The Making of an Art Quilter

I wanted to share with you Bella's newest venture into the world of quilting.  I asked her if she wanted to make a fabric collage instead of the usual paper ones she is now making.  Without hesitation, she said yes.  Of course, I had one idea about how we would proceed, and she had another.  We went with hers.

After she went through my stash and picked pieces from all the colors of the rainbow, she started cutting little irregular shapes of each color.  She was very careful to keep the piles separate.  This is her first time cutting fabric with "grown-up" scissors.

After she thought she had enough pieces cut, she started placing them on a piece of batting she had me cut to just the right size.

Art cannot be rushed, so there were a few breaks along the way for snacks and playing with Tom.

We put some wash-away stabilizer over the top of the finished collage and took it carefully to the sewing machine.  Bella is only 3 1/2, so she is very comfortable sitting in my lap and helping me guide the fabric while I work the foot pedal. 

After sewing, we ran some warm water in the sink to wash away the stabilizer.  This is the first time I have used this, and I am pretty amazed.  It just dissolves.  Bella wasn't sure if she liked touching the slimmy water as it was washing away.

She was as amazed as I was, I think.

This is what it looks like so far.  I need to wash it again to get all the residue away from the thread, even though I like the look of the thicker line.  I also need to do a little more stitching in a few places.  I am not sure what Bella will want to do next with this piece, but so far, she is pretty happy with it.  She likes her abstract designs in her drawings and, now, in her quilts.

I have been busy finishing up projects I need to get done before Thursday when I leave for a ten days in Fairfax, Virginia.  I am going to stay with my sister-in-law, who is responsible for getting me back into quilting.  What fun we will have!  Does anyone know what kind of scissors I can take onboard the airplane to do some handwork?

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Texas Trellis or Whirling Hexagon

I saw this block on Barbara Brackman's Material Culture blog the other day, and fell in love with it.  It was new to me, so I left her a comment asking her what it was called.  She wrote back telling me it was called Texas Trellis or Whirling Hexagon.  I knew I had to make one of my own using my paisley collection.

I have never worked with hexagons before, and I am very intrigued by this one.  I found a paper pieced pattern at Quilter' Cache under Whirling Hexagon, but it was small and I didn't want to deal with paper piecing for something that looked much easier to do without it.  I did print out the pattern so I could do some measurements.  The one in the photo at Brackman's blog had wider spokes, but I wanted to try narrower ones.  I sewed a strip of 2.5" paisley to 4.5" background.  I discovered that to make all six triangles I needed, I had to have 45.5".  I cut them using a 30 degree angle.  I have several extra triangles witch are reversed, but I will figure out how to use them somehow.  I can't wait to make these up with all my paisleys.  I think they will make a wonderful quilt.

While I was watching Bella earlier in the week, she and Tom made this.  They both have good eyes for color.  I really like this one.  Bella or Tom and Bella have made many of these designs on the small design board I made for her.  This one is my favorite.  I really wish I was skilled enough to figure out how to turn this into a small quilt for Bella's stuffed animal friends.  I know there must be a way.  Bella also helped me sew a few squares together on the machine.  She didn't think it was as much fun as designing.  I think I feel that way sometimes, too.
I really did get quite a bit done in the studio today, but I can't show it because it is a surprise for my husband.  His birthday is coming up and I want to make him something special.  I will show it to you all after the 21st.
I will leave you all with this ribbon.  It is one of the ribbons I made for the winners of our guild quilt show.  I won people's choice for Hokule'a which I entered as a challenge block.

Joyful quilting, everyone!

 

Bella's newest design

As some of you know, I have a three year old granddaughter who loves fabric and creating on my design wall.  This is her newest design.

I am going to see what I can do to make this into a mini quilt for her.  I have the photo, and the fabric.  Now, I just have to play with some sewing techniques to put it all together.

For myself, I started a new project with the Asian fabrics I have been collecting since before I started quilting again.  I have seen this pattern around in many variations.  I had great hopes.

Imagine my despair as I went to put it on the design wall only to have the black fabric begin falling apart on me.  You can see some of the whitish tear marks on the upper right side.  I knew this fabric was odd when I ironed it and it smelled funny.  Not polyester funny, but something else.  Foolish me, I just ignored it and went on my merry way.  I love how the block looks, so I will make more, but I have thrown all the black out, including the pieces in this block.  It was easy to get them off.  They just disintegrated.  Sometimes, free fabric, even when it looks and feels okay at first, is not to be trusted.  Live and learn.

I am still trying to get the new quilters as readers club off the ground.  So far, I have one other person interested.  Look for more information soon, as well as a giveaway to help spread the word.

Joyful quilting, everyone.,

Bella's Quilt

I finished piecing and quilting Bella's quilt late last night. Bella loved the tiny hearts in the mauve fabric and in fun hearts in the red fabric. I decided to use hearts to quilt this small piece. It turned out to be 17"x15". Bella gave it to her Grandma Edwards this afternoon.

While I was putting Bella's quilt together, I also pieced this preemie quilt. I recently learned a great tip about how to save thread, save time clipping, and work on two quilts at once. You know that little piece of fabric you use at the beginning and ending of chain stitching that ends up with serious leggy strings? A quilting pal told me she creates her preemie quilts by using those blocks as the starters and enders on these strings. So, I started doing that. Instead of throwing away thread filled scraps, I ended up with a preemie quilt top. This is a very valuable tip.

Quilting with my granddaughter

My granddaughter, Bella, is two and a half years old. We have been encouraging her to express herself through art and color since she could hold a crayon. She has known all her colors for a very long time, and she is great at shapes. She also holds very strong opinions. It is with all these things in mind, I asked her if she wanted to make a quilt for her Grandma Edwards, who is a quilter extraordinaire. She has a couple of wonderful quilts from that grandmother, so she readily agreed. After asking her what colors she wanted to use and what shapes, I began to prepare for this great adventure.

On Sunday, when she came over, I pulled out the bins with the pink, red, and purple scraps. We took them into the family room/photography studio where she had plenty of room to spread them out and make her fabric selections. It took her a while, but she spread every piece of fabric from both bins all over that room, the dining room, and the entry. She wandered around, looking at the colors and patterns, and then selected the fabrics she wanted in the quilt. I set them aside and told her we would play with them again on Tuesday.

I cut the shapes on Monday, and when Bella arrived on Tuesday, I handed her a basket of pieces and showed her the area on the design wall that was just for her quilt for Grandma. She played with a felt board before, so she knew just what to do. Here she is explaining how she is arranging the pieces. My wonderful husband, Tom, took this series of photos to document the process.
Bella really enjoyed the process, explaining why she put certain pieces next to other pieces. She move them around, and when she was done, she had everything to her liking. My challenge was to move the pieces closer together without messing with her ideas. I did that while she was napping.

The designer at work.

When Bella woke up, I gave her an opportunity to rearrange the pieces, which she did. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photograph of the final layout. After she left, I sewed the HSTs. Tomorrow, I will sew the small quilt together. It is based on 2" squares, mostly. I think it may be a Valentine's day end table topper. Bella can't wait to give it to Grandma Edwards. I will post a photo with Bella and the final piece later in the week.