PIQF 2018 Entries

I entered three quilts into PIQF. Yes, I entered a political quilt. I am scared about that, but what’s done is done. Hopefully, it won’t get damaged. Aside from the guild, this will be the first public viewing of the show. I am really glad I worked hard at doing a good job on it.

After the show, I’ll send or take the Triple Star up to the YM.

Someday I’d like to have a show of all the Fabric of the Year quilts. I should get on that.

Dot Donation Quilt

Dot Donation Quilt
Dot Donation Quilt

I finished the top over the weekend. I mentioned finding the squares before.

I didn’t assume or hurry and it really went together quickly. It has a light and fluffy sort of look to it.

The squares are about 5.25×5.25, which is a very strange size and really makes me wonder why I cut them. On the other hand, it is a good idea and I could cut 5″ squares and do the same sort of design.

Various & Sundry 2018 #8

Creativity & Inspiration

I have to read a lot at work to gather information for a market intelligence report I am supposed to write at the end of the year. The other week I came across a Fast Company article that addresses quiltmaking: creativity blocks. I wrote about this in 2013, using a term “Creative Desert” which I still think is apt. Patience is the big one in the article, which I agree with. The author pointed out that allowing anxiety to infiltrate your process interferes with your subconscious working on the problem. One of my big tools is leaders and enders. I, either, sew squares together until I am so sick of it I can’t help but go back to working on a real project or I use scraps to make new fabric, like for my journal covers.

I saw an article about corrupt files, which morphed into an article about creative process and the stuff creatives collect. The article made me think about whether I am throwing enough work away to be truly making great works.

Patterns and Projects

I forgot about the Kansas City Star quilt blog. I went there after looking for quilt museums in Kansas for a friend who was bored visiting family. The post I read talks about a block of the month based on a diary. I love women’s diaries, so I took a look. The blocks are really nice. Calicos, but they could be put into modern fabrics – or batiks or anything more contemporary – and look really great as well.

Ricky Tims’ Legacy Quilt Club blocks will only be available through September. If you want to download them, go get them now. Don’t pay attention to the colors. Design your own palette. I would love to see a modern version!

You know I love to make books and never have enough time or the right tools on the machine to do it. I have to reset the machine and devote a chunk of time to book making. No leaders and enders always puts me off (what I really need is a bigger workroom with more machines set up for different projects!!). I found a video on making books and thought you might like to join me in book or journal making.

I made a charger case/cable container sometime ago and I use it all the time. It is really big, though. and I have been thinking I might like something smaller. Kathie of Katie’s Quilting Corner posted a link to a pattern that is really useful looking. Thanks, Katie!

Doing Good

Support Laura Kemshall in helping the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in raising  £1.25m  before June 2019. She is making an EPP star quilt. There is a button for a £10 donation on the site. There is a PayPal option to make it easy for US contributors. She was trying to raise £2500 and has already raised over £7600, which is fantastic and will help so many people. I know there are many people in need. One small act of kindness to this appeal or another will help make the world better.

The Covered in Love block drive is back on. Check the blog for needs and wants. It is a great way to use up scraps or try a new block.

How-to

Laura Kemshall teaches how to English Paper Piece in her free video on DMTV.

The Girls at Culcita have a series of videos on learning to quilt. The one I saw was about resizing a quilt pattern! I haven’t done a tutorial on that and now I don’t need to.

I found a great article on organizing your workspace. I was reading it for work, but think there are some ideas I can use in my workroom as well. My favorite tip so far is the binder clip tip. I know there are beautiful binder clips available and this might be just the solution we need at home for our charging cords.

Fabric, Tools & Supplies

By Annie has a post that includes a checklist of things to think about when you buy a new machine. She gives the reader her preferences for things she can’t live without.

According to the Edgestitch blog, Joann is getting a face lift.

History

Cabbage, Carbage, Garbage – the history of schnibbles. I saw a reference on Barbara Brackman’s blog, which referred me to a longer more detailed article on the Dreamstress’ blog.

Media

Francis is taking a break in August before she resumes publishing chapters of the Friendship Quilt 1933 podcast.

Definitely weigh in on the chocolate/no chocolate/occasionally chocolate debate!

NQR

I love office supplies and stationery and pens. My favorite pens are Zebra Sarasa (Sarasa Zebra?) in 0.7 and Pilot G-2 o7. I have lots of colors and use a different color every day at work and a different color each time I pick up my journal. Leuchtturm1917 are my favorite notebooks now, but I still like the Miquelrius as well. JetPens.com is my new favorite pen supplier, though I do enjoy a good Japanese stationery store as well. If you need people who like stationery and office supplies a tribe formed on Twitter the other day.

Then I found Notebook Therapy. Sigh. I love those Japanese calligraphy pens.

Perfection

I had a bad reaction to an email message earlier this month. It made me take a look at my reactions to things. The email came from out of the blue and I was one of the people criticized in the email, though not by name-just as a result of work I had done for the group. The meeting was the next day and I declined to attend, still licking my wounds. I get criticism on this and other posts – people who only post a comment when I have missed something or neglected to finish my thought. I know that people:

  1. care deeply about things
  2. forget to remember that I can’t see your face or body language when they write their quick email “to help”
  3. want to share their thoughts and are often busy, have too much to do and too little time to do every thing
  4. forget that I don’t get paid to write this blog

This is not a perfect blog. I go back and fix grammar or bad sentence structure, but I am often writing quickly on my way to another task, which is a less than perfect environment for my multi-draft style. I greatly appreciate it that you take the time to read my musings. I am responsible for my own reactions to emails, comments and actual face to face conversations. I would like to suggest that you think about your tone when you are thinking about sending off a ‘quick note’.

ColorPlay: Tile

ColorPlay: Tile - original
ColorPlay: Tile – original

I saw this quilt-like pattern of tile on one of my daily walks.

ColorPlay: Tile -default
ColorPlay: Tile -default

The default is less neutral than normal. It actually looks somewhat beachy.

ColorPlay: Tile -n.1
ColorPlay: Tile -n.1

I went for my usual monochromatic palette and came up with a series of blues.

Sadly, the website was having a problem despite me switching browsers, so there are only two palettes today.

What will you make?

I use the Palette Builder Tool on the Play-Crafts site. Thanks to Anne Sullivan for making it available.

Under the Sea Progress

I am determined to finish this piece soon. I want to enter it in the fair in the embellishment category. I also want it finished. It won’t give me much in the way of used up fabric on my spreadsheet, but it will be off the To Do list and that is good.

Making visual decisions visually
Making visual decisions visually

After working on it last week, I thought it was done. It wasn’t done. It needed some beads. So, I laid some out to see how they would look. I thought they looked nice so I worked on it again at Craft Night on Monday.

To Sash or Not to Sash

Aqua-Red Sampler - August 2018
Aqua-Red Sampler – August 2018

As part of the Sampler Quilt Class and other tutorials I have on this site, I want to add one about putting a quilt together. I thought it would be good to include information about sashing at the same time. Since I have been using this quilt to write the Sampler quilt posts, I thought I would use it to create the latest tutorial.

Process can be a difficult mistress (boy toy??) and she had both fangs and talons out for me on Sunday. I really wanted to just piece a bunch of stuff together, so I took Who Am I? off the design wall and started checking out sashing options for the Aqua-Red Sampler. I thought this would be a relatively easy task and I would be sewing in no time.

HA! I should never think that.

I started off thinking that the version above with no sashing just wasn’t quite right. I have a stack of fabrics that I keep for backs and sashing (larger pieces) so I started to look through them and try them out.

I always use Lorraine Torrence’s rule to “make visual decisions visually”. Well, when I do that I usually get good results. When I don’t, I ruin the quilt.

Sample Sashing n.1
Sample Sashing n.1

I pulled out the most likely option and pinned some blocks up on my design wall (2 layers of fabric don’t stick). You can see how optimistic I was that this would work based on the number of blocks I put up. It isn’t terrible, but I didn’t like the way the red was interacting with some of the reds in the blocks.

Sample Sashing n.2
Sample Sashing n.2

I thought maybe some blue and I have a nice turquoise solid that I got out. Not terrible, but nowhere near great either. The blocks with the lighter blue backgrounds stick out like sore thumbs and the blocks with the medium blue backgrounds wash out. I wasn’t daunted yet.

Sample Sashing n.3
Sample Sashing n.3

I thought maybe I should introduce a new color. I know I wanted this to be a, basically, two color quilt, but I started to think, perhaps, that there was no way to keep that dream alive with the two colors I had chosen. I thought about the green in Stepping Stones n.2 and I picked out a nice floral without flowers that included that green plus the blue.

Hideous.

Sample Sashing n.4
Sample Sashing n.4

I couldn’t yank that fabric off the design wall fast enough. It made me think of my man, Phil, though. I tried one of his prints. Also hideous. Well, not hideous, but it really didn’t work. The blue was wrong. The pink was wrong. It looked messy and slapped together.

Sample Sashing n.5
Sample Sashing n.5

I decided to try some white. It wouldn’t be my first choice because it is too predictable, but I was starting to feel desperate. Just a little. The white is wrong, too. I am not sure why, but it doesn’t add anything. It was too white as well, as if THAT makes any sense.

Sample Sashing n.6
Sample Sashing n.6

Since I liked the dots and was still thinking the white might just too white, so I pulled out a different dot and tried to like it. It isn’t terrible. It does add a bit to the whole piece, but the black dots just aren’t right. There is none of that fabric in the whole piece. I put it aside as a possibility.

Sample Sashing n.7
Sample Sashing n.7

Still thinking dots would work, I pulled out a different red dot print. The red wasn’t exactly the shade I would have chosen if I had all the fabric in the world, but the dots were larger and that was promising. Also, not terrible, but also not exactly right.

By this time, I was starting to feel disheartened and needed some input so I posted to Instagram to get some feedback. People were very kind and had some good ideas.

Sample Sashing n.8
Sample Sashing n.8

One person suggested navy, which might work, but I don’t like navy much and don’t have any navy fabric – yardage, at least. I might have some scraps. Amanda suggested yellow. I had a nice sunshine-y orange, which I just thought I would try to see. Not terrible, but not right either. It came across as gold in the photos (even the one above, I think). You remember the hunt for yellow in which I engaged for the basket quilt? I really didn’t want to go out and buy fabric. I really felt I had to have something that would work.

Sample Sashing n.9
Sample Sashing n.9

I found some cherry fabric, again by my man, Phil, and thought I would try it. The first Philip Jacobs option was still on my mind. I wasn’t ready to give up on him again. This fabric is actually okay. I think ‘okay’ is a step above ‘not terrible’. Still it didn’t scream YES! at me.

Much more sighing went on.

Sample Sashing n.10
Sample Sashing n.10

My last option for the day was a grey. I was not hopeful. I really wanted to sew and I had used most of my sewing time on an unsuccessful attempt to choose some sashing.It didn’t work. It doesn’t look much better than the white

I gave up and went to sew the latest donation quilt. I am starting to think this quilt does not want sashing and I’ll have to make the tutorial with another quilt.

 

New Donation Quilt

Dotty Squares -Donation Top To Be
Dotty Squares -Donation Top To Be

I found a pile of squares the other week and decided, Sunday, that I would quickly sew them together for another donation quilt. Fortunately, I had 42 and a 6×7 layout is a great size.

I got more than half sewed. It is super easy sewing, so I might get a few seams in here and there during the week.

Dotty Donation Top - half sewed
Dotty Donation Top – half sewed

I hope I don’t remember why I cut these and kick myself for sewing them together in another project. Fortunately there is no shortage of dots on white at my house.

New Knitting

New Knitting
New Knitting

I bought this yarn in Sisters and love the colors.  I started knitting in Sisters, but have ripped it out at least three times since then.

That is my process. I think this latest cast-on with stick.

One issue I considered it making a shawl. My office can be cold sometimes and if I don’t want to wear my fleece inside, a shawl would be nice. I heard of a pattern where you start with a cast on of 2 and then continually increase. I did this for about 10 rows and then ripped it out. It looked messy and was not soothing to knit. I will knit a large scarf for now and use that in my office and find a shawl pattern that isn’t such a PITA.

Quilt Class: Cathedral Window Block

Finished Cathedral Window block
Finished Cathedral Window block

I decided to make this block after finding I needed one more block to complete my Aqua-Red Sampler. I have never made one of these, so I thought “what the heck?”. I had seen some directions for it and it caught my attention. As mentioned, I had to cobble together instructions from at least three different tutorials to be able to make the block. Below is my version. The tutorials I referenced are noted below.

Finished Block Size: 12 inches (12.5 unfinished)

Supplies

  • Fabric
    • In this tutorial, the background is turquoise and the foreground is red.
  • Thread – you might want to use your regular piecing thread for the first part of the directions, then switch to a thread that matches the background fabric for sewing the curves shut
  • Seam ripper (I use a Clover ergonomic seam ripper)
  • Sewing machine
  • 1/4 inch foot
  • applique’ foot (foot with a center mark)
  • square ruler at least 12.5 inches square
  • long ruler at least 12 inches long (I use a 3.5 x 12.5 Creative Grids)
  • snips or scissors
  • Pins
  • Iron
  • Ironing surface
  • Tool to poke out corners
  • A pen or pencil you can use to draw on fabric (I like Sewline pencils)
  • Stiletto or dental pick type instrument (something thin and pointy)
  • hand sewing needle

Instructions for making a 12″ (finished) Cathedral Windows block

1. Cut 4 squares of background fabric 12.5 inches by 12.5 inches

4- 4 x 4 inch foreground squares
4- 4 x 4 inch foreground squares

2. Cut 4 squares for inset pieces 4 inches by 4 inches.

Fold 12.5x12.5 inch squares in half
Fold 12.5×12.5 inch squares in half

3. Fold each of the 4 background squares in half. This will make your 12.5 x 12.5 inch squares into rectangles (e.g. do not fold NOT along the diagonal).

  • Hint: I sew all four one after another, but you can sew one at a time, if you prefer.

3A. Sew along the short side, backstitching at the beginning and the end.

Open up rectangles & match edges
Open up rectangles & match edges

4. Open your rectangles and match up the raw edges.

Match edges and nest seams
Match edges and nest seams
  • Hint: I nest the center seams and pin, starting in the middle
Leave opening
Leave opening
Pin edges closed, leaving an opening for turning
Pin edges closed, leaving an opening for turning
  • Hint: leave an opening 2-3 fingers wide for later turning.  I mark this with two pins right next to each other.
Sew seam shut
Sew seam shut

5. Sew your pinned seam shut except for the opening you have left.

Backstitch at beginning and end
Backstitch at beginning and end
Backstitch at beginning and end
Backstitch at beginning and end
  • Hint: I backstitch at the beginning and end of the seams including next to the opening. Yes, it is a hassle to start and stop, but I don’t want the edges of the seams to come apart when I turn.
Smooth out blocks
Smooth out blocks

6. Place recently sewn squares on the ironing board and smooth out wrong side out (above). They should make nice squares.

7. Press nested seams in opposite directions from the center out.

Press seam open to minimize bulk
Press seam open to minimize bulk

8. Press long seams in one direction, being careful to line up edge of opening as best you can.  You can press this seam open if you want.

You should now have 4 nice flat squares with wrong sides out.

9. Turn squares right sides out.

10 Poke out corners carefully. I use a knitting needle whose mate broke.

Your squares are now on the bias, so be careful when you handle them.

Press right side
Press right side

10A. Press

Press
Press

 

Corners folded in
Corners folded in

11. Fold corners into the center. Do this with all four corners and make a new square. The square should be 6 inches.

4 blocks laid out in a 2x2 grid
4 blocks laid out in a 2×2 grid

12. Lay out the blocks in a 2 x 2 grid, so you can see what you have

Pin triangles together
Pin triangles together

13. Pin the center triangles of the two top triangles together. Do the same for the bottom triangles. Now your 2×2 grid will be pinned together in two rectangular sections

Draw a line in the crease
Draw a line in the crease

14. Using a ruler (I use a 3.5 x 12.5 Creative Grids), and your marking implement (I like Sewline pencils), draw a line in the crease under the triangles you are about to pin

Line up squares
Line up squares

15. Line up squares with backs together and triangles pointing to the right.

16. Put your applique’ foot on your sewing machine.

17. Sew along the crease on both sets.

18. Lay out the 2×2 grid again. Now you will have two ‘rows’. You are going to sew the rows together.

Pin them together
Pin them together

19. Fold up the top triangles from the bottom row and the bottom triangle from the top row.

Draw another line between the two 'rows' in the crease
Draw another line between the two ‘rows’ in the crease

20. Draw a line along the crease at the bottom of the two triangles.

 

21. Sew along the line. After, you will have your 2×2 grid of squares sewn together and the triangles will be flapping around.

Start laying out your foreground squares
Start laying out your foreground squares
Foreground squares laid out
Foreground squares laid out

22. Take your foreground triangles and lay them on top of your background

Tuck flaps over foreground
Tuck flaps over foreground

23. Tuck the flaps in towards the center and pin in place. Watch out that the edges of your foreground squares don’t show. Make the edges curve slightly

  • Note: this was confusing to figure out and it turned out that I did not have all the sewn triangles in the right place. After you sew the triangles together, make sure you flatten them back in their original places, e.g. one layer of background on top
You may need to use a stiletto
You may need to use a stiletto
  • Note: I had to use a thin sharp tool, like a stiletto or dental instrument to tuck in some of the foreground edges. I sometimes use a seam ripper, which is a very bad habit, because if you aren’t careful, you can rip your fabric. You can definitely trim the foreground fabric, but trim a little at a time very, very carefully
Pinned and ready for sewing
Pinned and ready for sewing

24. Pin each edge in three places with the heads of the pins facing the center of the foreground fabric. This is not micro management; this technique will allow you to sew as long as possible with the pins in place

Sew close to the edge of the background fabric
Sew close to the edge of the background fabric

25. Sew very close to the edge of the background. I sewed slowly and carefully. I used the above mentioned sharp tools when I needed a little help. Leave LONG tails so you can knot off and hide the threads

26. Handstitch the other triangle flaps closed with a few stitches. The other tutorials said to use the machine, but 2 stitches is a pain and an irritant on the machine, so I hand sewed the flaps closed when I was sinking threads.

Cathedral Window Block in process
Cathedral Window Block in process

I never thought of making it before, but this block did kind of take my fancy. This is kind of a strange block, partially because of all of the layers. It is lumpier than I expected. Warn your longarmer about it.

 

 

Resources:

  • Fons & Porter Cathedral Window block– I originally found the instructions in one of their magazines as part of their ‘learning to quilt* series’. I had to go looking for other instructions when I found the directions had no sizes or actual cutting instructions. Directions are brief.
  • Lovely Little Handmades Cathedral Window block – uses a printed background, so you can see how that works. Most people use white, so it was a little confusing for me when I wanted to use the blue.
  • Sometimes Crafter Cathedral Window block – some missing detail, but has the instructions for cutting the right sized patches. I also don’t like it that the viewer cannot enlarge the photos to see the details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Nota bene: not sure if this is the correct name, but it describes the basic idea of the series.

Color My Quilt – Mary C

Color My Quilt - Mary
Color My Quilt – Mary

Mary put out her Color My Quilt directions at the last meeting and I was able to get it done while I was working on Who Am I? a couple of weekends ago.

I am still going with long thin pieces as I think they help people put the quilts together, though most don’t know it yet since only two finished pieces have been sewn.

ColorPlay: Bar Color

Sobo Ramen Bar
Sobo Ramen Bar

I took a picture of this bar area before this restaurant stopped carrying gluten free noodles. I finally dug the photo out, because of the bright and cheerful nature and had some fun creating palettes.

ColorPlay: Bar default
ColorPlay: Bar default

The default palette was less neutral-y than usual, which was a pleasant surprise. The red tones are an interesting addition. I also noticed that the program didn’t stick exclusively to the edges.

The monochromatic palettes were interesting. Yes, I made more than one this time. As you can see there are both cools and warms. I know the green is not warm, but it has a kind of warm feel to it – a bit mossy, I guess. Perhaps there is a yellow undertone giving it a bit of a warm feel.

I like some of the blues in the blue palette quite a bit.

The two pink-red palates are similar, but a little different. As usual, I was really surprised at the colors that came out of the tool.

ColorPlay: Bar n.2
ColorPlay: Bar n.2

I really played around with the other palettes. I really like the blue and gold in palette n.2. The rest of the colors are kind of meh, though the greys alone or as a background would probably be great.

ColorPlay: Bar n.1
ColorPlay: Bar n.1

The one above looks like a Japanese stationery store or a bag of sweets or a girl’s party when she is just getting out of the pink stage.

ColorPlay: Bar n.8
ColorPlay: Bar n.8

I thought I had better create a palette of neutrals. I know there are some of you out there who love neutrals (well done they can be great). I think this one is much more interesting than some I have seen. I won’t make a quilt – or anything – from the colors, though.

What will you make?

I use the Palette Builder Tool on the Play-Crafts site. Thanks to Anne Sullivan for making it available.

Under the Sea Progress

Under the Sea, August 2018
Under the Sea, August 2018

After analysis of the divisions and categories with the least number of entries at the Fair, we decided embellishment was one to target. Craft Night was Monday and I decided I needed to work on this piece.

Under the Sea has been underway for awhile (uh, 2009!) I decided that I will make a pillow out of the piece and enter it. That means getting it done. I took it out and got reoriented as I don’t know the last time I worked on this piece. I had a bit of thread left so I finished a section with that thread (see purple arrow below) and then did a few more lines of stitching in the center.

I feel like it might need a few beads in various places, but we’ll have to see. I have to lay some out and look at it, otherwise I am going with done.

Finished: Green Donation Scarf

Green Scarf
Green Scarf

I finally finished the green donation scarf I have been working on for months. I can’t remember exactly when I started it, but I think it was earlier this year (not last). I bought the yarn at Tuesday Morning on my way to visit MIL.

I started this scarf sometime before April, but after March 1. Before that was the Knight scarf and a hat/cowl set.

Anyway. This one will head to my mom who will use it to make gifts for the women at her local domestic violence shelter.

I’m not sure if I can make another in time to be included in the gift boxes. Let me know if you have a scarf you want to contribute.

Cathedral Window

I didn’t know what to sew over the weekend. It isn’t like I don’t have plenty of projects on which to work. Also, I am making good progress on the Who Am I? piece, but I wanted to make progress. I have another block to make for the Aqua-Red Sampler and decided to try something new.

I found some directions for a machine pieced (machine sewn?) Cathedral Window block and it was bugging me, so I decided it would be the last block in my Aqua-Red Sampler. It wouldn’t be the same as all the other sampler quilts and I would get to finish something today while progressing on something else.

I started with the Fons & Porter directions I found in one of their magazines. 🙁 These directions did not tell me what size blocks I was making or what size to cut the patches. The directions were not that helpful either. I am not sure what the company that owns Fons & Porter is doing, but they aren’t doing themselves any favors by hiding this crucial information.

I went to the web and found two tutorials. I used them in conjunction with each other, because neither had all the information. Sometimes Crafter had the right size, so I could tell what sizes to cut and Lovely Little Handmades had excellent directions though used different sizes patches.

Cathedral Window Block in process
Cathedral Window Block in process

My block is still in process, but it is coming along very well.

I have some hand sewing to do, which neither tutorial recommends, but I don’t care. It is the way I want to finish my block.

I decided to create a tutorial. I think the quilt world needs a more complete Cathedral Windows block tutorial in the 12.5 inch (unfinished) size, so look for that soon.

When I finish this block, another decision will be made and I will be able to put the Aqua-Red Sampler together.