Party Like It's 2012

Sometimes when I quilt, I watch TV (via the internet). Sometimes when I quilt, I listen to music. And sometimes when I listen to music, I listen to the same album or group over and over again. And that's how I made this quilt. It may as well be the Library Voices quilt because I listened to them over and over and over again as I made this quilt. And I highly recommend you check them out: they're fun, literary, and catchy. And Canadian. After you hear them, you will be singing lyrics from their songs to yourself or out loud. I mean, I really try to avoid forcing anyone to endure my terrible voice, but when no one's around or I'm on a run or in the shower, well, sometimes I do sing aloud. And you will sing aloud when you listen to Library Voices. I first heard them live in New York earlier this summer, and lyrics stuck with me and I have no ear (really, no ear) for music. Just a warning before you listen to them on repeat and start singing.

And this is a quilting blog, so back to the usual topic. I made this quilt using Angela's Apple Crate Quilt tutorial. Her "recipe" is fat-quarter friendly, but it's also super-easy to use whole cuts of fabric. You just need fewer strips: 3 42" strips of 2 fabrics will yield a Block A and a Block B. Or should, except when you erroneously cut one of the required strips twice instead of once. But you would never do that, I'm sure.

I wanted to play with using a print as a "solid" -- or at least as the constant, the background. I had this flower print in my stash and selected stash solids that coordinated with it. A simple block design + chain piecing made this come together pretty quickly. I finished the quilt top in one afternoon/evening. The 4x4 block layout yielded a quilt that measured about 46" x 54". Angela's tutorial provides instructions for a larger quilt, but the straightforward blocks make it easy to size up or size down depending on your needs.

The back is a combination of navy and blue fleece, also from my stash. I'm donating this to Alternatives for Girls, as part of 100 Quilts for Kids, and I wanted to make it warm for a Detroit winter. The quilting was pretty simple: I quilted around some of the rectangles in each block randomly. Just moved from block to block and picked which rectangles as I went along. For the binding I used a combination of the leftover flower print and some of the solids.

In case you forgot: go check out Library Voices. They're currently playing in Canada, for the Canadian readers among you.

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Immune No More

I've generally willed myself away from quilt-alongs. Not because I don't like the concept or don't want to quilt with (virtual) friends or don't want to make another quilt. Mostly, I bookmark them and note keep the instructions accessible so, if at some point in time, it's what I want to make and I have the time, I can. But I think I might actually do one. Kate and Kristie are doing a drunkard's path quilt-along, and I have really wanted to make some drunkard's path blocks for a while now. Kate's amazing quilt cemented my interest in the block and the design possibilities it offers. Of course, the timing isn't quite perfect, but I think I can make it work. Or not....to be determined. But I will figure out curved piecing this fall, one way or another.

In other quilting news, I'm the host, or as a friend dubbed me "Chief Quiltress," of a new do.Good Stitches circle. Hosting comes with organizational responsibilities (very appealing to my spreadsheet-loving mind), but also gave me the opportunity to select the charity to which we'll donate quilts. I'm excited that our new Empower Circle will be sending quilts to Alternatives for Girls, a really wonderful organization that does outreach, offers mentoring, and provides shelter to teenage girls in Detroit. I'll be leading off in October, and I need to decide/finalize the block I'll ask the circle to make. I'm toying with a few ideas, but if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

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Back as Front

After making a lot of quilts, I've often found that I love the pieced backs as much (or even more) than the front. I wanted a quick project on Sunday, and put together this baby quilt with the mantra "back as front," or think about the design as a quilt back. I think it works. It's one quilt I'll be contributing to Kate's 100 Quilts for Kids project.

The quilt actually started with the back, or rather my decision to piece together several fleece remnants to make this back. I'm trying to sew from my stash and part of that means using the odds and ends of backing and battings/flannel in my project. I used to use fleece as a backing frequently, and while I no long use it that much, I still think it makes for a great, warm, soft, and cuddly quilt. Perfect for a kid in Michigan.

I quilted it using a simple cross-hatch design. After basting the quilt, I placed masking tape on the quilt using the space between the big dots on the black and white dot fabric as a guide. I then stitched on both sides of the masking tape, using my presser foot's edge as a guide. I probably should have used my walking foot, but I was lazy and didn't want to take the minute to switch feet. My hands had to work a little harder, but aside from that, it was fine.

The binding came from my leftover stash of black and white fabrics from my sister's wedding quilt. I do love the black/white/red/yellow combination -- I think it works for any gender, any age. It's so versatile. I've been looking for a totally local -- as in, I can drop this off -- place to donate this, but if I can't find one, I'll be sending this to Margaret's Hope Chest. They're in Michigan, so it's somewhat local, and they do an incredible service by distributing quilts to kids whose parents are in prison. I can't do full justice to their story of origins, but suffice it to say, it's one of the most compassionate responses to violence and tragedy that I've encountered.

Shadows: A little outtake from this morning's photo shoot. 

Up on my pedestal for a moment: This quilt, which is admittedly quite simple, took about 6.5 hours from start to finish. That's barely an hour a day if spread over a week. So grab some strips of fabrics and make a quilt. Kate's even offering some incentives for quilts made over the next month. If you've got access to some fabric and a sewing machine, you can do it. There will be a link-up on Kate's blog, next week, September 28-30, as well as October 12-14.

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Odds and Ends

Kate is organizing 100 Quilts for Kids again this year, and she's trying to get the word out early for an early fall push. Every year I try to make and donate a few quilts (some years more than others, admittedly), and one thing I really like about this particular donation endeavor is that it focuses on local donations. So search out a local charity, hospital, school, etc and donate the quilt you make to them. This not only connects you to your local community and emphasizes local needs but also saves on shipping. What's not to love?

Malka just announced that Moda will be replicating and printing her hand-dyed fabrics. So while these won't be uniquely hand-dyed, they'll be pretty close and will make her unique look more accessible and affordable, which is great.

As I soldier on without my sewing machine, I've decided that hand-piecing and quilting are really not for me. I got myself a Sashiko kit and started it but haven't gotten very far. I should take a picture but that would admit and showcase my poor performance. Maybe I'll take one anyways. I like the idea in theory, I just want to be making other things. But I'm using this time to work on a quilt design based on a Hale and Hearty (a New York soup, salad, sandwich place) brochure. I thought I'd be able to find the brochure online, but I was wrong. Once I get it worked out, I'll post my drafts. I've also resolved to sew a garment this summer. It will be a July/August project, and I'm thinking of starting with Meg's Schoolhouse Tunic pattern since reviewers suggest that it's a good beginner option. After seeing Julie's Kyoko Dress, I'm also contemplating that option. Maybe for garment number 2. Any thoughts, suggestions, or advice on garment sewing and fabric selection? I'm all ears.

Total non-sequitur: if you've always wanted to go to Paris, here's a Parisian trip giveaway for you.

And with that, I'm off to get ready for Shavuot, one of my favorite Jewish holidays. This 2-day holiday is all about dairy -- blintzes, ice cream, cheesecake -- and includes all-night learning. I mean technically, it's a harvest festival falling exactly 7 weeks after the second day of Passover and celebrates the giving of the Torah (hence the all-night learning). But to my vegetarian self, the dairy is key. Also, it's traditional to read the Book of Ruth which is, I think, one of the most fascinating Biblical texts. So it contains a nice package of customs and such. Chag sameach to all who celebrate it.

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Items of Note

The good....Natalie received my dqs10 pojagi panel. Check out her blog post for, among other things, super-cute pictures of her cats debating how they feel about the new art in their home. She also documents our one-sided conversations over the past couple of months, in which I posed questions or posted pictures and hoped she would respond, while she responded not knowing how gratified to hear from her.

The important...

Modern Relief is at it again, this time raising money for Japan via a quilt raffle. The raffle will take place April 4, and you "buy" tickets to it through donations to Mercy Corps. As I know people in and with strong connections to Japan and I know people who have worked for Mercy Corps, I really like this combination. I've emailed the coordinators about donating a quilt and, pending their word, you may be able to win a two hippos original quilt.

The complicated....I started what became a long post about challenging questions about the spectrum of easy/hard, simple/complicated quilts, but it's become too long for this post, so I'll post it separately soon.

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Pop Quiz

In the week since I last posted, I have:
a) coughed my way through every day
b) worked until the wee hours of the morning
c) almost completed a quilt
d) consumed more latkes than one should
e) all of the above

I suppose I should have added "taken weird pictures, like the one above." The answer is, of course, e -- all of the above. I returned from Thanksgiving with a cold, which was an unfortunate way to start off December. The cold is gone, but the cough lingers. Last week also represented crunch time vis a vis schoolwork; the necessary work occurred, though not without some rather late nights/early mornings. I thought I was done with those about a decade ago when I was a newspaper editor in college, but I was wrong. I hope that I am asleep at 3 am for the foreseeable future.

Despite my coughing fits and work duties, I also plowed my way to an almost completed quilt over the past week. After living without access to my sewing machine and fabric stash, I needed to make something when I got back, and I had committed to the "100 Quilts for Christmas" project, so it was time to dig in and get started. I opted for a strip quilt, quite frankly because they come together easily.

I plunged into the (trendy) red + aqua combo. I had some moments of doubt, as it laid on my living room floor, mocking me as I stepped over it to close the curtains at night, but not getting much sewing done. Finally, this weekend I was able to spend real time with it, and transform it from a bunch of fabric strips into a quilt.

It's not quite done yet -- these pictures are intentionally misleading since I need to finish quilting about 1/3 of it. I had to pause yesterday to make and eat many many latkes (the 5th night of Chanukah and all). Also, I had to make and eat chocolate-y goodness (no relation to Chanukah). But holidays present opportunities and rationales for making bad-for-you-but-so-tasty treats like oreo (or, in my case, TJ's Joe-Joe) truffles. Make them: they're easy, delicious, and everyone will think you're a master chef/baker/culinary artist.

About that quilting, well, I hope to finish this one this week. It's a bigger quilt, for a bigger kid since I've read that there's often a need for items and gifts for older kids.

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It's That Time of Year (+ Giveaway Opportunity)

November has arrived (ok, it arrived 11 days ago but it's truly hitting me now), and there's lots going on. A lot going on does not, admittedly, include the above plants growing. I took this picture last year and had some fun playing around with it. But I am a terrible plant nurse, and all of the herbs have since died a slow and perhaps somewhat sad death. In any event...

Art La Flamme of IBOL fame has a thoughtful Veterans Day post. Read it here.

Holidays of all sorts are coming up, which often means thinking about gifts. As easy as it is to get wrapped up (literally!) in gifts for family and friends, it's also a time to think of others. Katie from Swim, Bike, Quilt and Aunt Spicy have teamed up to promote "100 Quilts for Christmas" {or, I would argue, whatever other holiday one might celebrate...Diwali (which just ended, but still), Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Kwanzaa...}. The idea is simple and wonderful: make a quilt for someone in need in your local area. Make a quilt yourself or team up with some friends to make a quilt. Baby quilts are small, fun, and don't take that much time. I've got plenty of work on my plate, my sister's wedding, teaching obligations, and more, but I'll be making a quilt or two to donate locally.

**And I'll sweeten the pot with a giveaway for those who make a quilt and donate it by December 20, 2010. Exact prize to be determined, as I just thought of this idea now, but it will probably be some combination of a bag and fabric, though I'm open to other ideas as well.**

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Posting from ALB

It's been a good week....I passed my prelims which was the big task for the week, and now I'm on my way to Lake Placid for a friend's wedding. I didn't quite manage to make the wedding present in time, but that will be a September task. I'm hanging out in the Albany airport, waiting for a friend's flight to arrive so we can grab a rental car and head north into the Adirondacks.

On the fabric front, IBOL guy is back with IBOL 2.1. Click over there for the details but the basics are sort through your fabric, figure out what you're ready to part with, bundle it up in a flat-rate box, and ship it IBOL Gal who will distribute it to women in Iraq. It's easy and for a great cause.

Have a great weekend!

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Fruit Salad Finish

Just as I added this picture to the post, the tornado siren went off. It's been a month of tornado sirens every few days with the requisite rain and thunderstorms. To be honest, I didn't realize I lived in a tornado-prone area until this summer. I thought tornadoes hit the Plains, which are south and west of me. But apparently I live in a tornado area. Ah well.

Back to quilts...this is the finished fruit salad quilt that started here and has been significantly altered. I really love the result, which I wasn't sure would happen when I started chopping. But adding pink and yellow dramatically altered the quilt top, in a good way. The blocks are 6.5" square and the sashing is 2". I almost adding sashing to the outside borders but decided I preferred the blocks running into the edge.

Here's a close-up. The pears remained intact, as a couple people suggested they should. I also added the remaining pear fabric I had so there are more pears scattered through the additional blocks.

The back shows off the grid quilting (in a light pink thread) quite well. I quilted lines 1/4" offset from the lines of the sashing and the blocks. For the back, I pieced some chocolate brown (the brownies that accompany the fruit salad dessert?) with some Art Gallery daisies. The binding is Art Gallery Dazzling Wheels -- a fabric that I just got my hands on and have already used in several items. It's a neat fabric on its own, and the deep pink + yellow + white combination has served me well in coordinating with fabric in quilts and bags.

I'll send this off to the Rainbow Around the Block project tomorrow. I'm a little sad to see it go, but I'm sure it's recipient will use it well (it will got to a child, I'm sure, as it measures about 30" x 40").

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Fruit Salad

A few weeks ago I posted about a work-in-progress piece that needed some major help. The most frequent comment I received was add color and chop/re-arrange. Well, I've done both. I did some radical chopping and added a bunch of pink, yellow, and white to the blue, green, and brown of old. Because I tend to work in spurts and binges, I did most of the chopping, adding, piecing, sashing, and quilting in a couple of days and failed to take adequate pictures. As it is, I've only got a couple pictures in its current state (awaiting binding).

But I decided radical was the way to go and I'm very pleased with the result, which will be a baby quilt that I'm going to donate to Anna Maria Horner's "Rainbow-Around-the-Block" project for victims of the Tennessee spring floods.

The original top had pears (the bottom row above) and apples. While I didn't add any other fruit prints (I think those two stretch the limits of my fruit collection), the pink and yellow reminded me of strawberries and pineapples. And fruit salad is all chopped up and mixed together, which is why I'm dubbing this one "Fruit Salad." I'll post additional pictures once it's all bound up -- I just need to decide what fabric to use for the binding.

Stay tuned for a 2hippos-coordinated service project. I'm working out the details now, but I think it will be a great and easy opportunity to do some sewing goodness.

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Orange Creamsicle Quilt

Last week I mentioned a quilt that I needed to bind before shipping it off to BASICS/Promesa as a donation quilt. This crinkly specimen is that quilt, and I am proud to say that I managed to stuff 2 quilts into a Flat-Rate Envelope. Even the postal worker at my nearby post office remarked on my stuffing abilities (luckily the 3 clerks there are very supportive of cramming as much as possible into free rate envelopes and boxes; I've heard some other post offices are not so kind).

In its full glory -- lots of orange (Moda Bella Solid) and 3 improv pieced squares. I made the squares this winter with some scraps from several other quilts and then they sat in a pile of fabric for about 5 months before I figured out what to do with them. I opted for a simple quilt with one row of the funky squares. Negative space does the heavy lifting here.

Here's an up-close look at those squares. I think the middle one is my favorite with the big chunk of fabric on top and lots of little pieces on the bottom. But I like the other squares too, especially the black-and-white swirls plopped in the middle of the square on the right. If anything, this quilt reminds me that scraps can go a long way and be transformed into all sorts of interesting layouts.

I opted for stipple quilting -- thanks for everyone's tips about getting rid of those ugly loops on the back side. To be honest, I have no idea what trick did it -- cleaning out the link, rethreading, trying new thread...I pretty much did it all and had no problems. This has happened to me before...that darn[ing] foot poses problems and then suddenly all is well in free-motion quilting land. I've certainly gotten faster at it though I'm still working on a more even rhythm and few jagged angles.

I pieced together another flannel back from flannel remnants -- some stripes, solids, and gingham all mixed up together make for a warm and soft quilt. I love the simple solid white binding as I think it brings the whole quilt together. Note too that it was possible to take pictures outside; these were taken at the end of last week, when the sun still made an appearance. The rain has taken over yet again. I wouldn't mind the drizzle but we've had several episodes of thunder, lightening, and crazy downpour that I could really do without. Personally, I think it should only rain between 11 pm and 7 am so it doesn't disturb my plans, but the weather gods have not decided to follow my brilliant logic. Ah well.

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Scales and Dots

A couple weeks ago Kathy mentioned a quilt drive through BASICS/Promesa. This South-Bronx-based organization helps disadvantaged families in an array of ways and Victoria has spearheaded a quilt drive for those that the organization is moving into housing. I realized I had contributed multiple quilts to several organizations in 2009 but none yet in 2010. As a result, I plunged into my stash and had fun improvising my way to this soft yellow and purple quilt.

To be honest, I like the far-away picture of the quilt better than the close-up but this one gives a sense of the quilting and shows off some of the fabrics as well. To make the quilt, I grabbed fabric and cut 3" strips. I then cut the strips into smaller squares and rectangles and started piecing. I knew I wanted pieced strips of different lengths to which I added the background yellow (from Moda, maybe 1930s yellow? I wish solids had selvage labels....but I heartily endorse Moda Bella Solids as they're soft, pretty, and easy to work with).

For the back, I pieced together a couple of flannel pieces that I had left from other quilt backs. It's therefore a very soft and warm quilt.

I feel like I'm on a roll with bindings -- picking a fabric and color that's not necessarily in the quilt but helps make the quilt work. I'm not a pink person but I've been drawn to magentas of late and I found that the magenta/pink dot combo really worked here. I think the quilt sparkles in a way it would not with a purple or black binding (other options under consideration).

I've got another quilt to contribute in the works -- it just needs a binding and it'll be ready to send off!

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Craft Hope for Haiti

Jade is at it again! She's set up an awesome Craft Hope etsy store, and all proceeds benefit Doctors Without Borders. Craft Hope has already raised $7000, all of which will be donated. If you've been meaning to buy a handmade gift, this is a great way to do it. Some amazing crafters and artisans have donated their wares. Check it out!

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Haiti

image from here

The news from Haiti is overwhelming, and it's times like these when I wish I had more skills, abilities, and means to contribute to rescue and aid efforts in more substantial ways. However, I know that all donations, in any amount matter. Here are some reputable organizations through which to donate money (of any amount) that will get to Haiti.

American Jewish World Service's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. AJWS is a Jewish-led organization but works with communities around the world and is non-sectarian in their servicework and donation distribution.


Partners in Health Haiti Relief Fund. Founded by doctor and medical anthropologist Paul Farmer, PIH has been working in Haiti for over 20 years. They have an infrastructure set up to disperse medical and other aid.

charity: water is coordinating with Partners in Health and Concern Worldwide to get clean water, food, medicine, and other desperately needed supplies to Haitians.  

World Vision, another organization that has been operating in Haiti for decades, is distributing relief supplies.

Mercy Corps has started deploying their staff to Haiti. While they haven't been in Haiti before, they are experienced in providing relief in the aftermath of earthquakes. Several friends of mine have worked for them, and they are a solid organization -- 89% of donated funds go directly to those in need.

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres lost some of their staff in the earthquake, but they have been treated injured people and are sending more staff and supplies.

Text "HAITI" to "90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross (this is an effort designed and coordinated through the State Department and seems to only work from within the US).

Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti (an effort started by Wyclef Jean). Read more here.

[I hate texting, but like when it's used for a good cause.]

There are plenty more ways to give, and giving within your means, whatever they are, will help. While the earthquake was unpreventable, the degree of devastation was preventable. Political decisions as well as geological events combined to wreak this havoc (for an analysis of how human decision-making amplifies or reduces the impact of nature, see Eric Klinenberg's Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago), and the least we can do is support relief efforts in Haiti.

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Final Quilt of 2009

While I've got a few projects in the works, this is my last finished quilt of 2009. Made entirely from my stash, and with several large scraps at that, I think it serves as a nice quilting culmination of the year.

I made the blue and green zig-zags using Amanda Jean's no triangle tutorial. I made a couple modifications -- I used 2.5 inch strips since that's what I had and cut 4.5 inch squares from the sewn-together strips.

 

I also reoriented the zig-zags vertically, with some white on either side, in part because I wasn't sure how long the zig-zag lines would be when finished. I had intended to place the zig-zags off-center, but they stretched out wider than I realized they would, so I added just a bit of white to both sides.

This quilt started with the backing. I had a little under a yard of these monkeys in my stash and I wanted to use it as a quilt back. I then looked through the rest of my fabric to decide what would coordinate well with it for the front. After collecting the blues and greens -- which are more pale than my usual bright color choices -- I thought I'd go with simple strips. But as I was falling asleep, I remembered the zig-zag tutorial I'd bookmarked several months ago. Upon waking in the morning, I settled on the zig-zags and went to work.

 

The binding presented another puzzle and another set of switched decisions. I initially thought of using purple or yellow to complement the back and add another color to the front. But I couldn't find a tone of either color in my stash that looked good. So I opted for the one zig-zag fabric for which I had more fabric -- the blue flowers with tiny orange dots. In terms of quilting, I followed the zig-zags, 1/4" off of the seams. As an experiment in zig-zaggery, this quilt performed quite well and I'll certainly use the no-triangle zig-zag method again. This quilt is now on its way to Kentucky, as a donation to the Mountain Baby Blankets, a project collecting and distributing blankets in poverty-stricken Appalachia.

And with that, Happy 2010!

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Miracle Foundation Quilt #3

This quilt top lay draped over my ironing board for several months. For some reason, I couldn't find the motivation to finish it. But I wanted to send all the quilts to Jade to give them to the Miracle Foundation so last night I dug deep, found my motivation (which was lacking principally because the fabric I thought I would use to back the quilt wasn't big enough and I was unhappy with the other options I considered. But yesterday, I realized I had a piece of fabric that would be perfect, and it was, for the most part), and finished the quilt.

The border, inspired by AmandaJean's scrappy 9-patch border, is my favorite part of this quilt. I backed the quilt with a piece of striped jersey cotton buried deep in my stash. I like the stripes of the cotton, but it's a pain to quilt. Puckers galore. Lesson learned.

 

I experimented with some fancy free-motion flower quilting which was fun and I liked a lot. However, it pretty much mandated that I would not be unpicking the quilting to fix the puckers.

 

This is the fabric off of which I based the quilting. It's a beautiful linen (or linen-like) fabric that was generously donated for these quilts, and it struck me that it would be a good model for the flower quilting I've wanted to try for a while now.

 

And here's a free-form version elsewhere in the quilt. The sun popped in for a bit late morning which helped me get some light for pictures. Winter makes the picture-taking tricky both because of the limited light and because I haven't figured out a way to take the quilts outside for pictures without messing them up. I'm perusing the internet for ideas about snow-laden quilt photography.

Tomorrow will be a big day at the post office, as I mail all of these Miracle Foundation quilts, a baby quilt (pictures forthcoming), and gifts out to the giveaway winners.

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A Spirograph Quilt

I finally finished the primary quilt for the Miracle Foundation. After deliberating the layout, the actual quilt came together pretty easily.

This is what it looks like altogether. Perceptive eyes might notice that one block got reoriented from the initial version. Good thing I noticed my error before sewing. I'm good enough friends with my seam ripper scissors and don't really need to spend any more developing that relationship. As it is, we're quite close.

This is one of my favorite blocks, and I'm not even a fan of pink. But I'm becoming more tolerant of the color, albeit generally in its more magenta-like hues. Nevertheless, the partial flower at the center plus the other fabrics work well for me here. As for the quilting of this quilt, I quilted all the non-red areas with zig-zaggy lines. Basically, I sewed a straight line until it hit a border with red and then let the line "bounce" off that "wall" between the colors and head off in a new direction. It's not my favorite, but it was fun to do. It reminded me of those straight-line spirograph toys -- I've surveyed my office and while my officemates know what I'm talking about, none of us could name this toy. Any of you know what I'm talking about?

 

Inspired by Red Pepper Quilts' gorgeous quilts and backs (see here and here, for example), I pieced together big squares. The little yellow square lists all the people who generously contributed fabric: Michelle, Jen, Jocelyn, Lise, Grace, and Sandi.

I went with an orange binding, machine-sewn as usual. I tried a new technique that I'm not totally happy with, but experimenting has value unto itself. I still need to finish the third quilt for the Miracle Foundation so I can send them off to Jade who will deliver them. I had hoped to squeeze that in this past weekend, but it was not meant to be. It may be a couple weeks before I have time for that.

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