Grrr--

I've been planning a lovely October piece: falling leaves, poem, hopefully very lovely. But today I decided to EXPRESS MY MOOD! So I pieced this dark block, and then slashed it in half. Very satisfying. And it was rather stress relieving. But of course, now I don't know what else to do with it. It's actually a neat looking block by itself, but I could either embellish, slash some more, or leave it as it is. Maybe it's served it's purpose.

Gee's Bend Quilts

Recently Debra Spincic wrote a wonderful review on her blog about this exhibit. For anyone in this area who is interested, the Indianapolis Museum of Art is hosting the exhibit until December 31. The Indianapolis museum is worth seeing anyway, I think. They have a small but interesting collection, especially of American and Midwest Impressionists, and the grounds and gardens are beautiful. You can also tour the restored Lilly Mansion. If anyone is looking for a good fall road trip, this would be one. You can also visit Quilt Quarters in nearby Carmel, Indiana. This is a great shop. So there--another plug for Indiana tourism.

Work in Progress

It has not been a good week for creativity, for reasons I won't go into. Here's the progress on the baby quilt. Actually this took two hours Tuesday, so obviously it has been a VERY slow week. The border is of course still not done, but if I actually can get going on it, it won't take long either. Funny thing though--I have had the fabric on my table for several weeks and finally cut into it Tuesday afternoon. That night my nephew's wife went into labor, a week overdue. Don't you think she owes me one?

Today I drove to Shipshewana, Indiana, in the heart of northern Indiana's Amish country. Shipshewana is just a small town, but like many other Amish areas, it has become a bit touristy full of shops selling made-in-China tschotskes (sp?) But its main attraction for me and other quilters are the wonderful quilt shops. The first is Yoder's Department Store. It really is a department store, selling all sorts of clothes, hardwarde, and other products geared to a rural and largely Amish and Mennonite customer base, but it has a wonderful selection of quilt fabrics. As you can see it was a busy morning there.




Some fabrics:


Then I went on to Lolly's in the Davis Mercentile Building. This building was completely destroyed by fire about a year and a half ago, but is better than ever. Lolly's has even more fabric than Yoder's and a large selection of finished quilts. They are locally made, and handquilted by the Amish women in the area. Lolly's looks a bit "matchy-matchy" for my taste, but the array of colors in wonderful, and as you can see, not everyone has fallen for the large pieces type of quilt.




This quilt is of course the kind you would expect to see. It's being raffled to aid a local organization.


This hand dyed over-dyed wool is something I haven't seen before. The colors are luscious.

And a final word from Amish country:

Work in Progress Wednesday--sort of

Pretty pathetic ammount of work in progress here. First there's the Quilt of Valor that Deb Geyer quilted. The quilt itself is not pathetic; it's just that it has been "in progress" for a long time. One more side of the binding to do. The stack of fabric represents fabric chosen to make a very quick baby quilt for my nephew's baby. Since this will be the third I've made a quilt for and I have never received a thank you note, it's hard to get too enthusiastic. However, I am TOLD by my sister that they like the quilts, and I have seen pictures of them in use, so I believe it. My kids aren't that great about thank you's either.

What else have I done today? I vaccumed because my book group is coming tomorrow, I had my hair done, and I helped my son revise his resume. Now I think I'll spend the rest of the day reading Bob Woodward's book. A sweep--no sewing!

The new Hoffman Challenge fabric is posted on their web site in case anyone wants a peek before it goes on the market. It seems to be a large scale print, unlike the usual all-over pattern, and although it's very pretty, that seems to me more difficult to work with. I find it harder to think outside the box when something is so clearly representational, but I'm sure some people will do interesting things with it. They did with the cherries a few years ago, and I thought that one was hopeless!

Yesterday I received the Quilt of Valor that I made and Deb Geyer quilted. As you can see, she did a terrific job. The variegated thread looks wonderful on that red check fabric.

The three other stars are for a special Quilt of Valor that Debra Spincic is putting together for display in the Houston Quilt Show. Yesterday I pieced three 8-pointed stars. Practice does make perfect I think, since the blue and purple one, my third attempt, has a neater center, and doesn't have the strange pucker in the fabric that the red one does. When you read not to use steam to block a block, believe it!

So yesterday was a big day for my Quilts of Valor projects. Today I plan to spend time putting away some of the fabric I have pulled out in the last few days! A photo of my "studio" would be good for a laugh. Sorry I didn't think of it earlier.

A Hoffman Challenge Saga

As I posted back in July, I entered two quilts in this year's Hoffman Challenge, not feeling terribly pleased with either. I liked the design of one, but felt I'd messed up the workmanship, and the other one (the purple thing) just didn't jell at all. So I was amazed to see on the web site that Twilight (purple) was in traveling group A. Many jokes were made about this in my family ("They had a purple quota"), and my mother and sisters mourned the parrot quilt, which they had liked. Today I received a box from Hoffman Challenge, and when I opened it expecting to see pink parrots, I found the purple thing instead, along with a rejection letter for Parrots in Paradise. I immediately emailed Kelly Gallagher-Abbott, and she called back within a few minutes. Yes, the parrots are traveling, they mixed up the names, and I should get an acceptance letter (for Twilight?) soon. Should be interesting..."Congratulations, your quilt has been accepted," but then there would be all the negative comments. It's sort of like twins separated at birth--positively Shakespearean. But all's well than ends well. Apparently Kelly has had a nightmarish time with her move and organizing the challenge, so I certainly can understand how this happened. And I am pleased to know that people aren't looking at the purple quilt saying, "Hmmm."

Here it is: officially traveling quilt.

A hand for the Show of Hands project. This was fun: it gave me a chance to use up very small scraps of my kimono fabric, some ribbon flowers, and take advantage of those decorative stitches which I never use. I made both sides of the hand separately by putting the scraps on fusible fleece interfacing, zigzagging with invisible thread first, and then with colored thread and decorative stitches. I embellished them, glued the two sides together, trimmed them, and zigzagged the edges, then added the pearl hanging loop and the big ribbon embellishment. The hand wanted to cup a little bit, so I blocked it over my tailor's ham to accentuate that, making it quite hand shaped. I really enjoyed this, and I like the way it turned out, although as I was making it, I didn't. Sometimes you have to have faith! And you see, I can embellish--thanks to you crazy quilters for the inspiration.

Fun Idea

Here's another fun projectfor the Houston Show. Make a whimsical fabric hand for the "Show of Hands" exhibit. Lots of scope for creativity, without the pressure of making something worth $30!

The Worm Turns

OK, there is now an ultrasuede worm with a bead eye beside the flower. Cute, isn't he? Probably not what Allison and Debra had in mind, but I just can't do the heavy embellishment thing. Puritan upbringing or something, I guess.

Fiber Art for a Cause

Here's are two postcards I made for the ACS fundraiser at Houston. This is my first use of the fabric I painted with Seta Color. I used a leaf to make a not-very-clear leaf print, outlined it, and then quilted heavily in the background. I have a second one on which I outlined the leaf with heavy metallic thread used in the bobbin. I don't like it as well, actually, although the leaf shows up more. The funky flower is an ultra suede embellishment that I made for a hat when I was making and selling those, and I stumbled across it by accident and found it went perfectly with another piece of painted fabric. The leaves are also ultrasuede scraps. I fused the binding on these cards, and then stitched over the fusing. I like this look, and it's a bit easier than the usual binding. Compared to the examples on the web site, and other people's work I've seen, these may be too simple, not $30 pieces. What do you think? I'll keep going, I think, but I'd appreciate some feedback.

First Quilt

I had to get in on the "first quilt" discussion started at Quilt Studio. I made some blocks when I was about 12, but they were never finished and mercifully lost. So this must be the first. It was made in 1972 (I was so proud I signed and dated it!) while we were waiting to adopt our older son. I guess I found the pictures in coloring books, except for that cat face in the center, which I drew myself--always artistic. It represents the dearly beloved cat we had when we were childless. The beautiful hand quilting was done by my dear, dear mother-in-law and her church group in Waterloo, Illinois, who did hand quilting as a fund-raiser. It's WAY beyond the deserts of this quilt. The quilt was used, but not particularly loved, so although the fabric is faded and worn, there are no actual holes.

Blogger Beta

I'm back w/o many pictures. Will post what I have soon, but first I have to do a mini-rant. When I came home last night, I eagerly checked up on the blogs I had missed while away, and of course was unable to comment on the beta ones until I found Debra's suggestion to use "anonymous". But isn't this whole thing beyond annoying! What are they thinking! The whole ease of communication is going away. As for eventually "fixing" the lack of interface between Blogger and Blogger Beta, isn't it more likely that the old Blogger will just go away entirely, phased out as obsolete? Well, I will have to get a new Beta account, or at least a Google account that would allow me to post on Beta blocker. But apparently there are some risks here, and you can lose the ability to access the original blog. Does anyone have any additional information?

I'm leaving tomorrow to spend a week with my mother. She's 92, and still lives alone, although she shouldn't, so I try to visit often. My sister in the same town goes by at least once a day, but having someone else gives her a break, and helps get some big chores done. Mom needs some outings also, since she feels rather isolated sometimes. She used to make many quilts, most of which she still has (that's a story in itself). On this trip I think I'll try to photograph some of them, just to have a record, and they might be interesting to post.

A Small Show

Three photos from a guild exhibit held this weekend at the public library. It's not a big show with vendors, etc., just quilts hung around the central atrium and in halls. This works well, since we get quilters who come to see the show, as well as regular library patrons who are pleasantly surprised to see the quilt display. There is voting for viewers choice, which the voters seem to think more seriously about than who should be president! The first photo is my big scrap quilt, and the other two are two versions of the same English paper pieced pattern. Helen made the first as a graduation gift for her niece, who requested purple and black. This is as good as purple gets! Kay F. was inspired by Helen to dig out a 15-year-old UFO. It's a charm quilt with well over 1,000 different fabrics. The two make a great study in what role value plays in a quilt. Also, I find it interesting that, although Kay's has many more fabrics than Helen's, it doesn't look that way because so many of them are similar. I wonder if that's because at the time she made it fewer fabrics were available.

I finally have shaken myself into a bit of activity, and sewed together these circle blocks from my Australian fabrics. I cut and pieced these in April and then appliqued the circles while we were in Paris, but hadn't got around to the next step. One advantage of being so lethargic was that by having them on the design wall for a week I did improve the layout a bit, I think. I like this piece so far. It has a certain weirdness about it that seems to fit with the feeling of Australian Aboriginal designs.
The next step will be working out a border design. This will take a lot of auditioning, but I can go slow. In this case, probably a good idea.

The Blahs

Do I have the blahs! I have a binding to do, a label to sew on, the Australian blocks to sew together, new quilts that I could plan, and no interest in any of them. I painted four pieces of fabric (ugly), made a post card (equally ugly, and stupid too), baked a pie, (good!) so I'm not totally unproductive, just bored. I realized a while ago that this is the first day of school and in the old days I would not be sitting in the yard petting my cat, and I was very happy. Could I be subconsciously wishing to be back in the classroom. Nah-don't think so.

Thank goodness for blogs; although seeing what great stuff others are doing makes me feel even less productive. Still, it's a window on the world, and lighting MAY strike tomorrow and I'll develop some energy.

Does anyone else love these sweet potato vines that you see in ornamental plantings everywhere? Mine is on its third summer (I put it in my sunroom in winter) and is still going strong. That fluorescent green just gets better and better, especially when combined with the blue red flowers. I also love the purple foliage plant that is often combined with it. What a great color plan!

Here's the finished top for the Quilts of Valor project. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, except that there is one block turned the wrong way. Can you find it? I could fix it, but am feeling lazy; also, I think it's the kind of thing that doesn't show when something is in use, only when you see it displayed on a wall. The star points in the border are the same size as the ones in the sashes, but don't look it. Interesing optical illusion, isn't it?

On Quilt Studio the topic of what people are doing came up. Here I am, taking a break from anything original and doing straight, fairly brainless piecing. First a Christmas quilt for my sister. It's from Alex Anderson's book, Fabric Shopping with Alex Anderson. The blocks are finished, and then it will have a couple of narrow inner borders and a red pieced outer border. Then, I am working on a quilt for Quilts of Valor. My guild had a blue and white block exchange, and it ocurred to me that if I put them together with red I'd have a red, white, and blue quilt. Here they are framed with blue (hideous isn't it?), and auditioned with the red and white garden maze setting I'm going to use. I'm hoping this will work out in cloth as well as it did on my Quilt-Pro plan. This set is from one of Sharyn Craig's books, and the framing strips work so well, giving a perfectly straight even edge to put together, as well as jazzing up the look of the whole thing.

Thanks for everyone's comments about quilting magazines! It was good to hear other suggestions, like Belle Armoire and the virtual Crazy Quilting magazine. The range of opinion was interesting, but Quilting Arts and Quilter's Newsletter seem to come out on top, although sometimes just for reference, not serious reading and subscribing. I was particularly interested by the people who say they browse and don't buy. So this morning when I had a few minutes between errands, I browsed the magazines at the library and saw these that I thought were worth looking at. Maybe people already know them. Fiber Arts seems to be just what the title suggests, but more information than how-to; American Craft isn't just fabric of course, although there was an article about a fabric dyer; Art News has beautiful work, inspiring just for the colors, and then Bead and Button for all that beautiful work I never would or could do myself.

What Should Quilters Read?

I was just reading Deborah's blog on the Artful Quilter's ring, and saw her post about the new magazine Quilter's Home. Several people thought it was interesting, but I strongly disagree. I thought it was a weak example of a "lifestyle" magazine, thin on real content, including quilting ideas. Other people commented on other magazines, not too favorably, and that led me to think about the question of quilting magazines in general. What are the good ones? This is, of course, a matter of opinion, and depends on what you read a quilting magazine for, but here are my ideas.

Quilting Arts Some one described this as "stuff globbed on the surface", and I do agree that the works in here look very repetitious after a while. But I do like the articles about new techniques and products, and many works are beautiful, or just plain fun. I'm thinking in particular of the self-portrait challenge entries in the last issue I read.

Quiltmaker Good if you like simple patterns with big pieces and clear directions. (It used to be more interesting than it is now.)

Quilter's Newletter This used to be an excellent blend of projects both difficult and simple, design lessons, how-to articles on things like bindings, and evaluative articles on subjects like batting and stabilizers. Under the new editor, however, I think it is becoming indistinguishable from Quiltmaker.

McCall's Quilting Not much to say--completely traditional.

American Patchwork & Quilting Very much like McCall's except the patterns are more challenging and they include art and designer information that I think raises it a cut above. I also like the way every pattern is shown in an alternate "colorway". (Hate that phrase!) It's my favorite of the mainstream, traditional magazines.

Quilter Disquised advertising. All patterns seem to be designed for a particular fabric line. UGH!

American Quilter This is the main reason I belong to the AQS. The technical information is excellent, and so are the design articles. It has few patterns, except for the project issue, a good thing.

I can't comment on Fons and Porter's magazine since I've only seen it once or twice, and the $100,000 Quilting Challenge is also not familiar enough. There are others also that I don't read, so I haven't included them.

I hope people will comment. I'd really like to hear opinions. Perhaps people who are serious about quilting as art or self-expression shouldn't be reading quilt magazines at all, but looking at other art forms, painting, drawing, photography or whatever. What do you think?

Good Things

1. I discovered that the open-toed foot that I bought for applique works perfectly for piecing when the needle is moved to the right.

2. At guild last night we had what we call "The Tool Man", a vendor who sells notions, gadgets, and books for cut rate prices. I found a copy of Libby Lehman's book Threadplay for $12. When I was looking for it before taking her class last spring I found out it is out of print and sells for about $85. This copy is of course used, and has some stuck together pages from spilled something, but even so...

3 For the binding of my Queen Anne's Lace piece I used the piped binding technique described by Susan Cleveland in Winter 2005 American Quilter. (She also has a book called, I think, Piping Hot Bindings.) It worked beautifully. I've done a piped binding before, and it was ok, but didn't have the precision that her way has. She stitches the piping on first using a bobbin thread that contrasts with backing and then stitches the binding from the back, using the first stitching as a guide. Perfect.

On the Wild Side

That's the title of my finished Queen Anne's Lace piece for our "How Does Your Garden Grow challenge. I'm happy with the colors and the composition, and the flower pieces are ok (my husband knew what they were when it was finished), but as usual my machine quilting is the weak spot. Not only do the stitches leave a lot to be desired, but I have trouble knowing what pattern would best enhance the piece. All I can do is keep practicing and hope for the best.

I used several different fusibles on this, some new to me, so if anybody wants a quickie review of fusibles, read on. I used BoNash to fuse the center lace medallion and that worked very well. It did not hold the indiviual rosettes though, and I had to use a glue stick for basting until they were sewed down. BoNash works well, but is messy. I used Misty Fuse for the sheer part of the flower, and although it did the job, I'm not as enthusiastic as some have been. The directions are vague, and it's hard to judge the temperature. With a synthetic like the one I was using, it's easy to be too hot, too long. For the big simple leaves at the top and the finished flower pieces I used Steam-a-Seam 2. It works in the final step, but has the usual problem of not sticking tightly to the fabric in step one, (before it's fused). So I find it unsatisfactory to use for a piece that has to be cut very accurately or with fine details. My favorite fusible, which I used for the fern-like detailed leaves on the bottom, is something called Trans-Web. A guild friend swears by it, and she gave me a piece. I have been hoarding it and using it sparingly because I can't find it locally now. I found sources on the internet, but one is out of it, and the other one has not yet shipped, so who knows. It's a great product--it holds firmly in the first step (which is fused), and the paper backing peels off cleanly, so you can make quite delicate detailed cuts without a problem. I sure hope the manufacturer has not discontinued this product. Basically, I think there is no perfect fusible--it amazes me how people do such fine work with them--their fine motor skills are obviously better than mine!

I sent off two Hoffman Challenge pieces yesterday, the purple thing I posted last week, and this one with the parrots. (It isn't really crooked, as it looks here.) Strange, I don't have much feeling about either one, except that they're done and the decks are cleared. I have two because after I did the pink one, I was curious to see what would happen if I took another possible color scheme with the challenge fabric and went dark and somber instead of bright and tropical. That was an interesting experiment, and I'm glad I did it, even though my final feeling about them both is rather flat.

Queen Anne's Lace

Here are the first stages of this project. Instead of randomly piecing the background as I first intended, I tried Ruth McDowell's idea of making piecing lines indicate stems, using templates to plan the piecing. Of course, she pieces in the details too, but as I'm not going to do that, I'm not sure what if anything the complicated piecing adds to the effect. But I consider it practice. The "flowers" are just various attempts to get the QAL look. I think the large one is fairly successful although it needs to be larger to serve as the focus flower. (When I asked my son what the flower looked like, he said "A rock with flowers on it," and my husband said, "A doily.") Argh.

It's great to be sewing again!

Roman Tile Floors

As I walked around Rome I took pictures of floors, not just because the patterns are fascinating, but because they are easy to photograph in the limited light inside churches. I loved the floors in Venice five years ago and thought I had a great idea for a quilt. But of course I've been scooped by several books and by Jinny Beyer, who did a quilt based on the central mosaic in St. Mark's. I learned on this trip that the makers tore marble from the Roman buildings and statues to make these floors. I also thought a lot about a Roman color scheme: terra cotta, rust, peach, blue (for the sky), and neutral cream or grey. This photograph is a very dull version. Trust me, the bright terra cotta of the building and the greyed turquoise of the shutters is a stunning combination.


All of this is going in the memory banks, perhaps to be retrieved some day.

Drum Roll?

Here are three views of my Hoffman Challenge piece. I used the Japanese Puzzle block which I discussed earlier on my blog, and embellished it with bobbin work, beads, and angelina fibers. I honestly don't know what I think about it. It seems unfinished somehow, although in theory it IS finished, including the facing (instead of binding). I am thinking about adding more angelina fiber, but the Hoffman people warn about embellishment that isn't attached tightly, and so I'm hesitating. There's probably nothing to lose with this piece however.

The Joys of Travel

This is what happens when you stupidly get on a VERY crowded metro train in Rome on the night of the World Cup final game! I lost my money wallet (naturally, this was the only time on the trip that I had a 50 euro bill in it) and my husband lost his coin purse, which he dearly loves, and of course the coins in it. It could have been worse, because my passport and Bob's cash were safely stowed away. Ironically, we discovered the theft when we arrived at the Trevi Fountain to throw coins in it so we could return to Rome. Since we had no coins, I guess we won't be back. Arrivederci Roma, for sure! I think the title of the map sticking out of the purse pocket (Streetwise Rome) is also an ironic touch.

On a more detached and fair note, Rome has so many amazing and beautiful things to see that it would take several stays to appreciate them all, and I am fortunate to have been able to go again. I will post some more pleasant pictures when I get them transferred to this computer. It's good to be home.