Artsy Table Runner

Posted on November 8, 2015 by zippyquilts

I’ve been looking at lots of beautiful pictures of art quilts. Also, the monthly challenge for the Modern Quilt Guild of Franklin (NC) was to make something including prairie points.

For years I’ve had Susan K. Cleveland’s Prairie Pointer, intending to make something with prairie points “any day now”. (Raise your hand if you DON’T know how THAT goes!)The stars finally aligned, and here is my first crack at a table runner combining all of the above.

As expected, Susan’s Prairie Pointer tool worked beautifully. I’m a big fan of her techniques, and teach some of them in my classes. The starting squares for the prairie points ranged from 1-1/2″ to 2-1/2″ in size, so they were all pretty small.

Prairie Points

I like this runner pretty well, but I just KNOW I could do better! So here goes with another idea I’ve meant to try for some time: working in a series. I’ll keep you posted 🙂

What is a Liebster award?

Posted on November 1, 2015 by zippyquilts

Turns out the Liebster award is a tag game for helping readers discover new and under-read blogs. Wanda over at Wanda’s Life Sampler tagged me. So thanks to Wanda, and I’ll be passing it on to some other bloggers. You can check them out at the end of this post.

Here are my answers to Wanda’s questions, but I changed some of them! The next folks in the chain might change them, too…

1. What one thing do you believe with your whole being?

It’s important to learn something new every day. It may be positive or negative, but all knowledge is useful eventually.

I learned to make a sample block before cutting out the whole quilt!

2. What have you made lately?

I’m glad you asked that question! This month’s finish is the top for a “Black and White and Red All Over” quilt for which I’ve been collecting fabrics for some time.

This was made from a pattern called “Lemon Pepper”, but of course mine is more red pepper!

I also sent 5 donation quilts to the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House. Three were finished this month, 2 previously. Here are some of them:

Design by Cindy Williams

Simple quilt from a recipe on Craftsy

The “New! Improved!” quilt

3. Are you a cat person or a dog person? Or neither?

Presently neither. Though I do miss having a cat right in the middle of every project and cat hair everywhere 😉

4. Where do you hope to be in 10 years’ time?

Retired from my “day job” and in my quilt studio full time!

5. Favorite dessert?

German Chocolate Cake!!!!

6. What is one thing you wish you were better at?

Always saying the right thing.

7. Describe your Dream Vacation?

The next one! But I did recently have a great trip with my husband to Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

View from Clingman’s Dome

8. Why do you blog?

To promote modern quilting, and North Carolina quilters in particular. If you’re a North Carolina quilter and I haven’t featured your work yet, please contact me!

9. Your best sewing/quilting advice?

Do what you enjoy. I used to make all my own clothes, but then I figured out it’s a lot easier to get a quilt to fit a bed than to get a garment to fit my frame!

10. What else is new?

Here’s a picture of Pat with her FINISHED table runner, started in a class I taught recently!

Pat finished her runner in time to give it as a gift

And here are some bloggers I’m passing the “Liebster Award” on to. I think you might enjoy them!

My Imperfect Life

The Accidental Hayseed

KnitNKwilt

Asheville Quilt Show 2015!

Posted on October 25, 2015 by zippyquilts

The Asheville Quilt Show isn’t juried, but it always has some outstanding quilts. Here are a few of my favorites this year. I was particularly struck by how many modern designs there were, even in the categories that weren’t designated “modern”.

Jean Larson won second place in the Modern category with “Off Center”

Connie Brown, who is a beekeeper as well as an outstanding quilter, made this lovely miniature, “The Hexagon Life”

“Singing in the Rain”, by Elizabeth Allen, was one of many modern-style quilts entered in other categories. Love the rain-texture quilting!

“Sonoran Skies”, by Jolene Stratton, made striking use of some striped fabrics and effective use of quilting to reinforce the design

Phyllis Tarrant stated her “Geese in the Parking Lot” made use of principles taught by Joen Wolfrom. Wow!

Heat Wave, by Cathy Nieman, made striking use of shape and color

Amster-daze, by Terri Jarrett, was the most unusual quilt in the Modern Style category

Tuesdays, by Lisa Heller, had fun colors and design

Back in Time, by Linda Hallatt, isn’t modern but it is very striking and well done. I just had to take a picture for my husband!

Purple Haze, by Connie Brown,. She says she made it many years ago, but I think it looks contemporary.

This clever art quilt, “Fit’ting-ly” by Dale Williams, was in the modern category

Drunkard’s Path the Modern Way, by Linda Fiedler, was an exceptionally beautiful quilt in the modern category

Cats for Jed, by Diana Kantor, a talented member of the Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville

Though traditional, this quilt of 1700 Pyramids by Kathryn Weston certainly caught my eye

Geez Louise, by Connie Brown, was a fun quilt in the Modern category. I wondered about the background fabrics with their mottled look.

Pathways & Passages, by Diana Ramsay, was in the art quilt category but looked very modern to me.

Finally, Jocassee Sunrise by Lynne Harrill caught my eye. Not modern, but certainly beautiful.

There were many more wonderful quilts, but I limited myself to the modern ones and those I especially liked.

Narrow Accents!

Posted on October 18, 2015 by zippyquilts

Modern Quilts Unlimited just published my article on how to add narrow accents to your projects. It’s a very easy method for sewing crisp, even accent strips from 1/8″ to 3/4″ wide.

Notice the Narrow Accents article featured on the cover, along with the beautiful quilt by Bev Getschel

There are so many uses for narrow accents! Here are a few of mine:

narrow accents, Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine

This is a corner of the piece I made to illustrate the MQU article

These blocks from my modern sampler all include narrow strips:

The samples I made for my improvised table runner class all include narrow strips, as well. Here is one of them:

Here is one of the samples for my improvised table runner class

Here’s a Mondrian-style block I made several years ago with narrow inserts

There are options too numerous to mention! Go get the magazine and make some accent strips, then please send me pictures of your creations.

Sandi Suggs: Finding Her Way to Modern

Posted on October 11, 2015 by zippyquilts

Sandi’s work was featured in a special display at AQS-Chattanooga, and I was lucky enough to get to interview her. I took some pictures, and if you want to see more of her work, check the links at the bottom of this post.

Sandi designed this nontraditional arrangement of split 9-patch blocks

While I was waiting to interview Sandi, I heard her tell someone, “Any time I make a quilt, I do it to learn something.” My sentiments exactly!

Sandi made this quilt from a pattern, adding modern colors to the design

Sandi started quilting over 25 years ago, using cereal box templates because rotary cutters weren’t yet used for quilting. She still uses templates when appropriate, but a lot of things have changed! For one thing, she now uses freezer paper when she needs templates so she can cut several layers of fabric at once.

Sandi designed and made this quilt using her own quilt-as-you-go technique

Sandi teaches several classes, including her own version of Quilt As You Go. (I’m going to keep an eye on her website because I’d like to take that class if she teaches it anywhere near me 🙂 )

The AQS exhibit included both quilts Sandi designed herself and quilts she has made from designs by others. This was a round robin quilt; Sandi made the final arrangement of sections and did the quilting:

Round Robin quilt by Sandi Suggs and friends. Look at Sandi’s quilting!

A couple of hints from Sandi: she likes to use the multi-stitch zigzag (stitch #4 on Bernina machines) in her quilting. She starches all her fabrics before cutting to make them smoother and less likely to fray. She says starching also equalizes the weight of the various fabrics. She likes to wash her quilts after they are finished to achieve a crinkly look that emphasizes the quilting.

Sandi does her own quilting on her home machine. This quilt is called “Roy G. Biv”

Sandi also has her own way to successfully select fabrics for a mystery quilt! I’ve only done one mystery quilt and was unhappy with the result, so I asked her about it. She showed the quilt below, designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr as a mystery quilt, and told me how she selected her fabrics.

Mystery quilt designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr demonstrates Sandi’s successful fabric selection

Sandi looked at the fabric requirements for the quilt and figured the largest fabric requirement was for the background. Once she had chosen gray for the background, she decided she would need bright fabrics to contrast with it. I think her decisions were very successful!

You can find Sandi’s blog at: www.FrogPondStudio.blogspot.com

She has many more pictures of her quilts there, including these five posts that show all her quilts from the AQS exhibit:

Finding My Voice

Finding My Voice, Two

Finding My Voice, Three

Finding My Voice, Four

Finding My Voice, Final

New Class

Posted on October 4, 2015 by zippyquilts

I had the opportunity to teach my new class, “Try Improv!” recently for the Smoky Mountain Quilters Guild in Franklin, NC. It was lots of fun and everybody made a successful table runner using techniques that were new to most of them. Here are a few pictures.

Here is one of the samples for class

Although I made 3 different samples for the class, there is no pattern. The goal is for each student to start with a few fabrics and improvise a table runner from them. Of course, I provided some guidelines and lots of assistance as needed.

Susan brought Christmas fabrics and made a successful design by distributing several triangles on her template and then filling in with accent fabrics.

Susan’s Christmas table runner in progress

Nancy’s runner started out as a fan, then she cut it up to improvise further and make it a rectangle

Nancy

Nancy has been improvising for a long time, and said, “This is what I do all the time!” She chose a beautiful collection of iris-themed fabrics for her runner.

MaryAnn

MaryAnn made a halloween-themed runner and zipped it up by adding some purple!

MaryAnn’s runner, in progress

Maggie chose a fall theme; her fabrics had a nice variety of scale and coordinated well

Maggie’s runner

Maggie

Maggie chose a collection of fall fabrics with a good variety of scale, then picked a coordinating green for her accent strips.

Chris

Chris had a nice bundle of blacks and grays as well as a stunning coral-pink fabric for accents.

Chris’s runner in progress

Pat made a lovely red and black table runner, but decided to model it rather than lay it on the table!As you can see, a good time was had by all!

10 From Chattanooga Quilt Week

Posted on September 27, 2015 by zippyquilts

Despite a change in plans, a friend and I got in a quick trip to Quilt Week in Chattanooga to see the quilt show. No time for classes this year, but we had a great time. I was especially happy that there was a large section of modern quilts. Here are 10 of my favorites.

Celebrate, by Jean Larson of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild

A Slice of Pi, by Connie Griner. This quilt has the numerical value of pi quilted into the border to umpteen decimal places!

Love in the Digital Age, by Kristin Shields

Motik, by Mary Ramsey Keasler of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild

Tiki Dilemma, by Jodi Robinson. She says her “quilting designs were chosen to add interest without overwhelming the overall design of the quilt”. I like that!

Door Into Summer, by Joni Morgan

I see that gray backgrounds are still very popular! (You KNOW who I’m talking to!)

Forgotten Chicago, by M. A. Cramer. She asks whether the object shown here is rising or falling!

Pink Flamingos with Lemonade, by Connie Brown of the Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville

Through the Open Window, by Amy Anderson of the Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville

Initial Inspiration, by Vista Scruggs Mahan of Rising Fawn, Georgia (just outside Chattanooga)

Of course, we had a little time for chocolate as well, but what’s done at Quilt Week stays at Quilt week 😉

Later on, I’ll have an interview with Sandi Suggs, whose quilts were a special exhibit at Chattanooga Quilt Week.

Blocks 11 and 12, Modern Sampler

Posted on September 20, 2015 by zippyquilts

Probably have enough blocks now for my usual size “cuddle quilt”, about 55″ X 70″. I have enough ideas and fabric for at least 2 more quilts, so the project may continue anyway.

Doodle block inspired by Sherri Lynn Wood

Block 11 was inspired by Sherri Lynn Wood’s “Doodle” quilt. I had a couple of scraps and decided to just cut them and see what happened, and this is it. The block is only about 6″ wide. I quit without adding anything else in an attempt not to “overdo” and make it too complex.

The next block is certainly improvised, having turned out rather different from my original idea. It started with equal amounts of these fabrics. I thought I would stack them, cut arcs, and shuffle–Karla Alexander’s quilts are among my favorite inspirations. It all started out as planned…

Arcs cut, colors shuffled

But, as sometimes happens, I felt the need to change it as I went along. The final quarter actually was made using templates (gasp!) because I had a particular look in mind. Now I surely have enough blocks for my sampler. The question is how to arrange them. I’ll be looking for your input in a week or so!

Happy Squares

Posted on September 13, 2015 by zippyquilts

This quilt was what I designed when I got bundles of two of my favorite collections a while back: Alissa Haight Carlton’s Modern Solids (sadly, they seem to be no longer available) and Allison Glass’s feather-like prints.

Happy Squares

I started with 9-patch blocks composed of 3 inch (finished) squares. Of course I couldn’t stand to make all the blocks alike. I made some half-square triangle patches to add to the 9-patch blocks. Then I made some big 4-patch blocks from 4-1/2 inch (finished) squares so that they finished the same size as the 9-patch blocks. Finally, I made some 36-patch blocks from 1-1/2 inch (finished) squares to finish the same size as all the other blocks.

When it came to laying the blocks out, I separated some of the 9-patch blocks to fit the 4-patch and 36-patch blocks in at interesting places. Finally, I inserted a 1/4″ strip before adding the last row of squares on each side to make a sort of border.I did the quilting freehand on my home machine. This means I did not mark the diagonals but sewed “sort of” straight from corner to corner in the squares. I like the less-rigid feel of this technique, but it’s a good example of why it may be unwise to enter modern quilts in traditional quilt shows. Here again, if I wanted machine-like accuracy I could hire someone to do this on a longarm or even have a machine-generated pantograph design. In fact, I like both those techniques for some things, but I didn’t want my “happy” quilt to be too-precisely quilted.

This is bright and cheerful, so I’m calling it “Happy Squares”. What have you been up to?

My Modern Sampler, Blocks 9 and 10

Posted on September 6, 2015 by zippyquilts

Channeling Gwen Marston, I made a couple of “liberated” quilt blocks for the sampler. This means they were cut without a ruler and the pieces are deliberately “wonky”.

Liberated Hole in the Barn Door blocks finish about 5″ square

Some current authors are making a big deal of cutting without a ruler, but Gwen Marston has been doing it for years.

I DID use a ruler to make the original background square. Here are the steps:

I cut the big square using a ruler, the subdivided it into a 9-patch freehand

Pin triangle where you plan to sew it

Flip triangle over the pin to be sure it will cover the corner

Sew the triangle in place, then trim triangle to match background

Corners done, time for the sides

Sides done using method similar to the corners: pin, check, then sew and trim

Ready to be sewn together!

For Block 10, I cut my scraps into strips.and lined them up.

Scraps cut into strips and pieced with black and white background

The widths of the colored strips and the white strips between them are semi-random. The sashing between the columns finishes 2″, and the block finishes 12″ square.

A few more blocks and then I’ll have to decide how to set them! Here are the previous posts about My Modern Sampler:

My Own Modern Sampler–It May Take a Year!