Guild Show

Every year my guild displays quilts in the Mishawaka, Indiana library.  The library has a large open atrium and center hallway which shows the quilts off to great advantage, and the show is enjoyed by all the library patrons and quilters as well.

Although I finished this quilt a while ago, I haven't posted it because it's so large I couldn't get a good picture.  The show is a perfect opportunity.  It's not been a favorite of mine:  the colors are a little sweet, and it's too regular in design, but now that it's been beautifully quilted by Deb Geyer, and I see it hanging here, I do like it.

And while we're looking at blue quilts, isn't this beautiful?  It was made by Michelle Wilson, and I wish I knew the pattern.  She did a wonderful job of choosing batiks; there's enough variety of value and tone to give the pattern definition but still be soft like a batik quilt can be.

Here are two scrappy beauties, by Kathleen Peterson and Fern Hamlin.  The place they were hung didn't allow a very good picture unfortunately, but I love both these quilts--so much movement.

Highs and Lows of Our Australian Adventure

Highs:

     Sunset and sunrise on Uluru (Ayers Rock).  The bus pulls in, set up a table with wine and snacks (or coffee) provides a folding stool, and you can watch the moment-by-moment color changes of the rock.

    
 Ride on the Ghan train from Adelaide to Alice Springs.  This is definitely a railroad adventure.  The entire ride takes two-and-a-half days from the bottom to the top of Australia.  We did 24 hours, stopping at Alice Springs.  The train is quite luxurious, with comfortable compartments and delicious meals, beautifully served.  The scenery was a thrill to me, and we met fascinating people, all Australian.  Visiting this part of their country was an adventure for them too.

     Amazing plants, animals and rock formations in the outback.

  
  A wonderful performance of The Marriage of Figaro at the Sydney Opera House.  This is the view from one of the lobbies.

Lows:

   My husband's worsening cough, which finally required an unscheduled visit to the clinic on the cattle station where we were staying.  We walked in with no money or ID, received excellent, immediate, and free care, and two prescription medications.  He had to take it easy for the rest of the trip, resisting every inch of the way.

   After a wonderful flight from Australia on Quantas, we had a cancelled flight from LA to Chicago that meant we were rerouted through Dallas, left there two hours late, and then of course had a major luggage mix-up in Chicago.   Arrival: six hours late.  That's probably par for the course these days.

   It's good to be home!  Now if I could sleep more than an hour at a time...

Home!

We arrived late Sunday in Chicago, and drove home yesterday morning.  It's good to be back, and will be even better when the laundry is done and the jet lag goes away.

It was also good to find out that my Hoffman Challenge will be in the traveling exhibit!  Thanks to everyone who commented on it.  I was able to read the comments while away, and the friendly word from home was very welcome.

I'll post a bit about the trip in a day or so when I can pry my husband's computer from his hands to access the photos.  

Time to Reveal?

Geometry in Bloom 22 x 22

Machine applique and quilting, fabric manipulation (texturing, weaving) beads

Today is the deadline for the Hoffman Challenge, so it should be a good time to post my entry.  I scheduled this post before I left home, then deleted it.  I've seen some beauties on the web, and don't have much confidence in mine.  However,  I decided what the heck, and here it is.  (Because of Picassa, I could retrieve the picture.  Did you know that unless you specifically delete a photo, it stays in your Picassa album, even when the post is gone?)

I didn't like the challenge fabric.  I don't like this color, a minority opinion, I know.  The design seemed to be too prominent for a secondary fabric and not strong enough to be a focus fabric or to fussy cut.  I didn't intend to enter.  But once this idea came, I went with it.  I love the colors, and especially the ombre background fabric, and it was fun to make.  Whatever the outcome, I actually like this the best of all the ones I've made.

After a week babysitting grandchildren,  I'm heading off to Australia as this posts.  See you in mid-August!

It's All Gouda

The July/August Interpret This! photo.  I'm excited about this one--so much to choose from.

The Hoffman is gone--mailed and delivered.

My studio is fairly neat, fabric put away, floor swept, thread returned to the containers.

The binding on the big blue basket quilt is half finished.

We've had fabulous weather, no thunderstorms, for almost a week.

I've lost eleven pounds, and went to Chico's to buy a smaller size traveler's pants for my up-coming trip.

And if you're wondering about the title of the post, it's a family joke.  Just think what positive adjective sounds a bit like Gouda, imagine my pronunciation-challenged husband asking someone in the Netherlands if they had any "Gouda" cheese, and I bet you can figure it out.

Happy July, everyone.

June Interpret This!

Butterfly Days  18 x18

You can read more about it on the Interpret This! blog.

In addition, I've been binding,

labeling,

sketching.

Fixed?

Thanks, everyone who offered suggestions about the bleed.  I tried Tide stain stick, and it faded it a bit, but I could also see more bleeding appear around the edge on the front of the quilt from the wetting.  I decided against a full washing because I was afraid of worse bleeding that would come through to the front, and also I was concerned about too much shrinking with the wool batt.  That would have been a totally different look than I had planned, and I don't know how it would have affected the total look.

So, I took out some quilting stitches, and used something called Pentel dye sticks, which seem to be very waxy and crayon-like.  It then occurred to me that actual crayons might work too, so I added them.  Wish I'd thought of that first because the color match was better and the sharper point worked well with the pattern on the backing.  Then I used a hot iron to set both and remove the waxy stuff.  It's better; it looks like a slightly darker section of the fabric, and doesn't jump out at you like the pink did.  But if you look closely you can see something is odd.  (There is actually less pink visible in reality than in this picture.)

I was afraid I'd made the wrong choice and was too timid, but just heard from someone with a horror story about trying to remove a bleed with Synthrapol, so I feel better.  Next step will be to distract by adding a very elaborate label!

I'll also try to remember that the oil spill is worse.

Help!

Just now when I unpinned my challenge quilt from where it had been drying after I spritzed it and blocked it, this is what I found.  It's the back, it does not show on the front, and this is the worst one of two spots where a particular fabric seems to have bled.  I tried dabbing it with a solution of Synthropol, but it didn't help and I'm afraid rewetting will make it worse.  Any ideas?

I'm feeling a bit ill about this, but unless someone knows what to do, or I think of something, I think I'll just trust to the judges' mercies.  The only other way I know right now is to wash the whole thing with Synthrapol, on the assumption that it's ruined and nothing can make it worse.

P.S.  Several people on the Dharma website said they had used Synthrapol to remove bleeding from quilts or  pieced blocks.  So maybe I'll try that. Scary.  But I guess the Synthrapol would prevent that nasty fabric from bleeding more, which is what I'm really worried about.   I have to bind the quilt first though, so this will be a tense time.

A Busy Two Days

The quilting is done, and I'm ready to bind this!  I'm very happy with the background quilting.  For the third line, the one that makes the star pattern, I found that using the seam guide didn't work.  The slightest error compounded itself over several lines, and the pattern became more and more uneven.  So after quite a bit of ripping, I used one inch blue painter's tape to mark each line before I stitched it.  This was quite easy and accurate, but at the same time allowed tiny adjustments to keep the effect right.

The outline quilting around the motifs, which you can't see, isn't as good.  I FORGOT that I could take off the walking foot and use the regular foot (one of the advantages of doing the background first).  So after I made ugly outlines with the walking foot,  I tried free motion, which looked worse.  THEN I remembered the regular foot, but it was impossible to rip out all the tiny free motion stitches without messing up the applique.  I took out the most obvious part, and have let it go.

I also made good progress on Interpret This! yesterday.  My husband is at Argonne National Labs this week doing an experiment, and I treated myself to a two day quilting camp at home.  It's amazing how much you can accomplish that way.  Back to regular life now.

So Far, So Good

I'm about halfway through the second line of the grid--there is one more set of lines to go to make the hexagons and stars that I'm aiming for.  Turns out it is possible to achieve the fashionable quilted-to-death look with only a walking foot!  Then I will quilt around the applique motifs.  I used to do that first, but I've found it easier to do them last, they look puffier, and I haven't had any trouble with wrinkles--so far.

The quilting is going smoothly up to now, although I had to rip a few lines because the stitching guide slipped and made them too far apart.  Too bad there's no way to lock it in place.  I've put bits of masking tape to prevent slipping, but it will still slip a bit, so now I check it regularly.

Challenges

The June Interpret This! photo:

I have two ideas.  One is very twenty-first century both in theme and technique, and the other is more retro.  Which I choose may depend on the amount of time required for each, because...

I am doing the Hoffman challenge.  I put the top together in record time for me and am very pleased with it.  All I'll say is that it includes some colors and fabrics that I posted about recently.

 I started the quilting today with a bit of trepidation.  That's always a chance to mess up.  I'm doing a grid quilting pattern from Charlotte Warr Anderson's book One Line at a Time, one of the simpler ones.  But even so, I think this kind of quilting can be as time consuming as free motion quilting.  I'm just hoping it works out.  I even did a 12 inch sample block first, cleaned the machine, and all the things you're supposed to do before a quilting project.  Fingers crossed.

Knotty Problems

The Janome automatically knots the thread when you begin zig-zagging, but after almost two years, I finally realized that to keep the knot on the underside, you have to hold the BOBBIN thread.   Then you can cut the top thread short and pop the knot to the back by tugging the bobbin thread.  If you hold the top thread or no thread, the knot and the bobbin thread always pop up and look ugly.

Two or three thoughts:  why did it take me so long to figure this out, why did no one tell me this when I took a class on the machine, and why did Janome design it that way?  It requires some contortion, as you can see.  When you end the stitching, the machine knots the thread, and then the scissors tool cuts the thread and pulls the knot to the back.  Pretty slick.  Wouldn't it have been nice to pull the knot to the back at the beginning too?

No matter though.  I'm thrilled to have figured this out.  It improves the look of the stitching tremendously.

Spring Quilt Festival

 Indiana Roadside

48 x 48

Amy is having the Spring Quilt Festival, which I almost missed.  Here's my entry, made about five years ago.  I love Queen Anne's Lace and the way it looks blooming wild along the roadside.  (I'm not a groomed-and-manicured-lawn kind of girl.)  For a long time I wanted to put it into a quilt, but it's a very hard flower to reproduce effectively.  Finally I decided to just use blocks of greens, tans, and white, arranged to imitate the color placement in a photograph I'd taken, and using a block that would give an effect of light and shadow filtering through the foliage.  Here's the result.  I still like this quilt after all this time, which is a rare thing for me.   It's the North Wind block, set so that there are alternating squares of light and dark.  I love that block too.

Take some time to look at all the other wonderful quilts on display.

May Interpret This

Spring Dreams

16 x 14

I went very literal this month; I'm not sure why that seemed the best thing to do, but it also worked into my tight schedule since I didn't change my mind several times.

Everything is simple and straight forward except for the tree, where I wanted to add a texture to suggest the softness of the blossoms and change the color a bit.   I wet the fabric, twisted it until it doubled back on itself into a ball, put rubber bands around it, and then stuffed the ball into the toe of an old nylon footie until it dried; drying takes about a week. ( I guess this is a kind of dye-less shibori.)  I did this about the first day of the month, which was fortunate, because when I came home from my unplanned trip, the fabric was dry. 

Then I opened it, smoothed it a little and fused it to a piece of light weight interfacing.

Stitching at random back and forth adds texture and holds the wrinkles in place.  Lots of different decorative stitches, threads, and couched fibers can be used, but I kept it simple here.  Then I pressed a freezer paper pattern to the textured fabric, stitched around it to keep the edges flat,  and cut out the tree shape.

Since I wanted to do the branches with reverse applique, I marked their outline on the freezer paper and stitched around that too; then when the tree was in place I stitched again around the branch outline, and cut to reveal the branch fabric I'd placed underneath.

Since the tree fabric already had lots of stitching, I just quilted in a circular pattern to emphasize the design in the fabric, then added the beads for more texture.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

You may remember an earlier version of this--terrible piecing.  Here it is again, paper pieced.  Did that solve the problems?  Not entirely, although it might be passible.   Those tiny things are VERY hard to match, the paper is thick, it slipped, and of course solid on solid shows every error.  There's also the matter of reverse images, and I had a devil of a time with those slanted stem pieces, finally just making the ends oversized and trimming them.  I'm ashamed to say how long it took to make this block; we'll just say I worked on it both Sunday and Monday afternoon.  It doesn't even shout "HARD TO DO!" like some blocks do, but I think it's the most difficult piecing I've ever done.  Do I want to make three more?  I think not.  I'll just admit defeat.   Pretty, isn't it?  Sigh...

Non-Fiber Content

It's a real slump here.  I finished my IT! piece several days ago, (I almost typed years--does that mean something?), and haven't touched the sewing machine since.  What have I been doing?  Well, I have unpacked stuff that I packed before the painter came.  Amazing how time consuming that can be.

Here's a general idea of the color of the dining room; it's only approximate because the light is bad in that room in the summer.  The painting is one I bought last winter, done by a local artist.  I love winter scenes, and the muted colors of this one really appeal to me, although telling people that I bought a painting of an alley in Mishawaka produces some strange looks.

 I've also been shopping.  I haven't shopped for ages, and it's like rediscovering the world to wander around some stores.  I've bought clothes and household gadgets, ordered new blinds for one of the bedrooms, and flowers for the deck.

I will get back into the sewing room soon, maybe this afternoon in fact.  Watch for the Interpret This! reveals beginning tomorrow.

I'm thankful that my mother's condition has stabilized and that I am back home, and grateful for other things as well.

Thank you dear blogging friend who bought the two texture studies from Alzheimer's Quilts Initiative.  This helped me make the $1000 Challenge goal!   As an unexpected bonus I received a package of beautiful fabric from Beth Hartford at QuiltersStitchTogether

and a generous gift certificate from Embellishment Village, which I promptly spent.  That was fun!

I'm thankful that the painting which had just started when my mother went into the hospital is finished and that I like the way it looks.  Now if I can get all the pictures rehung, china back in the cabinet, books in bookcases...

Ghost Orchids is back finally and put away.  Yesterday I began some work on my Interpret This! challenge, and this blob may appear there.  The new fabric would work too, but I'm already committed.

But it's looking more and more like the Hoffman Challenge won't happen this year, at least for me.

Bits and Pieces

I've been in Missouri for a week, with my mother's medical emergency.  I'd planned a trip anyway, but it has turned out to be earlier and perhaps longer than expected.   I'm not doing any fabric work now, but some of my quilts have been busy.

Wendy has created a new blog, Quilt Porn, where she plans to show one quilt that she likes every day, without comment.  She chose my IT! piece Down to the Root for show the first week. I'm flattered, especially since the other choices are so interesting.  Thanks, Wendy.

Deb Geyer is quilting my blue basket quilt.  You can see it in progress on her blog.  Her quilting is going to enhance this quilt, for sure.

I sent  my white Texture Study and the black texture study to Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and they are now listed on the Quilts for Sale page.  If anyone would be interested in helping the cause,  look at my blog pictures for a more accurate idea of what these two pieces really look like.

And finally, I sent Ghost Orchids to an exhibit in Florida in January.  Two weeks ago when the exhibit ended the quilt was supposed to return.  It's been a real saga of confusion,  missed instructions,  and lost UPS labels.  The quilt is still in storage apparently, waiting.  I don't know what will happen.

A Pretty Mess

Literally.  This is a charming block, but clearly the piecing will not pass.  My Quilt Pro program will no longer print foundations for paper piecing (who knows why), and the templates which the computer prints are not accurate.  So--I tried to figure this out for myself.  I could do that, now that I have figured out how to read the rotary cutting instructions which would eliminate some of the obvious errors, but there are a few bits that defeat me, like that second stem piece.  That's not any standard angle.

Paper piecing is the obvious choice for this block, and there was a time when I would have drawn the foundations myself.  But I'm not inclined to do that this time.   So a certain challenge may just have to get along without me this year.

May Interpret This

It's a lovely spring photo, open to all sorts of interpretations.  I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but I hope I can decide, and not go around and around as I did last month.  We finally have the painter coming this week, which will tear up most of the house, and then on Friday I'm leaving for a week in Missouri for family business, so that won't leave much time.  I hope to accomplish a little before I leave so I can finish by the reveals.