Quilting in Maine – Page 34 – Louisa Enright's Blog

Turkey Tracks: Quilting: Improv Quilts

Turkey Tracks: April 3, 2017

Improv Quilts

I love this book!

This book is a slam dunk for the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild.

We are making “traveling” quilts now. Each of us started a quilt in some way, then it “travels” to another Mt. Battie member for work. Quilts change at the monthly meeting. So I am working on another member’s now, and I’m having so much fun doing so. Working on these quilts is pure play.

Here’s my own “start.”

Can’t wait to see what happens next to it at the end of April.

Alphabet help came from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland’s OUT OF THE BOX WITH EASY BLOCKS.

I’ll go back in with pearl cotton to give the exclamation point it’s bottom circle, etc., when the quilt is layered and ready to quilt.

Turkey Tracks: “Crossed Kayaks” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: March 23, 2017

“Crossed Kayaks” quilt

This cutie baby quilt got mailed recently.

The 12 1/2 inch foundation pieced blocks are from a book by Lynn Goldsworthy, THE ULTIMATE QUILT BLOCK COLLECTION. She actually called this version a “Bento Box” pattern, but I’ve seen in other places a similar pattern called “Crossed Kayaks.” Likely that pattern did not have the colored square beneath the kayaks.

The fabrics are from a collection by Riley Blake called “Crayola.” I pulled from my stash to add more solids. I bought this collection in Coastal Quilters’ fund-raiser auction last November. I’ve always LOVED crayons. As a child, nothing much was more fun than getting a new box of crayons–each with their tips still pointy and new. That was probably the first realization that I loved the whole range of colors. This suite of fabrics also comes in girly pinks.

The secondary patterns are neat in this quilt. The center makes an Octagon.

Here’s the back. I stole from the backing fabric to get the front border, so pieced to fill in. That’s always fun.

Turkey Tracks: Tula Pink’s 100 Blocks

March 16, 2017

Tula Pink’s 100 Blocks

I have been totally enjoying making my March and April blocks, plus a few, for our year-long Tula Pink project.

I’m using Cotton + Steel fabrics for the most part in my blocks.

Here are the ones I just finished:

These blocks are addictive. They’re easy, and they’re all about the fabric.

Turkey Tracks: The Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is FINISHED

Turkey Tracks: March 14, 2017

The Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is FINISHED

This project–99 foundation pieced blocks–many of them VERY DIFFICULT and time consuming–took a year to make. A group of us at Coastal Quilter’s (Maine) took on this project in January 2016. We decided on 9 blocks a month, and if it weren’t for the encouragement and stimulation of these other quilters, I don’t think I would have ever finished this project. All of us have completed all 99 blocks, two of us have totally finished, two of us have quilts at longarm quilters, one “very busy” of us with a larger family has all her blocks finished, and one of us elected from the beginning to make a smaller quilt and is finished with her blocks. I call that a roaring success.

Each of us used different fabrics and different backgrounds, and all of the quilts are GORGEOUS! We will bring them all together at a Coastal Quilter’s meeting when everyone is done, so I will get pictures to share of the others then.

Here’s mine–and I’ve even washed it. This is a BIG QUILT.

Because I used this zig-zag setting, I could either “halve” four of five of the blocks or chose a different setting. No way was I cutting any of these blood-sweat-and tears blocks in half!!! And I thought this setting made the quilt too long and narrow. So I added two rows on either side and floated the extra blocks. I did have one extra block, to make 100, and it went into the body of the quilt. I love this setting. I had visions of quilting down the length of the zig-zags from the front of the long arm, but that would have meant quilting each of the blocks individually, and that would have been way too time consuming for me. And would have probably involved a lot of thread changes. I decided it was way too involved for me, so I used one of my favorite pantographs, “Simple Feathers” by Anne Bright.

Right now, it’s living on the living room couch where it totally perks up the room.

I chose this bird fabric for my backing and used a darker (than the front) teal blue/green solid for the binding.

I quilted with a thread that matched the teal/green surrounding fabric that just disappeared into the quilt. I didn’t want anything to take away from the blocks themselves. I washed it, which I almost never do until needed–I wash all my fabric before quilting with them as the chemicals in the fabric bother me–so it is all crinkly and cuddly.

Here’s a pic of a few of the blocks.

Turkey Tracks: Quilty Projects

Turkey Tracks: February 24, 2017

Quilty Projects

I’ve been quilting The Farmer’s Wife Quilt off and on all week.

One more pass, and it will come off the long arm, ready for binding and a label. Then pics to follow. I love the backing for this quilt.

The downstairs bedroom’s bed is still covered with projects in progress. Yes the goal is to finish them up.

The bulk is what’s on this bed is piles of fabrics for the Katja Marek EPP millifiore quilt. Somehow, I need to see all of the fabrics as I go along.

Units from the 2016 Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, En Provence, are in a pile ready to be sewn together.

There’s fabric for a 12 1/2-inch foundation pieced block project in a pile there as the long arm table is presently busy.

Ditto the big Aeroplane bag I just made, from Sew Sweetness.

And parts of Jen Baker’s BIG STAR quilt, made from BIG half-square triangles, is on the pillows. I’m going to use color-specific selvages. I think they will work.

A pile of fabric with text is over there, for the Valse Brillante EPP quilt designed by Willlyene Hammerstein I’ve been putting together.

My goodness!!

That leaves out the Tula Pink 100 City blocks. I need to do February’s blocks. I’m using Cotton + Steel fabrics, and they are all in their own bin in the quilt room. These blocks are fun to do and quick and easy.

I don’t know. Maybe it will all get cleared out by…summer visitors.

Here’s where the Milli is now. I’m working on the blue at the bottom–and the last piece will establish the whole left border. This quilt is a wild child for sure. I have no idea if I’ll like this quilt or…not. It’s hard to pick out fabric for the rosettes. I have a somewhat clear idea of the whole, but… It’s still hard to tell exactly. I need to use fabric from my stash as much as I can, so it’s hard to plan too far ahead.

Here are the 12 1/2-inch blocks in progress. They formed a pattern I’ve seen called “crossed kayacks.”

This pattern is from this book by Lynne Goldsworthy–which has some really cool blocks.

We are to have two rainy days now, so I’ll work away at some of these projects.

Turkey Tracks: February Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks: February 14, 2017

February Quilty Update

I love winter because I have lots of uninterrupted time to sew. Plus, I love snow.

I am ticking along with all the various projects and having fun seeing them come together.

Here’s Katja Marek’s EPP millifiore quilt in progress. I have almost finished a large section at the bottom left and will be adding it soon. It’s in shades of blue. And the addition of the blue will make the left edge complete.

Yes, this quilt is very funky, and I have no idea how it will look when it’s done, but… I am having fun.

You can see the piles of completed blocks of the Farmer’s Wife–each a column–above the millifiore.

That top was finished last night.

I liked the zig-zag setting, but it requires cutting four of the blocks in half on the short rows!!! I thought the quilt too long and skinny, so added two columns and used the five extra blocks I had on the upper left (2) and lower right (3).

I got a little OCD–ok, a lot OCD–about setting up blocks for one of Willyne Hammerstein’s quilts, “Valse Brilliante.” Hammerstein is Austrian, and her colors are very European. I’m doing my version in brights and neutrals, and each block will have some text fabric in it. I got a bundle of “pearl bracelet” fabrics that are bright and colorful, so I ironed them all, and I can’t bear to put them away again until I’ve finished. There are also some bright Japanese daisy prints I like–as you can see below. It actually takes a while to set up one of these blocks, but now that I’ve used up all the red wonderclips, I’ve slowed down. I try to sew EPP with matching thead as much as is possible.

I have these fabrics left to cut and glue:

Some of us here in Camden, Maine have formed the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild, which is in addition to our venerable Coastal Quilters, which is a chapter in the Pine Tree Quilt Guild.

I am so drawn to the “modern” fabrics and the graphic nature of the modern quilts. And, there is a strand that is modern/traditional, or some such title. So, we are going to have even more quilty goodness.

We are going to do a “traveling” quilt and will turn in our initial pieces on March 2nd. I have made this piece as my offering and look forward to seeing how it comes back to me. I’m not thinking this piece will be a center medallion that gets developed. And I will go back in with pearl cotton when the quilt is layered to embellish such as the exclamation point at the end of the “Love.” The “blue moon” and the back side of the sliver moon were cut with one of those rotary circle cutters–which I learned from our workshop with Timna Tarr.

My alphabet was modeled on the one I found in Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland’s OUT OF THE BOX WITH EASY BLOCKS.

We had a major snowstorm starting Monday night and ending Tuesday night–a blizzard. There was a near complete “white out” and lots of high wind. I have about 2 feet of MORE snow on the ground now. As the storm abated, I made my way down the steep drive to my mailbox and retrieved the first Cotton+Steel fabric club package from Pink Castle fabrics. Isn’t it pretty?

I’m already thinking about making the next set of Tula Pink’s 100 City blocks. Some of us are doing 8 blocks a month. (You can see an earlier post on that challenge.)

I hope your winter is wonderful!

Enjoy it. Slow down. Hibernate. Spring with all of its energy will be here in due course.

Turkey Tracks: Tula Pink’s 100 Modern Blocks

Turkey Tracks: February 4, 2017

Tula Pink’s 100 Modern Blocks

Some Coastal Quilters have issued a new challenge for 2017 to members: to make Tula Pink’s “City Sampler” from her book 100 Modern Blocks.

(We are sewing our Farmer’s Wife blocks into tops now.)

Again, we will do about 9 blocks a month, ending in December.

These blocks are all about the fabric and, unlike the Farmer’s Wife blocks, are pretty easy. Indeed, they are FUN!

I am going to use Cotton + Steel in all of my blocks, but will allow myself some digressions with other designers mixed in, like some of the Japanese fabrics I like, some Carolyn Friedlander, and some solids, including shot cotton.

Here my first 9 blocks:

As with the Farmer’s Wife blocks, adding solids can work to sharpen other fabrics–which I did not do unfortunately. The top left block needed some solids as the fabrics are too jumbled together. What can be pretty when looking at big pieces of fabrics can…not be…when pieces are small. You would think I would have learned that lesson after all the Farmer’s Wife blocks. But, no…

The bottom right “jacks” block also needed more definition. The aqua is too busy.

Having said that, as with the Farmer’s Wife blocks, they all look pretty when they get into a quilt top.

The main thing is to have some fun with each block and not to stress about perfection. Some work better than others.

This collection came in the mail today, from Craftsy: Cotton + Steel “basics.” They should help with the basics problem. If you haven’t discovered Craftsy fabrics yet, take a look. Also, I like the Etsy store, Stash Builders for specific colorways, etc. And, of course, I continue to love Becca Babb-Brott’s Etsy store, Sew Me A Song.

I got my first low-volume monthly shipment from Pink Castle fabrics, and it was beautiful. I treated myself some time around Christmas. I have since changed this fabric club to Cotton + Steel, but I really loved the first low-volume shipment from them. Hmmmm… I continue to be enchanted with low-volume fabrics.

I hope readers are having a good quilty winter. I know I am.

Turkey Tracks: Sew Sweetness Aeroplane Bag

Turkey Tracks: January 21, 2017

Sew Sweetness “Aeroplane” Bag

I love this bag!!

The top is pieced in the “Becca Babb-Brott” style. Becca helped me a lot as this bag was a huge learning curve for me. I love, also, the way the charcoal shot cotton fabric looks for the bottom and the straps.

I had to put the top zipper in THREE TIMES before I got it right. Oh my!! Don’t even ask…why… Dense seamstress who has not put in zippers in probably 30 years or more. AND what I think is a kind of misdirection about how to handle the ends of the zippers in the pattern. Probably everyone else who sews in the world “got” what to do or not do according to the type of zipper one had, but not me…

I also learned with this top zipper that one has to sew a generous quarter of an inch on the first basting in of the zipper or the inner lining will not come up far enough to be caught when one does the final top stitching.

BUT, I loved the way the inside zippers and red pockets came out. Those I mastered right away.

Can’t wait to use this bag AND I can’t wait to make another one.

The pattern comes in two sizes; I did the LONG bag.

Turkey Tracks: “Bee Land” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: January 9, 2017

“Bee Land” Quilt

I can’t quite believe that I have finished this quilt.

I started it in Charleston, SC, Thanksgiving 2015 as my “take along” project. I used scraps from my 2 1/2 inch square bin. It felt more than a little daunting to take on a project this size with so many tiny (1-inch) pieces to make by hand using English Paper Piecing.

I called it “Bee Land,” after finishing the binding a few days ago.

The design is from Edyta Sitar’s “Flower Garden,” which is on the cover of her book HANDFULS OF SCRAPS.

I did NOT attempt to do Edyta’s amazing applique borders, as you can see.

As a side note, I met Edyta in Houston in October 2014 and saw this quilt in her booth. It is so gorgeous “in person,” as is Edyta Sitar. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with her. I have many of her books and so love her tiny, tiny pieces and exquisite work.

The quilting went so well on this quilt. Lucy the Longarm behaved beautifully. And I like the warm old gold thread color I used. The pantograph is a 12-inch version of “Simple Feathers” by Anne Bright.

The doll faces look lacy from a distance.

I had another fabric for the borders, a blue fabric with medallions, but discarded it in favor of the warmer red/orange. AND, I had TWO other backings, one to go with the blue fabric and another modern fabric that was whimsical. At the last minute I settled on a more traditional fabric that I had bought in last year’s April “Shop Hop” for 40% off. It’s perfect for this quilt.

It is a really good feeling to finish a quilt you have spent a year +++ making. There were hours of sewing pleasure with this project It is all done by hand except for the binding and the quilting on Lucy.

I would love to make this quilt again using low-volume fabrics that are very light and bright, whimsical fabrics.

Turkey Tracks: The Reveal of Bonnie Hunter’s “En Provence”

Turkey Tracks: January 4, 2016

The Reveal of Bonnie Hunter’s “En Provence”

I finished the last clue last night.

And, now THIS…

…is going to turn into THIS!!

The above is Bonnie Hunter’s computer rendering of “En Provence.”

You can see her real version at quiltville.com–on the blog.

I have the Farmer’s Wife blocks on the design wall, and I think I’ve finished moving them around now. I will sew those blocks into a quilt top before starting turning all the “clues” into a quilt top.

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