Category: Quilting in Maine

Quilting, mine and others

Turkey Tracks: Surprise Big and Little Quilts

Turkey Tracks:  September 30, 2010

Surprise Big and Little Quilts

When fall arrives, I often mark the season, it seems, with some reorganization project.  This year, it has been reorganizing my quilting room.  I’m trying to see if I can get a Handi Quilter Long Arm Machine in there without losing too much functionality.  It will mean replacing some long work tables with the machine, but I won’t need those long tables if I don’t have to hand layer and pin large quilts. 

Getting a long-arm is a long-held dream.  And, it’s a bit scary.  There’s a whole new learning curve for one thing.  Will I be able to master it to my levels of perfection, which are huge?  Will I be able to assemble the thing?  Will I be able to do the classes, which are 3 hours away?  Will I be able to use my existing threads?  It’s a process I’ve been inching toward for about 5 years now.  Getting a long-arm will significantly increase my productivity.  And I have about a dozen quilt projects lined up to do, and I love to piece.  And, I don’t ever want to give up learning something demanding and new.  Especially not something that brings so much pleasure to so many people. 

My younger son Bryan and his wife Corinne are expecting their first child, a girl, in early December, and we are so excited.  When they were here this summer, Corinne and I picked out fabrics for a diaper bag, two sets of fabrics for receiving blankets, and fabrics for a lively, colorful quilt.  I also have fabric for a baby quilt for my niece, who is expecting her first child, a boy, about this time.  And, my older son’s wife, Tami, went home this summer with my placemat loom, her own loom which my husband John made for her, and all her fabric already cut into strips.  She left me with the napkins, which I can hem in short order.  (We’re going to work on the placemats together at Thanksgiving.  I think she has a picture of a finished one on her blog:  http://6enrights.blogspot.com ).  And, I have a new purse cut out for me.  My current purse is in shreds.   

So why aren’t I working on any of these planned projects?  I’ve gotten badly side0tracked, it seems.  What’s going on?

Ok, whenever I finish a quilt, I take all the smallish bits of leftover fabric and cut it into useable sizes:  1 1/2-in strips for log cabins, squares from 2 to 6 inches,and rectangles in two sizes that I use.  I have bags of them now, and I keep telling myself that I need to start using them–though, as I said, I have at least a dozen other quilts to be made.  I’m always cutting out articles about interesting blocks to use “someday” for these scrappy leftovers.  This spring I saw an article in QUILTMAKER (March/April 2010) by Bonnie Hunter about a “Spinner” block that’s nice for scrappy quilts made with leftovers.  Hunter just keeps 4 squares in the block in one color as a unifying strategy.  Hunter says as she works she cuts leftover fabrics into sizes for the Spinner block and sews a block up when she has enough pieces.  Eventually she has a quilt.

I took out my sack of 2 1/2-inch squares and pulled out all the brights.  The unifying block would be red, though I added a few pinks and oranges to shake things up a bit.  Here’s what happened almost immediately:

 

Yes, there are two quilts.  I made the little one from the tiny triangles leftover from trimming out part of the Spinner block.  I think “possessed” would be the right descriptive word.   It took about a week!  Here’s a better look at the little guy,with which I’ve absolutely fallen in love.  I have no idea how I’m going to quilt it, but it seems to want some beading fringe at the bottom.   And, it will stay in my quilt room.

 

The big quilt–which is perfectly square despite the camera’s distortion of it–will go to someone.  There are bits of a black fabric with pink pigs in it.  I found more of it to use as the backing.  And, I think what’s going on with this whole surprise quilt thing is that the big quilt is meant to be my first quilt on the long-arm.  It’s made from scraps.  Well, ok, I did have to cut more fabrics in my stash to get all the colors, especially the red unifyling squares.  And I don’t have any emotional investment in it in terms of planning something special for a particular person.  I will be able to work on it without added stress.   

I promise, Bryan and Corinne and Tami, I’m going to get right onto our joint projects now that I’ve worked out this whole “use up the cut scraps” thing and have made the decision to call the long-arm people for prices.

Turkey Tracks: Granddaughter Quilts

Turkey Tracks:  August 6, 2010

Granddaughter Quilts

I’m behind on making quilts for the people I love.

Indeed, Mike and Tami and Bryan and Corinne have never gotten wedding quilts.   I do have those planned and in one case, fabric collected.

But, while Talula, who will be 4 this September, has a drag-around quilt, she has never gotten a special quilt from me.  And, Wilhelmina has nothing.  She will be 3 this September.

So, I started this past winter to remedy this situation, and I gave both girls their quilts when they came to Maine in early July.

Talula’s quilt has dolls in their underwear.  I made separate clothes for the dolls, fused them with fusible fleece, and they stick to the dolls beautifully.  Talula likes dressing the dolls.  So do I. 

Here’s a picture:  it’s not a great picture as it makes the quilt look crooked, and it isn’t.

 

Here’s a close-up of some of the dolls dressed with dress, shoes, and a hat:

 

The  kit came from Fons and Porter–eventually–because apparently the market underestimated the popularity.  When it came, unlike the photo in the magazine, other dolls and decorations intruded on the individual doll blocks, as you can see.  Did they air brush those out?  Or, did they just get greedy?  And, you have to decide which line of dolls to cut, as you cannot cut one line without ruining the adjacent one, which has different dolls.  So, you have to buy more fabric to get to both sets.  Bah Humbug Market!!!

Wilhelmina’s quilt is called “Nursery Rhymes,” and was also from a kit.  Sewing with kits has been a new thing for me and is undoubtedly due to the influence of my Virginia friend, fellow quilter, Rosie Pilkerton.  Rosy loves kits, and she makes the cutest quilts, especially for children.  She and I bought the Nursery Rhymes kits together at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Williamsburg, VA, a few years back.  I took mine to our quilting trip this past February, and Rosie was offering to sell me hers after a few days.  This kit has a million tiny pieces.  I worked on it night and day all week and had to bring it home to finish it.

I love the prairie points.  They’re my first believe it or not.   

 

Now you can see all the tiny, tiny pieces.

So, Bryan and Corinne are expecting a girl around Thanksgiving.  Corinne and I had a terrific time one day while she was here picking out fabrics for receiving blankets, the backing for what will be a colorful babyl quilt, and very upscale and interesting fabric for a diaper bag. 

The wedding quilts are on the back burner again!!!!

Turkey Tracks: Birthday Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  July 16, 2010

Birthday Quilt

I love my birthday.  It’s March 17th, and I look forward to it every year. 

This year, the grandchildren sent me a special present:  a paper quilt.

I loved it on sight.

And, I propped it on the wall in our craft/laundry room area, but didn’t get it hung until just before they came.

Here’s what it looks like:

 

 

You can see their names at the top.  I love the colors.  And, I think it’s the coolest quilt ever.

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters 2010 Challenge Quilt

June 9, 2010

Coastal Quilters 2010 Challenge Quilt

I finished the Coastal Quilter’s 2010 challenge.  Here is the challenge fabric:

We were to create a 9 by 12 quilt using this fabric in some way.  The orientation was landscape, so the 12″ side would be on top.  We chose this size in case anyone wanted to donate their quilt to Ami Simms Alzeimer’s Quilt Project.   You can see these quilts at http://www.alzquilts.org.    Ami, whose mother died of Alzeimers, has raised almost half a million dollars that she donates directly to research by selling these donated quilts in on-line auctions and at major quilt shows.

Here’s my challenge quilt:

From the beginning, I saw a rooster tail in the fabric.  John printed a picture of Napolean for me in black and white on 8 1/2 by 11-inch paper.  I cut out the shapes, fused them to fabric, recreated the rooster, and quilted it.  As various people came and went and commented, the piece evolved.   Linda McKinney said I needed a white line of stitching between the sky and the land.  Prudy Netzorg said I needed a moon.  (I later changed the moon thread to white.)  The buttons came from buttons collected by my Great Aunt Margaret Phillips, who lived through the depression in Reynolds, Georgia.  She taught in the primary grades in the Reynolds school and walked everywhere as she had no car.  I inherited her button jar sometime over the years, and I use those buttons all the time.  I have added to it, and friend Gina Caceci added her mother’s buttons to it when she passed away.     

All our challenge quilts will hang together at the Pine Tree Quilt Guild show in late July.  I’ll take pictures so you can see what other people did with this fabric.  Each and every quilt is amazingly creative, as you’ll eventually see.

Turkey Tracks: Two Quilts

May 17, 2010

Two Quilts

John and I both volunteer at The Community School in Camden, Maine.  The C-School is a private alternative high school. 

This year, I worked with two students, both girls.  I have accompanied them through many academic endeavors, watched them grow and grow up, and celebrated with them their awesome success.  Both will graduate May 28th. 

Along the way, the three of us decided they would, or could, make quilts.  Ok.  I decided, and they went along with me.  They are both cool that way.  And, I was honored that they trusted me saying they could make a quilt, especially since neither of them had ever sewn, used a rotary cutter (VERY sharp, can cut off fingers), done fabric math, and so on.

Well!  After 5 months of working almost every Friday afternoon, their quilts are done.  And, on the spur of a moment, I took them to our April quilt meeting.  One of our quilters works for the Center for Maine Contemporary Art.  Later, she got in touch with me and suggested the girls and the C-School hang the quilts in the annual student show beginning May 1.

We finished their bindings, I put on hanging sleeves, John and I worked out hanging rods, and both of us worked on signage.  John did most of the signage and all of the hanging. 

Here are the quilts:

 

 I am so proud of both girls.  I wish for them all the best in this world.   I will miss them so much.  But, I know that they will always have these quilts and that the quilts will remind them what they can accomplish in life.   

 

Turkey Tracks: Kathy Daniels Comes to Coastal Quilters

May 17, 2010

Kathy Daniels Comes to Coastal Quilters

Mercy!  Where does time fly to?

Our April 10 meeting of Coastal Quilters featured Kathy Daniels, who is an amazing quilter.  Best of all, she may be moving to Camden in the near future.  Kathy did a trunk show for us which included her quilt journey.  She started with traditional quilts, but quickly moved into art quilts.

I loved most of her quilts.  They are so inventive.  But here is one I particularly liked.

Kathy is on the left and Sarah Ann Smith, a nationally known quilter, is on the right.  Kathy and Sarah are friends and members in Frayed Edges, their art quilt group. 

Kathy’s blog is  http://studiointhewoods.blogspot.com/.  Take a look.  It’s really fun.  And, colorful.  Lots going on here.

Sarah’s blog is http://sarahannsmith.com.   Visit it to see her beautiful quilts.  Her galley is on the right of her opening page.  Also, she just published her first book:  Thread Work Unraveled.  AND, it has been given a second printing.  GO SARAH!  Be sure to visit her blog.  If you’re a quilter, you can learn a lot.  If you’re not, you’ll still be intrigued.

So, here’s another of Kathy’s quilts that I liked a lot.  It’s a tribute to a beloved dog who died.

  

Finally, here’s another one I liked.

 Kathy!  Thanks so much for coming to Coastal Quilters!

Turkey Tracks: Jeanne Marie Robinson

Turkey Tracks:  May 6, 2010

Jeanne Marie Robinson

Rest in Peace

A friend and I drove to a gallery in Topsham last week to pay homage to a selection of Jeanne Marie Robinson’s quilts.  Jeanne Marie, who died very recently of cancer, was an amazing quilter.  She created whole worlds out of cloth.  She loved applique, but she combined applique with traditional piecing and with art quilt techniques.  She had a unique vision that will be sorely missed by anyone who has ever seen one of her quilts.  

Here are two quilts that hung in this memorial show:

JMR 1

Jeanne Marie was also very generous with her work.  For the past three or four years she donated one of her pieces for the Coastal Quilters yearly auction fundraiser.  Of course, her donations always brought in the most money for any one single item.

In her youth, she was a nationally known ballet artist.  It was only in her later years that she turned her talents toward fiber art.  Boy are we who could see her ongoing work glad that she did!