At long last...my project is done!

I'm not sure anyone is still checking this blog, but I'm posting my news anyway! LOL

After a full 2 years, I am finally finished with the assignment. This is "Tree Everlasting", a completed top (not quilted yet). I have worked on it in spells throughout these past years, and I finally finished it last night. I think a border of any kind would look too heavy, so I plan to add only a dark binding.

I want to hand quilt it, but I'm afraid of all those seams! Some are only 1/4-1/2" apart. I'm thinking the quilting will go easier with a polyester batting, but I prefer cotton. Decisions, decisions...

Tonya, you have been a great inspiration. Thanks for all your encouragement and advice in this class and others. I'm hoping to enter my "masterpiece" in the local quilt show this Fall.

Continuing with Trees

My Tree Everlasting quilt is coming together, slowly but surely. I am now at the hard part-- making 100+ odd-size pieces fit together. It is a challenge! I've committed to working on it for a couple hours every week, and already I am seeing major progress. It will take me a few more weeks to get the whole top assembled, but I wanted to let everyone to know that I'm still working on it. :-)

I would love to see a progress report from others. It would help me to know that others are hard at work on finishing their quilts, too.

Congratulations to those who have actually finished your quilts! I will be among you someday.

I offer this photo as evidence that I am still working on my quilt! As you can see (maybe), several trees and the letters ORES are sewn together into a section. This picture represents about 1/10th of my quilt. How did it get so big?! The work of assembling the pieces is slow and requires much thought. The process is so intense that I can't focus on it more than a couple hours at a time.

After seeing some of your quilt tops finished, I am eager to finish mine, but I daresay it won't be any time soon! I am renewing my commitment to it, hoping to make good progress in the next month.

Sawtooth tree

I took your advice and added another tall tree in the lower right corner. It looks great there! Thanks for the suggestion. I made 4 more trees last night and moved things around a bit. I'm getting bored seeing the same ol' tree styles, so I've drawn out 2 completley different designs. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Trees...need a critique

Here's the "big picture". I'm not done, of course. I intend to add more trees. Right now, I need a break and I want your opinions. I think it needs more big trees (the size of the tree sitting on top of the 'D')....or should I just flood the piece with tons of smaller trees? Do the trees need to be closer together?

I'm not sure of the positioning of "Deep in the Forest" either. Should I move it to the right, under the tall Tree Everlasting....or should I line it up on the left side of the quilt...or leave it centered?

I'm in a thinking stage, so any ideas about balancing this piece will be welcome.

Tree Everlasting

Just to show you that I've been working on this, here's a couple of pictures.

I am piecing in sections...adding a few trees as I go...and then moving on to another section. When all the words are put together, I'll have to make more trees to fill in the spaces between the phrases. I plan to stagger the trees rather than set them in straight rows, and of course, that means the piecing will be more complicated. I am having fun though! I'm rummaging through my large basket of fabric "strings" for more beige fabrics to use in the skinny spaces between letters. More variety, you know. (I hope the background isn't too busy!)

Trees - a story of evolution

I am SO slow on this project. I will usually concentrate on it for a day, and then do nothing on it for a week or two. In that time, my mental design evolves so much that I return to work on a totally different plan! LOL Ah, but that's the fun of it.

My very first idea for this quilt was small and structured, loosely patterned after another quilt I've made. When I started making the letters for the borders, the shape and size of the quilt shifted, and my structured plans went out the window!

A few days ago, I had to move all my pieces into a corner of my design wall to make room for another project. So now everthing is crammed together. And yet, as I stare at this photo, yet another (better?) setting idea has come to me. Who know where it will all end up?!

Border questions

I have been making letters/words/phrases to use in the borders of my quilt. I haven't made enough trees to fill the middle yet....so I'm going about this backwards, I know! ;-) The word "forest" will 'read' vertically along the side border. The letters are skinnier than I want the border to be, so I will need to add fabric on each side of the letters.

Should I add extensions to each individual letter? The block backgrounds are scrappy, so I would make each extension from a different print to maintain that scrappy look.

OR.... Should I sew the letters together and add long strips to the sides of the word to bring it up to the correct width? This would be easier (maybe...my letters are not uniform in size) but would it look as good?

Another question-- I am going to have large spaces occurring between my phrases. Is it generally better to use background fabric (in my case, beiges and creams...too light?) or to fill in the empty space with blocks (in this case, trees)?

Trees

These are my first attempts. I started very small with a certain plan. I'm quickly abandoning that initial plan and becoming free-er. I will work on letters and words next, and I want to add a house. I'm worried about keeping new units in proportion. I am working on a Tree Everlasting block that is humongous (like Jack's beanstalk to the heavens!) and will need to be cut down. Lots of new possibilities are floating in my head....

Trees

I have been making trees (no pictures yet). I started by using my "wasted corner" triangles for the tree tops. Feels like I'm crumb-piecing! There are so many seams-- Tonya, how in the world do you hand quilt through such bulk??

No letters/words yet, as I can't decide whether to use a dark or light background. That will be my next step. My trees are turning out good, getting better as I make more. I started out with a certain format in mind, a framework in which to "plant" my ideas. ha! That worked to get me started, but I am quickly changing the plans. I trimmed my first blocks to 3.5"-- sorta small! Now I am starting to leave them untrimmed so I can fit different sizes together later. (Should have done that in the first place. I'm learning!)

Nancie ask "which one"

I have a few ideas that I'll run past you...
1)I've been working on a heart wallhanging with a zillion appliqued hearts. Even before this class, I was thinking that it would be fun to make a similar wallhanging with a bunch of wonky trees.
2) I love Churn Dash... it would be cool to make a bunch of funky CD's!
3) I also love sailboats and the possibilities are endless.
How do I decide?

Dropping in

I'm a newcomer checking in to say hi. I have watched the progress of the Winter Class with great interest. When another class was offered, I decided to jump in and play along. I've done a little free-piecing in the past, but only bits--never a cohesive quilt. I have a few ideas for the "repetition" theme, but none have risen to the top of my list. I'm looking forward to a fun experience and I'm anxious to see everyone's ideas materialize. --Nancie