The Name's A Game

Project X became Falling for Stripes

Lately, several people have commented to me that they like the names I choose for my quilts and asked how I come up with them.

I'm not going to go into why we should/shouldn't name quilts because well, I'm just not gonna. If people want to name their quilts, cool. If people don't want to name their quilts, that is just fine by me too. To each her/his own.

I have fun naming my quilts, but it wasn't always like that. There is one quilt several years ago that I named for its intended recipients because I just couldn't think of anything else. Then I made it into a kind of game and now it's one of my favourite parts of the quiltmaking process.

Pretty much as soon as I start the quilt, I start mulling over the name. While cutting, piecing, and quilting, I'll play with different ideas:

• The dominant aspect of the quilt e.g. stripes, bold colours, shapes, value shift (e.g. Falling for Stripes. Clockwork Orange, Jelly Belly).
• Plays on the pattern name, fabric line, or fabric motif (e.g. Seeing The Forest, Su{Brrr}nova, Just Me and My Peeps).
• Plays on words or popular expressions (e.g. What the FMQAYGQAL? started out as a joke, but it stuck).
• Current events (e.g. Save Big Bird).
• The techniques used (e.g. Snow Crab Nebula).
• Whatever random inspiration comes along.
• If I'm really stuck, I ask someone their impression of the quilt (e.g. Snow Crab Nebula).

Occasionally, the name pops out at me right from the beginning. In other cases, like Project X a.k.a. Falling For Stripes, it doesn't come until the quilt is finished.

Mostly, I just try to have fun with it. I also figure that I can always change the name, if I think of something better down the line.

How do you come up with names for your quilts? Any ideas to add to this list?

Works in Progress Wednesday - The Weeding Edition

It was Victoria Day here on Monday and we spent the weekend gardening. Well, weeding really. The whole weekend. How is it that weeds flourish in our shady backyard, but supposedly 'shade loving' plants don't? I'm stiff and sore now, but at least the garden beds are somewhat under control. I also discovered that we're losing two beautiful big trees to the Emerald Ash Borer. :( It's crazy what those bugs can do! I'm so not a gardener. Sigh.

New Projects: 

What the FMQAYG? Revisited:

I started a new version of What the FMQAYGQAL? Much smaller this time, in a different palette and it's almost done! Here's a photo of where it's at right now:

Completed Projects:

Animal shelter pillows:

Current Projects:

Hard Core: No progress.

Scrappy Trip Along: No progress.

Scrap{Bee} Quilt: No progress.

Kingston quilt: No progress.

On Hold/UFO Mash-up:
Something New Sampler: No progress.
Stained Glass Lillies
Travellin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop

Appliqué/Quilt/Paint Thing

Modern Block Monday Sampler 

Chop Suey

Collage Tree 

Asterisk Christmas Table Runner 

Red and Tan Bargello in the Round 2

Happy Villages

Fibonacci's Not Random

Red and Cream Amish Wedding Ring

Wedding quilt

Nine patch colourwash

WIP Wednesday Recap: 

New projects: 2

Completed projects: 1

Current projects: 4

On Hold/UFO: 14

Bucket List: 30

I'm linking in to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network and to W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Thanks Monika and Lee for hosting such great linkies!

What are you working on this week?

Scrap Bin Mission: The Shreds

When I discussed my goals for this year in January, I mentioned that I wanted find ways to use more of my scraps.

On my cutting table, I have an assortment of containers to help me keep organized as I'm cutting. I have bucket for usable scraps to be sorted, another bucket for unusable scraps that I call shreds, a bucket for garbage and a container for selvages.

Why collect the shreds? Well, originally I collected them separately because I could put them in our green bins for composting instead of the garbage.

About a year ago though, I read a post by Régina about using those shreds for stuffing beds she makes for the humane society. I just thought that was a fabulous idea! When I decided to do a bit of a reorg last week, I noticed that I had collected a sizeable bag of shreds and it was time to start making some beds (ha, that rhymes!).

In less than an hour, I had 2 1/2 beds made. The pillows are about 15" by 21". This got rid of my shreds and helped me use up some old fabric that just isn't my style anymore.

Feeling a little more organized, productive, and doing some good. Still haven't found that pattern though...

Snow Crab Nebula - Blogger's Quilt Festival

Happy Saturday, all! For those coming from the Blogger's Quilt Festival with Amy's Creative Side, welcome! In addition to my Seeing The Forest quilt, I decided to share Snow Crab Nebula in the Art Quilt category. Gulp! For those who have seen this before, bear with me -- there are some new photos! :)

This project began with my first snow dyeing experiment earlier this year. Yellow, ringed with red and then purple snow dyes turned this:

Into this:

This looked like one of those NASA images from space to me so I decided to see what I could do to accentuate it with some free motion quilting.

Snow Crab Nebula - Front

Quilting Detail

For the quilting, I did swirls, pebbles, wishbones, loop-d-loops, stars/satellites, and ribbons. I put the information I learned from Angela Walter's Free Motion Quilting Negative Space class on Craftsy to good use in mixing up the swirls and pebbles and moving from one type of motif to another.

I used a variety of Aurifil colours in the yellow, orange, red and purple families (#2277, 5009, 1103, 2581, 1240, 1243, 2140 to be specific) in the front and black thread in the back. I just love the sheen of the Aurifil thread against the colours of the fabric.

Quilting Detail

My husband suggested I call it Snow Crab Nebula since it was created with snow dyeing. Works for me!

Snow Crab Nebula - Quilting Detail

Snow Crab Nebula - Quilting Detail

Snow Crab Nebula - Quilting Detail

To play with the theme, I used some solar system fabric for the back.

Snow Crab Nebula - Back

Final stats:
Quilt name: Snow Crab Nebula
Measurements: 19" by 21"
Special techniques: Snow dyeing, free motion quilting, non-mitred facing
Machine quilted: Free motion quilted by me!
Entering this in the Art Quilt category for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Here are my entries into past Blogger's Quilt Festivals:

Fall 2012

Spring 2012

Fall 2011

Thanks for stopping by! For lots more inspiration, check out the other entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side -- it's always a fabulous show. Thank you, Amy, for putting all of this together!