Category: Quilting in Maine

Quilting, mine and others

”Triangle Geometry” Quilt Finished

Turkey Tracks: September 29, 2021

I finished this little wall hanging the other day. It is going to a friend where it is going to hang over an electrical utility box that for some reason is in his living room. So, I have set up the hanging system lengthwise, rather than widthwise. It will hang from a curtain rod that uses brackets to extend the quilt from the wall, and I put a dowel in the bottom to give the bottom some weight to keep it hanging straight.

This wall hanging is inspired by Maria Shell and her book IMPROV PATCHWORK—and from work done by Debbie Jeske of A Quilter’s Table blog. Debbie took a class with Maria Shell at the last Quilt Con which resulted in her own version of this improv method using these triangles separated by stripes. And I have done earlier posts about this process. Maria Shell’s original design was her quilt ”Rattlesnake.”

The back is WILD, but no one sees the back with a wall hanging, and it was a piece from my stash that was big enough.

I hand quilted with Sulky 12-weight cotton thread and a Tulip Sashiko needle. I have LOTS of colors now from Red Rock Thread’s ”petite” spools that sell for $1.65 each.

This project was fun—and I’m not done yet. I will play with making the zig-zag ”Rattlesnake” Maria Shell designed where she offsets these triangles.

One of our local quilt groups—Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild—is planning a Zoom workshop with Maria Shell this winter, and I am looking forward to participating in that event.

First Quilt on Innova

Turkey Tracks: September 22, 2021

First Quilt on Innova

What a joy the Innova is! It’s like moving a feather that is floating on an air current over the quilt—which is especially lovely when following pantograph lines.

Gradually I’m learning to let go of my death grip on the Innova handles as this machine is NOT going to jump away from the pantograph lines.

Here’s my first completed quilt—made from the ”funky” wedding ring block created by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston in their now-vintage book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLAGORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS. These two women pioneered many of the improv methods that are used today—some with little updating as Freddy and Gwen ”got” it from the get-go. What has moved along, I think, is how a block now gets ”set” in improv/modern quilting. One doesn’t see sashing all that often, for instance. AND, I trimmed the quilt on the table in the back of the machine for the first time. It’s ready to bind.

Look at this beautiful stitching:

The back is MOSTLY as pretty. After a while the tension there slipped a bit in places—so I do need to do more tension adjusting. It is all passable, but could be more consistently wonderful. The top thread is showing through in places—and as time went on, the bobbin thread was too flat. I’ll figure it out.

I’ll load in a quilt sandwich next and fiddle with the tension so it is 100%.

Here’s how the trimming on the back went. You can see that I can use my big square ruler as there is plenty of room. This method sure beats what I had been doing to trim a quilt.

On to the next!

My New Innova Longarm

Turkey Tracks: September 13, 2021

My New Innova Longarm

She came Saturday!

I have not named her yet, but she’s a beauty!

The 10-foot size is such a good footprint for this room. And look how much SPACE I have visually now.

She has CASTERS that let her move easily before locking them down.

And she sews beautifully!

There are three sets of handles—big ones front and back and micro handles in the front. It’s so easy to move their positions around too.

So now I am playing, experimenting, and learning all about her. ALL is maybe too definitive a word as there is a big learning curve, for sure.

Judy and Rob Engime from Olde City Quilts, Burlington, NJ 08016 are the dealers, and they have both been wonderful.

So, today the adventure continues.

I Lost My Mojo For This Quilt

Turkey Tracks: September 12, 2021

I Lost My Mojo For This Quilt

I started this EPP project in 2018.

It’s the “36-Ring Circus” designed by Joanne Lewis. The pattern and template kit are at Paper Pieces.

I am using Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics for the centers, pastel solids for the rings, and darker solids for the rest.

I now have three rows done after three years—three more to go.

But it seems I put off working on it to do other handwork on a regular basis.

It is an elegant pattern, for sure.

But it is hard and in many ways, seems tedious to me. Sewing the rings to the centers is…hard. I’ve found taping from the front and using a flat stitch on the back helps.

I have all the solid pieces cut and glued, so I will finish it someday.

I hope it doesn’t take another three years—one for each row!!!

I did organize all the centers for the 4th row, so that’s something. The first center is done, but not the rings.

Meanwhile, I seem to be more than a little interested in wedding ring quilt versions.

Here’s the funky one whose top is now done: from Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston’s book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLABORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS.

And Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring Quilt:

I’m ready to start sewing together the last and final row.

It’s September

Turkey Tracks: September 10, 2021

It’s September 2021

How did that happen?

And it is already the 10th!!

We’ve had cooler weather, with temps dropping down significantly at night, which makes for great sleeping.

And for rising desires for warmer foods, like this beef stew I made in the Instant Pot. I cook the carrots and new potatoes separately—and the fresh green beans separately too.

The beautiful beef cubes were a gift from friend Margaret whose freezer went belly up earlier this summer. The carrots, new potatoes, and fresh green beans came from Farmer Tom’s Hope’s Edge weekly market out at the farm—which is a trip to which I look forward each week.

The Instant Pot cooks the beef in 35 minutes!!!! For my Histamine Intolerance, that’s wonderful as long cooking times create more histamine in foods. I saute the beef in the pot in some tallow or ghee. If I’m not in a hurry, I’ll remove the meat and throw in the chopped onions and garlic and saute those for a bit, but not this time. I added two cups of liquid, onions, garlic, herbs, salt and called it a day. I also added a limited amount of ketchup, whichI can eat in small quantities sometimes—and it added such flavor. When the meat is done I put the beef in a large bowl and add the warm, cooked vegetables and spooned out what I wanted to eat. The rest I saved for other meals.

This Dahlia is now three years old. Isn’t it gorgeous!

The first year I just saved the tuber after the first killing frost. But when I planted it in the spring, it took it all summer to get big enough to start blooming. Last year I put the dug tuber into a small pail with its dirt and roots intact and put it into the dry/dark/cool storage hold upstairs, and when the days started getting longer in early March, I put the whole pail in a sunny window. The Dahlia sprouted and started growing. Finally it was warm enough to put it out in the garden again, which it liked. It’s been blooming like crazy since early August, so I will put it back in the pail again this fall.

And here’s Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring quilt with THREE rows finished. I moved it up the design wall so I could get to the bottom row more easily. This quilt clearly wants to be called “Joyful!”

I will be making this quilt again very soon (this winter) as I’m obsessed with it. I want to try a more controlled palette with dark brown/black/dark grey/khaki/cream centers and rings that have a lot of the dark brown/black and cream rings—studded with pastels and a few pops of color here and there. Tara has a version that sparked my imagination, but I hesitate to show it here due to copyright issues.

My Color Collective Season 3 Quilts

Turkey Tracks: September 6, 2021

My Color Collective Season 3 Quilts

I thought it would be good, for me at least, to review the work I did last year (season 3) in the online class (The Color Collective) hosted by Sewtopia (Amy Newbold) with designer Tara Faughnan (for six months of projects and fabric palettes) and with guest designer Latifah Saafir (for an extra seventh month).

The quilts are more or less in the order of the monthly projects. Tara gives us the pattern and the fabric (there are also helpful videos) and shows us her version of the project—then we have at it. Pretty much all of us make the project differently, and that outpouring of creativity is really fun to see and experience.

If you want to know more about each of my quilts, there are separate blog posts. You can search on the name of the quilt on the right sidebar.

My “Marrakesh”:

My “Pips”:

My “Splice,” and this one differs from Tara’s layout in that I laid out the strips to form that central diamond. I hand quilted this one with 12-weight cotton thread (Sulky).

My “Bokeh”:

Bokeh is a photographic term for the manipulation of the background to make it intentionally fuzzy.

My “Tenderoni”—which I called “Fractures”:

Latifah Saafir was the guest designer for the 7th CC month this year. She spread out her Tenderoni block by using plain squares of the fabric palette to make the Tenderoni blocks stand out—which of course made a lap-size quilt. I wanted to see how the Tenderoni shapes played together up close and I wanted a wall hanging. I hand quilted with 12-weight cotton thread (Sulky).

I made this wall hanging from the leftover “Offcut” quarter circle pieces and hung the two quilts opposite each other on the walls outside my quilt room. This one, too, is hand quilted with 12-weight cotton thread (Sulky).

I didn’t do “Hitch” (an improv project) or “Rex” (an appliqué project) this year. Both projects were very nice; they just landed here when I was really busy. There might come a day…. Both projects offer a lot of room for experimentation and play. These two projects are the only ones I have not made in the three years of the class—not a bad record for this class I think—for me or for Tara Faughnan.

I am so looking forward to Season 4, which starts November 1.

The Color Collective: Season 4

Turkey Tracks: September 1, 2021

The Color Collective: Season 4

It’s BACK for SEASON 4.

I signed up.

I couldn’t resist.

https://www.tarafaughnan.com/color-collective

The 7th and final month designer will be Annabel Wrigley. Take a look at her exciting work:

https://annabelwrigley.com

Two of the 12 fabrics in this year’s palette of solids will be shot cotton from Windham’s Artisan Cotton collection, which Tara helped design.

Fabrics for the first project will ship in October, and the first pattern will be released November 1.

I have to say that I have been so engaged with the projects of the last three years, and it has been such fun to see where Tara takes these projects over time—and that has often been to award-winning quilts.

I have learned so much! It’s like learning to read: once learned you can’t go back.

“Offcut Circles” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: August 29, 2021

“Offcut Circles” Quilt

I finished the scrappy wall hanging I have been making from the “offcut” quarter circles left over from the last project of this year’s The Color Collective season. The 7th and final month’s project this year was designed by Latifah Saafir. I loved her block (Tenderoni) and also loved her color palette.

I hung “Offcut Circles” at the entrance to my quilt room, opposite from its parent, the Tenderoni block wall hanging I’m called “Fractures.”

The small quarter circles in “Offcut Circles” comes from the way the small circles are cut and discarded from the Tenderoni block—replaced by a larger quarter circle that makes the math in the Tenderoni block work.

For both quilts, I quilted a grid with Sulky 12-weight cotton thread in many different colors related to the palette. You can buy this thread on small spools that cost under $2 a spool. They have plenty of thread on the spool for most projects where one wants lots of different colors. I get them from Red Rock Threads and order online.

I used the rusty dark brick color for the binding. The backing is just made from whatever I had in my stash that would fit. This time a warm paisley.

I made the circles using the template method Tara Faughnan taught us in our very first The Color Collective project in Season 1 and appliquéd them to the backing square. You know, in thinking about what I did, I don’t think I trimmed out the back of the background block after sewing down the circles. ???? I must have been resisting creating MORE CIRCLES that I would find hard to throw away.

Here’s the very first circle quilt from the very first project in season 1 of The Color Collective. I combined blocks from the first and second months.

Here’s a link to the original post about XOXO.

https://louisaenright.com/2019/04/27/turkey-tracks-xxoo-quilt/

Here’s a link to the quilts I made from the first season of The Color Collective:

https://louisaenright.com/?s=Season+1+quilts+from+the+color+collective

Late August 2021

Turkey Tracks: August 26, 2021

Late August 2021

The rainy days have finally stopped, and the very long lawn grass dried out enough for me to mow on Tuesday.

It was rough going as my little electric mulching mower was not happy with the long and damp grass, but we persevered, and the job is done.

There is so much moisture in the system though, from all the rain, so the hotter days (mostly 80s) are creating a lot of humidity. Fortunately, the nights are cool. I’ve been running the dehumidifier downstairs for many weeks now, and that has helped a lot.

It’s been a busy week, but today and Friday are “open,” so AC and I will get out into the yard for much-need shrub pruning and weeding of one bed maybe. Other than the suddenly overgrown shrubs (they liked all the rain), the weeding is not out of control. The deer are though. They love my hostas.

Debbie Jeske, A Quilter’s Table blog, has been posting the sampler blocks she’s making. They are all done now but for the big center block that will come along now with this project.

I really like her blocks and her color choices. Take a look?

https://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/2021/08/summer-sampler-2021-providence.html?m=1

I really like all of Debbie’s work, actually. She is an inspiration.

And here is where I am with Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring pattern. This quilt is so much fun! And it is not hard. I will want to make it again with a different color palette.

The top two rows are done, and I’m working on the rings for the third-row centers. I think all the centers are now placed where they will stay now. This quilt is chewing up solid fabric scraps in the most pleasant way.

Enjoy this back end of summer before we head into fall. The seasonal wheel is turning here—the light has already changed a lot.

It’s Water

Turkey Tracks: August 19, 2021

It’s Water

And look at how clear and clean it is:

What a relief!

And here’s the rest of the Haskell’s crew who installed the new pump yesterday:

There was more drama, but more of the “usual suspect” variety.

Last night’s shower felt REALLY good.

We are getting “Fred” today—so I’m looking forward to a rainy day of sewing.

Here’s where the Tara Faughnan wedding ring pattern is now:

I’m still moving around color, but, hopefully, will sew the second row today. I just need a few more of the circles completed. I never how how they will look until I put them in place.