We have been on a bit of an unintentional hiatus, because I was out of town for 10 days, she had some things to take care of and went to the beach, the Young Man graduated and, generally, life got in the way of quiltmaking. I needed to get in gear for as much sewing as humanly possible this weekend, so I started in on the Dutchman’s Puzzle on Thursday night.
Doing one block doesn’t take very long. I thought I would just getting the cutting done, but I was able to piece the whole block together. I had enough time even after I sewed the four major sections together wrong and had to rip them out! Being more of a morning person, I don’t sew well at night (make lots of mistakes) and usually just hand sew bindings or something. I am glad I didn’t do worse damage!
Sampler Blocks, early July 2011
Now I have a nice round 6 blocks. This reminds of the goals of the first ever quilt class I took. The goal was to make a 6 block sampler. The blocks are different, but this group of blocks provides me with some fond memories.
I also was able to look at the piece from a color and fabric stand point. I am not liking the Card Trick. I need to decide if I will make a new one or include the light background fabric in a couple of other blocks.
I can also see that I need to include the Big Plain Jane fabric, and a few other fabrics, in at least one more block. I am pondering whether or not there is a block scheduled that will showcase it.
All in all, I really like the way this is coming out.
Angela is a new friend from the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild. I have mentioned her a couple of times in conjunction with those meetings. She is the one that turned me on to the New Handmade book.
Angela participated in the Kona Challenge. She agonized and really worked hard on her design. I love her quilt. It shows her hard work and came out really well. Her agony paid off.
She wasn’t able to make this quilt from one charm pack. She bought extra fabric (don’t you think that is Robert Kaufman’s whole idea?). She played around with the pieces, drew designs, carried them around, cut and rearranged until she had something that was fabulous. It worked.
This is one of the tops/pieces that inspired my hexagons…..well sent me over the edge, really, because I had been drooling over TFQ’s for quite a while.
This is reposted from Pam (Hip to Be A Square)’s Flickrstream with only slight revisions/additions:
Srsly guys. They are EVERYWHERE.
Sandy at Quilting for the Rest of Us, Jaye from Art Quilt Maker, and I are loosely doing a hexagon-along quilting type thing this this summer. Sandy and I will be sharing our process and pitfalls on our podcasts, while Jaye will share on her blog.
You can find Sandy all over the web. Click on the link and it will take you to her podcast, Flickrstream- just about everywhere.
You can find Jaye at https://artquiltmaker.com/blog/ (where you are now!) (for her blog) or on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker
You can find me at www.hiptobeasquarepodcast.com for my blog & podcast.
Feel free to grab this button if you want to show some solidarity. The current size is 277×277 pixels, but it can go down to 180×180 without distortion.
Did you go and see the show? Primal Green is a show of environmental art quilts at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. AND! it is still on.
The Wallace Stegner Environmental Center is one of the special collections at the Main Branch and, after a year of work with the Library, CQFA has over 20 quilts and fiber art on display. The quilts all have an environmental theme. The show will hang until July 31 and be available to viewers during the Library’s normal open hours. Hope you can stop by and see it. Check the library’s website for hours. Please sign the guestbook and let us know you saw the show.
A very kind person gave us tickets to the Maker Faire. It is something that I have heard lots of good things about, but never visited. Friend Julie loves it. Maureen and Amy from the Creative Mom podcast also rave about it. We finally got a chance to go and I have to say that the best thing about it was being inspired. I saw lots of this and that which had a nice line or good texture or something else that struck my imagination. It made it worth it to give up a day of sewing for that inspiration.
One of the things I really liked and did not photograph was the Steampunk costumes and fantastical vehicles. The ingenuity and creativity was amazing and oozing all over the place.
Back of Coat
I don’t know this woman. I have no idea if she knew I was photographing the back of her coat. I really liked the back of her coat. It looked very tailored, yet easy to wear.
Embroidered Buttons
I have an embroidery module on my sewing machine. Lately I keep hearing about or needing to deal with buttons. This display gave me the idea of making my own buttons from embroidered designs I can do using my embroidery module. Cool, eh?
Bathroom Quilt Idea
Every year for the past few years, I have talked about the quilt I want to make and put in one or both of my bathrooms. I saw this display and it is the same idea. I probably would make mine 4×5 rather than 3 x 12 or whatever it was. I like the idea of slipping things in and taking them out.
FabMo.org Dresden Plate
I don’t know anything about the above Dresden Plate,but the fact that it is in the FabMo booth makes me think the maker used FabMo fabrics. Isn’t it GREAT?
Inspiration Foot
In a sea of black, denim and asphalt was this kid wearing red Chuck Taylors. I couldn’t stop looking at this foot dangling off of the dad who held him for the entire 20 minutes of the Mentos/Coke Zero show. He didn’t wiggle or talk really, his dad didn’t complain about holding him and the whole time his foot dangled down waiting for me to photograph it. The socks are an added bonus. This is definitely a photo I want to draw.
Did you go and see the show? Primal Green is a show of environmental art quilts at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. AND! it is still on.
The Wallace Stegner Environmental Center is one of the special collections at the Main Branch and, after a year of work with the Library, CQFA has over 20 quilts and fiber art on display. The quilts all have an environmental theme. The show will hang until July 31 and be available to viewers during the Library’s normal open hours. Hope you can stop by and see it. Check the library’s website for hours.
I finished the Stars for San Bruno #1 top Saturday afternoon. I will, hopefully, take it to the quilter next week and send it off to its new owner soon thereafter. Stay tuned! Thanks to everyone who contributed and helped.
You want to know my biggest problem with this quilt? I don’t have enough dark blue fabric. I have used EVERY scrap, except the tiniest (I mean, really, why bother?), for this project and I haven’t even gotten through the first quilt. I kid you not. Now I know that I never buy dark blue. No big loss, but, yes, I went to the fabric store to see what would work.
Design Toss
I tossed all the blocks out like this to see what inspiration I would get. It actually worked pretty well, because I could see some patterns start to emerge.
DH really liked the layout above and thought I should applique’ everything down like this. In an ideal world, with a fleet of sewing ladies, i would have done this, but I am still waiting for my fleet.
Design Toss Trimmed
Once some patterns started to form, I began editing. Above is what is left after the first edit. The edited blocks will go into one of the other quilts. All the blocks will be used, don’t worry.
Border tryout
Sue’s blocks really wanted to be the border, so I tried them out in different ways. Tossing is a lot easier than sewing, so they won’t be as wonky as they seem here.
Line 'em Up
The editing is done, though I haven’t worked much on the bottom left hand corner and will need to pay some attention down there, so I started to line up the blocks and start filling in with pieces of fabric. I added some triangles to get some movement.
Sew 'em Up
This is the top of SfSB#1. I have the border put together and am starting to sew rows together. It is harder to chunk with improvisational piecing, but I will do some chunking.
I really like how well the blocks fit together in terms of color.
Make 'em Fit
You can see some chunking going on above. You can also see the neglected stepchild that is the lower left corner. I’ll get to it. The ultimate goal is to have a square or rectangle that is not to big, but will be big enough to snuggle with.
Lower Left Corner
I thought of putting some coping strips in, but then I looked through the blocks again and found some smallish blocks (thanks, Diane!) that would fit and add interest to the bottom.
SfSB#1: Making progress
The piece is coming together.
Stars for San Bruno #1 Top sans Border
Looks a little unfinished.
Adding Borders
A little bit of breathing room around the edge should do the trick.
Last call for Stars for San Bruno netted a bunch of blocks! In addition to those I talked about last week, I received 4 more over the weekend. These two beauties are from Julie. She sent me a little note with them wondering if I would be able to use them.
YES! Most definitely yes. I think they look like jewels, like the stone in a ring that sparkles elegantly. They are all applique’ and I think they will make an excellent addition to the quilts.
Reva's Contribution
One of the things I like about the blocks people are sending is that they are all different in some way. Yes, Sue and SherriD both sent groups of similar blocks, but there is something different about each block. Many of the people who have contributed do not normally make block quilts, so I am especially touched.
As soon as I finish this reorganization, I am going to start piecing. My mom is out of town without her sewing machine, so she is off the hook for now. Perhaps I’ll get her to make the backs. 😉
Want to help? I am still accepting blocks. Leave a note on this post to let me know they are coming.
The background for this project is: that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.
I am thrilled at how many people are making a block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: End of March 2011, but I can only piece one quilt at a time and all blocks will be used.
At work the other day, I received an email from a vendor someone who wanted my input on some upgrades they are making to a product we use. This happens periodically, so I skimmed through the email intending to respond “later.”
However, I was brought up short by the last paragraph in which the author called me a ‘talented and prolific’ quiltmaker and went on to talk a little about her own quiltmaking. She also pointed out the photos she had attached. It is always nice to find a personal connection with people with whom I work. It makes the work so much easier and more pleasant. Until now, I have only found a couple of needlepointers. While interesting, it isn’t my main focus. As a result of the extra mile, Lisa got her meeting with me, we had a lovely exchange of emails about the quilting process, I pointed her to some other quilt groups in her area and she gave me permission to post the photos she sent.
Above is a log cabin in process. I think the grey and the blue work very well together in terms of color/value temperature. It looks like a more pleasant version of my neighborhood in the summer: fog and ocean! The yellow centers and scrapiness are great, too. Lisa said this will be a Cal King size!
Lisa's Jack on Quilt
Cute baby, eh?
The star quilt was a gift for one of Lisa’s nephews. I love her bold use of pattern in this project. I also like the fact that she used different backgrounds and ties the quilt together with the sashing. I did that with my Sampler quilt and think the design technique works very well.
The quilt’s yellow sections makes the eye move around the motifs. As a result, I see a four patch peeking out from the center of one of the stars. I love four patches.
Also, I am a total sucker for star samplers. I see some Sawtooth stars in different sizes. I like the Sawtooth star on point (top with red triangles and patterned center) as the block pattern looks so much more complicated than it really is once it is positioned on point.
Lisa's Katy's Quilt in process
Again, Lisa has demonstrated her fearless use of pattern in this ninepatch quilt. The pattern on the fabric doesn’t overwhelm the design, because she has chosen a relatively simple block pattern. I also like the variety of backgrounds.
Did you go and see the show? Primal Green is a show of environmental art quilts at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. AND! it is still on.
The Wallace Stegner Environmental Center is one of the special collections at the Main Branch and, after a year of work with the Library, CQFA has over 20 quilts and fiber art on display. The quilts all have an environmental theme. The show will hang until July 31 and be available to viewers during the Library’s normal open hours. Hope you can stop by and see it. Check the library’s website for hours.
Last Saturday I went with all of my CQFA colleagues to view the Primal Green Show. I forgot my camera, so the photos are from others or from the day I went to check on how the hanging was going. That day was a gorgeous day in The City, which meant a lot of glare inside the fabulous Main Library!
CQFA Group
I really enjoy this group and the picture above shows what a great group we are. The photo also includes the librarian with whom we worked to get this show mounted. Maureen’s husband was kind enough to take the photo for us.
Left off the Elevator
The photo above shows the 5th floor Government Information Center. The left case has Virginia’s quilt. Behind the lighted kiosk are three quilts, Terri’s, Maureen’s and Soyoung’s. I found out at lunch last week that Soyoung does most of her work by hand and that small quilt took about 100 hours!
Gorgeous SignageGorgeous Signage 2
The curators at the library are wonderful. They came up with this great signage. The quilts are spread out all over the 5th floor, so the sign on the bottom very nicely shows where all the quilts are hanging.
Case Straight Off the Elevator
My quilt, Change of Seasons, is the tree in the middle of this case.
The Patent Case
The librarian was able to secure the use of this case as well, even though it wasn’t in the original plan. This extra case allowed the quilts above to be included in the show as well.
3D Objects
My Red Journal and Bron’s Bird Nest, both 3 dimensional, were placed in this table case along with two smaller quilts. This case is slightly to the right off the elevator.
Case to the right off the Elevator
This is the quilt with the arrangement of the signage.
3 Quilts Behind the KioskStanding CaseStanding Case 2Standing Case 2
The standing case shows a number of quilts and indicates the entrance to the Stegner Center. Again, the glare was a problem with the photography.
Stegner Center View
The Wallace Stegner Environmental Librarian is the sponsor of this show. The Stegner Center is a gorgeous space with a view overlooking City Hall. The two quilts in this case looked gorgeous with City Hall behind them. Unfortunately the glare did not make them easy to photograph.
Solar Roses
The roses (left) quilt is the first quilt and the sun quilt is all made from recycled tie fabric acquired from a tie factory. The use of color is excellent as well.
More Stegner Center View Quilts
The Library is a very public space so all of the quilts are in locked cases. This is a different kind of look for a show. The arrangement really gives the show the feeling of the art show that it is.
Stegner Center Shelves
The quilts are in the window alcove on the right and straight ahead and to the left.
ATCs on the WallATCs on the Wall 2
Over a hundred ATCs were made for the show. We thought they could be used to decorate the bottom of cases, but the curators chose to frame them in groups. I have never seen ATCs framed before and I like the effect very much.
Educational Materials 1
In the same hallway, the educational material was also on the wall.
Educational Materials 2
Since the Library is an educational institution, we asked a group of members to create some educational materials showing some part of the art quilt making process.
Educational Materials 3
The educational materials were designed to go in a table display. The curators decided to put them on the wall, presumably to include the 3D objects in the exhibit as well.
Educational Materials 4
The above educational frame shows the making of applique pieces using freezer paper.
After viewing of the quilts, many of the members went to lunch across the way. We were treated very well and were allowed to sit for a long time. We were given place cards and I was pleased to participate in a wonderful conversation with my colleagues.
ATC Prize Journal Cover
The Gang of Three (Nancy, Maureen, me) also decided to award a grand prize to one of the people who contributed to our collection of ATCs for the show. For that drawing, C&T Publishing, via CQFA member and C&T Education/Communications Manager Lisa Fulmer, donated the majority of the prize: Inktense pencils, a book and a few other things. I added in some embellishments and beads. I also made a journal cover to include. Caroline was the winner. I hope she enjoys her prize. We really appreciate everyone’s participation in making this show a success.
This past weekend, I spent all weekend doing fun quilt stuff,. None of it, really was sewing, but all of it was inspirational.
The Bay Area Modern Guild met on Saturday for a meeting and sew day. Don’t you love the new logo? I do!
The Manteca Quilt Show was all weekend, but I went with Mom on Sunday. Look for a post about the show soon. My camera acted up, so I need to get some of the photos from mom. I’ll also put a Flickr stream.
I really like the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild people. I really didn’t know what to expect or what I was expecting, but everyone is great: cheerful, fun, easy to talk to and doing fun projects. Even though I missed sewing on my own projects at home, it was worth the effort to go. Although I feel like I have a lot of deadlines (self imposed, of course) and I am not going to meet them, I need some sewing companionship and I am not going to get it at home alone.
The meeting was really fun. We had a bit of a business meeting and then show and tell. Show and tell was great: my favorite part. I love seeing what everyone is doing. I feel like I am getting some fresh ideas. I have been sewing, but I really had nothing to show. I haven’t finished much and need to get to work.
Amanda's Placemats
Amanda got some fabric from Urban Burp and combine the vintage fabric with some modern fabric to create some placemats. Everyone was very enthusiastic.
Kathleen's Square in a Square
Kathleen brought this square in a square piece. She used a pattern. Someone said that there is also a Kaffe Fassett pattern in one of his early books that looks similar. If I have time, I’ll look for it and let you know. I like the color and the different sized blocks used in one quilt. I also enjoy Kathleen’s work, because she uses similar colors to the colors I use.
I brought the Black Jane Market Tote and everyone admired it, but I was busy doing something else while Kathleen was taking photos, so no photo. You have seen it anyway!
Adrianne's Hexagons
Adrianne’s hexagons are quite large. She used a special cutting technique by Kay Wood, which is described on her (Adrianne’s) blog. I tried this and had some problems. Adrianne and I worked together at the meeting to figure out the problem. What we surmise is that you must have a 60 degree triangle with the tip. I was using my new favorite ruler, the Fons and Porter Pyramid ruler. I love that ruler, but the top is blunted and, while, it works great for the Twirling Triangles, but creates oblongs instead of hexagons when using Adrianne’s/Kay’s technique.
Adrianne used Innocent Crush in her piece and machine pieced the hexagons in rows. I am not sure if the Innocent Crush is in a particular colorway. I saw a number of different colors of the various designs.
Julie‘s show and tell was her cool beginner sampler. It is so fresh and fun! I haven’t counted up my requirements for techniques to learn when doing a beginning class, but Julie’s piece hits most of the high points. Her really good news was that she is opening an LQS!!! I was so excited until I heard it will be in San Jose. 🙁 She will have an online store as well, though, so I can buy from there. She is planning to open after Spring Market.
I am really hoping that an LQS will open in my neighborhood. I am in an LQS wasteland! I’ll keep you posted on Julie’s store developments.
Kathleen's String Blocks
Kathleen has been busy. She is making string blocks as well as well as the Square in a Square and the Mod Mosaics. They remind me, a bit, of Pineapples. I believe this is also a swap on Flickr. Again, I love her colors. I am so glad someone else is working in brights and dots. Kathleen said that she is working on so many swaps that she hasn’t had a chance to work on her own projects!
It is interesting to see these swaps going on. I remember back in the quiltmaking dark ages when people did swaps and they went awry or people received blocks that were less than stellar in workmanship. I am glad there are people who aren’t as jaded as I am.
February Block Challenge
Everyone brought their blocks from the 2.5″ strip swap. I was amazed at the variety of blocks. I think they will go nicely together. Adrianne and Kathleen put names into a bag to draw for all of the blocks. Chris of Quilt Bits won! I can’t wait to see what she makes.
Block Swap
For this month’s challenge, Adrianne and Kathleen brought Joel Dewberry’s Modern Meadow fat quarters. The idea is that people took the FQs and will bring back blocks to the next meeting. The theme is to make blocks with squares: log cabin, 9patch, 4patch, etc. Like last month, we will either make a quilt and someone who worked on it will win or we will draw for the blocks. Almost everyone wanted to participate, which I thought was great! I guess this is me sticking my toe back into the swap waters.
My fabric: Acorn Chain in a Lake
The photo to the left shows the fabric I chose. The colorway is Pond. It is called Acorn Chain in a Lake, which I find very entertaining. I have been trying to think of what block to make and, especially, how far I can stretch the definition of ‘square.’ 😉 At the moment the top contender is Block # 9 from the Layer Cake Quilt Challenge. I am pretty in love with 4 patches right now, though and am trying to think of something interesting to do with a 4patch (e.g. 9patch with 4patch corners??) . Adrianne posted some fun options from Flickr. I am reserving judgment as I have not yet looked through any of my block dictionaries. I am sure I can make more than one block from the fabric I have. I just hope I find some time to sew!
I chose this fabric because it looks like dots. Also, that lighter blue looks like aqua and I think I might use some of the aqua dandelion fabric I got from FabricWorm/Birch Fabrics. It is called Dandelion by Michael Miller.
Dandelion by Michael Miller
It looks like they would go together. We are also supposed to use Kona white if we plan to use a white in the block. I have Kona Snow, but not Kona White, so I will have to get some or not use white. I keep thinking that a bit of orange would be nice, but I’ll have to see when I lay out the block.
What is your favorite square block?
I only brought projects to cut out: Jane Market Totes from Martha Negley fabric, Multi-tasker Tote from Michael Miller’s Ironwork fabric, another quilt like Michaela’s quilt, but using fabrics from one of the Birch Bundles I got last summer. I thought I would get a lot of cutting done. It turns out that I was Miss Social Butterfly, As I mentioned, I really enjoy the women there and took advantage of the opportunity to talk quilts, guild activities and life. Who knew I wouldn’t just stand in the corner by myself?
Jane Market Totes to be
The left photo shows all I got done; cut out 2 Jane Market totes. That’s it. C’est tout. I am happy I got these pieces cut as the table was nice and big, but I really wish I had gotten more done. I blame Adrianne and Kathleen for doing such a great job organizing the meeting and being such nice people. 😉
Kathleen prepared the demo. The demo was the Mod Mosaic technique by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson fame. She has a pattern for a floor pillow using the technique. She talks about the blocks here and shows different ideas for settings.
Kathleen is in a swap group and they are swapping these types of blocks so a tutorial/demo on how to make the blocks seemed a good idea. It was a huge success!
Mod Mosaic Tutorial
Kathleen’s blocks are gorgeous! I watched and listened as I did my own stuff. I looked at the pattern later and I get it. I think this would make good use of scraps. Just what I need: another project in process!
Peggy's Mod Mosaic
Peggy got on board right away. She came with fabrics for a bargello quilt and, instead, used them to make Mod Mosaic blocks!
Lisa's Mod Mosaic
Lisa’s blocks (right) looked like circus blocks. I loved their bright cheerfulness. Kathleen also showed some of her blocks in detail.
Kathleen's Mod Mosaic
Looking at the black and red blocks makes me think of my new scrap organization system and how that system would lend itself to be picking scraps out of the drawer and sewing them into these types of blocks.
On my way home from the meeting, I wondered about my interest in the Modern Quilt Movement and it occurred to me that I have been, at least mentally or intellectually, struggling with categorizing my own style of quiltmaking.
What style of quilts do I make?
They aren’t really traditional, though have classic elements and are often block based. I don’t really dye or paint or engage much in surface design, so they aren’t art quilts, really, either. Perhaps I am exploring modern quilts to determine whether these types of designs are that fine line between the art and classic quilts?
I really enjoyed the meeting and can’t wait to go again….even if I don’t get anything done. 😉
Want to come to a meeting or join? Take a look at the:
Thanks to Kathleen for allowing me to use her photos!
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3/10/2011 Update: Kathleen said that Square in a Square pattern to which I referred above is called Outside the Box by Rose Mason of Wilsonville, Oregon.
