Artquiltmaker Blog – Page 350 – Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity

Various & Sundry Wednesday

Janome

One of the great things about being a fan of Janome on FB is that they interact with their fans. I love that. I love it that they actually answer questions. Periodically I have a question about a foot or something. If I post it on their wall, they get back to me/the other fans quickly. So much better than email! It is wonderful.

I am preparing for a class this weekend with Dale Fleming. The supply list has some odd things on it and I have been working on collecting them. Good thing I started early. One of the things on the supply list is a zipper foot. I have a zipper foot for my Janome 9K. It is, however, a heavy machine to take to class and I was hoping to be able to take my Jem Gold to class instead. The Jem does not have as many capabilities, but it sews great and is much lighter. I didn’t think my question through very well, so they didn’t have enough information to answer my question exactly, but they did point me to a GREAT blog post about putting in a zipper. The Dale Fleming class isn’t about putting in zippers, but I can still use this information.

I tried the zipper foot on my Jem and it doesn’t work, so I will be hauling the big machine to the class.

Later, Janome posted a sewing machine cover project. They actually tell you how to make the cover fit your sewing machine rather than giving a pattern for one size. I have been using a plastic bag and I am definitely going to make one of these covers. I know not all of you have a Janome, but you can certainly use the projects they post and the information they offer with your own tools and supplies.

Giveaway

Did you sign up for the giveaway? C’mon, you know you want that silk. You can do it. I don’t mind taking your one last braincell to sign up for the giveaway after the fight you broke up between the kids, the dog running away, dinner not ready when you got home, that lost thing at work you just had to stay behind and find. I really don’t mind. Check out that blog post, leave a comment here and JUST DO IT!

Podcasts

BryeLynn over at Sew~Stitch~Create found 3 new podcasts:

Around the Web

Sew Mama Sew posted an interview with Denyse Schmidt on her blog. They talk about her workshops and a new book coming out. There are really nice descriptions of her various workshops offerings and some nice photos to illustrate the various points in the interview.

An additional interview was posted with Nancy Crow on the Quilting Arts website. A lot of the answers really talk about the creative process, space and how it impacts production of quilts.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the Happy Zombie blog. I went back there yesterday looking for the post about the New Wave quilt to show my mom and stumbled on to her enthusiastic and excited post about her new fabric line from Lecien. One of the things she showed was a color card. I clicked on the link because there were LOTS of dots and I cannot resist dots. Lecien has a great selection of dots on their site.

I was pleased to see a link to my blog on the blog A Stitch in Time. One of the things that interested me were Carol’s digital photography lessons. In the post that I read, she talks about and shows a lot of examples of light. Remember when I went to the scrapbook day and talked about the video I saw on improving digital photography?

Mark Lipinski posted that he needs a kidney transplant on his blog earlier this week! It made me think about a lot of things. One of the thoughts was about how much we don’t know about people out in cyberland.

Rice Zachery-Freeman (Freeman-Zachery??) of Voodoo Lounge and Creative Time & Space (this book is in the AQ Bookstore, so if you want to buy it, it is just an easy click away!) fame and podcast had a really interesting post about an quilt project author who wrote a magazine article. In the article the author claimed that, according to Rice, the most interesting part of the article was a “trade secret.” Not only was the post interesting, but the comments brought all sorts of other issues surrounding writing. One issue was should craftpeople write for free? My favorite was is everyone who claims to be an artist an artist? Another issue was whether the editor should have worked more with the author on that “trade secret”.

I am not saying what is right or what is wrong, but I like it when people call writers and editors on things that the reader may not find right. I am not advocating violence or antagonism, but a good, healthy, respectful debate.

As I said, I am not sure if I know the article in question, but what struck me was the sentence (FYI: third hand via Rice) “it is a trade secret.” While I am not a lawyer, I do work with a bunch of lawyers and I see what it takes to deal with the law. Time and money, first and foremost. I don’t like it when people throw around legal terms, which seems all to prevalent in the craft/quilt world these days. Everyone is entitled to their copyright. Still, there are rules about how people can write about your copyrighted materials. Everyone is entitled to trademark their logo or design. You have to do the work, though; you can’t just say that you have trademarked something. It takes a lot of research, effort and some cash (or credit, as the case may be). Trade secrets are whole different ball of wax. I don’t work with lawyers that ask me much about trade secrets, but I am pretty sure you can’t just say that some process you have thought up is a trade secret.

Anyway, check out Rice’s blog post about this issue. I am sure she would love to know what YOU think.

Life on the Edge

I am looking for a nice pattern for a walker bag. My granny, who we are now calling Super G, fell over the weekend and now has to walk with a walker. I think a walker bag would be handy and make it look pretty. I haven’t trolled the web, but will. If any of you have found a good pattern for a walker bag, please leave a comment and let me know.

Have a great day!

Spoon Jewelry

My sister went to A Work of Heart last week. She asked me to go, but I had stuff to do, was tired and thought Spoon jewelry would look lame.

WRONG!

I should have known that between my sister and Andrea, the owner of AWOH, that something wonderful would come out of the class. These necklaces are really nice looking. I probably couldn’t wear them because I am allergic to nickel, but I can still admire them.

Artquiltmaker Giveaway

I did the One World One Heart blog round robin thing, as you probably noticed, back in February. I had hoped that people would take some time with their comments, and join the CPP. I see a lot of new readers, but not many commentors and no new CPP participants. That is ok with me as I write the blog for other reasons that for readers. I just love it when I get comments. I also love it when people post their creative prompt responses.

So, here is my latest scheme to get some participants in the CPP: a giveaway. Yes, I am going to be giving away some SILK.

I am giving away luscious silks from a tie factory that used to be near me. I have about 15 bundles of approximately 10-20 10″ squares and I am giving them all away. There are rules, oh yes, but I am giving them all away and I have a bin full of them. What I will do is keep track of who complies with the rules and if only one person follows the rules then one person gets the whole big box of silk.

Notes on the silk: it frays a lot; one of the bundles will be one square short, because I used a piece for the Petal Apron. The patterns are all subtle and color coordinated within the bundles.

Rules:

1. To get an entry you must leave a substantive comment. It may not say “please enter me in your giveaway.” You can say that, but you won’t get entered. I am the arbiter of substantive, but it basically means, read a post and comment or ask questions about what I wrote. Let’s have a conversation!

2. To get TWO entries or TWO additional entries you must create a CPP response starting with last Friday’s Prompt. Follow the CPP guidelines to post your link.

3. If you want to leave a comment on this post telling me your thoughts on silk squares or what you would do with them, you will get an entry, too.

4. No whining or snarky comments!

5. You can enter as many times as you want.

6. I reserve the right to change the rules at any time.

Don’t get your hopes up that I will be dong a giveaway every week, because I don’t plan on it. I am not ruling out future giveaways, but they are not a goal. As a result, this may be your only opportunity, so join in!

Cartier Again

I went to the Cartier exhibit with my MIL on Friday. The exhibit will be leaving in the next few weeks and I didn’t feel like I had seen enough the last time I went. I wrote about going a month or so ago. My mom and I were scheduled to go, but she worked so much this past week, she wanted to rest before she had to go to her weekend job. Instead of just thinking “oh, I’ll go by myself”, which probably would not have happened, I immediately called my MIL and asked if she wanted to go. I am glad I did, because it was great to go again and it was great to spend time with my MIL. Yes, I love my MIL and she is not, in any way, shape or form, evil like books and comics imply about MILs.

Ok, I am totally lying about that being my tiara, but if I had a tiara, it would look just like that and I would wear it all the time. This is the tiara of a princess of Belgium. It was my favorite piece in the whole exhibit. The thing that really attracted me to it was the swirls in the center. They reminded me of the P&B fabric I used for Spiky Stars some time ago. I would like to perfect that design for quilting on the longarm.

I felt really inspired by the pieces in the show.

I can’t help but do a lot of drawings when I am at an exhibit: read, look, draw. It is my mantra. I felt especially inspired yesterday as I could really look at things. Nothing was a surprise, because I had been before and I was able to focus on the details.

One thing I noticed is that all of the lines were doubled. In the the infinity type design above, I didn’t draw the double line in my book. It had a double line where I have drawn one line. I want to play with that drawing a bit and the above work is just a reminder.

The oblong/square I have drawn on the page above was really intriguing to me.It wasn’t quite square or rectangular. I think it was officially rectangular, but I really had to look at it to figure out why it wasn’t exactly square. It had a kind of Trip Around the World look to it and I would like to explore the shape a bit more on some graph paper.

I was not supposed to be taking pictures, which the guard told me nicely, but in no uncertain terms. The lighting was not conducive to photography, which is why the two pictures I took are so crappy. I posted the flamingo to show the way the artists put the colored stones on part of the piece. This was a good reminder that coloration in a quilt does not have to be symmetrical.

Also, the contrast between the types of pieces shown (tiara above vs. flamingo) was quite striking. It really showed the breadth of work that Cartier did.

I really enjoy seeing other types of work. Not only am I inspired, but feel very appreciative of the wide variety of artistry available in the world.

Aurifil Thread Thoughts

Somehow, in my travels around the web, I was pointed to Blue Moon River (News from the Studio of Susan Brubaker Knapp, her blog). In the April 15, 2010 post, she tells the world that she has been selected for the Aurifil A team.

I have seen Susan’s work in Quilting Arts, but otherwise I don’t know her from a bar of soap. Still, I loved her post and told her, in a comment, that she is soooooo lucky. Susan’s post is really great. She has a lot of interesting photos and discusses Aurifil in a fun, but also informative way.

The Aurifil A Team is, apparently, a group of quiltmakers who get a bunch of Aurifil thread to use and remark on. Beyond that, I am not exactly sure what the A Team does, but I want to know so I work towards being chosen!

I was introduced to Aurifil back in about 2001 by Kathy Sandbach and I had no idea that Aurifil would become such a phenomenon. I took a machine quilting class with her at Marin Quilt and Needlearts Guild Seminar back then. She sold us ziploc bags full of Aurifil 50 wt cotton Mako. I was a bit leary, because there were no labels and barely any markings. Still, I shared about 12 spools with my mom. I still have a number of spools from that batch which are only partly used. I use them regularly,, but don’t use some of the specialty colors as much as I use the grey. I have become a complete Aurifil convert. I am working on using up all my other thread so that I can justify buying more Aurifil. What I would really like is the Aurifil suitcase. 😉

The suitcase is an outrageous wish as I have no place to put the suitcase. I also have PLENTY of thread.

I have only tried the 50 weight. I would like to try another weight, but my ideal would be to go somewhere where they had the different weights and I could try them out without buying one until I was sure which one I liked.

One of the things I like about this thread is that it works well in my machine. It doesn’t cause any problems.

I also like that it comes in a zillion colors. My favorite for piecing is the Light Gray #2600. Right now I am piecing with a slightly different shade, Pearl Gray #2615. TFQ said she had pieced with a color called Flesh (ugh! dislike that name!) #2315 and that color thread had simply disappeared into the fabric. I feel that way about the light gray as well, but am always open to finding the new perfect piecing color. I may try the Flesh, though, just to see how it works. The good problem is that once I buy a spool it seems to never run out. I was really shocked last week when I ran out of the grey!

Odds and Ends Thursday

It turns out that I love these Various and Sundry and Odds and Ends posts! I can collect a bunch of stuff I find interesting and then post it here for your enjoyment. The last one I wrote got a lot of interesting comments. Thanks, everyone!

Searching

I read a blog called ResearchBuzz for my job. I often find interesting tidbits that allow me to find more quiltmaking resources on the web. I also find that testing using quilt terminology is a lot more interesting that my work subject matter!

Recently, ResearchBuzz talked about the reorganization of photos and graphics at the Library of Congress. She writes “Oh wow, I was SO glad to see this article in the Library of Congress Blog yesterday. The LOC has an incredible archive of prints and photographs (over 1.25 million!), the but nav for them has always been icko. The blog announced a new version of the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, now available at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/.”

Of course, I did a quilt search and came up with some interesting photos. On the first page, there were a few from Gee’s Bend, one of Calvin Coolidge’s shoes, bathrobe and quilt! I noticed a number of the photos were taken by Dorothea Lange.

Fame and Fortune?

I mentioned that my blog was mentioned by Linda Poole on Pat Sloan‘s podcast. That was right after I received two books from Lark Books, so I was feeling pretty high on the hog. Today I was listening to the Sew~Stitch~Create podcast (#41, if you care) and BryeLynn mentions that she heard about me on Pat Sloan’s podcasts. She raves about my website and mentions the blog TWICE!!! I need to redo the website and am slowly (like a snail, actually) working on that. I thought it was really nice that she liked my quilts. Also, she thinks that Pat Sloan should interview me! I laughed at that, but am also very flattered. I am not a fabric designer and I only teach beginners at work. The plans I have are still plans, so I am not sure what Pat would ask me. She did talk about using the Creative Prompt Project for writing prompts for her daughter, which I think is awesome! What a great use of available resources. I can’t wait to see what her daughter comes up with! Finally, Brye thinks I should start my own podcast. We all know that is not going to happen. I like you thinking of me in one of those cute 1940s style suits with a smoky voice and would hate to ruin that illusion. 😉

On the Web

Have you looked at the Quilt Index lately? I am friends with them on FB and get a notice of their Quilt of the Day. I liked this quilt, Thomas Sykes Album quilt, that showed up last Thursday as their Quilt of the Day. they have new functionality where you can zoom in on quilt. They also put as much information as possible into the record associated with the quilt. I like to read that and think about the people making the quilt. Meg Cox, the new president, was on Pat Sloan’s podcast recently and discussed the project and programs. I’d love to have my quilts included!

Spiderwebs seem to be popular again. Oh Fransson has put up a small quiltlet with 4 Spiderweb blocks in it. She has such a wonderful sense of color. While her choices aren’t my style, I do like the combination. I have had in the back of my mind that should finish mine this year. Cross your fingers.

Jen of Quiltin’ Jenny is a new reader and one of those who commented on my Various and Sundry Thursday post from April 1. I went to take a look at her blog a few days ago and found that she does something called Wordless Wednesdays. One of the things I love about the web is that people are so clever and I get to see their cleverness. WW is a photo that she puts up with no words. I might try that instead of my Inspiration [insert day of the week here], except that then I would be stuck with only posting inspiration on Wednesdays. Hhhmm. Perhaps I will leave that great idea to Jen!

I went back a few days ago to see what was up and found that she had just finished a DENIM quilt. I am not a big fan of denim since I made the denim bag for my stepdad for Christmas (my mom calls it his man-purse!) and broke two needles in the process. I also don’t own jeans that I wear. I have a pair that I love, but they don’t fit anymore. 🙁

The other cool thing that I found is that I WON A PRIZE. WOW! I can’t believe it. Go take a look at Jen’s blog!

Reviews

Lark Books gets kudos for updating their Pretty Little Mini Quilts record on Goodreads to include a photo of the book. I use Goodreads to post reviews here, because it kills two birds with one stone and makes the reviews attractive.

I had emailed the lark Books people about the photo when I notified them about posting the review and never heard anything. I went last week to update my review with a photo. Having that big “photo not available” was unattractive and had been bothering me, so I finally went to do it. On a whim I checked to see if Goodreads had received a photo before I did the HTML work on my own and voila! they had received one from Lark Books. The update when much faster than I had anticipated.

Fabric Doing Good

Here is my excuse to finally try out making a pillowcase. I have been thinking about it for a long time and just never get around to it. American Patchwork and Quilting and AllPeopleQuilt.com have launched a project to donate 1 million pillowcases to a variety of causes supporting cancer patients, foster kids, domestic violence victims and nursing home residents. Jean at the Quilted Cupcake blog and podcast asked all of her listeners to make 5. She had a good reminder and that was that boy themed projects are less common than cutesy pie girl projects. I will commit to making one boy pillowcase and see how it goes. I was rummaging around in the bins in the back of the fabric closet on Monday and found a couple of large pieces of fabric that would work well, so I am all set.

You can download instructions to make a pillowcase embellished with leaves from their site.

Making

The members of one of the guild meetings I attend exchange ATCs. We invited some new folks one time and a few of them did not know what ATCs were. I found this guide on how to make them, which gives the basics.

Industry News?

Need some textile industry news? Want to know what is going on in Congress? Textile World is your place to go! Someone who I know from a work related endeavor who is not crafty or quilty sent this to me. The fun thing I saw when I looked at it yesterday was that the town I lived in in Austria is having some kind of textile industry event.

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Book Review: Stamped Out

Stamped Out by Terri Thayer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have had this book on my shelf for a long time and finally read it. I needed a break from all of the quilting, design and creativity books I have been reading.

I was really pleased with this book! I don’t know that much about rubber stamping, so I was concerned I wouldn’t get main portions of the book.. I think that Terri Thayer did a great job writing about stamping in a way that didn’t talk down to people who weren’t stamping experts. Yes, I still have questions; this isn’t a how to stamping book, after all and I wasn’t bored by stamping detail. I also didn’t finish it thinking that the author was talking down to me.

I liked the relationship between April and Deana as well. Not perfect, but a committed friendship. I felt that Thayer wrote well about April’s relationships with her parents. I think a lot of times authors make everything ideal. This book was more interesting, because the relationships were more realistic without the ‘gore’ of real life. 😉

I think that Thayer’s hard won writing experience shows as well. She had a few books under her belt by the time she wrote this one and I felt it was a lot clearer. I liked the way it started. It drew the reader in without a crisis. I had enough information about the characters to know what was happening and want to keep reading. Throughout the book I did not feel as confused as I have felt reading other mysteries.

I don’t have the sequel, but may have to buy it.

View all my reviews

It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap!

As you probably remember, I tried out the Jelly Roll last week and got pretty far along making the blocks. I had a lot of events this weekend, but was still able to put the quilt together. It provided a bit of a quiet haven for me.

One thing I found was that some of the strips, such as the sashing strips were too long. I cut them all the same size, so I am not sure why that happened. As I sewed the blocks together, I was diligent about trimming the excess as well as pinning carefully. The quilt went together really well. I am happy about the matching of seams (most matched!).

I forgot to mention that I tried the Mary Ellen’s Best Press on this quilt. TFQ warned me that the strips were stretchy upfront, so I pressed all the strips with Mary Ellen’s Best Press (MEBP) before I did any cutting. I think it helped. The feel of the fabric strips after I pressed with the MEBP was firm, but not stiff or tacky feeling. I didn’t have any noticeable problems with stretching or bias. I bought my own bottle of it and will probably use it for half and quarter square triangles.

It is about the size of a large lap quilt. I went to sleep the other night thinking about borders. I found some half yards of some of the Merry & Bright prints that I might use for the border, but I am not sure about what configuration. I don’t have enough just to slap a couple of borders on it. The borders will have to be pieced in some way.

EBHQ Show 2010

Saturday I attended the East Bay Heritage Quilters Show. As usual, this show was impeccably set up and organized. In general, I thought the quilts were a lot more interesting than the last show in 2008. Much less brown as well.

It is hard to decide what my favorite quilt of the show was, but I think it was probably Evening Star by Karin Lusnak. The thing I like about it is that there is a lot of movement and interest.

She did the same thing I have done using the mosaic quiltmaking technique of Shannon Williams. It looks like she made fabric using her scraps and then cut the patches for the Evening Star from that new fabric.

I love the angles of the houses in this quilt. The colors are also fresh and clear.

The turquoise/aqua and red combination are one that has been attracting me lately. I also thought the flower designs were quite cheerful. These flowers may be from a Piece ‘O Cake or Pat Sloan pattern. I have always liked the layered circles motif, which can be seen in the border of this quilt.

There are a lot of things I like about this quilt. The artist does a nice job not exactly reproducing the photograph which was the inspiration. The blue and green are abstract enough to evoke a feeling of nature without exactly duplicating the photo. The main part I like in this quilt is the technical details of the border. I don’t much like uneven borders, because they often floop down when hanging. Ms. Kaplan has resolved this issue with the white border. Her uneven border accents the quilt and adds movement without causing a hanging problem. Nice work!

Corless Smith did a great job with these circles. The layers of fabric and the blanket stitch are very appealing. It has a vintage look even though a number of the fabrics are modern.

The small circles also add interest. The scallop type border could be a hanging problem but isn’t, which I appreciate.

The artist, Pat Dicker, writes about this quilt “Sue Garman’s charming Block fo the Month appealed to me, but rather than use the browns, olives and grays as suggested, I turned to my bright ‘dot’ drawer and found inspiration. I also chose to exclude the cars of the pattern and create a ‘Pedestrian Friendly’ community. ” All good choices IMO! You would not be looking at this quilt if she had made it in “browns, olives and grays.” This is a wonderful quilt in the dots and brights. I also like it that she changed the pattern to suit her vision. How do you like the whale?

Book Review: One Yard Wonders

One-Yard Wonders: 101 Fabulous Fabric Projects by Rebecca Yaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I heard about Rebecca Yaker and her book, One Yard Wonders, from Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of CraftSanity. Jennifer did a podcast interview with Rebecca and I ended up with the book from the Library!

First, I love the look of this book. It is lay flat spiralbound with a hard cover. It is well designed in terms of color. Each page has a bit of fabric on the edge to add interest. I wasn’t that excited about the fabric chosen for the projects. It simply is not my style, however I found that the fabric chosen went well with the design and layout of the book.

The table of contents is pretty detailed. Each chapter is defined by the list of projects or elements included. I like that as I was able to flip to projects I wanted to look at immediately because of the detailed table of contents.

Second, the writing style has a sense of humor. The chapters are named things like ‘Dwell Redux’, ‘Household Affairs’, ‘From Head to Toe’, ‘Accessorize Your Little One’, etc. Yes, I like to be entertained!

The book has the obligatory chapter on equipment, notions, and sewing. I do like the stitch terminology section, which talks about what exactly the stitch means. That is useful. I never knew what a staystitch was, and this book defines it. “A staystitch is most often used when a fabric piece is cut on the bias or on a curve. it is a single stitch line on a single layer of fabric. Typically, a line of longer stitches is made at or just within the seam allowance, and helps to stabilize the fabric to prevent it from becoming stretched or distorted later when attached to another piece.” This section is 14 pages long and because of the length, I don’t mind it as much. I would have like to have seen some mention of where the reader can go to get more information.

I would have liked to have seen the chapter pages/section introduction include a list of the projects as well the text. It isn’t difficult to flip back to the table of contents.

The reason I have to put this book on my list to buy is that there are a number of projects that I want to make or use to modify something I already have. Some of the projects on my list are:

Framed Tack Board – I would use this project to modify some bulletin boards I already have

Lined Bookcase – (brilliant!)

Folding Chair Pinafore Cover – I would take the idea and modify it to fit my older dining room chairs

Organized Bed Pocket – great gift!

Smocked Pillow in the Round – would like to learn some of the techniques used to make this pillow.

Granny’s Clothespin Apron

Kitschy Kitchen Apron – I already used the specifications from the Kitschy Kitchen Apron to make the Petal Apron I donated to the CraftSanity Apron Challenge

Hey Hot Dish

Obi-Inspired Hot & cold Pack – I cannot make one of these soon enough and I also think it would make a great gift.

Hanging Wall Pocket

Origami Organizer – I would add a lid to this project

I wasn’t much interested in the clothes. I think that the clothes one can make with one yard of fabric are not the clothes that fit my style. Some of the pieces would be great gifts for my nieces or for friends who have babies and small children.

Another bonus is that this book has a pack of patterns rather than telling you to blow pieces up at the copy center to 5000%. I like the packs of pattern sheets better. I didn’t take them out of the envelope since this is a library book, but will once I buy (or receive as a gift!) the book. You do have to enlarge a few of the applique patterns, but they could be free hand drawn to a larger size as well. Yes, even those of you who do not consider yourself proficient drawers can do it with a little graph paper!

There is a glossary with more terms defined. The resource section includes fabric, inspiration, trims and forums, etc. I was glad to see the contributor bios section. The book was put together with the help of people around the blogosphere contributing projects and it is nice to see their names, a brief bio and a link to their website or blog. I was confused about why that section is organized by first name. Perhaps that is how the authors know the contributors?

There is also (YAY!) an index! Thank you, Storey Publishing for spending the money to include an index! This is the same publishing company that published the Sew What Bags by Lexis Barnes.

If you like to sew for your home or for gifts, I would recommend this book to you.

View all my reviews

Using a Jelly Roll

As I mentioned the other day, I enjoyed the Jelly Roll, because I was able to work with a wide variety of coordinating fabrics. I think my favorite in this set, though I do like them all, are the pieces with holly and ornaments. I also liked the diagonal striped fabrics as well.

Aside from the grain problems, the Jelly Rolls provide a quick start for a quilt. I am not saying that this quilt is quick since you haven’t seen the finished piece yet! I don’t really believe in the concept of quick quilts/Quilt in a Day for myself. I think process is important and I think that quilts take longer than a day. Why do you think I make receiving blankets as baby gifts?

I have worked with my child a lot on learning styles, and strategies for successful learning. I have learned a lot from his teachers and the other professionals that work with him about learning styles, which has made me examine my own style of learning. I know that I learn best by someone showing me what to do and then doing it myself. I also learn okay from looking at pictures/diagrams. I don’t learn well by reading instructions. This is probably one reason why I don’t use a lot of patterns. It takes me too long to decipher them.

First, I sorted the strips into sets of two. I decided which strips I wanted to be in the same block as package and bow.

I cut pieces, as designated by the pattern, from the Jelly Roll strips and then I needed a way to keep them together. I don’t have the clips that Fons & Porter use, so I used my machine quilting safety pins. They are pretty sharp so they went through 4 squares, 3 rectangles and two strips pretty well.

Strip Organization - detail — Strip Organization – detail

I had large pieces of leftover strips and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I went back to the directions and, finally, figured out that I needed to cut more bow and package pieces. From each strip needed to be cut enough pieces for a bow and a package.

I did that extra cutting (more TV watching!) and then rearranged the new strips so that they had different mates for the second round of strips.

One step in the process is to put the bow together. This step involves triangles, but uses the square-into-triangle method to create the triangles at the top of the package.

The directions show the following:

Adding Corner Pieces - directions — Adding Corner Pieces – directions

I think it is pretty hard to show this step in directions, especially for someone, like me, who doesn’t use a lot of patterns. I don’t know all the conventions that have been established.

First, I marked all the squares so I would know where to sew. This was part of the meditation of this quilt that I alluded to in the previous Jelly Roll post. This kind of step can really get on my nerves. I didn’t let it; I just sat there with my pencil and ruler and drew lines. I didn’t mark all of the squares at once, but did them in little batches as I needed them.

One thing the directions do not show is that the square will overlap the middle rectangle when you lay it out to make the bow. The directions above show that the square fits exactly over the outside package rectangle. I worry about this kind of thing, because I expect directions to be accurate. Now, I don’t know the limitations of creating drawings in a pattern (on my list to find out about!), but words can certainly be included to explain that layout information. This is not a criticism, just an observation based on my style of working with patterns.

In real life, above is how the directions say to add the triangles to the corners of the package part of the block to make the bottom of the bow. TFQ and I talked about this strategy when I first bought the pattern. I think this technique makes it less intimidating for those afraid of bias. I was a little lazy and just did it this way.

One problem I found with working with THIS pattern using a Jelly Roll is that I only had a certain amount of fabric. When I cut something wrong, I was short. This happened twice. Once with these triangle and I was able to use the Omnigrid triangle ruler to cut some triangles instead of squares, which gave me enough fabric to finish. The other time I just had to add a piece to another piece to make the strip long enough. Working through the process.

There is a lot going on in the photo above. First, even though I tried to mix up the fabrics for the second round of block making, I did keep some the same. The two above are an example of how the blocks looks when you just switch where you put the fabrics.

Second, I had to pick the quilt up off the floor earlier in the week where it was laid out while I pieced various bits. Since it is a scrappy quilt, I wanted to make sure that all the pieces stayed in their place. I drew a quick sketch of the block layout and then made numbers to pin to each block.

Third, not all of the sashing parts were sewed together so I sewed all the sashing squares (cornerstones) to the sashing strips and then pinned the larger pieces to the quilt blocks in such a way that I will know how to sew them when I get to that step.

Why, you ask, were these on the floor and NOT on the design wall? Because the Tarts are still on the design wall! Why didn’t I set up the portable design wall? I don’t know; I didn’t think of it. Yes, those are my toes in my orange wool slippers and, yes, I am standing precariously (joke!) on an IKEA stool (highly recommended for their stability) to not succeed in taking a photo of the whole quilt for you.

Inspiration Thursday

PICT8544

Originally uploaded by jlapac

In honor of spring, which should really be here already, I am posting this flower. I love the different colors of pink. I also love the pseudo spikiness of the petals in the middle.

I don’t know the name of this flower and I think I took the photo at the Denver Botanical Garden, but am not sure. Enjoy!

Jelly Roll Thoughts

I needed a fast project, some quilt sorbet for when the Sorbet quilt wasn’t working.

I have had a Sandy Gervais Merry and Bright Jelly Roll for a long time. This past weekend, I decided it was time to take the fabric strips and make the It’s a Wrap quilt. I had some other things to do, but I spent a lot of time just sewing and learning.

It was a somewhat strange experience. First, someone said they couldn’t believe I was using a Jelly Roll. I was hesitant to tell them about the pattern. I did tell her for shock value and I thought she would keel over. Sometimes, I think, by limiting choices, a quiltmaker can focus on other elements of the process. That is what I was doing, even though I didn’t start out with that intent.

One thing I learned is that there is value in trying things out: different fiber content, different construction techniques, different tools, etc. Having a pattern and the fabric choices taken care of gave me fewer decisions and I could focus on learning the pros and cons of the Jelly Roll.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Moda Bakeshop offerings are a brilliant marketing scheme. My biggest confusion with the one Jelly Roll I had was that many of the pieces were cut off grain. Nadine Ruggles mentioned this in one of her blog posts, but I got to experience it first hand. This means that my strips weren’t straight, but bowed – tending towards Cs and Ls rather than Is. This phenomenon was frustrating, but I also learned a lot about strip cutting and grain. I know that I need to line up the selvedges and trim the sides to make a straight cut. Seeing the bow in the the Jelly Roll strips made me understand (in an embedded in my mind sort of way) what cutting off grain does to strips.

I don’t have a Jelly Roll book, but I would like to know if they address that problem in the directions of the various projects. Nothing was said on my pattern.

The things I liked about the Jelly Roll:

I got a little taste of a number of different fabrics. I could do this by cutting a strip off of fabrics that I buy (on grain, of course) and saving them for a future project.
I like working with full lines of fabric just to see how the designers patterns work together. A whole line of fabric is like a complete painting to me. I get a lot of joy out of working with a designer’s creation.
The strips were already cut, so I could take my small cutting mat down to the coffee table and cut and watch TV. If I cut a bunch of strips on ‘spec, I could do this as well.
I didn’t have to decide how many yards of each to buy.
I had a limited palette to work with.
I like the fabric and a Jelly Roll was just enough to satisfy me, especially since the only reason I buy Christmas fabrics is to make gift bags.

I saw this quilt on a blog called Sister’s Choice Quilts. She also used the Merry and Bright fabric line. I have always loved the Chinese Coins pattern and the combination of Chinese coins and 4patches make this a winner. I love seeing the same fabrics in different patterns and similar patterns in different fabrics. That concept is one of the things I really like about quiltmaking.

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