I didn't get to log any free play yesterday - Wednesdays as a rule are super busy. But, I did sneak upstairs to the design wall for about fifteen or twenty minutes after dinner and arranged the blocks until I was satisfied with how they looked. I envision this quilt as asquare so I left blank spaces where I thought something else was needed.

This morning, still satisfied with my arrangement from last night, I separated the blocks into groups for sewing. I find it much easier to sew small groups of blocks together to make bigger blocks and then join the bigger blocks into a quilt top. This way, there are no inset seams and it is easy to stop and start without getting things too messed up. I should also note that I still would have photographed each step for a visual reference even if I hadn't planned on blogging it.

I started in the top left corner and took the first set of blocks downstairs to sew. The photo above shows the process after I sewed the first two groups into bigger blocks. Unlike when I originally pieced the smaller blocks, I was very deliberate about how I added fabrics so it would be a pleasing composition overall. The first two photos came in handy here - I could look at them and see what fabrics would be next to each other and if there was too much or too little of a certain value or color.

This is what I had before I sewed it all together. I took a good long look and threw some different fabrics in the white spaces to see what worked and what didn't. It was a happy accident that I needed to add some longer, narrow pieces to make all the blocks fit together - I thought the compostition lacked those shapes.

And here it is! The final size is 33.5 x 35.5 which is just about perfect as I wanted it to be about 36" square. I plan on adding some borders to it to make it about a 60" square throw quilt. I've already pulled the fabrics for the borders and will probably start on those Saturday. Fridays are also normally crazy. I plan on improvisationally piecing the borders as well, but will use much larger pieces of fabric to balance all the little pieces in the main patchwork.

I need to emphasize that so far this has been a very worthwhile and freeing exercise for me. And fun! So much fun.

Here are the blocks I made during my hour of free play yesterday. I decided to add some gray, but skipped the low volume and whites mostly because I think I have a plan on how I am going to make this project into a quilt.

And this is what I have after three days. I like what's happening for the most part, especially because it is so much fun.

The composition will most likely change and I think I won't be adding many more blocks to the group, but instead spending my next hour of free play (most likely tomorrow) figuring out how to put them all together.

These six blocks are what I had after one hour of improvisational sewing yesterday. I continued to pull fabrics from the bags, but went a little bigger than my first round of blocks. I also did some slicing of strips that I had already pieced and then sewed them back together in a different way. I like the feel of that.

And here they are mixed with Sunday's blocks. I don't think they will stay in this arrangement - there are a couple of hot spots making me crazy. But I mostly like what I see and I think I have an inkling of where this whole project is headed. That said, I'm leaving the blocks up on the design wall outside my studio while I sew downstairs today. I want to make sure that what I see here does not influence how or what I sew today.

I also think I may throw some white or a low volume print (or two) in the mix, as well as some gray. I think it needs some spaces where the eyes can rest.

We returned home from a spring break of skiing in Telluride. It was so nice to get away from winter, even if it is still winter in the mountains. Colorado's winter is different than what we have here. They have sunny skies and temperatures in the forties feel very balmy. And people, sun makes all the difference.

We skied seven days in a row! (Yes, my legs still hurt.) And along with the fun of skiing comes a chunk of time every day on chair lifts. I have always enjoyed this part of the sport, too - it is a forced rest and a great opportunity for conversation. Fatty and I spent a few rides up strategizing on how to make my workspace more efficient and usable. I have found that I have outgrown my little studio. There is very little room to work in that space (it was once a walk-in closet) and I have been doing the bulk of any sewing and quilting down two flights of stairs in our family room. It's not convenient to leave my messes spread out (although I still do from time to time) or to have to go back up and down the stairs to get small tools, pieces of fabric, etc. I know I am not sewing as much as I'd like because my space is not working for me. Fatty gets that, too, and I'm excited about the plans we hatched to make a bigger, better working space for me.

All of that talk got me thinking about what has been holding me back creatively beyond the optimal space to create. I have determined that much of what I have sewn in the last year or so has been about the finished product and not a bit about process. And I am OK with that. I have made some lovely things and they have all been enjoyable to create. But, I miss cutting up fabric with no goal in mind. I also miss starting a project when the desire strikes and not worrying about my long lists of other things I should be doing instead of sewing. I've also thought about the connection between my creativity and my comfort and happiness in my own skin. When I'm down for whatever reason, it is hard to make myself branch out and try something new, or, heck, even create something I've made dozens of times. Sometimes, though, it is the deliberate act of making and creating that will lift me up and make me shine. It's time to do something about that.

Still with me?

This is a very roundabout and circuitous way of saying that I know I could benefit from some free play. Just like kids who sit on the floor and build all that their mind can imagine with legos or play dolls for hours on end, I need to let go and play with fabric. With that in mind, and ignoring the last few loads of laundry from our trip, I pulled a stack of fabrics yesterday afternoon (the prints are all Field Study by Anna Maria Horner and the solids are from my stash).

And then I cut them up into various and random pieces, sorting them by size: small, medium and large.

I put each pile of fabrics in a separate bag (just like we did when I went to Denyse Schmidt's workshop) and gave myself one hour to sew. I figured that an hour of playing would be enough to feel like I was making without investing a huge chunk of time.

Pulling mostly out of the small and medium bags, this is what I had at the end of the sixty minutes.

You know what? It felt great! I remembered that I like to play! I got in a groove, I let my mind wander and just had fun. And now I want more. So, although I'm not sure where this will take me, there will be an hour of free play today, Tuesday and Thursday. If I can squeeze it in on Wednesday and Friday, then that will be bonus.

Just one hour, for four (or more days) of free play. I'll be posting the progress each day. If you feel like joining me, please do. I'd love the company.

I've got my hands on all kinds of projects at the moment.

The crazy star quilt has its binding attached on the front and is just waiting for me to slow down and stitch it onto the back.

I started slicing up the Liberty strips I bought in October for Anna Maria's feathers. I'm wondering if I'm crazy to make the center of the feathers out of voile or if I should use some quilting cotton instead.

My spring/summer traveling, waiting room, TV watching project is this needlepoint Floral Path bolster pillow, also designed by Anna Maria. I don't think I have done any needlepoint since I was about 10, and then it was always with embroidery floss on plastic canvas. I'm excited to see this progress.

Did you have any time to spend stitching this weekend? Do tell.

I've had Alexia Abegg's book Liberty Love for awhile now and I really cannot say enough good things about it. It's beautiful to look at with a wide range of projects. There are bags and quilts and clothes. Things for children, women and men. And the best part? While they all contain gorgeous Liberty of London Tana Lawn fabrics, many of the projects also have other fabrics paired with the Liberty. This brings down the overall cost (that Tana Lawn can be pricey) and keeps the sewn items from looking overly floral and sweet. The projects are all solidly designed with straightforward instructions and excellent diagrams. I think it is worthwhile to add that they could be made from fabrics that aren't Liberty as well. Prime example - the Marcelle Medallion quilt. If you are on instagram, check out the hastags #medallionalong and #marcellemedallion to see what I mean. I'm *this* close to joining in on the fun.

All that said, I purchased a couple sets of Liberty scraps from esty seller PickClickSew to play with. (As an aside, Dee was a delight to work with and I highly recommend her etsy shop if you are looking for Liberty lawn). I started by making the pin cushion - mine is a bit smaller than the one in the book, but it's the same idea. It was also fast and easy. I also bought a hunk of charm squares for another project - the spools quilt that is in the book. When I will get to that, I have no idea, but I will. I love me some Liberty.

I finally finished this quilt that I started in July at the Denyse Schmidt workshop I took in Portland at the PNCA. I am beyond thrilled with how it came out, mostly because it was a creatively inspiring exercise for me. Every step, from the colors I used to the quilting design and everything in between, had me pushing myself a little out of my comfort zone in the best possible way. And now, I have this quilt. And I love it.

The quilt is based on the Shoeman's Puzzle from Denyse's book Modern Quilts, Traditonal Inspiration. In the workshop, we began by making four blocks using the templates. From there, rulers were put to the side and all the cuts were done freehand. As my number of blocks grew, I decided to vary the scale of the middle triangle and added a slight curve to the smallest one. I sewed a good number of blocks over the two days of the workshop and was very happy with the way it was coming together, so I came home and finished over the next few months. It is small - 44" x 59" after washing. The blocks were originally 8" finished, so it was 48" x 64" before I laundered it.

The solids are Kona Snow and Kona Oyster. Blair (who took the workshop with me) consulted her Kona color card and gave me some options of other off-whites that would work with Snow. I'm not sure that I would have chosen Oyster - the difference between the two colors is very slight and I think I gravitate towards more contrast. But, the Oyster was a wonderful choice because it IS a subtle difference in comparison to the Snow. (Thank you, Blair.) The other two prints I used in the quilt are both from my stash. I think they are from the Joelle Hoverson's Cake Rock Beach collection. Maybe? Regardless, they were put into the mix when the improvisational cutting left me with blocks that were too small and because their backgrounds are very, very close in color to the Snow and Oyster. After using them each once, I intentionally sprinkled them a tiny bit throughout the quilt top. I love the depth they add, as well as the element of surprise.

The back was constructed with my leftover solids. A swath of Oyster divided from the Snow by a simple strip pieced from the two prints. The quilting is an interlocking figure-8-ish design that evolved as I started quilting. I did not mark any lines on the quilt, but instead used the center seam line as a base and then worked above and below it until the quilting was complete. I think this quilting has an allover quality that this quilt needed without being too fussy, but still interesting enough. For the batting, I went with Quilters Dream Cotton. This is quickly becoming my favorite batting to use as it is low loft and very light, but crinkles nicely when washed.

The binding is a dark grass green from my stash. I'm guessing it is a Free Spirit solid. And although my original intent was to bind it with something a little more neutral or something a little flashier, I do like how this blends with the small green lines in one of the prints. Plus, I like green so it's always a good choice in my book.

When I look at this, I see something that is very different from other quilts I have made in the past. I can see how this quilt has pushed me to let go and to grow creatively. It is a good visual reminder of what can happen with improvisation and experimentation. And because I took my time, picking it up and putting it down over the course of seven months, it ended up being much different than I had envisioned it would be when I started it in July. It ended up better.

Lesson learned? Let go, play, take my time.

Any way I look at it, my recent fabric buying binge means that I need to stop shopping and start sewing. And probably de-stash, as well. Scrap bags anyone? What about small scraps? I'm never sure if anyone has interest in those. I use them to make little log cabins and for applique, but I could be a lone duck. Is it worth bagging those up as well? Tell me what you're thinking.