An Easy Donation Project

Posted on June 14, 2020 by zippyquilts

Pineapple Fabrics recently sent an email requesting blocks to be made into quilts for Brenner Children’s Hospital. Some days I feel completely overwhelmed with making donation quilts, but this looked easy and fun. They asked for applique pineapple blocks, using a template they provided.

Here are mine:

A couple of my quilting buddies made even more, and Chela even used Dr. Seuss fabric for hers!

Here is the link to the Pineapple Pieces Project if you are interested. Full disclosure: these blocks were as fun and easy as they looked, I also appreciated not having to make a whole top and quilt it!

And I have donated this little art quilt of to the Studio Art Quilt Association’s annual auction.

Quarantine has provided a lot of good quilting time, though I miss getting together with my quilting buddies! I hope you are finding benefits to enforced time at home, too.

Rabbits!

Posted on January 19, 2020 by zippyquilts

I guess every quilt has a story, but sometimes I think “Hoo-boy, this one really has a story!”

The finish here started with a shibori dying class with Debbie Maddy in 2018.

I decided to use the fat quarters (FQs) I’d dyed in the class to make a quilt using Debbie’s Usagi pattern.

The blocks were easy to make and I enjoyed the process. Then I decided to quilt it myself! I usually do pretty well quilting on my domestic machine, but my walking foot decided it didn’t want to participate. The resulting quilt was quite a mess. No, I did not take pictures!

I took out a lot of the quilting, using both a regular seam ripper and a tool that looks like a miniature electric razor. Both worked pretty well, and I managed not to make holes in the fabric!

Finally I got up the nerve to try again. I did small meandering in the blocks to make the rabbits stand out, some stitch-in-the-ditch around the blocks, and some wavy quilting in the border. Done!

Quilt stats:

Name: Rabbits!

Pattern: Usagi by Debbie Maddy

Fabric: Most shibori-dyed in class with Debbie Maddy; border is a commercial batik

Size: 44″ x 44″

Quilted by: me (twice–a learning experience!)

Kraft-Tex Appliqué ! Woo!

Posted on May 26, 2019 by zippyquilts

Appliqué and I have a love-hate relationship. I love the look of appliqué sometimes, and I’ve tried several methods, from needle turn to fusible and most things in between. No method is perfect.

And just to show that I really have tried, here are some samples:

Machine appliqué of these circles was done after the quilting, so the backing and batting acted as stabilizer

The petals were fused on with Heat’n’Bond, and then I buttonhole stitched around them after doing the rest of the quilting, again eliminating the need for stabilizer

The snowmen and noses were a combination of fusible appliqué and Eleanor Burns’s appliqué with fusible interfacing. I have washed this and it held up fine.

Sunbonnet Sue Visits Quilt in a Day was done with Eleanor Burns’s method using fusible interfacing to produce turned edges

So, when I wanted a space alien to go on a quilt recently, I gave the appliqué process some serious thought. This fabric is part of the background for a wonky star quilt I’m making, and I wanted one block to be a space alien to go with the theme.

Unfortunately, I have not saved the selvage from this fabric, so I don’t know who made it

Then I had an idea (drum roll, please). The folks at C&T recently asked me to be an ambassador for Kraft-Tex, and since I was already a Kraft-Tex user and had blogged about it 3 times, I agreed. They sent me some free Kraft-Tex!

I chose Marsala, Denim (hand dyed and prewashed), and natural prewashed for my free Kraft-Tex

Actually, I had already bought this black Kraft-Tex for another project, but I just want you to know that, for the first time ever, I have accepted a donated product for use in my blog.

I’ll have a tutorial on this whole quilt when it’s finished, but here’s an overview of how I used Kraft-Tex to avoid traditional appliqué . I cut out the alien’s head using one of my circle cutters and attached it to the block with washable glue stick. Then I cut the outline from black Kraft-Tex and put it over the raw edge, with the raw edge kind of centered underneath.

Here is the alien on my design wall

The eye stalks and eyes were cut from Kraft-Tex and all the Kraft-Tex was glued down with the same washable glue. That all worked well. I then machine-stitched near the edges of the Kraft-Tex using a size 70 needle and matching thread. Voila! I didn’t have to fool with fusibles, bias strips, or much of anything at all.

Kraft-Tex is washable, and I’ll be interested to see how it does in this quilt. It is stiffer than fabric, but I think that will be OK given the small amount I used on this twin-size quilt.

I can especially see using Kraft-Tex this way in art quilts very soon!

I’ll let you know how this all turns out!

Fun with Rickrack

Posted on April 8, 2018 by zippyquilts

Or ricrac, or rick rack, whatever. I found a lot of spellings when I was trying to decide!

This fun way to piece curves was part of a class I taught this past weekend, and it was so cute in the blocks the students made that I just had to do a tutorial.

We were piecing quarter circles as part of my quilt YOW, which you’ve already seen:

So here is a partially assembled block with one curved seam left to go:

Select rickrack and lay it along the edge of the convex piece. Probably would work with the concave piece, too, but I haven’t tried that:Sew the rickrack down with the usual 1/4 inch seam

Now turn the raw edge and attached rickrack to the back along the 1/4 inch seam and press. Here’s the front:

And here’s the back:

Lay the convex piece on top of the concave piece and line up the edges.

Flip over and try to line up the raw edges all along the seam on the back.

Applique the convex piece to the concave piece by stitching in the ditch. I used silver metallic thread just for fun, but matching thread works well, of course. And here’s the finished block.

Sort of modern-retro. Go try it!

Snowmen All Around

Posted on September 10, 2017 by zippyquilts

Here’s the sample for my next class at Studio Stitch in Greensboro. I taught Trees All Around last year and there was a request to repeat it this year. I thought it made more sense to teach something the-same-but-different, so I chose this cute pattern from the same designer, Quilted Garden.

Snowmen All Around, my class sample from a pattern by Quilted Garden

And here’s a picture of Trees All Around (my class sample), also by Quilted Garden.

“Trees All Around”, class sample made from the pattern by Quilted Garden Designs

Here’s a closeup of one of the snowmen. I had just a little bit left of the “jeweled” trim I put on a friend’s wedding veil earlier this year, so this little snowman has a fancy hat!

Detail of my class sample for Snowmen All Around

The class will be Saturday, October 28, at Studio Stitch in Greensboro (NC, USA). If you’re in the area, come join us!

12 Favorites: Chattanooga Quilt Week

Posted on October 2, 2016 by zippyquilts

I was lucky enough to attend the AQS show in Chattanooga last week, so I’m sharing some of my favorites with you. These are not meant to be representative of the show and they certainly do not represent the award-winners much. They are my personal choices.

But first, I must tell you that before I even went to the show I stopped at Spool, a great quilt shop in Chattanooga, to get my “Where’s the Penis?” button to wear to the show. This is to protest recent AQS censorship. I won’t repeat the ridiculous tale; if you don’t know about it you can read about it here, and read an even better analysis of the situation here.

The show was in the Chattanooga Trade Center, a nice facility with a carpet that would have been a good quilt design. Click on the photos to see bigger images.

In the show itself, I was struck by the dearth of truly traditional quilts. This traditional design was one of my favorites, but it is a small art quilt done as part of a challenge to make something in the spirit of the artist Grandma Moses.

Quilt by Yuko Miyashita of Japan, in response to a challenge to represent Grandma Moses

Quilt by Yuko Miyashita of Japan, in response to a challenge to represent the work of Grandma Moses

The great majority of the quilts were what I would classify as “art quilts” in that they had almost no possible function beyond the decorative. Sure, you COULD use that 18 inch square quilt as a table topper, but it seems unlikely.

The SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) had an exhibit, as usual, and I admired many of their quilts, including this one:

Towers of Babble, by Pam RuBert

Another exhibit of art quilts included this one by Laura Wasilowski, whose work I admire:

Lacking Gravity, by Laura Wasilowski

This quilt, from the same display of art quilts, also caught my eye:

Hot Flash 2 by Nancy Woods

There were a number of fun quilts displayed as the result of a challenge to use nontraditional materials, but this was my favorite.

Noth your Grandmother's Drunkard's Path, by Barbara Barber

Not your Grandmother’s Drunkard’s Path, by Barbara Barber

Note how she has used tufts of batting to represent foam:

Detail of Not Your Grandmother’s Drunkard’s Path by Barbara Barber

Here are some of my favorites from various categories in the main contest.

Between the Lines by Wilma Moss

Detail of Between the Lines by Wilma Moss

Modern Wedding Rings by Gabrielle Paquin (of France)

Mid-Century Modern by Jerriann Massey

Rockslide by Karen Duling

Autumn Gold by Lori Schloesser

Carpathian Mountain Sunset by Cathy Geier

And finally, a quilt that was so popular at the Vermont Quilt Festival that I had trouble getting a picture of it. It is still spectacular, but didn’t even get an Honorable Mention in Chattanooga.

Judgment of Osiris by Georgia Spalding Pierce

This last quilt is bed size, though not especially traditional. So where were the traditional quilts?

There were a few beautifully done whole cloth quilts, but otherwise I though even the bed-sized quilts often showed the influence of the modern aesthetic. I know very well that there are many fine traditional quilters still working, but I suspect they have given up on AQS shows. What do you think? Do you ever enter AQS shows?

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Tuesday Quilters’ Show

Posted on August 21, 2016 by zippyquilts

One of my quilt groups (which I seldom attend because it meets during the day and I work full time) is having a little show at the church where they meet, so I stopped by to take some pictures. Most of these ladies are traditional quilters, and many are quite accomplished.

The purple diamonds near the center feature geckos fussy-cut from a batik

One of the women has really gotten going on miniature quilts, so this next bunch are all by Maryann Budahl. They are under 12″ x 12″, and they are NOT as wonky as they seem in the pictures–some were hung too high for me to photograph them well.

Look at that quilting!

You can click on any of these little quilts to see it up close.

Here are a few of the other quilts on display:

This is a miniature by Susan Roper.

There were several Christmas quilts:

Several full size quilts were draped rather than hung, so I couldn’t get a complete picture of them.

And here are some medium-sized quilts:

A Bird, Several Houses, and More by Maryann Budahl

And finally, a quilt that looked pretty modern to me:

There is a fair amount of overlap between this group and the Smoky Mountain Quilters (of Franklin, NC) who will be having a show in September, so I look forward to seeing more quilts soon.

Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts Part 1

Posted on July 10, 2016 by zippyquilts

Here are a few of my favorite quilts from the Vermont Quilt Festival. Please note that a few of these really are not square. Others do have straight sides with 90 degree corners, but the picture is off because I had the camera in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other 😀

First, this is one of the youth quilts, made by a 3-1/2 year old! Entrants in this category made the quilt top themselves, but may have had help with quilting. Janome is a big sponsor of the VQF, and each youth entrant was given a sewing machine! This tot had to get help to carry hers from the stage 🙂

As always at VQF, there was a wonderful exhibit of antique quilts. This next one was my favorite:The Instructors’ Showcase made me wish I’d taken some classes. This first one is by Augusta Cole, whose scrappy designs I admire and have used from time to time.And this one by instructor Katie Pasquini Masopust was very unusual. I would like to know more about her techniques.There were a number of other special exhibits and I didn’t take pictures of all of them, though they would have been worth it! This bargello quilt caught my husband’s eye:Here are a few more of the fairly traditional ones that I especially liked. Note that one got a purple ribbon for a very high score on the judging criteria I showed last week.Finally, here is an absolutely spectacular applique quilt. Everyone stood in front of it admiringly, so I had to wait my turn to take a picture:Next week I’ll show you the more modern quilts that caught my eye.

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Meet J. Michelle Watts

Posted on January 31, 2016 by zippyquilts

I make frequent trips to the Southwest, and you KNOW they include visits to quilt shops along the way. For years I’ve been seeing Southwestern-themed patterns by J. Michelle Watts, who seems to have that niche all to herself. So this last time I thought I’d ask her for an interview. Here she is:

J. Michelle Watts

Tell us about your quilts and your other projects, too.

When I started quilting in 1982, I hand pieced and hand quilted mostly traditional quilt blocks.

I designed my first original southwestern wall hanging, Adobe Sunrise, in 1987. In 1989, I started a small mail order pattern company with my own collection of southwestern quilt patterns. I have also designed a line of patterns that use the 9 degree wedge ruler and a couple of jelly roll friendly scrap quilt patterns, written 3 books, and designed 3 collections of fabric for Moda.

One of Michelle’s designs for wedge ruler.

“Stenciling Quilt Blocks” is my favorite class to teach right now. The technique is simple, fast and fun and the finished projects can fool you into thinking they are pieced or appliqued.

Pueblo Rhapsody

The black designs in “Pueblo Rhapsody” have been stenciled onto 40 odd shaped turquoise blocks and then the blocks are sewn together. My newest pattern collection, “It’s Simple With Stencils”, is a collection of quilt patterns that use laser cut stencils and Paintstiks to stencil quilt blocks and quilts. The collection features a variety of small traditional quilt blocks and some with a southwestern style.

Inquiring minds always want to know: do you have a “day job”, or do you teach and develop patterns full time?

I print and package all my own patterns. This is my day job, night job and weekend job. I now travel about 120 days a year teaching and vending at quilt shows. I manage a website that features all my patterns. I host a small quilt retreat each year near Ruidoso, NM. This year I want to try to make some short tutorials on several techniques I teach. When people ask me “So what do you do for a living?”, I love being able to tell them ” I am a quilter.” There is a quilted wall hanging in my studio that says “Love what you do and do what you love.” That pretty much says it all.

Casa Blanca, Michelle’s newest applique pattern. Thank goodness it will be available as a stencil, also!

What’s next?

My newest applique pattern, Casa Blanca, which is inspired by an old ironwork door. This design will also be available as a stencil pattern. The dark wine pieces are machine appliqued to a cream background. I have many other patterns in the works as well.

If you want to see all Michelle’s patterns, visit her website. Here are a few of my favorites:

9 Quilts from AQS Paducah

Posted on May 10, 2015 by zippyquilts

Many quilters consider the AQS (American Quilters Society) annual show in Paducah, Kentucky the top of the heap among quilt shows. So, I just had to go see for myself this year.

For Tanya, by Emily and Miriam Coffey, won first place in the Modern Wall Quilt category

Here are some of my favorite quilts from the show. If some of them look a little wonky, it’s because they hang the quilts in 3-sided booths and then don’t let you into the booth! The result is that, unless the quilt you want to photograph is directly at the back of the booth, you can’t get a straight shot of it. Enjoy the pictures anyway!

Flowers and Gears, by Robbi Joy Eklow, won a ribbon in the Longarm Quilted Small Wall Quilt category

I had a great time in Paducah, because I had a friend with me and we found COOKIES! Luckily my friend knew where to find good food and a good place to stay 🙂

It Takes the Case, by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz, won a ribbon in the category of Large Wall Quilts–Pictorial

I have pictures of a few of my favorite quilts here, but on the whole this show had fewer quilts that I really loved than any show I’ve attended in the past year. Probably because of the emphasis on “show quilts”.

In the Marsh #2, by Carol Bryer Fallert-Gentry

However, there were some outstanding quilts like the ones above and below. I suppose they are “show quilts” too, but they are not so heavily quilted that they appear 3-dimensional, and they don’t have rhinestones!

Canola Fields, by Leah Gravells, was made of 199 strips 3/4 inch wide–and she got them all straight!

One of the reasons I go to shows is to be inspired, and these quilts certainly were inspiring!

Boardwalks of Asilomar, byt Jody H. Rusconi, was one of the few improvisational quilts in the show

Playing It, by Pam Beal, was another nice improvisational quilt

Windows #1-Antigua, by Brenda S. Wall

Rainbow Play by Brenda S. Roach

Rhythmic, by Karen Neary

Zippy Quilts

Modern Quilts With A Twist

Tag Archives: applique

An Easy Donation Project

Rabbits!

Kraft-Tex Appliqué ! Woo!

Fun with Rickrack

Snowmen All Around

12 Favorites: Chattanooga Quilt Week

Tuesday Quilters’ Show

Vermont Quilt Festival–Favorite Quilts Part 1

Meet J. Michelle Watts

9 Quilts from AQS Paducah

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