First Quilt

It's always fun to see a quilter's first ever quilt. Here's mine from 1989, a traditional 12-block sampler designed by Diane Schneck.

If you appreciate traditional blocks, please take six minutes to enjoy these delightful dancing quilt blocks in a video created by Gayle Thomas. ENJOY! I think I'll watch it again.

Branching Out

Left to my natural inclination I would always design a symmetrical quilt, and often one with radial symmetry. But one day I pushed myself to branch out into the uncharted territory of asymmetrical design. This is what I came up with.


For the entire quilt I chose to use each fabric for only piece. For example, this flower is made with five wine colored fabrics (same overall look but different fabrics). It adds interest.

Yellow Stuff

Yellow means DRIVER BE ALERT on this winding road in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was easier to paint the rocks than remove them!


My husband just returned from a short trip there and got to visit the historic district of Old San Juan where the narrow streets are paved with blue cobblestones. Evidently the stones were made with European iron furnace slag that was part of the ballast of the sugar carrying ships.

Chromatic Transitions

Back to my latest quilt, Chromatic Transitions (Feb 1, 2011 post). As you can see in this work-in-progress image, there are a number of places where a foreground shape is attached to two or more different background fabrics.


The following pieces (shown from the back) are examples. The foreground shapes are backed with Wonder Under fusible web. Using an X-acto knife I gently sliced halfway through the release paper to expose the part of fusible I was ready to work with. That way I could fuse the piece to its loosely cut background before cutting away the extra fabric.




A lightbox is invaluable for accurately trimming away waste.


The finished quilt . . .

Yellow Stuff

Since I live with someone who grew up in steel country (Pittsburgh, PA) yellow and black are the colors for this weekend as the Pittsburgh Steelers confront the Green Bay Packers in the Superbowl.

Created in 1975 by then Steelers radio broadcaster Myron Cope, The Terrible Towel is widely recognized as a symbol of the Steelers and the city of Pittsburgh.

Proceeds from sales of the Towel have raised over US$3 million for a Pennsylvania school which cares for people with mental retardation and physical disabilities.

The current manufacturer of the Terrible Towel is McArthur Towel & Sports Co., in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Can you spell IRONIC?

With insincere apologies to Packers fans . . . GO STEELERS!

Chromatic Transitions

Here's my most recent quilt. Chromatic Transitions will debut at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Feb 24-27 in Hampton, Virginia. The design is adapted from a late 1800's tile by Minton, Hollins & Co.

One design unit is composed of four "tiles" pivoting on center. My starting sketch included a grid of 25 of these units of four. If the values (light, medium, dark) for each unit were identical the quilt would have a pleasant but static appearance.

Instead, by using tracing paper overlays on the sketch I used a soft pencil to play with the placement of values, deemphasizing some of the individual shapes and thereby creating new centers of attention. A whole new design emerged. The next step was color/fabric selections to give further life and depth to the design.

The following detail shots illustrate the reason for the title. Chromatic Transitions is simply a classier way of saying color changes.

Yellow Stuff

Sometimes--like lately when I have to shovel snow every other day--I just need a visual reminder that better weather is on the (very distant) horizon. Got out my flip flops and scrubbed them till they shined like the sun. Think warm thoughts.

Orchidaceous

Orchids are such flamboyant flowers. Why not assemble a funky fabric version of a wild and wacky orchid? Here's a detail shot of an unconventional color combo. Note how the yellow fabric is fussy cut to take advantage of rather natural color shading.

Let's talk quilt backs. How about using up the leftover fabrics from the quilt top to create a unique statement on the back? Yes, it takes more time but it's therapeutic--no pattern to follow.

Yellow Stuff

This is Splash. The only connection this critter has with quilting is that she's on a shelf in my studio and she makes me smile.

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it. ~Andy Rooney

Celebration

It's another gray January day in Chicagoland. How about a splash of color? Celebration is a wildly colored quilt adapted from a softly colored stained glass window by Richard Diens (used by permission) seen at Navy Pier in Chicago.


As the flowers dance around the circle, the quilting lines continue the illusion of motion.

The central motif is more like spokes in a wheel. Here the quilting emphasizes the radial lines.

Yellow Stuff

The outdoor thermometer registered in the single digits this morning. Another good day to stay inside, have a cup of tea and attach a binding to my latest quilt.


Now to decide on my brew: strawberry passion fruit, lemon zinger, India chai spice or peach. Perhaps I'll go with lemon zinger--the box is yellow!

Little Fabric Hugs

As mentioned in the last post, I am slightly changing my focus now to smaller quilts. Smaller quilt = easier to handle = hopefully a less frustrating free motion experience. In addition to small competition quilts I started making mini quilts (about 36"square) to donate to Wheels for the World, a wheelchair recycling program which collects, restores, and distributes wheelchairs to disabled people in developing countries. The little quilts will be given to some of the wheelchair recipients. Here are a couple examples:



Just 25 (6") squares plus a border. With the self binding technique the backing is folded to the front, eliminating the time-consuming traditional binding.

The quilting is extra large and moves along quickly.


I have no lack of fabric for the tops but needed backs and batts so off I went to Joann Fabrics where they had 50% off batting and Red Dot clearance fabric, plus I had an additional 20% off coupon on top of that. What a deal. I hauled home 100 yards of fabric and a whole bolt (40 yards) of batting. That should keep me out of trouble for awhile.

What a joy to work on these fast-to-make minis. There are no juries and judges critiquing my work. My abundant stash of fabric is being put to good use and I'm getting valuable free motion practice. Best of all, someone overseas will get a little fabric hug from me in the form of a comfy, colorful quilt. It's a win win.

New Year, New Direction

Since 1999 I've been making quilts for competition. The majority of these quilts are quite large, for example 64"x77", 46"x62", 53"x65". The story is the same on every quilt: enjoy the design and assembly phases, dread the quilting phase. Free motion quilting is not my strength and the challenge is magnified when working on a big quilt. Currently I'm quilting a 66" square piece and it feels like wrestling a walrus. This time the frustration factor is so intense that I'm losing the joy of the quilt. This is unacceptable.

So I am slightly changing my focus now to smaller quilts. Smaller quilt, easier to handle, hopefully a less frustrating free motion experience. Not that I may never make another biggie, but this is a deliberate change of direction to rejuvinate my quilting satisfaction. I've sketched my next competition piece and it will be about 28"x24".

This decision just happens to coincide with the start of a new year. Here's some food for thought as you contemplate 2011. From The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley.

Looking ahead we are often deceived into thinking that life is a series of unrelated decisions and somehow we will end up where we want to be simply by force of will or luck. But if you can see a path in the rearview mirror that reflects where you've been and explains where you are, then there must be a path ahead of you as well. A path that, like all paths, has a specific and oftentimes predictable destination. And that bring us . . . to the principle of the path. Direction--not intention--determines our destination. Simply put, you and I will win or lose in life by the paths we choose. Direction determines destination. Every time. You don't have problems to fix; you have directions that need to change. The road I'm on always determines where I end up.

Wishing you a happy and healthy new year.

Yellow Stuff

That little yellow button on my TV remote is labelled SKIP FWD


What an invention. It has spared me from many inane commercials. Taping a show and watching later saves time and aggravation. Not to mention the fact that I rarely sit and watch a program unless I am cutting, sewing or quilting my latest project.

Sometimes technology fools us into thinking we can SKIP FWD through the mundane things in life. Take quilting . . . changing thread on the machine, winding bobbins, unsewing mistakes, cleaning up the mess I make. Well, that wouldn't be reality. Here's a better way of looking at it:

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous. --Bill Moyers

Keep quilting!

Merry Christmas!

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord . . . Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. --Luke 2

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Snowman

Bob Eckstein is the author of The History of the Snowman. The earliest snowman illustration Eckstein found is in a religious manuscript, Book of Hours, written about 1380 and preserved at the Royal Library in The Hague, Netherlands.


Snow sculpting was popular entertainment during the Middle Ages and a way for artists to display their talents at winter festivals. Even Michelangelo sculpted snow figures in 1494 in Florence, Italy, and during an event that became known as “The Miracle of 1511” in Brussels, Belgium, artists and nonartists alike populated the city with 110 snow people in scenes with social and political meaning.

Shine On!

Here's a simple mini quilt (9" square) using glitzy Christmas ribbon and shiny fabrics from my scrap box. Made as a donation quilt for The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI), this piece recalls my husband's Aunt Jean.



For more info on AAQI, see http://www.alzquilts.org/

Faith Rings

This is the third quilt in my Virtues series based on the verse: Three things last forever: faith, hope and love. Faith Rings is a Christmas quilt celebrating the birth of Christ.


A Christmas themed quilt doesn't have to scream traditional red and green. I started with these two Christmas fabrics featuring cranberry red and teal green.



The color scheme expanded to include various tans, pinks and some jewel tones to liven things up.


A marble floor laid in 1268 in front of the high altar at Westminster Abbey inspired the design. The actual floor is shown in this article I wrote for American Quilter (Summer 2006) featuring all three quilts in the series.

Hope Flourishes

Hope Flourishes is one of a trio of quilts in my Virtues Series based on this verse: "Three things last forever: faith, hope and love."

This design is an adaptation of floor tiles by Minton, Hollins and Company circa 1865.

There's much more than a bit of yellow in this quilt. The use of cherry red adds some unexpected zip to the yellow/caramel/blue scheme. I like to take my color cues from some of the fabrics. Always audition your choices on the design wall.

Love Blossoms

The next three posts will focus on my Virtues Series. These quilts are based on the verse that says: "Three things last forever: faith, hope and love."

Love Blossoms was adapted from tiles produced by a 19th century French tile factory. Two fabrics were my starting point in selecting a color scheme.



From the caramel and lavendar in these fabrics, I branched out into orange and purple.