Help with my quilting

We could all use a little help, and Whitney was there for me. Jocelyn had her tonsils out and my niece Laurel, who was away for the week, lent us her house and her cats. I brought my quilting stuff with me and used her machine while Jocelyn recuperated. It was the machine I learned on, since Laurel had lent it to me when we were in California in 2005. It's funny, at first I forgot how to use it, but it all came back. My current machine is a Janome and hers is a Baby Lock, and I find there are things I like and don't like about each. What I truly love about the Baby Lock is how quiet it is! Wouldn't it be nice to design your own machine?

Here's the tonsillectomy girl herself. The surgery was more painful and she felt worse for longer than we had anticipated. Painkillers and ice packs helped, and knitting a "Heartbreakingly Cute Kimono" for her new 3-week-old cousin Hannah took her mind off her throat.

I Spy preview

All laid out! Now I'm ready to stitch the hexagons into rows and the rows into a quilt top. Often people just do it randomly, but I like to make sure I don't have several squares with a black background together, or all the animals in a little cluster. Laying the quilt out before sewing gives me the opportunity to move the blocks around. I would like a design wall, and will probably make one soon, but for now I use a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth on the floor. The pieces stick, so I can move the whole thing, or roll it up and take it somewhere. It would be a lot easier to stand up and do this on a wall than to crawl around on the floor!

Stippling!

Today I took a class from Cynthia Schmitz, award-winning machine quilter. I learned so much! Until now, I have done only stitch-in-the-ditch or a little straight-line quilting, but have been terrified to try free motion quilting (FMQ). Cynthia was a good teacher, and did a lot to improve my confidence. I practiced on larger stippling, then moved to filling in the circle with small stippling, as you can see in the photo. I call it small stippling, but she does teensy-tiny stippling, making this look huge. I'm not there yet -- and frankly, I'm not really wild about the tiny stippling. Just a matter of personal preference. I admire it, I just don't really care for the look.

Everyone else went on to learn trapunto in the afternoon, but I decided to opt out of that and continue practicing free motion quilting. (Again, I like trapunto, but I don't see myself doing it -- maybe in awhile I'll change my mind.) I tried to stipple outside a circle this time, and partway through decided it looked like hair around a face. I put in a curl right in the middle of her forehead, then finished off the face. Not that hard -- and so much fun!

And I went on from there to try non-stippling FMQ. There was a book with some ideas, and I gave it a try. How cute would these things be in sashing, or on a border?

I Spy quilts

Part of me has always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, and this quilt seems to satisfy my desire to cut up lots and lots of cute kiddy fabrics. And when I say "lots and lots" I mean a bazillion! The plan is to make one for each of my nieces' and nephew's families, plus for my own kids when they start having children. That's potentially 8 I Spy quilts, with 147 hexagons each. You do the math -- bazillion is a close enough answer for me!

What is an I Spy quilt you ask? It has hexagons of many different fabrics -- in fact, there should not be a repeat in the quilt. (Sometimes one fabric has many designs that can each be used, however.) Like this:



The idea is to be able to play the game "I Spy" with the quilts. "I Spy with my little eye ..." an umbrella, a horse, a lemon, a duck playing a clarinet, etc. I'm trying to have something for each letter of the alphabet, and with lots of colors. (I spy something blue.) They are also great for stories. Pick a hexagon and tell a story about it. Or move from hexagon to hexagon and incorporate each new item into the story. Lots of fun! One very kindly member of the guild, Sue K., has made 6 I Spy quilts and she let me cut up her leftover stash, plus I added my own collection. I'm so grateful to her, as it takes a loooong time to get so many fabrics!


Once the hexagons are cut, you need to sew triangles of the background fabric onto two opposite sides of each hexagon, as in this photo. I'm trying to make mine directional, rather than some facing each way, so I have to pay attention. But thank goodness for chain piecing!

Here the pieces are laid together. You first join them in rows, then stitch the rows, but I only have a few pieces with the triangles on so I haven't joined the rows. They are just laid out here so you can see that ultimately you get a 6-pointed star. Really fun!

Block of the Month

I like to have a plan when I start a project. I may change the plan as I go (I always seem to!), but I do have a general idea of what the quilt will be about. Mystery quilts are not for me! However, I decided to try the guild's block of the month to help me get away from that. I knew they would all be stars, and I bought a background fabric that I liked and that would coordinate with lots of fabric I have leftover from other projects. Each month we get a new star pattern and make one block of it, along with two smaller star blocks in the same fabrics. At the end we'll get some instructions for assembling them all into a quilt. This is the first month's block.


Here is the second month's star with the two baby stars. I was less sure about the fabric choice here -- not all batiks, like the other block. Still not sure what I think!


And here's block 3. I decided I wanted some warmer and brighter colors, and I love the design in the middle of the block (oops -- haven't posted Brian's quilt yet -- these are the same fabrics). Alas, despite careful measuring, I somehow did not cut the centers correctly for the two baby stars. I centered the design in one direction, but not the other. I was so annoyed that I didn't iron the finished blocks, as I think you can tell from the photo! I may well redo them with correct centers, but I wasn't in the mood right then.

I won!

Every month I make a block for the guild's block lotto. We all use the same background fabric and then use our own fabric for the rest of the block. When you turn in your block, you get a chance to win all the blocks for that month. This block lotto was my favorite -- and I won the drawing! Hoorah! What a cute quilt this will make. Here are two blocks. They are all log-cabin-like pieced hearts made of coordinating dark and medium fabrics. Just so cute! And I won!

Fractured autumn bargello

The guild had a mini-retreat a couple weeks ago for those of us who didn't go on the big retreat, and I took advantage of the day to finish piecing this quilt. I had the tubes sewn and the strips cut, but I was terrified of sewing them together. The fracture strips are only 1/4" finished, and a few of the bargello strips are also only 1/4" finished, so it was a bit tricky. I am very pleased with the result! Now, how do I quilt it? On June 24 I'm taking a machine quilting class with an expert, so I'll take it in for ideas and help.

Great design

I have vowed to keep up my posts, but suddenly realized that Brian has the camera in New York! So I can't photograph what I'm working on. Instead, here's a photo I took when we were in NY last Thanksgiving. It's a representation of the Empire State Building that's in the Empire State Building. I love the look and thought it would make a great quilt design. I hope it posts right side up -- I rotated it in IPhoto but sometimes it doesn't load in rotated fashion (but sometimes it does -- wish I knew why).

Another quilt from Chicago

I was so pleased that we could take photos of many (but alas not all) of the quilts on display at the Chicago Quilt Show. This one is Reach to the Stars by Jane Robertson; it was the BSR winner (Bernina Stitch Regulator). I love the spontaneous, fun look it has -- and black, white, and red make a dynamite color combination! Quilt shows are so inspiring. I have heard people say they come back depressed because they know they will never make a winning quilt, but I guess I am not interested in competitive quilting. There were some fabulous quilts at the show and I got so many ideas (and lots of pleasure!) from looking at them. (Remember, clicking on the photo will enlarge it so you can see more detail.)

Playtime!

Our guild has a block of the month project (more on that soon) and I've been making the blocks each time. They are all star blocks, and the stars use the "quick corners" method, which involves stitching small squares over larger ones and cutting off the excess fabric. That leaves you with lots of triangle pairs. I threw them away (regretfully) after the first block because I didn't know what else to do with them. With the second block I chain pieced the triangle pairs together and set them aside. I finished the third block yesterday and decided to open and trim the pairs for both blocks. Then I tried seeing what I could do with them. I did the pinwheels and square-in-a-square blocks, and then decided to just play. Here's what happened first:

I loved the long lines that were forming, and thought how cool it would be if I had more blocks and mixed the colors up! But I kept playing, and what fun. Here's the next thing that I rather liked:

As I do more blocks and get more triangles, the designs should get really interesting! Now I'm as excited about my throw-away blocks as I am about the real things!

Kathi's retirement quilt

My sister Kathi's husband is about to retire from the military, and Kathi has worked hard with Family Readiness for many years. As a parting gift, the 351st Civil Affairs Command in Mountain View gave her a beautiful quilt.


Here is the explanation she was given with the quilt: This quilt is given to you because of the friendship we all feel for you. The fabrics in the quilt are representative of the countries in the Pacific theater. The color purple represents Civil Affairs. The stars on the quilt represent your husband’s rank, and the diamonds in between the stars symbolize your worth as a friend. The dragons on the back of the quilt represent your leadership of the 351st Family Readiness Group that you organized 10 years ago, which was a wonderful vehicle for supporting the troops deployed to Bosnia and their families. The white Kutani Crane is a symbol of longevity and good fortune, which is what we wish for you. With friendship and best wishes, The 351st Family Readiness Group.

A lovely tribute, isn't it?

Here is the back of the quilt:



Fortunately, the back is every bit as beautiful as the front! Kathi has it on her bed with the back side on top. When she gets some purple pillows to coordinate with the front, she'll be able to reverse it and use whichever side strikes her fancy. Here's the quilt on the bed:

Chicago Quilt Show 2006

This amazing quilt was one of my favorites at the Chicago Quilt Show in April. It's called Introspectively Hexagonal and was hand pieced and hand quilted (how long would that have taken?) by Pamela A. Danesi. She says that this piece is a meditation on hexagons, and it is. It's amazingly intricate and completely beautiful. I would never have thought a quilt so monochromatic would be so powerful! It's hard to see it in the photo, but it's a huge quilt. Below is a detail; click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see it better.

Puppy Dog Quilt

Isn't this the cutest puppy dog? It's from another Linus quilt. My sole contribution to this quilt was handstitching the binding, but I took a photo anyway because it shows what a little creativity can do for a quilt. Here's the whole quilt:

This is a quilt made by volunteers with fabric donated for Project Linus. As you can see, the fabric is not very childlike. While I don't think everything needs to be novelty prints, it's nice to give a child a blanket that appeals to children on some level. Here someone stitched up a very traditional pattern, and then appliqued a puppy on it -- what a difference!

Raggedy Quilt

Last fall Debbi, the chair of our Project Linus committee, was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the wonderful way that guilds work, everyone immediately contributed flannel squares to make her a quilt and Marilyn N. designed the quilt. Several of us got together and stitched it up in just a few hours. This photo shows the back of the quilt. The other side looks exactly the same, but has raw flannel edges sticking up around each square. We fringed all those edges and washed the quilt, making the edges soft and raggedy. If you've never seen a rag quilt, here's a website that has photos of several: click here I'm very pleased to report that Debbi has finished her treatments and is doing well!

Jocelyn's poster

You're right -- this is not a quilt! Jocelyn presented her honors thesis in a poster at an undergraduate research conference last week. I understand from the psychology professor in the family that she did a great job!

Barbie Quilt

I may not be a big fan of Barbie dolls, but there is some mighty cute Barbie fabric out there! This is another Linus quilt. Jocelyn & Valerie pulled all these fabrics from our boxes and boxes of donated fabric over winter break, and we designed the layout. I finally got around to stitching it together and then sent the top off to another volunteer to be quilted and bound.

Beautiful job of longarm quilting

Here are two closeups of the quilting. What a spectacular job! Connie Lightle of Tolono, Illinois, did the quilting through her longarm business, "Maggie and Me." She does a fabulous job -- she even won an award at the big quilt show in Houston!

Val with her quilt

Here's Val with her quilt! She picked it up when she came home for spring break. Finished at last!

Baseball Linus quilt

We work with donated fabrics for Linus. Someone donated some St. Louis Cardinals fabric, so I made it up in a simple pattern. Hopefully some young Cardinals fan (there are plenty in this part of the world) will get this. If you double click on the photo, it will enlarge and you might be able to see the fabric design a little better.

Linus quilt

Here's a closeup of the quilt I made. It was really cute and I hated to part with it, but it was for a good cause. I had trouble quilting, even though I just did stitch in the ditch. I think I won't start with a long, lengthwise seam again! Another woman quilted hers in the ditch, too, but in small boxes. I'll do that next time.

All those Linus quilts

Here we all are with our Linus quilts! The guild is going to send the photo (hopefully with a little cropping first) to the magazine that published the pattern. It was so much fun to make the quilt!

Val's Quilt is DONE!!

And here it is!! I can't believe it! Tomorrow I will call the quilter and will have it all done by the time Val gets home for spring break. Hoorah!

Val's quilt - almost there

Hoorah! The two side borders are on Val's quilt! I have most of the top and bottom borders already pieced. As soon as the piecing is complete, I'll attach those final two borders and be DONE. A professional quilter will do the actual quilting. This quilt isn't going to look good with stitch in the ditch, and I can't do anything else.

Autumn bargello fabrics

Here are the fabrics for my autumn bargello that I'm making in my Quilt University class. It was interesting to me that while I think of autumn as my favorite season, I don't work in autumn colors on my quilts. But I do like this color run. The fabric running along the center is my fracture fabric, a tiny strip of which will run between all the other colors. Right now it looks like a tree, which is good -- I was thinking autumn tree when I put it together. I am going to try to structure the bargello to keep the look of trees. I ran the idea by Ruth Blanchet, my instructor, and she came up with a good way to do that. I'll give it a try and post my results!

Here's the summer bargello I made for my Quilt University class. It looks like summer to me! This time the bargello matches at the seams (the spring one was staggered), making it harder to put together.

I haven't chosen a border for my spring bargello yet, but I'm considering a pencil thin, peach border next to the summer bargello, with a bigger purple border. I'll do "broderie perse" with the flower fabric on the border, letting some of the flowers come onto the bargello. (Broderie perse is Persian embroidery, where you applique a design that is cut from a fabric.) Here's a closeup (blurry, sorry) of a section of the bargello so you can see the fabrics. The flowers are all cut up in the bargello, but I'd like them in the border because they're pretty. I'm also posting a photo of the flower fabric.

Spring Bargello

I'm taking an online course at Quilt University called Bargello Seasons. It's great! We're making a different type of bargello for each of the four seasons. Here's my first. Some of the colors are from the fat quarter packet I received when I joined the guild, and then I supplemented with other fabrics. I have my summer color run, but haven't started sewing on it yet.

Check out Quilt University if you haven't seen the site yet. There are lots of great classes taught by world class teachers. It's terrific!

Do You See What I See?

I was one of 12 people in a Project Linus swap. We were given the same pattern and border fabrics, but then we each bought 5 fabrics and cut strips of them for 12 people, giving us each 60 fabrics to work with for the quilt squares. We also supplemented a bit from our stash. Click on the photo to enlarge it and you will have a better idea of some of the cute fabrics in this quilt. I'm in the process of quilting it right now. Thursday night we are all bringing our quilts to the guild meeting and will have our photo taken to send to the magazine that printed the pattern. The quilts will be donated to Project Linus. They are so cute! It was really fun to make. Jocelyn did most of the cutting and some stitching, and both JJ and Val helped with the layout.

Val's quilt top pieced!

At last! It took me awhile to get up the nerve to stitch the blocks together, but it worked. I still have to add the pieced border, which needs to be laid out on paper first. I am hiring a professional quilter to do the quilting. Goal: Have it back, all quilted, so I can give it to Val over spring break.

Val's quilt Dec. 29

Yay!!! I finally got back to Val's quilt. I was intimidated by the number of pieces -- most of them triangles -- per block, and I was concerned about getting all the fabrics in the right spot (16 fabrics swirl around), so I kept putting off starting to sew all those little pieces together. But I now am sewing in the basement, which gives me lots of room to lay out a quilt, and so I finally started. It's working! Here you can see only the layout (most of it), but I have now sewn 9 blocks. And guess what? It's not that hard! I love it! Will post a finished block soon.

Project Linus Barbie Quilt

Here's a quilt kit Jocelyn and I (mostly JJ) made for Linus. There were some Barbie fabrics in the stash, so we found coordinating prints, including both a pink and a blue with shiny silver stars, to make a kit. Jocelyn cut the whole thing out. The Linus committee makes kits and then members of the Illini Country Stitchers Guild take home a kit and turn it into a quilt.

Jocelyn's MoMA quilt

I am waaaay behind in my posts! The kids are home for winter break and have taken to quilting. In her first two days home, Jocelyn made this quilt! Over Thanksgiving we were in New York and saw a painting at MoMA that looked like it would translate easily to a quilt. Jocelyn wasted no time in doing it. The painting is by Ellsworth Kelly, Colors for a Large Wall. Check it out on MoMA's website, where they have conveniently made it into an ecard.

We currently have the local Project Linus stash in our basement, and amazingly Jocelyn found almost all the colors among the donated fabrics. We purchased a couple colors. She's donating the quilt to Linus. They get lots of quilts for babies, not too many for teenagers, and we think an artistically inclined teen might really like this one.

By the way, Jocelyn's blocks match up PERFECTLY. No one would ever guess this was anyone's first attempt at quilting!

Christmas quilt

I've taken 3 classes recently, but this is the only one where I've taken a photo of the project. This is the first of twelve rows (eek! twelve!) on a holiday quilt. There is lots of machine applique, which is why I took the class. It's fun but time consuming and there is NO WAY I will finish this before Christmas, especially as I want to get down to serious work on Val's quilt. But it was really fun choosing the fabrics. I love the snow-like sky in the background, and the swirls in Santa's robe and beard. (If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you can see things better.) I couldn't find good fabric for the face, but my friend Glennys had some great blotchy fabric that she fussy-cut for her Santa's face and she let me use some. You would never have guessed to look at the fabric that it would have worked out so well. I outlined the tree in metallic gold thread with a feather stitch, starting at the bottom and working up on each side so the feathers would all point in the right direction. I plan to outline the star in some way, too, and stitch gold swags on the tree. Isn't that a cool fabric -- decorations already on it! The Santa has yet to be outlined, but I've decided not to do basic black. I'll try to follow the Santa colors at least somewhat. I am thinking satin stitch for part at least, otherwise a small blanket stitch.

Done!!

Yes!!! Jocelyn's African Coins quilt is done and delivered! Here it is draped on the couch. The photo is sideways (I don't know how to rotate it), but you get the idea. It was delivered in October and JJ tells me she shows it off quite a bit. I shouldn't encourage that behavior, but in this case I don't mind!

African Coins top all pieced!

Hoorah!!! The top is done!!! I know all those exclamation marks make me seem like an 8 year old, but believe me, I am EXCITED. I think it looks great. I also took some photos of the back, which is also pieced, but the photos are so bad I won't post them.

What's tomorrow? Quilting day!

All cut up!!

I did it!! I got up the nerve to cut apart that big, beautiful piece of stripped fabrics. Here it is, all laid out on the family room floor. I need to cut the black sashing that goes between all the strips and also the black border. (Don't worry about that one backwards black square in the geometric piecing -- I will fix it!)

Been thinking about the binding, too. I was trying to decide which fabric would look best, and was thinking that I would have to wait to audition it, and then I had a brilliant idea! I will piece together strips of many (probably not all) the fabrics to make a multi-colored binding. Sound good? Let me know!