June Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

End of the month - no excuses - just procrastination.  When I first read the June challenge by Cindy Needham, I was a little intimidated.  Her work is outstanding and such a lot of stitching in such a small area.  This is the type of quilting I am aspiring to master.

I used her divide and conquer method and started with a drawing.  I used different styles of paisley's as my inspiration plus some straight line fillers.

I then marked my muslin with a few significant lines - I hate to mark so I did not copy every line - just the ones I needed to keep myself orientated.

Then I quilted the divide and conquer lines with Superior's King Tut.  I wanted to make sure I would see these lines as I went.

Finally I quilted the other lines using Superior's So Fine.  I needed a very thin thread to work with as I knew I would be backtrack lots during this design.  I was surprised at how few starts and stops I had and how quickly it quilted up.  I need to work on my small circles - they are not very smooth and I think my poor machine needs a trip to the service technician for a little TLC as the stitches seem to be a little angled.  Most of all I am glad I got it finished in June (just).  

May Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

Once again - the end of the month (nearly) and I am just getting my May Free-Motion Quilting Challenge finished.  I have had a few distractions this month, as you will see at the end of the post.

I have used Leah Day's blog in the past when trying to come up with new quilting motifs, so I was excited to see her in the list of teachers.  I enjoyed her video and decided to try my machine with the feed dogs up as well as down to see if there was any difference in the quality of the stitch.   My first sample was done with the dogs up and without my Supreme Slider.  It was a little more difficult this way and I would not want to do anything very big in this manor.

For my second sample I lowered the feed dogs and used my Supreme Slider.  Much easier and after comparing the two pieces, I don't think my machine cares if the dogs are up or down.

As far as this distractions this month, I have had lots of company, a college graduation,

and a trip to Raleigh for Animazement, a convention celebrating all things Japanese, science fiction and fantasy, with my daughter to help her sell her work in the artist alley.  She did very well (and as you can see from the picture it was very busy), but I certainly could handle long days and late nights better at 22 than 52.  

April Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

The last day of the month and what am I posting - the finished April challenge piece.  Next month I am determined to finish this project before the middle of the month (highly unlikely as I am converting my studio into a guest room for part of this time as we host family for my daughters college graduation - hurrah.)

I really like this months challenge by Don Linn, Mr. Quilt.  One thing I absolutely, positively hate is marking quilts.  I tend to do my free motion without any marking - but there are times that you want the quilting to exactly fit a space and the only way to have that work out is to mark it.

I started out using a design from 1000 Great Quilting Designs by Luise Roberts. The only difficulty I had with this was finding a piece of tulle that my cat had not chewed a hole in - the only thing she likes better than chewing tulle is licking plastic bags!  I finally found a piece big enough and drew the design using a sharpie maker.  It would have worked better if I had centered the design in the hoop - notice the upper right corner runs into the frame - but no time (or tulle) for a redo.

I then traced the design using a blue washable marker onto a piece of my hand dyed fabric - it was an attempt at a shibori technique that didn't quite work.  I didn't follow the lines exactly in a couple of places but the general line was there.  I used the whole design twice and the center section to link the two together - a perfect fit for the size fabric I had.

Finally, I started quilting - I had a little problem with skipping stitches until I realized I had a cross-wound thread on the horizontal spool and it really wanted to be on the vertical spool.  A few minor curse words, a little bit of un-sewing and I was able to get a pretty good piece.  I need to work on both the consistency of the stitch lengths and following the line - but was fairly satisfied. 

After the initial design was done - I went back and echo quilted the pattern.  I had a little trouble keeping a consistence distance for the previous line stitch - I was using my free motion foot as a guide - more practice is required.

After that I went back in the centers and filled in using a variation of pebbles.

I will definitely use this technique again.  I think it would be a good way to audition quilt motifs as you could lay the tulle drawing on various blocks to see how it would work. I have a quilt where the blocks were made by a group that has been waiting to be quilted.  I haven't been able to figure out how to quilt the blocks to highlight the wide variety of blocks but keep it cohesive overall. It has moved up the get to list now that I have a way to test out the designs and mark the quilt with out pulling my hair out.

Not the Elk

My art group (Art That Works) has been working on an exhibit for the last year inspired by photos we took at Charles Towne Landing, the state historic site were the first colonists reached the Carolinas.  The exhibit is our first public exhibition.

Charles Towne Landing – Impressions in Fiber, will be held at Charles Towne Landing from April 14 -27, 2012 during regular park hours, 10am – 5 pm.  The exhibit will be held in the Visitor Center.  Various artists will be available to answer questions during the Founders’ Day Festival on April 14, 2012.  

I have two pieces in the show -  Charleston Thatch and Not the Elk.  

Not the Elk is the piece I was testing my leaf quilting for in my last post.

The picture I based my quilt on was this cheeky guy snacking on the corn feed in the elk enclosure, while the elk was busy eating the natural vegetation.   

I started out with mostly commercial fabric, a piece of computer printed fabric and bit of painted fabric(the bowl).  I did most of the piecing with free form curves.

I added some fused pieces of fabric for grass and thread painted both the grass and the raccoon before I layered the quilt. The piece looks a little flat at this stage - it is amazing how quilting adds dimension to a piece - especially if you add an extra layer of batting to highlight an area.  The raccoon has two layers of batting.  I used a pillow case finish as I did not want any binding on this piece and did not have time to do a facing.

I used a lot of my practice leafs from the last post to build the foliage behind my enterprising thief.  

If you have a chance to visit Charles Towne Landing in the next two weeks - I hope you will take the time to visit our exhibit.

March Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

Nothing like waiting to the last day to post my challenge pictures.  I actually finished these pieces much earlier in the month, but have been busy preparing for a local exhibit and working on my next large quilt.  I know, excuses, excuses, excuses.

I used this month's challenge to start something I have been thinking about for a while - a stitch library.  When I get ready to quilt either a traditional pieced quilt or a non-landscape quilt I am usually stuck for ideas on how to get started on the quilting.

I used Ann Fahl's tutorial to start creating little blocks of quilt designs.  I started with the ever present stippling design.  I get very bored with stippling so I started at a medium stipple and then went smaller and then smaller still.

The I used Ann's loops and hearts and stars.  More interesting and much faster to cover the same area of a quilt.

I then moved on to headbands, a Diane Gaudynski technique, and echo quilting.  I like the different texture this design creates and again much more interesting the stippling.

Next I used a grid format that I have used many times - but now have a sample to show.  This is quilted by marking lines horizontally and vertically 1" apart.  Then you start a one intersection and sew in a curve to the next intersection.  It goes very fast and if you have smooth curves - it looks impressive - like you are quilting circles!

Lastly I did a study of leaves for a quilt I just finished - which I will blog about separately in my next post.  I tried varies forms of leaves from oak to birch to a few made up ones.

In each sample I sewed a round button hole - I plan on using a loose-leaf ring to collect these samples so that the next time I need an idea how to quilt a project - I will have a library to look at.  I hope to create additional samples as I work on new projects.

A Challenging Knitting Project

I have been working on the most difficult knitting project to date in my short knitting career - Catkin by Carina Spencer.  I finished the swatch for it a few weeks ago - but unfortunately only took its picture this morning.  It came out exactly the right size and looked wonderful - before it was eaten by my vacuum cleaner.  Note to self:  Take pictures as soon as you finish something and don't vacuum where you can't see in case something has fallen to the floor unnoticed.

It looks a little sad now - but I am very proud of the fact I figured out some very difficult stitches (and using a chart no less.)

The yarn I am using is Classic Merino Supersock by Knitting Notions in Azure and Pumpkin Spice.

I am finished with the first 70 rows of the shawl now - the easy part and am getting ready to work from charts - a very new experience for me.

  Currently at 233 stitches - a circular needle with a longer cord will be required soon.  

The only problem I can see with the pattern is that it starts with 5 stitches and at the end there are 545stitches.      So every row takes longer, and longer, and longer . . .

Quilt Show/Quilt Jewels

The last few weeks have been very busy - the biannual quilt show for my local guild, spring break for my kids, and teaching two classes.

The Cobblestone Quilters Guild Show was great fun - I had the opportunity to assist in the judging (holding up quilts for the most part) and it was a fascinating experience.  I really learned a lot from the comments the judge made on the various quilts entered in the show.

My two quilts, Work Out Buddy and Sunny Side Up did very well.

Work Out Buddy 

Work Out Buddy won a third place ribbon in the pictorial/landscape category.  The first and second place pieces also won a judges choice award and a best use of color award- so it was a tough category.

Sunny Side UP

Sunny Side Up received an honorable mention - in a very competitive art quilt group - every quilt in the group came home with a ribbon.

In addition to helping with the judging, set-up and white gloving for the show, I also had some of my work for sale in the boutique.  I made journals, Kneat Knits, and Quilt Jewels.  

Quilt Jewels (necklaces and pins) are a continuation of my series of work on how small can I piece without resorting to paper-piecing.  Work Out Buddy has one inch square pieces, Sunny Side Up has 1/2" pieces and the Quilt Jewels contain 1/4" pieces.

A Quilt Jewel Pin

A Quilt Jewel Necklace

For the necklaces, I am creating the cords using a knitting I-cord.  Its a great way to incorporate my long time love of quilting with my new love of knitting.