Tuesday, October 27, 2015

To strip or not to strip!

I should never have let my first quilt book slip away. It was Mary Ellen Hopkins You Can Sit on My Quilt!  I learned sew much.

I totally got strip piecing!

I was also reading an old magazine.  I think it was American Quilter where I learned about all kinds of quilt styles. Gwen Marston wrote for them.  I really liked the old strippies!

My first was an Ivy fabric. The alternating fabric had a gathered swag look.  Great concept but the cross hatching caused me to always think of it as a mattress pad!  :[  I still have occasion to use it but it is usually under another.

I'm not sure if the zig zag layout qualifies as a strippy but I really like it.  I first tried it as a miniature.


I set these star blocks into a zig zag pattern.  I only had so many blocks and the setting could have been better if it was a bit longer but...
It is documented in this and  this post.

This was a backing for another quilt that was being given away. But I liked it so much I will be turning it into a top for myself.  This is within the last ten years.


I also like the row concept.   This large wall hanging (baby quilt) evolved from a sampler class I made up to teach an early quilt class. Gee, that was long ago. :/   My sister in law and I were invited to teach quilting to a church I am affiliated with in Ontario.   We divided the ladies into about four groups as they came from four areas.  It was a team effort so they could take away a wall hanging for their home churches.   I think we all had a marvelous week away.
 
This wall hanging is smaller but I had made it for my youngest son and it told a little story.  This one started my interest in button collecting.  ;^)   These are photos of photos so the quality is not great.   But then the quilts aren't 'that' great either but we need to do them so we can develop our creativity.

This is a another row sampler that also builds on techniques.  I plan on practicing some machine quilting on it so it is in the ufo pile.

In exploring my own style I tried a lap quilt that I came up with all on my own.  Its not that old.

 And kind of a mate for the first- another version.  But still in the strippy format.

This was a quilt challenge.  I usually find some place to display it even as the season changes.  I even did a wee bit of fabric painting on the black and white fabric we were given.  :)

 This has been kind of a stripping away of layers to discover who this quilter is and also the why of what I do now.   Kinda revealing, isn't it?

5 comments:

Createology said...

How interesting to see your progression of quilt making. I think it is amazing that you still have many of your original quilts. Making a small wall hanging to see how the style will be is a very good idea. Keep Quilting My Friend...

Vicki W said...

I loved that MEH book. It taught me a lot! I think I still have mine.

Jo Vandermey said...

It is great you have all these pictures of your work. Sometime I will have to go through my pictures to find past works. I like the colours and the style of the of the quilts that you made with the yellows and irregular patterns.
They are so cosy bright and cheery.
jo

Jo Ferguson said...

I'll never look at stripping, the same way. Whether new or old, I love your quilts.

Beth said...

Boy have you made a LOT of quilts!!