Family Treasures

My parents are in the process of thinking about downsizing.  After living in their home for 54 years, the task is somewhat daunting.  So, being the good daughter that I am, the last two times I visited, I scouted around for some quilts that I remembered from my childhood.  I managed to bring one quilt home from each of those 2 visits - quite a feat since I had flown home and didn't have much spare room in my carry on luggage.

My Dad's grandmother, Maggie May McDowell Kepler, made over 100 quilts during her lifetime and this is one of them.  It wasn't until I took this picture that I really noticed exactly how much hand quilting there was on the quilt.   In talking with my sister, I found out she wanted this quilt.  It has nine blocks, each with the same cross stitch design pre-printed on the fabric.  The binding was frayed so after talking with my friend Carol who now has a quilt restoration and preservation business (Threads and Pieces - contact her at carol.walp@hotmail.com), I put a new binding on to help stabilize the border.  

When I first looked at the cross stitch work, it almost looked like some of the stitching was never completed.  Even after all these years, you can see the printed markings despite having been washed many times, I'm sure.  But in looking further, I think it was all completed but has just worn away over the years.  There's actually another circle of yellow stitches inside the blue circle but most of the yellow stitches are gone.  Would that color have been weaker than the blue?

So this quilt is now on it's way to Helen.  I know she'll treasure it as a fond childhood memory as well as a gift from the past.

Cheers!
Margaret

Bluhming Feathers

Rosie asked me to quilt her gorgeous quilt.  The fabrics are beautiful, coordinate well and her applique was executed so perfectly.  After studying the quilt for a few days, I came up with a quilting design that I thought would enhance the quilt.  Long stemmed roses are in the piano key border and mimic the roses in the floral fabric.  The tulips and vases are outlined with stitch in the ditch and a version of McTavishing is in the cream areas to help them stand out.

Rosie's Floral Garden  - truly a beautiful creation

But the really exciting part of the quilting for me are the feathers in the set in triangles and the floral border.  I saw these in Irena  Bluhm's book, Whimsical and Funky Feathers, that I received for Christmas.  I had taken a class from Irena two years ago and enjoy her quilts with their bright colors and extensive quilting.  So this book is a treat.  Page 102 had the perfect combination of feathers for these triangles and the long expanse of the inner border.

This whimsical and funky feather looks perfect in this large triangle.

Best of all was Rosie's reaction when she saw the quilt.  "I love it.  I do. I do!"  How gratifying it is to have that kind of reaction .  And how lucky I am to have friends like Rosie who trust me with their quilts.

Cheers!

Margaret

Longarm Retreat

 Earlier this month I had a wonderful weekend.  It started with a visit with my niece who is attending Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia.  She gave me a tour of the campus and I met one of her roommates.  Her dorm room is way cool (can I use that term?) and includes a fireplace on which they had hung their Christmas stockings.  Their dorm has dark wood paneling in the hallways and rooms - no built in closets so that tells you the age of the dorm.  But it was a spacious room and they had the beds, wardrobes and desks arranged so there was plenty of room for everyone.

Marian in front of her dorm room's fireplace.  Santa found them!
What you can't really see is that the mantel has the inscription
"Sans Souci" carved into it.  Not sure how that pertains to
college life that I equate to alot of worries about classes and
other stuff - but it's there nevertheless.

We then went to the Philadelphia Art Museum and saw the Van Gogh exhibit there.  For me it was eye opening as several of the works on display were ones I wouldn't have associated with his style.  In particular some of his early still life paintings were ones I'd never seen before.  I loved them - the colors and composition.

We followed that with a visit to Reading Station for dinner.  It's the old train station converted into a Farmer's Market atmosphere.  It was an enormous space with a wide variety of vendors selling everything you could possibly want.  Too bad we didn't have more time to explore.

We drove back to her dorm so she had time to get ready for the party scheduled for that evening and I headed over to Lancaster, PA for the longarm retreat sponsored by Virginia Longarm.  As I was checking in, I could hear the humming of sewing machines.  The Saturday evening activity was making pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer, an organization dedicated to making cheerful pillowcases for seriously ill children.  Cindy Kerr, founder of ConKerr Cancer, spoke to the group that evening - about her son who was the inspiration for the pillowcase project and about the progress made towards the goal of giving each of the 44,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year a cheerful pillowcase.  They also introduced "The Bird" - a Gammill Premier with a Peacock-like paint job.  They are running a contest that will support the ConKerr Cancer project with participants being entered in a drawing for "The Bird."  Want a new longarm?  Check out Virginia Longarm's site (www.virginialongarm.com) for the details.

Just one sample of Jamie's "fancy schmancy" quilting  (his term, not mine).
Metallic thread adds quite a bit of contrast.

Here's one of his dragonflies.  He uses  Marabout yarns for the bodies.

Sunday, I took some classes from Jamie Wallen.  I had taken classes from him a few years ago and was intrigued with his quilting.  His Threadfusion technique results in beautiful quilting motifs.  It helps that he uses beautiful threads.  He covered a variety of topics before getting to the discussion of actual quilting - things that will help make the quilting smoother and more effortless.  Topics like bobbin & top tension (always of interest to longarm quilters), ergonomic quilting positions (different than most people are currently set up - his way makes alot of sense), thread types and needle sizes, and, of course, cleaning (with Expo Dry Erase cleaner!) and waxing your rails to make the machine glide as it quilts.  I picked up quite a few tips that will make a big difference in how I prepare to quilt and how I execute some of the designs.  Thanks, Jamie!

Thanks to Virginia Longarm for sponsoring the retreat - on a weekend during which I was in the area!

Cheers!
Margaret

 

The SewBatik Kit

During the Christmas break, two of my good friends came over for a day of sewing and catching up. We also used Kathy's new Accuquilt to make quilt kits for ourselves. Deb used two different dies and made two different kits from fabrics she had purchased last year. I cut loads of 2 1/2" strips from my batiks so I could make another quilt like my niece Diane made last summer (August 31st post if you want to see the quilt).

Have I made any progress on that quilt? Or on the scrappy quilt I worked on while they were here?  Of course not! I started a completely new quilt project - one I've been meaning to have completed so I can show it when I have a vendor booth. It's a SewBatik kit and I just LOVE it!

I had seen a Mexican Star quilt at the 2010 Cambria Quilt retreat and just loved it. When I saw the SewBatik kit, I had to buy several of them for the Quilter's Extravaganza booth I had last November. Unfortunately didn't get the quilt done in time for the show so didn't sell very many.

Resolving to do better this year, I've just completed the top and am thinking about how to quilt it - ideas abound. Still needed is the topstitching that will result in curved sections.  It's hanging in front of another quilt - best place for pictures.  The border fabric of the quilt behind it actually might work as border fabric for this quilt, too!  I might like that better than the pale mottled pink fabric that comes with the kit.  Or how about using it for a flange?  I've not done that before but it's an idea!

I loved their kit.  They include enough extra fabric so that if you make a goof cutting you've got enough to correctly cut the piece.  And I do love the fabric combinations.  Of course, I just love batiks!

If you like this quilt, check it out on the SewBatik website.  And if you order it or any other item from SewBatik, please use my Longarm Associate Number LA1377 in the Special Instructions field when you order online.  That way they know I've encouraged you to look at their website and they'll continue to send me hangar samples of new fabrics so you can look at them in person if you're in the Columbus, Indiana area.

Cheers!
Margaret

Happy New Year!

Time to get back on the blogging bandwagon. Would you believe that I was exhausted after the guild's UFO Challenge and was gathering strength? I wouldn't but it was worth a shot.

Jamie had the greatest number of UFOs last year and completed the greatest number of UFOs of anyone in the guild. Despite that, she had a few quilts to share with us in January including this beautiful applique quilt. She relayed the story of having her children home for Christmas and letting them select the quilts they wanted to take with them - lucky kids!

Alice's quilt has blocks that are the reverse of one another - you can see a few of them in the second and third rows where the white and red are reversed. Stunning quilt.

Lois shared this rug she completed. I forget the exact name of the technique and forgot to write it down. But she talked about pushing/punching the wool through the backing - different from the normal rug hooking technique. Wonderful colors for being a scrappy rug using the bits and pieces she had left from other projects.

Carol Walp has started a new business called Threads and Pieces. She's specializing in quilt preservation, repair and restoration. She gave our program on caring for and preserving quilts. While I knew most of the basics, I did learn a thing or two about storing quilts, including the new acid-free plastic storage containers that are now available. She recommends that you still line them with aluminum foil to keep the light off of the fabrics. If you're interested in Carol's services or having her give a program, send her an email at carol.walp@hotmail.com.

Great start to the new year.

Cheers!

Margaret

And the Winners are...

Our Quilt Guild had an Unfinished Object (UFO) Challenge this year. The guild was divided into two groups - the Calicos and the Batiks. The challenge was to see which group would complete the most unfinished quilting projects by our November meeting. The guidelines were pretty loose - the project had to have been started before 1/1/11 and it had to be quilting related - not rug hooking, embroidery or other needle arts.

Rosemary had these leftover half square triangle fabrics and set them with white HSTs for an interesting visual effect. Way to use those leftover pieces!

The challenge picked up momentum through the year. It was interesting to see the projects finally completed - some begun in the early 90's and others as recently as last year. Quilters really got in the spirit this month - cheering teammates on and waiting for the final tally:

Batiks - 126.5 ........... Calicos - 155.5

The .5 related to a quilt completed early in the year where two guild members did equal amounts of work on the project. Rather than split hairs, each team got credit.

Carolyn is modeling her completed quilting project - a jacket she started last year on a quilting vacation with her sisters and completed on this year's vacation.
Colleen had this beautiful string quilt - I love the bright diamond-shaped stars made by the design as well as the alternate cream stars in between the colored fabrics.

It was wonderful to see how projects were completed - the variety was endless. Several orphan blocks ended up in smaller quilts that will be given to our local Firemen's Cheer Fund for distribution with dolls to area children.

Mary delights in working with small pieces of fabric. Her quilt above has 56 different fabrics.

I also liked Mary's comment that they weren't "doll quilts" as much as they were quilts for little girls who had a doll.

We also enjoy seeing the Halloween costumes that are made for the lucky children of some of our members. This year had a back to nature theme...

Anne, modeling her "tree" outfit that she wore to her son's school Halloween party (his outfit was cute but I missed my chance for a picture).
Susannah's daughter had a wonderful earthy type costume - note the headdress! It's wonderful to be surrounded by such creative women.

Cheers!

Margaret

Harmony Quilters

I visited the Harmony Quilt Guild in North Vernon last night. It's always interesting to visit other guilds to see how they operate, to learn about the projects in which they're involved (this group makes quilts for the local WIC program), and find out other creative ideas. This guild certainly had quite a few interesting things going on including a fabric exchange one month and a block exchange on alternate months.

They also have a traveling box, here being opened by Jeanie. There were scads of fun items in the box including fabric, scissors, finger cots, a tote bag from the Chatauqua weekend, hand made note cards that were wonderful and best of all - chocolate! She'll take the box home and at the next meeting will bring it back filled with a different selection of items.

Of course, there's always Show and Tell. I don't remember the name of the lady (on the right) who made this gorgeous top. She said that once the fabric was cut, it went together quickly. I have a large print fabric that I'd like to make into a bed quilt and a relatively simple design like this would be a great way to showcase the fabric.
The Top Hat Quilt (above) was pieced by Norma. It's really visually striking, isn't it?

Jackie had the most interesting item for Show and Tell. Apparently she had seen a thread stand like this at a quilt shop for $69. And I thought $16 for a thread stand was expensive! A friend of hers made this for her and it only cost her a can of pop and a bag of chips! Such a deal. What a cute way to dress up a functional item. So if you know someone who welds, have at it.

A fun time with a wonderful group of women.

Cheers.

Margaret