This quilt was constructed using the fun Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method. It is mostly made of upcycled old work shirts of B's, some linen, chambray and a few shirt-stripe scraps from my bins. I thought it would be fun to add the red in the centre of the log-cabinish blocks as the "power tie" to the shirts.
I even left a cuff button on - can you see it? I sewed the placket closed before piecing that sleeve into the block.
Marianne Haak visited the VMQG and gave us a trunk show and workshop. She is definitely the most experienced person I know using the QAYG method. Check her blog for detailed tutorials on every step of the process and admire her gallery of quilts. If you want to create a large quilt on a small machine, then this is a great way to go. All of the blocks are quilted individually, squared up, then joined with strips. If you are creative with your piecing and plan a little bit, you can hide your joining strips very well! I used skinny strips to join the blocks into 3 rows, then wider strips (stuffed with a strip of batting) to join the rows and elongate the quilt a little bit so that it wasn't perfectly square. It ended up about 58" x 62".
The first two blocks that I built in the class were very random and improv. I made a few more like that and then decided to make corner blocks in a more traditional dark/light log cabin. I like to organize my chaos a little bit ; ) All of the blocks were quilted with Aurifil 40wt thread in cherry red. Most of them have a spiral, but one I quilted with straight lines. I didn't like how the straight lines were pulling and distorting the stripes in the shirt fabrics, though, so I went back to spirals.
Our friend, neighbour and investment guru turned 50 last weekend and his wife threw him a great party that we really enjoyed. There were strict instructions for no gifts, but I'd already decided to give him this quilt after discovering he likes to take a power nap at his office most afternoons. That's why I called it Power Nap instead of my original idea of Power Tie. It is always a little nerve-wrecking giving a quilt away, especially to a guy. I took it over the next day in time for him to spend the afternoon on the couch watching the Masters. Luckily he not only loves it, but he also appreciates the time and effort that has gone into it. Win!
16 comments:
Love that technique. In 2000 we made a guild banner with donated blocks. I had some foot surgery and a friend came over and I helped put the blocks together doing some left foot machine stitching. More than one challenge in getting it together. Turned out great.
Your Power Nap is great. Love the spiral quilting.
I love how you tamed the chaos with the more traditionally-laid-out blocks. This is awesome!
A win for sure! Love the button ; )
Gorgeous quilt. I love it!
What a fun quilt
Wow Krista, this is so visually striking, I love it. And so much to look at with the red pops and the stripes amongst the grey. I really like the spiral quilting and think it suits the stripes/blocks so well. It's a really strong, masculine quilt; I'm sure your Power Napper will make great use of it! (I wish I lived closer so you could teach me how to make one of these.)
This is a great quilt, particularly for a guy. Thanks for sharing some of the process you used in making it. I am not good at wrangling a large quilt through my domestic machine. QAYG seems like a great alternative.
What a great choice the spiral quilting was! It adds so much energy to the overall design.
I love how this turned out, Krista.....love seeing how quilts turn out after a workshop.
What a wonderful present, it's beautiful.
I have yet to try qayg ~ it's on my list, but I'd rather have someone show me how.
What a lovely gift and so great that he loves it!
What a generous gift. It's awesome.
So glad he appreciated the quilt and your artistry Krista. It is a beautiful quilt!
Love the layout with the lighter corners and the name too. I've always admired Marianne's quilts. Now I think I'll have to give this method a serious try. Enjoyed the book tour too btw.
It turned out beautifully!! Love the red for pulling it together!
oh I'm liking this a lot!
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