When I was visiting the South Bay Quilters, they had one class in their line-up which intrigued me: Becky McDaniels’ Crazy Cushions class.
Covet.
I found a guild closer to me offering it, and the class is this coming Saturday.
But since I am not a quick foundation paper piecer, I knew I should get some done before the class.
This is what I use–it’s made by Neenah Paper.
I use a vellum paper, purchased at Kelly Paper, for my paper-piecing. I can see through it, and it’s crisp, so it tears off easily. I know the price looks high, but there are 500 sheets in there, and the last ream I purchased lasted me almost 10 years. If you go to order it online, use the number by the manager’s finger.
Once side of the cushion is Pineapple, and the other is called Star Jasmine. And then there are a lot of flying geese for the cushion sides.
We’ve also been movingmovingmoving stuff around upstairs and my quilting machine has a new place to live for a while, until I can figure out how I want to configure my sewing room.
I remember corresponding with another quilter and when I told her my sewing room was about 9 feet by 10 feet, she wondered how I could ever sew in such a tiny space. Well…it’s what I have. I will confess to having spilled over into the guest room, where that Sweet Sixteen is currently residing.
My daughter just built an RV garage onto their existing three-car garage, and I wouldn’t mind taking over that space, but she lives several hours from me, so (sadly) not feasible. Besides I’d have to share it with their vehicles. I guess I’m thrilled to have a room dedicated to my own messes, my own stuff, so it never occurred to me that my room was too small.
Works for me. Now I’m off to sew about a bazillion tiny flying geese and sew them into strips.
As most of you know, I was asked to participate in the Mad for Solids 2018, hosted by Paintbrush Studios, using their Painter’s Palette fabrics. Thank you for all who voted for me to send me out of the first bracket into the second. Today is the day for the voting for the second bracket, so if you are inclined, the info is at the bottom of this post if you want to vote again in this second bracket, titled “Elite Eight.”
But as I really don’t like blogs that pitch one thing after another — and fearful that I was becoming one of those blogs — I decided to tilt this post a bit different way, and show you how having to choose my colors, then come up with a design led me to my progress on my medallion quilt, which I’m calling Northern Star Medallion.
I was allowed to choose eight fabrics, and as is my usual, I like to see what colors are trending, so I head to the Fall Fashion write-ups to see what colors are coming up on the runways. The range of colors was all over the map, but I really liked the collection from Emporio Armani for Fall 2018, as it was in icy crystalline tones, matching the images of the Northern Lights we’d recently seen in a movie.
So I called my collection Northern Lights. Then I wanted to use the colors to move me to the process of designing a quilt. Of course, it had to have a star in the middle. So when I was exploring in my quilt software, I noticed they had a grid that had an eight-point star. I loved playing around with it, and came up with the 24-inch star you see at the top of the post. I could stop there, but I still had more fabric, so I found out that I can design Medallion Quilts in my software. I’ve had that for over 15 years, and am now just getting to this? That idea — of running in a rut — can apply all over my life, so I’ll leave it right there.
So I thought I would, with each bracket I move up in (or not), add another border to my quilt. I added a teal band, then a light aqua dashed border, then a midnight blue band. I sat down last night and appliquéd on the four corner diamonds, and the center circle. So here it is: Version 2, all gussied up for publication. I am taking notes, so this may become a pattern, but for now, I just wanted to play in the northern sky colors.
It is kind of fun to see all the stacks people have chosen for their color schemes (some are repeated, and mine is really similar to a couple of other stacks). Good ideas for quilts, if you need some inspiration. If you want to send me to the next round (I promise another border on my medallion), please go here to vote:
This is the story of the design of my quilt Annularity. It is also the story of Annularity II, which will hang at QuiltCon in Paintbrush Studios Booth.
Annularity II
Quilt Number 194
Designed and Pieced by Elizabeth Eastmond
Quilted by Natalia Bonner
59″ square
The story of this begins when I was contacted by the fine people at Paintbrush Studios, who make the ever-lovely Painter’s Palette Solids. I submitted one design for review, time passed, things changed; I thought the process was dead in the water.
But I had all these lovely fabrics, so we started the process again.
I played around in QuiltPro, my favorite quilt design program and came up with the above design messes.
I showed them to Simone, seeking advice, and she said, “Don’t forget the white.” Negative space is critical, but sometimes you get in the weeds of a thing and you can’t see your way clear.
Given that the Great American Eclipse was on my mind, I started calling my quilt Annularity:
I began building the quilt top, remembering the white. But when I got to the outer edges, something still wasn’t right. A designer can do all the designing they want to, but then the fabric takes over and slowly, the outer edges morphed from the planned design to what you see at the very top. Then there was the problem of the center.
I tried lots of combinations: yellow, aqua, violet, maroon but finally finished with periwinkle, one of my favorite colors in the Painter’s Palette Solids line-up. I finished it and when Paintbrush Studios told me that Natalia Bonner was going to quilt it, I was over the moon, because I quite admire her work. I bundled up the quilt, sent it off, and then waited. And waited. And waited. And I began to wonder, even though I’d tracked it to her address, if it had gotten lost. I worried, then did the next best thing:
I made another.
In the rush, I didn’t have all the correct fabrics, so some are pieced. But then I heard from Natalia that she had the quilt. Whew! Since it’s going to be hanging in the booth at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena, I gave the first one a new name, since now there were two in the world: Annularity II.
Pineapple Fabrics has the complete line of colors needed to make this design, and you can soon buy the quilt pattern from them. Come and see Annularity II in the Paintbrush Studios booth, #905.
But I’ll be quilting mine, Annularity, bit by bit, sharing that experience as I proceed. In the meantime, enjoy the photos of Natalia’s fine work:
The brains of the meeting. I’d done some prepwork (looking at the website) so I knew what I wanted to see. The very first thing: see the vendors. I told my husband it would be like going to Disneyland for quilters. Everything was new and different to me, but since I only have a small suitcase, I had to choose fun and interesting things.
Since fat quarters were running about $5 a piece (with the conversion rates) and fabric was 22 Euro (about $25 dollars) per meter, I knew right off the bat I wouldn’t be buying any “American” fabric, and gained instant sympathy for European quilters at these prices!
The vendors were in a combination of inside “Espace Commercial” and outside tents, with one side of the tent opening to the passersby (and the weather). I saw many of the drapes drawn to close in the booths when it was raining.
The Commercial Space was weather-proof, but hot and stuffy. I took these photographs early in the morning. When we doubled back before leaving, it was very crowded.
Who wouldn’t want to shop at this booth, with its array of Kaffe fabrics and a vendor with bright pinky-red hair?
This isn’t exactly a vendor, but the distributor (Rhinetex) who’d rented out the ground floor of this old house, displaying some Moda fabrics (don’t they always do it spectacularly?).
And inside, the famous Tula quilt for her new line, and a sweet scene at the fireplace, with their logo on the felt backdrop. Lots of quilts in here, and it was fairly mobbed.
The last venue I want to mention was titled “Les Createurs” and was filled with beautiful handiwork from “designers and craftsmen.” I definitely coveted a few pieces of jewelry, as well as that blue coat in front. Now to show you what I bought and what their booths looked like. I asked permission for all photos, but was told more than once they’d only like me to take a “general” photograph (imagine this word with a French accent); I totally understood their request and why they made it.
These folks are from the west side of France; she has a book out (I saw it at the book booth, but since it’s all in French, well…) I’m always thinking small, so I picked up these two fat quarters.
Across from them was the Costuretas de Moly booth, with the most charming kits and small handmades. I saw a lot of sweet little bags and pouches with detailed scenes appliquéd and embroidered on the fronts and backs. They are from Catalan, Spain.
A small bracelet, a quick blurry shot of the bins of bracelets (they didn’t want their booth photographed) and random German Christmas Tree, the only thing I regret buying. The vendor had tacked green rosettes of fabric around all the outside edges, and I thought maybe I could tie on some green primitive rags instead. Oh well, we’ll see.
The handmade, laser-cut embellishments were purchased next, from a booth that made it hard to decide, given their categories of sewing, animals, children, family, house, etc.
Even though I said to myself “no fabric” the Filarte booth drew me in with their linens.
My husband and I both liked the scarf on the outer upper edge of the houses, but when I tried on the leafy print next to it, well, that one came home. It is wool and cotton so I will be very warm in sunny old Riverside. (I’m wearing it now, as I type this next to the chilly window in our hotel in Geneva.)
I had a total fangirl moment when I realized whose booth I was standing in front of: Un Chat dans l’aiguille. The lady on the right is the artist who makes up all these beautiful pieces (and whose name I think is Christel–hard to figure it out when you don’t speak the language). I fell in love with her Matryoshka needle case, that I saw in a shop when I was here in Geneva last year, but they didn’t have any more (it’s out of print). So when I got home, I looked up who made it and read all about her and her designs.
But what to chose? None of them are cheap, so I had to choose carefully.
I went with this little pouch with all its flowers and scalloped edge detail.
When I looked inside, I can see why her kits are so popular: everything is well-labeled, ordered and she even included a needle.
Sometimes what draws you in to fabric is that it is the exact opposite of what you’d normally buy. Like the dusky shades of printed and dyed linen on the left. Then you spend the next two hours mentioning to your husband that it won’t be enough fabric to do anything with, so you circle back around (my husband is a saint) and then pick up two more fat quarters to round it out. I’m assuming it was the wife of the man (below) sort of strongly suggested that it was not good to put the heavier weight linen next to the quilt-fabric-weight linen on the right. But I loved the look of the thicker threads in the first pack and couldn’t be persuaded to change. If only they’d had the colors on the right in the heavier. The vendors are from Germany.
Here’s the back of the package, in case you ever run into them. Like I said, nearly everything I saw was unique, unusual, and not seen in the American markets.
Like these doll heads:
We saw this sign while walking between exhibit locations, and entered into the little lane where several booths were set up with bolts of fabric. At the back was a burned out house (?) with buttons for sale in what looks like the garage. Or maybe the whole house was under renovation?
The quilts are pretty backdrops for what I purchased: the two buttons, above, and a necklace.
The penultimate purchase was this dishtowel from the Beauville exhibit in Sainte Croix-aux-Mines, one town away from where we started. I have one more purchase, but I’ll mention it when I get to the various exhibits.
Here’s the woman in the Alsatian dress again. It is so beautiful, and of course, I wondered where I could get that apron fabric. We saw her again later in the Old Theater venue, so stay tuned.
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 