Bumpkin Baskets ~ The Original ~ A New Quilt Plan

 Hello Quilty Friends!  After a week of this quilt hanging on my longarm I finally found(made) the time to take a picture.  This is the quilt I thought I quilted and gifted to my daughter about nine years ago.  Last Monday I shared a peek inside my quilt designing brain while I tried to come up with a plan for a new quilt using the same basic basket block in red, white and blues.  I'm happy to finally announce I have a final quilt design!  Woohoo!

The drawing was made in EQ8.  It's a rough drawing of the blocks and arcs.  I just didn't want to take the time to make it look exactly like the real blocks.  You can see the real blocks and see more about the designing process for this quilt by clicking here.

The flower applique on the border arcs may change once the arcs are glued in place.  Using the same size flower on the border as in blocks makes for a ton of work.  The original quilt has one large flower instead of a cluster of flowers.  But it also doesn't have flowers in the basket block.  I'm wondering if a larger flower might look odd when I have small flowers in the baskets.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Now that I have a plan, last night I started doing the math for the quilt.  And wouldn't you know it, I'm short 17 arcs.  Remember this quilt was started in 2019 and it was a different plan.  

So I dug through the project bin to see if had enough scraps to make more arcs.  If not I can pull from the stash.

Hallelujah! Jackpot! I found more assembled arcs and extra wedges to make more arcs! Yeehaw!  Yes, even as I tell you this I get the same giddy feeling and do a happy dance wiggle in my chair.  

For those of you that want see how this quilt came to be from the very beginning about nine years ago I searched my blog and found two blog post.  The first one is how I came up the idea for the basket block from a vintage block.  Click here.  The vintage block and my first idea to recreate the block are both very different than the blocks in my two quilts above.

The second link is a year after it became a UFO in 2016.  Click here.

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A Small Peek Inside My Quilt Designing

Hi Quilty Friends!  The good news is all the quilt block applique has been stitched in place on all the blocks. YAH!   

The not so good news for me is it took forever because I kept playing around with sashing and border ideas.  Fabric was pulled from the scrap bins, auditioned and rejected many times.  Sometimes I didn't even bother to take down the previous fabric as shown by the green arrow below.  So many photos were taken of the ideas.  Way too many to share.  You're getting just a few highlights of my crazy brain.  Getting to deep in this crazy mind of mine is overwhelming and might crash my blog.

What if this and what if that has been the theme over the last few weeks.  Have you noticed in these pictures that the applique isn't on the blocks?  Yes, the craziness started almost as soon as the UFO came out of storage and on the wall.

The original plan for the quilt border is on the left.  I've made a smaller version of this quilt way back in 2014 or 15.  Well, I made a quilt top.  I thought it had been quilted it and given to my daughter.  After digging through my blog and not finding a finished quilt, I dug through my UFO quilt tops and found it hiding there.  More on that quilt at a later date.

For now the what if game continues for border ideas along with many Google and Pinterest searches looking for ideas.  This is my process, always has been.  Not only do I do this here on the design wall but it also spills over to the EQ program.  33 different quilt designs for this quilt!  Some have only slight changes but they are all different in some way.  And none of them suit my fancy.  Below is after a shopping trip last week.  I found a great deal on some slightly different gingham.  Only two of the ginghams are shown here.  I bought four.  Two full bolts and two "give me what's left on the bolt".  Got to love Joann's sales.  $2 a yard!!

Anyway back the quilt and my crazy process.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  Just sharing what goes on behind the scenes and in my quilt designing.  Last night I decided to clear off most of the mess on the design wall, sleep on it and start fresh today.

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Look What I Found!

Hello Quilty Friends!  Let's start the new week with a new project.  Well, it's not really new, it's a UFO. 

It took some digging to find her. Over the last couple of years there's been a lot of rearranging going on here in the studio.   After about an hour of searching, I sat in my sewing chair wondering if I had  accidentally tossed her in the trash or donated it along with unloved fabric.  And then I saw the white plastic baskets in my little green cabinet.  That's where I hid these little lovelies!  Thank goodness!

It looks like everything I need to finish the blocks is in the basket. Yeehaw!

There's 16 blocks in various stages. Some have the handles and red basket rim stitched down and some don't.  One block is complete.

Three blocks still need basket handles.  This will be a good place to start. 

The bias strips for the handles are right there on the top.  A good press with the iron to get out the creases and wrinkles is all they need.    That's the plan for today.  Get the handles on these baskets and then start stitching the handles and rims into place.

See you soon with my progress!

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Dresden Baskets, another UFO

As I  dug through the UFO bins last week I ran across 2 dresden basket blocks I started designing months ago.   With Easter right around the corner it only seemed appropriate to get this one finished.  The Moda Bandana charm pack by Me and My Sister Designs played well with some other fabrics hidden in my stash.  In the block below there are 3 fabrics that are not part of this line.  The handle, the pink basket and the print to the far left.

One of the advantages to working on UFO's is brewing time.  It seems after they have time to fester in my brain for awhile, and take up much needed space in my studio they go together much quicker.  Making several more basket blocks seemed so time consuming.  I needed a new design with fewer blocks but using up all the partial dresden rings.

I've used this applique method of making a mock wedding ring before in a quilt called Hillbilly Hook-up that you can find here.

psst... the white fabric to the left of the cherries and the sashing isn't from this line either.

The hardest part is deciding what will hide the fabric edges.  

In true Podunk style I added a simple flower.  How cute is that?  A fun little twist to the standard double wedding ring.

Hmmm... what do you think about a scalloped border that follows the curve of the wedding rings followed by the sashing fabric for the binding?

Just a few more hours of pedal to metal invisible machine applique and she'll be ready for the needs to be quilted pile(mountain).

~ Lea Anne ~

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