As I mentioned earlier in the week, the BAMQG meeting was on Saturday. I can’t tell you how happy I was to attend the meeting. It was a surprise, because I thought the meeting was on the 8th. Angela told me that it was on the 14th and when I checked, I realized I could attend! I declined the invitations of several Christmas parties this year, because, as a friend aptly described, mustering merriment just wasn’t in me. I didn’t feel like I had to muster merriment to attend the quilt party. There were quilts! What more did a person need?
Cheryl Strong
One of the show and tells was Cheryl’s quilt (above). She won the blocks and added the aqua/greeny-blue. I love the way this quilt looks. It isn’t stark like all-black and white quilts can be. The gold isn’t depressing. There is a lot of movement, which made my eyes move around the quilt and every time I looked at it, I saw something interesting. This is a fabulous quilt and one that makes me think, again, about the ratio of black to white in a black and white print.
One of the small groups that the president created this year were meeting with their round robin quilts.
This is a great shot – I wasn’t being diligent about taking photos.
Trust me when I say that their round robins LOOK fabulous. The one that really caught my attention has the pinky-red and green. the contrast of the two colors is wonderful.
This group has done a great job. Their centers started out interesting and a strong start clearly set them all off to do their best work.
Cheryl Strong
Cheryl also finished a quilt for her nephew who will receive it as a Christmas gift. I took a close-up, because I missed my chance to take a full photo. Fortunately, there is a full photo on Flickr (say that 3 times really fast!).
She did a great job using mostly the same darks, but interspersing a few others in to add interest. I also liked the background.
Yesterday was the BAMQG Holiday Party and Meeting. The meeting part was relatively short, then we had the gift exchange and Show & Tell.
I mentioned that I had made a gift for my Secret Santa and showed it a week early, which led to the realization that I was able to make the meeting. The recipient, Laura was really pleased with the tote bag and needle case I made. I really should have put pins and needles in it as I think she was a little confused about what should go where. I showed her and I think it ended up okay.
Jen was my Secret Santa and she made me this Iron Caddy. Didn’t she do a great job?
Iron Caddy – half open
Jen said used a free pattern she found somewhere on Ning. She said she made two of them alongside each other so she could test the pattern. I thought that was really sweet; it made me feel like she really cared about the gift to me
The pattern she used didn’t sound like the same one Julie told me about that so frustrated her.
Jen did say that there was one measurement off — the 7″ measurement in the middle should be 6-1/2″. I haven’t tried it so, pay attention if you make this pattern.
I still have not yet made the Iron Caddy pattern I bought at Quiltin’ Cousins, so perhaps I am off the hook?
I hopped back on the Doing Good bandwagon this past weekend and I feel great about that.
Green Speckle Cat Bed
I had some Cat Bed kits from the last BAMQG meeting I attended and I decided that sewing them would be a great way to get back on the sewing bandwagon.
These cat beds were using the same fabric Amanda used in the last round of Cat Beds – regular quilting cotton. I thought they were a lot easier to sew, but wondered about durability? I will sew whatever she gives me. It was just a thought.
I only had two and really had to force myself to sew at all and I worked very slowly. It took me much longer to pin these than it has in the past and I think my mind just kept wandering off somewhere.
This color scheme reminds me of the green and pink donation quilt I made last year. It is a fun combination that I don’t think gets used as often as it should.
Green Speckle Cat Bed detail
It was also fun to see that green speckle fabric again. I had some of that at one point, but thought it was long since out of print. I wonder if it has been reprinted?
Both of the cat beds used a fun French cat fabric for the gusset. Again, this a fabric that I wouldn’t normally use, but this is a perfect application for it and it was fun to look at while I worked. As an added bonus, I forgot how much I liked the word “parapluie”.
Green Swirl Cat Bed
Amanda did a good job choosing the fabrics as the greens she chose go together very well.
The cats are engaged in a number of different activities, which I found amusing. I hope the cats will as well, though I suppose they won’t care.
Green Swirl Cat Bed detail
I was able to stuff both with a small amount of scraps, but Amanda will be able to use up more of the scraps she has as I didn’t have anywhere near enough. I haven’t been sewing and that is the outcome.
I have to say that doing these wasn’t enough, so I cut up some grey and black squares and have started to work on another donation quilt. I know it sounds a little depressing for a donation quilt, but my grey/black scrap drawer is overflowing. There will be little sparks of color that I will scatter throughout the quilt as some of the prints are mostly black, or have a black background, then have a colorful motif on top. Perhaps I will make it large enough for a teenaged boy. All teenaged boys like black and grey, right?
I don’t have many more scraps that will make a whole quilt from 2.5″ squares, so I may need to go down to 2″ to clear out more. I’ll finish this one and then we’ll see.
When I was down at Grama’s I had a stack of quilt magazines with me. I hadn’t brought a lot to do, because I was supposed to be at a conference and didn’t want to feel like it was a waste to have lugged a bunch of stuff down with me only to lug it straight back home.
As you know, I ended up at Grama’s, racing around like a crazy person before dropping into bed exhausted, looking at two pages of quilt magazines and falling asleep with the magazine on my face. Two pages, however, is progress. While looking through the magazines, I found a needle case pattern in Modern Patchwork. I decided to add it to the shopping bag for my BAMQG Secret Santa. As soon as I finished the machine part of the shopping bag (I still have a bit of hand stitching to do), I started in on the needlecase.
Needle Case #1 Open
The pattern is by Rashida Coleman-Hale of the I Heart Linen blog and I, initially, had a hard time with the way the pattern was laid out in the magazine. Remember, I am much better at being shown how to make something than I am reading directions and following them. I began reading the directions and couldn’t figure out what to do first. The pattern started with “Create the Pocket.”
Huh? What pocket?
Needle Case #1 Open detail
Finally, I realized I needed to cut all the pieces out first, even though the pattern says nothing about that. Step 1 should be “Cut out pieces (see Sidebar)”, but it wasn’t. Also, the list of pieces of fabric that need to be cut is on the right hand side of the page and I was looking on the left (we read from left to right), which happened to be instruction #1 of the pattern.
My heart sank. I didn’t want to do a project that was so hard to understand that it wouldn’t come out well. The project is small enough to use scraps, so I decided to cut out the pattern pieces and try one more time. Miraculously, as soon as I cut the pieces, step #1 of the directions made complete sense.
I am skeptical of magazine instructions, but these were ok, after my initial confusion, for a not very complex project. I am not quite done with the project, but the one thing I would do differently is sew the cording (I am using a ribbon) on before I sew on the binding. I think it would look neater and be stronger. I might also figure out some other closure, but I haven’t thought that far ahead. Live and learn.
Needle Case #1 Open detail
I used fabric scraps from the shopping bag and also a few others. The the two Secret Santa pieces will match, but not be matchy-matchy. Cute, huh? I did not use the linen. I used regular quilting cotton.
If I made this project again, I would give the outside pieces some body by lining them with ShapeFlex (LOVE that stuff!).
I didn’t have any Fiberfill to fill the pincushion, but if I had been thinking I would have used the roving I bought for the other pin cushions I have been making on and off. I just wasn’t thinking so I cutting up some batting scraps to fill the pincushion. It is small, so I think the batting will be ok.
Needle Case #1 back
My Secret Santa likes pink, so I am going all out on the pink. I really hope she likes what I have made. This needle case really did not take me very long and I think I might make a few more for friends. We will see.
As I mentioned in the last post about this project, Kathleen and I got together at the last Sew Day and worked out what we were going to do with these blocks.
I saw somewhere that Kathleen had finished sewing her donation top, so the project was nagging at me. I had the blocks and decided after working on the needle cases that I would put the top together, then I decided to put the back together. As I write this, I am about to think about a binding, but it might be too late and I might be too tired.
I went back and forth about whether or not I should post this on my blog before the BAMQG party, but I have so little to post these that I decided to go for it. I don’t know all of you as well as I would like, but I don’t think the recipient is a reader. Perhaps she will be after receiving the gift.
I agreed to make a Secret Santa gift for the BAMQG Holiday Exchange. It was hanging over my head, so I decided that Saturday would be the day to start. I actually cut out all of the pieces on Friday night and put most of the interfacing on as well, so the sewing went pretty easily.
I decided to make another Jane Market Tote for the gift. It is a good pattern – useful and nicely shaped. I am also familiar with it since I made over a dozen of them since I bought the pattern. The other bonus was that a shopping bag was on the giftee’s list.
Perfect.
As I said, I cut out the pieces on Friday night. I also decided to try adding some ShapeFlex stabilizer to see if that would give it some body.
As an aside: Have I said how much I like ShapeFlex? I love it. It is so easy to work with. It is not thick. Now, I am almost out again and am now thinking of buying a bolt. Crazy?
Anyway, I was able to put ShapeFlex over all the pieces except one, so I was really ready to sew on Saturday morning. So, Saturday morning, which was really about 11am since I slept so much, I sewed. The bag went together really well. I tried very hard to make it look nice. I used a star pattern on my machine to finish the top of the bag. I also put the handles inside rather than outside after the bag is finished, as the pattern suggests.
It is a nice bag, but I also decided to make a little needlecase and put that in the bag as well. I know it is not necessary, but I have some leftover scraps from the bag. I also found a pattern in Modern Patchwork for a needlecase that doesn’t look too difficult. Stay tuned for that.
I missed the BAMQG November meeting. I wasn’t really up for it after my family emergency. I think I will miss the December meeting as well. Bleah, but we’ll see.
HOWEVER
Pink Donation Quilt
I looked at the photos and two of the quilt tops I made were turned into quilts. I was thrilled to see them.
This is the pink one I finished in August 2012. If you click on the photo and make it bigger, you can see the circle quilting, which looks great.
Looking at the piece finished makes me re-evaluate the design again. I think I would take out the dark sashing pieces if I could have see it finished as I was piecing.
Impossible, of course, but a lesson for another day. still I hope that someone really enjoys it and I am so glad that a BAMQGer collaborated with me on this piece.
I haven’t made as many donation tops this year, but I can always try again next year.
Orange & Grey Donation quilt
Someone also finished the Orange and Grey donation quilt. Again the circle quilting is awesome. I am so pleased to see how well this quilt turned out. It is so great to see my tops turned into something I really love the collaboration!
Thanks to the BAMQGers who finished up these quilts.
I also have Kelly’s piece and it is time for me to work on it. As soon as I tidied Kathleen’s piece out of the way. I need to keep Kathleen’s piece for a little while as Kelly is still working on setting up her studio.
I put her piece up on the wall so it has a chance to speak to me. Nothing yet. I thought Chris’ piece needed space. I wanted to retain the freshness of Kathleen’s piece and Kelly’s piece…..
I don’t know. There is definitely personality. There is definitely movement. Kathleen’s Flying Geese really add a lot to this piece. This is a rich piece as in it has a rich look. The idea of a Persian rug comes to mind, though it doesn’t look like a Persian rug, and that isn’t quite right, but I think the closest I can describe is that it just has the feel of a Persian rug.
There is also an element of a royal banner. i can see this piece on a long pole being carried in front of a large group of men on horseback wearing the royal colors.
I don’t think it needs space. I think the richness needs to be continued, and perhaps some more points. I am just not sure how. I’ll keep looking at it and see what I think about.
After recent events keeping me away from my machine and last weekend’s fiasco of sewing and ripping, I decided that I would make progress this past weekend. I decided I would sew and make progress.
I did make progress. Small progress, but we have to rejoice in the small successes, right? I finished my part of Kathleen’s Round Robin piece. I am really pleased with how it looks. For one, I am pleased I was actually able to do something. Two, I think I did a good job echoing the shapes from the center.
I hung the piece I got from Chris up on my design wall so I could look at it. It spent a few weeks up there and as I was looking at it, the Kaleidoscope shape in the center stood out, especially those long thin triangles. Also, the fabric with that jade green in the Kaleidoscope in the very middle caught my attention. From those two thoughts, I worked on my design and fabric choices.
Kathleen’s Round Robin in Progress
I used foundation piecing for the blocks for the corners in my round. I designed the corner blocks using EQ7 and then printed the foundations out. The Carol Doak paper I got some time ago is great. I printed right on to it and it worked like a charm. I was able to rip out paper with a minimum of torn stitches. It might not be the most cost effective (I don’t know) but for the limited foundation piecing I do, it worked great.
You can see from the ‘in progress’ photo that I used three blocks to make up the corners and then filled the middles of each side in with white. I had a hard time figuring out the measurements. They weren’t standard so the center white piece is different than the blocks. Not everything lines up nicely either, but I think that can be the nature of round robins. I think it will look fine once finished and quilted. I don’t think Kathleen will mind. At least I hope she won’t
Kathleen’s Round Robin detail
The detail shows the fussy cutting of the green, gold and white fabric very well. After I finished, I thought that replacing the green (closest to the white) with white might have kept it fresher, but I think it would have had the problems I mentioned above.
After doing all the piecing, I decided I like the way, viewed from some angles, the center piece looks like it is on top of the part that I added. I also think the corners look a bit like stylized flowers.
I think that the next person will need to get back to the orange – well, I should say that if I were doing the next round, I would use some more orange. I can’t tell you how tempted I am to add some orange.
It didn’t turn out exactly as I imagined and I am thinking that that green makes it look a lot more 1930’s than anticipated. I also think that more white might have been better, but I paid special attention to fussy cutting the alternate fabric in my corners and I wanted it to show. If I had added some white to the corners, that gold, green & white fabric would not have stood out as much as it does. I am pleased with the way it came out.
The Round Robin isn’t going exactly as planned and I have two at my house while Chris has none. I am not sure what Kathleen has. Fortunately, we are flexible and working through it.
Kathleen’s Round Robin
This is a pretty and fresh piece. That white is very stark and helps the other piecing float. As I stared at the piece, I knew I wanted to maintain that bright freshness.
Finally, I came up with an idea. I plan to add some Kaleidoscope-esque bits to the corners.
That was rolling around in my mind from the beginning, but I couldn’t figure out exactly how I wanted to do it. I was finally struck with a technical plan over the weekend and began the process of foundation piecing.
As I mentioned on Twitter, I sewed the same seam 3 times and ripped it out 3 times, then quit. I think I was trying to use a piece of fabric that was too small and my stubbornness (work, dammit!) got in the way. That one foundation is shredded, so, hopefully, I have learned my lesson.
Back in April, we started the Color Group. Finally, we got enough blocks together to put a quilt together.
Color Group: Row Layout
Kathleen and I were at the BAMQG Sew Day/Meeting, so we took all the blocks and laid them out and tried to figure out a way to put the quilt together.
The row layout was the best of the way to use all the blocks at once.
We didn’t think it was great, but it was almost the best of all of the layouts we tried.
Color Group: Offset Row Layout
One of the trial layouts was also a row quilt layout, but, in this version, we offset the blocks a little bit.
We were trying to make it a little more modern while making it look good.
It just looked messy to me. Kathleen didn’t like it either.
Color Group: On Point Layout
Color Group Final Layout
We also tried out an on point layout. I did like the extra whitespace, but the problem was that block patterns didn’t work with the on point layout.
So, we went full on modern. We split the blocks up and used 5 in a row for two quilts. Two blocks will be on the back of one of the quilts.
Color Group Final Layout 2
We will use a lot of the Kona White to make the quilts ~48×60. These will go to a women’s shelter, we think, which is why we are making them the size we decided on.
We might put one column of blocks closer to the edge and on the other quilt closer to the center.
I am in charge of one of the quilts and Kathleen is making the other. I haven’t started yet, but plan on doing so as soon as I remember how to sew. 😉
The BAMQG Meeting was yesterday. I turned in some cat beds to Amanda and was very happy I did. Amanda was having a bad week, so I was glad I made the effort.
These two cat beds were different, because they were both made of cotton rather than Polartec/Polarfleece. I like working with the Polartec/Polarfleece, but it is a little more difficult to work with than cotton. It was a relief to work with the cotton. I made the cotton cat beds pretty fast compared to the Polartec, but I still don’t mind working with the Polartec.
Cotton Cat Bed
These were interesting fabrics with which to work. They are fabrics which remind me of fabrics that were very popular when I started making quilts.
I wasn’t the one who brought the most cat beds. Someone brought a whole shopping full of really cute cat beds. Someone had made about 30 and appliqued (using blanket stitch) one adorable heart on each cat bed.
All of these cat beds made Amanda really happy. It was great to see her smiling again.
Last weekend I finished the Orange & Grey donation quilt piecing. I am so pleased that I will be able to bring it to the BAMQG meeting. I haven’t made as many donation projects this year as I did last year. There is still time to make a few more and I have some ideas, as I have mentioned recently.
I screwed up a little bit when I sewed the blocks together. I intended to the blue squares to be in the same position in block. Somehow they got moved while I was sewing and ending up all over the place. I think it adds a bit of movement to the quilt. In general, I definitely like the blue. I think it adds interest to a very basic (but effective) quilt design. The blue was chosen as a complement to the orange and I think it works very well.
Orange & Grey Donation Quilt Back
The back is very basic, Because of the size I was able to use a few half yards and be done with it. I did use the stitch letters to put my name on the back kind of subtly. I am relieved not to make a label for all of these donation quilts, but I also am kind of sad that there won’t be any kind of record of their maker (me).
I posted the quilt on FB and got a lot of good comments, including one from one of the nephews. Hhmm. I started cutting blue squares from scraps for the next donation quilt.
I meant to post this right after the workshop and I even worked on getting the photos in shape to be in the post. Life intervened and here it is late on a Saturday morning and I am just getting to post it. You East Coasters are already off doing whatever it is you do at 1pm on a Saturday. 😉
Bill Kerr Quilts
This is the quilt that we discussed the most and made the idea of choosing fabrics for their role in the conversation stick in my head. The thing about this quilt is that each fabric has a role and is related to, at least, one other fabric and is a bridge to another. I really like this idea of bridging fabrics to each other. Even if fabrics don’t look like they fit together in a quilt, there is a story the maker can tell through the fabric. Read the Fabric Smackdown post for more information.
I have been reading through the color sections of the Bill Kerr/ Weeks Ringle books to try and find a reference to this method, but so far I haven’t been successful. I also haven’t found tow of the books, which I know are buried in one of my quilt book stacks, so stay tuned.
I knew all the names of the quilts after the workshop, but now I don’t. If I get them wrong, let me know nicely and I will make the changes.
Follow the Leader
One of the questions I have heard numerous times in workshops that deal with using fabrics is how to use the fabulous large scale prints that are so popular now. Follow the Leader is a good example of how to use large scale prints. One of the things that brings these fabrics together is the literal connection of the grey bits connecting the rectangles. He still followed the other guidelines we discussed, but that bit of grey (could be another color) adds a connection.
Follow the Leader
One of the things I found in almost all of the Kerr/Ringle quilts was that my eyes moved around. There was interest in the selection of fabrics in the quilts. Their method of selecting fabrics is a lot of work, but, clearly, for my eye, it works.
There was, also, a consistent message throughout the ‘trunk show’. Each quilt provided another lesson in the same things we discussed at the beginning: scale, pattern, role, etc.
In the detail of Follow the Leader, you can see that fuschia-maroon dot on a greyish-beige background (lower right hand corner). We discussed that fabric a lot. It is related to the paisley on the sea green background. The shape of the dots is also related to the green/gold dot next to the paisley. The relationships are some part of why both fabrics work in that quilt. The class discussed that dot a lot, though, because it was an unexpected choice. Not wrong, but it might not be the first choice when choosing a selection of fabrics.
Kid Quilt
We had an unexpected discussion about kid quilts as well. I am sure many of us have made quilts for our kids (see T-shirt quilt, Eye Spy, etc), grandkids, nieces and nephews or even for Project Linus and other kid charities. The default is something like the T-shirt quilt or a quilt using novelty fabrics. They give us a place to start.
As a parent, I have always tried to talk to my kid like a person rather than a kid. I have also encouraged others to do the same. The conversation we had about kid quilts in the workshop was all about kid quilts that encourage play and grow with kid. In other words, quilt as more than a bed covering.
Duh.
Kid Quilt
The quilt he brought to illustrate this point was made from all solids and would be suitable for a dorm room bed as it would be for a toddler’s play mat. The quilt comes with bean bags and Bill said that Sophie made up a lot of different games using the quilt and the bean bags. This quilt is on the cover of Modern Quilts Illustrated issue 6. I presume the pattern is in the magazine, but don’t have that issue.
I know that I could make this quilt with solids I have on hand. It would be great with tone on tones as well. You could try changing out some of the squares for suitable novelty fabric and add to the game playing fun. I wonder how it would look in black and white fabrics with one color?
Sophisticated Easter
Pam has a series of holiday and seasonable quilts going that she uses to decorate. When I saw this quilt, it reminded me of a stack of eggs and I thought it could be used as a sophisticated Easter quilt in the colors shown or, made with pastels, a more traditional kind of spring quilt. I believe they use raw edge applique’ for the construction. This quilt is still available in the Kerr/Ringle Modern Quilts Illustrated issue 2 and there is a much better picture there as well.
Yellow & Grey Quilt
I think that the quilt is interesting, but what I really like is the construction technique. They made it by sewing the grey and white, then cutting the strips apart and inserting the yellows. I thought that was brilliant. Why make yourself crazy trying to piece those angles if you don’t have to? The quilt is in their MQI #3 issue.
I did diligently work on these donation blocks until they were done a week or so ago.
They are fun to work on and I am happy I put the blue square in each block. I think it adds interest.
I am thinking that my next effort will be sans background, e.g. no grey, and just have different scraps all in the same color make up the blocks. Where the blue is in these lovelies, I will substitute a complimentary colored patch, similar to what Pam did with her Rainbow Baby quilt. I guess I keep saying this over and over so I must really want to do it.
Yes, I still want to put sashing between the blocks. I’d love to get this done by the September meeting. We’ll see. Apparently, crawling up into my fabric closet for a blue bin is a problem. I don’t even know if I have the right blue for the sashing.
