decamping

The movers will be here in 1 week. Instead of freaking out, I am trying to just do stuff. They will pack everything, except my quilting/sewing stuff. I will do that next weekend. In the meantime, and when in town, I have been doing therapy sewing (isn't it all therapy?).

Finished this:

Pattern is Moon Dance by Villa Rosa Quilts. These are the little postcard patterns. I can not resist them. Fun, well-written, easy, wish I had thought of this?
A detail, mostly Carolyn Friedlander fabric, with this little goldfish thrown in for fun.

I think it makes a great gender-neutral baby quilt to have in my stash.

On my wall, I am designing this:

Can you tell I like orange? This winter has been tough so I am gravitating toward the bright colors. Orange, red and pink just make me happy. And with my traveling for work, I have a lot of time in the to think about quilts. While I appreciate ALL quilts, I realize each of us has a different aesthetic, and for me, I love scrappy! This one is coming along nicely, if I had a batting, I would get to quilting!

Finally, I have done some quilting for hire. Here is a detail of what I recently finished:

A Downton Abbey themed quilt for a friend, she always lets me do what I want. This beautiful quilt really wanted feathers. And it quilted like a dream.

Next post may be from our new abode. Fingers crossed for a smooth move!

The (Tula) Pink Effect pt 1

I am still enjoying the delightful after-effects of our visit from Miss Tula Pink. Gina at The Little General Designs posted this week about "Things that Tula Said" and that got me thinking about what I like to call the Tula Pink effect.

First, the Tula Pink Effect on the audience at Gralyn.

Check out the paneling and the marble fireplace!

The surroundings were so magnificent, I felt like I was in a movie, or in a fairy tale! And I believe the atmosphere of a room really has an effect on the people in that room, so needless to say, in such a wonderful place, all there were wonderful as well. I looked around at 50-60 different women, ranging in age from 24 to 70.

 That is a custom-made Flea Market Fancy skirt!

Everyone was dressed in bright, colorful, expressive garments and jewelry (Tula effect #1, rocking your beautiful self).

 (Gina and Sam, picture stolen from Colleen at our "after-party")

Smiling, laughing conversations started as we got to know each other and shared our quilting lore. We sat casually about, engaged in the conversations Tula led as she shared her work. We oohed and aahhed as a collective (Tula effect #2 expressing joy and delight).

This evening's effects were further evidenced at this past week's TMQG meeting. We had 5 visitors to our packed meeting, most of whom learned of the TMQG at the Tula Pink visit! These delightful ladies may have been new to the group, but their adventurous spirits and mad sewing skills made it feel (to me at least) like these were long-lost friends who had found their way home (Tula effect #3 - finding your tribe).

More (personal) Pink effects to come!

A new tool

I had ordered the Gidget II table from Day Style Designs and it arrived today.

I opened the box, set up the legs, found the right level for my machine and then got to quilting.

I like it a lot. The quilt glides along with no drag! I moved the other table the machine had been on to the side, with my other table in front to catch the weight of my quilts. The custom acrylic insert will come in about 3 weeks, but I took the legs off my extension table and it is sitting on top, I just could not wait to try it out!

Why haven't I done this sooner?

Sargosso is COMPLETE

**well, I am still stitching the binding!**

This is a HUGE quilt. 110" by 108" (I was shooting for square and I am very happy with the outcome!).

 all batiks

Pattern from Eleanor Burns, Radiant Star Quilts. Class at my LQS taught by the wonderful Miss Ellen!

cotton thread, top and bobbin

Long arm quilted, free-motion, by ME on my Mom's Gammill, Miss Gertie.

 Swirls and waves, to simulate an underwater feel

For my bed. LOVE IT!





Click on the link to see more cool projects!

Flimsy done

Don't you just hate sneak previews?

Hehe!

Got my "Radiant Star" top done. Just need backing and then I can quilt it! This is big, a full 108" square for my king bed.

I constructed the center star using Eleanor Burns' Radiant Star Quilts book/pattern. The borders are my own design. This is for me and my hubs!

In other news:
I taught my Free Motion Beginners Class on Saturday. I had 8 FANTASTIC students! This may have been my best class ever! Everyone's machines were humming along and everyone had smiles on their faces. I even got hugs! I changed up the class a bit, covering a lot of info before I had everyone sew. We had tons of excellent questions and everyone was engaged. Really a great day!

a lesson and an excercise

Remember this post? 

Well, things haven't worked out as I had hoped.

This is both an exercise in futility and a lesson in humility. How very poetic!

I had my strips cut and sewn into panels. All in the right order.

Then it was time to cut angled strips.

After happily zipping along, I discovered I had cut min on 60 degrees instead of 45 degrees.

Well, I have more fabric, I will just remake those mis-cut sets. 

I start sewing the angled strips together and the points just will not meet.

Guess whose 1/4" seams were off? Yup, mine.

 My mis-sewn and mis-cut strips. 

No worries, these will make an awesome contemporary quilt!

Well, I know a couple of my classmates read this blog, as does my delightful teacher!

And I know I will not be happy with it if I just try to "make it work".

So, I recut my strips, and I am going to make new panels.

I said I would share the process on this project, so here I am keeping it real!

I am first checking my 1/4" seam and adjusting if necessary. And I am using my large quilters square with the well-marked 45 degree angle.

And I am beginning anew.

Dog and Cat quilt - recap

Here is a look back at the development of my Dog and Cat Quilt.

I started with my design: a large central rectangle with the silhouettes of a dog and cat; keeping the quilt more modern with large blocks on the sides and a long border top and bottom. I could have put blocks all the way around to make the design more traditional. Not a right or wrong way, just different!

Kelly Wood ©2011

I wanted the fabrics to be distinctive, clearly dogs and cats. I also wanted large areas in which to free-motion quilt, but using fabrics that were busy so my quilting did not need to be very dense.

The large blocks could have been areas of dense stitches, and that would have been my choice if I had used quieter prints, or solids. In that case, I would have also used a thread in a contrasting color to use the stitches as a distinctive  design element.

This same layout could go in very diverse directions depending on fabric choices. The center could be a panel print with the side blocks and top & bottom in coordinates. The sashing could be a mottled batik or solid in a color that highlights all the prints. Or the center could be a large scale abstract print with the sashing all in white (or black), and the blocks in Kona solids. A block layout like is very adaptable to your fabric choices.

I am very happy with my thread choices (variegated beige by King Tut in all background areas on the front, black YLI quilting cotton on the dog and cat figures on the front, and ecru YLI quilting cotton in my bobbin). I am also happy with my applique method of using the quilt basting spray instead of a fusible.

I hope this peak into my thought process/decisions has been interesting. Feel free to comment or ask questions!

Next up for me, I am doing some "stunt sewing"! 

Free Motion Stitch Theory

Sounds ominous and frightening! Like Molecular Gastronomy or Organic Chemistry! This post stems from a question I have been asked many times: how do you know what to quilt where?

Hope this will spawn discussion, but here's the truth: it is entirely up to you!

I don't make it easy do I?

So, I am going to give you my thought process or FMQ Theory.

I first consider the fabrics used, the design of the quilt, the end use and the overall quilt style. If the fabrics are to be the star, I want my stitches to recede into the quilt, offering a subtle texture to enhance the quilt. If the fabrics are muted and the quilt design is very graphic, I want the stitches the show off, so I will use a contrasting thread, and dense decorative stitches.

(you can click on each picture to see more detail)

On a quilt like this:

I see it as about the dynamic between the quilt design (pinwheels) and the vibrant patterns. This is a baby quilt and I made it to be useful. So this is quilted in an all over design in a polyester thread that recedes yet holds through use and laundering.

For this one:

was created to be a wall quilt, and about the texture. So I did a dense ground of swirling leaf-type stitches.

  I wanted to impart the feeling of a forest full of thick vegetation. The threads are shades of green and brown.

Now in a more "formal" design, with applique:

 I outlined/stitched-in-ditch around the dog, cat, heart and stars. Then I did a stipple in the background with crosshatched lines in the border.

This quilt is more "graphic" so in the white areas, I used a dense mussel shell pattern.

The quilt below had a lot of white, so I used the free-motion stitching as an important design element to add to the overall design of the quilt.

This is over-all quilted (in cotton) for and old-fashioned look to complement the vintage feel of the quilt.

 I hope this offers an insight to my thought process. Remember to leave a question in the comments (or a comment!) or email any questions!

Moving along

Once I figured my dimensions, I cut my fabrics and assembled. All that remains is to sew the top and bottom borders, layer and quilt!

Here my argument for maintaining a stash! I was able to make this using fabrics in my stash. I am even piecing the back from the remainders from these fabrics. I will post again once it is quilted.

Layout for new Dog and Cat quilt

I developed the center of this quilt about a month ago. I sketched it out using Photoshop Elements, and using a projector, enlarged it to fill a space on freezer paper. I really just "eyeballed" it, knowing it would be a center medallion. I ironed the freezer paper to my fabric, cut the shapes out and attached them to my background fabric. I did not use fusable web/Steam a Seam since this makes it stiff and hard to quilt through. Instead, I temporarily attached with quilt bastiing spray and used a blanket stitch around the edges. I like how this has turned out!

I toyed around with how I might fill in the rest of the space, as I want the final quilt to be a generous lap size.

Once again, I go to Photoshop Elements and here is my resulting layout:

Kelly Wood ©2011

I am going to use collected fabrics for the solids you see. I will also use this sketch to figure my sizes before cutting and sewing.

New project

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It doesn't mean I have been idle! On the contrary, I have been enmeshed in a major FMQ work. I haven't got pix yet, but will post it soon!

I am already working on a new quilt. This one is for the Stokes County Humane Society. I made this one last year for them to raffle, and hope to raise even more money this year with this new quilt. Here is the beginning:

I will be posting my designing process as I create this quilt.

Just some thoughts

I have always and forever thought of myself as an artist. As a 6 year-old first grader, a 16 year-old high school student, even after I had my son. (I was “Mom” first, artist second). I make my living as a textile designer but I still consider myself an artist. There is a difference. I think about line, form, color. I design quilts in my dreams. I doodle and imagine that element as part of a fabric design.



Often this thought has struck me: is there a limited need for artists in the world?

 Part of this question is economic. When I announced at 6 that I was going to be an artist when I grew up, I was encouraged. Then as I began high school and college, I was encouraged to find and study something “to fall back on”. My Dad, however told me I did not need anything to fall back on if I were successful. I never wanted to do anything else, so I have never had anything to fall back on. I have been employed as a creative for most of my adult life, even when I was an administrative assistant. Creative thinkers can add to any field and any position.

 What created this question? I saw an animated short on the internet. It was simple, beautiful, thoughtful. There are so very many fantastic artists in the world: writers, painters, jewelry makers, animators, photographers. The internet will bring them from all over the world into your home. Is there enough paying work to keep them all fed? Do we need to make money from our art to be successful?




I feel artistically successful when I am creating something that turns out either just like I imagined it, or better.




I believe we need more artists in the world.

Developing a quilt, part 3 "The Zen of Basting"

I know the title of this post has you riveted for more! So, even though these musings are not really in the order of quilt developing, each is part of my process, so, here goes.

This is one of the definitions of the word from Dictionary.com:

zen definition

jargon
 To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of enlightenment.
As I have mentioned before, I find the process of making a quilt very relaxing. It takes over my mind in a set of repetitive actions and removes the thoughts and demons of anxiety from my consciousness. Very New-Agey huh? But it allows me to enter a calm, meditative state though these actions, and that makes me feel good. I enjoy parts of the process more than others, but all are important to the conception and completion of a quilt that I am happy with. One of the parts that I love less is basting, but it is the action that stabilizes the quilt sandwich and makes it possible to free-motion quilt with wild abandon! Yes, I pin baste first, but ever since I learned to baste with water-soluble thread, it has become a key step for my quilts. As crucial as it is to the quilting process, I find myself putting it off, watching one more episode of "Real Guidos of the North Couture" instead of basting. Well, it is awkward to start and you don't see the basting (it just melts away). But I make myself start and soon I find myself calmly feeding the quilt under my walking foot, forming a grid on my project. It is a step when the personality of the quilt starts to show, as if the action of the needle and basting thread awakens the quilt. Sounds silly, but at this point, it is a quilt, but you can't get it wet! And it makes free-motion much easier since I don't have to deal with the pins and since it stabilizes everything, I can start the quilting anywhere on it and move in any direction.

This baby is ready for the free-motion to begin!