Front & Back
Tree Challenge
Hilde Morin Classes
Aren't they just amazing? There were so many inspiring quilts. Hope you enjoyed them.
Candy
Candy and Barb talk about the joys of quilting and living in the Pacific Northwest
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Quilts at the Sisters Show
I thought it might be nice to show some actual quilts at the show. There were literally hundreds and I'm just showing a few. With limited commentary. Because you just want to SEE the quilts.
Front & Back
Tree Challenge
Hilde Morin Classes
Aren't they just amazing? There were so many inspiring quilts. Hope you enjoyed them.
Candy
Front & Back
Tree Challenge
Hilde Morin Classes
Aren't they just amazing? There were so many inspiring quilts. Hope you enjoyed them.
Candy
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A Week in Sisters
The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show has been a staple in this sunny Central Oregon Community for over 30 years. When my friend, Judy, and I started attending, there were three days of classes, called the Quilter's Affair, preceding the one-day show. In the 18 years since, Quilter's Affair has expanded to 5 days of classes and includes three evening events. Our friend Jean joined us 9 or 10 years ago and 4 years ago, Barb started coming with us. This year, Judy's friend Jan from Minnesota came out to experience quilt week. I'm pretty sure she liked it. Jan took 5 days of classes and about 500 pictures.
Classes are held at the local high school. The Stitchin' Post Quilt Shop puts on the Quilter's Affair and stocks a small store at the school for Quilt Week.
The lobby of the school looks like this during class time.
And like this at lunch.
Outside the school we're treated to views like this.
And this.
And of course a little bit of this.
The day of the show (and the day before, to be accurate) busloads of quilt-lovers stream into town. Quilts are hung on buildings,
between trees
and under tents.
The main highway through town is closed for the day and it's really fun to stand in the middle of a street where on any other day dawdling could be life endangering.
In addition to quilts, there is food and drink,
Entertainment
And of course something like this:
Barb and I ate lunch at a restaurant/garden store:
It was really charming and the food delicious.
Ever seen an actual flower bed?
It was a wonderful week, full of quilts and friends and inspiration. Then Barb and I went home and slept for a week.
Classes are held at the local high school. The Stitchin' Post Quilt Shop puts on the Quilter's Affair and stocks a small store at the school for Quilt Week.
The lobby of the school looks like this during class time.
And like this at lunch.
Outside the school we're treated to views like this.
And this.
And of course a little bit of this.
The day of the show (and the day before, to be accurate) busloads of quilt-lovers stream into town. Quilts are hung on buildings,
between trees
and under tents.
The main highway through town is closed for the day and it's really fun to stand in the middle of a street where on any other day dawdling could be life endangering.
In addition to quilts, there is food and drink,
Entertainment
And of course something like this:
Barb and I ate lunch at a restaurant/garden store:
It was really charming and the food delicious.
Ever seen an actual flower bed?
It was a wonderful week, full of quilts and friends and inspiration. Then Barb and I went home and slept for a week.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Group Quilts
A couple of years ago a few quilter friends and I formed a small quilt group. My friend, Judy, and I had talked about it for some time and when our friend Jean started going on quilting field trips with us, we kicked it around some more. With a fourth quilter friend we knew well and another we had just met after joining a quilt guild, we finally took the plunge.
I must admit to being a bit nervous about the whole thing. Working on a quilt that was ultimately going to belong to someone else is a bit daunting. What if my addition stuck out like a sore thumb? What if I didn't love what others did on my quilt? What if working on a short deadline made me crazy? (Or perhaps that should be crazier.)
So with pizza boxes, some basic rules and fabric in hand we jumped into the deep end. Five of us started the round robin and it turned out GREAT! Every one wound up working out of her comfort zone, stepping up her game and thinking about pleasing the woman whose quilt she was currently working on . Every two months we shared what we'd added with everyone except the woman who started and would own the quilt. The last meeting was the "big reveal." They were wonderful. I'm missing a picture and want to show them all at once, so I'm going to start with year two.
Four of us participated in year two and we decided to try a technique we'd seen in a magazine. The project was called slice of life. Two of us started with photographs and two with patterns. What we ended up with was amazing. We sped up the process at the halfway point so they'd be done in time to hang at our guild quilt show in May.
Each design was cut into four slices. The slices were fused and at the end the owners quilted and finished them as they desired.
The first quilt is Jan's.
Jan started with a pattern, sliced it horizontally into four pieces and traced each piece onto muslin. She fused one section and passed it on, not seeing it again until the reveal. Jan chose to put narrow sashing between the slices and border it like a window. Even though everyone used different fabrics, the result is smashing. Now I want to plant more poppies outside my window.
Jean used a pattern of a giant poppy and asked us to stay in the color groups of the original design.
She cut the pattern horizontally and sewed the slices together without sashing. The differences in the slices are subtle and the bright colors give it big impact.
Judy took a photo of a zebra taken by a photographer friend, traced it, enlarged it and asked us to make the zebra different colors in each horizontal slice.
What she got was realistic features on a horse of many different colors. Her accurate drawing and the careful piecing of each of the ladies allowed her to sew the slices together to get a unified image of a very funky zebra.
I used my own photo of peppers and asparagus, traced, enlarged, and sliced vertically.
The ladies stayed within the basic colors of the original photo.
I loved the result and thought it would be interesting to see if I could bind them separately, hang them together and have it look like one quilt. Everybody did such a great job and I love it.
The most interesting part of the whole exercise to me is that what started out as a push toward trying new things produced such wonderful results and also acted like a trust exercise. I can hardly wait to start year three.
Thank you to quilterblogs.com for including our blog. Check them out to see what other quilters are up to.
QB1
Quilter Blogs & Store Search
COMING SOON: PICTURES OF YEAR ONE
I must admit to being a bit nervous about the whole thing. Working on a quilt that was ultimately going to belong to someone else is a bit daunting. What if my addition stuck out like a sore thumb? What if I didn't love what others did on my quilt? What if working on a short deadline made me crazy? (Or perhaps that should be crazier.)
So with pizza boxes, some basic rules and fabric in hand we jumped into the deep end. Five of us started the round robin and it turned out GREAT! Every one wound up working out of her comfort zone, stepping up her game and thinking about pleasing the woman whose quilt she was currently working on . Every two months we shared what we'd added with everyone except the woman who started and would own the quilt. The last meeting was the "big reveal." They were wonderful. I'm missing a picture and want to show them all at once, so I'm going to start with year two.
Four of us participated in year two and we decided to try a technique we'd seen in a magazine. The project was called slice of life. Two of us started with photographs and two with patterns. What we ended up with was amazing. We sped up the process at the halfway point so they'd be done in time to hang at our guild quilt show in May.
Each design was cut into four slices. The slices were fused and at the end the owners quilted and finished them as they desired.
The first quilt is Jan's.
Jan started with a pattern, sliced it horizontally into four pieces and traced each piece onto muslin. She fused one section and passed it on, not seeing it again until the reveal. Jan chose to put narrow sashing between the slices and border it like a window. Even though everyone used different fabrics, the result is smashing. Now I want to plant more poppies outside my window.
Jean used a pattern of a giant poppy and asked us to stay in the color groups of the original design.
She cut the pattern horizontally and sewed the slices together without sashing. The differences in the slices are subtle and the bright colors give it big impact.
Judy took a photo of a zebra taken by a photographer friend, traced it, enlarged it and asked us to make the zebra different colors in each horizontal slice.
What she got was realistic features on a horse of many different colors. Her accurate drawing and the careful piecing of each of the ladies allowed her to sew the slices together to get a unified image of a very funky zebra.
I used my own photo of peppers and asparagus, traced, enlarged, and sliced vertically.
The ladies stayed within the basic colors of the original photo.
I loved the result and thought it would be interesting to see if I could bind them separately, hang them together and have it look like one quilt. Everybody did such a great job and I love it.
The most interesting part of the whole exercise to me is that what started out as a push toward trying new things produced such wonderful results and also acted like a trust exercise. I can hardly wait to start year three.
Thank you to quilterblogs.com for including our blog. Check them out to see what other quilters are up to.
QB1
Quilter Blogs & Store Search COMING SOON: PICTURES OF YEAR ONE
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Actual Quilting
I love the whole process of quilting from picking or designing a pattern to choosing fabric, assembling the top and quilting. Okay, so sewing down the binding isn't part of the thrill. By then I'm ready to be finished and work on something else.
There was a time when I hand quilted everything. It took forever, but it was an incredibly cool look and there's a peacefulness to it. Then I had children and reality set in. Quilting time was precious (as it continues to be) and I learned to drop the feed dogs, attach a foot that wasn't actually made for the machine and quilt some straight lines. I'm not sure why I thought straight lines would be easy or even doable. Some of those early machine quilted projects were not all I'd hoped for. (This last would be a huge understatement.) Then I learned to stipple While I don't do stippling much these days, it's a great way to learn to relax and get the rhythm of machine quilting. The long and short of it is wavy lines are easier to quilt.
Two sewing machines later, I'm in love with machine quilting. The first machine I quilted with was from 1985 and it really wasn't meant to quilt. The next machine was designed for quilters and it worked much better. Sewing machine manufacturers have heard the cries of the legions of quilters who wanted better quilting and more room to maneuver. My newest machine quilts smoothly and has more room for excess quilt and makes me feel SO much more talented. (Thanks, Mom.)
I spent a bunch of last week quilting "Lemonade Stand." Lots of it is leaves. Leaves are probably the easiest thing to quilt. They don't have to look alike, they come in a variety of shapes and if one is a little goofy, I just assume the aphids got it.
Along with the leaves "Lemonade Stand" called for some lemons. So the border has lemon slices.
And of course, some lemonade.
Drawing with a sewing machine is actually a lot easier than it seems. What it mostly takes is practice. Start with a simple drawing or get some ideas from machine quilting books. Perfection is overrated and not the point; stitching your impressions of leaves or lemons or space aliens is what makes your quilt special.
Quilting "Lemonade Stand" reminded me of my last hand-quilted project, "Citrus Salad." The look is simple and stylized.d
Actually, this one is an orange, but you get the drift.
If you aren't as confident in your quilting skills as you'd like to be, use smaller thread in a color that blends. Often I go blendy anyway if the quilt top is fairly busy to begin with. (If blendy isn't a real word, it should be.). The point is to attach top, batting and back in a way that pleases you. It's a big part of what makes a quilt your own personal work of art.
"Citrus Salad" is available on the pattern page of our website, www.mobquilts.com. "Lemonade Stand" is coming soon.
Quilt with passion!
There was a time when I hand quilted everything. It took forever, but it was an incredibly cool look and there's a peacefulness to it. Then I had children and reality set in. Quilting time was precious (as it continues to be) and I learned to drop the feed dogs, attach a foot that wasn't actually made for the machine and quilt some straight lines. I'm not sure why I thought straight lines would be easy or even doable. Some of those early machine quilted projects were not all I'd hoped for. (This last would be a huge understatement.) Then I learned to stipple While I don't do stippling much these days, it's a great way to learn to relax and get the rhythm of machine quilting. The long and short of it is wavy lines are easier to quilt.
Two sewing machines later, I'm in love with machine quilting. The first machine I quilted with was from 1985 and it really wasn't meant to quilt. The next machine was designed for quilters and it worked much better. Sewing machine manufacturers have heard the cries of the legions of quilters who wanted better quilting and more room to maneuver. My newest machine quilts smoothly and has more room for excess quilt and makes me feel SO much more talented. (Thanks, Mom.)
I spent a bunch of last week quilting "Lemonade Stand." Lots of it is leaves. Leaves are probably the easiest thing to quilt. They don't have to look alike, they come in a variety of shapes and if one is a little goofy, I just assume the aphids got it.
Along with the leaves "Lemonade Stand" called for some lemons. So the border has lemon slices.
And of course, some lemonade.
Drawing with a sewing machine is actually a lot easier than it seems. What it mostly takes is practice. Start with a simple drawing or get some ideas from machine quilting books. Perfection is overrated and not the point; stitching your impressions of leaves or lemons or space aliens is what makes your quilt special.
If you aren't as confident in your quilting skills as you'd like to be, use smaller thread in a color that blends. Often I go blendy anyway if the quilt top is fairly busy to begin with. (If blendy isn't a real word, it should be.). The point is to attach top, batting and back in a way that pleases you. It's a big part of what makes a quilt your own personal work of art.
"Citrus Salad" is available on the pattern page of our website, www.mobquilts.com. "Lemonade Stand" is coming soon.
Quilt with passion!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Getting Away From It All
Last week I left studio and quilts behind because I needed to be here
seeing this:
I was privileged to watch 29 dedicated young military officers receive their wings and officially become pilots. How completely cool was that! If this doesn't make your heart beat a little faster, nothing will. Congratulations to all; your loved ones and country are proud.
After 4 days of Texas heat and some barbeque wings that were SO delicious, I'm back in the cool and leafy Northwest, which could be just a tad warmer, but that's another whole story. The neat news is that I can look at my studio and projects in a whole new light.
This one, which my rack maker-sweetheart seems to really like, is almost finished.
It's called Lemonade Stand and I like it as a summer quilt because each block has only four pieces, it goes together in a hurry, and the colors are bright as summery. It's currently only held up by the fact that I ran out of the variegated thread I was using for the top and have to get another spool. The pattern should be up on the website for sale in a couple of weeks.
At this point, I'd like to put in a plug for the marvelous group called Quilts of Valor. Their mission is to cover all service members and veterans with Wartime Quilts. They always need our help and it's something the quilt community can do for our servicemen and women.
I made this one for them a couple of years ago and have another top finished. There's something about doing these that is so totally worth the effort.
For more information, go to http://www.qovf.org.
This post has been a bit random, but here's the thing. When we step out of the studio and into the garden or the city or anywhere we don't often go, it creates a spark of creativity and a new enthusiasm for our art. Everything about my current projects and the ones in my head is brighter and more focused. I'm re-energized to leap right in.
By the way, today is Flag Day. Happy Birthday, Judy.
Mother
seeing this:
I was privileged to watch 29 dedicated young military officers receive their wings and officially become pilots. How completely cool was that! If this doesn't make your heart beat a little faster, nothing will. Congratulations to all; your loved ones and country are proud.
After 4 days of Texas heat and some barbeque wings that were SO delicious, I'm back in the cool and leafy Northwest, which could be just a tad warmer, but that's another whole story. The neat news is that I can look at my studio and projects in a whole new light.
This one, which my rack maker-sweetheart seems to really like, is almost finished.
It's called Lemonade Stand and I like it as a summer quilt because each block has only four pieces, it goes together in a hurry, and the colors are bright as summery. It's currently only held up by the fact that I ran out of the variegated thread I was using for the top and have to get another spool. The pattern should be up on the website for sale in a couple of weeks.
At this point, I'd like to put in a plug for the marvelous group called Quilts of Valor. Their mission is to cover all service members and veterans with Wartime Quilts. They always need our help and it's something the quilt community can do for our servicemen and women.
I made this one for them a couple of years ago and have another top finished. There's something about doing these that is so totally worth the effort.
For more information, go to http://www.qovf.org.
This post has been a bit random, but here's the thing. When we step out of the studio and into the garden or the city or anywhere we don't often go, it creates a spark of creativity and a new enthusiasm for our art. Everything about my current projects and the ones in my head is brighter and more focused. I'm re-energized to leap right in.
By the way, today is Flag Day. Happy Birthday, Judy.
Mother
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