Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Tag: Projects
Use this tag for posts that covers a variety of types of projects in one post such as the 26 Projects posts. If the post is about a bag, use Project-Bag. If the post is about a quilt, use Project-Quilt
I have mentioned several times recently making incremental progress on a variety of projects, but not any major progress on one project. I decided I would show you some of the projects.
I have to say that the FOTY progress I made on Monday really helped me feel better about my progress.
Above is my design wall over the weekend.
Frosted Stars - Cut
First up are the pieces for the Frosted Stars. Keep in mind where the fabrics are is not necessarily where they will stay in the finished pieces. As I cut them, I slapped them up. A lot of the creams with various motifs were on top. I definitely won’t put them all in one block next to each other.
I added that turquoise in because I thought it needed some. It really makes the piece pop.
Frosted Star with Turquoise
The blue in the 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Spain line is more light sky blue. It reminds me a of turquoise, but definitely isn’t. I asked DH what he thought. Being a much quieter person and more fond of earthy colors, he was diplomatic. I could tell he thought it was a little bright. 😉 He suggested a silver.
Frosted Star with "Silver"
I want the quilt to be scrappy, but I do want some continuity within the blocks,, thus I want the four triangles that make up the third piece in the star to be the same fabric. Above I have added some Robert Kaufman Fizz to audition for that spot. The photo was a little dark, so I lightened it up a little bit so you could see it better. Yes, I am copping to digital enhancement.
Silver is hard to find without delving into the lame’ realm. I like this Fizz line, as you know, and this silver grey looks pretty good with the other fabrics.
So far, that is my take on the Frosted Stars.
Next up: Upper lefthand corner
Upper Left
I have been cutting 2″ squares and making random four patches out of them. Some of them I stick in letters to my friends. If I make enough of them I will eventually have enough for a quilt. Sandy from Quilting for the Rest of Us did a podcast on scraps. If you haven’t listened to it, please do so, because it is a good one and this sort of dovetails into it. Bottomline: great way to use scraps.
Zig Zaggy Pieces
I thought I mentioned these pieces in some detail, but I only found a brief reference. The long pieces are what I am going to make the Zig Zaggy quilt from. The small pieces have to be replaced with other fabrics and they are on the wall until I do so.
Sorbet Blocks
In case I didn’t say, this project is no longer a palette cleanswer. Now it is a UFO. I haven’t completely lost interest. In order to generate some interest, I am thinking of doing a Block-a-Long. The idea would be that I would post patterns for each of the blocks at regular intervals and you would make them. Stay tuned!
Well, my crappy day was put into perspective by Sandy of Quilting for the Rest of Us podcast fame. Her son was put into the hospital with severe appendicitis. He had surgery and is now in the ICU recovering nicely. YAY! If you have time, put a comment up on her blog wishing her and family some good thoughts. And I will work on getting over my stupid work issues.
If you haven’t listened to Sandy’s podcast, try it out. It is REALLY great. I chomp at the bit every week waiting for it. Sandy is funny, works hard to make her podcast professional, but keeps it human as well. She has a number of episodes up and all of them have some good information. I appreciate her research and find that she doesn’t perpetuate quiltmaking myths. She also seems to use more than the Internet for her research, which, as a librarian, warms my heart.
In my Inbox was this message from Judy Martin:
“Greetings quilters,
Three quick notes for you on a Sunday afternoon.
1) My big kitchen/bathroom renovation begins tomorrow. I’ve begun documenting the project with photos and tales at
2) If you have ever wanted to own a quilt or quilt top made by Judy Martin, the time has never been better. I’m losing a lot of my storage space, and the cost of the renovation scares me. I’m motivated to sell some quilts. Here are all the details:
I took a look at the website and can understand needing and wanting to remodel. Of course, nobody ever WANTS to remodel, because the hell seems to go on forever. Take a look at her remodel pictures and her quilts.
Also, from the Good Quilt Customer Service Department comes this story:
I decided that I wasn’t going to use the Hunky Dory Jelly Roll that I bought for the Zig Zaggy Quilt back in March? April? I can’t remember, but it was a few months ago. I can’t always tell what the fabric looks like when I am shopping online. I ordered the Me and My Sister Favorites as well as the Hunky Dory to see which was better for me and my project. I am a bright color kind of person and the Hunky Dory was soft and not for me and this project. After all of these months I decided that I needed another Jelly Roll for the Zig Zaggy quilt. FQ Shop had some.
I sent the invoice and asked if I could exchange the Hunky Dory Jelly Roll for the Me and My Sister Favorites Jelly Roll. Not only did Kathy at FQ shop say yes, but she also called me to make sure that I wanted a second Jelly Roll. She noticed that I had bought one back in March? April? As I said, I can’t remember, it was a few months ago. We went over the shipping details and my Hunky Dory Jelly Roll will go back to Texas tomorrow to be added to someone else’s stash. Hooray.
And I will get to make the Zig Zaggy Quilt just a little bigger. I am tempted to put up my portable design wall and lay out the Zig zaggy quilt so I can see what I am facing. My regular design wall has no space.
Since I returned from Long Beach, I have been trying to sew a lot. I have a lot of new fabric and I want to play with it. I don’t feel like I am sewing enough, but I am trying.
One of the first things I do is wash and press the fabric. This is a big bottleneck right now. The washing, as I may have mentioned, is done. Since I am not finished pressing so I am, basically, pressing as I need a certain fabric.
The first thing in my sewing adventure I did was cut out and prepare pillowcases for sewing. there is a lot of pinning in the Twiddletails pattern. So far, I have made a total of 3 pillowcases and have two more cut out and ready to sew. I wrote about this a little bit in my post entitled Pillowcase Party. This is ongoing. I have a lot more pillowcases in me, but I am dealing with incremental progress on a number of projects right, so I have very little to show for it.
“Incremental progress on a lot of projects” means that I am working on a lot of different projects and haven’t settled down to one yet. I have been cutting pieces for the Frosted Stars quilt, cutting diamonds, working on tote bags, cutting various patches, trying things for the Zig Zaggy Quilt, etc.
Napkins & Pillowcases (8/2010)
The robot pillowcase (middle), which will be donated, is new. I finished that one quickly yesterday. The two pieces on the right are napkins. I saw the pie fabric and had to get it for napkins. I make pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas and it fits into our family culture. The martini fabric was just fun and not something I would use in a quilt, so napkins again.
I don’t really like making napkins, because the seams don’t press well for me. I LOVE using cloth napkins though. I love seeing different fabrics. I love people’s comments when they sit at my table. I love choosing which one I am going to use for the next few days. I also think it is great way to spread fun fabrics throughout my life.
The napkin fabrics won’t be in FOTY 2010, because I only bought a half yard of each and I use two FQs for each napkin. I like generous napkins and I don’t want to square them up. This time I used two new fabrics (the pies and martinis) and found two fabrics that had been around for awhile with which to pair the new fabrics. When I brought them downstairs the boys were already claiming their favorites.
I finally made the sleeve for the Chocolate Box, so that quilt is nearly done.
Blue Janus Quilted
I also went longarming last week. I am not longarming a monster quilt again. The process didn’t go smoothly and only a small part of it was because of the size. I think it is good to find my limitations. For longarming, I think mine limit is a twin sized quilt.
The shop is having problems with their machine, but it was still functional. We spent two hours working through the machine not working. I quilted about 4 blocks (6″ finished) and we had to rip out all that quilting. Evelyn, my helper, was awesome. We talked about our quilting while we worked on the machine. She told me about her family. Another lady came in to help. No dice. The machine wasn’t working. Finally, one of the owners came in and told us we were using the crappy thread that couldn’t be used with the longarm machine.
My question was why was that thread in the longarm room if it wasn’t to be used for longarming? If it was in the room, I would certainly choose it!
We changed the thread and the machine worked like a charm. Sigh.
The good part is that I got a lot of practice stopping and starting, which I needed.
I was too tired to trim the quilt, so it still needs to be trimmed and it needs the binding of course.
There is more to do and I need about a week to just sew with no other obligations.
I showed these blocks last week. I have a lot of finishing work to do, so they are still on my design wall, which means I keep looking at them.
My original thought was that they should but up against each other and kind of blend together. The more I looked at them, the more I thought the blending together idea wasn’t really working.
Sorbet with Space
Since rearranging is free, I moved them a little apart and started looking at them. It is better having them farther apart, but I am going to reserve judgement until I make more blocks. I definitely need more fabrics to add interest, so I am glad that TFQ helped me pick additional colors and designs.
This quilt is not the mind sorbet project I thought it would be. I know I mentioned this in my last post on this quilt.
I know I haven’t shown Sorbet in awhile. I had a number of different issues and it wasn’t working out as the mind sorbet that I needed. I think what I determined is that quilts are not mind sorbet if I have to amke a lot of decisions. Bags and pencil rolls are mind sorbet.
At some point I got some creativity energy behind the project and decided to make some blocks. My laptop, with EQ6, where all of my design ideas were) crashed and died. I had the basic measurements, so I thought I could plunge on, but then the finished blocks went missing. That sealed it for this project for the time being.
Time went by and I found the blocks! I put this project on my list of TFQ to dos. One of the many good qualities that TFQ has is that she is more than happy to paw through the fabric in my fabric closet. What we did was look at all of the fabric I had set aside and then all the fabric in the pastel/Easter/sorbetish colors that might work. We also figured out that we needed a few more stripes and some graphic designs.
Sorbet Fabric Palette
The fabrics above are all put aside to possibly use for the project. Nice, eh?
I have had some time to reflect on this project. I realized that “brain dead projects” have a place in my quiltmaking process.
“Brain dead project” sounds fairly derogatory and I don’t mean the concept to be. To me, a brain dead project is a project that I can work on that has very few decisions involved. I have put off writing this post while I tried to think of a better term. I haven’t succeeded yet. I am sure one of my brilliant readers will come up with one.
Quiltmaking is, in a way, an intellectual process for me. My normal way of working is that something intrigues me – a block, a fabric, a tool – and I start playing with it. The circles are a good example. I saw a quilt, began thinking about how to make it and what I wanted to convey and ended up in a class. The process with the circle quilt is not over by a long shot. It is still in the percolating process.
Sometimes, my normal process takes too much thinking. The It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap quilt was the perfect project when I needed just to sew. I didn’t have to choose the colors (except for a couple of background additions) and I didn’t have to figure out the piecing. I bought the pattern, which was a choice, but after that, it was basic sewing and pressing. I only had to focus on the more technical details of putting the quilt together.
I need this kind of project sometimes. It keeps my hands busy and allows my mind to wander. When I made this top (which still needs borders) I was having a hard time and the fewer decisions the better.
I am happy with the way the quilt turned out (so far) and that I got to learn to use a Jelly Roll. Yes, my quilt looks like everyone else’s. Sometimes that is ok.
This is similar to the last block I made back in November. When I made the 3 Columns block, I wondered how it would look if I reversed one of the columns. The block to the left is the result.
I think the fabrics are a little busy, but otherwise it was a good idea. It is a simple idea.
I haven’t worked on the Sorbet quilt in a long time. The idea of a quick quilt to cleanse my sewing palette after the Tarts is working out like I thought it would.
First, the Tarts are still on my design wall calling to me. There is something else I need to do to it, but I am not sure what.
Second, as you have probably heard 1,000 times, my laptop died and along with it the notes on the quilt. The notes include all of the designs for blocks. I can easily remake them, but don’t have it in me right now.
Finally, I can’t find the other blocks I have made. I would really like to find them. This, partially, goes back to organization. I need a better organizational system in my workroom.
I mentioned a week or so ago that I had spent some time doing rote sewing. Part of that day of roteness (is that a word?) was making backs.
Tarts Back
Above is the back for the Tarts. As I said previously, it went together really quickly. I am showing it again so you can see the contrast. Making the Tarts back made me think that I could get the back for FOTY 2009 done really quickly.
HAHAHAHA!
FOTY 2009 back
I gave myself the rule of using only fabrics I bought or received in 2009 for the back. That meant a lot of rummaging through fabric. That meant a lot of FQs and piecing fabrics together to make them fit. When I finally finished at 9pm on Sunday, I felt like I had accomplished something.
It is a strange looking back and I hope all the seams won’t be a problem on the longarm.
FOTY 2009 detail
One thing I found when I came back from the CQFA Retreat was a bunch of other FOTY 2009 blocks! Nooooo! I can’t believe they weren’t with all the others. I could have added another row of blocks if I had found them BEFORE the retreat. I decided to get over it and put them on the back.
Moon & Stars is an old, old project. I started it after my mom gave me a FQ pack of the moon and stars fabrics in the middle. I wanted to show them off, so I made this kind of window scene with very little piecing.
It was in the same bag as Kissy Fish, except wadded up at the bottom. Who knows what I was thinking? Some of my bags tend to turn into dumping grounds. I pulled it out last week when I, once again, needed a hand project for a serious amount of TV watching. I don’t remember when I last worked on it or when I started it, but it had to be around the time I was working on the Sampler, because, I am apparently, hand quilting it.I don’t do much hand quilting anymore with regular quilting thread.
Moon & Stars (detail)
The thread for the middle is really thin – or seems thin – and I couldn’t find it in the depths of the bag. It appeared that I was pretty much done with the hand quilting of the middle, so I took some of the Laura Wasilowski hand dyed thread and worked on quilting the border.
I may add some machine quilting to it as I like my quilts quilted close together and there is only a very small chance that I will hand quilt it as close together as I like it.
A friend and former colleague, Sheila, emailed me in her capacity as secretary for the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California Foundation and asked me if I might have a piece to donate for the silent auction at their annual gala, which was held yesterday at the Green Room in San Francisco. A large number of attorneys and other professionals will attend and bid on various items and services at the silent auction. Sheila told me that the items and services were donated by prominent individuals and businesses. All proceeds raised fund public interest fellowships for Bay Area law students.
While I don’t really think that the world needs more lawyers, I do think that scholarships are important and it isn’t up to me to decide how people spend their lives. It also made me feel good to be considered a “prominent individual.” It will be interesting to see where House and Garden goes on its journey.
I finally buckled down this past weekend and got some of my ‘rote’ sewing out of the way. Rote sewing is stuff like making backs, putting on bindings, etc. I usually consider it to be stuff that I have to do at the machine, but isn’t very creative. I often have a hard time getting started on it. The good thing about rote sewing is that it usually goes fast once I buckle down and I can often cross a lot of tasks off my list after a rote sewing weekend.
Fluttering Hearts Test
This time I worked on backs and tossed the Fluttering Hearts into the mix. Above you can me trying out the Fluttering Hearts. I have had 3 on the piece on my design wall since November or December. I really wanted some at the top and decided that Saturday would be good day to try it out.
Fluttering Hearts Appliqued
I spent a lot of time sewing carefully around the hearts with the satin stitch. I am out of the thin Maderia embroidery thread so I used a spool of Robison-Anton that seemed relatively new. I love the sheen of that thread. It is also thick like quilting thread, so the satin stitch looks pretty full on the hearts.
Tarts with Fluttering Hearts
Above is the Tarts with the Fluttering Hearts appliqued. I thought I would be done, but I am thinking that I need to applique’ something to the tea kettle (lower left), some steam or stars to the Chocolate Pot, like I showed in this post.
I think I might be getting too mired in the layering thing that is going on in my head. I have to remember that I put the label on the back and it says I finished this quilt in 2010, so I have to finish it!
Tarts Back
Here is the Tarts back, another bit of rote sewing from the past weekend. It went together really fast! I was shocked. I guess I really do need to finish this quilt!
Give me your opinions about more bits of applique’ of it you think I should just wait to embellish with buttons and beads and embroidery.
Yes, boys and girls, I finally finished Beach Town. You can read about starting it in the post about the Pamela Allen class from last year. I liked looking at the piece in that post (one of the things I LOVE about blogging!), because I could see the differences including all of the handwork I have added.
Beach Town Back
I made a smaller version of the Robbi Joy Eklow sleeve (from her book Free Expression) for this piece. I don’t know if it will ever be hung using a rod, but it is ready if someone wants to hang it that way.
One of the things I need to think through when I use this technique in the future is the back and the label. I like to include the label as a part of the back. As you may have noticed, I often piece the back and include the label in that piecing. This allows me (or my quilter) to quilt over the label so that it cannot be removed if the quilt is stolen. Jill, one of the creative prompt participants, talks about this in her recent blog post.
Another reason I piece the back is that I have the fabric, so I might as well use it.
Smaller quilts, and particularly this Pamelala technique are free form and quick. The maker usually lays down the back and batting first with no opportunity to piece the back or make a label. When I take a Pamela Allen class again, perhaps I should just put down the batting and work on the back later?
OK, girls and boys, I am here to announce the winner of the one World One Heart blog go round/ blog project/ whatever it is called.
First, my goal was to get new blog readers, so I hope some of you will stick around and join our little community here.
Second, I appreciate everyone who actually took a look at my blog and followed the requests that I had about entering . I really wanted to know where everyone was coming from.
Finally, I also really liked it when people said something about my posts or a post. I was tempted to toss those who didn’t follow the directions out of the drawing. However, I was persuaded otherwise and everyone stayed in.
TA DA!!! The Winner is:
Bonnie
from
Southern Style blog
http://nanbon44.blogspot.com/
You can also make your own Over the top bag. The pattern is from All People Quilt. You can read about my bag in my August 26th post. Lisa put up a list of all the OWOH participants in alphabetical order. Great list if you are looking for some blogs to read!
Mom and I had museum day last Friday. We first went to the DeYoung and saw the Amish Abstractions exhibit. This is an exhibit of Amish quilts from the Stephen and Faith Brown collection.
I could look at Amish quilts for years and never get bored. I went to the Esprit exhibit at the DeYoung back in the Dark Ages and I even demonstrated handquilting during one of their free evenings through a quilt class I was taking at the time. That was in the old museum building and before they charged extra for the special exhibits. Times definitely change!
I really tried to look at each quilt for more than 30 seconds (which my mother tells me is the average time that someone looks at a piece of art in an exhibit.
Shutter Block
I liked all of the quilts. The ones that particularly stuck in my mind were a small crib quilt with two vertical rows of 3 Jack’s Chains* and a small 6 block crib quilt using a block I had never seen before. I am calling it the “Shutter quilt.” Do you know the name of the block?
The hidden complexity (quilting) in the simplicity (piecing) fascinates me. The piecing designs are often (not always) relatively simple. As the viewer gets closer, s/he can see the complexity of the quilting designs. Many of the quilts had feathers quilted into the border. A quilt using the Bars design had a feather wreath in the middle surrounded by an octagon of straight line quilting design with little quilted clamshell stitching accenting the octagon line. This detail was invisible unless I got up very close to it.
One thing I particularly noticed this time was the deft use of their limited color palette. They use certain colors, which I knew. The glow that I have noticed in some of the quilts comes from the colors and how they were put together. This must seem obvious to you, but somehow it struck me as I was comparing some of the quilts that had this glow to the more subtly shaded pieces. I noticed that the more subtle quilts did not use the salmon, turquoise and lavender colors. I think, based on this quick trip, that this is the case.
I was drawing the shutter piece block from the crib quilt when my mom sat down on a bench nearby and began talking to the lady next to her. My mom talks to everyone. They were talking about a 9 patch quilt made partially from 4patches when I heard the lady said “oh this is the man that owns the quilts.” A nice looking, white haired man in his mid fifties to early sixties wearing a blue Oxford shirt was standing there. Of course, my mom started talking to him!
She started in asking him how long he had been collecting (since the mid-1970s) and how he stored the quilts at home (acid free boxes) and did he display them at home (no). I decided to mention the Jack’s Chain, which was listed as “pattern unknown”. I have had that pattern on my to do list for years and originally saw it at a shop in the East Bay as a class. Even then it was called Jack’s Chain. He said that he would look it up and made a note. This made me think that he provided all the information about the quilts and the museum didn’t do research. I don’t know for sure, however. Then my mom asked me to give him my quilt business card. No, I do not have a quilt business!, but I do have a card that lists my blog address. He actually looked at it and commented on me having a blog!
Marie over at Z Quilts had a long review of the quilts and the exhibit catalog in which she posted some photos. My favorite, though I liked all of the quilts, is the one mentioned above I call the Shutter quilt. The pattern had no name according to the card next to the quilt. I want to look it up in Barbara Brackman’s book, or int he new Jinny Beyer block book, but haven’t yet. Stay tuned for that info.
I overheard some guys commenting that it looked like the shutter of a camera closing or opening. It is the 5th image on Marie’s page.
The museum had a boatload of stuff in their regular gift shops and they had a full shop right outside of the exhibit. One of the items that really drew me were wooden boxes with quilt designs inlaid on the top. They were form Quiltboxes.com (about $125) and were absolutely gorgeous. I liked the one with the Dutchman’s Puzzle design.
After the DeYoung, we went over to the Legion of Honor and saw the Cartier and America exhibit. This was a jewelry exhibit. I enjoy seeing different types of art and craft exhibits because I enjoy seeing the commonalities with quiltmaking. I also enjoy getting inspiration from other media. Of course, the jewels were fantastic. There was one stone that over 143 carats. Can you imagine? This type of jewelry is so out of my realm of possibility that I just looked at the designs and admired the artistry. There was one tiara of which I wish I could have taken a photo. The swirls would have made excellent applique’ designs. That tiara was in the exhibit catalog, which I didn’t buy. I may buy it later and if so, I will show it then.
Stomacher Broach detail
I was also very interested in the historical aspect of the exhibit. The exhibit cards said who bought the piece, who owned it and, in some cases, whether it was purchased for a gift. Some information mentioned changes to designs with the times. The meager information made me think that such an exhibit would be a good way of getting people into the history of the era. There were obvious changes in the jewelry designs as times changed. Flappers, for example, didn’t need stomacher broaches.
It may be that pieces for the exhibit were selected for their relevance to SF, because there were a lot of pieces owned or purchased by prominent people in local history.
I did, finally, learn what a pave’ diamond setting was. Apparently Ms. Wallis Simpson loved pave’ settings for her panther broaches.
Some of Princess Grace’s jewels were there as were Elizabeth Taylor’s. Sadly, I was very tired after all this visual stimulation, so I didn’t look and read as carefully at these as I would have liked.
I was very annoyed and disappointed with the selection of postcards. None of my favorites were available as postcards. It was probably a good thing as the postcards were poor reproductions anyway. Not the high quality to which I am accustomed. The exhibit catalog was wonderful, but times are tough so I didn’t buy that either. It is on my list. I think you would enjoy it as well!
*No affiliation with this site; I just think the picture of her Jack’s Chain is a good example of the pattern.
Last Saturday and Sunday, I had a lot of time for the first time in several weekends to work on quilt projects and I completely tanked in that department. Most of the time I sat around and couldn’t figure out what to do. I thought about making another giveaway for OWOH, but was talked out of it. I also just wasn’t motivated to do anything. I have a lot of quilt work to do and I really couldn’t focus.
Finally, on Sunday, I pulled out Beach Town and decided to get the facing on and the sleeve ready so that I could take advantage of some hand sewing time I will have next weekend.
Beach Town Trimmed
Yeah! Progress on Beach Town! Trimming is easy.
Beach Town Problem
However, after trimming, I found a little section that needed a repair. One of the hazards of working using this free form method is getting too close to the edge. In an effort to avoid that problem, I didn’t get close enough. Yes, I could have trimmed it more, but I didn’t want to cut off any part of the sign.
Beach Town Repairs
I had to go rummaging for fabric to find a match. I found some in the scrap bin. Then, I had to carefully lay the fabric and a small piece of batting out so that it didn’t look like a repair (don’t tell, please!). Finally, after it was all laid out and pinned together, I machine quilted the three little sections in matching thread and trimmed it again.
Repaired Beach Town – detail
One of the good things about this project was that I had to focus my mind on a specific task. One thing I learned was to give the edges a little extra space from important design elements.
Facing on and Turned
I dug out the facing instructions I had made awhile ago and applied a facing to the Beach Town. I still need to practice making more facings. I’ll make another one for FOTY 2010.
Facing detail
Here is the corner of the facing. As I mentioned, I have not sewn it down yet.
Facing and Sleeve
I use the Robbi Joy Eklow method of sleeve making. This most excellent sleeve making method method is in her book, Free Expressions. This time I made the sleeve smaller than her directions specify. I hope it works in terms of a hanging rod to fit.
