these beautiful little splashes of color ~ pre-cut 5-inch squares are from my bernina thimble store here in great falls. the link above is to their facebook page, so perhaps you could give them a “Leslie sent me” and “like” their facebook page? {just for kicks}!
they are the perfect {january} color pick-me-up! and i kept it simple, don’tcha know when it came to stitching them up into rows of six squares each. the finished piece will be similar to a small picnic table size, also great for a patio table, especially with these fabulous colors for spring or summer.
i then stitched two borders onto the squares:
it’s time to make some decisions for that “quilt as desired” thing. what i decided to do was to get out my square ruler, and mark squares on the diagonal in each of the four blocks, using my sewline chalk pens. {love these pens} depending on the color of the fabric, i chose an easy-to-see chalk color to mark the square. i have three pens, in yellow, white and green. {and yes, i bought them at the bernina store here in great falls}.
my chalked squares are set on the diagonal. and they don’t coincide perfectly with the size of the squares. and i realized that from the beginning, but i’m okay with it. i wanted to deliberately have uneven, ‘left over space’ in between the squares to quilt. {just … to see what i could see…}
and to keep me thinking about open spaces more creatively.
what i desire to quilt, and what i actually will end of with will be a bit of a surprise. i don’t have anything pre-planned. i just want to quilt a specific design that brings visual texture and pattern to these simply pieced blocks.
i’m not sure that will be accomplished… but i do know that i have something “real” to practice on… and improve from. that is my real goal. i’m not much for always practicing on muslin, although i think that is a valuable tool as well.
next time, i’ll be showing a couple sketches/quilting ideas for putting what i hope will be an interesting pattern into these diagonal four-patch, “visual” blocks. i’m talking about the style of quilting you can see here: the sew kind of wonderful blog and quilting is my therapy blog}. and yes… they are long-armers, but i think there is so much inspiration there!
just for kicks and giggles.
{let’s hope it’s more giggles, than kicks}
and that it will {still} be a fun and colorful picnic table cover.
xo
leslie
Comments 7
Hi Leslie,
you have a wonderful blog…your works are so beautiful…but my english ist noch so good;-)
Greatings from Germany
Blumige Sonntagsgrüßle
♫•*(¯`v´¯)¸.•*✿ღ
*◦.(¯`:✿!:´¯) ✿ღ
*✿.(_.^._)*•.¸¸.•
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Klaudia
I spent a year sewing FMQ practice on muslin and now feel that I really need to slap together something simple to keep my skills up and keep learning, as you say. Your whole cloth table runners are a great idea for practice too.
Oh what fun! The colors are sew beautiful and I love the border trim. I think I am ready to fly to MT to get in a class from you! I need a tutor for sure! I want to learn so darn bad and not sure what to start with. You are amazing Leslie, and I love how you blog and share. Thank you, thank you!
I think you will find it easy once you have put those first few stitches in – they are the scary ones. Start with a favourite pattern right in the middle of the piece and let it grow from there.
Have fun – looking forward to see what you decide
Maga
I can't wait to see what you come up with. Your blog is really helping me be brave and use my FMQ skills.
so cheery! oh, those crosses below are awesome too!
Great links, Les!