"Color, Pattern, Texture, Shine"

"Color, Pattern, Texture, Shine"
       
     Anyone who watches "What Not to Wear" regularly knows the "rules" Stacy and Clinton go by in putting together an outfit. I am a huge fan, and watch the reruns while eating lunch every day that I am home. (I am also a bit happy they are no longer on because I would definitely be a candidate for nomination!)
     Anyway, what does this have to do with quilting, you may ask? I am working on one of my favorite techniques, which is crazy quilting on machine.        

Crazy Quilt for Kids

I love to do this because it is fun to mix and match so many fabrics, and it just feels good to use up scraps!

Right now I am making blocks using pastels for girls' quilts. I have certain rules for making each block and recently realized that these rules are pretty much the same as Stacy and Clinton's rules and now I can't get the mantra out of my head as I work on the blocks! So let me break it down-------

1. Color

My Great Grandma's quilt

It is important that each individual block blends in with the others,. You don't want a "galloping horse" anywhere. So I have a rule that each block must contain at least one piece of each of the main colors. It is especially important if using yellow or orange that a bit is in each block  In the pastels I am making now, I am  trying to include yellow, pink, white, lavender, blue and turquoise in each piece.

2.Texture

This one seems a little more difficult for quilting. We tend to use only 100% cotton fabrics and they are all the same texture--smooth and flat. One day I was snuggled under Great Grandma's quilt and I found myself doing what I did as a kid--rubbing the pieces of flannel that are scattered in there. I realized that the flannel has lasted over 50 years and as a kid I used to rub those pieces so why not use the flannel? I have lots of scraps of cute flannels that were used to make pajamas so now I put them in also so some other kid might find them and rub them too. My Grandma quilt also has corduroy but my corduroy is pretty thick and too heavy to use, but a soft corduroy would be good too. 

3. Pattern

After color, pattern is probably the next important thing quilters look at when choosing fabrics. In the crazy quilt blocks my basic rule is to have a variety of patterns in each block. I have solids, plaids, stripes, dots, florals, and the very important novelty prints to add fun,. They need to be balanced in each block so all the blocks will blend. I also have an obsession with fabrics with words on them that I can sneak in there and I look for them in every shop I visit. 

4. Shine

I am not really a "shiny" person but I do appreciate a bit of "special" in each quilt. I throw in fabrics with some gold or silver if I have them. Also I have a few pieces of chintz which adds a shine. 

5.Shape

I am throwing this one in because it applies to clothes and crazy quilt blocks too. When I am making these blocks I look at the shapes of pieces-squares,triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, and try to blend them in each block.

If anyone is interested in learning how to make these machine made crazy quilt blocks, let me know and I will do a tutorial.

When you ASSUME you make a @#$* of You and Me

      Today was my last day off before Emma comes home from college next week and I have to clean up the "Command Center" in her room. I want to get as many quilts pinned as I can and really want to finish the big quilt I have been quilting before I have to take down the big table.  These are both pretty boring projects at this point so I quilted a while and then I pressed the tops and backs of 2 more quilts. One of them, the bug quilt, was the perfect size for a piece of butterfly fabric for the back so that was a quickie project
.   The other one I chose to do is a Pinwheel Star because I already had a back pieced together and put aside for it. Most of my quilts, especially the charity ones, have pieced backs, which are often as interesting as the front.
       I stretched out the back, cut the batting to fit and layed out the top, and here is where the ASSUME comes in. The top and the back were not even close to the same size! What the heck was I thinking? I had made that back, folded them up together, and put them into the UFO tote months or even years ago. I ASSUMED they were the same size. I had to unclamp the back, add 8" to the side and 20" to the bottom (see, not even close!). Then of course the batting didn't fit any more so I needed another piece. Good thing I had just bought a king size batt for these projects so there was enough left for this one without having to piece it together. I will be able to use the other piece for one of the other quilts in the pile. Anyway, the day has slipped away and all I accomplished was quilting another border on the big quilt and layering the bug quilt. (Oh and I made cupcakes to distract myself from the boring-ness and I now have a "Cupcake Stash" in my freezer.) This picture is the way I am leaving it for the night. Tomorrow is another day!

Pinwheel Star ready to pin, Floral border in progress, pinned quilts hanging
What a mess!

Sometimes with quilting you can't get from A to B without a few detours along the way

   

I liked this one because we are into Sherlock at my house!

      Sometimes when I am quilting I think of those old Family Circus comic strips where it takes little Billy forever to get from A to B.   That has been me in the quilting department the last 2 weeks. After Emma went back to school I set up the big table in her room which I have dubbed "The Command Center" (her term not mine). I have several quilts which need quilting so I started layering with the big one. The table is only 3'x6' so the quilt has to be moved several times. After 3 days of shifting, pinning, back aching I got to the last section and guess what--the top had shifted so the backing was 1" too small. So I unpinned most of it, shifted, and repinned for 2 days and it was ready. Side note: when I pin a quilt I don't shut the pins until the whole thing is done. This way if something like this happens it is not so bad and also I can shut pins while sitting comfortably in a chair or in the car while waiting in a carpool line (that't what I did when I was a nanny). I also layered the second quilt and you guessed it right again--it shifted! I was so careful too!
      So then it was time to start stippling but I discovered I didn't have the right thread to match the backing or enough variegated thread for the top of the second quilt so a trip to JoAnn was in order for thread. Ok, now it is time to sew. After a couple hours I decided I should check the back and guess what--you got it--a pucker. This is because I don't have good clamps that fit my table so I can stretch the backing well. So I decided this problem had to be solved before layering quilt #3 so a field trip was in order to Home Depot. Well, they didn't have the kind of clamps I need in the size I need so I came home defeated and ordered clamps from Amazon (3" spring clamps). So I am ready for quilt #3.
      Now it is time to tear out the puckered area and fix it and guess what--my seam ripper point is broken off and I can't find the other seam ripper so now I have to make another trip to the fabric store. This time I went to Emma's Quilt Cupboard down the street and paid full price and bought 2 seam rippers in case I lose or break one again. So I get the pucker fixed and get back to stippling and CRUNCH. The presser foot came off, broke the needle and guess what--I am out of the needles I like to use. I already know neither store carries the needles I like (Jeans size 80) so back to Amazon to order needles. I put in a different needle which is working ok and I am still waiting for the needles to arrive.
      Meantime I have been stippling on both quilts and making good progress and since the clamps have now arrived I am ready to layer the next ones! GOOD GRIEF!

Thanks for all the help, quilters--it's done!

     I really want to thank everyone for your input into the Emma Block dilemma. I was really frustrated and took everyone's comments into account before I sewed those blocks together. Thanks Nancy and Kim for pointing out that not all teenagers like wallhangings. I pondered that one a while and decided to make the thing so it could be either a pillow or a wallhanging, whichever she decides.She decided on a pillow, which will always come in handy in the dorm!
      As you can see I went with the blue pinwheel. It had a lot of votes and the more I thought about it the more it made sense. You see, she made this in a class that she hated. The professor with the French accent was making her nuts at the beginning of the semester telling her she needed more "jazz" and movement. She is a person who likes things to be neat, realistic, and in order and the concept of "jazz" just didn't make any sense to her! I tried to tell her to tilt things or make something look like it was falling off the page and she just got mad at me and told me she doesn't think like me. So I decided the pinwheel had "jazz".
     I hope you can zoom in and
see the quilting design I did on this. This design is based on another of her dreaded assignments so I thought I would incorporate it too. I took the design and repeated the elements on paper until I had a complete design. Then I used a primary color variegated thread to sew right on the paper. It is such an easy technique (until you have to cut all the threads and tear all the paper).  I used the multi color thread because I figured just one color would disappear into the matching fabric so this way different elements pop. Jazz again!
      In addition to making this for her birthday I also made the craziest thing for her. When she was young she was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz books. She loved the Patchwork Girl of Oz and wanted to learn to sew to make a doll. She sewed old leftover blocks and scraps together (not very well, I must say!) to make a big piece of fabric to make into a doll. It has been haunting me every time I get into the UFO box and I decided to make her a doll. I used to make rag dolls back in the day but my patterns are buried in the bottom of the closet to I made up the pattern as I went along. I lost sleep for 3 nights figuring out how to make the wacky hair but I got it done and here it is.

Help me, quilters!!!

Emma's block

      Hi all you quilter friends out there. I need feedback and I need it ASAP. My daughter designed this "block" for a design class in college. She hated the class and for inspiration I told her if she made something good I would make it for her as a wallhanging. Well this A+ design is it so I made 4 blocks and THEN realized that they were weird to put together. I put them up on the design wall every way I could think of and can't decide what would look best. Stripey? Pinwheel? Red on top? Blue on top? Sashing? Square? Oblong? Ahhhhhhhh! I need to decide and I have 10 days to finish before she comes home for break. HELP!

Blue pinwheel

Oblong

Red pinwheel

Sashing

Blue down the middle

Do we really make quilts for others or are they actually just for us?

      Just wondering-when we give quilts to people do they appreciate them? We spend a lot of money  and HOURS working on quilts--all the planning, cutting, sewing. And then we give most of them away. Because I love them, I assume the recipient does also, but now I am not so sure.
      A couple years ago I gave each family member a quilt to donate to charity. Of the 15 quilts I am only sure that 2 were actually donated, 1 person made a donation in my name, and who knows about the rest. I choose to believe the people kept them because they loved them.
     Two days before Thanksgiving a family had a house fire and lost everything. The mom has cancer, her daughter and grandbabies were here, her college age son lost his computer and it really touched me. I had 2 quilts finished for charity but there were 3 kids so I spent the next 2 nights finishing another quilt. I gathered up a couple books and toys for the kids, baked a batch of cookies and took the quilts to them. No feedback but I choose to believe they appreciated them.
     Believe it or not one of my first quilts which I made back in the 70's before I really knew much ended up wrapping up my brother's dead dog and was buried with her. I'm OK with that. It needed to be put to rest, (We are supposed to burn worn out flags so why not bury worn out quilts, right?)

The one that got away

      I made quilts for each of my nieces and nephews when they graduated from high school and when they got married and had kids. I also made the t-shirt quilts for the Rokoff kids. I know for a fact the t-shirt quilts were appreciated and enjoyed (the boys used them as a pick up line in college. "Wanna come up and see my quilt?) I assumed the kids loved them because they came from me, but then I had a wake up call.
       I got an e.mail from a stranger who saw one of my quilts on the Goodwill auction site. It was listed with my name and she didn't want to buy it if it was stolen or not supposed to be sold. At first I didn't recognize the quilt but I really liked it. So I looked back at pictures and discovered it was the one I had given my nephew for his graduation. I choose to believe his wife didn't like it and donated it to Goodwill. But to be honest, my feelings are still hurt!
      I also make wedding quilts with pictures from the wedding. My (other) nephew really liked his but doesn't know what to do with it now that he is divorced! I never thought of that.
       So here is the conclusion I have come up with. I enjoyed making the quilts, I enjoyed giving the quilts, and I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE the recipient enjoyed getting them.

Sometimes Quilts just have to "marinate"

       If you have been reading my blogs regularly you know that my least favorite thing to do is borders..I have 2 large totes of UFO's. One is pieces--ziploc bags of blocks and misc. pieces, tops with no borders. The other tote is tops and there was also the purple/green woven quilt that needed finishing. In the last week I finished quilting and put on the binding of the purple/green woven quilt, and pulled out 3 different tops that needed borders. Each of the 3 tops had pieces of the fabrics with them so I had something for the borders but no plan. I didn't finish them before because I just couldn't decide what to do with them or I didn't have the right fabrics.

I won these blocks in a class
1986 (or 87)

        These are the 3 tops I finished this week. They each have stories that go along with them and I enjoyed my trip down memory lane. The red/white/blue one is the oldest. I won these blocks in a class I took all the way back in 1986 or 87! I think I wrote about rules in quilting and mentioned a woman who thought all reds go together. Well, there were 2 more blocks and there was no way I could put them with these--they are just too orange! (They are now pockets on my quilting tote bag and look very nice!). As I was working on this one this week I could not decide which block was mine. I have several of the fabrics in my stash and I would guess it is the one with the same blue that I used for the border, but I am not positive. I was happy to see that I had a half yard of red print put aside for this because there is almost no real red in the stores. Has anyone else noticed this? Why isn't there a real red with a small white or black print on it? I love this red but it isn't available any more. I had this top put together with the stripey sash with the stars a few years ago and was stuck after that. The other day it just hit me to make the stars for the corners and now I love it.

Mystery Quilt

         The second one is one I made in a mystery quilt class. It was a disappointment. The blocks were boring and I am not really a 5 fabric kind of quilter. I only had about a 1/3 yard of the Hoffman ribbon fabric so making a border of that was out so I came up with the triangle border idea. I like it but wish I could put one more border after it but none of the fabrics is available any more so it will get a ribbon fabric binding and that is it.

My birthday quilt 1997

          The last one is the most special to me. For several years I was part of the Brown Baggers and we would do a block for birthdays. We could choose the color or style of fabrics and everyone would make a block. I love reproduction fabrics and back in 97 when this was done they were new and really big. And to top it off I had picked up a pack of Sturbridge Village fabrics on a visit to Sturbridge Village. They are the 9 patches in the sashing. I enjoyed reading everyone's messages and teared up a bit when I read Rochelle's. She was my best friend for a lot of years and she passed away a few years ago. This is the only thing with her writing on it that I have. This was unfinished for a long time because I didn't have anything to border it with so I took it to Emma's Quilt Cupboard here in Franklin and found these fabrics. I may finish this one soon because I really like it.
         Each of these projects sat around for a long time waiting for inspiration and after a long marination they are almost done!