Remembering: Under the Quilt I grew up knowing that when you were going to a “dress up” or public event proper ladies wore nylon hose. I learned about hosiery when playing under the quilt as my grandmother and her friends quilted at the country church. …
I belong to guilds in three states and probably enjoy show and tell as much as anything. Each guild varies in how show and tell is treated and when it appears on the agenda. Regardless of when it comes in the meeting it deserves the …
Internet connections have been frustrating this past week! I’m glad I have a smart phone so that I can use it to get the basics but connection on it is also not the best so I look for excuses to go into town so I can access the pictures on facebook. Email seems to come through pretty easily on the phone but not on the computer. And sending pictures on the computer takes a lot of patience even though I compress them. Well, enough complaining.
I am working on the Blue Ridge landscape to commemorate our trip along the Parkway last year. We still have such pleasant memories of that trip in our airstream, the people we met, the sights we saw and the music we heard—especially the Kruger Brothers at the outdoor concert at the Blue Ridge Music Center. Back to the landscape–the background was pretty easy with the gray blues of the far ground and the darker green of the foreground. I want to feature the beautiful flaming azaleas in the bottom right corner along the rock wall that was a favorite sight at nearly every scenic overlook. I would love to hear some suggestions for how those might be portrayed. I have some batik fabrics that meet the color requirements but I want some of the blossoms to be dimensional and some just in the background. I have some ombre tulle that is a good color match for the flower. The azalea has five petals so I could use a circle folded into quarters and then gather along the curved edge (five in a row and pulled tight) but am open to other ideas.
It’s Finished!! I said that was gong to be my mantra for the first half of 2015 because I have several items to be finished. While most everyone I know that quilts has unfinished projects some of mine are growing into their teen years. Today …
February Block of the Month You Are My Sunshine This block was inspired by the month of February—Valentine’s Day, anniversary of my parents marriage and of several of their siblings and probably many others out there. It is named for my parents song, “You Are …
How did you make those branches? On a wall hanging that I posted recently there was a question about how the branches were made dimensional. It is a very simple technique. I cut brown toned batik into bias strips. Length really doesn’t matter because you can join as you wish to make the branch your own. Holding each end twist the strip as tight as you want it to be for the diameter of the branch (kind of like twisting your hair with your finger). You can see in the close up here that a more loosely twisted wrap gives a larger diameter. I used a zig zag to secure the branch but have also used other decorative stitches as the situation dictated. For thinner branches a heavy weight decorative thread was used in a simple stem stitch.
The flower was a circle folded in quarters, basted along the curved edge to form one petal. Without cutting the thread additional circles are attached to add as many petals as desired. After 5-7 petals are on the thread pull up the thread to gather the petals into a circle or flower shape. For a different texture and color variation I used an ombre tulle. Because I used tulle I took several stitches on top of each other to secure the beginning leaving a tail for tying a knot when ready to gather the petals into a flower. After adding as many folded circles as desired pull the thread tight to form a circle, knot to secure, and add a button or yo-yo center. My initial circle was about 3 ½”—I used a glass for a pattern.
I really love the look of the tulle and will be making more of those for a garden scene.
The Curious Quilter When people view my more artistic quilt designs they sometimes ask how I got the idea or how I knew to use a particular technique. Usually I shrug my shoulders and say “it just came to me”. And that is the truth—but …
The use of linen and lace has become obsolete for most dinner tables and few make their own fresh flower bouquet to grace the table but somehow both continue to hold a place in my heart. (At least the romance of the …
I still like to thread baste to prepare my quilts for quilting, especially when I am in my small space at our winter home (I make mostly small quilts). I made a hard foam folding board (48” x 13 ½”-54)” that hides under the sofa and comes out when I have several things ready for basting. I can lay it out on the bed, turn it for accessibility to all sides, pin the backing to assure it is straight on grain and smooth before layering the batting and top. Yes, it is faster to pin or spray or fuse and sometimes I use those methods but I use basting time to study the quilt. How do the fabrics and colors interact to create the design? Would different values or styles of fabrics yield a similar or different result? What type of quilting will complement the pattern design? Free motion or walking foot? What color(s) of thread might I use? I was probably supposed to think about those things before starting the quilt. I do feel like I get a smoother backing and I haven’t tied up my pins if I don’t get to the quilting immediately. The only downside for me is the small callous on the end of my finger—a thimble might help that!
Project pictured is a bed runner, 28” x 84”.
Many years ago my father-in-law chided me for having three sewing projects all in various stages toward completion but none finished. It was his belief that one did not start a new project until the last one was finished. How could a person work on …