Kitties and quilts

My Pepper cat is my quilting buddy, keeping me company in the studio and testing quilts for comfort as soon as I have two pieces sewn together. His best friend Phantom (aka Squirrel) only shows up if it's quiet and there's a nice sunbeam to nap in. She's the original scaredy-cat.

Yesterday I was putting some things away in the office and emptied a little box, which I dropped on the floor to collect for recycling. Within five minutes, Pepper had taken up residence – a 20 pound cat in a 10 pound box. He occupied the box on and off for the rest of the day. This morning I walked into the living room and Squirrel had claimed the box. It's a much better fit for her.

Another good evening in the studio last night. I got three of the large star blocks done for Shakespeare In the Park (SITP). My Flying Geese are turning out much better, though slightly oversized, this time. I'm doing a four at a time method explained on Connecting Threads site. They have a lot of nice tutorials on their site, as well as some cute free patterns.

I decided to revamp the rest of the little lighthouse figures I'd started a few days ago. They are a little too big for inchies, so I'm making them two inches square and will make brooches out of them. I'm starting to think in terms of inventory for sales on Tybee Island next year. I added a bit of fabric and fused them to the backing last night, should have something worth showing after tonight.

I'm still working on the hand applique, just one palm leaf to go. I started this to try out the basting method of needle turn applique. With this, you trace the entire design on the back of the background fabric. Then you roughly cut pieces of fabric for each applique piece, leaving lots of extra. One at a time, baste a piece, using a large needle and heavy thread. Then trim up around the shape. Then you cut a couple of stitches of the basting, tuck under the edges and start your applique. You take out a few stitches at a time and fold along the line created where the basting came out. It really does work, and I'm getting smoother lines than with freezer paper, etc.

There's a nice tutorial on it on the Tropical Applique blog.

I'm still experimenting with the multi-colored quilting/threadwork. One of the sample pieces I did at the quilt show was black, which I quilted with bright pink. It didn't show up as well as I'd hoped for the demo, but it is pretty. Last night I went back and added echo quilting with a pale yellow thread. Now it's starting to pop. Here's the start, there will be more to come.

More later!

Some more thread work

I had so much fun with the threadwork I did on the sample piece that I decided to try a new project from the beginning. So yesterday I alternated working on my SITP blocks and working on a small floral applique piece with lots of threadwork.

I started with a simple background, then ironed fusible to some fabric. I freehand cut petals, leaves and stems for flowers, then fused them into place. Then I stitched the edges of the applique, using my Singer 115 handcrank sewing machine. I have this one set into a cabinet and it's my favorite for doing very precise stitching.

Then I layered it and started stitching, using different colors for different areas, but with at least three colors of stitching throughout. Then I did small curled stipples between all the motifs.

After it was finished, I used a light stroke of paint stick on the petals and leaves, then used a cotton swab to blur out the paint.

Final result, it's pretty, but not nearly as striking as the previous piece. The light colors get lost on the light background and the dark ones look kind of harsh. I also lost track on the spirals and they are kind of messy looking. And since I matched the paint color to the main colors of the petals and leaves it obscures the details in them. A contrasting color (or no paint) would have been better.

I haven't decided whether this one is done as is, or if I want to do a little more, maybe some watercolor pencils, or some beading to embellish the flowers. This won't be my last try with this technique.

In other efforts, I finished the inner stars for the cream on dark stars for SITP. Today I'll start a bunch of Flying Geese for the outer parts of the blocks. I hope I can get them a little more precise than the recent ones.


Lots to do today. More later.

Sewing ADD?

I hate cold feet! What does this have to do with sewing? Last year I made sets of heatable corn bags for everyone in the family for Christmas. They're just like the rice bags except I fill them with feed corn from the farm supply store. I made a couple of sizes, a longer, narrower one that could drape around a neck, and a medium sized wide one perfect for warming the feet. The last couple of evenings have been pleasant, except that my feet got cold, and I cannot sleep with cold feet. So last night I pulled out one of the warmer bags, heated it in the microwave two minutes and tucked it at the bottom of my bed. Instant comfort and I was asleep in no time.

center of large stars for SITP

I had a very productive evening in the studio last night. I've been thinking about improvements and last night pulled out a swing-arm lamp with magnifier that I'd planned to use on my workbench. I set it up next to the machine I use all the time for piecing. Great!

I finally pulled out my Shakespeare in the Park (from Judy Martin's Creative Pattern Book) and figured out what I have and what I need to do to finish it. I'm doing it in scrappy blue, purple and pink, with a single cream background throughout.

This is such a gorgeous pattern, and I love the sense of motion. But it's not the easiest to put together, so I'm afraid I have some flying geese with their points cut off. But once it's put together, I don't think that will be noticeable. And, quite honestly, if I tried to go back and remake all those units, this quilt would never get done. Even if I had enough of the background fabric to redo it, which I don't.

So, I have all the Snail's Trail blocks done, and all the small star blocks, so just need 16 large star blocks (and all the assorted setting pieces).  Eight of the blocks are cream stars on dark, and I got five of the centers of those blocks done last night, with components for the rest of the eight centers ready to go. My new goal is to finish the eight light on dark blocks this weekend, then next weekend move on to the dark on light.

I played some, too (that's why it's sewing ADD), trying out some echo quilting and fills. A while back I wrote about seeing "hyper-quilting" on Patsy Thompson's site. While I was demonstrating at the quilt show, I did some simple free-motion in light thread on dark fabric. It came out pretty, so I decided to play with it. I cut off a small section and echo quilted the light with a bright pink. Then I came back and echoed again with spring green and did a filler stitch between the flowers, feathers, etc. Then, as a finishing touch, I brushed just a bit of color in with my new Shiva paint sticks. I think it's kind of gorgeous! Now I wish I hadn't cut the piece off, I could have done the whole piece this way and had something pretty impressive.

original quilting on back, with echo quilting and paint, front

Finally, I'm working on a little hand applique. In one of the magazines I picked up, they explained an applique technique where you baste the pieces on, using small stitches and heavy thread, then cut the stitches out and fold under along the stitching line. I wanted to see if I liked this technique better than the folding/gluing/pressing/paper template I've tried before – and I do! I'm getting much smoother curves and sharper points. I'll post more on this later.

Looking forward to a beautiful weekend. We need to get outside and do some work on the house (the joys of having a 100-year-old house) and I need to work on some of my organizing/decluttering projects, but I'm mostly looking forward to getting back into the studio.

So, time to get busy. More later!

Too much fun!

These little things could be addictive! I got back in the studio again last night and played with my inchies. I finished the first pair by trimming the excess pieced fabric, then fusing on a small randomly cut piece of fabric to break up the lines. Then I sewed on a few beads in coordinating colors.


I fused on a solid piece of fabric (black, for these) on the back, then hand-sewed on some fuzzy yard to trim the edges. I decided to make these into earrings, so I then sewed on some jump rings and attached the earring wires.

For the second batch, I went a little more detailed in the piecing. I sewed together strips of dark green, white and dark green to suggest the lines of a lighthouse, then cut the shapes from the strips. Then sewed on pieces for "sky" at the sides and grass at the bottom. Then I fused them to the backings, did a little free-motion quilting on the sky and grass, then trimmed off the excess. Then I sewed on some beads. Only problem here was I quilted off the edges, so when I trimmed I got loose threads. I haven't decided how I will finish these.

It's funny that sometimes I don't feel creative, other times I want to be creative but don't know what to work on. Then there are the times when I have so many things I want to do that I need eight arms – or a couple of clones. In breaks from inchies, I worked on plans for a star quilt I've been planning in my head for several years. And I'm thinking about improving the lighting and doing some organizing in my studio. And thinking about getting back to work on the Shakespeare in the Park I started last year. And getting ideas for an applique quilt. And more ideas for inchies. And...

I just hope this creative energy lasts long enough for me to get some of these things done!

More later.

A little creativity

After my quilting marathon for our show, I should be burnt out, but actually I'm eager to get back into the studio, just on a different scale. Instead of large quilts on a deadline, I'm in the mood for small items that I can play with.

Two inchies in progress, left, bases, center, and goofs, right

So, I'm going from a queen size quilt to .... inchies! I've been doing fabric postcards for a while, and have been intrigued by the question of what can you do with a one-inch work. I thought this would be a good time to find out.

So last night I pulled out a bin full of fun fabrics, and a drawer full of fiber stuff, and cut up some stiff interfacing into one-inch squares. My first effort was sewing two sets of four strips, then cutting them diagonally and swapping pieces, then sewing back together. But, oops! I didn't allow enough length for the seam and they were too small. Back into the bin to use for something else.

Fiber stuff to play with

Next was a simpler try, with three strips, made larger than my one-inch base. I fused them onto the bases on a diagonal, then pulled out some bits of fibers. For this one, I used threads I pulled from the edge of a scrap of pink lamé, and some threads that shredded off a new fat quarter when I washed it. I carefully laid the threads across the fabric base, then covered with a small piece of wash-away stabilizer. I quilted that down, using a metallic thread, then rinsed away the stabilizer.

I haven't decided what I will do next, some combination of embellishments, then put on a backing, and trim around the edges.

I can see why these little things can become addictive!

Fabric scraps to play with

More later.

What you learn from a quilt show

We've talked, on various email lists, about entering quilt shows. Some people say they don't want to be judged, that they make quilts for fun, others have had bad experiences entering shows. But if you are entering a show with a judge who knows what she's doing, you can learn something, even if it's only to confirm what you already know you should work on.

I'd entered quilts at another type of show before and got only a very brief judging sheet, but for our show, we got a little more in-depth feedback.

I entered 24 quilts in the High Cotton Quilt Show, three older ones for display only. So I got a stack of judging sheets back for the other 21. The evaluations were well done, satisfactory, needs improvement and N/A if it didn't apply. Each quilt got marks for general appearance, then quilt top construction, quilting and finishing, under workmanship, and fabric usage, color/value contrast and quilting design under design.

Looking through the stack, I had pretty consistently high marks in the design side, with mostly plus or satisfactory on workmanship – except finishing where I had the most needs improvement marks.

No real surprises there, I've always felt design is my strong point, and many of these quilts were made a couple of years ago when I hadn't learned as much about borders and bindings.

Entering quilt shows may not be for everyone, but I found it fun and enjoyed the compliments from the people attending.

I just discovered that the local paper has posted its Studio Statesboro with a nice piece on the show.

Enjoy! More later.

Quilt show brags

Lots and lots to report on the quilt show, but I have to leave for something for work soon, so just a quick recap on my quilts in the show.

I entered a total of 24 quilts, including my very first quilt, finished in 2004 (not for judging), and a number of art quilts. Four of the quilts were finished in the month leading up to the show, Vintage Bow Ties, Cool Jazz, Triple Star and Boxy Stars With Black.

I won three ribbons, second place in groups for Peacock Blues, third place in art quilts for Angel of the Garden and an honorable mention in art quilts for Palm Puzzle. Here are some pictures.

More later.