Category: Textiles & Fabric

Quilts · Something to Think About · Textiles & Fabric

Nebraska’s International Quilt Study Center

Elizabeth E.6 Comments

Hunter’s Star quilt top, c. 2003, unquilted

Recently I commented on another Debbie’s block, titled Hopscotch, saying that it was an interesting variation on a Hunter’s Star block.  She wrote me back, included the link to the pattern she used, and said she couldn’t find a Hunter’s Star block that she thought resembled what she was making.

So I had to go and look at it again.  Yep–she was right.  It wasn’t a variation on a Hunter’s Star.  And, yep.  I was right.  It was a variation on a Hunter’s Star.  I could see that the author of the pattern had changed up the triangle to a 60-60-60 from a right-angle, and had extended the strips on the outside, leaving the center in a different fabric.  But not wanting to irritate the Copyright Gods who are already pretty cranky this month, I wrote back to say that I LIKE blocks that have more than just a hint of traditional blocks, for I believe “that creating a new twist on an old favorite, or dreaming up something new that has overtones of the standards, makes me appreciate the long and rich heritage we quilters belong to and participate in.”

While doing this research I dragged out my Barbara Brackman Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (which if you don’t have, save up the grocery money and get one) and then headed over to my other favorite source: the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (IQSCM).  If you haven’t seen this website, head over there.  Click on Collections (in the black bar at the top) and then spend time scanning triangles or Log Cabins or whatever you feel like.  My advice is to set the number of the results per page to 50, as you can scroll through them quickly, stopping to enlarge the ones that catch your eye.

Like this one, made between 1930 and 1950. Info below.

Or this one (IQSC Object Number: 2003.010.0009).  I think the maker, who put this together sometime between 1940 and 1970, may have had our modern sensibilities when she made her colorful creation. Why are we always so quick to declare ourselves free of these amazing women and their quilts?  What is it about our quilting community now that only wants to have the latest thing on the block?  It’s well-known that any new idea is really only about 10% new, and while I hope to have a few new ideas here and there, I recognize my debt to these early quilters.  I also love seeing what women in THIS day and age are creating.  To me, it’s one big happy quilting world.

I think it’s interesting to notice in this screen shot of the listing, that there is a place for the “Brackman #”  (another reason to buy that book).  I have compiled hundreds of numbers of quilt blocks I want to make from Brackman’s book.  Pinterest (of which I also like for the ability to “curate” my own collections of ideas) has feeble numbers of ideas compared to the riches of Brackman and the IQSCM.

(Note to Pinterest Users:  Please don’t “pin” the IQSCM quilts without their permission; they allow only a one-time use of an image, with complete documentation per publication (digital or print)–with the IQSC Object Number.)

Happy Quilting, to all of us quilters–both modern and vintage, new and old!

Textiles & Fabric

Leap Day Superior Thread Giveaway

Elizabeth E.128 Comments

The lovely lady leaping is not me (aw, shucks), but is Allessandra Hamlin, from a websearch.

Today is the long-awaited Leap Day Superior Threads Giveaway!

Ten of us have joined together in this endeavor.  I hope you will visit them all (listed at the end of this post) and win a bunch of thread today–enough to keep you leaping into quilting for now and for a long time.  We are giving away a total of 35 spools, all courtesy of the Superior Thread Company.

Here’s what I am giving away today:

Three Spools of The Bottom Line, a superb thread for quilting

And two other spools: one of King Tut in my favorite colorway, and another of The Bottom Line.

And because I don’t think that orange should go anywhere without a chaperone, I’m adding a little bundle of fat eighths to keep it company.

I’ve experienced quite a lot of thread in my sewing life.  I started with cotton, used silk and cotton in college while working on my degree in Clothing and Textiles, endured the first wave of polyester thread, and the shredding of combination threads in my machine.   The first decent polyester thread I used was by a German company, and I continued to buy whatever was in the fabric store that matched what I was sewing.  But one day, while at a quilt show, I noticed a newcomer onto the scene: Superior Threads.

I bought some of their thread and the thread was perfect for creating the effect needed for a winter scene.  I learned to step up to a size 14 topstitch needle and to learn to play with my upper tension settings, loosening them, some which I learned from their website, which has TONS of information about threads, as well as tips and tricks for a happy sewing outcome.  Not only does thread have to suit the artistic challenges of what I have in mind, I also need it to perform well.  In other words, I don’t want to have to think about it–I just want to sew. But on my next quilt, I was struggling to get the balance right between the top and bobbin threads: The Bottom Line to the rescue, purchased at my local quilt shop. This slightly finer thread did the trick for me.

This is the King Tut, color #916, quilted into my giant summer flowers Lakehouse quilt.  I had to sew across many different colors and this colorway did the trick. You’ve already read about Be My Valentine, and how I used King Tut on the top and The Bottom Line in the bobbin.

So join in the fun!

To win one of the two giveaways above — either the three spools of The Bottom Line (which is also great for applique, too) or King Tut, his Lady Love in tangerine and the fat-eighth chaperone — leave me a comment and a make up a name for King Tut’s Lady Love.  You can indicate in the comments which giveaway you’d rather have. I’ll close the giveaway on Saturday, March 3rd at 8:00 p.m. PST, and announce the winner that evening, along with the new name for King Tut’s tangerine Lady Love.

Now head over to our other bloggers and enter their giveaways too!

 Lee from Freshly Pieced
 Sherri from A Quilting Life
Leanne from She Can Quilt
Jeni from In Color Order
Carla from Lollyquiltz
Jennifer from That Girl, That Quilt
Terri from Sewfantastic
Something to Think About · Textiles & Fabric

(Presidents) Day in LA

Elizabeth E.4 Comments

My mother often says, “A change is as good as a rest,” meaning sometimes just getting out of the house and doing something different — a change — does a body good.  So we took off early to LA, and while I didn’t really expect to do anything “quilty” I did run into several design things that made me think about quilts.

These screens are from the Japanese Pavillion, the light coming through the windows in soft waves of grays and silver.  The whole pavillion is quiet and calm and filled with interesting angles and objects.

My husband and I also played hide and seek behind this giant stack of plates.  I was talking to a friend the other day and said about all they could write on my tombstone for accomplishments is washing 1.4 million dishes in my lifetime.  Some days don’t you feel invisible to the world?  I do.

Then we enetered the Pacific Standard Time exhibit, where they had this fabulous Airstream trailer.  Take It Easy, it says.  Yep.  I needed this day out.

Textiles were part of the modern design that was evolving mid-century.

Couldn’t you use this as a map for a quilt?  Half-square triangles, 30/60 triangles, curvilinear shapes balanced against grids.  Delicious.

This all-over textile is more interesting when you focus on the detail.

More half-square triangles.  And dots.

This bathing suit is called Swoon.  It was made during the war in 1942, as there was rationing on rubber.  Which means: no elastic.  So the designer used the laces to adjust the form to the wearer.

Here’s the exhibition tag.  Given that so many quilters are swooning over the recent Swoon quilt block design out on the market right now, I loved the parallel names, although they are very different.  Did you know that Catalina, another prominent swimsuit manufacturer was the original sponsor of the Miss America Pageant?  Maybe that’s why they always had swimsuit competitions.

More swimsuits.  Don’t you just love these?  (And guess what we had later for lunch?  Lobster rolls!!  They had a series of food trucks parked outside in affiliation with the exhibit, and we ate at the Lobsta Truck.)

That wooden bench in the background is so intriguing with all its cutout wood pieces all fit together like a . . . quilt.

Yep.  A hexagon barbeque pit.

Which leads me to this.  My husband drove out to LA (it’s about an hour from our house on a good day with no traffic) and I was able to stitch on my rose window block–hexagons!  Sometime I’ll have to get a good shot outside so you can see the colors.  I’ve only made one mistake in putting pieces together, which is okay with me.

So, I had a change.  Which is as good as a rest.  I’ve ignored the grading in the briefcase because it’s a holiday and I’ll have an extra day to get it done.  I’m off now to cut another rose window hexagon–I want to be sure and something to stitch on for Downton Abby tomorrow night!

Happy Presidents’ Day Weekend!

Something to Think About · Textiles & Fabric

Flourish of Inspiration

Elizabeth E.6 Comments

I recently started reading blogs again after an interruption of our trip to Montreal, and enjoyed looking at everyone’s projects and writing.  But I often wonder if by “enclosing” myself in this online community I don’t become in a loop after a while.  I mean, we love to imitate, collaborate, make things alongside one another and if we do this all the time, doesn’t it become a little stuffy in here, and don’t we need to air out the room a bit?  I don’t have answers to these questions as many of my favorite quilts have been made in homage to another quilter’s vision I saw on a blog, so obviously I endorse that approach.

And someone once said there is nothing new under the sun.  On a related note, if anything we do is more than 10% away from what is familiar, we tend to shy away from that.  Given all this, how do quilters insert new ideas into their work?  Fabrics? Quilt Groups?  Trips to quilt shows?

Occasionally you just need a day out, seeing something really different.  Here’s a gallery of shots of my latest field trip.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.