Saturday, May 16, 2009

Panel Quilts and the Quilting Mojo....



Have you ever used a printed panel(sometimes referred to as a cheater panel) and quilted it up?
This eagle is one of a few panel quilts that I have made. The two eagle quilts were given as gifts for two of my colleagues when they left our school staff. They quilt up quite nicely and,as you can see Mars the cat approves of them also. These panels are a nice size, and were made big enough that they would be a nice couch quilt. In both cases though, my colleagues chose to use them as wall quilts.
In the past, I have also used panel blocks to make quillow quilts(a quilt that you can fold up and form it into a pillow shape. You make a pocket on the back of it and it pulls out and makes a couch size coverlet.
One can also find some lovely fun panels that can be used for baby quilts. I still have two that I created for my son, when he was a baby. You stitch in the ditch around the characters and voila, you have a lovely crib sized quilt!
I also found panels for pillows and the insets on clothing such as aprons. Panels are useful for vests too and I have used them to create seasonal pieces of clothing. My kindergarten kids love to check out the Easter bunnies, Halloween cats,stars, school symbols and spring flowers on my seasonal vests!!

Today was spent lazing about, as my sciatic nerve was giving me some trouble- Bruce and I managed to go for a short stroll around the block tonite. It was a mild evening with spring beginning to appear in our neighbourhood. We saw some tulips and crocuses in bloom. The grass is starting to green up and the peony and irises are developing their leaves and greenery.

This weekend is Victoria Day weekend here in Canada, so it is the first holiday weekend of the season.
When I was a child, we would go camping in the foot hills of Alberta. One of my first memories(I was about 5 or 6)is of camping beside one of the rivers in a tent. We woke up to snow on the ground that particular trip.
The weather this spring has been cool - perhaps cool enough to snow for those who might be brave enough to be camping this weekend. When your a child camping in a tent seems like a big adventure - in middle age I prefer the creature comforts of home or at least a nice hotel LOL..

This evening, I have brought down some fabrics that I think that I have chosen to make a Trip around the World quilt- I have been ruminating about this quilt for some time, and want to begin making it. One of the most challenging parts of quiltmaking for me, is to actually settle on my project and fabric choices. Once I have made a decision,I get moving pretty quickly.

What about you - Do you get ever get stuck in some part of the quilt process?

Perhaps, you are like me, it is at the beginning when you are choosing your fabrics and patterns? or maybe it is in the middle when the making of blocks begins to feel a bit repetitive? or it is near the end when you are trying to decide how to quilt it and bind it?

What do you do to get your quilt MOJO moving? For me, its usually because I am making a quilt for someone important to me and I have a deadline to get it done.

For this particular quilt, I had pulled some fabrics from my stash, quite awhile ago, that I thought might fit the color palette -that was the easy part. I hope that the simplicity of The Trip around the World pattern will match the decor for the intended room. It feels good to have made a decision - Now the process of creating a quilt begins...

Until next week-
Regards,
Anna

14 comments:

Michele Bilyeu said...

I think showcasing a panel quilt is the perfect way to jumpstart the Quilting Mojo! That and cleaning the sewing room...but sewing something quickly that turns out as well as your Eagle Panel has..is far more fun! I didn't use a panel when I made my Quillow Tutorial but that is a fabulous idea. People donate panels all the time and they are just great for a Quick Baby Quilt. And what is a mojo killer? Sciatica! I've been incapacitated to the point of crawling on all fours. Those who don't have it, don't know how blessed they are!!!! LOVE your panel, I really do! No wonder they hung them up..that's just plain a great panel and your creative use is, as always, above special!

Anne Marie said...

Hi Anna! I love using a panel for quick projects or a baby quilt that needs to be done ASAP!!! I bought a Mary Englebreight (sp?) last christmas and the matching layer cake - the collection was on sale and I just couldn't resist!!! We all know what that is like... Anywho, I used the panel in the middle of the quilt and did a simple pattern (very basic block) around it and the kids loved it over christmas!!!

Quilting Mojo is a tough one, I have so many projects in progress and twice as many sitting waiting. My problem is that I get so distracted by everything else in my life, my interest wanes after a while and I never seem to finish projects within a reasonable time. I have one project that has been sitting for three years and all I need to do is quilt and bind it! Tsk Tsk... Sorry to hear about your sciatica, that is terribly uncomfortable.

Sara said...

You know I have been having problems with getting my quilting mojo going these last few months.

Have no idea why! I get all excited with the idea...and then I don't know - it just ends up sitting around for a long while...

I wanna get my mojo back!!!

Gari in AL said...

I frequently pull fabrics for a project more than once. When I have "forced" a fabric I tend to let them sit for a while and do something else until they either call out to me or I change the fabrics. Sometimes I even decide to not do a project because it just doesn't feel right.

Chocolate Cat said...

I lose my Mojo very quickly!!! usually as soon as I have to clear the project away for some reason. I find it again very quickly if I have time restraints to work to!!! Speaking of which I have a quilt I should finish this coming weekend!

Micki said...

I have used panels to make a quilt, and found that they turned out beautifully! I made a Native American quilt that way, and it is one of my favourite quilts.
Micki

Barbara C said...

Enjoy planning your new quilt. That's my favorite part of the process. Where I get stuck is at borders. For some reason it's hard for me to decide on what to do for the borders, and by the time I get that far, my enthusiasm has also run thin.

But cheater panels are great for quick projects. They're very satisfying when you just want to get something finished.

Anonymous said...

I just stare at your work and worship it from afar ;)

meggie said...

Love that huge Eagle panel. I have a Japanese Panel that was given to Gom & I must get onto quilting it for him. He loves his Japanese dolls & ornaments.
My Mojo is playing hide & seek with me!!LOL.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna,

So nice to have you drop by my blog. I like how you have decorated your blog; I'll have to spend a little time looking around.

Good luck to you on the red Yuwa fabrics.

Penny

Kerry said...

Hi Anna,
thanks for visiting my blog, it's nice to meet new people from around the world and see all the lovely quilts that everyone makes. Yours eagle panel comes a lovely. It is such a magnificient bird.

Sand and Sunshine said...

I love all the parts of making a quilt. Except the cutting. I can piece, quilt, plan, any day. But cutting. UGH, I have to work myself up for it.

Maybe it's because I can't stand and cut, I have to sit, maybe it's because my ruler is worn and it's hard to make out the measurements, or maybe it's the repetition, and of course if you cut it wrong... But I think it's all of those things. Bleck.

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

Happy Victoria Day
I KNOW it is over, it just felt good to say it.

from one
Edmontonian to another.

The seasonal panel vests sound great.
I am hoping that your "back" is better and that you can do the things that are important to you without a lot of pain.

mojo - deadlines, and being able to leave what I am working on out. It is hard since I quilt in the kitchen. I can not even stand the clutter, yet, tidying it up seems to "slow me down" at times.

Nice post sweet lady.

Vicki said...

I used a panel for the baby quilt I made last month. It was a Beatrix Potter bunnies one, most adorable. It's great for those quick projects and they come out looking really good.

As for how to get the mojo going, I look to see what other folks are doing to get the creative juices flowing. So I'm always checking out the blogs, and from time to time will check out magazines and books. When it comes to the actual work I find I tend to get stuck when it comes to doing the actual quilting. I have a hard time deciding what I want to do and am a bit afraid of that first go through in the machine because of the "what if it looks like crap" thoughts that go through my mind. But once I push through I'm good to go.