My First Hachi Quilt

It has been a busy month.  I completed my first Hachi quilt, which is in the Japanese style.  Doing this one inspired me to make another this same size, then two doll quilts, and a red, white, and blue donation quilt, which will be one row longer.  

This is the back.  I am so glad I bought a few yards of this amazing multi-color fabric.  Besides using it in my Hachi quilt, I gave some to a friend, so she could use it in her Hachi quilt.  It goes with so many other fabrics.  Astrid is also throwing a titch into her Hachi quilt, as the unexpected visitor.  I expect she will be posting something about hers any day now.  Astrid has actually reread the instructions on how to add the "end cap facings" to Hachi quilts, as opposed to our traditional bindings.  She said she thinks she has it figured out, and she is going to attempt that style on her Hachi quilt.  I am looking forward to learning that process, so I can include that type of "binding" on the rest of my Hachi quilts.  I have to say, I already have at least two more planned, in my head, as I am discovering the joy of this type of improvisational quilting.  P.S. Tessa, I love that you look at my blog, but if you are judging quilts at the WIF, maybe you should not be looking at the photos. :)

Design Wall Madness!

In my May post, I had quite a mess on my design wall.  That is all off of there and I have moved on and on, and on again.  I even had a friend's quilt up there for a little bit, as she did some layout work.

This is the May photo, with updates.  The one on the lower right you can see the finished project on Gluten Free Doll Quilts blog .   I love my doll quilt blog.  Kirsten has a whole story about this latest doll quilt.  

This is the row I completed on Tessa's quilt, which was at the top of my design wall in May.  I have since turned it in, and then did a row for Lizzy's quilt, which I turned in last week.  Now, I have Donna's, but have not looked at it yet, as I am in the middle of another entire quilt layout on my design wall, and I am trying to focus on it for the moment.

Meanwhile, after Tessa's and Lizzy's rows, I started working on some Hashi quilts, which are Japanese.  

I bought this book at the used bookstore on State Street.  It used to be Rainbow Books.  I really like the method of creating these Hachi quilts.  It appeals to my need to do improvisational designs in my quilts.  I am teaching two of my friends how to make them.  Then, I made my first one.  I got the top done in two days and the backing finished on the third day.  

This is what it looked like on my design wall.  It is currently at my long-arm quilter's house.  These quilts are made with 8-inch finished blocks, each of which is in a relationship with a large print and a solid.  I don't care much for solids, so I use 'acts like a solid' instead, such as Grunge Basics and Canvas collections.

Then I dug through my stash and found some more large prints and had to purchase a couple more 'acts as solids' to go with them.  This is the next one, as it was on my design wall.  I actually decided against the 'unexpected visitor' in this one, and the final version is different.  I will post it when I get it completed in about a month.  I am excited about it.

This is the backing of the one just above.  It is going to look amazing.

Currently, my design wall is holding my recent creation using button down shirts.  I am using five shirts and an old sheet to make the quilt.  I cut off all the shirt-tails and am placing them along the outside edges of the quilt top.  I am using a modified Hachi block construction and layout.  I have limited fabric pair-ups, so it has to be modified.  I am trying to determine how to work a couple of those shirt sleeves in.  I will post a more complete picture, in a couple weeks.  I have been a maniac on the design wall these last couple of weeks, even though I have spent a couple full days doing genealogy and read a biography about Emily Dickinson.  If you have a sewing machine, I encourage you to cut up some old piece of clothing and sew it back together with some other pieces of clothing, to see what you come up with.