MY FAVORITE QUILTS # 5

 I am wrapping this up with one my my MOST favorite quilts. I say this is the quilt that changed everything for me as a quiltmaker.

   JOYFUL JOURNEY, 87" x 87", 2009

In late 2008 the Block of the Month Quilt for The Quilt Show.com was revealed at International Quilt Festival in Houston. I fell deeply in love with the pattern. And I was smitten with the designer, Sue Garman. I made it a point to meet her and tell her how much I loved it. As it turned out, she was making an easier version with larger pieces to add to her pattern company offerings. She graciously agreed to send me her file for Washington Medallion and our friendship was sealed. 

I wanted to make this quilt for our 2009 guild show. I selected my most favorite fabrics and decided from the beginning to put my best work into this project. Though I had been quilting for almost 24 years, I usually had a "close is good enough" attitude. Now I was determined to do the very best I could. Things that didn't align were taken out and done again. 

When the top was done, I found that one of the two baskets was sewn in upside down. The baskets are the only blocks in the quilt that have a definite top and bottom. I spent almost two hours unsewing the errant block, and getting it on it's feet. I felt much better when that was done.

As the top neared completion I began to think about who could quilt it in the custom manner I wanted it quilted. On Facebook I saw the work of Pamela Joy Spencer Dransfedlt, who lives in California. Her work was exactly what I was looking for.  I contacted  her to ask if she would take it on, and if she would be coming to International Quilt Festival at Long Beach, CA that summer. She loved the quilt so we arranged to meet at Long Beach for the hand-off. 

Little did I realize then, wonderful longarm quilters are busy. So asking her to have this done in about 6 weeks as a huge Ask. But she was game for the challenge. 

Then I learned I could not enter this quilt in the judged show in Houston if I paid for the quilting. So we began a collaboration. I offered to make her one of these quilts in exchange for the quilting. Her husband loved this quilt from the moment he saw it so her response to my offer was "Steve says yes!". 

Here is the quilt I made for her after she quilted it for herself. It hangs in her living room and I occasionally spot it in her family photos on Facebook:

Pam did an outstanding job on the quilting and the piecing is pretty good too. It is a great quilt and means a lot to me. It represents my willingness to take myself seriously as a quiltmaker. 

Here are some detail shots:

It was such a great quilt I decided to enter the American Quilt Society show in Paducah, KY. for the first time. It was juried in and hung in the 2010 show. 

Then it was selected for the book 500 Traditional Quilts, published in 2014, featuring the best traditional quilts being made at the time. And it was included in the Special Exhibit of many of those quilts at International Quilt Festival Houston in 2014. 

My friendship with the late Sue Garman means more to me than I can describe. This quilt started it and she taught me so much over the  next almost 9 years I was honored and lucky enough to share this Earth with her. Including how to make pieced borders fit a quilt by using "Floater Borders". I have a Tutorial here explaining that process that I include on my blog with her permission.

The other thing this quilt gave me is the title for my blog. When I decided to start a blog at the end of 2010 it was easy to name it "My Joyful Journey". Quilting should be fun and joyous and filled with the beauty of luscious fabrics and inspiring design. It certainly is for me.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Round One Done

 Recently, I wrote about the Round Robin swap the Sunday Sew and Sews are doing. Eight of us created center blocks, 12"-16", to swap with 3 others over the next several months. See that post here: A Feathered Star

My first project to work on belongs to Donna D. She made a 15"  Feathered Star block, using the wonderful pattern from Sue Garman, Washington Medallion. The pattern is available for purchase, at Sue's online shop: Washington Medallion. It is a Block of the  Month pattern--you can choose to buy all 12 patterns or each one individually. Month 1 is the Feathered Star pattern. Month 2 sets it on point and adds the HST border and floater border.

Here is what I did with Donna's Feathered Star:

First, I set it on point, creating a 21.5" center, including seam allowance. Then I made 56 Half Square Triangles (HST), using 7 different prints and 5 different backgrounds, two of the backgrounds were used twice. The pattern shows how to do that easily, using paper. I simply used a mechanical pencil to draw the sewing line on the back side of the light fabrics. Very easy to see and sew as a pair, creating 8 HSTs from each pair of fabrics. 

After the HST were sewn into border strips, it is time to figure out the size of the "floater borders" that make everything fit together perfectly. 

Learning how to calculate Floater Borders changed everything for me as a quiltmaker. It is the BEST thing I learned from Sue, but certainly NOT the only thing. 

In a perfect world, our piecing would fit precisely. In reality, or at least in MY world, the more seams in a border, the more chance for the border to grow or shrink and not be a perfect fit.

CALCULATING FLOATER BORDERS:

1. Pieced HST borders, including seam allow. 24.75"  (these should have been 24.5"--mine grew)

2. Center Block, including seam allowance     21.5"

3. Difference between 1 and 2                          3.25"

4. Divide 3 in half                                             1.625"  FINISHED WIDTH of the  Floater

5. Add 1/2" seam allowance to 4                      2.125"  WIDTH to CUT the Floaters

For the Left and Right Floaters, cut 2.125" x 21.5".  Sew to the left and right sides of the center.

For the Top and Bottom Floaters, cut 2.125" x 24.75". Sew to the top and bottom of the center, AFTER sewing on the Left and Right Floaters and pressing them toward the Floater. 

Now, add the Left and Right HST Borders to the quilt. Press toward the Floater,

Add the Top and Bottom HST Borders to the quilt. Press toward the Floater.

The quilt top is now 24.75" square, ready for whatever comes next. 

NOTE: the fabric I used for the Floater was a fat quarter, not long enough to cut 24.75". I could have pieced it to be long enough, but decided to add Cornerstones to the Top and Bottom borders instead. Those squares were cut 2.125" and added to the left and right ends of the Top and Bottom Floater borders.

If you want MORE of this information, I have an even more detailed Tutorial on the process. Find it here: The Magic of Floater Borders

Here is Donna's center block, as I received it:

I hope she likes what I've done with it.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

A Feathered Star

 The Sunday Sew and Sews have started a little Round Robin this week. I wrote about how to organize such a project earlier this year: Round Robin

In between my Secret Sewing, I am working on the block that belongs to Donna. She made a Feathered Star from the pattern Washington Medallion, by Sue Garman. See my version in purple and turquoise in the Photo Banner above. 

I have just begun to add a couple borders. First, I set it on point:

More to come in the next few days. There are a lot of half square triangles to be made.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

More Quilts Going to Houston!

I just got confirmation that two more of my quilts will make the trek to Houston this fall--it's a Happy Dance kind of day!

Red and White--By the Numbers, was selected as the 40th Anniversary Commemorative Quilt, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of International Quilt Festival and all the Ruby Jubilee activities we will have this year:

It's featured in all the advertising and on the cover of the catalog and will be on the terrific tote bag everyone is sure to want.  I wrote about that here, along with info on how you can still order the patterns. 

Today I received notification that two of my quilts will be in the Special Exhibit: 500 Traditional Treasures.  That is the title of a new book due out this September and I am honored to have 3 quilts selected for the book.  Two of those will be in this Special Exhibit:

Joyful Journey

 

A-Round With My Friends

 

Joyful Journey is from the pattern Washington Medallion by Sue Garman and is available here. 

A-Round with My Friends was made as a Round Robin with my two best quilting Buddies, Ellen A. and Sharon S.  It won Best of Show at my guild in 2011 and was exhibited in Paducah April 2014--I wrote about our trip to see it here.

This is the year I retired after 34 years with H&R Block, I turned 60, and all this great quilt stuff is happening.  I think this is my year and:   Life is so good! 

Let's Quilt--and I hope to see you in Houston this year.

Barbara

Hard Work Pays Off

I've been preparing for my knee replacement surgery, set for August 20, so have been working on lots of things I wanted to get done.  Mostly, getting handwork set for my recuperation time. 

But the other day I realized I had all the parts for my guild 2013 quilt show raffle quilt and it was time to put it together.  After 3 hard days of doing little but this, the top is finished and has been delivered to the quilter--yeah!

pattern:  Washington Medallion by Sue Garman, available as a block of the month from Quakertown Quilts

This is the fourth one of these I've made in the last 3 years and I believe I can say, I'm done!  I love this pattern and have enjoyed the process but it's time to do something else--and I have lots of things in mind.  I'll be happy when this is quilted and bound.  The guild will get to see it in October.  I hope it sells LOTS of tickets!

By the time some of you read this, I'll have survived surgery and begun the rehab process.  Then the hard part--losing the weight I want/need to lose, to protect my joints.  I know how to lose weight, my biggest problem is keeping it gone!  I'm sure some of you can relate.

Check out Judy's blog for more inspiration.

Don't know when I'll get to post again but, in the meantime, let's quilt!

Barbara