Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Red and Black

 Four years ago I wrote this SQI post because, as I mentioned, I was deep into making these red and black headbands for students at our school. The end of football season is generally a couple of weeks of miserably cold, damp wind. Ear coverings are especially nice if you're sitting on a metal bleacher.

Uniforms are khaki pants with either red or white polo shirts, so the girls are looking forward to having something that matches their uniforms but still can add a little contrasting color.  These headbands are reversible, which makes them especially useful for that purpose. 

It's interesting that this particular SQI is still especially popular and that the red/black colors are even more popular in buffalo checks and winter cabin colors.

Red and black quilts? Well, of course!

Here's wishing you a wonderful week and lots of quilting! 

Red is a Neutral becomes... finish

Another Red Feather. So named because, though there were other titles in the running, this quilt wanted red feather quilting. And more red feathers. And more red feathers. In fact, every inch of red is quilted in feathers, with a few scrolls to break up the monotony. 

Detail of the back...just enough
pattern to make the worst of
the quilting less noticeable.

This one serves in all manner of challenges: the Cotton Quilters' Guild block-of-the-month, in which different quilters presented a block or two from January through July, and as the AHIQ "Red Is a Neutral" challenge. 


With encouragement from Kaja and Ann at Ad Hoc Improv Quilts, I decided to combine the two. So here we are with, finally, a red quilt made from guild blocks.

Detail of some of the feathers in the red sections.

Like everyone else I started in January and worked to keep up, especially since I set the parameters for the BOM. This setting just seemed to want to be this. I tried other ideas: putting the center medallion on point and surrounding it in red, kicking it off center and adding red there, considering making other blocks to work it all out. It was not having one bit of my ideas. Then flying geese flew in and saved the day. 

Detail of some scrolls

When I say finished, I mean quilted, bound, labeled. Ready to go straight to the quilt show if it were due tomorrow! Which is good because I have tons of things to remember and to do between now and the show.

The quilt has an off-center medallion surrounded by 12 inch blocks. I decided to keep the quilting in the blocks simple since there's so much fancy stuff outside of them. I used an improv style and decided things as I drove the long-arm. 

That is the best way for me to be really happy at the machine. Just play, figure it out as I trip along, change my mind. I often just stop somewhere along the way and search my phone, or cards, or books for new motifs. I've even walked to the bedroom to look at the quilt on my bed. That's my kind of improv!

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	Another Red Feather
	Size:	54" X 54"
	Fabrics:	Fabric yardage from stash
	Pattern:	Guild BOM block patterns
	Backing:	Linens from mom's stash
	Batting:	100% Cotton
	Binding:	Red yardage to match background
	Quilting:	Feathers and straight lines
	Notes:	Made to meet AHIQ “red is a neutral” and Cotton Quilters’ BOM challenges

Getting back to LINK UPS!

I've been missing out on link ups for a while but 

decided to remedy that. At the same time 

Alycia of the Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl blog 

is taking over Finished Or Not Fridays 

from Myra at Busy Hands Quilts. 

Best of luck, Alycia!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Red and Black

The last few weeks I've been trekking down memory hill, reviewing the more popular Sunday Quilt Inspiration posts. This one is from December 11, 2016. Enjoy the eye candy!

Red and black quilts? Well, of course!

Red Is a Neutral ... more blocks

There are not many more blocks, but I put in a couple of afternoons to get these done. Tuesday's work: 
I made these Dutchman's Puzzle blocks. I needed only one but it's an easy block, so I thought I'd make two. As soon as I sewed the final seam on the second block, I realized that I had not arranged all four sections correctly. One was turned the wrong way. What an annoyance!

Once I started ripping the sections apart, I decided to play. Why not? I needed only one block. So now I have two different blocks that sort of match. 

Wednesday's work included these two. When Richard came into the studio for a visit, I told him, "I'm running on stupid." That tickled him quite a bit, but I was not laughing at the time. I cut the wrong size patches. So I cut them again, correctly this time, but I cut twice the amount. 

The one on the bottom is the correct block, but since I had extra pieces, why not? Play I did. I ended up with the block on the top. It looks familiar, but I haven't had time to look it up.


Yesterday I made the Card Trick block. Now that was a mess! I kept getting the pieces mixed up. I pressed seams open and laid them out in the right order, then took a picture. Good idea! I needed it. I think I could make a second one without the visual aid, but I won't.

These five are the blocks I'll have to show on Monday at the guild meeting. I think I should have five different ones but, oddly, I didn't get instructions. As it is, I didn't have the directions for the Card Trick block, so I improvised. Not well, mind you. My center patch was just a little too small, which means my block isn't quite 12". This quilt... I don't know.

So to sum up, very few blocks match in size, some are not blocks at all--just extras from the miscuts, I'm behind on the BOM and don't have directions for the missing blocks. Yes, that's how we do it in "typical Mary fashion." 

Bipolar 1: Creative {an art quilt series} finished!

I wasn't going to post anything from my phone, but this finish from early last week, before the computer kisses floor incident, was close to completion. Plus I do like posting finishes, so here we are.

As part of my bipolar disorder series, this art quilt is very out of order-- I wrote about #3 here then about #2 here. That's because I hand-quilted it, and I'm not very good at finding time for hand quilting.

 The idea behind the series is that I'd explore ways to cope with bipolar disorder, both for my own journey and also as a way of sharing information with others who suffer from the disease.

I'm not sure how I can achieve that second goal, but I figure I'd need to have the works first. I also figure that the works would have to include at least two big ideas. One big idea would have to impart the lifestyle changes that improve one's chances of recovery. The other big idea is to show how bipolar depression affects patients.

To that end I've been researching both types of bipolar depression. While I am studying the symptoms of both depression and mania, my main focus is on sharing recovery strategies.

Linking up with

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict