Liberation!

It is getting warm in Ohio!  I think our Spring lasted about 5 hours!

But no matter how steamy the temps, the quilting continues :)

sorry for the pictures...not sure if it was the light or my camera

 

 I love revisiting liberated quilting....Gwen Marston is the woman behind this process.  If you have not heard of Gwen or read any of her books....I highly recommend them.  I began quilting long before the days of blogs and you-tube videos.  I read every quilting book I could get my hands on.  It is wonderful to have the internet for quick research, but I think books are so much more comprehensive.     

How fun are these 'sails' in pops of solid color! Liberated Quiltmaking is a very forgiving process.  No need obsess over seam allowance or accurate cutting.  

I have posted a tutorial on the process for making this block...but it is worth a refresher...

Begin with your foundation piece of fabric.  I have used Kona Snow for my foundation fabric...the piece in my example is 4" X 6"...therefore my block will be 4 X 6.

     

 for the 'sail' you can use scraps of fabric...the smaller the scrap the smaller the sail....and vice versa.  

I have cut a solid red piece a little larger because I want it to extend from the lower left corner to the upper right corner.

Next I place my red fabric on top of the snow foundation fabric.  Place it so the corner you want covered is exposed.  This can seem awkward, but as soon as it is stitched you will flip it into place.

  

  

stitch with a 1/4 inch seam allowance and flip the 'sail' piece open and press.

   

now turn the entire block over so you are looking at the wrong side of the block.  Using your ruler and rotary trim the 'sail' even with the edges of the foundation piece.

You can see my red fabric is much larger than I needed....

Next, trim away the excess foundation fabric to reduce bulk.

There you go!  Now you can set your own sails!  Make your own summer sailing quilt!

xo mary

A Tutorial - Spike Border

A little tutorial....I have been so inspired by Gwen Marston of Liberated Quiltmaking.  She has taken traditional quilt making and relaxed the rules so quilting becomes a very creative process.  When I began quilting - some 20 yrs. ago - making a sawtooth border required careful measurements and seaming so all the points were pointy and everything fit together perfectly.  Now I can create a Spikey Border and not fuss over measurements.

Begin with a square or rectangle of your border background fabric (foundation fabric)...you choose the size, but remember one side (measurement) will need to be consistent, so that when you sew the border pieces together you have a consistent border width....with little trimming after.  For example you could cut the foundation pieces 2.5inches X 4.5 inches,  3.5 X 4.5 inches, etc.

 

Take a piece of scrap fabric for the spike...it just needs to be large enough that you can sew it on to the corner of the foundation and fold it back to completely cover the corner of the foundation piece.

 

Place the scrap diagonally across the foundation fabric (right sides facing).  I usually try to cover the base of the foundation piece with the scrap and the length or spikeyness (new word) of the spike depends on how far up the adjacent side you take the scrap fabric.  Some of my spikes are tall and thin and some are short and fat!

   

As you can see the spike will lay on the background fabric from the base to the right side about 2/3rds of the way up the side.

Now sew a 1/4 inch seam using the scrap as your raw edge.

Fold the scrap back over so the right side is facing you.  Finger press and then press with an iron.  Flip the whole block over so you are looking at the back of the foundation and the scrap piece.  Use the foundation fabric as a guide to cut away the excess scrap fabric. You can trim the foundation fabric away at the 1/4 inch seam.  

      

Continue making spikey blocks until you have enough to piece together and cover the sides of your quilt top.

In this picture I have made the long pieced border a little heavy at the base.  I would probably just trim the base before adding to the quilt.  

Hopefully, this makes sense....just leave a comment if you need clarification!  I love to hear from you!

**shout out Chris**

Mary  

Two Days In A Row - YAY!

The last of the borders has been added and now to quilt. I have been reading and studying the process of Liberated Quiltmaking by Gwen Marston . The process is indeed liberating! So much in fact mistakes become design options and pre-planning or drafting is tossed out the window.

I could live with this method of quilt making. It fits my love of somewhat rough-around-the- edges, scrappy quilts. No need for templates or patterns - just do what you love. Use the fabrics and the colors you love. Brilliant!

I think I will pull out the perle cotton again for this one. It keeps hand quilting interesting and fun , working with all the lovely colors. Although, I am a sucker for hand quilting...I find it very relaxing. And using perle cotton has become one of my favorite choices in hand quilting. This one was quilted with perle cotton and this one too!
So back to work - I have the house to myself today - YAY!

Mary