QAYG

QAYG - I remember the first time I ever saw these letters.  I was browsing through blog sites and came across "The Quilting Edge" blog and there was a tutorial for QAYG.

I scooted over to the tute (www.thequiltingedge.com) and therein began my love affair with the more modern day Quilt As You Go technique.

I have used this method many times and have made some changes to suit my way of working.

The first QAYG that I did was this little Rainbow Ticker Tape Quilt which I re-named Lady Aubergine! for the block in the upper left corner.

Lady Aubergine!

This is the back of Lady Aubergine!

Still doing QAYG as often as I can.  I will be teaching a class in this at AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga on September 16, 2015  

-sandi

SUNSHINE!!!!

The old adage, "April showers bring May flowers" did not hold true today.  We have a beautiful sunny day and I am so ready for Spring.

I wanted to bring some "sunshine" into my decorating for spring.  So I dragged out some of my quilted pieces and hung them up.  It does cheer me up.

Even my hubby commented on how the quilts brightened up the rooms.

In the living room I hung these two:

This one is hanging over the mantle. This is Lady Aubergine and it is a tad too long, but that doesn't bother me!!

I hung my "Open Windows" quilt over the quilt cabinet.  I added that globe that the hubby brought in from one of his flea market shopping trips.  I love the color of it. 

 

I put up my Springtime Garden Window Valance in the Breakfast nook.  This piece just makes me smile when I look at it.

 

This next piece is a recently completed piece in my Tree Series of quilts.  This one is called  "Fallen Trees and Spring Blooms".

I love the green batik background in this quilt.  The concept of this piece is the blooming spring flowers as a backdrop for the fallen trees along the river bank.  We have had a pretty nasty winter and many of our trees are down.  Of course, these will make for some nice habitats for the wildlife.  In and around the fallen trees we are seeing the early spring flowers sticking their little heads up through
the leaves on the forest floor.

WELCOME SPRING!!!!!

                                                                -sandi

 

 

LADY AUBERGINE QAYG

This is Lady Aubergine and I named this quilt after her.  Isn't she awesome?

Well, I certainly put this off long enough.  Sometimes, I think I would be better off if I could not read so well.  Each time I read someone's blog about Quilt As You Go technique I was sure they were leaving out something.  I finally decided to jump in and try it this weekend.  It is important to credit  http://thequiltingedge.blogspot.com for her wonderful tutorial. 

I had these cute ticker tape blocks made and they were just begging for QAYG.  They are raw edge applique in the rainbow solids.  I used Kona cottons and dug through my stash to find all of the little pieces to make each block.  I first wrote about these on April 1 along with other WIPs that I wanted to finish at Retreats this year.  I have not made as much progress in that realm as I would have liked.  I kept doing new things. 

 

The quilting on each block is straight line -- well mostly straight line.  I took the "organic" approach and let them wander a little bit.

 

After all of these were made, I decided to lay them out.  I changed my mind several times and chose to ignore some of the predictable ways to group them.

 

They are grouped to please me.

 

Now to join them together to make the quilt.

 

I cut my front sashing strips at 4.5" and folded them in half and pressed.  The stripe fabric is the backing sashing and it is cut at 2.5" and the batting strips are cut at 1.5". 

The first step was attaching the front sashing and the back sashing at the same time.

 

 

Then I used glue for basting the back sashing to sew it to the other side of the adjoining block.

 

 

As you can see with the block on the right, the two sashings are now in place.

 

 

The back sashing shows the batting sticking out and that the sashing has been quilted.

 

Everything has been quilted and it is ready for the binding.

I chose to put no outside borders on this piece.

 

 

Lil Bit is comparing the color of her tennis ball with one of the blocks on the quilt.

 

 

 Here is the back of the quilt and you can better see the quilting and I used this fun stripey fabric for sashing on the back.

 

A shot of the whole back of the quilt.  I like the funky look of that stripe fabric.

 

 

Love having this on my swing and it goes perfectly with my new gift pillow of the dragonfly that my sister gave me.

Why don't you come over and join me for a spell?  We could have  a glass of wine and sit and visit on my porch!!

 

Credit:  Rachel at http://www.stitchedincolor.com/ for the idea of the Rainbow blocks.

 

 

 

-sandi