Blue Improv finished

      Well, almost. I just need to handsew the facing on and put on a sleeve. This is going in a Fiber Art show on March 1st. I started this in the Hudson Valley workshop by Rayna Gillman. Had a lot of tears in this because I could not catch on to how to do this. At home, I put it together. I put it away and then a couple of days ago, quilted it on my lovely Singer 301. I added a facing instead of binding. Good thing I had put my tutorial on my blog so I could go back and look at how to do it again.
      I need to block it or something because it is pretty wavy now. It is 35" x 36".

 I used Isacord variegated thread- blue to light blue

Detail of quilting

Detail of quilting

Quilting on back, facing yet to be sewn down

Detail of quilting

Mail mostly quilted

      Using white Isacord, I quilted all the white fabric in You've got Mail. I am debating how to quilt the color envelopes. I was thinking straight stitching up and down on the body and across the flap. Hmm.

Cat in the woods

    After painting class, I put my snow scene (based on a photo from the Thanksgiving quilt retreat), on a chair. Unfortunately it was the favorite chair of Cassie and she climbed up as usual to nap. It was a big humorous, like she was in the woods. 
   

The painting looks washed out here from the flash, but you get the idea

     Last week was my baby girl's birthday. She is 28. Yikes, how did that happen? She loves the ADK, so I made her a scene on her card. Batik scraps, heavy weight interfacing, free motion quilting, variegated blue Isacord thread, metallic thread, yarn edging on cardstock. Wouldn't a whole quilt look great like this?

Baby quilt panel, bag, and blooms

    My daughter's friend had a baby girl just before Christmas, but I could not get to a quilt until now. I had bought a panel so it would go quicker. Ria picked out the colors and panel. I am not a panel person, but I can see their usefulness in time crunches. Hate the licensed character ones, but hey, that is just me. I added the borders and used Isacord rainbow thread for the FMQ that I had bought through Elizabeth. It is just wonderful to work with and added that punch to the panel and rather subdued colors. It is all bound and ready to go in the mail as soon as I figure out how to pack it.

I used a gray in the bobbin for the back

The front

      I finished the bag for the Comfort Quilt 4 patch Black and white quilt posted earlier. It is ready for the card, book and waiting for a recipient.

Identical pocket on the inside

    Last week, we had a blizzard in Buffalo. Today 30s and fog. So, I am especially delighted to have Christmas cactus blooming now. The peach ones have just opened, the reddish ones are some reblooming.

New Quilt and old machines

    Today, I speed made a comfort quilt for a 9 yr. old girl undergoing aggressive cancer treatment. I got an email from someone requesting this quilt for a girl in another city. I did not think I could do it. However, I remembered I had my mother sew strips together from a jelly roll I bought at Jelly roll fabric during a sale. I had her sew 4 strips together, light and dark alternating. She can handle straight sewing. I pulled them out and if I cut them into 8 1/2" blocks, it gave me 20. I arranged them in the split rail design and used the leftovers to make a strip of 2 1/2" squares for the top and bottom. I had some purple that I cut into 4" strips to border, and then a blue for the sides. It looks custom I hope. I quilted 4 heart shapes meeting in the center of each block with Glide. The borders I quilted with hearts in pink Isacord. I kind of made up designs for the scrap strips and side borders also in pink Isacord. A pink binding done with the glue method, sewed to the front, flipped and glued to the back, sewed from the front in the ditch with invisible thread, YLI, and Aurifil in the bobbin. I put pockets on the purchased tote bag and made a quilt card. I just need to get a book for her. I use When God and Cancer Meet by Lynn Eib for the adult bags, but have not found a good book for children. Any recommendations? I think I will try and find a kid Chicken Soup for the Soul quick.

   Besides getting the 201 up and running, two people brought me machines to revive. Ruthy brought me her grandma's White 639 which had a shredded belt and frayed wire to the controller. A guild member brought me an inherited Kenmore 158.1650 which also needs a belt and was frozen up. Soaking with Tri Flow has it moving. So, the order for parts is out to Sew-Classic and when it comes in, hopefully these two will be done and gone before the holidays.

Kenmore 158.1650 with yucky masking tape to get off, why do they do that?

White 639 soaking in the oil

Just the Binding, then it is Hot Flash!

    I have been quilting like crazy to get ready for the guild show Oct. 4th and 5th and next week I am going to the Central New York Treadle Conference, so I have been in high gear. All Hot Flash, pattern from Strip Therapy book, must be the first as there is no number on it, needs is the binding which I am making right now. I made it from a jelly roll, but I did not like all the colors, I added a few, but I should have taken out the white one. Each row has a different Leah Day kind of leaf, all Leah Day patterns from her blog. Thank you, Leah! I just love batiks, but hand dyes are getting to me now, especially multicolor ones. The binding is going to be a yellow orange. Sewn on the Singer 301s, Isacord thread for quilting.

Sans binding

Border pattern

Leaf patterns per block

Pushing ahead, one stitch at a time

   My quilt guild is having its show Oct. 4th and 5th (once every three years) and I have a couple of quilts to finish quilting (Isacord Thread) for it. Quilting bigger quilts is hard on my neck and shoulders, so I take it in small chunks of time. I try to do other quilting things in between to keep fresh. I would love to sit and quilt these until they are done, but I would need some serious traction and medication in order to move.
  One quilt I'll show here is the Heart Bargello that is almost quilted. I am working on the outer border. I mostly use designs from Leah Day's patterns. I bought her book, page through it to find something I like, look up the video on her blog, and then quilt away. The border is something I made up. So here is the progress of the quilt. The other quilt I am working on is Hot Flash from one of the Strip Therapy books; I have to get it off the machine to photograph it. I have one Singer 301 with the Heart Bargello on it, another with Hot Flash, and another to do my piecing. I just move around like musical chairs.

All but the borders quilted

Closeup of some Hearts quilting

Closeup

Closeup

 

 

Further Denim Lily Developments

   I have continued to work on the Denim Lily Quilt that I showed earlier. After sewing it all down with invisible thread, I used a variety of Isacord color thread. I tried using Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin, but it did not work very well. Using a neutral Isacord worked much better. I trimmed all the seams carefully but of course, did cut into the hand dye fabric in a couple of places. I will have to repair that with fusible I suppose. I think I have all the color quilting on there I need or want but will give it a couple of days on the design wall before I add the border or binding. I can add a denim border or just bind it. Not sure. Although I love, love denim, this project was difficult removing freezer paper and the ravels of the denim edges. I think it needs to be rethought on my part if I am to do it again. Once again, I based it on buying Hollis Chatelain's pattern for the instructions, design is my own. Pieced, zig zagged on the 401, quilted on the 301.

Quilt the size of a fat quarter

Denim Lily started

    When I visited Quilting by the Lake Tour Day, I saw a class by Hollis Chatelain, where she sews denim to a multicolor back fabric, quilts it, and then cuts the lines between pieces revealing the multicolor. I asked her if she had a book or video on it, but said I had to buy the pattern. I hate making an existing art pattern, but I bought it because I love denim, multicolor hand dyes, free motion quilting, and landscapes. I read it a number of times, but still am not real clear. I drew my own pattern from one of my photographs, bought some jeans at Amvets, washed and cut them up, and started. After I drew the pattern, I had to trace it in reverse and number the pieces. Then I had to trace it on freezer paper. I made sure instead of using just one color line, I drew hash lines in multiple colors to make sure I could  line up all the pieces. Thanks to a class with Pat Pauly, I was able to know to do that.
   Once the pieces were ironed to freezer paper and cut out, I had to zig zag them together side by side with invisible thread. Then all the pieces had to be zig zagged together. I used my wonderful Singer 401. The next part was awful. I had to take out the paper which of course was sewn in. In the process, a lot of the seams came apart. I would have to do that differently somehow next time. Then, I layered the denim, the multicolor hand dye, the batting and the backing together. She wrote not to spray baste, but I have no fingernails these days and could not do safety pins. So I spray basted. I thought I need to stabilize the piece, so I sewed straight stitch with invisible thread on top, Bottom Line on the bobbin around every edge at least 1/8" away from the raw zig zag edge to every piece. Now, I started to add the quilting lines and realize that I do not have enough colors, so I had to agonize deciding and place an order for some Isacord. I am waiting for the thread to continue. The pictures are my steps up to where I basted it all together. I will take some other pictures as I resume. By then, I will have calmed down from ripping paper and trying to understand the directions.

The Drawing

Reversed drawing with numbers

Pieces cut out and some sewed

Partly assembled

Sections together

Denim together pre-ripping paper

New Baby Quilt

  This baby quilt is for a former student who just had a baby boy. I used a panel piece from Eric Carle in the center and sewed dark/light strips at the sides. I used some wonky star blocks that I had made as a trial to see if I could sew these after reading Gwen Marston's book and looking at tutorials on a couple of blogs. I love the wonky stars, but they are time consuming. I would love a whole quilt of them, but I don't know if I have the patience for all those little blocks. I wanted the quilt to be rectangular so I used a piano key border, sewing longer strips in multiples, then cutting to the 61/2" length and sewing the multiples together. I love the colors and sparkle. I certainly hope the mom and baby feel the same way. This was quilted with Superior So Fine 40 variegated thread. I had mucho tension problems with it. After this quilt, I switched back to Isacord and no issues on the next quilt. No matter how I adjusted top and bottom, changed needles, no consistent good stitiches. This was pieced on one Singer 301 and quilted on another.

The Full Quilt

The Center Eric Carle Panel

The Center with the Wonky Stars

Detail of quilting