Cow with a Border

This is another one of the nature related mosaics that decorate the Ferry Building. I have walked past this particular mosaic numerous times. It wasn’t until this week when I happened to standing near a newly moved table that I noticed the border. I really like the way the border sets off the center. I also like it that it isn’t a traditional checkerboard border. I think the classic checkerboard pattern makes a wonderful element in a quilt, but the rectangular tiles (aka patches) in this piece really give the work something extra.

I hope to get a picture of each of the mosaics.

Chocolate Box Again

The Chocolate Box is truly finished now. Except for the quilting, binding and sleeve. 😉

I like the the way it came out, but I wish I had made more of an effort to keep some of the non-chocolate edges larger. Live and learn.

After finishing the back for the Purple Bullseye, I realized that I needed a bit more of an edge to accommodate the jagged edge (photo above, bottom right). Since I was in back making mode anyway, it seemed like a good time.


You can’t see the bit I added, because the back is really large and I really couldn’t get it all in. Now Colleen will be able to get it on the quilting machine with no problem.

Bullseyes – Major Progress

The last update I gave you on the Bullseyes was on September 8 and I was slowly working through the trimming and sewing the patches together to make blocks.
I went through this process kind of slowly because I was enjoying the fiddliness and taking my time. Above shows the quilt top as it was sometime in the last week or so. You can see that patches are sewn together to make blocks and some blocks are sewn together to make. During the past week I have been sewing chunks together and this morning I had only seven seams left. I finished this morning after wrestling with those last seams.

Finished top!! Hooray.

I hope to be able to finish the back today as well. I already made one piece of it with some leftover quarter circle/triangle patches.

One of the things I tried on this quilt was sewing the seams open. I saw in the Kerr/Ringle color book that they press the seams, on all of their quilts, open. I thought this would be a good project to try it. I was pleased with how easy it was to deal with several seams meeting at one central point. Because of the layers of applique’, it was a little tricky to get all the little bits to lay flat. I also found it easier to press from the back when pressing the seams open. My points matched up pretty well (at least no worse than normal). I did use pins to help that process. All in all, I liked pressing the seams open. I’ll have to read a little more of what Kerr/Ringle say about their reasons and report back.

Lone Stars Review

Lone Stars, Volume I: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936 Lone Stars, Volume I: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936 by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan

My review


Quilt books are hard for me to read all the way through for some reason. Normally, I peruse them, refer to them and glance at them. Lone Stars, Volume 1: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936 by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan was an exception. I persevered and read all the ‘articles’ about the many included quilts. Partially, I really like stories. Tell me a story and you will have my attention. I also was fascinated by the creativity of the women who made these quilts. This book could have given me more about the stories of these womens’ lives, but the tidbits they did give were great.

The quilts in the book were selected as the best of the submissions, so they are all special in their own way. I like many, many of them for different reasons and had a hard time choosing my absolute favorites. Still there were a few that stood out. My favorite quilts in this book were:

Pinwheel Star pg.134: I like this quilt because it reminds me of my Interlocking Triangles quilts: Spiky Stars and Interlocking Triangles. I do wish that the maker had not cut off the stars around the edges, but it does give the piece movement and boldness.

Feathered Edged Star Quilt, pg.122: This is a really complex quilt and I like the way the maker added 8-pointed stars to the middle of the Feathered Stars. She was obviously an excellent quiltmaker.

Sunburst Quilt pg.96: This is the cover quilt and it deserves to be. I like this quilt, because of the checkerboard diamond shaped piece that makes up one of the pieces of the sunburst (in the same family as a Mariner’s Compass). Not only was the maker piecing a difficult pattern, but she went a step further in piecing a diamond made out of smaller diamonds. Amazing! See above for a picture.

Rose of Sharon with Buds Quilt pg.54: The way the maker has clustered the Rose of Sharon flower patches and, especially, the appliqued swag border make this a stunning quilt. The colors, pink and green, make it extremely cheerful as well.

Rambling Rose pg.48: This is an appliqued quilt where the flowers are flanked by a vine underneath. Each unit has a flower, a curved vine underneath, a spray with three buds sticking out of the top and another vine with a flower and a bud at each end, respectively. I like the delicacy of the vines curved around the flowers.

Rising Sun quilt pg.26: The piecing of many of the quilts in the book is not for the faint of heart. The women who made the quilts in this book were not afraid of difficult patterns. This rising sun quilt is no exception. First, there are the curves, which are thin and all meet in the middle of the circle. Surrounding the circles, made up of all of those curves, is a small, curved border of slightly curved triangles. The idea is similar to a feathered star block or the treatment that Judy Mathieson gives to the outside of her circular Compass Roses. I would love to make a quilt like this one sometime, but think it would be prudent to try one block!

Many of the women pictured in this book are wizened and tiny, old women who look like they have seen more life than any person should and who have also worked long, hard days their whole life. The gorgeous quilts that came off their fingers remind me, again, that there is creativity in everyone and you can’t judge a book by its cover.

View all my reviews, some of which are not related to quiltmaking.

Old Tile Floor

I was in an old building on Van Ness. I visit periodically and have never been able to figure out the story of this building. It now houses part of California Pacific, a guitar/drum store, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and a car dealership. Where I go has no second floor – only 1, 3, and 4. I can’t figure out where 2 is. The other puzzle is this lovely floor. It is simple, but the tiles are old. They may be pre-1906 as the building is on the side of the street that wasn’t dynamited, but I can’t say for sure. I may have to delve deeper
Was this the entry way of a mansion that has been so obliterated that you would never know it? Was it the offices of a car dealership that no longer exists? I don’t know, but I like the tiles.

Silk crazy

BE told me about a strip piecing technique where you can create crazy quilt blocks. The steps are:
 
1. Cut sets of strips 2″, 3″ and 5″ wide. Each should be a different, but related fabric.
2. Sew strips together into one big piece of fabric in the following order 235235235235 etc.
3. Take new piece of fabric and cut strips 2″, 3″ and 5″ wide on the bias.
4. Reorder the strips into an attractive grouping and sew them together again in the 235235235 etc order.
5. Take new piece of fabric and cut strips 2″, 3″ and 5″ wide on the bias.Cut them in the opposite direction as step #3.
6.  Reorder the strips into an attractive grouping and sew them together again in the 235235235 etc order.
7. Cut blocks from the new fabric in a variety of sizes.
8. Sew blocks together with sashing in between.
9. Label and finish as you would normally.
 
BE got the fabric from a fabric company that was going out of business, so she made the ends of the bolts and the strips do for this quilt.
 

Stitch Chart Online

As you may know, I have been coveting a new machine for awhile. It didn’t happen last year and this year isn’t looking that good either. Still, I can dream and look and make my choice.

Janome just came out with the 11K Special edition and they put a stitch chart on their website. I used this to see if my favorite stitches will still be available and if the one stitch I didn’t get (kind of a serpentine stitch was available. Also, my favorite star stitch is still available. Hooray. The chart is small, but it is a great idea.

Back to my regularly scheduled dreaming..

clipped from janomespecials.com
Stitch Chart
  blog it

Walking Around and Looking

Sometimes the easiest thing to do it just look at the world around you. I was doing this yesterday and happened upon some really nice tiles. They are on Chenery Street near Church in SF.

One of the things I like about tiles is that, often, the designs of groups of tiles create a pattern I can replicate in fabric. The design is usually made of of different colored titles placed precisely. In this case (above), an ordinary terracotta tiled staircase has been dressed up using these textured and painted tiles. I like the idea of coming home each night and getting a little inspiration as I walk up the stairs. I also am interested in the designs and how they relate to quilt patterns.

I saw this one and immediately thought of a New York Beauty. It is not exactly a New York Beauty as we in quiltmaking know that pattern, but it gives the impression of a New York Beauty.

The tile above isn’t a quilt pattern that I have seen, but it would make an interesting applique’.

I really like the colors in this bold striped tile. It could easily be the basis of a quilt or one quilt block.

Progress on Bullseyes- YES!!

Last week I noted that I wanted to get moving on the Bullseye, because I wanted to get it off the design wall and to the quilter. Yesterday, I got busy and began sewing blocks together. This is a project, because I need – well, want – to keep the patches in the order I have laid them out. As TFQ pointed out, in the future nobody will notice and I won’t remember, but there is no sense in laying them out and not, at least, trying to keep them in order.

I spent several hours yesterday sewing blocks together, trimming applique and squaring up the blocks. I decided that it would be a lot easier to square the blocks as I went along rather than waiting. It did take longer, but I am happy that I am trimming and squaring now since it will be a lot easier to put the blocks together later.

The sewing part is a little tricky, because, while I was sewing blocks, the blocks I was sewing together have nothing to do with the design on the quilt. Groups of blocks make up the design.

You can see from the photo, above, how much the piece will shrink once all of the sewing is completed. Right now there is about a 2″ gap between the sewn block (left) and the unsewn blocks (right). It never ceases to amaze me how much fabric seam allowances take up. There will be more once I start sewing blocks together.

More “Bags” to make for Your Amusement

The ever ingenious Deirdre sent me a link to this blog post where the writer shows you how to make personalized bubble mailers. I tried to clip using Clipmarks, but it didn’t work, so definitely click on the link to see them.

Seeing as how I never have the right sized bubble mailers and have copious amounts of fabric and bubble wrap, it is a possibility that I might actually make a few. I don’t usually have time to put together something like this when I want to get a package off, but I can see the uses. Something to consider, regardless. I love the web and how you get to see a lot of different types of creativity.

1000 Journals Project Visits SF Weekend of August 1, 2008

You are probably wondering why it took me so long to get to this post.

Life.
Travel.
Back to School.

You know how it goes.

Still, I wanted to post some photos from the actual journals. The Roxie in SF showed the 1000 Journals movie. It was the first commercial showing in the country.

The 1000 Journals project is coming to the SFMOMA as an exhibit starting in November and the exhibit will be open through ~ April 2009.

I think that the images I was able to snap are from the most photographed journals (because they are in possession of Someguy), but I thought I would post some images anyway.


Some entries are homages. Some entries look like a mess, but that is one of the beauties of the project: everyone can express themselves anyway they want regardless of age or ability.

The artistry of some of the pages is remarkable.


I like the way these entries were created in landscape format.

WARNING: Political images next. Stop reading if you may be offended.

I am not exactly sure what these images are saying (remember the journals went out right around the time of 9/11 so there is a lot of 9/11 imagery included), but I admire the creativity and thoughtfulness (especially the double entendre) regardless of whether you think it is positive or not.

Parakeets’ Expression


This is a quilt that TFQ and I saw at the APNQ show. It has been on mind because of the expressiveness of the little parakeets. I think that this quilt tells a story because of the implied movement of the birds. I can appreciate realistic quilts, but don’t always see the point in reproducing a photo in quilt format. This one, however, tells a story.