HOPE

Here's a small quilt I made this week that I absolutely love. The pattern is one block of the Tattoo Quilt by Berene Campbell at Happy Sew Lucky. You can purchase patterns for the whole quilt or individual blocks in her Etsy shop.

I immediately fell in love with this block because the Rhode Island state motto is Hope. And I love tattoo art. And barn swallows are cool.

I downloaded the pattern and started piecing on Tuesday. I thought a scrappy green background would be fun. It. Was. Not. The completed block went in the trash!

Restarted on Wednesday. I wanted to use the same deep blue for the birds, but I wasn't sure if there was enough. I traced the pattern shapes, added generous seam allowances, and cut out the pieces. Joost-a-joost, as my grandmother would say!

My favorite bit of piecing is the life light in the eye.

The quilting texture in the background makes me happy.

My goal with this binding was to match up the flange at the join more accurately than past attempts. Nailed it! I used the tutorial by Sew Fresh Quilts, but made my binding a bit narrower. (I cut my strips 1.25" and 1.5" wide.)

Glamour shot. Julia bought these lunchboxes on a high school trip to NYC. They haven't moved from this spot since!

HOPE

15" X 20.5"

Pattern by Berene Campbell

Started 4/29/2020

Pieced on 4/30-5/1

Quilted and bound 5/3/2020

These are two of the five neighborhood deer that snack in our yard almost every day. I wish they'd stay away from the lilacs!

Frankie's Woodland Friends

Here's another baby quilt I made in 2017, this one for my great nephew, Frankie. I blurred out Frankie's unique middle name for privacy reasons.

Most of the animals are from the pattern Woodland Critters by Shiny Happy World.

I added the turtle (for the book character Franklin) and a cardinal at mom's request.

I don't do machine appliqué often, but I did enjoy the process. I worked on one block at a time, adding to the design wall as I went.

I did not quilt-as-you-go as suggested in the pattern. 

 I love how Wendi's creatures have such character.

Emily's Giraffes

Since I have some free time while I wait for my grandson to be born, I thought I would show you a couple of other baby quilts I never posted. This is Emily's Giraffes, made for my great-niece in 2017.

The pattern is Giraffes in a Row by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. It goes together quite nicely with some careful cutting and accurate 1/4" seams.

 The pink baby giraffe is Emily.

I pieced the other 3 during a weekend retreat. Several friends have since purchased the pattern!

Big sister Jackie is purple, mom is teal and dad is Syracuse orange!

(See Jackie's quilt here.)

Quilting my standard loopy swirl.

Glue basting the binding to the back allows for tidy machine stitching from the front. It makes me happy. Is that weird?

The backing fabric was purchased years ago when my LQS retired. 

EPP vs. FPP

 I presented my new lecture on Saturday. My friends at Modern Quilters of Rhode Island are super kid, funny, fun, encouraging and thoughtful! Thanks to their willingness to be my guinea pigs, I'll have an even better lecture to present to the Linsey Woolsey guild next week.

EPP vs. FPP: The Showdown 

What technique do you prefer? English Paper Piecing or Foundation Paper Piecing?

I love them both!

Photos by Leslie Lowenstein

P.S. I made my dress! It is a Cashmerette Upton Dress.

P.P.S. I'm booking now for Fall 2019 and 2020.

Raquette River Oxbow

Blogiversary post 4 of 10

I love this quilt! It depicts the oxbow on the Raquette River in the town of Tupper Lake, NY. My family has been there several times, camping, canoeing, kayaking and visiting the Wild Center. My daughter was an intern there through the summer of 2015. So this spot holds a lot of memories for us.

I couldn't wait to take a class with Timna Tarr to make this map quilt. I used a topographic map from the US Geologic Survey and had it enlarged at my local copy shop. I built my quilt from the river up. Cutting out the yellow layer was intense! What you see below is a layer of heat & bond with the mirror image of the river traced on, then adhered to the back of the yellow batik. I cut out the little ponds first with an x-acto knife.

It was a little unruly. I needed to use a light box with my map under the blue fabric to line up the yellow just right.

I changed color to correspond with the lines on the topo map. The greens were a lot easier to cut!

If you click on this picture, you might see the weird lines and texture from the fusible. Apparently, heat and bond reacts funny with batiks, which I did not know before this project. Next time, I'll try a different brand.

I used Sue Cleveland's 12 weight spaghetti cotton thread in black to quilt a line between each color. I love the way that looks! Then I used matching 50 weight to add echo texture.

We had a discussion in class about legends and scale. Without them, it's not a map, it's just a pretty picture. I had my husband do the math and calculate the scale for me.

The texture looks amazing on the back!

I had to include a flange in the binding. It's a phase I'm going through! To stitch down the binding, I used the 12 wt black thread again. I think it's a cool effect.

The free motion quilting was done on my trusty old Bernina 153.

 

Raquette River Oxbow
33.5" X 23.5"
October 19, 2018- Workshop with Timna Tarr
October 20, 2019- top complete
October 25, 2018- quilting started
October 27, 218- quilt complete

For Dave

Blogiversary post 3 of 10

Here's another quilt you haven't seen here yet.

My husband's brother is in a nursing home, so I made him a quilt. Anita's Arrowhead block is always the right choice! You can find it in Anita Grossman Solomon's book Rotary Cutting Revolution, available through her Craftsy class.

Dave's Quilt

Made in November 2016

Red IS a Neutral

Blogiversary post 2 of 10

In the Fall of 2016, Barb Vedder hosted a block swap: broken dishes blocks made with solids- any red plus one other color. 

I chose to use a pale yellow and pale blue for my blocks.

Barb mixed them up and returned an assorted pile of blocks to us.

I pieced my top on November 1, 2016 and started quilting on the 3rd.

I had just taken a Craftsy class with Christina Camelli, so I had a blast quilting in red thread. It is the neutral in this quilt, after all!

Do you see the star shaped area below with less quilting? That was a design choice that quilt judges don't like. I did it anyway!

The binding was stitched on November 5th!

The purple binding was the best choice and it looks good with the Jane Sassaman print on the back.

 Freddy Moran says every color looks better next to red!

Red IS a Neutral

32" X 32"

Started 9/21/16

Finished 11/5/16

Best Use of Color, Ninigret Quilters 2017