Sunday, August 12, 2012

DWM: the allure of batiks

Last week I wrote that I needed to make two wall hangings. They're for the staff of a community agency that has concluded its ten-year grant funding. They've done a lot of good work and the agency board (on which I've served since 2003) will miss them. I began the design process by realizing that I have no idea what either woman's home decor is like. Batiks go with everything, and I have a lot of them in my stash.  The Cake Stand block is a  favorite (here, too).  The efficient way to cut the pieces provides enough for two blocks.  You can see the duplication between the two.  I quilted loopy flowers in the blocks, zig-zag in the sashing, meander in the setting triangles, and three parallel rows of zig-zag in the borders.   The cake stands are 4" (finished).  Each wallhanging is 33 x 33 and used 2.5 yards of fabric. 


But wait! There's more!  I can't throw away batik scraps.  I have a sweater-size box full of pieces that are too small for the fat-quarter boxes....squares, triangles, half-square triangles, strips.   While I made the wall hangings I used 2" squares from that box as leaders-and-enders which I then sewed into four-patches.  I cut 1.5" strips (using many of the 6" and 6.5" squares in the sweater box), cut those into 3.5" and 5.5" strips, and framed the four-patches.  One block led to another, and here's the result.   The blocks are 5" (finished).   I was going to set them so the darker squares would all be going in the same direction, but keeping track of that was too bothersome. The mixed orientation looks livelier! I will add a pieced border -- piano keys, I think -- partly because I don't have enough of any one batik in the right color for a slab border.  As shown, this is approx. 56 x 51 and used 2-7/8 yards.


P.S. No evening meetings this week provided a lot of sewing time!

See what's on other design walls at  Judy's Patchwork Times.


13 comments:

  1. delightful wall hangings and I especially enjoyed the leftover scraps quilt you came up with...very fun!

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  2. Beautiful! I especially love the border fabric on the first quilt.

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  3. The cake stand wall hangings are very sweet, but I'm lovin' the scrap quilt!

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  4. Hi Nann,
    wonderful wallhangings and the scrap-quilt is gorgeous .
    It's my favourite, too !
    Heidi
    ( from RCTQ where I haven't been in ages, but I remember your annual recordings very well )

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  5. These are all lovely, and you managed to get so much done in short time. I love scrap quilts and batiks so you've hit on the right combination for me with all of your quilts.

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  6. You ROCK the batik world Nann! Gorgeous finishes!

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  7. don't you just love how something so beautiful can come from a pile of straps.

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  8. Beautiful wall hangings that will fit in with any decor! I love batiks too and like you, keep even the smallest pieces!

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  9. I love your little 4 patch bonus quilt. This is right up my alley too. We don't want to waste any little batik scraps, do we?? :) Good going and pretty too!!

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  10. Gorgeous, and I love that the blocks are tiny - I tend to make mine small rather than large. What a great way to use up those scraps!

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  11. Wheeee! All three just shimmer with colorful fun!

    And thank you again for that wonderful Quilter's Anonymous cartoon. I circulated it to my sit'n'sew group and they all thought it was a hoot!

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  12. Love the batik scrappy. You've given me an idea for my drawer full of batik scraps!

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  13. A great quilt show on your blog today...love each and every project, especially the cake stands!

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