This is my entry in the special Alfred Shaheen exhibit for MQX New England 2016 and MQX Midwest 2016. This really cool exhibit organized by MQX founder Janet-Lee Greer Santeusanio consists of machine quilting a vintage Alfred Shaheen panel. These panels, available for sale online from a few vendors, could be quilted as is or embellished. I chose to quilt mine as is, adding just a binding made of Radiance silk. I love how it turned out. (more…)
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I recently finished this lovely French Braid quilt. This was pieced by another Joy, and I love how this turned out. It sat on my frame for almost an entire week while I tried to find time to figure out what to do with it. I finally just did beadboard in the outer border and focused on making the braids pop. I used a design present in the border fabric to make the motif at the center and corners of the braid panels. I used Superior Twist thread on top and Bottom Line on bottom.
I am finding it hard to schedule quilting time right now. A lot of you know that my parents’ home burned down on Jan. 21. They had lived there since 1968 and it has been pretty traumatic for everyone. We are making progress in the rebuilding process and other associated tasks; but I’m really feeling the interruptions. The Bali Wedding Star that I finished a couple of weeks ago was probably the first one that I felt I was out of tune with the quilt. Finding time to quilt is an issue right now; but creating the quilting design has proven to be more difficult. My mind needs to be in “speak” with the quilt and I’m extremely distracted right now. I’m thankful to have some wonderful clients who can allow me time to recover from the stress. That said, I have TWO quilts that need to get done in the next month and THREE more that need to be done in the following month; and I have to travel for work in a few weeks also. PLUS, I was contacted yesterday by the owner of a quilting book company who wants me to quilt her quilt designs. OMG.
I’m looking forward to fall when things should be calmed down. LOL.
French Braid – back
French Braid
French Braid
French Braid -
I purchased this top at the Arthur Quilt Fest in 2014. They have an annual auction of quilts (both finished and unfinished) to benefit their relief fund. I won this top and I’m so glad I did. The top was pieced by a vendor at the show (Margie Miget) and those little Sues are made up of 24 individual pieces in that 3″ block. OMG. Seriously awesome! I’m not a big fan of Sunbonnet Sues — I feel most are overdone or just boring — but this one, especially in the Log Cabin setting, was exceptional. It kept getting pushed back in my queue until I finally made time for it over Christmas break. I put Amish feathers in the big border and feathers and ruler work in the blocks. I really LOVE this one. I tried a batting I had not used before (mainly because I had used the wool I had purchased for this quilt on a customer quilt and didn’t want to wait on an order). This has Quilters Dream supreme cotton batting. It’s about twice the loft of their Deluxe loft. While I like the loft it gave, I prefer the drape the wool would have given it. Two colors of thread (Superior SoFine on top and Bottom Line on bottom).
Susie’s Cabin
Susie’s Cabin
Susie’s CabinAn interesting tidbit of info about Sunbonnet Sue quilts is this quilt done in 1979 by a group of quilters who decided it was time to kill off poor Sue. The individual blocks can be seen here on Barbara Brackman’s blog who was one of the gals responsible for this awesome quilt. The poor quilt had a ribbon pulled from it and it was refused entry at other shows. It now resides in the Kitty Cole Clark collection at the Museum at Michigan State University. If you have time for a good laugh (or cry), jump over and check it out.
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I recently completed this lovely quilt who had pieced it as a wedding present for her nephew. Lucky kid! I wanted to keep in her budget, but at the same time play up the expert piecing of the quilter. The combination of McTavishing and circles in the background really set this one off. I really wish I could have kept this one. Particulars are: Quilters Dream puff, Superior’s SoFine and Bottom Line threads. It was featured on MyQuiltPlace.com and AQS featured it on their Facebook page (shown below).
This quilt is beyond words! Thanks for sharing Coastal Lilly on MyQuiltPlace Joy Voltenburg! http://bit.ly/1nWzOqN
Posted by American Quilter’s Society on Sunday, February 7, 2016
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In the latest edition of Quilt Sampler magazine (available here soon), a quilt designed and made by my local quilt store owner – Kate Laskowski of Main Street Quilt Company – and quilted by ME, is not only featured in the magazine, but is also on the COVER! Yes, the cover of the magazine! Isn’t that just awesome! I feel so honored to have been a small part of this great accomplishment by Kate. I’ve known for a while now that the quilt was to be one of 10 featured in the magazine, but only recently found out it was chosen for the magazine cover. (more…)
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Hmm. Where do I start. I’ve been absent from my blog for a while now. All the online options that are available to you today have been a bit overwhelming. I’ve been a lot busier with quilting customer quilts and I’ve made a conscious choice to limit my time spent online. As a result, this blog has suffered. It’s not like I haven’t had news worth sharing either. I have some pretty exciting news I plan on sharing in the next few weeks; but for now, let’s play a little catch up…. (more…)
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I’m up in the air about what to call this art quilt, but I have a bit of time to decide. It’s coming along. I have two (maybe 3) colors left to figure out and have ordered a few more pigments to help me decide. I’m using polished pigments (available via sewfarsewgood.org or from colourarte.com) and Derwent Inktense pencils. I mix the pigments with textile medium (like Inkfusion or Delta Ceramcoat). The pencils I will either pencil the color on dry and brush the textile medium over it, or I’ll use the brush and grab the color directly from the pencil. I also have Inktense blocks that I grate up and mix with the medium to create my paint. (more…)
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This was a quick and fun little wall hanging to do. The piecer (Diane) wanted to accentuate the flower blocks, which was definitely needed as some of the pieces of the flowers blended in with the background fabric. To achieve this, I layered Quilters Dream midweight poly over Hobbs 80/20 to give extra loft and definition to the stitching. I SID around the posy blocks and added feather wreaths in the alternating blocks. I then did a small circly filler (I’m sure that’s a word) around the pieced blocks and the feather wreaths. I did a tight loopy fill in the outer border and just echoed the triangles 1/2 inch to give it a cool border effect. I used a rose Invisafil thread on top and a burnt brown DecoBob on the back. I love the way it turned out.
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I purchased a top from an eBay store (auntbeasquilts) a few months back. I had seen some pictures of another quilter’s quilt top that she had purchased from eBay and I decided I’d take the risk and purchase one. I also knew I had nothing in the works for my own quilt and I had vacation coming up and I wanted something of mine to work on. If you can call a purchased quilt top “mine”. In the literal sense it is mine, but I didn’t piece it, so it doesn’t really feel like it’s mine. You understand, right?
Anyway, I chose this beautiful mariner’s star quilt – 100″ x 91″, in blues. I don’t normally purchase much blue fabric as the décor in my home doesn’t include any blue. But I love a blue and white quilt. So, I figured I’d give this one away – probably to my son when/if he gets married. Or maybe I’ll donate it eventually to a raffle. I don’t know, but it’ll be mine for a little while.
So, back to the quilt. Was it worth the $47+ shipping I spent? Yes, that’s right – $50 for a quilt top!?! What in the world? The store’s About Us page said they were a group of women who loved to quilt. Ok. I love to quilt too, but I can’t buy the fabric for that price, let alone pay a good wage to someone to piece this kind of top!
So, I get the top and it had some problems. Duh. The outer half-square triangles were not cut properly and they had some stretch. Ok, I can deal with that. The first inner white border was cut too short and made to fit. Hmmm. That could be a problem, but I think I can deal with that. The star blocks were about a size DD – in other words they definitely did not lay flat. Ok. Hmmm. How should I handle that? I have some options – starch the heck out of it and hope it draws up or take that into account when designing my quilting. I opted for the latter option. Because I’m impatient and I’m on vacation and I’ve got to stick to my schedule! LOL.
I auditioned a few designs while it was on the frame to decide which one I thought would go well. I’ll came up with this compass-like design and it goes well with the look of the quilt…kind of a cosmic northern star look. I borrowed the background fill from Judi Madsen – I had been waiting on just the right quilt to use that technique and I think it works perfectly here.
Details:
Quilters Dream wool over Hobbs 80/20; So Fine 401 on top and Bottom Line lace white on bottom.You all know that a quilt is not finished until you put a label on it? That’s a rule or something. So, I contacted auntbeasquilt shop on eBay and asked her which of her quilters had pieced this as I wanted to include her name on the label. It turns out her name is “Ping Youn”. Oh my. If that didn’t make me feel worse. I already felt guilty for taking advantage of poor auntbea and now I find I may be contributing to someone’s sweatshop? I could just picture poor little Ping Youn with scarred fingers working in a drab room by the light of an oil lamp. Her fingers bleeding so she can produce a quilt top for people like me! I nearly cried. I nearly cried just now too. So, Ping Youn’s name is now on my label and I hope some day she gets to see it in person. I bet she doesn’t have internet access though. In that drab room. In the dark. Sob.
So here are some pics. I really love how it turned out. So much so, that I’m planning on making my own version in reds. That one will be ALL mine!
On the frame. Notice how tight the white border above the stars is? 
Before quilting. Notice the extra puffiness in the fabric. 
After quilting. 
Notice the extra fabric? I dealt with this with the tight fill I used. Swirls and circles are great for gathering in extra fabric. 
Ready to do the binding. 
Kitty loved the quilt. 
border shot. 2 borders had room for a feather vine. 
I wish I had chosen a different backing fabric. The color of the white is not the same. I was in a hurry though. Next time I’ll plan better. I didn’t realize the whites didn’t match until it was on my frame. 
Good shot with the light coming in. Oh, and by the way. Someone I spoke to at the quilt guild I presented at earlier this week said that auntbeasquiltshop employs Hmong refugees. I still don’t know if that makes me feel any better or worse. I do know that I think I’ll make sure I pay a fair price for a quilt top in the future. Or just do it myself. Or do without.
Update:
A few more pics with my mom’s cat checking out the quilt at their house. This cat (whose name is Jerry) alerted my parents to a fire that destroyed their home last year (January, 2016). He deserves that crown – he’s a hero cat.
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Here is a fun Halloween embroidery quilt. This one comes with its own story, too. This was embroidered by the husband of one of my quilting ladies (Fred and Kathy). He embroidered the blocks and she put the pieces together in a quilt. When they brought the quilt over, I talked to him a lot about how he got into embroidery, etc. It turns out he used to create stained glass. He burned out on it after several years and had turned to embroidery as a creative outlet. I found his story extremely interesting — I was and am fascinated with glass art of all kind. They offered to show me the pieces they still had at their house and we arranged that I would deliver the finished quilt and get to see these pieces in person. My friend Cathy and I delivered the quilt last Saturday (8 inches of snow didn’t stop me either). I am SO glad I did. They have a gorgeous country home and it was one of the nicest visits I have had. He had several windows with the bottom halves replaced with stained glass pieces, as well as several large sun catchers throughout the house. Everywhere I turned there was some creative piece I drooled over. At the end of the tour, Kathy opened a drawer that was filled with a variety of Christmas sun catchers and then SURPRISE! They gave me and my girlfriend two each – a candy cane and a Snowman. I was THRILLED! They are now hanging in my kitchen window and I love them. I’ll be retelling this story each time someone asks about them at Christmas from now on. Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?!
I also came home with a gorgeous Thanksgiving embroidery quilt and he is working now on a Winter one that I cannot wait to see how he finishes it.
For this Halloween quilt, I came up with a bat motif that I could stitch in one pass in the borders and the black blocks and did a shaky crosshatch in the outer border and stippling around the embroidery. The middle 9 patches got a pumpkin design also. I loved how this turned out and so did he. Two battings – 80/20 on bottom and cotton on top. So Fine and Bottom Line threads.
