Raggedy Trilogy ... a Belated Post

 

Ever so long ago I posted about what was to be referred to as the Raggedy Trilogy. Somehow way led unto way and I never posted the completed quilt made for our first granddaughter's first birthday. This was it when it was newly completed and ultimately gifted. That has been very nearly seven years ago now. It was, however, completed on time and is somewhere in her home. It all began when I had completed my first  Dresden Plate and wondered what to do with it.  If I could remember more of the construction decisions as they came about, I would gladly relate them here, but come on. Seriously? No way to call up those details this long later. Suffice it to say, every quilt has its own adventures in decision-making and end-arounds. I'm sure this one was no different.

         See also:

The May 6, 2017 post .... Post Script or Postage Stamp? <- Click here to see post.

The Jan. 17, 2017 post... Digital Design.. Free Style  <- Click here to see post.

and see the Raggedy Ann Pillow, completed back then, posted before this post.

Raggedy Pillow project...from 2016

Once I got started on the Raggedy Trilogy, it seemed that ideas kept coming to mind for use of the fabric leftover from the quilt.  I decided to do a pillow of Raggedy Ann and had worked out the front in increments which were stacked in order using Heat.N.Bond lite to attach for applique. I found some eyelet lace in my mother's stash from the 1950's when she had made my sister and I costumes to celebrate our city's Sesquicentennial...a happy and sentimental addition. Why not?

 I found the perfect buttons for Ann's eyes in Mother's button jar, too. Having gone this far, I decided this project was just the right size for me to try my hand at prairie points. (I like to start small with first attempts.) Once that was done, it seemed the pillow might be turned over from time to time, so since it was easy to imagine the back side of Ann, nothing to do but forge ahead...or behind, in this case.

The Prairie Points had worked out fine for the front, but the back asked pretty please for peppermint-like yoyos. So, okay. That's what it got for asking so sweetly.

Could I do all this again? I kind of think not. That's the way of inspired works, it seems.

 

Folded One Piece Ornaments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq934F4_KKY&t=1154s

Sometimes the Fabric Does All the Work

Sometimes the fabric makes the quilt, or at least the design.  That was the case with this donated fabric. Donation fabric always makes donation quilt. Since it would likely be faced with multiple washings, the machine stitched binding was, hopefully the smart choice. It was actually nice to use one of the "special" stitches for that task. I think I used a deep & wide blanket stitch for binding finish work with a contrasting pink thread. Yes, I do love it when a plan presents itself and actually works!

When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best...But Don't.

Years ago I was the "go to" person at my office in New Orleans when someone was having a last minute birthday celebration, but no one had remembered to buy a card. A brief, personalized poem would quickly be drafted and with a bit of office-supplied card stock, and signatures all 'round, we were set. It happened so often that the office quit buying cards and started giving me a little heads up about upcoming celebrations. Eventually, I would letter a small line at the bottom back of my cards that read along these lines: "Ace* - when you care enough to send the very best...but don't."

  This year I ran across this nifty tutorial for making scrappy Christmas tree ornaments and decided they were just the thing for my card list.  [The tutorial is preceded by an ad.] Of course, I did not find the tutorial until well into November. So, though finding scraps is no problem here (there's an abundance of those), time  proved to be less easily garnered. 

So, here are the three cards I managed to put together. They are fun to do. Embellishments can take whatever turn suits your fancy. For me, though, these may be only for a chosen few. That other card manufacturer...the one with all the stores and movies and such...they're safe: no big threat from this production line.

* "Ace" is my "cyber name".

Little Triangle Thread-Catcher and More

These are not reversible. There is a time of decision for which will be the turn-down tab and which the bag's base. Pattern is cut the same for each, so there's time to decide which will be which just before you begin sewing up those fold to stop-mark seams.

These small "thread catchers" are supposed to keep me company sitting by my machine ready to receive any little thread snippets that I normally toss on the floor...if I bother snipping them at all. I'm going to have to change my messy ways, if this is going to be used as intended. Good thing I've already thought of alternate uses for these in the mean time. Don't you think they would be great little Dove chocolates holders for gifting? Or maybe a nightstand earring holder for when you are away from home for a night or two? Or...hair clip or elastic band holders...or desktop paper clip boxes? Seriously! It's just cute, even if not being used for anything. 

If you needed a larger based catch-all, I think you could size them up a few inches. My sister-in-law suggested making them to match placemats and somehow put napkins in them, but they have a closed bottom, so I'm not sure how that would work. Still, it could be revamped for that, I suppose. 

Definitely the hardest thing about making it is figuring out what buttons to use on the flaps.

Click on the link below to see where I found the pattern and the "how-to" of assembling it:

Here! Right here! Click. Click. Click!

Choosing Fabrics and Pattern Do Si Do

Donation fabrics plus a solid cotton sheeting gathered. The butterflies along with the preponderance of dark fabrics inspired the name, "Midnight in the Garden",  for my version of a quilt pattern found in the April 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine using a different color palette .

The fabric was selected at a local quarterly gathering of volunteer quilters connected with Project Linus. A church in town offers the use of its fellowship hall for the organization to have two sewing days. Half of the room is set up with bins and bins of color-sorted donation fabric in sizes ranging from less than an eighth of a yard to several yards. Some of the fabric is old and musty; some is fresh and sturdy. Sometimes pieced blocks are among the donations. Most all of the fabric is 100% cotton. Making selections is only a very small portion of the time spent there, as most time is spent piecing or sewing on binding or labels for the donation quilts in progress, or being finished.

Because the colors or prints appealed to me,the fabric pictured above was gathered, not necessarily to be used in a single project, or even together, for that matter. No pattern had yet been chosen. That is backwards to how I do fabric selection for the quilts I keep, but the "store" of donation fabrics is only open quarterly, so decisions must be made in a more nebulous fashion. For my "Midnight in the Garden" quilt, I added a few strips of solid aqua sheeting to complete the palette.

On the left is my completed project. Top right shows the Stars & Bars pattern as featured in the magazine. Bottom right is a whimsical take on my "Midnight in the Garden" title.. ;o)

Since I liked the butterfly prints and wanted to feature them, I searched for a pattern that would have at least a five or six inch uninterrupted square. I settled on this "Stars and Bars" quilt pattern from the April 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. The colors and prints in the magazine's featured quilt did not particularly appeal to me, but I thought the size of the blocks was perfect. That square in the middle of each star block was where my butterflies would eventually take flight.

First I assigned letters to the fabric and determined if I had enough of each for the pattern requirement. This took more time than I had anticipated. That done, however, it was on to cutting and piecing, which went pretty smoothly! Here I have to plug larger pieces and big blocks. Quilt tops do not have to take forever to piece.

This was my largest quilt project to date, so I will have other posts about various aspects of its production. This post was meant to show both the inspiration and the end product.