12 STEP PROGRAM

I think I am addicted to quilting.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that I am.  If I go a day without doing it in some form or another, I go through withdrawal.

Case in point:  Joyce T gave me this large, queen size triple Irish chain quilt to do for her.  I have had a blast figuring out what to do on it and then applying the patterns in threads of gold and red and white.  Every day that didn't have an electric storm hovering nearby was used to "visit" and play with this quilt.

Because of other parts of my life needing attention from time to time, my joyful excursions into my lurkim during this time were limited to about 4 hours a day, which was fine for me since this stretched out my time working with this colorful and well made quilt, but eventually all good things must come to an end, and the quilt was finished.

Here's a closer look at the intersection of the chains and the center blocks.  Straightforward lines, neat and crisp, frame scrolls reminiscent of English garden gates.

There are quite a variety of ways of quilting Irish chains.  I chose patterns that were suggested by the actual architecture of the design.

The three outer borders were a delight to do.  Soft curls in red against a red background -- understated but effective in "ending" the chains.  The blue fabric had white roses in it;  I wanted a geometric zigzag here but opted instead for an undulating white one that borrowed from the rounded forms of the roses.  Click on the picture to see this border more easily.  The outermost border is very stylized tulips.  I liked these because they had petals like feathers, and I love feathers.

So now the quilt is finished, and Joyce will be picking it up tomorrow.  I'm very excited to show it to her, but I'm already feeling the withdrawal from my quilting "habit."

Guess I'd better open the box that came in the mail right before the holidays -- I'll bet there's a sure cure in there just waiting for  me!

Check this out!

Today is the first day I'm posting quilting information on my new blog: http://www.lakeside-quilting.blogspot.com/.  Check it out!  I show even more quilts from the MQX East show, as well as some of the goodies I bought there to try in my own quilting business.  Every few days, I'll add some more goodies for you on that blog, and you can decide if they are relevant to your own quilting.

The quilt above looks more like the ones I get for quilting.  I haven't done a really detailed show quilt for anyone yet, but my sister has one that she made for her daughter's wedding (October, 2012!), and I have been given the opportunity to do the "heavy" quilting on it.  More on that at a later date.

Here's another pretty to admire.

                         What's not to love about this one!?  Those feathers are all freehand.  Woo hoo!

MQX LOL IQP HSH

From April 12 to 16 this year, I had the extreme pleasure of attending Machine Quilters Exposition East (MQX) in Providence, RI with my quilting buddy, Mary.  Mary grew up in Newport, RI and had wonderful tales to tell about those years.  We rented a car and toured the streets in Newport where her family home had been, her school, the beaches, favorite haunts -- each with a tale of its own.  The day was grey and blustery, but that didn't dissuade us from our mission one bit!  Lots of laughs along the way, despite the cold and occasional rain.

Eventually, it was time to end the nostalgic sightseeing and go to the Westin in Providence, next to the Convention Center where the show and classes were being held.  The picture at the top of this page is just an example of the startlingly intricate quilts that were in the show, and the one above this paragraph illustrates the finely detailed quilting that could be found in all of the quilts.  After all, this contest was showcasing the quilting more than the piecing -- just the opposite of the usual quilt show.  I was humbled by the expertise demonstrated here. Although I don't think I ever want to drive myself crazy doing such intense quilting on any of my (or my customers') quilts, I really appreciated the fine work done by each and every entrant in the contest.

I took a variety of classes this year, but the best -- and most relevant -- ones were given by this cheerful lady, Crystal Smythe.  What Crystal doesn't know about the Intelliquilter computerized robotics system hasn't been invented yet.  When I attend these classes, it is as much to confirm that I am up to date as it is to learn something new, which doesn't always happen if I am really up to date -- a sort of IQ catch-22.  However, Crystal was able to pass along at least one new use of my system (or remind me of one I hadn't used yet) in each of my three classes with her, as well as make the time fly so quickly that I thoroughly enjoyed her unique personality and its painless delivery of highly technical procedures.

Back in our room, Mary and I each had projects we had brought -- knitting for her, crochet for me, reading for both of us.  However, one that we shared was this adorable scissor fob that I had brought along for each of us to do.  The kit was by Sue Spargo.  These are some of the pieces.  You can see more on Mary's blog as well as her version of the bird.  She thinks outside the box better than I do.

My little bird, complete with felted balls for the feet and top, beads, buttons, and hand sewing. 

After a very full week, we headed for Home Sweet Home!  Tomorrow I'll show you some goodies I bought to try out during my machine quilting.

The times, they are a-changin'...

I have been bogged down in doing the taxes, or at least in collecting and collating the data, for the last week or so.  I hate doing taxes.  I'm a real procrastinator when it comes to stuff like that.  That's probably why it took me this long to finally get it together enough to hand in to the accountant.  Yes, accountant.  Anyone in business should invest in an accountant, unless, of course, you're an accountant your own "ain't-I-the-cat's-pajamas" self.  But for the rest of us who lack your skills, it's a real headache to try to figure out all the fancy stuff you need to know and keep track of for business taxes.  Ugh.

Meanwhile, we had a little run of bad luck in that the work slowdown at the body shop where DH was just recently employed caused him to be laid off.  This is very scary for a man of 60 who has never NOT worked a day in his life since he was 16.  But he was the last hired, so he's the first one out the door, alas.  He's out pounding the streets looking for a job, and to take up the slack, I am expanding my quilting studio hours to permit me to be able to take on new customers.

AND, because Longarm Diva, although meant tongue-in-cheek, is nonetheless somewhat negative in connotation, I am changing my blog site to http://www.lakeside-quilting.blogspot.com/ .  I'm working on the site now and hope to have it fully prepared for publication in a few days more.  I'll put a notice up on this blog to let you all know when I cross over to the new blog.

Back at the ranch, the D9P Outreach quilts are still coming in.  The latest one by one of our guild members is this pretty little thing, below:

She quilted it simply but beautifully, and I'm sure one of the Madeline's House denizens will enjoy it tremendously.

I like this pattern so much that I am making a king size quilt for myself.  Here's a peek at my progress so far.  These panels and sashings are not connected yet, so don't worry about not matching the cornerstones for now.  Imagine it turned 90 degrees, because that's the way it will eventually lie on the bed.

 

I have to touch my sewing machine at least once a day in order to feel that the world is in the right place.  Not just a quick tip-of-the-finger touch, but an hours-long, lower-the-needle, pedal-to-the-medal symphony of machine, mounds of fabric, and me.

The mundane world awaits, alas....

A COMFORTER FOR THE SOUL

When I moved into my new house in EBF, Virginia, my BFF, Mary, made me a quilt, fashioned from all the scraps from the quilts she had made over the years, many of which I had watched her make and admired.  In the center of this patchwork quilt was an area embroidered with the words "A quilt stitched with the threads of love is a comforter for the soul."  This quilt sits over my stained glass book cabinet as a daily reminder of this dear friend and quilter extraordinaire and gives me great comfort when I find myself missing her and all my friends at "home."

That brings me to the guild's Outreach program results. But first, I want to share this quilt with you.

I've told you about guild member Gerry, the former nurse who is so well organized that she is making quilts for her progeny's progeny, even those as yet unborn (like 10 years down the road).  Well, Gerry has another approach to quiltmaking that is laudable:  she backs them with flannel.  And not just any flannel.  Pretty flannel.  Soft, warm, pretty flannel.

After all, we're talking about a QUILT here.  Something that is supposed to be warm and comforting.  I think flannel backed quilts are the epitome of warm and comforting.  I used to be afraid to work with flannel, but no more.  Today's fabrics are so much better made, and so much prettier, than the ones I grew up with.

Gerry's pretty D9P at the top of this blog is in autumn colors, so I quilted it with falling leaves in my pattern.  I used a variegated yellow/gold/orange thread, and it ties all those colors together nicely.

So, while you're admiring Gerry's newest quilt, let me tell you what happened with the quilts for Madeline's House last Wednesday.  I had about 18 or so of them ready, in boxes, to be delivered after the guild meeting.  Only about 4 or 5 were the D9P's we had done in February.  The others were made in other patterns and donated by the indefatigable ladies of the guild. However, during the meeting, so many more quilts came in that I had a total of 29 to give to Madeline's House!!!  Talk about loaves and fishes -- here I thought I would not have enough for all the potential residents at MH, and suddenly, providence -- and the wonderful, willing workers in our guild -- provided!  Thank you to every lady who gave her time and fabric for this wonderful endeavor.  We still have about 15 more quilts out there, I think, of the D9P pattern, and I look forward to seeing them and taking them to MH next month.

Lastly, I'll leave you with an image of the soft and cuddly flannel backing Gerry provided for her Outreach quilt.  It's a pale gold background with medium brown checking.  I just know this will bring great comfort to some soul in need at MH.  Thank you, Gerry, and thank you to all the ladies of the Lake Gaston Piecemakers Quilt Guild.  You have all been real troopers.

Clearing out my studio

Gerry brought me this sweet baby quilt to quilt up for her as yet unborn great-granddaughter.  The backing is this wild pink printed flannel and oh so cozy.  Gerry has a plan.  She makes quilts BEFORE they are needed.  She has finished all the quilts she needs to make for her children and is almost finished the ones for her grandchildren's wedding gifts.  Now she's working on great-grandchildren.  How wise is that?!  Gerry was a nurse in her professional life.  She had to be organized.  That characteristic has certainly served her well in her quilting career, too.  If you weren't a nurse in a former life, maybe you were a Girl Scout.  They had to be organized, too.

On Wednesday I am taking the first 18 or so quilts to the people at Madeline's House.  They are all boxed up and will be loaded into my car in the next two days.  This has led to a clean up effort in my topsy turvy studio, which has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous  mayhem as a result of harboring fabric samples and then packets of fabric squares for the Outreach program and then all these quilts that have come in.  I'm not sure I would have volunteered for Outreach Chairperson had I known how messy it would be.  But see!  My cutting table is clean again!  So is my sofa. 

Nature abhors a vacuum. 

No sooner did I create a clean space than I filled it with a new project.  I came across these luscious fabrics in JoAnn's of all places!  And I knew that I just had to make a king size quilt out of them in the D9P pattern that we all used for our Outreach quilts in February.  I love that pattern.  Here's how it looks after cutting down the middle horizontally and then vertically and reassembling after turning two of the opposing quarters:

It's much more dramatic, not to mention pretty, to have the large gorgeous print march across the quilt followed by three little dark green squares than it is to have the rust plaid (magnify the picture to see the fabrics better).  The third little square comes from the cornerstones of the sashing between the other two squares on the outside of the blocks.

So I'm going to happily work on this before the next two customer quilts come in on Wednesday.  This will be so pretty on my bed -- soon, I hope.

FINISHED!

My Lucinda Brodie quilt is done!  Binding is sewn as well!  Now I have to make the label.  Just in time for our guild quilt show -- we set up tomorrow, and it runs all month at the South Hill Library.  Come see our quilts if you're in the neighborhood.

PROGRESS!

I have finished my IQ buddy's block!  This simplified or mock cathedral window block is super easy to make, and what a pretty thing it is!  I supposed one could use white triangles over squares of colored fabrics, but I think I like the reverse much better.  An interesting thing about this method:  although I should have ended up with a 12 1/2" block, it was more like 12 1/4".  I guess that the quilting/sewing on the turned back folded side of the triangles drew up the fabric a little.  So, just in case it was needed, I added a 1" strip of white around the whole thing.  Another member of the IQ support group is assembling the blocks, and I didn't want her to be short changed with my smallish block.

Anyway, I told you that I had Lucinda up on the frame.  Here she is, ready to go. I decided to fill in the white spaces in the upper border with echoes of the designs.  I didn't like that as much as I hoped I would, but I'm stuck with it now, because I have neither the time nor the inclination to rip it all out.

Here are a few of the blocks.  I don't know if the quilting is visible or not.  But, you can magnify these pictures significantly by clicking on them, though, and that should help you to see the quilting.  I'm using a thin thread that I haven't used before.  After this, I'm going to stick to cotton thread.  It quilts up better.  But I figure it's ok to experiment on my own quilts.

I'm not sure you can see the feathered circle in the center of this block.  The IQ can make these from scratch.  So I insert a circle, tweak it to fit the actual dimensions of the circle of cloth I am working with (even if it's a little cattywompus!), designate the circle as a "path", and add the feathers in whatever number and size looks good.  With the IQ, you can try out all sorts of combinations first before settling on the one you like best.  Easy Peasy.

In this one, the circle of feathers is more visible.  The flying geese blocks were quilted with continuous curves.   If you're in southern Virginia during the month of March, come to the guild show at the South Hill, VA library and take a look at all the pretty quilts!

This is the last row of the quilt before the bottom border.  I have done one star on it but had to stop for dinner .  Tomorrow I'll finish it and Sunday I'll bind it -- I hope.  The show starts Tuesday.

A very good day, full of progress.

PROCRASTINATION

Lucinda is on the quilt frame, but I'm upstairs sewing away at my block for the quilt for IQ friend with breast cancer.  I'm using the colors found in a swatch of fabric called Peony Tales by South Sea Imports. 

First I cut 2 1/2" blocks of a background fabric.  Mine is white.  Then I cut 2 1/2" squares of each of my overlay fabrics, fold them in half to make triangles, and press (as above).

I place one triangle of the colored fabric over the background fabric square and pin.

Then I do the same thing with the next colored triangle.  Now I have two colors overlaying the background fabric square.

The triangles need to be stabilized in their positions, so next I sew around the BACKGROUND square about 1/8" in from the edge.

Now I can start arranging the squares into blocks of four.

I decide how I want the blocks of four to interact with the other blocks of four.

When I am satisfied with my arrangement, I sew individual blocks of four together.  Then I sew those blocks to the other blocks.  I chose to use a square of the inspiration fabric in the middle.

Now the fun part: I turn back the folded edge of each triangle and stitch along the edge, creating a curved space through which I can see my background fabric.  A lovely pattern arises, looking very much like a scrappy orange peel block. 

Now that I've gotten this block well underway, I will descend to my lurkim and give Lucinda my undivided attention for the next four hours.

MULTITASKING

By now you know, if you have been following this blog, that I am working on a major opus called Lucinda Brodie. This quilt requires an inordinate amount of time to do because it has applique in it. I don't particularly like applique, so I elected to do it with the sewing machine, using a tiny blanket stitch. I don't like doing it that way, either, but at least it's faster.

This is a time consuming effort, and I hate to waste time on just one thing.  For instance, I, like most of you out there, can be washing clothes, cleaning the house, cooking chili on the stove, and listening to music all at the same time.  At the end of the day, I would feel like I've accomplished something.

I had these charity quilts to do for some of our guild members, and I didn't want to sit in my studio and work JUST on Lucinda Brodie, so I cranked up the iPod in its player, loaded Vanessa's Disappearing Nine Patch onto the quilt frame downstairs in my lurkim and selected a cute pantograph to go with the Halloween themed fabrics Vanessa had chosen.

While the IntelliQuilter was stitching out a row, I was appliqueing.  And at the end of 7 rows, here was the result.

In this view you can see the bats and witches hats in the design.

And in this one,you can see the bats again and pumpkins.  Cute, huh?

While I was downstairs in my lurkim, I had a pot of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove.  I love the aroma of homemade spaghetti sauce.  There's something energizing about it to me.  The day would have been perfect if I could have figured out how to fold clothes at the same time as sewing and quilting and cooking and listening to music, but I had to settle for just doing four things at once. 

I don't think I'll show you my applique just yet.  It took another quilt on the frame with another pantograph for me to finish it.  I'll show you that one tomorrow.

QUILT STORY CONTEST

These are my three most favorite blocks from the Lucinda Brodie quilt I am making, using the pattern supplied in the Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, Vol 18, No 5 from 2009.  I am entering them in the traditional category for the block contest going on at the Quilt Story blog.

If you haven't already been there, check the block party contest out.  Some of the blocks are STUNNING!

For those of you visiting for the first time from the Quilt Story gang, thumb through the Flickr badge to see some of my work. If you're more industrious, scroll back through the blog entries to see others.  And if you need long arm quilting, email me!

TEAMWORK

The Lake Gaston Piecemakers Quilt Guild meets every Wednesday for one reason or another.  The first Wednesday of the month is Scrappies.  Those of us who love scrap quilts bring our projects to a local church gathering room and sew together, enjoying the cameraderie in an otherwise solitary pursuit.

Today, eight women joined me to cut more 5" squares from the last of the fabric manufacturers' samples as well as a huge garbage bag full of scraps that a lady from my community had given me for potential use by the guild.  After two hours, we had pretty much cut what could be cut from all of the fabrics, and now it falls to me to divide them up into designer or color sorted packets for use in one of our Outreach quilts this month.

Next Wednesday is our guild meeting, during which these packets will be distributed to anyone who wants to participate in the Disappearing Nine Patch marathon on the following two Wednesdays.

This cluster of purples caught my eye, especially the set of patches with the soft peach in them.  If no one claims this set, I'm going to make another D9P with these and use a rich peach as the "pop" fabric in the middle of each block.

Meanwhile, my Lucinda Brodie progresses, albeit slowly.  The flying geese, above, are ready to go as soon as I make the last 30 of them.  During this week, while DH is waiting to start his new job next Monday, we two have been doing household projects here and there, which has diverted my focused energy from getting my basic building blocks done for my quilt.  However, tomorrow, DH is going to his new job to set up his tool boxes in their (hopefully) permanent home, and I have decided to stay home and sew to make up for lost time.

I'll miss him... for a while.

E PLURIBUS UNUM

Joyce T's Disappearing Nine Patch arrived at my house yesterday and is leaving it today.   The fabrics were donated by Wish Upon A Quilt in the Raleigh area.  Joyce made this as part of my guild's outreach program, using a pattern I had modified somewhat from the usual D9P.

In this case, several of us took the donated fabrics, which were just swatches of various lines from fabric manufacturers, and cut those swatches into 5" squares.  The line Joyce worked with had both lights and darks in it, and she used them effectively to highlight each other, but we had about 30 other lines and manufacturers to work with.  The tables were covered with many gaily colored squares, some that were bright with Christmas colors and some that were tropical and some with children's themes on them and others that had a more old fashioned, reproduction appearance.

Out of all these hundreds of squares, collections were gathered for 15 or so quilts, coordinating them as much as possible if the swatches from a particular line were not adequate to make an entire quilt.  It takes 48 squares of colors, 48 squares of backgrounds, and 17 squares of a "pop" color to make one quilt, not to mention the extra yardage for sashings and borders.

Once the quilts are made, some members of our guild will quilt them by themselves, and others will have the quilts done by a longarmer.  No matter who does the work, however, the focus of our guild is to provide these warm creations for people who need their intrinsic and spiritual comfort as they face sometimes inestimable hurdles in their daily lives.

Because Joyce wants her outreach quilt to go to the local hospital's outpatient chemo unit, I quilted it with ribbons, the symbol of hope and caring for cancers of all kinds.  We hope it will cheer someone during the long hours spent in those recliners in the clinic.

QOV DONE. ON TO LUCINDA BRODIE!

I received this beautiful QOV in the mail last Saturday and started quilting it Tuesday.  I finished it today!  There were some tension problems on the back.  I ripped out a few blocks and did them over.  Still problems.  Ripped out a few sections of each block and did over.  A little better, but not show quality, that's for sure.  Fortunately this quilt is not going in a show.  Even so, I wanted the soldier who was going to get it to like it.  At least the front is  wonderful.  Here are some close-ups:

This is the border treatment.  The swag with stars is one pattern (sorry about the errant thread in there), and I added the straight lines to it to fill in the empty space between the top of the swag and the inner border, which is an egg and dart pattern.

Each star block was quilted with this pattern, which is also seen in the intervening setting blocks.  In order to fill the setting triangles, I wanted to keep the basic pattern, so I cut and clipped and rejoined parts of the original block pattern to make this nifty triangle, below.

When my guild friend, Myrt, came today to pick up her first charity quilt (see the previous blog), she took a look at my Lucinda Brodie blocks and insisted that I put her other outreach quilts on the back burner until my new quilt was finished.  This comes as welcome news to me, because if I can finish it by March 1, I hope to enter it in my guild's annual quilt show all month long in March at the South Hill Library. 

So, off I go to my studio.  First to set the circles into the background and then to do all the flying geese.  BFF Mary has finished all these steps already!  She is so far ahead of me.  But then, she always is.  Check out her blog to see this gorgeous quilt!

BAD HAIR DAY

Today I woke up sporting a pompadour, a la Ace Ventura.  Even water liberally applied would not tame the mane.  Add to that the shock of seeing myself standing in front of the mirror au naturel, my 60+ year old bustline looking like something out of National Geographic, and the day wasn't exactly getting off to a good start.  So I decided that I would stay out of sight of civilization and quilt. 

This is a quilt for our Outreach program in the guild.  It was given to me to quilt by one of our members.  Now, I don't charge guild members for quilting their charity quilts, but I don't want to do 10 or 20 of them and not get something out of it besides brownie points, either.  So I would like to ask you all out there to give me some feedback:  what if I agreed to quilt someone's charity quilt if they would also bring to me their non-outreach quilt of equal or larger size to quilt for pay?  That would let me expand my customer base and still donate some of my time to charitable endeavors.  Smaller quilts can easily be quilted on one's home machine, so I think a cut off of 40" in the smallest dimension is reasonable, too.  Maybe this would encourage our members to make larger quilts.  We seem to be having a run on smaller ones.  (Our guild supplies the batting for these quilts, just in case you wondered.)  Let's hear what you have to say on my proposal.  Be honest.

While I was quilting, I put a pot of chili in the slow cooker for this evening's dinner.  Today the sight of me would have offended the finer senses of the locale.  Tomorrow it'll probably be the chili.  Maybe I should plan on staying home again tomorrow....  After all, I DO have those charity quilts to do AND my Lucinda Brodie.