Eye Candy x 10

Posted on December 14, 2014 by zippyquilts

I’ve been saving this treat, and today is the day. For those of us who want to escape for a few minutes from holiday-themed anything, here are 10 of my favorite art quilts from this year’s Vermont Quilt Festival.

Coves & Islands by Carol Anne Grotian

Torrid Dwelling by Molly Upton

Suntreader III by Michael James

Aspens Reaching for Bluebird Skies by Ann Schubert Turner

The Getty by Katie Pasquini Masopust

Remembered Vistas by Jo Diggs

The Wall, by Pamela Druhen

Double Wedding Ring #2 by Mike McNamara

Color Waves by Pamela Druhen

Detail from Leaves on Klee, by Mabry Benson

Now, get back to work on those holiday gifts 🙂

Beads on Quilts

Posted on December 7, 2014 by zippyquilts

I was waaaay into beads before I got waaaay into quilts, so there are lots of beads in the studio. Thank goodness they take up less room than fabric 😉

A few of the bead drawers

I’ve read a bit about using beads in quilts, and I took a class with Mary Stori a few years ago.

Here are a few of my uses of beads so far. Most recently, I added a row of tiny silver-lined glass beads around the edge of a star in my quilt for the Michael Miller challenge. It took most of a day to get this done! YIKES!

I outlined the focal point of my Michael Miller challenge quilt with beads

A while back I made this little wall hanging as a shop sample for a friend, and put beads both on it and hanging from it.

There are beads on the sun, and that’s how I learned that sewing on beads can distort the quilt! I used techniques from jewelry making to create a beaded fringe for the bottom of the piece with larger beads.

And beads were used to give Overall Sam a fish in one block and a toy airplane to fly in another block when I made this wall hanging from a few years ago. The blocks are based on a pattern from Eleanor Burns.

Finally, I used beads to make fancy zipper pulls for some of my pouches.

Give beads a try! And if you don’t have enough beads, let me know…

Tidbits: One may be for you

Posted on October 26, 2014 by zippyquilts

1. Here is some beautiful fabric that just arrived from the Michael Miller company! It’s for my next magazine project (for Modern Quilts Unlimited). I love to use batiks for the “solids” in my quilts because of the texture and highlights they give to the design.

Michael Miller Batiks

2. Who wants these selvages I’ve been saving? I know the author of one of the blogs I read commented that there is a selvage quilt in her future, and I’m pretty sure there’s none in mine. Comment or e-mail me if you want them.

Melanie, whose blog is Catbirdquilts.wordpress.com

3. For those who may want more traditional lessons on color than the ones I’ve provided in my design series, my friend Melanie in Iowa has some nice posts. You can find them here and here. I think you’ll like them!

Zippy Star I, which was sold at the Asheville Quilt Show

4. Woo! I recently sold a quilt at the Asheville Quilt show! And it’s a good thing, because–

5. My digital camera somehow got a little piece of lint inside (at a quilt show, of course) and I can’t get it out! Any recommendations for a good replacement?

6. I aim for a blog length of around 350 words. I figure my attention span is short, so yours may be too 😀

7. And the more pictures in the blog, the better. So here’s my October finish, another quilt for Ronald McDonald House. I quilted it on my new Bernina 530QE. There’s definitely a learning curve to that BSR, but I’m pleased with the result.

Free motion quilting with my new Bernina

Meet Jo Glover–The BigStitch Quilter

Posted on October 19, 2014 by zippyquilts

BigStitch Quilting by Jo Glover

Big Stitch quilting has gotten to be a big deal in the past few years, so I was thrilled when Jo Glover, who published the original directions for BigStitch Quilting, spoke to our guild last year. She agreed to be interviewed for this blog. Here’s what she said about her development of the technique:

Jo Glover

“In 1988, when I started quilting, I was more interested in the line designs of the quilting, rather than the patchwork. It frustrated me that my fine hand quilting–natural thread on muslin background–didn’t show.”

“In 1991, I went to Japan and saw their sashiko with its strong visual impact. Thick light thread on solid dark fabric.”

Another sample of Jo’s BigStitch Quilting

“Upon my return to the US, I started using a high contrast #8 pearl cotton, longer stitches, with the traditional rocker motion of hand quilting with a hoop and thimble.

I was pleased to find that larger scale designs looked good with the longer, thicker stitches. The new needlepunched cotton battings permitted a longer distance between quilting lines.”

Jo Demonstrates BigStitch Quilting

“BigStitch was coined in the booklet I wrote and copywrited in 1993 (under my name at the time, Jo Walters). It still sells.” [You can get a copy of Jo’s booklet directly from her for $7.50; just e-mail her at GloverGirl52 at gmail dot com for her mailing address, and of course give her your address.]

“To reach a wider audience, I uploaded a series of BigStitch lessons. They are available at no cost on YouTube; just search “BigStitch Jo Glover” for the 5 lessons and Gallery. I’m for the preservation of hand quilting.” [Here is the link to Jo’s YouTube lessons. I am so impressed that she did this!]

Matisse’s Goldfish, by Jo Glover

“Right now, I’m stitching straight lines about 1/3 inch apart, using crochet thread AND NO HOOP OR THIMBLE, ssshhhh. My friend Jane Cole brought this style, called chiku-chiku, to my attention. (Chiku-chiku is the sound a sewing machine makes when stitching) Jane got it from Quiltmania magazine, issue # 100, in an article featuring the originator, Akiko Ike.”

Pillow with close lines of BigStitch quilting by Jo Glover

“Mixing fine hand quilting, BigStitch, and machine quilting (and now, chiku-chiku) in the same quilt is fantastic. I do prefer solids or hand dyed fabrics to showcase the hand stitching. I see many Modern quilters featuring their machine quilting on solids, and that’s great.”

Amerika Blooms by Jo Glover

“Quilters I have known and loved include Gwen Marston, Jonathan Shannon, my friend Jane Cole, the Gee’s Bend quilters, Fran Skiles, Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen, and Yoshiko Jinzenji.”

5 Things I’m Grateful for in Quilt-World

Posted on October 12, 2014 by zippyquilts

Gratitude is always a good exercise, as I was reminded when I met with an old friend the other day. So, here are 5 of the things I’m most thankful for in my quilt life:

1. Good friends! Some of my best buddies are people I’ve met through quilting, and, as I’ve mentioned before, joining a quilt group is a great way to make friends.

Some Quilty Friends

2. New challenges. I count any day in which I learn something new as a success.

I made this quilt when we lived in Pennsylvania. The biggest challenge was to design and produce the stencils for the quilting.

3. A creative outlet. Like many quilters, I’ve had careers with a scientific focus. It’s nice to have the opportunity to do something that engages my creative side.

This leaf, made in class with Laura Wasilowski, was a fun way to be more creative than I am when I make bed quilts

4. The opportunity to help. Giving a quilt, whether through a charity or through a personal contact, gives me the opportunity to do something for someone. Often it’s a situation in which there’s no other way to express my concern.

One of my quilt groups makes quilts for Ronald McDonald House

5. The circle is unbroken. When I quilt, I feel connected to my ancestors who made quilts, to friends who use my quilts, and to people all over the world engaged in similar activities. I don’t think about this very often, but it is definitely part of my quilting experience.

I made this quilt to learn curved piecing.

So, what are you thankful for?

Your Inner Designer: 3 Formulas for Modern Quilts

Posted on October 5, 2014 by zippyquilts

It seems to me that, when learning a new skill, there is often a “formula” or basic idea that, once mastered, provides a way into successful practice of the new skill. So here are 3 ideas for you to try. See if one of them helps you create designs that you like.

1. Use lots of “negative space”, and start by making this background space in a shade of gray. (The person who brought my attention to this “rule” of modern quilting has asked to remain anonymous 😉 ) Here are some examples, but I’m sure you know of lots of others:

Shades of Gray by Terry Aske. 2nd place award in the Modern category, Quilts Canada 2014

Found on lilysquilts.blogspot.com

2. Another common way to “design” a modern quilt is to make it an obvious take-off from a piece of 20th Century art (or occasionally more recent art). My design below is by no means an exact copy of any of Piet Mondrian’s work, but it certainly is an imitation of him:

Thanks, Piet! by Mary J. Puckett

Sometimes I do see modern quilts that are a direct imitation of an artwork. However, my preference is to look at a lot of work by one artist, or by a group of similar artists, then close the book and draw something original that “references” the works I’ve studied.

For example, here’s a print I found at an Etsy shop called “Handz”. Compare it to the quilt just below it. It’s not a copy, but it could have been based on the print. Or they could have both been inspired by another source altogether.

Mid Century Modern Art print found at Handz on Etsy

finished – modern drunkard’s path by m_soto on Flickr

3. Just start with modern fabric. One of my favorite “modern” quilters is Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. Many of her quilts are traditional designs, but she uses bright, modern, fabrics and her quilts always look fresh and modern to me.

Spools and Nine Patch Quilt by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts

Here’s a detail of another of Rita’s quilts:

Detail of a quilt by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts

Give some of these ideas a try, and let me know what you come up with!

10 Quilty Secrets

Posted on August 31, 2014 by zippyquilts

Several of the blogs I read have recently revealed “10 Quilty Secrets” and I thought it sounded like fun, so I’m playing along. If you would like to see some other bloggers’ secrets, here are the links: The original post seems to have been at 13Spools.com, and the idea has been picked up by several blogs I follow, including Catbird quilts, wombat quilts, and Christa quilts.

And so, here are my 10 Quilty Secrets:

1. Although I’m participating in Marti’s UFO (unfinished object) finish-a-month this year, I had FAR MORE than 12 UFOs at the beginning of the year. Oops, still do! Here’s the August finish, a quilt for Ronald McDonald House made from orphan blocks:

2. My nearest LQS (Local Quilt Shop) is an hour away, which I take as an excuse to have a good stash at all times 😉

3. If I start a quilt and don’t like it for some reason, I abandon the plan and turn it into something else–another quilt design, a table runner, whatever.

4. And sometimes those I-don’t-like-this projects just become long term UFOs 😦

5. In my world, a good quilt is a fast quilt. I’m not patient enough for the zillions of little hand-pieced hexies, for example.

6. For that matter, I DON’T EVEN LIKE hexies! Yikes!

7. I value good design in quilts and in other useful objects.

8. I LOVE to learn new techniques and try new things, so I take lots of classes Even if they seem like stuff I could do easily without a class I always learn something.

9. We’ve moved a lot, and one of the best ways I’ve found to make new friends is to join a local quilt group.

10. I think every quilt needs a little purple!

So, what are some of YOUR quilty secrets?

3 Perfect Ideas

Posted on August 24, 2014 by zippyquilts

The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

1. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

I made this quilt a long time ago to practice circles, and the quotation that inspired it came to mind recently when I was debating which quilts are “good enough” to be submitted to juried shows. It probably is obvious that the design above is more interesting than the “perfect” one shown below:

Perfect Isn’t So Good

2. “Perfect” is well enough done that you are satisfied when you look at it, but not so over-worked that you’re sick of quilting by the time you finish it.

To make a perfect quilt, It helps to start with:

The right pattern for your skill level
Fabric you love
Techniques you enjoy (e.g., paper piecing, applique, whatever)
The right tools, well maintained

3. You may be more capable of “perfect” than you think. It helps to have friends who keep you honest! I recently had trouble making my seams line up on a medallion-style block and my friend Jerri said, “You’re too good a quilter for that! You just don’t want to bother!” Oops, she was right.

And here’s a book that helped me with “perfecting” my blocks:

I found this book with lots of tips on how to improve piecing accuracy and got a lot better with just a little practice!

I recommend the book if you want to improve some of your skills, too.

Swap Block–88 little squares!!!

And look at this lovely swap block with the corners all matched up! It isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough 🙂

6 Orphan Blocks, 1 Donation Quilt

Posted on August 17, 2014 by zippyquilts

I’ve probably mentioned that one of the ways I’m motivating myself to get rid of the excess in the studio is by joining Marti’s UFO finish of the month over at 52 Quilts. As part of my ongoing effort to “clean it up, move it out” I’m making a series of donation quilts out of my orphan blocks.

Orphan blocks from a recent project

I had these 6 blocks that I liked, so I looked for fabric to go with them. The bright turquoise went well, but I had enough to join them only, not to frame them. Searching for something to make it wider, I found a piece of black/white chevron fabric and decided it needed to be used, and FAST.

My daughter recently point out, “When you find chevrons on your mouthwash bottle, they’re on the way out!” 😀

Finally, I had some colorful Michael Miller dots that seemed to fit in:

And WOW! A very “lively” improvised quilt.

I’m going to practice free motion quilting it on my new Bernina, and it will be the August UFO finish of the month. Then off to Ronald McDonald House it goes.

11 Favorites from AQS Charlotte

Posted on August 10, 2014 by zippyquilts

The quilts at AQS in Charlotte were inspiring, and there were more modern ones than at most AQS shows. Here are 11of my favorites. They aren’t necessarily the judges’ favorites; those are available on the AQS website here. I judge mainly on innovative or attractive overall design; the judges have another set of rules. I hope you enjoy my choices!