Category: Quilting in South Carolina

Here’s a shout out to Catherine Beemer’s quilt “Tropic of Capricorn,” which hung at the very recent QuiltCon show in Raleigh, NC.

Catherine is a member of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild, which I recently found and joined.

I can’t wait to see what she makes this year.

I spent Saturday morning with some of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild members at their monthly Sit and Sew at the very fun fabric store Five-Eighth Seams (quilt fabrics and much more) over in North Charleston.

Cathy Beemer started teaching us how to make an incredible scrappy block that she is also making. Cathy is a MASTER piecer and quilter. This block is 30 inches square, and she will be making a quilt that is 90 by 90 with her scrappy blocks. Each block quarter piece will be scrappy and different.

Here’s an alternative center she showed us.

And a purple “lollipop” pattern.

More strip pattern ideas here–I could have taken more and more pics as Cathy showed us how to start off.

Cathy loves quilter Maria Shell’s work, of course. But she very much does her “own thing” too.

This quilt hung at Houston–I think she told me. And she has at least one quilt in this year’s QuiltCon, going on right now in Raleigh, NC.

I came home to the rest of my seafood chowder–cooked in the oven and made the day before.

And I keep meaning to show this picture of roasted veggies, just because they are so pretty. And, were delicious.

I’ve already color sorted my solid fabric strips and have cut out pieces for my first center. I’m going for the pinwheel!

But first, first…the last 1920-30’s reproduction quilt in the series of 3. It’s coming along.

I’ve been having so much fun playing with the 5th of 6 block studies in my online class with Tara Faughnan.

This month Tara taught us a foundation piecing method where one does not sew INTO one’s paper pattern. I learned this method from Tara some years back, but then she used freezer paper. However, today’s freezer paper does not hold its “stickiness” for repeated use past 5 or 6 uses–so Tara figured out how to print a pattern onto regular printer paper and to get the needed “stick” with some glue.

I could not make my Sewline pen’s glue stick strongly enough–so I’m using the washable Elmer’s glue that is purple, but dries clear. I use the SMALL stick, not one of the larger ones. And it does not take much glue at all to get the result I need. Too much glue makes the paper stick to the fabric so that it’s hard to get the paper separated from the fabric–which results in the destruction of your paper patter.

Anyway, here’s my design wall now–after I spent days playing with three different sizes of triangles. I made big ones, medium ones, and smaller fat ones. And I put some around two sides of the “Lines” 9-patch block, which was fun.

The blocks won’t stay this way on the design wall of course. And the final, 6th block coming March 1 will alter things again. But I’m seeing that I do have three big pieces that can anchor a possible improv quilt.

Time will tell.

Here’s a quilt from Cecilia Koppmann, a quilter from Argentina. Her work was featured in Simply Moderne magazine, one of two quilty magazines I get each year. (See citation info below the picture.)

I’m especially interested in this quilt, which is 60+ inches big, as I think she may have used the inset method I just learned from Tara Faughnan in the online “block” class I’m taking. That method is Dale Fleming’s “6-minute circle.”

“Eclipse”

Simply Moderne magazine, Issue Number 35, pages 40-47

I think it’s ok maybe to use this pic from the magazine since this quilt image is available to see on both Pinterest and Koppmann’s web site.

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/166773992423906364/

http://patchworkycia.blogspot.com/2014/05/

What I like about Simply Moderne is that it covers the quilting of people from all over the world. There are, also, projects included, and I’ve made quite a few of the over the years. This magazine’s issues are quarterly–so 4 a year.

My other favorite magazine is American Patchwork and Quilting.

Yesterday, “Happy” (the quilt I’m hand quilting) and I took Girlie car to my local Toyota dealer so Girlie could get a recall part she needed. It’s about a 30-minute trip to the dealer.

I knew the inspection and installation of the part would take several hours of waiting, so I packed up “Happy” for this outing.

I commandeered a table and two chairs in the expansive waiting room and set to work–and that made the hours pass swiftly. Included were chats with people who were interested in this quilt and this hand quilting process. Some told stories of the quilts their grandmothers made for their grandchildren. ”Happy” is one of the 7 handmade quilts for my 7 grandchildren.

The orange threads you see are the longarm machine basting, which I clip loose as I move along. I am sewing grid lines down the lines of dark centers with darker tread colors.

By the time I got home early afternoon and organized my noonish big dinner, ate, and cleaned up, it was mid-afternoon. The day then turned lazy–no walk but to the mail boxes–but by bedtime, I was almost finishing the last grid line. And that all felt just fine. I must have needed a lazy day.

Next up, the big circles to be done in pastel threads. Then the centers of the circles. 

And today is a rainy day, but I will walk in between, and I’ll sew upstairs on the 1920-30s quilt top.

The fabrics in this quilt are all 1920-1930 reproduction fabrics. Most were hiding out (as a group) in my stash–and were bought nearly 20 years ago when a local Maine store’s owner retired and closed his store (Fabric Bonanza). I did purchase recently more of some of the colors that were lacking selection to make interesting blocks. 

The fabrics are reproduction, but the block and the setting are modern. The pattern is “Modern Vintage” by Camille Roskelley and Bonnie Olaveson, and I found it in the Better Homes and Gardens QUILT LOVERS FAVORITES, vol. 16, pages 86-89–before I donated the book to the Wando library.

The blocks will finish at 10 inches, so this top (my 218th) will finish at 60 by 70 inches, so a nice lap size.

BUT, here’s the problem. Look what’s still left in the fabric pile.

I played around a bit last night before stopping. 

I don’t know. Maybe these blocks could be combined. Maybe not. And I’m not totally sure whether or not I want to keep working on these fabrics. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I’ve ordered some Kona “natural” that should mostly match the muslin in the blocks for the backing and binding. And I found bits and pieces of muslin in my stash so I could keep on making more of the above blocks.

Or, not.

I am kind of anal about finishing a project–and this project WAS to use up ALL of these fabrics. 

It’s Sunday morning, and Brrrrr cold for South Carolina, and “Serpentine Surprise” is in the washing machine as I write.

Last year when I first got here, there was a spell of 17-degree temps that froze the two Rinnai tankless water heaters’ outside pipes at my son’s house for several days.  Getting them unfrozen required a hair dryer, hours outside, and wrapping the pipes with more temporary insulation for the second freezing night–but fortunately, no water pipes burst. Consulting with neighbors who know better than I do how to prevent frozen pipes in South Carolina, I started dripping my hot water before I went to bed last night–after the temps had started dropping below 30 degrees. The wind chill is a further factor, of course. Remember that our hot water heaters are on the OUTSIDE of houses here. 

All was fine this morning–Every day I have to run the hot water before hot water comes–which takes much longer in the winter. That strikes me as really wasteful, especially as we pay for water/sewer here. (I had a well in Maine–and outside water faucets were built for freezing weather–and an indoor heater and a water tank that stored hot water.)

BUT, I finished the binding on “Serpentine Surprise” last night–Kona Thistle, which I had enough of to use some for binding. Note, the top is NOT wavy; I just didn’t smooth it down properly.

Remember that this curvy “Serpentine” block that works so well with checkerboard blocks is from my online “blocks” class with Tara Faughnan. This block involves glue, and I do machine baste on the longarm before quilting, so I thought it prudent to wash her to dissolve the glue and to close up the basting holes. ”Serpentine Surprise” and her sassy self are going to live in my tv room on a chair.

I used my domestic and a walking foot to quilt this grid on her–and a very neutral Aurafil thread that does not stand out, front or back. The thread is a cross between a light grey and a light tan–which works well on the back as well as the front. And I had enough of this newsprint fabric by Carrie Bloomston in my stash to piece the back: 

I love the graphic nature of the two-color version of this block:

But I also love the scrappy versions:

And it was great fun to play with combining these two block versions, and to, also, play with using both versions in one block. 

I went down a rabbit hole with Serpentine and checkerboard blocks and played to my heart’s content–and that is the purpose of this “block” class. 

The 5th of 6 planned blocks comes out at the end of next week. And Dale Flemings’ book on “the 6-minute circle” method is now in the mail. I love having learned that method and am likely far from being “done” with it.