The Rebels Celebrate Corduroy Appreciation Day!

The Rebels challenged themselves to use this corduroy in a quilt.

Here are some of the items they made!

Buffy made Chinese Coins.

Dawn made this bag.

And it's reversible!

Roberta, perhaps the most rebellious of all, made this INSTEAD of  doing her gardening.  She calls it "Rebel in Fall."

There's the challenge fabric, hidden in the leaves she was SUPPOSED to be raking.

Cindy was on the road, so didn't get the challenge piece, but she made this from a thrift store find and a pair of her husband's jeans.

Our brand new member, Pam, got into the spirit too!

She even included a zipper!

Buffy is our fearless leader when it comes to corduroy!  She made this quilt several years ago in a class with Gwen Marston.

Another corduroy beauty by Buffy, also made in a class with Gwen some years ago.

For other Rebel challenge corduroy quilts, click these links!
 Miki, Mary, Victoria and Nifty

POWER SUIT challenge

This was my Power Suit Challenge quilt.   We were given a bunch of tailor's materials, and asked to make something that conjured up POWER SUIT to us...  I took it literally, and focused on the Materials and choices you make when you get a custom suit made... Cuffs, collars, buttons, tailoring stitches, basting, measuring etc... I crammed it full of stuff... Fun challenge.. The show of quilts will be traveling to Long Beach and somewhere else... Guess I should know that huh? See ya all soon! - Victoria

Cindy is home with new vest

Once again my "Wheel" is on the design wall.

Last time I worked on this quilt was in September,.2010. You will see why one should not take this long to finish a quilt!

This wheel started out from the leftover wedges from another quilt. There is a big hole in the middle that needs to be covered!

I had added some confetti and some strips to finish the quilt as a wall hanging in Sep. 2010.

And now more than a year later, with more scraps added to it, I feel that it lost it's boldness.

Should I add more of those bold strips to it?  This image is very close to how all the pieces fit into each other. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Cindy's thrift store find

Previously blogged that Cindy was collecting these tourist-focused, linen towels to make a quilt. This summer her husband biked across the US to raise money for the Lung Association. Cindy followed along with truck and Hobo trailer (think very small). She, of course, stopped at quilt shops and thrift stores on the way. She found this piece which is already on its way to being a quilt top.

She claims she paid $2 for it. That would be a bargain price for 8 linen dish towels!

Lady Bug panel quilt top, 56" x 64"

Vintage panel found at thrift store. Started to use this on quilt back, but Bug told me "No, I want to be my own quilt." It was supposed to be a Lady Bug Bag.

Machine Quilting Journal #7

Quilt #5 of 10: Turned to Sue Patten’s Adaptable Quilting Designs for this pattern. Needed a freezer paper pattern of the basic paisley-shaped spines to start the block, but able to remove it and do feathers and swirls freehand. Still not always smooth, but making progress. Able to do border all freehand, by first doing a freehand spine. Used same thread in needle and bobbin. i.e. Superior’s Rainbows, 40 wt poly. It comes on a 2000 yard cone. I finished with about one yard of thread left! My machine service man has tuned up my Juki, so that the tension is perfect. It’s a joy to see those beautifully balanced stitches roll out. This took most of the month of September. I need to quilt a little less dense, if I’m ever going to catch up. I’ve given up counting the number of unquilted tops. They just keep growing. Can’t seem to stay away from piecing. It is a quicker reward.

Miki's Cow

This one is based on a pattern by Mary Lou Weidman from her new book, Out of the Box With Easy Blocks. It is co-authored by Melanie McFarland. I resized the quilt to make it considerably smaller than the book calls for.

September Rebels: Miki's V of G

This one is my own. It started with a challenge by Victoria to find an inspirational piece of clothing, and build a "quilt 15 minute made fabric" style. Then you gave me the Virgin panel, and I am growing it from there.

Miki: a Star at piecing

This one is my own pattern. I call it Hokule'a. Hokule'a is the guiding star for the Polynesian navigation system. I wanted to start with that and I will finish it up with sort of log cabin blocks to symbolize the journey we are all taking.

September Rebels: Mary's Amazing Color work

Seems like she mentioned inspiration from Quilting Arts Magazine.

Nifty is quilting her Stripes Quilt

Hand quilting with pearl cotton, following the lines of the stripes. No marking quilting at it's best. Fabric is from men's shirts, thrift market, of course.

Nifty does plaid geese

Give Nifty an Accu-quilt baby, and a stack of thrift market plaids, and get a wonderful, lively quilt.

Corduroy Challenge

November 11, 2011 is National Corduroy Day. Deb Rowden issued a challenge to make a corduroy quilt to celebrate. Nifty found this "ugliest fabric ever" furnishing fabric corduroy and shared pieces of it with Rebels for our own Corduroy Challenge. Good luck Rebels!

Quilt top by Dianne, Sept Rebels

Looks wonderful with back lighting.

Family relic and its reproduction by Mary

Mary inherited this worn out family quilt, in poor shape. She has recreated it in this top; a great way to preserve the memory.

Challenge Quilt by Miki, in progress

Machine Quilting Journal #6

Machine Quilting Journal #6

Another finish: finished quilt #4 of 10. This actually was fun when I got to border and was able to do a fern feather. This is really easy: mark a serpentine vine, and then quilt feathers, all the inside and then all of the outside feathers, in a to and fro motion. Even turning the corners was fairly easy. Foto is of the back of the quilt.

Thread learning: Doing the ditch quilting on quilt #5. When I was about 90% done, I was increasingly bothered by the shiny look of the monopoly on the top of the quilt. I switched to Invisifil, a 100 wt poly by Wonderfil threads of Calgary, Canada, and the result was much better. It was in a neutral color and disappeared into the fabric and didn’t scream shiny.

Liberated Log Cabin top

Mary started this in a Gwen Marston workshop in May. Looks like she really understands Gwen's philosophy. I like the exuberance and fun use of color; as well as the wonky patterning.

August Meeting Highlights

Diane brought her FINISHED crazy quilt.

                                          

Truly amazing!

                                                               

Roberta brought some Lone Star quilts that have been in her family for 40 years.

                    

Our special guest from Tennessee, Mary Keasler, brought her trees,

                         

And her magnolia!

                                                             

Machine Quilting Journal #5

Machine Quilting Journal #5

Working on quilt #4 of 10, the Leaf Quilt. Ditch quilting revisited.

Again I used the 60/8 Microtex sharp needle, Madeira monopoly in needle, and this time King Tut 40 wt. cotton in the bobbin. I wanted the quilting to show on the back, but not the front of the quilt. I used several color ways of the King Tut. Who says bobbin threads have to match??

Staying in the ditch: Contrary to most teachers, who insist that one keep one’s eyes on the needle for ditch quilting; I do much better to look ahead of the needle about 1”; and let the right brain steer. This takes focus and practice, but skills are improving.

If I were really smart, I’d figure out a way to avoid ditch quilting.

Fern Feathers

An article in the AQS journal, May 20010, “Braided Feathers” by Shirley Stults opened the door for me for quilting totally freeform feathers. I wanted a more contemporary look than traditional feathers, and was able to achieve that with fern feathers. I didn’t need to braid them, just do a left feather, a right feather, bottom to top, and quilt stem back to bottom.

I started with the idea of doing veins in the leaves, but the shapes morphed into fern feathers. On a larger scale, this pattern would look great with a few swirls and tendrils. Maybe in the the border?? Needle thread: King Tut 40 wt cotton, color Autumn Days. No photo. This is a picture of the back of the quilt, showing King Tut in the bobbin.

Bonus pictures: hanging flower baskets, Edmonds, WA, 8/18/11. Flowers have been spectacular this summer. They really like the cool summer weather.

Sallie's Shirts 3, 62"x64"

Three tops, plus 2 charity tops, quilted since June. Seven tops, plus Gee's Bend top, to go. No end in sight. I'm feeling somewhat braver, using heavier thread so quilting shows up more.

Gee's Bend Workshop Top, 51"x73"

Started in workshop in Sisters, July 2011. Got off on the wrong foot with the pentagon. Came home with a "volcano". Had to take it all apart, after numbering each piece to maintain order. Pieced again, almost flat; but tough to finally get back to grid. Now I understand. The Gee's Bend women tear their fabric, and work in a rectangular format. This is easier, faster, and far more efficient. Also less chaotic. This top is made from about 5 thrift market shirts.

By tearing fabric into rectangles, the Gee's Benders must have a ton of irregular scraps. Wonder what they do with them?

Machine Quilting Journal #4

THE GRIP: How to hold onto and move quilt under needle

I started with the photo in Diane Gaudinski’s book, GUIDE TO MACHINE QUILTING, page 45. I set that page to the left of my machine and took hold of the quilt as she showed in Fig. 1-21. It felt very awkward for a long time, but eventually it became automatic. Below is a photo of my quilt grip.

Also note the books wedged under the front of the machine supporting my elbows. That suggestion came from an article in Quilters Newsletter by Debra Wagner about the year 2001.

Also I follow Diane’s suggestion of using Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream to make my hands slightly tacky.

That’s it! No gloves, no rubber fingers, no teflon sliders. Just grip the quilt lightly between the 2nd and 3rd fingers of both hands, extend the thumbs toward myself to act as a hoop, and quilt.

Another quilt done. 3 done and 7 to go. Photo to follow as soon as binding done.