The Naming of Quilts

Tags

applique, Learning Curve, naming quilts, Quilt Show, quilting, Spirographology, Suburbia

It’s not every day you get to name an actually living being so I have to settle for naming quilts.

Once upon a time I was going to rewrite T.S. Eliot’s “The Naming of Cats” to reflect the naming of quilts. I didn’t get far because it’s easier for me to work on “filk” with other people around and these days I don’t work in an office.

Anyway, since writing about my Guild’s upcoming Quilt Show, I read some of the comments and got to thinking about that topic again.

My mother (and other people) seem to really like the names I come up with for my quilts and always want to know how I think them up.

Detail of Spirographology taken by Jeff Lomicka at my Guild talk.

I can’t claim any particularly clever scheme for naming them… the names just “come” to me, usually while I’m working on them (sometimes if I’ve been working on them too much!)

For instance: Spirographology. I had bought the black and white fabric in the centers of what came to be the Jack’s Chain specifically to do a “stack n whack” kind of quilt. I had fun working on the other two I had made, so I thought this would be a quick, fun project.

But it didn’t work out that way since, with just the black & white fabric, I thought it was dull. I didn’t like it.  I sent a picture to my mom, and my dad saw it and said that they looked like something I made from a Spirograph. That stuck with me and, as I was assembling the Jack’s Chain, I eventually decided would “spice up” the monochromatic stack n whack, I came up with the name Spirographology.

The Road from Malden to Lowell is Paved With Broken Dishes… is probably the longest name I’ve ever named a quilt.

So, as you can see, I usually change the name of a quilt as I work on it. I start out most times with the name of the block and sometimes I keep fairly closely to name, as in the case of the broken dishes quilt that I was working on it when I moved from Malden to Lowell.

 

Learning Curve is one of my favorite quilts.

In the case of my Baltimore Album quilt.  I was learning to appliqué, and when I got 9 blocks done I had to make a decision about whether to include my early blocks (which I thought weren’t very good.)

I knew I shouldn’t call it “Baltimore Album” because I’ve never lived in Baltimore, and not even all the blocks are from Baltimore.

In the end, I did decide to use the early blocks, and felt that this way the quilt really shows my learning progress, so I named it Learning Curve.

 

Suburbia… partly done.

My current machine piecing project is Suburbia.

 

I started out calling it “9-Patch Houses”, but when I got them all together I thought about where I grew up and how here were 4-5 different house layouts/designs in our “housing plan.” We all started out looking similar, but, after a while, our houses were all different because of doors, shutters and landscaping.

The houses on my quilt are the same because they start off with a 9-patch, but, like my neighborhood, they ended up looking a bit different because of the fabrics used.

If you have read this blog for a while, I sometimes talk about how the names of my various quilts come to be. I will, of course, continue to share this on the quilts as I’m working on them, but I hope this post gives you a little insight on how I do it if you don’t want to go back and read my old posts.

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Three Questions on Quilting

Tags

applique, Design, DNA1, Got Dots, longarm quilting, machine quilting, MQX, Quilt Show, quilting, Spirographology

Last week I went to a quilt show: MQX.  It stand for Machine Quilters Exposition, which, obviously, means that it’s focused on machine quilting.

Now, this isn’t a local Guild show, or even a small regional one. This show features quilts from people all over the U.S. and other countries (I think I saw ones from Germany and New Zealand.)

Going to a show of this caliber means, of course, that one could come away from it feeling that any effort you make as a quilter must be labelled as so much dross. It’s just as easy to feel “in the shade” while looking at some of these quilts as it is to feel inspired (sometimes at the same time!)

I would like to say that this fabulous whole cloth quilt is The Paisley Peacock by Bethanne Nemesh, but I focused on the quilt and not the label, so I’m not entirely sure.

One of the reasons I go to shows like these is that I have a really hard time figuring how to quilt my tops.  I try to forget comparing myself to the quilters in the show and just try to figure out what I like about the quilts, and what I don’t want to do with my own quilts.

Then I try to apply what I’ve figured out to my own projects.

This show, I came up with three questions to ask myself when I decide what to do about the quilting of a specific top.

1. How much time have I got?

This is actually a two-fold question. The first “fold” is that the quilters at MQX have thousands of hours (probably tens of thousands of hours) experience in their craft. They know their machine. They know their fabric.  They know their thread.

Way Too Many Circles by Debbi Treusch & Linda Arndt

I don’t have thousands of hours of experience. Well, at least not in the actual quilting part of it since for years I’ve been stopping just shy of that. I’m still just learning to use a long arm, to choose which patterns and which thread.

The second “fold” is just how much time to I want to spend on this particular project.

The truth is that the quilts I make are mostly intended to be used on a bed. Spending a year planning, programming and quilting just one quilt is not my idea of a fine ol’ time. It turns out that I don’t want to spend that much time on my quilts.

While I love the look of very dense quilting when it’s used to enhance the block design (as shown in Way Too Many Circles), it’s something I usually decide against when I realize how long it would take to do and how much practice I would need to get ready to do something like that.

La Passion by Grit Kovacs, quilted by Laurena McDermott is like my Spiro.  Sometimes, no matter how you quilt it, the piecing design will be the standout element.

2. How much will it show?

A whole cloth quilt (like The Paisley Peacock, above) shows the design of the quilting and allows it to shine.  Ditto the quilting in the “space” between the appliqué in Way Too Many Circles. However, to make that sort of effort really wasn’t necessary in a quilt like Spirographology. It would simply have been lost, overlooked.

I could have tried something a bit more , but, as I learned on the border of Got Dots, sometimes the effort just isn’t worth it.

DnA1 is next up. I think I’m going to try something a little different inspired by Too Many Circles

3. Do I want to do “something different?”

Yes, there are times I want to experiment, to learn more and gain more experience, but prepping for a quilt talk was not the time for me. I wanted to show some nice quilts.  I really wanted to feature the piecing designs. I wanted to finish as many quilts as I could so I wouldn’t be just showing tops.

Now that that is over, I can look at my projects with new eyes and decide if I want to be a little more experimental. Maybe some hand-guided quilting for DnA1. Maybe change-up the thread color or weight in another quilt.

Who knows what else I’ll learn in the next year now that I feel like I’ve got the time and the motivation.

Pittsburgh Album

Tags

applique, Baltimore Album, blackwork, embroidery, handquilting, Pittsburgh Album, quilting

I have been plugging away at the last drunkards path/fairy frost quilt.  It’s kind of been putting me to sleep, so I haven’t been posting.

Another reason I haven’t been posting is that I went to visit my Mom and snuck into her studio to photograph her in-progress (has been for quite a few years) Baltimore Album-style quilt she calls Pittsburgh Album.

I believe she expects it to be 25 blocks in all, but she keeps making them and then saying others are not good enough.  Sound familiar?  I guess that’s where I get it from! Anyway, here’s some blocks from Mom’s Pittsburgh Album: And here’s something I did that was nestled in Mom’s blocks:   I hear some people’s moms save their kindergarten refrigerator art… oh gosh, do you think she saved that, too??!

A Short Post to Pass the Time

Tags

Airship Propellor, applique, Brimfield, curved piecing, handquilting, In Full Bloom, longarm quilting, machine quilting, piecing, UFO. WIP

Quilt I saw at Brimfield

I have been really tired lately.  So tired I haven’t been able to get up early enough to photograph the quilts I’ve finished.

I did, however, drag myself to and around Brimfield this past Saturday. I didn’t get very far, but I did see more gorgeous quilts than I usually do (probably because I was in the “higher end” fields.

Detail of Rose Quilt

As I was going to the bathroom, I should this beautiful rose quilt (I’m sure it has an official name, but I didn’t bother to look it up.) It was all hand quilted in a grid pattern except for the roses.

It had some problems with wear, but the quilter knew what she was doing when she appliqued and quilted this.

I was too afraid to ask how much it was and if it was for sale since it was in BEHIND the booth and not actually being displayed in the booth.

Airship Propellor blocks are dying on the vine and need some kind of energy injected in them to make them sing.

Of course, seeing these vintage and antique quilts usually makes me feel better about my projects, but I am kind of stalled on the current one.

I was hoping, when I drafted it that I could get a secondary pattern going if I didn’t add sashing, but it’s not “going there” for me.

*sigh*

And it’s not just the colors and fabrics that are not working. (Well, maybe the Black and Whites are a bit too graphic to be put so close together.) I’ve decided to piece what I’ve cut out, but not put them on the design wall until more of them are finished.

An alternative layout for the Airship blocks. I’m still thinking I may have to take the corners off and float the circles.

I’m also working on the border for Les Filles des Mares. It’s a simple border of half-square triangles in the same bright homespuns as the center.

There was JUST enough fabric leftover from the Fat Quarters I used for the center to piece enough HST for the border, thank goodness!  Nothing is left. Well, none of those fabrics.

Other than that, I’m about 2/3 of the way through quilting In Full Bloom on the long arm. Probably not done this week, but maybe next.

It’s turning out to be dead cute. I am learning to program the quilting block by block.

I’m also writing fiction again. Yay!  I hope that now that I’ve set aside a block of time to write on my novel that I will be more consistent in posting here than I have in the last couple of months.

That’s it for me. “See” you (I hope) on Thursday!

Ready for Quilting

Tags

applique, Flower Pot, kanzashi, machine quilting, piecing, quilting, UFO. WIP

Since I have one more part in the drafting of Cross Roads, I thought I’d pop up a couple of pictures of the Flower Pot quilt(let).  It’s now got a border and I’ve even chosen background fabric.

…And since I cleaned my machine last night, it can go “under the needle” today!

This is the final version of the Flower-Pot quilt(let).  It’s 18″ x 24″ and was specifically designed as a way to take my folded flowers “on the road.”

Those white spots in the center of the circles are velcro.  I have decided just to let the glue do the work, since, for some reason, my machine is refusing to sew into the backing (or even around the edges.)

The borders are just some random squares I collected throughout the years.  I started cutting my scraps into squares long ago (and I don’t always do it!)

If I can get a 5″ square out of a scrap, it goes into the scrap bin. If it’s smaller, I cut it into however many squares I can get.  I find I use 2″ and 2.5″ squares the most, but seldom use the larger squares (these are 3.5″.)

Here it is with the flowers put on.

I have some strategies for quilting the background of the flower-pot section, but am still considering what to do in the border. Maybe a “key” pattern.

The backing and batting are ready to go when I make that decision. Maybe you’ll even see it “done” when I post at my “normal” time…

…but don’t hold your breath, okay?

I Fell Off the Wagon

Tags

applique, barbara brackman, Barbara Brackman Grandmother's Choice, Big Wheels, circles, Double Wedding Ring, handquilting, kanzashi, March-A-Along, piecing, quilting, Sailing Ships, Sashiko, Starina, The Quilt That Shall Remain Nameless, UFO. WIP

This is how block 10 of Big Wheels turned out. (Last week I posted the drawing I worked from.)

Remember how I told you I wasn’t going to buy any more fabric after the end of February?

Well, that didn’t work for me.  At the March meeting of my Quilt Guild, the stash of one of our members (now deceased) was being sold off with the proceeds being donated to several charities, including out Guild’s operating expenses.

I did not go crazy, but I did buy 3 pieces of yardage (total of about 10 yards.) This, of course, led to me contemplating my projects and realizing I haven’t actually finished anything so far this year.

Starina before the applique on the border was completed (early in 2011)

Now, of course, I have what I call STAGE finishes (i.e. The Quilt That Shall Remain Nameless is in the finished top stage) but no new quilts lying on my bed (or anyone else’s.)

So, I’m going to take some of my new yardage, piece a back, and set Starina up for hand-quiltling.

The reason I decided to hand-quilt Starina is that each of those stars has a folded flower at the center, and each folded flower has a button in its center.  I figured I’d go insane trying to keep from running over a button with a sewing machine or a long-arm.

Now, this, of course, does not mean I am putting away any of my other projects.  I am still working on the last block and the applique for Big Wheels. I have even started the sashing (keep your fingers crossed that I have enough fabric to finish what I want to do with it!) I have done my Grandmother’s Choice blocks every week (although last week, I didn’t do the one on Barbara Brackman’s blog. I substituted a ship block which didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked.)

I should have chosen a fabric more contrast for the sky when I made this block to substitute for week 29 of Grandmother’s Choice.

At the Guild meeting I got the Block of the Month (which is a pin wheel) and the Box Row Robin (paper-piecing this month…I am absolutely stumped on what to do.)

I also started a sashiko piece that I bought at the Guild sale (and, subsequently discovered I was doing it wrong…oh well, no one will ever know when I’ve finished and backed it.  Right?)

We’ve been having, what I now refer to as a “Festival of Medical Visits.”  Most of them are for Peggy, but I have one coming up and so does that might mouse hunter, Miko. I’ve scheduled one for each day, and we will be completely done by the 8th (I hope!)

Block 30 from Grandmother’s Choice.

Other than that, this week is when I finally sit down and do my taxes. I feel kind of guilty that I didn’t work on my jewelry business more last year, but I lost the entire month of December and didn’t “resurface” to consider anything until just this month. (I’m still trying to decide if I should reopen my etsy shop and sell the kanzashi I started working on late last year.)

I guess I’ll work off that guilty feeling by squeezing in some quilting!

Quilting in Pairs

Tags

applique, Baltimore Album, Dad, handquilting, Mom, piecing, quilting, quilting pairs

This is how I will always think of my Dad and Mom.

Sorry for the lull in posting.  I wish I could say I was busy with preparations for the holidays, but the truth is much sadder.

My father passed away on December 3 of cancer. I have mentioned him on this blog in the past when I discussed my favorite quilt, Learning Curve. There was a very short time between his diagnosis and when he left.  The Prayer and Remembrance gathering was on December 7.

It was a nice service, short and full of meaning.  My aunt and uncle (my Dad’s brother) came in from Massachusetts (where I live, also), and one of the interesting tidbits I picked up was that they are a “quilting couple” as well.

One quarter of an applique quilt my Mom quilted and my Dad drafted.

We had two of the quilts that Mom and Dad had worked on together on display at the gathering. I don’t think I realized how much Dad had to do with the design of the quilts.  My mother would pick what she wanted to do and the size she wanted it to be and Dad would draft the design.

Then, she would make it, choosing the colors and coming up with ideas for the quilting.

He would then draft the quilting and mark it so she could quilt it.

Mom wanted these arcs to form circles. Apparently, it took some fiddling by Dad to make it all work out.

This is one of my favorite of their quilts. Mom liked the arcs but wanted the quilting to just be circles.

Taken as just blocks, I’m not certain this quilt would be quite as awesome as it turned out. but the exuberant applique borders are probably from a vintage quilt or pattern. (She probably told me and I’ve forgotten…No doubt I’ll get an email with the correction!)

Back of the quilt

If you look at the back of this quilt, you can really see what Mom was getting at: the quilting pattern shows no blocks at all, just arcs and feathers.

It seems my Uncle Jim and Aunt Collette have a similar sharing of quilting tasks. She chooses the pattern and he drafts (and sometimes cuts them out.)

I guess I was just lucky to inherit both the sewing/choosing gene AND the drafting/marking/cutting gene so I can do it all by myself.

I hope everyone has a nice Christmas (or whatever you celebrate.)  I hope to be posting again weekly before the New Year.

Quite A Trip

Tags

applique, barbara brackman, Barbara Brackman Grandmother's Choice, carnegie mellon university, handquilting, Mariner's Compass, Mom, Pittsburgh, seam line, stash, western pennsylvania

My mother’s Mariner’s Compass is on her bed with a vintage applique quilt she hung at the head of her bed.

Hi all.  Sorry no update last week, but I was in transit to visit my folks in Western Pennsylvania.

I grew up in Pittsburgh (in fact, my parents still live in the house we moved to when I was 2) and I love it there.  I even went to school there (Carnegie Mellon University.)

However, I’m kind of a nervous traveler, especially when I’m not the one doing the flying myself. I brought lots of projects, but did very little on the trip itself.

Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice Kansas Sunflower block.

I did finish both Barbara Brackman’s Suffrage blocks while I was there. The first, the Sunflower block, I cut and marked for hand-piecing. I figured it was complex enough that I would probably have opted to hand-piece it even if I wasn’t traveling.

I wasn’t happy with the center, though. Looking at it in person (instead of in this scan) the center is NOT round, but kind of a polygon.

However, I don’t hate it enough to take it apart, especially since there are soooo many seams.

Barbara Brackman’s New Jersey block

Since I stayed over a Saturday, I got to piece the next block as well. I used my mother’s fabric stash and her Bernina as well.

Since I routinely switch between a Singer SewMate and a Singer Merritt, I never really thought I would have any trouble sewing on another machine, but, for some reason, I was a total klutz on the Bernina.  I couldn’t get a consistent seam line (let along a scant quarter-inch!) I know I will have to watch out for the corners when I put this block into the quilt since they are not consistently 1/4″ from the edges.

Mom’s quilt for Dad’s bed uses a “cheater” applique border for the outside.

And that was the extent of my quilting over the week. Mom and I did discuss the quilt she will be making for my brother (and that I will quilt on Cricket’s long-arm.)

I took pictures of several of her quilts, although I didn’t dig very deeply into the closet.  I think I’ll do that when I visit again in the Spring.  It’s nice getting the stories behind the quilts as well as the pictures.

I did some computer instruction and tech writing so Mom can unload her camera herself instead of waiting for my brother or I (or even Dad…I guess he’s the last resort!) to do it for her. I think I even put a link to this blog for her.  Maybe she’ll become one of my readers!

Numbers Game

Tags

applique, Baltimore Album, Daystars, DNA1, DSM, Fallingwater, Fan Dance, Have a Cuppa, In Full Bloom, longarm quilting, machine quilting, Oldies, pillows, Spirographology, Spring Fling, UFO. WIP

I turned practice machine quilting samples into these pillows. I wish the quilting showed better in the photograph!

My hypoT brain fog has set in and I can’t seem to figure out what I’m working on since I finished Spirographology as a top, so I guess a review of my projects is in order.

On my Excel spreadsheet, I always start out my list with what I’ve finished this year. I have seven completed projects (8 if you count each pillow as a separate project, which I didn’t.) I am trying to get 12 projects done this year, which is hard for me given my penchant for bed-sized quilts.

Sandwiching Spring Fling on the wall before quilting

I currently have 25 other projects “on the books.”

With Spiro whole, 14 of my projects are completed quilt tops. I include in this count Spring Fling and DNA1 which are being (or going to be imminently) quilted, but not the smaller projects like the house tea cosy, (I really have to unbury that one!)

Five projects need borders.  Well…Fan Dance may need to be taken totally apart because I didn’t like the way it turned out when I got the whole thing together. It was bigger than my design wall, and I have to come up with some way of laying out bigger quilts given my space limitations.

I really don’t love this layout for Fan Dance. I may have to take it apart and try something else.

I have two applique projects in progress. These are single blocks which I pull out and work on whenever I need a handwork project. One will probably end up a pillow and the other is the Fallingwater block for my mother’s Baltimore Album-esque quilt tentatively called Pennsylvania Album.

I have two current projects that are “in pieces”: Daystars and Oldies. (I’ve blogged about these recently.) The other projects on my list are two sets of block from my Guild’s box block exchange: In Full Bloom and Have a Cuppa. I’m still trying to decide what to do with them.

Have A Cuppa block. I have 8 blocks. I need to decide on a layout so I know if I need to make more blocks!

So my priority projects as of now are: Daystars, Oldies, Spring Fling (I’ve stalled on the quilting, but I should take it up again.) the House tea cosy (a present for a friend, so I’ve really got to move on it), and DNA1 (prepped for the long arm, but I haven’t taken it over there yet.)  Five is about all I can work on at once without being too confused.

What are you up to?

My Favorite Quilt

Tags

applique, back basting, Baltimore Album, Best of Guilds, handquilting, Learning Curve, Lowell Quilt Festival, needle turn, New England Quilt Museum

The completed quilt with hands and feet of the appliquér and the quilter…

A couple of months ago I had a quilt chosen to represent my Guild (Chelmsford), at the “Best of Guilds” exhibit  sponsored by the New England Quilt Museum. I was really happy and excited about this because Learning Curve is my favorite quilt.

Now, I know you’re not supposed to have favorites (or is that just with children?), but I can’t help it.  Learning Curve has so many emotional ties for me that I will always love it best.

My first applique block: Fleur de Lis

It’s inextricably linked with my Mom.  She’s an extraordinary appliquér, and she kept nagging me to try appliqué, but I was intimidated. After years of gentle (and not-so-gentle) persuasion, I cracked open Elly Sienkiewicz’ Baltimore Beauties book and did my first block.

And it wasn’t awful. It does kinda look like the original pattern. The white thread I used to whip stitch it on to the background doesn’t show too much. It probably doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny (although I am told differently.)

But it was an awful lot of work, I thought, so I put it away and did smaller blocks like the blocks on Dear Jane (which are 4-1/2″ square.)

The second block, Strawberry Wreath, fought me

I resumed working out of Elly’s books from time to time, but the second block I tried fought me and I only managed to subdue it two years later. (Because of this block, I developed an antipathy towards freezer paper, but I should probably save that little rant for another post…)

Then, I learned back-basting. Suddenly appliqué was fun again. I managed to finish enough blocks to make a nine block quilt. I even designed the center block myself, since I had read that most Baltimore Album quilts had buildings on them.

I dubbed the quilt Learning Curve when I realized that it was a quilted journal of my appliqué education. After waffling, I included my first appliqué block in all it’s *ahem* glory, and my first original design: Hope for a House.

About this time, my mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  With the chemo, etc, she didn’t feel like doing much and she said her color sense had shifted so she wasn’t having any fun choosing fabrics herself. We usually talk every Sunday, and almost always quilting is mentioned.

My original design: Hope for a House

As I worked on it, we discussed my progress on Learning Curve. Eventually, she asked the dreaded question: what I was going to do when I was done with the blocks? I replied (as I usually did):  Oh, probably put them in a box back in the closet somewhere.

I’m sure this response appalled her so much she offered to quilt it for me. By hand.

So, I put it all together and sent it to Pittsburgh and told her that she could quilt it any way she wanted.

She outlined quilted most of the appliqué motifs, and did some interior quilting when she felt it was needed (mostly in the house block.)  She grid quilted the backgrounds.  She came up with a really cool “rope” looking motif for the sashing, and lastly, she had my Dad (our unsung hero of the quilt) draft and mark a fabulous feather border.  It took her 18 months.

I heard about the progress in my weekly phone calls.

Now, every time I look at the quilt, I see my Dad marking it and my Mom quilting it and I feel like we all worked on it together.

You can see my quilt (and lots of others, equally nice and possibly nicer, though probably not as I’m incredibly biased) August 9-11 at the Lowell Quilt Festival (at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Mass.)

To see more of the story of Learning Curve, I kept a sort of journal at my old website.