A Flannel Quilt Workout

 With the beginning of a new year

and the Winter Olympics currently going on,

maybe it was time to think

about "shaping up".

Well, I wasn't necessarily thinking about

it physically, but rather,

thinking about  "targeting" some of 

those long forgotten projects.

In my sewing room 

lingering right over my shoulders

in plain view

are these adorable practical picnic baskets.

And this one has been holding 

flannel fabric for a project for over a decade.

The original idea had long ago

"stalled out".

Now was the time to "reshape" 

these already cut 8 inch squares of 

Kansas Trouble flannels into something new.

But with flannels I didn't want to be too "aggressive"

and cut 

it all up into very small pieces.

So I happened to find a free pattern

by Kim Diehl available through Henry Glass Fabrics

called Heritage Stars.

It's similar to patterns we've seen before, and

I thought I could "workout" my fabric sizes with

Kim's ideas pretty easily.

With a little imagination

interpretation,

and  "endurance"

it was becoming a "winning" solution.

You can see that I "stretched" the idea

of the stars into the borders

and "maximized" the use of the flannels.

It will be perfect for our winter weather 

and it was  the perfect project to "tackle" and

"rehabilitate" those lingering flannels.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

A Perfect Combination of Events

It's always interesting to look back at what might 

have influenced you in a certain direction

 when you're ready to start something new.

Here are 4 perfect events that influenced me.

1.  As a quilter and a X-stitcher, we have all been

saddened by the passing of Barb Adams, who was

part of Blackbird Designs along with Alma Allen. 

This lead me to revisit all of their wonderful books and patterns

I've collected over the years.  

So many wonderful ideas.

2.  I recently sorted through my wool fabrics and

decided to share pieces with friends.

I had a large piece of off white wool.  When I 

showed my friends they all said, "Kyle, put that back

in your stash.  You might need that!"

3.  Also in the past 2 months I have relocated

most of my fabric stash from one place to another.

The good part is that you familiarize yourself again

with what you have and the bad part is

you realize just what you have!

My flannel collection had not been reduced in quite awhile

and I thought maybe I should work on that.

4.  Ideas come and go like the ebbing of the tides, but one

that I always seem to come back is a log cabin design.

I had been thinking about making blocks with a larger

center square and using the center as a platform for an applique.

****

So where did all of that lead me?

The idea was sparked from a pattern found in a series of booklets

called Christmas Memories.

I pulled red and green flannels

and cut strips.  Then I subcut the strips 

into the correct lengths for the log cabin pieces.

I find if I take the time to do that,

my blocks stay square and all the same size,

especially if you use your walking foot on your machine

when you're working with flannels.

But before I sewed the blocks together, I 

fused off white wool snowflakes to the large center squares and

then whipped the edges with a DMC wool floss.

Once the blocks were sewn they lacked the luster

of new fallen snow.

It was then I decided to stitch crystal beads 

to the points of the 20 snowflakes.

I attached the 3 beads to each point as a separate unit.

Just in case a bead becomes loose, all of them won't fall off.

For quite awhile, I was in a spot waiting for inspiration

and not having anything in mind of what to work on next.

I do like where all of the different influences ended up leading me.

"Perfectly Imperfect"

57" x  69"

 I'm glad I was open to combining events and letting

my creative muse inspire my imagination.

I hope you are too.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

I've Caught the Bug

 It's not the exercise bug,

It's not the eating healthier bug,

It's not the let's get quilting bug....

It's the flu bug!

I haven't been sick for years

I mean years.

But I have it now.

Strictly

 tea and toast

or ginger ale and saltines.

And, of course, 

a warm quilt to help lessen the chills.

Home Sweet Home

64" x 74"

Scrappy Flannel

2000

This is one of my favorite flannel quilts.

It was an ideal pattern to use odd pieces of

flannel fabrics I had in my stash.

Really, anything went together.

It's a pattern designed by Connie Huddleson

of Starry Pines Pattern Co.

just down the road from where I live.

She calls it Carrie's Flannel Scrap Quilt,

if you're interested.

It's easily constructed with 

scrappy rails, 

 

half square triangles,

postage stamp squares,

 fusible applique,

buttonhole stitching,

 and a scrappy binding to end it all

It's easy to quilt it in the ditch

and then do some stippling.

It's the makings of a 

favorite quilt.

 

Now the funny thing was that

as I have laid under it for the last few days,

I noticed a thread,

 

 not a short thread,

but a very long thread 

that had been long overlooked.

For how many years?

It's like when you look in the mirror 

one morning and suddenly realize

you need the tweezers.

Like, where the heck did that come from!#!

I'll snip it later

when I can find my scissors

or if not,

I'll find it again another time.

Until Next Time-