This and That

This and That Quilt

For Beth and Erik

Kept some selvage for added interest

 Last summer I started working on these awesome layered triangles. I loved them. A lot. And then I added some goldenrod fabric to make them into rectangles. And I liked them a lot less. So I folded them up and set them aside. I'd get back to working on them later... much later.

Then I read The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood and was struck with the idea to adapt some of those techniques to my triangle-rectangles. So I cut off lots of the golden rod and began adding strips of scrappy beiges and yellows. I tried to not be too picky about symmetry, about the "perfect" colors, about wonkiness. I was just going to go with the flow. 

Used up lots of scraps for this small bit 

Three triangle-rectangles managed to get this treatment and then I just didn't have the energy or the heart to cut into the last one. It looked perfect now. I hadn't necessarily ruined the others. I just altered them. Significantly. 

Again, I folded them up, set them aside, and hid them from my view. Out of sight out of mind.

THEN I came across this Instagram link-up party called a Finish-Along. The goal was to share a any projects in the works that you wanted to finish by a certain date. If you met your goal you would be entered in a raffle for lots of nifty sewing/fabric prizes. Done. I was sold. The raffle would be great motivation, but really just the easy encouragement of publicly sharing my goal was what lit a fire under my tush. 

I finished one quilt, Modern Elegance, in January and then in March I finally finished this random, nearly-chaotic, scrappy gem. 

Whole backside

Closeup of scrappy addition

Recipients:

Throughout the entire process I knew this quilt would be for my friends Beth and Erik.  They work with their bodies. They work long hours.  They feed us. They are some kickass farmers! 

Now they have a quilt with lots of prints and busy-ness so if it becomes a comfort quilt out at their farm and gets dirty that is a-okay by me. ;) Please, quilts are a useful form of art.