Hachi II

I finally took photos of my second Hachi quilt.  It has the traditional Japanese binding, so you do not see the binding on the edge.  It has a very clean finish.  Yes, another barn was found to photograph it on, and this morning was overcast, so I drove right out and got a photo.

I am glad I did not dilly-dally, as now it is raining.  Time for a cup of tea!  It suddenly feels like fall.  I call this my purple Hachi quilt, but it is so much more.  You can see my original post, dated July 30, 2023, about this quilt and my other Hachi quilts.  At that time, this one was on the design wall.  Look at the "Blog Archive" of my posts in the right margin, and find 2023, then July under it, and CLICK! -->      Or you can just scroll down until you get to it.  Then you get to see other quilt photos on the way, just traveling backwards in time.

Hachi Quilt Number Four is Completed!

It is a great over-cast day for photographing quilts out-of-doors.  My red, white, and blue Hachi quilt has finally been photographed. 

This is another fabulous barn in my neck of the woods.  This barn door is the perfect backdrop for a red, white, and blue quilt.  The owner was very nice to let me photograph their barn.

If you click on the photos, you can view them closer up.

What's On the Design Wall in August?

Hachi quilt number four is red, white, and blue.  I am making it as my annual donation quilt for Veterans Day.  I like to have it done well in advance, and this year I am hitting the mark.  

I was not sure about the red stripe fabric when I chose it from my stash, but it is what makes the quilt look sharp.  I have fabric in my stash that will make more amazing Hachi quilts.  I have some huge florals, but the ones foremost in my mind are sharks and Dr. Who.  That is my mind!  Keep checking back on me.

The Picnic Quilt

This is Hachi quilt number 3.  I had it on the design wall last month.  It is made from men shirts (the shirts of men).  Three belonged to my husband and two I got at the thrift store, but now they are in an amazingly soft quilt that I designed for use as a picnic quilt.  I put a shirt tail on all four edges of the quilt.  I sewed the ends into the piecing, and left little cubby spaces between the quilting, so one can tuck one's napkin in, and it won't blow away.

Plus, I used a pocket piece from each of the four shirts.  The fifth shirt was a dark woven shirt, I used as the unexpected visitor in the quilt.  It is part of the unexpected, curved-piecing I decided to use.  I also incorporated a few blocks made from the cotton sheet that I used for the backing and the binding.

The batting is two scrap pieces of 'Warm and White', I joined on my sewing machine.  I did the quilting on my home machine, using stitch-in-the-ditch.  I washed all the shirts and the sheet prior to construction, then again after I completed it.  It is so soft, I wish I had made it bigger, so I could snuggle in it.  

In the beginning, there were shirts . . .

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.