Jelly Roll for Zig Zaggy Quilt

This past weekend I mostly worked on the Blue Janus Quilt, which I called the Blue Quilt in a previous post. Those squares required a lot of chain piecing and I needed something to piece in between so that I wouldn’t have to cut threads each time I wanted to press as I moved farther along in the process.

I decided to start the Zig Zaggy quilt and use the pieces to help with my chain piecing.

Measuring

First, I looked at the Happy Zombie site again and confirmed the sizes. then I cut some samples. Happy Zombie used a special ruler and cut 5″ long wedges. Elizabeth Hartman from Oh Fransson! blog originally used templates and cut the wedges longer. I decided to use Happy Zombie’s method and trim later.

Zig Zaggy Sewn

I cut and sewed a few together, think I would do another colorwash look.

Blech!

I am not doing the colorwash. With just the purples it is too boring. the purples are all the same value and just don’t look like the colors are gradating. I am going to mix up the colors. I just didn’t get very far.

Design Exercises

We did a bunch of things at the CQFA meeting and one that I haven’t yet written about was the design exercises. We continued our design and creativity series (not sure if that is the name, but I had to make up something!). This time Friend Julie was the teacher. She used Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter: Improve Any Quilt with Easy-to-Follow Lessons by Katie Pasquini Masopust. I thought she was using the other book, so I told everyone the wrong thing, but no harm done in the end.

Julie decided to have us use paper instead of fabric and I think that got us to be a little freer. Julie was a great teacher! She gave clear directions, kept us on track and guided us skillfully.

The first exercise (upper left) was composing with line (pg.26 in Ms. Masopust’s book).  Julie had us cut lines and choose a design from the “Nine Patch of  Compositions.”

The second exercise was to break up the negative space with diagonal lines (upper right).

The next exercise allowed us to use curves (lower left). This is a design that reminds me of a quilt I have had on my inspiration board that is made of large feathers. I’ll make it someday.

Finally, we were allowed to use any of our scraps to create a final composition (lower right). The great part of this workshop was to work with others people and to see what they were making. It is fine line between seeing what people are doing and being influenced by what they are doing. I don’t think I was and I really enjoyed working with everyone.

Great job, Julie!

Announcing EQ7

I just heard the announcement for the new version of the Electric Quilt software, EQ7. This is an update to Electric Quilt 6.

I have used EQ since the dark ages of EQ3? EQ4? I can’t even remember. There are a number of things I like about the product, but the most important one to me is their customer service. I deal with bad customer service all day every day at my job. The EQ folks respond INTELLIGENTLY and TIMELY to emails. They even call if the email string is getting to complicated. I love good customer service and theirs is awesome.

I use EQ for designing a number of different projects: Flowering Snowball, Sorbet, 2009 Teacher pillows, the Pineapple, etc. I am not a very advanced user and have always wanted to take a class. It is still on my to do list.

I have tried out pattern/color keys using EQ6 and have had some trouble with the size of the file. I was successful with a Sorbet Color Key and I never really followed up to figure out my problem.

EQ7 Upgrade

The other thing I like about the software is that there are marked improvements in the software with each new release. I buy some upgrades of other software and think “brother, what is so new and great about this release?” Not with The Electric Quilt. I often think I don’t need the new version and then when I see the list of features, I have to buy it.

I am pretty excited about the new version’s features, especially since my EQ6 copy is on my dead computer and I just haven’t wanted to deal with the activation process. There have been multiple times recently when I wanted to do something and have been disappointed not to have dealt with the reinstallation.

I am sure there are a dozen more cool features. I love the digital / scanning possibilities.

You can find out more information at the Electric Quilt website or by calling: (800) 356-4219. No, I am not being paid to write this. Yes, they sent me a press release.

__________________________________________________

The Fine Print:

When will The Electric Quilt Company begin shipping EQ7?
We will begin shipping June 7, 2010.

What are the EQ7 and EQ7 Upgrade system requirements?
ELECTRIC QUILT 7
Minimum system requirements: Windows® XP, Windows® Vista, Windows® 7 (32 or 64 bit), Internet access, 750 MB of available hard-disk space, CD-ROM drive. Netbook compatible. Internet required for activation, deactivation, and periodic validations.
Recommended: Monitor with screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater, Adobe® Reader®, sound card for demo videos.
Activation: Internet access is required for activation and deactivation. Unlimited installations. Activations can be easily transferred between computers. Two (2) computers may be simultaneously active.

EQ7 UPGRADE
Minimum system requirements: Windows® XP, Windows® Vista, Windows® 7 (32 or 64 bit), Internet access, 750 MB of available hard-disk space, CD-ROM drive. Netbook compatible. Internet required for activation, deactivation, and periodic validations.
Recommended: Monitor with screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater, Adobe® Reader®, sound card for demo videos.
Activation: Internet access is required for activation and deactivation. Unlimited installations. Activations can be easily transferred between computers. Two (2) computers may be simultaneously active.

UPGRADE VERSION of Electric Quilt 7 This upgrade version of Electric Quilt 7 will install only if you are a licensed user of Electric Quilt 6 (EQ6). Visit www.electricquilt.com for other upgrade requirements.

What is the activation policy?
EQ7 has a new activation policy, created as a result of user feedback.

Activation: Internet access is required for activation and deactivation. Unlimited installations.
Activations can be easily transferred between computers. Two (2) computers may be simultaneously active.

Pavement to Row Quilt

I have been thinking of row quilts on and off for a long time. I wrote about a row quilt idea back in April of 2007. I have seen a number of them that I really like. One I remember was from a Sue Nickels machine quilting class I took a number of years ago at an EBHQ workshop. The quilt was called Blue Tulips on Pink Skies and you can see it in her gallery. She is a great teacher, by the way. I would highly recommend one of her classes.

I haven’t actually made one as I have plenty of other UFOs! Still, I cannot help being inspired when I see patterns and motifs that might work.

As I was walking to the Courthouse from the parking lot on Tuesday for jury duty, I noticed that the walkway would make a great pattern for a row quilt, especially if you wanted a simple one.

I took this with my phone so there isn’t much that you can see. The basic idea of the paving was that they had laid three rows of 4patches (right of photo) by the width of the sidewalk. I was late so I didn’t count. Those four patches were interspersed with many, many (perhaps 20?) of rail fence blocks by the width of the sidewalk.

I would have to figure out how to make the proportions look like the sidewalk without making a quilt that was 1/8th of a mile long! Perhaps really small blocks? This particular idea might also be a good idea for a monochromatic quilt. Hhhhm lots of food for thought.

Inspiration everywhere!

I have been thinking about fabric design a lot lately. I think it is something that I would love to do. Well, the finished product with my name on it would be great. After hearing Anna Maria Horner talk about the process, I am not sure if I am motivated enough to do all the work entailed for an actual fabric collection. If a fabric manufacturer came knocking, I would definitely find the motivation!!

One of the things I have been thinking about is must-have motifs in a collection. What parts of a collection do I always buy? Stripes and dots, definitely.

Eliza Stripe by Westminster

I like the above stripes, which I bought during my week away at Fabric Crush in Magnolia, because they are relatively bright and regularly spaced. I also like the ratio of white to color. In my regular fabric psychosis mind, I keep thinking “oh dear! I didn’t buy enough! I should have bought 2 yards!” despite the FACT that I haven’t used any of them and they were just washed over the weekend.

I also liked the stripes from P&B’s Pop Parade collection if the mythical fabric company wants some wonky stripes.

Ta Dot/Michael Miller & Emmalynn's Days of the Week

Above are a couple of the dot motifs that I like. Both are regularly spaced, but have slightly different sized dots.  The Emmalynn’s Days of the Week by Susan Osborne are on the top and the Ta Dot is below. There are some scatter kind of dots that I like as well. I find myself gravitating towards the regularly spaced dots lately. I think I need something to count on in my life lately.

Perhaps in my mythical fabric collection I would have a couple of regularly spaced dots (smaller and larger??) as well as some scatter dots or spots.
Barbara Brackman brought a new thought in this vein to mind in a post where she talked about how paisleys were must have motifs in a certain era (Civil War??) of fabric design. I haven’t noticed many paisley type prints lately so I don’t know if they are modern enough to go along with the popular prints today. I haven’t been looking, so they could be out there. I have bought a few paisleys in the past as I recall. I definitely won’t be a designing fabrics in Civil War era colors! Still paisleys are an interesting shape and have a lot of opportunity for designexploration. I’ll have to play around with some paisleys and see what I come up with.

I’ll have to think about what else I would include. I am not sure if I would want a focus fabric as I have no idea what I would design for a focus fabric. Flowers? Trees? Snowflakes? I don’t know. A collection without a focus fabric may be a total non-starter for the mythical fabric company that comes knocking on my door, so I’ll have to think about it.

I have always thought that ‘basics’ collections were very appealing. You can buy a lot of them in many colorways (regular stream of income for the company!) and they are useful for a variety of projects. They tend to stick around in terms of being able to buy them, which is an added bonus for those of us who don’t manage to finish projects very quickly.

I would love to see basics types collections be expanded upon rather than just dropped because the Color Council issues new colors. I think Moda Marbles are an excellent example of a successful basics collection. Not only do they have their basic tone-on-tone version, but they expanded out to the Moda Marble Dots and the Moda Marble Stars. Very clever of Patrick Lose to expand in that way. How about Moda Marble Stripe, Patrick?

P&B New Basics was fabulous as well. I have linked to their current colors, which are very dark and not as interesting to me as the previously issued brighter colors.

So, I wonder if I should include some tone-on-tones in my fabric collection? It might be easier to coordinate them with the Moda Marbles or another basics type collection? Hhhmmm…

So, you can see what wanders around in my head as I navigate the rest of my non-quiltmaking life. What do you think your must haves are when you consider purchasing a whole fabric collection?

Tarts, Small Drip

This is the piece of pie and whipped cream, which you have seen four dozen times. I am forced to continue to show it to you until you scream for mercy. Only because you asked for it.

Okay! Okay! I am not so mean. This is actually a slightly larger drip than before. I took your advice and decided to make the drip a little larger. I don’t think it is large enough here. When I stand back, it still looks like a speck. I don’t want people to think I made a big boo-boo on the applique’.

Tarts, Big Drip

Here is the big drip. It looks like something! I used the same shape; just made it a bit bigger. I like it and it will probably be sewed down this weekend.

Sewing it down would be very nice, because then I can get it off of my design wall and put something else up.

Oh. The back. I still have to make the back. Sigh.

I know you thought I forgot about the Tarts. Or, perhaps, you thought I abandoned the piece for another 3 years?

Oh ye of little faith!

Non quilt parts of my life have been busier than usual. I have still taken the time to diligently test your ideas for the whipped cream on the second piece of pie after I posted some thoughts in a previous blog post. I thought it would be easy and fast. HA! When will I ever learn?

Another issue is that the 9K is back in the shop. It is fixed now, but I won’t be able to pick it up (80+ mile round trip) until Friday since I am going out of town on Tuesday and the shop is closed on Monday. I tested an approximation of a satin stitch on the Jem. The Jem is a great machine, but the satin stitch it makes doesn’t compare to the 9K’s satin stitch. I need to wait until the 9K returns from his/her vacation. I’ll get everything ready, however.

Below are the candidates:

Whipped Cream #3

I liked this one, but didn’t think it was enough. I thought it needed more of something. Someone mentioned a drip in a comment, so I started working on that.

Whipped Cream #4

The drip above is too small. I want it to stand out a bit more against the plate.

Whipped Cream Test #5

The one above is pretty good in terms of having more than just an element on the top. However, the indentation in the top of the dripped whipped cream on the plate looks strange. It may be realistic, but it doesn’t look fun or interesting.

Whipped Cream #6

The one above is the option I have decided to use. I like the more engaged shape of the drip. I don’t think that is how drips really look, but this quilt isn’t reality.

As you can see, I take Lorraine Torrence’s admonishment to “make visual decisions visually” to heart.

I’d like to baste the Tarts at the next CQFA meeting on Saturday. In order to accomplish that goal, I need to get the whipped cream on the pie. I made the pattern and have been auditioning it in slightly varied locations all over the pie.

Pie Cream #1

The above photo shows the crust stitching (see below), but I still don’t like the placement.

Pie Cream, in context

The above shows the whipped cream on the pie from a little further back, so it can be seen in context. It does look better from this distance.

Pie Cream #2

The above location does not work. I am rather proud of that crust and the location of the whipped cream covers up my lovely stitching.

I am thinking that the ultimate problem is that I made the pattern too big and it should be a smaller mound of whipped cream, like on the cupcake. I am also thinking about adding a cherry instead of whipped cream.

I have a box of Recchiuti that I have been slowly savoring as I work on the Tarts project. The box is almost empty and, TA DAH, I have reached a major milestone in the work on the Tarts project!

Tarts Top Complete, August 2009

Your eyes do not deceive you. The Tarts Come to Tea top is completely sewn together. I had some bits of time over the weekend and used those bits to work on the Tarts. I really need to get this piece off my design wall and work on something easy. I resisted the urge, especially after all this time, to just throw the thing together. I really looked at it as my last opportunity to fix any despicable design decisions.

My first order of business was to replace the yellow cup.

Yellow Print Cup

I like the cup itself and am pleased with the fussy cutting and satin stitch quality. As part of the complete Tarts Come to Tea design,  it didn’t work. My eye kept jumping to it. While I want the viewer’s eye to move around the piece, I didn’t want it to be glued to the yellow cup.

New Pie, August 2009

TFQ suggested pie.  Since I was thinking along the lines of a pastry or tart as well, I appliqued another piece of pie. I used the same design as the original piece of pie.

Old Pie, August 2009

The problem was that they were too similar. I didn’t make enough changes to the design, even though the colors/fabrics are different. The similarities are highlighted because the two elements are close together in the piece.

I resolved the issue in my mind, however. I am going to applique’ some whipped cream on top of the new piece of pie, and perhaps a cherry. It will overlap on to the blue block above it. I planned to do it before the entire piece was sewn together, but I got caught up in the excitement and focus of the sewing and forgot. I’ll add it later this week or on the weekend.

Upper Left, August 2009

I had already started to sew sections together last weekend when I tried to tell myself I was finished. Still, there was a lot of piecing to do, so I got too it.

Upper Middle, August 2009

One thing I forgot about improvisational piecing is that one has to add bits and pieces in between. I really didn’t want to do much of that, because I liked the look of the blocks being next to each other. That meant some trimming and adding little bits, which I did, and which will, hopefully, be mostly hidden once the piece is completed. I couldn’t avoid adding some bits and I had to pay attention to the checkerboards, because I didn’t want to cut them off in the middle of a square.

Lower Left, August 2009

There were a few places where I couldn’t trim and augment. Those spots should be readily apparent from the photo. In general, I am pleased with the way the piece turned out.

Quilting is next, of course. As I mentioned in the last post about the Tarts, I seriously thinking about quilting the piece myself. I want it to be done a certain way. I don’t think I am good enough yet on the longarm to quilt the detailed design I have in mind. I really want the cups and pastries to stand out. More thinking on this is required.

I can’t really believe that it is together. It has been such a long process!

Possible Quilt Layout

The picture is of wrapping paper covering the door windows of a studio space. I saw the paper and thought the design would make a good quilt layout.

I noticed the four patch-like red block alternating with the  slightly tilted asterisk. I think that once could alternate the asterisk with a star block or some round design.

Tarts, June 12, 2009

I have been staring at this quilt on my design wall for months. I am glad it is progressing; the end is finally in sight. I will be very glad when I get it sewn together and off my design wall!

I made one tiny change to the arrangement of the Tarts Come to Tea. Can you identify the change? You can see the previous iteration on the June 4th, 2009 post. What do you think?

OK. I won’t keep you tortured in suspense. I moved the china cups up. I am still considering their new spot. It is less fabric and seams next to the twirly handle coffee pot. Also, it is fewer cups next to each other. The heart makes a bit of a break for the eye for the middle cups. My eyes were looking at all of those cups in a row and wondering if they would fly off the quilt.

Tarts, May 31, 2009

Most of the work on the Tarts has been mental lately. Those of you thinking mental case, may be right.

With all of the rote sewing I have been doing lately I haven’t made the time to sit down and do the next drawing, which will be another pastry.

I am liking this layout. I think it adds a bit of movement at the top, though I am not sure why.  I like the vertical checkerboard next to the tea kettle and will put a piece of it above the tall frothy drink as well. The orange squiggles between the red cappucino cups and the tall frothy drink will probably be replaced by some vertical silverware. Onward!

Summary: this post follows up on Saturday’s post about the Pamela Allen class.

I realized that when I am in a class with Pamela, I do think outside of my own quiltmaking box. I also realized that if I just listen and do what she says  I succeed. I also feel a bit freer in my work. I really have a strong feeling that I need to make a much larger piece in Pamela’s style.

Pamela gave us tips and I interpreted them as:

• make lots of art because not all of it will be good; small is good
• your first idea will be crap, so don’t cling to it
• put the big shapes down first
• move things around; try a new view
• if you are bored by your piece everyone else will be as well

We talked a lot about art quilts at our dinner out together. I feel strongly that all quilts need to have a good design. Block type quilts have a basic structure which helps with good design. Most art quilts do not have a basic, inherent structure and some go astray because the quiltmaker doesn’t care, doesn’t know how to initiate and then evaluate a design or doesn’t have the technique foundation. I think it is easy to find out about these things. There are a lot of good principles of design type books, such as Pentak and Lauer’s Design Basics. The basic thing concerning technique in art quilts is that they don’t fall apart upon hanging. Pamela doesn’t have the classic quilt background that many quiltmakers have, but she has learned what she needs to keep the quilts structurally sound and then applied her art and design training. This is the best of both worlds and this is where I really want to be.

You can see from the gallery above how she inspires great and different work. Diane is a wonderful silk painter. She normally paints a whole cloth piece on silk and then quilts it. Her blue trees piece is really different from her normal style and really, truly wonderful. Kristen is very busy with her family and doesn’t have tons of time to sew, but made some fantastic pieces that her children would enjoy. I love that space alien monster! Kristen’s pieces are also cheerful and imaginative and wonderfully creative. Mrs. K’s sauguaro cactus/Suspicion Mountains piece has a calmness to I that I love. I hope she finishes it and hangs it somewhere where it can inspire other people. Everyone really did fantastic work and I am sorry I didn’t take more photos.

Creative Mess #2

Creative Mess #1

We made a creative mess. Mess is the wrong word; we had supplies and we needed to use them. When you only have 15 minutes to make a piece of art, the fabric will be flying and it was. I brought my scraps which kept ending up on the floor. People would stop by, pick up some bit of fabric and ask to whom it belonged. It became quite hilarious. We really couldn’t have done the workshop without Mrs. K. She brought tubs of fabric which allowed us to actually have backs and batting and such things. I seemed to conveniently forget those supplies when I go to Pamela’s workshops! DUH!