Week in Review 2018 - 10/26

Cohasset Sunrise

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

After a two month hiatus, when we moved out of and back into our home for a renovation to take place, I am finally back in my studio working. Whenever I am away for a long absence, I find the best way to get back in the practice of creating is to start simple.

When I stopped working I had just finished piecing the top for Cohasset Sunrise. Therefore, the logical next step was to prepare the backing, sandwich the quilt, and start the quilting.  With two months to let my mind wonder I had time to think about the backing and the part of my process that drives me crazy.

Strip pieced scraps

For years I have been storing strips of fabric, left over triangles, and other trimmings of a usable size. I have tried various ways of organizing these leftovers in hope that someday I would I find a use for them. Periodically, I simple clean house, tossing all my leftovers out, along with my good intentions. Not this time. I have decided to randomly piece all these scraps together into units and use them as part of the back of my quilt.

Crazy quilt pieced scraps

The precision cut pieces were easy to pull together. I found combining odd shapes more difficult. Crazy quilts to the rescue. I layered a piece of muslin with fusible web scraps and then topped that with overlapping leftover odd shapes. Once everything was fused, I used an embroidery stitch, slightly more elaborate than a zigzag, to secure the raw edges without building up a lot of thread.

 I am linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.