One of My Quilt Heroines

I don't have time to be very creative right now, working 60 hours a week until April 17.  Then I'll be able to make more quilts.

But here is news I don't want you to miss:  Barbara Brackman, quilt historian extraordinaire, is starting a new Block of the Week, based on Jane Austen:  her family, her friends, her life, her country.  The free patterns begin April 6, and will post weekly, each Sunday, for 36 weeks.  The blocks are 12" traditional blocks, and all the names have something to do with the history Barbara will relay about Regency England, from about 1770-1820.  Even if you don't want to make the quilt, the blog will be very interesting reading about the Jane Austen Era.

Barbara has blogged about this here and has an introductory blog post about it with suggestions for fabrics, how to choose them and how much here--at the home of this new blog.  It would be fun to make this quilt in contemporary fabrics, for a very different look.

Last year I made Barbara's Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week, still available here, telling the story of the women's suffragist movement in the US and England: 

 

 

Here is mine--it's quilted now and I'm working on the binding.  These were 8" blocks and there are 49 of them.  Jane will be 36 blocks, 12" each. 

 

So, if you're looking for a new project, check out http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/ where you can find all of Barbara's blogs and lots more information too.  Barbara is one of those special people in the quilt world--someone who is eager to share what she knows with the rest of us--and she knows A LOT!  She is one of my quilt heroines and I want you to know about her too.

 

Let's quilt!

 

Barbara 

Grandmother's Choice--Fini!

I managed to get my Grandmother's Choice top finished this week:

Grandmother's Choice, 74" x 74"

This is a block of the week created by Barbara Brackman, quilt historian extraordinaire, to tell the story of the fight for voting rights for women, in this country and England and Canada.  The patterns are still available here:  Grandmother's Choice.  Each week for 49 weeks there was a block pattern and a history lesson--very interesting and educational.  The colors I chose were the colors used by the English Suffragist movement--purple and green, right up my alley.

Don't know what I'll do with this top--let it rest for a while, I suppose.  Another project I can mark "done".  Yes, I'm a "topper" sometimes, more than a "quilter". 

Thought you might enjoy seeing an antique top I bought at Long Beach from Cindy Rennels.  It is not in perfect shape but is a great collection of old fabrics and the price was right.  I love how the maker add those much smaller squares on the right side.  I'll just protect this one and use it to study the old fabrics.  I might even replicate it because that's the best way to honor the maker:  "anonymous" was a woman.

 

And here's a new project I started, easy hand work I can take with me when traveling or work on at night while listening to TV--if I can keep the kittens from helping:

They are just stuck up on the design wall--as I get more done, I'll start sewing them together.  The blocks are 6" square.

Patches and Stitches--always in constant motion, unless they're asleep!

Check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday blog to see what others are doing.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Too Many Irons?

I am often asked how I get so much done.  That's ironic, since I feel like I don't get enough done! 

Maybe it's because I have too many irons in the fire?  Thought you'd like to see a shot of my current design wall:

At quick count I can see 6 works in progress--and at least 2 more that are covered up by the Small Feathers quilt and one that's in the basket.  Grandmother's Choice is almost done--only 2 blocks left, then borders and it's fini!

Some are hand pieced, some hand appliqued--they just go on until I decide they are done.  The Scrappy Trip Around the World was a class sample--class is over so I'll work on that as a "leader/ender" project until it's the size it wants to be. 

There is another "leader/ender" project to the left of the Scrappy Trip--it is lots of four-patches--1" finished size.  First there are 4 of them in a block with 1" sashing, then 4 of those become an 11" block, then 4 of THOSE become a 23" block--those are joined with 2" wide dark teal sashing and cheddar cornerstones.  This will be a special birthday quilt for my sister and is half done so far.  I have another couple years to get it done but think I'll try to wrap it up this year--I'm getting tired of all those little 1" squares!

Today I'm off to Long Beach, CA for the Summer Quilt Festival there.  I work for Quilts Inc in the Education department and look forward to these shows every year.  It's our last visit to Long Beach--next summer there will be a great new show in Portland, OR.  I will get to see my wonderful longarm quilter friend, Pamela Joy Spencer Dransfeldt, this Saturday when she and her husband Steve come to the show. 

Do you think I'd get more done if I stuck with one project until it's done?  Is that how YOU work?  I don't think I'd be able to do that--more is better for me. 

For more inspiration check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday blog.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Grandmothers Choice

It's getting there.  This is Grandmother's Choice, designed by Barbara Brackman, as a block of the week.  The blocks each have a connection to the Suffragist movement, from the late 1800's to 1920 when women got the right to vote.  Here is her blog.

I selected these colors based on the fact that the British Women's Social and Political Union adopted them in 1908 and I love Amethyst.  There is a lot of historical information with each block.  We take so many of our rights for granted, forgetting those who struggled to make our freedoms possible.

One more block gets done today, then just 4 more weeks to go.  I'm not sure how I'll do the borders, time will tell.

Check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday to see what others are doing. 

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Turned Edge Machine Applique'

I was asked about the baskets shown in an earlier post.  They are part of Ruffled Roses, the 2011 BOM for www.thequiltshow.com     Here is a photo of the pattern, available at Sue Garman's Website

Ruffled Roses, designed by Sue Garman



Begun in January 2011, I'm finally getting back to it and hope to have the top finished this fall.  The applique' is being done with C&T Wash-Away Applique' sheets, a technique I'm doing a demo of at our guild meeting.  In are earlier post, HERE, I showed the steps for preparing the applique' shapes--turning the edges over the wash-away applique' sheets, using glue stick, then using a very narrow zig-zag stitch to sew the pieces to the background.  Here are more pieces ready for the demo:



EDIT:  At the demo I was asked to describe the glue tips I use to attach the pieces to the background holding them in place for sewing.  Here they are:

They are FolkArt brand Enamels Tip-Pen Craft Tip Set.  I got mine from Purple Daisies LLC at a quilt show.  You can probably find them at a craft or hobby shop.  There are 3 different size tips that allow for the tiniest drop of glue.  I place tiny drops of glue on the background, place the piece on the glue and then heat set with a dry iron.  The washable school glue dries very quickly and the piece is right where I want it for sewing--no pins to get in the way. 

These pieces are for the corner blocks on the basket borders:

I like this method for the speed in printing the pattern pieces and the speed in sewing.  The preparation time is more than I would have for hand needle-turn applique' but sewing by hand would take me a LOT more time.  The wash-away sheet will dissolve when the completed quilt is washed.  It acts as a stabilizer and there is no need to put a stabilizer under the background while sewing.  I'm also using a neutral putty-colored thread for all the pieces, no changing threads--of course, you could if you wanted the stitches to be close to invisible.  Here is my center: 

Our guild program is a round robin of 6 different applique' techniques, being demo-ed by 6 guild members.  I'm in charge of getting it organized--the only downside to that is, I don't get to see the other 5 demos!  Oh, well, it's still fun and will be an educational experience for our guild members.

I was also asked about the two quilts  I have in the Traditional Treasures Special Exhibit, opening tonight at International Quilt Festival in Chicago.  Those were shown in a previous post here:  Traditional Treasures 2013.  The quilts will then travel to Houston for the 2013 International Quilt Festival Fall show there so I will get to see them hanging in the special exhibits.  Very happy.

Grandmother's Choice is only 7 blocks away from being done--here is the sixth row: 

This block of the week, designed by Barbara Brackman, has very interesting historical information about the work of the suffragists who struggled to earn the right to vote for women, both here and in the UK.  

That's it for today--time to quilt!

Barbara

Summer Projects--Charge!

It's that time of year when I get going on all the projects I want/need to finish.  With our guild bi-annual show in October 2013 I have several things to work on.

None of these will make it in this year's show but I'm trying to get them further along.  Here's the design wall:

A small part of Ruffled Roses, BOM 2011 The Quilt Show

Antique Rose Star--mostly hand pieced--quite a few more to go.
 

Grandmother's Choice, row 6, I'm keeping up--only 9 more blocks to go

I'm teaching a few classes this summer and working on Fall class schedules and samples.  There's garden work to do--red raspberries are coming in now and a good crop of blackberries will start ripening in the next few weeks.  I've got 4 tomato plants--perhaps we'll plant more vegetables next year--there's room for it.  Mostly, it's keeping the yard mowed and weeding, weeding, weeding.  And moving things that have gotten too crowded.

 

I still have to put the binding on the red and white quilt and figure out the rest of my show entries.  I'm also hand quilting an old-timey looking nine-patch, using Big Stitch with perle cotton--fun and fast! 

 

The great news I received recently is the Special Exhibit, Traditional Treasures 2013, that will debut at International Quilt Festival in Chicago this month, will move to Houston--SO, I will get to see my two quilts hanging at Fall Festival there in October.  I'm very happy about that. 

 

That's it for now--let's quilt!

 

Barbara

 

 
 

Design Wall Monday January 7, 2013

A big Happy New Year to all!  Life is almost back to normal, which means tax season starts for me this week.  Here's a look at what I've been doing:

I enjoy the Grandmother's Choice block of the week published by Barbara Brackman--she tells the story of the suffragist movement less than 100 years ago. Here is the current row:

A new block and history lesson appears each Saturday.   She is also starting a new Civil War block of the month project I am trying to convince myself NOT to do, but I still might: .Civil War Dixie Diary--after all, it's only 12 blocks and you decide if you'll make them 12" or 8", and there's only 12 of them--see, I'm talking myself into it.

A class I'll be teaching soon is the Trash 2 Treasure Pineapple quilt using Gyleen Fitzgerald's book and ruler.  I've got these 30 blocks sewn together--just from my stash strips.  With a project like this, I cut strips to the sizes needed from any fabric I'm working on so I keep feeding the project box.  Then when time permits, I make more blocks:

Lastly, here's my latest "new" project, a hand pieced block called Victorian Antique Star:

I got turned on to this when I happened on the blog of Barbara Chainey, a terrific English quilter I met a few years ago when she taught at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  It uses a terrific template from Matlida's Own, an Australian company.  I plan to teach this in May or June--the perfect traveling project, once your pieces are cut and marked. 

My biggest challenge since Christmas is learning Windows 8 and trying to figure out my new desktop computer--we're still trying to determine if it has "issues" or it's just "operator error".  Time will tell...

Take a look at Judy L's design wall Monday blog to see what others are doing. 

Are you a Downton Abbey fan?  I saw the DA Revisited special in early December and told my husband I was sorry I'd missed the first 2 seasons.  Bingo!  Santa provided them on DVD and I got to watch both seasons, almost back to back.  Last night was the start of the n3rd season and there was a great special before it on the actual Highclere Castle, where it is filmed--very interesting!

Have a great week and let's quilt!

 Barbara

Just Takes 2 is Done--Almost!

With all the patterns and the final construction instructions in hand, I got the Just Takes 2 red and white quilt top assembled.  There were several places to join with partial seams as there are no complete rows in the whole top so it took a little while to join it all together:

 

Now I am working on a pieced border to finish it off.  There are 2362 pieces and 59 different fabrics in the top.   It will be quilted by a longarm wonder woman.  I'm thinking of using red for the back--what do you think?

 

The only other thing I got done this week is the next block in  the Grandmother's Choice block of the week, which honors and educates us about the women's suffragist movement of a century ago.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what other's have been working on. 

 

Have a great week and Let's Quilt!

 

Barbara

 



Design Wall Monday December 3, 2012

It sure got to be December in a hurry!  My son, Andy, turned 32 yesterday, so it must be December.  We enjoyed having dinner with he and his wife and her parents and brother on  Saturday night.  At a sports bar--we were there for the last 15 minutes of the SEC championship game between Alabama and Georgia--wow, was it LOUD when the game ended with Alabama's victory!

Here's what I got done this past week:

The first 2 rows of Grandmother's Choice, the story of the woman's suffragist movement.  The blocks come each Saturday and if I don't keep up, I'll never get it done.  I'm using the tradtional colors of the English movement--I didn't know it was a world-wide struggle.  See Barbara Brackman's blog for more information.

Here are the Just Takes 2 blocks I got done last week:

 There is one applique' basket block I don't love so I am replacing it.  Thought I would put four 6" heart blocks together to fill the 12" space until I had the first one almost done and realized I had not put the heart on point.  So, back to the drawing board--I'll find something else.

The final blocks have been printed and I'll finish those this week and complete joining all four quarters into a top.  I plan to add a pieced border--will give some thought to that after the top is done.

This is my last burst of "pre-tax season" quilting time.  Have to get as much done now as I can since my quilting time will be seriously curtailed from January-April.  I'll get a few hand projects together so I always have something I can pick up at night--when I have the energy. 

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what other's have been doing.

Have a great week and let's quilt!

Barbara