Kinda Neat...

That my quilty associate, Cathy, and I seem to be on the computer -- reading and posting -- at just about the same time every day.  That makes me smile!

She -- and her work -- has been just one of the people I've gotten to know a bit (better) via the Orca Bay Mystery Quilt project and its regular Monday link-ups.  Today is the final link-up, and it's fun to see what the other quilters have done with their tops (or TIPs -- Tops In Progress)!  It's also inspiring and interesting to see what others have done to interpret the pattern via colour(s), or the border(s).  I stuck to the black-white-blue-red combo because I love those colours and have (yes...still have) a good amount of them in my fabric stash and scraps.  However, I did do a couple of wee things with the borders: I used black (instead of white) for the inner border, and I inserted my left-over blue strippy squares into the top and bottom borders instead of making more quarter-square triangles to fit.

Now the top is resting until I can a) finish cleaning up my studio from the explosion of scraps generated during the project; b) figure out what I have on hand for backing and batting; and c) finish taking my online class on "Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine", taught by Ann Petersen over at Craftsy.com. (Totally worth the price of admission -- and it's currently being offered at a discount! And no, they didn't pay me to mention this!)

In addition to studio sorting, I have continued to stitch.  :-)  Once again it's time to post my block for the Crazy Quilt Project and TAST Week 5 -- Herringbone Stitch.  Unlike the stitch for Week 4, I really enjoyed this one.    The tie I managed to pick from my stash (remember, I dig into that drawer with my eyes closed.  Honest.) was a pretty one, too.  Here's the block and a couple of detail photos:

CQJP - February 2012

Detail 1

Detail 2

Now I must dash -- it's Monday, and I'm due to spend the rest of the day (as usual) in Lacombe.  Have a good one!

That's *Cretan* -- NOT 'Cretin'!

Or is it?!  Gosh, I had trouble with the Cretan stitch for TAST Week 4!

In the end, I persevered -- with not one, not two but all three stitch reference books open at one time or another.  I managed to get the hang of the 'closed Cretan' far more easily than the open version.  I even tried "Raised Cretan".  Sigh.  In the end I tried to unify the sampler with flowers and beads, repeated in the lace trim at the bottom.  I added a spider too; can you see him?  I don't like spiders much, and don't like this block much.  Seeing as spiders are popular embellishments for crazy quilt blocks, I decided he and this block deserved each other!

Week Five begins today with Herringbone stitch, which I much prefer.  :-)

In the Orca Bay, the inner borders are on, and pieced borders have been sewn to each side.  Here's a peek at how it's shaping up.  What amazes me is that the pieced border fit exactly.  Wow.  How'd I manage that?!

Saturday Stitching

Today's been windy, snowy and grey, so I stayed inside and stitched.  Apparently a Chinook is moving in, but it doesn't feel like it here -- yet!

First I tackled my Feather Stitch for Take A Stitch (on) Tuesday, Week 3.  This is just the start; since this photo, I've added some more to the white section in the lower right corner.  Because the tie pattern is so bold, I've decided to hold off on more than that now -- it's time to audition some beads and buttons!

Empty Space is a Place - Detail

Next I put on an episode of The Quilt Show that I hadn't seen, and finished my City and Guilds sample -- hand-quilting the almost-10" square piece that I'd stamped in a previous assignment.  This is a close-up shot (right).

I call the piece "Empty Space is a Place", based on the fact that this piece was stamped with triangles that were the 'negative' of the original design -- and because I've had on my mind the Call for Entry to the Focus on Fibre Art Association's biennial show: Spaces and Places.  


No, I'm not entering a sample into a show! ;-)  But I did, in the end, spend part of this afternoon preparing an entry.  I decided to submit "Nobody Here But Us", a piece I finished last spring based on a photo of a stand of trees near my home, taken in the winter.  I got busy and re-photographed it -- both a full and a detail view -- saved the photos to a CD, filled out the entry form and a cheque for the fee, etc.  It will go in the mail Monday or Tuesday (Early Bird deadline is Feb. 3).  The last time I entered this show (2010), my piece, "Picked for the Ripening", won third place in the Small Wall Quilt category!  That quilt was sold at the SAQA auction last fall, and now lives with a dear friend and SAQA colleague in her New York home.

Ah, then...we shall see what we shall see...

Reminding Us It's Winter

January arrived for real some time last night, with snow and blowing snow, temps of -22C with a wind chill of -31C.   My furry companion, Diesel, knows exactly how to deal with this weather: turn one's back on it and catch a few z-z-z-z-z s.

Blanket Buttonhole Stitch Block - TAST Week 2

Me? I've been in the Sewing Studio.  Last evening I set my mind to this week's Crazy Quilt Block for TAST, and this morning, while listening to the podcast at Nonnie's Quilting Dreams, I finished it.  I had great fun with this piece, and got a bit carried away with the beads.  My in-line blanket buttonhole stitch is quite good, but it proved a challenge to use it for couching and on velour.  And yes...my 'wheels' need work if I am to do them on fabric that's not specifically laid out for embroidery (silk is quite different than aida cloth or even-weave linen!)

Then, with Peter Tongni and CBC 2's Choral Concert as accompaniment, I headed to my sewing machine and made up a couple more rows on the Orca Bay Mystery Quilt top.  So large that it now fills my design wall, hanging down to the floor, I've decided to make a separate unit of the last 8 rows.  I'll attach it to the first 9 once I'm finished.  Measuring for the borders will be tricky -- I'll have to move furniture to lay it out on the kitchen floor!  This is not the largest quilt I've ever made, but I lived in a larger house the last time I did something like this...

Certainly this top has more pieces than any I've ever created, and will have to be very densely quilted to deal with the bulk of all those seams and junctions!

What's in the plan for this afternoon?  As it continues to blow, I'm staying warm with The Quilt Show, (always lots to see on that site!), perhaps an episode of Antiques Road Show, my knitting...and maybe -- just maybe -- I'll curl up with Diesel.  Stay warm!

WIP Wednesday

is brought to you by the letters O-B-M-Q, T-A-S-T, C-Q-J-P and C&G, and the decade, 1970.

Steadily, my Orca Bay Mystery Quilt top is growing, at the rate of two rows a day... At this point, I've had to rotate it so I can still pin it up on my small (4' wide by 2' deep) design wall, so if you want to see what it really looks like, rotate it 90 degrees to the left!  ;-)

Take A Stitch Tuesday this week features one of my favourite stitches -- the blanket buttonhole stitch.  It's a great little stitch for embroidery and embellishment, as well as for applique with a 'country' feel to it.  I've made a start on my second Crazy Quilt Journal Project block (you may recall I've found myself doing one weekly to match the TAST challenge, despite the fact that the CQJP is a monthly affair), as you see here:

Isn't that a funky block?  The print is from one necktie; the solid orange-y bits are from the lining of another; and the gold is some dupioni silk I've had in my stash for a while.  Taken together, it reminds me of the kitchen floor in our first house, circa 1977...

Meanwhile,for the City & Guilds online class, I've been stamping around my work room.  You  might recall from this post that I've been working on designing a quilt block, and that, clearly, creating a skewed pattern from these shapes would be complex, requiring paper piecing or templates.

Before going down that road, we students were asked to think about creating patterned pieces using paint and stamps.  At the start of the program we were given a kit that included a piece of sticky-backed foam.  Now we had to dig out our foam pieces and create stamps with our chosen designs.  Mine is the skewed Windmill, and my stamps look like this.

First I did some samples on white paper and in my sketchbook.  This is a stamp using the 'positive' of the print:

This sample shows the 'negative':

Next, I did a sample or two on paint-washed paper.

From there, I moved to stamping with acrylic paint -- diluted slightly with textile medium, to make it easier to stitch -- on hand-dyed fabric:

 This one's a bit messy; the stamp bits didn't fill the block on which they were mounted, so some of that picked up paint from the brayer with which I was applying it...

This one is much neater because the stamp bits filled the block on which they were mounted.  Ah well, live and learn.

The next assignment will be to plan and execute the quilting, either by hand or by machine.  Stay tuned!

It's Take A Stitch Tuesday...again

In the Sewing Studio, I continue to quilt and stitch and work on the C&G.  Startitis seems to have hit me here too, for since mid-November I've fallen prey to a Mystery Quilt Project, a Crazy Quilt Journal Project, and now, TAST -- Take A Stitch Tuesday!  

In an attempt to achieve some sort of stitching economy, I decided to combine the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) -- which is monthly -- with TAST which is, of course, weekly.  However, now it seems that my addled brain, flush with startitis, has decided that means that I should do all 52 Tuesday stitches in crazy quilt form -- creating, that is, a small crazy quilt block each week.  I seem to have succumbed to the appeal of this idea...and present to  you my block for TAST, Week I, featuring the Fly Stitch:

The coloured fabrics were cut from two of my collection of men's neckties; the centre fabric is a scrap from my drapery/upholstery stash.  It took me a while to warm up to the embellishment of this block, as I've not done any of this art form for a couple of years.  Once I got going again, however, inspired by a my library resources*, I began to loosen up and have fun with it.  Perhaps the second block -- featuring blanket stitch -- won't take me as long.

* Suggested resources:

• A - Z of Embroidery Stitches -- Country Bumpkin Publications, 1997 (Reprinted March 2005);
• Stitches: New Approaches -- Jan Beaney, Batsford Classic Embroidery, 2004;
• The Magic of Crazy Quilting -- J. Marsha Michler, Krause Publications, WI, USA, 1998;
• The Crazy Quilting Handbook --  Judith Montano, C&T Publishing, 1986;
• "Men's Ties = Crazy Quilts" by Vivian P. Leidy, Miniature Quilts Magazine, Issue No. 81, 2002; and
• Notes from "Encrusted Crazy Quilting" taught by Sharon Boggon.  (As of this writing, this class is not under way, but keep an eye on Sharon's site for possible future sessions.)

A Full Start to the New Year (Long -- With Photos!)

For the past couple of days I've been fully involved with all things textile.  Where to begin?

First, with the OBMQ, which has (at least online) reached its Grand Finale with the revelation of Part 8 on New Year's Day.  Where am I with it?  Well...as of last night (10 p.m.), I'd finished the rectangles, and put a couple of blocks up on my design wall to see how they looked.  My first reaction: Ouch! Noisy!


However, after a good night's sleep, they looked a bit better, and I decided to assemble the first couple of rows to see...and yes, indeed, there is potential!  Row 1 (all blue squares and rectangle units) is now lining the top of my design wall, and part of row two (all rectangles and Ohio Star blocks) is lying underneath it.  Clearly this assembly is going to be something I do slowly and gently, taking great care that the units match and fit together properly.  So far, so good, so stay tuned!

Next, in the Knitting Department, I've turned the heel on the first Veil of Rosebuds sock and have made my way down the foot by a couple of inches (24 pattern rows).  I confess I had my doubts about this heel at first, but now that its finished I can say it's definitely going to be one I try again.  It may not prove as sturdy as my standard 'Dutch heel', but I like how neatly it finishes without any additional fussing over picking up stitches along a flap, and creating a long gusset.  Pretty, isn't it?

On into the C&G Classroom -- where I've just completed Activities 5 and 6 of Module 5.  I am now in the throes of all things pieced.  Activity 5 was simple: identify the type of basic block used in an illustrated star block pattern (I assessed that it was a four-patch).  Activity 6, though, was more extensive: research some quilt blocks and pick three favourites; document their origins (or what you can find out about 'em); draw them on graph paper -- and then draw them again, skewed. Finally, colour them in and create 3-4 copies; then arrange the copies in some sort of design.

Just picking blocks was the first dilemma -- there are so many to choose from, especially if, like me, you are a long-time fan of Quilt Blocks Galore!, a resource simply overflowing with wonderful free quilt block patterns, most of which have a traditional, timeless origin.

After browsing for nearly an hour, I came to my sense and picked these three: a Basic Nine-Patch; a "Dutchman's Puzzle" (aka "Flying Dutchman" or "Windmill") and the trusty "Ohio Star" from the OBMQ (aka "Star", "Eastern Star", "Lone Star" or "Texas Star").

In recent months I've used the 'Disappearing Nine-Patch' that's been making the rounds.  I had great fun with it earlier this year when I did up comfort quilts for Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.  This exercise, however, is different.  Rather than make an original block, slice it and re-arrange the pieces, I was asked to shift the original design lines of the block to create something different altogether.  Ditto for the 'Windmill' and the 'Star'.  See what I mean?  It gives this piecer an entirely new way to think about her blocks!

Lastly, I got myself caught up with TAST -- Take A Stitch Tuesday -- which I've joined for 2012, in combination with the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP).  The idea behind this is three-fold:

• To have an opportunity to do hand embroidery, which I love but for which I don't make enough time;
• To revisit the art of crazy quilting, thus improving my skills in this art form; and
• To use up stash -- including a mountain of neckties I've acquired over time -- some from my late husband, and some from the local thrift shop, because they were too pretty to resist.

Just look how much fabric there can be in a single deconstructed necktie!  (The orange bits are lining.)

I began to prepare for this endeavour before Christmas, when I washed all the ties in my collection -- simply threw 'em into the washer and then into the drier, regardless of fabric content.  None of them disintegrated and (apparently) none of 'em shrank.  Amazing!

Diagram: stitching.com

Now TAST is weekly, and the CQJP is monthly.  My initial thought was to create one crazy quilt block per month (6" finished), with enough seams and space in which to incorporate the four or five Tuesday stitches in each given month.  The first stitch for the first Tuesday in this first month of 2012 is Fly Stitch.   In Sharon B's inimitable way, she illustrates a multitude of ways in which it can be used, so now I'm beginning to think I might try a block a week.  (In addition to giving me lots of space to explore the weekly stitch, it'll use up more neck ties!)

My first block uses fabric from two ties, plus a bit of velvet and another plain scrap to give myself some working space.  In this photo, you can see I've only just begun to build...

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some stitching to do...  :-)    See you later!