Rags N Quilts

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!

A couple days ago, I shared fabrics for one of my new quilts here. Well, today I’m going to give you a little peak of  that quilt design; and a look at the tools and methods I use to draw my full size patterns for large quilts.

I first start with a rough sketch in my sketchbook, always very small scale.  I find it easier to work small at first.  Then I scan my sketch into the computer where  I then import it into a drawing program. I prefer a vector drawing program…my favorite is Pre design studio II, though many programs will work; including photoshop elements and EQ. both of which I have and use for many things.

Here, I refine my sketch, scale it and then print my appliqué  pieces.  I also now do some of my sketches on my iPad using some of the drawing apps.  Then I can just e-mail the sketches to myself and import them from there to finish them up and print the appliqué  patterns.

My next step is to start an EQ file if I didn’t already do so, that includes everything, including  pieced blocks that I want to add. From that , I can determine my final layout and calculate my fabric requirements.  That file also ensures I have an easy way to write a pattern for sale  if I choose to make it available to others.

Other than the computer, here are some of the tools I use in drawing my patterns to scale.

I use grid paper (with a half inch grid) to draw my full size pattern. It comes on a roll 30″ wide x 100 yds., and I just tape sections together to get the size I need…the grid makes it easy.  This makes the pattern I use to mark my quilt top.  I also make templates of my appliqué  shapes from the patterns I printed from my drawing program,  using either template plastic or fun foam (the one with no adhesive).  This time  I used the foam. They are useful for lots of other applications too (like sun printing, for one).  I draw the circles for my medallions using Renae’s rays…they are the easiest and most accurate way to draw large circles…up to 84″ in diameter.  In these photos, the outermost diameter is 35and 1/2″  The final pattern(not shown) has additional circles outside what you see here up to 43″ diameter.

Then with Renae’s ray  tool, I can divide the circle into segments…I divided this one into 8 sections.  Now,  you also see another set of divisions…those mark  the center of my pattern to the outside corners of my paper pattern.  Since this is a rectangle instead of a square, I need this additional set of lines to line up the other elements outside the circles.

And these are my foam templates

I always find a way to get feathers of one sort or another into my quilts….

And the templates in their places to complete 1/8th of the inside portion of my center medallion. After setting them in the positions I want, I  transfer them using an ultra fine  sharpie marker to the paper pattern itself.  The starfish outside the circles is enclosed in the next set of circles that were added after these photos were taken.

There is much more to this design, including pieced blocks, but you’ll have to wait for next year’s show season to see the entire piece.

So, that gives you a little insight into how I create my designs.  There are many ways to accomplish the design/pattern process, this is just what works for me.

And while you don’t get to see the entire piece for a while, I will give you a glimpse of the progress  now and then .

Today I spent a little time working on a new commission quilt…a flamingo.

It is small 24″x26″.  The borders are on, the appliqué is stitched down.  The beak is soft structure Tyvek; painted then heated, and will be stitched down in the quilting process.  I still have to paint the eye too.

Right now it is nekked It will also have wool feathers; free cut and stitched on during the quilting process…similar to this one I did for a class door prize last year.

I’m just waiting for my order of wool to arrive!