Frivols 12

December 1, 2018January 4, 2024 Elizabeth E.15 Comments

This is my last introduction to the series of small-tins-with-fabrics, called Frivols. Although the other day, one of my non-sewing friends asked me how my Frizzles were doing. I think she was about right. The little freebie with this tin is a couple of fabric quilt labels, seen in the lower center with the sleigh.

This is a line of blue-toned traditional fabric by a noted designer, before she left the Moda hive and jumped over to Andover. This design doesn’t call for any extra background fabrics, and makes a smallish table runner, 15″ by 35.” More can be seen on the Moda blog. They manufactured these tins about two years ago, but I have it on good authority that if you are resourceful, you can find them on Etsy, Ebay and other places.

This fabric line, Blue Barn, is beautiful, and can easily blend into my holiday decor, since it’s December. I’ve always loved blue with Christmas decorations. Frivols 12_5

I cut up all the stars and their backgrounds, labeling each stack…

…and tucked them in their own tin until I could get to the sewing.

The one disappointment in this tin was how much fabric I had leftover/wasted. I’ll have to see if I can augment the design some way to use up what I can of these extra scraps.

Okay, we’re launched! Get out your last Frivols tin and get cutting!

EPP

Millefiore Quilt Update

November 28, 2018November 24, 2018 Elizabeth E.22 Comments

Millefiore mood board

It all began here, with my Millefiore mood board, drawing on colors from the National Park in Croatia, Plitvice Lakes. I had decided to jump in and go with all of Quilting America that year and join the The New Hexagon Millefiore Quiltalong. I was pretty much nuts to do this. This was photographed on January 19, 2015.

Millefiore first sewing

First glued-up paper pieces: January 19, 2015.

First Rosette.png

First public appearance for Rosette #1: March 14, 2015.

All Rosettes_OPQuilt

Last public appearance for quilt, mocked up in Photoshop: July 15, 2018. That’s over three years, if you are doing the math.

As you know, I hated the crenellated edges on this particular quilt. So the quilt sat in the corner until this week. Then suddenly it was do or die time, and I picked up making little sections to fit into the cut-outs.

Millefiore Center_2

And here it is today, all edges filled in.

Millefiore Working Mess

I pretty much used all the papers I’d taken out of the rosettes — once they were sewn together — and categorized these pieces into bags, using paper clips and rubber bands to keep them organized.

Millefiore numbering cutouts

To keep track, I took a photo, and numbered the half–hexies I was making. I ended up not needing to do this for every corner, as I used long triangles that fit into the zig-zaggy sides (#5-12) in a variety of darker fabrics (taking cues from the adjacent blocks).

Millefiore place tryout

I kept one half-hexie out on my cutting mat and tried different “puzzles” of what could go in that shape. I had pretty much determined that I was not going to use a full half-hexie; I’d seen others and to me they looked bland, like they didn’t add anything to the quilt. I did end up using one, but the fabric had a print that just worked.

Millefiore pinning

I used triangles and a variety of other shapes to fill in, always letting the adjacent fabrics dictate what I’d use for the fill-in fabrics.

Because I like to keep records, and because I’m hoping this will help others when they try this technique, here are all the filled-in shapes and the marked spaces (scroll past fast, if it doesn’t interest you):

Millefiore Fillins_1 Millefiore Fillins_1A

I did my own thing on this rosette.

Millefiore Fillins_3 Millefiore Fillins_3A

I liked how I was able to complete the “bird points.”

Millefiore Fillins_5 Millefiore Fillins_5A Millefiore Fillins_6 Millefiore Fillins_6A

The half-hexie on the lower left is the only one cut from one piece of fabric, but I think it reads as more complex.

Millefiore Fillins_7 Millefiore Fillins_7A Millefiore Fillins_8 Millefiore Fillins_8A

I used a floral Kaffe fabric from deep in the interior (just barely out of sight on the middle left).

Millefiore Fillins_9 Millefiore Fillins_9A

Millefiore Center_3 — *Stained Glass View*

Millefiore Center_4

This is the rosette that started it all, and I still like it.

Quilt Stand

More info on my new quilt stand, coming in a couple of weeks. But now I have my final Frivols to attend to!

Travels

Visit to Andover Fabrics and New York City

November 24, 2018November 24, 2018 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

ESE in New York

I had a chance to travel to New York City this past month, where I joined my daughter Barbara for a long-awaited long weekend.

We stayed midtown Manhattan, so I walked past M & J Trimming many times, a happy spot on my walks. Anne Brousseau, a good friend who used to work in this industry, arranged a visit for us to Andover Fabrics, and of course I said “YES!”

Fashion Dist_4

Fashion Dist_4d Fashion Dist_4a

Cliff Quibell, the Vice President, gave us a tour of the different processes and departments, from design development to printing to editing. We were able to see an artist hand-painting a new design, but of course, no photos were allowed. There is so much involved to getting one bolt of fabric to our local quilt shops! We appreciated Mr. Quibell taking time for us, given the fact that they had just returned from Quilt Market.

Fashion Dist_4b

He introduced me to Gayle, who works for Andover, and hanging in her office is this amazing quilt, made from old clothes from when she lived overseas in Tunisia. Her sister, Elizabeth Porter, made this quilt for her as a memory quilt. (I think I got those details correct!)

Fashion Dist_4c

There was so much there that I couldn’t photograph, but he did allow a shot of their bookshelves. I would have loved to have browsed those titles and made notes.

Frivols Quilts

Frivols Finish #11, the Penultimate!

November 12, 2018January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.23 Comments

Frivols 11_11b — *The Cactus Garden photo*

And here we are–almost completed with the Year of Making Frivols, with quilt #11, titled, Stars of Night, Lend their Light (quilt #213). It’s the largest Frivols yet, finishing at about 55″ square. And yes–it used up all the fabric. I supplemented it with white Grunge Dots from Moda.

Look at those Xs! And we’re done early this month!!

Frivols 11_10 — *The Quilting-in-Process photo*

After pinning up the quilt, I knew I wanted to do star points in the stars, but what about the background? I decided to experiment, making a circle, then stitching around it three times, then echoing it and rolling off into another center circle. Headphones are for listening to a Bruno, Chief of Police book; this time it was The Resistance Man.

Frivols 11_10a — *The How-Much-More-Do-I-Have-To-Quilt photo*

Frivols 11_11 — The Biological Sciences Building photo

Realizing that all my quilt pictures are around my house, and in my garden, I took it over to the Universide of California-Riverside, where my husband-quilt holder works as a professor, jumped out the car and we quickly took several photos while I was in the Passenger Pick-up Zone. The motto for UCR (how we abbreviate it) is Fiat Lux, or Let There Be Light, so I springboarded off that idea to arrive at the title for this quilt.

Frivols 11_11a — *The sort-of Sea-Urchin-in-the-Tide-Pools photo, even though it’s a quilt with stars*

I really really like the back, with those pointy stars floating among all those bubbly circles.

Frivols 11_11c — *The one-more-back-shot-on-the-other-side-of-the-sidewalk photo*

Frivols 11_11d — *The Artsy Laying-on-the-Ground photo*

Frivols 11_12 — *The Back of the Chevy photo*

Because I wanted the setting sun to provide the light, it also meant that our streets were clogged with traffic, spilling off the freeways (welcome to Southern California). So in meandering home, I spotted this perfectly turquoise Chevrolet pick up: perfect place for a quilt photo. It’s fun to step out of the garden and get some different photos of quilts.