And from Sisters

A modern quilt

This is from Jean Wells's collection

Detail

Flowers along the way

Written word

From Sarah Fielty's workshop

I warmed up for piecing the baby quilt back by adding an end piece to my "Stitch" workshop piece and squaring it up. I like these improv. letters very much but they are quite time consuming  and greedy for fabric so for the child's name I opted for a different method following a book friend Tracy lent me. I have appliqued the pink hand and heart and the lilac hand and will  do the red star tomorrow when I'll attach the final back piece. I have nowhere to put my leftovers so took the bold step of emptying the "short strips" drawer which only gets fuller, never emptier, and put the lot in bags for the bin. A first step to overcome my over hoarding.

Newly emptied drawer

Bags to go

Auditioning the arramgement

The lettering book

Nearly done

Good progress

Just one more row to add

I was home alone today and spent a lot of it breaking the back of my quilt for a baby. I cut new sized units for the top part and completed that section by lunch. Then I sewed the other squares in sections. To help me keep track of placement I ironed the squares onto freezer paper, a trick a friend learnt in a Houston class. I am going to leave off the last row as it seems big enough. I have also just decided to have it longarmed as I think this will improve the quilt though sledgehammer to crack a nut comes to mind. Tomorrow I'll start on letters and appliqueing the hands.

Constructing the quilt in sections

Squares ironed onto freezer paper ready to sew. 

From Sisters:

Pretty setting

Main Street

A lovely classic log cabin

In the Steps of Karen Stone

One of Judi's quilts

Dragonflies raffle quilts at Oast: I have my eye on the flying geese

I have spent a very interesting and enjoyable one and a half days in the presence of Judi Mendelssohn. First her talk at Oast Quilters which was just delightful and had wide appeal to the grass roots and the more art leaning members. I was very intrigued by her fabric choices as her quilts from years ago did not reflect the dusky pinks and apricots of those times and are not dated at all.
And today I did her New York Beauty workshop based on the quilt she did working systematically through Karen Stone's book and learnt some foundation piecing techniques I will revert to again and again. We were provided with a booklist, something few quilt teachers do but which I as an ex-librarian consider very important. Inger Milburn would do the same and I try  to too - keep the chain going! It's important to acknowledge sources.

Looking at Judi's quilt from Karen's book

Judi's samples

My samples and they are just that, hence the different colour choices and
yes, that is a glass of something in the background. It was an
unseasonably chilly day.

And from Sisters:

This would be easy to copy but would need to be laid out in entirety before
sewing.

I think this one may be by my tutor, Jackie Ericson or at  least be inspired by her.

Detail

Not a happy bunny - or rather, elephant.

Bordered to fit elephant panel

Well that was yesterday evening but after a before-bed-survey I had a rethink and now feel a bit happier. I am making a baby quilt for the long awaited daughter of friends of my son's. The first idea was squares and to have the parents' hands on the front but I decided that might very well not look right given the high patterning of my fabrics and because I wasn't happy with my sketched out positioning. So now they will go on the back on a very pretty low impact fabric bought in the US.
Unfolding my FQs I discovered a whole elephant so that had to be included only it didn't fit in with my 2.5" finished square size, nor would it with any other sized square. So I sewed oblongs to the sides to bring it up to 15" finished and to the top to make it 12.5" finished.
I also dotted about some 5" finished squares which I then removed as they didn't look right. If they had completely coordinated with the elephant print it would have been all right.

With 5" squares

Isketched out fabric placement on squared paper and set pieces in their corresponding positions on my temporary design wall. Then I sewed the first section. To prolong the animal comparisons it looked like a dog's dinner. Off to make tea in disgust.

This is with top left section sewn and no 5" squares

Now I am going to have narrow 1.75 oblongs extending from the top of the elephant out to the sides of the quilt. The elephant  side pieces finish 2.75" and the ones next to them will too.
Then I've gone all Fibonacci and will add the two numbers and have 4.5" oblongs along the bottom of the elephant panel and out to the sides. This should look intentional and better. If not, the back will be very nice. . . .
I may use my new lettering skills and add her name, pity it's quite long!
And from Sisters, something completely different AND coordinated:

Machine embroidered quilt which my companions didn't like but the next lady with her little
girl loved it and the daughter wanted to buy it! I was interested because I have friends who use
embroidery machines.

Detail

Bonnies are back and another quilt

After quite a long break because we all go away from time to time we met up yesterday and Mavis showed her pink Schoolhouse  and Letha's fan blocks and Fran all her caught up blue/grey/black  blocks. Next time EPP and foundation pieced pineapple.
And from Sisters:

By Barbara Summery; she said she spent a day with Alex Alexander using her
Curves for rectangles ruler but I think she meant Karla Alexander
whose name is associated with this ruler and this pattern.
The quilt looks like floating handkerchiefs.

Gees Bend comes to Sisters

Mary Ann Pettway's red and white quilt at Sisters

Iwas delighted to get to hear the Gees Bend Ladies at Sisters and to see examples of their work which has made such a big impact in the art world and influenced many quilters working today.

A housetop quilt by a Gees Bend Lady, wonderful graphic impact.

I think this one also comes from Mary Ann Pettway. The price: $19500 as wide exposure
in the art world has created a market for these quilts.

Sisters quilt

Wonderful vintage fabrics

Wonderful finished vintage top, so simple and so perfect; it attracted a lot of admirers

From Sisters

Valori Wells etc fabrics, colour not very true

My computer at home has been very put out by my using another device while on holiday and which I had to carry on using because I couldn't sign in to my blog but I now seem to have slipped in by the back door so here goes. I started to cut squares for the baby quilt but then got called away and it's just as well I did because later getting in the washing I realised I'd been cutting them out 2" finished instead of 2 1/2 ". It's not too late to change and now will consider whether I want 2" or 2.5" finished squares. Valori Wells Fabrics in a Village Haberdashery draw form the basis of my choices.

State Highway in Sister closed for quilts



Row quilt

And another one

This one, woollen "bricks".



In the sewing room again

Washaway applique sheets

These hands

I am making a  quilt for the baby daughter of a friend of my son, squares of pretty fabrics. I asked the parents to draw round their hands (note to self; think twice next time as hands are tricky). I am using these non toxic washaway sheets. I started by ironing the sticky side to the hand and pressing  the seam allowance over but for the second one placed the non stick side onto the the back of the hand and pressed the seam allowance over so it adhered to the sticky side which worked much better so I made the first pink hand afresh. I washed the reject and, sure something washed away but there was still a soft residue on the back but as the fabric felt soft not stiff I'm OK with that. I was going to put the hands on the front but now think they'll go on the back along with the child's name which I'll do using Sarah Fielte's "method".
From the Sisters'show I include details of Ann Pedersen's 94" square Peek-a-Boo Lace quilt, wonderful "cutaway embroidery using two layers of fabric - the machine outlines an area for you to cut away the top layer of fabric; the machine then finishes the embroidery around the cutaway section."