Improvisational Quilts 4

Spring is finally here and I have a list of
things "to do". So much so that I don't
know where to begin. I started to clean
out my sewing room (for the umpteenth)
time and decided to use up the scraps that
I have left over from the "Zig Zag" quilt.
It wasn't enough - so I pulled out some
fabric from my stash.

I recently became of fan of Nancy Crow. In reading
her Artists statement "When I work on a quilt, I put
away all thoughts that are not helpful and channel
my energies towards relaxing and becoming one
with my fabrics." This has become my "Mantra".

The black and white Zebra print is kinda bold but
I thought that if I had not added it - it would not
have made a "statement"! What I mean by that
is, the other colors blended too well together
and were getting lost in each other. (hope that
makes sense)

I also used the yellow with the black and white - I love
the way the yellow brightens up the areas.
So far this is my favorite of the improvisational quilts
that I've done. It has the three B's .... Big, Bold and Bright!

Now I have left over scraps from this quilt...

Zig Zag Quilt

Since I first discovered blogs several months
ago; I have bookmarked those who have
tutorials or projects that I would love to do.

I found this Zigzag quilt over at "A Quilt
Is Nice" blogspot. It's done with half square
triangles. So last week when Joanne's store
was having a sale on fat quarters; I went
and bought a bunch.

It's one of those quilts that is really prettier in person.
I love the colors and decided that a little black and
white would look good in it.

I went to my favorite fabric shop "Zooks" to buy
the black and white fabric and some yellow for the
back. They told me that black and white and yellow
are the "in" thing this year. I also met some ladies
that came from Virginia - just to buy fabric!

I then thought that I would quilt it on the machine
using a "half circle" design - it's a decorative stitch.
Well, that's when the problem arose of puckering
in the back! I pressed and went on; the result
was the quilt was a little distorted but thought
I could live with that. Next time I'll be on guard.

You can see the stitch here in the above photo. I used
variegated thread.
When I was at Joanne's store; I saw batting that was
iron on. Never tried that before and just might use
my 40 % off coupon to buy it. I would use it on a
small project just to see how it works. Thinking that
it would not cause the puckering.
I'm wondering if it puckered because of the circled
stitch? I normally hand quilt but decided to do
the machine quilting and get more experienced
at it.

I made this little lap sized quilt for my daughter's
niece (in-law) when she sleeps over at her
house.

Weaving

This past week I took a class from my Guild ~
The Red Rose Quilters Guild with Ellie Levie
It was a new technique for me and thought it would
be fun to try. The above picture is all of our blocks
put together. My part in the process was to
applique the rose and the leaves in the center.
I draped some red tulle over it in order
for the free motion quilting to go easier. Then another
Guild member will add on the borders and yet another
one will finish the entire quilt.

The strips were cut 1" and 1 1/4". We also added
ribbons, rick rack, braiding and some lace for
different textures.

The first thing that we did was lay down and pin the vertical strips.

Then we added the horizontal strips. There are
technical terms for this process but I can't
remember them now. ( senior moment)

The blocks were worked as light, medium and darks.

We did audition a couple of different color
backgrounds but we decided the black looked
best. It really brings out the colors. We decided
to add a focal point - the red rose - for Lancaster
County - of course!
The wheels are turning in my mind for different
quilt projects that I can use this technique.
This quilt when finished will be donated to
an organization - who? - we haven't decided that
yet.

Making Circles

I've been busy this past week sewing little
round berries for my guild's raffle quilt.
There were about 88 of them!

I used Perfect Circles by Karen Kay Buckley.
You can purchase them directly from Karen;
some quilt shops also carry them.
Some appliquers use washers but I find that Karen's Perfect Circles
are thinner and that makes the circle lay flat on your fabric. I also
like the fact that the circles come on a ring.

Above photo shows the supplies that you will need to start
making your perfect circles. I prefer to use my small iron and
you can use almost any spray starch.

Once you decided on the size of your circle; choose another one
that is larger like the example above. You want your fabric
to come over that smaller circle - so I would say a little more
than 1/4".

Draw around the larger circle with your pencil and then cut out.

Using a paper cup - spray the starch inside the cup. You can either
use a paint brush but I prefer to use a q-tip.

I'm using green thread here just for the photos but do be careful
as some threads bleed. (ask me how I know that) generally I use
white thread and double it.

Start sewing a running stitch all around; come down about
1/8". Just give a little tug as you sew - you don't want it
too tight otherwise you won't be able to fit your smaller
circle inside. The above photo shows how.

Place your smaller circle inside ....

You can hold the middle down with your finger but sometimes
I use a small spool; then with your other hand gently pull on
the thread to gather the stitches. Once that is done I leave a long
tail and cut off the thread.

Dip the q-tip into the starch and dab all around the circle. This is
why I leave on a long thread; I can now pull on the thread again
after I applied my starch to make sure it's nice and tight.

Now I start to iron all around the circle. Sometimes I apply more
starch to make sure it's nice and stiff. Once you have ironed it
all around; wait for it to cool off before removing the inside circle.
I give it about 10 minutes. To remove the inner circle; I use
a tweezer and gently loosen the outside fabric circle. Pull the
template out with the tweezers. Once out I can use the thread
tail to pull the fabric back into place.

Ta-da - a Perfect Circle! Now you can cut off the tail; I don't take
the stitches out although some people do.
When I first started; I had to make a couple of them in order to
get the hang of it. It may seem like a long process but once you
learn how to do it; they go very fast.
I was fortunate enough to take a class from Karen Kay Buckley
a couple of years ago. What a nice lady and a GREAT teacher!

There are so many different sizes that you can make for your
projects. I hope that you'll give these a try.

Improvisational Quilts 2

Update - hand quilted and finished 2013
to see it - to herehttp://uniquelyyourscreations.blogspot.com/2013/10/bloggers-quilt-festival-chasing-rainbows.html

                                                                        ***********

Where do you get an idea from?

I had 2 bundles of fat quarters, a library book
- The Quilts of Gee's Bend and spotted a book
on my shelf by Jenny Beyer - Quiltmaking by Hand.
On pg. 7 Jenny says "...generations of quilters made do
with minimal supplies ... All it took was a needle and
thread, a thimble, a pair of sharp scissor, cardboard..."

Hmm, I thought about that for awhile.

The rotary cutter was created for quilters in 1979.
I wondered if I could manage to make a small quilt not
using a rotary cutter and piecing it by hand.

No ruler, just a large piece of cardboard and pencil
to draw my squares and strips.
I also wanted to experiment with colors - using colors
together that I never tried, instead of gravitating to my
old favorites. This was really a challenge for me. At
first I thought I couldn't stand to see certain colors next
to one another but I kept persisting.

I started by cutting out a square piece of fabric and
using that size as my template; I did the same for my strips.
Using my cardboard and pencil; I found that the sizes varied!
Part of the charm of some of the Gee's Bend is that not all of
the seams are perfect and the some fabrics don't match
- that to me adds to their beauty and uniqueness.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take long to hand sew all of the
pieces together. Using a running stitch; I made a couple of
squares in no time. I was tempted to draw a 1/4 " seam allowance
but I decided to just "wing" it. After all I don't want it to be perfect
- that's the point.

After all of my squares were sewn together; I have to
admit I couldn't stand it anymore and broke down
and got out my mat, cutter and ruler! I had to add the border
and I wanted it to be straight. You have to give credit to
the women who made quilts without these conveniences
that we have today.
I also wanted to add a piano like border - those were
cut with the rotary cutter BUT they were all hand sewn
also - 1 1/2" x 5" abt. 166 pieces! I must be nuts!

I'm very satisfied with the way it turned out.

Only I think it will be a long time before I hand piece another quilt top!

Bushfire Quilts

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill

I found out about this wonderful project through
reading someone's blog. It is being organized
through a U.S. Army wife named Tia.
God bless her!
So, this is what I'll be doing all weekend.
I have 4 completed so far and several more cut out and
waiting to be sewn.

This block is called "Wonky Star" and it's the first time
that I ever tried it. Thanks to Silly Boodilly for her excellent step by step tutorial.

I'm using Laura Burch fabrics for the center blocks.
I love her fabric; they're all so colorful and down right
cute!

I hope that I have inspired you to do a couple of "easy"
blocks for this worthy cause. They go together very
quickly and it's a great way to use your stash! You
can also make it scrappy.

"Happy Valentine's Day!"

Wonderful Day!

The temperature today was over 50 degrees and "Plenty of Sunshine"!
So I decided to take a ride down to Kitchen Kettle
Village which is in Intercourse. Everyone must have had the
same idea - it was quite busy as if it were summertime.

Not only were there lots of tourists here today but also plenty of
horse n' buggies.

So, as there wasn't a parking space to be found in Kitchen Kettle
Village; I did what any smart woman would do. I made a right
turn into the parking lot of my favorite fabric store - Zooks!

I just love this shop. I can always find something I absolutely
must have.

This is their parking lot. You can always find Amish shoppers
here.

This is what I bought today - Robert Kaufman - Oriental Traditions.
I just love this fabric and I have a pattern for it that I borrowed
from my quilter buddy.

Here's a couple of other shops:

All good things must come to an end - On my way home.