National Quilting Day 2013

So, how did you spend National Quilting Day 2013?  It typically falls on the middle Saturday in March.  That was this past weekend.  It was quilting, friendship, birthdays and St. Patrick's Day all wrapped up into two days.

I, for one, was lucky enough to have had my best friend over for a visit.  We ran the roads, we ate, we laughed, we did show and tell and dodged snowflakes.  Martha is such a cool pal.  She's easy going with a wicked sense of humor and my little JRT LOVES her!  Olive can't get enough of her 'Aunty M". 

My friend brought her most recently completed quilt.  Its a fabulous piece, colorful yo-yos sewn down onto a deep aqua green Bali background.  The yo-yos remind her of barnacles she told me.  To me they looked like the most colorful and wonderful sea anemones I've ever seen.  Something that you would expect to see on Jacques Cousteau Undersea World or the Discovery Channel.  The quilting was simply, stitch in the ditch, but that is all this quilt really needed.  Two plus years of work and the binding is almost done!  She should be very proud of it! 

We went to one of our most favorite NJ Quilt shop, Olde City Quilts in Burlington, NJ.  We stopped there first so they could look at my Bernina 380 which was having a tension issue.  We shopped while they helped customers, as the snow was falling quite hard outside.  I picked out 14 fat quarters in various shades of green, almost every one they had in the shop that day.  I also purchased several yards of solid fabrics to be used to complete my modern quilt in progress.  Everyone joked that I must be making a St. Patrick's Day quilt because of all the green I purchased.  I also bought backing for the green quilt, wide enough so it doesn't need to be pieced.  We were happy because they offer a birthday month special.  You get a discount percentage off one item equal to your age.  Plus you also get one yard of any given fabric for 20% off.  I got a ton of goods for a very good deal.  AND, they were able to find the problem with my machine and fix it on the spot. It turns out that it was a small piece of thread that was caught in the tension clip on the bobbin.  Thank you to the ladies at OCQ for getting me sewing again on my new favorite machine. 

Martha purchased loads of goodies at OCQ as well.  I think she got enough to make two kids quilts.  One was a  block of the month kit, the other was a pattern that she hand selected fabrics for herself and with the help of the ladies in the shop.  It was fun and we had a good birthday retail therapy event that morning. 

As we ventured onto the next stop, the snow was really coming down hard and coating everything.  We decided to stop at a yarn shop in Mt. Holly that we have driven by several times in the past on the way to our next quilt shop stop.  Wool Bearers is the name of the shop.  While I am not into knitting or crocheting, I can tell you that this shop is spectacular.  They had so many beautiful skeins of every type of wool in a rainbow of colors and blends.  They offer both knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving lessons and the samples hanging around the shop were a real treat to drool over.  Martha even found a pair of Cinderella Clogs.  They are clear, so the hand knit socks you wear with them can be seen on your feet.  Pretty cool huh?  I'd never seen anything like them.  I was moseying around the shop and found some spectacular shawl pins that I really loved.  I pointed them out to my friend and she had to pick one for herself.

After we left the yarn shop, we headed over to one of the most unique quilt shops in NJ, called the Village Quilter, also in Mt. Holly.  We had found this shop via the 2012 NJ Shop Hop.  Its a cute little place, where the quilts and fabrics are different than what is offered in many other shops.  We love the variety of what they stock and they are also so helpful and friendly.  They happened to be having a 20% off sale of all Jelly Rolls and strip bundles.  Plus they offer a Birthday month discount as well, so we were able to get a nice discount at the shop on our purchases.

Martha decided that she wanted this cute Cabana beach themed quilt. She picked out all beachy fabrics, including a great grey and white starfish print and some with red steamed crabs on it.  One of the prints has little clams on it with eyeballs peaking out from the open clams.  When Mike saw it he thought they were aliens.  They also had this brand new fabric line that we both liked, and we each bought a jelly roll of it.  I also picked up some yardage to use with it, 2 solid grey colors, and 1 orange that were also in this architectural printed fabrics plus one print that looks alot like pencil scratching on a pad.  Martha bought some of the other prints as yardage to make a quilt for her son.
I also found a bright batik jelly roll that just seemed to have my name on it.

After they cut and packaged up our goods, and calculated the total cost, minus discount, we were on our way to lunch. We asked the ladies at VQ if there was a nice place to eat nearby.  We ended up going to the Robin's Nest to eat, within walking distance of the quilt shop.  It was delicious and we decided it was the perfect end to a nice National Quilting Day 2013.   As we walked in the snow to the Robin's Nest, we passed the Crow Bar.  Turns out this little place is a historic building and used to be the jail house.  We paused long enough so I could snap a picture of my BFF to share.

I can only hope that all of you that read my blog had as much fun as we did this past weekend to celebrate your National Quilting Day.  We had the added bonus of celebrating our birthdays which are coming up this week!

My weekend ended perfectly on Sunday evening on a very high note.  After enjoying some delectable homemade Corned Beef sandwiches, a long nap with the doggies, watching my beautiful niece on ESPN3 score a 9.825 on her floor routine,  and sewing on my green quilt to my hearts content, I logged onto Facebook to discover that I was the lucky winner of a batch of Cherrywood fabrics given away by the Bad Ass Quilter's Society.  My #8 entry on Mattie's web page helped me to win this lovely gift by a very special lady.   It can't get any better than this.

Hanging by a thread--Diane

Baskets and Quilts

This past weekend started to look a lot like springtime.  The snow we got on Friday melted quickly on Saturday and the sun shined most of the day.  The temperatures were warmer than they've been and the dogs loved being able to go outside as they pleased because I  was able to leave the doggie door open for them. 

Last week, I had ordered a few yards of solid green fabrics, all different colors with the intent of diving into the Modern Quilt making.  Saturday morning and early afternoon was spent making 3 large baskets from a new type of rope that I had not used before.  Its a soft nylon or poly rope that is brightly colored and has two other colors woven into it at regular intervals.  Its a much heavier rope than I use to make my clothesline baskets covered with fabric, but I thought, wouldn't it be fun to try and use this to make baskets quickly that are waterproof and washable?  Yes, it turns out to be pretty easy to shape into baskets and I love the results.  I will post pictures to this post as soon as I take them so you can see what I created.  I also spent several hours piecing together 48 count of 2.5" wide strips for an upcoming jelly roll race in April.  It took longer than I remember, but its done and I'm ready to win the race.

Mid afternoon, Mike brought in a package that had arrived at the front door.  My new fabric was in the house!  He rolled his eyes and said, "What are you planning on doing with that?  Just what you need, more fabric!"  I told him not to worry, I was going to use it pretty quickly and he would see the results.  I doubt he believed me at that point.

Needless to say, I figured out what I wanted to do with the new pieces, and I cut them up for piecing on Saturday night.  The quilt top was about 25% done before I went to bed at midnight.  I was really excited about finishing this new modern quilt design.  On Sunday morning, coffee in hand and freshly showed and dressed, I sat down and finished the generous queen sized quilt.  It was done by lunch time.  All these beautiful shades of green, from the lightest, dewy palest green to kelly, jade and ivy darks were pieced carefully into a really huge top.  I showed Mike what I made and his comment was "Oh, its an Irish Quilt!"  I have to confess, it does look rather Emerald Islandy.  I measured it and trimmed it up to be closer to a queen size quilt.  I have to add a little width to it yet to make it larger so the people who will end up with will be able to use it to sleep under in their new place.  Ssssshhhh, they don't know about it so don't tell.  I've already decided how I am going to quilt it.  Once its done, I will post a pictures for you here.

Well, its mid March already and St. Patrick's day is around the corner.   I am looking forward to it this year because it falls on a weekend. 

How Does Nature Inspire You to Create?

Today is another one of those WFH (working from home) days because it is snowing pretty steady out and the roads are messy and slippery.  I am lucky enough to have the type of job where I can work from home and still get paid to do my job.

Today's snowstorm is cold, white, fluffy and beautiful because I am not driving in it.  While I own a AWD vehicle, its not my own driving that do not trust, its those other NJ/NY drivers that I don't wish to meet as close encounter on my bumper on the highways.  So I stay home and work from my kitchen table or basement office doing tasks that I am able to complete without issue and by myself.  I enjoy working from home from time to time, I get more done than in the office because I eliminate all 'walk up business' from my office colleagues.  The only walk up business here are my dogs coming in to check on me and see if I have any snacks for them or to get a little attention.

As I work, I look out the window next to my workspace and enjoy watching the white stuff pile up on the fence, bushes, trees, and even this little stake in the yard that marks my oil tank port.  I am amazed that this little, tiny,  not quite horizontal surface allows the snow to pile up on top of it.  The top of the stick actually has a little 2" x 3" plastic dragonfly on it. Nature fills in the spaces with softness and beauty all on its own.  In a harsh world, its little miracles like this that keep me inspired.

What if each of us could fill those voids and spaces with our own softness and fluffy beauty?   We could easily isolate ourselves against the storm outside.  Wouldn't it be better to insulate ourselves and the ones we love?  Quilts blanket, cover, protect, support, cushion, and wrap themselves around us with the love we used to create them. Regardless of the type of quilts you create, I am sure that you make them to the best of your ability and if you are lucky enough to design them as you go, you can carefully plan and create your quilt with a specific recipient in mind. Most of the time, I do not make quilts with an end purpose, other than to create a work of art, I see something I love and decide to make it my own in cloth.  Other times, I have to make a gift for someone, knowing there are rules or needs to be filled (color, size, date).  Either way, whoever ends up with my quilt in the end, will hopefully cherish it, use it, enjoy the spirit with which it was created and know that there are little bits of me sewn into the finished quilt that they now own. 

Like the snow on the stick pictured in my yard above, some quilts are only with me for a short time, until I can get them done and they go on to their owners.  They melt into my past and disappear making room for me to move onto the next project.  Others stay and are proudly displayed from time to time, and some never seem to get done and pile up as UFOs in my stash of maybe some day I'll quilt and finish it pile.  When I am in a 'finishing mood' I will pull one or two of these out and get them done.  Snowy weekends are great for when I have those moods.  I think the weekend that starts at 5 p.m. today is going to be one of those "GET 'ER DONE" weekends. Last time it snowed, I quilted and bound this one below....

Modern Quilting Transition

As you probably know, I joined a local Modern Quilt Guild a few months back.  I had dropped out of my traditional local guild a few years ago because I lost interest in the traditional ways of making quilts and frankly all of the politics associated with being a very active member of a guild for a long time.  I really did not miss the duties associated with the old guild.  I just wanted to get together with people that I share an interest with and have some fun and inspire one another.  The Modern Quilt Guild of Northern NJ fits that need perfectly.  Once a month meetings at a nice shop in Montclair, and there you have it. 

After joining the guild, I decided that I needed to better understand what a Modern Quilt is all about.
I purchased some books on Modern Quilting and have been reading them and enjoying looking at the quilts and projects shown in those pages.  I am still a hard copy book reader (maybe not so modern) and I think its because I enjoy the feel of paper in my hands and the look of the diagrams and pictures on the pages.  I also believe my lack of interest in e-books, stems from the fact that I spent most of my work day on the computer.  This is not something I want to do when I get home!  Regardless, I read most of the books within a week of receiving them and decided I would set out to make a series of  'modern' quilts based on what I have learned. 

I also went to my favorite pattern website to look and see what type of modern pantograph quilting patterns I could find to purchase.  I spent a good 30-40 minutes browsing their offerings and selected 10 new patterns to add to my quilting pattern library.  I ordered them and they arrived yesterday.  I was thrilled to see they came so quickly and was pleased with the selection when I opened the box.  Being a long arm quilter, I felt it was time to update my inventory of patterns to support my quest to create some modern style quilts. 

I also learned that modern quilts make use of the negative spaces in the overall quilt design.  This aspect got me very excited because the negative spaces are perfect for me to showcase my exquisite quilting skills that typically are not used in more traditional quilts.  Negative space allows me to truly create and develop my quilting style using custom stitching.  Those solid sections of fabric that support the framework of the quilt design become a canvas for the quilter to upload with her own fantasies.   I do have alot of solid fabrics which I have collected over the years, but not loads of it in my stash.  I saw awhile back, these Jelly Rolls of solid whites, greys, creams and blacks and didn't understand why anyone would want to buy a whole set of those pre-cut strips in solid fabrics of the same hue and value.  Now, I GET IT!  Those are used to create the negative spaces in the piecing designs of a modern quilt and DING!  the light bulb came on over my head. 

One additional point I read in many of these new modern quilting books is that alot of modern quilts do not have borders on them.  The designs run right to the edge of the quilt and even in many cases, off the end of the quilt, creating movement.  I've always been a big borders and sashings gal.  To make quilts without borders, well I am going to have to do this and see how I like it.  I have made  a few quilts over the years that had minimal or partial borders.  Those were done to satisfy my asymmetrical personality.  Now that I am not longer boxed in by traditional borders, I happily begin my quest to complete a series of  modern quilts and will post some pictures soon once I have made a few of them for you to enjoy.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?   

Jelly Rolls - Sweet Strips of Happiness

I just returned from the NJ Quilt Festival in Somerset, NJ.  Jelly rolls were everywhere.  Almost every vendor booth had some type of Jelly Rolls to sell, big rolls, little rolls, medium rolls.  I think they have become almost as common as the fat quarters.

Do you use Jelly Rolls or Strip Sets in your quilt making?  Do you enjoy piecing them together and then cutting them apart and sewing them into block for finished quilt?  Do you find them convenient since they are pre-cut?  Do you cut your own?

I personally love Jelly Rolls.  I started out buying my first one years back, which I have actually never used and it sits in my sewing studio, still rolled up with the Moda ribbon holding it intact.
I quickly graduated to Bali Pops, another form of strip sets, that are packaged flat instead of rolled into a coil.  I very much enjoy making things with Bali pops and have had quite good luck teaching a "Stripper's Club" series of quilting classes locally.  I also find myself cutting up the leftovers from my quilts, the borders and other pieces like backs and edges into 2.5" wide strips to be used in my quilts.
I have always enjoyed piecing more than applique and I believe that Jelly Rolls offer a wide variety of choices to the piece makers of the quilting world.  I think the accuracy and convenience of having the colors, fabrics and cutting done for you, also adds to their appeal.

I did not understand until just last week, why anyone would want a Jelly Roll of all white, or all off white or black strips.  However, after purchasing and reading through some new books on Modern Quilts, the light bulb inside my head came on and I realized that these strips sets are designed with the Modern Quilt Guild quilters in mind.  Many of the modern quilts use negative space in their clean designs and those spaces are often white, off-white, creams, greys or blacks.  I had my AH HA! moment and realized I needed to get a few of these monochromatic Jelly Rolls to make a few of the modern quilts I have on my wish list.  So I looked for them at the show, and was disappointed to find only one vendor with two sets of them, but not in the colors I needed!

I have even been lucky to find cheap jelly rolls at some discount stores recently.  I buy them when I see them and make charity quilts for fun.  The fabrics in these discount store JRs are not what I would typically buy to make quilts for myself, but they are bright, cheery and work well in twin sized quilts that will end up brightening up some one's day for awhile.  At  $7 a pop, why not?  Recently, I admit I venturing into the big national chain fabric store, looking for jewelry findings and non-quilting items.  I walked by one of their wall displays and found jelly rolls, marked clearance for $.97.  What?  Less than $1, I grabbed all of them.  Clearly they were mis-marked, but they gave them to me at that price and I felt like I had hit the lottery!  Actually, I left one there for someone else to find and get for 97 cents...no need to not share the bargain find with the next lucky customer, right?

I do not use my Accuquilt to cut strips.  I have found that I am able to cut my strips out quicker and more accurately, using my rotary cutter, ruler and mat myself.  I know that many people have purchased their Accu quilt system for this very reason.  I often will substitute or add in additional strips cut from my stash to a quilt top I am constructing from pre-cut strip sets.  I have seen some of my students do this as well.  Do you substitute or add fabrics of your choice to your Jelly Rolls or not?  I think this allows you to make your quilt unique. 

And I can't close this blog today without mentioning Jelly Roll Races...Do you participate in Jelly Roll Races?  Do you know what these are?  You take the Jelly rolls and sew them end to end into one long contiguous strip.  You have the option to sew them straight end to end, add 2.5" squares of other fabric in between the strips, or piece them together on the diagonal at the ends so there are angles in the rows where the strips meet.  I personally enjoy adding the little squares in between, it gives the quilt a random touch of color and makes the jelly roll quilt different than the other two versions.
We have done these twice now, getting a group of gals together and racing to see who can complete the quilt top in the shortest amount of time possible.  You take the contiguous strips, sew the ends together until you've sewn the entire length, cut and repeat until you have a nice sized quilt top at the end.  You can finish it without borders, add borders if you wish and layer it, quilt it and you are done.
The race is to see who can complete their top from the sewn together strips first.  First place is another Jelly roll awarded to the winner!

These JRR quilt tops are also good for charity.  They can be embellished with applique, cut up and repieced into other shapes and they are fun to do in a group.  We even had remote participants that called when they started and called when they stopped, sending over a picture to the shop when they completed their tops to ensure no one cheated.  Everyone enjoyed it and the results were pretty fabulous because every one's quilt turned out different. 

Quilt Kits, Take 'em or Leave 'em?

Over the recent President's Day Weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to travel to Delaware and spend 4 days with some of my favorite quilting friends.  I hadn't decided or planned ahead on what I was going to take with me to work on, so in my last minute rush to pack on Friday morning and head out, I selected one of the first quilt kits I had ever purchased and took it with me as my main project to work on while I was there.  I made sure I had everything I needed to complete the top (after all its a kit so it should have all of the fabric, instruction and pattern, right?)

Well, much to my disappointment, I didn't have the right color threads with me ( I needed a variety of blues and greys) to complete the top because some of the blocks required top stitching of the curved pieces to form the blocks and rows.  Strike one!  I did manage to get the quilt top completely cut out and I spent an extraordinary amount of time carefully measuring and cutting the pieces according to the instructions.  Once I was ready to sit down and sew, I read the instructions several times to understand what I was about to undertake.  They were written very well and fairly easy to follow.  I realized after the first run through, that I was going to need a design wall to hang the quilt in progress upon in order to prevent piecing mistakes.  Strike two! 

At this point, I put the kit away and pulled out my backup project for which I was grateful to have packed.  These were little heart shaped blocks done via the foundation piecing method.  All the strips were already cut, I only had to sit and sew.  I managed to get 4 of them done over the weekend.  No small feat, as each block contains 22 pieces each. Sew and flip, sew and flip, sew and flip. 

I also made several basket wraps and completed a special new binding technique on a wall hanging that I had quilted the weekend before this one.  I was teaching the rest of the gang how to do the new binding technique and it turned out really well.

So this leads me to my question of the week:  Do you prefer to purchase quilt kits or to make your own fabric choices?  How many of you purchase quilt kits either in a store or online because you fell in love with the sample in the shop on on the website?  I counted mentally in my head how many quilt kits I have purchased in my 35 years of quilt making.  Five!  I think that tells you that I am not one to purchase kits very often because I have made hundreds of quilts.  The last two of those were tumbler kits that I purchased at the same shop.  The first one was an Halloween Themed Pumpkin Quilt kit, which essentially had the pattern and the fabrics for the pumpkins included.  I made it 20 years ago and I still love it and hang it up every October.  The next kit was a foundation pieced pictorial kit of a large magnolia bloom. I finished it up at least 15 years ago and it hangs in my studio to this day.    And then there is this Glacier Quilt that I purchased as a remembrance of our Alaskan Cruise in 2010 and tried to work on last weekend.   I will finish it soon, I hope, at home where I have unlimited thread choices for the top stitching and a large design wall that does not have to shared with 6 other quilters.  And I do recall having seen that quilt several times since I purchased the quilt at shows, and its beautiful when its constructed well and quilted properly!

Several of my friends enjoy buying and making kits. Most of the quilts they finish start as kits.  And I love how proud they are when they finish them.  I think that quilt kits are a great way to purchase what you need to make a quilt and not have to make hard fabric choices.  They are the perfect choice for quilters that struggle with color and composition.  And there are so many quilt kits available today, it amazes me what the shops have to offer every time I visit them.  Another quilting buddy of mine, will make the extra effort to hunt down just the right fabric to produce a quilt they saw somewhere and are inspired to base their next project on.  She doesn't buy kits. She sometimes doesn't buy patterns. She has the unique ability to see something and draw it out and make it from scratch herself. I've been shopping with her when she needed that perfect piece of fabric to complete the quilt. Sometimes we just have to dip into each others stash to get it, especially if the quilt design has a vintage flair to it.  She is very good about ensuring that she credits the original quilt and quilt maker as the source of her design inspiration with a cool label on the back of her quilt.

What I don't like about quilt kits, is that the fabric choices were made by someone else and while one can swap out fabrics in a kit for other to make it unique, chances are that same quilt lives somewhere else and yours is just like it.  I very much enjoy shopping for the fabrics to make a quilt, planning each choice as I go.  I feel that making quilts from scratch, is my preferred way to do this.  That's not saying that baking a cake from a cake mix doesn't produce spectacular results, it often does.  But I like working from scratch and figuring it out as I go.  And I know I don't have to worry that someone will say, "Oh, I saw that quilt at 'sew and sew' recently."  I love finding patterns and then making them in different colors and fabrics than the sample.  Its more challenging to me to do this then to duplicate another person's work.  I'm sure its because I hope I can envision what the end result will be, but I also know that I can be quite surprised with the finished quilt which ends up looking nothing like the inspiration piece.  If I really like a quilt design, I have been known to make more than one (usually two of the same pattern is my limit).  One to keep as my own and one to give away as a gift.
I always take many photos of my finished quilts so there is a record of the ones I have made over the years. 
 

Valentine's Day

It is commonly believed that St. Valentine's Day is celebrated to offset the pagan holiday Lupercalia,  a festival celebrated February 13-15 to ward off evil spirits, purify the city of Rome, releasing health and restoring fertility.  This year, in 2013, we also celebrate Fat Tuesday today, 2/12 and Ash Wednesday tomorrow, signifying the beginning of Lent in the Catholic church.  One St. Valentine was clubbed to death and beheaded by the Emperor Claudius in 269. Hardly a romantic ending even for a Bishop!  

Valentine's Day, the mid-February 'holiday' that really isn't a holiday. The banks and other businesses and the government are open. Most restaurants take reservations and offer couples the opportunity to pay extravagant prices to dine out with special menus on this day. The stores are filled with red, white, pink and heart shaped items that they expect us to buy and exchange with our loved ones. To me, Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday, a marketing ploy to get us to spend our money on things we don't need and probably don't want. Yes, a beautiful card is welcomed and enjoyed. But I don't need flowers, candy, balloons or a 6 foot teddy bear to impress me. I'd rather my sweetie Mike just spend the evening with me at home with our cell phones turned off.  Its one of several non federal holidays that I refuse to take evening calls at home with my overseas colleagues. 

So while I tend to shy away from showering him with the commercial offerings for St. Valentine's day, I do have a good, strong, faithful heart and appreciate quilts with hearts, heart patterns and shapes.  I recently made about a half dozen heart shaped baskets to sell to friends that asked me to make them.  I do have heart shaped lights in my front window at home to ward off the winter blues and my office walls are adorned with several Valentine's quilts that I have made.  Judith Ripka, the famous jewelry designed with her store in NYC, uses hearts in many of her stunning pieces of bling.  She loves hearts and freely designs her gorgeous jewelry to include hearts whenever she can.  Both of my dogs have heart shaped dark patches on their little white bodies. 

Getting to the heart of the matter, love is whatever you make of it and we believe that its not up to Hallmark to tell us when we should be demonstrating that to one another.  It would be a sad state of affairs if we only took one day in the year to tell each other how much we really mean to each other.  Make a habit of sharing your love and affection for those closest to you and the world will be a happier place for everyone. 

<3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3 <3  <3  <3