Purple Improv Donation Quilt

Tim and I had lunch, then worked together on the BAM website this past week. After we were done, we looked at his projects and considered quilts.

Purple Improv Donation Quilt
Purple Improv Donation Quilt

One thing he did since the last time I saw him was quilt the purple improv donation top. Now it is a donation quilt!

His skills are improving tremendously and I think this quilt looks really good. I love the designs he chose.

This will be part of the exhibit we are planning, so we won’t give it in just yet. We need someone to bind it and Tim was going to see if Mary could do it.

Revisiting Sew Day with Gerre

I wrote a post for each of the projects I worked on at Sew Day with Gerre, but I just had to look at all of them just to see if I really accomplished as much as I thought.

I worked on a couple of different projects, as you know, not one to completion, but that is ok.

Red Donation Block
Two Green Gift Bags
Flapper Apron for Mom-preparing to cut
Outside of 4 Zip Organizer, quilted
Outside of 4 Zip Organizer, quilted detail
Lobster progress - June 2019
[Show slideshow]
Gerre's Betsy Bag
Gerre’s Betsy Bag

Gerre sent me a photo of the Betsy Bag on which she worked while I was there. It is an interesting design. She said the directions were difficult to interpret.

I think it was worth it. I think I need some time occasionally to work on projects where I need to get past a block. This Sew Day provided that.

Flying Around Again

After a few weeks of hiatus, I finally spent some time on this project again this past weekend.

Flying Around- late June 2019
Flying Around- late June 2019

I was feeling bad about Flying Around – sort of uninterested and not getting anything done. What I needed was some time to work on it. This is not a sew and think about something else. This is a thinking project. Every seam I sew requires thought. These types of projects require time and no interruptions.

I got into the groove and made some good progress. I added a purple Friendship Circle, which you can see adds a lot to the piece. It isn’t sewn yet, so we will see some better photos later.

I also sewed some sections together, which makes it look more like a quilt.

Orange Strip Donation Top

I worked on Flying Around over the weekend, as mentioned. In addition,  I made the orange strip donation blocks as leaders and enders.

4 Orange Strip Donation blocks
4 Orange Strip Donation blocks

These are harder to make. Not in terms of technical skills, but in terms of fabric. I don’t have as many orange scraps as I have other scraps. I went through the unsorted scrap pile on my cutting table and came up with a few strips and chunks that will help with the effort. I may have to abandon the strip idea and go straight to more of a chunk/improv look.

As I make these blocks, I am amazed at how much I love the fabrics in my orange scrap bin. As I said, I don’t have a lot of orange scraps, but most of those I do have speak to me. perhaps I chose well when buying orange fabrics?

Progress on 4-Zip Organizer

Sewing at Gerre’s house was great. In addition to progress on the gift bags, the Lobster and another Flapper apron, I also made a minute amount of progress on the 4-Zip Organizer.

Outside of 4 Zip Organizer, quilted
Outside of 4 Zip Organizer, quilted

My next step was to quilt it. Quilting is always a step that stalls me on a project. this was such a small amount of quilting that it shouldn’t have been a problem. It wasn’t a problem this time and I did the quilting at Gerre’s while chatting. It doesn’t look that different now – just quilted. I have to trim the quilted piece to its correct size, but that part is done.

I wanted to work on this project over the weekend, but I was absorbed by Flying Around. Also, DH and I went out to the movies. Still, I am thrilled that I have made some progress.

Lobster Progress!

Lobster progress - June 2019
Lobster progress – June 2019

Amazing, I know! I finished the stitching on the Lobster. It wasn’t really very much and I am kind of embarrassed that it took me so long. I thought it was much more, which kind of validates what I learned in Lorraine Torrence’s class a long time ago: Make visual decisions visually. This isn’t exactly a visual decision as choosing one fabric over another would be. It is a visual decision in that if I had looked at this piece carefully, I would have seen how little I had left to stitch.

I’m not done yet. I want to hand embroider the feelers on the lobster’s head. I have to finish it. I don’t think I will quilt it. I think that there is a enough stitching. I do have to finish it in some way. Framing seems the best, but I don’t have a spare wall to hang it. I am still thinking about what to do.

Two Gift Bags

Wrapping gifts in paper is one of my least favorite activities. Gift wrapping is tolerable when I use gift bags, but still not a favorite activity. I envy the people who wrap gifts as an art form and wish I had a friend who would take over that role for me.

Last year I had a whole bunch of stocking stuffers to wrap with very little time to do it. It was torture. I did it and my mom entertained me while I worked, but it was still torture.

Since I buy stocking stuffers all year long, I decided I would wrap them as I bought them. It is going ok.

Two Green Gift Bags
Two Green Gift Bags

I bought some socks as a gift earlier this year and I am finally making progress on wrapping these gifts. It took me forever, but I did it. I did the work at Sew Day with Gerre and it didn’t even seem like I was making gift bags. Gift bags can be tedious and these were a bit fiddly, but chatting while I sewed made it ok.

Another Flapper Apron

The other day I went and sewed with Gerre. A number of small projects and small elements on larger projects, have been bugging me. I brought a number of those things with me and made good progress.

Flapper Apron for Mom-preparing to cut
Flapper Apron for Mom-preparing to cut

One project was the Flapper Apron I promised to make for my mom. This is a real garment sewing project, so I had to lay out the tissue and prepare to cut.

One of the things I like about this pattern is that you can lay the fabric out, folded on the bias, lay the pattern pieces out and cut them all from 1 yard of fabric. If you want a reversible apron, you need two yards. Still that is a lot of bang for your fabric buck.

Gerre and I tried a lot of different things to get the paint tubes on the fabric to line up straight on the fabric. We couldn’t figure it out. We decided that since it was an apron, it would probably be ok to not cut it on the bias. If have more fabric if I need to remake it. I am doing it this way so the motifs are oriented properly.

Sadly, there was no information on the pattern focusing directional fabric. The directions are complete, but brief.

Flapper Apron for Mom-preparing to cut with challenges
Flapper Apron for Mom-preparing to cut with challenges

Folding the fabric lengthwise parallel with the selvedge posed some challenges. One challenge is that the whole piece is on the straight of the grain. I figured that, since it is an apron, it will probably be fine. I did put the tie on the bias to enhance tying. The motifs will not be straight, but I think that will be fine.

The larger problem is that the folded fabric is not wide enough for the whole pattern. I plan to add some small pieces on, matching as best I can.

I suppose nothing is simple.

Cell Phone Wallets Finished

Solid Black and Dot Black Cell Phone Wallets - finished
Solid Black and Dot Black Cell Phone Wallets – finished

I finished the two Cell Phone Wallets I was making. They came out pretty well and I am pleased to be able to cross them off my list.

The only thing I am not happy with are the rings. They work well, but they aren’t very nice looking. The good thing about them is that they stay in place. Some rectangular ones I have used never stay put.

New Project pt.2

The other day I talked about some fabric I bought and the pattern I was considering for the project.

Despite my determination, I wasn’t 100% sold on the pattern I mentioned. I went back to the box of patterns, blocks, etc and looked through the rest of it to make sure I didn’t find a pattern or idea I liked better.

I found a few that I thought were more interesting or had some promise.

Japanese Circle Block
Japanese Circle Block

My top contender for the moment is a block I found in a Japanese magazine. Because I do not read Japanese and I ripped out the page at some point, I don’t know which magazine or issue.

As you can see from above, the block breaks down into Flying Geese and Peaky & Spikes as well as some strange pentagon shape.

The page showed a number of different blocks both in outline format and in black and white, but with fabrics. The example shows four blocks together as well.

Block from Japanese magazine
Block from Japanese magazine

The four blocks together is what caught my attention as I looked through the box. The black and white fabric image makes it look like there is a circle going on.

One of the trends I saw in the box was a lot of blocks with curves or either implied curves.

Elements Quilt Layout
Elements Quilt Layout

I drew up the block in EQ8 and made a quilt from the drawing, so you can get an idea of what my version of the quilt will look like.

I don’t know if I get the full effect from the drawing of the circles, but I see it a little bit.

I used the colors from below to create the quilt example (left). I think I have more colors and fabrics, so the example is not reflective of what the quilt will look like.

Home magazine color inspiration
Home magazine color inspiration

I also found an inspiration page from a home magazine that I ripped out at some point. With a couple of exceptions it mimics the colors in the fat quarter pack I bought and plan to use in this project. I intended to add some turquoise, but may also add a mustard-like color as the inspiration suggests.

 

Super Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

A long time ago one of my quilts won a ribbon at the Marin Needlearts Guild show. That is probably the best prize I have ever gotten. I feel like that prize came from a real quilt show and the quilt did deserve to win.

Still winning at the San Mateo County Fair is pretty great, too. I did win at the Fair. I entered 3 items: two quilts and a pillow. I did not expect the quilts to win, because the ‘made by one/pro quilted’ category is really impacted. I did expect to win with the pillow based on SIL2’s analysis of the best categories to enter to get a prize.

Aqua-Red Sampler with prize
Aqua-Red Sampler with prize

First, the Aqua-Red Sampler Quilt got First place. As you know, I made these blocks in one of my sampler quilt classes. I am pretty pleased that this won. The two color scheme has an impact. Also, Colleen did spectacular quilting and the quilting shows. Definitely click on the image so you can see the detail of the quilting. I am really happy that the judges were able to appreciate this quilt. I think it looks a little modern, but I didn’t dare enter it in that category.

Under the Sea Embellished pillow
Under the Sea Embellished pillow

Second, despite reports to the contrary Under the Sea did win a prize. It won Third Place, which is fine. I am pleased that it won at all, because it was so much work and took so many years to finish. I could have gone on stitching, but this category gave me a deadline and finishing this piece got one more hand project off my list.

Metroscape with ribbon
Metroscape with ribbon

Finally, Metroscape won. WOW! This was a huge surprise. I did enter it into the Modern category in hopes of giving it a better chance, but I really didn’t expect anything. There it was hanging with a Second Place ribbon on it.

I enter quilts because I make them and want people to see them. I didn’t, as I said, expect to win. I don’t know what prizes I will get, but I know I will get a prize for each winner.

3 entries -> 3 prizes. Pretty amazing.

 

Cell Phone Wallets Again

Two more Cell Phone Wallets have been on my list for a long time. I got a new tunic 8 months or a year ago and I haven’t worn it as much as I want,because I didn’t have a pocket.

Solid Black and Dot Black Cell Phone Wallets in process
Solid Black and Dot Black Cell Phone Wallets in process

I have a number of projects going, but I am having a hard time focusing, because there are a few little projects cluttering up my mind. I decided to try and knock those off my list. Since I only had a little time to sew over the weekend, I decided to start with the Cell Phone Wallets.

Shockingly, this was much easier than I anticipated. Why I think these little totes are so difficult is another mystery. The pieces were already cut so I had to do a little sewing. I did the sewing. Now I have do a little interfacing, then I will be ready to assemble them. they should be ready to wear this week.

Inspiration: Filoli

I visited Filoli last weekend. I was somewhat unenthusiastic about the visit, but really enjoyed myself and would love to go back.

Filoli tile
Filoli tile

I found some tile that I thought would make a great border. Check out that center bit. It looks like a ribbon.

They didn’t do a good job turning the corner, but the rest of it is nice and could easily be translated into a quilt.

New Project

I haven’t started this yet, but I plan to. It started out as a yearning for a fabric bundle I saw. I am not allowing myself to buy fabric, for the most part, unless I have a project.

Stash Fabrics: Art Gallery Elements bundle
Stash Fabrics: Art Gallery Elements bundle

The other week Stash Fabrics was having a sale on Art Gallery fabrics. I love Art Gallery. I know many people don’t because of the tight weave, but I do. I saw a bundle I wanted. I tried to resist, I really did, but bought it in the end. The fabrics came on Thursday and I was a little disappointed to find that they were not as bright as they appeared on the website. It isn’t a problem as I need a few more fabrics and will add in some turquoises and some brighter blues.

AGF Bundle in my workroom
AGF Bundle in my workroom

Since I needed to find a project, I looked through a big box of patterns I have ripped out of magazines. I found one that would work and that I liked. A Maze of Little Gems (Yes, I will change the name!) is the pattern that I picked. Nancy McNally has it on her website/blog as Playground of Triangles. N. B.: I am glad it isn’t going to get lost in the Quilting Company debacle. The pattern is fat quarter friendly and uses a lot of the HSTs, which will work well for the fabric I have. I added in a AGF solid in Ash as the background. Yes, I am still on the grey background kick.

I have to finish Flying Around before I start something else. I also have a number of small projects I want to work on or finish.

Various & Sundry 2019 #6

I have added a lot of new items and designs to the Artquiltmaker Store. Check it out!

This is a super-sized V&S. You’ll need some time. Enjoy!

Books, Research & History

Barbara Brackman has a new block book out called The Kansas City Star Quilts Sampler: 60+ Blocks from 1928 to 1961. She signed some at Quilt Market, but I didn’t see her there.

Martingale has a great post about some historical quilts. I was interested in a family member going back and making labels for the old quilts.

QuiltFiction will be having a discussion about Quilted All Day: The Prairie Journals of Ida Chambers Melugin.

Check out Facts vs. Myths About America’s Quilting Past. After a few clicks, you can find that the answers are footnoted.

Shows, Exhibits & Media

Thanks to Sonja, there is a new exhibit possibility for you. The Century of Women’s Progress exhibit is now accepting entries. I would enter Down the Drain, but they have very specific sizes and my quilt doesn’t fit. Darn it! I could make something else and have the germ of an idea, but I don’t know if it is in the cards right now. How about you?

“The state of Tennessee has a fabulous new museum building in Nashville. Their first temporary exhibit is a quilt show up until July 7th.” Barbara Brackman talks about it on her blog and shows some fabulous photos of amazing piecing and quilting.

Frances O’Roark Dowell, a children’s writer and quilt fiction writer, has now written an essay on why she makes quilts. She has several points, most of which I agree with, especially “A well-designed quilt is deeply pleasurable in a number of ways“.

Linda and Laura Kemshall have posted another free video. It is called  Linda’s Plant Printing Concertina Books Flip-Through.

I saw a blurb about Curated Quilts. I went to the link and ended up on the Color Girl blog where she tempted me to buy an issue. She has a discount code and the issue is about curves. I have been tempted by her ruler, the Classic Curve Ruler, but have been reluctant to buy because I have and use the Quick Curve Rulers (regular and mini). I am not sure of the difference between the two rulers. I don’t want to duplicate, though I am always on board to support small woman owned businesses.

Frances also shared a video of a grandson who explores his grandfather’s amazing journals. This gives me hope that someone will care about my journals someday. It is also a very sweet piece that honors a man’s life work especially the ordinary things he did.

Atlas Obscura did an article on Crimean military quilts. The author doesn’t know much about quiltmaking, at least in my opinion, from reading the first few lines, which isn’t big news. The author also spoke to a quilt historian, Annette Gero. I had never heard of her so went looking. She is described as one of Australia’s leading quilt historians,  and has been documenting and collecting quilts since 1982. She has travelled throughout Australia giving lectures, curating exhibitions of Australian quilts and documenting quilts. There is also a reference to her in the International Quilt Study Center. Fortunately, a lot of the story references different scholarly textile journal articles, which makes me feel better after the beginning of the article. Letters are also referenced, but I wonder if journals would have helped. Perhaps some poor solider kept a journal that included how he came to making an elaborate quilt.  If nothing else, you will enjoy the complexity of the designs included in the article.

HollyAnne Knight wrote a blog post called “Why Quilters Should Ditch Stash Culture.” I have a complicated relationship with my fabric closet. I really like being able to dive in and find a fabric to finish, or start, a project. Also, most of my quilts use many fabrics so having many on hand is good. However, the finite size of fabric closet is a problem, especially when the fabric spills out of it. What do you think?

Barbara Brackman has blog retrospective/tribute to Gwen Marston’s work. The post has a lot of links to other sources if you are interested in exploring Gwen’s work further.

Doing Good

Angels in Gumboots has an update to their Healing Hearts for ChristChurch project. I wrote about this project in April. One line really made me happy and thrilled to be part of such a giving community “We are thrilled to announce that as of today we have 461 finished quilts of either green or multi-coloured hearts. In addition, we have more than 432 quilts that are either at the quilting stage or are blocks still needing to be pieced into tops. ” That is more than 900 quilts!!! NINE HUNDRED!!! Amazing that so many quilts could be made. Good work everyone!

Tools, Supplies, Notions & Fabric

Scissors are critical and frustrating. someone recently posted about their pinking shears, which are hard to open and close. I have this problem with my very expensive pair as well. While this post does not directly address the pinking shears problem, it does talk about scissor care, in general.

Some people in my guild swear by Bloc-Loc rulers. I am pretty happy with my Creative Grids rulers, so I don’t think I will switch. In case I decide I will, I found a ‘how to use Bloc-Loc rulers’ video from American Patchwork & Quilting. What are your favorite rulers and why?

I found another bag hardware site. The site has a lot of movement, which can be annoying, but it has a lot of interesting and different zipper pulls. It looks like most of the pulls are attached to the tops of zippers, not able to attach to any zipper.

I have seen thread cutters for sale and always knew I didn’t need one until I saw the one from Purple Hobbies. It looks like a little flower and uses used rotary blades for cutting. I just might need one. All of the tools and toys are 3D printed and a lot of colors are available. The owner sells other tools like pincushions and bobbin clips as well as a few kitchen supplies.

I ran across Art Gallery’s Floral Elements line the other day on the Stash Fabrics site. I love those fabrics so much and thought for sure they were out of print. I want yards of all of them!

I really love Rock Baby Scissors work. Kristy Sachs, until recently, made custom orders from commercial patterns such as Sew Sweetness RockStar bag. Now she makes what she wants and fills her shop with them. She also has an Amazon page with all of the notions and items she uses.

Patterns, Projects & Tutorials

I am a huge fan of Larissa Holland‘s 12 Days of Christmas wool felt patterns. Note: I have not made any of these. I just love them. I have too many hand projects at the moment. Once I clear the decks with some of those, I will start in on this set. Recently, I found her blog and love her style when she updates patterns. The images aren’t just there for good looks,  but are there as adjuncts to the words.

I belong to Vicki Holloway’s Creative Corner 3 group on FB. She has been prepping hexies and I finally figured out she is working towards making a temperature quilt. I had an idea of what that meant, but wasn’t 100% sure, so I went and looked it up. I am not sure I found where this phenomenon started, but I found a few links that give you an idea what to do. Mel is using the high/low temp each day and making HSTs. Mel also lists her colors for temperature ranges and how to construct the quilt. Darcy talks about making her quilt and also gives some options. Her style is more conversational. She is also using high and low temperatures, but is making the quilt from the year of her birth. Darcy has some nice charts as illustrations. I like the two quilts that Live a Colorful Life made. She talked about living in a climate that didn’t vary much, like I do. We have a lot of 50-60 degree days. She also used squares, which produced a look that was really appealing. If you search for ‘temperature quilt’ on your favorite search engine, you will come up with a variety of examples as well. I think deciding on fabrics and assigning them temperature ranges is the key.

Curves are very trendy now. ColorGirlQuilts has a great ruler, mentioned above. Sew Kind of Wonderful has a couple of great rulers, which you have seen me use in Metroscape and the Lights table runner. Recently I saw a Curated quilts issue all about curves, also mentioned above. Victoria Findlay Wolfe has been teaching her Double Wedding Ring and Pies and Points classes as well. I, recently, found a new pattern from Art Gallery Fabrics. It isn’t that different from ColorGirlQuilts and Sew Kind of Wonderful patterns IMO, but has a slightly different look because it is a Cathedral Window, essentially.

Crafty Gemini has a free tutorial on pressing seams in quilts.

Yes, I am probably obsessed with ColorGirlQuilts right now. I saw her Bikini pattern and may need to get the ruler and make that quilt.

While reading a new blog, I found a scrap challenge called Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I read through some of the blog posts. It seems that the hostess/blog writer chooses a color every month and people link up with their creations in that color at some point during the month. The blogger also had a tutorial in May for a block using orange fabric. I was sad I couldn’t link up, but I haven’t started working on orange yet. Perhaps she will choose red for June and I can link my various quilts up with her then.

Crafty Gemini has a free video tutorial called “How to Cut Fabric for Right & Left Handed Quilters”

If you want to make a Jelly Roll Rug in half circle shape, check out the video. These are good for the floor in front of your sink.

I looked at the Noodlehead site and she has a list of tutorials for bags, wallets and zips.

Are you participating in the current Bad Girl Quilt-a-Long? There is a sneak peek at the finished quilt and it looks interesting. A recent week’s blocks are similar to the blocks used in En Provence. The difference is that this block uses Bias Rectangles and En Provence uses Peaky and Spike blocks. Make sure you check out my resources on Bias Rectangles. The bias rectangles in the quilt-a-long allow you to use a lot more fabrics. If you plan to use bias rectangles, review the resources. Also, just go buy the Split Rects ruler and make your life better. If you plan to use Peaky & Spike blocks, get the correct ruler. Yes, these are specialty rulers, but they will make the cutting much easier. I use my Peaky & Spike ruler frequently.

Other Crafts

I read the Maker’s Mercantile newsletter. It is a lot about knitting, but they also talk about sewing and crochet. Franklin Habit has a column, Fridays with Franklin, or a link to the column on the blog. His writing is very entertaining. He often has knit-a-longs. The most recent one is a Counterpane Pillow Knit-Along. You can find the discussion on Ravelry. It doesn’t start until July, so you have time. It looks cool and I might do it, if I didn’t already have a knitting project. I mention it to introduce you to Franklin Habit and also to suggest another project for you. 😉 Take a look at the most recent newsletter. Make sure you scroll down a little after the page loads. The page is formatted in an odd way. You can also follow Franklin online via Twitter (@franklinhabit), Instagram (@franklin.habit), his Web site (franklinhabit.com) or his Facebook page. He is witty and fun.