Hand quilting with a Big Stitch

Its been quite a few years since I hand quilted a quilt.  I can't even guess, but it has to have been 20 years at least!  At that time, all of the hand stitching was heirloom, which was with heavy waxed thread, small sharp needles, and 10-12 stitches per inch.  Those quilts were all hand basted together with long basting stitches that were taken out as the quilting was done.  

Modern quilts are hand stitched with heavy threads too - 12 weight is very popular and many companies are now supplying it in lots of colors.   I've been collecting some here and there and decided to try hand quilting again.  But this time, and on trend, is making big stitches with the heavy thread.  Not the tiny stitches of days gone by, and not basting stitches either.  

I picked the recent pallet cleanser to give it a try.  Probably not the best one as there are thousands of seam allowances to go through.   The threads I used are shown in the photo below.

The green ones are cotton spagetti from WonderFil in 12 wt and the navy blue is Sashiko from Japan.  The Sashiko is a 6 strand cotton thread that I separated into 3 strands that appears to be about 12 wt when separated.  I waxed both threads with Thread Magic and have been using a large eyed Sashiko needle. 

The big stitches are easy to make, but I find that I can only load one stitch at a time and still be able to pull the needle through the fabric and batting layers.  Below, I'm showing how the green shows up on the pieced fabric.  And how the navy looks against the blue. Unfortunately, the white batting is getting pulled to the top and shows up on the navy fabric.

In the picture below, I'm showing the backing side of the quilt.  I'm working on getting the stitches even on both sides.

I hope you like it so far!

Elongated Hexagon Quilt - Part 4

This is a continuation of the posts about the elongated hexagon quilt.

The pieces were sewn together in rows, then the rows were sewn together.  And yes, there are a lot of Y seams in this quilt, or any hexagon quilt, for that matter.  (I wrote a previous blog about how to sew together a hexagon quilt and there are great tutorials on the internet. )  And here is what it looked like after it was sewn together.  It is 40" W x 56" H.  I'm not totally sure that this is the direction that I like the best.  I'll take it to my small quilt group for their input.

I plan to quilt it in straight rows.  Not matchstick size, but close together; perhaps 1/4" apart.  When I get the quilting done, I'll show it to you in another post.

Elongated Hexagon Quilt - Part 3

This is a continuation of the posts about the elongated hexagon quilt.

After playing around with the placement of the pieces, I marked all of the corners so that I would know where to stop and start.  But, before I started sewing it together, I felt like it was way too busy and needed something to calm it down.  I originally DID NOT want to spend that much time on this quilt, but as it progressed, I became interested in playing some more with the layout.  I even lost a little sleep while my brain was thinking about multiple quilts.  Egads!  How on earth did I jump from an easy quilt that I intended to donate, to thinking about multiple quilts?  I guess that's just how we quilters think. The ideas just don't stop coming.  Or to put it another way - I suffer from TMITSIL.  (Too many ideas to sew in lifetime).  And lookout because its catchy.

I decided that I really like the deconstructed modern quilts and the ones that were called "shattered".  The idea of this modern take on a quilt layout is that you gradually leave more and more white space between the pieces so that they merge into nothingness.  (Is that even a word?).  Here are some of my ideas as I worked them out on my design board.

The first one put all the pieces in the upper left corner and spread out the rest to the right and bottom.

These two moved the bulk of the pieces to the left of center and added solid pieces in some spots and fractured pieces in others.  Yuck, still too heavy.





This one seemed just right.  Lots of white space and shattered pieces.

Here's what I had to do to the pieces I had so carefully cut and marked to get the shattered look.  First, I sewed the white fabric onto the pieces, trying to alter the direction.

Then I cut the excess off, pressed the seams, and used the same freezer paper templates that I had used to originally cut the pieces.

It's a good thing I was somewhat sequestered due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  It didn't seem like I was wasting any valuable time that I used to have for volunteer work in the community.  But what a mess!  This is definitely NOT a zero-waste project.

I think I have more fabric than when I started.  The bind that I took to the quilt retreat still looks quite full to me.  Do you notice that when you're doing "scrap" projects too?

Modern Quilt Class with Katie Peterson

I've been following Katie Pederson for a little while.  She and I have a mutual friend in Seattle, Krista Withers, who used to belong to Block Party Quilters with me.  Krista first introduced me to Katie in Portland during a book signing at Quilt Market.  She wrote a fabulous book, "Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilts" with Jacquie Gering and was signing it at Quilt Market.  I ran into Katie a couple of years after that when she was the featured quilter at the Walla Walla quilt guild show.  I loved her quilts and promptly made one based on a picture that I had taken.  Then, when it came time to recommend someone to come to our guild for a lecture and workshop, I recommended Katie.  So, I was over the moon that I was able to listen to her lecture and then take a class from her this year.

She taught us her class, "Double Trouble".  It is a half square triangle quilt with a  modern twist that she came up with.  I loved her humor, energy, and personal attention that she bestowed on all of us. If you can catch up with her, you should definitely consider taking a class.  You'll love it!

I made most of the blocks during the class, then played around with it a little bit and added a few more blocks.  Here is the finished top which measures 50" x 60".

by Joanne Adams Roth 2018

I hope that you belong to a quilt guild that also brings fabulous speakers and teachers right to your doorstep.

Sewing on the Vacation

We took a long trip in our travel trailer this summer.  Some of my friends told me to take my sewing machine and a project, so I did!

Normally when I'm out on vacation, I don't want to be cooped up in inside a trailer.  Well, anywhere inside actually.  But I learned that the weather doesn't always cooperate, your husband needs a break to go fishing, and/or you're not able to go anywhere because you're exhausted.  I'm never too exhausted to sew a little bit, though.

Joanne Roth trailer sewing

I tried one of those modern techniques where you sew a scrap of fabric to the corners of squares.  My stash is loaded with teal green and light turquoise, plus black and white prints.  So that is what I selected.  I did a little bit of cutting out before we left to make it easier to pull out the project for quick sewing here and there.  And my inspiration was from "Diamonds in the Rough" pattern by Jenny Rekeweg in Quilters World magazine from the Winter of 2013.

After we got back, I sewed together the blocks into a 57.5" x 67" top.  Although the pattern didn't call for a border, and modern quilts often do not have a border, I decided to add one in black and white prints to give it more stability on the edges.  Final size is 63.5" x 73".  It's not quilted yet, but I like the top.

Modern Diamonds by Joanne Adams Roth

I hope you like it too!

Teaching quilting classes

I recently taught a quilting class to some of my local quilt guild members.  We sponsor a day in January every year, where members teach to other members.  It is so fun to share techniques and stretch myself to design quilts.  Plus it's cheap for the students - $20 for a full day class!

Modern Quilt by Joanne Adams Roth

I like a lot of the modern quilts and have found the free form piecing techniques to be freeing and fun.  So this was one of the techniques that I wanted to share with my friends.  I also wanted to introduce dissolving foundation, glue basting, and invisible machine applique.

My classes always include a lot of tips and tricks, and I try to give my students not only a fun experience, but something extra.  Ten women took my class.  Thanks ladies.  It was a great time!

Holiday Quilt, Part Three and Gray background

I'd forgotten how long it takes to piece a bed sized quilt.  Since I've been working on my nest art quilts this last year, I think I've gotten spoiled at how quickly you can work through your ideas and get a piece finished.    This quilt, called "Chic Kisses" has been pretty fun to make and it is really brightening up my studio during the dreary winter days.  (This quilt top is so big that it was hard to get a nice picture of it!)

Chic Kisses by Joanne Adams Roth

I used to pooh-pooh gray quilts because I live in a gray climate.  Yes, it's really as rainy in the Northwest as everyone claims.  We had a record amount of rain this past December, and it sure feels like we've been under gray skies ever since then.  But the modern quilters really like gray.  So now I'm starting to like it too.  Because I really like the modern quilt look.

I found two fun gray print fabrics with a hint of sheen to them in Sisters at The Stitchin' Post this fall.  They are both called "Shimmer" , which is produced by Robert Kaufman.   I decided this quilt was the perfect place to use them.  Then, I decided to use gray for the background and had to run out and buy that at Fiddlesticks in Vancouver, WA.

Now that the top is all sewn, you can get a sense of how "gray" this quilt is going to look.   I think I'm going to use some of the gray scraps for a smaller holiday quilt too.

Who knew I'd be sewing gray during the gray time of the year?

Let me know what you think of gray in your quilts.

Free form piecing

I love the free form piecing style that is so popular with the modern quilters.  Katie Pederson was the featured quilter in Walla Walla this fall and I thought that her quilts were a perfect example of that style.  She has an amazing sense of color and playfulness.

My latest quilt is an incorporation of her ideas with her "On Target" quilt and my colors.

"On Target" by Katie Pederson

My stash of fabrics is overflowing with green so I pulled some out and added others that have wild loud colors or are complimentary to green.    I started just cutting random strips about an inch wide and tossed them into a pile.  Then I randomly sewed the strips together to give me a colorful strata.    I also pulled a more sedate pile of fabrics that I thought would go great with the bold strata.

Strata 

These fabrics include some of the Grunge fabric that I really like right now, as well as some shiny ones that I found in Sisters this fall.

As usual when I start a new project and am trying to figure out how to cut and piece the quilt top, I have been  barely able to go to sleep or stay asleep.  I could see where Katie pieced this top in triangle sets, but I had to figure out how to get that wonky look.  (She does teach this class, but so far not in this area!).  After quite a bit of ripping out and trial and error, I came up with a method that is working for me, but is probably not the most efficient way of making this quilt.

After I sewed the strata, I cut them into 1-1/2" sections, pieced them together into one long strip, and attached two pieces of the first fabric.  (I'm mixing up my photos a little bit, so I hope you can follow along.)  In this example, the fabric sewn to the strip set is the darker gray.

The next piece to get sewn on is the color that will be the smallest triangle.  In this example, I started with white for the first two pieces and then added the turquoise.  After pressing this strip set, I cut a triangle off the strip set, making sure to keep the tip of the small triangle at the top.  The next step was done to get the piece to look wonky.  Just trim the bottom (first) piece at an angle and sew on the color on the longest side.

 When I was happy with the look, I trimmed this piece a little larger and matched it up with the next triangle in the quilt. This is a real puzzle!  One triangle is the top in one square, and the bottom in the next one.  This definitely saves fabric, but is a little confusing.  A color coded chart would probably help... as well as sewing sometime other than 3:00 A.M.

After sewing the center seam and pressing and starching the block, I aligned the center seam on the diagonal line of the 6" square ruler, and trimmed the block to size.   It seemed to me like this was important in Katie's quilt, so I was careful to duplicate this step.





Below is what the quilt looks like so far.  None of the blocks have been sewn together yet

Quilt in Progress

Here are the left over triangles ready for the next round.  

Modern Quilt Class

I have been sewing and quilting with a group called "Undercover Quilters" for 20 years.  They have been great friends through ups and downs, moves across country, kids growing up, grandkids, and life passages.  What would we do without our women friends?

Earlier this year, they asked me to design a mystery quit for them and teach them some new techniques.  It was fun for all of us, and really great for me since I like to teach and inspire quilters.  I'll be teaching this class in January 2016 to Clark County Quilters.

Here's a few pictures with their results. 

Chris Baker

Kathy Ericksen

Dessie Carpenter

Diane Stone

Lynn Patterson