Rags N Quilts

And on their way to Vicki to be joined with her beautiful fabrics into kits!

So keep an eye out for her announcement  shortly that they are available for sale.

Today is the reveal of the Fiberactions  ”Memory” challenge. This is the story of my quilt for this challenge.

I knew from the beginning what I would portray for the “Memory” challenge. For those of us who live along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the events of April 21,2010 marked the beginning of a profound change in our lives.

(oiled Kemp’s ridley sea turtle rescued from the Gulf of Mexico;photo courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife,used with permission)

I hand dyed my background fabric and cheesecloth. The turtle bodies are hand painted batting, their shells are a combination of both hard and soft structure Tyvek painted with Lumiere and then heated.
The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent, ongoing oil spill created an environmental disaster of epic proportions that will be felt for years to come. The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and it’s wetlands are the nurseries for countless species of wildlife. From shore and sea birds, to shrimp, oysters,and fish…including tuna. Dolphins, whales and endangered sea turtles. And we will all be touched by it in some way, be it large or small, before all is said and done. For me, it is very personal.

Now, head on over to the Fiberactions blog to see the fabulous quilts by the other artists of our group.

We had a wonderful week, and now the girls are headed back home.   I miss them already!  We made books, made pillows, had pool time, and spent time just hanging out and visiting.

No more words…just some photos

Bye girls, love you all!

I guess it’s back to work for me tomorrow…

Not only are my girls here and we’re having a blast ( more on that with photos later), I recieved notification today that my quilt “Solar Powered” has been juried into the Houston show!

So that drama is over for now, back to fun with the girls!

until my girls get here! My youngest daughter and her two girls (my two oldest granddaughters).  I’m getting the final preparations for a week of sewing, quilting, beading, and bookmaking….I’m talking about journals & sketchbooks here, not bets.

I already have all the sewing stuff prepped and ready… and today since it rained all day, I spent the time cutting papers to size. The books we’ll be making will be 5″x7″ and 3″x5″…good sizes for backpacks and purses. I always try to have one new craft for them to try each year in addition to our sewing, and this year it’s making books.

Writing and sketch papers (many in colors too)

fancy papers for covers

and yes,I know  there are enough for hundreds of books; but we need lots of options

Rubbing plates to do some embossing with

border punches for pretty edges (this is one of many)

die cutter and dies for shapes and motifs

My trusty bind it all to bind our books (we also have a comb binder and many colors of comb bindings, and a laminator for some different covers)

and many sizes and colors of owires for the bindings

And I didn’t get photos of all the chipboard,clipboard and canvas board just waiting to be made into beautiful book covers!

Whew! And we’ll have to get some pool time in there between the afternoon thunderstorms.

I think it’s going to be a busy week!  Stay tuned and we’ll share the creations the girls come up with.

of my newest piece for the next Fiberactions challenge, ”Memory”.

Can you identify any of the elements?  Do you have any idea what this ends up becoming?

Stay tuned, the reveal is on July 15th!

The background for the center medallion is pieced and marked. Stitching down the appliqué started today. Here’s a quick glimpse as I was getting the pieces placed for stitching.

It really glows on that deep blue background!

There’s a long way to go, but at least the process has begun!

I know this might be a hot topic, but still, it bears discussion.

I asked this question at MQR as the question of the week, but I think I’ll repeat it here.

How do you press your seams? to the side, or open?  And why?

All I can say is, there is no right or wrong way…only the way that works for you.

I am going to talk about what works for me.

I press open.  OMG! Did she really say that?…yes I did. And here is why.

Yes, I got a nice ‘nesting’ when I would press to the side as I was taught “a thousand years ago, lol” .   BUT! and this is a big  but: If I have more than two seams that come together, it really can throw my accuracy off….both at the piecing stage and at the quilting stage, with that telltale lump.

As a former” longarm quilter for hire” I can tell you that I quilted my share (and then some) of lumpy quilts.  You know what I mean…those huge lumps at the seam intersections.

Well, after a few of those, I started looking at my own piecing/pressing habits.  They were straight out of the quilters bible..”.press to the dark side” unless there is too much bulk…then press to the light side.

That works fine if; and it’s a BIG if: #1 there are only two seams (or maybe four); and #2 the fabrics are either; of equal value so there is no show through when pressing to the light…and you are fastidious about clipping any overhang and ALL your dark threads.

Neither of which seamed to work in my business life.

So, I wanted my quilts to be better…I compete, so that is important.  So I started pressing all my seams open.

Now I don’t make a lot of pieced quilts, but I do make pieced backgrounds for applique. And, I want to ‘grow’ as a quilter and artist.

So, I tried pressing the seams open.  At first, only the ones where many seams came together…I was waiting for the quilt police to come….they never did.  AND, I liked how nice and flat my seams were.

So I tried it on others, and I have to tell you…I am a convert to pressing everything open.

And the benefit…other than less lumps when I go to quilt a piece?  WOW, I find that I am soooooo much more accurate!

Now, a perfect piecer, I will never be. But I am pleased with how much better my piecing is.  Now, in full disclosure, I also starch the snot out of it all at every step of the way.  (Only good for pieces you can wash).  But mostly what I do other than wholecloths,  is appliqué…and I use a h2o soluble stabilizer and glue for that…so washing is a given.   The exception is the art quilts I do with mixed media…those don’t get washed (just vacuumed) so no glue or starch on them.

But for washable quilts, press it all open is my mantra.  Some examples….Notice I use two colors of thread…one that blend with each fabric…there is nothing more distracting than seeing contrasting thread in a seam

I really like Mary Ellen’s Best press, but I ran out…this worked fine

look how nice they went together

No, I do’t proclaim to be a perfect piecer…nothing could be further from the truth, but I do want try keep trying to improve my techniques, and this has definitely helped.  These blocks are not perfect by any means, but they are pretty good. And even though pressing open takes a couple seconds longer…I’m OK with that. I’ve never been a fast quilter anyway…either at the piecing/appliqué stage,  or at the quilting.  My view…slow and steady wins the race.   And makes me happier with the results.

and look, that backs are as pretty as the fronts!

So is this for everyone?  No, probably not.  But it works for me and I am very happy with my blocks.

now, as to that question I know you’re asking…What about stitching in the ditch on all those seams that are pressed open?  Well, in my own quilts…I quilt it all to death…so I am adding thread on top of thread…I think it will all hold together

Not for the faint of heart, I know. But………..

Today I worked on the seahorses again.  I made another center for the flower (from fabric in my stash).  I like this one much better.

Prepared a bunch of starfish appliqués to circle around my seahorses

Prepared the other parts of the shell appliqués

Got out the “GO” cutter and cut out a bunch of “peaky &  Spike” block parts

That made lots of these

Which then made lots of these

So, add today’s work to what I did yesterday and I have a pretty good start on this quilt!

I even cut some drunkards path blocks out using my “GO” die.  I tell you, the strip dies are nice, as are all the others; but the real bonus to me about the “GO” cutter are the dies like “Peaky & Spike” and the Drunkards Path that you would normally have to use templates for cutting.  This is soooo much easier and faster.

After my guild meeting this morning I went by “Gloria’s Stash” again…needed a couple more greens and a nice red batik.  I tell you, if you like batiks, that place is hard to stay away from!

This afternoon I had planned to work on quilting the bird of paradise quilt, but there was thunder and lightning around all afternoon.

So instead, I worked on preparing some of my appliqué  for” Seahorse Samba”. I got most of it cut out and glued to the stabilizer.  I even cut out the pieced blocks (with the “GO” cutter)

I decided I wanted the seahorses to go clockwise instead of counter-clockwise like I originally drew.  And, I don’t like the fabric in the flower center…it’s too drab.  Guess I’ll have to go back to the shop

Generally, though I’m liking this…especially on that dark blue background…it really glows!