Category: Quilting in Maine

Quilting, mine and others

Turkey Tracks: “Absolutely Colorful” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2019

“Absolutely Colorful” Quilt

Here is the second quilt gifted to two local sisters (7 and 9) this Christmas.  They are the great grandaughters of a dear friend, Linda McKinney.  AC Slater likes to pose on quilts.

The block is Bonnie Hunter’s “Garlic Knot.”  And the setting with the little crosses in the sashing is also Bonnie Hunter’s design.  Bonnie did a more elaborate piano keys border than I have here, but my center is busier I think.  The block formations would be more graphic is I had used plainer low-volume setting fabrics, but I like all the more complicated low volumes we have these days.

I used this backing once before in the darker grey with turquoise.  It’s Cotton+Steel.

How cute is this backing???

Turkey Tracks: “Serendipity: Scrappy Surprise” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2019

Serendipity:  Scrappy Surprise Quilt

I had such fun making this quilt.  It was gifted to one of two sisters here in Camden, Maine.  The other sister’s quilt follows in a separate post.

Both Bonnie Hunter and Victoria Findlay Wolfe “play” with “making” fabric.  The center of this block is made from my crumb scraps—sewn on to 4 1/2-inch newsprint weight paper.  I worked in faces, animals, and fun images when I could.  These block centers were a leader/ender project for a long time.

I learned to make the other square from one of Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilts.  Celtic Soltice, maybe.  One uses the Companion Angle Ruler, but positions the top above the strip of fabric to get the wider cut of the square.   The small triangles were cut with the Easy Angle ruler.  (Bonnie Hunter has a combo ruler that combines the functions of these two rulers.) The rest of the block is my design.  And I particularly like the formation of the 9-patch between the block corners and the sashing.

Fellow Camden quilter Becca Babb-Brott (Etsy store Sew Me A Song) helped me pick out the sashing fabric—and this fabric, which I’ve had for 3 or more years now—was probably my first walk into “modern” fabrics and brighter colors.

I adore this backing.  It’s got a black cat, fanciful houses, but also chickens and hedgehogs and so forth.  It’s perfect for this quilt.

Turkey Tracks: “Bee Warm” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  December 2, 2018

“Bee Warm” Quilt

It’s done!

This quilt is done with Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s herringbone braid method found in her book MODERN QUILT MAGIC. And the fabrics are all Cotton+Steel low volume.

This quilt has been what seems to me a long time in the making—mostly because I had other projects with higher priorities.  So, this one became a kind of leader/ender project, which I started back in May 2018 at the Coastal Quilter’s retreat.  It took some time to get in the rhythm of this method—it’s not hard, just different.   And I had a little trouble figuring out how wide and long the braids would be.  I went back and added more length to the braids when I realized the quilt was too wide for the length.  Next time…I will know.  And I suspect there will be a next time, for I really like the texture of this quilt.

I started by going through all my Cotton+Steel low volume warm fabrics and ironing each one enough to cut the 2 by 8 strips.  (I prewash all fabrics when they first come into the house as the chemicals in them bother me.)  So I had a big bag of strips and had a great lot of fun choosing which ones to use when as I sewed.  I had this kind of selection because I had a monthly C+S club order from Pink Castle Fabrics for about 2 years.

I’m assuming you know by now that C+S will no longer have the 5 original designers who have now moved to Moda and are named the Ruby Star Society.  Their first fabric offerings with Moda will be in the spring of 2019.  I will also say that some of the new designers under the C+S name are interesting, especially Emi Oka, who is from Tokiname-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan.

Anyway, here is a close up.  I used the “Grande Hyancith” pantograph by Patricia Ritter.  I’ve been wanting to use thisl pattern again.  It’s curvy and dense, and it is adding more lovely texture to this quilt.

I love the bee fabric on the back.  Its from the Sarah Watts collection, Magic Forest.  Bees are beloved in m;y family.  My DIL Tami Enright runs the Bee Cause project that originated in South Carolina and that seeks to save the bees by placing them in places where they can thrive or where people can observe them and learn about them.  She now has hives in all 50 states.  See thebeecause.org for more information.

The binding and label are done in this lovely pinkish fabric, which is as soft as the quilt and which is giving more texture around the outside of the quilt—as the white slashes play against the pink.

I love this quilt!

I am making a “cool” version, but with a different pattern, with the C+S low volume fabrics in blues, greens, and greys.  I’m ironing and cutting fabric now, but have made some trial blocks.  I can already see that I will love the “cool” quilt that emerges.

Turkey Tracks: On the Longarm Today

Turkey Tracks:  November 22, 2018

On The Longarm Today

I fell in love with Victoria Finlay Wolfe’s herringbone quilt pattern.  She takes the notion of a braid quilt and gives it a whole new twist and then moves on again to take the pattern into all sorts of formations, including curves.  This pattern can be found in her book MODERN QUILT MAGIC.

I’ve been working on this quilt for some time—I found I need to make what I started longer to fit the wider size after I added additional strips.  The connection piecing is tedious, but once you get into the groove of how to “see” what goes with what, you can zip along.  Figuring length and width also was a learning curve for me.

But, boy do I like this quilt—it’s all low-volume Cotton+Steel.  (If you didn’t know it, C+S has disembarked from its current home.  The five designers have stayed together, have gone to Moda, and are now Ruby Star Society.  Their first collection for Moda will come at the spring market.)

 

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern’s Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 1

Turkey Tracks:  November 17, 2018

Mt. Battie Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 1

What a “Show and Tell” we had this month!

I’ve divided up this rich showing of work into three parts.

Nancy Wright brought her finished Traveling quilt—all done but for the binding.

It’s gorgeous!!

Nancy used this Cotton+Steel fabric (which I love and have used a lot) as her backing.

Tori Manzi brought her finished traveling quilt top:

 

We have been asked by our sister group, Coastal Quilters, to show the finished traveling quilts—and other Mt. Battie Modern quilts—in their February 2019 meeting.  So, we are working to get them done now.

 

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 2

Turkey Tracks:  November 17, 2018

Turkey Tracks:  Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 2

Tori Manzi took an improv class with Kristy Daum last summer, and this quilt top is the result.  Rules included choosing a color family (blue here) with light and dark representations AND a “pop” color (bright pink) AND using solids with a specified minimum number of printed fabrics.  (Daum’s web site is stlouisfolkvictorian.com)

Tori has agreed to lead us in an improv workshop one day soon to try out this process, which she says is very interesting and freeing.

During the summer three years ago Becca Babb-Brott, Linda Satkowski, and myself decided to create “parts department” blocks for a future improv quilt.  We each made blocks and make enough of each block type for each other.  (The “parts department” idea comes from improv books by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, and I’m pretty sure I blogged about making some of the blocks that summer.)

Becca raided her parts department box recently and put this quilt together.  Linda and I had so much fun seeing the blocks we made in this quilt.  We three agreed that we learned a lot about how to make this kind of quilt from doing Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt this past year.  And LInda and I agreed that we really wanted to get into our own parts department boxes this winter.

AND, this kind of project could make a viable project down the road for Mt. Battie Modern.

Anne Bargetz made this jacket in our recent “Stay Retreat.”  It’s the “Women’s Kimnono Sleeve Jacket” from shopwiksten.com.

Anne used a Cotton+Steel print for the outer jacket.  She says it is warm and toasty and that she is using it a lot.  Several members said that they wanted to make the jacket as well.

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 3

Turkey Tracks:  November 17, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 3

Vicki Fletcher has been on a roll with her quilts.  This is the third one in recent weeks.  She calls this one “the dinosaur quilt,” and it is meant for a grandchild.

I love the sashing fabric she chose.

Nancy Wright will leave Maine shortly for her Florida winter home, so in addition to her finished traveling quilt, which she left with us to show, she brought the quilts she is working on or has finished.

Here is “Flight Effect,” a design by Dash Maslund of Falmouth Maine.  You can also see Dash featured on Kim Soper’s Leland Ave Studios website.  Maslund has a nice web site (Prow House Quilts) so you can see the various colors she uses for this quilt and other pieces of her work.

Here is Karen Lee’s “Cabin Quilt” (quiltaposy.com), made with Carolyn Friedlander fabrics.

I love the quilting pattern used on this quilt.  It has the feel of the large rectangles on the front and the rectangle’s center openings.

This quilt is Anna Maria Horner’s garden quilt.

Luscious, glorious fabrics…

Alewives Fabric in Damariscotta Mills, Maine, hosted a fairly recent workshop for AMH and this quilt.

So, as you can see, Mt. Battie Modern had a lively, fun meeting this month.  And wait until you see the projects with which we are challenging ourselves next!

On to 2019!

 

Turkey Tracks: Portable Sewing Machine Table

Turkey Tracks:  November 14, 2018

Portable Sewing Machine Table

I have watched how this SewEzi portable table works for friends for a few years now.

I do a lot of sewing outside the house.

This table has an insert and an undertable that makes your machine sit flat against the table’s surface.

It’s easy to fold up, is sturdy, has a heavy cover to protect it during transport, is light to lift, and I could go on.

I love it!

You order the right insert for your machine.

The price is reasonable, and the shipping was prompt.  Very little to put together when it arrived—just the right components for YOUR machine.

Turkey Tracks: Rolling Your Seams

Turkey Tracks:  November 1, 2018

Rolling Your Paper-Pieced Seams

Here’s a new trick for me, courtesy of friend Tori Manzi:  use a brayer tool to roll your foundation/paper-pieced seams or short seams without having to iron them.  Here I’m putting together strips for Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s herringbone braid quilt design.  I only need a short piece of the previous seam to lie flat.

I got my brayer on Amazon, and it was under $10.  It now lives in my travel pack of scissors, etc.

Thanks Tori!!

Turkey Tracks: More Mt. Battie Tula Pink Quilts in Our October 2018 Meeting

Turkey Tracks:  October 30, 2018

More Mt. Battie Tula Pink Quilts

In Our October 2018 Meeting

Tula Pink’s 100 Modern Quilt Blocks were a challenge started in, I think, 2016.  Quite a few Coastal Quilters and Mt. Battie Modern members made these blocks.  Here are a few more:

Linda Satkowski set her blocks in dark grey—in the city scape format and with color groups together.  I am a bit nutty over dark grey these days, so of course I love this quilt top!

 

Becca Babb-Brott’s top was finished in early spring, but she had a really busy summer, as did I.  So we finally slowed  down and got her quilt on the long arm a few weeks ago.

She chose to do a simple wavy line—not wanting to take away from the setting and blocks.  The wavy lines are like wind blowing against the buildings of the city scape format.

Tori Manzi opted to set her blocks without sashing and with color blocks.  Wow!  What a pretty quilt!

 

Tori used Carolyn Friedlander’s new text fabric that has big letters.  Boy do I like that fabric.