Friday, January 22, 2016

Anomalous ~ A Quilt

Officially, the first completed quilt of the year!  As always, it takes a little bit of time to get back in to the swing of things.  For the past couple years the first quilt of the year has been one made of my hand dyed fabrics, this year was no exception.  Funny how a tradition in born without even knowing it!

This one may be a little different than previous years.  Usually it involved a huge stack of half square triangles.  This time my goal was to use scraps.  Strips and strips, piece after piece.  In order to keep things under control and avoid fabric chaos, I got in the habit of cutting scraps in to squares or in this case strips.  The strips varied in width and length ~ 1" to 2" wide.  They would become something one day, that I was sure of.  



So, I brainstormed.  An idea eventually started to form, and I began the long process of piecing blocks.  Many of my ideas start small and I work through them as I go.  This was going to be another one of those! 



Width of the blocks wasn't as important as the height of the blocks.  Most were 7" high, but for variety sake, I threw in some 6" blocks.  



The trick was how many blocks?  How many rows?  Do I really know what I'm doing?! Ultimately, I settled on 5 vertical and 12 horizontal rows.  To make things even crazier, each row was going to be different.  

While I tried to keep the vertical blocks semi centered, not one row is the same.  I've seen many stacked quilts where the math is the same for each row.  You just stagger each row. This is not that quilt.  You see...I love to do it the hard way! 


My basic layout was settled on, the real test would be adding the grey in between! Controlled, yet not.

Somehow I managed it.  Somehow it came together just as I had hoped it would.  Somehow the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine ... maybe not.  

Basting.  Pinning and pinning and pinning.  After which it sat for a week.  I stared at it for a solid week wondering if I should get crazy with it or keep it simple.  



I know this will be a surprise to some of you, a real shocker in fact...but it was straight line quilting to the rescue!  

For each horizontal row, I quilted random width lines.  The exception was and occasional 6" row where it was just 1/2" lines.  




I couldn't be happier, especially after once it was pulled from the drier!


While I was making this quilt, I took meticulous notes.  For me, really great notes.  Or so I think!  Once I work up an EQ7 design I'll show you just how crazy I got with it!




Anomalous
52" x 69 1/2"
Anomalous:  deviating from or inconsistent with the common order, form or rule; irregular or abnormal

I'm not sure Anomalous is the best name for my quilt.  I'm trying to be clever...Stacked works too...but it's a little boring!  


Quilting wasn't the only thing put on the back burner!  Between the bitter cold, wind, ice, snow and now rain, it has been tough getting great pictures.  I had to become creative, but use what I could.  A few inside, a few on the screen porch and the bedroom floor worked well for a couple too!  

What do you do if Mother Nature won't cooperate for your photo shoot?  I was impatient. Waiting is not my strong suit!  


LINKING:

46 comments :

  1. Hi Jayne! I looooove your new quilt! As always your quilts are gorgeus and so is this one! Colours are of course beautiful and you have created very good, interesting and fun pattern! x Teje

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    1. There is nothing like starting off the year with a hand dyed scrap quilt! I am so happy I decided to save those little scraps!

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  2. Ooh I really like that!! It's gorgeous and so happy

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  3. Beautiful quilt! You can't help but smile at all of the colors stacked on top of each other. I think the name is perfect for this one. Congrats!

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    1. I agree! Using up those fabric strips made me very happy too! I knew one day I would come up with a plan for them!

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  4. Such a great use of scraps, I love it! I really need to figure out a good use of mine but then my brain hurts and I just close the scrap bins and try to forget about them.

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  5. Oh wow, Jayne, I love this quilt!! Well worth all your effort :-) I loved hearing your process on this one as I just completed a triangle baby size quilt using the piece and design as you go method similar to what you did. Definitely more work than if we just followed a pattern, LOL

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    1. Figuring it out as you go always take a bit more time, but usually worth it in the end! I'm just happy to have come up with something different and unique!

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  6. what a great start to 2016! Love the stripes and the total randomness of the block width. Kudos 😆

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  7. the colors of this piece are just beautiful - they look really rich. And it's a fun design, too.

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    1. I'm just happy those scrap strips are used! None were that big, so being able to use them and come up with a different kind of quilt….I love that!!

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  8. Awesome quilt! I've always wanted to do one of those stacked quilts. I've also been having trouble shooting anything outside up here in Michigan!

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  9. Lovely finish! The texture out of the wash is wonderful, and I really like seeing it washed and hanging.

    I am also impatient when waiting to take photos in crummy weather. The floor typically is my solution. :) I'm not a huge perfectionist in my finish photos, although I have been trying to do better lately.

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    1. Wouldn't you know today it is snowing! What a great chance for photos, except it's too windy! Besides the usual weather, getting the right light outside is hard to do too! I have a wall where I take full on photos, but they aren't nearly as good as outside. I've been seeing so many gorgeous solutions for outside photos recently. It makes me want to up my game as well!!

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  10. Love the name although there is nothing abnormal about this quilt ; )
    Well done you!

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  11. beautiful quilt and so bright and colorful

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  12. Great use of all those scrappy strings. I love that each column is different. It is a great finish to start 2016! And thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

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    1. You know the way it goes…scraps for days! I knew I wanted a stacked quilt, but just love to make it as hard as I can when designing it!

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  13. It's gorgeous Jayne!! Love the colours and your quilting is perfect for it.

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  14. This is beautiful! I need to dig into my scraps and get cracking! They are getting out of control! This looks like a ton of fun!

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  15. So pretty -- it almost doesn't even look like a scrap quilt because it's so well put together!

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  16. I love the grey bars that let the background move through the stacks of color. This is a really fun finish and it sounds like it was fun to get together, too!! I'm amazed at all of you finishing your first quilts of the year already. I feel like my first full finish is still pretty far off ;)

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  17. This is such an awesome quilt! Love your colors, staggered rows/columns, quilting - everything just grabs my attention. I have made a few stacked coin quilts but like this much better. This idea will be one of my next scrap quilts. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  18. I like this. reminds me of towers of books.

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  19. Congratulations on soldiering through this one to a fantastic finish!! Every time I see one of your 'scrap' quilts I start reevaluating that scrap aversion I have!! LOL And it is so much fun reading about your process!!

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  20. This is gorgeous - love all the colors. And I love the straight line quilting you did. Another great inspiration.

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  21. I'll take a great anomaly any day over plain old normal and expected--and Anomalous is a terrific one! We all need more random in our lives. Love, love this quilt--fabrics, colors, design, quilting :) Huzzah!

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  22. Oops! Quick question--what color is the background and back? Perfect choice!

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  23. Love it!! the colors make me smile! happy first finish :) !

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  24. I love this quilt! So simple, but so pretty! :)

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  25. Beautiful! You did a great job. I don't like when Mother Nature interferes...can't wait for spring!!!

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  26. What a fun quilt. Love the name. Perfect first finish for a new year.

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  27. I love this quilt. It is eye candy and efficient use of scraps at the same time. Good job!!

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  28. I absolutely love this quilt!!! I like that it's not like other stacked designs, I like that it's unpredictable. And the quilting... Unpredictable too with the variety of widths between the lines.

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  29. This is a wonderful scrap quilt that speaks to my heart! The quilting of it is perfect. Enjoy it! and thanks for showing your hanger for it!

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  30. Visiting from TGIFF. Who cares if you had a plan? The result is gorgeous! I love scrappy quilts and this is a true gem. Congrats on the finish.

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  31. This is such a gorgeous quilt! I love all the solid scraps you used. They remind me of stacks of books waiting to be read - another thing that is perfect for the snowy days!

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  32. Congratulations on your first finish - and a gorgeous one at that! That picture from the dryer is wonderful. All of them are, actually. You do a lot better with indoor photography than I do!

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  33. Well I like the humour in "Stacked"...I should remember that name for a quilt, especially since I am defnitely not! Bahaha. I love this, and I like that each row is different and that you figured it out as you went. Your quilt talked to you, right? Is that the lovely Kona Ash? I have to get some...

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  34. What a feast for the eyes!!! Although it is beautiful outside - all the white snow and the blue skies today, your Anomalous quilt is most beautiful thing I have seen today. Congratualtions on a fabulous finish and YAY!!! for straight line quilting.
    http://sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com

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  35. Love this quilt!!! I've accumulated quite the scrap pile lately and this may be the perfect solution 😄

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  36. Oh, my, wonderful! I have to try this with selvages.

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