Wednesday, June 15, 2011

progression

Last Saturday I was playing with my "uglies". (See this post for reference.) I sewed together a bunch of half square triangles that will finish at a measly 2". I knew better than to throw them in a WIP box. If I did, chances are I would never want to touch them again. So, up on the design wall they went.
Then, I thought, "hmmm, my reclaimed stars would look good with these". I added them in. I like it!
Just for kicks, I added some Kona 9 patches I had laying around for the outside border. Now I LOVE it!

So, 3 WIP's are now ONE! See, it's not about working harder, it's about working smarter. :) 

I love that this quilt is progressing nicely and all quite by accident, it seems. I love the traditional feel of it. The goal is to make it into a full size quilt for my brother in law.
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On a side note, this is my 777th post! It seems like a great time to say thank you for stopping by, reading and encouraging me through your comments. It really does mean so much. THANK YOU! xoxo

90 comments:

Country Girl in the City said...

I love it! It's going to look great!

Crunchy Diva said...

wow that looks great. i love the addition of the stars.

Cyndi Frailing Nelson said...

Great way to get rid of "uglies" isn't it? Very nice...

Live a Colorful Life said...

This looks super cool!

Tina H. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sophie said...

Design ideas or works in progress often collide and combine in my quilts . . . I'm glad to know I'm not the only one ;-)

Kari Nitzel said...

It's fun to see something 'ugly' come together so nicely, doesn't it?
Congrats on your 777th post, looking forward to the next 777.

pcflamingo said...

I think I read it on Bonnie Hunter's blog that if a fabric still looks ugly, you just haven't cut it small enough yet! Love all your half square triangles and the 9 patches and stars all together.

Barb in Mi said...

Congrats on 777 - and thanks back to you! I believe you were the first modern quilt blog I visited ( and yes, I was late in the game). Love the uglies and 3 into 1 approach - geat idea!

Kleep said...

I love the look of that, so much delightfulness in angles and colour and shape!

susiloci said...

Bonita forma de ir construyendo un quilt.

Michele said...

Congratulations on 777 posts! Your quilt is going to look great.....way to knock out those UFOs!

Denise said...

You certainly don't need to thank me for stopping by. I get so excited when I see a new post from you, and I thank you mightily for all the great inspiration you provide. I'm glad blogging is still working for you.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

Ha! Great work. That's what we do. Improvise. Plus, I hate to waste anything. I have some of the same type of design recycling up on my design wall.

Cheryl Arkison said...

ooh, fun!

Leila said...

Oh my word! They are perfect together!

Oh, I had an idea about how to use reclaimed fabric. To keep one of my girls busy during the summer, I started her making a braided rug out of 2 inch strips of fabric. Boy do you go through scraps in a hurry. I am cutting up tons of uglies - yea!

Terriaw said...

How cool to put so many UFOs together! I loved this at the HST stage. Then I loved it even more with those stars added. The Kona 9-patch border is icing on that cake. What a fun project to be working on!

Bridget said...

Way to go! You improvised and amazing things are happening!

Linda said...

Wow! That's gonna be dynamite!
(as a side note, my word verification is "vater" too bad it wasn't a d instead of a t, LOL)
Have a great night!

Alli said...

I'm so impressed that you combined wips and found a use for your less-loved fabrics. And congratulations on your 777th post!

grandmarockton said...

NO, THANK YOU for making us SEE the Forest not just the TREES!

tink's mom said...

wow, how wonderful this is. great vision. Selina

Debbie said...

That's amazing! Love when things work out like that!

Kathleen said...

Will keep coming back to your blog because it is such an inspiration - you always have something to show us and keep us all trying new things. Long may your muse last!
Thanks for all the posts. here's to another 777 :-)

Esch House Quilts said...

777? Wow!! That's a lot of posts :) Congratulations and thanks for keeping us all inspired.

nettie said...

oh, it is great. I too love the traditional-ness of it. It's kinda refreshing and "different".

777 posts, that's a lot!

Cathy said...

Love what you are doing. It is going to be a striking quilt. Hugs

Mama Urchin said...

I really like it now too and it looks very brother-in-law-ish. Do you need me to send you some more uglies?

Mrsblocko said...

I am loving this quilt. I would have never thought to pair all that stuff together. I guess it pays to multitask and work on more than one project at a time! I'm going to remember this when my husband starts teasing me for starting up another project when I've got 50 others in progress!

Happy triple seven!

Lisa S. said...

Love, love, love!!

Pat V. said...

Oh, I LOVE this progression! It gives me some great ideas for my scraps...thanks!

Clair said...

777th post? Wow. Isn't it nice when some of your things go together so well. I want to make a traditional looking quilt sometime soon, too.

Amy said...

Oh, I LOVE it! Can't wait to see more pics...

Kristen said...

3 WIPs into one! I AM jealous. It looks great together too!

Chancy said...

Wow, this is looking SO great. You've got great creative vision.

Tif / Halu-Halo said...

love it!!! great way to use them all!

The Vegetarian Hunter said...

Yes, I love where you are going with this. the combo of these different techniques are making for one really cool quilt.

Anonymous said...

I love what you did with those blocks. Looks great!

Amy
abf3615@aol.com

Margaret said...

outside the box thinking...love it. thankyou Amandajean.

Busy Quilting Mama said...

They look absolutely fabulous! Thanks for the inspiration.

katquilter said...

Brilliant!

Tara said...

I love the half square triangles! This is gonna look beautiful. Work smarter not harder is one of my mantras for cooking. Must apply it to quilting too! I'm pretty sure I haven't even blogged 77 times yet. You are a true powerhouse! Love you! And just because it's actually on it's way, a box of fun is headed your direction!!!! Looking forward to chatting in the next day or two!

tracy_a said...

It's looking great! Very smart.

Amanda said...

you have rescued the uglies!! i love the three different patterns together =)

Wendy said...

Thank you for continuing to blog! You are such an inspiration. I love how this quilt is turning out.

Wendy

Lucia said...

I like that.... SMARTER not harder. I'll keep that in mind!

Anonymous said...

No thank you for your wonderful blog, your great tutorials, hints and tips and for sharing your knowledge freely on how to quilt. May you continue to keep on blogging.

AnnieO said...

Those dark 9 patches really add a lot! What a fun experiment :) Congrats on 777 posts, that's wonderful. So glad you came back to blogland :)

Jan Marie said...

good job, keep being smarter and sharing with us.

Sara said...

That is going to be an AWESOME quilt...I think it will be so cool!

Can't wait to see it finished. You really inspire me...

Annessa said...

That is amazing! You have a real talent for putting things together. I will never throw another orphan block away again!

Betty said...

congratulations!
I usually stop by and read and I don't often comment.
Thank you for all the wonderful tutorials and the inspiration.
To me you're a turbo quilter!

Contented Caroline said...

congrats on your 777th post - hope you get that many comments or more!! You are so inspirational I'm sure I don't only speak for myself when I say that it is our pleasure to gaze upon the many delights you bring to the quilting community. Thank you.

Eileen said...

Love ugly quilts they end up soo beautiful ! Congrats on your 777 post.

Thimbleanna said...

Wow -- very cool CrazyMom. It's amazing how they all look so great together -- I would have never thought to put the Kona with the other fabrics, but it looks wonderful!

Jessica said...

thank you for blogging~
I really love the new quilt.

Jessica Christensen said...

I guess I need to see if there's any way for me to work smarter on some of my projects. I like the stars added in with the HSTs for sure. Looking forward to the finished product.

Samantha said...

I am a recent follower of your blog and not 2 minutes before I read this post I threw away about 200 triangles...needless to say they had been sitting on my counter for a good month waiting for me to decide on what to do. This morning I walked by them and picked them up and chucked them in the can. Then stepped over to the computer and went thru a few favorite blogs and there was yours...they are out of the can and back on my counter...I guess they will go into my someday pile (or maybe you might want them...) Thanks for your great inspiration!

Anonymous said...

So you're making a quilt for your brother-in-law with your uglies-- tee-hee :) Do you like this brother-in-law?

Nicole

Valerie said...

Wooo 777, that's got to be a good omen :)

Quilt Monkey said...

I love the idea of combining UFO's! I'm having kind of a "duh" moment trying to figure out why I hadn't thought of that before! :) I'm an incurable lurker, but I visit your blog every day. You are very inspiring to me and you really jump start my creative juices. You even got me to make a nine-patch a day, and now I have a beautiful quilt to show for it. Congrats on your 777th post!!!

robin chapa said...

Oh my gosh! I'm in love with your project! That is a beautiful, creative, artful and happy accident! It's going to be AMAZING! congrats on some good thinking and creating there.
~robin
welchrobin@Hotmail.com

Bonnie said...

Love the quilt and your blog. I have learned so much from you.

Andrea, the little collector said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE those HSTs. Oh my!

Happy blogging to you! And to us readers too. :)

Anonymous said...

Your new project looks great. That's a great idea of combining the 3 WIP's - one that I'm going to remember in the future. Thanks for sharing.
cindy

Dolly said...

Ooh, I really like where this is going too !
These are my new favorite kind of quilts .

I entered 4 quilts in a local quilt show today, and as I was filling out the informations sheets for them, I realized that two of the four quilts were combined UFO's, just like this. I would never have finished the projects on their own, I don't think, but combined, they re-peaked my interest enough to finish.

You go, girl !

Anita said...

Happy 777th post! Gotta like anything that is No.777! :P

Katharine said...

Congrats on the 777th post. And don't thank us - thank you for such a wonderful blog. Yours was one of the first blogs I read when I took up quilting and I still check you every day for a new post. I love your quilts!

Anonymous said...

wow! i love how tiny the half-squares are! the colors are great! gives me some good ideas.=)

Maja said...

I think it really looks good!
I´m glad if 7 people comments on my blog and now I can se that you already have 68 today!
Happy for you and I like your works!

2ne said...

Så flott prosjekt du driver med. Mange småbiter og mye jobb. Lykke til videre med prosjektet. Gleder meg til å følge med videre.

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

WOW! Awesome!

Rene' said...

Great 777th post!!! You are a SMART worker....love the combination and layout of the different blocks!

Deborah said...

Not ugly anymore! I love how you pulled it all together. Great job!
Deborah

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the 777th post! And your "new" WIP in very cute!

Katrina said...

Oh my! I love the progression of this quilt. This mix of fabric went from "uglies" to "beauties" in the blink of an eye.

Congrats on 777! :) You are the first quilt blogger I ever found and you inspire me every single day! Thanks Amanda Jean!

Shanna said...

really does look great!! I always love reading your blog!

Margaret said...

And when I read this, there were 77 comments! Love your blog.

Erica said...

I love the progression of this quilt. So much delightful in angles and colour and shape!

1 Year Old Birthday Party Ideas

Anonymous said...

Love the collection of blocks. It is going to be a very special quilt.

Suzanne said...

Happy accidents! Yay!

April (Polkadot Sparrow) said...

Wow. Love how things evolved as you as you added more blocks. Man, you are way better at using scraps than I am. If it's small than like 2", I chuck it.

Now I'm feeling a little wasteful... :)

✾Jamie Lee Cooley✾ said...

I was kind of late to the game and didn't start reading blogs until about 2 years ago. I found yours and then you posted that you were not going to blog any longer. I'm so glad you changed your mind and came back. I find your posts inspirational and affirming! Thank you:)

Sherry said...

That is looking like a great quilt to me. Great job AmandaJean. Congrats too on your 777 post!

KatieQ said...

It's wonderful how you made the different items work together. It just goes to show what an open mind and a few WIPs can do. Thanks for the inspiration.

amy smart said...

Working smarter indeed! This is brilliant.

Congrats on 777 posts! Your blog is one of my long time favorites.

Karen said...

After 86 comments there probably isn't much left to say, but I do love watching something evolve like this. It gives me ideas of how to mix and match some of my orphan blocks! Thanks for sharing.

quirky granola girl said...

i love the idea of combining 3 WIP's in one. you are brilliant. :)

Rebecca said...

I love it all together!

Unknown said...

woohooo....7 is my favorite number!!! love your blogs and your quilts.