Gwen Marston – Louisa Enright's Blog

“Liberated Wedding Ring” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: October 1, 2021

“Liberated Wedding Ring” Quilt

This is the first quilt on my new Innova longarm.

It is made from the “liberated” wedding ring block designed by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston in their book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLABORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS.

I used solid and print scraps to make the rings, but went to my grey solids for the backgrounds. As you know, greys can be blue grey, green grey, brown grey, etc. So I just mixed them all up for this scrappy look.

I bought this backing on sale some time back and I thought it would be fun to use it here. I like it.

The green grey binding blends with the teal on the backing and looks just fine on the front.

I quilted with an icy blue thread that blended well on both back and front. The pantograph provided lovely texture I think: Check and Chase by Lorien Quilting.

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!

Turkey Tracks: “Parts Department Party” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: May 28, 2019

“Parts Department Party” Quilt

It’s done!

And I really love it…

To refresh your memories, as I’ve been posting about this project for some time now, about four summers ago, Becca Babb-Brott, Linda Satkowski, and I decided to spend some of the summer “playing” with blocks and making enough to share with each other. We all threw the blocks we made and that were given to us by each other into a bin we each called “the parts department”—following the work of Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston, who pioneered the idea of making fun blocks that would be ready to use when needed.

Both Becca and Linda put together their “improv” parts department quilts this year, so I knew the pressure was on. It took me a long time to get this quilt together because I had lots and lots of “parts” that needed to be sewn into something useful—like the black/pink stars in the border (made from bonus triangles from a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt one year) or the broken dishes blocks in the border, or the flying geese formations, and so on. And on, and on, and on… I had a LOT of “parts”—too many to work all of them into this quilt, which is actually pretty large. You know what that means… There will be more play with fun blocks and another improv quilt down the road.

I really like the Carrie Bloomston “newsprint” 108-wide backing and the striped border—an idea I’ve seen used often on the Red Pepper Quilts blog. And I quilted with Anne Bright’s Simple Feathers pantograph, which I like and use a lot. I just wanted to lay down an overall curvy pattern.

Here are pics of parts of this quilt—which contains so many memories of parts of other quilts, of gift blocks from Becca and Linda, and of fabrics I’ve used and loved:

Turkey Tracks: The “Parts Department” Quilts

Turkey Tracks: March 3, 2019

The Parts Department Quilts

Linda Satkowski has finished HER parts department quilt.

You may recall (see earlier posts) that these quilts began two summers ago when three of us (Linda, Becca Babb-Brott, and me) started just playing with blocks and making them for ourselves and each other—with the long-term goal of making improv quilts. The original idea for creating a bin of “parts department” blocks that are made and can be used in quilts came from books by Freddly Moran and Gwen Marston, who encouraged constructing “funky” blocks as part of the mix. Along the way we made Jen Kingwell’s improv quilt as part of a Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild challenge, and that helped us enormously in thinking how to piece together these “parts.”

Linda has partly hand quilted and partly machine quilted.

Becca finished her top first, and that lit the fuse.

Now the pressure is on for me. I dragged out the parts department bin and cleared off my design wall.

Hmmm. Doesn’t look too full.

Oh my!

And that’s not all of it. There are piles on the cutting table sorted into “like” blocks, with space left for cutting needed fabric.

And blocks being combined in some, hopefully, intelligent and interesting way.

I actually really like this kind of play. The block on the left is made from 8 blocks leftover from some quilt or other. I cut them in half on the diagonal and recombined them into 4 blocks. I could put them together in many ways, but I think this way is visually interesting. Who knew? And that’s the fun of play.

The pale green block in the middle on the right came from leftovers from a quilt. I took the two blocks I had, took off the solid part of the half-square triangle and sewed the two pieced parts together. And then sarted surrounding it with a set of pinwheel blocks. Something will go on the left side, but I, right now, have no idea what.

Let the play begin!

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: Basket Blocks for the Parts Department

Turkey Tracks: August 18, 2016

Basket Blocks For The Parts Department

I’ve always wanted to make some basket blocks.

The first one I tried will finish out at 5 1/2 inches. I cobbled together a pattern from several sources.

Remember I am making multiples of four so my fellow members in the “parts department” group will each get one and I will have one. And remember that the idea of creating a “parts department” comes from Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran–and they have several books illustrating and giving ideas. One is COLLABORATIVE QUILTING.

The 1/4-inch seam on the basket bottoms was “iffy.” I realized I had to sew higher up with a larger triangle and then trim to fix that. That seam needs to come right at the basket point. But I ran out of this cream fabric, so…

If I find more of it in my travels, I’ll fix the bottom of the affected blocks.

Here’s why it is a good idea to trial out a few blocks so you see what the issues are.

Next I moved on to a 3 1/2 inch block from Bonnie Hunter. She did a WHOLE QUILT of these babies, “Lucy’s Baskets,” in a leader/ender project in MORE ADVENTURES WITH LEADERS AND ENDERS. I am in AWE as the handles are HAND SEWN.

The mustard fabric is one of the Japanese fabrics I am growing to love.

The blue and yellow fabrics are Japanese.

Fellow J&E Riggin passenger Jean West gave me the green fabric–which she got at Fiddlehead’s in Belfast when we stopped there.

The white fabric on the handle was embossed and proved to be a bit thick for these handles. Another lesson learned.

The green fabric is Japanese.

Perhaps we’ll wind up using these tiny baskets in a foursome. Look at the secondary pattern in the middle.

Or, not. They can be combined with fabric blocks as well, so that each one shines on its own. It might be nice to put a surrounding frame on each one too.

Turkey Tracks: Funky Pumpkins In The “Parts Department”

Turkey Tracks: June 1, 2016

Funky Pumpkins In the “Parts Department”

Several friends and I have undertaken this summer to make “parts department” blocks, the idea taken from Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran in their book COLLABORATIVE QUILTING –and to see if these blocks can be developed into a quilt for each of us. I, of course, will also look to my Bonnie Hunter stash management system to see what I can use to make blocks.

This is an improvisational version of a round robin project in ways.

And this kind of improvisational quilt is coming out of the “modern” quilt movement.

Here’s one example in process, made by Becca Babb-Brott from a pattern (“Gypsy Wife”) by designer Jen Kingwell.

Another would be to start with a medallion and build rows around it.

Or, to make a “row” quilt.

Who knows what will happen…

We specified low-volume fabrics and “brights” and “make at least multiples of four,” and left it at that.

The three others are working on funky house blocks, tree blocks, log cabins, star blocks and the like.

What would I do?

Well, this picture came across the screen of blocks Bonnie Hunter found forgotten in one of her quilt boxes.

Hmmmm, I thought.

I pulled out orange strips from the 1 1/2-inch bin, and then I thought maybe I’d try to draw a foundation piece pattern–after looking at foundation-

pieced pumpkin patterns in EQ7.

That was fun, and as you can tell from the next picture, the pattern evolved as I learned how what I had drawn might actually look when executed.

I didn’t want to get too far from “funky” or too large, but I do like the rounded pumpkin top and the whimsical bottom strip and the placement of the pumpkin within the light fabrics rather than letting it run to the edge. This block is 8 1/2 inches so will finish at 8. That’s large for our project, but it can take a few large blocks I think. And, we don’t have to use everything we get from each other.

These blocks will go into the “parts department” pile to be shared, and I have new-found respect for foundation-pieced designers.

Here are some ideas made from fabrics I pulled from my “stash bins” of cut-up squares and rectangles. These blocks are meant to be “filler” blocks.

Pinwheels, made by cutting 2 1/2-inch squares diagonally, resewing them, and sliver trimming them to 2 inches:

Flying Geese made from 2 by 3 1/2 rectangles and 2-inch squares. The little bitty 2-inch blocks are sewn from the trimmed triangles and sliver trimmed. These tiny blocks could be surrounded by another layer of strips to make a slightly larger square. Probably colored strips…

This block is made from a 3 1/2-inch square by sewing 2 1/2 inch squares to the corners (opposite corners first) and trimming out the excess–which also make small triangles. Hmmm. This small pinwheel could take some low-volume strips to enlarge the square and highlight the center too…

The project is affording me a bit of play each day, a bit of rummaging through stash bins first.

We’ll see what happens…

Turkey Tracks: Two Granddaughter Quilts: Yellow Bird and Wise Bird

Turkey Tracks: April 5. 2016

Two Granddaughter Quilts

Wise Bird and Yellow Bird

I have two granddaughters (3 and 5 years) who are now sharing a bedroom. They have a new baby sister, so bedrooms needed to be rethought and renovated for the long haul that will involve, eventually, three teen-age girls..

For the new living arrangement and the new bedroom, I made them each a quilt–with the hope that these quilts are not the same, but go together. And I wanted something that would interest them for a long time.

What emerged after a LOT of piecing and a lot of fun for me was “Yellow Bird” and “Wise Bird.”

“Yellow Bird”:

“Wise Bird”:

“Yellow Bird” has a yellow bird in the border fabric.

“Wise Bird” has a backing of owls, and this granddaughter LOVES owls.

“Yellow Bird” has a Kaffe Fasset fabric for the background. I think this one is called “Roman Coins.”

“Yellow Bird’s” organizing block is Bonnie Hunter’s “Carolina Chain,” which appeared in Quiltmaker magazine’s March/April 2010 issue–in Bonnie Hunter’s “Addicted to Scraps” column. The pantograph is “Check and Chase” by Lorien Quilting. I used, as I recall, a soft rose thread.

I am so loving the interesting neutrals–or “low volume” prints–on the market today.

“Wise Bird’s” central block is Bonnie Hunter’s “Criss Cross” block–from her “Addicted to Scraps” column in Quiltmaker magazine’s September/October 2915 issue.

This quilt center started with me just making a block or two for fun one day–and I got hooked.

I surrounded the center with rows of different quilt blocks–many of which came out of the “parts department” where I keep blocks I’ve made from leftovers of other quilts. (The term “parts department” has come from Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston’s book COLLABORATIVE QUILTING.) And I used lots of the polka dot fabrics I have acquired.

The pantograph for “Wise Bird” is also “Check and Chase” from Lorien Quilting. I quilted with a soft limey green.

I did make the flying geese and the larger “primitive star” outer border for this quilt. I like this primitive star a lot. And of course I had to make some blocks to add to the ones I already had in the parts department.

Here’s a view up and down the length of the quilt. I am certifiably crazy about polka dots. I really like how the orange/green polka dot on the binding came out.

Baby girl will get a quilt that blends with these two completed quilts. It will be made from Bonnie Hunter’s “Wild and Goosey” block–which also appeared in her “Addicted to Scraps” Column in Quiltmaker magazine, May/June 2013. This block is Foundation Pieced on paper, and since it appeared, it has acquired a large and solid fan club. I succumbed this winter while using up my “crumb” bag–which is not used up at all, but growing like mad with all the quilting. AND after taking Bonnie Hunter’s class at Craft Online University–which I highly recommend. (One of the cool things is seeing five or six quilts at the end of each segment–each using a block in a different way.)

These blocks will sit on a soft grey polka dot, and it brings out all their vibrant colors and works well with the black and white sashing. I’ll use a 3 1/2-inch sashing in the setting–which will give me a 3 1/2-inch corner stone of some kind.

Turkey Tracks: “Crayon Crumbs Box” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: March 16, 2016

Crayon Crumbs Box Quilt

I have been obsessed for much of the winter with making use of the small leftover pieces from my quilt projects. These pieces are too small, for the most part, to cut into a 1 1/2-inch strip or a 2-inch block. so, I started making 2 1/2 inch wide strips with the “crumbs” (as Bonnie Hunter calls them). I use a flip and sew method–and trim from the back when I am done.

I used these strips as sashing for the cheddar version of Bonnie Hunter’s 2015 American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine‘s four-patch challenge.

My four-patch blocks came from my “parts department”–so named by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston in their excellent book COLLABORATIVE QUILTING. Remember that I spent a lot of time last summer making four-patches from my two-inch bin of squares–cut from leftovers from finished quilts. I love this idea of having a “parts department.” Bonnie Hunter also amasses and uses blocks from her quilt projects–like the small triangles one can salvage from making half-square triangles by laying a square over the corner of a rectangle or larger square (as with a snowball block), sewing from corner to corner, and trimming. Bonnie Hunter uses a template to also mark a sewing line for this smaller triangle. For more info, see her quiltville.com web site and click on tips/etc. at the top of the page. Right now I’m getting about 400 2-inch half-square triangles from a snowball block project–using Bonnie’s method. (They’re going into a border on that quilt.)

So, here is the finished quilt:

Red-orange (or cheddar in quilting terms), teal blue/green, and violet magenta form a triad on the color wheel.

The backing and binding bring in the violet purple/magenta:

You can see the quilting–an soft rose colored thread from Signature–on the border:

The rose color “knocked back” the brightness just a bit. I like it.

The pantograph is “Whirlwind” by Patricia Ritter.

Here are some pics of the quilt top–so you can see the way this block and the sashings work together.

And one showing a secondary pattern:

I have loved every minute of this project!!!

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