Weekly Report 2014 - 03/14

Entwined by Gwyned Trefethen
64" H x 48" W

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

It is said that to become a true artist you need to have a recognizable style. The artist's voice is strengthened by working in a series. I have one series/voice that I tend to return to as a place  to recharge. This is my Shifting Value series. Most of the pieces in this series are anchored with a primary palette of black, grey and white. Another commonality in the series is that the majority of the work is traditionally pieced. I love the process of working in this style. In order to start one of these pieces I first determine the piecing structure. Next I select how I want the light and shadow to flow. I mark my pattern with the numbers corresponding to each value, so that white would be #1 and black #10. I never, ever shade in the pattern. This way as I piece the quilt I simply pull a square #3 or a half triangle #7 and stitch the seams according to the structure. I am as surprised by what materializes as anyone else who looks at my work. It is a very soothing, meditative way to work.

The quilts for my first four grandchildren were on the traditional side with alphabet animals, sea creatures, beach elements and pond life. For my fifth and I expect final grandchild I just couldn't resist working in my own voice, a strong black and white palette, traditionally pieced. It felt good this week to relax and do what I know best. Of course that isn't all I did. Here is what I accomplished:

1) Tickling the Ivories - Due March 15th

a) Photograph the quilt. - Done
b) Make the sleeve. - Done
c) Make the label - Not yet.
d) Attach the sleeve and label. - I have started attaching the sleeve.
e) Create a Tickling the Ivories web page - Done
f) Announce the completion of Tickling the Ivories on Facebook - Done
g) Add a Tickling the Ivories album to my Facebook fan page - Done

2) Leah Day projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson. - Done

Two interpretations of free motion quilting motif Basic Star

Leah's free motion quilting assignment for the week is titled Basic Star. It is an eight spoke star inside a circle. It requires a fair amount of traveling stitching and the pattern didn't grab me. I was curious as to what it would look like if I replaced the eight spoke star with a traditional five point star. I quilted half the space Leah's way and half the space my way. I decided that for small spaces, where the circles are around half an inch in diameter I prefer the look of Leah's motif. However, as the circles get bigger than I think a five point star has merit. 

Mixed Media interpretation of
my family tree.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.

If you read last week's blog posting then you know I found my birthmother only to learn that she died in July 2013. In one of those Twilight Zone moments this week's Life Book assignment was titled the Tree of Life and focused on our interconnectedness. I couldn't resist creating a family tree that shows me as part my adoptive family, part the family I made with my husband, part my birthfather's family and part my birthmother's family. I'm the bird at the top of the tree free to hop from family to family and containing colors from all four families.

Tumbling Blocks is
50% pieced

4) Continue piecing Tumbling Blocks I (Due April 30) - Done

5) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) - a commissioned quilt - On hold until quilts with earlier deadlines are completed. 

Start piecing the quilt.

It should be another relaxing week next week as I focus on piecing the Tumbling Block quilt. I will take occasional breaks to work on Life Book and free motion quilting, too.

1) Continue piecing Tumbling Blocks I (Due April 30) 

2) Leah Day projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.

4) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) - a commissioned quilt - On hold until quilts with earlier deadlines are completed. 

Start piecing the quilt.

5) Tickling the Ivories - Due March 15th

a) Make the label

b) Attach the sleeve and label.


I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Quilt Along With Leah Day - Week 27

Leah ran into a technical glitch this week which meant that she was unable to film and blog about her latest assignment for her followers. Instead she shared the method she uses to store her show quilts. It is very similar to the method I use to ship my quilts. The basic premise is to roll the quilt around a pool noodle. My tip is that if you are new to using pool noodles, but plan to add them to your supplies for storage and shipping, buy them during the summer. These are seasonal items. The price can triple over the winter, that is if and it is a big IF you are lucky enough to find them somewhere.

Here are few items all quilters accumulate that require organization to have them easily accessible and how I have chosen to deal with them.

Ruler Peg Board

There is nothing like a peg board purchased from a hardware store for organizing tools and rulers. Each ruler can be hang from its on "L" shaped hook. When the ruler supply grows multiple rulers of similar shapes can be hung from a single hook with the largest ruler in the back. I hang my rotary cutter and shears here when they are not in use.

My Most Frequently Used Thread Collection

Note that the caption reads my mostly frequently used thread collection. I have a second supply of threads that are predominately manufactured by Sulky and are their smallest spools. I store them in a plastic box that opens either from the front or back and has many compartments. This was I tip I picked up years ago. The box's purpose is to store matchbox cars. It works great for Sulky spools since you can load three full spools to a compartment. It is not the best system for moderate or large spools. For these I use June Tailor thread racks. Mine sit on a chest of drawers. However these racks can also be hung on the wall if you are short of horizontal space.

A Closer Look At My Active Thread Supply

I gritted my teeth and had my husband take the photographs for this blog without me being present. I didn't want to be tempted to clean up my work space. So, what you are seeing is what the studio looks like on any given day. My Bernina sits to the left and catty corner to the thread supply, facing out the window. I have a desk chair on casters as my sewing chair. Any thing on the chest of drawers is accessible just by pushing back and turning. There is a coaster for my drink, feet for the Bernina, tissues, a telephone and although I rarely use it now, my radio complete with tape and CD player.

Note how my threads are divided by type with a collection of Superior's King Tut series running across the top two rows on the left with a few interlopers. Then there is a small but serviceable collection of Bottomline thread, also by Superior. I like to sort my collections of thread by hue (color) and then value. Most of the neutral threads on the far right are the ones I use for piecing.

The Stash

I had simple shelves built into a small closet in my studio. Normally the door is closed so that my fabric stays unexposed to light. I like to arrange my fabric, just like my threads, by type and then by hue and value. The top two shelves are commercial prints in primary and secondary hues. The next shelf down contains neutrals and a few prints where black is a significant player. That blue bin has scraps of fabric left over from fusible projects as well as non cottons that have come my way. The lowest shelf contains a collection of solids I picked up very, very early in my career when Jo-Ann's had a sale. I bought half a yard of every one of their colors. Thanks to Leah, I have put this collection to good use. It features in a many a practice piece. I did invest in a bolt of muslin, that I washed and rolled back up to use as backings on future Leah assignments. Inside the clear bin and to the left of it are fabrics I have hand painted, dyed or marbled. Yes, this really is nearly my complete fabric stash. I have just two more stacks of similar height to the stacks in the closet, of black and white fabric that I store separately. This is the collection I turn to and replenish whenever I make a piece in my Shifting Value series.

Entwined is an original Gwyned Trefethen design
64" H x 48" W

Gwyned's Paper Piecing Tutorial

Leah is giving us a week off to practice what we have learned about free motion quilting on a UFO. You may recall I don't have any UFO's. I thought I might I try my hand at free form curve piecing some small quilts to practice on. It soon became clear that that genius idea was going to be far to time consuming if I was I also going to stay on schedule for the quilt I am currently working on. So, instead, I have opted to share Gwyned's Paper Piecing Tutorial.

Entwined

by Gwyned Trefethen

64"H x 48" W

Paper Pieced

I have had a love hate relationship with paper piecing ever since I first gave it a go over 15 years ago. What I hate about it is:

1. Getting the fabric scraps the right size;
2. Orienting the scraps correctly so there is sufficient seam allowance;
3. Avoiding fabrics with obvious direction; and
4. Removing all those scraps of paper after everything has been seamed together.

What I love about paper piecing:

1. The precision;
2. The ability to piece together atypical angles; 
3. It suits my hyper organized personality; and
4. The precision.

It is the precision that has me coming back again and again. What can I say? I get a thrill out of seeing all those crisp, sharp points and precise, complex "Y" seams come together so nicely. Just like free motion machine quilting, paper piecing requires practice and more practice, coupled with experimentation to work out a system that works for you. This is what works for me. It isn't the right way, just my way.

I am currently working on quilt that has four paper pieced blocks and I am making each of them five times. When I make multiple blocks that are all colored and pieced the same way I piece them simultaneously. In other words I seam piece 1 and piece 2 together for Block A five times. By repeating what I have just sewn I avoid forgetting how to do it.

Freezer Paper Tracing Layered on Top of Paper Piecing Foundation

I begin by hand tracing the paper pieced block pattern for the block on freezer paper. I note the Block (in this case Block C)  the segment of the block, the fabric to be cut and the number representing the order that it will be pieced in each piece. In other words piece C1 - 1 - b means that this piece is the first piece in segment 1 of Block C and the b stands for the "b"lue background fabric.

Freezer Paper Templates Laid Out and Ironed to the WRONG Side of Fabric 

The next step is to cut apart the freezer paper block and divide the paper pieces into piles by fabric. This means I set all the pieces that are to be cut from the blue background fabric in one pile, those that are to be cut from the white batik in another, etc.

Since I am making five of these blocks I save time by layering five pieces of the blue background fabric,  laying out all the freezer paper templates that are to be used to cut pieces from the blue background fabric on the top layer and then adhering the freezer paper templates to the top layer by ironing them place. It is VERY IMPORTANT to be sure that when you lay out the freezer paper templates you leave sufficient room for the seam allowance between adjacent pieces. My rule of thumb is leave between 3/4" - 1" channel between pieces. ALSO the freezer paper is ironed to the WRONG SIDE of the fabric.

The advantages of cutting your fabric in advance this way is that helps insure that there will be sufficient fabric for each piece. Pieces are such odd shapes in paper piecing compared to traditional piecing that it is easy to short change yourself.

Cut the Pieces Apart

Once all the freezer paper templates are ironed in place it is time to cut out the pieces. This is not the time to trim exactly. The goal is to have at least a 1/4" seam allowance surrounding each piece, but more is always better.

Be Sure to Leave a Generous Seam Allowance

Now that all of the pieces have been cut, I organize the pieces by segments. Note, I only work on one block pattern at a time. Block C has four segments. So, there are four segment piles of pieces. Each pile is in numerical order by piece with the five Piece 1s at the top and the last stack of pieces to be pieced at the bottom. I know which pile is which, because I top each pile with the paper piecing segment pattern I will be using as the foundation.

Piles of Cut Fabric Organized by Segment and Order Sewn

Next I take Pieces 1 and Pieces 2 and using the segment foundation pattern determine which sides will be seamed together. I trim the seam allowance to be exactly 1/4". The picture shows how these two pieces "match up."

Alignment of Piece 1 and Piece 2

I go one step further and I snip registration marks at the beginning and ending of the seam. This way when I flip the pieces right sides to right sides I have the marks to orient the two pieces together and to orient the pieces to foundation line. HINT - hold the paper foundation up to the light in order to see where to place the pieces.

N.B. The Registration Snips!

Now I sew along the first seam line using smaller than normal stitches. The more times you perforate the paper the pattern the easier it is to remove at the end. However, you want to avoid perforating it so many times that the foundation falls apart before you are ready. On my Bernina a stitch length of 1.5 to 1.75 seems to be right.

Align Index Card with Seam Line

Then Fold! 

I am not sure where I picked up this trick, perhaps Carol Doak, but I find it helpful to fold my paper foundation over an index card versus just folding it at the next seam line. Then I trim that seam allowance to 1/4". However, when I am paper piecing itty bitty pieces I use 1/8" as my seam allowance.

Ruler Alignment Used to Create 1/4" Seam Allowance

Drop back in a couple of months and I will unveil what I was making to create this tutorial. For now it must remain top secret. Otherwise, I would have shared a bit more - such as photo of the completed block. Any guesses what I am making?