I really can’t figure out how my mind works. Sometimes I like the way it works, because it sends me off in a new creative direction.
I was making the Northwind block for the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild A-B-C Challenge and got to the point that you see in the top left photo. All I had to do was put some larger triangles on the sides and I would have a nice tidy square, but this shape stopped me in my tracks.
I have been wanting to make a Lozenge quilt for awhile, but it hasn’t come up high enough on the to do list yet, but seeing the way this shape went together made me think about that future piece a bit more.
You can easily make this into a square by adding triangles. In this case, the triangles will be part of the design, but they could easily be background as well.
I could change the colors around so that the piece would be really scrappy or use 80% of a line of fabric.
The piecing isn’t difficult – few half square triangles and you are in like Flynn.
Lozenge Example
So, this is an example of a quilt made with this shape/block.It is a quick and dirty EQ7 design and I can already see some changes that I want to make, but you get the idea of what you could with this block. I like the diamond shape. It reminds me of the Stepping Stones quilt.
The question I constantly ask myself is: why do I make quilts?
Why?
I think about the time I spend, the other chores I ignore, the money I spend, the way I arrange trips so I can stop at a quilt shop or sew with a friend.
This is frequently some kind of existential crisis that I just try and live through so I can come out on the other side still sewing. The answer I often give myself is that I am compelled to do it. I am compelled to cut up these large pieces of cloth into small pieces and sew them back together again into large pieces
I often think that if I don’t engage in this seemingly pointless exercise, something really terrible will happen.
I thought about this a lot when I went to the EBHQ show. I walked around and looked at the quilts and wondered why I was at a quilt show. I enjoy quilts, but why was I there? I was looking at a multitude of quilts, but I had seen multitudes of quilts before. I have hundreds of paper photos of quilts and, what seems like, gazillions of digital files of quilts. If you have been a reader of this blog for very long, you have see some of them.
Why was front and center in my mind at the show.
Then I read a recent blog post by Danny Gregory about Senioritis. Answers come from the strangest places.
His son has been accepted at college, but it is only March, so he still has to sit in a classroom and make some effort at doing homework and keeping his grades up. Senioritis. I was glad I read this essay, because one part of one line really hit home:
“…it is expanding your awareness of the world around you…”
Well, really it started as a Kate Spain Terrain Jelly Roll, but then I sewed it into a quilt top using the Jelly Roll Race idea and it ended up looking like a bunch of Terrain strips sewn together.
As I mentioned many times, I didn’t like it. There was no design. The fabrics landed where they landed, which wasn’t always a good spot. I didn’t, however, want to waste a whole quilt top, so it languished while I decided what to do about it.
Eventually I decided that cutting it up into diamonds would be a good idea. I did that and sewed and sewed and sewed. The sewing seemed never ending. Diamonds are not hard to sew together, but you do have to pay attention. I ripped out a lot of seams to make lines match up. There are a few that don’t, but I can live with them.
I realized, after looking back on the process, that I go through stages. One is drama and one is where I am over the crest of the hill and on the downslope. I don’t know why I forget this, but I do. Every time.
Renewed Jelly Roll Race Top
On Sunday, I finished the top. I like it. I like it better than the Jelly Roll race version. I think it has more style and more of a design sensibility. It doesn’t look like I left the design to chance. It looks like I had a care.
I washed more of the Pure Elements Linen and will add a small border of the same around the whole outside. I also got some of the solid Terrain Iris, which looks like a deep purple and will use that for the binding. I need something to stop the white, but I still want the diamonds to float. Of course, I have the back to make to make. It is in process with the leftover diamonds. I will add some purples to the back. I also need to make the label.
Process, for me, can be a killer. I want everything to move smoothly along until I finish, then I want to hang the quilt up and move to the next project. When that happens, though, the project is often boring and uninteresting. The humps are the interesting part.
Jelly Roll Race - March 7, 2012
Earlier this week, I wanted you all to put me out of my misery on the Jelly Roll Race. I was struggling, I was ripping out a lot, I was not happy. Nobody stepped up to the plate to help out, so I powered through. I did something that I don’t normally do:I sewed a little bit in the evenings. I was able to fill in a major missing chunk and somehow that made the whole project come together in part.
Don’t get me wrong. I still have a long way to go on this quilt, but I am making progress. I don’t feel tortured anymore and have some home that I’ll make more progress this weekend.
It is at this point in the process where I just want someone to take me out of my misery.
Obviously, I am being dramatic, but really, I don’t want to do this project anymore and I wonder why I thought it would be a good idea. I have already made 2 diamond quilts (the Eye Spy is essentially a diamond quilt and how could I top FOTY 2010?) – aren’t two enough.
I feel like I barely accomplished anything on Sunday, though I did sew most of the right side into large chunks.
Still, I have it in process and I will finish it before I move on to the next project. I may need to intersperse a new project into the queue before I tackle another UFO just to keep my sanity. The Corner Store, however, is quite appealing.
After cutting what seemed like a zillion diamonds last week, the picture(left) is what resulted. There are a lot of diamonds. As I mentioned, about 158. It would be nice if that left corner was filled with diamonds as well. I know I can’t have everything, though, and I am not about to sew another Jelly Roll Race top!
DH figured out how many I will need to make a quilt top as well as the layout. YAY! So glad I married someone who can do math. I was thinking of putting the question (whether there is a formula for laying out diamond quilts) to The Young Man’s Geometry teacher, but haven’t yet.
Leftover from Jelly Roll Race strips
The only scrap of any size at the end, aside from shards, was the weird wonky shape I show on my cutting mat.
I was ready to move forward and just toss the scraps when it occurred to me that I could piece together the scraps, mosaic quilting style, and make a few more diamonds. I might need them. I might not need them. You never know. The scraps might just be fun to sew together or I could make some cool do Donation blocks. A little too wild? Look for more on that.
Jelly Roll Diamonds
Saturday, I flailed around. DH and I went around a few times about the number of rows and columns. His first calculations rendered a verdict of 10 rows by 9 columns (remember that the second and every other row would have 9 rows and 8 columns), which left me with a really long skinny piece, though I wasn’t sure HOW long or HOW skinny, because I hadn’t put sashing on yet. I was also sick (yes, again!) and tried to take it easy. I don’t feel like I really accomplished much on Saturday, but it was required for the process, I think.
Sunday Work
Sunday went much better. I didn’t have a headache, which was a bonus. The corner is the hardest part to figure out and the fact that I was adding sashing added to the trickiness. I bought a 1.5″ strip cutting die for my Go! cutter and cut 1.5″ strips from the Pure Elements linen I had. Good thing, because I have a lot of it and used up about 1.5 yards so far. Julie of Intrepid Thread will be getting some business from me to replace that fabric. I need it for the A-B-C Challenge.
The photo, left, shows sections of the quilt sewn together. It is going much more smoothly after getting the weird shapes on the right hand side mostly finished. I was sorely tempted just to sew the thing together in long rows across the piece from right to left, but know I would be hating myself midway through, thus the chunks.
Sashing on diamonds
And for those of you who are curious about the sashing, I put it on to many diamonds at once. Cutting the strips with the Go! Cutter really made my life easier. I cut 5 strips at a time and then sewed as many diamonds as I could to each strip. It isn’t that I can’t cut strips; of course I can. The Go! Cutter just made my life a lot easier.
Once I had strips of sashing, I lined up the first diamond, folding back the sashing to make sure I had placed the diamond low enough on the strip so that the sashing would fill the entire angle.Then I sewed, one after another as close together as possible so I would waste as little background fabric as possible.
[BTW, that is my hideous ironing board cover. If any of you have a store nearby that carries Polder ironing board covers with a grid pattern, leave a comment or let me know. This one I got off Amazon and it is too thick aside from being not my color. I will be your new best friend if we can work out some sort of arrangement for you to get me one.]
Right Corner detail
As usual, I wanted to get a lot farther along. I am past the flailing point; I am past the figuring point and now I am just matching seams and rearranging diamonds. I’d like to be done with this project. I will finish it, but I am so ready to move on. No more Jelly Roll Races for me!
This is the piece that I started with. As you might remember, I wasn’t very happy with it. It doesn’t have enough interest to continue with it as a quilt. Still, I suffered through all of those long seams, so I didn’t want to discard it. And the fabric is nice.
Jelly Roll Diamonds
Not sure why, but I decided to cut the piece into diamonds. I worked on that over the weekend. I now have about 158 diamonds, which I intend to sash with something and then resew together.
I also was able to use my diamond ruler again. I got good use out of it for FOTY 2010, but since then it has been languishing.
Now that all of the diamonds are cut, my next task is to figure out a sashing color. I want something that will be different enough so that the diamonds don’t bleed into the sashing. I want them to be distinct.
I won’t be able to achieve that goal completely, but I was thinking white and the portable design wall does a good job showing how that will look. I did a FB poll on my page and on the Artquiltmaker.com FB page(are you a member??) and on Twitter. So far, people like the white, but chocolate and black have also been suggested. Not sure I have enough of a chocolate fabric to sew the whole piece together, but I definitely have enough for a test. I also have a nice piece of black from the Pure Elements line that I can try.
I was going to say “HOORAY!!! I finished the FOTY 2011 top!”, jump up and down and encourage us all to dance together.
But.
No dice. I starting ripping out the border on Monday, because it screamed at me. The diamond black and white didn’t work. Two people that I asked didn’t even notice, but I can’t even look at the top without my eyes going straight to that black and white border. And that means I have to rip.
Still, I spent all day Sunday sewing and that is a bonus. It was such a pleasure to spend time with my sewing machine listening to audiobooks (yes, I finished one book and started another). Still, the pleasure did not create a great border.
If fabric were wider than 42"
If fabric were wider than 42″the quilt top would have looked like the photo right. In this photo, you can’t see the way the fabric was printed off grain or the way my joins did not line up properly when I tried to make the borders longer. The border didn’t work for *me* and the sooner I faced that reality the sooner I could really get to finishing the top.
I got to this place, because I couldn’t find the fabric I originally wanted to use and I was too lazy to shift stacks of fabric around to find it.
New Border OptionNew Border #2New Border Option #3
Laziness is my downfall and I deserve what I get. In fairness, I did move some fabric AND I may have used all of the fabric I was considering, but I did not look all of the blacks to make sure.
I retrieved some other fabrics and found the stars. Right now it is my favorite. I’ll see how I feel and how the joins look later in the week. I am so glad to have some time this week to work on this project in little bits.
I made really good headway on FOTY 2011 over the weekend. If I had not gone to BAMQG, I would have finished the top, but socialization is a good thing. 😉
The photo on the left shows where I left it on Sunday night when my family finally managed to drag me away from the sewing machine. I start the piece by laying out the patches in the bottom left hand corner. I, first, concentrate on arranging the pieces in that area and move towards the upper right hand corner. The patches, before sewing, take up enough space to cover the entire design wall. As I sew, I move the sections (chunks) away from that beginning corner towards the upper right. It helps me know how much I have left to sew.
It turns out that I had a fair amount of unsewing to do. When I started, I just sewed one triangle to another without really thinking of how I was going to put the chunks together. As you can see in the light blue section, I now have all of the chunks angling to the left. To get them to line up, I had to rip some pairs out and sew those patches to other pieces.
I also needed to rip out and recut the smaller triangles. I am not sure what happened, but when I sewed the three prints and one background triangles together, they were at least a 1/2″ too big. I tried to work with them that way, but, in the end, I ripped them out and recut them, then sewed them back together. I have a few more to do in the last couple of rows, but am almost done. I am much happier with them now.
I may finish the top this weekend, but we will see. DH and I have to try and fix our printer and I have an event on Saturday to attend. I hope to have a bit of time to sew.
Look for Sandy‘s podcast, which was posted on 1/12/2012. This post is a companion to the podcast and we discuss many examples and I provide a lot of explanations about the information below.
The Design Definition we are using in this series is: Design is a problem solving activity within all the arts, placing or creating subject matter so it is of visual significance and interesting to the artist. (from The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed)
Unity/Harmony are Principles of Design. Unity and Harmony are often combined as one principle. Harmony is used here as another word for Unity.
Definition:
the presentation of an integrated image (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.20)
a design in which “congruity or agreement exists among the elements in a design; they look as though they belong together” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.20)
some visual connection beyond mere chance has caused elements to come together. (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.20)
According to Adventures in Design by Joen Wolfrom, “the backbone of any design is unity,” because it provides stability and control in a design as well as visual comfort. It also clarifies the design (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97)
“The strength of the composition is that the parts are not there by chance, but that they appear to belong together… The parts don’t have to be the same or have to touch each other; rather, they must make sense together.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.13)
Unity cannot exist without other closely related elements and principles (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97), which means that this is probably the principle where we will discuss the most other elements and principles.
“Unity of design is achieved by the arrangement of the lines, shapes, colors, values textures and patterns that are used.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.13)
Methods of creating Unity are below:
The Grid
a checkerboard pattern using only black and white fabrics has complete unity. There is a “constant repetition of shape and obvious continuation of lined-up edges.” This design, however, can be a bit boring. (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.34)
Many, many quilts have an underlying checkerboard pattern (blocks)
a checkerboard pattern using black, white and two kinds of grey adds in some variety to the basic checkerboard theme
a checkerboard pattern using black, white and two kinds of grey where rectangles are added to,” OR replace some of, “the squares creates even more variety while still using a basic grid. There is an “obvious, underlying feeling of unity, yet variations enliven the pattern.” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.34)
“shapes may repeat, but perhaps in different sizes; colors may repeat, but perhaps in different values.” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.34)
Unity through Repetition
“Repetition is another way to create unity in a quilt design. The repetition of an element in a composition can tie the whole together, creating a relationship among the elements.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15)
“…repetition of an element creates visual rhythm.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15) Static rhythm, alternating rhythm and progressive rhythm have an effect on unity through repetition, but we will cover that when we cover the Principle of Rhythm.
Variety is achieved by position (straight set or on point), size and difference in proportion (e.g. all star blocks, but not the same size star blocks) of the features. (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.36)
“Variation or contrast with unity creates a stronger design than unity alone.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.99)
“Variety creates increased interest in a design.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.99)
porch posts or stair rails are another example. Certain standard measurements repeat while a variety of carving vary the sections of each column. (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.36)
“Repetition in design is simply repeating one or more elements. Every element does not need to be repeated. If too many elements are repeated, predictability, visual monotony, and disinterest can result.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.97)
“When elements of a design have a similar shape, we automatically create a visual relationship among them.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.14)
“Variation is added through the shifting of motif shapes;” “our eyes are most interested in the place where the pattern is interrupted.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.99)
“To say a design must contain both the ordered quality of unity and the lively quality of variety does not limit or inhibit the artist. The principle can encompass a wide variety of extremely different visual images and can even be contradicted for expressive purposes.” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.38)
Subtle repetition can enhance the unity of composition. By using subtle repetition, the artist draws the viewer in to look more carefully for differences. (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.38)
consider identical twins. When looking at a photo of identical twins, the eye seeks out the differences. The same can be said for a one block quilt. If the quiltmaker chooses subtle variations in color, the viewer will seek out the differences even if the block is the same.
“Unity without variety can evoke our worst feelings about assembly lines and institutions.” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.38)
Emphasis on Variety (difficult to explain in words, because it is easier to see a visual example!)
Star quilt where none of the star patterns are the same.
Quilt where none of the blocks are the same, but the colors unify the piece
Chaos & Control
“without some aspect of unity, an image or design becomes chaotic and quickly ‘unreadable’. (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.42)
design can also become lifeless or dull (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.42)
“neither utter confusion nor utter regularity are satisfying” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.42)
housing subdivisions often start out boringly the same, but as years pass elements of personal variations crop up (landscaping, paint color, fence style, etc) (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.42)
Bridging
Bridging is used to gently move the eye from one extreme to another. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.103)
considered a ‘principle’ by Joen Wolfrom, but is more of an element under unity for our purposes.
Color is often used for bridging. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.103) Color gradation often shows up in quilts (consider my Fabric of the Year series). Moving from light to dark can add great drama to a design. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.103)
Size gradation is also compelling. Moving across your quilt from a large shape to a small shape can create variety and interest. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.104). It kinds of looks like this series of rectangles
A quiltmaker can also change the configuration of shapes such as going from a vertical thin rectangle through a square to a thin, horizontal rectangle. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.105)
Unity through Proximity
“One of the easiest ways to tie elements of a design together is to place them close to each other.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.13)
“Make sure the objects in your design are close enough that they have a visual bond – a visual relationship. Objects need to be in close proximity for unity” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.105)
Different shapes can be placed in such a way that they have no unity, but shapes can also be placed in such a way that suggests a meaning. (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.14)
Tidal Flat by Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs uses proximity well.
“Our eyes also organize the empty spaces in a design. The foreground or positive shapes are surrounded by the background, also called negative space.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15)
“…the artist has to be aware that the shapes in the foreground create shapes in the background that can confuse the viewer, or dominate the positive shapes. Traditional pieced quilts often use this principle to add complexity to a design.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.15)
Movement
Repeating an object’s shape across the design creates movement when the repetition gives the eye the opportunity to move across the design. (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.106)
Unity through Continuation
“…the arrangement of various elements in the composition so that their edges create a visual line. (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.18)
“Quilts often employ a grid as an underlying structure that gives the blocks unity through the principle of continuation.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.18)
Achieving Unity
“One way to tie the foreground and background together is to repeat a color in both the positive and negative spaces.” (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.20)
This means that perhaps you have a batik with gold running through the predominantly black fabric. By appliqueing gold leaves to the background fabric, you have moved in the direction of creating unity. (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.20)
If your quilt has large yellow areas, you can quilt with yellow Perl cotton to help achieve unity. In this example, there must be contrast as well. (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.20)
The balance of positive and negative space can also work to your advantage in creating unity. (The Quilter’s Book of Design, 2d ed, pg.21-22)
Un-unified or Un-harmonious Designs
the whole design or the group elements appear separate or unrelated.
A viewer will ignore a chaotic design (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.24)
“lack of unity is one of the major reasons a design is unsuccessful. Too much variety creates visual chaos. If not repetition exists, there is nothing to hold the design together.” (Wolfrom, Adventures in Design, pg.98)
this quote brings orphan block quilts to mind. These are difficult quilts to design, because of the variety included. The artist must create something to hold the group together such as unified sashing, a color that flows throughout the piece, etc.
Notes:
“in the application of any art principle, wide flexibility is possible within the general framework of the guideline” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.38)
“To say a design must contain both the ordered quality of unity and the lively quality of variety does not limit or inhibit the artist. The principle can encompass a wide variety of extremely different visual images and can even be contradicted for expressive purposes.” (Pentak & Lauer, 5th ed. pg.38)
Stars for San Bruno #1
A kind of Star Sampler is my Stars for San Bruno #1 quilt.
Not too long ago, Frances asked, in one of her podcast episodes, about making pieced backs and whether there was a tutorial.
I didn’t look for one, but I knew I had a back to make soon (for the Stepping Stones), so I thought about taking the opportunity to make a tutorial.
As I have mentioned in the past, once the top is finished, I am done with the project and want to move on. I love piecing. The other parts, such as making the back, making the binding and label, quilting are all dull for me. However, I have found that the Finishing Fairy does not visit my house and I have to do my own finishing or finish by checkbook.
My first step was figuring out how I make the pieced back. The basic premise is easy: sew pieces of fabric together until you have a piece large enough to accommodate the quilt.
What I realized is that it isn’t quite as easy as a step 1, step 2, etc tutorial. I sew bits and pieces together as I am making the quilt that end up larger when I am ready to sew the back together. You aren’t going to have the same size pieces as I have. So, this will be more like a guide rather than a tutorial.
I am a firm believer in not buying new fabric just for the back. Yes, it would be easier, but I have a lot of fabric and I might as well use it. I try to use the largest pieces possible as well as the pieces I have sewn together while making the quilt.
The first thing I do is make a label. I make my labels using a word processing program (Google Docs would work just fine) and then I print the piece out on paper backed fabric. I have also used the stitch letters on my sewing machine to write out a label.
The label will be sewn into the back, so as soon as I peel the fabric off the paper I start sewing. Know your paper backed fabric and ink so that you know whether the ink will wash out immediately, over time, or not at all. I use fabric backed paper from Dharma Trading Company and my regular ink jet printer.
Tip #1: larger pieces make the back go together faster
When I made the back for FOTY 2010, I purposefully used really large pieces. That was the best back experience of my life, because it went together really fast. I suggest you start out this way with pieced backs so you don’t lose your mind. This is your fair warning!
Tip #2: As with blocks, sew from smallest to largest.
I start with the label and surround it with fabric until I have about 1.5′ from the right hand side of the back and about the same from the bottom.
I sew the label into the back so if a quilt is stolen, the label cannot be ripped off without ripping out the quilting.
Tip #3: Plan to leave extra fabric around the edge if you want to longarm. 4″ on all sides is usually sufficient.
Once I have one corner completed, I sew across the bottom of the quilt back until I have a piece the desired width. I make the width generous as I don’t want to go back when I think I am finished and have to sew on a strip to a long edge.
Tip #4: Coordinate your backing fabric with the fabric pieced into the front.
I use fabric that will coordinate with the front, though it isn’t necessarily the same fabric. If I have a lot of leftovers that I don’t think I will use in another quilt, such as in Stepping Stones, then I will use the leftovers for the back.
Tip #5: Leaders and enders techniques make the process of sewing the back go faster.
Where possible I will sew smaller pieces/shards (not schnibbles! I am not advocating doing something that will send you to an insane asylum) of fabric together using Bonnie Hunter’s leaders and enders technique. Now, I have not taken a class from her, so visit Quiltville, Bonnie’s blog or buy her books to learn her methods. My idea is that I put pieces/shards through the machine after the regular pieces for my top so I can get those to ironing board for pressing faster (discussed previously in this post). Also, this alleviates the need to put a scrap piece of fabric through the machine to keep your feed dogs from eating your triangle corners. Finally, it minimizes scraps added to the scrap pile.
Red Journal – Closed
As I have discussed on different occasions, I call the end result of sewing bunches of scraps together randomly mosaic quilting. I use the leaders and enders method to facilitate the mosaic quilting result. I made the entire cover of the red journal by using the leaders and enders method to get a mosaic quilting piece. I enjoy sewing like colors together to make new fabric. If I have nothing else to do or I can’t think or I am stressed out, it is a good activity.
How does this relate to pieced backs?
Mosaic Quilting for Pieced Backs
I do the same thing, but on a larger scale. When I am finished piecing the top and am definitely working on the back, I find pieces that fit together and sew them. When I am piecing the top, I sew the smaller pieces into larger pieces and then use the larger pieces for the back.
Mosaic Quilting for Pieced Backs
Tip #6: Skip sewing small pieces together if you have not done so prior to finishing the top.
I just want to finish, so if I have not sewed smaller pieces into larger chunks prior to starting the back, I skip it. It drives me crazy to have to stitch little bits together for no other reason than making a back. Why this doesn’t bother me when I am using them as leaders and enders, I don’t know.
Tip #7: Backstitch
Any seam that will be on the outside of the quilt or not crossed by another seams gets a few back stitches. All of my handling rips out those stitches and then I have to go over them before giving them to my longarmer. To alleviate the process I backstitch. I backstitch more than just the outside seams as sometimes I don’t know what will become an outside seam.
Finally, I sew chunks the same width as the first chunk (with the label) until I have a piece the same size as the top with an additional 4″ on each side. Depending how how small the pieces are, the back can take me 4-6 hours. I am slow, and get cranky when I do this.
Alternatively, you can just buy a big piece of fabric and put it on the back. 😉
If you, mostly, do not quilt your quilts yourself, then part of your quiltmaking process should be preparing your quilt for your longarm professional. You can read my longarm rant which implies things to think about when choosing a longarm quilter, but regardless of who you choose, you will still have to prepare your quilt.
To be honest, when I get to the “YAY! I have finished my top” stage, I am done with the quilt. However, I also don’t want a bunch of tops laying around, so I am working on finding the Zen or meditative qualities of finishing my quilts.
For the top, don’t worry much about pattern or block design when thinking about the longarmer. I am more interested in what I want for the top.
Back
However, when I get to the back, I do try to be nice. Part of the process or creating the Zen or meditative space in my head of finishing my quilts deals with the back. I no longer piece tiny squares together to create a coordinated back. I try to use very large pieces of fabric, which not only enables me to finish the back quickly, but also lessens the number of seams on the back for the longarmer.
My personal, fabulous longarmer has never complained about seams, but I also don’t want her to become frustrated with me. I make pieced backs. That is just what I do. I see no good reason to buy additional fabric for the back when I have perfectly good fabric in my fabric closet that is not being used.
Lately, I have started to try to remember to piece the seams open on the back. It doesn’t really matter in terms of construction, IMO, but it lessens the number of layers that the longarm needle has to punch through. My personal, fabulous longarmer has never said one way or the other, but I figure that it can’t hurt.
If I know that the end of the seam will be on the outside of the quilt or NOT crossed by another seam I will also backstitch. I do this on the front also, so that the threads don’t pull apart as the quilt is being stretched on the longarm machine. Of course, I don’t always know, but I do my best.
I try to make the back at least 8″ larger (4″ on each side and 4″ on top and bottom) all the way around than the size of the top. To do this, I lay the top on my design floor and build the back on top of it.
Post-it Notes are your Friend
I measure the top and the back and pin a post-it note to the quilt saying what the sizes are. I use hot pink post-it notes. My quilts are generally square, but usually not perfectly square. They are often off by an 1/8″, but not much more. If I put the post-it note on, the longarmer clearly knows what s/he is dealing with and can’t blame me later for lousy piecing (Well, s/he can, but I can just look at him or her sarcastically and not feel bad).
Top and Bottom
You might think that any idiot could tell which is the top and bottom of your quilt, but that is not always the case. I had a quilt where the back was really large – much larger than the 4″ all around that I normally make it – and my personal, fabulous longarmer put it on sideways, because I didn’t mark the top and the bottom. She is not in my head, though she is in my fantasy life, so now I put a post-it note with the word ‘top’ on both the top and the back. Top on the post-it note means “dude, this is the top of the quilt.”
Pins
I take them out as I piece. There is no later. If my personal, fabulous longarmer runs over a pin I left on the quilt, I pay to have her machine repaired. My fault, my problem.
Embellishments
I embellish with anything 3D AFTER the quilting is done. If there is some reason that I put a button or beads in a section of the quilt, then I pin a very bright post-it note to that area. I also point it out to her when I bring the quilt to her. If my personal, fabulous longarmer runs over an embellishment on the quilt, because I didn’t warn her, I pay to have her machine repaired. My fault, my problem.
Press, Press, Press
As much as I despise pressing the top and the back I do it just before I take the quilt to the longarmer. Then I hang the top and the back on a pants hanger. The pants hangers have to be tough and have really strong clips, because those quilts are heavy. If I don’t press the wrinkles will not ‘quilt’ out.
This is the last step. Once the quilt is on the hanger, it is ready to be taken to the longarmer.
Keep in mind that your personal longarmer might have different requirements for how you prepare your quilts. Make sure that you know what those are before you take your quilt to be quilted.
For some reason I felt the need to count up the projects I have in process. In process, to me, means that some sewing has taken place
26.
Yes, I have 26 projects in process. Too many. I was kind of appalled, actually, but when I thought about it, I realized that many of them are more than 3 years old. Some are half class projects. I used to stop, put a project away and go on to something new. I thought that was what quiltmakers did.
At some point I decided that I did not want to do that anymore. I have changed my process so that I gear up, gather, test and then focus like crazy on one project and finish it. I might be working on more than one project at a time, because they are in different stages, but at some point in the process each of them gets my full attention and gets finished. Once I focus on a project, I can finish pretty quickly.
I don’t enjoy making the back or the binding, but I get it done and THEN, only then, move on to the next project. Projects frustrating me now stay on the design wall so I don’t forget about them.
This post is not about finishing for finishings sake. I need brain space. I need closure on some of these projects. I need to work on them, learn what I need to learn, finish, or abandon them. They are cluttering up my brain and my fabric closet. They don’t allow room for me to start new things. And I have plenty of new things I want to start, fabric to buy, blocks to test.
Now I am on a mission to work through some of these projects. Stay tuned.
As I mentioned I took the Stars for San Bruno #2 quilt to my quilter last Friday. I am so pleased that I finished the top and that I am really moving along on this project. I probably won’t get it back until the beginning of September.
I was stupid about how I put this top together and ended up needing to sew a lot of partial seams. I decided to put on two borders (yellow and blue) on the top. I thought about putting two yellow borders, but couldn’t face the scrap piecing so I compromised by putting a slightly wider yellow border on.
I have a large piece of solid fabric left that I want to use for #3, but other than that, I don’t have much dark blue fabric left. Tons of turquoise, but none of that deep blue. I am trying not to buy any more for #3.
I am not that fond of working with really dark colors anymore, but have been trying hard not to infuse the quilt with resentful or bad feelings since I want these quilts to be a comfort to their new owners. It is working very well and I don’t even have to try that hard. I do know that I need to take a short break and do some other projects before starting on #3.
I was listening to Mark Lipinski’s Creative Mojo episode from 6/29/2011 the other day. He was interviewing Lesley Riley, who I thought was really good. She is the creative force behind TAP and a creative mentor/coach. She said that people often don’t do anything creative, because they have forgotten how (we are all born with the ability to be creative, according to Leslie), or we feel like we don’t have time or we feel like everything we do has to be a masterpiece, because we don’t have time to screw up.
Fabric of the Year 2010 Professional
The masterpiece comment really struck a chord with me.
It made me think about the quilts I have made where I feel like I have really struck gold. I have had Fabric of the Year 2010 on my mind lately, because I really feel like I struck gold with this quilt. This conversation, further, made me think that there is no predicting whether a quilt that will have the it factor.
Spiky Stars
I feel like I have two or three quilts that are truly excellent quilts. This is many fewer than the number of quilts that I have made. I asked myself if I was ok with that and I am. I am because the other quilts are not horrible, ugly or hideous. Most of them are good work and make me happy. They are nice quilts, but just don’t have the “it” factor.
I am going to keep making quilts and I’ll nail another one sometime. I don’t know when, but if I stop working, because each quilt isn’t a masterpiece I will never find that quilt with the ‘it’ factor, but more importantly, I won’t progress. I believe that my truly great quilts are great, because I keep making quilts.
I make blocks to try out color schemes before I commit to a whole quilt, sometimes. I make bags and other small objects to try fabrics and techniques that may not be suitable for quilts. I go to A Work of Heart and play with paint and ink, paper and gesso under the watchful eye of Andrea, a creative genius if there ever was one. It feels good not to be making all the decisions all the time.
I also look at my quilts, once finished, and think about what I could have done better. I worked hard on FOTY 2010 based on what I had seen in FOTY 2008 and FOTY 2009.
