I got a photo of another one of my quilts in the wild.
You might remember Michaela’s quilt from 2011. It’s clearly been washed a few times, but looks to be holding up well.
Mona and Flower seem to find it comfy, too.
Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I got a photo of another one of my quilts in the wild.
You might remember Michaela’s quilt from 2011. It’s clearly been washed a few times, but looks to be holding up well.
Mona and Flower seem to find it comfy, too.
I have slowly been working on La Pass, but I need to lay it out again. I didn’t take good photos the last time I organized parts of the border so I don’t know where to put the weirdly shaped pieces I created.
Most people will be horrified to see this quilt laying casually like this. Don’t be. Fabric is sturdy and we don’t step on it. I often fold it up so I can work on one section, but it eventually becomes unfolded and drapes near where I sit on the couch while I am at work. It is usually ready to go when I sit down to watch TV.
I went to Sew Day the other day with only one quiltmaking project on which to work. My main project was to put together party favors for my niece’s bridal shower, which I am hosting today,
I bought hand cream**, shower steamers**, ribbon** and bags** and realized I didn’t have time during the week to put them together. I remembered that I had Sew Day coming up and decided that would be my project.
It was great to lay out all the bags and then match up a hand cream with a shower steamer. I was able to see everything I had and work through putting everything together without being interrupted by having to move everything or go to work.
The brands were different so it wasn’t just matching up the colors of the packaging. I thought about the different scents and tried to match them up where I could.
I did so some quiltmaking work. As I said the other day, I cut out some of the Sotak Handmade Little Pyramid Pouches. While doing that cutting, Amy was across from me working on her Cactus quilt**. This will be a gift for someone she works with.
It is a really complicated pattern with a lot of pieces. She was able to finish one of the blocks at the Retreat. I noticed today that she now has 3 blocks. You can see how large they are.
Her colors are really subtle. I find it hard to tell the difference between the background and foreground on this block with the round leaves. I can definitely see the foreground on the background, but there isn’t a lot of contrast.
This is a Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern, which Amy enjoys. She is the one who led the class in making Metro Twist. Unlike Metro Twist, this pattern requires the Wonder Curve Ruler**. The Wonder Curve ruler creates different curves.
Her final block so far looks like an Aloe plant to me. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the quilt looks like.
I spent a little time just talking with MaryC and Gerre after I was done with my cutting project and the party favors. That was OK. Pretty soon I am going to have to start sewing the various projects I have cut out. 😉
**N. B. : 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.
I am slowly chunking the Diagonal 9 Patch #3 together. I’d like to get on to the green Diagonal 9 Patch soon, or start one of the newest donation quilts from the green strip blocks. Unfortunately, the large piece I made for the Retreat Organizer is taking up most of the design wall. I really need to get back to that project, if for no other reason than to get it off the design wall. Life is in full swing, however, and May is busy, so I snatch time where I can.
I am sneakily, not maliciously, teaching people to chunk quilts together. I showed Anna how to chunk the other day at Sew Day.
These blocks are from that same batch I found a few weeks ago.
I don’t remember making this Moon over the Mountain block. It is times like these when I want to look through my journals and find out what I was thinking. I have a distant memory that this block was made in a class.
I really like this star. It is another Sawtooth Star, which is one of my favorite blocks. The fussy cutting (did I fussy cut?) I did for the block center of the star is awesome! I wonder if I have more of that fabric?
I am also interested in the peachy pink I used for the star background. My fabric choices are much more interesting than they are now, I think. Maybe not. I’ll have to look for these fabrics to see what comes next.
Both blocks use a Benartex (or maybe Robert Kaufman?) Reflections fabric. You can see it in the peak of the mountain.
If I have more of that fabric, perhaps I will make another sampler, but with random blocks that take my fancy.
I took advantage of the Sotak Handmade 30% off sale last weekend to buy two patterns I thought were interesting, the Petunia Pouch and the Little Pyramid Pouch. I want to make some small gifts for people at the Retreat, so I cut some fabric for the Little Pyramid Pouch out at Sew Day. I would have bought more, but she has a lot of tote bags and I already have a lot of tote bag patterns.
I have a few of her patterns already. One is the Purse Organizer. I made one for Mom and one for Gerre. It is more of a tablet carrier than a purse organizer. I like the pattern, however. Her free pattern (tutorial?) for scissor cozies is a perennial favorite. I also have the Multi-Pocket Organizer, but I haven’t made that one yet. It is very similar to the Mustang Purse Organizer
It doesn’t look like much in the image above, but I have all of the pieces cut out to make the pouch. I didn’t bring my sewing machine or I would have gotten started.
I had a key chain hardware kit that has been in my hardware bag for a long time. I was with my Mom the other week and she kept dropping her cane, then struggling to pick it up off the ground. I saw that it had a place for a ring or key chain. The two pieces of the puzzle clicked together in my mind and I made her a key ring that she can use as a ‘cane chain’.
I had everything necessary to make it on hand.
I used a piece of Pink Sands webbing**, and the Dritz key fob hardware kit** as well as some Renaissance Ribbon** leftover from Who Am I? It was a very quick project.
The webbing was slick and I couldn’t get the ribbon embellishment to stay in place. I think using a cotton webbing (or strapping) would have alleviated that problem, but I used what I had on hand and Mom didn’t mind. I could have also glued it in place. That can be difficult with a textured surface like polyester webbing, but it is doable, especially for a temporary hold. Lessons learned for next time.
**N. B. : 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.
I spent the other day working on these blocks and I am already to put them together.
I wasn’t sure if the background would look good. I think it does. It looks very watercolor-y, which is different than the other one I made. I am glad they look different, but have a lot of similarities.
Now to put the blocks together.
As mentioned when I talked about the lost and found Baltimore Album Quilt blocks, I found several other blocks as well.
This is a New York Beauty block. The spikes are pretty thin. I think I was going through a New York Beauty stage. It was probably around the time that Karen K. Stone’s pattern came out. I see to recall taking a class from her or about NYBs.
I love the way I used the ombre behind the spikes. I think that my fabric choices were not at all subdued!
This second block has much skinnier spikes. I might be able to include it in the Handbag Sampler, though there is already a NYB using more of the fabrics.
I really like the layers of spikes as well. Perhaps these two blocks are the start of a New York Beauty quilt? A sampler of New York Beauties?
I almost gave these away, but stopped myself. I wanted to contemplate them. Now I am thinking of making something with them.
Before the Retreat, I finished all the blocks.
I ran out of fabric, so I had to find something to do about that. The first thing I did was buy more fabric, but I wasn’t 100% sure I was buying the right fabric. I decided to make some blocks in a different fabric and make it part of the design.
As I rummaged through various options, I found a grey ombre and had a brain wave. I made the last 4 blocks in the ombre using the gradation from dark to light. I thought the idea would look much more interesting than having all the blocks use the same background.
I pieced the quilt together and think my fabric choices were good. I tried to place the ombre patches, first, then the ombre blocks in such a way that they blended from dark to light with the other background fabric. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.
The silk is a bear to work with. I thought, at first, “I don’t need no stinkin’ interfacing”. I was wrong. I interfaced all the pieces after the first few and the silk was much more in control.
I have tons of silk left. Since the pieces are FQs, mostly, I can’t make a dress or anything. I don’t really want to make another silk quilt (I am not sure the effort was worth the outcome), so I don’t know what to do with the fabric I have left. I’ll have to think about it.
The top is done! Remember? I started it at the Retreat. I had to reorient two squares as I sewed them in the wrong way somehow. Fortunately it was no big deal, mostly because they were both on the edge.
I think the top came out really well. The background has some light dots on it. The contrast is good. Onto to back binding and getting it quilted.
I don’t know whether my niece is having a boy or a girl. I hope the amount of pink in this quilt is ok for a boy as well.
I spent some time last weekend making the last of the Pantone blocks for our swap.
The first step is always selecting fabric. For this group, I went through practically every bin of fabric except red. I had a really hard time finding fabrics that were close to the postcards.
I always dislike thinking I have to do the selection, but once I get into it, I am happy. It is also a bonus to discover fabrics I didn’t remember I had.
This batch of postcards had a LOT of browns and beiges. I don’t have a lot of those colors, as you know. I made due. Caramel turned out to be the hardest color. I couldn’t match it with anything brown or beige so I went to orange and found one fabric that looks ok if you squint, in a dark room. 😉
I started making blocks as soon as I was done selecting fabrics. I chose the block design based on what I needed for something like the design I showed you last week.
I just received two more postcards and Julie tells me she has about 6 more cards to send me.
Remember the other day when I talked about finding blocks from the Handbag Sampler? In addition to those blocks, I found several other orphan blocks. I almost gave them all to the BAM Community Quilt project, but I couldn’t quite do it.
These are two Baltimore Album Quilt blocks I started in a class with the most famous BAQ quiltmaker, Elly Sienkiewicz. I took the class at Thimble Creek when they still had a shop in Walnut Creek back in the dark ages. It was maybe 1994 or so and I was excited to take a class from the person who started the craze and did the work to bring BAQ quilts to the fore.
The first block, which looks like a snowflake, is Star of Hearts from Baltimore Beauties and Beyond v.1 and I used needle turn applique.
It is made like you make paper snowflakes. This one was easier to make as there were fewer thin lines to deal with. It was good practice for dealing with sharp points, I remember. This pattern could easily be done with machine applique’, though that was not discussed as an option back in the day.
This second BAQ block is pattern #13: Fleur de Lis with Rosebuds III (pg.34) from Baltimore Album Quilts: Historic Notes and Antique Patterns. I didn’t put the additional rosebuds in the corner. It was all I could do to finish this block as is.
I took the class with the intention of making a Baltimore Album Style quilt, but needle-turn applique’ and I didn’t get along. Perhaps if I tried it now, it would be better. Perhaps I didn’t choose the best patterns to try the technique? I don’t know. I never really did needle-turn after this.
I’ll write about the other lost and found blocks in a follow-up post.
**N. B. : 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.
As you know, I don’t quilt much. I really enjoy the collaborative effort of making a top and allowing someone else to quilt it. Thus, the quilts below are mostly tops, but I will include a finished quilt once someone else finishes it for the group.
This category covers bags, toys, aprons and knitting as well as other non-quilt projects.
Nothing at the moment
WIPs are projects on which I am working. This means that I am past the cutting out of pieces stage, some sewing has taken place.
I still have UFOs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled, it hasn’t been worked on in awhile or it is waiting its turn to be worked on. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
I am annoyed that some of these are still UFOs. I have to give myself credit for completing some of them last year.
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My friend, Kathy, posted this on her Facebook page and I think it is a pretty awesome quote.
Projects, Classes, Patterns, Techniques & Tutorials
Do you need to start thinking about small gifts for teachers or co-workers? Try the coffee cozy by Sew Hungry Hippie. Natalie has a video tutorial to help you be successful.
Larissa has just released some new wool felt projects. They are stars and can be used as Christmas decorations as well as other types of decorations. Her patterns are available exclusively from her Etsy shop.
Recently I watched a Fresh Quilting Episode where the host showed how to sew a multicolored binding. I went looking for that episode and found some others as well. Sylvia Schaeffer talks about straight seams and angled seams when doing a multicolored binding.
I couldn’t decide whether this tidbit should go in this category or in NQR. It is definitely not quilt related, but something in which I dabble from time to time. I just finished the book End of Story by A.J. Finn. In it one of the characters folds paper butterflies. I imagined them as large and complicated. I had to look up some tutorials. I didn’t find what I saw in my mind, but I saw a few tutorials and will let you know if I try one. This one by Michelle looks the most intricate. One from MyCrafts only has a video, which is both good and bad. The Mavink site has a collage of different kinds of paper butterfly tutorials. I’ll let you know if I try folding one.
Tools, Books, Fabric, Notions & Supplies
Fabricworm has moved. Visit them in their new space at 1745 Riverside Ave. Suite A Paso Robles, CA 93446
I saw another request for ideas about where people shop in one of my Facebook groups. Whenever I see that kind of post I wonder if there are people who don’t Google fabric they want then shop online? To each his/her own. Anyway, one of the good things about this request is the suggestions. One was Sew Yeah. I have never heard of them, but they have some interesting fabric.
Brooklyn Fabric has a lot of fabric (not all!) for $9-$11 per yard.
Media, Books and Articles
The New Yorker Magazine has an article called Piecing for Cover, about quiltmaking. A quote from the article explains how quiltmaking helps me when it says “Quilting is a craft that requires the use of the brain and the body, that involves the senses of sight, touch, sound, and smell, that requires mathematical calculation, forward planning, and rapt attention. It begins with a pattern, or, in the case of what’s known as improv quilting, an idea, an emotion, or even just a whim. (“Today, I’m in the mood to make circles!”) Then there’s the fabric. You choose it not only by color but also by how it feels in your hand. For this pattern or idea should the fabric be slick, or should it be nubbly? Do I want to see and feel the warp and weft or am I going for a sleeker effect? Even the smell of the fabric comes into play: it has a mellow, warm aroma, especially under a hot iron.”
Quiltmania is shutting down. Website / IG post. This makes me sad. Go buy a magazine.
Events, Shops, Exhibits and Shows
You know PIQF will be held in July, right?
Other Artists
Friend Julie shared these cool prints with me.
NQR
My sister is setting up a sanctuary for dogs who need temporary shelter. Check out the volunteering page. Her descriptions are hilarious.