Spectrum: A Colorwheel Quilt

May 10, 2016May 2, 2016 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

Spectrum: A Colorwheel Quilt
Quilt No. 153

You’ve seen this beauty before, as I’ve been working on it steadily since last summer. Since this summer is about to arrive, I thought I should finish it up and get it up in my shops at Craftsy and PayHip (for EU quilters), in case anyone wants a colorful wheel of color on their sewing studio wall.

It’s also great for quilt swaps, or special gifts. I started on mine for a swap, but soon realized I wasn’t going to finish it in time, so made for her instead another colorful creation of mine, Colorwheel Blossom. (It was a colorful Kaffe Fasset fabric swap.) But then I had two quilts, so I gifted one to someone who loves and uses Kaffe Fasset fabrics, keeping one for myself.

Before I sent my swap quilts off, I took them outside for some photos, and love this stack of fun (colorful?) quilts, a prism of quilty delights.

The pattern has templates for English Paper Piecing, if you like to do that sort of thing (I do!) and full instructions for how to put your quilt together. While the color wheel is 16″ in diameter, the quilt can measure up to 18,” depending on the size of your background. It is stunning made up in Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and I’m teaching it that way this Spring in classes at my local quilt shop. Enjoy!

200 Quilts · Quilt Patterns

Riverside Sawtooth, a finished quilt top

May 7, 2016May 2, 2016 Elizabeth E.17 Comments

Riverside Sawtooth, the name I’ve given for this original block of mine, has been finished — or at least the top has. It is a compilation of bee blocks from the Mid-Century Bee, as well as several of mine. I started making these in the Alison Glass blues fabric, but trying to describe what color of blue that was to people all over the United States was a challenge: I finally settled on “painter’s tape blue.” I like this quilt not because of that color and that block, but also because it’s a scrappy two-color block. Have a bunch of greens, or pinks, or reds that need to be gathered together into a quilt? This would work great.

Through the process of arranging and cullling and making more blocks to balance colors, I had enough blocks for another small mini.

The genesis came from seeing a similar antique quilt, but that maker had done a more traditional construction (and sorry–there was no name on that old quilt). I wanted to see if I could make it as a block, the sawtooth incorporated into the construction process. It took me several weeks of working on it, then testing it. I wrote up the pattern and sent it as a test block out to my beemates and incorporated their tips and tricks into the pattern wording. Now thoroughly tested, I tweaked the pattern and at long last, have it available for download in my shops at Craftsy and PayHip (for EU customers). The pattern includes lots of detailed photos and walks you through it the process, so it’s good for anyone’s set of skills, beyond the what-is-a-rotary-cutter-and-how-do-I-use-it barely beginning level.
Riverside Sawtooth_small2

Here’s another mini full of full dotty blocks. I loved working in this tonality of blue — hey, I love blue in any tonality — but the inspiration of Alison Glass’ fabrics kicked me into finding blue fabrics that coordinated with hers. The large quilt (72″ square) is in the line-up to be quilted, and then I’ll probably label it and get it up on the 200 Quilts list, but for now, I wanted to make it available to you, if you want to try your hand at an updated fun version of a block.

I’ve been working on a few more patterns and I’ll roll them out one by one over the next several weeks, as I get the typos expunged, the photographs completed and then uploaded for purchase. Riverside Sawtooth_small4

200 Quilts · Quilts

QuiltCon Prepping Fun

February 18, 2016February 16, 2016 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

Since I will taking a class from Lizzy House on Block Printing (see random sample from web, above), and since I decided I’d had enough of “have-to” sewing, I wanted to just whip up something fun. . . like a tool roll.

Here it is, fully loaded. I had some leftover canvas from making bags for grandchildren, doubled that, then stitched on wee pockets for my tools. Oh, plus a flap for rolling over the tools and a tie.

Empty. It’s in the bottom of my bags that are all packed up for QuiltCon this week:

I’ve been working backstage on a quilt to bring to the kind folks who asked me to make a further-backstage quilt for their market booth (pictures of that one coming in May). But I wanted to have something for them to show off their fabulous new line of solids, called Painter’s Palette, so I put together this smallish quilt for them to have in their booth at QuiltCon for everyone to put their hands all over to feel the nice hand of the fabrics. I call it Focus, and soon I’ll put up a free pattern on Craftsy for it. Just not this week.

Focus, quilt #158
Approximately 38″ by 42″

I quilted it lightly, because heavy quilting changes the texture of a quilt, sometimes obscuring the “hand” of the fabric. Since it can be hung both ways, I had to construct a rod pocket that could go both ways.

See you on the backside of QuiltCon!

200 Quilts · Four-in-Art

Friend and Foe: Four-in-Art Challenge • Feb 2016

February 1, 2016February 1, 2016 Elizabeth E.15 Comments

Friend & Foe
Quilt No. 156, February 2016
#1 in the Color Series: Microscope

We have a new year and new members (see below) and a new theme: Color.

And this quarter’s challenge was “microscope.” So of course, I started haunting microscopy sites, trying to find the right molecule to make for this challenge. And it had to be colorful, right?

I recently had two friends diagnosed with breast cancer, and one of my other friends, Heather, is a long-term survivor of Stage IV breast cancer. I knew Taxol was used to combat aggressive cancers; so wrote to my friend Heather (also a professor in biology) for her reaction to that drug. She went through all the sciencey stuff, but I kept asking “Friend, or, Foe?”

Finally she wrote: “Foe during the treatment. Friend for the result.”

For something that causes such horrible side effects in the treatment, the molecule is this lovely spherical shape, with the innermost parts looking like four petals of a daisy, or an airplane propeller:

Of course, I can use any color I want — right? — so I decided to use periwinkle as the background, with magenta and purple as the parts of the molecule.

I constructed the bit I wanted to by paper piecing, then plain-old-pieced the rest. I stitched it to a white square, then a chartreuse square, as the purple was just lost on the quilt, plus it imitated the circle around the molecule. I made different sizes of different fabrics, then finally, small circles. Then came the arranging:

Using a font like Simone used two challenges back, I printed it the words on freezer paper in my inkjet printer, then cut out each letter. I didn’t cut out the centers, but just free-handed that when it was time to quilt around them.

I first outlined the letters with small free-motion quilting stitches, then started stippling around them.

I mean, I had just taken a class with David Taylor and if I didn’t know how to stipple now, I never would. I decided to leave the edges raw on the white and chartreuse fabrics to bring a little organic texture to the process. All the while, I’m thinking about the women I’ve known who have breast cancer, and while I stippled I sent them –and continue to send them– good karma for a long and happy life.

The birdcage fabric reminded me of that upper drawing of the sphere of Taxol, plus I liked it.

I had originally planned to have the quilt go this way: with the “friend” part first, but then I remembered what Heather said, and I realized that the Foe was first, then Friend. So I switched it around (correct orientation is at the top of the post).

We went over to my husband’s work (he’s a professor at the local Big U) and I loved this picture of a real “science” hallway, with all the faculty’s posters of their results (shown at meetings) hanging along the hallway.

This is his office, and why he never cares if my sewing room at home is a mess. Thank you, dear.

Simone and I at church, holding our Four-in-Art quilts. I am happy to have found such a fine group of quilters to make art quilts with. Bet you are wondering what Simone made, right? Please visit the rest of our group, to see how they interpreted Color: Microscope. We also have a blog, Four-in-Art Quilts, where you can find us all.

Betty https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2

Camilla http://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/

Catherine http://www.knottedcotton.com

Janine http://www.rainbowhare.com

Nancy http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com

Rachel http://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com

Simon http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Susan http://patchworknplay.blogspot.com

And Susan just announced next quarter’s challenge: Music. Reveal is on May 1st, 2016. Can’t wait to combine both music and color together.

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