Teacher Pillows 2009 Complete

The four Teacher Pillows are complete. I have one more pillow form, but the Child is being uncooperative about the last drawing, so I may just save the pillow form for next year. I could take a drawing out of his drawing book and use that…. We’ll see. I think I am done with this project except for the wrapping the pillows in pretty paper.

Tangled Star - EQ6
Tangled Star - EQ6

The above is the outline/color drawing that can be printed from EQ6. It turns out that this was useless to me when I went to make the block, or so I thought.

Resource Teacher Pillow
Resource Teacher Pillow

This is how my version came out. I keep pictures of all of the pillows so I know what the past pillows looked like. That way I can use the same or similar fabrics and the teachers end up with sets of pillows if they teach the Child more than one year. This is the 3rd or 4th pillow I have made for this teacher.

Key for Foundation Piecing
Key for Foundation Piecing

This block is foundation pieced, so I also printed the segments (see below). When I looked at the printed segments, they made no sense to me. The design page ended up as a wonderful key to the colors and placement of the fabrics. I wrote letters on each piece, which correspond to the letters I wrote on the pattern pieces.

Pattern pieces ready to cut out and sew
Pattern pieces ready to cut out and sew

You can see, if you click on the picture to make it bigger and look carefully a letter, a number and a color. The color notes which fabric I need to use. The letter corresponds to the letter on the design key, which I added to make sure I didn’t assign two segments to the same section of the block. The number is the piecing/sewing order. Doing the prep took some time, but it was worth it once I started to piece. The segment pieces/patterns really don’t look like they will make the Tangled Star block, so these strategies really helped.

Piecing Order detail
Piecing Order detail

Above shows the segment after I have pieced the fabric on to it. The red and gold needed to be pieced first, which they were. I then trimmed them and sewed on the green. In this photo the green still needs to be trimmed.

Resource Teacher Pillow back
Resource Teacher Pillow back

Above is the back. The drawing is a sort of label. The Child has a distinctive drawing style that the teachers seem to enjoy. I usually let him draw whatever he wants.

Teacher Pillow Labels
Teacher Pillow Labels

To make the label, I divide up a sheet of copy/printer paper into 4 sections. Then I draw in the seam allowances and have the Child draw inside the lines. Once done, I copy onto fabric backed with freezer paper or something. I get it from Dharma, but The Electric Quilt Company and many other companies sell similar products. Once the drawings have been transferred, I rotary cut the labels apart on the cutting lines and add each label as part of the back of the pillow cover.

Omega Block Pillow, Social Studies Teacher, 6B
Omega Block Pillow, Social Studies Teacher, 6B

I let The Child pick out the blocks. I do have to guide and encourage him a little as this is a boring exercise for him and he, usually, just wants to get it over with as quickly as possible. This year he took more of an interest. Above is the block (Omega) he chose for his social studies teacher. They just finished studying Greece, so I think the Greek alphabet was on his mind. He also informed me that Omega is his favorite Greek letter.

I printed out the rotary cutting directions for the Omega, thinking that I could just make it that way. The pillow forms were 14″ so I had to scale up which resulted in a lot of 16th inch measurements. After cutting about the 10th 16th inch cut, I decided that foundation piecing was the way to go.

Sometimes he gets a little too enthusiastic. He wanted me to make a Mariner’s Compass for his resource teacher and I flat out refused. If I am going to make a Mariner’s Compass I have to start a lot earlier.

Omega Block, back
Omega Block, back

The Child used a lot more words on his  labels his year than he has in the past.

Homeroom Teacher, 6A
Homeroom Teacher, 6A

This is the first block I made. I wanted simple blocks. They got harder the more The Child was involved. He did the color selection on this one (orange and purple). I was skeptical until I found the flower print with a similar color scheme.

Homeroom Teacher Pillow, back
Homeroom Teacher Pillow, back

I hope she can read the back. It is really squished.

Teacher Aide Pillow
Teacher Aide Pillow

I really like the color scheme of this pillow. The Child went with the colors EQ6 had in their example and I think it works.  I took the opportunity to use the blue in one of the Infinity blocks as well. The color scheme reminds me of the color scheme for a RUSH day I organized in college. We wore yellow, red and green dresses and looked really bright and cheerful.

Teacher Aide Pillow, back
Teacher Aide Pillow, back

I was a little concerned about the drawing on the back as the Aide does not look very happy in his drawing. I asked the Child about the drawing and, being a boy of few words, refused to discuss it with me. I asked if she always had a lot of filing to do and he said no. That was really the end of the discussion. Oh well, I have a policy of not censoring his art if it isn’t rude or p*rnographic, so she will have to make of it what she will.

From the past:

2008 Teacher Pillows

2007 Teacher Pillows

And here are a couple from prior to 2007, as far as I can tell. 😉

4th Grade Aide Pillow
4th Grade Aide Pillow
3rd Grade Teacher Pillow
3rd Grade Teacher Pillow
4th Grade Teacher Pillow
4th Grade Teacher Pillow

Creative Prompt Response #15: Exploring Squares

Amy of Creative Mom Podcast posted a picture of one of her ATCs. It was the ATC response to the March ATC project she does. I think the prompt was Lucky, but am not sure. I kept thinking about that ATC and the squares and wasn’t able to get them out of my mind.

CB2 Wall Decor, May 2009
CB2 Wall Decor, May 2009

THEN I saw a piece of art that resembled the ATC in the CB2 catalog and knew something was happening. Last hursday night, in the midst of the complete chaos into which my life had devolved, I went upstairs, opened up a sketchbook, which is too big and thus intimidating, and drew some connected squares. Then I went, rummaged around in my scrap basket and got some of those blues of which I am so fond lately. I cut them up into squares and glued them over the drawn squares.

My Squares, May 2009
My Squares, May 2009

Then I closed the book, did my exercises and went to bed.

The whole experience was good. A little surreal, but good.

Update 5/30/2009 – After reading a magazine I was reminded of some quilts by Denyse Schmidt that also look like the above works. One is a quilt called What a Bunch of Squares and the other was called Mental Blocks.

Beach Town Progress

Beach Town, after quilting
Beach Town, after quilting

A friend on FB asked me to post Beach Town. As you regular readers know, I get around to posting everything eventually and this past week has been a bit of a challenge. I wondered whether I should post this on Monday to give you more days to look at, but eventually decided just to stack up a couple of posts today and get through the backlog. When I prepare posts and set them to post on a future date, I can’t link to them until they are posted.

I spent Monday afternoon and evening working on the machine quilting of this piece. I still have the purple part of the road and the sky as well as the flowers to quilt, but am mostly done.

I am pleased with how the piece is shaping up. I liked the fluffiness of it before I began the quilting. Now I really like how flat it gets after quilting.

I have to remember to machine quilt it before I start the hand stitching. I know that will be hard in future Pamela Allen classes because of he flow of the class and how excited I get about the pieces I create in her classes.

It took me a long time (well, a month, which seemed like an eternity) to get back to this piece.  I learned something from my mistakes, though:

  • cover the batting somehow
  • stick or pin everything down really WELL
  • Ensure the pieces are large enough to overlap to prevent gap-osis
  • machine quilt before hand stitching
Beach Town, top detail
Beach Town, top detail

I do need more quilting on the sky. I just went around each sunbeam in order to tack down the repaired part of the sky. The other part of the sky is just too fluffy, so I will quilt some more in the area on the right of the piece.

I spent a lot of time on the tree, so that the lean, straight shape would be maintained. I think I succeeded?!

Beach Town, bottom detail
Beach Town, bottom detail

Quilting the bottom was a little more of a challenge because I didn’t want the quilting to stand out. That meant a lot of stopping and starting with new colors. That is ok. I spent some time in the evenings during the week working on little bits of the piece. As I mentioned I still need to quilt the purple part of the road and I think some hand stitching will be required.

I don’t know if I will machine quilt the flowers. I am not that into free motion quilting right now. I may just tack them down a little and then do some detailed hand stitching. It may be that I just bead them to try and maintain the look of the color statement. I haven’t done anything there yet, so I will have think about it some more.We’ll have to see.

Creative Prompt #15: Square

A cube.

A box.

A plane with 4 sides.

Are you square? Do you live on a square? Do you walk or gather on the town square?

There is more information and inspiration on the Creative Prompt Page, which I have been updating fairly frequently.

Post the specific URL or deep link where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted in the comments area of this post. It is an easy and good way to keep all the artwork together.

See the Creative Prompt page if you want to more information how to participate in this project. You can also click ‘Creative Prompt’ in the tag cloud and see more prompts and responses.

Sketching #14: Queen

Creative Prompt Response #14: Queen
Creative Prompt Response #14: Queen

I didn’t realize how hard this prompt would be until I posted it. I thought of the series of drawings (are they a series??) that I have going and my heart sank. How would I fit this word into the series?

Then, during my creative binge over the weekend, I had a glimmer of an idea. I let it roll around in my head until finally it jelled. Then, I thought about how I would draw it.

When I sat down to do it the drawing today, it was done except for putting pen to paper. I really had done the whole thing and knew exactly how I would put it on the paper.

I finished and found that it was too boring. It was the perfect time to look through some of my previous efforts. I took the opportunity to add some details from previous drawings and I hope the details will add continuity.

I have mentioned her several times, but as I listened to another Creative Mom Podcast, I have to thank Amy for inspiring me to draw by speaking so eloquently about it. Thanks for taking the time, and expending the energy on your podcast. I appreciate it.

Weekend Mess

I really cannot believe that it is Wednesday already. I am glad, because that means the weekend is closer. The week is flying by.

Preventing an Avalanche
Preventing an Avalanche

As you know from a previous post, my fabric closet is prone to avalanches. I needed to rummage towards the bottom of a stack for a plaid. I took all the fabric from that section out and it sat on the floor where I rummaged through it, petted it, looked at it and reorganized by color. Most of it is back in the closet now, but there are a few pieces that still need some attention.

I have a stack of dots that won’t fit in the dot drawers. The need a home. A stack of Jennifer Sampou fabrics destined for a future Interlocking Triangles quilt that I need to integrate with their fellows.

It was fun to look through the fabric. I refreshed my stack of blues for the Infinity blocks. I made 8 of those this weekend in the process – four for me and four for my SIL. They make a good warm up for sewing.

Fabric 2
Fabric 2

I also found the piece of plaid I needed. It wasn’t in the giant stack, however. It was in the green bin so I didn’t really need to take all that fabric out! Oh well, as I said, it was fun.

Inspiration: Quick Note

Anna's Tulips
Anna's Tulips

I know that I ignored you all weekend. I spent about 24 hours over the three days sewing and really got a lot done. It is difficult to be at work today, because I am still desperate to be at my sewing machine. Needless to say, I have a ton to discuss.

Quick recap:

  • Teacher pillows: done! Not wrapped
  • 4 Infinity blocks done
  • Beach Town: repaired and 3/4s machine quilted

Photos, etc to follow.

Facing Tutorial

I started out with Jeri Riggs’ directions, which Maureen pointed out to me. You need those directions. I needed some clarification and my additions to Jeri’s post comprises the info below.

You need to know the length of each side of your quilt before you start.

A=Top of quilt
B= bottom of quilt
C/D= sides of quilt

Facing on Side A & B
Facing on Side A & B

Cut your facing pieces as follows:

A: 5″ x width of quilt
B: 5″ x width of quilt

You can change the 5″ size of the A/B pieces depending on whether you have a large quilt or a small quilt. 5″ is my starting point and I look at the size of the quilt and adjust from there. You want to be able to double the the fabric so you don’t have to make a hem and not have the two sides of the facing meet each other in the center of the quilt.

C: 5″ x width of quilt minus 4″
D: 5″ x width of quilt minus 4″

You make the C/D pieces shorter because you want to reduce the bulk in the corners. The C/D pieces will be positions on top of the A/B pieces.

One of the things I really had a hard time understanding in Jeri Riggs tutorial was the difference between what I needed do on the top/bottom (designated as A and B) versus the left/right sides (designated as C & D). The whole idea for the different facing sizes is to reduce bulk in the corners.

Cutting facings: For the A/B (top/bottom) of the quilt cut a facing rectangle that covers the entire top or entire bottom from side to side and is your preferred width. I cut mine, as noted above 5″ for large quilts x the width of the quilt. Adjust as necessary.

I cut the piece a little longer (mostly because I am too lazy to measure more than approximately unless I MUST). Trim off most of the excess after pinning the facing to the top and bottom. You can see in the photo that I followed Jeri Riggs directions by pressing a 1/4″ on the long side of the facing that would NOT be machine sewed to the quilt. Instead of doing this, fold your strip in half and pin the raw edge side to the edge of the quilt.

Sewing

Once the facing pieces are laid out, trimmed and pinned, I machine sewed one facing to the top (A) and the bottom (B). Note on the sewing: The key is to sew starting on the short side (Side C) of the A/B facing starting at the edge of the pressed over 1/4″ seam, go around the corner, continue on the long side (very top of the quilt t0 Side A), go around the corner and continue along Side D to the edge of of the facing where you have pressed over the 1/4″ seam. You are sewing the A/B facings using a seam that is shaped like a big U. You will have no part of the A & B facings flooping around.

Sewing Facing for A & B
Sewing Facing for A & B

Nota bene: The only reason I flipped the bottom of the quilt over (photo right) is because I have a small sewing table. You don’t need to do this. If you have a large sewing table, you only need to flip it if it is creating drag on the quilt as you sew it.

Nota bene: This is a small piece and I would recommend trying the process out on a small piece so you get the feel of the process. If you have an unused machine quilting test piece, it would be a perfect piece to use to try this technique out. Of course, you can always make a little quilt-let. 😉

Aligning C & D
Aligning C & D

This photo (left) is a little bit blurry and I apologize for that. In the photo you can see Side D laid over Side B (bottom). Note how it does not extend to the bottom of the quilt. You need to cut the facing pieces  for Sides C & D shorter than the facing pieces for Sides A & B. By cutting the facing pieces only 1/4″ – 3/4s” over the A & B facings, you reduce the bulk in the corners.

On Sides C & D, only sew along the long side of the facing. The raw edge of the short side of the facing will be covered by facings on Sides A & B once you flip the facings to the back.

Now the machine sewing is complete and you are ready to flip the facings to the back of the quilt.

Flip over Side C & D
Flip over Side C & D

The picture to the right shows the quilt after I flipped Sides C & D. Look at the bottom right hand corner (by the green olive) and you can see the seam with the batting. This means that after you complete the machine sewing you flip sides C & D to the back. I pressed the folded edge (edge of the quilt where you machine sewed) so that the facing would stay to the back. After pressing, I pinned the Sides C & D facings to the back of the quilt to keep it in place until I could hand sew it down.

Finished and Flipped Piece
Finished and Flipped Piece

This picture is serving two purposes. First, it shows how the piece looks after you flip all the sides. Flip Sides A & B after you have successfully flipped, pressed and pinned Sides C & D. After flipping Sides A & B, press and pin those facings as well. Because Sides A & B have been machine sewed in a U shape, pinning is optional.

After you flip all the sides, I finished the piece using hand sewing. I think this technique requires hand sewing as I can’t think of another way to finish it. You machine only people may be able to think of another way to finish the piece. If you do I would like to know. I don’t mind handwork, as you have probably noticed. 😉 I just sat down and did it with some matching thread and a Harry Potter movie. Only got through a small amount of the HP movie as the handsewing went really quickly.

After pressing and pinning, the only problem I had was not poking myself with the pins as I hand sewed. Normally, I use metal hairclips on a regular binding, however they won’t work on this facing technique, because it is too wide.

The picture above also shows how the quilt looks when the facing has been completed.

One thought about this process, which Maureen pointed out to me, but I didn’t understand until I did the process, is that the facing becomes a design element on the back depending on what fabric you use. In House & Garden, above, I used the same fabric I had used for the back, because I don’t really care about this back (may frame this piece; we’ll see ). One thing about testing this process is that you can see what you are facing on the back.

Remember I couldn’t have done this without Jeri Riggs laying the groundwork and Maureen helping me figure out the practical details.

Let me know if you have any questions or need further clarification. I also want to hear your stories of making facings. I may update this page based on new information and things that you tell me.

Creative Prompt #14: Queen

Are you the queen of a mythical land?

Are you a queen in hiding?

Queen Bee?

Queen for a  Day?

Quilt Queen?

Craft Queen?

Queen Mother?

Queen of Hearts? of Spades? of Clubs? of Diamonds?

See the Creative Prompt page if you want to know how to participate in this project.

Post the specific URL or deep link where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted in the comments area of this post. It is an easy and good way to keep all the artwork together.

There is more information and inspiration on the Creative Prompt Page, which has recently been updated.

House & Garden Finished!

House & Garden, finished May 16, 2009
House & Garden, finished May 16, 2009

I know I showed this earlier this week, but I wanted it to have its own celebratory post.

House & Garden Finished!!!

This quilt was started in Pamela Allen’s class at EBHQ in May 2007. Two years, almost to the day later. Hopefully, the ones I started last month at CQFA won’t take that long

Learning Something New

It is always a good day when I learn something new. Yesterday I learned out to make a facing, made a facing and am thrilled! Maureen, a quiltmaker whose work I greatly admire, was making a facing at the CQFA Retreat. She pointed me to Jeri Riggs’ directions later.

A facing is a way of finishing a quilt so that the edging (binding) does not show on the front. You may not always to want a frame (binding) around your quilt. This is a design element that will work with some pieces. I think that this technique will work for a number of my Pamela Allen pieces.

I learn best when someone shows me how to do something, so reading the directions and trying to make the facing left me scratching my head in confusion. I finally called Maureen and she walked me through the process. She sprinkled in a few tips and tricks she has added to the web directions.

It isn’t difficult at all. It reminds me of making a tote bag the first time. Once you do it, you know it and can make the process your own.

This means that the House & Garden Quilt is done! YAY!

House & Garden, finished May 16, 2009
House & Garden, finished May 16, 2009

Well, it still needs a label and I need to decide about a sleeve.

Deadly Flax

We have an independent art store in the City called Flax. It is art and inspiration nirvana. I didn’t mean to go there, but I ended up there on Friday.

I went to an appointment and then out to lunch. My last stop before home was the shoe store, which is in a completely different neighborhood. In looking for the shortcut street, I overshot and ended up in the no left turn land of Market Street, heading downtown. I wasn’t lost; I knew exactly where I was. I was just not where I wanted/needed to be to get to the shoe store. I tried to recalculate and readjust and each time I did I ended up where I didn’t want to go. Suddenly, like a beacon of light and hope there was Flax on the correct side of the street with a parking place conveniently located. How could I not stop?

It has been a few years since I have been there as it is off my beaten path. Amy of the Creative Mom podcast (have to get that woman out of my mind!!!) mentioned her trip there recently and it stuck in my mind.

It is wonderful. Big and open with helpful, CHEERFUL workers and lots of art supplies. I decided while I was there that I would get a Pitt pen (again, Amy mentioned it) and do some Christmas shopping.

Christmas, you ask? Yes, never hurts to start early and I want to spread out the financial pain.

I bought a Pitt pen, I bought some of the Miguelrius journals in a color I hadn’t seen (can’t ever have too many journals! Especially now since I am writing a lot), bought a book, gel/scrapbook pens and a couple of other things for gifts. They also have stationery that I used to buy by the pound as a teenager. It is thick and heavy and you can buy it by the sheet as well. I bought a couple of sheets, a folded card and an envelope so I can write a nice long letter.

Colorful Stationery
Colorful Stationery

They also have a line of organizational boxes and files called Semikolon, which have dot designs. Have to have some of those once the financial situation eases.

They also have a ton of gorgeous ribbon. For embellishing art quilts, the prices were quite reasonable. It is high end ribbon, so they start at a ~$1.50/yard, but you don’t need much, right?

It was refreshing and I know I have to take TFQ and Julie there next time they come for a visit.

An Aside

I tried out the Pitt pen on the Tree prompt response, which I will post later. It is a little thn for my tastes, but like the waterproof quality. I will have to investigate and see if they have thicker ones. I liked the line and color black better than the Sharpie fine linr I have been using since the plane ink explosion incident.