Designing...A Glimpse into My Process

So, I am getting ready to load this quilt next week.  I can't find a real pic of the quilt, so this is an EQ7 rendition, and it is pretty dang good at match on the colors.

Several weeks/months ago I drafted up this "idea" for the quilting.  I design my show quilts so many different ways.  I have a Wacom Bamboo tablet for electronically drawing on photos of actual quilts, but at this moment, it is under a pile of stuff on my desk.  This is a common theme in my life.

Sometimes, the unsophisticated approach is simpler.  It really all depends on the day.  There are benefits to all my methods.  So, I thought that I knew the major motifs that I would be using, which means that the next logical step is to mark the quilt.  It has been ages since I have quilted a quilt with deeper colors and for lack of better name, obnoxious prints!  I do this type of quilt weekly for clients, but not so often for myself.  Don't get me wrong, I love the texture that prints bring to the quilt, but there are definite drawbacks when you actually want to transfer a design, and see it!

I am posting this post because you won't believe the number of emails I receive asking me how I mark this and that.  Do I free hand it all?  Do I have a computer?  Do I use a light box?...Well I have all but a computer, and these tools are helpful, but my biggest issue on this quilt (besides what in the world should I quilt) is how in in the world do I mark it so I can see it!  Print and dark fabric are hard.

Let's start with the easier areas...the center

This is kind of a no brainer, since the fabric is light.  I used a water soluble blue pen.  It is a judgement call if it is better to mark as you are quilting the quilt, or before you load it in this case.  I find that if I can see the entire center medallion (it is 30"), it will yield a more symmetrical result. Besides, I wanted the radiating ray lines to be marked.  Those are a total pain to do as you go and get them neat.  I am battling time with my blue pens, as it is very humid here still, but I believe I will be ok.  If not, something should be visible by the time I get to the center in a week!

This is one of the squares of the same color fabric.  I have chosen a rope template.  I will fix up that corner when I get to it, and the quilting within this area will be free handed/unmarked.  I like the rope as it kind of ties into the mariner's star theme.

One of the harder areas to mark happened to be one of the easier areas for me to design.  The green fabrics I chose have an illusion of being sort of solid, but in actuality, there is enough print to drive you blind!  The "scrappy" green area surrounding the 4 corner stars has this swirly design which starts at each corner.  Many of the green fabrics show the white SewLine pencil adequately, but some of them are down right difficult!  I prefer to use something that I don't have to physically erase later, but that is not in the cards this time.  The blue pens just DO NOT SHOW UP!!  My hope is that this swirly, scrolly design will tie these areas to the similar design I used for the center nicely.  That is the "plan" anyways.

The outer red border is getting an insane but lovely stitching treatment.  I want to sew this in a visible color thread, which complicated the design a bit (or slows me down !).  I hoped for a design I could quilt without marking, but I opted for the overlapping look, and marking is really the only method.   

 The quilt is destined to get a large scalloped edge.  You know me by now -- I love curved edges!  I marked it before quilting so I know where it is.  I also marked off these wedge-shaped areas (template out of manila folder) because I plan to quilt them differently.

Just so you know I am human, I can honestly say I don't know what the heck thread I will use on most of this.  I have no clue what color, or what weight.  I am anticipating picking stuff out if I don't get a plan fast.  Dense fill work will be/should be stitched in fine thread, and I have silk thread in each major color of this quilt.  Not sure if I have enough, but I have a cone!  On the flipside, though, if you want to use thread to tweak the color of the background, silk is a hard and expensive way to do it.  It is better to go with a heavier thread like 40wt.   As you see above, I am still playing with the design of the green triangle units of the outer border.  Just when I think I have a clue, I realize I have no idea what I am doing!!

That is what makes designing the quilting both fun and challenging.  I like to have quilting that transcends the piecing -- quilting that basically ignores the piecing and paints a different story.  This needs to be a connected story to the theme and style of the quilt, but being different is just fine.  Just painting designs within the lines is, well, boring.  Time will tell if this quilt is a bore or not :-)

On a different note...
I got fantastic news from AQS earlier this week.  My Bouquet Royale quilt has won the Best of Show at their Chattanooga show!  I an completely blown away.  Surprise, shock, joy...every emotion.  I really wish with all my being I could be there to see it and to talk to people at the show, but it is not in this weekend's cards.  None the less, it is one heck of a grand paycheck for the week!

A Glimpse into the Process

I thought I'd show my method for making the hexagons into stars.  Bear with the fact that Blogger loaded every photo sideways!

This is the basic paper-piecing template.  It is a 2"x6" triangle.

It is seriously the simplest paper piecing ever - 3 pieces...a triangle with black batik trims.

 Here it is from the backside... trimmed to a 1/4" seam allowance.  Nothing magic yet (or maybe ever!).

 I remove only the papers behind the black trimmed area.

 That plastic thing is Templar - heat resistant plastic.  It is often used to iron the seam allowances around appliques.  In essence, that is what I am doing too.  It has a pencil line at 1/4", as these black trims are intended to be 1/4" thick.

The finished stars will be hand appliqued to the background fabric.  Using a paint brush and liquid starch (spray it into a little cup). lightly paint the edge of the black fabric, then press it into position. From the back it looks like the next photo.  The seam allowance just pressed is a tad floppy.

 Because I am concerned how well this pressed edge will hold with time (I have no idea how long it will be before I get around to appliquing the blocks), I am doing one further step.  I dot the orange fabric 4-5 times with clear Elmer's glue, and heat set this seam with the iron.

 The finished unit is all held in place, and shouldn't move until I move it!

 I also have to trim these zebra-hexies to size because the zebra stripe pieces were slightly oversized.

 This is easy using a hex template.  I just mark w/ the 1/4" seam allowance and then trim.

 The 6 triangle units are carefully centered on the sides of the hexie, pinned and stitched on the paper line.  In theory, it should be creating a perfectly shaped star.  Theory...

After stitching, remove the papers and press the seam towards the center of the hexie.  This will also turn the edge of the small remaining zebra print points (which I do starch press to hold).

Viola! I am working on stars 7 through 9 this week.  This process takes me 1 hour per block, so no fast production line here~  The finished look is interesting though.

Jack of all Trades

Just as many women feel like they wear a multitude of different hats, that is just how this week has felt.  I am not completely back into the "just quilting" mode, now that my kids are back to school. That said, I did get a couple of client quilts through the studio, and another will come off the frame this weekend, but the list of customs, and larger customs increases daily.

One of my very much time-sensitive items -- the binding of this purple whole cloth -- is well, done enough.  To hand finish the scallop piping and hand stitch the binding has taken by best record about 30 hours.   I have about 16-18" around one corner to remove though because the corner looks crappy.  It doesn't pass muster with me, and won't get past a judge unless her glasses are lost.  When I said "done enough" I meant that it is ok for me to get the photos I need to enter it at Road to California, which are due by end of this month.  I have until mid-Dec to actually finish it.  Let's just assume that early December will be crazy here!

 Last weekend, against my better judgement, I started adding the solid-colored points to these hexie stars.  If I had good sense, I'd just let this sit for a few weeks, but we all know that isn't the case. They are fiddly and time-consuming, taking right at 1 hour per block.  I am considering doing a little tutorial next week on how these were added, as it's not your usual sew-n-attach method.  The colors for the center 9 blocks will all be different shades of pink and orange.  When I finish these 9 (with 12 still to go), I'll do a layout and figure out what the remaining blocks will get.  There aren't 12 other shades so I'm not quite sure! Once these are appliqued onto the silk background (which of course the studio fairies have not pieced yet!), then the top will be done.  My projection is December-January or later!

Here's the component of my week that apparently I could have skipped.  I am starting an article on feathered borders.  I sort of need another sample for that, but sort of I could have just used what I have.  I also had put in to teach a class at MQX on feathered borders.  I figured that this would be a nicer teaching sample than what I had.  Teacher contracts came out this week, and go figure, sheesh...this class was not on my list of classes! I'm a bit unhappy about that, but oh well.  They take a variety of classes, and fill the available schedules.  I'll beg for it one last time, and then it will go into my stockpike of things to use in my book.  Thing is, this class was in theory going to be my catalyst for finishing that!

Other tid-bits of progress (just no photos)... The backing for my next show quilt, very soon to be on the longarm (maybe in a week!) is pieced.  That was no small feat, as it is a Paula Nadelstern directional print which I am pleased to say I actually pieced to appear that the pattern matches!  I am also creating templates to trace so I can start marking this beast.  It will be different from my usual quilts in that it's darker colored, and I can't mark with blue pens.  I have some experimentation in the coming days.  I am also almost done with the little fixes that the piecing needed - just one to go.  Now, it's no picnic to deal with what I have, but it can be done simplest with a little handwork.

A couple of magazines came this week...Here are a couple pages from the NQA's Quilting Quarterly. This magazine is terribly bittersweet -- it is showing the Masterpiece quilt (below), but yet last week NQA formally announced that they are disbanding.  This rocks my world.  NQA judges are the best in the business.  They are formally trained to judge based on technical merits, and we all know I am most definitely a technical quilter.  There have been rumors that perhaps their Masterpiece Quilt program and the Certified Judges programs may try to be chaired by others, but time will tell.  Gosh I hope so.  Getting this award was sweet, but it would mean way more if others can also receive it.

 One last mag...The current Quilter's Newsletter has a blurb about HMQS, which was in May.

 BTW, this is a busy show month.  If you are in Wisconsin, the Quilt Expo is this weekend.  I hear that there are lots of great quilts there.  Next week is AQS Chattanooga.  Cross your fingers that they like what I sent there!

Monterrey Medallion

Erin makes some of the prettiest quilt, and this one is just no exception.  It is called Monterrey Medallion, and measures about 72x90".  The colors are soothing, and the piecing is so nice and flat. She asked for a custom.  This is the last of the quilt tops she sent me back in the early spring...Yea Me!! Love when I actually get to the bottom :-)...especially since she has sent another one already too!

I knew I wanted to do mostly a filler around the smaller stars to conserve the budget a little.  It is so easy to let the time get away from you when  you are custom quilting when there are a zillion little designs here and there.  Because she tends to press seams open, I limited the ditching to hardly at all, and chose designs that diverted the eye from the lack of ditching.  With stars, my first inclination is that every point must be outline stitched to preserve the crispness, but not always is true.

 This has a single layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting.  Because the showier quilting is in white, I knew that it would show just fine, negating the need for the expense of a wool batt.  I used 2 colors of thread - white Glide and a tan-ish YLI polished poly.  The two rings of feathers in the above photo are actually stitched in the tan, so they show more.

The center medallion shows really beautifully.  It has multiple frames, some cross-hatching and plenty of feathers on the star.  The log cabin blocks are a little different - an attempt to give nice texture w/o needing to ditch.  Believe it or not, these squiggly lines are quite time consuming, more so than I thought.  It does look great though.

 The outer border brings life to what is otherwise fairly simple piecing.  That is one thing that I love about quilting.  You can quilt this as squares and a white chain, and be bored to tears, or just ignore the lines and create your own playground.  I like to play...There is a fun cross-hatched and feathered inner border, with more of the squiggly lines along the outside.  It ties the outer border to the rest of the quilt beautifully.  At the very end, when I was at that "I'm done!" stage, I took one last hour and put pearls along the white squares to set them off.

 Here's a couple more looks...

 and here...

Time to get to business now and figure out what is next.  Happy Sunday~

Winter Wool Applique quilt

I have gotten to the bottom of a large box of Erin's quilts.  I'm trying to remember when the box of about 8-9 quilts arrived, but it was probably February or March.  I whipped out the edge-to-edge quilts quickly, and then it was summer and my custom quilting factory went on strike (that's code for "the three kiddos were all home!").  The last week, when they were finding things to do, I started digging out some of the summer's stockpiles.

Actually, they only went back to school yesterday.  After I wandered around the studio for half an hour wondering what to do, I pulled this quilt out, realizing I probably could get it quilted in a day.

It is 34"x41", and is wool applique on pieced cottons.  There is a lot of print in the blues, so my aim was to just show texture.  This quilt has only a single cotton batting.  Typically, the wool has enough thickness to show nice loft with just the cotton.

A deep navy blue Glide thread was used for the background, and a tan-ish YLI polished poly thread was used for the lighter areas.  These threads give a subtle sheen to the quilt.  All of the appliques are SID too. Because the wool is thicker, I can get away with ditching with almost whatever thread I am using.  No real need to run the clear thread.

 I love how the star turned out.  It has the perfect combination of the motifs I love most - feathers and ruler work.  Just a hint of dense filler makes the ruler channels pop, setting the star off from the swirly background.

 One thing I should note is that this quilt has EVERY seam pressed open.  This makes ditch stitching very challenging.  If you quilt down the ditch, you run the risk of that seam popping open.  I have to be very careful to sew a scant distance 1/16" off from the actual seam.  Believe it or not, it is hard when your brain has trained itself to quilt IN the ditch.  While pressed open seams does create a nice flat quilt, I really do not recommend doing this for custom quilted tops.

OK, here's one last look at the back...it is a dark blue, so all of the lighter taupe bobbin shows!

I have one last quilt of Erin's on my machine, approaching the half-way point.  It's more than double the size of this quilt though, so it may go a couple more days.

Happy Humpday~

Wednesday

That's a nice non-descriptive title, huh?!

If I wrote, "More Hexagons", then half of you would take for the hills.  But reality is, I have been doing relatively mundane things, and the hexagons are at the top of the interest list.  I am putting a binding on the silk wholecloth.  Yippy-do-da!...see, I told you...not so thrilling.  I also did a client quilt last weekend, but because it has rained here for 6 days (kind of getting like Scotland), I have crummy, dim-light photos that I may just not post.  I was more interested in getting it sent back to the owner than holding onto it until I could get a clear picture!

Today is my youngest's 9th birthday.  It's the last year of single digits in our house.  The past 2 days have been about cake making and other things for tonight's family party.  Because her day always falls before school starts, we hold off on the kid-party until mid September, when she knows who is in her class.  Yea for me - school resumes next week!

 I endeavor to make pretty cakes, but it is very clear I am a better quilter than cake decorator!

 Almost 9, and sporting all her Paris couture, in Paris no less!

 I have (I think!) finished the 21st and final hexagon block.  The layout I have been gravitating towards requires 21, but as you know, I have been through several possible layouts, including the one sketched above.  Clearly it is in all the wrong colors, but it was drawn in a heated moment when I just wanted to get these blocks machined together, and quickly.  The triangles would possibly be the only background fabric.  Some days I like its simplicity, others it just seems boring.  Who knows.

Here's a layout using 23 blocks.  The lighter ones at top and bottom center may be omitted to yield the next placement.  It would give me enough open space for quilting.  I think I like how the colors are arranged.  The blocks just need the final star points to be stitched on.  I am (again, I think) using Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids for these points.  It comes in nice bold, almost sherbet-like colors.  I have some small pieces in several colors ordered.  Next week I will make a decision about what color will go where.  I am hoping seriously that these points will bring further cohesion to the placement, as one bolder color will be for the center 9 blocks, and a softer, cooler color(s) will be used for the other 12.  My thinking is that the background will still be the silk Radiance.  Pricey, but I think the effect is worth it.  I will first get the stars done, then rethink the background.  Lotsa applique!

Here's the final hexagon... Whoo-hooo!

 One last look at how I make my hexie blocks, as it is a bit different from the traditional EPP method.  I use Marti Michell's cutting template for a 1" hexie.  This means it is 1" per side.  I use this to mark where to cut.  The smaller Templar template is exactly 1" per side, and this is used to mark the back of each fussy-cut hexagon.  This line is where I sew, bu hand.  I stitch each seam separately, back tracking with 2-3 stitches on each end before knotting.  Yes, this is 90 seams! These blocks are more secure than anything you'd machine stitch!  The front is pretty and the backside is too.  My reasons for making them this way are this -- the seams can easily be pressed to the side.  I don't want open seams because it's a pain for quilting should I choose to ditch stitch.  There is no ditch!  Also, I don't like the added step of gluing or basting onto the papers.  My block is easy to hold as I am stitching because it is not filled with paper.  It is my version of Inklingo, which many quilters use, but easier because there is no printer involved.

  I have a lovely heart applique quilt started on my machine.  Next week I should have something beautiful to show!

Client Valentine's Day Lone Star

A week ago, with barely 2 weeks left of my kids' summer vacation, I decided it was time to load a couple of quilts and start trying to get caught up.  I avoid the custom quilts during the summer because they take much longer, and my windows of quilting time are short...1-2 hours.  I can have a custom quilt on the machine for over a week before it is done.  More than that, because we all know I have show quilts on the machine for several weeks at a time, I tend to just forget what I am doing if I only do a little bit each day.

This quilt was made by one of my very prolific Iowa clients, Erin, and it is only 54" square.  It is a relatively simple pattern to quilt too (and not forget what I am doing!). For those interested, it has a layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting and is stitched with mostly Glide thread.

 There is ample white background to showoff pretty designs.  She wanted a background reminiscent of my Zen Garden quilt (which has more going on in it's setting squares).  I have hopefully kept the essence of this quilt with the curved cross-hatching and feathers.  I chose a filler around these using hearts to bring some of the fabric into the quilting.  It is all about cohesion.

 The star is the show, so the quilting does not need to overpower it (that is what the neutral white aeas are for!).  I did a single row of continuous curves in the white thread through this area.

(Before...)

But after stitching this, I decided it was just not done.  It appeared underquilted compared to the background.  Using a pale pink and deep burgundy thread, I went back and doubled the curves, creating double continuous curving.  It is more textural and just prettier.  Now, I could have certainly quilted the star more heavily, but it just didn't seem to be the place for heavy quilting.  Sometimes the simpler route is really prettier.  FYI - these curves are all stitched with a 6" circle template.

(after...)

The center of the star lays beautifully.

 Lone Stars are a lovely and classic pattern.  She plans to use this either on a wall or as a decorative element on a bed.  I'd love to have the time to make some seasonal/holiday display quilts!!

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