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.

Machine Quilting Journal #3

Machine Quilting Journal #3 (#1 is filed under Starters and Enders Quilt, 7/4/11)

From Diane Gaudynski workshop 10 years ago: “Always practice on real quilts.“

No amount of stitching practice sandwiches works as well as quilting a real quilt. It ups the pressure just enough for one to progress. Since my last entry, I’ve done two charity quilts, both 50”x80”. The pressure was off. My mantra is “the baby won’t care.” These are camp quilts and were not for babies, but the idea is the same. I really zipped along trying new edge-to-edge designs from Christine Maraccini. I did ditch stitch the blocks, so I really quilted block by block, chunks of quilting that I could manage.

For ditch quilting I use Madeira Mono poly in the needle, and Bottom line in the bobbin. I use a 60/8 Microtex needle and work free-motion, as it is much faster. For the quilting I used Superior's Highlights in the needle, and Bottom Line in the bobbin. I used a 90/14 Topstitch titanium needle.

This quilt is the Ugly Scrap Challenge. It was started 3 years ago as a grocery bag of ugly scraps of uncertain origin. It has endless borders, each perfect for practiciing a different sashing pattern. Again I used ideas from Chrisitne Maraccini’s book, MACHINE QUILTING SOLUTIONS. By the time I quilted around each border, I pretty well had that pattern in long term memory.

OK: 2 quilts done, and 8 to go.

This quilt finished 60"x72". It has the Mountain Mist 100% polyester Quilt-Light Batting. To my surprise when washed, it shrank 2" in width, and 2" in length. It was light weight to handle in the machine. It's not a warm quilt. That backing was a piece of vintage polyester that I found in the thrift store. It really worked quite well.

My second Gee's Bend Quilt!

Wow, the Sister's trip with the REBELS was too much fun! In 2008 I went and took a Gee's Bend workshop and loved it, so this year I went back for more. Here's the end result..the "mid-west waterways quilt"...Great Lakes at the top, small lakes and trees in the middle...more trees and rivers at the bottom...and...of course...the flames...

Machine Quilting Journal #2

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After pin basting quilt, I seal the edges with a line of stitching. I may use walking foot or stitch it free-motion for practice. After that, I’m able to trim away the excess batting, and not worry about it creeping back under the quilt.

Quick tips from Cindy Needham’s workshop yesterday: Best tool for cleaning your machne is a big fuzzy pipe cleaner. You can buy them at craft stores. Bend them, and use the bent end to pick up the lint and debris in your machine. NEVER USE CANNED AIR TO CLEAN YOUR MACHINE.

Also from the workshop, I was able to confirm that the Topstitch needles and Metallica needles are the same. I’d suspected that for a long tiime, but was never able to find anyone with expertise to confirm that. These are the workhorse needles for most machine quilters. They work well for high speed quilting.

www.cindyneedham. com for great information and extraordinary quilts

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Gee's Bend quilts hanging in front of the Stitchin' Post, Sisters, OR, July 9, 2011

Rebels & Virtual Rebels Go to Sisters, Oregon, for Show & Workshops

Perfect weather (70s in the daytime, and low 40s at night), fabulous quilts, lots of great time with friends, great workshops and lectures.

This is the side of the Stitchin' Post shop. Quilts were done by employees as a challenge. There were 1400 quilts in the show! This year there was a new program on Sunday for those willing to stay another day. Special guests this year were 7 women from Gee's Bend. Pictures of their quilts to follow in next few days. It was all pretty intense, but wonderful.

Starters and Enders Quilt, 53"x79"

Home Sewing Machine Quilting Journey 1

Current focus: improve machine quilting. I'm 10 tops behind., What are the bottlenecks?

1. No backs (new house rule: make back as soon as top is done)

2. Skill level

3. Dithering over WHAT DESIGNS to quilt

Plan: Focus on skills, keep samples of patterns I learn, and QUIT DITHERING. Share that journey on blog, as I go.

Started with Pam Clarke's QUILTING INSIDE THE LINES, for this quilt. It was almost a free quilt, since it was made of the most eclectic scraps, i.e. 2 1/2" strips cut into varying lengths, and sashed with plaid thrift market shirts. I had to buy a batt, and decided to try the low loft poly by Mountain Mist, as it was the least expensive. I'm not a fan of poly batts; but decided this was worth a try. It worked fine, and I may use it again.

Pam emphasizes "practicing with a purpose" and has 10 motifs to master. The 2 for this quilt are "swirl" and "loop". The loop was easy, but the swirl took a couple of hours of paper and pencil practice to learn. I wondered why she chose the most difficult motif as the first one. Maybe, because once learned, and burned into brain, the others are easy. At first, I practiced drawing "east to west", but then realized I'd be quilting "north to south", so I turned paper 90 degrees. The "swirl" is half way to a spiral, a motif I've wanted to be able to do for a long time. I also quilted "leaf" motif on the border strips, and had a terrible time with them. They are mutant forms. I've done lots of leaves, but had trouble with Pam's version.

Bobbin thread: Bottom line by Superior, no lint, and long bobbin life

Needle thread: Highlights by Superior, 40 wt poly, no lint, no thread breakage
Needle: 90/14 Topstitch, titanium, available from Superior

Scrap childs play

My 11 year old daughter got into my scraps the other day.. 

She insists she doesn't like to sew, but...

she put some scrap blocks together... (like mother like daughter!) 

She picked out the fabrics, put it all together, and I quilted and bound it

Nifty does a tile quilt experiment

Nifty had an applique emergency, i.e. no hand work to do, during down time at the office. She decided to give this technique a try, although she didn't really have any directions. This block took care of the emergency, but she is not sure she wants to do any more.

Patty's Batik Scraps Quilt

Patty loves batiks and has a new batik quilt almost every month. I'd guess she has lots more scraps than this.

Patty, Work in Progress

Inspired by picture in CALIENTE QUILTS, by Priscilla Bianchi. We are auditioning fabric for setting triangles. Turquoise was the favorite.

Heat Wave

Buffy's last post prompted me to post this little quilt in progress.

I like her take on scraps... blame it on the rotary cutter. 

Here is my latest one I can blame my rotary cutter for!

 East coast is hit by the heat wave. I now have memory of the heatwave in the form of this little quilt.

Going Around in Circles Scraps, 15"x16"

Very few scraps from a full size quilt. Cutting with templates seems to produce few scraps. Let's blame all of our scraps on the rotary cutter!

Patty's Next Thrift Market Find, $2, about 40" square

Patty's Thrift Market Find, $7

Some silk, rayon, and unidentified fibers here.

Thrift Market Shirt Quilt by Patty

Mary"s Log Cabin start from Marston Class

Cindy's great quilt idea!

Cindy has been collecting commemorative towels for a quilt. As her husband bikes across the country this summer, and Cindy trailers along; I'll bet she'll fine a few more. Cindy will be able to check out thrift stores from coast to coast!

Roberta's Collection of Dutch and French Chintz

She started with a panel from Jovita's shop. How many years ago? Then she bought a kit from Den Haan and Wagenmaker on her trip to Holland, and the French chintz on her trip to Provence. Now to get it all together into a medallion, maybe with stars.

Camp Erin Quilt

One of the Rebels is an angel named Roberta. Every year she makes sure that 100 kids--those who've lost a family member--each gets a quilt. And she quilts most of them! These quilts are donated through Camp Erin, where kids, ages 7 to 17, go for a week in the summer to process their loss while having fun. When they arrive, they get a quilt, and they take it home to remember their experience. This year I donated this quilt top.

Going Around in Circles, 75" x 75"

Templates from Mary Mashuta. Able to use fabrics collected over several years. Used Ricky Tims circle-piecing technique of stay stitching all curves.