Vines and Stars Quilt Top Finished - Finally!

At long last, the borders have been added and this top is done!  Great feeling!  As I told you, this quilt began as a demonstration piece for classes I was teaching on how to applique' vines and leaves.  There are a few tricks to making those sharp points on the leaves and having a vine stay even as it curves.  I used it as a demo at the AQS Show in Nashville way back in 2005 for the first time.  While it's been fun, I'm glad to have the top finished! 

 

Sorry about the telescoping of the photo.  The quilt is too large for the design wall.  It is 94" x 99". It will shrink some with the quilting, though.

 

Do you remember that I nearly ran out of the black background used for the applique strips and the 8-pointed stars? I told you about it here.  Well, I found what I think is the perfect solution for the borders.

 

 

The blacks actually match better in person than they look like in the photos.  Can you see the musical notes?  Originally I found a black with a treble clef, but it seemed too close to the other black and really didn't "pop" as a border even with the colorful striped inner border.

 

 

But this print seemed to bring it all together.

 

 

It works for me.  What do you think?

 

Sorry for the odd angles on the photos.  I was sitting on the loft rail and not feeling all that secure!  It is a rare rainy day in the desert, so the light wasn't very cooperative either.  I won't complain about the rain, though, we certainly can use the moisture even if it isn't an ideal day for taking photos.

 

Hope you have enjoyed the story of the vines and stars quilt.  Have an awesome day!

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

A Sew Day and What I've Been Doing

My sister called a couple of weeks ago or maybe more to ask where I've been.  She says she keeps up with what I'm doing mostly through my blog.  Yes, that means I'm not a very good correspondent and I rarely call anyone.  It's not that I don't want to, but we live across the country from each other and there is that whole time difference.  Arizona doesn't participate in Daylight Savings Time, so half the year there is a two hour difference and half the year it's only 1 hour.  By the time I decide I should call in the evening, it's too late where she lives.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Seriously, I've just been busy with this that and the other.  Here are a few of the things I've done in the past few weeks.

First I was invited to a sew day at Evelyn's.  Evelyn had just returned to Arizona from Wisconsin where she spends part of the year.  She is not exactly a Winter Visitor as she has a home here, but it is just a lot cooler in the Summer in Wisconsin and she has a home there, too!  She and several others get together occasionally to sew and this time, they asked me to join them.  Though I was only able to stay part of the day, it was a great time and I got a lot done, too!

 

This is Evelyn busily stitching away.  Evelyn does mostly art quilts.  She is collaborating with a Wisconsin quilter and they enter quilts in shows together.  Her house is chock full of quilts on the walls and draped over furniture.  There is a LOT to see at Evelyn's house!

 

 

This is Judi.  She makes the most incredible miniatures you would ever want to see!  She was hand piecing the most amazing mariner's compass block.  And it was for Sue!  Judi's work is accuracy with a capital A! Tiny pieces with sharp points to die for!

 

 

Tari was piecing blocks. Her lamp is in the way, so we cannot see them.  I cannot remember what block she was working on. She kept her nose to the machine and worked away all day!

 

 

Sue was busy squaring up her applique blocks.  Sue also is a long arm quilter and probably produces more quilts or quilt tops in a year than anyone you know.

 

 

Here is a close up of one of the blocks Sue was working on.  There are pieced blocks in the quilt as well.  It is a lovely soft palette and will be beautiful when completed.

 

Also present was C.J.  She is Sue's cousin and arrived later in the morning.  Her name isn't really C.J., it is Judy.  Since there was already a Judi in the group and since this Judy is Sue's cousin, the group refers to her as C.J. which is short for Cousin Judy as it's less confusing that way.

 

And what was I working on that day?  Sewing the blocks together for this quilt.

 

 

Since that day, I have set the strips together and shortened the vine strips as the star block strips were not quite as long.  Remember I did the vine strips when I was teaching vine and leaf applique so the quilt had not been designed at that point.  I just randomly selected a length for the vine strips.

 

 

The first border has just been cut and placed on the design wall.  It is not stitched yet.  I really like the multicolored striped on the black for this inner border.  Stay tuned for what the outer border will be.  I also have a tutorial almost ready on how to hand piece eight pointed starts that will be coming soon as well.

 

In addition to doing that, I unstitched in excess of 1,200 inches of quilting in the border of another quilt.  I was just not happy with the way it looked so it had to go.  Here is what replaced it.

 

 

It is finally bound and ready to go.  As it is 100" by 100", it took a bit of time to do all of that picking out stitches and re-quilting! I cannot show you the rest of the quilt as it will appear in a magazine.  I'm still working on the directions for it.

 

So that sort of brings you up to date.  I will try not to take such a long leave from my blog again.  I really missed you and hearing from you.  You make my day when you leave a comment so please let me know what you have been doing or what you think about what I've been doing.

 

 

Until Next Time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois















More Progress on Vines and Stars Quilts

Surprise, I'm back sooner than you may have expected.  Between job and family and working on two quilts simultaneously, there never seems to be time to tell you, dear friends, what is happening in my studio and life.  I'm trying to do better, honestly, I am!  You have no idea how much I miss you when I am unable to connect with you through this blog!

Autumn Chains is being quilted on my Bernina during the daylight hours when I can see to quilt better.  So during the evening hours when it is too dark up here in the studio to quilt confidently, I spend time on Vines and Stars. I'm really trying to maximize the hours I have when I'm not at work.

Last week, I showed just the applique strips and the stars completed at that time.  You can see photos in my last post  here.  Here is a look at what has happened since then.

 

There are two more blocks than there were in the last post.  That doesn't seem like much progress, but all of the remaining 16 blocks have now been cut.  All of the background triangles have been added to the design wall as well.  If things seem a bit off, remember that all of these pieces are separate pieces placed on the design wall. The quilt looks a bit "wonky" at this point, but it will be fine when everything is stitched together.

 

See all of those white spares?  Yep, 16 of them to be filled in yet.  Do you notice what is missing?  I mean besides those 16 blocks?  There is very little blue and yellow !  How did I miss that?  That is why a design wall is essential -- you get to see the big picture before the blocks are sewn together.  I've actually added very little more blue, but there are several yellow blocks waiting to be stitched together.

 

You may remember that there was some doubt that there would be a sufficient amount of the black background fabric.  It was purchased when we lived in a different state several years ago, so purchasing additional fabric was not an option.  Here is what was left once the background pieces and remaining blocks were cut out.

 

Yikes!  The largest leftover chunk is 9" x 12-1/2".  Enough to go back and re cut the block in the lower left corner.  Did you notice it?  Nope, you can't see it.  There is NO contrast in the photo.  In person, I can see it is a block made with a dark rust star, but it disappears in the photo.  Maybe there will have to be a blue block to replace that one.

Design walls and taking photos in progress are a good thing in quilt making!  It is far better to see a problem before all the pieces are stitched together.

Hope you are having an absolutely awesome week!

 

Until next time

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

Vines and Stars Progress

Since my machine is busy with a machine quilting project, I've been needing to stitch something.  My friend, Julie, over at Julie K Quilts has been taking older UFO's and focusing on them which has been an inspiration as she gets those done.  She inspired me to bring out this ongoing project and spend more time on it again.

 

Yep, it has a ways to go to be pieced.  The applique strips have been done a very long time. These strips  began as a carry along project when I was doing a lot of teaching and traveling. They served as a demonstration sample on how to applique leaves and stems. They were worked on in quite a few states! This is my first strip quilt and I am liking it a lot!

 

 

Once the applique strips were done, I started working on the hand pieced 8-pointed star block.  The pieced bocks finish to 6 inches. I've gone back and forth on how to set them, but this is my preferred way to put the blocks and strips together.  I  need to make 17 more blocks for this setting of the quilt.

 

 

There may not be enough of the black, so I'm thinking of other ways to fill in the triangles.  Once all the blocks are done, I'll measure what is left to see if I can cut the quarter-square triangles or if I need to be creative by string piecing or something along those lines.

 

This quilt is using up a lot of bits and pieces left from other projects.  A true scrap quilt, except for the black which was bought as yardage too many years ago to think there might be some in a quilt shop somewhere!  I do love the multi-color leaves and stars.

 

Any suggestions for a different way to set the stars or a creative way to extend the black?

 

Do you ever have projects that get put away for months at a time?  What motivates you to get them back out and start working on them again?

 

Inquiring quilters want to know so leave a message about your experiences with UFO's.

 

Hope to be more regular in blogging than the last couple of months.  I miss you!

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

.

Back Art Revisited

My mother often used a sheet as the back of a quilt.  At that time, there was no fabric 108" wide specifically made for quilt backs. She bought the sheets because she thought they were less expensive and they were big enough for the back.  I really don't know her little fingers could quilt through the layers as a sheet is quite dense and my mother always hand quilted her quilts.

When I started quilting, I was advised to always buy either 7 yards of fabric or 3 yards because with 7 yards, you could always use it for a back and 3 yards was enough for borders.  I followed that advise for a lot of years.  The result?  A huge stash of fabric!  After moving the stash across country a couple of times, I decided to ditch that advice.  I started buying only fat quarters except when I knew exactly what the fabric would be used for.  In fact, I called a moratorium on fabric purchases 5 years ago and with rare exceptions, have bought very little.  However, in the meantime, I've made several quilt tops from the stash trying to use a lot of it up!

For backs, I decided to follow my friend, Joyce's example and start piecing fabric together to make the back.  I've done it various ways, but here is how I did the latest back for a quilt I am making. You can see a couple of other backs I made here.

For this back, I looked to the fabric to guide me.  I had some pieces that had been cut from the back of a previous quilt and they were about 6" wide.  I also found some pieces that were 9" wide and cut rectangles from these pieces.  The rest of the fabric was wide enough to cut 10" strips or rectangles from them.

Next, I started laying the pieces out on the floor in the loft as the back needed to measure 106" inches approximately which is way bigger than my design board.  I laid out all the pieces before I started sewing the rectangles together into rows.  I measured, but not precisely each strip as it was sewn.  When joining the strips together, I just made sure that the top edges were even.  Since the back is quite a bit larger than the quilt top, the uneven edges can be trimmed as I square the quilt.

Part of the fun is using those fabrics that are sort of unique.  The horse fabric above was actually bought when I needed to applique some "hair" on angels and all the manes worked great for that.  There were a few pieces left, so they were incorporated into the back for the autumn colored quilt top.

Pardon the telescope effect from taking the photo from this angle.  I could not back up any further or stand any higher.  I was already on the top step of the step stool and there wasn't enough room for the 6 ft ladder so I could get higher.

This is the back completely stitched together.  You can see that all of the strips were not precisely 106" long, but they are close.

Do you piece your backs or do you buy fabric especially for the back of your quilts?  I figure I get two for one if I piece the back as the back is more interesting than boring plain fabric.  Let me know what you think!

Hope you have an amazing weekend!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

Vine & Stars Progress

The vine and stars quilt top is still in the works as well as the stacked bricks.  Although, I don't work on this one as much.  Since the stars are being hand pieced, I work on them only when I'm sitting which doesn't seem to happen all that often when I'm home.  Of course, I do sit at the sewing machine.  It's dark when I leave for work so no sewing in the morning.  I can read when it's not quite so light, but sewing with black thread on a black fabric -- not so good!

This is how you saw it last.  There were a few stars done.  Actually there are 4 strips with vines and leaves.  There just isn't room on the edge of the design wall for all of them with the Stacked Bricks quilt up there too. 

I haven't decided on the layout of the stars.  With this on-point layout it will only take 55 stars.  But it will also take at least 111 setting triangles.  I'm not sure there is enough of the black I purchased when I started this quilt to do those plus the corner triangles and all of the 55 blocks. 

So I put the star blocks straight.  It will take a LOT more star blocks to set them straight.  Probably about 20 more.  I haven't really done the math yet.  Which do you like best?

The brighter stars work better, too.  There is a love rust on black star that doesn't show up much from a distance as the values are too close.  Up close, it is a lovely block.  It is the second from the bottom on the photo previous to this one. See?  It just disappears!  I'll be more careful of the values from now on!

It's been a busy weekend with two grand kids spending Friday night and most of Saturday with us.  We love having them here, but it sure does cut the time for getting things done down to almost none!  How did I get the stuff done when our own 3 kids were around full time?  Hmm, I even baked all the bread then, too.  Of course, I didn't work full time away from home.

Hope you had time to do something creative this weekend.

We haven't had any rain.  It's still hot and a bit on the humid side.  I do wish it would just start to rain.  We sure need it!

Until next time,
Lois