making a 9-patch picnic quilt
I’ve been making quite a few quilt tops these past months. Some for demonstrations to add to my Improv Quilting course; but some of them are for fun and also for my family (it’s Summer here now, but they’ll be ready in time for next Winter!).
I pretty much cut my fabric by hand. Not always of course, but most of the time. Sometimes I do use a rotary blade as that works best for that situation. But what I like about cutting with scissors is that the lines are never quite straight and have their own little natural curves. Nothing too obvious or very curvy, but enough that when joined with another not quite straight piece they start to make a lyrical line together.
A song, if you will. Or perhaps a stream that flows into the river, that meanders into the ocean. The way you see those beautiful lines that ease their way through the sand and merge with the salty briny water.
Things never quite line up when you cut with scissors, or indeed when pieces aren’t measured and simply cut by eye and feel. And this is one of the things that I truly love the most about abstract quilt piecing.
The way that the corners don’t match up, the way colours and shapes overlap each other in a way that a perfectly cut quilt pattern would be. Many (‘modern’ – whatever that actually means) quilters seem to want their seams to join and match exactly perfectly.
Me, I don’t want that. Not that it matters if they do. Though that is actually quite rare, and a lovely little delight when it does. For me, I enjoy the way that some pieces of fabric overlap, and they might bleed into the next piece in a way not originally planned.
By bleed I mean that one colour or fabric would sit beside it’s same fabric at a seam line, and create new shapes by overflowing into each other. Rather than them meeting at a point and going their own ways. I love this random meeting, this way that they tell a different story. Like these reds that step up from each other, instead of being on one perfect line. It would be too much, and too ‘correct’ if they were all in the same row. The offset step up changes things and gives our eye something to excite us.
I could never have planned this in my original cutting of fabric, or stitching or pieces.
These started as 9-patches. And many might ideally want them to all be the same size squares of fabric, to join neatly at the middles, to make all perfect squares so they can be sewn together into one perfect quilt top. I am not ‘many’. As I went along with the joining some squares weren’t quite square and many weren’t quite the same size, some too small. So I have to problem solve to make this work.
Which is where the joyful happenstance comes into play. I have to add an extra length of fabric to make each block big enough to sew to its partner. Sometimes I might cut and trim, but mostly I’ll add as I don’t want to cut the precious fabric. Also, making a quilt bigger is always a good thing for me. Why would I trim off the fabric that I’ve already cut and stitched together?
Working in an improvisational way means that I fearlessly cut another piece to change out the proportions of the whole quilt, or I’ll add something on at the last minute because I discover (when joining blocks) that one is smaller.
This I suppose could be similar to when you’re cooking and when you taste decide that it needs a little more of this, or something extra. And you have to balance it all out. Working with abstract fabric piecing is a bit like this.
One of the things that I love about this quilt is the pattern clash – florals with multiple checks – as well as the contrasting colours. I do think that without those red pieces it would be a bit more boring. All the other hues (yellows and greens) are harmonious whereas the red is complimentary to the green. I talk a little about colour theory here.
That’s why this quilt works. I must admit when I first pulled these fabrics, I wasn’t really sure. But my instinct told me to give it a go, to have a play. I started with the reds. The floral is a beautiful Japanese kimono, soft and lightweight, and I only had a small bit of that. The red checks I barely had any of; a gift from a long-time friend from a quilt she made.
Then as I was pondering the yellow and green checks just told me they wanted to join in. It’s an old linen tablecloth that I dyed in an onion dye bath. The green was a bit too intense for my liking against a white background. And making it all more yellow toned it down a bit. I wouldn’t usually use green, but I’ve been playing with it more and enjoying it. Stretching myself in using different colours and patterns has been great for stepping out of my comfort zone.
The white gives a breathing space for our eyes. But also a pop of contrast to the green and red. They’re beautiful old cotton placemats and have a subtle detailed texture, which gives a shimmer and some extra dimensions to the whole piece.
The plain green with the darker green print are our own screen-printed fabric. From long ago when Sam and I used to screen-print and sell fabrics and homewares. I feel that the circles and natural lines work wonderfully against the straight graphic lines of the checked yellow & green fabric.
I have backed this quilt with a beautiful old woollen blanket that is cream with pink lines through it. One of those marvellous op-shop finds of the real and true wool blankets. I did use batting as well, to make this a soft and cosy picnic rug. Hopefully we won’t feel any bumps or stones underneath us. I’m using dark blue thread for the quilting, in big stitches, around the different squares. There’s not a specific plan to the quilt stitches; I’m not doing all the squares but only what I feel like. Mostly the green-yellow checkered ones and maybe the white ones. It’s looking fabulous on the back with these random squares.
I plan on binding it - as best I can - with the blanket turned over. It’s such a lovely piece of woollen blanket I want to use as much as I can of it. One edge is still blanket-stitch edged, so I’m hoping that I’ve planned it well enough that this will fold over the quilt ‘just so’.
I will keep you updated on the progress of this. Perhaps some more photos once it’s finished. You can also watch the videos in my online quilting course, where I show how to do 9-patch piecing as well as lots of other ways of making a quilt top.
