Modern Quilting

Several blogs I like have recently talked about Modern Quilting. I think, at last, I get what they are saying. I've been working on a blue theme quilt for about a year. It has Prairie Points (neat) and blocks, sashing, etc - all pretty traditional. I was really struggling with how to quilt it. I decided to do it by hand and completed a simple cross with beige thread in the small paisley square. Limping along, I decided to in-line (opposite of out-line) the light blue boxes in a light blue thread. I flirted with feather templates for the border, even bought one, but couldn't commit. It just didn't feel right.

Then I saw this post by Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio (well, I can't find it now). Jacquie tries all kinds of things. I realized that I like reading her blog because she test-drives techniques that I'd be afraid to try. One was using the different stitches that the sewing machine is capable of. Another was a link to this blog Silly BooDilly. The name alone compelled me to look! Her use of different weights of quilting thread was totally fantastic and invited me to read more and more!!!

Modern Quilting: the freedom to use embroidery floss when the quilt says ho-humm to feather templates.

Merry Christmas and trying new things

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We did!

I have been holding on to my African fabric for a long time now. The colors are bold and the patterns so distinctive that they do not blend easily into my usual quilt patterns and colorways. So, I held on to the fabric but have noticed some really clever ways to use prints like these. Kelli used some of her stash for a really cute blanket just recently. She encouraged me to get out the scissors!

The cloth I chose for this first experiment is called Homme Boubou (French: homme = man: boubou = a boubou is a traditional dress for muslim men in West Africa). I fussy cut the men either solo or with a pal. The shapes are rectangles. I used a solid black to make a border. On some I used 2 inch borders. On others I wonkified (a new word) the homme boubou. On yet others, I wonkified the black frame. I used a bright, multi-colored pattern for the outer border. I made one strip just to see how they might go together. I'm not yet sure how they will all go together but it will probably work out.

I find that cutting and sewing without a pattern is more stressful than using a pattern. I am conscious of wasting fabric and thinking a head to "what could I do with this little bit?" So far, I am saving all the little scraps just in case. I worry that the shapes will not come together nicely. I think I worry too much. I've been holding on to this cloth for 15+ years. It is time. It is time to try something new.

Inspiration All Around Me

I just finished these two doll blankets for my girls. I was totally inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts (http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com). AmandaJean had a quilt along earlier this summer making these cute 9-patch quilts. I loved the idea of making a special something for my kids to surprise them on vacation like Flossie Teacakes (http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/) (scroll back to when she was on holiday). The fun part was the girls watched me make the blankets and would say "that is so cute!" They don't know they are the intended recipients.

Another inspiration came from Tallgrass Prairie Studio (http://www.tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/). Jacquie posted about Iraqui Bundles of Love. She linked to the blog of a gal whose husband is serving in Iraq. He will return home soon but, like many inspired by Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, is striving to make a difference. He is collecting donations of fabric and yarn to provide to Iraqis who sew and knit. Follow the links from Tallgrass Prairie - she and he make it very easy! Time is of the essence, there is a 9-7-09 deadline to meet his departure and end of Ramadan. I mailed my box on Tuesday. While the thought of helping someone who may have killed an American soldier freaks me out, the thought that one small box of fabric might, in some small way, prevent an Iraqi from killing/hating/negative feelings about Americans in the future pushed me over the edge to send my box. After a lot of thought, I selected red, white and blue cloth from my stash.

Free Motion Quilting - still learning the basics

I bought a quilting foot and immediately used it on a baby blanket. I did a simple stipling pattern as this was my very first time using the new foot. On the back I noticed some oddities - the front side stitches were pulling through to the back creating a centipede sort of look. I emailed Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio for help. She asked for a picture. My camera is not good at capturing closeup so I drew a hand sketch. She also suggested it might be a tension problem. Thanks for the suggestion Jacquie! I think she's right so I will try to figure out how to correct it. The top came out fine, BTW - (just don't look at the back, hee-hee-hee).

PS - here is the finished quilt. Thanks for the advice, Kim. I need to get better about making time to test new techniques instead of plowing ahead.

My Own March Madness

I have about 4 quilts and 1 large apron project going. That's my own March Madness for you. I have taken up the Starlight quilt again, which I posted about earlier. I've come up with a cheap design wall by using a fleece blanket on sale from Target ($3.98). I used the existing bookcase and pinned the fleece to one of the shelves, this also helped to get a level design wall.

I've pinned the hexagons, although they stick quite well. I've got another fleece blanket in case I exceed my size but for now, this will do. It was useful to layout the hexagons and see where my blanks are, how the colors are coming together, and where I could use some improvement. Some of the blanks are solid hexagons, some are rubics-cube type pieced hexagons, and some are three pieced hexagons. I have started some of the solid hexagons and filled them in - mostly on the sides. So far, this is all hand sewn and I love it.

La Grandmere

La Grandmere. Named for my grandmother because I worked on this quilt on the way to and from her 100 year birthday party last spring. I got a lot of comments from the flight attendants and looks during layovers. I hand quilted this one using a fan motif. This quilt was a gift from my husband and came from France as a kit. I ran out of the dark brown and the only source I could find was from a web site in Japan and in Japanese. I enlisted the help of my friend Hide to complete the transaction for me. Interestingly, the cost of the fabric was comparable to what we pay in the US. I frequently hear that Japan is a very expensive country so I was a bit surprised.

On a completely different topic - if I were singing for my life/in a sing off (American Idol - last week's show), I would sing Tall Trees in Georgia. Eva Cassidy sings this one so beautifully. I cannot sing but I feel it is important to be prepared, just in case. I used to sing this one to my girls when they were tiny babies. Now when I sing, they usually say "no songs!"

Christmas Sewing

Long time no post. I've been sewing like crazy! I made a mom and 2 daughter aprons from three different blue and brown fabrics - they all coordinate to make a set. I hope my friend and daughters like them. I made another apron for my twins club gift exchange. I was so pleased my apron was traded three times! I got lots of really nice compliments on the apron. I made a apple and green apron for my friend Kate who has a very vintage kitchen. I made a Christmas apron but have not finsihed it yet. I made a brown and pink apron for a local friend of mine. She makes the most wonderful soaps! I made two Birdie Slings for two girlfriends. I made one with blue handles and lining - like the one I made for myself (previous post in July) and the other with red handles and a red-orange lining. Well, the reds and oranges really did the exterior fabric justice! Much more so than the blue, even though I am much more of a blue person. When I bought the fabric for this project, I had my two friends in mind. One is more like me, we could be sisters. The other is fun, eccentric, and kind of quirky - the red and orange is for her. I have a couple more aprons in mind...

My husband and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in early December. We had a really nice night out at a restaurant where we went when dating. We walked the route of one of our first dates in downtown Denver. We talked about falling in love and our hopes for our family. We exchanged our gifts - traditional wood for 5 years. He gave me a really cool bamboo bowl. I gave him a wood bench. It was a really nice evening on lots of levels.

News on my QOV - I got an email that said due to poor weather, they didn't get such a great turnout at the ceremony where they were giving quilts to Veterans. So, our Social Worker, Marti, is holding on to our quilt, waiting for the right soldier. She says our quilt is on display to highlight the Quilt of Valor program at her facility. Marti is keeping me up to date on the status of our quilt and hopes to find a new home for it soon.

Quilt in Progress. I previously posted about a quilt I got as a kit - it is teal, brown, I was doing a fan design for the quilting. Well, it has been sitting on my To Do table for quite a while. I realized that I like the fabric backing but not for this quilt so I was neglecting the work. Last night during Gray's Anatomy I started ripping. Of course this is painful but I am really happy thinking about the new backing fabric I will find. I am also thinking that I will quilt this by hand. One of my favorite blogs, Lazy Gal Quilting talks a lot about hand quilting. She gave some good advice about hand quilting a few months back. I'm gonna try it. I like hand sewing, I find it relaxing and cozy in the winter months. I'm not so fixated on the end product of this quilt so I feel like I will enjoy the process.

Since it was over a month since my last post, I am skeptical about posting again before Christmas. I will wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays.

QOV Destination

Last Sunday I received my destination for my Quilt of Valor. I was instructed to send it to a social work with the veterans health care system in Little Rock AR. I got all my stuff together and mailed it on Wednesday past. Godspeed little quilt. I simultaneously want the gift to be anonymous but I also want to know who receives it. I included some information about the quilt and quilters in case the soldier wants to know. I included my email address to the social worker in case she can make time to let me know about the recipient. I work with a man whose son is supposed to be deployed for his FOURTH, yes 1-2-3-4 tour in Afghanistan/Iraq. Somehow that seems like too many to me, and to his Dad too.

QOV Waiting for Destination

I got my Quilt of Valor back from the long armer. The pictures do not capture the beauty of the work she did. There are dense patterns next to feathers surrounding the stars. Some stars have unique quilting inside the center to highlight them. The setting blocks have scallops in the small blocks and a simple flower pattern in the larger blue block. Truly art. When I washed the quilt (yikes!) and put it in the dryer, it came out like a grandmother's quilt that had been loved and washed for years and years. For the label, I did a semi-wonky log cabin and used fabric markers to fill in the name of the quilt, etc. I finished the presentation case and a short journal, which describes how the QOV came to be. I am waiting for my "destination." Then I will send it off and hope the soldier likes it and feels appreciated. It was a joy to make and to think about who may receive the quilt some day.

Had an odd experience at Hancock Fabrics this weekend. Typically I'll shop when I have the 40% off coupons. Sadly, I lost my coupon but shopped anyway. I was buying fusible interfacing and asked if it counted as a notion or a fabric item. I was told neither, but that the manager sometimes counts it as a notion, sometimes as fabric. I think it should count as something so I know when to use my coupons!

Catus Opus

I finished the Sawtooth Cats quilt after 2 years of hard work. I got the pattern from the City Stitcher. It is my first foundation piecing quilt and after a few rippings and cursings, I got the hang of the piecing. The cat backs, tails and border were all foundation pieced. I added a few touches of my own like embroidering the cat face and heart with coordinating floss, instead of thread. I followed the pattern's quilting suggestions and used my standard sewing machine. I added more quilting to the spaces above the cat's backs - the voids were actually a bit large and with washing, I was concerned the batting would bunch up. I started with a blue and beige theme but decided that more color was needed so branched out. The scraps basket at my favorite quilt shop was a wonderful source of color and cheap scraps. The cats in the middle row are real cats in my life - the gray and caramel ones on the ends are my mom's cats Oliver and Noelle. The white with black is my mom's dear cat Peaches - she was so soft. And the black cat is my cat Bruce. I hung the quilt in the girls' room and they like to count the cats and talk about the upside down cats.

Quilty Update

I finished the quilt kit for my niece in time for my mom to take it to her. I haven't heard if she liked it but it was fun to make. It was challenging to think about all the steps and photograph them along the way. I ended up with 8 pages of instructions that I printed in color and bound with a simple binding. I included the strips for the rail posts and the batting, backing, and pillow backing. I am pretty pleased with it. I hope she likes it.

Our office had our baby shower for my colleague. I made her daughter a quilt (previous post) so she would feel special as the big sister. I know my colleague liked it. She told me today that her daughter loved and it hasn't left her side. She made a fort out of it, took it to dinner and to bed. It made me so happy that she liked it. I put a label on it that said "Romie, Big Sister."

I made two aprons recently for a friend from my Twins Club. The apron was for her and her daughter. I used a vintag-ey apple print with red bias tape. The mother-daughter aprons were a big hit with my friend.

I read on another blog about how pictures use up "allowable" free space on these blogs, then you have to pay for more space. She had all sorts of great instructions for minimizing the size but now I'm all freaked out about space and size! So, no pictures today. I need to learn more about this.

Kid Quilt Kit - Pillow Top

My niece expressed great interest in quilting so for her birthday I am making her a quilt kit. She's 9, has a kid sewing machine, and has made a purse or something like that. I originally thought of making up a star pattern from AmandaJean's tutorial but triangles can be difficult. I don't want to frustrate my niece, she'll turn 9. So I decided on a rail post pattern. So far, this project is all in my head but I've been thinking about how to provide instructions and if I should create the project and photograph the steps (ala AmandaJean). I think I should. The next steps are to find fabric from my stash that I can use for both the gift kit and the how to portion. I am hoping that fat quarters will work nicely. Has anyone ever made up a kit for a young person? Any tips to pass along?

Bandana Quilt

1. Bandanas shrink a lot.

2. Bandanas shrink differently in different directions.

Those are my two items of wisdom. If I do this type of quilt again, I will prewash the bandanas before I sew them together. I didn't do that this time because I was excited to see how it came together and couldn't wait for the wash. As you can see in the picture, the edges are not real even.

I have started quilting using a simple checkerboard style. I am starting from the middle and will work my way out. I am using dark purple thread. I looks nice so far.

For the binding, I bought solid purple bandanas that I will cut into strips and fashion into a binding. I did prewash them.

Star QAL

It’s done!!! Well, the top is anyway. I like how it came out and many thanks to Amanda Jean for the quilt along!! I am thinking of donating the top to an organization that helps wounded soldiers. If they can find a match, a longarm quilter will donate the quilting. I am donating the quilt top through Quilt of Valor. I hope they think it is good enough. I enjoyed making the top and found the pace of one star per week just about right for me. I was excited to get to Monday to find out what the next star would be but didn't feel behind.

I found 5.5 yards of cloth at the Thrift Store for a perfect backing – good quality, blue and white, star with another design, smallish print. Score!

New Quilt - Starlight

Lots going on here. Vacations! Concerts! Lots of work at odd hours. So, I have not posted in a while but am feeling caught up so here's my news: quilting and other.

I needed a new project to take on our family trip to Washington. I had some fabric I bought at the quilt show in Denver in March. I met the greatest gals at this booth called Grandma’s Quilts . Bonnie and Gloria helped me plow through all of their bins of cloth looking for coordinating and interesting cloth. They had tons of fat quarters! I went away with a bag full.

After looking at the other vendors, I returned to buy more! They were so great to talk with. They asked me what I was going to do with the cloth and I had a vague idea of making a fence post type quilt. Bonnie in particular encouraged me to think smaller. She showed me some of her work with 1 inch squares – it was impressive. I had not done really small work before and was kind of hesitant to commit – they were very persuasive. We agreed that I would email them in the future to tell them about my proposed design. The email clue would be “ok, you win” meaning that I had seen it their way. Well, for this new project, I needed something that I could hand sew during my daughters’ naps, in the car (maybe), on the plane (next to a 2 year old???), was easy to transport, could be done with cloth on hand and could be hand-sewn.

Quiltmania came through again with a beautiful design that met the criteria. I’m using mostly reds with some rusts, purples, and a few greens and blues. I need to make 184 of the hexagonal star shapes. I think this project will take me several years but so far, it is fun. The seam allowance is only 3/8” because of the convergence of so many seams at the center of the star. The first start took me about an hour but now I’m down to about 20 minutes. I find hand sewing incredibly relaxing. I like being able to sit and watch the Olympics now and generally being with my family in the evening.

Star Progress

Here are stars 11 and 12 from the QAL. So close! I also worked on the sashing strips a bit. I really like week 11 star - I think it looks complicated but it came together really easily.

I've also been busy with a summer bag project. I splurged on a pattern from Amy Butler. I had fun making the Birdie Sling using stash fabric. The batik fabric is 20 year old Dutch Wax from my days as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire! The blue handles used to be curtains and now appear in several of my quilts. The inside lining is a recent thrift store find. The pattern is easy to follow but there are a lot of pieces. The lining has 2 really nice pockets. I think the pattern is well thought out. I didn't end up using the fusible fleece between the exterior and the lining like the pattern called for. I got worried about the overall weight of the bag prior to stuffage, and then the puffiness of the bag too. Seems to have worked out ok and it was definately easier to sew together without the fusible fleece. Tilt your head to the left to view the picture properly. The blue is the handle, the batik (brown) is the body. Sorry, too tired to straighten out the picture.

I am reading a really good book right now called Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Mom's Project

The new cloth arrived. My mom is very excited to begin cutting out the blocks. Here is most of the cloth and a picture of the quilt from the magazine. See my previous post for the links to the magazine and the quilt shop and quilt designer.

Interesting - the colors in the picture are more vibrant than the actual cloth. Still very lovely in person, but the colors are more subtle and kind of dreamy. My mom is looking for the pink of the borders. She is having fun too trying to track down the exact cloth.

Here is the link to the magazine picture and quilt shop/designer again. I want to be sure to give proper credit to the artist.

Lillies Classic Quilts

Rules, Schmules...

Breaking my own, self-imposed, rule to only have one quilt going at a time, I started this one. My DH gave me this kit for Christmas after I saw it in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Quiltmania. I loved it! This picture does not do the turquoise/brown contrast justice. The one in the magazine is even more engaging.

I am almost done with the quilt top. I must have mis-cut the dark brown because I was short 4 of the side rectangles. Rats! I ended up ordering more fabric directly from Japan, with the help of a dear friend. I am anxiously awating the delivery of this cloth. Then I will complete the top.

The quilting is a simple nested curve design that I will try to do on my own. I am still happily working on the Star Quilt-A-Long. I am unhappy with my selection of blues for my color scheme so... I must go shopping!!

Birthday Quilt

This is a quilt I made for my friend Lorraine's birthday. She is the author of wonderful childrens' books. I wanted to celebrate her books and featured the book covers. The colors are so bright, I needed bright colors for a background, but didn't want to overwhelm the covers.

For the book covers, I scanned the image and made a JPG. I used Bubble Jet Set to treat 100% cotton muslin cloth and ironed it to freezer paper. I cut the pages to 8.5" by 11" and sent them through my color printer. I have a low-end HP color ink jet that worked very well. The Bubble Jet Set allows the colors to be permanently set into the cloth. I soaked the pages in synthrapol to get rid of excess ink. I lost some color but not a lot. Overall, I was happy with the result. I used directions I found on the internet.

I had it quilted by a professional long-arm quilter. She did a fabulous job. She used a pale yellow thread with a simple meandering design. She outlined the images on the book covers. This was the first time I had the quilting done by someone else. I was pleased with the result. My girlfriend was thrilled.