Denise's Flimsy

I bring you today a flimsy from Denise. You may recall her sweet email awhile back in which she shared how my Scrappy 4-Patch quilt had inspired her. Click here for that post.

Denise says this quilt top went together fast, and I think her results look fantastic, don't you? This was the perfect way to handle a panel of barn pictures. 

Well done, Denise!

For comparison's sake, I will add a picture of the quilt which inspired her. I love this aspect of quilting and sharing with others. Her quilt looks nothing like mine, yet an idea grew from her having seen my quilt. Awesome.

We are just back from a very short 2-day vacation to Put-In-Bay and South Bass Island in Lake Erie. What a relaxing place PIB is on a weekday. I understand weekends are a bit more crowded and chaotic, but we choose to go when the pace is slower. Old folks...grin.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Inspiring Others

About a week ago I had an email from Denise. Remember when I used to have two women come here for quilting lessons?? Claudia and Denise. We no longer do lessons together - they got to be really good, and no longer needed lessons! The two of them share another hobby besides quilting - professional dog showing and training. I will hear from one or the other of them occasionally; today you will get to see what Denise has been doing.

On more than one occasion, when I have pondered giving up blogging, Denise, who reads faithfully, has encouraged me to keep going. I really appreciate that encouragement, and her email serves to encourage me further. She wrote to tell me that one of my recent projects inspired her in a way she could use the fabric shown below.

She referenced my Scrappy 4-Patch quilt as her inspiration. I used alternating red and white triangles to build 'economy blocks' around each 4-patch which helped to separate and contain the random scraps. Here's the quilt.

Below is a picture taken during the early construction of the quilt. The 4-patches are totally scrappy, and the added triangles provide order to their haphazardness.

With those images, Denise was brilliant in determining that she could use her barns in place of the pieced centers, and build out with triangles.

She started by cutting squares from her panel. I don't know her sizes, but any dimension would work.  

The next step is to add the inner triangles. I made mine a bit large and trimmed to size. That's just personal preference, though. More precise quilters might not need to do that.

Then, of course, you add the outer triangles. Then repeat in the opposing color-way. And repeat until you run out of barn pictures!

I think this is an ingenious way to handle a panel such as the one Denise had. It will be a gorgeous quilt, and very appropriate for the southern Ohio counties in which we live - very rural and home to several growing communities of both Amish and Mennonite.

Bravo, Denise! Well done! Please send pictures when you finish your flimsy. And thank you for thinking to share with me. Knowing that you took an idea from here to solve a puzzle you'd been working on makes my day!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Denise and Her Tiny Pieces

Last Sunday I popped by Claudia's house to visit as she is recuperating from knee-replacement surgery. It was a well-planned visit, because Denise was also stopping in. In addition to catching up with each other and wishing Claudia a speedy recovery (which she appears to be experiencing), we had a brief show-and-tell. You have seen my quilts, so let me show you Denise's.

Back in December, the last time we checked in with Denise and Claudia, I shared a picture of one of these blocks as this quilt was a WIP (work in progress). Check back to see the tiny sizes. Look at the stunning result! I love it. Here are some close up shots. The last one includes my pointer finger to illustrate the tiny size of those churn dash units. Incredible, truly!

The other quilt Denise shared was this double wedding ring quilt in lovely shades of green and purple. Denise has definitely honed her piecing skills with these curved pieces.

I applaud Denise for her patience, hard work and thriftiness in fabric use and waste reduction. While I love these quilts and all their tiny pieces, I am on a completely different trajectory for the foreseeable future.

Maybe someday, I will feel inclined to piece some intricate designs, but for this year I want to use up some of my stash. In order to do that, I must make simple quilts with large pieces.

Have a great Saturday, everyone! The weather is at last warming up after this awful deep freeze, and I am off to walk with my 'seester!'

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Claudia and Denise Checking In

Since I have been in total hostess mode for the past several weeks, and practically zero significant sewing has occurred around here, I thought today might be a good day to share the productivity of my friends Claudia and Denise. Both have been in touch with me recently, and they continue to be brilliantly productive.

Denise has a penchant for making quilts with small pieces. She tells me this is a result of refusing to be wasteful of fabric. She keeps bits and bobs that many would throw away and puts them to use in some incredible creations. Here are two pictures illustrating this philosophy - definitely a beauty in the making! This WIP (work in progress) is going to be spectacular.

I like that these pictures include the hem gauge. I count eight tiny pieces of scrap fabric sewn together to make that 2.5-inch unit. These are then used as the sides of this Churn Dash block.

The result will be a wonderfully scrappy quilt. Even the corner units and the center unit are made up of scraps. The more I study it, the more I am inspired to make some use of my own scraps. I hope Denise will send pictorial updates as she finishes this quilt. Click here to see a post featuring (among other things) a scrappy quilt that Denise made earlier this year.

Claudia shared some recently finished projects with me. She sent these photos of her increasingly skilled workmanship. The tote bag in the first two pictures is quite impressive. Her quilting has gotten better and better, proving the age-old theory 'practice makes perfect.'

This throw required much less detailed skill, but I have to give Claudia props for trying a project involving fleece; that's a challenge not just everyone is up for.

This last picture is a tasseled table runner, which would be simple to construct. The challenge would be the finishing, in my opinion. It looks like the edges are folded under, matched to the back, and then stitched.

That same link also includes previous work from Claudia, so click it to have a look.

How was your Christmas? We had quite a houseful here yesterday, and - like always - had more food than we could possibly want. My fridge is stuffed with leftovers. Come over! We could feed you well!

The best part was having loved ones near. My 82-year-old mother was here, and 3 of my 4 siblings, too. Only one of our 3 kids attended, but we had nieces, nephews, and in-laws aplenty. We had a couple of rousing games of Bingo and some gifting, as well. My brother Mark was a Christmas baby 58 years ago, so we always celebrate his birthday, too. So much good cheer - I just didn't want it to end! Everyone was headed home by 6pm; DH and I enjoyed a quiet Christmas night here together.

I am thinking about doing some stitching today...wouldn't that be refreshing!?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilting and Coincidences

People who don't know quilters well might be of the belief that we make our quilts in the quiet of our homes, with little interaction from the outside world - a lonely pastime, perhaps.

No way!

This hobby is the most social and open hobby ever. Having Sharon over once each week is just a beginning. We also have a wide circle of friends who enjoy lugging their machines and projects to someone's house for a day of stitching together. Our Frankfort Girls group meets every-other-Friday morning to do just hand-stitching.

And then there are retreats and quilt shows and classes. And I haven't even touched on the community that can be found in cyberspace.

This lengthy introduction is surely going somewhere, and it describes just one instance of how all these various spheres of quilters eventually are bound to intersect.

A week ago, my neighbor and friend Dorothy shoots me an email saying that she and her daughter are taking a mystery class at Creations, a quilt shop in Chillicothe. Across the table from them are Claudia and Denise, my students off and on for the past couple of years! What a small world.

For some history on all these friends, you can check out some backstories, if you like. I first wrote about Dorothy in 2017 when she wanted help making a picnic quilt for her son and daughter-in-law. Claudia and Denise have been the subject of many posts over the past 3-4 years, and here's just one that represents a bit of the kinds of things we have tackled together.

Now, let's get to the pictures of the work Dorothy, Sarah, Claudia and Denise did in the mystery class.

The bottom photo is from Claudia who has her mystery parts laid out at her home. She is in the process of sewing the top together.

The emails I got from Claudia really speak to the nature of "community" -

Denise and I enjoyed meeting two of your friends from Frankfort yesterday at the Mystery Quilt Sewing Day at the Creations store in Chillicothe. There were seven steps. The photo shows Denise with her quilt at step 4 I believe. There would be five of the strips like she is holding next to each other. Her batik fabrics are beautiful. I left a little early as there were farm chores to do at home before evening, but I think Denise finished hers before she left. Just before I left at 5pm the first quilt was completed. It was fun to arrive to well marked piles of fabric and a little sheet (CLUE) to follow. And fun to meet new people with the same interests.

And Claudia is a true "learner" in every sense of the word; she later sent this with the picture above:

Here is my Mystery Quilt down to ten pieces. I had asked for red, white & blue figuring I would get something patriotic with stars, stripes, etc. but with the green in it too it is far from patriotic looking. I now know that I have to be more specific. At step 3 I had a snafu. I tried very consciously to match the two corners but alas my matching (which was with an angle) made the piece off center and I had to take them all apart and redo matching the sides and not a center seam. I just didn’t understand “quilters” language. Ugh!!

 You can be sure Claudia will know this "quilters language" next time - she learns fast!

I hope this post makes sense; I am a bit under the weather with some crazy congestion - maybe allergies? Maybe upper respiratory again? I think I will have a cup of hot tea, and take a nap.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Extra Credit from Claudia and Denise

These two students of mine are becoming quite the accomplished seamstresses as evidenced by their recent productivity. Both have shared pictures or in-person projects and I think you will enjoy seeing them, too.

Claudia is an experimenter (is that a word?). She has no problem whatsoever with the philosophy of "just trying it to see what happens." This willingness to experiment has led to quite a few successful projects such as the one above. Not only did she use transfer material for the picture, but she superimposed the face onto a cartoon superhero, then appliqued it to a warm scarf for an employee's son.

Another thing I've noticed about Claudia is that she is a problem solver. At all the dog shows she attends, registration tables are set up. Doesn't every registration table need a nice long table runner? Claudia thought so, and so she made one! How nice!

This t-shirt quilt is a gift Claudia made to surprise her husband for Christmas. Every dog show they attend has a t-shirt, so of course they have way more shirts than they will wear. She selected several with great graphics or that represented a particularly memorable show and voila! A lovely quilt is the result. I stopped over at her house in the fall to give her a few tips for making this, and she went with it all on her own. What a great job!

Now brace yourself for this quilt from Denise. She admits "I like to sew lots of little pieces." Yes, I believe she does. This string quilt is a Laundry Basket Designs pattern by Edyta Sitar. Ohhh, myyyy...

Denise said that this was a long time in the making, and spent a good amount of time stuffed in a closet as a UFO. She hopes to have it quilted in time to enter it into a local quilt show this summer.

The three picture above are close-ups of some of the intricate detail of this quilt. Those small squares might just measure an inch. The result of "sewing little pieces" is absolutely magnificent, wouldn't you agree?

Bravo, Denise! This is a stunning creation! I can't wait to see it displayed in the quilt show!

So, haven't my students done well for themselves? I just can't believe all their accomplishments! Denise dabbled in quilting prior to my meeting her; Claudia was a brand-new beginner. We three have had quite a fun time sewing together.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Giant Tote Bag Class

Over a week ago, sewing and quilting students Claudia and Denise came over for some instruction and help with making humongous tote bags. We had a good day, and accomplished our goal of a useful tote bag for each of them.

This Jumbo Bag is the pattern Claudia found and copied for us. It makes a nice big bag, and since both Claudia and Denise travel extensively to dog shows with lots of paraphernalia, this bag seemed perfectly suited to their needs.

Claudia used heavier fabric than quilting cotton for her bag. I would categorize it as duck or home dec weight.  Quite a pretty design for a bag, and her lining was well-chosen, too. I took liberties with the handles. The pattern called for making handles that seemed like they'd be too flimsy for the weight needed on the bags we were making. I bought webbing in gray, white and black, and both were happy to have sturdier handles on their bag. Claudia applied her webbing directly to the bag; Denise covered hers with fabric that matched her fabric. Both versions looked really good.

Denise used fabrics that were cotton weight. We adjusted the size of her outer pocket to catch under the straps, thus eliminating extra stitching on the pocket. I like the contrast the pocket and straps give to the bag. I can see this being quite useful for traveling purposes - and fashionable, too.

Now these two dog-lovers are becoming quite the prolific quilters. I have a whole lot of additional pictures of "extra credit" projects they have recently worked on. I will prepare them for a post tomorrow, so come on back for a look at their handywork!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Denise Has a Finish

Today's post will illustrate that even when you have so-called "ugly" fabric, you can still make a great-looking quilt. It inspires me to want to raid my extensive stash and get really busy making quilts.

You know that over the past year or so, I have taught quilting to a couple of ladies - Claudia and Denise. I am forever impressed with their lack of timidness - they pour themselves into their quilting projects without worrying about doing it wrong or having it perfect. They are very willing to practice - and practice a lot! - to improve their various techniques.

With that brief introduction, I show you some pictures I recently received from Denise. This is her first finished quilt which she did all on her own, from beginning to end. I hope you are as thrilled to see her quilt as I was.

Denise and Claudia have attended some quilt shows together and have found that some will have tag sales where folks can buy various products garage-sale style. This is usually a fundraiser for the sponsoring guild. Both women have bought bags of remnant fabrics. They find that this is good stuff to practice on. Here's what Denise wrote in her email:

"The majority of the fabric on the front is from a grab bag of fabric I bought at a quilt show.  In fact I chose fabric I didn't really like just to use it up. Now that the quilt is finished I don't mind the fabric."

Denise's quilt measures 49" X 63". She said that while making this quilt she learned a few lessons. One was to pin-baste more, and another was to leave more fabric around the edges. 

Now how many of us seasoned quilters have learned those same lessons in exactly the same way? Many, I'm sure.

Be adventurous and take some risks in your quilting this week! 

I've linked up with Cynthia for her Oh Scrap! link party. You can get all manner of inspiration for using scraps there. *grin*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilting Classes Resume

After quite a long hiatus, Claudia and Denise returned on Thursday for quilting school. The three of us have been in contact over recent weeks and months - they frequently shared the projects they were working on and occasionally asked questions about something that was stumping them. It has become evident that they are getting along quite well without their old teacher! What progress they have been making!

One area they did want some instruction in, though, was machine quilting. Now I warned them that I feel like quite a novice in this area, but they still felt it would be a good day well spent. And after the fact, I must agree. We had quite a productive day.

Claudia came with a small table-topper-sized project already sandwiched together. I told her about a technique I'd seen that she might like. We stretched a length of Press N Seal plastic wrap across the top, drew a meandering design on the plastic, then followed the design with her machine.

You can see that she has her free-motion foot on; you can also see the designs drawn on the plastic wrap. This was a very good exercise in becoming smooth with the movement of the project under the needle and all the intricacies that go along with free-motion quilting on a regular machine.

She worked her way right across that project and did, indeed, get more confident as she went. The picture above is actually upside-down; just before she finished, she tried writing her name with the machine. Here's a right-side-up close-up:

You can see her name in the blue strip. Take a look at the strip just above - some of the plastic has been removed. We found that while this is a good technique for providing a guide for sewing, removal of the plastic is quite a chore.

Denise and I went to work helping Claudia pick away at the plastic wrap. It becomes laden with static and clings to everything - see that bit on the front of my jacket? We were "pickin' and grinnin'." I can't say that I whole-heartedly recommend the plastic wrap technique, simply because removal was a major pain.

Claudia's quilting shows up so much more clearly on the back, however her name is backwards, so there's a tip to keep in mind. She really progressed well through the day.

Now let's see what Denise accomplished. Her machine did not have a walking foot, so she sat down at my machine to try her hand at a project I had available.

We went through the entire stretching of the back, then layering on the batting and the top. We pin-basted, and she was ready to take her maiden voyage across the quilt.

Her stitches are straight and even and when we inspected the back, there were no egregious puckers which made us exceedingly happy. She then wanted to try some free motion quilting, so we switched out the walking foot for the free-motion foot and she created a hot-pad, complete with binding!

She, too, tried writing her name in stitches - not too bad! I would venture to say that knowing Denise's aversion to hand stitching, she will soon be investing in a walking foot. It was great to see her learn how to roll the edge to fit through the machine. She really seemed to take right to it.

After she finished her hot pad, she brought out a larger project she'd brought that she plans to machine quilt. She had already sandwiched it, but decide to take advantage of the extra help Claudia and I provided and re-do it. We were able to successfully pin the entire quilt, stretched sufficiently, and she is now ready to tackle it at home on her own. I wish I'd take a picture of it; hopefully Denise will send a picture when she finishes it and I can share it here later.

While the two of them worked on improving their skills, I took some time to do the same. I had this set-in circle sandwiched and ready for quilting, so I tried some free-motion stitching on it. Not too bad. I would readily do more of this.

Our next class is in a couple of weeks and we will be working with piecing circular things (the reason I had a set-in circle!). I look forward to it! We have fun sewing together.

Happy Quilting, Friends!