Spring Dreams Sew Along - Grand Finale!

 

I am away again on another quickie vacation, and very nearly forgot to put up this post! Forgive me, please!  But hey ~~~~~

We did it! We spent the entire spring season playing 'together' as we made our Spring Dreams quilts. I have used up so much stash fabric through this effort, and for one quilt, bought some new! The pattern is one that I would consider making again and again, especially if I needed a quilt in a hurry. 

Today, we present our Spring Dreams Parade of quilts. Grab the cup of coffee or tea (or, at this late hour, perhaps something a little stronger!) and have a scroll through our individual interpretations of Spring Dreams.

Frienzie Pam made her quilt early on from fabrics she acquired after the passing of her husband's aunt. She was limited by her background fabrics, so her 3x3 mini-quilt was enlarged by adding borders. Now it fits a card table perfectly.

This whispery sweet bit of goodness is Parisian Dreams from Sharon, using a 3 Sisters line called Paris Flea Market.
 

Sharon has a dreamy-soft Blue Dreams using fabric from her stash by 3 Sisters. Sharon used a unique method for extending her fabric options when making this version. She was running low on 'light' fabrics, so she flipped a few blocks - in other words, the back or wrong side of the fabric is facing out.

 

Dee's is different in a couple ways. First, she opted for the 9-patches with 5 darks/4 lights. Another difference is the light used as sashing. This pattern is so versatile! I don't know if Dee has given her version a name, but I see ribbons of color when I glance at this, so maybe Ribbon Dreams will work for now.

My original Spring Dreams is quilted and bound! The fabrics are all from the stash, including the backing.

Next, I made Scrappy Dreams, a 3x3 quilt like Pam's above. However, I chose to forego borders. It makes a nice little quilt. It, too, is quilted and bound. 

 

LuLu Lane Dreams came about after a trip to my LQS (local quilt shop) which inspired me to check out my Coriander Quilts fabric stash. Along with a good amount of remnants, I discovered a jelly roll I'd forgotten about! 

I really went deep-stash diving for Patriotic Dreams. Most of these fabrics came from my grandmother's treasure boxes of quilt goodies. This is a tablecloth-sized quilt and will be perfect for summer picnics.
 

Sanctuary Dreams is the only one I made with newly-purchased fabrics, which I bought while at retreat in April. 

Pioneer Dreams, my latest effort, is made from an older layer cake by Pam Buda and stash yardage by Thimbleberries (dark sashing) and Johanna Wilson/Plumcreek Patchwork (neutral). I knew that using my background for the cornerstones would result in diagonal white chains across the quilt, and I am not mad about this at all. In fact, I like the look.

Thanks for playing along, everyone! It has been both a fun sew along, and a productive one. It forced me to think outside the box for a few of these, and I definitely have made a dent in my stash, which is always a good thing.

Before completely closing the book on the sew along, I must be sure to give one final shout-out to my cyber friend, Helen Philipps, whose picture so many months ago inspired us to make our quilts. You can find Helen here at her IG account, or here at her blog. I promise you will love looking at all her lovely, whimsical and pleasingly simple designs. 

So, this vacation has taken us to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the eastern Pennsylvania farmlands around Lancaster County. The car is pointed toward home now, and I should be back to more regular posting - maybe Tuesday evening, but more likely, Wednesday morning.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sew Along Update - Week 15

 

Perhaps you have forgotten that we three friends doing this sew along are retired English teachers. Dee and Sharon and I met as brand-spanking-new teachers at CHS back in 1979-80. Even though we separated professionally in the '90s when Dee and her husband left for jobs in northern Ohio, we three have managed to maintain our friendship across both years and miles.

We are all retired now (Hurrah!), but in true English-teacher fashion we still enjoy some nerdy aspects of the subject we taught. We treated you to a found poem by Dee in this post. A few weeks later, Sharon shared her "sentimental" poem with us in this post. Not to be outdone, today you get my poem - a sonnet, no less, in true iambic pentameter - mostly. 

But first, I am super-pumped to show you my Spring Dreams finish for this past week! This represents a milestone! My first sew along quilt - I've called it my original Spring Dreams - is quilted and bound! Longtime readers here know the rarity of my planning, making, quilting and finishing a project in such a short turn-around time! Quite the development! 

You are about to see three pictures of the finish. Note how different the color looks. I am stymied with what a chameleon this quilt is. No matter where I photograph it, no two pictures show the green sashing true enough to suit me. The picture above is on the front porch, late afternoon light, sheltered from direct sun.

Here she is in our family room, courtesy of DH and his long arms holding it for me. This room always seems somewhat dark.

This bedroom has windows on both sides, diffused by curtains when necessary. Oh well, if you can conjure up some amalgamation of these three pictures, then you know the color. *smile*

Rather than focus on my inability to accurately capture the colors, check out the similarity to Helen Phillips' inspiration quilt. She has been so gracious and such a cheerleader, as we have stitched from her beautiful photo.

Instagram photo from Helen Philipps

 

During our sew along, Helen has published a pattern for her table topper, available on Etsy, and perhaps she includes alternate sizes. We three sew along gals here have made quite a variety of sizes and in a variety of colorways. One is limited only by the amount of fabric being used for the sashing, mostly. All the blocks can be scrappy, as can the cornerstones, if necessary.

This coming week will find me attempting to finish one more quilt top using this design in reproduction fabrics. I have a healthy start, and plan to sew this afternoon.

Now for my sonnet. I do enjoy reading poetry, but as for writing it, let me just say that birthing three babies might have been easier. Geeesh, what effort! I reread poems I once taught; I searched the web for rhymes and synonyms; I gleaned interesting words from radio and audio books. My desk is strewn with scribbled-up drafts - such very messy business it is to pen a poem. *wink*

 Spring Dreams

Come Spring! And bless us with your charms!

Shrug off old winter's long and dreary days.

We long for azure skies, bright sun that warms;

On flowers, buds and blooms we long to gaze.

So gradual doth spring share her wak'ning breath,

As length'ning days do warm the vast expanse,

Yon meadows shimmer, draped green, en-wreathed.

Rejoice when Jacks and jonquils have fair chance!

As garden's cheerful crocuses burst forth

And thrumming bees dance pirouettes aloft,

Whilst songbirds trill and flit with lovers' mirth,

Throaty polliwogs through murm'ring night call soft.

Spring tiptoes timid through the frost and cold,

Crescendos buoyant full in pageant bold.

Until next update, dear readers, have a wonderfully productive week at the sewing machine!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Sew-Along, Anyone?

The wintry weather most of America is currently experiencing has us all cooped up indoors, bracing ourselves from the snow and frigid temperatures. I just read a report which said that 73% of the country is covered in snow, the most widespread coverage in over 15 years. Yowza!

While it is pretty to look at from the confines of a warm, cozy home, I feel for those who must go out in it daily - farmers, road crews, law enforcement, and so many others. I'm glad to be retired and staying out of the elements.

From within the confines of my warm, cozy sewing room, I have been putting quite a lot of brainwaves to work on the sew-along that Sharon, Dee and I are going to begin soon - March 1, to be precise.

This sew-along is not exclusive to the three of us. We welcome others to join us, if it suits a particular need for diversion. We are attempting the sew-along for more social reasons than for anything else - it is pure sewing circle-type activity for this little project. If the three of us were able to more easily visit together in person, the project before us would be of secondary concern. Camaraderie is the goal. That is why we've selected such an easy, simple quilt to make.

As you decide if you want to join our experimental little sew-along, you might want to know some project details.

Size of quilt - determined by one's preference. The inspiration quilt looks to be about 30-ish" square, as best I can tell. Helen Philipps' blog has several posts in which this quilt shows up as a table topper. I plan to make mine a full, bed-size quilt. Dee and Sharon will soon share what they have in mind.

Our inspiration; pic by Helen Philipps from Instagram.

Fabric needs - I have no intention of providing a yardage recipe (too much math involved in that, and I'd surely miscalculate!). I will, however, share my method. I determined the look and size I wanted, and then pulled from my stash tubs and drawers about 20 different fabrics that seemed to work together in a complimentary way for the quilt I have in mind. 

Anther fabric option: Use a jelly roll or partial jelly rolls, if you have left over from previous projects.

Cutting: The primary number to remember is 2.5 inches. That is why jelly rolls make a good option. If using the strip-piecing method (above), subunits are cut at 2.5 inches. If using individual squares to make the blocks, use 2.5-inch squares. Easy-peasy.

The two blocks above illustrate a quilt that will have a totally scrappy vibe to it. I used individually cut 2.5-inch squares and tried to be as random as possible with the fabrics and still keep within a "spring" color-way. These will be used for my sample quilt.

The 'real' quilt I am making for the sew-along will be lots less scrappy. I have a consistent white-on-white fabric for the background. A picture up above shows my strip sets. Below you can see some of the construction process for my blocks. These blocks are ready to have the third stripset added to them.

Does any of this entice you to join the fun? 

The long and the short of it: join us if you so desire. We don't have any prizes; we don't have a hard, fast deadline (although a long-range target for finishing is June 21, summer equinox). We just want to have an excuse to visit!

I am going to begin sharing some details on Instagram. I also will make an attempt at contacting Helen Philipps to share with her our enthusiasm for her little quilt. Wouldn't it be fun to get her thoughts on details she considered as she decided to make her sweet little quilt? 

I'm looking forward to doing this! It gives me something to eagerly anticipate at we survive the winter of '21.

Happy Quilting, Friends!