Monday, November 25, 2019

Vagabonds "Whispers in the Wind" gallery show

My small quilt group, Vagabonds, has a gallery show opening reception on December 6th, from 3 to 6 pm at the Second Story Gallery in Camas.  All 81 of our 12" x 12" quilts made for our Whispers challenge will be on view and all of them are for sale.

They will be on display through December and January.  If you can make it to the gallery in Camas, be sure to drop in and have a look!


I made several blog posts about these quilts in 2018 and early 2019.  Go back and take a look.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Emily's quilt - quilting designs

This is the 4th post about the making of Emily's graduation quilt.

I like to sketch up my quilting designs before I start the actual work.  It doesn't mean that I will follow the exactly.  But it does give me a sense of what designs will work better than others.  Its super easy to erase pencil marks on a piece of paper than it is to tear out quilting stitches!  For those of you that have done the tearing out, you know that a fair amount of hair gets torn out at the same time.  Or you might even turn a little grayer.

I've probably posted a blog about this already, so excuse me if this a total repeat.  After I finish making the top, I take a picture of it.  I turn it into black and white and make a copy on my computer.  Then I use tracing paper and start doodling.  I usually draw 2 or 3 different designs and often combine a couple more ideas on each sheet.  Rarely do I completely draw out the design.  If there are complicated things like feathered wreaths or large circles, I will draw these to full scale and using a light box, transfer those designs with blue dissolving ink pens onto the top. Sometimes, I will transfer lines too if I want them evenly spaced across the top.



Here is my start at the quilting designs.  Frankly, I'm not that thrilled with anything that I've drawn so far.  I kind of like the idea of putting "E" shapes into the quilt, and I definitely want it to be more modern.  Wreaths in the white areas, while very traditional, just doesn't feel like the right thing for this quilt.  So, I'll keep sketching and come up with something that I do like.


If you have some great ideas that might help me, let me know!  I'm a little stumped right now.

Happy Quilting!

Monday, November 4, 2019

Polka Dots and Spots - part three

This is a continuation of the theme quilt with the polka dots and spots.

After the main large wedges were in place, I played around with what wedges should be placed next.  I had some really cool black and white fabrics to add into the mix, as well as more of the pink and green fabrics.  Here is the quilt with all of the wedges in place.


Here is how I sewed the wedges together.  I pinned one edge over the stiff tear away stabilizer.  This edge was pinned to the edge of the stabilizer on the adjoining piece.  The pictures show you the pinning on the front side and what it looks like on the back side.



Here is what it looks like when it is pinned together.


I set two stitches in my machine.  The straight stitch is for the start and stop.  It is set for 0.40 length and I reduce the top tension since I use invisible thread in the top and a light weight thread in the bobbin.


I sew a few stitches with this setting, then switch to the zig zag setting.  It is set for 1.0 stitch length and 1.4 stitch width.  The tension is also lower for the top.  Then I zig zag the seam in place.



I still like it so far, and hope you do too!