Kay, Chapter 2

Sujata, could you publish a detail of that quilt? It really looks like a window with so much light shining through. Gorgeous.

Well Kay took me out to lunch today for my birthday. When I went to pick her up I got to see the newest quilts but first thought you might like this additional idea of what to do with the scraps from trimming:



As usual she's been busy. This quilt is made from an old linen dress (the brown part:


And our local quilt shop is sponsoring a dog blanket event with people submitting little quilts which will go to dogs at the Humane Society after they are shown (you can't quite tell but the black and white binding is a print with bones):


Here's one where Kay is trying lots of squares and possibilities... quite handsome (I'm calling it the red cross quilt):

Thomas' quilt

Just thought I would post this picture of the quilt I made during my Gee's bend workshop teaching days!
Read all about it here!

Half-log Cabin with Vintage Fabrics (more or less), 75"x85"

A charter member of the QA Guild has allowed me to shop her 40 years of garage sale fabric collecting. That led to the quilt, which was inspired by a similar antique quilt in Kaffe Fassett's book, PASSIONATE PATCHWORK. Lee Ann had tried this, but she felt strongly that vintage fabrics were needed to pull it off. A few stash fabrics found their way in too; but then my stash is becoming vintage.

Scrappy Eagles, 2001, 77"x76"

Pattern adapted from one in ROOTS, FEATHERS AND BLOOMS, by Linda Carlson, AQS, 1994.

First major quilt I did after retirement in October 2000. Hand appliqued and quilted. It pretty well cured me of those forms of expression. Took forever to find fabrics, and decide on them. I've gotten over that too.

The Eagles are holding batons, but sad to say they look like cigars.

Post script to the Gwen Workshop:

Wow Buffy. Your attention to detail, as usual, knocks me out!

Here's a little PS. I took a piece I made a couple of years ago to the Gwen Marston workshop to get her advice on what to do with it (see bottom left of first photo). She (and everybody else) thought it looked too much like a certain famous quilter so she advised I cut it up. I did. I interspersed black squares and black strips, but now when I look at the photo I guess I should have just sewn them all together. Ah well, live and learn. On to the next.

Susan McCord Block/Quilt, about 20" square

Pattern in SUSAN MCCORD, by Barbara Brackman, Shauna Christensen, and Deb Rowden, SunFlower Pattern Cooperative, 2004

Susan McCord is one of my favorite quilters from the past.

This is done with the machine applique method pioneered by Karla Menaugh and Cherie Ralston. I have a new interest in this method since I discovered InvisiFil thread at Sew Expo 2 weeks ago. I tried it out on the cat applique, that Bonnie posted from the Gwen Marston workshop, last week. It works great, and comes in 30 colors. www.wonderfil.net It is a 100 wt 2 ply poly and comes in 30 colors. Full disclosure: not paid to recommend this thread, although the rep did give me a couple of extra spools of other threads to try.

The reason the quilting shows so well, is that I took photo outside, at sundown. The quilt is flat on the deck, and he sun is hitting it horizontally.

Buffy's Ruth B. McDowell workshop quilt, July 2004

When I need a creativity boost, on the eclectic use of fabrics, I pull out Ruth's books. Might be good to take a look before your shopping trips to the thrift stores.

Inspiration or source for this was a picture of a daffodil in a garden catalog. This is daffodil season, rejoice!

It's not a sunflower. Haven't done that yet. Visually reproducing the depth in the trumpet wasn't in my ability.

Bonnie at Gwen Marston Retreat!

I arrived at the retreat in Sisters with a bunch of old clothes--shirts and a Laura Ashley dress from 1980. I went for "liberated squares" as well, fitting in the nice details from the yoke of the dress. Then I noticed that the label of the shirt said "Port Authority" which seemed the perfect addition for a quilt made while hanging out with a bunch of Seattle-ites. These guys are really fun and all very focused workers. It was a great 2 days away from the routine!!

Nifty Quilts at Gwen Marston Retreat...

Nifty Quilts began with the idea of an homage to Sujata but there were some kinks. Gwen suggested cutting the pieces up, and then things got rolling!!!!

Tina & Mary at Gwen Marston Retreat!!

Tina and Mary both jumped on the "liberated squares" bandwagon, to good effect. It was awfully fun watching these pieces grow...once again we hope for a finished photo!

Buffy at Gwen Marston Retreat!!

Buffy arrived at the Gwen Marston retreat in Sisters with a piece of applique she was just finishing up (motif from a Dover book on Indian and Chinese design). She jumped right in with Gwen's liberated triangles and began building. We had the fun of watching the piece grow over the two day workshop and are hoping for a picture on REBELS when she's finished up!

Gwen Marston workshop, Sisters, OR, March 8&9, 2010

Bonnie acquired this old quilt, which was long and skinny. She cut it in half, and reassembled it. She and Nifty Quilts came up with the cheddar/pink border.

Note Gwen's great sweater, which she received as a gift from Japanese quilters many years ago.

Bonnie on the right helping Gwen hold her show and tell.

Classroom at Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR

Sujata's Wheels

Sujata asked me:
I am currently working on a wheel quilt that appears as a spiderweb block but it is not. I looked through the books I have in my book case but did not find any thing that is constructed quite like this. I am hoping if you can help me.

I can't find it any where so she must have invented it. I looked in my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and BlockBase and I I found several kaleidsocope or spider web blocks with 8 arms but hers has 12.

Mystic Maze from Nancy Cabot 1933

Cobweb in a Robert Bishop Book

New Discoveries in American Quilts

There is a wheel design with twelve spokes but they don't extend to the edge of the block.

Wheel of Fortune, Oklahoma Farmer Stockman about 1930

Poinsettia, Rural New Yorker 1935

It also made me think of the odd construction above---It's a hexagonal block divided into 12 slices. The one I have is from the 1960s but the pattern was in print in the 30s.

I found this block with 8 spokes on this blog
http://elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com/2009/09/bright-kaleidoscope-quilt.html  

and this terrific 1940-50s version on an online auction, I think.

So Sujata can name it and claim it as her own invention, don't you think.

Bricks Baby Quilt with Kaffe Fassett applique center

Easy idea. Made strips of 7"x3" rectangles, and pieced together with half block drop, more or less, it doesn't matter. The rectangles were cut by my friend and mentor, Lorene Chaffee. She didn't feel they were working and gave them to me. Her parting shot was to to put a little applique in the center. I put the rectangles up, and removed a few high contrast ones, and put it together. Lorene is a romantic is style. She uses and loves florals. Hence it doesn't look like, and really is not my work. Made in 2006. Applique pattern from Kaffe's Museum Quilts book.

My Famous Scrappy Wheels

I just had to smile when I saw your email!

So, here it is!

I just noticed that it's missing the red centers. But this is a better picture than the one on the other blog!

Thinking solids...

Love that madras plaid Buffy--what a nice quilt with the florals and plaids...still in love with that pink madras plaid that was part of our ugly challenge a few years ago. And the pinwheels Sujata--don't they become sort of dimensional? They kind of begin to look like little "tuffets" (??)

Well I'm gearing up for the trip to Sisters Sunday and two days of solids--ugh. Not ugh the trip--too much fun to hang out with a bunch of quilters--but ugh the solids. I'm thinking of banishing all the colors and going for the white and muted stuff and maybe one color only. Advice???? Oh a quilt without plaids???

On the design wall

I can't stop making these circles! After making my super scrappy quilt I want more! So here I go again! Only this time, I am cutting the patches from the yardage.

I must admit that it is not as fun as string blocks because the element of surprise is gone! When you string piece it is so rough around the edges and when you cut your templates you are left with so many beautiful surprises! I miss that here.

Also, we all know that when we start selecting fabrics from the yardage, we start over thinking. 
I am not sure if I will continue to do this or sit down make strings to piece them!

This is what's on the design wall today!

Roberta Horton Workshop, on Yukata cloth, 2006

Some of you have asked to see some of my older quilts. So I'll use them to fill in now and again. This was great workshop on using single shape and value placement. It has male(geometric) and female(floral) yukata cloth, plus Roberta Horton plaids (remember those, light weight hand, but work very well visually), and a touch of Madras plaid. I used Sulky 12 wt. Blendable thread for the embroidery. That must have been the beginning of my downfall into becoming a thread junkie. I'm fond of that Madras plaid. I bought it at the Guild Store (a feature of the guild show) for $2/yd. It was on a Walmart bolt marked $1/yd.

Kay Again...

A few weeks ago I posted about Kay's first quilt ("Ripples..."). Today I visited her to see the SIX quilts she's made since then!!! Gad the woman is obsessed. They're all really nice but this one particularly so...


I like the details of the water and sky and bricks...

Seattle World's Fair Vintage Panel Quilt

Patty found this at a garage sale and bought it from the maker. Looks like the blocks and border were added much later, as that red/pink background looks newer.

Another view of my "treasures"

Buffy & Nifty Quilts go to Sew Expo 2/28/2010

We stopped across the street from the fair grounds at the Trains. Fabrics, etc. tent. This is a good source of vintage fabrics. I got the planes and sailboat fat quarter, and 3 3/4 yds of the ugly Alexander Henry Hawaiian. They are shown here with some of my Hawaiian stash. The large piece is outrageous, but I love the orange-red.

Reynola Pakusich Quilt, QA workshop, January 2010

Would you have guessed this was by Reynola?

Patty H. Show & Tell, Rebels, February 24, 2010

Front and back of Patty's quilt. Pattern by Cara Gulati for Doodle Press. Patty has the largest stash of African fabrics yet seen (by me). She put it to good use with this 2 sided quilt. The Sun motifs show better in the photo and in the distance, than they do in up close. Lisa pointed out the the fabrics on the back all contain people images, except for the strip with animals. I'm wondering what other genres of fabrics would work with this pattern, which is pieced. Maybe large floral prints, or Hawaiian shirts, or plaids, stripes, and polka dots???

Reynola pointed out that she had a hard time making this quilt. It was way out of her soft-blended-peaceful-comfort zone. That wasn't how she said it, but my translation. All of the Rebels felt they liked her quilt with this pattern best, of course.