Enjoy your "Quilt Family"

I look at numbers all day long.  Probably to the point that I can’t really see beyond them sometimes and my brain gets fogged out on trying to process everything, often wondering how what I’m doing on a daily basis is helping the world be a better place.  I don’t have an answer, but I do wonder.  At times, I think, I’m making the world a better place by providing beautiful things to use, enjoy, and provide comfort. And maybe that’s just the purpose of creating and creating art – whatever that art is.  Whether it’s comforting or meant to stir emotions or release feelings, it’s all what we need throughout our lives.

I recently received a notice from the magazine, Quiltfolk, that they were searching for stories about “family” as they realized that family was a common thread, especially during this weird time.  I struggled to develop a story idea about family, but couldn’t quite come up with a concrete idea to present.  As I pondered the topic, though, it got me to thinking.  Family isn’t just your blood relatives – family also encompasses your friends and those in the quilting community, whom from which, you draw inspiration.  It’s the people who share the same love you have for the art.  It’s the folks at your local quilt shop who know you because you visit so often.  It’s the guy who comes to service and repair your sewing machines, who you can have political, intellectual discussions with while he’s taking apart your prized possessions to make them purr like a kitten again.  It’s folks in your local quilt guild who make you laugh and smile as you see what they are inspired by and how they put their own love into their own quilts. And yes, it’s your linked family that also quilts – those who you can inspire, and glean inspiration from, or just share the latest “fabric find” with.  That’s family – a quilting family.   And, no, it’s not a glamorous storyline, nor does it make for a fantastic headline.  But, it most likely represents 90% of us who are quilting today.  We love it.  It might be the colors in the fabric.  It might be the pattern design that intrigues us.  It might be the constant complexity of trying something new.  It might be because we can define a little piece of who we are by what we love to do.  And, we can share that love.

Suppose, for me, that’s why I share what I love to do.  Sure, looking at numbers all day provides an income, but it doesn’t satisfy the longing to bring hope and joy into this world.  I hope that by sharing  what I love, and the passion I have for quilting, that you’ll find inspiration – or joy, or hope, or a revelation that “if she can do that, so can I”. 

View from below.  The quilt is approximately 80" x 96" (maybe even larger), and this is at the bottom looking up.

So, this week, I’ll share with you a quilt top I finished setting together.  I never thought I would get it made as this pattern has given me fits for a long time.  I’ve tried several times to make this pattern – all different techniques – to no avail. Finally, I’ve done it! And I told my sister one time, that if I could accomplish this pattern, I’d feel like I was a good quilter.  I’ve put it together and now I want to push even more (that’s my own weird brain).  It’s made with all Kaffe fabrics and I attempted to arrange the pieces by tone (I think that’s right) so it would blend and move. 

I didn’t applique the pattern – it’s all hand-pieced.  All 120 blocks.  I finally decided to trace my seam lines on the back of the fabric and follow them as I was stitching.  

Hours and hours of hand stitching, but it paid off as the middle parts of each block came out great!

Previously, I just cut the pieces – with the allotted seam allowance – and then started stitching and the middles never would work out.  Plus I read something that said, “you’ll be stitching on top of the seam you just made”, and somehow, this time, that sunk in.  I got the centers I wanted, and I can’t wait to quilt this one up.  I think simple rounds will be the pattern, to accentuate the rounds that the blocks made.  I’m quite happy with this one.  I’ve got mistakes in it, but after ripping out one seam three times and getting the same result each time I re-stitched it, I figured, when you look at it in totality, no one is going to notice that flaw. 

Meanwhile, I’ve started another kaleidoscope block.  Yep, I’m nuts.  I like these – they are fun – and a challenge to make.  

It's a start.  Clearly, I'm trying to figure out what to do next; hence the fabric pinned up before I cut anything.

I still have several pieces to figure out, but here’s where I am so far.

I hope you take time to appreciate and enjoy your family – quilting family, too.  We don’t know what this world holds for any of us, but we can enjoy our small slice by doing what we can to keep us happy and feeling like we’re helping out in some, if even small, way.

Cheers!

Stardate 2016.33.1

A Mish-Mash of Projects

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been toggling among several different projects I have in the works.  Seems I can only work on one project for so long before wanting to switch my brain to something else.  I imagine we all do that – that’s probably why each of us has several UFO’s (or UFP’s – “unfinished projects”) in our quilting rooms.  Often times I find I get to a point in a project where I simply have to let it sit for a while; you know, “stew” in the brain.  I liken these phases to writer’s block:  you might know where you want to go, but you’re not sure of the creative path to get you there.  Of course, creativity can also just come from a spontaneous moment or thought, and then when you have that thought you have to start acting on it because you’re so excited to see your creativity come to life.  I guess it could be a case of being scatter-brained, but I'm going to go with finding the right creative path...makes me feel like I really do have a method to my madness...

So, as I contemplate bits and pieces of each project, I thought I’d share some progress I’ve made on a few of my outstanding items on the long list of projects I want to complete this year. 

With inspiration and excitement fueled back into the red applique quilt I started, I did manage to complete the block that got me re-excited.  I’m pretty happy with how it turned out as it does seem to just leap off of the red background.

I was so excited with how that block came together that I decided to get started on another one while the energy level was high.  So, here it is…one flower just about complete…only three more to go, and five more blocks to make before I can set the quilt top together…

The red applique block has been sitting for a week now; just needed a break from it and after going to an introductory class on the HQ Sweet Sixteen I bought, I learned some things I wasn’t doing quite right. So, with newly gained information in hand, I came home excited to quilt and got right back to the One Block Wonder quilt I’m working on.  With a more relaxed and confident attitude with my new knowledge, I quilted the blue inner border, and am quite happy with the results.  I also started using a straight edge to get a straight line with the machine, and found with a little practice using the straight edge could go pretty well…

Quilting the blue inside border on the OBW quilt.  I'm doing a modified half-feather pattern.

I started using the straight edge to make straight lines when free-motion quilting...so far, so good.

And, here’s a small sampling of what I have in the queue for quilt tops that need to be quilted.  One is an adaptation of the Lemon Squares pattern found on the Fresh Lemons quilt blog; the other is a scrappy Christmas fabric quilt, and the third is large star pattern I made from a Fons & Porter magazine…I’ll blog about how that one came about at a later date (there's a story behind that one)...

Three little quilts in a row...all waiting to be quilted.  Practice on the OBW quilt will lead to confidence to quilt these beauties (hopefully this year...)

Have fun with all of your various projects…and here's hoping get the opportunity to get some of those UFP’s ready for unveiling in 2016, too…

Stardate 2016.13.1

Free-Motion Quilting: Getting to Know a New Machine

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”   - Roger Crawford

With the New Year brings new challenges.  That’s okay.  After all, it’s the challenges of life that build our character and force us to learn and grow.  So, here I go growing again…

Over the holidays, I finally dove in and purchased a Handi Quilter Sweet 16 quilting machine. Well, now, I’d gotten to where I’d pretty much mastered free motion quilting on my Janome 6600P machine, but this new machine is a learning curve in and of itself.  The machine is not hard to use, it’s just taking some time to get used to moving the quilt underneath it, getting used to the machine’s own nuances (including adjusting tension), and getting used to how to maneuver all that fabric under the throat. As always, just moving a fabric “sandwich” is easy; moving a full-sized quilt is a bit tougher. 

I’d played with the quilt sandwiches and I finally decided it was just time to sandwich a quilt together and dive in.  Face your fears, right? 

While I have at least four quilt tops that are in the queue to be quilted, I decided to pick up the One Block Wonder quilt and start in on it.  Two reasons why I picked this quilt to start:  

1.  The One Block Wonder quilt has a fascinating way of hiding flaws, and,  

2.  I need to get this one done for a friend hitting a milestone birthday this year.

An unquilted portion of the OBW quilt...

I’m using King Tut thread, 40#, on a 2,000 yard cone of thread.  This quilt should take roughly half of the thread to quilt the whole thing.  But, I may change colors of thread when I get to the border as I don’t want the black thread to stand out like a sore thumb. But, that’s just a rule of thumb for how far the large spools go.

I’m doing an overall, modified fan pattern for the quilting.  Funny, my grandmother used to quilt the fan pattern on her quilts, back in the day.  Of course, then all of her quilting was done by hand and she used wooden horses to hold her quilt while she quilted it in the evening hours.  Her quilting was precision – to this day I still don’t know how she did it.  

Here’s a close up of one of her quilts…you can see the quilted fan pattern she did..

Here’s the quilt I'm working on, and yep, that's Star Trek fabric backing the quilt. She's a Trekkie, so it fits her well.

You can see some of the quilting in the foreground part of the quilt.  As you can see, the quilting blends in well, which is what I wanted as I think the beauty of the one-block-wonder design should show through.

Here's the back of the quilt...the quilting shows up better from the back side.  It's not perfect, but it'll get better as I go...

One thing I’ve learned so far is that while you have the large throat space (which is really nice!), you still need to think within your workspace.  In other words keep your design in check and don’t try to bite off more than you can chew.  My brain thought, “Oh, you have all this throat space; it’ll be super easy to quilt big designs, now”.  While the throat space does help, you still have to move the weight of the quilt around and you still need to do it as smoothly as possible to keep your quilting lines as smooth as possible.  I think I took LARGE steps at first when I probably should have just taken MEDIUM steps. But, so far the quilting is turning out okay.  Like I said, this pattern hides a multitude of sins, and I figure the more I practice, the better I’ll get at it...    

Linking up with Lorna -  Lets Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.