BQF: once upon a forest {scrappy}

Hard to believe that half a year has already slipped away since the Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival, yet here we are :)  Last spring I opted for a little bit of glitz and bright bursts of color, so I figured I'd start off this season's show with something a little more, shall we say, subdued?

Enter "Once upon a forest," my first piece for the Fall 2013 BGF {scrappy quilt category}:

Since I've already written ad nauseum about this one, I figured I might take this opportunity to shed a little bit of light on my design process rather than rehashing all of its roots.  (Of course you can always just skip straight to the main post if you don't fancy yourself a passenger on a fellow quilter's train of thought.)

So it all started back in April with this fanciful, pink/green wildflower grove:

Then—with the exception of a couple of silver/tan feathers and a lyrical red/tan woodpecker—it all stopped.  Until August (read:  after the bar but before the Forest QAL linky deadline).

By now you've likely noticed I've been using color pairings to qualify each of these blocks.  And that's because looking at the first three blocks together, alongside the fabric pull for the yet-to-be-sewn purple/silver fox, I had absolutely no clue how all these blocks could co-exist in the same quilt and still feel like "me."

For a while I dragged my feet and kicked myself for using such (relatively) bold fabric choices for the grove; I guess its brightness struck me as inconsistent with my original low volume vision.  But at the same time, it had this magical quality that I wanted to preserve in some way.  After several failed fix ideas (one involving Joanna's chameleon pattern), I realized there simply weren't enough hours in the day to incorporate even more blocks, let alone the nine intermediate-my-arse remaining in the QAL!

So I got out my pencil and paper, sketched a simple, sash-free 3x4 grid, and tried to configure a traditional layout based on what I'd sewn thus far.  In doing so, I found I needed designs with minimal whitespace bordering the grove block to offset its otherwise bold vibe.  Of all the QAL patterns, only two fit the bill:  the roaring deer and the pine marten.  So I penciled the grove in the lower righthand corner of my sketch, and contained its color by placing the pine marten to its left, and the deer's chest just on top.  (To help facilitate the transition, I decided to extend the green in the treetops up into the deer, while overflowing the grove's floral path into the pine marten's rock.)

In that manner, I planned the blocks one-by-one, assigning each its respective palette based on some feature of a neighboring design.  And just when I thought I was ready to assemble the top, comme ça...

...my husband commented that (1) baby-size blankets are useless, and (2) we have enough of them.  Wildly untrue on both accounts, **but** admittedly, it did get me thinking about ways to make this quilt more "useful" (read:  husband-size) without compromising the intricacies of the patterns themselves.

As I was pondering my options, I started to aimlessly cut 1½" strips from the countless desaturated prints used throughout the blocks (fortunately, the three shoeboxes-ful of fabric were still quarantined from the rest of my stash).

As the print strips idled on the dining room table, I used some neutral solids to add a 1" white-ish mat around each block.

And then started strip piecing text fabrics... (oh, have I not mentioned that I cut massive amounts of 1½" strips from those as well? :D)

While I was at it, I sorted the remaining strips into color-groups by block, organized them by value (as I've yet to meet a gradient I didn't like), and then strip-pieced the heck out of those, too.  Then, somewhat arbitrarily, I decided a 2" finished frame would add the appropriate "bulk" to the quilt.  ...But just for good measure, I finished off each frame with a ¼" edge before adding the 1" text-y postage stamp sashing.

...And then, to totally shut down any possible "this doesn't even cover my feet"-esque feedback, I churned out 3"x6" wonky-stripey triangle blocks (also color-coordinated), plus a handful of 6" stars to complement the quilting concept as a final (finally!) touch.

The result?

A quilt I love so much that it's been folded up and retired to the cedar closet, where no one—not even the man who unintentionally inspired the design—can get his hands on it :)

Unless of course there's a {blogger's} quilt festival, in which case we can fluff it up for the occasion...

...The irony of a peaceful forest stretched across freshly chopped wood is not lost on me.

Speaking of, if you haven't already, be sure to take in all the other quilty inspiration over at Amy's:

baby throw {scrappy} group/bee two color roygbiv appliqué hand quilted home machine quilted professionally quilted photographer art doll/mini wall hanging bed

once upon a time... {in a forest}

How hard to realize that every camp of men or beast has this glorious starry firmament for a roof! In such places standing alone on the mountaintop, it is easy to realize that whatever special nests we make — leaves and moss like the marmots and the birds, or tents or piled stone — we all dwell in a house of one room — the world with the firmament for its roof -- and are sailing the celestial spaces without leaving any track. 

John Muir,  John of the Mountains:  The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938)

...And wilderness week is finally winding down ;)  {Not a moment too soon!}

Short story short, I stumbled across this quote by self-proclaimed "poetico-trampo-geologist-botanist and ornithologist-naturalist etc. etc. !!!!" John Muir while perusing outdoors-inspired prose the other week.  And fell in love.  And decided to incorporate it into this quilt.

Short story long, I always wanted my muted forest to feel like a storytime quilt, but otherwise I had absolutely no idea how to go about assembly or quilting (and that was assuming my machine could manage the wicked thick seams to begin with!).  Once I abandoned the original Ringle/Kerr "Once upon a time" layout concept, I decided to preserve the narrative spirit of that design by using some sort of "text quilting."  

I quilted the letters (helvetica neue black condensed) using Aurifil 2000 (blocks+borders were pieced using 2024).

Alas, how quickly it occurred to me that I had no idea what that text should say.  I suppose I could've composed an original tale, but {fortunately} I first consulted google and found someone (read:  a legend) who captured my sentiments better than I ever could have hoped to.  

Those black+white striped stamen (I think that's what they are?) might be my favorite detail.

To me, Mr. Muir's words deeply resonate with my philosopher-environmentalist soul.

But I know they're not for everyone.

(When I read this to my dad, he paused for a moment before responding, "Well what the heck is that about?"  ...We're alike in too many ways to count, he and I, but really, sometimes I'm more like the orange that fell from an apple tree.)

I cut 12" triangles from some leftover strip-pieced sections used to "frame" each block, and paired them with my go-to organic bamboo goodness.
...Then I realized I had omitted the final border from my calculations and added some opal owl grain in violet ;)

So if you, too, are less than moved by the message, I hope you'll still enjoy the imagery:  a camp of forest creatures surrounded by one glorious {stitched} starry sky for a roof:

The end. ;)

Edited to note:  I've moved the pre-quilting close-ups here and have updated the remainder of this post with new photographs.

blah blah forest blah blah

Evidently it's "Forest Week" here at the house of {no} hats ;)  After picking up the Forest QAL project in April and setting it aside until August, I'm elated to have something to show after hours (...upon hours) of sewing these twelve impossibly "intermediately" difficult blocks:

Ta da!

P.S. The colors are slightly more saturated than they appear in the photo, I just didn't want to mess with color correction at the moment (...Now if only there were a magical FMQ fairy in this "ethereal" forest to quilt this for me!)

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday ;)

...and jay makes a {full} forest.

(Y'know, to the extent a forest can truly "reach capacity.")

This past week has been quite productive for this little forest-o'-mine.  Joining the first three and middle six friends are the FINAL THREE (eep!):

05 {folksy} eurasian jay

09 fern flower

 11 pine marten

With all twelve blocks stitched and pressed, it looks like there's lots of paper-picking in my future (read:  weekend).  {Why oh why didn't I invest in something that washes out?!  Sidebar:  does anyone know if that actually exists?}  

Linking up with Kristy of Quiet Play ;)  If you haven't already, you've got to check out her latest pattern -- a pink unicorn!

the neglected {but slightly more populated} forest

These blocks haven't gotten much love lately.  Which is sad, because the designs really are quite lovable.  So the past few days, I decided to change that (hey, maybe seeing Jess's brilliant leaflet idea come to life this past week was just the inspiration I needed!)

You can read more about the Forest QAL here, and the roots of my own little muted forest (including the first three blocks) here.  So, without further ado, joining these woodsy ranks are...

04 maple {silver} fox

06 {glowing green} roaring deer

07 slow coming spring*

*I am in love.  I think I could might make a whole quilt out of these liverworts and snails (what can I say? My grandmother was Polish and I just love Julianna's inspiration for the block).

08 red {striped} panda

10 {pink+tan} squirrel {clutching onto an AMH nut ;)}

12 {muted but patriotic} trillium

With nine of twelve blocks down, this quiet little forest has tripled in size in about as many days.  I know I haven't tackled Joanna's jay just yet, but dare I say I'm starting to see the forest for the trees? ;)

Speaking of stragglers, these three creatures are currently on the cutting table:
05 eurasian jay
09 fern flower
11 pine marten

More soon!  {Working on a deadline always helps, doesn't it?} Linking up with Lee at freshly pieced :)

the {quiet} forest...

{low volume = quiet}  Get it?!

I've been brainstorming themes for Joanna and Julianna's Forest QAL for quite some time now.  Quite tough in light of all the amazingly inspiring fabric selections already out there!!  

To name a few that have been floating around in my mind...

{gypsy} floral forest:  all florals, obviously ;)
{wild} wilderness:  unexpected animal prints—think cheetah, zebra, snakeskin, and giraffe—for the forest animals and their environs
{sustainable} forest:  only selvages, which—incidentally—I've been collecting for years!

For the time being, I've decided {low volume} is the way to go (it's been on my quilting wishlist, so hey, you know what they say about one stone...)

So far in our calm little community, we've got some wispy feathers floating in the air:

A noisy woodpecker:

Seriously, that red/cream stripe wasn't quite as low volume as I had wanted, but I guess if anyone's going to be noisy in this forest, it should be the woodpecker, right?

A {wildflower} grove:

(Okay, so I couldn't resist putting at least some florals in this forest...)

And a {purply} silver fox in the wings:

To be honest, I had high hopes of catching up this past week, but now that the fifth block has been posted (ah!)  it looks like I might always be a step behind.  If you're thinking of joining in on this paper-piecing challenge of a lifetime fun, click the button below for more information from one of the hosts herself! Still seven more fun designs to come ;)

Staying on task by linking up with Lee at freshly pieced ;)