Quilts

Orangey-Pink Quilt

February 7, 2011February 13, 2011 Elizabeth E.1 Comment

When we dropped off my sister’s quilt at Cathy-the-Quilter’s, Cathy had my orange and pink quilt ready to come home. I’m just now getting to it.

My original thought was to piece the binding, using fabrics from the quilt. But after piecing upteem-jillion pieces on my Come A-Round quilt, I’m about up-to-there with piecing.

So I’m going with this strawberry print by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman. I usually don’t like white-ish fabrics on a binding, but I’m more than happy to use this and not have to piece! Cathy did a stars-and-loops pattern for the quilting. She’s terrific.

Creating

Nope.

February 5, 2011 Elizabeth E.Leave a comment

A Day in the Life. Trying for those first borders. The captions are in the photos.

Not done, but at least I can now go to dinner with my husband. Our Saturday-night date.

This is what happens when you realize that you’ve cut the piece 16″ and it should have been 16 1/2″. You piece it. With whatever scraps you have. Even though you are creating a new kind of fabric with a two-toned dot.

Quilts

Whew!

February 4, 2011 Elizabeth E.3 Comments

You know how we feel when we watch an elderly (read: ten years older than my parents) person cross the street, one hesitating step at a time, and there we are in our cars, cheering them on realizing that we are witnessing a tiny heroic moment?

Okay. Here’s the jump from that metaphor: making a quilt.

And here are some of my tiny steps.

This puzzle shows my pin board, with the last sections of the circles being sewn. I pull them off, one arc at a time. I forgot to show paper-piecing instructions, but here’s some of the finishing pictures.

I pin the outside piece to the first arc, then stitch. . .

. . . upside down, with the paper UP. This is the opposite of what the instructions in the book say, but I found it more helpful to tuck my hand in between the paper-pieced segment and the fabric segment, “pulling” or easing the underneath fabric straight out from the needle, and allowing the paper to dictate my seam allowance. I don’t go very fast, but have only had one or two puckers in the whole quilt top, so this system must work for me okay.

Then before I rip off all the paper segments (fold back along the stitched line, score with my fingernail, rip), I make a tiny hash mark on the center line, so I can line up the next segment (paper-pieced to fabric).

Here I go again–hand underneath the paper-pieced segment, gently drawing the fabric underneath away from the needle, as I stitch along the paper guidelines.

One of the challenges of this quilt has been controlling the bulk of the seams, as you can imagine. I finally hit on the system of pressing one segment toward the center, and the next door neighbor segment toward the edge. Then when they line up, the seam bulk alternates. Make sure you are consistent all the way around the wheel. I know there’s that idea about pressing so the wheel looks like it’s floating on top of the pieced background, but I gave up that notion because the bulk was a bigger problem than appearance.

I have to unpick the center stitching lines that are visible just outside the seams. When paper piecing, I stitched down that line (uneccesary) and now I have a few things to unpick. But I’m happy with how all the seams are converging in the center. On the original design (Everyday Best, by Becky Goldsmith and LInda Jenkins), they have dots covering their centers. I am seriously thinking of leaving those off.

So here it is, as I left it last night: a tiny heroic achievement on the road to the rest of the quilt.

Quilt Shows

Road to California–Part IV (final)

January 31, 2011February 24, 2012 Elizabeth E.3 Comments

There’s no particular order to the quilts in this post–just some quilts that I saw that were interesting, or lovely, like this one with the eight billion triangles. Titled Summer at the Lake, it was made and quilted by Rahna Summerlin. It has an old-fashioned look.

Sandhill Stars, made and quilted by Sandi McMillan won a first place ribbon. It was terrific. Detail below.

She said in her notes that she was inspired by a “Stars Upon Stars Variation made by Mary J. Cole Dickerson of Wethersfield, Conneticut in the mid-1800s.” McMillan is from Nebraska.

Another one of those quilts where each block would be a fun quilt in itself. The lady standing next to me said she thought this was one Halloween quilt that she could have around–that it seemed to stretch all the way from September to the end of fall. Agreed.

The title of this quilt, made by Mary Dyer and quilted by Sharon Brooks (both of Arizona) is Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch.

I should probably show this last, because it was one of those quilts that you are convinced probably took them YEARS to make. Tea with Miss D. is the title, and it was made and quilted by Sandra Leichner of Oregon. Close-ups follow. I tried to get shots that showed not only the detail, but also the quilting.

I know this is a little bit dark, but the only way I could show you those quilted daisies in the corner was to turn off the flash.

This quilt, made and quilted by Dianna Grunnhauser of Hawaii, was inspired by Ruth McDowell’s template technique. Sunday Morning took her five years. Five years? Yay!! Finally we have truth-in-quilting!

Detail from a quilt showing the final scene of Peter and the Wolf (you can see Peter’s feet hanging from the tree as he’s captured the wolf. Made by Kimberly Rado and quilted by Cindee Ferris.

Live Well, Emily was apparently made (and quilted) by Emily’s mother, Jan Hirth, after Emily’s April wedding was called off in March. What a wonderful tribute to a daughter.

Almost Amish, made and quilted by Linda Thielfoldt of Michigan.

Fresh as a . . . .

Made and quilted by Nancy Ota, from California. Lots of painting on this, to get the blended petals.

Grateful Dance is an ode to the maker’s two titanium hips, shown here by the silvery fabric on the skeleton. Made and quilted by Ranell Hansen of California.

Lots of joy in this skeleton!

There was also a special exhibit of the Day of the Dead, a popular celebration here in Southern California. Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli and Monica Gonzales curated this booth. It was great.

Fiesta Day, made and quilted by Laura Fiedler of California

I think this is Dia de Los Muertos, by Evelyn Matinez of Los Angeles, California. There was some confusion by all of us looking at this exhibit just which quilt went with which sign. So, I apologize if I got it wrong. Leave a comment if there needs to be a correction.

And I think this one is Sugar Skulls, by Terri Steinfurth of Ohio.

Angel Trumpet Splendor, made and quilted by Janice Paine-Dawes of Arkansas. She painted this on silk with textile paints, then quilted it.

Mary Lou Weideman’s quilts are instantly recognizable. I Dream of New Mexico was finished in three weeks. I saw her later in the restaurant (a Mexican restaurant, of course) and told her I liked her quilt. I then showed her the quilt I keep on my cell phone, begun in her class. She was pretty enthusiastic about it and wanted me to send it to her website. I might.

Detail of above quilt.

I was completely fascinated by this quilt, titled Buttercups and Butterflies, made and quilted by Gail Brunell of California. It’s an applique–but I kept trying to figure out if it was done by machine (monofilament thread) or by hand. I, of course, am currently obsessed with applique (because I’m nuts, I think) and am thinking about how to finish the two quilts I’ve been planning.

So, I tried to get really close (sorry about the blurring). I think I see the teeny zig-zag stitching, which made me very happy to know that it could be done so well that even with a close inspection the applique won’t reveal its secrets.

She’d started this in a class on applique, and completed most of the quilt top. Then she had an accident and put the quilt aside for many months as she “went through physical therapy to recover from a broken shoulder.”

Can you spot where she changed her mind about quilting the leaves (or else oopsed and accidentally quilted one by mistake? One of my favorite parts! This quilt was perfection–so lovely.

Here four of us from our little quilt group: (front) Jean, Jodi, (back) me, Leisa. We’re taking a break in the bright California sunshine. I have on my new necklace, purchased at the show. I had people stop me to look at it, then head over to buy one.

Here’s Heather from Superior Threads, modeling her amazing sparkly jacket. She is one talented woman!

Thought I’d show you a picture of the second ballroom, where there were lots more vendors and the faculty quilts. This was taken in the afternoon, after all the tour busses went home.

The Olfa guy demonstrating his rulers. The crowd was as thick as if he were demonstrating a blender or something (like Dan Ackroyd’s Bass-O-Matic). You can glimpse the crowds off to the right, in this picture. I bought one.

I’ll leave you with a lovely quilt–one of the flower quilts in the show. Come on out to our California Sunshine and to Road to California!