Category: Uncategorized

I didn’t have jury duty.

I dutifully called the night before, as instructed, and was told by a disembodied voice that “Although you have a valid juror number, your services are not required at this time.”

Words cannot adequately express how happy I was.   I’m off the hook for at least three more years.  I have never been so grateful to be so unwanted.

So right now, I’m busily getting ready for a one-day quilt retreat with my guild and preparing for a raw-edge applique presentation that I’m giving to the Heart of the Triad Quilt Guild in Kernersville on July 2.  I’m there a month before Pat Sloan is, which I guess is much better than following after  Pat Sloan.  That’s kind of like a paint-by-numbers project after you’ve just been given art lessons by da Vinci.  I have my power-point presentation all loaded and my notes ready to print.  I’ve just got to finish making my samples and my handouts.  However, let me set all of that aside and talk about quilt backs for a few minutes.  Quilt patterns will tell you how much fabric is needed for the back, but like their little catch phrase. “Quilt as Desired,” a lot can be open to interpretation.

Years ago, in the mid-eighties when I learned to quilt, quilt backs were generally all muslin because that was all we had to work with.  The top could be fifty different ways of wonderful, but that back?  It was going to always be either plain white or cream muslin.  Period.  Most of us were hand quilting everything then.  Muslin was easy to needle and it would show your stitches quite nicely.

Today, things have changed.  There are fabrics manufactured extra wide, intended to be a one-piece quilt back.  Somewhere along the way we quilters got really creative with our backs and learned to piece them with fabric that had previously only been seen on the quilt top.  And from this, things only got prettier.  What used to be considered nearly an after-thought with a quilt suddenly became as showy as the front.  And I think that’s awesome.  In my opinion, a lot of quilters, once they get that center top done, consider the borders and the back a last gasp of effort. Don’t be that quilter…please…

I think that currently quilts and their backs can be divided into two categories:  Those that are destined to go to the longarm artist….and those that are not.  Let me emphatically state right now that any of this stuff we’re discussing in the rest of this blog – if you’re taking your quilt to a longarm artist for quilting,  please run any of these ideas by them first to see exactly how he or she wants you to set the backs up. Some longarms like vertically pieced backs.  Some like horizontally pieced backs.  Some are fine with a back that has lots of pieces, some are not.  And what works on my longarm may not work on another one.  Don’t just assume.  Talk to your longarm artist.

That disclaimer taken care of…let’s proceed.  The easiest back to deal with for both the person doing the quilting and the piecer are the fabrics that are wide enough for quilt tops and don’t have to be pieced.

Per rule of thumb, a quilt back should be at least 4 inches wider at both sides and at the top and bottom of the quilt top.  Most longarmers are happier if they have six inches as the margin.  The reason for this is that the back and the batting shrink a little in the quilting.  That extra margin enables the back and batting to be sufficiently big enough for the quilting process, whether the top is quilted on a stationary or moveable machine.  A fabric that is designed to be used on the back (extra-wide, generally 108 inches) can be cut as one piece so there are no horizontal or vertical seams for the quilter to deal with.  This is my favorite, whether I’m quilting a small quilt on Big Red or one on Loretta, my long arm.  And these fabrics are pretty, too.  Long gone are the plain muslin days…these fabrics are stellar.  I’ve purchased quilt backing fabric to use on my quilt tops.  No shame in that game.

What must be considered with this kind of backing fabric (as well as any other fabric used for backing) is the quilting itself.  If the fabric is a solid color, the quilting will be showcased on the back.  There is no design in the material to hide quilting mistakes, irregular stitches, tension issues, or poorly made tie offs.  So, if you’re confident in your quilting skills or those of your longarm artist, a solid-color fabric should be fine.  However, if you’re not confident in any of these areas, go for a printed background.  The design in the fabric hides a lot of quilting “goofs” and in many ways is far prettier than a solid color.

If you can’t find a quilt backing fabric that coordinates with your quilt, or you simply have fallen in love with one of the fabrics you used in your top, piecing the back may be the best option for you.  This is not hard to do, it’s just an extra step.  There also are a few things that are done differently from traditional piecing.

1. Remove the selvages.  Selvages can create tiny puckers along their length.  Then measure the fabric to determine how much fabric is left after the selvages are removed.  Some fabric lines have really large selvages (about an inch), so this step is an important one in discovering how much material you will need.  You do not have to do this if you purchase quilt backing fabric.
2. Measure the height of the quilt and add 8-12 inches to this figure. That 8-12 inches is your extra margin, depending how much you or your quilter are comfortable with.
3. Divide that figure by 36 to get your yardage. Then add a little extra.  If you’re planning on binding the quilt with the same backing fabric, be sure check your pattern for how much is needed and add this in also.
4. When sewing the pieces together, forgo the 1/4-inch seam and go for 5/8-inch or slightly larger.  The back of a quilt generally undergoes more stress than the front (especially if it’s hung — it bears a lot of weight) and that larger seam allowance helps it deal with the stress of quilting and the stress of simply being the back of the quilt.  Also, press this seam open.  This spreads the bulk evenly over the area and makes the quilting process easier and smoother.

In arranging the layout for the pieced back, it’s important to avoid having any of the seams in the center of the quilt – either horizontally or vertically.  The reason for this is that when quilts are folded, that’s where the crease usually falls.  Having the fold falling on the seam can weaken the seam over time.  Most quilters prefer having one large panel of fabric run down the center of the quilt back, flanked by two smaller panels.  But there are times when this may not be the best choice.  Vertical seams work well with quilts that are 61 inches and larger.  Horizontal seams tend to work better with quilts that are 40-inches to 60-inches wide.

 

However, remember, preference should be given to the machine that you’re quilting on.   Machines are very different from each other.  Loretta doesn’t seem to mind if the seams run horizontally or vertically.  Big Red likes them vertical.  Picky critters.

Couple of facts to keep in mind as you are piecing the backs.  First, cutting the backing lengthwise will help stabilize everything, including the borders (which should also be cut lengthwise when at all possible).  Do not under any circumstance cut some pieces of the back on the crosswise of the grain and some on the lengthwise of the grain.  Talk about a nightmare…everything will run wonky then, as some of the weight of the quilt will pull the seams in different directions along the grain lines.  And if the quilt is going to be hung for any length of time (we’re not talking about a quilt show hanging), you probably will want to cut the backing along the lengthwise grain.  Crosswise grain cuts will stretch over time and the quilt will sag in places.

Next week we’ll look at some creative ways to piece your back and a take a peek at some fabric alternatives for it, too.  Until next week, Quilt with Excellence!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

 

 

 

 

The blog is  little early this week.  There’s a good reason for this.

I have jury duty tomorrow.

Well, that’s not quite entirely true.  I think I have jury duty.  I will know for sure tonight after 6 p.m.  when I call the pre-recorded line and see if my number is up is called.  Have I mentioned this is the ninth jury summons I’ve received since I moved to Guilford County in 1983?  I’ve only been excused for one – I had just given birth to my son.  And they saw my daughter’s recent cancer surgery was in no way, shape, or form a “necessary excuse” to have this one postponed.  Gotta love those tax dollars at work, folks. 

Since I’m working on an abbreviated time frame, and have no idea if I will have to serve in jury duty or be sat on a jury (God forbid), this week is lots of pretty pictures and lots of show and tell.

First, I want to share with you a few completely non-quilty pictures.  My mother, who you may remember is a stained-glass artist, made me something.  A little history on this.  Each Christmas my mother displays a beautiful stained-glass church she made several years ago.  She runs white lights in it and surrounds it with glass angels.  It is beautiful, as is everything she makes.  She and a friend of hers, Cheryl, made me one. It’s displayed in my dining room and I’m also going to surround mine with angels at Christmas.  Isn’t it gorgeous?

I’ve also been gifted a couple of antique quilts.  This sweet Sunbonnet Sue is from my friend, Susan.

And Matt and Anna found this quilt for me.

Both are hand-pieced or appliqued and hand quilted.

Now that you are well aware of my affinity for Feed Sacks, these next two quilts should come as no surprise.  I found both of these at the Asheboro Antique Mall.  They need a good cleaning, but both are in really good condition.  The Grandmother’s Flower Garde (a popular pattern during the 1930’s) is hand-pieced and hand quilted.

I think this one is a type of Dresden Plate.  It is  busy quilt, but the thing about this quilt that tugged at my heart strings is that backing and batting for this quilt is a heavy blanket – just like my great-grandmother’s quilt.  This also probably puts this quilt as being constructed locally (this seems to be a Piedmont North Carolina trend) and in the 1930’s (because during the Depression you just made do).

 

And after all the discussion on Stash Usage, I did have to replace some of mine.  I was running out of gray, so I purchased one yard each of these….

My landscape fabrics were also nearly depleted, so I ordered these.

And I found these Feed Sacks on Ebay at a reasonable price.  The dealer threw in the solid blue to match the red, blue, and green floral print next to it.

Finally, I received a thank you note in the mail from a former student.  I sent her a couple of baby gifts, as a new, little one is due soon.  April is one of those students no teacher ever forgets.  She excelled in her studies and could literally do anything  from bake bread to build a car from the frame up (which she did do, by the way).  Somewhere along the way, she taught me to knit and I’ve offered her quilting advice.  In the note, she talks about a quilt she’s working on and that we need to get together via phone or visit before she finishes it.  Pay it forward, quilters.  Teach someone else so the craft does not die.

Until Next Week…Quilt with Excellence!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Before I get any further in this week’s blog, I do want to finish one of the topics I wrote about last week in Stash Happens.  Remember when I told you folks about my project boxes and how fabric purchased for a particular project went into those boxes?  Each project has its own box, and the fabric, pattern, and any notions go into that box.  What I failed to mention that I also cut the quilt out as soon as I get the fabric home, prewashed, and ironed.  Why?  Because if there’s a mistake in the pattern (and sometimes this happens) or I goof up (which happens more often), this is the time that the material is still available either on line or at my LQS.  If I wait a year or three to cut it out before I make the project and need more fabric (for whatever reason), I’m going to have a difficult time finding it.  Ebay has saved my quilting hide more times than not, but that may not always be the case.

Besides…when I’m looking to start a new project, it’s way more motivating to grab a project box with everything already cut out and know all I have to do is read the pattern through a couple of times and begin sewing.

This week I want to sort of continue our topic of stash, but let’s discuss the stash in context of how to use it in a quilt.  I’m an avid follower of Bonnie Hunter and love her scrap quilts.  I also had the wonderful opportunity to take a class with Augusta Cole last August, where she pushed me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to make scrappy quilts.  In the past, I always had “planned” scrappy quilts – quilts that had a rhythm and although there may be many fabrics used, there was a definite placement plan.  Anyone that had quilted for a few years could pick that up.  Augusta challenged me to through caution to the wind and use any and all my scraps because in her world “Honey, it all goes together…”

And it does, and it can…but there are a few tricks to that trade and it concerns your stash and how you can use it.  But you have your stash for a reason and to have it sitting on a shelf (or in a box or tub) is not the reason you have it.

Remember last week in Stash Happens I discussed the fact that when I began to purchase yardage, one of the types of fabric I could purchase with no guilt after the debit card swipe was neutrals.  These are generally background fabrics in whites, beiges, grays, and blacks.

 

 

I realize that the definition of neutrals has changed in the last five or so years to include whatever color you’re using as a background, but for stash purchases, I stick to whites, beiges, grays, and blacks.

Use these neutrals to set your blocks or as sashing or as both setting triangles or sashing.  Janella Macbeth in her book Scrapstashtic Quilts calls these “Calm Down” fabrics and she also includes maroons, blues, turquoises, and browns in this group.  The “calm down” fabric lets you catch your breath between blocks and makes the scrappy parts “pop.”

 

 

There are a couple of more ways you can get those scrappy blocks to calm down and play nicely together.  One of those ways is to use several pieces of what I call “I Bought This Yardage for a Reason” fabric.  I call those fabrics that because sometimes I must specifically purchase those fabrics if I don’t have the colors I need in my stash.  Often times, these solids or small prints are in the same fabric family as some of the material that I used in my scrap blocks.  The quilt I made with the Fireneze collection last year is one of those quilts.  I did used the linen-look beige as one of the calm down fabrics, however the solid green and the orangey-coral also were used to calm down some very busy fabrics.

Another way you can get your scrappy quilts to calm down is to consider how to place your focus fabrics.  In my April 11, 2018 blog Unfocused Fabric and Answered Prayer,  I discussed different ways to use your focus fabric in great detail.  I mentioned that in the past, many quilters would use the focus fabric in the borders and sashing to pull the quilt top together.  However, that is really limiting the power of your focus fabric.  To make your scrappy quilt blocks sing in harmony, you may want to consider using the focus fabric in smaller amounts scattered throughout the quilt.  If you can use the focus fabric as the center square or on-point square in your block and frame the scraps around it, that can help pull your scrappy parts together.  Again, I am using this method as I complete Halo Medallion and I used it a great deal in Pieces of my Past – the same focus fabric, as a matter of fact (this is the pink print I purchased two bolts of that I talked about in last week’s blog).

 

As you’re purchasing for your stash, another type of fabric to make sure you keep on hand are dark-ish materials with small prints and medium prints with a dense background.  I use these a lot when I make quilts with sashing.  Honestly, I prefer my blocks set on-point, but there are times when rows and sashing are the best way to go.  The width of the sashing varies with the statement I want the quilt to make.  Skinny, dark sashing gives off almost a stained-glass vibe.  If I want to showcase my quilting, I make the sashing wider.  I also make it wider if I decide to make cornerstones in my sashing, as I like pieced cornerstones rather than plain squares (and if you use the scraps to make the cornerstones, it pulls the top together even more).

 

The thinner the sashing the more it unifies the quilt top and the wider the sashing the more it bisects it and causes each block to stand out.  An even wider sashing gives the blocks the appearance of “floating.”  And if you’re really antsy about how scrappy your blocks are, sash them several times with different “calm down” fabrics to pull the top and blocks together.  If the blocks aren’t touching, they aren’t fighting.

I hope I’ve helped you re-evaluate your stash – in the way you store it, buy it, and use it.  The average quilter has at least $6,000 invested in his or her stash.  With that kind of investment, it’s best to purchase wisely, use with abandon, and store it where you can get to it.

 

Until next week, Quilt with Excellence,

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

PS — If you don’t have Scrapstashtic Quilts: Organizing Your Fabric Stash and ACTUALLY Using It by Janella Macbeth in your quilting library, consider adding it.  It’s a great resource!

It’s raining here…again. I’m really trying not to complain, because I know when July and August hits this part of North Carolina, we’re going to be begging for it.  But right now, I feel like Jamestown is trying its best to become the Seattle of the South.  The ground is sodden.  If we get any hard wind at all, this will not end well.  Trees that are perfectly vertical at this moment will take a hard turn and become perfectly horizontal.

But enough talk about the weather.  Let’s talk fabric.

For some months now, I’ve teased you with the prospect that I would share with you how I manage my stash.  Please note at this point, this system works for me.  It may not work for you.  I would be the first one to encourage you to go to Bonnie Hunter’s blog or her books for tips.  Scrapstashtic Quilts by Janella Macbeth is also a wonderful source.  Scour Pinterest for ideas.

Before I retired from the field of education in 2010, I was truly the “Fat Quarter Queen.”  I only worked on one large quilt at a time, usually taking about 18 months to finish it from start to the last stitch of binding.  Between large quilts, I would make small quilts or small quilted items.  By undertaking smaller projects and completing those, I did feel like I was accomplishing something.  And those small ventures took small amounts of fabric – preferably fat quarters.  So, by post-2010, I had accumulated an impressive display of fat quarters and very little yardage.

But that was about to change.  Now I had more time to quilt and I had joined three local bees, was taking and teaching classes, and belonged to the local guild.  I began making three to four large quilts at a clip and started purchasing yardage on a serious basis.  Instead of my stash fitting on a couple of rows of a cast-off bookcase and a few Rubbermaid tubs, I had a small quilt store in the smallest spare bedroom in the house.  After I moved my quilt studio to a larger room I put my foot down and declared the kids’ old recreation room was mine I realized that I had to somehow come up with a way to see everything I had so that I wouldn’t over purchase colors that I had too many of or under-purchase colors that I needed.  It took about 18 months of re-arranging and trying different ideas, but the following are the methods that work best for me.

As far as my impressive collection of fat quarters, I didn’t want them to take up too much space, but I wanted to be able to see what I had.  At first, I folded all of them and kept them in large, shallow, clear tubs.  However, I ended up with several of those and they were bulky.  And invariably the fabric I wanted was always in the tub that was on the bottom of the stack.  A good friend of mine, Linda, gave me the solution.  She purchased the 8 ½ x 11-inch cardboard inserts used for comic book displays and wrapped her fat quarters around them and then stacked them on a shelf like books.  This was perfect.  I did this to all my fat quarters (which took about two weeks, working at night while I was watching television or binging on Netflix), and they ended up taking about four shelves worth of space on a bookcase.  However, since I can see what I have, I have used most of them and am now down to two and a half shelves.  If you want to try this, I can tell you straight up that Amazon has the best price on these inserts.  The only exceptions to this are my Feed Sacks and my reproduction fabrics.  My Feed Sacks are kept in a tub all by themselves and I have two tubs for my 1930’s reproduction fabrics and one tub for my Civil War Era reproduction fabrics.  Quilts that are made with these tend to use fabrics from each time period with little variation.  Keeping them together speeds up the process of picking out fabrics.

Now what do I do about yardage?  In my quilting world, yardage is any piece of fabric that I purchase that is more than one yard.  If it’s just one yard or less, it’s wrapped around those cardboard inserts and shelved.  This is important for two reasons.  First, yes, I can see what I have.  But also, if it’s on one of those inserts, I know that I have a minimum of a fat quarter and a maximum of a yard.  If I am shopping my stash for a quilt and find something on those inserts that would work beautifully, I know that I have a limited amount of material  to work with.  If the pattern requires more, then I have to visit my LQS or search the internet to find additional material.

What do I do with more than a yard?  If I can, I bolt it.  And when wonderful stores like Hancock’s or Dragonfly were open, I could get their empty bolts for a song and dance (most of the time they just gave them to me) and wrap the fabric around the bolts and stack them against one of my walls.  Since those stores are no longer in business, I flat fold my fabric and stack it in the bottom of my bookcase.  Like my fat quarters, they are arranged by color, so I can see what I have at a glance.   You can purchase empty bolts, but they average about $85 for 30 empty bolts.  Thirty bolts would take up a lot of wall space, not to mention I really don’t want to sink $85 into empty bolts when I could use that money for other goodies.

For me, the bookcase was a great boundary option.  I took the two bottom shelves out of my tall, narrow book case and used that area to keep my flat folds in.  Anytime I purchase yardage, I must consider the fact “Will it fit into that area?”  For that reason, I limit a lot of my yardage purchases.  Yes, I still buy at least five yards of a fabric if I absolutely fall in love with it and have to have it. But on the whole, I limit my yardage purchases to stash staples – backgrounds, blenders, neutrals, and potential focus fabrics.  This is smart purchasing.  Just like most women have that one outfit in their wardrobe they can dress up or dress down, wear to a wedding or a funeral, these are stash investments.  They’re going to be used.  They generally are not a current “fad” color or the Pantone color of the year.  They’re blues, creams, grays, greens, pinks, purples (of course), and a few reds.  This philosophy also allows me to shop fabric sales wisely.  Do I still make some impulse buy?  Absolutely.  I once purchased two bolts of a pink print because I just loved it.  I have made four large quilts with it, used it in two wall hangings, and still have about five yards left.  And I still love it as much as the day I bought it.  The lady that checked me out at Hancock’s thought I was crazy.  But I didn’t care. 

Other than fat quarters, I don’t purchase a lot of pre-cuts.  As I stated in an earlier blog, I have won a lot of jelly rolls, but can count the number of those I’ve purchased on one hand and have fingers left over.  I have purchased a few layer cakes (10-inch squares of a fabric family or a color family).  I think I have two charm packs that I’ve bought but have won three.  I keep those in a clear, plastic tub and will peruse those if I need to make a quick quilt for a friend or relative.  Word of caution here – watch those jelly rolls.  Sometimes they are not cut straight.  And I don’t purchase any additional ones if there’s not room for another in the tub.  Discipline…I’m all about it.  Not that I always follow my own rules….

So, we’ve covered the fat quarters, the yardage, and the precuts.  What about fabric specifically purchased for a project?  Let me be the first one to let you in on a secret about me – I’m a planner and a plotter.  I know at some point in my future, I will completely retire, and my income will be limited.  As well as having a solid financial plan for retirement, I also have a fabric plan for retirement.  If I purchase fabric or find fabric in my stash for a pattern or project I want to make, all the fabric for that as well as the pattern, goes into a clear, plastic project box and those boxes are stashed in a spare closet.  I also label each box with an index card, so I know what project is in it and not to pull fabric from those as it’s pre-destined for something else.  And I have an Excel spreadsheet for these my logistics driven daughter should be so proud of her mom…. 

This covers everything but scraps.  When I began quilting in 1988, I was taught to save every single scrap.  And I did. Religiously.  Because I didn’t know any better.  However, after about five years I had a spare pillow case (that was serving as my scrap bag) full of scraps.  I had so much I really didn’t know what I had.  So, I went through it and made some decisions.

First, I love to applique.  I kept the large, irregular pieces I could use.  These had to be large enough to warrant making several applique pieces out of the same fabric (such as leaves) or one large pattern piece (such as a Sunbonnet Sue dress).  The rest were discarded.  Then I made a trip to the local Dollar Tree and bought a dozen or so small, plastic baskets.  I sorted these large, irregular scraps into color families and filled a basket with each color.  The mini-quilts I’m making as part of the guild challenge this year have all come out of those scraps.  I haven’t purchased one inch of fabric, but I have made wonderful small quilts to decorate the entrance way of my home.

What about the other scraps?  Follow my line of thinking here… first, I don’t purchase cheap fabric.  I buy quilt-store quality fabric.  And I hate to throw that away.  That’s not good stewardship.  I also love…I mean LOVE … making charity quilts for our local police to keep in the trunk of their patrol car or the local cancer center to give to chemo patients or folks I know that are going through a bought of sickness and need to know just how much I love them.  So, if I have scraps left over that can be cut down, I do that.  I cut those into 2 ½-inch strips, 2 ½ – squares, and 2 7/8-inch squares.  The 2 ½ -inch strips and 2 ½ – squares I can combine.  The 2 7/8- inch squares can be used to make 2 ½-inch half-square triangles.  Other pieces can be cut into narrower strips to string piece.  I have a clear, plastic box that each size goes into.  When a box is full, I make a charity quilt.  This way, no quilt-store fabric is wasted.  It goes into a quilt that can be used.  And I’ve cut my carbon foot-print.  The only scraps I’m throwing away and that are headed for the landfill are really, really small ones.

This is my stash method.  Like I said earlier, this works for me, and it took a lot of trial and error to find exactly what was the most effective.  I encourage you to do the same.  It’s important to be wise stewards of what we’re blessed with as well as be good stewards of what we have to discard.  What works for me may not work for you and that’s fine.  But I encourage you to explore, experiment, and find what does work best for you and your quilting.

Until next week, Quilt With Excellence!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

I realize that with this blog title, we are venturing into dangerous and sometimes shallow waters….

All quilters, even those that tend to stick to the pattern and assigned colors, have a creative process.  I do too, although most of the times I take the pattern instructions as only a suggestion and not the gospel truth.  The more I quilt the more I like to be challenged and have part of the challenge let me be the sole designer and creator.  Hence, I am really loving our guild’s monthly mini-quilt challenge.

Let me first tell you that I had pretty much decided that my June block would highlight my garden.  I had come up with some cute, little paper-pieced vegetables and had my fabric picked out.  However, I hesitated to start on it until our vice-president definitely announced what the theme would be.  But in my mind, I had a list.  June would be the garden.  July would be patriotic stars.  August would be be vacation (I had a really cute design of a skinny dipping Sunbonnet Sue for that one…).

Then Matthew blew my neat little list completely out of the water when he said, “The theme for the month of June is your dream vacation.”

What?!  How dare he?

Well he dared and he did, and that pronouncement sent me back to the proverbial drawing board.  My dream vacation?

Honey, my dream vacation is anytime I can throw a suitcase in the back of the Tahoe and get the hell out of town for more than one night. So I began to think…instead of a destination, what would my dream vacation consist of?  I threw around ideas and looked at EQ8 and came up with a few ideas…

First, I would have to have water.  Sorry, I am just not a mountain-vacation-loving girl.  Lake, beach, or creek…I love water.  So a large body of liquid is a must.

And there must be some shade, because I burn easily.

What next?  A quilt store of course!  Can’t go on vacation without shopping in one or three or ten of these…

And then, of course, there’s the obvious.

Gotta have one of these.

And a good coffee and bagel shop.

Some tourist-y attractions.  I steer away from the chotsky tourist traps, but I love historical spots.

And lastly, if I’m in good company on this vacation, I don’t care where it is, it’s pretty darn near perfect.

I  played with the layout for awhile.  I finally decided on this one.

The width is perfect, but the the length is a little long for my mini-quilt rack.  I’ll set the legs up on a block of wood to give it more height.  I also needed to sash this thing.  I used a lot of color in the small blocks.  With that being the case, my go-to color is gray.  I like the motion in this gray that I had left over from my Firenze collection.

And last, I picked this out for the backing.  I really like this fabric and wish I had more of it.

I’m not quilting this little quilt too heavily — just outlining the items in the pictures and moving on.

Meanwhile, remember all those tiny circles I made the other month?

I did get my compass ring completed for my Love Entwined.

It’s been a busy week!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It goes without saying, if you’re quilter, you have stash.  The size and type of this stash varies from quilter to quilter.  There are those quilters who purchase only the fabric needed for one project, make that quilt, and immediately throw out all but the largest pieces of the left-over fabric.

There are those quilters that have never met fabric they couldn’t use, and if the material was just really ugly, they simply cut it into smaller pieces.  If there’s a fabric sale in their vicinity (read on-line or LQS), they’re there…purchasing bolts and precuts like there’s no tomorrow.  They arrive back at their studio and add those to their stash without any real plans for any of it.  These folks have floor-to-ceiling-come-to-Jesus size stashes.

And then there’s quilters like me.  I shop my stash for upcoming projects and add to that as needed to make a quilt.  I shop fabric sales (read LQS and online), and will purchase bolts of neutrals and cuts of fabric that are regularly used in applique – greens, browns, reds, blues, purples, and pinks.  My stash is large-ish, but I’m working through it and can tell you what I have and what I need.  I throw away the small scraps, keep the large, irregular sized pieces for applique, and cut up the rest in 2 ½-inch squares or strips, or 2 7/8-inch squares.  I used these left overs for constructing charity quilts (more on my stash system later).  All of this sounds terribly organized and thrifty…and it is … except for Feed Sacks.  Those are my quilter’s kryptonite.

For those of you that don’t know exactly what Feed Sacks are or what the look like, dismiss from your mind the feed sacks of today that you may purchase your dog, cat, or chicken feed in.  Now think about the 1930’s reproduction fabrics you see in LQS’s and on fabric websites.  That gives you a general idea of the colors.  Back in the 1920’s or so and onward up until about 1963, animal feed, flour, salt, tobacco, and some other grains were sold in cloth sacks.  During that period of time (and especially during the Great Depression), no one let these sacks go to waste.  Farmers used them to cover hay, tobacco and other crops that had been brought to the barn.  Women would bleach the inked labels off and use the white fabric for curtains, underwear, table linens, and other items that they may need.  Along the way, one bag distributor decided to begin making their bags out of printed material – and the feed sack economy went into full bloom.  This was primarily during the 1930’s when pennies were hard to come by and nothing went to waste.  Women found out they could make everything from nightgowns to evening wear out of these Feed Sacks.  The pattern company Simplicity produced patterns designed primarily for use with these sacks.

And there were hundreds of quilts made from them.

Even now there are websites designed to highlight Feed Sack Quilts and clothing.  In the past few years, fabric lines like Aunt Grace have come out with designs and colors to match the Feed Sacks produced and those are still great demand.  You can still purchase the Simplicity patterns (although not from Simplicity) that promote garments made from them.

And they’re my favorite thing in the world to collect.  Why?  First, I love the colors.  Since the Feed Sack boom was primarily during the Great Depression, manufacturers and designers made the print as bright and colorful as they could to help cheer up the consumer and make their wardrobe and home brighter than the economy.  There are particular colors that were only available during this time – that Bubble Gum Pink and Minty Green come to mind.  I have an entire fat quarter collection of the Aunt Grace fabric and love it, but to me you simply cannot get the same colors today as you could during that time.  They make my heart sing and my day brighter.

The second reason I adore Feed Sacks is they represent one of the biggest tenants of quilting history:  Making Do With What You Have.  Not only were the bags used for nearly everything, but folks even saved the string that the bags were sewn together with.  That string could be dyed or left plain and use for crocheting doilies and other household items.  In a world where everyone seems to be rushing towards the next best thing and the latest posting on social media, this gladdens my soul.  I think this is a principle I need to promote more in my own life.

Lastly, I like Feed Sacks because you can still purchase them. Unlike a great deal of original historical fabric, there still are quite a few original Feed Sacks out there and they are reasonably priced.  So much so, that I can chase them down  on eBay, spend less than $30 and come away with three to five Feed Sacks that are just lovely.

Some of my latest Feed Sack purchases

 

I don’t know if this was just a popular design or prevalent in this part of the country.  I have two Feed Sack quilts with this fabric in them, both in a large and small version of the print.  I’ve purchased two large Feed Sacks with this print.

 

I’ve purchased so many Feed Sacks from one particular eBay vendor that she included a ready-made label in my last order.  Talk about a sweetheart!

This is Aunt Grace 1930’s reproduction fabric.  The “bubble gum pink” is just about a dead ringer for the real thing.

And then last week I came across this:

I had a lot of fun reading this…and when I researched the patterns, I found those on a website, too.  Not that I’m going to make clothing again at least anytime soon, but it was wonderful to know that this piece of history is still out there.

The patterns shown was a size 14!  Pattern companies were way more realistic then.  The booklet sold for 19 cents.  The mailing label is still on the back.  

 

This is one of two Feed Sack garments that I own.  Both were found in the bottom of a box of sacks I purchased several years ago.  There are no buttons or buttonholes on this sweet little dress, and it’s not hemmed.  I wish it could talk and tell me why it’s remained unfinished.  The detail with rick rack around the neck is precious.  

So, what am I going to do with my bins of Feed Sacks?  Make quilts of course…as soon as I’m brave enough to cut them up!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

 

So, let’s get back to our raw-edge applique.  I have made the pieced background and decided on my applique pattern.  Now I trace my pattern pieces onto my fusing agent.  I prefer Steam-a-Seam light or SoftFuse for applique work on quilts.  Both of these fusing agents finish without being too stiff for a quilt top.  There are two important rules to remember at this point, whether you’re using a pattern from EQ or another commercial pattern.  First, unless the pattern tells you the applique images are reversed, you will need to reverse them yourself.  You can tell EQ to reverse the images in the print dialogue box.  If it’s a commercial pattern with the templates printed on paper, you can simply flip the paper over, put it on a light box, and trace them on the fusing agent this way.

The second rule you need to keep in mind is if the templates include a ¼-inch seam margin, you will need to omit that from your raw-edge piece.  Lots of pattern templates, including those from EQ, will include that ¼-inch margin for you in case you decide to do needle turn applique, or use freezer paper, Mylar, or Appliquik.  With raw-edge applique, that ¼-inch margin is not needed, because nothing is turned under.

 

 

See the dotted lines that echo around the solid lines on these applique templates?  That dotted line is the ¼-inch margin for finished-edge applique.  Since we’re working with raw-edge applique, we need to trace the templates on the solid lines, omitting that ¼-inch margin.

 

Because I had a chance to purchase SoftFuse in bulk a couple of years ago, I’m using that as my bonding agent.  It comes on rolls, which can be difficult to work with because rolls, well…roll.  They can roll off the table you’re working on and generally just be a hassle.  So, I cut of small sections at a time, which are easier to handle.  If I have large chucks of the pieces left over, I stash them in a plastic baggie for later.  I also make sure that I number each SoftFuse piece with its corresponding number on the pattern.  This was especially true for this applique work because there were so many pieces involved in each flower.

Speaking of all those petals for all those flowers, I also prepped a small baggie for each flower and labeled them.

As each template was cut out from the bonding agent, I put them in the appropriate bag.  This way I could grab a bag, the fabric that I needed, and spend quality time at my ironing station instead of quantity time.  This is also a good time to re-visit my decision about using batiks.  Because most batiks have a firm weave, they do stand up to the abuse that machine applique can dish out.  However, also remember I wanted my flowers to have a somewhat realistic look, so at least two colors of fabric would be needed for each head.  With my fabric selection, not only do I have two colors for each flower, but since the dying process causes the batiks’ coloring to undulate, it gives the impression of even more hues popping through the petals.

As I cut the templates out of the SoftFuse, I made sure I didn’t cut exactly on the solid line.  Instead I left about a ¼-inch margin around them.  Then I fused each template onto the wrong side of the fabric.

When I trimmed the template from the fabric, that’s when I cut on the solid line.

I know all of that sounds like a lot of extra work, but it goes a long way with accuracy.  During the initial SoftFuse cutting, if I had cut directly  on the solid line before I fused the piece to the fabric, when I trimmed the template from the fabric, I would have had to cut just slightly inside the solid line, making the applique piece smaller than needed.  One piece wouldn’t matter that much, but when this difference is carried over lots of pieces, the applique pattern will come out smaller and not fill the background the way it needs to.  It’s attention to these little details that make your block and then your quilt really stand out.

 

After all the SoftFuse templates were fused down and then cut from the fabric, now it was time to determine what pieces are pressed on first.  Some patterns will tell you what is fused first.  In my case, EQ just assumes I know.  And since I’ve appliqued enough flowers to open a fabric florist shop, I can tell you that usually with those, the stems go down first because the flower has to have something to grow off of.  Let me stop here and talk about stems.  Nine times out of ten, I make stems from bias tape that I’ve produced from my bias tape makers or from bias bars.  The stems on this block vary in width, with the widest about ½-inch.  The narrowest is less than ¼-inch.  All of these could be made with either the tape makers or the bars, but I decided to go ahead and simply make them with the templates, since there are no tight curves or bends.  One thing I do with all stems, whether I’m hand appliqueing or machine appliqueing, is sew them down first.  I will get those fused on (and any leaves or other pieces that go behind them) and stitch them down.  I do this, so they won’t “wiggle” out of place as I handle the fabric.

Since we’re talking about stitching, it’s a perfect time to consider two things:  thread and the stitch – both type and length.  I decided early on in this project that the applique thread would not be used as part of the quilting process (as it had been with my Sunbonnet Sue block for April).  I wanted my fabric choices to shine and my quilting to take center stage.  The thread I chose for the applique was Mettler 50-weight.  It in no way overwhelms any of the fabric in the applique pieces and sinks quietly in the background.  With raw-edge applique, I change thread color to match my fabric.  I used two to three colors of thread with each flower (petals and centers).  One rule I have for myself is that I keep all my thread out and together until the last stitch of the binding is sewn down.  With blocks such as this, there are a lot of pieces and inevitably I will miss sewing down one of the pieces and catch it later.  To save the time of finding that spool of thread, I keep all my thread for that project in a small basket until it’s complete.

 

Now about my stitch.  I prefer the blanket stitch for raw edge applique.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  The most important one is that the blanket stitch will not cause “fabric tunnels” on the wrong side of the fabric.

Machine applique usually involves either the zig-zag stitch or the blanket stitch, and if your machine does not have the blanket stitch, the zig-zag stitch will work fine.  As a matter of fact, there is little difference between the two stitches when setting up raw edge applique.  However, with the zig-zag stitch, sometimes an extra layer of stabilizer must be added to the back of the applique to avoid getting those fabric tunnels on the wrong side.  These “tunnels” are sort of like little pleats that will eat up your fabric.  The stabilizer prevents this.  For me, since Big Red has a wonderful blanket stitch, I prefer to use that one.

The second reason I like the blanket stitch is pure, personal preference:  I think it looks nicer than the zig -zag stitch.

Now about the stitch length and width.  Most of the decorative stitches on sewing machines come with preset lengths and widths.  The default on Big Red’s for the blanket stitch is 2.5 length and 2.5 width – that’s pretty big for these tiny pieces, or in fact, most of the machine applique that I do.  My “go-to” settings for machine applique are 1.8 width and 1.8 length.  However, take a look at these narrow stems.

Even the 1.8 setting for both length and width would be far too big for these.  If you look closely, you can see the 1.8 stitches on the wider stem.  But that narrow one?  I lowered both the length and width to 1.2 on both of these.

I said all of that to say this:  The size of your applique pieces should decide your stitch length and width, not a pattern, or personal choice.  That also means you may have to change both the width and length as you move through the pattern – smaller stitches for smaller pieces and larger stitches for the larger pieces.

After I had the stems stitched into place, then I had to begin to think about the flower heads.  Some applique artists will trace their applique pattern onto their background in order to know where to place all of the pieces.  I’m slightly too paranoid to do that.  I am always afraid that what ever marking tool I use will leave an indelible mark that I won’t be able to remove.  I simply lay the pattern beside the area where I am playing the unit out and “eyeball” the placement.

Sound hard?  It was when I started applique, but after awhile you get used to it and become pretty good with the process.  I lay out all the pieces in one of the units I’m working on and then fuse the whole thing into place.

Then I applique the entire thing down before moving to the next unit. Let me also throw in here that I sew slowly.  This isn’t a race.  Sewing too fast can lead to sloppy work…which leads to lots of unsewing…which isn’t fun at all.  In small pieces or in tight places, I’ve literally used the need up/needle down button to sew that applique piece on one stitch at a time.  If you begin to have issues with the thread (such as the machine continually comes unthreaded or the thread gets caught around the top or bottom of the spool), consider using your vertical pin to hold the thread instead of having it lay horizontal in the machine.  Sometimes that will help put an end to any thread issues you may have.

Bobbins, needle, and lighting also need to be checked before starting too much of the intense work.  It’s a good idea to have at least two full bobbins waiting in the wings because it’s no fun to stop and wind bobbins when you’re having such a good time.  A top stitching needle works terrific for raw edge applique – just make sure the needle you’re using is either new or free from burrs.  And I cannot emphasize how important good lighting is in this step.  I’ve even wore my magnifiers while machine appliqueing tiny pieces to make sure my stitches were accurate.   And after an hour of sewing, get up.  Walk around.  Give your body some water and your eyes a rest for about 10 minutes.  Your accuracy (and enjoyment) actually improves after these breaks.

Every single petal now appliqued in place, now it was time to consider my quilting thread.  I wanted this thread to shine in my block but didn’t want it to be too obnoxious.  I chose two threads from Superior Thread to pick from to quilt with. Both are Fantastico brands.

This spool is all blues and originally, I assumed this would be the best choice.  But when I allowed the thread to drape over the background, it was too dark.

I had assumed this one would be too limey yellow to use, but guess what?  I was wrong.  This Fantastico thread looks wonderful!  It blends well in the background and isn’t too obnoxious on the flower petals.

 

Since Matthew had challenged us to use at least one new technique in this quilt, I decided to try the straight-line quilting that’s seen on a lot of modern quilts.  I did the quilting on My Janome 7700 and used the walking foot.  And unlike the Sue quilt, I didn’t mark the top with a Frixion pen.  Instead I used 1-inch painter’s tape as a guideline – another new technique for me.

And here’s the finished product!

It’s a little big for my table top rack (so it looks like it’s sagging), but it really brightens up my entry way.  Now if I can get the flowers in my garden to grow as well as the ones did in this block, I’ll be a happy gardener!

 

Until Next Week, Quilt with Excellence!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

 

 

We had a wonderful time at the beach with all of our family.  Now it’s back to reality and a sense of normalcy…even if it’s an altered sense of normalcy.   Meagan returned to work on Tuesday.  She’s going back full-time and is doing great!  The company she works for is so supportive and understanding.  I am very grateful for them.  Along with this new normal, Lilith-Lou has gone back home.  I enjoyed having her stay with us very much, but Sam was born to be an only fur-child and they both are happier apart.  For the next couple of years, our new normal will exist from Pap Smear to Pap Smear, trying not to worry about things we have no control over, loving each other a little harder, not taking anything for granted, and living each day to the fullest.  

This is our “new” normal.  Yes, it’s stressful, to some degree.  But it’s becoming a life filled to the brim with faith and love.  Not a bad thing.  But yes, I will breathe just a little easier after we get through the first year of post-surgery follow up.  Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers; texts and emails; phone calls and meals.  Quilters are truly the “bestest” people.  Continue to pray as we wait out the next five years.

 

S.

Just a really quick update.  Meagan is feeling much better, so we’re taking her and the grand kiddies and the rest of the family to the beautiful North Carolina Coast for a long weekend.  The regular blog will be back up next week.

 

Until Then….Quilt with Excellence!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

One of the concepts I wanted to discuss during this Year of Quilting with Excellence was the set up of any project.  For a lot of quilters – myself included – it’s easy to get excited about a new project.  Either you’ve shopped your stash and found a great new quilt there (and you didn’t have to spend an additional dime – one of my personal favorite feelings in the world), or you have gone shopping and found wonderful fabric and a great pattern – either way, you’re excited and your ready to get started.  Everything goes on the cutting table and you’re ready to roll with it.

Slow down…

Remember way back when you took driver’s education?  Remember that list of things your instructor drilled into you before you pulled out of the drive way:  check the mirrors, check the fuel gauge…etc.  It was like your own personal flight check list before you could throw that car into reverse and ease on down the road.  Well, quilting, at least quilting successfully, has a check list.  And I find it’s a lot easier and makes things go much more smoothly if I do a little prep work before I whip out the rotary cutter or push the pedal to the metal on Big Red.

The first action any quilter should make – beginner or experienced or anywhere in between – is to read through the directions.  Or if you’re using your own design, think through the project.  It is the most helpful advice I can give any of you.  This will help you maybe not completely avoid troublesome spots, but it can make you aware of where some problems may arise and prepare for them.  To illustrate this, we’re going to take a look at my May mini-quilt.

Since my April quilt was themed April Showers, I wanted May to emphasize the flowers in the back half of the quote “April Showers Bring May Flowers.”  Matthew’s challenge for May was to use a technique that we haven’t used before.  I decided to go modern quilt.  I knew I wanted to piece my background with blue batiks, with no two alike and that I would applique my flowers on this pieced background.

Step one was that I would have to consider what I wanted the background to look like.  I had lots of blue batik scraps, so the fabric wasn’t the issue.  I had to take into consideration one primary concept at this point:  I didn’t want a great deal of bulk in my background.  If there were a lot of seams involved, machine appliqueing my flowers would be very difficult, may break a few needles, and the machine stitching would not lie flat and pretty.  With this in mind, I chose a 15-inch block that was all rectangles and squares with no matching seams and corners.  This would allow me to press the seams open – something I don’t normally do when I piece blocks, but since I need to reduce as much bulk as possible to make the machine applique look good, pressing open the seams would be a good idea.

I chose the block Chinese Coins.

As you can see, there are no matching intersections.  Originally, this bock was a 6-inch square (finished) block.  I asked EQ8 to enlarge it a 15-inch square block so that my applique would have plenty of room, plus there was still room for some “shrinkage” as I quilted it.  I cut the pieces according to the size EQ indicated and begin to lay it out on my tabletop design board.

I sewed the pieced strips together, pressed those seams open

and then sewed the solid strips onto them.

At this point all the seams were pressed open on the back

and then I gave it a good press on the front.  That good press on front was really important, because seams that are pressed open then to crease on the front, making the block a bit smaller than needed.  A good press on the front eliminates that possibility.

Next, I squared it up, as squaring up with every step makes for a flat quilt when it’s quilted.  Don’t believe it?  Remember the Firenze Quilt I made for Quilt Club?  I finally got it on the longarm this weekend.  Because it was squared up at each step, that baby went on Loretta without a whimper and I’m having a grand time long arming it.

Now comes the fun part, the applique.  At least that’s the most fun for me because I love applique of all kinds.  My applique would need a modern “vibe” to it.  After much searching, I decided on this design.

It’s flowers and definitely has a modern touch.

With that strong blue, batik background, my flowers need to be constructed of equally strong-hued fabric in order to make a stand on their own and not be overshadowed by the background.  I also want the flowers to look two dimensional, which means I need at least two, preferably three, of the same color family for each flower head.  If all the petals were the same color, the applique would look too flat.  The obvious choice for me was to pick other batiks from my stash.

So now let’s pause long enough to talk about what kind of fabric should be considered for machine applique – that’s part of the process of planning a project.  Unlike hand applique, the fabric chosen for machine applique does not need a “soft hand.”  It’s going to have to put up with a great deal of abuse, from fusing to sewing.  It needs to have a firm weave.  In this case, batiks are a wonderful choice.  I rarely use batiks in hand applique because they are difficult to work a hand sewing needle through – the weave is tight and often the dying and finishing process makes them too stiff for that artwork.  But for machine applique?  They are awesome.  In addition to being able to handle the wear and tear of this process, they are also brightly dyed, so my choices can stand up to that blue background.

I picked this fabric for the flower centers.  While not a batik, it does “read” as a batik and will work well.

 

Next, we need to take a good look at the pattern.  An applique pattern should be plotted out like a cross-country road trip.  I like to print two copies of the pattern out that are the exact size of my block.  One copy I prefer to be in color – whether that color is computer generated or one that I color in myself.  This allows me to get a good over-all visual of how my quilt is going to look.  Generally, I already have an idea of what color palette I’m using, but the colored rendition allows me to get a better idea of how the lights and dark fabric should be placed to give the block some depth.

The second copy of the pattern I make is a numbered one.

 

Each individual applique piece is given a number on this pattern.  When I trace each of the pieces onto the fusible, I also write the corresponding number on each one, so I know exactly where they go.  In this case, EQ has done the numbering for me, so I simply wrote the numbers in on the black and white copy of the pattern. that is the actual size of the block.

 

 

Next week, we will begin the process of fusing, cutting and bagging.  And then more cutting.  And more fusing.

 

Until next week, Quilt with Excellence!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri, Sam, and Lou

 

 

Soooo much has happened since last Thursday.  Let me recap…

Last Thursday morning Meg had a follow up appointment with her Primary Care Physician for a checkup that started us on this cancer journey.  It was the PCP that discovered the tumor on her cervix and literally got the ball rolling quickly to get her seen at the oncology department at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.  When Meg was asked how she was feeling at this follow up visit, she mentioned a catch in her side that was bothering her.

That wasn’t supposed to be there.  Long story short, despite the fact that Meg was on some heavy-duty blood thinners, she had developed clots.  The PCP notified the oncology department, who agreed with the even stronger blood thinner prescription, and she was sent home.  All of this took place Thursday morning/afternoon.

My local guild meeting was that evening, and since she was doing fine, I went.  I kind of had to…I was presenting needle turn applique.  I got home about 9:30 to my son-in-law on the phone stating he was taking Meg back to the emergency room because she was in severe pain in her abdomen, legs, and chest.

Long story short on this front, she had developed a large internal abscess.  Since she was a cancer patient, had just had major surgery, and had blood clots, she had to stay at Baptist through the weekend.  They monitored the clots and then took her off the blood thinners on Sunday, so they could put the drain in on Monday.

Needless to say, this week has been a whirlwind on steroids.  So, there is no lengthy “how-to” with this blog.  Instead I have lots of pretty pictures of things I’ve been working on.

First of all, I made these

 

And to give you some perspective, here’s a dime next to the circles….

These tiny circles will go around my compass ring for Love Entwined (pattern by Esther Aliu).  This is the ring…

And when I get all those teeny-tiny circles stitched down, I will applique it around this compass.

I also am still working on The Halo Medallion.  I have the side flying geese borders made

And am working on the top and bottom borders.  This is wonderful, mindless piecing, which is what I have needed during the last few weeks.

I have also nearly finished Easter Blessing by Ester Aliu.

And yes, if you’re asking, that tiny eye is three separate pieces of applique.

Matthew announced May’s challenge for the monthly mini-quilts.  We have to incorporate a technique we’ve never used before.  And since I’ve never made a modern quilt, mine will lean toward that.  After nearly 32 years of quilting, I still haven’t tried everything that’s out there.  That one of the great things about quilting … there’s always something to learn.  I’m designing it now and am having fun!

Please keep my daughter in your prayers.  Hopefully, we are on the downhill slide of this part of this adventure now.

 

Until next week, Quilt with Excellence!

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri, Sam, and Lou