Thank You All. . .and a Free Pattern

We are so grateful for your kind sympathies, thoughts and prayers. They have been a true comfort to us, and we hope to get back to 'normal' soon.

In the meantime, I have had a request for directions to make a favorite quilt of mine. Stacked Stripes.

It's pretty simple and straightforward, except nothing is straight! Here's how to get the wonky look, while still maintaining a bit of control. Hint: you may have to cut more than one long wedge per block. I used lots of scrap fabric for mine, many moons ago. This was also one of my first to use straight line quilting and it really 'goes' with a design like this.




Feel free to add more fabric strips to fill in gaps, of course. If you've never made a quilt without a pattern, this will be easier than you think. If it's too big, cut off the excess. If it's too small, add fabric.

Tutorial: Flirty Skirty

Here's an easy project to make in a jiffy using some of the gorgeous fabric available now at Three Black Sheep Shoppe. I had so much fun making this skirt for a little girl. It uses long quarters, 9x44" of four coordinating Philip Jacobs designs.

It's a simple to sew pattern made from eight identical wedge shaped cuts, using almost the entire width of each quarter yard. This skirt will be made for a 22-23" waist but is easily sized up or down with just a little math. Measure the waist and divide by 8, and this case, 3".  That number will be the top of the eight wedge shapes. The base of the wedge is 8 1/2" plus seam allowance,  1/4" around all edges for serger sewing or 1/2" for conventional machines. The length of the wedge is approximately 22".

Here's the pattern drawn out on pattern paper, but any large paper will do, or even muslin.

Carefully press and layer all four pieces together, right sides up and pin pattern piece close to the bottom edge of the selvedge.
Remember to add seam allowance!



It's easy to add the seam allowance with a quilter's ruler, and to use a rotary cutter and mat to cut the wedges.

Cut the four wedges, remove the pattern paper, repin on the remaining fabric, and cut the second four wedges. Here are the two sets of four identical wedges, ready to start sewing.

Fold one wedge in half lengthwise (right sides together) so the wider bottom edges line up.
Stitch the edge together. Repeat with the remaining wedges.

Open the stitched end and turn to the right side.  A triangular pointed end is the result. Press carefully.

Then turn the raw edge of the triangle under and press again.





Topstitch the folded edge, using a conventional machine, or blind hem stitch, using matching thread.

The topstitching is barely visible on the right side. Repeat with the remaining wedges.

Line up two wedges in different prints, right sides together, and stitch along the length of one side of the wedge. If a conventional machine is used, this would be a good time to also finish the sewn-together raw edges, with a narrow zig- zag stitch.

Repeat with the remaining wedges.

Notice how the prints of the two halves of the skirt are arranged the same.

Sew the four front wedges to the back four wedges and finish the raw edge along the waist.

Fold the top edge (casing) over to accommodate waistband elastic.
Sew the casing down, leaving an opening for the elastic. Thread the elastic through the casing.

Overlap and sew the edges of the elastic, and then sew the opening closed.
















The finished skirt measures about 20" in length. The inside points are visible when worn, but of course are nicely finished on both sides.

QAWM: Starting a New Work

Where do ideas for new work come from? Almost anywhere, but lately for me, especially from online.
Thanks to Pinterest, my crack habit, I have collected inspirational ideas and am sharing them with you. I love the simplicity of this piece by  Judy Rush.  I am often inspired by just the layout of the design.
Different, and cool.

I pinned this color scheme onto My Inspiration Board on Pinterest. So fresh, Springy and yummy. This color combination would look great in almost any room in my house. (I usually think ahead to hanging an art quilt in an environment).


And then there is this quilt, Ferns and Tulips, which I just mentioned the other day. I like the fern shapes here and would like to continue making more in this vein... sort of like working in a series, only way different.

OK, armed with inspiration, I am faced with first finding the fabric to match, sorta, my chosen color scheme above. I have lots to pick through after all these years of  fusing my dyed fabrics.

I don't have exactly the same super-coordinated colors as my swatch pile above, but I DO already have some pre-stripped pieces, which makes my work leap ahead right at the start. These fused striped pieces are from previous ideas that never came to be. To fuse striped fabrics, cut strips and overlap the edges and lightly fuse together (in case you should change your mind later). Remember to do this on the release paper from the Wonder-Under or on an applique, or teflon pressing sheet.

Then to find some greens which I will cut for the ferns. I am going to encourage you to cut without a drawing or a template or a pattern. It is easier than you think and lots more arty. Note: there is no paper on the back of any of these fabrics. It was removed ages ago.
I used the rotary cutter to cut the main long oval, and scissor to shape the stem end. I am beginning with the ferns because they are the quilt's theme and I will build the rest from there.


To cut the veins, first use your handy sliver of soap to mark the center line, which may or may not change as you cut. Then with small sharp scissors, snip, snip, snip, and return to cut away from the rib space to reveal the fern.
After completing the fern shapes, I will decide on placement and then begin to develop the composition.

QAWM: A Few Questions

I am working on coming up with the next project, so in the meantime, a few questions and answers.
What kind of threads do you use?
I like to quilt with 30wt. cottons, mostly. I like to see my stitches.
30wt. is heavier and more visible than finer weights like 40 and 50. For my seams I will use 40wt. Sulky and Madeira are my two faves. I use prewound poly bobbins for underneath, as I am not very interested in filling bobbins with matching thread. The bobbin thread is finer and hardly noticeable on my busy backs. I have just oodles of thread, including rayons, which I sometimes use, but not often.

 I've been sorting through my fabric and notice that all my block colours are pinks, purples, mauves and blues rather than the vibrant yellows, oranges, greens and turquoises that you use. I also have a lot of patterned fabrics, but I notice you always seem to use your trade-mark solid colours.
I think this is the reason your work has the 'wow' factor. Do you ever use more pastel colours or patterns?
I am glad you feel my work has a 'wow' factor. I don't really use solids that much, but some of my hand dyeds are more solid looking than others. When I fuse I primarily use hand dyeds, and just a tiny bit of prints to add detail. When I piece I am more likely to use prints with my hand dyes, and some commercial solids too. I am sure most quilters have much more patterned fabric in their stashes than hand dyed. I can understand that, as there are always new prints to entice. But with solids, one can have a full array of colors and not have as much yardage in comparison. I find that the solids and hand dyes offer me more in the way of being original, as I add my own decorative elements that make the work mine.
As for pastels, I LOVE pastels. See these pieces:

 and and
and  I could go on...
Are you cutting your pieces with scissors or a rotary cutter?
I use both. The majority is cut with a rotary cutter, no ruler, just free cutting. And I use sharp small scissors for dots and small details.

Have you ever used black or white in your pieces?
As for black, I used to use it a lot, but outgrew it. I find that it is the easy way out, and has a tendency to look like I couldn't think of anything better to use as a contrast.
And white...hmm. I may have, but also find lighter values like pastels work in its place. This is just me of course
I did collect a lot of black and white prints over the years, and may start using them any day now. ha!

And then, the famously asked question:
How do you wash your fused quilts?
Of course... I don't. If they are hanging for a long time I will use sticky tape to lift any dust that may have accumlated. And of course I don't hang quilts in the kitchen, altho these days, I hardly ever fry anything, so it might not matter.

Some of your quilts look pieced but then you say they are fused. What's the difference? I mean why fuse or why do you piece a design?
This question came from anonymous, but I am guessing lots of people wonder the same thing and were hesitant to ask. I chose fusing over piecing years ago, so I could do anything that came to mind without a struggle. I am not into applique, or turning edges under, or even worse, zigzagging the edges of my shapes.  And I like to add details like dots and skinny strips without having to afix them with stitching. Then later I figured I could do pieced looking quilts the same way, by fusing. If I stitch next to the edges of my shapes, they look pieced. But then, lately with the two twin beds we have, I needed bed quilts and of course those have to be washable, so piecing is just right for those. I've made only a few pieced wall quilts that qualify as arty enough to hang.

QAWM: Quilting the Quilt

 Where were we? The top is fused to the batting and I used the Escape Hatch Finish to get the quilt ready for machine quilting.

Now I would like to share another wonderful thing about fusing the quilt. The work is stabilized with the fusing so that no basting is needed to quilt it. This is especially true on small works such as this, but also true to a lesser extent with really large art quilts.
It is not even necessary to use free motion quilting on such a small piece. I just leave my feed dogs up and use my open toed embroidery foot for the quilting.
When outlining the fused shapes, I stitch NEXT TO but not ON TOP OF the shapes. Stitching in the ditch like this, tucks in any stray threads and makes the pieces looked pieced!
To start, I stitch in place about three stitches and then go. To finish I will also stitch in place and then I hit the thread cutter button (Janome 6500P) and that pulls the threads to the back.

But my starting threads are still there on the front.
I use a self-threading needle to pull those threads to the back.

I am very careful not to stitch on the strips, but just next to them, matching the thread to the background fabric color.

I like to let the machine make the straight lines from the shapes to the outer edges, stopping and turning, returning to the inner spaces, not going off the edge.















And I may add angles and extensions from the fused shapes, whatever suits my fancy. It doesn't take very long to quilt a small work like this, and when you are done quilting, the work is finished, except for your signature!
For my signature I find a nice quiet place to put it, and I use my darning foot and drop my feed dogs to write my name, free motion.
And then the quilt is finished and ready to apply the rod pocket or loops on the back for hanging.

QAWM 2012 Sample: Small Fused Art Quilt, 12x14", hand dyed cottons, fused, and machine quilted.
PS  Overlapping shapes, and DOTS!!