Quilted Placemats

Buona festa della donna! (Happy International Women's Day!) 

 

 

 

 I just finished six quilted placemats for my sister. When she saw the ones I made for myself last summer, she asked for a set. Here are three of my six. We've used them almost every day since July, they've been washed a bunch of times, and still look great. They are improv pieced from scraps, which I find extremely entertaining. The straight parallel quilting lines hold everything together nicely.

 

 Here is Anita's set. She loves neutrals. I was able to use some of the fabrics that were left over from the lap quilt I made for her a few years ago.

When she saw on Instagram that I had started working on them, she was surprised they made it to the top of the queue, but the project perfectly fits #sewthescrapoutofMarch. 

 

Here's my set up. Cutting mat, spray bottle and starch far left, then wool pressing mat and travel iron.

I do all my piecing on my antique Featherweight. The bin of scraps is handy, as is a 16 oz tumbler of water. Stay hydrated, my friends!

I killed my Bernina 153 last week. I have neglected her for so long that she seized up on me! Keep your machines hydrated (oiled) too! She'll be dropped off at the spa later this week. In the meantime, I'm using the used Bernina 200 that I picked up for Julia. I don't love it, but the automatic thread cutter was very helpful! No one can take the place of my 153 except maybe a 770. ; )

  It took me a minute to find them, but I did remember to include my labels. The binding is completely machine-stitched for durability.

 I don't know if you want to see each one, but here they are. I added some cute prints for her grandchildren in the first two.
 

 

Quilted Placemats for Anita

14" X 18"

Started 3/4/2021

Completed 3/7/2021

Clarksdale Crossroads

I recently completed a scrap quilt I had been working on for some time. The traditional block is called Arkansas Crossroads. The title of my quilt is Clarskdale Crossroads because it reminds me of a special trip. (We did cross the border into Arkansas, but didn't spend any time there.)

In June of 2016, my husband Bill and I made the pilgrimage to the legendary blues crossroads in Clarskdale, Mississippi. He bought this pretty resonator guitar on his 50th birthday. If you are not schooled in Mississippi Delta Blues, start here with Robert Johnson. 

OK, back to the quilt. I had cut piles and piles of 2.5" squares in early 2016. I started sewing together 4-patches sometime after the big trip. My brain can't handle randomness, so I sorted the squares into warm and cool piles so I could sew a warm to a cool. The alternating white blocks have one warm and one cool triangle.

When I made the stitch and flip units, I had a BIG pile of bonus triangles left over. They are the gift that keeps on giving! I'm still playing with those little cuties.

 The top was done in April 2017 shortly after my daughter's wedding. I was pretty busy after that getting her wedding quilt done, so Crossroads sat for a while, waiting.

I finally quilted it in February of this year. It was easy to decide on a quilting design for the colorful bits. It's a loopy continuous curve in a peachy Superior Sew Fine thread.

It took a while to decide on a design for the white sections. I actually tried something, didn't like it, and picked it out. I settled on a walking foot design. Straight lines first, then gentle curves. I was able to stitch diagonally edge to edge. No threads to bury!

I added a free motion fill only to the diamond shapes around the outside edges. When I went to my stash to look for a binding fabric, I was so excited to find this print that mimics the shape of the quilting design!

I knew I was cutting it close. I really didn't want to cut another full strip of binding fabric to fill that little gap, so I didn't! I reached into my scrap basket and found a bit of blue that matched the Philip Jacobs print on the back. That seemed like the perfect place to insert my label.

Since I had done some marking to guide my walking foot lines, the quilt needed to be rinsed. Imagine my distress when one of the purple prints bled! After the second rinse with color catchers, the purple came clean, but...

one of the reds ran! I was persistent, and was finally able to release all the excess dye by washing in warmer water. I was sweating for a few days there!

Ahh. I love a freshly completed quilt!

Clarksdale Crossroads

64" X 80"

Started July 2016

Top done April 2017

Quilted & bound February 2018

Completed 3/9/18

Springtime in Kansas

 It's been mini season here at Seaside Stitches. This is the largest of my recent mini finishes. I'm calling it Springtime in Kansas. The pattern is Kansas Dugout, and I think the scraps give a pretty springtime look. I've never been to Kansas, but my father was stationed there during World War II.

It started out innocently enough with a single ring of English Paper Piecing. I was excited that it uses the same papers as Patchwork of the Crosses.  

I added rings and rows until it reached a decent size. All the fabric came from my scrap bags, and no fabric is repeated except the Kona Snow squares.

 I didn't want to piece in tiny triangles to square it up, so I set it on point and appliqued it to a big square of Kona Snow. That provided large corners of negative space for fun machine quilting.

During the quilting, I had two "are you kidding me?" moments. Thankfully, I don't have this fold over problem very often. I was able to trim around the stitching and pull out the offending fibers.

I was literally 1/2" from finishing when the bobbin ran out. Really?!

I like the look of combining straight line and free motion quilting. It took me some time to decide on a quilting design for the piecing. I'm not completely happy with what I did, but it's done.

 I do really like the quilting in the corners. I took Christina Cameli's Craftsy class "Wild Quilting" last weekend to get some new ideas. I drew out a bunch of options and chose this divide and conquer symmetrical plan.

Oh, baby, I love this texture!

 

This little quilt will be donated to the Narragansett Bay Quilters Association auction to benefit the New England Quilt Museum. Do you think I can convince my husband to buy it back?

Springtime in Kansas

Started March 1, 2016

Completed March 21, 2016

Hand Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt

Machine Quilted with Superior So Fine 50wt

18" square
Purchased at auction by Maria Lage

Quilty Catch Up

I'm so sorry that I've been away from the blog for almost two months! November and December do seem to be the busiest months of the year, what with all the holidays and partying. Here's what I've been up to on the quilting front.

 

Two of my quilts were accepted for exhibition at A Quilters' Gathering in New Hampshire at the beginning of November. Engineer's Wife was awarded a codirector's ribbon from Kate Sussman. She liked the Morse Code anniversary quilt, too.  

  

During the same weekend,  the Rhode Island Modern Quilt Guild presented an exhibit during the Fine Furnishings Show in Pawtucket. Three of my quilts were included: Diamond Party, Sugar Wave and Picture Perfect.

 I had an opportunity to meet Mary Fons! 

  I quilted up an old WIP/UFO before to fill out my craft show booth. It was made from a really cute collection of Debbie Mumm lighthouse prints and coordinates. I think I pieced it in 2008. It can be a baby quilt of small lap quilt, perfect for a beach house.

Finished size: 48" X 54" 

 Another pre-craft show finish was the scrappy pyramid quilt. I really like this fun collection of modern scraps. The green binding works because green goes with everything!

Finished size: 48" X 64"

Started 2/22/15

Completed 12/2/15

While I was in a free motion quilting mood, I quilted up a guild quilt for a Habitat home dedication.

 The RIMQG hosted a postcard swap in November and there were the 2 fabric postcards I sent out. I bust out a paper pieced New York Beauty whenever possible!

On December 23rd, I decided I wanted to make a Christmas quilt for our cuddling up on the couch on Christmas Eve. Well, I got the top done that day and haven't taken another stitch since. I hope to quilt it this coming week. I used two charm packs of Flurry by Kate Spain and two yards of solid white Kona. Yummy!

And there you have it!

Improv with Jacquie

 I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to take Jacquie Gering's Scrappy Improvisation class last week. It was fun and informative and a really great day!  Many thanks to the Rhododendron Needlers guild and All About Quilts for hosting the class.

I had planned to meet my friend Maria there, and was pleasantly surprised that Janet Elia had signed up as well as two other members of the RIMQG. I really wasn't expecting to see so many familiar faces 90 minutes from home.

Here's my classroom setup. I can't go anywhere during allergy season without tissues. Sue brought the chocolate! 

 

My first four blocks were promising. Before packing for class, I selected the color palette from a photo on Design Seeds. I consulted my color tool to determine the fuchsia accent.  The gray is Kona Silver. I haven't used it up yet, so you will be seeing it again in celebration of my 25th Anniversary of quilting.

 I finished seven blocks in class and decided to not make more. I pieced them into the background yesterday while our piano was being tuned.

Jacquie has done some fun zig zag quilting across some of her quilts, so I started there with this one. I got bored pretty quickly, so I added a second zig zag. I wasn't sure if filling in with free motion was going to work. I stopped after each section to reassess. More straight lines to the left of the skinny fuchsia strip.

 

Here you can see the lime backing and teal binding.

 

 Hooray for texture!

 Improv with Jacquie

October 22 & 27, 2015

29" square