Friday, May 31, 2013

Children's Garden - Hooray for a Finish!


I'm so pleased to have finished this quilt in time to send it home with my son-in-law after Memorial Day weekend.  Hooray for a finish!  I practically quilted my fingers to the bone to get it done in time.  (Not really, but I did have to work longer and faster.)  No more stressful deadlines for me.  It takes some of the joy out of quilting.

I've decided no quilt will be perfect until I perfect my quilting skills -- which means I may never make a perfect quilt.  That's okay.  I think of each quilt as a snapshot of my ability at the time I made it.  I can only be as good as I am and improve as I work on each successive quilt. 

Details, etc.
  • 47" x 59" after quilting
  • 45 1/2" x 56 3/8" after washing and machine drying
  • Warm and Natural batting
  • Binding was cut at 2", folded in half, stitched to the front, hand stitched to the back
Lessons
  • Always remember to cut out the back of the applique pieces before layering and quilting.  Too many layers are too hard to quilt through.
  • When appliqueing, stitch the top-most layer on first, then cut out the fabric behind the applique.  Do each successive layer the same way.  (To avoid the problem of too many layers.)
  • Warm and Natural Batting is hard to hand quilt.
  • Using masking tape to quilt straight lines is pretty easy.
  • Imposing a too early deadline on myself (i.e., not giving myself enough time) makes the quilting less fun.
  • A vertical design board and a camera might help the planning process.
  • Hand quilting on the diagonal is not as easy as hand quilting with the grain.
After Thoughts
  • Maybe there is something I could have done to integrate the flower blocks more.  Vines or ...?
  • The fabric I used for the inner border may have been a better choice for the outer border and binding, too.
  • I love Churn Dash blocks.  It's a simple pattern that looks different depending on the placement of colors and light/dark fabrics.
Blocks and Back

Simple block, maybe a little Mary Engelbriet-ish.

I used masking tape for the lines on this block.  Maybe I should
have gone all the way to the edges with the quilting lines.

That blot (above) is water.  It was rainy when I photographed.

An easy way to make a star is to make five
curves around the inside of a circle.

The leaves are weird in this block.  I like the
quilting lines, though.  Again, I used masking tape as a guide.

Another leaf might have improved this block.


I am linking this post to
A Lovely Year of Finishes at Fiber of All Sorts
Thank Goodness It's Finished (TGIF) Friday at Charm About You
Find a Friend Friday at Sew Many Ways
Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 
Second Quarter Finish-A-Long at She Can Quilt.  My original post declaring my intention to finish this quilt this quarter can be found here.

--Nancy.
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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Honeysuckle and Roses


I wish you could smell the flowers on my honeysuckle vines!  Their fragrance lightens my spirit and brightens my days as it wafts through our open windows.  Heavenly!  It's one of my favorite parts of spring. 

The flowers of the honeysuckle are small and unobtrusive.  The roses, on the other hand, like to show off their bright flowers but are more private with their fragrance.  They keep it to themselves unless one is close enough to put a nose into a bloom.  Certainly, the rose blossoms add beauty to the view.  What a perfect marriage:  honeysuckle for the fragrance, roses for color.

My husband calls my honeysuckle a weed but it's not one of those wild, invasive honeysuckle bushes.  It vines oh-so-pleasantly wherever I choose to plant and train it.  My daughter and I built the trellis a few years ago.  We didn't realize how heavy the vines can become or we would have built something stronger.  One of our other trellises broke in the heavy snow a month or so ago.  We'll have to cut it back to remove the old trellis and start the vines growing again.  I suggested we wait until after they bloomed so we could enjoy their scent for a month.  My husband agreed:  I think he likes my honeysuckle vines too even though he teases me about them being weeds.

I hope you have beautiful flowers and fragrances to bring you joy.

--Nancy.
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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Center Light - W.i.P. Wednesday

I made this quilt top about 6 or 7 years ago.  I had an abundance of white, off-white, and cream colored fabrics.  Too many, in fact.  This is what I did with them.  The whites are very scrappy.  Some blocks have as many as 10 pieces stitched together for the white border.  I was determined to use all those smallest bits, I guess.  The blocks are 5" square finished and the colored centers vary in size from just under 2" to 3".  The top measures 65" x 85".

The block arrangement came after playing around with more than a few layouts.  I liked this one best.  It wasn't until I photographed it today that I realized how very light the center looks.  I'm happy with this arrangement.

Now it's time to choose a backing fabric, layer it, and quilt it.  (I have to get something ready to quilt before my quilting callouses disappear!)  I'm uncertain about backing fabric, though.  Light, medium, dark?  Large print, small print, plain?  Pastel or bright?  I'm tending toward a small-printed light fabric I have but can't seem to commit to it.  Then I rethink it all and decide something with a large, bright print would be great.  What do you think?

I'm linking this post to W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Join in if you have a work in progress.  The more, the merrier!  Thanks to Lee for hosting.

--Nancy.
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Monday, May 27, 2013

With Gratitude

With gratitude to those who served and continue to serve and to their families who also sacrificed so that we can be a free nation.



--Nancy.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

These Were the Problem

This fabric was too bold, too bright.  I thought it would be okay because of all the white in the background but no, it kept shouting, "Look at me!  Look at me!"  Well, there will be a few (2 or 3) strips of it in the quilt but that's it.  No shouting on Sunday Morning.

The ones I'm going to replace are all end strips so it will be easy enough.

--Nancy.
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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Thinking of Dresden Plates

I have that Sunday Morning quilt that I'm not quite satisfied with.  I'd been thinking of making some pastelish Dresden Plates to go on it.  No decision about it yet.  I'll have to play a little.

This weekend I pulled out two of my mother's quilts to take some photographs of them.  As far as I know my mom made only Dresden Plate quilts and only 3 quilts in her lifetime.  You can see that my mother created the plates with reckless abandon:  no need to balance color or placement or fabric pattern.  I love them all the more for it. Two of the quilts were matching in so much as they both alternated 14 plate blocks, each about 10" in diameter, with plain pink fabric blocks.  The other quilt was made of 24 larger plates, about 12" in diameter, laid out with yellow sashing around every block.  The two plates above are different sizes, not obvious by the photographs. 

The one on the left is a block from one of the pink quilts she made (in the late 1950s or early 1960s).  The plate has 15 sections and is a chunky little block.  She pieced and appliqued the plates by hand and probably machine-stitched the blocks.  She and my grandmother quilted it.  For having so little experience with quilting I was surprised to see their tiny stitches.

The block on the right is from the yellow-bordered quilt.  The plate has 16 sections and was also hand pieced and appliqued.  The blocks and sashing are machine stitched.  The top was never quilted but has all the markings on it just awaiting needle and thread.

I'm trying to learn to like yellow.  Well, I do like some yellows:  the ones that lean toward orange.  I don't like the ones that tend toward green.  The sashing on this quilt is definitely lemony leaning toward green!  I thought about removing the yellow sashing and replacing it with blue -- my mother's favorite color.  She probably got the yellow fabric on sale and decided it would do -- but I can't quite bring myself to do that because all the quilting lines are marked.

It wouldn't be a big deal to remark the sashing pattern but this is the reason I can't remove it:  my father made the wooden templates used to mark the quilting lines on the sashing.  My parents were both in their late 60s or early 70s when Mom probably told Dad her dilemma of not having a way to mark the quilting (and not wanting to spend money on a one-time use item) and Dad solved the problem by finding out what she needed, then making it for her.  I think it's rare to have the touch of both father and mother on a quilt.  My brother, sister, and I chuckled when we saw the wooden templates when we were cleaning out my parents' home.  None of us claimed them -- and now I fervently wish I had!

I don't know which came first:  Did I think about Dresden Plates for the Sunday Morning quilt and then remember my mother's, or did I think about Mom's Dresden Plates and then the idea of using Dresden's on the Sunday Morning quilt follow?  It doesn't really matter.  Either way, it will be fun to make a few plates and try them on the Sunday Morning quilt.


--Nancy.
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Friday, May 17, 2013

Perspective, Reality, Attitude, Choice

This is part of an address by David Foster Wallace given at Kenyon College.  The images enhance the 10-minute video.  I appreciated the food for thought.  Maybe you will, too.



--Nancy.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Two Favorite Quilting Books

`
About 6 years ago I decided I wanted to learn how real quilters made real quilts (instead of the tied versions I'd been making till that time).  I borrowed dozens of books from the library.  The one I found the most helpful was The Art of Classic Quiltmaking by Harriet Hargrave and Sharyn Craig. They begin with the basics of collecting and caring for fabric, storage, drafting, cutting, planning a quilt, and calculating yardage. There are individual sections for various kinds of blocks, plus sections on borders, machine quilting, and binding. (I found other books to explain hand quilting.)  There's almost no question about quilting that I can't find an answer for in this book. The style of quilts pictured in the book tends toward traditional but the techniques will be beneficial for any quilter to know.

In a brief section called "Why Quilters Have to Collect Fabric," they mention how quilters so often try to justify their fabric purchases despite the responses of their spouses.  I love their views on the need for a supply of fabric.
We believe that we need to ... give ourselves permission to be involved in an art that requires working materials.  A fabric collection is no different than a stamp collection or a collection of fishing tackle.

In order to keep our inspiration and have ease in working through our design ideas, it is imperative that we have our fabrics around us.  In the case of quiltmaking, a complete palette of fabric is a necessary tool.  You cannot rely on the store to have the colors you need when you want them.  What is available at any one time may give you a very unbalanced use of  color and value.  In the case of scrap quilts, a collection gathered over the years produces the richest quilts.
I can attest to the frustration of not finding the color of fabric when I need it.  Colors go in and out of fashion.  Buy it when you see it!  (Not to suggest that I encourage hoarding -- just having available what you will use.)

Perhaps you would find The Art of Classic Quiltmaking interesting and useful.


The second book I love is Scrap Quilts:  The Art of Making Do by Roberta Horton.  I love scrap quilts and for me this book is invigorating.  She begins by showing the reader some traditional quilts made a century or more ago and then shows modern, scrappy options to make the quilts the reader's own.

She discusses design sources, fabrics (color, value, mood, proportion, etc.); pieced and appliqued quilts; folk art quilts; and includes a section on skills.

Early in the book she poses and answers several questions about scrap quilts.  Here's one.
Why does the use of a lot of fabrics make a quilt more interesting?

I love fabric, so quilts made with a lot of different fabrics give me more to look at, more to love.  I am forced to read the entire surface of the quilt to find all the variety in the fabric patterns and colors.  It's sort of like a treasure hunt.  In contrast, I only have to read one of the blocks in a repeat-block quilt if the fabric usage is duplicated.  It doesn't seem to matter how complicated and complex the construction of an individual block may be.  Once is enough!  That quiltmaker wasted a lot of effort to entertain me; there's nothing new for me to see.  A pillow or cushion would have consumed as much of my interest and curiosity.
If you love scrap quilts you may enjoy Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do.


This post is a contribution to Quilter's Favorites at Geta's Quilting Studio where you can find links to other quilter's favorites of all varieties - books, bats, fabrics, tools, etc.  Participate if you'd like, but hurry.  The last day to add your post is Thursday, May 16.


--Nancy.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

I Thought I Would Love It - W.i.P. Wednesday

The Children's Garden quilt is nearly finished but sometimes my fingers need a break from hand quilting so I decided to work on another project.  The blocks for this Sunday Morning quilt were in progress with almost enough blocks sewn so it was the first obvious choice. 

I finished stitching the last few blocks, cut them to size, then laid them out in random order on the floor.  The blocks will finish at 7 1/2".  There are 120 blocks, so 10 blocks by 12 blocks.  If I stop here with this many the quilt will be about 72" x 90".
I've seen other "Sunday Morning" quilts and loved them.  I thought I would love this quilt.  But it's lacking something.  My husband thinks it's peaceful.  I think he's tired of the bright colors I usually choose.  I'll let it rest for a day or so before deciding whether to do something about, with, or to it or whether to just stitch it up as is.  What do you think?

Outside, my flax has bloomed.  The plants are light, feathery, wispy, but when the lavender blue flowers bloom they practically glow, especially against the plant's green/blue foliage.  This is the plant from which linen is made.  It's a beautiful beginning for a beautiful fabric.

This is a post for W.i.P. Wednesday, hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced.  Thanks for hosting, Lee.

Blessings to you. my readers.
--Nancy.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day

The day is almost over -- but not quite.  If you're a mother, I hope you've been remembered and honored in some way large or small.  If you have a mother who's still alive, I hope you sent a card, phoned, or visited her.  And if your mother's gone, I hope you remembered her and whispered a few words of love and thanks to her. 

It's a dear honor and a great responsibility to be a mother.  There have been plenty of difficulties raising two daughters, especially when they were teens and our thoughts and opinions went in different directions.  But we persevered and they came through to responsible adulthood.

Not too long ago one of my daughters and I overheard a mother at a store complaining to someone on the phone about having given her daughter everything she asked for.  She went on, "I've done everything for her and I know she'll just turn her back on me."  I commented aloud to my daughter that if that mom loved her daughter and built a relationship with her, she would turn out to be her best friend.  I think of both of my daughters as my best friends and I'm grateful for the women they have become. 

Blessings to you this Mother's Day.
--Nancy.

You can read previous Mother's Day posts on my family history blog here, here, and here.
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Friday, May 3, 2013

Tattle Tape for Women


Stanley Home Products, Inc., wished to be so helpful to the ladies in 1938 that they offered them a measuring tape which they called "A Tattle-Tape for Women," called such because "It-Tells-On-You."  It was copyrighted by Roger Martenson, Minneapolis, Minn., 1938.

This cloth tape measures 60" and is about 5/8" wide.  Along the front of the tape are the advertisements, "Stanley Home Products, Inc." and "Household and Personal Brushes - Floor Wax and Household Polishes."

All 60 inches of the back of the tape are covered with printed information about body weights and measurements and boxes and grids to write one's measurements.

The lady of 1938 learned that "If your weight is within 10% of our charts and your proportions check with our tables ... you have a lovely figure."  Information about the height/weight chart explains, "Approximate and normal weights for small, medium and large framed individuals."  Here is the chart they provided.










These are the instructions on the tape (above) printed with boxes for writing the measurements following each:
"Write chest measurement in the following square....."
"Write bust measurement in the following square......"  "Your bust should measure 1 to 2 1/2 inches larger than chest"
"Write waist measurement in following square......"
"Your waist should be from 6 to 9 inches less than bust. 6 inches is fair, 7 inches good, and 8 inches is excellent."
"Write hip measurement in following square......"  "Your hips should be 1 to 3 inches more than bust"
"Write your weight in following square......"  "Your weight should be within 10% of normal."
"For beauty, health and appearance check your weight and measurements each month...."

About 24 inches of the tape gives space for the lady to track her weight, chest, bust, waist, and hip measurements for 12 months.


I'm trying to imagine what a lady of the house in 1938 thought about this gift.  Was she pleased to receive a free measuring tape?  Afterall, the Great Depression was still in progress and money was tight.  Did any of the women who received one feel unhappy that Stanley Home Products, Inc. was offering them a product to help them monitor their weight and measurements?  Did any of the ladies who received the tapes use them?  Did it encourage them to buy (or buy more) Stanley products?  Were women in 1938 generally more concerned about their weight than women of today?

In 1938 my mother turned 23 and she married my father in September.  From some of the memories she shared about that time in her life, there wasn't an abundance of food.  I know that throughout her life she was aware of her weight and was careful not to overeat.  I suppose she would have appreciated such a gift.

I found this measuring tape at a local recycle center.  It was neatly coiled into a flattened circle.  It is frayed and obviously has been used for measuring, but no measurements were recorded in the boxes on the back. As a sewer and homemaker, I'm pleased to have another tape measure:  it means I won't have to go retrieve the one by the sewing machine when I want to measure something in the bedroom.  But I certainly will not use it to record my weight and measurements.

--Nancy.
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