Stitch Adventures

Hawaiian applique quilt blocks

In July, it was my turn to choose a block design and fabrics for others in my local quilt guild to make for me. I was driving a quilt friend to LAX airport - and since she was on her way to a 2-week vacation to Hawaii, I was inspired to honor her by having everyone in my group make a Hawaiian needle turn applique block.

I was already in Los Angeles. Since I don't take driving trips there too often - I wanted to do something besides a tuck and roll at the airport.  (That's my husbands term, kind of picturesque, isn't it?)  So, I decided to go to the LA Fabric Mart, and find some interesting fabrics for the quilt-to-be.   I went to a store I've been hearing about for years - Michael Levine's. 

Ever been to Michael Levine's?  I don't know what to compare this fabric shop with.  Maybe right up there with the Fabric Depot in Portland.  I go to Portland just for that fabric store.  But if you don't want to make the trip, their online stores are great too!

Traditional Hawaiian applique quilts are done in solid colored fabric.  But I wanted to try something a little more modern, so I chose red and green prints and a white background for the blocks for my group.

I have a book, Hawaiian Quilt Masterpieces, that serves as inspiration, because it explains the meaning of each design.  For my project, I chose 12 designs, and cut out all the "snowflakes".

Cutting out designs is kind of fun - just like when you were a kid, and cut out snowflake patterns from a folded paper. Only now you fold fabric and cut out the design. 

 There are lots of places online that show and tell how to do needle turn applique. But in short form, you center the cut design on your background fabric and baste it down 1/4" from all edges.  This picture is from a different project, but you can see the basting. 

Very time consuming, because the designs are very intricate.  This is a completed block that I did several years ago.

 

Once the block is basted down, then you hand applique the edges down, turning the edges under about 1/8" - up to the basting. 

I tried several different kind of needles, and finally found one that actually helped me get the edges turned under as I stitched - a size 9 applique needle. It even helped in the corners, where I had to take several stitches to keep the fabric from raveling. 

I also ended up sewing a machine zig zag stitch around the edges of the background fabric, because it was starting to fray from all the handling and turning.

This is a great handwork project for in front of the tv.  Not quick though, because of the intricacy. 

Here's a picture of the finished block that I made as a sample to show my quilt group members, who will all be working on different designs, but similar fabric and colors that I chose.

And here's a picture of the backside - you can see how close together the stitches need to be to make sure the design edges are all caught underneath.

Looks like a lot of work, but just like the crazy quilt block that I did last month, it will help my friends try out a technique they haven't done in awhile. 

And once I get the blocks back, I hope to make a full size quilt, with the addition of a few more.  I can always hope!

 

 

Quilt block exchange

Each month, since March, eight members of my local handquilting group have been making quilt blocks for each other.  The members who wanted to participate each chose a month, a project block, and their own colors.  When it's your month, you bring in enough materials and the directions, so that each member can make a block for you.  My month is July - there will be pictures and details in the next post.

So far, for other members, I've made some interesting blocks.  Interesting in that I learned a new piecing technique or tried different colors.  And great because I only have to make one per month!  Now that I can accomplish.

Last month I made a crazy quilt block, and I was able to play with the fancy stitches on my Bernina.  But I now know I don't want to make a whole crazy quilt myself.  Maybe it's named that way for a reason.

My favorite month so far, was in May.  The quilter brought in a pattern called Girls Favorite, which looked simple enough. 

 

She asked each of us to pick our own blue and yellow fabric, as that would add lots of different fabrics to the final quilt, when she put all the different blocks together.  The quilt was for her boy scout troop, so we were requested to not add too many flowery patterns.

I love the end result, and loved the color combinations that I chose.

However, I should have watched the direction of the striped blue pattern - and that way the stripes would have all been going in the same direction! 

All the people who made the block had difficulty with the way the pattern was written.  The person who wrote the directions for the block (the designer) didn't have the right dimensions of some squares and triangles, and didn't have the correct number of fabric squares to cut.  Something to keep in mind when downloading patterns from the internet.

Next: My quilt block of the month - Hawaiian needle turn applique.

 

 

 

My quilt is on the frame!

Whew!  What an endless task - to mark a quilt.  I "stewed" for weeks about what designs to mark on my to-be-hand-quilted New York Beauty quilt, and how to get the design on the quilt.  Finally, today, I took the marked quilt to the hand quilting group I belong to, and we put it on the frame to be hand quilted.  I could write a whole book on the inner trauma of bringing a quilt top to let other's examine, but maybe later.  I'm just glad it's on a frame, and already being worked on!

I'm still not pleased about the whole marking procedure.  You'd think quilters, who have been around for centuries, would have figured out a way to mark a design on a quilt without all the trauma. 

One person in the group told me to mark with a pencil, but I am so worried about the pencil marks never coming out - especially on light colored fabrics.  The pencil won't come off with an eraser (I tried), so I just have to hope that washing will do the trick. 

Since I was so displeased with using a pencil, I finally decided to use chalk on the darker fabrics.  There's this wonderful miniature tracing wheel/chalk pencil that I've used on other things.  It works so effortlessly.  The wheel comes in three colors, and you can either refill with your own pounce powder, or buy a refill for about $2.50.  The chalk does come off easily, so I know some of the quilt will have to be remarked as we quilt.  But at least it will come off!

So, here's a picture of how we put it on the frame today -

There are long boards that have fabric strips stapled to them.  We lay the quilt on the floor, matched the center of the quilt and the board, and used straight pins to attach the quilt to the fabric strips.

Next, using four people, we rolled the quilt onto each board.  One side of the quilt got rolled under the board, the other side got rolled over.  When the quilt had enough quilting area showing, we used clamps to attach the ends of the quilt to shorter boards.  Then the quilt ends were pinned to the shorter boards, and the quilt was put in the stand.  Ready to be worked on!

It was so exciting to have people working on a quilt I made!  I'm still squeemish about people looking at my stitching close-up.  But it is what it is.  That's how I'll get better!

A different traditional quilt

A few weeks ago I was working frantically on cutting out a traditional quilt to be hand quilted by my friends in my local quilt guild.  It took me a week of full time cutting to get all the pieces done.
Here's a picture of some of the squares for month 1 of the block of the month.

and another picture of the colored squares needed for paper pieceing, for month 1, and the set squares for month 1 too (the white ones). 

So the cutting is done for all 12 months.  Then I got organized, and put all the pieces and directions for each month in it's own plastic bag. 

Then I got realistic.  If it took me a week to cut all the pieces, I knew I wouldn't be done quickly with the piecing, then the marking, then the basting.  Certainly not fast enough to put the quilt on the clubs frame in a week or two. No matter how hard I worked (and it wouldn't be much fun either!)

Then I remembered a small wall quilt I had pieced a few years ago - it was pinned and ready to be machine quilted, and I was using it to cover my bolts of fabric.

 
The quilt was a kit from Connecting Threads and was fun to put together.  But I never finished it because it was a 54x54 wall quilt, and I don't have many empty walls to put quilts on! 

Although this picture I downloaded from their website doesn't do it justice, I was pleased with the quality of fabrics and directions, designed for beginners, like me.  If you go there, you can download the pattern for free, and use your own fabrics. (The kit's no longer available)

So, I've decided to add borders to make the quilt larger and longer, then add some more batting and a different backing.  That I should be able to get done quickly, and since it's a traditional pattern (New York beauty), is worthy of being quilted by hand.

I'm not giving up on my block of the month quilt, just need to put it off for a few weeks so I can take my time piecing it!

 

The naivete of a beginning quilter

I consider myself to be a beginning or almost intermediate quilter.  I really love quilting - both hand and machine quilting are fascinating to me. 

I joined the Ojai Quilters group about two years ago - because I was getting lonely sitting at home typing on the computer all day.  Most Tuesday mornings I get up early enough to exercise, have coffee, and get to the meeting place by 9a.m.  I'm mentioning that because I am not normally a morning person!  The group is small (5-10 people most times), and does all hand quilting and pieceing too. 

There are usually 2-3 quilts in frames set up to hand-quilt.  Or, in my case, practice quilting on.  We keep track of the hours spent working on quilts, and then whomever has the most hours gets to put on the next quilt.  I had no idea I had built up enough hours, but two weeks ago I was apalled to hear that I was next up to put a quilt on a frame!

Dismayed because I don't have a bunch of quilt tops laying around which apparently most avid quilters have.  I've prided myself on completing one quilt at a time, before going on to the next.  But the biggest challenge - I have never really made a "traditional" quilt.  Of the 7 quilts I've made, all have been very simple blocks, applique, and wall quilts. 

I feel a need to make a quilt that deserves to be hand quilted by these wonderful quilting ladies.  They work on traditional quilts, so I need to make a traditional quilt. 

I finally settled on a pattern I downloaded from The Quilt Show.  Last year I was a member, and was able to access the block of the month for both applique and piecing. (You can sign up for their newsletter and videos, which are excellent - even if you can't afford a membership).

So the quilt I began working on is the pieced block of the month (BOM) designed by Sue Garman.  It is a star and irish chain quilt.  Here's what it will look like, design-wise, when I get done.

 
Now that I'm looking at the completed picture, and have spent countless days just cutting, I'm wondering at the naivete of a beginner quilter.  How in the world can I have expected to get this done quickly so I have a quilt to put on the frame?

One step at a time.

 

My Mom as Cowgirl

Like many of my quilts, the cowgirl quilt was an odyssey. I never finish quickly because they have to “feel right”, and because there’s always so many other things to do (like knitting, making presents, working on my website, cooking). I work on one sporadically, so when it’s done, I feel complete and totally satisfied in my accomplishment. 

The idea for the cowgirl quilt came several years ago while helping with the quilt judging at the county fair. I just fell in love with the quilts that had a western theme. Usually though, the western theme fabric consisted of cowboys and broncos. I wanted a cowgirl quilt.

So, I started a search for cowgirl fabric and when I had enough, got inspired by a quilt book by Earlene Fowler. She’s a novelist that writes murder mystery books that take place in San Luis Obispo, CA. Her books all have a quilt name and theme, and her main character is a modern cowgirl.

I never copy a quilt exactly, just kind of use the ideas and appliqué shapes and go from there. I had purchased a printed set of old-fashioned cowgirls. Taking my favorite one, I started building the quilt around the print, adding squares and borders. Then I did some motifs: running horses, horseshoes, stars, etc.

I was having fun, but once the top was pieced, it sat. Don’t know why, because I love the quilting part, and really wanted it to get done. But it didn’t please me, for some reason. It needed something.

Months later, a box of pictures belonging to my mom (who passed away about 5 years ago), was given to me by the daughter of my mom's former boyfriend.  When I got the box, I couldn't wait to see what was in it.  And there was a picture of my mom, as a 1930's teenager, dressed in a cowgirl costume! I couldn’t believe it.  I had never seen the picture before and they just didn’t wear jeans and cowgirl hats then. But somehow, she had the cowgirl urge too.

I scanned the picture, fooled around with the size, and printed the picture out on cotton fabric in my printer. Then I added it as the centerpiece of my cowgirl quilt, and added a ropey trim to accentuate it.,

That’s why the quilt is entitled: “My mom as Cowgirl” . It is a unique tribute to my mom, and how similar we truly are.

Someone else will be inspired with your cast-offs

The finale of the unfinished quilt saga occurred several weeks later, when my daughter turned the squares into a baby doll quilt. I sent my 1-1/2” pieced scraps to my oldest daughter, and then found out she created something beautiful, and useful. My decision to get rid of something that did not inspire me, led to her inspiration.

When she got the envelope filled with randomly pieced squares of fabric, with the note that said “Your turn”, she was surprised, of course. But who can resist an envelope of fabric squares that were already grouped and pieced? Instead of seeing a mish-mash, she saw a quilt that was almost done (hah!). Just a matter of putting together the rows, adding borders, then quilt and bind.

And as you can see by the pictures, she did an admirable job! The quilt was used in her  kindergarten classroom, wrapped around the baby doll that the kids got to take care of and play with.

The blue borders pull all the colored rows together, 

And on the back, she used the remaining squares to create a fancy corner used to cover the baby dolls head.

So maybe I should have a new creative rule – what you don’t know what to do with, give to someone else. They will see it with new eyes, and it can become something you couldn't imagine.

 

Thank goodness I got rid of that fabric

In August I was talking about the 1-1/2" quilt squares that reminded me of the Dodgers baseball game.  All those thousands of people, and me with hundreds of miniature squares of different colored fabrics.  I never told anyone what happened to all those.  Here's a clue:  I don't have them anymore.  Maybe we should all get rid of the projects we don't like!

I tried all the different combinations; random, light to dark, same colors in a row, etc.  I finally decided to keep the randomness, but in similar colorways.

So then, it was time to sew all the little pieces together the way I had laid them out. 

So I sewed, and sewed, and sewed. My daughter was the one who took lessons in how to piece, and I sort of remembered how she did it – just make a chain. But I can only piece two together at a time. Then sew pairs together. After quite a few hours at the sewing machine (just how many squares are there?), I finally had rows of random colored fabric squares sewn together. And I didn’t like it.

It was fun to finally get to my sewing machine and sew, but what’s with the random rows? They aren’t speaking to me at all. I like appliqué, not traditional, and definitely not random rows of pastel-y colored printed flowery grandmotherly cottons. I’m not trying to put together scraps here – my great-great grandma needed to do that so the family could be warm at night.

I don’t know that for sure. But I do know I want something fabulous – there must be a fabulous wall hanging, or purse, or something hiding in there between the squares.

So I grabbed some black background fabric, added some red squares, and placed the colored rows of tiny squares on top. Then spent an hour grouping them in colorways. It was fun, and I was finally pleased with the arrangement.

Then I got up to get lunch, and that evening, peeked in at my soon to be masterpiece. I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to make it.

So I had a decision to make.  I don’t leave unfinished quilt tops laying around for later. Really.  I do that with my knitting projects, and it really gets me in trouble!

Inspiration finally hit. I grabbed a brown padded mailer, addressed it to my daughter, The Quilter, and shoved all the little random rows in, with glee. Then I wrote a short note that said – “It’s your turn!”, and walked down to the mailbox to mail it.

Couldn't wait to see what she would do with all those rows!

Dodgers Game Quilt

Dodgers Game Quilt

I'm sitting high in the stands at Dodger Stadium, enjoying just being around my oldest daughter and her in-laws, even though it's over 100 degrees. I'm definitely not a sports fan, especially not in record breaking heat. But, 43,795 people think this is fun, and paid for it, so there must be a reason. So many people – all wearing different colors, lots of blues. Tiny people, multi colors, voila, a live postage stamp quilt!

 

A few days later ago I showed my daughter two Keepsake Fabrics sample boxes, filled with several hundred 1-1/2” cotton prints that I received as a “member” of their club. Only in her twenties, my daughter is the expert quilter in our family, and has always wanted to make a postage stamp quilt. Well, she forgot to take the samples, so after the Dodgers game and my visualization, I started fooling with them.

First I did some research on postage stamp quilts – some using 2 inch squares, one woman made one using 2,935 1 inch squares and then hand pieced and quilted it (crazy!). Use of a flannel board for placement. Put all your squares into a paper bag and pull out random squares of fabric and place in rows.

Didn’t find that yet, but started playing with the colors that came in the boxes. I spent hours! First, I did the random thing. I made a few changes as I went along – to make sure I had red, yellow and turquoise squares randomly scattered throughout the piece (one website advised to do this to make the other colors “Pop”). But the random colors just don’t look like something I want to make and hang on my wall.

 

Then I wondered what the pattern would look like if I grouped them by color – light to dark, maybe with strips of solid color in between to separate the strips.

Then it came to me – make this the Dodgers game quilt. Random people in different sections – with strips of blue in between (like where the graphics and advertisements were displayed). Now I like it!

So time to figure out how to sew these little squares together.

These are a few of My Favorite Things

I joined this huge quilt guild (300+ members), and have been attending for about a year now. So far, I've been to some fabulous workshops (fabric painting for quilts, fabric dyeing).   During all that time, various announcements have been made about the "upcoming" quilt show at the Fairgrounds, nearby in Ventura.  There were opportunities to volunteer, enter quilts, and make a "challenge quilt".

The challenge was to make a small quilt with the theme of "these are a few of my favorite things". Of course, I had visions of making this fabulous art quilt - nothing trite for me.  I thought of bookshelves with titles of some of the books I read, rows of tea/coffee cups, etc.  The challenge, to me, was how to incorporate a lot of the things I love.  I'm not just about tea and reading!  But part of me is.

Finally, I made a sketch of what such a quilt would look like; my front window, with the chair where I have tea, read, and pet my cats.  But my sketch didn't make a very good outline, and then I misplaced it.  Finally, with only a month to go before the due date, I got my artiste daughter, Kali, to do a real drawing for me. And then I was in for the long haul.

The drawing has paint colors on it, because my first idea was to use fabric paint to make the images, and then quilt around the images.  Several hours of trying left me frustrated. The colors kept bleeding (obviously, too much water).  So, I decided to do what is easier for me - applique.

Goodness, this quilt took a long time.  It is only 22 x 26", but there's so much detail in all the little things.  From idea, to actual quilt techniques and using my new embroidery machine - it was all a real challenge for me.  I started out having fun, but the deadline of turn-in was today, and I sure had to work hard to finish it!  It feels like I spent 50 hours on it. 

I didn't actually finish the little quilt until 11:54pm last night.  There's machine quilting, hand and machine embroidery, machine and hand applique, and a little bit of felting.

On the borders of the quilt, I used my new embroidery machine to script write things that I love: i.e. rain, crochet, google, dyeing, Mozart, sewing, etc. There's an embroidered basket with yarn, a purple hat, my computer, 

and two pink cats.

When I got home after delivering my "masterpiece" for the show, I got an email from the guild.  What was I going to call the quilt?  I've named it "And my husband too", because when I showed it to him this morning, he asked "where's my picture?"  Well, of course he's one of my favorites!