Quilts

Not All That Wanders Is Lost • Traveling Threads Bee Quilt is Finished

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

Not All That Wanders Is Lost
47″ high by 56″ wide
Quilt No. 186

In March 2015, Megan asked me to be a part of a Traveling Threads Bee. My initial post about the process is here…

…and shows my package (including little book, above) that was sent off to the person in line next to me, the idea being a circle — from one to another to another, roughly every month.

Monthly was probably too ambitious, and at one point my package skipped a quilter because of time pressures, so in the end I had six lovely quilters make a block (or blocks) for me: Megan Evans, Amber, Emily V., Marci Debetaz, Toni Lovelady and Lisa Johnson. Our group on Instagram was #travelingthreadsbee and we all made such different quilts (click on their names to see their groups of blocks).

I love that it is a meeting of far away and close, new and old, friends.

I put my signature blocks on the front of the quilt, and in the lower right is the signature of the fabric designer, Alison Glass; all are contributors to this quilt. I put the label and a statement about the quilt on the back:I liked the idea that the quilt wandered, and then came home. This was the first project I started quilting this spring, using its beautiful qualities to help propel me back to my groove in free-motion quilting. I posted each block on my Instagram feed as I finished it. I took it on the back patio, in the setting sun, so the slanting rays could amplify the quilting lines.

Luckily I caught the un-quilted section (blue triangle) before finishing it up with a faced binding. I like to put that invisible binding on busy quilts, as it gives a clean finished edge (tutorial is *here*). Okay, it’s the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway Time.

Third book is gone, given to Simone according to the guidelines of the Husband Random Number Generator. I’ve already contacted her via email and it will go off tomorrow. So, let me tell you about the next book, the Simple Simon Guide to Patchwork Quilting:

I took this photo from their site, a fun place to go and read and get great ideas for all sorts of homemaking-type projects. Their tagline is “Two girls. Same name. One mission. Teach the world to sew.” and this book is a great example of terrific projects made simply, with a lot of pizazz. To enter the giveaway for this book, please leave a comment below. I’ll let it run for a few days then I’ll notify the winner by email. By the way, this is a signed copy (both authors!).

SaveSave

Rose Window • Four-in-Art Quilt

August 1, 2017August 1, 2017 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

4-in-art_3

It’s Four-in-Art Challenge Reveal day today, the penultimate challenge in 2017. We began this art mini-quilt group in November of 2012, and we are in our fifth year. Bette, Rachel and I have been with the group since the beginning, with additions and changes here and there. It’s been wonderful to have this to look forward to four times a year, a chance to stretch and try some new things, all contained in a mini-quilt (we are more flexible with the size now, but originally, it had to be contained in a 12″ square).

Rose Window_front

Rose Window
13 1/2″ wide by 18″ long
Quilt Number 185

Since I chose the challenge of Stained Glass Shadows, obviously I’m in love with the highly saturated blocks of color left on the floors of cathedrals and churches when the sun shines through stained glass windows. I originally thought I’d try some figurative work, but the colors are what always catch my eye.

So I began with the warm tones, adding the layers of earth-colors as they moved toward the bottom, and celestial-colors as it moved upward.

I also knew that somewhere on this quilt there had to be a Rose Window, that enormous circular window high above entryway doors.

Then it was quilt the background, and I went with the idea of the rose window as the center, with thread-streams of color coming out from there: navy and deep colors from the top and the warmer yellow-orange-red tones as the sun filters downward through the stained glass. My solid fabrics are Paintbrush Studio Solids, and the thread is Magnifico by Superior Threads (with Bottom Line in the bobbin) with some So Fine here and there, as the color dictated.

Details of Rose Window quilting.

Rose Window_back

Back of quilt, with standard label, and added corners for easy hanging.

Rose Window_front

Please visit the others in our Four-in-Art group, and see how they interpreted the Challenge of Stained Glass Shadows:

Betty Blogpost on Four-in-Art

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

Simone http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

All of our blocks are on our blog, Four-in-Art.

Our next challenge is Illumination, and will post on November 1st.

stainedglassshadow_8 — National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

Mucha_Prague — Stained glass window from Prague Cathedral, by Edward Mucha

SaveSave

Household Crafts

Hot Mitts • July 2017

July 28, 2017July 27, 2017 Elizabeth E.23 Comments

HotMitt_7

It was time. When I last made hot mitts, it was 2013 and now, many hot pans later, I was in desperate need of new hot mitts. Scary picture of old mitts, below.

HotMitt_0

I made it really small so you wouldn’t faint.

HotMitt_1 — DON’T DOWNLOAD THIS for pattern!

So I looked up my tutorial about when I first made these oven hot mitts. I printed out the pattern at 100%, checking that picture of the ruler to make sure it matched 1″ on a real-life ruler. I taped the two parts together (shown above…again DON’T use that photo as your pattern!–refer to the tutorial), and set them aside.. Layer up the fabrics, according to the directions in that original post.

I chose my thread, using a variegated So Fine for the Amy Butler floral, and quilted the fabric layers together by just scribbling and swirling all over it. I’ve also used my walking foot and done straight lines. It really doesn’t matter what you do; just get those layers secured together.

HotMitt_5 HotMitt_6

I cut out enough for two mitts: that’s four hand-shaped pieces. Remember to reverse the pattern when cutting a pair (as shown in the top photo). Then it was make bias binding time.

making-bias-tape1 I followed the instructions, as before (old picture, above), but if you need a more detailed refresher on how to make bias tape, head here, to the Dritz website.. (Or download their PDF file here, if that link doesn’t work: dritz-tutorial-how-use-bias-tape-maker)

I now have some handy-dandy new hot mitts. Reminder: they are a little big until you wash them a couple of times. I built in that shrinkage to the pattern.

HotMitt_7a

Mitts in action. Recipe is my go-to Summer Pasta Salad, found on ElizabethCooks.com, my recipe blog (see below).

summer-pasta-salad-with-asparagus-and-tomatoes

Now I can cook in style.

The ongoing OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway is still going on: you get a new book and I get more shelf space in my sewing room.

OPQuilt Summer 2017 Book Giveaway

Here’s the total stack of books I’m giving away. The first two titles are lined out as they are all finished, and next up is the Denyse Schmidt book. I’ll let this one run until August 3rd, and will notify the winner by email. I’m letting you know what is coming up so you can either enter all the giveaways, or just the one you want. I’m still very happy to receive your comments, though! This week’s Intentional Piecing has been given, in accordance with the strict rules of the Husband Random Number Generator, to Andrea in Florida.

4-in-art_3

The penultimate Four-in-Art reveal for 2017 is coming up on Tuesday, with the Challenge of Stained Glass. Join us all then to see the quilts our group makes.

Denyse Schmidt Book

Leave me a comment below to enter the giveaway for this week.

Creating · Gridsters · Quilts

July’s Gridster Bee Block

July 24, 2017July 27, 2017 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Here’s the block I made for the July Gridster Bee, for Carol. It was a fun make, made easy by this tutorial from Sara Noda. (She also has a blog post on her completed flag quilt.)

I also dragged out my hexagon quilt, and got started again. Here is Rosette #7, isolated (above), and below as it looks sewn into the quilt. I took the blocks and quilt rosettes with me on our recent family trip — since we had a lot of driving time — and was able to get the rosettes sewn together and one more completed.I’ve totally revamped Rosette #8, because frankly, everyone on the Facebook page was having real troubles with it, so I thought I would have a go at creating my own hexie arrangement. I’m choosing fabrics for it now.

I also picked my classes for Road to California 2018 (above)…

…and my classes for QuiltCon 2018, too. Anyone else going? Are we in the same classes?

And in case you think you only need fabric to create quilt patters, Sabrina Gschwandertner acquired a collection of old instructional films on the textile arts and has been creating quilt works of art. I will spare you the mumbo-jumbo about quilting from the LA Times, but here’s the article if you want to read it.

Film Quilt2 — *(PS Ignore the random “A” up on the right side)*

I actually wanted to see the movies, after reading about her and seeing images of her work. Now it is lost forever. Will we feel that way about the millions of YouTube videos? I doubt it. There is something about the tangible presence of film being cut up, the scarcity of that resource being destroyed to begin again. But I do like looking at her works. If you are in LA, the article has info about how to see this in the gallery, but the show closes soon.

And today is six months since my shoulder surgery. I’ve seen the surgeon for the last time, finished my formal PT. Now just the challenge of walking, getting back into some semblance of shape after sitting around, and doing the PT exercises on my own.

LASTLY, thanks to all who entered the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway (snazzy title, don’t you think?).

Here’s another:

Amy Friend’s Intentional Piecing, a look at using fussy-cutting to make spectacular quilts. She has a range of stellar projects, plus some fun paper-piecing designs to sew into various quilts and hand-mades. It’s signed by the author.