Other Artists – Page 2 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Sewing with Mary M

I couldn’t go to Sew Day, because I was driving my mom to Portland. Instead we had a Sew Day with Mary M on the way and that was a great substitute for the guild Sew Day I missed.

She has a large and fabulous workroom. We both sewed there and Mom worked on her hand project with no issues and we didn’t trip over each other.

This is only half the room. To my left is a small office area where Mom sat near the window to hand quilt.

You can see that she has two very nice machine, a Bernina 570 and a Crescendo by Baby Lock.

Berninas were out of favor, sort of, for awhile, but I know 3 people who have purchased one in the past year or so. Mary bought this machine, the embroidery module and the table from a friend who decided to go back to baking. She was still getting used to it when I was there.

I sewed on her Crescendo. I never tried a Baby Lock before, but really liked the machine. I was quilting some parts for bags and the machine helped me speed through the work.

I have seen the ad on the YouTube video I watch for the invisible join tutorial. This is a very helpful video on how to join the ends of binding that you may have missed when I posted it the first time.

I used the automatic cutting feature, which I have never used before, the laser and the button for foot up and down. All of these features worked together to make quilting some bag parts much more palatable. It is also fun to try a different machine.

We had a good time.

Sew Day Amy

Amy belongs to another modern guild. That guild does block exchanges. People design or select a block and others make them, so the recipient can make a quilt. Amy has been talking for a few months about selecting a block. At Sew Day, she finally showed the blocks she received.

She had people make two and was working on them at Sew Day.I think the blocks look good together, though not 100% matchy-matchy.

She plans to give it to the Community Quilt team as a donation quilt.

Sew Day Round Robin

Rhonda's Round Robin — Rhonda’s Round Robin

I was stunned to see Rhonda pin this amazing quilt to the design wall. I really love the design and the colors.

I went and chatted with her about it. It turns out that it is a round robin with Amanda’s center. I believe those are Swoon blocks, like I used in my quilt, Swoon.

Rhonda has had the quilt for awhile and brought it to get started on her border.

I was really pleased to be able to see it. It is gorgeous.

Sew Day Velvet

Rosie Lee Tompkins 'Lines' quilt — Rosie Lee Tompkins ‘Lines’ quilt

A month or so ago Gerre asked me to help her think through the construction of a velvet quilt similar to one in the Rosie Lee Tompkins exhibit. We talked about foundation paper piecing the long strips that would make a quilt to look like the Rosie Lee Tompkins exhibit entry way quilt.

I don’t remember how this quilt was constructed, but I am pretty sure Ms. Tompkins didn’t use FPP. I could tell Gerre wasn’t 100% on board with the idea. At the time, I couldn’t think of anything else.

Gerre's velvet blocks — Gerre’s velvet blocks

Therefore I was pleased to see that she and Mary had come up with a plan to make the quilt in blocks using the quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) method. What a great idea! They are sewing strips of velvet on to batting, then will sew them together. This technique really helps keep the velvet under control as it is sewn.

At the beginning of the day they had a few blocks already done. I really like the blocks 2d from the right with the white squares. I also like that Gerre is not copying the Rosie Lee Tompkins quilt. I think it is great that she is making it her own.

Gerre's velvet blocks End of the day — Gerre’s velvet blocks End of the day

By the end of the day, they had most of the blocks made. The photo (left) may not show all of them. In this case I really like the black with the silver. I prefer the blocks that use the color as an accent. They are all really beautiful. The sheen of the velvet gives them an amazing lustre.

More Pantone

One reason I am making so much progress, aside from taking the time to select the fabrics, is that I don’t mind the (almost) paperless foundation piecing as much as I mind regular foundation piecing.

You can see also that the fabrics are relatively bright and cheerful.

Pantone from Julie

Friend Julie has been diligently handing me groups of blocks whenever I see her.

Here is the latest batch. While it may look paltry compared to my bonanza, keep in mind that she has been keeping up and I haven’t. She gives me a few at a time whereas I procrastinate by making bags. I tried to work on a block or two during my lunch hours and after work. That works pretty well when I have the colors already matched to the postcards.

Accordion Pouches

Carrie, one of my students, has been sewing up a storm of bags. She is on the Door Prize team and has just blossomed into an amazing and very creative bag maker. She has also been finding random patterns that interest her for free on the web.

She made a few of these Accordion pouches and they came out really well. She said they were easy to make, but hard to make perfectly.

I think it looks like a very cute pouch. I can see using something like this in my handbag. I seem to have a lot of random items rolling around in it, which could be corralled in this little pouch.

It could certainly be used for sewing as well. I can see putting smaller items in it for travel to retreats or Sew Day, then putting it into the Kit Supply Tote. I might have to make one of these just to try it out, not that I don’t have 500 other projects on which to work.

Finished Some Pantone Blocks

Hooray! I finally made some Pantone blocks! I’ll be able to give some to Julie next time I see her.

Mary’s Traverse

Mary C's Traverse Quilt — Mary C’s Traverse Quilt

Mary has finished piecing her Traverse quilt, which looks great. She brought it to Sew Day as her project. She is now using Big Stitch to quilt it.

This is one of two Traverse quilts she has made. I believe they are for her daughters and are made in different colors.

Metro Twist

Metro Twist** is another pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful that uses their Quick Curve Ruler**. You might remember that I made Metroscape** a few years ago with this ruler.

I showed the quilt that Amy made at the Retreat using the Metro Twist pattern in a previous post.The colors she used and the curves made this a very popular project at the Retreat.

At the last Sew Day, she was putting on borders and preparing the top for quilting. I was able to take a photo of the quilt and it looks great!

I didn’t really realize how popular this project was until I heard that Amy will be teaching the guild how to make it at the next Super Sew Day, in July. I also had a clue when Mary C said that a bunch of people bought the pattern and the ruler after seeing Amy’s quilt.

I talked to Amy and offered to help her teach. She hasn’t told me what she needs me to do yet, but I am kind of excited about it. I really need to find some fabrics I want to use. I love Amy’s choices of Tiny Dots and Tiny Stripes, but I don’t want to copy what she did.

The quilt on the cover of the pattern isn’t super appealing and I don’t think the Tula All Stars (if even still available) would work for this pattern.

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

A Little Pantone

I sat down and sewed a few more blocks for Julie. I also picked out more fabrics to make more blocks. I just haven’t made them yet.

I am really happy I made some progress, but annoyed I haven’t made MORE progress.

As I have said, it takes time to choose the fabrics. If I can do that, then sewing the blocks isn’t difficult. One thing at a time!

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30