Jumping the tracks!

 As a traditional quilter who was slightly bored,  I joined Naptime Quilter's quilt Along for a modern  version of a rail fence.  Cheryl has since given up naps and has started a Dining room Empire.  I can't seem to locate the finished quilt but it was finished and gifted to my niece.  I learned I don't like high contrast but I did enjoy the improvisational aspect of making it.

And sew began my journey to explore the fields that grow alongside the tracks.  I wouldn't stay fenced in.   I started sticking my neck through the fence so I could better see those wide, more open spaces.

I made a smaller quilt in modern fabrics a few years ago and this quilt is seldom put away.

  The lower contrast stripe is much more to my liking!  And I off set the blocks. 

How can I go back to the old rail fence????

It was in me to want to row over the wide world.  I tried quilt as you go early on in my quilt history and I made this quilt up one winter as a Christmas present for my parents.  It helped use up a lot of blue fabrics that I had accumulated.  Again, I enjoyed this process. And I definitely want to do more quilt as you go!

 Seems like I jumped the tracks.  Those two parallel lines were too confining.  I needed this quilt a bit bigger so I added the borders.

 I machine quilted it using the wavy serpentine stitch on my sewing machine.  This is another older quilt.  The peach period!  It isn't this puckery in real life.  I must have just washed it! :O

When I needed two quilts for the bunk beds I again picked this easy approach.   I just stitched in the ditch between strips.  I think I'm ready to try some fancy MQing all over rather than fall into those ditches again though.

Another quick spring table runner.  I luv this minimalist look!

I did a workshop with Marilyn Stothers, a Manitoba teacher, gosh a decade or so ago.  I enjoyed her curved strip piecing.  I made place mats and I expect these curves will show up on a larger quilt some day.

 I'm not sure whether rail fences were influenced by the row idea or if strippy quilts played a part.  Next week I'll do more stripping as I unravel the mystery of how I got where I am since I did jump those tracks!  LOL

I'm linking this to Throwback Thursday on A Quarter Inch From the Edge.  

Life on the rails

My very first pattern was the Rail Fence.  This is the only quilt I've actually liked from all that I've made and I was delighted when DD#1 no longer needed it and traded it for another!  ;^)

My first luv was, and probably still is, home decorating.  I was a busy gal and had no time for make work projects like cutting up fabric and sewing it back together again.  But then I went to a national quilt show and SAW what all that cutting, rearranging and sewing could do.  Coordinated bedding!  Somehow I missed the art aspect of it although it was there.  This would have been back in the mid eighties.

This is a lap sized quilt with diagonal cross hatching.  I am a machine quilter and I used the large border to practice feathers.  I tried to do a value lesson with rails from light to dark.  I still need lessons in value!  lol But I liked the scrappy look.  This was from my folk art period.  LOL

My friend and show tour guide showed me using scissors to cut, templates for each rail!   :O  I bought fabric, those indescribable wee calicoes in bright reds,  whites, and blues. I mixed poly cottons into the whole thing.  I had enough fabric to cover our small town and after making two twin beds, a crib, some pillows, etc, I decided a queen size for my sister was gonna be the end of that colour run!  :}

But I was hooked.

It frustrated me as one can see in the small doll quilt which is so typical of the colour and fabrics available at that time.  It is hard for those verticals and horizontals to end up playing nicely.

Not much remains of any of those early quilt projects but I was surprised to see the influence the pattern holds.  I learned some things.  Rotary cutters and strip piecing are the way to go!  LOL  But quick cutting and piecing often leads to a bigger time commitment to figure out layouts and quilting.   I learned more is better.  More rails, smaller rails, and less contrast appeals to me.

I also learned as I was searching for photos and old treasures that this first quilt block has actually influenced a lot of my quilting but that is for another Tuesday.  Who knew it would turn out to be such a treasure!

This post is linked up to A Quarter Inch From The Edge  and Throwback Thursday!