SAHRR Rounds 1 and 2

Although I had formed an idea of what I would do with Round 1, Signature Block, prompt, I never did get to do it what with spending a lot of time on the Project Quilting challenge that week and with the stress of Xena's torn ACL. So this week I made sure to get that round done as well as Round 2, which threw me a bit I must say. Anja of anjaquilts gave us a pretty much wide open prompt : use just two colours and do whatever you want. Sometimes those wide-open directives can be problematic for people like me who are rule followers. I've always loved challenges where your creativity gets stretched, and both PQ and SAHRR are wonderful activities that do just that.

Here is what I did with Round 1.

It's interesting how my brain works on these prompts in the background of my mind. I honestly do not remember exactly what/where/how I came up with this idea, but one signature block it is, bubble-type fabric in turquoise on either side, with bubbles coming up from the swimming fishies.

I needed the area for the bubbles to be white so they would show up, and it makes me think of the aerator stream in a fish tank, so that was an added bonus.

The quilt evolved, however, as they are wont to do. When I started to work on the second round, trying out various things, sort of thinking of a picture frame looking into water, or a fish tank idea, I knew the turquoise fish needed bubbles too!

That was my first attempt at Round 2, a simple two squares two colours round. But it just seemed flat somehow. I went into my Sterilite plastic drawers stash as well as my scraps baskets to see what else in the pinks and turquoises and purples might grab my fancy. I also thought to pull a bit of the brown from the turquoise bubbly print into the frame idea, which would also help with the aim to make this a gender-neutral baby quilt. The ark fabric, an ancient South Sea Imports line, was a welcome discovery, but only about a 12"' square of it was there, so I stuck with my 2.5" squares idea. What a bit of serendipity to find when I cut a few, that an ark could be more or less centred on some!

I found the reedy-looking pink and brown fabric in the drawers, and thought it was about perfect! I'd bought this years ago as a possible kaleidoscope blender. I have a lot of these .25 - .3 metre chunks I bought way back then, but now they work as my palette. As a good friend once said, just as a painter needs a palette of paints, we, too, need a palette of fabrics!

At this point it now measures 21.5" x 22.5"

Because I wanted the brown 2.5" squares to begin and end the side frames, I added a 2.5" strip of fabric to the lower edge of the quilt top. It's reminiscent of softly waving sand and plants on the bottom of the sea, lake or aquarium. I found it while I was looking for something that would work with the brown. I think this shimmery soft aqua and tan fabric may come back; I very nearly used it where the pink/brown reedy fabric is. It's from my Trip Around Alberta quilt I made in 2001. (A search through the archives of my blog reveals I have never written about that quilt - hmm, need to rectify that! Thankfully the cloth label on the quilt gave me the year it was made.)

The skies are grey yet again; it's been such a long grey couple months, and if even MacGyver is grousing about it (we were supposed to be sunny for several days!) and many of my yoga students commenting on it, then sun-loving me is definitely feeling the oppressiveness. So the photo is an indoor one, and a bit darker than real life. Here is one under the window light this morning to show the ark fabric a bit better.

You may notice that I've started watermarking my photos with my Etsy shop name, SandraJaneQuilts. Once again there was confusion with another mmm quilts (hers is two words) this past week, when someone contacted me about a quilt 'I' had made on Pinterest. Nope, not me, but the other triple m person who, get this, happens to live in Alberta! Like what are the chances?! She's in Calgary, the rival of Edmonton, where I grew up and lived for 47 years. 🤯 Her blog is blogspot.ca whereas mine is .com but still, there have been several confusions over the years. She hasn't posted in over a year, so I am not sure whether to make the full switch or not, sigh. Both names mean a lot to me, though I see that she started her blog, which is related to her longarm business, not quite two years before I started mine. A dilemma indeed.

The final project of my RSC 2023 projects is on the design wall with sashings in place ready to assemble. I will be sewing it on my Featherweight at the dining room table so I can keep an eye on this sweet girl. MacGyver spent most of yesterday in the living room with her while I worked on the SAHRR yesterday.

She's a real little trooper.