On The Side: Patchwork Almanac Banner

Carve out the June block in the Summer issue (on newsstands now!) installment of our year-long Patchwork Almanac quilt-along to make an abstract tree wall quilt to add a splash of cool summer color inside. Yes, there are lots of triangles and pieces in this block designed by Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studios (bluenickelstudios.com), but can we just point out how many hexies you’re making?  This is worth it, sweeties!

Scott loves trees, and named his June block Fully Loaded in honor of those early summer days before it gets too hot and the heat pushes the foliage toward autumn.  The HST volume is manageable and the reward is satisfying when you finish this roughly 16 “ x 32” block as a simple little wall quilt. It’s a fine way to use up all those random green scraps, and you can have a little fun with the finish. (Tip: The more variation in green scraps, the better this will look!)

the first detour

Straight line quilting is usually my first choice, but inspired by all the great quilting I’ve been seeing lately, I decided to get fancy and do some leafy thing in the HSTs forming the tree’s foliage. Oooh, and I would alternate the orientation a bit, having them tip first one way, and then the other. Big mistake. My leaf shapes fought with the triangles, and brought nothing to the visual mix. Plus they just looked dumb.

Blech! The leaf motif did nothing for this design.

I even consulted with two friends who are quilting masters, longarmer Tisha Cavanaugh of Quilt Icing, and Amanda Ruden, an artist on her domestic Bernina. They kindly agreed that something else was needed, and recommended I opt for simplicity instead: an echo on the HST “leaves” and a straight-line effect in the sky area, suggesting rain. And if I wanted to get all fancy with the tree bark with some hand-stitching, I could have at it.

Tisha Cavanaugh of Quilt Icing, Albuquerque, NM, was kind, but helpful, in suggesting a new quilting strategy.

they were so right!

I grabbed the seam ripper and got at it. The HSTs still looked a little naked to me after the echo stitching, but the straight-line “rain” in a funky variegated Aurifil blue really defined the tree and made it pop. And yes, I did get a little cutesy with the hand-stitching on the tree trunk. (A girl’s gotta have some fun.) Can you find the owl and the sweetheart initials?

The final touch was some wild straight-line grass along the bottom, and my Fully Loaded hanging was fully ready for a scrappy binding.

Carving out smaller side projects from bigger patterns like our Patchwork Almanac quilt is a fine way to sample the artistry and have a little fun. The PA started in our Spring 2016 issue with blocks for January, February and March—and we showed you a pillow side project from the March block. The second installment—April, May and June—is fully patterned in our Summer 2016 issue. Look for the next block set in our Fall issue, and some snappy placemats from the September block in Scott’s classic urban folk style.

Quilt. Sew. Live. Breathe.