Embroidery on the Quotation Quilt

I have been doing some embroidery.

The first step in making a crazy quilt is to piece the blocks, using a foundation which helps make the blocks. The foundation is also helpful in supporting the weight of the embellishments that will be added to it.

It's too late for my inspirational quote crazy quilt, because I decided to make a crazy quilt after the blocks were already pieced and the top had already been made. I decided to add an interfacing behind the quilt to serve as a foundation. In the photo above, I am testing the interfacing on a scrap of fabric to see if it makes the fabric sticky or hard to needle through.

It does not.  The interfacing is  nice and soft and wonderful to work with.  It has fusible on one side, which I will use to adhere it to the quilt.

The second step of making a crazy quilt is to add embroidery to the seams. This is difficult for me, because I want to ignore some of the seams and make some designs that go over the whole piece. There is a nice big square that is formed by the triangles and I want to give myself room to put big designs over the squares. Limiting myself to triangles requires small detailed embroidery.

I might add the seam embroidery around the quotes and then decide on the triangles as I go along.

Yes, it does say 2002 on the top left.  Hmm, I have 2007 listed as the start date, but it was an estimated guess. Maybe that is when the top was pieced. The blocks must have been made in 2002. That would be nice to put 2002-2020 on the label. Maybe I should try to get done this year!

I also colored in this stamp.  Those tiny orange spots in the center of the flowers made such a big difference.  I haven't decided what to do with all that white space around the stamp. I want to keep the focus on the stamp.

Linked with:
Off the Wall Friday

Quilt Exhibit

In my last post, I told you I went to a quilt exhibit, and then went on to show you a quilt I took to the park for a photo shoot. Today, I will show you the pictures from the exhibit

The exhibit is by the Columbus Metropolitan Quilters. They are going to have a bigger show, Quilt Spectacular 2020, “The Roaring 20’s” February 28-29, 2020 at the Franklin County fairgrounds, 4100 Columbia St., Hilliard, OH  43026, where they will have vendors, auctions, and more quilts on display.

Since I showed you 11 pictures of my quilt, I chose 11 quilts from the show for you, in the order I saw them.

The impression I got from this one that it was very neat. I got the impression that this quilter must have worked hard to select the colors and piece everything meticulously. I think this one was quilted by another person, but the quilting is also very tidy. Everything about it is pleasing, especially the colors.

The center block has been on my list of quilts to make for the longest time, and I think it is a great way to use the scraps. I really like the way the block has been adapted to form the borders.

This is a storm at sea with snail's trail at the center. It is a big quilt and very striking. I think this was the biggest quilt at the show.

This was a relatively small quilt (baby?) made with 30s fabrics.I think this is a great way to use them.

I like the radiating effect of these blocks on this quilt.

This was a small quilt that will be at the auction at the Roaring 20s show.

This quilt was made for the Roaring 20s show.  I like the Art Deco feel of it.

This is a small quilt. I really like the simplicity of it. I think the flowers were made with an embroidery stitch.

I like the prettiness of this quilt, and it is refreshing to see it in the winter.

Back to the big quilts, this Baltimore Album was incredible. I spent a lot of time looking at this one. It was needle-turn applique with lots of tiny pieces.

This was a big quilt too with lots of flying geese. It's a striking pattern that I haven't seen before. I like how it looks like some circles are on top of other ones.

Drunkard's Path Photo Shoot

I finished my Drunkard's Path quilt in November and already showed you the finished quilt.  I wasn't happy with its reveal though, because I wasn't able to get good photos of it.  I showed it to you on the floor of my porch. As a result, the size of the quilt was hard to see. It looked longer or shorter than it really is, depending on the angle I took the photo.

Yesterday, I got a chance to fix that. My family invited me to go to a quilt show with them at a park. This was the same park where we did a photo-shoot of The Earth Laughs in Flowers formerly known as Daisy's Chickenpox. Remembering that photo-shoot, I brought Drunkard's Garden along, and we managed to get proper pictures of this quilt.

This park had a lot of beautifully curved structures which properly echoed the curves of this quilt.  I don't have anything new to tell you about this quilt, so for historical reference, it was started in August of 2003 and finished in November of 2019. I tried to do another Smilebox slideshow, but apparently, you have to pay to be able to share it.

Here are 11 pictures of the quilt taken at Inniswood Metro Gardens in Westerville, Ohio. Some of these are similar to each other, but I liked them all the ones I am including for different reasons.

1.

 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

 Which picture is your favorite?

My Quilting Week

Once a month, if I get around to it, I share my favorite pictures I took during the month. Winter is not a good picture taking season for me, but I did manage to get a few. These are my favorite pictures in January. 

2020:  Week 6 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

My stitching week consisted of making the hearts quilt I showed in my last post. I made two blocks for the shirts quilt. I need to make just two more before the row will be finished. I also cut some fabric and started on the quilt I am going to show you in March for the Dust Off an Old Book blog hop. I tend to start projects as soon as I know about them instead of waiting until close to the deadline, because I know how life changes can waylay the best of plans.

15 minute days this week -- 7 out of 7 days
15 minute days this year -- 7 out of 40 days
Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:
Life in Pieces: 15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Heart Quilt

When I learned that you could make a heart with squares and rectangles instead of triangles, and saw the sweet quilts that were made that way, I wanted to make that quilt.  But every February, when I saw a quilt that was made that way, I resisted.  I already have enough heart quilts. I need to work on some other holiday quilt, if I make a holiday quilt at all.

But then this month, I came across a quilt tutorial from Sew Can She. I was about to resist again, but then Project Quilting made it their challenge to make something with a heart on it. I can make this quilt and break out of my cycle of desire and resistance. How long can it take? One week max.

So I made it, adapting the pattern to make a small quilt. It took less than a week.

February 2, 2020. 02/02/2020 was the first global palindrome day in 909 years. The next will come in 101 years on 12/12/2121 and after that there will not be another until 03/03/3030. It was the 33rd day of the year and there are 333 days left.  The date is so special, wouldn't it be nice to have a quilt with a finish date of February 2, 2020 on it?  I started this quilt on that date, knowing there was no way possible I could finish it that day. I figure I can use that as a start date. Who said you can't put a start date on the quilt?

I decided to make a quilt with 20 blocks on it. I made the 20 blocks. I made the setting blocks. Then I realized there isn't a way to make a quilt on point with 20 blocks (If it is possible, please let me know how).  This meant I had to make the quilt with a straight setting.

While you are still close enough to the picture above, did you notice how perfectly the quilt sits on the batting scrap? The batting scrap is just exactly the right size.

Unfortunately, I had already chosen a border fabric when I took that picture. To finish it within a week, I birthed the quilt. I carefully cut the backing in two and pressed down the edges so that I could piece it like a pillow without having to sew any edges. The quilting would seal in the space where the pillow would be inserted.

However,  I made a mistake with the layers. I had the top on top so I could see the edges, the backing under it, right sides together, and the batting at the bottom. This meant that when I sewed it together, the top was upside down on the top and the batting was at the bottom. I had no access to the backing.  It is good that I had to piece the batting, because I had to cut into it to turn the quilt.  I was afraid that I would have to rip out sewing the edges, but once I had access to the back, I was able to turn it again to make everything be in the right  position.

I lightly quilted it so it would retain the sweet, minimal look.

Since the Project Quilting challenge is Put a Heart on It, let me show you the quilt on point so you can see the hearts! See, there are 20 hearts to represent 2020!

Quotation Quilt

I told you in my last post that I was working on my quotation quilt. I don't think I introduced you to it and thought a more formal introduction would be nice. Readers, meet quilt. Quilt, meet my dear readers.

This quilt was started before this blog. The blocks were made during a block swap. The economy blocks all have a muslin center that has a a quote that is inspiring or comforting to someone who is going through a difficult time.

My best guess is that this quilt was started in 2007.

I don't do block swaps anymore, but have several sets of blocks I still need to put together from that time.

I put the blocks together and decided that I wanted to do more to this quilt than quilt it and bind it. I enjoyed working with the quilt and wasn't ready for a quick finish.

I wanted to turn it into a crazy quilt.  Having never made a crazy quilt, much less one made with cotton fabrics, I tried to learn as much about them as I could. I learned that I should back the top with some interfacing to help support the weight of the embellishments. Then it sat. I now have interfacing, although I haven't attached it yet. Since I am only adding embroidery at this time, and I like the feel of working with just the cotton fabric, I will hold off on adding the interfacing.

Maybe at some point, I will test the interfacing to see how it feels.

It's pretty big. Maybe twin size or just a bit smaller.

I wrote this post to link up to Previously Backlogged Jobs.  I will be working on this quilt this year as a way to make progress on a UFO.  I don't know how I will know when it is finished, but any progress is good progress.

Linked with:
Put Your Foot Down #37
Creative Compulsions 
Friday Foto Fun

Week-long Variety Show

02/02/02. It's the 33rd day of the year and there are 333 days left. Superbowl Sunday and Groundhog Day. It feels like spring. What more can you ask for?

I wanted to take a break from the yo-yo quilt, but wasn't done with handwork, so I took out an old unfinished quilt. This quilt is made with blocks from a block swap. I have some embroidery on it already, but there is plenty of room for more.

I am not good at embroidery but anytime I do improv or folkart work, I feel the need to say that I wasn't aiming for perfection, so this looks perfectly imperfect to me.

I had chosen a different UFO to work on for this quarter, but this one called to me last night when I saw a Deborah Boschert project.  She uses a lot of ladders in her work. I don't know if mine looks like a ladder or a sidewalk, but either one works!

2020:  Week 5 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

My sewing machine which I got cleaned last fall needs repair.  The part that holds the needle seems to have moved so the walking foot doesn't fit and when I tried to replace the needle, I can't get a new needle to stay.

I have a backup which works wonderfully, but I was out of sorts this week, so I spent this week on a bunch of random projects.

• I finished the yo-yos for the  yo-yo coverlet and played with them to do a photo shoot.  That brown paper is what I used to wrap the shirts quilt in for gifting. Since I had it out, I sloppily put it up to create a backdrop for the yo-yos. I like the crinkliness of it, but I didn't put it up high enough. There will be more, better, photo shoots before they are put together for sure.  
• I made a small quilt for the Color It Red blog hop. I couldn't wait until February to make it.  I will give you a hint as a bonus for reading this far. It is made with red yo-yos! 
• I made the face index card I showed you last time.
• I added the ladder and sun to the quotation crazy quilt as shown at the top of this post.
• I also cut another uniform shirt to make the last row of the blue shirts quilt.

15 minute days this week -- 7 out of 7 days
15 minute days this year -- 7 out of 33 days
Success rate  = 100%


Linked with:

 Life in Pieces: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 5