Tilda Groupie

I am a discerning buyer of fabric.  I almost always know what I am going to do with it before purchasing... except for this recent buy that arrived yesterday.  This is "Circus" by Tilda.  Fabric aficionados know that Tilda fabric is difficult to come by here in the U.S.  But I found this at one of my fave online stores, The Intrepid Thread.  Julie will be offering more as time goes by and we Tilda groupies are pretty happy about that!  And those buttons!  Aren't they just the cutest?  Hmmmm, .... what to make? 

Birdsong Quilt - Preview Before Binding

The quilting for my "Birdsong" quilt was just completed by my friend, Corrine.  I got my first peek at it at our Guild meeting this week.  I am so very pleased with the way that it turned out! Corrine did a marvelous job and I am so happy with it.  I did not want the quilt to be TOO heavily quilted. That makes a quilt much too stiff, to my way of thinking, feeling more like a potholder than a comfortable quilt.  And who wants a quilt like that?

Lighting conditions were not optimum as I took a few photos today, and these do not quite give the quilt the justice it deserves.  Corrine changed thread colors repeatedly throughout the quilt, so the red birds have red quilting and the blue birds have blue.  She also used various greens and browns for the leaves.  I know that it is SO much work to cut and change thread that often, but Corrine did just that and it makes all the difference.  I cannot image what the quilting would look like if it were all one color. 

I love the feather detail on the wings and tails.

And speaking of feathers, check out the positively delicious detail of the feather quilting in the 12 inch outer border.

Corrine created a paper template to lay out the feather quilting design.

This is the variety of thread colors that Corrine used in the quilting process. WOW!

Next step will be the red piped binding .  I will be using the same method used to bind my Hanging Basket Quilt. The binding usually goes remarkably fast, once I get to it.  I hope to have a photo of the finished quilt posted soon!  It should be finished in plenty of time for our big Quilt Show in April.  Stay tuned...

Teeny Tiny Triangles

I was going to try to hold out until I had 12 blocks completed to post about my Feather Star quilt, but I just could not wait.  I have these 11 blocks pinned to the wall in my sewing room and I find myself stopping in the doorway to just stand a gaze at them as I go about my day.  I do not always love a project as I am working at it. It usually sort of needs to grow on me, but this one is different.  I really do LOVE the way that these are turning out!  Those "feather" triangles are TINY, with the short sides of the triangles measuring about 5/8th inch, but paper piecing makes it all work out in a perfectly precise way.  The blocks are not in their final order and placement will be decided later, using the tried and true squint method. Each block so far is a bit different.  I have added some of the French General fabrics from my stash for variety and they go together beautifully.

I remembered the lesson learned while making my Birdsong quilt .  I have been prepping blocks and placing them into bags so that I do not have to feel as if I am continually cutting them out.  These five blocks will keep me busy for the next few days.

Thank goodness for my thread catcher!  This is my third full bag of the trimmings.

Feathered Star Test Block

I finished my Feathered Star test block today. I was up really early this morning so I copied the templates onto freezer paper and got everything ready to go.  I can't tell you how much I love getting up early to work on a new quilt.  The coffee is hot and my 16 year old cat, Bozz, is very chatty.  It's my favorite part of the day.

It took FOREVER to make this first block but the first one always takes longer than I think it should. The block is 12.5 inches, unfinished, and that means that those feathers are ridiculously TEENY! I will likely need about 25 of these blocks, maybe 20, but I never know this early in the game.  The quilt will tell me just what it wants to be as we move along.

I used leftover French General fabrics so that I could get the feel for the newer French General fabrics that I will be using for this quilt.  This block may or may not make the final cut for the quilt.  We'll see...

I had a hard time finding my background fabric and finally settled on a Kona Cotton muslin type.  It is not white-white, but more of a creamy neutral.  The photo above shows it just a smidge darker than it really is, but I am liking it so far.

The paper templates from the book that I am using are beautifully drafted and the block went together perfectly.  My points on the feathers look really good and the block lays flat!  That's all that any piecer ever wants. Oh, and did I mention that each block contains 169 pieces?  I counted!

So here I go, off into Feathered Star-land!  It is my sincere hope to have these blocks done within about two months.  If I can piece faster, I can have completed quilts faster!

Update... the next day.

I was up early again, just couldn't wait to sew.  I finished block number 2. This one went much faster than the first block, thank goodness.

Decisions, Decisions...

I am in the most deliciously creative mental state at the present moment. Since my Birdsong Quilt is now off to the quilter, I am dreaming of, planning for, and envisioning my next quilt. You might think that I would take this opportunity to finish the three other quilts that I have in the works,... but No-oooooooo! To my way of thinking, that just opens up a slot to begin making another quilt!  I don’t believe that I have ever enjoyed the process of choosing the pattern, colors, fabrics and the design of my next quilt as much as I am now.  I have decided to make something on the order of this one, found on Pinterest, the classic and complex Feathered Star!

I was in love with the Feathered Star even before I attended one of Marsha McCloskey's Feathered Star workshops.  You know that you have made a completely KILLER quilt block when it has about 130 (or more...) different pieces!

I will be attending my annual Quilters Retreat in February and want a new project that I can completely immerse myself in!  I have been all over the Internet, searching for the perfect pattern and fabrics.  I knew that I wanted my next quilt to be paper-pieced, I knew that I wanted to add a border using needle turn hand appliqué, I knew that I wanted the quilt to have a vintage/antique sort of a look and I knew that I wanted it to include the color RED!

I just ordered this book, "A Flock of Feathered Stars", by Carolyn Cullinan McCormick, which will provide me with the templates that I will transfer to freezer paper.  Paper piecing makes for exacting piecework, which is so very necessary when making a complex quilt with a ton of pieces per quilt block such as this. 

Light Bulb Moment! - I just realized that the author of the book that I just ordered was same author of the book that I used to make my Hanging Basket Quilt. 

The Feathered Star is one of the quilts on my Pinterest Quilt Bucket List, even though I made one about 20 years ago. There are tons of different ways to build the blocks, but so far, I am in love with the one pictured in the photo of the quilt pictured above. Mine will be different, of course, but you get the idea.

Next step, choosing the fabrics.  These shown below are beautiful and are at the top of my "maybe" list at the moment. I really love these fabrics inspired by vintage French textiles, and this new line, Le Bouquet Francais by French General, is a bit more vibrant than the generally understated colors in the lines previously offered by French General. I love the combination of red, yellow and blue. I'm thinking these fabrics, with the addition of a few more, along with an eggshell background would look stunning!  What do you think?

Update - January 30, 2014

I couldn't resist.  I ordered the Le Bouquet Francais Fat Quarter Bundle.  The package arrived this afternoon and I have been busy petting the fabrics, laying them out this way and that.  The colors are yummy and the scale of the prints will be perfect for my Feathered Star.  The bad news is that I just received a notification that the Feathered Star book that I ordered is delayed due to "inclement weather". UPS Tracking info tells me that my book is stranded somewhere in Minnesota.  I am imagining my poor book, stranded and freezing somewhere, shivering... in a big ol' semi trailer, all by itself and lonely... maybe in a snowstorm,.. or a terrible blizzard,... or a huge AVALANCHE!, just trying to make its' way to me.  Hold on, Honey, it's warmer here in Oregon!

Appliqué Finished - Still Scrunched

I am finished at last with the appliqué  portion of my "Birdsong" quilt and it is STILL scrunched on the master bedroom wall.  The leaf border on the left is there... it's just folded in. I am almost a little sad to have completed this part of my quilt.  I will definitely be doing more or this needle turn appliqué.

The next step is to add a tiny 3/4 inch border using the above red fabric next to the leaves, then add a 12 inch outer border using this beautiful large blue print.  It reminds me of vintage wallpaper.

I may regret this later but I have decided to hand quilt this baby.  I want to use colored quilting thread on the birds and leaves but don't feel as if my machine quilting skills are up to snuff to attempt quilting this on my machine.  But I'm not so bad as a hand quilter and I am thinking that I have tons of work into this quilt already, and I don't want to mess it up when it comes to the quilting.
I hope to have this thing on the hoop soon.  Wish me luck!

The Design Wall Blues

If I could sing, which I can't.... (OK, I try... in the car... along with the radio... ), I'd be singing,  "I Got 'Dem Design Wall Blu-oooz".

I have no single wall in our sweet old bungalow large enough, and without heavy furniture placed in front, to accomodate a design wall.

After months of not even touching my Birdsong quilt, I am happily immersed. Since I must make do without a proper design wall, I have tacked my "in progress" quilt blocks on the wall behind the door in the master bedroom, scrunched between the bedroom door and Mr T.'s highboy.  As you can see, I still do not have enough room to tack them all up side by side. Notice that the blocks on the left are overlapping.  The little neon green and pink sticky notes tell me just where the blocks need to be placed.

I needed to get the blocks tacked to the wall so that I could stand back from them and make some decisions about which fabrics to use in the next blocks that I make.  I don't have lots of variety in the blues and reds and do not want to use the same fabrics adjacent to each other.

I am loving the way that the leafy border at the top looks.  Each little leaf is a four inch block.  This border will be on the top, sides and bottom of the quilt, inside the 12 inch outer border, fabric yet to be determined, but probably one of the blue prints, or... one of the red prints.  Still undecided.

These are two of my favorite blocks, the Chipping Sparrow and the Lark Bunting.

I can see that my needle turn hand appliqué  skills have improved a great deal since I began this quilt, having just learned the technique a few weeks prior to starting. I wasn't doing so badly at first...my work looked surprisingly good,  but I was incredibly tight in the neck, shoulders and hands.  I am happy to say that I have since learned to relax while doing this variety of hand appliqué.  I think that I have found my groove, so to speak, or my Zen, depending on how old you are.  Bet you can't guess how old I am. Insert Peace sign here...

Only NINE more bird blocks to go!  I am well over half done with them, but still have tons of those little four inch leaf blocks.

UPDATE - July 17, 2013 - Moving right along. I have finished four more blocks and only have FIVE more to go!

I have learned something about myself in the process of making this quilt.  I do not especially enjoy doing the prep for the blocks, cutting all of the pieces and preparing them for appliqué.  Progress completely bogs down when I need to prep blocks.  That is the point at which time it becomes easier to procrastinate than to continue.  So I figured out that if I prep two or three blocks at one time, then put them in zipper bags, ready to go, that I am ready to sew whenever I like.  Hmmm, maybe this is why I have so many unfinished projects. Poor prepping, perhaps. Well,... that,.. and I am a Gemini, which kind of says it all.

I will remember this little lesson on future projects.  Prep, prep, prep.  Kind of like eating your peas first.

Feelin' Like the Queen of Thread Catchers!

Holy Cow!  I am feelin' like the Thread Catcher Queen!  Hand me my crown, please.

Some of my thread catchers were picked up on Pinterest and my blog has kind of BLOWN UP!, with thousands of hits per day, over 45,000 views in the past month and tons of interest and purchases at my Etsy shop, Curry Bungalow.

It makes me happy to know that people are loving my original design, buying them and requesting special orders, but it was also making me just a little crazy.

At first I thought that I had to keep my store stocked with these things and I was glued to my sewing machine.  Then I had this epiphany.... and epiphanies are good.  I make these things for fun because I love combining fabrics into something pretty and practical, AND it gives me a bona fide excuse to order fabrics that I love but would not necessarily build into a quilt.

So I have decided that in the interest of sanity, I resolve to just plug away, making these things in my studio, (OK, OK, it's a sewing closet... but I can dream, can't I?...) and posting them on Etsy as I complete them.  No pressure on myself.

I am also working on a downloadable pdf pattern for those of you who want to make your own and hope to have that available soon at my Etsy shop.

This has all been a huge lesson for me. The lesson is, "Do what you love",... and I love to make things, but I especially... simply... love to sew.

SEW it's all good, right?

Chubby Chicks, Revisited - Part Deaux

It is a cold and rainy day here today in the 'Burg, the perfect kind of day to work on my Chubby Chicks quilt. I could call them "Cheery Chicks", couldn't I?  I kind of need them to be Cheery Chicks on a day like today...

Making the quilt sandwich is not my favorite thing to do.  I don't have a super large work area so it is always a little difficult getting the whole thing laid out and put together.   But I was using my new basting gun and that went pretty well, I think.  The entire quilt is now basted and ready to be quilted.

I am using the smaller print on the right for my backing and the larger print will be the binding.  I will also be adding a tiny orange piped edge to the binding.

I like to bring the backing and batting forward and pin all around the outer edge.  This helps to keep the edge of the quilt from fraying.  It will suffer through lots and lots of handling when Elizabeth (my Bernina 440QE...) and I do the quilting.  Next step is to decide on my quilting design.  I am hoping to have it under the needle tomorrow.

Chubby Chicks, Revisited

Some Wild and Crazy Chicks!

Remember that I told you all that I so loved making a Chubby Chicks quilt that I knew that I would be making another?  Here at my blog, it's been the Chubby Chicks that have been the big winner for total blog page views.  I love that so many quilters out there have viewed my Chicks and I hope that they are as captivated by the Chubby Chicks as I am.  But there was one thing about the directions in the pattern instructions from Black Mountain Quilts that I did not feel so good about.

I envision a Chubby Chicks quilt as being used, being well loved and really used, and that means being laundered.  The pattern instructions directed us to cut out the chicks, add some Wonder Under to the backside, press it down to the block fabric, then add a blanket stitch all around.  I was not so very comfortable with the raw edge thing.  It just doesn't sit right with me.

So for this next Chubby Chicks quilt, and it has been in the works in my head since I sold my first Chubby Chicks quilt, I have found a way to turn that edge under without spending tons of time at it.

I am using Moda's "Good Fortune" line, by Kate Spain.  The colors and prints are to die for!  I picked up a charm pack and a green dragonfly print from the line to make the pinwheel and border blocks.

Moda "Good Fortune", by Kate Spain

I did a "Test Chick".  I traced the chick outline onto my fabric, then stitched it to some very lightweight fusible interfacing, with the fusible part being on the inside.  I trimmed fairly close to the stitching line, then clipped the tighter curves and cut a big "X" in the interfacing for turning.  I turned my chick right side out, then pressed it onto the white block fabric. Elizabeth (my Bernina 440QE) and I added the blanket stitch all around.  I have to say that I feel much better about having the raw edges contained and turned under before stitching down my chick.  No worries about the chicks  raveling and ending up with raggedy edges.  AND, by turning these edges under with the interfacing, I feel like there was less work involved than I did with the Wonder Under used in the pattern instructions. I am all for doing things the easy way, as long as the end result is the same or  EVEN BETTER than the original instructions.



A few days ago I did all of the cutting and started sewing.  I made all of the pinwheels in one day, then moved on to the chicks.

I traced the chick outline onto my fabric, then stitched it to some very lightweight fusible interfacing, with the fusible part being on the inside.  I stitched on the line....

and trimmed all around.  I made a few clips between the point of the tail and the head.

The next step was to cut the large "X" in the interfacing and turn the chick right side out.  I did all 25 chicks in one afternoon.

Here are the "Hatchling Chicks", all leg-less, eye-less and beak-less.

CHX on BLOX!

I'll be plugging away on these guys for a bit.  I will post photos as incubation continues.

A Little Bird Told Me...

Sometimes you just know what your next project wants and needs to be. I love birds, watch them daily from my window, have been an Audubon groupie for some time, and knew when I first saw a photo of this quilt that this would be my next project. I was itching, absolutely ITCHING to make something spectacular, using my newly learned technique, needle-turn appliqué.

So I bought the book, "In the Meadow", beautifully done...I might add, by Blackbird Designs . The quilt in the book is called "Birdsong".

Favorites, all stacked up

The Meadow Collection Swatch Card

Then I ordered the "Meadow" fat-quarter collection by Moda, which includes some of the fabrics that were used in the book.  I am on the lookout for other fabrics that will go along with these in just the right way.

I have loved prepping this quilt, copying the patterns for the bird blocks, cutting the freezer paper templates and organizing all of the pattern pieces into files. I get up early, really early, (just can't sleep late...,) and it's my favorite time time of the day, the perfect time to get this quilt ready to actually begin the hand appliqué. I do not believe that in all of my years of making quilts, and it's been 40+ years!, that I have ever needed to be quite as organized as this quilt requires.

I love hand appliqué, really, really love it!  My very first experience with it was when I made a quilt for our soon-to-be younger daughter.  It was 1975, eons ago... I purchased a Simplicity Hollie Hobbie rocking horse pattern and I was like the classic, "Lady in Waiting", hand stitching this quilt as my baby grew inside of me.  Such sweet times...  I changed the colors up a bit.  I used red and dark blue rather than pink and light blue. Butterfly has kept this quilt close to her, all through  her childhood and on into her adulthood.

I have done a bit more hand appliqué along the way. I made a quilt for our older daughter, J.T., also known as The Brainiac. I made her quilt when she was just about to graduate from High School, all hand appliquéd and hand quilted. She wanted a car for graduation, but got a hand-made quilt instead. She purchased her own car, which is the way that it is supposed to be, I think. That quilt took “Best of Show” at the Foothill Quilters Guild annual quilt show in Auburn, CA, in 1991... a lifetime ago.

So... I laid out my first block, the Meadowlark.  There are six different bird designs which are repeated throughout the quilt.  Other blocks are the Chipping Sparrow, the Blue Jay, the Magpie, the Lark Bunting, and the Carolina Wren.  Some blocks are reversed and some blocks have smaller leaf appliqué blocks added alongside.  The freezer paper template is ironed to the fabric on the right side, then you cut out around the template leaving a small seam allowance to turn under. You start stitching down the pieces that are in the background and move forward so that all of the pieces are properly layered. The freezer paper template provides a firm edge and guides you in where to turn the fabric under the template, then small stitches are taken as you move along the turned edge.  There is NO BASTING! which speeds things up in a huge way, but the best part is that the pieces are in the exact shape as the template.  It's kind of amazing just how exacting it is. So much better than basting, then sewing!






I stitched my first block. It went together remarkably well, I have to say.

I listened to an excellent audio book while I worked. Audio books
and hand appliqué go together like peanut butter and jelly!

And here is my second block, the Magpie.  Only 23 more to go and I'll have enough to make a quilt!

I have more fabrics to find, not such an easy task here in the 'Burg. But this quilt will be a work in progress for some time, I suspect.  Good things come to those who wait,... or to those who can't find the fabrics locally that are just right and must search for them far and wide.  For someone who loves instant gratification, and that's me!, it is such a lesson in love to take the time and to somehow find the patience to search out the perfect materials to make this quilt as spectacular as I envision it to be.  

"Chubby Chicks Quilt"

Shame, shame on me!  I've started another quilt before finishing the Hanging Basket quilt pictured in an earlier post.  But I could not resist this one.  It's called "Chubby Chicks" and the pattern is from Black Mountain Quilts.  A word to the wise here... If you are going to search for this pattern online, Google "Chubby Chicks QUILT".  If you leave out the word "quilt" you will see more in the way of really big girls in various states of dress and undress than you ever wanted to see.  Seriously!

Although I liked the colors on the pattern photograph, GREEN is my most favorite color...I wanted to vary the colors from the ones pictured on the cover of the Black Mountain pattern posted below. I chose Moda’s “Sophie”, by Chez Moi. I bought a charm pack and two yards of the red fabric for the patchwork pinwheels and the border fabric, all from the same line. These are such fun fabrics in great colors! Elizabeth and I (remember, she’s my Bernina 440QE) did a blanket stitch around the outer edge of the chicks. The feet were done with a very narrow zig-zag stitch and the eyes are hand embroidered. The top is nearly completed, just need to add the final border, and then I’ll be finishing it up. Backing and binding fabrics are on order and should be here in a few days.

"Chubby Chicks"
by Black Mountain Quilts

http://www.blackmountainquilts.com/

The backing and batting have arrived and I've been busy pinning the quilt at the breakfast table

The backing is another fabric from the Moda "Sophie" collection and it almost looks like little chicken tracks.