References:
Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild
Showing posts with label Quilts and Quilting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quilts and Quilting. Show all posts
I Spy a Blue Speedo
References:
Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild
Little Heart Pillow
References:
Pretty Little Mini Quilts
Redwork Christmas Row Robin
I've had the redwork pattern from Buttermilk Basin sitting around in my pile of patterns and I'm glad I used the pieces for this - or I may never have gotten it finished! All the finished robins will be displayed at our Guild's quilt show in March.
References:
Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild (Visit for info on the show)
Buttermilk Basin (See the original Redwork Pattern)
Blue Star Banner Quilt
I really wish I didn't have to make any more of these but they keep sending kids over to war, so I'm still at it. I made this one for a friend at work whose son is off to Afghanistan. I modified my pattern from some of my earlier ones, and went with the more traditional longer format. I got the pattern from Military Moms and it worked great.I made the wavy quilting lines using my Leaves Galore template from Sue Pelland Designs, love that thing.
References:
Military Mom's Blue Star Banner Quilt Pattern
Sue Pelland Designs Leaves Galore Template
History of the Blue Star Service Banner
References:
Military Mom's Blue Star Banner Quilt Pattern
Sue Pelland Designs Leaves Galore Template
History of the Blue Star Service Banner
Scrap Happy
Here's a square-in-a-square quilt top I just put together. Still not sure if I'm going to add a border. In addition to finishing old projects, I'm also trying to clean up the scrap collection. Still have a long way to go, but this was a good start. I used a technique for the blocks that I saw a long time ago on Simply Quilts with guest Anita Grossman Solomon. Her website is "Make it Simpler". And you can see the video of how it's done here.It is a fabulous method and gave me very accurate blocks!
Getting Stuff Done
Olive tried to be good and not immediately roll in the middle of the quilts, but she just had to get her nose on it. This year I've vowed to finish off some old stuff I've had hanging around. I've had these friendship star blocks around so long that I don't even remember what the original project was, nor can I imagine why I was doing something in pink and yellow as they aren't normally colors I'm drawn to. There's one more in the works and then these will go to my guild's comfort committee to be given to a good home of someone in need. Thanks to Kathleen Murphy for quilting them!
Review: The Modern Quilt Workshop
I'm always looking for quilting books with a modern esthetic so I was very pleased to come across The Modern Quilt Workshop: Patterns, Techniques, and Designs from the Funquilts Studio
by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. In addition to a nice collection of patterns, the discussions of techniques and design concepts are very worthwhile reading, especially for anyone looking to expand their quilting horizons beyond a grid of blocks with sashing and borders.
First, a look at two of my favorite patterns in the book. The "Once Upon a Time" pattern for a children's quilt. This pattern is so great in that invites children to interact with the quilt and use their creativity to build their own story as they work their way through the maze of fabrics. And of course this quilt would be a great outlet for all those adorable novelty prints that draw you in at the fabric store. This one is definitely on my project list.
My other favorite pattern is the "Gamelan" kaleidoscope quilt. I've seen a number of these fussy cut projects and although the block was appealing to me, I never seem to like the finished quilts because they get very busy. The minimal layout of their quilt showcases these blocks in an elegant way. Because it uses only a few of the blocks, it looks like a great way to try out the technique without going into overload.
If I had to choose a least favorite pattern it was their "Confetti" quilt. The color choices on this one seemed "contemporary" not "modern". When I think "contemporary" I think, "1980". It just doesn't have the "modern" element of cool that the rest of their quilts offer. The other issue I had with this quilt is I looked at it and my first thought was, "pizza". Something about the all triangle shapes. Oh well, to each his own.
Now let's talk about the section on techniques. Some of the ideas they put forth in this book will have traditional quilters rolling in their proverbial graves. For instance the suggestion that all seams be pressed open. I had to think about that one for a while. I'm of the "do what works for the application" school when it comes to pressing seams. When I looked back at their selection of quilts, I can see that pressing seams open will work well for these designs. However, putting together more regular patchwork with points and multiple seams coming together, I still like things pressed to one side so you can use that bulk to your advantage to get things lined up and butted together.The other eyebrow raiser was the suggestion that you shouldn't bother "stitching in the ditch" quilting as it doesn't add to your quilt design and it's hard to do well. There's some truth to that. But I'd have to counter with a few things - if you're
pressing open your seams, then stitching in the ditch is going to be hard, it works much better with a seam that's pressed to one side so you can stitch just a hair to the side with less bulk. As to not adding anything to the quilt, sometimes you don't want another design element.
And bindings. If Bill and Weeks lived in 18th century Salem, Massachusetts, they'd be burned at the stake for such heresy. Make your binding with a Clover binding maker and machine stitch it on? That's like serving caviar on Wonderbread -it's just not done. But, I'm keeping an open mind. Honestly hand-sewing a binding on a big quilt can be a bit tedious. I decided to give their shortcut method a try on a cheater cloth I Spy Baby Quilt (pictured at left) and I really liked how it came out. I didn't use the Clover binding maker, but did the regular double-thickness binding technique but sewed it to the back of the quilt. Brought it around to the front and stitched it down with a blanket stitch in a contrasting color. Really cute on this baby quilt, and practical too because it's got to survive washing and chewing and who knows what.
Sometimes you do need a kick in the butt to question why you do things the way you do. I'm always looking for better ways of doing things and tidbits of useful information, which is why I read as many books as I do. In quilting there is definitely more than one right way for any given job. I can think of at least five different ways to make and piece half-square triangles. You just need to find the methods that work best for you.
A suggestion of theirs that I completely agree with is to use a walking foot for your piecing. This makes sense, especially for working with bias cut edges and bulky seams. Also loved this nugget of information, "The majority of misfeeds happen in the first seven stitches of a seam." I could have hit myself in the forehead when I read that. Yes! I will remember that sage bit of advise whenever I start a seam. They recommend holding your thread ends to prevent tangles. Alternatively you could start on a piece of scrap fabric, which is what I do.
The instructions for each of the projects look good. They are clear yet not overly fussy, which leaves an open door for experimentation. They also give measurements on making each of the quilts in a variety of sizes which is awesome. Overall this is a great addition to my library. I know I will draw on a number of the patterns, and I enjoyed the discussions on design elements and techniques in the book.
by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. In addition to a nice collection of patterns, the discussions of techniques and design concepts are very worthwhile reading, especially for anyone looking to expand their quilting horizons beyond a grid of blocks with sashing and borders.First, a look at two of my favorite patterns in the book. The "Once Upon a Time" pattern for a children's quilt. This pattern is so great in that invites children to interact with the quilt and use their creativity to build their own story as they work their way through the maze of fabrics. And of course this quilt would be a great outlet for all those adorable novelty prints that draw you in at the fabric store. This one is definitely on my project list.
My other favorite pattern is the "Gamelan" kaleidoscope quilt. I've seen a number of these fussy cut projects and although the block was appealing to me, I never seem to like the finished quilts because they get very busy. The minimal layout of their quilt showcases these blocks in an elegant way. Because it uses only a few of the blocks, it looks like a great way to try out the technique without going into overload.
If I had to choose a least favorite pattern it was their "Confetti" quilt. The color choices on this one seemed "contemporary" not "modern". When I think "contemporary" I think, "1980". It just doesn't have the "modern" element of cool that the rest of their quilts offer. The other issue I had with this quilt is I looked at it and my first thought was, "pizza". Something about the all triangle shapes. Oh well, to each his own.
Now let's talk about the section on techniques. Some of the ideas they put forth in this book will have traditional quilters rolling in their proverbial graves. For instance the suggestion that all seams be pressed open. I had to think about that one for a while. I'm of the "do what works for the application" school when it comes to pressing seams. When I looked back at their selection of quilts, I can see that pressing seams open will work well for these designs. However, putting together more regular patchwork with points and multiple seams coming together, I still like things pressed to one side so you can use that bulk to your advantage to get things lined up and butted together.The other eyebrow raiser was the suggestion that you shouldn't bother "stitching in the ditch" quilting as it doesn't add to your quilt design and it's hard to do well. There's some truth to that. But I'd have to counter with a few things - if you're
pressing open your seams, then stitching in the ditch is going to be hard, it works much better with a seam that's pressed to one side so you can stitch just a hair to the side with less bulk. As to not adding anything to the quilt, sometimes you don't want another design element.
And bindings. If Bill and Weeks lived in 18th century Salem, Massachusetts, they'd be burned at the stake for such heresy. Make your binding with a Clover binding maker and machine stitch it on? That's like serving caviar on Wonderbread -it's just not done. But, I'm keeping an open mind. Honestly hand-sewing a binding on a big quilt can be a bit tedious. I decided to give their shortcut method a try on a cheater cloth I Spy Baby Quilt (pictured at left) and I really liked how it came out. I didn't use the Clover binding maker, but did the regular double-thickness binding technique but sewed it to the back of the quilt. Brought it around to the front and stitched it down with a blanket stitch in a contrasting color. Really cute on this baby quilt, and practical too because it's got to survive washing and chewing and who knows what.Sometimes you do need a kick in the butt to question why you do things the way you do. I'm always looking for better ways of doing things and tidbits of useful information, which is why I read as many books as I do. In quilting there is definitely more than one right way for any given job. I can think of at least five different ways to make and piece half-square triangles. You just need to find the methods that work best for you.
A suggestion of theirs that I completely agree with is to use a walking foot for your piecing. This makes sense, especially for working with bias cut edges and bulky seams. Also loved this nugget of information, "The majority of misfeeds happen in the first seven stitches of a seam." I could have hit myself in the forehead when I read that. Yes! I will remember that sage bit of advise whenever I start a seam. They recommend holding your thread ends to prevent tangles. Alternatively you could start on a piece of scrap fabric, which is what I do.
The instructions for each of the projects look good. They are clear yet not overly fussy, which leaves an open door for experimentation. They also give measurements on making each of the quilts in a variety of sizes which is awesome. Overall this is a great addition to my library. I know I will draw on a number of the patterns, and I enjoyed the discussions on design elements and techniques in the book.
Far East Mini Quilt
This year's quilt guild challenge was to make a quilt that had butterflies in it. I went through my stash and found I had a number of butterfly fabrics. Opted for the cream/cream subtle one and then looked around to see what fabrics I could throw in with it. Decided upon some Australian aboriginal printed fabric with flying squirrels. It's the dark brown one. You can't see a whole squirrel in any of the pieces but they're flying around through the fabric there. It's also backed in that fabric. Also went with some green tiger fabric, some red plum blossom fabric (always auspicious) and some orange flowered fabric. The pattern was inspired by a quilt in the book, "Bits and Pieces, 18 Small Quilts from Fat Quarters and Scraps", by Karen Costello Soltys. I shrunk it down to 11" x 14". Something very pleasing about putting together small patchworks.
Black and White Quilt
The "Look to the Cookie"* quilt I made for Jill and Jon. As you can see she likes the monochromatic look, but will allow a touch of red. Also made the pillow cases.
Had a great time picking out the black and white fabrics. I tried to pick out things that Jill and Jon would like - the French influenced ones, some hawaiian prints, some cat prints, some Escher-like ones, and one that I thought looked like coffee beans. The black and white quilting fabrics are very in right now, so there are lots to choose from. I found a bunch at Charlton Sewing Center (they had the fabulous Eiffel Tower fabric and the white I used for the background) and at The Quilter's Stash. Got the red backing at Quilt and Cabbage in Sturbridge, MA.
The pattern was designed by Mabeth Oxenreider and was in the August 2006 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (picture of original quilt).It was an easy one to put together. The only issues I had were cutting the long strips accurately (always a challenge) and then sewing the long strips without shifting - for that I used my walking foot and it helped a lot.
This was quilted by Kathy Sperino. We had much discussion over the design. The most challenging part was the thread color. Because you're working with black and white you have the most stark value contrast possible. So if you choose white, it's not going to show up in the background, and if you choose black it's going to show up really strongly in the background, but get lost in any of the black squares. And the grey tended to get a bit lost in the black too. She ended up doing an all over swirl in white, then did the outside border in grey in a tighter swirl - you can see it in the photo if you go to the bigger view of it. She also made an inner border in the grey swirls two blocks in - so it looks great bordering the top of the bed. I think the quilting came out fabulously!!
Also made her hat (the same one Olive models in some of the other pics on flickr).
*Seinfeld reference to Black & White cookies, or as we call them in Upstate New York "Half Moons".
The quilt in progress with help from Olive and Puddin.
Butterfly signature quilt
This quilt was Peter's great-grandfather's and was made for him by the women of his church in Saskatchewan as a going away present. All the names of the churchmembers are hand embroidered. Though there are a few stains and signs of aging, the colors are still absolutely beautiful and the back is a bright yellow. I think it's a beautiful design for a signature quilt, and would be easily adaptable if you used a different applique motif.
A Slice House
This is a project I made with seven other members of the Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild. Each of us got a photo of our house blown up, then divided it into eight sections. Everyone got a section of everyones' houses. You then tried to recreate the photo in fabric. The owner of the house then got the eight pieces back and put them together, quilted it and added a border and binding.It's was really quite amazing to see how magically the pieces all came together. If you visit my flickr photos you can see the other slices houses.
The Saab Quilt
This is a redwork style quilt I made for Peter to go in the back of his 1968 Saab wagon (aka Ole Blue). Here it is hanging at the Thimble Pleasures Quilt Show.It features a few Saab logos, drawings of cars, and the Saab Troll. There's an old Saab ad that says, Made in Trollhattan by Trolls and features this guy. This quilt has travelled cross country and kept Peter warm on various Saab-o camping trips.
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