A Distraction, A Flimsy, and "Hyper" Activity

It began innocently enough. I left a comment on Karen's blog and she replied. One thing led to another and somewhere along the line she sent me a link to a 6" finished Mariner's Compass block named Sunburst. I wasn't going to make it, but I downloaded the pattern out of curiosity. Before I knew what I was doing I had printed enough foundations to make the block, selected fabrics and actually started the thing.
 It wasn't my top priority, but it was my favorite distraction. I would work on it whenever I only had a few minutes to sew. When I finished it, I decided I didn't want it to be just a little 6" block, so instead of the corner pieces the pattern provides to square it up, I inset it into an 8" square and added some setting triangles. I thought I would bind it with black, but as I stared at it, I started to wonder if that much red was overpowering the whole thing. Then I tried a gold border before the binding.

This seemed a little garish to me, so I kept playing with my options. The idea came to me to actually strip piece the corners with the radiating colors. Why not? I've already paper pieced and appliqued (and not very well, I might add) to get this far. Why not throw in another process I don't love, right?

 This mock-up has me uncertain. Can't decide if it detracts too much from the center design. I guess I need to let this marinate more. Anyone have the perfect solution?

I did get something to flimsy stage that had actually been on my "to do" list. It had also been on my design wall all summer long, which was a nice patriotic touch for the sewing room. All it needed was to have the borders cut to size and sewn on. I really stall when it comes to borders! But finally!! My patriotic version of the Primitive Gatherings Picnic Quilt (aka Independence Day Picnic) is ready for marking, basting and quilting. 

And the adventures in hyper-quilting continue. I made up the bright orange batik and I call this one "Feathers on the Pumpkin." This one may be a little too "hyper." I used three thread colors, instead of two, like my previous experiments. The main feather is stitched in a color that blends so well into the fabric that about all you see are the embellishments.

One more batik is sitting, waiting it's turn to be hyper quilted. It is a deep plum color and I think it will be staying with me. Something I have learned while making these little feather pieces is that hand stitching down binding made of batik, onto a batik, isn't the easiest thing. My fingers are sore after just a little quilt like this.

My summer block swap with Maureen is almost over. I've got my last set of blocks ready to send off to her. When I have received her last set I will unveil the group and share my plans of what they will become. Now I need to get going on my August Simply Charming Every Other Month SAL quilt, Haven't even started!

Until next time,
Janet O.

Serving Up Some Leftovers and Other Stuff

As I was cleaning off my cutting table today (long overdue), I was putting some bonus HSTs into my "parts" bowl and decided to get a few little quilts laid out from some of the leftovers there. I pulled out three design boards and soon these were born. I only let myself work with stuff from the cutting table, in the "parts" bowl, or the scrap baskets.

They will be leader/ender projects as I work on the last few deadlined projects for this summer.

I have to admit that feathers have become a favorite for me and Gidget. After trying hyper-quilting recently, I had to do more. I selected a few more batiks and got one of them sandwiched up and quilted. I had to try Fall colors this time because when I go out to work in my garden in the mornings now, there is that nip in the air, even though the daytime highs are still in the 90s. This is in the process of being bound (obviously).
Can't decide whether to do the deep plum or bright orange next.

I wanted to share with you something DD#1 did while she was here. She liked the hexie flowers I did in that little AAQI quilt and wanted to give it a try. When it was time for her to go home she was starting to applique the flowers down and had chosen sashing and binding fabrics.

I am so excited to have a new Koala sewing chair. It is wonderful. I have had lower back trouble since I was about 10 and the lumbar support of this chair feels so good. I saved my pennies (well, dollars, really) for a few months and I have had it for a week now. I think it was money well spent.

Another new arrival is my latest AAQI purchase. When I first saw Jean's little quilts I knew I wanted the R/W/B one. I had read the description, but the size escaped me and I was unprepared for how small it is. This makes me love it even more. You know me and minis! : )  It is now proudly placed in its new home. See it in the lower right-hand corner of my small quilts wall? So cute!

I have volunteered at the county fair Home Arts building for years, and I have usually entered baked goods, or soap, or even some sewing, but I have never entered in quilting. My Mom, who enters a quilt every year, has tried to talk me into it many times, but I have always resisted. This year I decided that Black & Blooms was worth entering. You can see the top of the blue ribbon it received in the bottom of the photo.
Now that looks like a bigger deal than it really is. Everything gets a ribbon in our county fair, so a blue ribbon is good, but there are LOTS of blue ribbons given out. I do feel good about it, though, based on the judges' comments on the judging sheet. They had nothing but good to say.

Another rambling post. Wish I could bake cookies or something for everyone who sticks it out to the end.

Until next time,
Janet O.

More Alzheimer's Art Quilts

When I posted my first AAQI quilts in May I received an email from Jean who wrote, "I like your AAIQ quilts and the stories they tell. They should sell fast. I have four in the works, and have more ideas, but I don't have a blog, so when they are registered I'll try to remember to send you the links to them. I was the full time caregiver for my husband who had Alzheimer's. He died in Dec. of 2000."
Jean's and hundreds of other little quilts are available for sale and I am happy to help get the word out. If your life has been changed in any way by Alzheimer's Disease, consider buying a little quilt to help fund research for a cure. Here are Jean's quilts.

14,957 - Hourglasses And X's--Sold--Thank You!

14,955 - Liberty--Sold--Thank You! 

14,956 - A Beautiful Mind Blocked--Sold--Thank You!

14,954 - Happy House/Sad House--Sold--Thank You!

Small Talk

Just another bunch of small quilts here. I really do have some bed quilts to work on, but it has been too crazy busy this summer to focus on them.
I need to post this last batch of AAQI quilts for the sake of the SewCalGal FMQ Challenge deadline. They have been inundated with a bunch of quilts right at the last minute (like mine). These are not available to purchase yet. I will post when they are listed on the "For Sale" page.

Flowers For Market--#15,501 This is dedicated to V. N., a long time acquaintance who raised a very large family and supported them literally with the work of her own hands. Even after this disease had begun its inroads into her mental abilities, she would cut the flowers from her garden every Saturday morning and have her caregiver help her take them to the local Farmer's Market to sell.

These flowers were made with 1/2" hexie papers and the quilting is just "straight line" around the hexies and sashing.

Furrowed Brow--#15,502 In memory of an old friend E.H., with whom I spent many hours, over many years, doing volunteer work in our church and community. For a time she would recognize me, even after her mind was going. But the last time I visited her before she died, as I approached her wheelchair with a greeting, she looked at me with a furrowed brow and worried expression. It was clear I had become a complete stranger.

The FMQ on this  one is shown here.

                                                                                                                            

Justice & Liberty For All--#15,567 Dedicated to all those who have sacrificed to defend our freedoms. Straight line quilting around the pinwheels, stars and stripes finished this one off. 

 Lost Feathers--#15,566 Inspired by this saying...
“A bird that has lost its feathers can no longer sail through the skies. And a person who has lost her memories can no longer find her way through the world she once called home.”
― Sakura
I wrote the saying on a piece of muslin and sewed it onto the back of the quilt.

Obviously, this one was quilted with FMQ feathers.

Here are two other little quilts (not AAQI quilts) that have been finished lately. My "Winter Warmth", a composite of 3 Primitive Gatherings patterns, finally got bound with one of those great P. G. striped fabrics.

This last one was a product of the SewCalGal FMQ Challenge #3. I had already posted my finished project, but I was anxious to try some hyper-quilting. I pulled out a few batiks that struck my fancy and had a go. I really like the final product. I have another batik in a plum color that I am thinking of trying next. The year of the feather continues!

Until next time,

Janet O.

Squeaking under the wire--and some quality family time!

 As is my normal MO, I got my last 4 AAQI quilts registered by the skin of my teeth. Within 48 hours of the deadline, these 4 little quilts got registered and are now awaiting their number assignment so that I can send them in. When that time comes I will post about the meaning behind each quilt.

 If you think you have seen the red one before you are half right. This is a remake of the little quilt in my last post.

You may remember my frustration with the batting poking out the back on my first attempt at this design. I received many good suggestions from readers, for which I am very grateful. It helped me realize that I am still quite a novice at this machine quilting stuff and I have a lot left to learn. I spent time searching online for insight into the possible problems mentioned, and learned that many battings have a top and bottom side--and mine was probably upside down, my needles were too big for the thread I was using, and I needed to tweak my tension adjustment on my bobbin. This second attempt wasn't perfect on the back, but the problems were greatly reduced, and I felt better about sending it off.

Aside from these little pieces, there hasn't been much quilting action at my house lately. There have been some major milestones to celebrate. My father turned 90 last week. He is still active and alert and amazing, helping his neighbors and family members in any way he can.

Four days later my MIL turned 85. Here she is pictured with my 4 children. She is still an independent woman, busy serving others in our church and community. I am surrounded by good examples!
 In between those two events we had a family reunion camp out to attend, where 49 of a potential 60 family members (my parents and their posterity) were in attendance.

DD#1 has been here from NH for the festivities and is staying for a couple of weeks. She was intrigued by the little EPP hexie flowers in the AAQI quilt and is well on her way to making such a quilt herself. I think she enjoys this process much more than I do. : )

This is more non-quilty content than I usually share, but that is what has been happening in my life lately, along with concern for the kind of month my youngest grandson had in July.

He loved sitting on his great-uncle's Harley at camp.
Enlarge the photo to get the full effect of his gaze.

You can read about his record month of tonic/clonic (aka grand mal) seizures on DD#2's blog here. He is such a sweetheart! Hopefully someday there will be help for all those who suffer from this devastating form of epilepsy.

Until next time,
Janet O.

That "A" Word!!

Oh, the things we will do for a worthy cause!

This is the flimsy for my next AAQI quilt--and yes, it includes two techniques I normally go out of my way to avoid; hexies, and...APPLIQUE! (Did you just fall off your chair, Karen?)

I try to tie the quilt in somehow to the person to whom it is being dedicated, and this one needed flowers. I had wanted to get permission from a designer to use parts of one of her wool applique patterns (that kind of applique I enjoy), but with the registration deadline looming and a family camping trip taking several days between now and then, I realized I had to start something immediately. I caved in and bought the 1/2" hexie papers, made the flowers one evening and appliqued them down the next. And in case you are wondering, I did not learn to love either process!! : )

Now on to my quilting problems. If any of you have advice for me concerning these issues, I would appreciate it. Remember in my last post I shared my discouragement with the back of my red feathered piece, and in a previous post I had told you how my attempt at machine quilting Black & Blooms (bottom of linked post) had twisted threads in the black fabric and left white parts of the fibers exposed. Well, both things just keep happening, but randomly.

Yesterday I quilted  this. It doesn't show well in photos, but there is batting popping through in many places of the back. This was Warm and Natural batting. Some people have told me this is a problem with this batting, others have told me it has never given them such a problem. It was an 80/20 batting that gave me such grief on the red feather piece, so I thought I would try the Warm and Natural. I put in a new needle and used the Aurifil thread on this, because on those feather samples from my last post, I had no batting coming through on the back of the one using Aurifil.

I am through quilting on dark fabric with dark thread at night.
The backtracking on these feathers is atrocious! I could not
see what I was doing!

I also got some of that "white thread" issue in the dark navy border. This is not the batting coming though, it is fibers of the fabric twisting and exposing undyed areas. It isn't as bad as it was on the Black & Blooms, but it is there.

 I am quilting on an HQ Sweet 16 midarm, which I have had for about 1 1/2 years without noticing these issues. This summer they are plaguing me. Maybe it is the heat. Do you think? : )
If you have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.
Janet O.

Check off another challenge...

...in this year's SewCalGal FMQ challenge. 

This completes the 2013 FMQ Challenge #3 - Feathers, by Joanne of Thread Head.

There was a lot of experimenting with different feather styles before completing my projects.

All of the finished pieces were created using the bump-bump feather method, which I find most comfortable. But I don't stitch my spine first. I prefer to draw it lightly, then start my feather lobes at the bottom, using the line I have drawn as a guide. I work my way up one side to the tip, and then I stitch back down on the spine to the bottom and start the other side. This method eliminates one layer of thread in the spine and I like it better with the threads I am using. I'd really like to get some 100 wt. thread to try, but I can't find it around here, and I really don't like to choose colors online.

This one has multiple background designs, the tips of the feathers are different shapes, and the spine of one feather has the pebbling. This was quilted with Aurifil thread.

I put the same tip on each feather in this one, and used one design over the entire background. I also did an echo around the feathers to give them a little more definition from the background. This was quilted with Mettler thread.

In looking at dozens of examples of feathers online, I decided I really like the look of feathers that fill the space completely. So I decided to give it a go, with the help of Sharon's and Debbie's notes, to which I referred in my previous post. I randomly put a curl in the tips of some lobes. This was quilted with Isacord thread. 

I purposely made this one within the size requirements for an AAQI quilt, because I thought if it turned out well I might use it as such. I was pleased with the front, but when I turned it over my heart sank. The back had so many places where the needle had pushed bits of batting through, and that only happened on this one. I worked with my needle to try and stuff those bits back in, but it doesn't look good to me, so I wouldn't feel comfortable donating this. The other two look fine on the back, but they aren't within the size requirements, and I'm not as happy with the feathers on those anyway.

I appreciate SewCalGal and Joanne making this challenge available. I do believe it has helped me a great deal in improving the quality of my feathers. I never did find my first feather sample, but I did come across some early attempts from the SewCalGal challenge in February 2012. Look at the one  peeking out on the right. I've come a long way, baby!

 One last thing. My small quilts corner has a new addition. I bought another AAQI quilt--this time by my friend, Annie Miksch (no blog). The little appliqued wreath in the upper left corner is my sweet new quilt (those are all AAQI purchases along the top row). Annie made the beautiful appliqued piece on the lower right side, as well, and surprised me with it months ago. I am thrilled to have another quilt made by her hands.

That's it for now. Not much sewing happening here this week, other than the feathers.
Until next time,
Janet O.