polyester batting, "comfortable" (comforter) style.



We even enlisted Tommy to help tie (with variegated sashiko thread)



A little slice of heaven working together on a quilt related project, around the dining room table...



Self binding, and done in time to clear off the table for an evening of games.




Looking ahead to the new year... I plan to carve out two days a week for quilting.  I'll let you know how that goes;).  Lots of the usual finishing up projects (I have at least four to finish)... and probably Barbara Brackman's new block of the month, Antebellum Album.  Barbara's blog is so fun to read and if you like history, you will love it.  She has a great sense of humor too.

And, always sashiko!  I will be teaching a beginner sashiko sampler class at Cobblestone Quilts at the end of January - can't wait!!



xo
Cynthia

more little improv log cabins

The other day I finished up my little improv log cabins.

I set them into groups of four, roughly alternating between dark (with light centers) and light (with dark centers).   I make the rule and then break the rule (of course!):

Pretty fun to play around with setting ideas:

For now it gets put away, because "life" is in the way and other projects take precedence.  One day soon I will shop for some good setting fabric.  Twist my arm!

Go visit Cécile at Patchwork Inspirations and Bea at A Needle in a Haystack to see lots of versions.  I think I'm past the deadline.  Thank you for the fun QAL ladies! 

#QAL2017logcabin on Instagram.   (I am @cynthiananto there)... I do love Instagram!

Hope everyone is having a good quilty day.  It is rainy, gloomy and just blah here in my neck of the woods.  Looking forward already to some good quilting time tomorrow afternoon.

x
Cynthia 

Little log cabin improv

Our French friends Cécile at Patchwork Inspirations and Bea at A Needle in a Haystack are having a Log Cabin QAL... with zero rules... hurray for no rules!  Just some gentle deadlines.

#QAL2017logcabin on Instagram.   (I am @cynthiananto there)...



I'm choosing to just have fun and be casual with this.  All scraps, old and new, gifted to me, or tossed into my scrap basket as I work on other quilts.




I'm trimming them to 6 inches (not 6 1/2) only because that's what works well with my rulers and I want small blocks.

It's a great way to warm up in the sewing room and not take things too seriously.... just mindlessly (mindfully?) sew along... press... trim... sew some more.... repeat... til there is enough volume to trim down the little six inch blocks...



 Lots of quilters are joining in and it's not too late - so much variety in log cabins!

x
Cynthia

Gwennie-Inspired Medallion Group - round one!

I have been wanting to:
1.  Make a medallion quilt
2.  Make a colorful improvisational quilt
3.  Just insert some easy fun into my quilting life

Then, Lori of Humble Quilts put out a request for ideas for collaboration with other bloggers... and I'm happy to say that five of us are teaming up to make "Gwennie-Inspired Medallion Quilts".  Yay!

I ordered Gwen's Liberated Medallion Quilts and I'm loving it!  Pure fun and inspiration.  (hint: Martha Washington knew how to improvise!)

In our Gwennie Inspired Medallion Group we will each have a turn determining the theme for one round of the quilt.

Here we are - and we are all making a start today:

Lori at Humble Quilts  (center - May) - BASKETS
Yours truly (second - June)
Cathy at Big Lake Quilter (third - July)
Katy at KatyQuilts (fourth - August)
Wendy at The Constant Quilter (fifth - September)


Can't wait to see how everyone interprets each theme.  May's theme is BASKETS as set by Lori.

I'm going to make this quilt "freehand" as much as possible, with contemporary fabrics.  FREE AND EASY.  I favor reproductions but sometimes these kinds of gorgeous modern fabrics call my name.  I went to one of my LQS's last week "for just a few solids" with this project in mind...  but came home with this (you know how it goes):

Checking the value/contrast with the black and white camera view.  Need more light-lights.

That wild print brings me back to my childhood!

Want to join in?  We would love to see what you come up with!

Here's what to do in May:

1.  Make a "liberated" (your definition of liberated) BASKET center for your medallion quilt.

2.  Check back in on June 6th for show and tell, and to get the second round's theme!

Have fun!
xo
Cynthia

Improv quilt finish

I finally finished tacking back the binding on this heavy warm improv quilt, just in time for the 90 degree weather, ha ha.

Ta-da!

Willing teenaged helpers... this was early this morning before school!  Thirty seconds, boys, I promise!

Twenty five years of scraps...

(A piece of Liberty.... some homespun from that year 2000 log cabin... there's the backing from Noelle's star quilt... there's some yellow tenugui..... )

(And there's a 1990 blue floral stripe.... a favorite alphabet novelty... a piece of one of David's shirts... you get the idea!)

Tied with indigo dyed sashiko thread...

Two layers of batting, and a thick flannel backing...

A utilitarian homespun quilt... maybe someday with use and many washings, and gentle care, it will be in the realm of "wabi sabi"... 

Improv quilt

As my daughter would say, "yay for me!" - I've finished tying my wacky improv quilt:

I loved making it, I'm not crazy about the outcome, but I believe I will like it more and more over time as it is being used.

Soooo many memories in these fabrics...

Tenugui from our time in Japan 2011-2013.

Fabric from my Mom's craft projects in the 90's...

And this purple with the bird was from the duvet covers I made my girls long ago...

I used dark indigo sashiko thread to tie it, a double layer of batting, and flannel backing.  It is large and heavy and WARM.

But in the meantime... we are finally - FINALLY - seeing that winter is long gone... some daffodils popping up here and there...   David picked me this bouquet today;).

Today Tommy took the SAT's,  and Noelle came home from Boston to do laundry, eat some good food, stock up on some things from Market Basket and Kohl's.  Long walk with Daisy.   A good sunny day.

Tomorrow I am heading up a dinner for a group of 50-75 teens and young adults after church - Italian themed and if everyone brings what they have offered to bring, we will have plenty of food!

Hope you my blogging buddies out there are having a good good weekend as well!

xo
Cynthia