Not Arkansas Crossroads

Posted on March 26, 2017 by zippyquilts

Arkansas crossroads is a block I’ve wanted to make for some time, but I can’t put my hands on a picture of it right now. Anyway, I ran across this very similar block last week and just had to make a few of them.

This block is not Arkansas crossroads, but it’s the same idea 🙂

This quilt will be a Ronald McDonald House donation when finished.

Also this week, I gave away a quilt I made several years ago to a friend who is retiring (again) after volunteering for many years at the free clinic where I work. I don’t recall the source of this block, but I do recall the quilt was a lot of fun to make using scraps.

This quilt was made from real scraps left over from other projects.

How was your week?

Which Permanent Markers for Quilts?

Posted on March 19, 2017 by zippyquilts

I’m making a quilt to be used as a wedding “guest registry” by a friend. It will be a “couch quilt” after the wedding, used for naps, watching TV, etc., so it will be washed. This led me to wonder what type pen the guests should use to sign.

Although a laundry pen would seem obvious, I ruled that out because it can be difficult to get it to move smoothly over fabric. That left Sharpies and Pigma pens as the primary contenders, and both are available in a variety of colors, which is nice.

The Contenders

I’ve heard pros and cons regarding both, and when I asked a vendor at a show for suggestions, she expressed shock that I might use a Sharpie. I have to admit that I had doubts when I first read Mark Lipinski’s remark about using Sharpies to “fix” a quilt, years ago. However, I’ve tried them since and they’ve worked out fine. Mind you, I’m not concerned about archival quality, I’m concerned about the ease of use of the pen and how well the signatures will hold up to washing.

Since I had both types of pen on hand, I made a couple of little quilt sandwiches, one with poly batting and one with cotton batting. I was concerned that either or both types of batting might absorb the ink and transfer it to the other side.

After Washing and Drying

Yes, these are the “after” pictures. Both inks were essentially unchanged after washing and drying in cold water on the delicate cycle. The pigma pen had a broader tip, so the mark showed up better both before and after washing. Neither pen bled significantly during writing, and neither soaked through the batting into the backing.

Because Sharpies are easier to find, I’ll probably use those for guests to sign the quilt. And I’ll show the quilt to be used as a guest registry in a later post.

Anybody out there have suggestions for permanent markers to be used on quilts?

A Finish, and One Lovely Blog Chain

Posted on March 12, 2017 by zippyquilts

After several years (due to my dislike of free motion quilting) I have finished this little quilt, which I started in a class years ago at Quiltfest in Jonesborough, TN.

Mount Pisgah

In other news, one of my fellow bloggers, Morgan Lipkin, has included me in the “One Lovely Blog Award” chain. As I discovered a few years ago, this isn’t a contest, it is a way for bloggers to promote each other, and I’m all about that. You can see Morgan’s blog at BrambletonThreads.com. She’s does a lot of other fiber-related things in addition to quilts. Thanks, Morgan!

The rules for the One Lovely Blog chain are:

Thank the person who nominated you and leave a link to their blog.
Post about the award.
Share 7 facts about yourself.
Nominate at most 15 people.
Tell your nominees that you have nominated them.

I’m nominating the following bloggers because they do fiber-related things, too, but are a little different from me. So if you check them out you’ll add some variety to your reading!

Pauline Barrett at Reflectionsofafiberartist.wordpress.com

Sue Janson at Sue’s Journey

Lori Brewer at QuiltingNeeds.com

And now for 7 facts about me, which is part of the deal:

I live in a rural area,
which means that my “local” quilt shop is 45 minutes away;
but I get to visit a midsize city fairly often.
I have a demanding day job as a physician assistant,
which cuts into my quilting time!
Besides quilting, I enjoy reading
and cooking.

Check out the other blogs above to broaden your blog experience! And have a good week!

Pamela Wiley Quilts in Savannah

Posted on March 5, 2017 by zippyquilts

While in Savannah for QuiltCon, my husband and I happened on an exhibit of quilts by Pamela Wiley, a professor emerita of SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). I’m sorry I missed her class at QuiltCon, but the exhibition of her quilts was terrific!

As Above So Below, by Pamela Wiley

Pamela Wiley’s quilts are stretched tight and framed, so that when we looked in from the street we were not sure at first whether we were looking at paintings or quilts. Once in the gallery, it was apparent that these were real quilts.

Mineralogie by Pamela Wiley

Little information was given about the materials used; each label simply listed “stitched cotton”. However, the stitching was used to distort the cotton, not just in the usual way by making raised and depressed areas with stitching and batting, but also by slightly moving printed lines so that the surface appeared warped.

Detail of Outside In, by Pamela Wiley

Stitching was used to add layers of color and to distort commercially printed fabric in ways that fooled the eye.

Outside In by Pamela Wiley

I took a number of pictures, with permission of the guard for the exhibit. If you want more, there is an article about her work in what I call “art school language” here, and many pictures of details of her quilts on Instagram here. I’ll be looking for quilt shows where she may teach in the future!