Quilts

Quilter Missing In Action

April 18, 2014April 27, 2014 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Wow. Have a Giveaway and then go AWOL (*Absent Without Leave*). Where have I been? Grading. Prepping. It’s about this time of year that I can just feel the end of the semester looking around the corner, and I go wonkers writing the weekly blog posts and printing off assignments, and writing tests, just wanting it all to be done. But I haven’t been totally inactive. Here’s my QMIA (*Quilter Missing In Action*) report:

Cut and pressed about 45 miles of double binding for the Amish With A Twist – 2 quilt. It’s still hanging out on the ironing board, waiting for me. (I seemed to have been passed over by the binding fairies somehow.)

Always Bee Learning quilt block for April, with an ogee pattern. I thought I laid it out as best I could (in this bee, we receive our fabrics and then stitch up the block), but I feel like I could have done better if I’d been able to slip in some of my stash to get a better distribution of colors, as I don’t want to disappoint her. I do hope the quilter is happy with it, but I’ll gladly do another if she’s not. I finally got out the Curve Master foot that my friend Rhonda told me about, lo these many years ago, and after cutting myself a few curves out of some scrap fabric and practicing, I felt confident enough to go at the bee curves. Rhonda says after you do a whole quilt of Drunkard’s Path, you’ll be considered a Pro. I’ll take your word for it, Rhonda. I tried to watch a YouTube video showing how-to, but that was the weekend that Adobe updated all their Flash software, which apparently didn’t work with my computer, so to be fair, some of my quilting time was spent cursing the computer, downloading, cursing some more, then uninstalling, reinstalling, etc etc. You’ve all been there.

Two Mid-Century Modern Bee blocks for April for Debbie. She only asked for one, but I got going and forgot to stop.

A birthday lunch with my kid, who is now thirty-nine and holding. He has to stay that age so I don’t have to declare that I’m any older. Oh, and just down the street from where he works is the Purl Soho warehouse for the West Coast, which coincidentally was having a sale, so these came home with me.

I also graded and prepped an inordinate amount, caught not one, but two, plagiarizers, but you don’t really want to hear about that. Now to change gears a little, here’s a quote from a new book by curator and art advocate Sarah Lewis:

This quote is from Brainpickings, a website I haunt. The author of this review, Maria Popova, often reviews books and brings together a lovely mix of ideas. While I’ve been unable to get to the quilting, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I do what I do: cut a piece of cloth into little pieces and sew it back together again. Of course, that’s the simplistic way of looking at things, for in the cutting and sewing lies a high degree of autonomy–of my being able to invent the design, give input to the creative process and even have a Fail once in a while. I like the above quote, because while I’ll probably never have the fame of other quilters, Mastery seems like a worthwhile goal. And apparently, according to Sarah Lewis, the author of The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure and the Search for Mastery, we don’t have to be perfectionists, nor have constant successes day after day. But we do have to be willing to shut ourselves away and work at it, embracing failure and going forward. Or, as Popova says, “This is why, Lewis argues, a centerpiece of mastery is the notion of failure.”

Popova continues by saying: “One essential element of understanding the value of failure is the notion of the ‘deliberate incomplete.’ (Cue in Marie Curie, who famously noted in a letter to her brother: “One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.”)” And then Popova quotes Lewis:

Okay, that’s enough brain food for one day. I’m off to climb that mountain of binding, think about my goals (next post), and possible even finish grading the most recent literature paper that is in a stack downstairs on the dining room table.

But let me leave you with this gorgeous quilt from Cindy, of Live A Colorful Life, who is a one of those quilters who, while understanding the idea of the “deliberate incomplete,” also has a LOT of deliberate completes, such as her Marcelle Medallion, from *here.* She and I have often talked often about the WIPs that float in our closets and cupboards, yet I’d like to morph Lewis’ idea of the “deliberate incomplete,” to a new place–perhaps that of a quilt that is not ready to be finished whether because the quilt maker’s “other” life gets in the way, or that the quilter has “lost her mojo” (a phrase often seen on blogs) or does not yet have mastery of the skills needed to finish up (and certainly, that may include time management!). Yet mine and yours and Cindy’s quilts that are on our beds, our walls and folded ready for visits from family and friends, certainly is a testament that we do finish, that we are — at some level — on our way to mastery.

Quilts

Two Blocks, Two Machines

October 12, 2013 Elizabeth E.19 Comments

Bees are interesting things. I’m in a new one and am still figuring out how it ticks when this block arrived in the mail. The instructions read to leave the quadrants unsewn as the bee-er wants to really make her quilt scrappy and move the blocks all around. It’s paper pieced. Seventy-two pieces per block (4 quadrants). It took me over 7 hours, closer to eight hours, to finish the two blocks. I began wondering about this quilter–who would send out such a complicated block to the bee and expect us to do not only ONE, but TWO blocks? I began wondering about what a sheep I was to follow along, when I should have just sent back the unused fabric after the first block and the scraps for the little triangles, and kept it to one. The end result was that I didn’t feel very good about her, nor about myself–for not standing up and saying “This is excessive.” I was more than happy to send that off this morning!

This is the blocks from another bee-er in the same bee. Because my first batch of fabric got lost in the mail, I was doing her September blocks in October. These blocks were already cut out, and both went together in under an hour. I’m happy to spend more than an hour on a bee block, but the contrast between this quilter’s and her bee-mates was astounding. I felt good about things as I mailed off her blocks this morning.

On our walk yesterday morning, we passed by the house of an older neighbor, who was downsizing and moving up to the high desert. Stuff had to go, including this funky green sewing machine. We continued on our walk, never mentioning it, but on the return loop, I said to my husband, “Want to go and get the car . . . and your wallet?” He laughed. When he came back there were two machines waiting for him to load into the car (I didn’t take a photo of the other), but I got both for $55, including the matching cabinet that the father-in-law had made for this green machine.

I took them right up to my Sewing Machine Whisperer, and he said they were worth tuning up, so into the shop they went. “You know, you have no foot pedal,” he said, gesturing to the green machine. In my defense, it was early in the morning, so when I went back, the older neighbor went up into her sewing room, but couldn’t find it. I left my name and phone number, and hopefully it will turn up. I’ll get these two older machine back in a few weeks; I plan to give one to my granddaughter, who wants to learn to sew.

Today I plan to sew my brains out. And NOT on complicated funk-inducing, grumpy-generating bee blocks.

Quilts

Queen Bee for Mid-Century Modern

October 3, 2013October 4, 2013 Elizabeth E.7 Comments

As Susan, one of our the members of our Mid-century Modern Bee says, I’m the Queen Bee this month.

And I’ve chosen to have my bee-mates help me on my Christmas Quilt. But so that the copyright gods won’t be mad at me, I’m not showing the picture of the pattern and I’ve also chosen different green and cream blocks for my bee-mates to make, plus I made downloadable templates from my quilt program to serve as a guide for these 12″ blocks (finished measurement–raw edge measurement should be 12 1/2″). Below are the blocks, plus their templates for downloading.

Caution: These template prints out the correct size on my printer, but I don’t know what they’ll do on yours. A general guide for making a half-square triangle block is to cut the finished measurement, plus 7/8 inch, before stitching on the diagonal and cutting apart. So, I’d use that as a general gauge for how things ought to look when you print out your templates. (In other words, for the corner squares for this first block, cut one white square and one green square to measure 4 and 7/8 inches.)

Fifty-four Forty or Fight • Template: 54-4o or fight

Fifty-four Forty or Fight, version 2 • Template: 54-40 or Fight_version2

Clay’s Choice Variation • Template: Clay’s Choice Variation

Ohio Star • Template: Ohio Star

Swamp Angel • Template: Swamp Angel

Peace and Plenty • Template: Peace and Plenty

Mock Eight-Point Star • Template: Mock Eight Point Star

Memory • Template: Memory

Martha Washington Star • Template: Martha Washington Star

Flying Geese • Template: Flying Geese Block

Double Star • Template: Double Star

Crosses and Losses • Templates: Crosses and Losses

Birds in the Air • Template: Birds in the Air

Autumn Star • Template: Autumn Star

For my bee-mates, I’ve listed the blocks you’ve chosen on our Flickr group site, for reference.

And congratulations to Carla for winning Anne’s very cool pattern. If the rest of my lovely entrants would like a pattern for their own, please visit SpringLeaf Studios, and you can download one instantly. I have purchased both of hers, as I like buying quilt patterns that make me reach for new fabrics and new ideas. (I hope to put her Cascade pattern on my To-Do for next spring.)

Many thanks to Anne for donating her pattern to this giveaway!!!

Quilt Bee · Tutorial · WIP

Design Wall Recover, In Progress Quilts

July 24, 2013February 2, 2018 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Linking up to Lee’s Freshly Pieced with this post.

First up, re-cover my pin wall.

(1) How I built my pin wall: 2 sheets of 1/2″ foam core art board taped side by side, covered with gridded flannel bordered by plain flannel. I wish I had more gridded flannel, but at the time, that’s all I had. I have seen it at JoAnn’s. Then I wrapped this layer to the back and stapled in place using really short staples, then covered that with tape. I then affixed it to my wall by using door jamb covers–long rounded metallic bars, each about six feet in length; I used four: two for each side, top and bottom. I also put a flat washer on two screws and screwed them into the wall at a stud, at the midseam of the foam core art boards.

(2 & 3) Over that, I layered this Thermolam Plus, using straight pins to anchor it into place. The fabric really sticks to it – like magic, and when it gets all thready, use one of those sticky roller things that is used to clean off clothes. NOTE the number on the upper left side (TP970). That will save your bacon when you go into buy more, because now they’ve renamed it Quilter’s Batt or Fleece or Something or Other, and you just have to go through the bolts to find this magic stuff.

The little pin cushion hangs on my pin wall with giant corsage pins. I am not a pin-cushion person, although I have many beautiful ones given to me as gifts. This little one holds these pins which are helpful for holding large swaths of cloth, like when you are smoothing a quilt backing onto a quilt top already on the wall to check for size. Or for holding necklaces, notices for doctor’s visits, etc. I put all sorts of stuff along the edges of my pin wall.

Next up was a new ironing board cover. I fell in love with this sewing machine fabric when I saw it on the Fat Quarter Shop, and of course they had it to me within two days. It’s by Timeless Treasures and is pattern # SEW-C1485, if you want some.

I just trace out my old cover, leaving GENEROUS seam allowance width all along the outside edge (like 1-1/2″ and that doesn’t even seem like enough). Make a casing, leaving an opening at the bottom. I thread through some old hem tape (notice the lady’s hairdo is right out of the 1980s) but warning: 3 yards is not enough (I had to piece some more on the ends). I think the picture of the ironing board up on its end looks like one of those bugs that goes into that position when tapped (stink bugs?). There are many good tutorials online for making ironing board covers, if you do a search.

What other works in progress have I been working on? I made this “slab” for the Alberta Flood quilt block collection, hosted by Cheryl Arkinson of Dining Room Empire. The deadline is July 30th, and so far she has 276 blocks!

Finished my block for the Mid-Century Modern Bee. Deborah of Simply Miss Luella wanted a house block of any kind. I made my favorite one, and happily, she loves it! You can find a PDF to download here, where I made one for another bee.

And finally, hot mitts for my friend Rhonda for her birthday (which was in June–sorry, Rhonda). Happy Belated 29th birthday, Rhonda!! May you see many more 29th birthdays! Tutorial is here. It’s also one of my Finish–A-Long projects–that makes TWO down, and many more scary ones to go.

And lastly, thanks for you all your sweet comments about going to a retreat. I’m working my way through replying, as it seemed to strike a chord with many of you. I appreciate the time you took to write and leave your thoughts–it enriches us all.