Category — Sewing

Newest Entry in the Baby - Quilt Gallery

Isn’t he cute?  It’s River, the latest addition to the Baby – Quilt Gallery.

For Teaching Offspring about Good Food

I finished An Adventurous Palate yesterday, sewing down the binding, and running it through the washer and dryer, so that it has a softer, more comfortable feel.  This is machine quilted in the ditch, with additional diagonal quilting lines through the corners of the squares.  This was pieced with Aurifil thread, but quilted with Superior Threads’ King Tut, since I had one spool of it in a nice contrasting color that works well with the fruity blocks.  The green binding matches the background fabric, a batik.

I plan to deliver this today to the new grandparents.  I’m hoping it’s a big hit.

The quilt top, approximately 41 inches square

For those of you who are sick of the cured meats, and are wondering when I’ll get back to the SEW part of Slow and Sew, here you go.  I’m working on a baby quilt to give as a gift to dear friends who are new grandparents and gourmands.  I know they’ve wanted to have grandchildren for a long time, and they welcomed a new baby boy into their family just weeks ago.  This is a quilt to stay at the grandparents’ house, where I’m sure the grand baby will be introduced to a wide variety of food.

I see this quilt as a simple version of the I Spy quilt concept, and I can just imagine the cute baby sitting on the quilt and learning the names of fruit and veg with his grandfather.

The working title for this quilt is An Adventurous Palate.  Now it’s just down to quilting, binding, and a label.  I was impressed that I had 47 distinct food fabrics in my stash.  Only the bread and cheese fabrics were repeated.

If any of you find yourself in Plymouth, NH, this May, please check out this show.  That is, if you needed a better reason to visit New Hampshire in the spring.

My quilts are in the photo on their website.    How cool is that?  Thanks to Annie Hager for setting this up.  I’m thrilled to participate.  I just wish I could get there in person while it’s up.  Mum- are you ready for a road trip?

Thanks to Facebook, I recently re-connected with my best friend from summer camp during my tween years.  We discovered that we both did graduate school at the University of Maine, we are both quilters, and that we share an admiration of the work of Ruth B. McDowell.  Now we share even more than our original interests in drama and skiing.  Even better, A invited me to be in a quilt show at an art gallery in Plymouth, NH that she’s involved with.  She also invited my sister J (in Virginia) to participate.    This week, I’ve been adding labels (nothing like the last minute!) and a sleeve to the smaller of the two quilts.

This morning I mailed out Japanese Gardens II (above) and Ruth said “Let us Quilt.” (below).  They should arrive at A’s on Monday, in time for the show to be hung on April 30th.  A will be sending more promotion information shortly, so I’ll pass along more show details, if any of my adoring fans will be in or around Plymouth, NH this spring.

At our Winona Area Quilters Guild (WAQG) guild meeting last week, we were discussing the kinds of tools that we use in our quilting projects that aren’t sold at quilt shops.  Some of my favorite tools for this discussion are 1) Blue Painter’s Tape, 2) Tracing Paper,  3) FedEx Office,  4) Freezer Paper, and 5) Sharpie markers.  As you can see in the photo below, I’m really a fan of the blue painter’s tape.

I’ve been working on a new quilt project, working from a photograph I took in Lake City, MN, on the weekend of our WAQG quilt retreat last month. It’s a photo of sailboats in dry dock, near the marina in downtown Lake City.

I printed the photograph out on my printer on 8.5 x 11 paper (it’s taped to the wall on the right).  I then made a tracing of the major design lines in the photo. I took the tracing (along with two other tracings of other photos) to FedEx Office, where a man there was happy to enlarge my tracing to 36 x 48, and print it out for me.  The enlargement of each tracing cost about $9.50, which I think was a deal, considering all of the work it saves to enlarge the picture.  After taping the enlarged drawing to the wall, I covered it in more tracing paper, and have simplified the drawing some, so that it is pieceable.  This photo shows freezer paper taped over a section of the tracing paper, so that I can transfer the piecing lines to the shiny side of the freezer paper with thin Sharpie marker, to make the fabric templates.

I’m almost to the part of the project where I get to play with color and fabric, but all of this setup work really does make the assembly part easier.  All I need now is a really large piece of foam core, or some other substance that I’ll be able to pin the templates to as I audition fabrics.   It might be time to head back to the hardware store and look at what might become my next favorite quilting tool.

When sewing garments, it’s always a wonderful thing when you like a design enough to make it again in different fabrics.  This zip up vest is one of those.  This time, I made it in a smaller size, but with the same method, strip-piecing the outside, and adding patch pockets.  The result is a bit less subtle than the first one, but I’m pleased with the fit, and I think this will be fun to wear with all of my basic black pants and solid color shirts.  I made this while I was on the annual WAQG retreat in Frontenac, MN this weekend.  More on that in another post.

And, the mark of a good garment (IMHO), an interesting lining:

Yes, I’ve got a whole room in our house devoted to my fabric, fiber, and power tools.  Yes, it is one of the least organized rooms of the house.  Much of this is due to the fact that I haven’t had lots of time to spend in it, and I prefer to spend time making stuff, rather than cleaning.  I know that shocks you, dear readers.  Not so much.

As I am preparing to go on a long weekend with WAQG friends, I am doing a little bit of archaeology, uncovering layers of stuff, and seeing what I can find, so I can take a portion of the studio to Frontenac.

These pictures make me more of a candidate for one of those reality shows about hoarders than it does for Pokey Bolton’s  Studios Spring 2010, but it gives you an idea about what kind of archaeology I’ll be doing.

Working in this room really is like archaeology… peeling away a little layer after a little layer, finding fabrics or notions or things that have been with me for many years.  Here’s hoping that with more time to work in here, I’ll figure out the best way to organize things.

So far, in the bag to take on the trip:

• The vegetable quilt I started on last year’s retreat and have barely worked on
• black and white fabrics collection for making another vest, or a black & whites quilt, or working on this year’s challenge
• a few interesting door prize items
• Building Materials fabrics, for a potential raffle quilt for Habitat for Humanity silent auction
• Laminated cottons for making waterproof shopping bags

That should keep me busy for most of the weekend, I’d think.  We’ll see.

I expect that Studio Archaeology may be a theme for the next couple months.  Perhaps some organization will ensue?   Stay tuned!

but now I am back, and ready to post again.  I’ve been busy, distracted with work, and with knitting projects mostly, but I’m ready to get back to blogging with some new inspiration and energy.  Now that Minnesota is thawing out, and it’s time for CSA choices, I’m thinking more about good things to cook.

And it’s always a good time to add a chocolate discovery or two to the mix.  After a trip to Kansas City and Lawrence, KS, I’ve had a chance to re-enliven the taste buds in interesting restaurants, and remind myself how much more is out in the world than I’ve seen in January and February.

Upcoming posts:

5 course dinner for 8, and how I did it without an army of helpers

Go-to chocolate dessert for 2010

Archaeology in the quilting studio

Karis on Colorshock the Cold Away

Here’s the latest entry for the Baby/Quilt gallery- baby Karis, daughter of Joel and Candie.  (click on the ph0to for a better look at this darling.)  They live in Boston, though they used to live in this area. Karis was born a few days before Christmas.  I’m pleased to hear the quilt (called Colorshock the Cold Away) is in use as Karis’s landing spot as she prepares for life as an active wiggler and athlete.

I brought her photo to our recent Friendship Circle meeting, and she is considered to be remarkably cute.  I hope she becomes a member of Red Sox Nation, like her big sister S.  She’s been born in the right place.

Here is another photo of the quilt in process.  I machine pieced and machine quilted this, using fabrics from my stash.  All cotton batting, fabrics, and thread.

Process Photo of Colorshock the Cold Away

Welcome to winter, Karis!  I hope you’re not a grumpy elf anymore.