Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Quilting

There is no quilting blog this week.  It’s the Fourth of July and I will be celebrating (albeit quietly) this weekend.  I’m thankful for this nation and I’m thankful that for the most part, most of our freedoms are still intact.  I’m thankful for the men and women and their families – past and present – who have served our country.  Some have paid the ultimate price for our freedom.  Others are reminded daily of that cost.

We should never forget that or them.

I imagine I’m like a lot of you are – tired of this election cycle, tired of the 24-hour news cycle and talking heads, and bone-weary of the seeming incompetence of most of our elected officials and those running for election.  So let’s hit a pause button on all of that this weekend.

Remember a band of men, who in 1775-ish decided that this country was worth laying everything on the line.  If the American Revolution had not gone well, they would have been hung for treason.  So they met in secret; in hot, upstairs rooms in Philadelphia where they hammered out a decree that would make us a nation.  They wrote a declaration that we would be free.  And while it took a long time for some of us to fully attain that freedom, we did get it.

Remember the groups of men who answered George Washington’s call to arms.  They left their farms and families and businesses and became soldiers when they really knew little to nothing about mustering out.  Bless them for their common sense (they fought from behind trees instead of in firing lines like the British), their stamina, and their devotion to this country.  They withstood the freezing weather, poor rations, and little to no pay in order for us to declare our independence.

Remember that while we have often misinterpreted that independence as freedom for some and not for all, we did change.  It took more lives and more blood, but the union held.  Later, it took prison time for some women to bring to the public’s attention that the female citizens did not have the right to vote.  We corrected that, too.

So this weekend, be thankful -- thankful that we’re still free.  Thankful for our families, friends, jobs, and the art that binds us together in a sisterhood of stitches.  Forget the talking heads on the news shows and the gloom that is always pervasive in an election year.  Turn off the TV, unplug the laptop, let the batteries run down in your tablet.  Enjoy this Fourth of July. 

For all its faults – and they’re many – this country is still a pretty great place to live.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

Thank God for Technology....

It’s been a busy week around Casa de Fields.

Summer is always hectic at my “real” job and this  summer is blessedly no exception.  It’s cut down on my quilting time, but I will take the job craziness any day over struggling to find projects.  I’m also working hard with The Applique Society to continue to get things streamlined and up and moving forward.  Add to that I’m also contacting past and potential vendors for my guild’s 2017 show, and life is crazy.  But it’s crazy in a good way, and I’m not complaining.   This too shall pass and I will hit a slow spell and will quilt to my heart’s content.  Retirement is sounding better every. Single. Day.

I did make a new purchase this week.  Becki, one of the High Point Quilt Guild members, did a presentation on the Brother Scan and Cut at our last guild meeting.  I have seen these in stores and on line.  A few of my friends have them.  However, I had never contemplated purchasing one for myself.  I am pretty much “old school” when it comes to quilting please take no notice of that computerized sewing machine on the table or the other one in the corner.  I don’t  mind making my own templates or manually cutting out fabric.

But remember, I’m in the middle of The Farmer’s Wife Quilt.  That pattern uses templates – lots of templates.  Hundreds of templates.  Maybe thousands of templates…I haven’t stopped to count.  And it uses some more than others -- for example, template 7.  I swear it’s used in every other block.  I’ve spent hours tracing and cutting out that template on freezer paper.  However, in this Scan and Cut, I can scan the template in, multiply it, and it will fill up a whole page of the templates and cut them out. 

Time saved.  Valuable time saved, my friends.

If you’re working from an odd shaped scrap, you can scan the scrap into the machine, then pull up the template you want to cut out, and it will line the template up on that scrap so you can get as many as possible and there is no fabric waste.

Valuable time and valuable fabric saved, my friends.

So like the geek that I am, I went home and Googled it.  Read the reviews.  Thought about it for a week.  Sold my Go! Baby and dies.  Then purchased the Brother Scan and Cut 2 650.

For someone who appliques like I do, it’s a great investment.  Not to mention that box of fabric scraps that were too big to throw away just got a whole new life. 

I also had to get some of this:

I haven’t used this product before, but I understand that I need it to stiffen my fabric before I run it through the Scan and Cut.  I’ve also heard you can use it to make ink jet labels for your quilts.  Typically you iron your label fabric onto a sheet of freezer paper and run it through your ink jet printer.  With the Terial Magic, the fabric gets so firm that the freezer paper isn’t necessary.  I have not tried it yet, but I want to. 

This also got finished.  

Remember my blog from the 2015 guild Christmas party?  The one where I came away with the organizer bag and the most coveted fat quarters from the Dirty Santa game?  We have to have the fat quarters make into something by the July pot luck.  So I made this little table topper.

I used a scrap of polyester batting for this little quilt and promptly forgot how fluffy that batting is.  The binding was cut 2 1/4 – inches.  I fought with that binding all the way around that quilt and it shows.  I’m not happy with it at all.  I should have cut it 2 ½-inches.  I don’t typically use polyester binding at all – it’s either 80/20 or 100% cotton batting in my quilts.  But this scrap was the perfect size so I put it between the back and the top.  While I’m pleased with the top and the quilting, I’m not super happy with the binding. 

And finally there is this.  Remember the quilt I made for my History Club?  We showed the quilts at the June guild meeting and I came away with this: 

That made my month.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Room to Breathe .. or Moving In...

IT’S FINISHED!!

Or as finished as it’s gonna get for the moment….

Most of you know that my quilt studio has been a work in progress for a couple of years.  First the DH had it as his “man-cave” until I twisted his arm he decided to give it to me as my quilt studio.  Then my daughter and her husband and the two granddarlings borrowed it for about six months until they could figure out where they wanted to live.

So needless to say, it has been a long time coming.  I’ve been working on it since the end of February.  It simply wasn’t a process of moving everything in; it was a process of reorganizing and reprioritizing.  The shelves that stored all my fabric was a wire mesh contraption that the DH had used in one of his man caves offices and it was nearing the end of its usefulness it was held together by faith, prayer, duct tape, pixie dust, and a cane.  Yes.  You heard me right, a cane.  So new shelving had to be gotten. 

I doubled by floor space with the new studio, so my tiny, little sewing table had to go.  I now have two six foot tables, and my original sewing table.

I cleaned out a file cabinet that was full of stuff I had used when I taught school you know, back when we wrote on chalk boards instead of white boards and lesson plans were actually done on paper and filed my patterns in it please don’t ask if they’re in alphabetical order.

See that big, clear space on the back wall with the two outlets?  That’s where my long arm is going eventually. 

Now I know what all you are asking…especially the ones that really know me.  “Sherri…that can’t be all your project boxes.”

Well you would be right….here’s the rest of them.

I am lucky enough to have a small storage room next to the studio where all the boxes are stored. Don’t judge.  My blog is a guilt-free zone.

I have been productive.  I’ve finished two quilts since I’ve had the new studio.  I have two original quilts floating around in my head and have picked out my next applique adventure.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

And Everything Old is New Again...or What Goes Around Comes Around....

Technically, we quilters have been copying from the past for as long as there have been needle and thread. 

Think about it.  The very first item that we would regard as a quilt (top, middle, backing), was recorded as being from Ancient Egypt.  From there it spread to Russia, Asia, Europe, and eventually to North America.  We Americans kind of like to think of quilting as “our” art, but in all reality, it’s not.  We may have perfected it and put it in a place of a recognized art form, but it’s not uniquely ours.

So it just goes to say that since quilts and quilting have been around for a long time, it’s only natural that we quilters have repeated blocks, renamed blocks, and revived blocks that have fallen out of quilting fashion.  We’ve done them in reproduction fabric, Kaffe Facette fabrics, by hand and by machine. 

However, I don’t remember a time when we reproduced quilts like we have now.  And I’m not sure why.  I don’t know if it’s an unconscious effort to tie our fast moving present to a slower past or if it’s simply to see if our skills equal our grandmothers’.  I just seem to think we’re doing it with a record number of quilters and with a record number of quilts.

The first reproduction quilt that came into my life was Dear Jane.  I remember that a group of women introduced me to this quilt during a Tuesday night Sit and Sew I belong to.  I was intrigued.  “Where do I get the pattern?” I asked.

Dear, dear Jane...

Only to find out there was no pattern.  There was a book by Brenda Papadakis and it only had line drawings of the blocks. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” I thought.  Quickly followed by “Thanks, but no thanks.  I have this other quilt,” I told them, holding up my Southern Album Quilt, “that I’m really trying to finish.”  

However, I am a sucker for group quilts.  I went home and looked up the book on Amazon and purchased a used one for a few bucks.  When it came in the mail, I opened it, traced out the first block, and struggled to assemble it.

Only to find it came together backwards.

I took it back to Sit and Sew completely perplexed.

The ladies there looked at it and one immediately piped up and told me, “That’s one that has to be mirror imaged.”

Mirror imaged?  Seriously?”

I carefully regarded my carefully stitched block.  The one that I had spent three hours of my life on, and thought there was no way this 4 ½-inch disaster was going in the trash.  If nothing else, it would make a cute coaster for my wine glass that I desperately wanted at that very moment.

“H-how did you know that?” I asked, wondering if this woman was channeling Jane or if she knew a lot more than I did.

“The blog,”  was the reply.

The Blog was a reference to thatquilt.blogspot.com. If you’re making Jane, you have to have access to this blog.  It is the directions to all of the blocks and triangles.  Anina tells you which blocks need to be mirrored.  She is also quite honest about the amount of time some of the blocks take.  And she’s made upteen dozen Janes, so this lady knows what she’s talking about and she supplies you with a ton of pictures.

“And you may want to consider the software,” someone else chimed in.

This quilt has software?

Turns out it does indeed and it’s worth the $40 investment.  It will print the blocks mirror imaged if needed and print them for paper piecing, rotary cutting, or template piecing.  Jane also has two Facebook pages and a whole section on Pinterest.  Not bad for a quilt that has lived most of its life very quietly in the Bennington Museum in Vermont.

I’ve completed the center and two of the triangle borders.  It is a labor intensive quilt and I’ve found that I can work on her for several weeks and then have to have a break from Jane.  However, I can also honestly say I’ve learned more from this quilt than I have any other quilt.  Each block is different and I think I’ve used every technique under the sun to construct the top.

Another reproduction-type of quilt that’s being made in mass quantities is the Farmer’s Wife Quilts designed by Laurie Aaron Hird.  In 1922, a publication called The Farmer’s Wife had a contest.  They asked women to write in to the magazine and tell why they would like their daughter to marry a farmer. 

The results were overwhelming.  Over 7,000 readers wrote essays and letters explaining why they’d love for their daughter to marry a farmer.  Sixty-eight of these 7,000-plus entries were published in a small booklet.  Laurie Hird drew from the inspiration of these essays to come up with her quilt.  Typically, these are older quilt blocks, such as Birds in the Air, Contrary Wife, Ocean Wave, Corn and Beans, etc. She has two Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt books out.  These books have a CD with them that will open the templates up in the Adobe program and print the templates out.  I’m in the middle of making this quilt and have found that the templates go together quickly and easily.  The blocks have a consistent 6 ½-inch size (which seems gigantic after working on the 4 ½-inch Jane blocks).  There is a separate CD that can be downloaded into the Electric Quilt program and then rotary cutting or paper piecing directions can also be used.  This quilt also has its own section under Pinterest and a couple of Facebook pages, too.

Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

More recently, I was introduced to Lucy Boston’s Patchwork of the Crosses by a really good quilting buddy of mine. 

I think of the three reproduction quilts I’m working on, this is by far the most beautiful.  It’s English paper pieced and although the work is labor-intensive, the results are gorgeous. 

Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses

The Patchwork of the Crosses is made with two shapes – the honeycomb or elongated hexagon and the square.  It was designed by Lucy Boston (1882-1990).  This lady became a well-known author of children’s book and novels when she was in her sixties and her most impressive patchwork was made when she was in her eighties.  Linda Franz published her book Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses in 2009 and I imagine from there the quilt took off and scored major popularity.  Several quilt shops have block of the month clubs for this quilt.  Currently I am enrolled in the one with Pieceful Gatherings.  I am both charmed and intimidated by this quilt.  The fussy cutting is extensive, but the result is just awesome.  Below are some of the blocks that I’ve been sent from Pieceful Gatherings. 

Why am I working on these quilts?  For several reasons.  First and foremost, in this era of quilting when everything seems to be rotary cut, kitted, and put together quickly, these quilts can’t be.  I have to slow down and breathe when I’m working on these.  It allows me to think creatively.

Secondly, it tests my quilting skills.  I firmly believe if a quilter can make a Dear Jane, he or she can make any quilt.  Upon finishing that quilt, nothing  intimidates you anymore.

Then it puts me in tune with the past.  In my mind, quilting and women’s history are intertwined.  Add to the fact that I come from a family of quilters on my mother’s side and these quilts just warm my heart. 

There are a couple other quilts that have been making a comeback that are on my quilting bucket list.

There’s this one:

Love Entertwined

It’s called Love Entertwined.  Esther Aliu was allowed to copy this quilt (it is privately owned by a family, not a museum and was originally a marriage coverlet).  She put out the directions on her blog a couple of years ago.  I downloaded them and have been collecting fabrics. It is all hand applique.  Unless you have the machine applique skills of Sue Nickels or Kim Diehl, I’d be wary about using that method on this quilt.  It’s a fabulous quilt and the pattern breaks the quilt into sections so that you can carry it with you to work on.

Two other fairly popular reproduction quilts are the 1718 Coverlet and the Caswell Quilt 1835.  The 1718 Coverlet is based on the oldest surviving English Patchwork Quilt.  I purchased this book (used) out of sheer curiosity, but have no plans to make it.  It looks too busy and doesn’t appeal to me at all.

 1718 Coverlet

The Caswell Quilt 1835 is not based on a quilt at all, but is inspired by a carpet of the same name in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  It is 30 blocks of applique heaven.  I could really, really enjoy making this quilt, but currently the cost is a little too steep for me to consider with a good conscious.  The pattern is well over $70, however it is in color and has full sized templates and placement guides.  I’m watching Amazon like a hawk to find out if I can get it used at a slightly better price.

Caswell Quilt 1835

During your quilting journey, I’d encourage you to try one of these quilts – especially Dear Jane.  You don’t have to make all the blocks, but even making a few of these blocks would test your mettle as a quilter.  And if you do, let me know.  I’d love to see your progress and cheer you on in your journey.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

Close to My Heart

I promised this week that I’d share two special quilts that have taken up quite a large place in my heart recently.

First let me tell you that I love making quilts for others.  I love making and giving them away.  I feel that somehow I’ve given that person a tangible, forever hug from me that’s an expression of my thoughts and prayers and hopes and dreams for them. 

In the last few weeks I’ve been privileged to help with one quilt for a kindergarten teacher that is undergoing her second round of cancer.  A room mother from that class dropped by the quilt shop one Tuesday when I was there and she had a picture printed off of Pinterest of a quilt made of children's hand prints.   She explained the situation – that this was to be quilt made from hand prints of all the students so that the teacher would know just how special she is.

I am a sucker for teachers. After years of teaching and acting as a principal, I have developed a deep and abiding love and respect for educators.  Kindergarten teachers are especially important because they are the first education gateway a child has and it’s up to them to make sure that experience is a positive one. This teacher needed  this quilt.

Fortunately there was a group of my quilty friends at the shop and we all conspired together.  Theressa, Angie, and I put the quilt top together.  Gail supplied the machine embroidery.  Shelle quilted it.  Angie, Susan, and I put on the binding. Most of us contributed fabric.

This is the result:

Shelle did a beautiful job quilting it.  It’s just as pretty on the back as it is on the front.

The label has a verse from a song that’s very important to the kids in Room 208.

I just hope that this quilt wraps that lady in love and she knows just how very, very special she is.

The second quilt I made is for my cousin who is undergoing his own battle with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  There are seven cousins on my dad’s side of the family and we’re all pretty close despite time and distance.  I was floored when my brother called me with the news that our cousin had cancer. 

I regularly make and donate “chemo quilts” to our guild, who in turn, distributes them to Hayworth Cancer Center, our local cancer treatment hospital.  I knew I wanted to make such a quilt for my cousin.  He’s former military, so red, white, and blue seemed appropriate.  I finished it and got it in the mail on Thursday.  He called me today.  It arrived yesterday and he said it took him a day to call me.  He loves it, and that was music to my ears.  He said he will use it when he goes for his next treatment on Friday. 

He claimed I Thessalonians 5:16-18 as his verses through this journey.  I wanted to put them on the label for a couple of reasons.   First, for them to comfort and remind him of God’s presence in this situation.  And second, as a reminder after this “storm” has passed, that God’s always in charge of the situation no matter what it is. 

I love to quilt, there’s no doubt about that.   And as much as these quilts bless the recipient, I am doubly blessed to have the opportunity and means to make them.  If you don’t belong to a guild or quilt group that has a charity quilt program, let me encourage you to look on the internet for groups that need quilts.  Project Linus and Quilts of Valor are two of the groups that constantly need quilts.  Your local law enforcement, social workers, or fire fighters may also have a need for them. 

Don’t hesitate to be a blessing.  Trust me, you truly get back more than you give.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri