Monthly Archives: December 2022

2023 In Quilts

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I’ve finished 32 quilts so far this year, and 8 additional non-quilt sewing projects. The good news is that I’m not going to show you all of that here. Rather, here are my 10 favorites in no particular order.

Dynamic Dresdens, made in class with Susan Cleveland

Bright Scraps, one of many scrap quilts made this year. And no, the scrap pile has NOT diminished!

It Takes A Village to Can Watermelon, started during the pandemic and finished this year. If only the pandemic were finished, too!

Wild Geese, from a pattern by Beyond the Reef

Arkansas Crossroads, a traditional pattern made from scraps 

Superfans, made from many scraps. Inspired by several quilts I saw on Pinterest, but no pattern

A Girl’s Best Friend–another scrap quilt!

I liked this pattern by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic so much that I made it twice

“Susan’s Head Explodes”, 12″ x 12″, a tribute to Susan Cleveland, made for the SAQA auction

My first bowl made with The Mountain Thread Company cord

What’s your favorite?

Night Sky Finished!

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Whew! Night Sky, a Jaybird Quilts pattern, was what we politely call a “challenge”. A friend and I made it together and both used some naughty words.

But here it is, and it looks pretty good.

Night Sky from a pattern by Jaybird Quilts

Here’s a detail of one of the stars.

And the back, which is a leftover sheet from the 1990s! This is also a good place to see the lovely quilting. I think those swirls really add something nice to the quilt.

Quilt Stats

Name: Night Sky

Finished size: 56″ x 64″

Designer: Jaybird Quilts

Made by: me

Quilted by: Linda Nichols

P.S.: take a look at this wonderful pegboard my husband just made for hanging all my rulers, templates, etc, etc. The wood is quarter-sawn white oak, for those of you who care about such things 😉

Another One Bites the Dust

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Like most quilters, I have more fabric than time, so I recently decided that I don’t need to finish everything! Much of what I do in my studio is experimental, and some of it “fails”. I put that in quotes because failure isn’t a bad thing, it’s just an indication that I’m trying new things. It’s natural that some experiments work out and some don’t.

I recently took a class in making map quilts (over here, at Creative Spark). My first attempt has gone out with the trash already, but the important thing is that I tried something and learned from it. The second attempt is going much better and I’ll eventually finish it and show you.

And here’s another experiment that’s working out pretty well. I pounded these leaves in a class years ago and finally dragged this out and quilted it both by machine and by hand. I’ll face it and show the finished product eventually…

My next experiment is the one that’s biting the dust today. I was inspired by this quilt (in part because it’s entitled “From Hell to Breakfast” and I haven’t heard that expression in years).

I started with orphan blocks and decided on a palette of turquoise, blue, and purple with lime accents. It started out pretty well, but after a couple of days it just looked entirely too random.

Choice: try to fix it or toss it. I left it overnight, then decided to toss it. Granted, it has some nice elements. However, I don’t think it will ever “gel” and I’m not one to throw more work into something that’s going sideways unless there’s a good reason. I made this to learn something, I enjoyed it, and I did try a few new things. Good enough. It has served its purpose and out it goes.

One of the things I learned was how to make this block, which was intended for use in this project but hadn’t made it in at the time the project was tossed. So you see, here is the start of another project! Ha!

And one little soap box moment, please: Some acquaintances say, “Just make it a donation quilt” when a design isn’t working out. I say, “If I don’t want it, why would I give it as a gift?”

What’s your opinion?

 

Dynamic Dresdens with Susan Cleveland

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While in Paducah last spring I was able to take Susan Cleveland’s “intermediate to advanced” class called Dynamic Dresdens, and it did not disappoint.

I took a binding class with Susan several years ago and have greatly benefitted from what I learned, so when I heard she was teaching even more techniques I signed up. Not to mention that the class project is really really cute.

This was a two-day class prior to the AQS show. The first day covered Susan’s methods of layering, basting, quilting, binding, and making prairie points–whew! She had warned before class that students should have their materials ready as there would be no time in class for cutting, etc. That was no joke!

Here’s the corner of my project showing the binding and the prairie points done the first day

And speaking of being ready, after reading the materials list I decided to buy her prepared kit instead. It was SO worth it! She had starched the fabric that needed it, pre-shrunk the cording, and even cut the strips for the Dresdens! Score!

Here’s my final piece, which has some variation from Susan’s original design.

First, she did some fancy stitching inside the center circle. I pinned on a vintage button of Swarovski crystal. I think I’ll go back and make a hole for the shank so the button can lie flat, but anyway…

You can see some fancy stitching and wool felt balls in the detail view. Susan did the stitching by hand with Eleganza thread and a shashiko needle. I did it by machine. The wool felt balls are cut in half and the halves anchored with tiny buttons, another technique of Susan’s.

This was a wonderful class with a tremendous amount of information about how to do each technique accurately. I recommend Susan’s classes if you ever have a chance to take one!

Here’s a link to Susan’s website if you want more information.