Project 36 - Carol Wilhoit |
In February, 2020, I completed a red and gold postage stamp runner using a grid foundation. I didn’t put the extra fabric away because I had lots of pieces left over and thought I’d make another. The leftovers sat out for months. In the fall, I decided that I either needed to put the project away or complete it. Once I got started, I was having so much fun that I kept going.
When my daughters were little, one of our favorite books was If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. In summary if you give a mouse a cookie, he will want milk to go with it and then a napkin to wipe his face, and it goes on and on as there is always one more thing. Well, I started with my red and gold squares, and decided to add some solid gold. Then I had to choose whether to arrange the pieces in a scrappy, random manner, or use fewer fabrics and create pattern with the fabrics. Did I want one ring of gold or two? I couldn’t decide - so I made four. By then, I wondered how the piece would look if only metallic gold fabrics were used. So I got out my gold pieces and scraps, and had to decide between the lighter golds and the darker ones, whether light gold or dark gold should go in the center, and whether to use a few fabrics or many. So my collection grew to four gold pieces. And how about using fall colored batiks? Random or trip-around-the-world or checkerboard? Light or dark alternate squares for the checkerboard? I ended up with six versions. And then I decided to try one of my favorite bright color combinations, and ended up with three versions.
The good thing about having seventeen pieces is that some are more favorite than others. So when it came to quilting, I felt comfortable to be more adventuresome in my quilting on those that were less favorite. After adding interesting quilting, some of those became more favorite!
I truly enjoyed making this group of table toppers and runners. Everything came from my stash, and it was a delight to play with the little squares and try out variations rather than making choices about which one way to go.
When my daughters were little, one of our favorite books was If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. In summary if you give a mouse a cookie, he will want milk to go with it and then a napkin to wipe his face, and it goes on and on as there is always one more thing. Well, I started with my red and gold squares, and decided to add some solid gold. Then I had to choose whether to arrange the pieces in a scrappy, random manner, or use fewer fabrics and create pattern with the fabrics. Did I want one ring of gold or two? I couldn’t decide - so I made four. By then, I wondered how the piece would look if only metallic gold fabrics were used. So I got out my gold pieces and scraps, and had to decide between the lighter golds and the darker ones, whether light gold or dark gold should go in the center, and whether to use a few fabrics or many. So my collection grew to four gold pieces. And how about using fall colored batiks? Random or trip-around-the-world or checkerboard? Light or dark alternate squares for the checkerboard? I ended up with six versions. And then I decided to try one of my favorite bright color combinations, and ended up with three versions.
The good thing about having seventeen pieces is that some are more favorite than others. So when it came to quilting, I felt comfortable to be more adventuresome in my quilting on those that were less favorite. After adding interesting quilting, some of those became more favorite!
I truly enjoyed making this group of table toppers and runners. Everything came from my stash, and it was a delight to play with the little squares and try out variations rather than making choices about which one way to go.