Over at Linen Closet Quilts
Dawn is having a free BOM. Here's the first one:



I used the back basting method for the
needle turn applique which is the
technique I like the best.
For some reason my camera didn't pick
up the colors - beige background and
a med. blue print.
I can't wait to see what Dawn has for
the second block.
We're only to use fabric from our stash.
That's good news for me. I might do this
one over again. We'll see...

Back-Basting Tutorial by Sentimental Stitches.


Today there was a meeting of our
local Quilt History Study Group.
What great heirlooms were brought
in! But my favorite was one that
Trish from
Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum brought
in: (permission granted)

***I have made a correction here to what I
previously wrote. ****
This quilt is from Lancaster County c. 1860,
from a member of the Keller/Brubaker family,
the quilter is unknown.
There is a similar quilt that was made by
a neighbor, Fanny S. Bucher, 1860 (we did not
see this quilt yesterday)



Here are a few more close ups:

I'm amazed at that tiny flying geese.

Square in a square "on point" no less!

I kept the images very large so that when
you click on them you can see the detail.

The collection will be on display next
March 2010. If you're going to be
in the Lancaster area for the AQS new
Quilt Show in downtown Lancaster-
check out the Lancaster Quilt Museum.

Computer Fixed! (fingers crossed)

I have not used my computer in almost
a month! Checked my e-mail by using
the library's computer. The problem
with my computer was that it would
freeze after it was on for 10 minutes.
I have a Gateway that is only a little
over one year old. But thank goodness
I bought an extended contract! Oh,
my monitor also went out. I had to
ship that back and now am using my
old monitor which I'm glad I saved.

Anyways, my computer is practically
rebuilt. First they replaced the hard drive
(I lost a lot of my stuff that I didn't (foolishly)
put on a CD. ) When that didn't work -
they put in a new Mother Board and fan.
Now it works great! It took my all day
yesterday to load all of the drivers and
updates from Microsoft - all 88 of them!

Without the computer; I did manage
to get a lot done.

I took a workshop from my Guild ~
The Red Rose Quilters Guild last
month from Libby Kube Hage
We did Libby's quilt "My Blue Heaven",
her own design, using
Tri-Rec rulers by Darlene Zimmerman & Joy Hoffman

I decided to make mine red, white and blue.
It still needs sashing and a border but I'm
very happy that I got this far.

The rulers are very easy to use and I always
wanted to learn how to make this star.
I think it's the same as Fifty-Four or Fight
block.

I also managed to get 2 baby quilts completed,
which I'll post during the week.

Right now I have to catch up on reading
blogs and get caught up on what everyone's
is doing.

Computer problems

More Dylon Experiments

Saturday was a beautiful day to dye
fabrics - up until 5:30 about when
it started to get cloudy and then rain,
I mean like downpour!

Frustrated, I had to grab all of my
fabric and start to clean up my mess.

I lost my notes! I always keep notes
when I'm dyeing fabric so that I know
what I did to a certain piece in case
I want to do it again - or not.

Since it was a nice day; I decided to
try four colors - Amazon Green, Ocean
Blue, Tulip Red and Sunflower Yellow.

I squished the fabric into containers
with a small amount of dye.

I use the dowel to turn the fabric - I have to
remember buy more.

The fabrics that I used were Kona white, unbleached
muslin and broadcloth - the only broadcloth that
was left in the shop was 65% polyester 35% cotton.
I was unsure how this would take the dye -
I guessed probably lighter. All were washed in
very hot water.

The reason that I squished the fabric with
very little dye is that I wanted to get that
mottled look.

click on the photo for a larger view

First of all I noticed when uploading the photos
that the colors are not true. I'll have to adjust
the settings on my camera.
This is the look that I was going for - I thought
it looked like a jungle - so I transferred the
top of a tiger's head. cute
I also didn't iron the fabric because I'm doing
a separate experiment with this look. I used
the unbleached muslin here.

Be sure to check out Trish's Dylon Post

Still using Amazon green here - again the colors
do not look true to me. The bottom piece is
much greener. The top piece is unbleached
muslin and the bottom is Kona white.

I would like to answer here something that
Serena had a question about the
feel of the fabric after it's dyed. The dye
does not change the feel at all but the paint
(Setacolors) do. The paint sits on top of
the fabric where as the dye penetrates.
I'm not sure of the exact way to say it - yet.

Ocean Blue - I used Kona white for the two.
The bottom one - I twisted the fabric and
let it sit in the dye. This is one of my favorites.

This is Tulip Red - both the top and bottom
I used Kona white and the middle is the
broadcloth, polyester and cotton blend.
You can see that it's much lighter than
the other two.

With this one - I laid the fabric down in
a long pan - I put on it "tulip red" and
in the corner I drizzled "ocean blue" -
I just wanted to see what would happen;
I thought maybe the colors would blend
and make purple. Maybe I waited too
long to apply the blue - I wish I could
find my notes!

I'm almost sure I used the unbleached muslin
for these two. They were squished in the container
also to get that mottled look. This is Sunflower Yellow.


In a previous post that I wrote - I think it was
when I did the zig-zag quilt. I had mentioned
that I wanted to try using Fusible Batting.

So I went out and bought some and thought
first; I'll use it on my practice pieces where
I make quilt sandwiches for my free motion
exercises.

I used one of the Burnt Orange pieces that
I previously dyed with Dylon and ironed
on the Fusible Batting. I was baffled to see
that some of the glue from the batting was
coming through the fabric!

See those vertical lines? That's the glue!
I have used this batting previously and
have had no problem with it. So my question
would be - Does it only do this on dyed fabric?
It works fine on my painted fabric.



Here's a bag that I did:

Isn't that pretty? This bag is a design from Jackie's Desighns (Posh) bags
Jackie has a Yahoo group and the bag above was done
in one of her Sew Alongs.
The pink fabric is my dyed fabric using SetaColors.

So with all of this fabric that I dyed and painted
it will be used for my bags, applique and art quilts.
I'm starting to accumulate quite a stash already.

Dylon Dyes

We have had so much rain and when
it's not raining it's very windy. Not
good days for me to dye fabric.

Today is a good day and I'm taking
advantage of it!

I dye fabric on my deck and use lots of
drop cloths. Messy ain't it? But it's also
so much fun.

Today I tried Dylon Dye. I have wanted to
try this dye ever since reading about it on
Trish's blog Hand Dyed Fabric & Threads.

Normally I used SetaColor paints as
a dye because I'm intimidated by powdered
dyes. But I found the Dylon dye very easy
to use.

So today I tried "Burnt Orange" and here's
the results:

See that white piece of fabric in there? The package
said NOT suitable - Pure polyester but did I listen?
This polyester had a silk finish so I just wanted
to test it. As you can tell it didn't take the dye.

Hanging out to dry.

#2 is unbleached muslin - it absorbed more
of the dye - it's much darker
#3 is cotton broadcloth - much lighter
#1 - After #2 &3 was sitting in the dye bath
for one hour - in what was left I put #1 into it.

I like how it came out in different shades.
With one package I used 3 one quarter yards
of fabric. I have another piece one-eighth
of a yard that I experimented
with and was disappointed with the results.

Here's what I did:

I sewed the ends to make it a shibori and then
I folded the fabric and poured the dye on top.
(This was the left over dye)

You can't see where I sewed but you can see
somewhat of where I folded.

In case you're not familiar with what I mean by
Shibori - here's one that I did last year.

You can see where I stitched the fabric and
then pulled on the thread to bunch it up.
This was done with the SetaColor paints.

I don't know why it didn't work with the
Dylon.
If the weather holds out; I'll try to dye
more fabric this week with the other
colors that I bought.

I'm Back!

Hi, sit down and relax - this is a long
one. I have to make up for lost time. (-:

I didn't go on a real vacation; just relaxing,
regrouping and playing tourist.

A friend told me about a really great
restaurant along the Susquehanna
River, where you dine outside under
a large tent. As a former Long Islander;
I miss the Atlantic Ocean! For lunch
we had hot pastrami on rye - another
New York thing! I felt as if I was right
at home.

How's that for a view? Nice, calm and relaxing.

See this bridge? If you click on the photo; I outlined
where the old bridge was. There is a plaque which
says:
In 1814, the first bridge connecting
Wrightsville and Columbia was completed.
It was the longest covered bridge in the
world (5,690 feet.) Since then, five additional
bridge have spanned the Susquehanna at this site.
Of the six, two were destroyed by natural
forces, and one was burned in 1863 by Union
militiamen and townspeople to prevent
Confederate troops from invading Lancaster
County and reaching Harrisburg.

My daughter came from N.Y. twice; once with
her hubbie and once by herself. We went
and hit the outlets! Guess where we're headed?

I also had another visitor; one with four legs:

I was out early one morning cleaning out the
weeds in my tomato garden and when I looked
up I got the shock of my life! A deer was just
standing there looking at me. He didn't move
for at least 5 minutes. So I ran inside and got
my camera and it stood there and posed for
this photo.
What can I tell you..
first the ground hog now this! I hope this
deer doesn't get any ideas and eat my stuff!
It's cute though, isn't it?

Now the quilty stuff. I joined Facebook
awhile back and became a fan of
Pat Sloan. One of the discussions
is: My First Quilt.
Pat posted hers
on her web site and some of the other
brave ladies did also. They are really
nice for a first quilt.
You can view
Pat's first quilt and her story
here
It's really funny and I love how she
did the back of her quilt! I couldn't
stop laughing. So anyway, I thought
I would also post my first quilt but first
let me tell you about it.
When I first moved here I wanted to
learn how to quilt. My sister told me
to look in the mail for the Adult Ed classes.
The day that I received it; I filled out the
form and signed the check and had it in
the mail the same day. I didn't really read
what the class entailed; I was just so excited
to take my first quilting lesson!
When I got to the class; I found out it was
applique and my heart sank but I was
determined to do this no matter what.
It was an "Baltimore styled Album Quilt".
I had no supplies so I had to get the "works" -
cutter, board, rulers, scissors etc.; I spent
over $300.00! I had to do this quilt!

It looks kinda nice if you look at it from
far far away...
The first block we did was the tree with
the cherries. First I practiced the leaf
before I did it on the block. My nephew
was visiting and he came over and said
to me "What the heck is that?!" I said,
trying to hold back my annoyance (what
is he stupid?) "It's a leaf" (smile)
"Well it doesn't look like one" I told him
to go back and play his computer games.
hmmmf
My instructor said that applique is
very forgiving and that if you make
a mistake you can make fudge. ???
Cover it up -- and that's exactly what I
did. If you look at the block with the
cherries; I made a booboo at the bottom
of the vase; so I added another leaf
and cherry to cover it up. My instructor
Marge came over and looked and with
a smile she said "ah you made a mistake";
I said "No, I made fudge."

I can't believe I'm showing this!
For the cherries; we used a quarter.
(5 yrs. later - I now know about Karen
Kay Buckley's "Perfect Circles")
The method that I learned for this
applique is with freezer paper.
You make your cardboard template;
then trace around it on freezer paper
and cut.
(5 yrs. later - I now know about
back basting - thank you Jeana Kimball!)
I can't believe those leaves.

We were told that we were going to make
mitered corners. (haha) I watched, I saw,
and I did the first one good. When I went
home and try to do the others; I had to
make fudge! I wanted to save face; so
I looked through several magazines and
found the bird and covered my mistakes!

Also learned how to make different 3-d
flowers. Not too bad.

I also learned a lesson. Never use dark thread
for quilting...unless you are a very good quilter..
or stupid.

There was a applique pattern to go all
around the border but by this time I was
too frustrated to do it; I just wanted to get
it done.

The best is yet to come.

For tracing the pattern on fabric we
used a pencil. I found out that this
doesn't wash out. Now I use one of
those pens that the ink washes out
very easily.
This is the end because I can't
seem to adjust the font size.

Updates

Ha, I think I finally have gotten rid of
the pesky little fat gopher!
Probably a male.
I saw him come out of his tunnel
(food hunting no doubt) and so I
immediately ran over and put a huge
piece of slate over the hole! Yeah me!
So far he hasn't tried to dig around it
(fingers crossed)

Bush Fire Quilt Project: My blocks are in
each corner and one in the middle. Yeah!
It's the first quilt on the top. Thank you
Tia for doing this project. The quilts are
just wonderful!
click here

I have a Ta Da moment to share! I have
finally finished my Rose of Sharon quilt
Here it is:

Here's the back. You really can't see the seams.

It only took me a little over four years to complete.
Here's the story - which was on
a previous post.
I learned a lesson doing this quilt. Never take apart
a quilt top that has been lying around for four years.
As I was still an inexperienced quilter; I bought the
cheapest white fabric from Joanne's store. Well,
what happened was when I went to free motion the
squares; the fabric was stretching! The result was
some puffyness in areas. Not a good thing.
Nevertheless, I'm happy that it's finished and ready
to bring to my Guild meeting next week for the UFO
challenge. (and to collect my prize!)
I think it's very pretty and of course my daughter
Lisa wants it. (daughters want everything (-: !)

The free motion design is compliments of
Patsy Thompson Designs
Thank You Patsy! I first discovered Patsy on
"youtube.com" looking for free motion demos. Free
motion is still new to me. I try to practice as much as possible.

I did "Quilt as you go" after reading
Quilters Cache
Practice first on some spare UFO
blocks that you may have around (somewhere -: )