"Sea Critters" and "Bronto and Rex"

This is the second time I have been asked to make quilts for twins.  This time it is for Leo and Luke. And these are the FOURTH and FIFTH quilts I have made for the same family!!!  The previous ones were Sebastian's Ark,  Go, Chicago!, and Take the "B" Train.  

Mom Jackie was pretty specific in her request. She wanted one to have sea animals, and the other to have dinosaurs.  So we began looking for possible patterns. While doing so I happened to go to my local quilt store and....there on the wall was a sample quilt that had a colorful variety of animals swimming in the sea!!! I snapped a pic, sent it to Jackie and she loved it! It is Elizabeth Hartman's Awesome Ocean pattern.  Actually, the sample I saw in the store was a modified version of the pattern, and then I tweaked it even further to meet Jackie's specifications.  Here is my version:

It is made with the same squares-rectangles sew-and-flip technique that I have used many times. The quilting was ditch around the borders and sashing, and free motion blue waves on the background. There is no quilting on the critters themselves, so they pop out.

The selection of the pattern for the dino quilt was a lot more difficult. Eventually we found this pattern from one of my favorite go-to places, Counted Quilts (because it used the same technique). But even then we had to go around and around. The pattern is actually for 5 dinosaur pillow cases. So the shape of each finished "block" (21" x 28") was an odd one for a standard quilt top. And of course 5 just does not work. 

We looked at different options including: scaling down each dino (but this became problematic as some pieces would be way too tiny to work with), picking 4 of them and having two on the front and two on the back, etc.

We finally decided to just do two of the dinos, so I added in a sashing and borders and it actually came out to be almost the same size as the sea animals quilt!

The quilting in this one is a combination of random straight lines (like in Bronto's volcano and Rex's "scales") and free motion for the skies, the trees, etc.  The thread colors all match the fabric they are on.  You can see this better on the back:

 OK Leo and Luke.....they're all yours!  Have fun.

Circular Spectrum #72

Way back in February.....back before Everything Changed, I started to make a lap quilt for our den. We wanted something that had a neutral background (to match our couch), but also one which had pops of color to provide some interest.  

Looking through the interweb, we found this posting.  As described, that quilt had circles of color fused to background squares and then the quilting went over them to secure them in place. This was appealing as I don't do applique.

However, there were two things that didn't work for us. We liked the idea of the pattern but also wanted something with more actual dimension. So just fusing on the circle fabs was an issue. Also, this was a   mini-quilt (18" x 18"!), where the squares were only 2" finished! Which means the circles were even tinier. To make a lap quilt with these block dimensions would require 672 squares!!!  Plus such eensy dimensional circles would be problematic.

So, we decided to make the background squares 6" finished, and the circles 4".

How to add some dimension?

I started by cutting a 4.5" circle of the colored fabric, AND a 4.5" circle of lightweight non-fusible interfacing. I sewed the interfacing to the right side of the fabric with a 1/4" seam. Part of the interfacing was then carefully cut away:

I then turned the assembly inside out, which resulted in a 4" circle with a nice finished edge. The raw edges were turned under and held in place by the interfacing; since it is so thin, pressing the circle made it disappear!

Next, I cut a template out of card stock; 6" x 6" with a 4" circle in the center. This was laid on a square of the background fabric:

Fabric square

Fabric square with template

I then cut out a 3.5" diameter circle of batting. This was placed inside the circle of the template:

Then, the inverted fabric circle sandwich was placed over the batting:

The three layers (fab, batt, fab) were pinned in place and the template was removed (different fab shown in the picture below): 

I then stitched very close to the edge with a thread color that matched the color of the circle fabric. So in the finished square it is pretty much invisible from more than a foot away (a faux applique?):

The combination of the layer of batting and the stitch-around-the-edge provided both the visual and actual dimensionality that we were looking for

So now that I had the process, we had to lay out the colors. We went from top left to bottom right in the full range of the spectrum. Some of the circle colors are used twice; some just once. There are two colors in the background squares, so those were just alternated

Cut, sew, invert, trim, template, batt, circle, sew. Sew the blocks into rows, sew the rows together.

The quilting is in the ditch of the background squares, both vertically and horizontally, using a thread color to match the darker squares. Again.....mostly invisible.

Just like with my quilt "All Different, Yet All The Same", I felt that a border, or even a binding, would detract from the effect. So I once again went with the "facing binding" technique. See "All Different" for an explanation.

OK....enough suspense. The final product:

Time to cuddle up and relax!!!!!

Panda Dreams

What could be cuter and softer and more serene than a panda sleeping on a moon!!

Made for the granddaughter of friends of ours, this pattern, like several others I have made, comes from CountedQuilts.com. 

What kicks it up a notch is that it has an associated fabric line! Little pandas on clouds, random pandas on white, and a field of stars, all in very soft pastels. 

The only semi-tricky thing about making it was that I had to cut both lengthwise and widthwise for the outer border so that the clouds all faced up. 

The quilting is mostly free-motion....wavy lines in the sky and loopy swirls in the clouds, moon, and corner pieces.  I ditch quilted the edges of the panda and around the three borders. Matching colored threads in each area of course.

And.....as this is the Year of Coronavirus, Wendy suggested that I use the leftover fabric to make masks for the parents!  So here they are:

 

Something for everyone in the family!

And here is baby Eleni (in what appears to be a matching onesie!):

Pandemic - Part 2

I have now sewn over 100 masks!

Here is a sampling of some of the fashion-forward folks you may see wearing them all over the country.

And click here for one of the many articles on how to avoid fogging your glasses while in mask mode.

Stay safe....practice social distancing....be smart...wear a mask...save a life.

                                              

Quilting During A Pandemic

There are already thousands of stories, memes, posts, Tweets, "Top 200 Movies To See" lists, musical parodies, etc., about how people are finding their way through this never-ending Spring of 2020. Even in this very dark time, it is amazing how much incredible creativity is coming forth.

So what is a quilter to do?

I was about 1/3 the way through a quilt for our den, and had one more baby quilt (for a friend's granddaughter) in the queue when things began to get worrisome. We were very early adopters of the stay-at-home policy (easy for introverts like me!). And it looked like the hunker time would last quite a while. So I mentally began to suss out how much time to spend each day working on them to make them last as long as possible, or at least until we were paroled.

Sure, I can order patterns and fabs on-line and have them delivered, but one needs to have a project in waiting to do so.

Then, the word began to spread that there was a serious mask shortage for the medical community. Suddenly, the interwebs were filled with all kinds of DIY masks: with elastic, one-piece, with ties, sewn, glued, even from old bras!

Perfect!!! I have lots of time and a huge stash of fabrics!

I contacted our local hospital and offered to make some for them. They requested that I make a prototype and send it to them and they would let me know; so I did. That was two weeks ago and I have not heard back.

Time went (slowly) on, and then the conversation changed to everyone wearing masks when they go outside. Boom! Just like that I had a dozen orders from family and friends. But, just as with my morsbags, I make and distribute these for free. Oddly, the masks take just about as long to make (40 minutes) as the bags!

Here are some of the ones I have made so far:

Let me know if you would like one. I will try to turn them around as quickly as possible (via mail or no contact delivery).

And...one day....I'll be able to get back to finishing those other quilts. 

 

All Different, Yet All The Same

This quilt took longer (6 months from design to completion) and more time (almost 200 hours) than any other one I have made in a long, long time.  About half of that time was spent in the designing, cutting, and laying out phase (with several major revisions along the way).

 
The inspiration for this wall hanging started with a photo I saw on Pinterest. The idea was to use many same-sized pieces, but to give the effect of the 3D cube by arranging them in a particular way. Each of the colored rectangles is 1" x 1.5". So this is not a true "postage stamp" quilt, where all the pieces are square. But at 1,086 pieces, it does have a similar look.

The background "strips" are made of a variety of blue, gray, green, brown, and red pieces (about 50 different fabrics), alternating with white. The same fabric does not repeat in any given row! Those five colors repeat in groups going across. They are then offset by one in each following row.  So looking down the piece you'll see the same blue, gray, green, brown, and red pattern repeated.

The "cube" is made by arranging the purple fabrics (about 20 different ones) in such a way that there appears to be 3 sides. It is all done by having more or fewer purples (and whites) on a given "side". Though these fabrics are randomly arranged, again, the same fabric does not repeat within a row. And it is off-center to add a little extra interest.

As to the title: It has two meanings.
First, the literal one. As noted above, there are many different fabrics in this quilt. Each row is unique. Yet all the pieces in the background are the same size and shape.

Second, a more figurative meaning. This quilt was donated for auction to Hands of Peace at their Spring Benefit. This is an organization that brings together Israeli, Palestinian, and U/S/ teens each summer for two weeks of intensive dialog with the goal of raising the political, social, and self-awarenessof the participants, and ultimately to their involvement and leadership in achieving positive peace. So the title refers to the fact that all people are different, yet, at heart, we are all the same, and that we have more in common than we may realize.

As usual, I chose to do minimal quilting. It is all ditch quilting using clear monofilament thread.
The unusual thing I did this time was to finish it with a facing technique, rather than a traditional binding (A big shout out to my quilting buddy Donna for suggesting this approach).

In most quilts, there is a border. Then, you sew on a strip of fabric to finish the raw edges; that fabric may be the same as the border (so it blends in), a contrasting color, or a fabric used in the quilt top itself.

But this quilt has no border, and adding a thin contrasting binding fabric would unnecessarily draw the eyes away from the main focus of the piece: the cube. So Donna suggested the facing technique. I don't believe I have ever done this before! You basically start the same was as with a traditional binding: sew a small strip of fabric on each of the 4 sides (in this case I chose to use the same fabric as I used on the back). Then, instead of simply flipping rest of the strip over to the back, you actually flip it and roll the full 1/4" sewed part of the top piece with it! Doing this gives you the finished edge you need, but leaves no trace of the facing fabric on the front of the quilt! So the top pattern truly goes edge-to-edge!

Here is a view of the flipped and tacked facing piece on the back. You can also see the ditched quilting lines.  

It is said that "quilters lead pieceful lives".  Here's hoping that someone will bid on this quilt so that people in the Middle East can also lead peaceful lives.