Blogger's Quilt Festival

Today's post is for the fall Blogger's Quilt Festival.  This an awesome online display of quilts brought to us by Amy (since if we are here browsing these, we aren't in Houston with all of quilting's lucky elite!).  We get to stay home and await Hurricane Sandy in the coming days.

My quilt is entitled Zen Garden.  This was finished this past winter.  I'll confess right off the bat to being a longarm quilter, and one the loves to make quilts for shows.  This was my 4th such quilt.  It had the pleasure of hanging in 4 or 5 shows this past season, bringing home a few ribbons.  Similarly, it's even made it into Quilter's Newsletter magazine.  But, enough with the boring stuff, you came here to see pictures.  Am I right?...

 

This quilt finishes at 65" square.  It's a traditional pattern called a broken star or Carpenter's star.  The applique all around the border almost disguises this.  It's deceptively easy to construct because the diamonds constructed of 25 pieces are actually made from strip sets.  The trick is just getting all the fabrics of the strips in the right order!  

One of the things I limited myself to when I made this quilt was to ONLY use fabrics from my stash.  So, there goes the possibility of this looking too traditional.  I have quite a bit of bolder color, larger print fabrics, and despite the size of these pieces being fairly small, they all seemed to work nicely at creating a visual colorburst effect.  

 

The majority of the quilt is the fabric used on the outer border and inner setting squares.  I knew since this was a Kona fabric (solids, though nice, are kind of dull and boring and they don't bring a lot of life to the party), I would need to make it interesting somehow.  As you can see, the setting squares were jazzed up by appliqueing a purple and pink flower to the inner corner, and then more applique.  The tan is just dull by itself.  The border around the star received a lot of Asian-inspired floral applique.  I love working with the bias strips, and the curvy-ness of this distracts the eye from the bland tan.  I was able to use flowers that are basically constructed from the same shape as the star is, and then brought many of the same green prints back in for leaves -- all 85 of so of them.   And I can't forget the butterflies.  They are my personal favorite.  A small feature that helps to define this as a garden.  I fussy cut them from a piece of fabric I had, then colored them with sharpie pens to make them the colors I wanted.

The part that I really love in the process, though, is when the quilting starts and the quilt is brought to life.  Design details can be added to the boring tan areas to make them visually stimulating, like the checkerboards shown above.  Rays were quilted into the inner star to bring it outwards.  I enjoy all the fun fillers that make the finished quilt an I-Spy of sorts.  Approximately 75 hours was spent on the quilting (did I mention that I am insane too??!)

 Here's a closeup of the edge...a small (yes, micro) micropiping gives the quilt interest, but also provides a little added stiffness to help it to hang straightly.

 Here's just a few more photos...

Thanks to Bonnie Hunter.  I posted 4 of the ones that she sent me after MQX.  And what fun would it be without one of the back?...  The backing fabric is a Laura Ashley print.  It shows the texture, but not all the stitching lines.  And that's my artistic muse, Picasso, eyeing the binding clips as potential toys!.

I love all your comments, and I hope that you have a great week looking at the Bloggers Quilt Festival quilts.

Stats...
size 65"x65"
techniques: machine pieced, hand appliqued
quilted by me on a longarm
Categories: wall quilt, professionally quilted, applique quilt

A Slow Return

I returned from a short-ish 4 day vacation to Acadia & Bar Harbor yesterday.  The weather was fantastic.  Hot, Hot, Hot and sunny -- just the way this Southern gal likes it.  We did a little bike riding, little trail hiking, went to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which by all accounts is not really a mountain, but it affords lovely views of the islands in the bay none the less.  Our cottages had a pool, so this satisfied the kids' need to swim a LOT.  We got home to a hot house, loads of laundry, and tired everybody.  Now, I will officially hit the half-way to the summer this week...5 weeks until the kids return to school, and I can return to actually quilting during the day.  I am in serious withdrawal.  When I was at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2 weeks ago, I overheard someone say (while seeing my quilt Zen Garden hanging) that they'd just seen it in a magazine.  And, here it is!  This is in The Quilter Magazine, August/September 2012.  It's a lovely 4 page spread of quilts from MQX East, held in April.  It's some of the winning quilts, and several of the lesser known quilts as well.  This magazine always chooses a great selection of lovely quilts to showcase.  

Last month, I finished a couple of quilts for Sandy.  Here's the first...She often makes Schnibble quilts.  This is a baby quilt, that I quilted with swirls to break up the very-linear nature of all the straight lines.  Wonder if the baby's name starts with T?

It's all in doggy and dog bone fabrics, great for a little boy.

Here's another I did for Sandy.  The Feather Meander pattern is one my favorites, and looks great here.

I used a tan thread so that it shows up on both the colored fabrics and on the lighter tones.  Though my pictures do not show the details of the fabrics, these are wonderful.  Some of them have antique street maps of Paris - so cool.  Here's my favorite; may need to get some for "someday".

I am busy finishing the hand details on this quilt, started so very long ago.  You see, I designed and started this quilt more than a year ago - long before EVERYONE in blogland was making a modern Dresden plate quilt.  In fact, I am so pissed that my design is being done by so many people (not "my" design per se, just the concept!) that I stuck the unfinished 102" quilt on the shelf, said several profanities, and left it there since about last December.  Now I have decided that it is the closest of anything I have started to being ready to quilt, so I am finishing the hand stitching, and will either have it on the frame when kids go back to school, or sooner if the client workload allows.  I'm busy getting the backing made, which takes an absolute TON of fabric, and designing all the quilting motifs.  Maybe I'll show some of them next time.

Have a good week-

My Zen Garden at VQF

One last post from VQF.  I know you have seen this a time or two, but hey - it's mine and it took the Best Mixed Media Award last week at VQF.  That's the award for both piecing and applique.  My thoughts??...I was pretty excited to read that upon arriving.  Then I saw my quilt hanging, and felt horror & shock.  Red ribbon??? What on earth did the judges think I did wrong?  I'd have to wait for the quilt to come home for that answer.  The show hung my quilt on an end, in a lovely prominent place.  I was pleased for that.  It's probably my most dramatic quilt -- nothing subtle about the bright colors.  The purples & greens are all me.  ALL.  And did you know that when I designed this 14-15 months ago, I made it completely from fabrics I had on hand.  Only the backing & binding fabrics were purchased.

I will be happy when all quilt shows will put the cards and awards hung off of the drapes.  You can imagine how horrible it looked on the 24" miniatures to have all these cards blocking the view of the quilt.

The judges in general gave me very nice comments.  They liked my machine quilting, especially the checkerboard.  Gotta admit - this is so easy, but so very effective.   There is always one thorn in a bunch of roses though.  It was this way last year too (but somehow the average of the 3 judges yielded a blue ribbon then).  One judge scored my quilt way lower than the other two.  It's kind of irritating not to have more consistency, or at least some explanation  for deductions.  My piecing is textbook; no missed points anywhere.  So why take off 2 points when the other judges didn't?  This one judge took off a point on visual impact too.  They went so far as to write "powerful and bold impact", but only gave it 4 of 5 possible points. One judge shouldn't be allowed to score 10 points below the average of the other two.  And they ought to give some credit for complexity of piecing and applique.  I know they have a system, and I am far from understanding it, but when a very simply pieced quilt without so much as a triangle to possibly nip off can score a blue ribbon (because frankly there wasn't anything included that could be done incorrectly), it beckons the question, Why?

I could rant about judging until the crows come home, but all it would do is make readers think I am ungracious, which I am not.  I am a product of 45 years of having lived a competitive and judged life.  First it was competitive gymnastics through my youth.  Then I figure skated as an adult, and now the quilting.  I have lived and experienced judges that "just do it differently" than the others time and again.  I disagreed with it then, and still feel there should be be more accountability or guidelines for consistency.  At the very least, I'd like to receive some comment that indicated why this one judge thought this quilt only deserving of the yellow ribbon-points she/he awarded.  The fact that the Vermont Quilt Festival is known for being a conservative and traditional show should not be a factor.  I ask you...

What is improper about my suitability of materials?...
Is there something only 80% in my border treatment?...
Is the quality of quilting only deserving of 17 out of 20 points?...

 I bury all threads, it has perfect tension, and is wildly creative.  The fabrics chosen are perfect for a "blooming" style quilt, creating a big wow factor.  I stood around anonymously and listened to people looking at the quilt long enough to know that they thought it was beautifully executed.  The other two judges wrote that the values and colors were highly complimentary, so why is one judge allowed to deduct.   They should at the least be required to put their names on the judges forms (pink!) so that we know who they are.

Just my thoughts, ya know!

Here's some other looks at this quilt...here and here and here

MQX 2012

I returned last night from a busy 4 days at MQX. Although I have over 150 pictures to sort through before I post any, I thought I'd put up a couple shots of my own 2 quilts. Much to my surprise (because the confirmation email to ribbon winners came just after I departed for Providence on Tuesday!), both quilts earned ribbons in very tough and large categories. I could really get used to doing the winner's walk up to the stage - it's a happy trip!

The first quilt is Zen Garden, 65" square. It took an Honorable Mention. I love to see it when my quilts hang so straight and pretty (this is before the ribbons were even hung, at the sneak preview). It's headed next to HMQS if you want to see it.

My other quilt, Meet Me At Giverny, is 69" square, and has my favorite Stonehenge fabrics that just remind me of Monet. This was entered in the Solo category, and I really did not expect it to fair as well, in that it is only pieced. Solo usually has some "blow your mind" quilts. It walked away with a 2nd place and some nice shopping cash. It will be traveling to MQS next month.
I now must reintegrate with my family. I'll post more about the classes and other quilts this week.

Progress on the Little Things

As you know, we got a new kitten a week ago (the orange blur). On account of his constant need for snuggling, I have hardly done any hand stitching in the evening. This is a regular play session (aka butt whopping) with our other cat Sally, who has adjusted to his presence nicely. I have, however, been a blocking fool. My first quilt (65" square) is done (the drying that is - took 5 days in the winter air), the binding and piping are machined on, and I have started the hand stitching for the binding. It will probably take close to a week to finish this. I have also ordered a bunch of crystals for this quilt. The dynamic carpenters star will look fantastic with a little sparkle. Not every quilt needs sparkles, but this onewill be awesome with it. It's heading to MQX in April for all of you that are curious.

Here's a peek of the backside of the above quilt, with our newest baby (recently named Picasso) in the background. That is one sweet kitty!

My second personal quilt had a little bit of last-minute finishing on the quilting a few days ago. I spent last week ripping out all the SID because I discovered that the tension was not so great. What a pain... I put it back in in about 2 hours time (8 hours to remove, 2 hours to restitch!). It's much better this time. Yesterday, I declared it DONE, cut off all the excess backing, and today it is soaking wet and on the blocking board. We are anxious to get the furniture in the bedroom back in order. Considering the fact that it is 7F outside today (and my bedroom is a brisk 59F), it will probably take a week to dry this quilt. At $80-90 per week to heat our house, It's not worth jacking up the bedroom heat just for a quilt that I don't need done for a while! The piping and binding for this one are all done too - just waiting for a dry quilt. I do, however, need to get to work making/designing some labels for all my quilts nearing completion that will likely be printed off by Spoonflower.

BTW...anybody like Gumbo?? It was our New Year's Day meal, and a favorite of mine. I'm considering a Gumbo post if anyone is interested. Have a warm week.

As the week ends

As the week comes to an end, I myself can look back and be rather pleased with my level of productivity. It was worlds better than the past 3-4 weeks. I like the feeling of accomplishment. Heck, I even did a couple loads of laundry this week, entertained the renovation contractor while he was here yesterday (he was, mind you, taking care of a few lingering issues!), and I plan to actually roast a whole chicken in a little bit. I love to sew and quilt on most any day, but all that domestic crap needs the stars in alignment to get done!

So while my last couple quilts are whirling enroute to one final show for the year, the 3rd of 4 for the month, I have put my next show quilt back onto the frame to work on a few of the things I left undone. I'd hoped it would be off yesterday, but I have opted for another day to do one last thing. Most of my finishing work is to my liking. My micro-quilting to make those small green diamonds pop, however, leaves me high up on that fence still. I may leave it. I may do some bobbin work to outline them. I'm digging deep for an alternative to taking out Invisifil stitched densely at 16 stitches per inch! It would take a very long time.
I also micro filled the curved cross-hatching with my favorite silk thread. It looks basically just like the Invisifil, and is nearly as fine, but I knew that the silk would not shred. Turns out, the Invisifil only shredded once on all the other work. Who'd have known. Planets must have aligned today as well. I have wanted to "checker board" the CC before but never got the guts to do it - it's kind of a point of no return once you do it. Nothing short of a torch gets those little stitches out. It is just the effect I was after, thankfully. I have said before how I really don't love the tan (OK, I kinda loathe this taupe background, which I think is a Kona or Bella solid - don't know, as it was in my stash and I opted not to buy any fabric for this quilt). It needed to have whimsical quilting to draw one's attention from the blandness of it. I think I am getting there.

I also dug out a nice green Rainbows thread for feathering the green borders. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with Rainbows. Some days is stitches amazingly; others, it shreds and gives me grief. I always love how it looks, with a pretty sheen and very subtle variagation. I decided to give it a go today, not wanting everything on this quilt to blend into the fabrics. Despite the picture, the feathering shows vividly in the Rainbows. My cave lighting keeps you from seeing that though. I turn off all the lights except for a spotlight so that the texture is more evident!

And lastly, and what is probably one of my all-time favorite quilt additions...the butterflies got their antennae! The quilt was almost completed when I chose to applique 8 butterflies onto it. They are so integral to the finished whimsical look of the quilt that I can hardly believe I nearly didn't do it. The top part of the flowers will get "flattened" tomorrow, and I will ponder a couple more things. But for one week, all is good!

Friday Fun

Or something like that, maybe. Hard to believe that tomorrow is October. Three more months of 2011. Doesn't seem possible. This is just about the best sight I can imagine right about now...I know, "what is it?", you are wondering. It's the END. The BOTTOM. Finito! Well, not quite finito, but at least finito is in sight! I'm aiming for early next week to have this off. Not done, but off.
Here's another peek-aroo...nice texture. An absolute ton of grueling, closely-stitched ruler work, but it is pleasing me thus far.

As usual, I am dittling with EQ designs. I do several a week, ditch many for one reason or another. I guess I just have an itch to start a new project. My Dresden plate quilt, which is all hand appliqued, is requiring a little bit of re-stitching (aka I F-ed something up and need to fix it). I want to keep working on this, but re-work can be so harmful to my productivity. Anyhow, 2 years ago I received a FQ bundle of 24 hand-dyes, and have used much of the blues and purples and greens, and have been seeking a project for the red, yellow and oranges. The problem, my brain does not really think in these colors, so invariably if I start out designing for them, they end up being just highlight colors. This design is intriguing because it is 36 of the exact same 8-pointed star blocks, just in different colors. Kind of reminds me of a southwest sunset.

Of course, I managed to sneek in the green. And the same design, without the sashings. Rather a different look. I just dont like the way all the seams will be thick where the blocks come together. Keep designing...

If I hadn't been so doggone busy this week with one thing and another, I probably would have done a dedicated post because I encountered someone's post that was essentially a hot-headed rant that was all but screaming the reasons NOT to have a longarm quilter if you are a domestic machine quilter. The person who I will not name is a very skilled domestic quilter, and in her defense, she was trying to justify her position for how she quilts and why she doesn't need to have a longarm, but damn, it bugs me when non-LA-ers try to tell the world that they know about longarm quilting when they clearly have no experience! Yes, they are large. Yes, they are expensive -- over $10k before you buy any templates and gizmos. Yes, they are heavy, but for Pete's sake, if your's is good, you are not pushing 40lb around because the dang thing is on wheels. That quilt you are tugging into the neck of the domestic machine is heavy too - I know this because I have actually domestic machine quilted too. A properly balanced table and carriage allows very smooth movement of the beasty machine. And again, yes, it is an adjustment learning to quilt with a LA over a domestic. It is so freaking difficult that it took me an entire month before I dared to take a customer's quilt. That was 2 years ago, and close to 2000 hours of quilting later. I do quilt for ME, and I quilt for others. It's the funnest and most creative job I have ever had. I have regretted spending that much on a car, but not on that sewing machine. And if I want, I start quilting at the center, or the top left, or the bottom right -- there is no rule. Now all you domestic quilters just keep doing what you are doing because your work is lovely, rewarding, and perfectly complete the way it is. You are a quilter just as much as I am. I just needed to get my "Why the LA is a great thing" rant off of my chest. It's been itching at me all week. If you want an LA, get one because you won't regret the decision. Achieving proper tension was 500 times easier on the LA than on the domestic.

Have yourself a nice weekend~

Progress on Carpenter Star

I have been puttering away at this quilt for the last 7 days, 2-3 hours a day. More customer quilts have come in this week, making me stress over how slow the progress is. At this point, I have to just stop fixating on the minute details and small fillers, and get the silly thing stabilized enough that it can come off the frame in 1 week or less. That should be doable since I am nearly sitting on the middle right now.
I had fun with the tan filler (above), although this is the last quilt I will make where I mix a solid fabric with other prints. The weaves are different and I am not thrilled how the dense quilting looks on the tan. It will be just fine when done. This is just a case of "ole picky me". The butterflies, which were nearly an afterthought on the quilt, are quickly becoming my favorite part!

Each of the diamonds of the wheel are densely quilted with different patterns. My hope is that it will appear as bands of texture going around the carmenter star when it is done. I'm using a wool batt over 80/20 so this (with all the piecing seams) is a thick quilt. Will be super heavy if mailed anywhere! So far, threads are Bottomline in bobbin and Invisifil on the top. Because the fabrics have so much pattern, it is hard to see the stitching. I so hope that the texture and time-consuming patterning does in fact show in the end. This seems to be a constant worry. What else am I to do, though, unless I want a bold or thick contrasting color thread?? Still going on faith at this point that my plans will work out.

I haven't settled on what will go in the tan (above the yellow applique) below, but it's stable for the time being. I do like the filled radial stripes, and I know that they will have a great look.
Here's the long awaited center (...long awaited for me, anyways, because it marks where the first half ends and the next half starts!). With a light held at angle, the quilting is visible. I have feathered along the outline of a star, and then done 1/8" radial lines to help mash down the fabric to enhance the feathers. The thread is a sage green, and it unfortunately matches way too well, almost to the point of disappearing... It is nice to be freehand quilting, rather than using the templates (which can be rather slow).

But, again, I ask, what should I have done differently? I'm not about to quilt in pink just to see it!

The grand reveal on this quilt should be interesting. I'm going half-blind trying to see the stitching for the printed fabric :-)

Thursday Thoughts

Almost another week is gone, bringing a weekend of what may include yard work (seeding to be exact) - ew! I try to be productive, but gosh, I seem to putter best of all lately. I have a bunch of hand-dyes in a variety of colors that I have been most ficklely waffling on what to make with. There have to have been 10 different designs, and yet another one on the drawing board today. I did get to start stitching on my applique quilt. I actually started yesterday, but I think the hour or so I worked was more or less a stitch, curse, pick-out, curse some more, repeat session. I couldn't get the dang Monolon thread tensioned properly, and finally gave up and decided to outline the appliques with beige Invisifil. Nearly invisible, just not quite!
I am stitching the entire top with the Invisifil thread (Bottomline in the bobbin). So far, not so much as a problem. Just what I like. Much is obviously not yet stitched (aka, the leaves, flowers, background, etc), but it is begun, and I do have a plan for most of the top.

I'm looking for suggestions from the readers as to what I ought to do with the creamy diamonds that are currently left unstitched. I'm at a loss. I designed them with curved stitching, but I have a hard time doing this on diamonds repeatably well. Ideas include do nothing, and outline with another row of straight stitching. Other thoughts??

Got Butterflies?

I have been finishing up a quilt this week that I just LOVE. But this quilt has just been screaming for a little something to break up a large-ish area of blah tan fabric. ...As an aside, I chose to make this quilt exclusively from my stash fabrics, so the background may not be entirely what I'd have chosen had I wanted to spend $$. Now these tan areas didn't need anything large, just some kind of "distraction" to help the eyes to wander. So, I found the perfect solution in Butterflies. They are about 1-1/2 inches large, and have been slightly colored with permanent pens to be less blue. I know, I know, you are thinking that I am a master butterfly appliquer, but you couldn't be further from the truth!
Several years ago, I bought this great piece of fabric in a clearance bin for $5. I have always loved the green tones and patterning, so I looked beyond the butterflies, fully expecting to probably cut around them whenever it was finally used. Guess the laugh's on me. I chose 2 of the larger butterflies, and carefully appliqued them onto the quilt. Two for each corner. I have done basic embroidery for the butterfly bodies and will add antennae with dark thread while quilting.

I think that this is ready to be quilted. I have to go underneath and cut away some of the backing fabric & bulk that are under the appliques, but the hard work is finished. Phew!...I even got out my wool scraps this morning and hand stitched enough together for a batting (yes, my thriftyness has no bounds). I have designed the quilting more or less, and it's full bore ahead. As for the butterflies, I love them. They are delicately flying around, and help to reinforce the garden look of the quilt.