Quilts

The Woods Run Mad With Riot: A Four-in-Art Quilt

August 1, 2015July 16, 2015 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

The Woods Run Mad With Riot
A Four-in-Art Quilt, August 2015
#3 in the Literature Series

As always, my exploration of a subject in this series starts with the literature, and the poem I had originally chosen just wasn’t cutting it. It didn’t evoke that hot, slightly wild feeling that day after day of hot weather can produce, when even Mother Nature seems slightly out of control, patting her damp forehead with a handkerchief, swooning slightly at how overcome her gardens are, the tempo and volume of the cicadas and crickets and birds, and wondering if she’ll last out the heat. THAT kind of evocative.

So I went hunting and found a new poem that did the trick:

And how in heaven’s name could I pass up a poem that had such a great closing line: “the woods run mad with riot”? So that became the title of this piece — immediately — and I tried to figure out how to express this in fabric. While I normally do a deconstruction post after my reveal post, I’m combining them into one this time.

The trees in the background would have to be slightly oppressive, the sky colors clear, not soft or muddy, and when I found this great paisley fabric in gold, things just started to gel, as I thought it looked like a field crisping up, the tractor marks a design in the tall wheat fields. Or whatever fields. The poem has a line about shoots being “yellow-green” and there’s something about water, so here we go. I used SoftFuse Premium this time, my new go-to fusible for fabric. I pressed the paper-backed fusible to the back of the fabric, let it cool, then free-form cut the shapes, remembering to work backwards visually, so it would come out correctly after I peeled off the paper. (Note: In other quilts, I have peeled off the backing and cut what I needed freehand, without using the paper for drawing. Here are some tips for using SoftFuse Premium from Marti Michell’s blog.)

I thought about borderie-perse, that method of appliqué that has always seemed to me to be rich and visually saturated, and since this poem is leading me onward, I turned to this technique, cutting around blossoms and wads of flowers and slipping them into place to build up my scene. The SoftFuse is slightly tacky on the back, sort of like a Post-it note, so I can stick it down and it won’t move, yet I can reposition it when I need to.

I know that I will be adding log-cabin-type strips to the edges; here I’m auditioning colors.

I sewed the strips on the edge, then auditioned threads for quilting. I’d picked up quite a few Magnifico spools from Superior Threads, a mid-weight poly thread with a lovely sheen and I just have to say I love this thread. I use Bottom Line in the bobbin, lower my thread tension by half (from the 4.2 range to the 1.9 range) and it all quilts up beautifully. I stitch around all the flowers, put a bit of quilting in the stream and field, and quilted around the clouds.

Time to trim.

Here it is with the other two, already done. I can already see that the last piece is going to need to be bold as well. And I may have to rework Winter a little bit. Hmmm. . . not while it is so sweltering hot. I need to just sit on my porch, letting the afternoon breezes cool this place down, sipping something cold and icy and refreshing, while fanning myself with a wide-bladed palm leaf fan, swooning a bit. It’s that kind of a hot summer!

About Us: We live all over the world, from Scotland and Australia to the continental United States. Our blog is *here.* Please visit the other members of our Four-in-Art Group and see their Literature Art Quilts:

Betty at a Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com

Catherine at Knotted Cotton

Jennifer at Secondhand Dinosaur

Nancy at Patchwork Breeze

Rachel at The Life of Riley

Simone at Quiltalicious

Susan at PatchworknPlay

Next reveal date — the final in our Literature series — is November 1st.

Circles Block #14–EPP Sew-A-Long

July 28, 2015July 3, 2020 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

Peppermint Candy
Circles Block #14 in the Circles Sew-A-Long

Yes, I know Peppermint Candy isn’t orange and pink, but the swirl — a bit fat swirl, this time — reminded me of unwrapping crinkly cellophane and seeing those fun swirls on the candy before I popped it in my mouth.

I had to steel myself to get going on these last four, as I was a bit fatigued, but when you want something — (like a peppermint, which I’m hunting for in the desk drawer as I write this) — you want something, and I wanted a sixteen-block arrangement for my Circles Quilt.

I have the final four patterns as a group up for sale on Payhip. I will post the tutorials each month until the set is complete. The finishing instructions pattern for Shine: The Circles Quilt is also listed on Payhip.

(Note from the 2020 Elizabeth: A new, revised pattern is coming soon, so I’ve removed the old ones from the previous posts. Many thanks.)

The usual caution applies about making sure that your printer settings are set to 100%; please print off four copies of this pattern. Surprise! There is no center circle this time, as we’re going for glory and piecing it as accurately as we can.

The tricky thing is the swirls. I had no idea that FAT swirls are harder than the thin ones, but they are. There is more bias, more clipping needed, and more care as you lay them out. But the block’s upside is that there are fewer pieces, so that’s got to count for something.

Fabric selection is getting easier because I am more practiced? Or maybe that the fabrics I like are on the top of my stack?

If you want your swirl to go the direction of the pattern’s swirl, lay the pieces FACE DOWN on the wrong side of the fabric. Pin, then slice around them with a rotary blade.

Since the outer wedges have no direction, you can place them face up or face down. If you are just coming right at this pattern from the Internets, and have not made any of the other circles, there are lots of tips and tricks in the other circle block posts. You can find them in the tab above, labeled Shine: The Circles Quilt.

I took time to do a bit of clipping as I glued down my seam allowances over my paper. If you don’t, your edge won’t fit neatly with the other swirl’s edge, and will leave puckery bits. Clip. You’ll thank me later.

I like this! This is always the jumping-off place. If I like it here, I’ll proceed.

I bag the pieces up with a printout of the block (below) to help me with color and placement.

I just did not know how to go about putting this together, as the swirls are so swirly. I finally figured out that old adage: just begin at the beginning (above), so I did. Remember there is almost no easing–just add a stitch and curve it around as you go.

It will curve up in your hand, and this is normal and to be expected. It will lay flat once you get all the sides sewn.

Once you get the sets of two done (making sure you are consistent as to which side the dark color is on), sew the twofers into a set of four, as above. Repeat.

Then you’ll have two half-circles, which should look like they fit. Keep going.

Now . . . finish sewing it together.

Now the points. Curves against curves–these babies just seem to be opposites today. Again, start at one tip and move along to the other, letting the piece cup into your hand in an arch as you go.

I always like to hook my pieces together, so up above, I’m taking a stitch or two to nail those green points together before I start sewing the next one on. I think it gives the block some inner support once all the paper is gone.

Points on. Now, for those of you who believe that fabric is the same as paper, you are going to be freaked out by the little puckers and pfhlttts you see in the photo above. But here’s the truth: fabric is NOT paper, and it will move and shift and make you worry until you take out the paper at the end and give it a little bit of steam and the fabric settles into itself and you breathe again.

Beauty Shot, showing how pretty all those little seams look.

Okay, I pressed it with the paper in. Still a few puckers and pfhlttts, right? That’s why we make quilts–once you get this thing over batting and get stitching on it, you won’t even see them.

Stitch on the outer wedges, then remove the papers from the green points and the swirls and it’s Decision Time. Hollows up? (above) or Points up? (below)

Cut a 14 1/2″ square of background fabric, fold it in fourths, and press in a registration mark so you can get your circle placed in the center.
Pin the circle down, and appliqué it onto the background, tucking in the points as you go. Flip it over, and cut out the back 1/4′ away from your hand-stitching line. Remove all the remaining papers, then give it a good press on a padded ironing board, face down, then face up. Let it cool, and admire!

Okay, this should give you encouragement. While you’ve seen all of the blocks in the Shine: A Circles Quilt post, I still think they are look fun to look at like this, all together. Now I think you can see about how the fabric choices up to this point dictate what I can and can’t throw in–and that’s okay with me. Only two more patterns to go!! The tutorial for Number Fifteen will be released September 1st, or, if you can’t wait. . . you know where to find them.

Quilts

Summertime Quilt Fun

July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

Our quilt guild organized a tour of Hoffman Fabrics this past Monday. I jumped at the chance to go, as I’d passed up several other opportunities. I decided that it was summer and it was time for some fun. So I left the sewing chores behind and drove down to Orange County to meet up with the rest of the ladies.

We were ushered into a seating area, where a Hoffman employee gave a sneak peak at some of the lines coming out soon. The one above is a digitally printed fabric, which allows for greater color variation than screen printing, and is done in Pakistan.

I love their screen printing, which is done in Japan.

They printed all their batik basic colors onto fabric, which someone cut up, interspersing with gray to create this quilt (below):

I liked a lot of their Christmasy Momento line.

This hedgehog is from the Forest Friends line. Very cute.

We watched a video on how they make their batiks, which all starts with a design being translated into a chop (above). This is then dipped in wax, applied to the fabric, then overdyed.

Sometimes the fabric is dyed first, then stamped, then they remove the dye, as in the case above.

I went gaga for their new Me + You line of batiks–so modern looking. Here’s another view:

Our group saw a lot of samples; here they are stacked up at the end of the presentation.

Then over to the receiving section, where all these bolts come wrapped in plastic.

One woman said she’d like to sneak out one of these scrap bags, maybe by stuffing it into her bra.

Wherever you look there is beautiful fabric.

I laughed when I saw this: fabric draped over shelves, hiding the mess from the world, like just I’ve done more than once.

Lisa and I were on the tour together. Here we are walking from the loading dock area down to the front of the warehouse.

Such beautiful prints!

The company’s batik lines got their start by a couple of the sons who were surfers, and who wanted to proudly wear their surf fashion. The surfboards decorate their offices now.

We all could have watched this all day long, but it was time to go.

In other summer fun, I finished my block for my Mid-Century Modern bee-mate Susan, of Patchwork’n’Play. She chose the Stepping Stone block. All of the links to the tutorial, plus tips are on our group’s blog, The Mid-Century Modern Bee.

It was waaaaay past time for a new nightgown, as you can see by the vintage pattern above (the last time I made this was 18 years ago!).

Instead of tucks, I like to add braid. This is also a vintage braid from my stash, with embroidered edelweiss flowers — a reminder of Austria, where my husband and I went on our honeymoon many years ago. We’re coming up on twenty-six years of wedded bliss next month.

We had our reception after the honeymoon, at a friend’s home. If we look tired, we are, as we arrived home the day before from Austria and are majorly jet-lagged. I still think he is the most handsome man around. And yes, I did make my wedding dress, although it is not at all like the fashion today–it was made of French laces with entredeaux and ribbons and insertions. I still have it and love to look at it and think of the girl who made it, so many years ago.

And then I had another quilty issue that had stumped me for a while: why didn’t I like rosette #3 of the New Hexagon Millefiore Quiltalong? The above photo is someone else’s beautiful rendition, but somehow it just didn’t “work” for me. I couldn’t figure it out.

I went online and looked at lots and lots of other Rosettes on our Facebook group, and still just didn’t like it. Then I found this photo:

These were made by the woman who makes samples for Katja’s shop in Canada, and look what she did with hers (on the right, above). She simplified those outer blocks. Bingo.

So in the papers for Rosette #2, I found the shapes, and used them and loved what I saw. Here’s the first version, above.

Second version, with darker “middles.” And below, in all its cluttered glory, is the design wall with the full shape. I’m still not too sure about those far right-hand hexagons, but I’m withholding my judgement on those until I see how they fit with the rosette next to it. . . which is still a long way off.

I’ll work on getting these stitched together over the next few weeks. Katja will be releasing Rosette # 8 in about a week. That means that, wow, I’m only five behind!

Our Four-in-Art Challenge Reveal is coming up also in a week, and I’m not at all behind on this one. I also have another tutorial for Circles Block #14 coming up as well. So even though summer is a relaxing time, the quilting calls my name and brings an order to my life and to my days. I feel fortunate to have some “summer” time with cloth and thread and design and stitching–hope you feel the same!

Quilts

Mini House Quilt Finished!

July 15, 2015September 11, 2020 Elizabeth E.19 Comments

My mini houses quilt is finished! I know you’ve heard that line before, but let me go back in time to a galaxy far far away, to this:

Mini House Fail. Yep. That center certainly is puckery, demonstrating clear signs of the Training Bra Effect. Evidently, something, somehow was just not right.

It feels like I’ve been sewing on this for ages. . .

But, armed with new templates, I persevered. I cut six different combos for the center before I was finally happy. If the center fabric was too busy. . . fail. If the center was too washed out. . . fail. The yellow and the pink below are really strong colors, but the visual texture is “flat.”

Everything seamed and pressed.

To quilt a small quilt, I use straight pins to baste, sinking the point into the batting. First stabilize the quilt by sewing the strong verticals and horizontals (think: nine-patch), then sew around the rest of the straight line pieces, using a walking foot and fine thread. (I use Bottom Line by Superior Threads for this work as the thread is nice and fine and disappears.)

I stitched in clapboard on the houses, horizontal on the flatter houses and vertical on the squares, but broke out into curvilinear on the dotty houses. I swirled in a bush, did a curvilinear on the front porches and the yellow points of the Lemoyne Star, then outlined and stitched in the sky in a random fluffy cloud effect. A strong binding finished it off.

To help with hanging, I cut giant 6″ squares, folded them in half diagonally, then attached them in to the corners; I’ll insert a dowel cut to size, insert in the corners, and suspend the quilt from a push pin.

This is quilt # 147 on my 200 Quilts List and is 18″ square.

I still feel this way about my home!
NOTE: I’ve recently updated this pattern, adding another view, with a different contruction. I’ve also revised the original construction techniques, making it easier to put together: