The Quilting Climber

April in Amsterdam

2012-02-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

Last April my daughter spent several weeks in Rwanda as partof a charity mission called Healing Hearts Northwest. On her way back, she and several other nursesspent a few days in Amsterdam. They visitedtulip gardens and she took this stunning picture of the sun shining throughtulips.

Since mid-January I have beentaking a two part on line course on designing nature quilts from EllenLindner. I have taken one her coursesbefore (Instant Art Quilts) and have some of her publications. Anyway, for one of my quilts, I decided totry to interpret the tulip picture.

I do fine with composition but still struggle with color andvalue, especially as they apply to scale, distance and depth. I first did an 8 by 11 sketch of my proposedquilt on a transparency. After I had itthe way I wanted, I put it on an overhead projector and drew it full sized.

Ellen is big on doing stuff freestyle. So the background was chunks of green fabricarranged to create the first indication of depth. Rather than pinning them tomuslin, as Ellen does, I fused them to French fuse, a tricot fabric that has alight coating of fusing compound on one side. I added borders, because I reallylike these sort of quilts to have the subject cross out of the interior and intothe border – seems more 3-D to me. ThenI started to build the tulips out of yellow, orange pink and red fabric. The object was not an exact replica, but toconvey the feeling of light and springtime. All the cutting was freehand. Thesketch was merely a rough guide to placement and size. Ellen thought the tulips should be tiltedrather than as straight as they are in the photo. After adding stems and leaves, I decided afew buds would look good. Some of thiswas pinned, some glued.

I then layered the top with its batting and backing, pinbasted the whole thing and started quilting. The quilting has to be denseenough to secure all the edges, but I didn’t necessarily have to sew along eachedge. For the background, including theborders, I used a free motion wandering leaf design. The tulips I outlined, echoed and added a fewspirals. The quilting was a challenge,because the fabric wanted to shift and pucker. My free motion foot also frequently caught underneath the pieces, so I hadto really pay attention. I foundstarching and ironing the areas before quilting and really keeping thingssmooth between my hands while guiding the quilt under the needle worked best. Iused about 4 different colors of thread, mostly Isacord and Sulky embroiderythreads. These are my favorite forquilting.

After looking at it, I decided it needed one more bud and added it. I blocked it and bound the edges as usual. Then I washed it. I am always surprised that the raw edges holdup so well, even without fusing. A wallhanging needs washing every once in a while (at least I think it does), and I like the extra texturethat the slight batting shrinkage give the quilt.

Anyway, I am pretty happy with the results,learned a ton and am now working on a second, quite different quilt for thisclass. More on that later…

Designing Templates

2012-01-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

I have a tendency to wantto do things myself: partly a desire to understand all parts of the creativeprocess and partly being cheap. If I caneasily draw it, I won’t buy it.

On Flickr, a contact, whois part of a swap we are currently both in, posted pictures of a really coolbordered star. I asked her where she got the pattern, butshe had drafted it herself, based on something similar she had seen and did nothave it electronically. She thought Icould probably make one. Not sure if itwas a compliment or a challenge, but I bit.

Another Flickrparticipant is Bad-Skirt Amy. From her Ihad the idea of my last entry regarding drunkard path log cabins. She has done other stuff and tends to useWORD to create the templates. While Ihave and know how to use AutoCad, a computer drafting program, I was intrigued.

WORD includes the abilityto draw a variety of shapes, including squares, rectangles, a variety of trianglesand lines. Since much of quilting usesno more than these shapes, you can draw most anything. Since most patterns are repeats of mirrorimages, you can then flip and rotate the image. That ensures that everything matches at the seams. It is also easy to control size and createtemplates for several sizes of blocks. Whenyou are done, you can save it as a PDF, which keeps things from changing.

My first star came outokay, BUT, it wasn’t right. I thoughtthe inner border too narrow and then I realized that where the star fins metvertically and horizontally the angle was different from the where they met atthe diagonal. However, anything symmetrical that is repeated often looks just fine, so if you want this template, it can be found here.

I fixed both problems andmade a second block. Much better. The inner border wasn’t quite equal bothways, but that was a quick fix. If youwant the pattern, here’s the link. Itwill create a 12”block when finished.

With templates, I always recommend that theouter edges be more than the normal ¼” seam allowance – it gives you somethingto trim in case something went a bit wonky. So I have drawn in the extra on this second block. With paper piecing, fabric biases arelargely ignored and the likelihood of some things stretching is higher.

Also, refer to my tutorial on printing out PDF files - Adobe Reader usually want to shrink to fit, when scaling is not really wanted.

Drunken Log Cabins

2012-01-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

Even though I have onlybeen quilting barely over 2 years, I am impressed how many scraps I havealready amassed. They are good for appliqué, funky adlibborders, bottled rainbows , miniature quilts (not my thing) and patterns like log cabins.

There are a variety oflog cabins, from the traditional, through pineapple, through wonky. However, while cruising around in Flickr, Ifound another take that creates something like a Drunkard’s Path. The maker was trying to recreate the Subwayquilt made by a respected Japanese quilter Kumiko Fujita. She figured out the pattern and drew it usingthe table function in Word. Well, I cando that. So I did. What fun! Basically, the logs of one half of the block are half as wide as theother side. I didn't make it nearly as fine as her's, but I think it works anyway. Somewhere in her blog is a discussion of how fine you might go to create the roundness. The center block in hers wasone of the wide colors, but I chose to use a half square triangle. It’s easily paper pieced (I did it with freezer paper, as usual!). My patterncreates a 6 inch quarter block plus ½ inch seam allowance. This link will get you to the PDF file, ifyou want it.

Basically, pick 2 colorfamilies and then values within the family from your scrap heap. Piece four quarters either going light todark or dark to light in values. Then play with arrangements.

I liked the crossarrangement for my first block best, but may mix the arrangements up. Ibasically intend to make these as I collect a lot of some colors. When I have enough, I’ll put them together ina quilt. It’s really fun and quick!

Castle in the Air

2012-01-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

Castle in the Air

I am part of a row robin that is just getting started. That means all the members in the group – we are7 – makes a row of 48”in length. Thenthe row is sent to a member and that member adds a row. Until it has made the rounds. Everyone ends up with a unique top. Additionally we make an extra block that issigned and dated. This block will beincorporated into the back and documents who contributed to the quilt.

So I selected Castle in the Air as the pattern. I figured it was an easy pattern, shouldsomeone decide to replicate it. It seemsat least one member in the group is a beginner unsure of her abilities. Since it is a 9 patch based design, almostany other such design should work well with it. I’m curious what my top will look like at the end!

The basic pattern is found here. However, I found some of the measurements abit too stingy and I have another way to piece it that is easier. So I thought I would share that with youhere.

This pattern uses three colors. I used green, yellow and a print. I will call them colors A, B and Crespectively.

You will need to cut the following pieces:

For the center block: one 4 ½ by 4 ½ inch piece of color A andfour 2 ⅜by 2 ⅜squares of color B.

For two of the corners: one 5 by 5 inch of color A and one 5 by 5inch of color B.

For the other two corners: one 5 by 5 inch of Color A and one 5 by5 inch of color C.

For the middle side blocks: one 5 ½ by 5 ½ inch blocks of colors Aand B and one 5 by 5 of color C.

To make the center block:

Rights sides together. Alignone of the small squares on corner of the large square and sew the diagonal(best to mark this first) from the middle of one of the large square sides tothe other. Trim the outer part to ¼ inchand press the seam open. Repeat for allfour corners. Trim this snowball blockto 4 ½ by 4 ½ inches.

Snowball sub block: trimming the corners after sewing

Snowball sub block completed

To make the corner blocks:

Right sides together. Laythe lighter colored square on top of the darker (Colors A and B). Mark the diagonal and then mark a ¼ inch lineeither side. Make sure you account forthe marker width and needle width when marking and sewing so that your seam istruly ¼ inch away from the diagonal! Cutalong the diagonal and press the seam open. Trim the two half square triangles to 4 ½ inches square, making sure thediagonal seam ends cleanly at the corners. Repeat this with the blocks of colors A and C.


Corner block: diagonal and sewing lines marked.

Corner block trimming to 4.5 inches.

To make the side blocks:

Using the same technique as for the corner block, sew ¼ inch awayfrom the diagonal line using the 5 ½ inch square blocks (Colors A and B). Trim these two half square triangles to 5inches square. Lay the 5 inch square ofcolor C right side up and one the half square triangles you just made on top,right side down. Mark the diagonal thatruns perpendicular to the seam. Mark the¼ inch seam lines either side and sew. Cut along the diagonal and trim this quarter square – half squarecombination to 4 ½ inches square.

Marking the diagonal and seams for the side blocks.

Lay out the blocks according the pattern shown in thepicture at the beginning of this post. Sew the blocks together in rowsand then the rows together to form the blocks. Be careful to match seams and to sew just outside of the points asneeded. Trim the final block to 12 ½ inchessquare, making sure you leave about ¼ inch space at the outer points.

Here's what the row looks like:

Castle in the Air row

With respect to pinning, I have discovered a neat pin that makesthis much easier to do: Clover double pins. They are pricey, but you really only needthem at the places to be matched. Use regular pins for in between. I imagine you could go halfsies with someoneand still end up with plenty of pins. They are made of steel, so you really don’t want to hit one whilesewing, but they hold the match point firmly and totally worth getting.

Learning Experiences

2011-12-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

It is said that we learn more from our mistakes than oursuccesses. If someone says something wasa “learning experience”, they often mean that many mistakes were made along theway. Some births are more difficult than others and so it goes for quilts, itseems. Some of my projects have gone offwithout a hitch and others have been a real trial. My latest quilt is named Thorny Roses, becauseif I could screw something up with it, I did. It’s a gift for a friend. Shewanted compass roses and I love freezer paper piecing, so I decided to givethem a shot. Turns out even these roseshave thorns. I got a book about them butquickly realized that I could easily draft a rose that was well beyond my capabilitiesto sew. While the book does a good job ofexplaining how to design them, there’s no explanation of how to break theproject down into sewable pieces. After months of trying to make my design work,I ended up buying some patterns on line and then enlarging them to the size Ineeded.

The sewing went no better – the blocks didn’t quite come outto the size wanted, but I fixed that with narrow sashing and in the long run, Ithink that looks better than without. ThenI discovered a block that was mispieced, so I had to tear out several seams tofix that. At least putting on the border went well.

Then I start to quilt. All is hunky dory, but then I spy another part of one of the blocks thatI pieced with the wrong color. Oh well,too late and I am NOT starting over. Several times I run out of bobbin threadonly inches away from completing a pattern. The final straw came when I put in the final stitches on the borderquilting, flip the quilt over and discover that part way through some of thebacking had folded over. So I had totear out a bunch of quilting and redo that. I screwed up sewing the strips offabric to make the binding. I am using batiks and so the right and wrong sidesof the fabric are not apparent. Thus I wasnot consistent when placing “right” sides together. It took several tries to get it right. Sewingthe binding on was no problem, but when I sewed the beginning and endingtogether, I managed to twist one end, so I had to redo that, too.

It’s washing now. Igave it a double whammy of Retayne, so if it still bleeds I am going to cry andscream, whatever. No, I do not wash myfabrics first. My bad, perhaps, but Ilike working with unwashed fabrics better. Ah, I just took it out of the washer – looks great. WHEW!

Yet, despite all the goofs, this still came out nice and Ithink it will look great on her very large dining room table.


Thorny Roses top - 28"by 70"

Thorny Roses back

I discovered one very good thing during this project,however. It’s hard to hang on to alarger quilt while quilting on a domestic machine. I don’t want to use a hoop and I hate usingquilting gloves. I like feeling thefabric and I feel I have finer control without gloves. Diane Gaudinski doesn’t use them but makesher fingers more tactile through hand lotion. I am concerned that lotion could leave stains and I hate having stickyhands. Recently I bought a used book byNancy Zieman about landscape quilting. In it she shows using the rubber finger tips people use to turn paper orcount money. You can buy a box of 12 atan office supply place for under $3. They come in 3 sizes. They worked fine,but I didn’t like the fact that the tips of the fingers were covered, whichmakes things like using scissors or pulling thread up in the machinedifficult. So I cut off the ends. I find using one on the first finger and the thumbof each hand enough. I sprinkle a littlebaby powder on my fingers before putting them on – keeps them from getting allpruny. I can do all the fine motor stuffwithout having to remove them, but I can hang on to the quilt like I want. The only issue I see for someone else is thatI think they are made out of latex, which is a big problem if you have a latexallergy. I luckily do not, although mydad did and my daughter does.

Finger tips for better grip while quilting. The one on the left is as they come, the 2 on the right after cutting the tip off

So tonight my friend will receive the quilt as her Christmaspresent. Hope she likes it!

To any readers of my blog – hope your Christmas was joyous andmay next year’s quilts not be difficult learning experiences!

Printing PDF Files to Scale

2011-12-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

In various discussionboards I have encountered numerous comments regarding inability to print outpdf pattern files to the correct scale. I think the main reason is that people overlook a sneaky little thingthat Acrobat Reader does when you want to print.

First, don’t print thefile through your web browser. Somebrowser settings can interfere and cause the file to print to the wrongscale. Always save the file first. Usually right click and save file or savepage as does the trick here.

Open the file. Either click on the Acrobat Reader’s printicon or go to File and Print.
A window pops up likeshown in Figure 1 below.
In the middleof it is a Page Handling section.

I have pulled down the Page Scaling menu. Often Reader will default to Shrink to printable area. Notice the word shrink – that’s what itdoes. Always select None, as shown inthe Figure. Now print it out. Measure it several ways - it should be to scale.

Figure 1: Acrobat Reader's Print window. Note the page scaling. Make sure to select none!

Mitered Corners

2011-11-26T09:29:00.001-08:00

I love mitered corners on multiple strip borders, althoughbutted borders with cornerstones are nice, too. In a small table top quilt I am currently making, the mitered corners echothe corners in the quilt block itself

However, getting everything to line up precisely isn’t alwayseasy. Borrowing on a technique usedby Sharon Schamber, I have found an easy way to get the corners to match aswell as possible.

Sew your strips together.
Sew the longer side strips to your quilt using a¼ inch seam. HOWEVER, stop and start ¼inch from each end. Backtracking at eachend is recommended. Press the seamtowards the border or open, as desired. Leave a tail of at least 1.5 times the strip width at each end.
Sew the shorter side strips on, starting andstopping right at the point where you ended the sewing on the previousstrips. Again, leave at least 1.5 stripwidth tails at each end.
Lay one end of your quilt out of your pressingsurface.
Foldunder the top strip at the corner to form the miter, making sure thateverything matches the way you want it to – it may take a bit of futzing.

Initial positioning of the miter

Pressthis fold, using starch to make sure you get a sharp crease.

Iron in the crease

Foldthe top piece back and run a fine bead of Elmer’s or Glue Baste It along the veryedge of the fold. Lay the piece backdown and adjust it into place.

Add a bead of glue to the crease edge

Pressagain – this sets the glue.

Ithen pin the ends just to make sure nothing shifts when I move to the machine.

Open the top part to expose the crease and sewright in it, stopping (or starting) right at the corner where the bordersseams meet.

Open the fold and sew along the crease

After checking that all is well, trim the tailsto ¼ inch. Press the seam open – you aregoing to have to open the part that’s glued – spraying a bit of water will helpwith this.

Final corner

Autumn Star

2011-11-24T07:23:00.001-08:00

A few months ago Istumbled across a used book called Strips That Sizzle by Margaret Miller. I was intrigued by all the things you coulddo to create great illusions and color play, 2 things that attracted me toquilting in the first place.

Basically you select atleast 5 values from two color families. The values should range from very dark to very light. I selected browns and orange/yellow (okay, Iknow that’s 2 families, but it worked). You cut a sequence of variable width strips across the width of fabricthat range between 1.5 and 2.5 inches. Then you randomly sew a strip of each value together, going from dark tolight, to form panels. I wanted 6”blocks,so the panels had to end up no less than 7 inches wide – not remotely hard todo. You can use fat quarters or wholefabric width.

Taking a panel of eachcolor family (let’s call them A and B), you lay panel A right side up with thedark strip towards you. Lay panel B rightside down on top of it, again making sure the dark strip is closest toyou. Now cut squares (finished size plus1”). Leaving these squares together, cutthem diagonally – always make the diagonal in the same direction. It’s best to move the squares as little aspossible, so you don’t inadvertently rotate them. Now sew along each diagonal using a ¼ “ inchseam: you are forming Half-Square-Triangles. Eitherpress seams open or to one side, as preferred. Trim to the desired block size. Icut 7”blocks which I then trimmed to 6.5” blocks after sewing.

Now the fun begins. This is where owning the book is good:Margaret Miller does a great job showing you the possibilities and how theywork. It’s out of print, but Amazonshows plenty of used copies available and apparently it is a print on demand book. Visit her website as well.

I opted for a centralOhio Star pattern and as I wanted a rectangular quilt, I extended the top andbottom using some other placement strategies. The outermost rows look a lot like Attic Window.

I quilted mainly feathermotifs (see my previous blog about them).

Autumn Star: 50"by 64"

Close up of some of the quilting

I love the overall result and my daughter is now begging for one. It’s a great way to burn up stash. Some examples in her book show quilts thatused over 50 fabrics! You also can domore than one color family – look at more examples of her website.

Autumn Star is a gift fora friend and is going to its new home in Germany in a few days.

I Got a Cool Gizmo!

2011-10-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, I LOVE gadgets, especially if they really work. Unfortunately most don’t really live up totheir hype. Anyway, I am also alwayslooking for things that can be used differently than intended.

I wrote recently about blocking and squaring quilts. As I have gained confidence and efficiency,my quilts have gotten larger. While thelaser works really well to show you the way, with large quilts even thesmallest angle error results in large errors at the other end. Add that I have to cut 2-foot sections (mylongest ruler, not to mention the cutting pad) along the edge and errors onlyget larger.

Robbi Joy Eklow uses drop ceiling panels as large rulers tosquare up her quilts. They measure 2 ftby 4 feet. So today I went to Lowes tocheck them out. I was disappointed –they are pretty flimsy. I know myhamfisted self would break one in a heartbeat. They are expensive: over $20. SoI checked other departments. In thesheet rock cutting tools area I discovered a metal ruler 6 feet long! $10.50. After I apply the little sandpaper disks, I think it’s heavy enough tostay put. I can lay it along the laserline, slide the cutting pad underneath without it moving and cut a goodedge. I have, God knows, enough otherrulers to make sure the long ruler is laying square at the corner. Anyway, that’s my intent. I’ll let you know if it actually works asenvisioned!


My new 6 foot long ruler! I will use it to square the quilt I am currently blocking.

Fun with Feathers

2011-10-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started quilting – not quite 2 years ago – Ihave aspired to being able to quilt feathers. They lend elegance and movement to a quilt; they’re traditional if theyneed be but look great on almost any style of quilt. The variations seem endless as are the placeswhere they can fit. They can be the mainmotif or they can be the filler – whether of an area or of a border. They’re also hard to get right and take LOTSof practice. Even Leah Day in some ofher earlier videos lamented not being able to do feathers. Then after however many hundreds of designs, shestarted adding more feathers and admitted that practice was what made thedifference. Although there are countlessstencils and the like, feathers really are meant to be free handed and the organicaliveness of them comes through if you do them that way. I mark at most the central spine.

People whose feather techniques I most admire are DianeGaudinski, Karen Mctavish and Sharon Schamber, although the latter 2 do mostlylongarm. There are lots of videos andtutorials out there – one has to dig through them and try them all out to seewhat seems to work best for one’s particular style.

Feather sampler - the numbers are referred to in my discussion below

So I prepared a feather sampler (shown above) of all theways (numbered) I know and have tried to stitch feathers. It's obvious I am a beginner, but I am having fun with this.

Feathers 1 and 2 are donethe way Diane Gaudinski does them: each complete feather frond done separately. In number 1, you have to backtrack all alongthe feather back to the central spine before starting the next one. Well, as you can see, I have LOTS morebacktrack practice to do. In fact, Dianerecommends one use 100 weight silk thread so all the backtracking is lessnoticeable. I have some silk. It’s a dream to work with, looks great butcosts 4 to 5 times as much as Isacord, Mettler and Sulky threads I usually use. It would depend on the piece, whether I wantto pay that much for thread. In number2, you make each feather a short distance away from the previous one. Definitely easier although keeping the gapeven is challenging.

Another way to make feathers is to only backtrack over aportion of the top and then make a second feather before returning to the spine(#3). I think it looks better and it’seasier to do.

Recently I got a book called Hooked on Feathers bySally Terry. Instead of backtrackingover the top, you hook outwards and create the second feather partially aroundthe first. (#4). This is definitelyeasy, looks nice and is great for building confidence with feathers. The book is well done and gives some greatideas for variations, such as feather based motifs.

Most of the instructions call for making the spine from thebottom up and either breaking thread or backtracking down or echoing downbefore starting on the feathers. Toavoid all that, I start at just short of the top end of the spine and stitch tothe bottom. Then most people will stitchup one side and either backtrack down the spine or echo around the outside ofthe feathers – which I did in feathers 1 – 4. However, I have discovered you can do both sides at once: do one featheron one side and then the feather on the opposing side. That’s how #5 and #6 were done to show thathow the feather is created doesn’t matter.

Any straight edge can serve as a spine – you don’t have tostitch one. #7 and #8 show how you coulddo a filler design (I wobbled at the end of #8, because I was so close to theedge and slipped).

Finally, if you vary the feather shape into a spiral or aleaf, then you can create neat plant fronds (#9), which I can see using on quiltswhere feathers aren’t quite the right theme. I also did both sides at the same time on this one and backtracked overthe top of every other leaf.

I am working on a quilt for friend and have been trying outthe Hooked on Feathers approach (photos below). Despite many wobbles, it’s looking fine. Now, I am trying to figure out how to quilt the last rows and theborders. Maybe more feathers? Anyway, would love to hear from others theirexperiences with feathers!

Corner motif that uses "hooked on"feathers

Feathers in the inner star and one outer row. Leah Day's design Matrix Rays in between.

Fooling around with Bentos.

2011-10-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Bento blocks are one of my favorite blocks. Very easy to make with little fabric waste,there are so many optical effects you can do with them. I have made several, shown below. I am slowly working on a bedspread made ofthem and a variety of fabrics, including an oriental one. I’ll post pictures of that, once I get farenough along.

A while back Generation Q magazine posted a playdate withThomas Knauer to use 40 2 ½ inch by 2 ½ inch squares he was going to send. I was one of the ones chosen and received 40very random squares in the mail a few weeks later. When I saw them, I thought, “Oh crap, what amI going to do with these?” After sortingthem into color families, I decided that maybe I could make them into Bentoblocks – I had enough for 2 full 12”blocks with 4 squares left over. I was allowed to add solid colored fabrics asneeded. One block used the greens andblues in two of the 4 quarters and brown in the other 2 – see below. The other used reds and blacks. The alternate color was a variety of scrapwhite on white fabric.

Another thing I have done to good effect is the Split-9block. You create 9 patch blocks, butthen cut them vertically and horizontally to yield four new squares that canthen be arranged a variety of ways. Ihave made 2 quilts using this technique – pictured below.

So I thought, what if I split the Bentos? It looks like you could do a variety ofthings with them, but I didn’t really want to lose the Bento look. I cut the quarters diagonally from the centeroutward to yield HST’s, swapped colors and sewed them together. What you get is still more or less a Bentoblock, but not all the squares are the same size any more, which I think makesit look cooler yet. If I had anticipatedthe skewed block sizes, I might have been a little more careful matching thecorners within the larger blocks, but I think it still looks ok. I framed the whole thing with more white,using the last four squares as cornerstones.

I kept the quilting simple, but since I don’t sew straightlines free motion well and really suck at stitching in the ditch, there are quitea few wobblies. I used a Sulky variegated silvery gray and white for thecentral section and Isacord white for the border area. By quilting the diagonalblocks formed by the seams, it makes the whole thing visually more interestingthan keeping to the Bento itself.

Overall it was a fun exercise and a fairly successfulexperiment.

Free Motion Challenge

2011-09-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I entered Leah Day's Free Motion Challenge. I was so thrilled that my little quilt was chosen as 1 of 14 semi-finalists. After viewing the other 13, I knew I probably wouldn't be one of the 8 finalists. They were all so awesome. However, this morning I got an email from Leah stating I was one of 8! I am so surprised and happy! Below are some photos of my winning quilt. We had to use 5 of Leah's quilting designs - I used variations of her bubble and fern leaf designs. The fabrics are all ones I painted myself, except the dark green. However, it is also a hand dyed piece.

I want to congratulate my fellow finalists - like I said, their work was amazing and I cannot believe I am one of the winning group!

Seasonal Transformations 8.5"by 11"

Closeup of the quilting

Another closeup

My Quilt Philosophy: Musings

2011-09-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Leah Day posted a blog about why she doesn’t want to use along arm machine. I left a comment butstarted really thinking about things and realized that she touched anerve. So rather than hog her commentspage, I will expand on those thoughts here. Comments most welcome!

I started quilting 2 years ago and am self taught (itprobably shows). I stumbled onto Leah’swebsite early through the videos. ThankGod! Otherwise I might not have stuckwith it. Unfortunately I ran into some prettysnobby, snotty people from the get go. I have since met some great quilters whoare encouraging and willing to impart useful criticisms and solutions. I am exploring and trying almost everything Icome across. I have joined some Internetbased bees and swaps, which force me to do and learn things I might haveavoided and “met” some cool people from all over the world doing so.

One lady I know calls herself a “topper”. She is upfront that she likes to create thetop but doesn’t have the least desire to quilt. She does beautiful work and is enjoying herself. Other people I have met aren’t all thatthrilled with the top creation but can’t wait to get to the quilting part. Me? Ihave set out to learn it all as well as I can. I want to be able to piece, appliqué, whatever, to create a top, be it aplace mat, a blanket, a piece of art. Both the traditional as well as theimprovisational styles appeal to me. Then I want to enhance it with embellishments such as paint, beads andof course, lovely threads. I considerquilting part of the enhancement process. I still lean towards making sure I can wash the quilt – I like the extratexture from the shrinkage, but have made one quilt that shouldn’t be washed. I like it all – I like the variety of thework and the ability to work on whatever I want to when I want to.

No matter how you do any craft, you have to sink some moneyinto it. Decent fabric and thread isn’texactly cheap, although bargains can be found. Good cutters, scissors, needles, etc., also aren’t cheap. So even if doing everything by hand is theleast expensive, you do have to invest in decent tools if it’s going to besuccessful and most importantly, FUN.

When I started quilting I still had my 25 year old ElnaStella. It had had a rough life sewingoutdoor gear, kid’s clothes, curtains, you name it. But when I had to be sure of a ¼ inch seamand when I started to try to quilt with it, the poor thing shrieked. So I gave it away and bought a newmachine. I set a budget, but quicklyrealized that I was 25 years behind the inflation curve. I am also of the opinion that you should notskimp on tools, but buy the best you can reasonably afford. You will save money in the long run. So I researched and looked and tested for along time and finally settled on a Janome 6600. It cost about twice what I had initially set out as a budget but lessthan half of the equivalent Bernina or Pfaff. I am still very happy with my choice. I sew on it almost every day. Yes, it has its quirks, but I now know how to deal with them. It is still a very forgiving machine. I wish I had bought a new machine like thisyears ago.

I then went through all my sewing tools and threw most ofthem out, even my pins. I had bought newquilting pins and they were so smooth and glided into the fabric so well, Irealized how burred my old pins were! Ialso replaced my threads, many of which were at least 10 years old and verybrittle. Some had even faded!

Making tops has its challenges, but that part is closer to theregular sewing I have been doing than quilting. Quilting itself was a whole new area for me. During the course of learning this craft, Ihave considered short arm versus long arm. A work colleague builds long arm frames as a side business. He could give me a really good deal. So I played with long arms every chance I got– at shops, at quilt shows, etc. Ididn’t like it for a number of the same reasons that Leah articulated well:

The machine is big – you have to decide thelargest quilt you would want to make and buy that size frame. So if, like me, you know that very fewbedspreads are in your future but more place mats, lap quilts and wall hangingsare, this isn’t going to be for you. Theonly place I could put it is in my basement.
They are really expensive. Even with my discount from my friend, I wouldhave to pay in thousands. He quicklyagreed that you would have to do a LOT of quilting or take in work to make thisinvestment worth it.
Even machine rental isn’t cheap. It averages about 75$ to 100$ per day in mytown. Because of that and the time toset up, you would have to be ready to finish your work in 1 or 2 days. Otherwise it would rapidly become tooexpensive. That interferes with beingable to quilt when you have time or when you get an idea or when you areinspired. How are you going to practiceso you can make the best of your time and get the quality you desire?
The long arm approach is very different fromshort arm. In long arm the machinemoves, in short arm, the quilt does. Itis valid to say the long arm acts more like a brush or pencil, but when I haveused one, I felt like I was given a huge fat crayon – it would take a lot ofpractice to gain the ability to do fine detail (see the problem with affordingthat discussed above). I usually can spot long arm work: the patterns tend tobe larger and the lines farther apart with relatively long stitch length. Short arm work tends to have tighter designsand shorter stitch length. I think thisis an artifact of the difference in set up. In long arm you have a larger work area which would lead to moreexpansive design, while on short arm your focus area is smaller. The short arm work appeals to me more. Yes, it also takes a LOT of practice, but Ican easily fit in to my busy days. Ikeep a couple of small quilt sandwiches near my machine and when the spiritmoves me, I play with ideas or practice the latest of Leah’s creations,etc. No big set up, no big expense. Big payback in gaining proficiency.

I admire people like Karen McTavish, who are masters at thelong arm. They decided this way ofquilting is for them and have invested the money and time to become proficientat it. I equally admire people like LeahDay, Diane Gaudinski, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Ann Fahl and Robbi Joy Eklow, whoall quilt on a domestic machine. There is amazing hand work out there. Each quilter decided what she/he liked andhave put in the time needed to gain the desired proficiency. That’s what it is about and all their work isto be admired.

The other day I was in a quilt shop that specializes in longarm. While I was drooling over somebatiks, I heard a machine going full bore in the back room. After 15 minutes non-stop, I started towonder how anyone could go for that long with no stops. So I peeked. The long arm was quilting away, but the “quilter” was sitting off in acorner, her back to the machine and looking at her Facebook page. Sorry, to me, that’s not quilting. It makes me wonder about quilts entered inshows where the top was created by one person and quilted by another (usually,but not always long arm). Did that otherreally do the quilting or just program the machine? With short arm I don’t see that happening.

Anyway, I am going down the path I want to: exploring new ideas for creating tops andlearning to quilt with my Janome. Icouldn’t be happier.

Leaf Pile

2011-09-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Photo 1: Leaf Pile

As noted two entries back, Leaf Pile is an outgrowth of asmaller challenge quilt I made. I wantedto explore both the leaf theme and Robbi Joy Ecklow’s puzzle quilt approach. Itmeasures 25”by 31.5” and has taken over 7 months to complete. Mostly I have been staring at it, trying tofigure out how to quilt it and afraid to start. Creating the appliqué collagehad been so tedious and I didn’t want to mess it up. I finally said, “Screw it – just go.” And itwent!

Initially this was supposed to have a differentbackground. I had taken Ellen Lindner’sInstant Art Quilt course on line and thought I could adapt the torn andrearranged fabric approach for the background. But it just didn’t create the look I wanted – I’ll use that backgroundin some future project since the concept certainly works. After auditioning both light and darkbackgrounds, I settled on a light one. Ialso decided to just sew down the appliqué edges with a straight stitch andthen quilt the vein patterns as they exist for each species, because there isgood variety between them. In thebackground I quilted the occasional small outline of maple, oak and aspenleaves and then echoed around them a bit before filling the rest with MacTavishing. The border was alternating leaf outlines thatI echoed around once. (Photos 2 and 3). I was after texture and enhancement without overwhelming the appliquédarea. It’s more subtle than the photosshow.

The appliqué leaves were quilted with a variety if almostmatching colors by Isacord. The background thread was a cream Isacord and theleaf outline in the border was a variegated yellow/tan by Sulky and echoed in abrown Isacord. I like the sheen thesethreads have.

Overall, I am happy with the result. I learned a lot and would like to do more ofthis.

Photo 2: Border and background quilting detail

Photo 3: Applqué, border and background quilting detail

Gnomes and Shrooms

2011-09-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am first generation in the US. My folks came over at the end of WWII – my dad really was one of those German rocket scientists. They stayed 25 years before returning to Europe, but instead of going to Germany they went to Switzerland. Tough place to have to visit – NOT!

Anyway, I grew up with picture books that featured Zwerge, i.e. gnomes. My daughter Tanya got those same books, so she has always really liked them. Red capped mushrooms are big in those books, too. The whole garden gnome thing is big over there – some people are serious about them and others (like me) think they are such marvelous kitsch (or as Tanya says, “Cheestastic!”) I even have one, but don’t dare have him outside – he’d get stolen in a heartbeat. (Photo 1). Couldn’t believe it, when I saw him and of course, I just had to buy him. He has a special tag and the company Heissner that makes these have a whole series that are collected – like beanie babies or Steiff animals. He wasn’t cheap.

Photo 1: "Frechdachs" (scallywag)

Tanya received some really cool fabric that was themed on the work of Alphonse Mucha (a Czech artist who is synonymous with the Art Nouveau movement). She got enough for a regular pillowcase, but the pillows she uses are the same as mine, which are typically used in northern Germany – they measure 30”square. So I had to add borders, etc. to create a large enough pillowcase. I didn’t want to mess up the fabric, which is out of print, so thought to make another case first. That’s when I found the gnome and mushroom fabrics. I made a pillowcase from those plus some red (Photo 2).

Photo 2: Gnomes and Shrooms 30"square pillowcase

It turned out well, so then I made a case from the Mucha fabric plus some other fabrics for the borders (Photo 3). Tanya got the cases for her birthday and she was delighted.

Photo 3: Mucha 30"square pillowcase

I had a bunch of the gnome and mushroom fabric left over, so I made a 32”square baby quilt from it – it’s the one I used to illustrate my last blog entry about blocking. The random bits of red are from the pillowcase border that I mitered – no sense wasting perfectly good HST’s! It was fun and it gave me a chance to work on some quilting patterns. (Photo 4)

Photo 4: Gnomes and Shrooms quilt, 32"sqaure

I recently bought a book “Free Motion Quilting Made Easy” by Eva Larkin that takes a different approach to FMQ over the more freewheeling designs most think of. She takes the basic square (up to 4”) and divides it vertically, horizontally and diagonally. Often the seamlines from the piecing provide most of the necessary lines, or you can mark them or you can eye ball it. Then using a combination of 8 basic shapes you create a variety of more formal patterns. I really like the look – there are times when something like this is more appropriate. In Gnomes and Shrooms I used this style in the corner blocks (Photo 5) – more for practice than anything else.

Photo 5: The brown blocks quilted using Eva Larkin's style of FMQ

The rest of the quilt uses a variety of more doodling type patterns. The center is a sun, the brown around it uses Leah Day’s woven line, then nested arches in the next yellow band, in the next brown, a matrix design and then finally open swirls that are echoed in the outermost yellow area. (photo 6).

Photo 6: Quilting on Gnomes and Shrooms.

The final quilt should hopefully please some baby and his/her parents!

Blocking and Squaring

2011-08-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned Ann Fahl’s book “Dancing with Thread” before. In it I was also introduced to the importance of blocking your top and your quilt prior to squaring it up. I have used her method ever since, although I have read about others.

Why block? Well, sewing of any type will distort fabric. So the blocking gives you a chance to get the fabric back to its original shape (to a certain limit) and to get everything to lie flat. If I have done complex piecing, I might block the block or a section of blocks. After quilting, where there is even more draw up, I will certainly block.

So here’s how to do it. You will need one or more of the cardboard cutting mats that most big box stores sell for anywhere from 7 to 10 bucks a piece. You’ll also need some sturdy sewing pins and perhaps a tape measure. While you can use the lines of the cardboard, depending on how crooked the edges are, you may need to double check the measurements.

First trim up the quilt to within ½ inch of what will probably be the final edge. While you don’t need to be super precise, don’t be too sloppy either. Lay out the cardboard on the floor close to an electrical outlet. Lay the quilt on top of it and align one of the edges (whichever one looks straightest) with a line on the board. Pin this edge down to the board by inserting a pin with the head slanted outwards about every 4 inches. This edge should be pinned to the final dimension the quilt was supposed to have, but don’t force it, if it requires a lot of stretching. At this point I sometimes will pin the opposing corners to the final dimensions and then ease/ slightly stretch the adjacent sides and then finally the opposing side. This may take a bit of futzing and measuring. When done the quilt should look right and be flat. (Photo 1)

Photo 1: A quilt pinned to the cardboard, ready for the steam treatment.

Now take a fully loaded steam iron set on high and hover about ½ to ¼ inches above the quilt. Go all around the quilt several times – the surface will be damp. Do not touch the quilt with the iron – you are using the heat and steam to relax the quilt into shape. This also makes this technique fairly safe for embellishments that cannot take heat. Hover higher, if you must. Let the quilt dry several hours to overnight. When you remove the pins, nothing should move! If it does, do it again.

Once the quilt is dry, it’s time to square it up. Here a larger ruler and a tape measure come in handy on larger quilts. Robbi Joy Eklow (video) uses a plastic ceiling panel that comes a size of 2 foot by 4 foot. I intend to try one of those. She recommends using a laser pointer to show you the way, once you have determined what the dimensions should be. It works great! (Photo 2) Setting the first line in a bit tricky. You have to determine which side is straightest (that’s where a border seam is helpful) and get that trimmed first. Then everything else should be squared to that. After that I set up my laser marker, place a rotary cutting pad underneath the quilts and start carefully cutting along the red line. So far I haven’t screwed up a quilt doing it this way. Occasionally I will cut once just beyond the final line, recheck things and then cut a second time. Depends how wonky the edge and everything seems to be. You know your quilt is squared correctly if the diagonal measurements are equal!

Photo 2: tape measure and laser marker help define where the trimmed edge should be.

Once you have blocked and trimmed, you can rest assured your quilt be true and lie flat after adding the binding.

You can block a block, set of blocks and a top the same way – just be really careful not to stretch any exposed biased edges! This will ensure that the quilt will probably need little coaxing to lie flat after quilting. Unless I am blocking a subset of blocks that will still be pieced, I don’t trim any edges until after quilting.

The other cool thing about the cardboard – it’s great to use when pin basting a quilt. Pin down the backing to the board, lay the batting on it and smooth out and then add the top. Now you can pin away, knowing that the pins won’t scratch any surface underneath, especially if you decide to lay the cardboard on a table. You can place multiple boards together – I use some masking tape to hold them together.

Quilt Challenge

2011-08-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to write about something else, but yesterday I got an email from Leah Day that congratulated me on being a finalist in her Transformation Quilt Challenge. Needless to say I am stoked!

Leah Day is one of the quilters I follow – her tutorials, approach to quilting and her free motion quilting designs have been most inspiring. So when she announced the challenge to make a 9” by 11” quilt around the theme transformation and using at least 5 of her quilting designs, I thought I would give it a shot.

The adage to beginning writers is to write about what you know – I would say that’s true for art quilters as well. I am a forester by profession and I love trees, forests, leaves, flowers. I have now made several quilts using leaves (Photos 1 -3), so I decided to express the wonder of the ever changing seasons as displayed by changing leaf colors.


Photo 1: Spring Leaf Dance. The background material is fabric I painted.

Photo 2: Maple Leaf Runner. Experimenting with Ellen Lindner's double reverse applique technique.

Photo 3: Persistence. Made in an online class with Ellen Lindner.

Another quilter whom I admire is Robbi Joy Eklow. In her book Free-Expression she has a tutorial on making a type of quilt called a puzzle quilt, which consists of overlapping objects. The overlap is a different color from the two (or more) objects. Instead of vases and bowls she shows, I elected to use leaves.

So I started by making one quilt using commercial fabrics (Photo 4). The leaves are aspen leaves I collected, scanned and printed out. The result was nice, but lacked something. I have been painting fabrics for a while and decided to try again using fabrics I had painted. It has a much fresher look and that is the piece I submitted. Photo 5

Photo 4: Seasonal Transformation using commercial fabrics.

Photo 5: Seasonal Transformation using my painted fabrics.

Since then I have made a third piece, tentatively called Leaf Pile. (Photo 6) This quilt is poster sized and I used leaves from white oak, red oak, sugar maple, tulip poplar, Boston ivy and aspen. These leaves all grow in the park I live on or in my yard. The fabrics are a mix of commercial and painted. I haven’t quilted it yet – still deciding exactly what to do. It was much more involved to create this piece, but very fun and I like the results so far.

The other finalists entered some beautiful pieces and only half will be selected as winners, so I am not getting my hopes too high. But just to get a nod from Leah is already a huge boost!

Photo 6: Leaf Pile. Yet to be quilted.

Some thoughts about piecing

2011-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

I am in a couple of Internet based bees and swaps. It’s my first time joining something like this and overall it has been fun. In the bee, I sent out material and instructions and the members sent me back the finished blocks. I have to now assemble them into a quilt. They also made some border blocks for me. (Photo 1)

Photo 1: My bee block and partial border blocks

What has surprised me is the range of seam allowances and the use of thread. One block looked dirty when it arrived – but the reality is the contributor used dark purple thread, regular sewing weight, which I assume is 30 or 40. The “dirt” was the purple color burning through the lighter fabrics. Where the seam allowance had been pressed open, the thread really shows. Every reference I have read has stressed using neutrals for piecing. I use white, cream, light gray or light beige for piecing. I use black, if the fabrics are very dark. I have grown to love Mettler’s Metrolene (now called Seralene), which is a polyester 120 wt thread. (Photo 2) That in a 70/10 topstitch needle and a stitch length of 1.5 yields a very strong but almost unnoticeable seam. Yea, if I have to tear it out, it takes some patience, but a good quality seam ripper works with it just fine.

Photo2: Seralene (metrolene)

So many places want you to use a scant seam. WTF is a scant seam? Anything open to interpretation makes consistency a problem. I like Sally Collins approach: cut fabric using the entire width of the ruler lines, which will account for seam thread width. That combined with Seralene, and stuff just comes out dead on, if I have paid attention while cutting and sewing.

Speaking of the seam allowance. I went to school for a while in Germany. My sewing teacher there drummed it into us that a machine in good working order will sew straight. The sewer is the cause of crooked seams. So I handle everything with a light touch. A ¼”presser foot really isn’t enough. In order to make sure I feed the material in correctly, I have taped 2 seam guides to my sewing area using ½”masking tape. (Photo 3). The inside edge of the left hand piece is the needle position, the inside edge of the right hand piece is at ¼ inch. The black line is at ½”, the outer edge of that is at ¾”. That way even large pieces or angled pieces are lined up and fed correctly. I press my seams open: the results lie flatter and matching is easier. That’s part of the reason for the very short stitch length. However, I still have a problem with the seam ends opening, so I make one or 2 backtrack stitches. They aren’t hard to open, if needed, but hold everything closed until the next seam is sewn. Not every seam gets pressed opened. On narrow borders I tend to press towards that border to make it stand out. When using very light colored fabric, I also tend to press towards the darker fabric.

Photo 3: Guide lines for sewing using masking tape.

Sharon Schamber stresses that most iron surfaces are over padded and make it hard to really press seams correctly. She recommends making your own ironing surface, which I found easy to do and cheaper than commercial ones. My surface measures 2 feet by 4 feet – not too wide but long enough for a normal width of fabric. I first laid out a piece of canvas that was about 2”wider all the way around than the plywood. Over that came a piece of cotton batting the same size as the plywood and on top of that I laid a piece of 5/8”plywood (You can buy these pre cut at most larger home improvement stores.). I then stretched the canvas tightly and stapled it to the plywood. When it gets too messy with thread and bits of fabric, I use one of those red lint remover wands. If the canvas gets too gross after a while, it’s easy to replace. Don’t use plywood less than ½” thick as it will warp from the steam and heat of the iron. It fits perfectly on my work table and can be quickly put away, as my sewing room is also the guest room. Photo 4.

Photo 4: My work table with homemade ironing surface.

What I have figured out so far about quilting.

2011-08-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

In June Leah Day wrote an excellent blog on her thread preferences. I pretty much agree – I love Isacord. It holds tension well and has a nice sheen that enhances the design. I also think Sulky falls into this category and their selection of variegated thread as well as the ability to get smaller spools for when you only need a bit of a color is great.

The bobbin thread is for me still an issue, sort of. Leah recommends using the same thread in the bobbin, preferably the same color. It helps with the tension issues, any thread pop ups are unnoticeable and the machine likes it better.

However, that doesn’t always happen. I currently am working on a quilt that is very different in back than in front – it’s meant to be reversible. The person who commissioned the quilt wanted me to use cotton thread. Ugh. It’s been a royal pain, not to mention the prodigious dust bunnies that collect in the bobbin area; I have to clean it out with every bobbin refill. It shreds and if I vary my speed (machine or hand) the tension reacts poorly. I am hoping that washing will help even things out a bit. In fact I have come to hate cotton thread for quilting – I have tried Guttermann, Essential, Robison-Anton and Mettler and I just have a hard time making it behave consistently. Maybe I am still too much of a novice. I also hate the lint it produces in the bobbin area.

I really like to use clear thread in the bobbin. Ann Fahl’s book Dancing with Thread suggests this option. It allows you to change colors on the top with no color change on the back. It does not show through the front. It is thin, so a spool holds a lot of thread. Because it is a bit stretchy, you may have to increase the top tension. I have a Janome and I have to crank the tension to about 6. However, if you are using a dark thread on top and the quilt backing is light colored, it’s still really hard to not have thread heads show on the back. It comes as polyester and as nylon. There’s some debate about whether nylon will become brittle and discolor with age, but since you can get a clear polyester (Sulky makes a good one), why bother? That way, you are using the same composition of thread in both top and bottom, which helps with controlling tension. I talked with one lady, who used to service Bernina sewing machines. She said that nylon is tough enough to actually wear grooves into the bobbin case! Not so with polyester.

Superior makes bobbin thread that I have had good luck with and Isachord and Sulky do fine as bobbin threads.

There has been some debate about whether polyester will cut cotton. There is a great discussion that debunks this as a myth.

Another must have or at least must read resource is Threadwork Unraveled.

Needles are another consideration. I have pretty much settled on using topstitch 80/12 for most of my quilting. Occasionally a 90/14 topstitch is warranted and a 70/10 can be used with very fine threads (like if you were to use clear both top and bottom). The topstitch needle has a deeper guide groove, so shredding is usually not an issue. Sharps are also good. I haven’t had much luck with universals. I just use topstitch needles for everything including piecing. I change needles about every 2 to 3 bobbins worth. Here’s how I stash my various sized needles that are still good:

This is a stick on magnetic strip labeled with sizes. My sewing platform slides over this and keeps the needles out of the way until needed.

Finally the big bugaboo: Tension. You just have to experiment. I am coming to the conclusion that you need to always do some quilting on a test piece every time you start, with every needle change, with every bobbin refill and with every top thread change. I also think that weather changes (humidity, etc) cause the thread to behave differently.

What to do about the ends? Well, I have seen everything from just clipping them to meticulously knotting and burying them. After having had to rip out a fair amount of quilting so I have seen what seems to hold and what doesn't, I have settled on starting and ending with some very small stitches that lock the threads. I pull the bottom thread to the top both when starting and finishing. I then just bury the ends – rarely will I knot. I use a large needle that has a loop of thread tied to it.

The needle with thread loop and my second helper needle. I use small embroidery scissors to clip the loose ends after they have been pulled through.

I insert the needle exactly where the threads come out and exit about 1 to 2 inches away and pull it through until a small amount of the loop remains. I use a second needle to help me pull the thread ends through the loop. Then I just pull the loop the rest of the way – the ends are pulled along. I tug on them and clip them off. I have seen self threading needles suggested, but for me, the ends got shredded too often. I like the loop system better.

With every piece I quilt, I learn more. I can see the progress and hope that it continues!

Free Motion Quilting Fun

2011-08-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

When I first started quilting, the quilting part was the most daunting aspect. I had hand quilted one piece - took forever. However, machine quilting seems to be all over the place - some very formal and other completely haphazard. I think I am some where in the middle, although my skills level leans to haphazard!

My biggest inspirations have been Leah Day, Robbie Ecklow and Ann Fahl. I study their work and of course Leah has had this fantastic website to show you all the cool designs you can do with videos on how to do them.

I have discovered that place mats are a great way to practice and try out new designs before committing yourself to a larger project. So this morning I finished quilting a place mat. I tried out Leah's Spiral Paisley, some McTavishing, a feather and some echoed C's (I think another one of Leah's designs.)

A detail of the back of the place mat to show the quilting.

For the border I came up with a spiral inside a clam shell. While I only did a single row of it, it can be expanded into a filler. Below is a practice piece. I still haven't quite figured out how to elegantly go to the next row, but I'll work on that. You start by making the spiral and echoing back to the beginning and then doing the clam shell outside of the spiral.

Spiral Clam shell

Here's the final result - I used a variegated thread by Sulky that went from purple to green.

The final place mat.

I have a long way to go to get really good at this, but it is coming along and I love it.

Frixion Pens Evaluated

2011-07-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Frixion pens by Pilot have been showing up in quilt stores, usually priced well higher than the 6$ per three-pack you can get them for at Staples or Office Depot. The way they work, they flow on like any ink ball pen, but when heat is applied (like from the friction of the eraser or from an iron) the ink magically disappears. Sounds too good to be true.

It might be.

When you read the fine print, the manufacturer states that the ink will go transparent when the pen gets too hot, but temperatures below 14° F will revive the ink. Aha! So sticking whatever you wrote on in the freezer will revive the ink. Yes, it does.

BUT, if the ink is ultimately washable there’s hope. Well, it is and it isn’t washable. I conducted a series of tests with a test quilt sandwich. Here are the results.

The sandwich had plain white fabric on one side, a god-awful print on the other and some scrap cotton batting in the middle. I sewed around the edges and then across two times to form three equal sized rectangles. All the rectangles were marked with several colors of Frixion pens. The left most square had nothing more done to it. The middle was starched prior to marking it and the right most square had starch applied after marking. Each rectangle was labeled with a Frixion pen as such. I did the same on the print side, but used a Frixion highlighter so it would stand out more. (Photo 1)

Photo 1: Prepared sandwich

I then ironed both sides of the quilt and the ink disappeared. I then placed the swatch in the refrigerator along with a thermometer. After a few hours at 38°F, the ink returned on both sides (Photo 2). Thus, the temperature does not really have to be very cold for the ink to show up again.

Photo 2: After being in the fridge at 38 degrees F

Sticking it in the freezer at 8°F (Photo 3) makes the ink come back faster and darker.

Photo 3: after being in the freezer at 8 degrees F

I put the swatch in the dryer on high by itself for a long time. The ink was gone from untreated rectangle, but still very visible on the other rectangles. Dryer heat is not enough. (Photo 4)

Photo 4: after being in the dryer.

I washed it along with a load of regular wash. When I pulled out the swatch, the ink appeared gone from the untreated and prestarched rectangles but was still very visible in the rectangle that had starch applied afterwards on the white side. On the print side, all the markings were gone. I sent the swatch through the dryer with the rest of the clothes. When I pulled out the swatch, all the marking was gone.

Then I stuck it in the freezer again. The markings that had showed when I first pulled it out of the wash were back. (Photo 5)

Photo 5: After washing, drying and recooled.

Conclusions: it’s a great pen that makes a fine line and flows nicely onto all but the darkest of fabrics. Unfortunately it becomes visible in what I would call normal winter weather and needs to be ironed to make it disappear again. It does wash out if you don’t apply starch after marking, but if you are creating an art quilt not intended to be washed you need to be certain it will never get cold. I would be really hesitant to use it on a quilt I was considering for a show. I have no idea if different fabrics and dyes might also interfere with its ability to be washed out. I also noticed that the orange color was more persistent than the black. The other colors may also have different characteristics, as do the highlighters.

It’s a good idea that needs more work. I think I will stick to using chalk.

Foundation Piecing with Freezer Paper.

2011-07-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

I sort of view foundation piecing as a necessary evil: it's the only way to piece certain types of patterns, like stars and compass roses. I love both. What I don't like is the fabric waste and with the traditional style, needing to make a separate template of each partial block and then tearing off the paper. So I was delighted when I ran across using freezer paper in the November 2009 issue of American Quilter magazine. It eliminates the need for multiple templates and for tearing off the paper. Fabric waste can be minimized with some careful prep.

Preparing the template.
Be sure to use freezer paper with a Plastic and not true wax coating!

I cut pieces of freezer paper to the standard 8.5 by 11 inch paper size. I flatten the pieces and then print the template using my computer printer onto the dull side of the paper. I have had no issues with the ink coming off onto the iron. Of course you can trace, although freezer paper is sometimes hard to see through. You will be able to use the template multiple times - I have used them through 8 iterations. So, yes, you may have to make more than one set if creating a larger quilt of many blocks, but probably only 1/4 as many. This saves time and money in the long run. I also think it makes the blocks more consistent, which is helpful when sewing them together.

If I trace, I tack down the edges of the paper over the template master so keep things from shifting. DO NOT iron the freezer paper onto the template master: the paper will permanently stick to the freezer paper!

I now look at the template and decide if certain pieces should be oriented with fabric grain (recommended for anything with outer block edges), what colors go with which piece and a minimum size of fabric to cut. The last is helpful with larger pieces that might have to be oriented with fabric grain. I make sure that the measurements include at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch beyond the block element across the widest dimension each way. I write this directly onto the template. If in the course of piecing with the template the first time, I find my measurements off, I record those changes onto the template.

Photo 1: Determining Colors, fabric grain and measurements.

Once that is done, I am ready to start piecing. In my example, I have two partial blocks, labeled A and B. I cut them apart and piece each separately before sewing them together to form a quarter of the total compass rose.

By having the measurements determined ahead of time, I can cut strips of fabric and them subcut them into the needed pieces. For really small pieces (like pieces 1, 2 and 5 in part B in Photo 1) I will use scraps.

The hardest thing to get used to in foundation piecing is placing the fabric right side DOWN!

Piecing
1) Piece 1 is easy: make sure it extends at least 1/4 inch on all sides of the element outline numbered 1, place it right side down on your ironing surface and iron the template onto it. (Photo 2)

Photo 2: Starting the first piece.

2) Now carefully fold the template along the line between elements 1 and 2. Crease it hard with your fingernail the first time. The next time you use this template, it should readily fold along this line, so be picky the first time you fold! Trim the exposed fabric to 1/4 inch seam allowance. (Photo 3)


Photo 3: Trimming the seam allowance.

3) Here is the part I have the most difficulty with and which I have yet see explained anywhere. Often pieces are at an angle and if you don't position the piece correctly, it will not cover the template element the way you need it to. The following seems to work well.

Place the next piece face down and put the template over it to ensure that the fabric extends at least 1/4 to 1/2 inches beyond all the edges of the template element. If grain is important, that needs to be oriented, too.
Now fold back the template and mark where the seam allowance of the previous piece hits the next piece (Photo 4). Add a registration mark that goes across the exposed seam allowance and onto the new piece.
Trim the new fabric piece EXACTLY 1/2 inch beyond the marked allowance edge. Extend the registration mark across this section to the cut edge. (Photo 5)

Photo 4: marking the allowance edge of previous piece onto next piece.

Photo 5: 1/2 inch trim beyond allowance edge and registration mark.

Now put the right sides of the 2 fabric pieces together, matching the registration marks. Keep the foundation folded back and sew right along the fold edge, trying not to catch the paper. Note in Photo 6 that I use my 1/4 inch foot to help with this. You need to sew at least 1/4 inch before and after the actual line.


Photo 6: Sewing the pieces together.

4) Fold out the template to make sure the next piece is postioned correctly. Fold it back again. Set your seam and press the piece out on the right side to ensure there are no folds (avoid the wax) and that you have a flat seam. Now flip the whole thing over and iron the template over the new piece. Photos 7 and 8.

Photo 7: Pressing the right side.


Photo 8: Press template over new piece.

5) Continue the same sequence of steps until the entire template is filled. Now trim the outer edges. I like to extend the pieces along the outer edges beyond the usual 1/4 inch mark until I have finished the block, in case something goes wonky. Seams that will be sewn immediately are trimmed to 1/4 inch.

6) After completing a whole unit, carefully peel off the freezer paper. Remember there are a lot of biases and you don't want to stretch the unit out. Press and starch this unit thoroughly.

7) Now sew the units together. Matching diagonal seams is a bit tricky. Mark where the 1/4 inch seam will cross the seam in each piece and insert a pin through those points to hold them together. Place one or 2 pins on each side of this point. Pull the holding pin. If you spread the seam open, you should see a sharp point. If not, adjust as needed. Do this for each point along the seam. Then pin the rest of the seam, easing as needed. In Photo 10 below, you can see where this was done in 2 places. I like to press seams open, but you may prefer otherwise. Now you can trim the partial block to size. Photo 11 I recommend a final pressing and starching.


Photo 10: Unit seam sewn, matching points. Look for the sharp V for properly matched points. Note all the matched registration marks from the piecing phase


Photo 11: Final quarter unit for block.

Since you have not sewn through the freezer paper, the templates can get used over again. No tearing out and picking at paper, etc.! :-)) With subsequent uses, it does stick less tightly but folds readily along all the lines. If you try to use one set for each full block, that block should be consistently pieced. I would be hesitant to switch to fresh templates within the same block, in case there was a slight difference in printing or tracing.

Please let me know if this is helpful or if you have additional suggestions!

I love freezer paper!

2011-07-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am a new quilter - finally started quilting the end of November 2010. I am still finding my voice - I like traditional piecing, art quilts, especially landscapes, and am exploring foundation piecing and applique and everything in between. I have always sewn, knitted, crocheted, embroidered, crafted. But quilting has really hooked me.

In the course teaching myself this art and exploring various techniques, I have decided that freezer paper is indispensable. So in the course of coming blogs, I will show you all the ways I have come to use it. Meanwhile, here's a great link about some of the ways to use freezer paper

I also use quite a bit of glue. Right now I am working my way through a bottle of Glue-Baste-it, but think I'll refill the bottle with Elmer's and give that a try.

If you have anything to contribute to these mini-tutorials, please feel free to comment - I figure we are all in this together to learn a wonderful art!

It's a start

2011-07-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

I never thought nor intended to blog, thinking it a bit narcissistic. However, since I have started quilting, I have found the blogs of others who show how they are doing projects, very useful. So I'd like to return the favor, so to speak. Maybe I'll discuss climbing and my other interests as the moment moves me. Anyway,in the next few days, I intend to show something about paper piecing using freezer paper. Stuff I couldn't find on line, but that I have figured out on my own and that seems to work well. If that helps someone else, then this little experiment will have been worth it!