The Best Quilts of 2008 According to Me

One of the things I learned this year about quilts is that a portion of a quilt can be attractive to me, even if I don’t like the total execution. This revelation came about after viewing a number of shows where I found no quilt that jumped out at me and said “I am the best.” There was a lot of brown and a lot of techniques and patterns I had already seen. I am not disparaging the efforts of any quiltmaker, because making a quilt is no mean feat. I truly believe that everyone should make whatever quilt they want whenever they want (and can) in whatever method and colors they choose. So, below you may see some quilts where the pattern or a portion of the work is what I liked.

San Mateo County Fair 2008: I liked the use of pink in the quilt. I also admired the use of different black on white fabrics. Scrappy, but pulled together. I am looking for uses for pink and like the movement of the pinwheels. I also admire the maker for using hand applique.

APNQ 2008: Love the wheels and the use of turquoise/aqua as a background.

PIQF 2008 – Quilt is a reproduction of a Pennsylvania Dutch Quilt. Each block is really tiny – like a little jewel. I want to find the book as some of the blocks are very unique (EQ can you make a CD so I don’t have to draft them all???), but it is hard to come by for a reasonable price.

PIQF 2008: Seasons by Linda McLaughlin. There were many, many quilts depicting leaves and trees at this year’s PIQF show. This was one of the best. One of the things that I noticed about this was the excellent use of Shibori. I don’t like quilts that are all about making people notice the maker used hand dyed fabric. In this one the hand-dyes are part of and advance the design. Nice work!

PIQF 2008: On the Wings of a Dream by Ana Bazzolino. I like this quilt, because of the attention to detail and color. There is just enough pink to make it interesting, but not so much that it becomes sickly sweet.

This is the detail that I really like the black on white fabrics are appliqued on to the solid black fabric and the white on black pieces are appliqued to the white fabrics. I like the thoughfulness.

Overall thoughts:

  • There was less brown this year, so perhaps quilts will become more cheerful.
  • Many of the EBHQ big names did not enter quilts into the annual show and the show was not as good as in previous years. I didn’t enter one either, so I shouldn’t talk.
  • I was interested in complex patterns as well as older block designs such a wheels.
  • Was attracted to flower quilts.
  • Scruntinized design elements much more carefully.

2008 UFO Report

2008 has seen more sewing progress, as well as more positive feeling sewing progress. I like to inventory my UFOs to see if I made any progress since my previous roundup post of December 31, 2007 and where I am in the process as well as what I need to do. But first, I want to tout my accomplishments. 😉

Completed Pieces in 2008
Completed means to me that they are now usable and can in no way be considered to have anything left to do to them.

  • 12 tote bags
  • 5 Teacher Pillows
  • 10 Christmas ornaments
  • 1 quilt: Nosegay: still needs the sleeve sewn on, but Julie said I should count it as finished, so I put in both categories (see below)
  • 302 blog posts related to quiltmaking, design or creativity

As it was last year, I thought there were more. I am surprised that I finished NO quilts, because I worked on so many, but 12 tote bags is nothing to sneeze at. I have to say that I think, in 2008,I really focused on enjoying my work and the process.

Mostly Done, Need Finishing
I added this new category to break up the UFO list and to make myself feel like I had accomplished something, which was quite overwhelming. Also, these are all mostly done, IMO.

  • Cheerful Baskets: Top finished; needs back, quilting and binding
  • Chocolate Box: Top and Back finished; needs quilting and binding. see the post from August 14, 2006 to see the fabrics I used.
  • I Spy (Eye Spy) quilt for DS: Top finished; needs back, quilting and binding. I want to use flannel for it, so I need to find some flannel that is not too expensive, but nice and cozy before I can do the back. My quilt on the longarm after I have my longarm lesson.
  • Nosegay: sleeve made and pinned on; needs hand sewing
  • Purple Bullseye: Top finished; needs back, quilting and binding

True UFOs
Here is my list of UFOs. As mentioned last year, this list in no way implies that I will discontinue starting new projects or finish any of these.

  • Original Bullseye: Still have those directions for doing the border the way I want it (the directions I found late last year). Asked TFQ to help me puzzle out the border, but we had better things to do. No progress in 2008, but am hopeful for 2009.
  • Crazy Quilt Test: needs back and label, quilting and binding. Another candidate for the longarm machine after I take the class.
  • Flowering Snowballs/Cross Block quilt: I have been working on it steadily all year and have about 8 more blocks to make before I start on the border. I am worrying a bit about how to keep the blocks from fraying after I square them up. Got some good ideas from fabulous readers after my December 20, 2008 post! Progress throughout 2008.
  • Garden from Pamela Allen class: needs hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2008
  • House and Garden from Pamela Allen class in May 2007: completed machine quilting; still needs more hand embroidery and embellishment. Progress in 2008.
  • Laura Wasilowski Flower Garden: started in the Laura Wasilowski class CQFA held in July 2007: needs machine quilting, hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2008.
  • He Tried to Make it Up to Her: needs back and to be quilted. This is probably a quilt I will want to quilt myself. TFQ has dug out a number of quilts, but I don’t know if this was one of them. No progress in 2008.
  • Her Eyes were Bigger than Her Stomach: needs a back and to be quilted. Very active quilt; probably not the best design, but a mile marker in the quiltmaking journey and an excellent learning experience. No progress in 2008
  • Kissy Fish: ongoing hand beading project. No progress in 2008.
  • Pineapple: All blocks are done. Need to put them together. Still facing the reality that some blocks are much too large and trying to figure out how to move forward. I measured all the blocks and found they were all different sizes. Need to decide which ones I can fit together despite their differences in sizes. I am still prepared to remake some of the blocks. Some progress in 2008
  • Pointillist Palette 4: Night: This is the fourth (of six) in a series of Pointillist Palette fabric by Debra Lunn and Michael Mrowka that was popular a number of years ago. No progress in 2008
  • QA Challenge Quilt: need to fuse the parts and rubber stamp the words. No progress in 2008
  • See: started in a David Walker class. Needs fusing, satin stitching around fused pieces and quilting. No progress in 2008
  • Self Portrait from Pamela Allen class: needs more piecing, hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2008
  • Solid Star Friendship Quilt: need more friends so they can make stars for me in solids with black. No progress in 2008
  • Spiderweb: foundation pieced project, still piecing. Need to create the templates for the border blocks. Aside from collecting more strips, no progress in 2008
  • The Tarts Come to Tea: Last year I said that I needed inspiration. TFQ and I talked about this quilt a bit and I got some ideas on how to proceed. It really always helps to discuss with someone who has a good design sense. No progress in 2008
  • Women’s Work 2: last year I said that this quilt “needs focus.” Was inspired and have the design. The 2009 words for this quilt: really needs execution! No progress in 2008.

On My Mind
Here are the quilts and projects I am thinking about. Some are on the list from last year. In some cases I have purchased fabric, but no sewing has been done, so they are not yet considered UFOs.

  • Clear tote using tablecloth plastic
  • Liesl tote/backpack
  • San Mateo County Fair Dot quilt
  • Paper pieced Nativity scene: I downloaded this pattern when it was free a few years ago and have never gotten up the energy to be as organized as I need to be to make this, but I still want to make it. You can find the pattern, for purchase, at Paper Panache.com
  • Interlocking triangles #4: love the technique and have at least one, if not two, idea[s] for more quilts using this technique.
  • Dot quilt with inset circles a la Ruth McDowell: more uses for dots and a good exercise in piecing. the Twinkle quilt recently shown in the January issue of Quilting Arts magazine is similar and renewed my interest in this design.
  • Feathered Star dot quilt from Summer 2007 issue of Quilts & More: more use for dots. Thought I would get to this after making the Pineapple, but the Pineapple is still not complete, so this this dot quilt has not been started.
  • Some kind of pink quilt with all the pink fabric I have been buying.
  • Colorblocks 3 with silks: I want to use this pattern from Sandy Bonsib; silk fab will use silk fabric with a luscious sheen instead of the regular cottons. Background will be cotton sateen. What’s been holding me up? Backing all the silk. I have the backing and just can’t bring myself to do it. Barsha told me to skip the backing and just make the quilt without it. Can’t decide if the project has new life or not. Definitely not on the top of the list.
  • Garden Quilt: I have been collecting photos and patterns of interesting flowers for years and have always wanted to make some kind of garden or flower quilt. It will probably be something like The Tarts Come to Tea. Need to finish the Tarts first before starting the same kind of project.
  • Jack’s Chain: I saw a quilt of this pattern years and years ago and have always wanted to make one. Probably at least a partial hand piecing project after the Flowering Snowball (Cross Blocks quilt).
  • P&B Pop Parade quilt a la Serendipity Puzzle
  • Bathroom ‘quilt’ out of heavy clear plastic. I want to make pockets that I can put interesting things in that won’t get waterlogged. I also think the stitching would be an interesting addition to the piece.
  • Presents quilt: have the pattern and jelly roll to do it. Got excited about it right after I started piecing the hexagons, but kept on with the hexagons.

Abandoned Projects
This is also a new category. I decided to be upfront about the projects I got rid of.

  • Leaf Friendship quilt: Before he beginning of 2007 I thought to myself “this piece needs something that I don’t have.” Got rid of it after the big closet clean up of April 2008

Other

  • I am still trying to enjoy the process of quiltmaking more than the finished product. I think there is more work to do, but I also feel like I succeeded so far.
  • I have added projects to the On My Mind section because tote bags have been a big part of my life in 2008 and I expect that to continue in 2009.

Hop, Skip & Jump by Denyse Schmidt Project

I decided to work on the Hop Skip and Jump pattern by Denyse Schmidt (Denyse Schmidt Quilts book) as my next project right now. I rarely sew from patterns, but this one seemed like a good one to use with the blues that I had weeded out from my new fabrics. I had thought of modifying the pattern so that there were no curved pieces, but I didn’t. I am not afraid of curved piecing (note Flowering Snowballs/Cross Blocks), but each of the 16 pieces required for each block must be cut out separately. It is an arduous task, but I am into it now and will just continue on.

One problem I already had was with the copy place. The pattern directs the maker to enlarge the pattern by 400%. I have terrible problems with office equipment, copiers in particular, so I went to an office shop and they offered to do it for me. The girl couldn’t get the entire pattern on an 11″x17″ sheet of paper. She asked me at one point if it would be a problem to have the top of the pieces cut off. Finally, I told her she could reduce the size slightly and that seemed to work. It doesn’t bother me to have slightly smaller blocks. I can make a few more with no problem.

For once I have cut all the blue pieces for 6 blocks before I have sewed any of them together. I haven’t decided on the background yet, so I haven’t cut background pieces. I thought I had just bought a white on white that I would use, but I can’t find it so either it was my imagination, it is hiding from me or it isn’t washed yet.

This is my favorite. The background is a very cheerful dot print where the dots are irregular and a variety of different colors. I am all about cheerful, you know. 😉

The above is my second favorite. I don’t have enough of this particular black on white print, so I would have to use a variety of different black on white prints with the same weight/ratio of black to white. I wouldn’t want it to be too overly black.

I really wanted a very calm looking quilt, thus all the blues. This background is one of the P&B New Basics from 2000. I recently bought a yard of it and have at least a fat quarter somewhere else. The problem is that it is very close to some of the value of the other fabrics so the pieces blend together. I think they blend together a little too much.

There are a couple of factors for the background: one is that it has to have the look that I want. Another is that I have to have enough of the chosen fabric to use as a background. The bottom line is that I want this to be a quick quilt. I don’t want to spend weeks on picking the background. I also, however, don’t want to hate it when I am halfway through the sewing. I am happy to hear what you think.

Kaffe Mosaics

I must have been hiding under a rock or too engrossed in quilts not to have heard that Kaffe Fassett does mosaics. I have an idea for a mosaic for which I have been hoarding pottery shards and bits of tile forever. I am pleased that the Library has his books so I can take a look. For what I want to do, I’ll need a lot more tile and a buddy to work with. Immerhin*

Kaffe’s Mosaic

blog it

Thanks for reading in 2008! Happy New Year!

*German for “ever closer” (approximate translation)

Quilting for Christmas

Quilting for Christmas doesn’t mean things that I made for Christmas, though it may mean that sometime in the future. It means gifts that I received for Christmas.

Julie sent me this great journal. It is a small square journal with a combination of blank handmade paper and graph paper. I already did one page of drawings and decorated the title page.

This was inspired by the pattern on The Child’s Christmas stocking.

Paul sent me the Civil war quilt book and Julie also came through with the Ruth McDowell and Katie Pasquini Masopust design books. I guess I had better start working on my design principles.


I also received The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. One of the things it has are ads of quilts from the 30s, which I really like.

Empty Design Wall

My design wall is empty because I have finished piecing the Eye Spy (hexagon quilt)! Hooray!


I worried about not posting any progress or anything here during the past few days, but I wanted to soldier through the piecing. I knew you would all wait for me ;-), but I do like to write every day and this blog gives me one opportunity to do so.

Eventually I had to take the top part of the piece off the design wall and put it on the floor. I don’t have a design wall that allows me to see a whole twin sixed quilt. Having the bottom of the piece on the floor and the top on the wall just didn’t work for me.

Having it on the floor is inconvenient at the best of times, and was really inconvenient this time, because I had to move a lot of stuff from around the room to get the piece to fit. Still, the inconvenience gave me an incentive to soldier on; I was able to see what fit together where and how to piece it, so it worked out. As you can see from the photo above, it fits a lot better now that it is pieced together.


This is a detail of the finished [bottom left] corner. I added the red diamonds after deciding that I did not want a wonky border. I will cut half of the diamonds off to make the border straight….eventually.

I really had topuzzle through some areas. The [bottom right] corner was one of those. That hole just appeared when I laid the piece down on the floor and I didn’t know whether it would be taken up with piecing or if I needed to add a piece. I ended up adding two of the hexagon units eventually to fill in.

So, now the piece is in the closet with 4 other quilts that need to be quilted. I will send the Cheerful Baskets to TFQ to be quilted by The Quilting Loft as soon as I make the label and back. I had a strong desire to piece tops after finishing the Cheerful Baskets. While The Tarts Come to Tea fluttered in and out of my mind, nothing sprang to mind and demanded my attention after finishing the hexagons. Perhaps finishing will be on the list. Perhaps I need to make those backs and get that sleeve done, etc.

I did have sewing the FOTY blocks into a quilt on my list, but have decided to take that to the CQFA quilt retreat to sew. By that time, I will have, hopefully, finished washing and pressing all the fabric I bought in 2008 and will really have a large block of time to get busy on it.

Gift Bags From Afar for the Luckiest Girl

I got a surprise on Thursday! Kristen and Mrs. Kristen sent me a dotted package filled with fabrics and gift bags. I was so thrilled and it was just the pick-me-up I needed.

I saw this sunflower fabric on Kristen’s blog and asked her to get me some earlier this year. I never saw it and know that she is really busy, but was so pleased to see it come to live with me.

The dots, of course, will come in very handy.

While they were at it, they worked on some gift bags for me. Aren’t they pretty? They have little cuffs on them, which is wonderful and different from mine. I am so pleased to add them to my collection. I am also pleased that the gift bags phenomenon is spreading. Hope you will make some, too!

They put it all in a gift box covered with dots, which made me happy even before I opened the package. Thanks, ladies!

Hexagon Edges

I am also still working on the hexagons. I am in a spot where there is a lot of sewing triangles to hexagons and then pressing. It is the part where it looks like not much progress is being made.

However, I did take some time to figure out the bottom of the quilt. I am at the point where I need to shift everything up.


Since my design wall isn’t big enough to handle a twin sized quilt, I need to shift the top off the design wall, leave a few pieces so I know how to hook the top and bottom together and then slap up the hexagons destined to be on the bottom of the quilt.

So far, it isn’t working. I haven’t gotten the right steps in my head enough to move forward so I am sewing equilateral triangles to hexagons (check!), pressing (half check!) and sewing together four hexagon units to make diamonds.

I am also still thinking about the side borders. My decision was to have an uneven border. That decision is still not settling completely well with me. I am thinking of making a big diamond template and sewing a plain red piece (or use different fabrics) onto the edges.

Candy Cane Nine-patch Quilt


Nine-patch Quilt
Originally uploaded by knitknat

KnitKnat has put together a wonderful quilt in this ninepatch that doesn’t look like a ninepatch. S/he does not call it Candy Cane. In honor of the Season and because it reminds me of the nice blend of pink and red that make up candy canes, I have decided to think of it as a candy cane quilt.

One of the elements that is so attractive about this quilt is her use of fabrics. In a limited color palette, an artist can end up with a boring mix of fabrics. In this case, KnitKnat has chosen very well and the eye moves around the quilt because of the different sizes and shapes of the motifs.

The crowing glory is the little circle/flowerette centered in the setting stones. All around a quilt I wish I had made.

The Snowballs are Flowering

I am still working on the Flowering Snowballs (Cross Blocks). As you can see, I have taken the Child’s advice and added in some visual resting places for the last 10 blocks.

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, these are hand pieced. I intend to sew them together by machine. However, in the cutting process, they do not all turn out to have uniform edges. I have been wondering if they would come apart if I trimmed them with a square ruler and then sewed them all together?

The knots I have made to hold the pieces securely would be trimmed off. Would it matter how quickly I sewed after trimming? The machine piecing would definitely hold all of the blocks together. More pondering….

New Star Block from Flickr


New Star Block
Originally uploaded by kirbyloulou

I saw this block about 2 weeks ago and have not been able to get it out of my mind. With the many, many blocks in the DS pool, I wasn’t able to find it again either. I was really glad to come across it today. Love the pointy corners.

Polka Dotted Happiness


Mary-Jeanine kindly allowed me to post her quilt, Polka Dotted Happiness, here at Artquiltmaker. Isn’t that the perfect description of polka dots? I will use this as an incentive to get back to the Pineapple.

Mary-Jeanine is the person that sent me a Christmas bag. I wrote about her bag a few days ago. Mary-Jeanine is also the owner/creator of the Florida Quilt Network website. It is a service she provides to Florida quilters and anyone visiting Florida. She lists all the Florida quilt events, shops and guilds. Quiltmakers can subscribe to her monthly newsletter for free.

Thanks, Mary-Jeanine!