Various & Sundry #5 – Mid-May 2014

Media

I finally got a chance to listen to the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady podcast and I really like it. I like the descriptions of her process and what she is working on. Charlotte, the hostess, also has a very calm voice. If you haven’t listened to her episode #2, it is really great.

NPR had a recent story on improving memory and they mentioned quiltmaking! They also mentioned exercise and Photoshop, all things we quiltmakers discuss endlessly.

One of my wonderful quilt friends and fabulous teacher, Pamela Allen, has a piece, finally, in Quilt National. This has been a long time goal of hers. She is featured in an article about her journey. In the piece she talks about arrogance and ignorance and quiltmaking. Read it. You will be inspired.

I am not sure if over-dyeing antique quilts is a sad comment on not valuing our past or helping the quilts live another day. I know I am incensed by the prices. Read the brief article and decide. Thanks to Charlotte of the Slightly Mad Quilt Lady podcast for the link.

So many different kinds of media! Have you seen Alex Veronelli’s paper.li? Check out the links to machine binding your quilt. I might have to try that.

Want to take a peek at the eInsider? It is a magazine of the quilt industry.

Reddit has a quilting board that I have never quite gotten the hang of. Katie, from Katie’s Quilting Corner podcast, post a link to a heartwarming story about the perfection of quilts. Good food for thought.

Projects

People are starting to finish their Disappearing Pinwheel projects. Not me, but Sandy finished hers. Her layout looks really nice. It looks like a flower bed to me.

People are also finishing their Scrapitude projects. Not me, yet, but Jackie posted a picture of hers. I think she quilted it herself! It is so great to see how different they look. It looks like Jackie used slightly darker fabrics for the foreground and a creamy light for the background.

Products, Tools & Supplies

Sewing Machine Printer
Sewing Machine Printer

Alex Veronelli, the Aurifil King, recent wondered if sewing machines with print cartridges to color the thread would put him out of business. I was shocked when I saw the photo of the sewing machine/thread printer from Yanko Designs. There is so much wrong with this ad, but the concept also brings up a lot of questions for me. Why would people who hate sewing create this sewing machine? How many print cartridges would I have to buy? What kind of thread does it use and who makes it? Is the color colorfast? How fast will it fade? Will the designers be at Quilt Market? Let me know if you see them? I am sticking to Aurifil, Superior and Presencia even if it makes me a an old fuddy duddy.

Here is a great t-shirt that Scooquilt (Valerie) shared on Twitter recently.

Shops and Stores

Cafe Press Store Clock
Cafe Press Store Clock

I sold another clock on my Cafe Press store! Clearly I have started a trend, so get yours now while the getting is good! 😉 When I updated my store recently, I forgot to change the image for this clock, which is still a detail image of the Flowering Snowball quilt, and now I am glad. I have sold a total of 3, which isn’t 50,000, but kind of amazes me. What do you think of a clock as a quilt novelty?

I have also been making an effort to click on my own Amazon link when I buy stuff on Amazon, so that I can get credit for it that way, too.

Other Artists

The buzz around Quilt Market grew in the week leading up to that event, which is on now. Blogs, Twitter and other social media all blew up with the hashtag # QuiltMarket. Did you follow along? A I have been starting to listen to the QuiltCast, a podcast that started late last year. Amy, of Amy’s Creative Side, and April, of Prairie Grass Designs, are the hostesses and they have both also just come out with new fabric lines with Moda.

Creative Prompt #258: Crossroads

I was inspired by this word at the recent CQFA meeting. While there is some standard imagery, there is also the metaphors that go with the word.

What is your crossroads? Are you at a crossroads in your life? Do you remember a crossroad in your life? What happened when you took the path? Did you go back and take the other path? Do you with you had?

At the crossroads

Crossroads, the first green-certified building on Cal’s campus and the nation’s first organic certified kitchen on a college campus.

Crossroads is a world champion. a capella quartet rooted in—but certainly not limited to—the Barbershop genre.

The work of Crossroads is to dismantle systemic racism and build anti-racist multicultural diversity within institutions and communities.

Crossroads.js is a routing library inspired by URL Route/Dispatch utilities present on frameworks like Rails, Pyramid, Django, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, etc.

Britney Spears and Tamra Davis in Crossroads (2002)

Definition: a place where two or more roads cross; a road that crosses a main road or that runs across land between main roads

In arts, entertainment, and media

Film

Literature

Music

Albums

Songs

Other

Television

Series

Episodes

Other uses

Videogames

In places

Australia

United States

Geography

Nicknames

Shopping malls

Elsewhere

In companies and organizations

In other uses

See also

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Another Mystery

I received a weird email message early last week and, since I was busy, I ignored it. I didn’t open it, thinking that it was spam I could investigate or delete later.

A little while later, I received an email from the BAMQG Retreat Coordinator saying that I should have received my first ‘clue’. Hhmm. I went back to the ‘spam’ message and it still made no sense, but I figured it was the Mystery quilt project, so I downloaded the instructions.

BAMQG is doing a mystery quilt on the retreat. I decided to play along.

BAMQG Mystery Color Story
BAMQG Mystery Color Story

I recently read an article about color that included a suggestion about using a large scale print as a background. One reason I decided to do the mystery quilt was because I couldn’t get this idea out of my head. If I was going to do a project that I wasn’t sure about, I didn’t just want to do the same old thing. I picked a wild selection of fabrics. I am not sure they go together and will tend towards ‘pushed neutrals’ or a ‘low volume’ color story.

First, I went rummaging through my Phillip Jacobs and Martha Negley prints. I have been using those mostly for backs so the opportunity to use one on the front made me giddy. I picked English Rose.

I had the dot on my cutting table. It is very close to the green in the English Rose, but it will be fine (famous last words, right?). The text prints are really different. I don’t think I have used many before and they have been on my mind. In they went.

I may add the charcoal circle stitch fabric by Michael Miller as well. We’ll see.

Still, the quilt will be interesting and will be a nice donation quilt, if worse comes to worse.

Fabric of the Year 2014 – Mid May

FOTY 2014 - Mid May
FOTY 2014 – Mid May

This group of fabric is a lot of what I got on my road trip. Not all, but a lot.

Someone suggested setting the rectangles like subway tiles, so I thought I would post them like that here so you could see what you think.

I really like the charcoal grey circle stitch fabric (last row, 2d from the top on the right). I am very tempted to buy a bunch of it and use if for a background for something. I don’t know what, though. I don’t know whether I am following a trend with all this grey or whether I am shying from other light colored backgrounds.

Do you like the crazy dip to the right? I can’t believe I didn’t see that until after I took the photo. Hopefully I won’t piece them like that.

Pillowcase Tutorial

This is more of a guide than a true tutorial. It is also as much for myself as it is for you.

Supplies

  • Fabric (3 different if you want trim, two different if you will not use trim)
    • Main body: 3/4-1 yard
    • Cuff: 1/3 yard
    • Trim (accent fabric): 1/8 yard (will be way too much, but you can find a strip wide enough in your fabric collection, if you don’t want to buy fabric for this part. This is optional. You can make fabulous pillowcases without trim.
  • Basic sewing kit
  • Rotary cutting kit
  • Pins or Wonderclips
  • Thread
  • Sewing machine
  • 1/4″ foot
  • Ironing kit

Cut

  • Trim: 1.5″x width of fabric (WOF) strip
  • Cuff: 12″x WOF strip
  • Main body: 27″x WOF

In the example below the following fabrics are used:

  • Trim: lime green
  • Cuff: black with white dots
  • Main body: red with white motifs

Prepare

  • Press your trim in half the long way, so you end up with a piece that is 3/4″ wide and WOF long.
  • Lay cuff fabric right side up on your worktable (or ironing board).
  • Lay your main body fabric right side up on top of the cuff fabric. Cut edge is up, selvedges are hanging down.
  • 3 Layers Ready to Roll
    3 Layers Ready to Roll

    Lay trim fabric on top.

  • Roll up Main Body Fabric
    Roll up Main Body Fabric

    Fold main body fabric up towards trim, keeping it well away from where you will be sewing.

  • Bring cuff fabric up and around main body fabric.
  • Line up all parts and pin
    Line up all parts and pin

    As you lay the cuff fabric on top of the trim, line up the edges of all the pieces you have layered and pin them all together. You will end up with a tube filled with fabric. The tube will look like a burrito with the cuff fabric forming the flour tortilla. All of the other fabric will be wrapped inside it.

  • Burrito completely pinned
    Burrito completely pinned

    Nota Bene: the selvedges are NOT pinned

Sew

  • Sew 'burrito'
    Sew ‘burrito’

    Take your burrito to the sewing machine and position it so that the pinned edge is underneath the presser foot.

  • Starting sewing, stopping after a few stitches and backstitching, then continuing on until the entire seam is complete.
  • Pull out pins as you sew
  • Backstitch at the end to secure the seam.
Burrito Sewn
Burrito Sewn

Prepare #2

  • Pull Filling Out of Burrito
    Pull Filling Out of Burrito

    Carefully pull all the ‘filling’ out of the burrito so that you have a piece where the cuff, trim and main body are all sewed together.

  • First seam sewn; case on ironing board
    First seam sewn; case on ironing board

    Lay the piece flat on the ironing board with the cuff fully on the ironing board and the main body hanging down the front.

  • Press Towards the Cuff
    Press Towards the Cuff

    Press, carefully smoothing the fold of the cuff away from the trim and the main body, so it is neat and tidy.

  • Fold the piece in half with WRONG sides together. The RIGHT side will be facing towards you (you will be able to see the right side)
  • The selvedges will now be touching each other.
  • Trim the main body after measuring 28″. That is the measurement of the main body fabric and does not include the cuff or trim. If you were to open the piece, your main body would be WOF x 28″. You can adjust the 28″ to fit the size of your pillows.
  • Pin at strategic points

Sew #2

This step will start the process of making a French seam (completely encloses the seam with no raw edges).

  • Using a 1/8″ seam allowance (or smaller), start sewing at the top of the cuff, down the side. I sew it this way to have the best chance at matching up the trim.
  • After a few stitches, stop and backstitch the top. This is important because the top seam will get a lot of wear from stuffing the pillow in and out.
  • Remove pins as you get close to them.
  • Stop at the corner and backstitch, then turn and sew the bottom of the pillowcase closed.
First Step French Seam
First Step French Seam

Prepare #3

  • Press the seam from the right side.
  • Sew from wrong side
    Sew from wrong side

    Turn the pillowcase inside out so the wrong side of the fabric is showing.

  • Place the full bottom of the pillowcase on the ironing board
  • Smooth the fullness of the pillowcase towards the seam.
  • Press the seam so it is neat and tidy.
  • Repeat with the side.

Sew #3

This is the section where you create a French Seam, which means that you will encase the raw edge of the previous seam.

  • Starting at the cuff again, sew with a 1/4″ or larger seam along the side. You want to use a seam allowance large enough so that the entire raw edge that you sewed int he previous step is encased.
  • After a few stitches, stop and backstitch the top. This will further reinforce the top seam, so it can withstand the wear and tear from stuffing the pillow in and pulling it out.
  • Sew down the side neatly as this seam will be seen
  • Remove pins as you get close to them.
  • Stop at the corner and turn and sew the bottom of the pillowcase closed.
  • Backstitch neatly at the edge of the bottom.
Sewn French Seam
Sewn French Seam

Finish

  • Press the seam from the wrong side.
  • Turn the pillowcase right side out.
  • Place the bottom of the pillowcase on the ironing board with the seam away from you
  • Smooth the fullness of the pillowcase towards the bottom seam.
  • Press the seam so it is neat and tidy. I often press starting on the main body of the pillowcase and moving the iron towards the seam.
  • Repeat with the side.
  • Shake out your pillowcase and show it off!
Finished Pillowcase
Finished Pillowcase

Good job!

Notes

  • Width of fabric means from selvedge to selvedge. Example: If you cut a strip 1.5″ wide for the trim, there will be a piece of the selvedge on each end of the strip.
  • Main body: I straighten a 1 yard piece of fabric and cut it to size AFTER I sew on the trim and the cuff. This leaves me with a strip about 6″ wide, but it keeps me from getting confused about which side is up.
  • Main body: the selvedges will be on the sides. Do not sew the trim and cuff to the selvedge.
  • Main body: I trim the selvedges from the sides after I sew the cuff and trim on.
  • I have used trim sizes from piping to 1″ cut. You can make the trim whatever size gets you the look you want.

Resources

  • Twiddletails tutorial – I like the burrito method. Print out these directions and use them as a guide. Most of the way I make my pillowcases are from this tutorial
  • Gift Post #2-2013 Pillowcases – see Amy’s comment

Smokin’ Hot Pillowcase

Smokin' Hot Pillowcase - full
Smokin’ Hot Pillowcase – full

My last effort with a pillowcase was frustrating. Amy left a comment that really helped me make this one. Except for messing up the French Seam and having to rip it out, this pillowcase went together really well.

Amy said that the selvedges go on the side of the pillowcase. What I did was leave the selvedges on until I had sewn the first seam and used the numbers and other directions from the Twiddletails tutorial. Sometimes a comment as simple as that can really help (which is why your comments really matter!!!).

I am not sure I bought this fabric for a pillowcase or for a pillowcase for my nephew who is off at college, but I washed this fabric and decided that I was neglecting the poor soul.I like to make things and send them to my nieces and nephews who are off at college. You have seen a quilt or two that have gone off to colleges around the country. I have also made pillowcases and have a few other items on my list to make as gifts. Yes, pillowcases, I am sure get strange looks from their recipients, but I don’t care. They are good vehicles for fun fabrics. Where else could you use hot sauce fabric?

Smokin' Hot Pillowcase - folded
Smokin’ Hot Pillowcase – folded

After I finished the top and back for Super Secret Project #4, I decided to tackle the pillowcase. I am really glad it went together easily, because I don’t think I could have taken another frustrating pillowcase experience.

It would have been a shame, too, because I probably would have given up on pillowcases and I really can’t think of another way to use fun fabrics like this.

I really am completely thrilled at how this one came out. It came together really easily and even the trim is matched up pretty well. No, I didn’t match the pattern of the fabric. That is a fight for another day.

I hope this pillowcase doesn’t look too Halloween-y

Smokin' Hot Pillowcase - matching seams
Smokin’ Hot Pillowcase – matching seams

Sewing Machines….Blergh

There is good and bad in my sewing world lately.

The Good:

  • plenty of fabric
  • good projects on which to work
  • finishes
  • more fabric
  • nice IRL quilt friends
  • #Twilters

The Bad:

  • #$%^&*(@## sewing machine

Yes, my 9K stopped sewing again last week.

“Really?”, you ask.

After a string of curses, not directed at you, “Yes,” I say.

What is the problem? I don’t know. I just stopped zigzagging in the middle of my ATCs a week ago. Since something was stuck under the feed dogs last time I had in the shop, I took off the sole plate and cleaned out everything that looked linty and like it didn’t belong. I didn’t see anything scary looking. I put it all back together and it sewed again.

Hooray, I thought, it was just a recommended stoppage to avoid permanent damage. I was happy.

For about 5 minutes, then it stopped again. I took off the sole plate again and nothing was in there. Well, the area I could see was clean.

I was done.

Backup Machine on top of cabinet
Backup Machine on top of cabinet

I got out the backup machine and put the 9K on the floor in timeout. Saturday I went and picked up the insert. Perfect timing, because I am thinking of quilting the Wonky Nine Patch.

Also, I have been waking up in the morning with tingly fingers and wrists (old injury that flares when I am naughty), which I know is from not having my machine flush with the table. I see a lot of people sewing without their machine flush and I envy them, because it makes for so much more versatility when they sew. They can go anywhere and sew. I can sew for a very limited time without the machine being flush with the table or I suffer.

Why have I been sewing like this, you ask? Denial? No, I MUST sew. I must get the creativity out of my body or I will probably explode.

Backup machine flush in cabinet
Backup machine flush in cabinet

My backup machine is ok. It is a good machine and it is working, which is a bonus, but it doesn’t have a knee lift. I don’t know it as well, so I always have to go hunting for various stitches and feet. It isn’t my 9K, which I do love.

The insert is nice, though it is a little strange to be able to see down under the machine. As of this writing, I haven’t sewn with it yet and I don’t know how that will be.

Raising the backup machine
Raising the backup machine

The bed of the the backup machine isn’t as tall as the 9K, so I had to boost it up to make it flush with the acrylic insert/table. I used the wooden closing insert (see picture above) and a magazine to get it to the right height. I might add some clamps to the whole assemblage if the slickness of the magazine makes the machine move around.

I took the 9K to Serge-a-Lot, my new best friend sewing store, after Sherri invited me to do so. She assured me that her man, Brad, could work on my machine. She came through with the insert and if Brad can’t fix the machine, then I am no worse off. She did see that the feed dogs weren’t advancing when she turned the fly wheel, so I didn’t come across like a complete lunatic. Of course, when we put thread in it in the store, the machine sewed fine.  WTF? I told her to service it if she thought it needed it.

I am thinking that a new machine is in my future sooner than I had hoped. I hope Serge-a-Lot can get it running and that it can give me a few more years of service. I don’t know, though. I better start saving my pennies.

All I can say is BLERGH!!!

May 2014 CQFA Meeting

The CQFA meeting was last Saturday (May 3) and was quite lively.

Workshop Work
Workshop Work

Jennifer is a graphic facilitator/graphic recorder and she led a workshop about “from drawing to art quilt.” I did a graphic recording course with hopes of moving into that profession, but I didn’t pursue it and wish I had the opportunity to do so. Still, my skills came in handy in this class because I can draw basic shapes relatively quickly. I am not sure I got what was intended out of the class, but I did get some inspiration. I have been thinking of the ongoing placemat challenge and I drew out a design that has been in my head for it.

Art Journal Workshop Notes & Sketches
Art Journal Workshop Notes & Sketches

We did some work in our art journals/sketchbooks as part of the workshop and that was fun. I got some ideas down that have been in my head. They are not perfect or fabric ready, but they are down and I can see them with my eyes and not just my mind’s eye. I have a start and can see a little way down the path. Also, I just found it fun to work in my journal. I don’t do it enough.

Art Journal Workshop Notes & Sketches
Art Journal Workshop Notes & Sketches

Jen gave out some handouts and one of them had a quick sketch of mountains, which I found interesting.

She suggested working with fat markers (e.g. see the round arrow) and I found that hard, so I switched to the pens with which I normally write (see purple drawings on the right). She had a point about the fat markers, which was you couldn’t put in a lot of detail and you filled the page faster. Both are true. I still like my thin pen better. I wonder how I would feel with a fat pen if the tip was different?

Of course, we had the ATC exchange, which I talked about.

Marie told us about some upcoming events at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles:

May 18 – Quilt National Opening

May 24 – Royal School of Textiles speaker on dyeing, but not the how-to. She will speak on the societal, social and the geo-political effects on dyeing, how colors came about etc.

June 14 – beading lecture by a pre-eminent beadist (is that a word?).

Marie reported that these events are a way to engage more with members. Some of the CQFA members said that, while they couldn’t always attend the lectures and events, they went to the website more and read more of the emails, which is a good thing. Check the website for more details.

The Library show planning is in process. I have been out of the loop for a few months due to some personal issues and am not quite sure what is going on. I may withdraw my piece. We will see.

Diane Carver Place Mat Challenge
Diane Carver Place Mat Challenge

Show and tell was great. Maureen is using a gelli plate to print on fabric and some of her prints were gorgeous. Diane did the placemat challenge and I like the way the pieces stand up from the background.

Virginia is working on her piece for the show and the piecing is amazing. It is large, too.

 

I showed Fresh Fruit and Fabric of the Year 2012. I worked on FOTY 2012 at the retreat last year and people gave me some nice compliments. Someone suggested that I have a show of all the FOTY quilts when I get a few more under my belt. I would really like to do that. I’ll have to work on it once I get a larger stock of quilts.

Finished: Fresh Fruit

As I mentioned, I got two quilts back from Colleen at the same time.  I just finished the sleeve on the second, which means the whole quilt is finished. Yes, I finished Fresh Fruit. 😉

I like this quilt and think it is very pretty. Do you see how there is continuity across the quilt with fabrics in different colorways? I think that the design could be used very effectively with other fabrics, even if they were not different colorways of the same line. Of course, I am thinking about Philip Jacobs fabrics and dots.

Fresh Fruit front
Fresh Fruit front

The sad part of this quilt is that I barely remember making it. I should have called this quilt Cinderella, as it is beautiful, but shoved to the side, in a way, like fairy tale step children. The design was from a pattern and I used same fabric as the pattern. I did the whole thing as leaders and enders, I didn’t quilt it. The most time I spent on it was on the back, the sleeve and the binding. It feels weird, but it is true.

I had help from inexperienced quilt holders in taking the photo. They were tired after the front, so the back isn’t straight.

Fresh Fruit back
Fresh Fruit back

Happy Blogiversary

China Cake Plate
China Cake Plate

I started this blog in 2005 – 9 years ago, if you are counting. I have written over 2900 posts, some good, some bad. I have 4,600+ images in my Media Library. I write about a lot of stuff including:

Idea Cloud
Idea Cloud

I have 74 items marked as being about a completed project.

Thanks for reading all this time and for commenting on my projects and posts. Without you, why should I bother?

 

Check out the creative prompt, which was posted yesterday for those of you keeping track.

Creative Prompt #257: Orchid

The prompt is being posted early this week, because there will be a special post tomorrow.

Radiant Orchid: Pantone 2014 Color of the Year

Phalaenopsis orchid

Fairmont Orchid, Hawai’i

San Francisco Orchid Society

Orchids at Palm Court is a superior fine dining restaurant that offers gourmet, fancy meals inside the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza.

The Orchid was the name given to a DHARMA Initiative station dedicated to exotic matter research, namely time travel, under the guise of being a botanical research station. The true station was located in an underground chamber beneath a greenhouse, and drew energy for its experiments from the same anomalous energy source as the frozen wheel. The Orchid was located several hours north or northwest of the survivors’ camp, and was found fairly close to the remnants of the statue of Taweret. (Lostpedia)

The Mid-America Orchid Congress

Town of Orchid, Florida

Orchid Grey

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession

Black Orchid

Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (movie)

the Zodiac Sessions by Orchid

purple Dendrobium orchids

The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley

Keiki Power Pro Orchid Plant Cloning Paste (really???)

Black Orchid by Tom Ford

Orchid by DaySmart software

Dancing Orchid in Chaos (Amazon Instant Video)

Butterly Orchid

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Definition: “Orchidaceae is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species, found in 880 genera.[2][3] Selecting which of the two families is larger is still under debate, as concrete numbers on such enormous families are constantly in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony fishes and more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family also encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants.[4] The largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis (1,000 species).

The family also includes Vanilla (the genus of the vanilla plant), Orchis (type genus), and many commonly cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars.”

Vanilla is a kind of orchid!

Orchid Cellmark is one of the world’s largest and most experienced AABB accredited DNA Paternity testing laboratories

May ATCs for CQFA

My ATC work this month didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked, but I am disavowing responsibility, because my Janome 9K is acting up again. I was able to finish them on the backup machine, but there are some differences so they don’t look as professional as I would like. I might do a special whine post later abut the &^%$* machine, but now I just don’t want to get into it.

May 2014 ATCs
May 2014 ATCs

I decided to do some more leaves, similar to last meeting’s ATCs, so I could donate one to the ATC collection for the guild show. I had enough time and enough interfacing cut, so I went for broke. There are some similarities to last month’s leaves, but some differences as well.

I used my last of a piece of thickish thread for the stems. Someone told me it was from saris, but I don’t remember where I got it and don’t know. I had to couch it on the cards.

I am really pleased that I had enough time. I didn’t start until Friday at midday. Friday is kind of last minute and I don’t know why I wait that long, but I felt like I wasn’t racing the clock. I just worked along and the cards came together well. I didn’t do any embellishment, but I also didn’t feel like the pieces needed it this time.

All May ATCs
All May ATCs

There were a lot of participants in the ATC challenge this month and I got a nice group of cards to keep.

The most unusual award goes to Sue who is experimenting with cookie decorating (lower right). The cookie decorating description doesn’t even begin to do justice those these mini-works of art. I didn’t take any because I would have just been tempted to eat them.

Angela is doing some interesting things with mixed media. Her work (cards directly to the left of my leaves) is on fabric, but she is painting or dyeing and stamping.

Bron did some renditions of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I love Maureen’s spirals as well (far right).

Everybody did a great job.

All in all it was a really great exchange and I look forward to the next one.

ATCs are 2.5″ x 3.5″. You don’t have to make them out of fabric. Some of the cards the CQFA people trade are partially paper. I like mine stiff, thus all of the interfacing.

Russian Rubix Again

4 Russian Rubix blocks
4 Russian Rubix blocks

Susan is back in action and that means I need to get back to the Russian Rubix. I haven’t been completely ignoring this project, but I haven’t been as focused as I need to be. I haven’t completely been ignoring the project, though.

I am working on the Super Secret Project #4 and I am at the point where I really need to keep things in order so I am piecing parts of the Russian Rubix in between the SSP#4 parts.

I was thinking about combinations of colors as well. In each block there are 8 octagons. I was wondering, as I mentioned, if I should put more cool than warm colors (and visa versa) or if I should put all cools in one or equal out the warms and cools. In the end, I don’t think it matters very much, because there will be many blocks and many opportunities for combinations of colors, temperatures and fabrics.

It is going very quickly. I thought of sewing octagons in some sort of orderly fashion, but then I didn’t. I don’t want to sew all of the patches at once, because I want to see blocks  as well as parts.

Russian Rubix posts:

Tale of Two Cities Blocks – Finally

City Sampler by Tula Pink
City Sampler by Tula Pink

City Sampler by Tula Pink is block book that was written/designed in 2013. The project has been all over Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and other social media outlets as quiltmakers make the blocks, the quilts and share them. BAMQG has just started a project using this book in one of the small groups. So far, I have only seen a few blocks and some members seemed to imply Instagram would be better for sharing than Flickr. I am not a huge user of Instagram and don’t find the way the app crops photos to be appealing, but whatever. My view is probably the old fart quiltmaker view.

Julie got the book for me, as I mentioned, and we agreed to do the project as a way of doing something together while she is in China. One of us thought of the name Tale of Two Cities and I decided to be inspired by the colors of winter here. I haven’t selected all of the fabrics, but there are a lot of blues and greens and they are very clear.

I have been feeling bad that I haven’t done the blocks until now. I finally got busy and I knew that once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop.

City Sampler block No.1
City Sampler block No.1

The first group of blocks shown in the book are crosses. These are, or feel like, log cabin blocks. I admire log cabin quilts and the variety of layouts possible with the log cabin block style. That being said, I don’t like making log cabin blocks. The strips make me crazy. I don’t know why. Strips are fine, but somehow sewing these types of blocks makes me crazy.

City Sampler block No.2
City Sampler block No.2

The group of cross blocks are part of the City Sampler, which is a group of 100 blocks. I said I was going to participate in the project, so I am making the cross blocks. There are 15 of them and not all have a log cabin-y feel when I sew them, so I can suck up the ones I don’t like making. After making 5 of the blocks, I found that they go together quickly.

No.2 (all the blocks are numbered and there is a spot where you can fill in the name) looks the most like a log cabin. I took the opportunity to fussy cut some motifs from one of the prints. This will provide a surprise for those who decide to look closer at the quilt. This is the one that set my nerves on edge, because of the small pieces. The others, so far, have had larger pieces.

All of the blocks are 6″, which contributes to the small size of the pieces. When I say “larger pieces” I mean that the pieces are relatively larger.

City Sampler block No.5
City Sampler block No.5

I don’t know if these are all original blocks. I haven’t taken the time to look through The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns (have you bought yours yet??) or the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (or the BlockBase equivalent). I might at some point.

I know I added 3 browns to my original group of fabrics. I used the brown dot in No.5 and the corners might be too much brown. It is hard to tell with only a few blocks, but I can always make this block over if the corners look like big holes in the middle of the quilt. After making this block, I decided I would use the brown in less prominent areas of the quilt and for smaller pieces.

City Sampler block No.4
City Sampler block No.4

I used this idea for block No.4.

I cut very small brown pieces to see how the idea would work. This block has all new fabrics except for the brown. I used the brown in small pieces, as I said. I want to use it as an anchor to relate No.4 to the other blocks. The blues are subtle.

A word about the octopus. Tula Pink put out that octopus print as part of the Salt Water line. I thought the print was amusing, so I bought a fat quarter. I am going to sprinkle it into the quilt, but I am not planning on making this a Tula Pink quilt. If I had to assign this quilt a theme it would be either blue or calm.

City Sampler block No.3
City Sampler block No.3

Block No.3 is another one where I could use fussy cutting. I skipped it initially as I was waiting for the Thomas Knauer Asbury fabrics to arrive and be washed. Instead of going through with that plan, I pulled some fabrics out of my scrap bin and used those.

I am not sure I like this block with the others, but I am reserving judgment until I get more blocks and see if they fit my theme and how they look with the other blocks.

I think I will use a lot of fabrics in this quilt, so I am trying to use as many fabrics as I want, but also trying to use them in multiple blocks so that there is some continuity.

City Sampler/Tale of Two Cities Posts

FOTY 2014 – Early May

FOTY 2014 - early May
FOTY 2014 – early May

Lately I have been plowing through a lot of washed fabric. Most of it is blues and greens, which is good for my Blue[berry] Lemonade project and means that the FOTY 2014 will have a lot of blues and greens like the previous versions in the series.

I am a little more excited about cutting for FOTY 2014 now that FOTY 2012 is done. I am really pleased with how FOTY 2012 came out and now I am hoping future versions come out even better.

FOTY 2013? Yes, I will get to it soon.