TGIFF! - Fibonacci Is Not Random - Part One

Welcome to TGIFF! I'm so happy to say that I've finished repairing the last of my Fibonacci Is Not Random triptych. Woo hoo! Even though it's the last one I've fixed, it's actually called Part One.

Like its sisters Part Two and Part Three, this wallhanging uses block measurements from the Fibonacci sequence up to 13" -- 1", 2", 3", 5", 8" and 13".  It was made back in 2003-ish for our old dining room. It was damaged a few years later so has sat waiting in my WIP pile to be fixed.

For the quilting, I used Aurifil # 2312 and used a walking foot quilting technique that I learned from Heather Lair. I decided that I wanted circles to be prominent on this piece for a sort of crop circle effect. I really love this style of quilting.

The back gives you a better idea of the quilting.

This quilt is 12.25" by 31", just like Part Three. I lost 3/4" on the width and 1/2" on the height from the tighter quilting.

Why do I find Fibonacci numbers so interesting? This short TED Talk by Arthur Benjamin shares what's makes this sequence so cool.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thing 1 and Thing 2...and Thing 3 and Thing 4 and Thing 5...

"Think and wonder, wonder and think." ~ Dr. Seuss

Ah, the beginning of a new month/quarter -- a clean slate! What goals to set this quarter for the 2014 Finish Along? Let's go big!

Banner Day: Speaking of new beginnings, I will be finishing Banner Day for my new niece or nephew. The top is now further along than this -- the edges of the bunting flags are all pressed under, the bunting cord is made, it's all laid out, glued and ready to be stitched down.

Baby Quilt: A friend is also expecting this month! Yay for more babies...as long as I get to hold them lots and then hand them back! :) Colour scheme is grey, tomato red, and celery. This colour scheme is definitely going to be a challenge for me!

Modern Totems II: This one is sandwiched and ready to be quilted.

And my holdovers from Q2:

Fibonacci Is Not Random - Part One

The triptych was here at the beginning of Q2:

Parts Two and Three are last quarter. This quarter is Part One's turn!

Carsick:

Blue Improv: 

Patterns: Modern Totems is being tested and proofread right now so this quarter I will finish it. And then Falling for Stripes. Pinky swear!

I'm linking up to the wonderful Katy @ The Littlest Thistle who is hosting the 2014 Finish Along.

A Glass Half Full

My list of goals for Q2 were big, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? I got a little distracted by other quilty projects, but I did get about half of my Q2 Finish Along goals done!

Completed:

Scrap{Bee} 2.0 went from this:

To this:

Full details can be found here.

Re-Finish Fibonacci Is Not Random Triptych:

The triptych was here:

Two of the three pieces are done. Given how long I've been putting these off, it feels like a huge accomplishment. I'm also much happier with the quilting!

More details can be found here and here.

Not Completed: 

Carsick:

Blue Improv: 

Patterns: Modern Totems is being tested and proofread right now so it's almost done! Yay! Next up is Falling for Stripes. I'm disappointed they aren't done, but I'd rather get them right than just put them out there.

That's okay though. I'll just add them to my Q3 goals! I have a feeling my Q3 goals will be bigger than Q2! What are you thinking about finishing up next?

I'm linking up to the wonderful Katy @ The Littlest Thistle who is hosting the 2014 Finish Along.

TGIFF! - Fibonacci Is Not Random - Part 3

I had a wonderful time teaching my Modern Free Motion Quilting Sampler Workshop at The Country Quilter yesterday. Such great, hard working students! I suspect they all slept well last night. ;) The second class for May 22nd is now full so we've added a third for Thursday, June 5th. Yay!

***

Welcome to TGIFF!, where every finish deserves a celebration. After Scrap{Bee} 2.0, I needed something a little simpler and smaller to finish. Another piece of my Fibonacci Is Not Random triptych was just the ticket.

This is Part 3 of the triptych. It uses block measurements from the Fibonacci sequence up to 13" -- 1", 2", 3", 5", 8" and 13".  It was made back in 2003-ish for our old dining room. It was damaged a few years later so has sat waiting in my WIP pile to be fixed. It's done! Woo hoo!

The quilting isn't what I had pictured doing when I first made this back in 2003, but I didn't know how do to do this style of quilting then either. I do love the texture this quilting gives pieces. These triangles are my favourite section of the quilting. 

I used Aurifil # 2312, with some accent lines in gold thread.

Remember how I mentioned how much quilt shrinkage there was with Scrap{Bee} 2.0? Well, even on this small quilt that was 13" wide by 31.5" long, the tighter quilting I added reduced the quilt to 12.25" by 31".  I lost 3/4" on the width and 1/2" on the height. And this is a small piece!

The quilt underneath is Part 1in the triptych
and it is the same size as Part 3 was. 

The back:

An interesting post on Explorations in Stitch about straddling the modern/traditional quilting divide that is worth checking out! Thanks for the shout out, Jo! 

This is also one of my Q2 goals for the Finish Along with Katy @ The Littlest Thistle.

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF! - Fibonacci Is Not Random - Part Two

On Tuesday, I mentioned that fixing my Fibonacci Is Not Random triptych is a goal for this quarter. Inspired by The Da Vinci Code and a Quilters Newsletter article on the Fibonacci sequence, I designed and made this triptych for our dining room in 2005 (Parts One, Two and Three).

The centre (Part Two) uses 1" squares on a fusible grid. It was a beast to quilt on my old machine because it was thick and stiff. Originally I wanted gold thread in lines radiating outwards, but my machine was having none of it. In frustration, I used cream cotton thread on the grid and extended the lines outward in the background in gold. Lots of nests and tension problems. I think I redid it several times. Finally, I just tied off the cream threads at the back as best I could so it looked like this. Attractive, eh?

Fast forward a couple of years and it gets damaged with caulking while we were installing crown moulding. I cleaned what I could, but there was still significant residue on the binding of all three pieces and some across the front on one of them. None of the stain remover stuff I had at the time worked so I was going to have to replace the binding. Ugh! I wanted to work to work on pretty new things though so into the WIP pile it went.

Fast forward to Wednesday, when it became clear that Scrap{Bee} 2.0 wasn't going to happen for this week. I took the binding of Part Two off and decided to redo the quilting, adding a few more radiating lines. My Bernina handled the thickness like a dream!

Would you believe that I even found matching extra binding in my scrap bin? It was meant to be! I used part of it to replace the damaged section of Part Two's binding and will even have enough to replace the damaged sections of the binding on the other two pieces.

On a whim, I tried Ease Out on the caulking on the damaged piece and it worked almost perfectly! Woo hoo!

So much better! Okay, maybe it's not that noticeable, but I'm much happier with it.

You know, while I would choose different fabrics today, I still really like this piece and the value changes. I liked asymmetry even back in 2005. :)

Final size: 13" by 35" at the tip.

This is also one of my Q2 goals for the Finish Along with Katy @ The Littlest Thistle.

Now to fix Part One and Part Three...

An InLinkz Link-up

One Goal, Two Goals, Red Goals, Blue Goals

I'm having a hard time staying motivated to quilt my Scrap{Bee} 2.0 quilt. It's big and it's cumbersome. The quilting is supposed to be wonky to work with the wonky blocks, but I find it sometimes just looks bad. This quilt is apparently going to test me all the way to completion. So I'm making it my April goal for A Year of Lovely Finishes to finish this one.

I was hoping to finish it for TGIFF! this week, since I'm hosting, but it's not looking close enough, is it?

I'm also going to do my Q2 Finish-A-Long goals in this post too.

Q2 Goals for FAL 2014:

1) Scrap{Bee} 2.0: As mentioned above.

2) Carsick: I think I'll need a smaller project before I tackle this one, but I'm putting it down to finish this quarter too.

3) Blue Improv: I really enjoyed the process of making Purplelicious so now I'd like to see if I can do one with blues, starting with this block.

 Or this one.

4) Re-finish Fibonacci Is Not Random: The binding was damaged several years ago so it needs to be replaced. And if I'm going to take off the binding, then I might as well add the quilting I had always wanted to do, but couldn't at the time.

5) Finish the two patterns I have in the works. Before I start any others. :) It's hard to write good patterns when you are terrible at following them. LOL!


What are you hoping to finish next? These lovely parties have some great prizes. Just sayin' :)

The Finishing Touch

It's Finish-A-Long (FAL) roundup time again. Fun gang! Great motivation! I completed two of my Q3 goals for the 2013 Finish-A-Long with Leanne at She Can Quilt:

2) All Things Equal Wedding Quilt: 

Marriage Equality Side

Star Side

3) Falling for Stripes Remake a.k.a. Bright Stripes: 

Bright Stripes - Front

Bright Stripes - Back

Q4 Goals

For my Q4 goals, I'm going to list a lot -- more than I will probably finish, but we're going to dream big for the rest of the year so we can start fresh in 2014!

1) Scrap{Bee} Quilt: The top is done. Actually, no it isn't. I unstitched it last night. New layout to come! I know. Crazy.

2) Scrappy Trip Along: I really want to finish this one this quarter!

 3) Asterisk Table Runner: No good reason for this one hanging around on my WIP list other than I wanted to make it reversible, but couldn't think of what I wanted on the back. 

4) Red and Cream Amish Double Wedding Ring Quilt: 

5) Travellin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop:

6) Appliqué/Quilt/Paint Thingie:

7) Fibonacci's Not Random: I have to redo the binding and some of the quilting.

8) Chop Suey:

9) Nine-patch colourwash: Hmm. I don't seem to have a photo of this one. It is pink, with flowers, which pretty much explains why it's still on my WIP list. It's time to finish it and gift it to someone who appreciates pink more than I do. 

10) Red and Tan Bargello In The Round 2:

Phew. I better get to work. What are you hoping to finish this quarter?

Hope you are having a great week!