Carrie’s Quilting Mania

Great-Grandma Inspired Block August 23, 2009

great grandma block

Originally uploaded by Ramble Queen

I really loved the block used in the quilt I just inherited and wanted to try it myself. My first thought was to go hog wild and try to match up the prints and make a faithful reproduction. Honestly, though, I don’t have the budget or time. Quilt shops in my area are not child friendly at all (not that they should be, but it makes it hard for a mom to buy fabric). Instead, I decided to do what my great-grandmother would have done and use the fabric in my stash.

I’ve been collecting batiks for a long time but am usually too afraid to use them. I don’t really know how to match them up or use them effectively, but after looking at the inspiration quilt I realized that it is fine to go nuts with the colors and it will be beautiful in the end. Most of my batiks are the colors in this block so I don’t think there will be a problem with unity.

I started by measuring the blocks in the quilt, but that didn’t go so well. I thought it would be so simple to get out my ruler and measure the components, but I didn’t count on the shrinkage factor. I kept getting weird measurements like 3 1/3 and 1 5/8, which aren’t exactly rotary cutting friendly. I don’t know if the wackiness was all due to shrinkage or if it also had to do with the lack of rotary cutter when my great-grandmother made the quilt. I’m sure she used cardboard templates and scissors since rotary cutters weren’t invented at the time of her death.

In the end, I made the half-square triangles finish at 4″ and the middle squares finish at 2″. The sashing will finish at 1 1/2″.

I don’t think the proportions are exactly right. I think I’ll try again, having the middle squares finish at 1 1/2″. it seems like in the original blocks the HSTs are much bigger, proportionally, than the middle cross.

Also, as I was making this block I decided it was a churn dash. I dismissed that before since the middle cross is so much smaller than the HSTs, but the construction is exactly like a churn dash (or Hole in the Barn Door). I don’t know if that effects the name of the block or not. I’m no quilt historian.

Vintage Quilt August 19, 2009

My grandma died a couple of weeks ago and my mom is trying to get things squared away and straightened up. I am in Maryland and my family is in Oregon so I didn’t go back for the funeral. I was just there two weeks before she passed away so I really couldn’t find a way to spend so much money and travel so far with a three year old.

Anyway, I asked my mom if I could have any quilts that she found. My great-grandmother was an avid quilter and I thought there might be a couple floating around the house.

I was right! My mom found one and mailed it to me last week. I received it today, packaged with a Roomba, which surely must be some sort of ironic pairing.

I don’t know much about quilt history and don’t know anything specific about this quilt. I can only assume my Grandma’s mother (Ruth) made it, though it is possible my Granddad’s mother (Levi) made it. They were both avid quilters. I have no idea what the time line would be. Ruth died in the 1960s and Levi died in the 1980s. I’m just calling it vintage based on the colors and condition of the fabrics.

This quilt was found in my grandma’s bed. She was actively using it, even though it was in such poor shape. She was not ever really interested in quilts so I guess she didn’t realize that it had special meaning and needed special treatment to be preserved.

Does anyone know the name of the pattern? It looks really familiar, but I don’t know the name off hand. I’ve never had any interest in doing a reproduction quilt, but I might make an exception for this quilt.

**Update: Thanks to kkwilter, I believe this block is called Propeller HERE**

Ummm. Except for my Dear Jane, of course. Is it really a reproduction when you are not doing it in repro fabrics?

This was the most vibrant block. Most of the others were pretty faded.

I LOVE the color of the backing, which is probably why I love this quilt so much. Love, love, love!

The whole thing is hand quilted in a fan design. It doesn’t have a shred of binding left, but I don’t think it ever had any real binding. It looks like she flipped the backing over to the front edge as a sort of binding. I know my grandma did that on the quilt she made me for when I was a teenager. That quilt is only 20 years old and has been carefully put away for most of that time, but the false binding is already shredded. I keep thinking I should put a real binding on it.

Disappearing Nine Patch Baby Quilt August 18, 2009

I’ve wanted to try a disappearing nine patch* for a while, but the opportunity just never seemed to present itself. My friend is having a little girl at the end of October, so I started searching around eBay for fabrics. I found a lady who was selling packs of color coordinated squares, so bought two packs plus a couple of yards of the blue fabric. Since I never have time to go to the fabric store, it was fabulous to buy a color coordinated set that someone else put together. I never would have thought of this combination, but it works.

I was planning on putting a blue border around it to tone down the pink. My friend is not enamoured of pink, but I have a little boy and never get to play with pink. I didn’t do my math very well so the top turned out bigger than I anticipated. I wanted to keep it small so it was handy as a baby quilt and so I could use some yardage from my stash for the backing. I bought some sock monkey fabric that turned out to have a HUGE print that is only suitable for backing. I was really happy to be able to use it on this quilt. If my friend gets tired of the pink, girly front she can just flip the quilt over.

This was not my best work, by far, but I’ve been away from quilting for quite awhile. I forgot all those little important tricks and tips that makes things go more smoothly. I’m not too upset though, since I do want the mom to actually use this quilt. It is not heirloom quality at all. I hope it sees many, many hours of floor time, spit up, and other baby love.

*Disappearing nine patch: Make a bunch of nine patch squares. Cut them into quarters then sew them together again. Mine was extremely random, but you can find tutorials that show you how to make a less random pattern.

Once Upon a Time August 4, 2009

Once upon a time, a long time ago I started working on a Once Upon a Time quilt from the Modern Quilt Workshop book. The premise of the quilt is that you use it as a story telling device. You have lots of 4″ novelty fabrics on a background with “lines” connecting them.

I got the top and quilting done pretty quickly, but stalled out on the binding. I decided I wanted to do the binding properly (I’ve been machine sewing it to the back, flipping it down, then machine sewing to the front, leaving a sort of funky seam on the back) because I worked hard on this quilt. Then we moved and I got pneumonia and life went crazy and six months later the quilt was just sitting around with a half sewed on binding.

But now it is done!

The quilt is washed and dried and looks fabulous! Even though I’ve made several quilts, I always hold my breath until they come out of the dryer. I’m always convinced they are going to fall apart. I don’t understand how I am capable of creating something by sewing it together. It seems like magic.

Very blurry–not loving my new camera.

Erik, my son and quilt owner, wanted his picture taken with his new quilt. I had to oblige. Also, he got his new Threadless.com t-shirt today and was one happy camper. I still don’t get the humor of the falling banana, but it has made the boy extremely happy.

Next up, a girly baby quilt in a disappearing nine patch pattern. I have the top together, just need to remember where I put my store of batting.

The Changing Face of Quilting February 12, 2009

Several months ago I picked up a bunch of old quilting magazines on freecycle. I haven’t looked at them because it seemed overwhelming, but we are about to move so I need to figure out if I really want them or not. I’m thinking not.

You wouldn’t think that quilting would change much over the years, but the magazines from the early ’90s haven’t wowed me yet. The colors are really dull and . . . well. . . old fashioned. You’d think that quilting is a timeless art. You wouldn’t think modern colors would make such a difference. But they do! Oh how they do. I am not into reproduction fabrics, and I guess I’m not into late 20th century colors.

Most of quilts they show are just tied. You would almost never see a tied quilt in a modern quilting magazine. I posted about this over at my regular blog and had a reader explain that back in the day the quilt police refused to let you machine piece. I wonder how many of those self-same quilt police now own a long arm machine? I tried tying a quilt once to make it go faster, but after two ties I ran to my machine and stitched in the ditch.

Most of the patterns say you should use polyester batting, which was cracking me up. You will REALLY never see a quilting magazine say that these days. Polyester is the evil step-child that everyone turns their nose up at. I saw a small ad for Hobbs Heirloom wool batting, explaining that it was a unique product that would change the way people quilted. I guess they were right!

There are no rotary cutting directions. Instead there are directions on how to make templates out of plastic or card stock. As if I am going to make templates for squares and rectangles. I had no idea rotary cutting was such a new concept. I can guarantee I never would have became a quilter if I had to cut things out the old fashioned way. Quilts of yesteryear must have really been a work of love. Not that they aren’t now, but even the simplest of quilts must have taken at least twice, if not four times as long as quilts of today. All that scissor cutting *shudder*.

The biggest laugh had to come from an article about the “future of quilting.” It was actually pretty accurate, but it missed a major concept: the Internet. It predicted that in the year 2010 we would all wake up in the morning, log onto our computers and video teleconference with our quilting friends from around the world. Pretty accurate. We could do that if we wanted.

It also predicted that quilt shops and other companies would send out CD-ROMS (very carefully explaining what a CD-ROM was) that would contain their entire catalog. Sort of true. We use websites. Can you imagine all the waste we’d produce if we got CDs from every online quilt shop we like to visit?

It had a lot of ideas about how the computer could be used to store pattern data. We could buy CD-ROMS with patterns and magically search for a pattern, calling up the pattern and pictures of completed quilts. Again, close call, only no CD-ROMS. The funniest bit had to be a little paragraph about how quilters might be able to talk to each other “on-line” with Prodigy, CompuServe or Internet. I admit, I was giggling at the Internet just being Internet and on par with Prodigy and CompuServe. Back in 1994 I had no clue about the Internet and how it would change my life. I couldn’t even imagine meeting people all over the world, buying stuff on the computer, writing about my daily dramas.

It did hit one nail square on the head. It said we would be able to buy software to draft patterns for us. Most serious quilters own at least one type of quilting software. I really need to buy something if I am going to continue the round robin I’m in. I have the Dear Jane software, but usually just depend on Quilters Cache or books and magazines for patterns.

I found the whole thing very amusing, but not amusing enough to keep the three foot high stack of magazines.

M13, Lynette’s Diamond + Tutorial January 3, 2009

Date Completed: January 1, 2009
Number of Pieces: 12
Description: hand applique/machine pieced
Color Group: purple
Number of blocks completed: 61
Number of pieces so far: 1060+ 139 sashing
Interesting current event: It’s New Years Day so the world isn’t turning so fast today. In personal news, I just found out my sister broke her leg. I want to go to Oregon to help her, but really can’t leave b/c of things that need to be done to settle on our new house.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to complete each Block of the Week through the Dear Jane mailing list. This was the first one!

It didn’t turn out perfect, but it was very quick and easy. I’m happy enough with the results.

I took a few pictures along the way so you can see how I did it. I found this method on the official Dear Jane page, though it didn’t include pictures so I had no idea how it was going to turn out.

Step 1:

Applique a 5″ circle of focus fabric on a 5 1/2″ square of background fabric.

Step 2:

Sew 1 1/4″ in squares of focus fabric to the corners of the block. Sew on the diagonal in the same way you would make quick pieced flying geese.

Snip off the corners and press open.

Step 3:

Cut the block into quarters, flip the pieces around and sew together. I think my seams were not quite 1 1/4″. I am thinking about taking out the seams and redoing it, but I’m not sure I’m that motivated.

A7, Dad’s Plaids December 31, 2008

A7, Dad’s Plaids

Originally uploaded by Ramble Queen

Date Completed: December 30, 2008
Number of Pieces: 8
Description: hand reverse applique/machine pieced
Color Group: purple
Number of blocks completed: 60
Number of pieces so far: 1048+ 137 sashing
Interesting current event: The governor of Illinois is in embroiled in a scandal. He was trying to sell Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder. In more personal news, we have a contract on a townhouse! We’re almost homeowners!

I’ve had this block ready to go for months, but I was very unhappy with my less than stellar placement so ignored it. I suppose I could have just redone it, but I hate redoing things even though it probably would have taken 20 minutes. Honestly, in person it is not very noticeable and it will really not be noticeable in the finished quilt.

My quilting New Years Resolution is to do the BOW through the official Dear Jane mailing list each week. That will get me through the blocks I’ve been putting off and maybe this quilt will be done in my life time!

This week’s block is M-13, Lynette’s Diamond. I’m going to make it using the tip at the official Dear Jane site, but I have no idea if it will really work. I’m not a spacial based person so the idea doesn’t make any sense to me, but sounds pretty easy to execute:

“Done a totally radical way-it works! Applique a 5″ circle of focus fabric onto a 5-1/2″ background fabric square. Sew 1-1/4″ (focus fabric) square onto the four background corners using a diagonal line (as you do for quick corners and flying geese). Trim the under side of the focus fabric. Cut the large square into quarters. Turn them around and sew the quarters back together as per the M13 picture and you have a perfect Lynette’s diamond!”

Testing December 26, 2008

I am having blog problems and not sure what to do about it! This is just a test.

If you want to see the whole Fabric Bag Tutorial post below this you can highlight the text. I am not sure why the white box starts half-way down the page. Computer problems make me grumpy.

Fabric Gift Bags–Tutorial

Here’s the perfect excuse to hit the quilt shops this weekend! Go forth, ye fabric addicts, and find heavily discounted holiday fabric. You can turn it into wonderful fabric gift bags that will last for years. Save the environment, save yourself gift wrapping time, and satisfy your need for new fabric. What could be better?

Supplies:
Fabric rectangles in various sizes (choose fabric that you can’t see through!)
matching thread and bobbin
pinking shears
straight pins
safety pin
ribbon
beads for embellishment (optional)

The beauty of this project is that accuracy is not very important. There are no points to match! Everyone will be so excited to get to the gift inside, they won’t have time to measure your seam allowances. Except your cranky old grandma. That’s why she gets a fruit basket.

I like to do several at once so I can chain piece. I can whip these out much faster than I can wrap a gift.

Step one:

Lay out your rectangle of fabric and decide how you want to fold it to make the best gift bag. Find the sides that will be the two tops of your bag and trim the ends with pinking shears. At this point you will have a rectangle of fabric with two opposite ends pinked.

Step two:

Fold down the pinked ends about 1″. Pin. This should give you adequate room for a seam allowance and plenty of room to send a beribboned safety pin through your drawstring pouch.

Step three:

Sew down your drawstring pouch. I keep my presser foot along the pinked edge to keep more room for the drawstring.

Step Four:

Fold rectangles so the right sides are together and the drawstring pouches are at the top. Pin both sides.

Step Five:

Sew the sides of the bag with 1/2″ seam. Start sewing where the drawstring pouch seam starts. DO NOT SEW ALL THE WAY UP TO THE TOP! If you sew to the stop, you won’t be able to put in your drawstring!

Step Six:

Use the pinking shears to trim the seams you just sewed. This will prevent fraying and make your bags last a lot longer.

Step Seven:

Turn bag right side out. Attach a safety pin to a length of ribbon and run it through the drawstring pouches. Tie the two ends together in a secure knot. OPTION: Add beads to the ribbon to spruce it up.

Step Eight:

Add a gift, then tie in a pretty bow.

Step Nine:

When Christmas is over, put the bags somewhere safe so you can find them next year. I think this will be the hardest part!

We used the bags this year and it was fantastic! We were able to take all the toys out of their impossible packaging and pop them in the bags. We didn’t have to spend Christmas morning fighting with twist-tie packaging while our son begged for his toys. My husband was also very grateful to get out of traditional wrapping. My only concern is what happens when the kids get old enough to be sneaky and open the bags while they are alone in the house prior to Christmas. I guess at that point maybe I won’t even care. I was a very bad girl and always opened and re-wrapped my Christmas gifts while my mom was at work.

Birthday Block Center December 18, 2008

quilt center

Originally uploaded by Ramble Queen

I recieved 14 or 15 birthday blocks in a swap last year but they were such a diverse group that I never knew what to do with them. I was in a bad mood and decided I needed craft therapy. I decided they were my blocks and I could do what I wanted, so I picked out the 9 most match-y blocks and put this together.

I plan on putting a border around it to make it a litlte bigger and prettier, but that will require some thought. I have a quilting buddy coming to town next week, so I’m hoping she can give me some ideas (she did the block with the blue cross with a pink background).

In this swap I requested jewel tone blocks that would finish at 8″. My plan is to make a wall hanging. We’ll see if it happens. This is the wonkiest top I’ve ever made in terms of warpiness of fabric. I assume it’s because I was not on intimate terms with any of the blocks, thus when I was putting it together I didn’t know how to correct for wonkiness levels. Also, there are a lot of stretchy triangles in those blocks! Suddenly I understanding the importance of paying attention to the grain.