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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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

January 8, 2016January 8, 2016 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

The winner of our giveaway is Quilter in Motion, aka Marsha. And no, she doesn’t get a chicken dinner–I just like saying that. Thank you so much for all your birthday memories–I loved reading them! I have a couple of favorites, and have read many of them to my husband, who also picked a few of his favs. You are all the best.

You’ve all been busy out there in Quilterland, contacting felted wool/wool felt suppliers and I have a few more pieces of information for you, as you collect and gather.

First up is a note from Stephanie, saying she contacted Errin Rissberger at QuiltingAcres on ETSY, and bought this fine array of colors of felted wool, all for about $69.50:

Stephen had shopped around at some other sites and found this one to be most reasonable. Erin has those bundles up there, ready to go, if you want one too.

Brenda contacted Donna, of Prairie Woolens, and she wrote that she does: “create custom kits for pretty much any pattern whether it’s something we carry or not and there are no requirements. I checked out the picture and I would say it would likely be the hand-dyed colors [of wool]. The 100% wool felt and the felted wool are similar in thickness so I think you could use them together in the same project. I’ve mixed felt and wool together in the same project and it works wonderfully. Hopefully this helps but if you have any questions, please let me know.”

This screenshot is Primitive Gatherings’ offering. I was down in there shop this past week, and they stock felted wools, but no wool felt. They are beautiful, though. You can purchase them on their website, too.

Whether or not you’ve already purchased your wool, you can bet that halfway through the project, you’ll be wanting a different color, so either head over there now, or save this for later. I so appreciate those who have written in to pass on information for others to benefit from.

The next post on this will be in a couple of weeks, just after the beginning of the February. On February 1st, we have the reveals for our art quilt group, Four-in-Art, a collaborative group of quilters who wanted to try something different. We post four times a year (hence the name) and work in the chosen themes. This year’s theme is Color, and February’s challenge is Microscopic.

Before that, I’ll be going to Road to California, where I’ll have two quilts hanging in the show–if you are going, please DM me on IG and find me–I’ll be the girl with the goofy smile standing in front of one of these quilts. I generally ~~post a lot on~~ flood Instagram with quilt photos from the show, so you can find me there: occasionalpiecequilt (the button is on the right, if that’s easier).

Okay, Marsha, I’ll be in touch with you to get your snail mail address and get your magazine off to you!

200 Quilts · Quilts

Two Finishes: Baskets and a Halloween Quilt for 2016

December 2, 2015December 1, 2015 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

NOTE: Please forgive the blog gremlins who used to work here. To quote Monty Python, they have been sacked.Quilt Number 154
Spooky Action at a Distance

Construction began October 2015 • Finished November 2015

I began saving Polaroid blocks for this quilt two years ago, and purchased the fabric about the same time. I thought it was time to push it over to the “done” side of the ledger, given my last post. Label’s not yet finished–coming soon. The title is taken from one of Einstein’s scoffing statements over the idea that that one particle can have an effect on another particle which might be some distance away. He thought is was not possible. Modern physics has proved him wrong, and scads of poems have been written about this, so I thought, why not a quilt title for a spooky quilt?

Howard Levy’s poem, of the same name, notes that those who snuggle under quilts can experience this effect:

It is this way: men and women
spin. Hundreds of miles apart, thousands
of miles, the speed of light, it will make no difference….

And Einstein, could he admit
that love would be fast enough,
that this “spooky action at a distance”
is not necessarily paradox,
that these two influence simply in their being,
taken in to each other and separate,
separate and taken in.

Quilt Number 155
I carried quilt and basket through whispering grass

Made the first basket in May 2015 • Finished November 2015

This was a fun quilt to make, a really great one to do with large scraps. I have a tutorial •here• for cutting up the baskets quickly, and the how-to for the handle is *here.* Just go go go, trying not to think about it too much, and have fun while you cut and sew. The title is taken from “The Picnic,” a poem by Maylee Bossy, about an outing after her husband has passed away. My husband is still very much here, but the poem involved a quilt and a basket — how could I pass it up?

So I guess that deadline thing is working for me, right? A Halloween quilt finished in November? A Spring quilt finished in autumn? Let’s just say we’re EARLY, and leave it at that.

200 Quilts · Quilts

Flying Through a Rainbow Mini Quilt

November 5, 2015May 18, 2023 Elizabeth E.1 Comment

Flying Through a Rainbow
Quilt #152

You’ve seen this one before, but I wanted to give you the directions on how I put it together. I made this for the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap, the final small quilt of my four mini swaps. I know that people traditionally go over the top for this swap, but when I glimpsed into my partner’s life, I realized that she did a variety of activities and wanted to honor that by using the Flying Geese block going in multiple directions, but with a twist: I used two half-square triangles to make the block so I could work in a bunch of neutral light fabrics behind, including a fun fabric that was a bowling score sheet (one of her hobbies–she doesn’t read my blog, so I’m safe to tell).

I cut a 4″ block from sixteen different solids (then sliced it in half diagonally), choosing four gradated hues from four different color families: violets, blues, greens and yellows. I then cut a 4″ block from ten different low-volume background fabrics and sliced those on the diagonal so I could mix and match the backgrounds. Yes I had some triangles left over on the backgrounds, but I wanted a variety.

I cut four 3 1/2″ center squares, then laid out all the cut pieces so I could see the play of backgrounds to the colors. After I was able to get an arrangement I liked, I stitched the two half-triangles together, pressing the seam allowance to the darker side. I trued them up to measure 3 1/2″ blocks, using the nifty BlocLoc ruler I bought at QuiltCon. It’s worth every penny, believe me.

Then I sewed each color family together as if it were a nine-patch, then trued up those four blocks. Last step is to sew the four blocks together.

I am always stumped by “how to quilt this thing.” I decided to keep playing around with the triangle theme: I traced smaller triangles in each larger one, and echo-quilted those. In each color group the triangles are placed in different places, providing a different, yet harmonious quilting design. The background was quilted in the wavy line stitch from my sewing machine. I had to dodge around the triangles a lot, switching back and forth between the wavy stitch and a straight stitch. That’s one more reason I’m glad it’s a mini: they are easy to maneuver on the machine.

So that’s the season for my mini quilt experience. It was a good experience and I had fun coming up with ideas.