Week in Review 2014 - 02/14

Detail from Tickling the Ivories showing a new
applique technique. 

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

When I started quilting in the late 1980's there was a cardinal rule that when pressing seams you pressed towards the dark fabric. Like many rules it evolved quite logically, but the reasons for it became less important and are unknown to many who adhere to it today. I am probably not breaking ground here, but I found myself questioning the way appliqués are attached to quilts these days. Do they always have to be needle turned or fused? Must they be added to the quilt top or could they be added during the quilting phase or some compromise time? Nothing like a quilt with a tight deadline to inspire invention! The close up you see of the appliqué for Tickling the Ivories was first pinned to just the top. Next I secured it by stitching 1/8" in from the outside edge. Yeah, no buckling or puckers! At this point I carefully clipped away the top behind the appliqué in order to avoid a double layer of quilt top fabric and darker fabrics showing through lighter fabrics. I prepared my quilt sandwich (backing, batting and top that has been pin basted.) Finally I went around the perimeter of each appliqué with a thin line of satin stitch in matching/coordinating thread. It worked! My appliqués are secure with none of the loose threads or stiff hand or added expense of fusible fabrics, that are the reasons I am not a fan of fusible appliqué.    

This week has been all about moving Tickling the Ivories forward. Of course I did a little more than that. :) Too much focus makes me cranky and dries up my creative problem solving well. 

1) Tickling the Ivories - Due March 15th

Tickling the Ivories after the notes and keyboard
have been appliquéd in place.

a) Add the accent appliqués - Done!
b) Prepare the quilt sandwich - Done!
c) Start the quilting - Done! Securing the appliqués to the quilt sandwich began the quilting process.

2) Leah Day projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until my three (gasp!) quilts with deadlines are done.

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

This week's free motion quilting assignment was titled
Hobbit Holes by Leah. It has a wonderfully, scaly
organic feel to it. I found it very relaxing to work up.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done!

Outside cover of my pop-up page.

Our teacher this week with Jane Davenport. Wow, has she followed a circuitous and fascinating career path as daughter of a model, through fashion illustrator, designer, boutique owner and now teacher of mixed media. She has a fascination with 1930's pop-up books for children. Her lesson was about creating our own pop-up page based on three of our positive qualities. 

It's a miracle, winter is through 

and my pop-ups actually pop-up!

I chose whimsical, nurturing and open to new adventures as my qualities. They are represented by the imagined bushes, tree and sky.

5) Tumbling Blocks I (Due April 30) - Continue piecing the quilt. - On hold.

6) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) - a commissioned quilt - On hold.

a) Select the fabric
b) Start piecing the quilt

I am loving, make that LOVING working on the Tickling the Ivories and can't wait to see how it evolves next week. I have other items on my project list to be sure that I have something to take a break on should Tickling the Ivories get to a stuck point.

1) Tickling the Ivories - Due March 15th


a) Add the quilted ribbon
b) Work on quilting the remainder of the piece

2) Leah Day projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II.
b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.

5) Tumbling Blocks I (Due April 30) - Continue piecing the quilt.

6) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) - a commissioned quilt

a) Select the fabric
b) Start piecing the quilt


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.

Week in Review 2013 - 08/02

My photographer (a.k.a. my husband) asked that pose in front of
Companion Oysters
for the blog. This was taken Thursday night, August 1, 2013 after
full day in the studio. What you see is precisely what you would
see if you were to drop by while I was working. It also gives
you a good sense of the scale of the piece.

It's been another week in my home studio, said with a wink to Garrison Keillor. This week has been all about preparation. Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." How apropos for quilting. Preparation is often where I spend most of my time when making a quilt.

My preparatory work for the week went as follows:

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Stitch the oyster shells to the background - Done!

A nose to the quilt close-up of Companion Oysters.

I opted to use the blind hem stitch (Bernina 1260 Stitch #7) that looks like _ _ _ ^ to sew down the appliqué pieces. I use this when I don't want the stitches to appear as a design element. I use a narrow satin stitch when I want to create a rim around the piece. If you click on the image you should be able to see the blind hem stitch on both the lavender and eggplant pieces. The shimmer on the palest fabric is created with an overlay of white tulle that has glitter adhered to it. I had hoped the glitter would be more stable. Much of it is on the studio floor and a few stray pieces traveled around the condo on my body. 

Stepping back a bit for a more distant close-up of Companion Oysters.
Here you can see how I layered the seaweed. Since there were so many
tight and small curves I opted to fuse the seaweed in place. I prefer to
use Steam a Seam 2 or Heat 'n Bond Lite for this. Both adhere well
and keep the edges of the appliqué from fraying.

b) Add a layer of batting behind the oysters for a trapunto effect - Done!

Companion Oysters with the first layer of batting adhered behind the oysters.

I added batting behind the oysters, but cut it away behind the kidney bean shaped depressions. I am hoping that this will help create a sense of depth/relief to the oysters that I will enhance through quilting. I am also thinking of adding a hint of shadow with paint to left hand side of the image.

2) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Started.

Foundation piecing is
begun for a lock of the
goddess's hair in
Express Your Love II.

It is time to begin the goddess's hair for Express Your Love II. This will be done with a series of foundation piecing patterns. The first step is to create a guide on a sheet of muslin. If you look closely at the image, you can see that I stitched over the outline that indicates the finished area for this particular lock of hair. This is part of my preparation that seems to be an extra step. The advantage is that the pattern is now marked on the front and back of the muslin. Also, I can select a color thread that blends with the fabric, making the marking something that won't be seen in the finished piece AND I can iron this obsessively, something I couldn't do if I used a water soluble blue marker.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon." - Not even considered.

With the prep work accomplished it is time to move forward to create the work. This is the game plan for next week.

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Determine whether to add shadows and if so, paint them.

b) Layer and baste the quilt sandwich.

c) Start the free motion quilting.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments

a) Finish last week's golden lock.

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon."

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.

Week In Review 2013 - 03/08

I have been a free motion quilting fiend this past week. Often my projects are at different stages, so that I might be designing one quilt, piecing another, quilting a third and perhaps doing handwork on a fourth. However, this week all three of my projects involved free motion quilting at some point in their progress.

Was free motion quilting what I had in mind for the week ending March 8? Here is my plan matched up with what I actually did.


1) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the next lesson. - Done

Annette Kennedy gave a lecture on depth and dimension using her photographs and quilts as examples. There were no assignments for this lesson.

b) Begin the next lesson. - Done or not done. There was nothing to do.


2) Express Your Love

Work begins on the goddess's hair.
The design, called Express Your Love, is by Leah Day.

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Done

Last week I said that Leah hadn't provided us with a lesson. I spoke to soon. She did demo a variation on Flame Stitch that she dubbed Stacked Flame Stitch. This week she shared how to do another filler design called Channels and Paths. I chose to do use both this patterns in my goddess's hair. Since I see myself as my goddess, I decided to use thread similar to my own gray, brown, white, dark brown, slightly streaked hair. Therefore, I did the Stacked Flame Stitch in a pale gray and the Channels and Paths is variegated brown, golden honey and white.

A closer look at the goddess's hair. 

b) Finish quilting Iris Still Life. - Done

This a whole cloth 16" square quilt. The fabric is a single
hand dyed fuchsia. What a difference varying  the thread
color and density of the quilting makes!

Last week I quilted the rays done in McTavishing.  This
week I decided to use a portion of the center image -
a single iris,  placed in alternate rays.  Note how this single
change helps to both draw your eye in and pull it out.

3) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

The brown threads across the background are the
basting threads. They are removed as I come to them. I find
this method of basting results in the least distortion of the quilt
that is a natural result of quilting.

a) Add the first layer of batting needed to trapunto the geese and trim it. - Done

b) Add the second layer of batting and backing, in other words make the quilt sandwich. - Done

c) Start quilting the ice and water surrounding the geese. - Done

Close up showing the effect of the trapunto, reverse
applique and free motion quilting.

This week just might set a record. I don't believe I have ever completed 100% of what I planned on doing. Much of the credit is due to Leah. I have learned so much about free motion quilting over the past 15 months that I can do it for hours. It has become as second nature to me as piecing. Proof positive that practice makes a difference.

Tips, Techniques and Thoughts...

"Reflection" a.ka. the geese quilt, is a favorite among readers of the blog. It has generated a few questions about how I did the reverse appliqué. The difference between appliqué and reverse appliqué is that the first is pieced on the front/right side of the quilt, while the latter is pieced to the back side of the quilt and the front of the quilt is then cut away revealing the piece. Think of a picture frame or window. Since the front is cut away there are raw edges to deal with. My favorite method, and the one I used to here to cope with raw edges, is to satin stitch around the appliqué. I find it helpful to set my machine at a slightly longer length between stitches than recommended. This keeps the satin stitch from being so dense that it won't flow under the machine's pressure foot. I also change the width to about half the default setting. Ultimately, the key is to set the satin stitch in such a way that it covers the raw edge and doesn't detract from the design. Thread choice is key, too. I used a VERY pale lavender thread. White would have "popped."


Nothing like a solid week of work to leave me eager for more. Here is my plan for the week ending March 15, 2013:

1) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the next lesson.

b) Begin the next lesson.

2) Express Your Love

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

b) Finish quilting the hair.

c) Finish the Iris Still Life by binding it and adding a sleeve.

3) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Finish quilting the ice and water surrounding the geese.

b) Start work on the red branches.