A Great Resource this Weekend

The Quilt Show has unlocked a few episodes for this weekend, and one in particular is great for hand quilters. The blog post with links is here. In episode 802, Alex demonstrates how to mark feathered wreathes without a stencil. By learning this skill, a quilter will be able to create these designs to fill a space of any size. I’m watching as a refresher and may pull out some paper to doodle, because practice makes perfect.

One item that stuck out to me was the yardstick compass which Alex demonstrates. This is something I do not own, but want to add to the toolbox. I have several other compasses, but this one will let me do large circles. Omnigrid makes a set that sells for $9. This tool originated for use by contractors, so I am going to check out the tool store to see if I can purchase locally. Then again, if I wait, it would make a good stocking stuffer at Christmas.

News from the studio is slow. I have not been able to get in there this week like I had planned. Fortunately for me, it is a holiday weekend in the States, so I hope to get quite a few hours at the frame while DH is home. My goal is to roll the quilt again. I love starting a new quilt and when the end is approaching the momentum picks up to see the finished project. It is so easy to get bogged down in the middle portions. I’m resolving to push on and get to those final rows. But until I can sneak away, I am going to watch more quilting tv.

Laundry day for Laundry Basket

It’s laundry day in our home and I thought I would pre-wash my fabric for the Spring Bouquet quilt. I am not normally a “pre-washer”, but since this is all batik I’d better just to be safe.

Most quilters are cautious of bleeding fabric. It is disastrous to spend copious amounts of time on a project only to have dye migration ruin it. Most fabric will have some dye release without being a true bleeder, one that runs and runs no matter how it is treated. With a low water washing machine (mine is front loading), the fabric gets wet but does not have enough water in the machine to suspend the dye. It tumbles through a small amount of water verses being immersed completely, and on my machine there is no mechanism to manually change the water levels. Thus more risk of dye transfer with fabric that would otherwise behave. I’ve been battling this with our clothing and did not want that for this quilt.

So I dunked the pinks and purples in hot water. Sure enough, some dye release into the water, so all the fat quarters are getting a Retayne bath. Retayne is a dye fixative, so it should stop any issues and thus far everything is working.

Reds and purples are done and the yellow/brown group is waiting on me to wring it out. Then the blues and greens will have their turn. These children’s pants hangers are great for indoor air drying. Just be sure to hang by the center of a side instead of a corner so the fabric does not bias under its own weight. After drying, each piece will be pressed and ready to use. I am air drying the fabric because I am not interested in preshrinking, just colorfastness.

Filling in

I have a few appliqué quilts in queue that I have not put into the frame because I was getting bored with a grid or hanging diamonds as a fill. So I stumbled upon this design and decided to show how I mark it. It was introduced to me as Baltimore Grid. I’m using paper to illustrate.

Start by marking the quarters of the block diagonally. The lines will be quilted. Then divide into quarters by marking the horizontal and vertical halves. These are for reference only.

Begin marking diagonals as illustrated being careful to not cross the midline of each side. I am marking 1″ lines parallel to the center diagonal.

Turn and mark in the other direction. It creates arrows, chevrons, or triangles depending on how it is described. This shows one half marked every inch and the other marked at the half inch for comparison.

I like this because it fills the space nicely. Is quick to mark and stays true to the 45* because I am marking each block individually. It will also quilt up a tad quicker because it has half the lines of a grid. Here are two blocks side by side to show an overall effect. Now I am excited to grab a new top, because I added this tool to my toolbox.

In the middle of the night

This week has been short on sleep. The deadline for this tee shirt quilt is rapidly approaching, so I’ve been burning the midnight oil to make progress. Three more horizontal lines need to be run across the surface before it gets turned down again. Only three more rolls after that, so the end is in sight.

The kids have also not been sleeping well. My two youngest have been waking me up nightly. I have a rocker in one of their bedrooms and will sit with them until they are asleep before returning to my bed. If I try to read on my IPad, I tend to fall asleep in the chair, so I pulled out the hexagons to complete during the night watches. I can almost do them blindfolded, so I don’t need a bright light and busy hands mean I am not nodding off. It’s also not complex which it a good thing for a sleepy momma.

I started this quilt almost five years ago and it is halfway done. The plan was to English Paper Piece a queen sized quilt top seven by nine rosettes. Four rows are assembled, while I have enough single flowers for two more. Most need a cream round before connecting with a green path.

This has been my drag around project with pre-kitted baggies in my purse, coat pockets, car glove box etc. I started with 2 jelly rolls and two charm packs of Moda Aviary by 3 Sisters along with yardage in cream and green. It gives a pretty cottage feel.

My plan for quilting is to quilt concentric rounds from each flower center. It measures around 90″. I’ll keep the scallops but use a knife-edge facing instead of a real binding to finish the edges.

I’m hoping I have not lost any kits so I can finish as I intended. This week alone I have put together three rosettes. I need to cut cream patches today and have it ready to go for this evening. I never dreamed that sleep depravation could be so productive! This could be finished “overnight”, in a rather ironic sense. Instead, a more realistic goal might be adding on those two rows to reach 2/3 complete. Guess it will depend on how much sleep I lose in the weeks ahead.

Compare and contrast

I just came back from Paducah and was in Houston two years ago. If I had to pick between the two, I choose Houston. Here is why:
1. More entries at Paducah stuck out to me as based off commercial patterns that I could recognize verses Houston. I’m sure this varies year to year. Don’t get me wrong, there was still a large portion of original art.
2. Only one venue in Houston while Paducah has activities all over town. (I was impressed by all the shuttles routes running from hotels and in circuits around town. We drove because shuttles do not work with a large stroller and a child who has had enough. It was easier to park in Paducah than in Houston.)
3. I think Houston has a better class selection: all day, half day, evenings, and lots of teachers. I was not as impressed by the overall selection at Paducah. Most were all day and fewer instructors involved.
4. When I was at Houston, there were more commercial venders, pattern designers. Paducah had more local quilt shops who rented a booth for the week. So in Houston I knew I could find my preferred needles, for example, at the manufacturer/distributor booth verses hunting in every vendor and still not finding them.
5. Houston divides the convention center in half. Quilts on one side, shopping on the other. Paducah co- mingles venders and exhibits. It’s great marketing, but sometimes I do not want to dodge shoppers to study the entries.
6. Houston is open for extended hours. Paducah is 9-6.
7. Either one is a great experience and I hope to eventually produce a quilt that can be exhibited at both venues.

More Paducah musings

I did take an all day class with Barbara Burnham on Baltimore Appliqué. I love intricate appliqué and this class taught me several tricks. For example, not marking at all on the fabric, using glue stick, and burying thread tails. It has been a while since I did freezer paper on top so that was a great refresher as well as making skinny bias stems. Not just one method, but a dozen.

I was in and out of class to feed the baby, so I know there is content I missed. It was a valuable experience. Here is a tip from Barbara to share with other appliquérs: if the class has a kit then bring your own background. Keeping a consistent background allows class blocks to be tied together into a large project. That was her method for this quilt made over several years.

For more of her work, visit her web site here. . She has a book published by AQS titled Baltimore Garden Quilt. I did add an autographed copy to my collection of books.

Next major stop was

It is a big, warehouse styled store. Nothing cosy like a LQS, but the selection is unparalleled. To practice my new appliqué skills, I grabbed this kit

It is Spring Bouquet by Laundry Basket Quilts (Edyta Sitar). The kit is for classic appliqué instead if the new laser cuts. Sorry I can’t see the value in pre-cut fusible. I’m too traditional.

I also purchased a kit for a throw for my living room. It is from 3 Sisters Double Chocolat line. One from Robyn Pandolf’s Peppermint and Incense line almost came home too, but the gal in front of me grabbed the last one. Eventually I will do a quilt in double pink.

Why kits? It was not my intention at all, but with the baby, crowds, and cutting requirements, I could not spend an hour choosing fabrics. These are beautiful and I am wanting to jump in, so a good find.

Another stop was at one of the five Quilt in a Day sights. Eleanor Burns was doing live shows at the fair grounds, but I did not try to watch one. The baby would not have tolerated the noise. So off to the barn we went.

I found these two batik fabrics to fix my sisters wedding quilt.

I made this top for her and still do not have it quilted. I am going to replace the red and narrow the sashing so it is not so visually heavy.

It’s not the best photo, but it gives an idea. These are NY Beauty blocks set on point.

Another purchase ( do I need another project??) is fabric for a baby quilt. My kids are getting a cousin in the fall and this baby will have a special quilt from Auntie. I’m thinking basic pinwheels, but it is subject to change.

There were several items that I was searching for that I did not locate or sold out, so I may mail order these. We also did not make it around to all the venues with vendors. Baby just had her fill of crowds, and I shot my wad.

Next post – traveling with baby and food.

Home again, home again

As the rhyme goes, to market to market to buy a fat pig. Well I went to market, am doing jigs because I had a great time, but no pigs were purchased. Instead, a mountain of fabric came home with me. Before I show off my treasures, lets talk quilts.

As always, there were so many quilts, and the rules on putting up photos are restrictive. So if you would like to see the winners, stop on over at the AQS webpage or find their YouTube videos. Congrats to Karen Kay Buckley for her win with Fiesta Mexico. Renae Haddadin did some spectacular machine quilting so the back is something to behold.

Here are some things I can share from the Rotary show. The theme this year was signature quilts. The background quilt in my last post was from this exhibit.

I love pink and brown as a color combination, so this example jumped out at me. I love to examine these quilts as they give insight into the ordinary quilt maker.

This quilt was amazing in its simplicity. From around the 1890′s, it’s square in a square blocks are striking. Indigo, double pink, and a black and white shirting, thin cotton batt. The back is one print seamed with an honest patch in one corner using the same fabric. Hand quilted and machine bound. It almost came home with me, especially since provenance indicates it is local to me. Funny how quilts travel. PA to OK to KY.

I spent a lot of time in the Egyptian quilt exhibit. I have a lot of respect for those people who are entrepreneurs or make a product for a living. These men started at the age of twelve making appliqué quilts. The speed is incredible, but necessary when finishing pieces feeds the family.

The color choices in some remind me if the Midwest Amish quilts

I watched the demonstration for a while. It appears that each work does begin with a pattern, but at the same time, I watched as changes to motif were made freehand. There have been several recent articles published that detail methods and give background. Just “google” Tentmakers of Cairo.

Note to Bonnie Browning (if she ever stumbles upon this blog), it would be a visual feast to see the Esprit Collection beside these quilts. The color sense would tie these together while the methods would juxtapose nicely.

Next post will cover classes and shopping.