AHIQ, AHIQ quilt finish, Basket Love, Baskets, Coins & Baskets, Freehand Applique, Improv. Woven Basket Quilt, Strings

May AHIQ Update

Just wanted to update before the big holiday weekend engulfs me completely. Too much to do and not enough time to get it done in! Finally managed to finish the applique border on my Improv. Woven Basket. It finishes out at approx. 73" square, so I thin...

Just wanted to update before the big holiday weekend engulfs me completely. Too much to do and not enough time to get it done in! Finally managed to finish the applique border on my Improv. Woven Basket. It finishes out at approx. 73″ square, so I think it’s probably large enough to leave it be now. It seems I have had a steady diet of applique work lately. When I get one project finished up, the next two crop up right behind it!

Improv. Woven Basket quilt is finished!

The basket started out as an Adhoc. Improv. strings challenge to myself and then the appliqued flowers jumped on board. It’s ended up being so much brighter than I expected with the flowers in the borders having a sharp, intense look to them. I think this is a quilt that will be wonderful looking with some hand quilting texture. Right now it feels good, but like it’s missing something. Possibly, just an appliqued year up on that middle, pale lavender border unit directly above the basket handle. Will be pondering this for awhile I’m sure.

Then there’s the brown/red/gold coin sashing that crashed and burned on the last attempt. I went very old school this time with some classic looking baskets in antique-y colors for the alternate blocks. Still haven’t managed to find time to piece the rows, but the handles are appliqued down on the basket blocks and that was basically the only thing holding me back. Now I don’t have any time to spend in the quilt room so they’re on hold once again.

Coins & Baskets

All these baskets are making me want to make more baskets, which is really not surprising at all. I do rather have a fondness for them.*wink  The coins in the above quilt have been interesting, but I think because the project has had a couple false starts, I just want it done and over with. My mind keeps spinning around with the what-if’s and too, the colors could be a little more fun. I’m actually quite relieved to see the vintage/antique direction it’s taken, but just not in the mood this season.

Basket Love

So I just went and did it. Started another adhoc. improv. project. This one will have vertical columns of coins as I’ve never done that and they just keep coming back to haunt me. Also, there will be columns of improv. baskets, all very simple, in various sizes. This satisfies the ‘2-block’ challenge that Kaja set up and lets me continue to play in this series of ideas that all seem to be generated by the one before. {Would you believe I’m also thinking seriously about making another big basket quilt?}. I dithered and dithered and dithered some more, about whether or not to make all the baskets the same size, finally deciding they had to be ‘make-do’. Don’t want this quilt to look too purposeful.

The basket columns will end up being a bit of a puzzle piece trying to get them all to fit properly but I’m looking forward to the challenge. This project feels very fun already. haha  Remind me of that when I’m trying to get the baskets to play nice together next month! Just need to get these free-hand handles stitched down to the background fabrics and then it will be full steam ahead. 
All the squares for the baskets background were cut without a ruler, then matched up to a similar sized square in the basket fabrics, crosscut and then one half of the basket square {a triangle} was used for a basket handle. I just grabbed the scissors and started cutting so there are short ones, fat ones, and skinny ones! There are no repeats in basket fabrics used, but for every background fabric {the brown} there will be two similar backgrounds. Are you confused yet? Don’t worry. There is a plan that may or may not be jettisoned as soon as the project progresses! 
As an interesting aside, I had a touch or two of anxiety while free-cutting the squares for the baskets, but overall I feel very optimistic. No matter how it shakes down, I can make this work. As Monica observed in her recent post, some of us work better within some boundaries, whether self induced or not! Thanks to Ann and Kaja for another interesting Adhoc. Improv. challenge!