Winter is really flying by - no I mean that! Temperatures have been very mild (for northern Wisconsin) and there is just enough snow for outdoor fun.  Of course, winter is not over yet....

What am I working on?  All of the pattern drawings and diagrams for my book (88 pages of them) are being proofed by one of my quilting friends.  All the text has already been proofed by my sis Ellen, and I've made all those changes and corrections.  And I've been changing and editing as I think of things.  It's always on my mind as I'm working on projects.

American Quilters Society, my publisher, will need to have all of my quilts for photography while they are working on my book.  So, I'll be left quilt less!  I need to replenish my inventory, like right away!

A few projects I'm working on:

"Carla Rose and Katy Marie" (one block shown here)

"Blue Camellia" (small portion shown here - it is pin basted and ready to machine quilt)

"Dresden Basket"  (class project  for beginning machine applique - also pin basted and ready to quilt)

On the runway waiting to take off - One of the blocks is a wool pillow which I hand appliqued.  I took a photo, imported it to my Electric Quilt program, added borders and here's a look, albeit a bit distorted, I just love it.

"Birds of Happiness"  Finished priority Alzheimer's project quilt and part of our applique group project:

And finally, I am planning to do a quilt display at the Mercer Public Library for the entire month of March to celebrate National Quilting Day which is March 17.  This day is sponsored by The National Quilting Association. 

Flower Power

I haven't seen this quilt, my original design and one of my favorites, for some time, but it was just returned to me. Quilter's Newsletter has held it hostage while creating a pattern to present as a series quilt in their magazine, starting with the April/May 2012 issue.  If you don't subscribe, it would be a good time to do so.  You'll get the entire pattern for this quilt.

Back to the shore

What's the next best thing to an actual trip to the beach?  Designing a quilt inspired by the beach of course!  I had blogged about ideas for a shore bird quilt last year after a visit to Mexico Beach, Florida, but got a little side tracked, um.... writing a book.  While the book is not finished, I need to keep moving so to speak.

Using my gazing ball for color inspiration, these are some of the fabrics I've pulled out to work with.  What will the quilt pattern and applique be?  Not sure yet, but I'm playing with the traditional "Lady of the Lake" quilt block as a base.  There will be shore birds and flora, and whatever else develops from there.

And, I decided I will have to make a full quilt from my "Moon Glow" block.  I love it!  My sister informed me there is a vintage button line named Moonglow.  She is correct and they are beautiful. 

Go for the quilt

What do you think?  Moon Glow expanded into a large wall hanging.  I love it!  Thanks to Electric Quilt and a few clicks, this is what it would look like. 

Moon Glow

Here's my supervisor Leo checking out today's project. 

Most of the text for my book is finished and I'm working up a few small projects using applique design elements from some of my larger quilt patterns. I want quilters to know that applique is doable by anyone at any level.  An applique pattern can be altered a little and come out looking completely different and the size of an applique design can be adapted to fit almost any project.

Remember Camellia?  This is a smaller quilt but it includes a lot of applique and it looks like, well, Camellias. 

I took Camellia's center flower motif, two of the outer leaves, enlarged the design and just started playing with it.  The applique stitching, which adds a lot of dimension, has not been done yet.  It looks a bit different, doesn't it?

I read in the January 12th Wall Street Journal:  "Astronomers said Wednesday that each of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way probably has at least one companion planet..." and that "planets are as common in the cosmos as grains of sand on the beach."  "One can point at almost any random star and say there are planets orbiting that star." 

I feel pretty tiny on this earth to begin with. Every time the moon is visible at night, I have to stop and stare at it.  And a clear night sky filled with stars is another sight to behold.  I never noticed this beauty living in the city. 

I honestly had no thought in mind, other than color, when I started arranging this block.  I knew I wanted to have it look completely different than my original Camellia, so I used the grey/black/white color scheme.  Adding the bright green was fun.  But as I moved pieces around, those stars in the Milky Way and those billions of planets were in the back of my mind I guess, and this is what developed. 

It will finish as a pillow maybe.  Now, if I appliqued 9 of these blocks and joined them to make a quilt with a neat border....  but then, I'm trying to create SMALL projects. 

Finished!

Lily takes a snooze perched on the back of our couch.  She looks like she doesn't have a care in the world.  Or she maybe needs a rest after finishing a big project. 

No, that was ME who just finished Bittersweet Too! The machine quilting and binding are done.  I always do enjoy adding the binding; I guess it's a time to bond with that quilt I just made as I sit and do the hand stitching. 

I really feel like I've accomplished something by completing the machine quilting. It was not exactly a breeze.  But I  really taught myself a lot and by the time I was almost finished, I actually began to like my stitches, tension, and quilting design.

I always add a label to the back of my finished quilt, printed on inkjet fabric with a few appliques just to spice it up.  The sleeve and label are also stitched by hand.

By the way, the Gingher rotary cutter I raved about (and still do) is VERY sharp.  Just beware.   I'm just not used to such a sharp cutter! 

Wool and Winter

We're in the middle of a winter snow storm and it is welcome and beautiful.  Yes, that's me out on the lake in front of our home.

What is it about winter and wool?  I have always loved wool - wool sweaters, socks, blankets and of course working with wool fiber.  There is nothing like the feel and look of hand dyed wool felt and I dye my own wool for applique. 

While the recent holidays took time away from working on my book and doing applique, I didn't let it go completely;  I can accomplish a lot in short time periods. 

I started my 9" x 12" little quilt for the Alzheimer's Quilt Project and have most of the hand applique finished.  I will add embellishments and an appliqued leaf border maybe, but I haven't decided on that yet.  It's nice to have a small project to work on.

When I first started doing wool applique, I used DMC Perle Cotton to hand stitch my appliques.  Now I use  DMC Broder Medicis. It's wonderful to work with.   DMC had discontinued making this thread, but a substitute is now available.

 This is a traditional blanket stitch, but you can also just do an overcast stitch when working on wool felt as the edges will not fray.  I have also stitched wool applique by machine.

A pillow I designed and appliqued using hand dyed wool and medici wool thread.

With Christmas shopping, baking and general fun taking up a lot of my time lately, I had put aside my machine quilting project.  This photo is the before shot of "Bittersweet Too" taken before I started quilting it.  I blogged a few weeks ago about the difficulties I was having with tension, needle size and the wool batting.  

I think it's a good idea to step away from something that is frustrating you or is just not fun (unless you have a serious deadline breathing down your neck).  It's also necessary to have your sewing machine cleaned and serviced regularly (I do have this done, but it was overdue).  I combined my machine service visit with a fun Christmas lunch and shopping with a good friend.  

Al, who does my machine servicing, said you really should not mess with your bobbin tension (I confessed that I had REALLY messed with it).  This is controversial and I know you can do it with care.  But he did say, just adjust the top tension if needed.  

So, I was ready to give this machine quilting mystery a shot again.  I started with a warm-up to check my tension.  What actually worked for me was to increase the top tension.   I had immediate success and somehow, it all just felt better.  I'm now doing free motion background quilting as shown here:

The results are not too bad!  3 more of these background sections to finish, then on to the borders.  

I have also changed my opinion about wool batting.  While I'd still say it's not exactly what a beginner might want to use, it really is wonderful to work with.  It is so light and just feels great.  It does have more loft and you must be aware of this and plan you quilting accordingly.  But, I do believe I'll choose it again.  Yes, I will continue to machine quilt - my smaller projects at least.  

Our applique group which meets the first Wednesday of every month at Your Arts Program, Manitowish Waters will participate in the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  We are each completing a quilt for the "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt" project.  Read more:

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative™ (www.AlzQuilts.org) is a national, grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. The AAQI auctions and sells donated quilts, and sponsors a nationally touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's. The AAQI has raised more than $679,000 since January 2006.

Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan is the founder and executive director of the AAQI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operated entirely by volunteers. She is a quilter. Her mother had Alzheimer's.

The AAQI currently sponsors two major programs:

Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope
The first is a nationwide traveling quilt exhibit called "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." It features 182 "Name Quilts" six inches wide and seven feet tall, containing the names of more than 10,000 individuals who have or had Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Hanging among the Name Quilts are 53 small format art quilts (9" x 12") that each interpret Alzheimer's in some way. The exhibit will tour the United States for 5 years.

Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts
The second is the "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts" project, so named for the urgent need for research dollars and the hope that quilters across the country would make participation in this project a priority. These small quilts fit inside flat rate cardboard priority mailers from the USPS, which the group uses to ship quilts to winning bidders after monthly online auctions.

There are an estimated 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease. We believe we can make a difference, one quilt at a time.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative*
1200 Creekwood Trail
Burton, MI 48509

http://www.alzquilts.org/aboutus.html#ixzz1gRpnUgVx

Each quilt will measure no larger than 9" x 12".  Our group theme is "birds" and most of us will design our own quilts.  Any method of applique can be used.  We have not set a deadline and are encouraging more quilters to join in.  

For my quilt, I decided to hand applique folk art birds in wool felt on a cotton background.  This is just the beginning as I plan to embellish and add borders etc.  You'll note some of my own hand-dyed wools in the photo.  I haven't done any wool applique for some time, so I'm excited to work on this project.  

 

The Fun of Applique

Recently,  Your Arts Program in Manitowish Waters, where we hold our applique group meetings, created and donated a Christmas tree for the Festival of Trees, an annual fund raiser for the library.  The trees are bid on and sold.  All of the ornaments for this tree were hand made.  I made the one above, using one of my applique designs from my quilt “Woods and Wildflowers”.  

Here is the center block of that quilt featuring this little bird which I just love - it could be a chickadee....

Or maybe a cardinal. Here, I used my design again to create this little bag for a Christmas gift for someone who loves cardinals.

So, you can see how much fun applique can be. A favorite design motif can be used in many different projects. 

I Love the Nightlife

"I Love the Nightlife" is finished and  ready for the world.  Lisa Arndt did a fantastic job completing the long arm quilting. I'm writing and editing the pattern which will be included in my book. Take a closer look at all the detail. 

Thanksgiving is over and it was a wonderful holiday, but cooking and getting ready to travel took me away from my quilting for a bit.  And now it's back to work.


Just a note:  Flower Power will be featured as a series quilt in Quilter's Newsletter starting with the April/May 2012.  Initially, it was supposed to start with the current issue, but there was a delay.  

I recently purchased a new Gingher cutting mat and rotary cutter.  My old equipment was in sore need of updating - why do we put off buying some of the most basic necessities?  I have had the large Gingher scissors, the pinking shears and the embroider scissors for many years and they are wonderful.  These new tools are just the best!  What a difference.  And I just love the neat silver box the cutter arrived in.  

 

 

Machine Quilting Tales

Plain Jane 

I consider myself an expert at machine applique and have always had positive comments from judges at shows about my applique technique and design.   There are those who think that with this talent, I should easily be able to machine quilt on my home Bernina. Over the years, I have done some basic machine quilting but I have had my large quilts done by long arm machine quilters Cheri Trexler and Lisa Arndt.  I have read all the books by the experts and taken Sue Nickel's excellent class - twice. Yes, I've done my homework. Recently, I did machine quilt Camellia and Plain Jane which are nice small wall hangings.  I had little difficulty and I like my results.

Now, I'm attempting to machine quilt Bittersweet Too measuring 56" x 56" which is not huge, but it is definitely more to handle.  Some of the detail quilting I've done:

This is definitely a learning experience and I'll share what I've learned so far.

-  Wool batting is wonderful.  I love natural fibers and I love how lightweight it is and how it feels, but it has more loft than cotton batting (my usual choice).  It is used by machine quilters who do a lot of detail stitching.  I won't choose it again - not  until I'm much better at this.  I will need to add background detail to tame down that extra loft.

-  My thread choice for the detail stitching was #30/3 polyester New Brytes by Superior Threads with  #50/3 polyester So Fine for the bobbin, also Superior Threads.  These are wonderful threads and the #30/3 gives the definition and bolder stitch I want, but boy you better have nice even stitches when your stitches show that much.  Again:  better left to the experts.  I have ripped out a lot of stitches and this is one thing you never want to have to do.  A better choice would have been a much finer thread.  This is common advice for beginners, but I ignored it.

-  I was stitching along with some success when I began to have trouble with my machine tension.  I've never had a single problem with my machine and I tried everything I could - cleaned and oiled my machine, practiced on sample after sample, adjusted the bobbin tension etc.  I had change my needle, but to a different size which was not recommended.  Then I simply tried another new needle in the correct size, and like magic all was fine again!  I better order a case of those needles.  By the way, I highly recommend Superior Threads for high quality supplies: www.superiorthreads.com.  

-  Don't let anyone kid you:  working on those little 12" x 12" machine quilting samples or a small wall hanging is a lot easier than trying to handle  bigger quilts.  The American Quilter's Society quilt show in Paducah, KY has a separate category for quilts which are quilted on home machines.  It is a very special talent and I am always in awe of those quilts. 

-  Another very important element of machine quilting is the quilting design itself.  It needs to be planned while you are designing and making the quilt.  I am always amazed at the beautiful designs that expert machine quilters come up with. 

- The frustrating part for me right now is that I'm not happy with the quality of my work so far, though many would say it's just fine.  To me, technique is just as important as color and design.  Well, maybe one day I'll be as good at machine quilting as I am at applique.  I know it will take years of practice. 

Bittersweet Too

 

 Some favorite photos of autumn past.  

Back to the present, I won some nice awards at the Marshfield quilt show this past weekend.

Plain Jane won third place in it's category:

 

And Woods and Wildflowers won first place and the show chairman's award:

 

I am working diligently on my book.  Bittersweet is one of the patterns to be included:

 
But, looking at the other quilts to be included in my book, I felt Bittersweet needed to be updated with newer fabrics and design.  So, I used the same log cabin layout, but in a smaller size, went exploring the woods for new leaves to inspire me and came up with the New Bittersweet or maybe I'll title it "Bittersweet Too."  I did add a final border in the brown marble fabric after this photo was taken.  Now it just needs to be quilted.  And the pattern is finished!

Autumn Tradition

Autumn is my favorite season - yes, not summer or spring as you might think.  I love the changing leaves, the cooler weather, the fresh crisp air, and the dark quiet days.


A favorite autumn tradition I have is to enter and attend the Treasures of Tomorrow Quilt Show in Marshfield, WI.  This is a judged show with prize money and an overall viewer's choice award.

My lifelong friend Jan and I always attend together and spend the day.  Jan has never made a quilt though she is learning to hand piece a sampler I got her started on.  She does love to view the show quilts and shop the vendors as much as any seasoned quilter does and she has always been one of my biggest supporters. 

                          This year my entries include "Woods and Wildflowers" 86" x 86"

                                                        
                                                         and "Plain Jane" 28" x 28"

Visit the web site for show dates and details:  www.piecemakers.org.