Blogger’s Quilt Festival - Fast Asleep on Cloud 9

It's exciting to be participating in Amy Ellis' Blogger's Quilt Festival (BQF)! Over the last 6 months or so, I've been happily drawn into a great net of quilters who blog about their work. It's so much fun, and I've learned a lot from all of these talented craftspeople who are also talented businesspeople.

As I mention in my profile blurb, I've been a quilter for a while - very sporadic from highschool until about 2001, when I started my first quilt in about 5 years. I don't have a post on this quilt yet, so I won't tell the whole story here. Since then, I've been getting more and more focused on quilting. Until 2009 - 2010. Let's call it the year of the babies. I'm not a mother, and have no intention of being one, and am now at the point (ok, age) where people no longer ask me why not. That's not to say I don't appreciate the wee ones...although I've been known, if there's a choice between a dog or a baby, to gravitate to the dog! Anyways, in the year of the babies, after years and decades of having friends with no little human critters crawling around - they all came in one year! So I made this the year of the baby quilts, the year to dive into my hobby. I have no intention of ever getting to 30 quilts a year, or even 20...and even 10 may be stretching it - but this last year has certainly put me firmly back into my hobby with great excitement.

The quilt I've chosen for BQF is "Fast Asleep on Cloud 9", from "the little box of Baby Quilts", by Jenny Wilding Cardon at Thewildcards blog. This quilt is for Anna, who lives in Switzerland with her parents Irene and Ambros. She'll be a year old in December. For the other 3 baby quilts (see earlier blogs from this year), the mothers' chose the design and picked the fabric. Since Irene lives in Switzerland, I made the executive decision on design and fabric. I wanted something soft and dreamy for this little girl!

I thought a meandering quilt pattern would give the impression of clouds all over...and I think it worked. There are a few hearts and clouds with echo quilting thrown in too. 

My exposure to the quilt blog world quickly showed me that I could be creative with the backing - so I searched for an idea that would follow with the cloud theme, and came up with a night sky - this lovely dark blue fabric with shooting stars. The Shooting Star Square is from Jennifer Chiaverini's Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts. If you love quilting, and you love mysteries, the Bridal Sampler quilt is a key component of the Elm Creek Quilts mystery novels.

Quilting is an ongoing learning process for me. I challenge myself to learn something new each time...well, I don't even have to challenge myself. It kinda happens organically. So as part of the process for me - what did I learn with this quilt?

1. backing can be fun! It doesn't have to be a plain piece of material.

2. fun backing translates into considerations for quilting...those seams, and those star points. I hadn't thought about how the piecing seams of the star blocks would affect the machine quilting.

3. border quilting needs to be planned in advance of actually quilting.

4. sometimes you can be creative if you run into issues with quilting that needs to be taken out...there was a section of the border that I couldn't get righ (even though it was most basic), so after I bound it, I took the quilting out again, and replaced with a handquilted cloud and heart.

5. labels can be creative too...I had my stepdaughter letter the labels on to the shooting pieces of the stars with fabric pen - she has lovely writing.

6. ummm....my machine quilting is improving. Stitch size is not yet consistent. I learned some lessons from Leah Day's videos that helped me with moving my material around and figuring out how to approach the quilting.

7. there's likely more..but that seems like a pretty comprehensive list!

8. I know - the thread I used - a Sulky 30 wt blendable blue/gold/green variegated thread (733). I thought it would be lovely on the night sky on the back - like the Milky Way or clouds of stars...and it was! But I only bought one spool, and when it came to the border, I ran out. So therefore the pretty plain border. Lesson learned - always buy 2 spools of a great thread.

9. Next time my meandering quilting should be less tightly spaced to make for a softer quilt. (it is pretty soft - with more spacing in the quilting, it would be even softer!)

Material: Blues- stonehenge #3952 and3953 by Sunshine Cottage from Northcott; the white was an extra wide piece, no idea of source, and the yellows in the star from my stash -  all from my LQS Creative Sisters' Studio. It's machine bound, using the light blue from the front for the binding. Dimensions are apprx 60"x60.

Now that I know about all the available fabric online, you can be sure that my next fabric purchases will be from some fabulous online store!

Thanks for reading and Happy Quilting!

consistent stitches

Have you ever wondered why it's necessary to have consistently sized stitches in quilting? Why it's a prized skill? Why would anyone need to make sure that there are 8-10 stitches / inch for handquilting, and a standard sized consistent stitch for machine quilting? Well, detail oriented artistic types might say because of aesthetics, because an even consistent stitch is lovely to behold. Quilt masters might say because it's indicative of skill set. I put forward another reason. Not that I disagree with either of these, at all. However, what I think quilt classes neglect to teach and online resources never mention...is that the more consistently sized the stitch is, the easier it is to rip it out. And I learned that lesson today. Got done quilting "asleep on a cloud" (otherwise known as "fast asleep on cloud nine"), on the main part of the quilt top. Why I did not spread the meander quilting all over the top - that means including the outside border - is beyond me. Now I'm short on thread, and was planning to do something funky on the border. Say, a heart in each corner, and hearts and clouds all along the border. No sooner do I do the first heart and I say...hmmm...not liking that  heart. Do I stop? No, I continue. I do the first cloud, with the thread breaking once, and realize that I'm going to have do some echo stitching around the cloud to get out of it where I need to to go to the next heart. Do I think it looks OK? hmm. not really. and I keep going...the next heart...hard time getting into it, couldn't get out of it to move on the to the next piece...and out it all comes. 10 inches of quilting...straight line between 1 heart to 1 cloud to 1 heart. I just finished. This took me oh, say about 5 minutes to quilt, and an hour to take out. And why was it so hard to take out? because my stitch length varied from very very very tiny, to a gapping half centimetre. omg. And now what am I going to do on the border? Really, am almost out of this lovely thread - variegated with blue, yellow and white - it looks just lovely on the clouds, and gorgeous on the deep blue sky backing. If I run out of thread, that means a trip to Guelph this week...for one spool of thread.

What else have I learned in quilting this quilt? well, that another machine would be great. Sewing machines have what is called a "throat", the distance between where the needle drops down to where the body of the machine in. My Janome sewquist has about a 5" throat, and it's awful hard to squeeze 30" of fabric into those 5 "...and then manuever the material in a manner that will keep the stitch length consistent. Other machines intended for machine quilting have a 10" or 12" throat. Where's my Christmas list??

OK, putting it down for the night to think about the border, and come back with a clear head. At least all the bad stitching is out. If I hadn't done that now, I would have left it for a very long while!

deep breath...and jump right in

Hookay, started the quilting on Anna's quilt this afternoon. Took a deep breath, watched several quilting videos - especially by Leah Day...and sunk the needle in. Exhilirating on one hand, and very scary on the other. Turned on some soothing music (I tell ya, when Toby's favourite Reiki CD comes in, that will be my quilting music!!), took a swig of a Coke..and started! Time now for Toby's much deserved walk, the patient boy. Will continue after the walk...who knows, by end of day tomorrow, I might even have it bound!!

Getting ready to quilt "Floating on a Cloud" for Anna...

I love this quilt. I don't want to post pictures yet...it is a gift and I picked out the pattern myself - unlike the last few, where the mother to be picked out the pattern. I'm very excited. The blocks were a great size to work with on the front, and on the back, I did something different that I've never done before...sticking to my M.O. to always do at least one new thing on every quilt. I'm even practicing the quilting motif (which is intended to be a fairly large meander) on paper with the machine in advance. I did manage some machine quilting risk by not getting the fabulous thread I really wanted...I got a quilting thread somewhat more muted that will be very forgiving of mistakes. The quilt itself is also larger than the other baby quilts I've made. For those of you who know me, you will understand when I saw that visualizing measurements is not my forte. so...60" VS 46", yeah, it's a different size, but would I actually catch that? nope, not me. So actually quilting it will be more of a challenge than the others - that's a lot of my material for my Janome sewquist and me to manage.

What else...I'm working on trying to instill some order into the list of projects around the place. I love lists and planning (why else would I be a project manager!), but somehow my tools from my workplace haven't really made it home with me. So, I've found this great low tech way to organize projects in various areas of the home: Personal Kanban...found it via The Simple Dollar, which is a great blog about simplifying your life, and managing your personal finances. So I'm in the process of setting up my personal kanban for our household projects...so far, the "To Do" side is the only side with something in it. I'm also going to set one up for my quilting projects. They are piling up in my head, and need to make it down on paper or a wall somewhere so I can start prioritizing and visualizing.

One of my next projects that I want to start on is a quilt based on a course I just finished on Peace Building Conversations, from Shirley Martin. I'm having a great time planning and designing blocks in my head. This quilt will be a challenge for me all over...being the first time I'm designing one, to the types of blocks I'm going to use, to the way it's going to be quilted...etc.

And the Sampler quilt? I've gotta get a name for it. It's coming off the quilting frame and coming with me on Thanksgiving - who knows, maybe the quilting will get finished over that weekend.

Other projects? Christmas is coming up...I've been saying for years I want to make a tree skirt...so maybe this is the year, and maybe placemats and napkins to match. Also, all the babies could use what, bibs? and maybe I can extend into simple coats, etc? I see so many beautiful designs online from the various blogging quilters out there. I am so inspired by their work and their fabrics and their creativity!!

No pictures this time!! maybe next time, when the Cloud quilt is done and flying on it's way to Switzerland...

Peace & Adventure, Liz

Anna's quilt...started!

Hit Creative Sisters' Full Moon Frenzy on Tuesday...booked off work early and made sure I had plenty of time to browse! Thank god for blackberries, because all I had was an email listing the material required for this lovely quilt. And only 2 fabrics required!

and oh, do I need to learn more about taking pictures, wow. OK, trying to get a copy of the pattern, and then a pic of the material. All washed, and now ironing. I am thinking very much about what I want to do for the backing on this one. I think I want to do something different, something fun on the back, something special...I'll be thinking about this one...

I'm also thinking about what to do with all the blocks of test free motion quilting...looking at a cool thing called "rag quilting". I think I'll try it and let you know how it goes!

so meh on scanning the pattern, or taking a good picture of the pattern for now. Sorry, Irene, you'll just have to wait!

what have I been doing instead of posting

busy month! whole lotta stuff going on instead of posting...

first of all, clearing out books. We have about 8 boxes of books in the basement from when we moved in 2007. Unopened. And full bookshelves upstairs. So I'm working through all the boxes and emptying shelves

There are still about 8 boxes in the basement...have only made it through the shelves in the main house.

THEN.... our first attempt at a garden, and someone had to do something about the tomatoes. I figured out how to string them up

So far, only 2 tomatoes have shown up. I think I was too late.

And then....

freezer pickles, berries berries berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) and pounds and pounds of beans. Last beans in the freezer today. Whew!! and still trying to get a few hours in on the sampler quilt a week.

Barn Quilting

Surfing through somewhere online for some reason (I really can't remember how I started down this path!), I came across the Barn Quilt idea. Donna Sue Groves started the concept several years ago (link to a video on the right side of the screen, and link to blog tracking the American Quilt trail here: American Quilt Trail). What a beautiful idea! Oh..I remember...AccuQuilt had an article on Facebook about unveiling their Barn Quilt Square (http://www.accuquilt.com/) and I just had to see more. I'm trying to find some more information on the Canadian portion of this beautiful folk art. The picture above is of Donna Sue Groves, and the first square on her barn. There are several links to videos in my "what I'm looking at" list on the right side of this page. This is really incredible. This link shows all the quilt trails currently in place: American Quilt Barn Trails. I need to go exploring...as soon as I find out about the trails in Canada, I will post on it! I know what I need to do on my next vacation with my sister in North Carolina now!!