Quilting Again

 

Yes, quilting again!  A deadline approached and I entered the Forbidden Room with Oliver where he camped out nearby to help me with a quilt project.  Marking is never fun, but new markers and an old clamshell tool from www.thimbleworks.com did the trick beautifully.  Oliver knocked the markers off the table several times and watched me search and retrieve with that intensity only a cat can have.

 

Two weeks ago as summer finally arrived I realized that the small quilt I promised to make for this year's AAQI Celebrity Auction is due very very soon, yikes.  The auction will be online this November; I'll give you the details later when I make sure of dates, etc.  But trust me, from the list of names making quilts I know you will want to bid and bid early and often so you can claim one of the beautiful quilts.

 

 

Above, my 15" square miniature quilt, marked, layered, and pinned.  Ready for the machine!  The top is a beautifully luxurious gold silk dupioni with minimal slubs, very smooth and pretty, and I used YLI #100 silk thread for the quilting, which is tiny and exacting, and yes I needed a magnifier. 

 

I used Pellon Legacy wool batt, and a scrumptious perfect dusty teal Moda cotton from the Wuthering Heights 3 Sisters Collection.  I'll try and get a photo of the back of the quilt, as I like it equally well as the front.

 

I did make a small prototype, practiced my feathers, checked thread colors.  I'll write about that a bit later when I get more photos taken.  It helps so much, not only showing you in real life how the thread color looks, the one you were planning on but now can see isn't quite right after all.  My muscle memory woke up, and quilting was easy and beautiful, the best news I could have after not working on a real quilt for over a year.  This skill does not go away. 

 

Oliver got into more trouble, hiding from me and making me search the house for half an hour, wondering if somehow I had let him outdoors?  I sensed his eyes on me when I went into the kitchen, turned, and saw the white spot of his fur in our wine cupboard that for once had an empty shelf!  Perfect spot to fit his body, a 2009 Oliver, smooth and sweet with that hint of smoky naughtiness!

 

 

I quilted a few hours a day for a little longer than a week.  There are designs marked on this miniature quilt, the vines and animals, but I did all the feathers freehand as always.  It is based on my miniature quilt A Visit to Provence.  My sketch of the feathers and vines in that quilt has been lost so I referred to my photo and came up with something similar, with the addition of my Rabbit, and signature sleeping cat instead of the urn from the original.

 

There was no room for an outer border so I filled the corners with delightfully tiny clamshells, 1/4" Diane-shiko, and some very tiny stippling for the odd spaces.

 

It is bound and finished, titled Return to Provence.  I love it.  I look at it and like to keep looking at it, for me the true test of a successful design.  I hate to ship it off for the auction and say goodbye, but I know it will go to a good home and give others pleasure.

 

Below are some details of the quilt, and I'll post the full photo soon when my camera battery recharges.  I used one line of echo quilting around the main designs with Sparkle Silk thread for a hint of gleam.

 

 

Clamshells in upper right corner, above.

 

My hands are sore, but better, and it was wonderful to be at the machine again.  I hope to make more small projects soon, in a leisurely way.  Thanks for all your comments on "retirement" - it's good not to have the travel and pressure of teaching, but I do miss seeing all those talented bright funny students.  I hope you are all doing well with your work, sneaking in some quilting time when you can. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, keep quilting!  Your work gets better every day.....

Diane



 

Quilt Journeys: Three Quilters

The new exhibit featuring work of three quilters is now open at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY.  My quilts are part of this exhibit that shows the journey we all take as we travel through this grand adventure of quiltmaking, shown above.   It will run through March 13, 2012.

When I was invited to participate in this exhibit, although so honored, I was very reluctant to show my early work.  Then I decided the entire point was to allow the viewer to see up close the beginnings, the flickers of inspiration along the way, the development of techniques and skills, which allowed art and ideas to be expressed in cloth by the final quilts that are shown. 

It is a huge honor to have my work showcased at the National Quilt Museum, and I hope many of you can see this exhibit and be inspired in your own quilting journeys, by my work and the quilts of two other quilters.

Included are some of my very first quilts, done mostly with a walking foot and invisible thread.  My early free motion work is there, and the beginnings of the kind of quilting I love to do now show up in all the quilts, but the techniques and machine skills definitely improve as the quilts progress. 

"Through a Glass, Darkly:  An American Memory" is in the exhibit, my NQA Masterpiece quilt, and probably my favorite quilt.  It is a log cabin design, and I made it to work in color exploration, and it showcases my original free motion quilting designs as well.  I never tire of this quilt, and I hope you enjoy seeing it in person.  Below, after winning a Master Award at Houston, 2001.

Other smaller wall quilts are there, "Sixteen Baskets of Mud," "Rabbit in Green," "Mourning Too Soon" from the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. 

October Morning, 2000

Detail, below

"October Morning" was the last quilt I made with trapunto, cotton batt, and invisible thread, many original designs and some stencil designs still, and with a tiny amount of applique (broderie perse) in the center, that I had to do as the quilt needed it.  It is a Delectable Mountains traditional pattern.

Please read about the exhibit on the website of the National Quilt Museum, www.quiltmuseum.org to get all the details.  The other two quilters are Doreen Speckmann (also from Wisconsin) and Dorris McManis, and I know you will enjoy their quilts as well. 

I've been busy fussing with my quilting with Sparkle thread.  It is going well, but I SO definitely prefer quilting with #100 silk!  Soon the designs will be finished and my background work will be so relaxing, because it will be back to my #60 Sharp needle and #100 silk thread, smooth curves, no crunchy sound as the needle backtracks over stitches (eek), and faster quilting, definitely.  However, it does look pretty nice. 

One night I was having shredding issues, and switched to a new Jersey needle from a different pack and all was well. 

Oliver has sneaked in twice to bite the thread as it comes off the spool while I am quilting.  I did not see him.  He goes behind the cabinet, jumps up on my right, and before I know it, either wet thread is coming through or the thread is chewed in half, the needle breaks, I scream, cat runs off, door is firmly closed. 

Two nights ago a small spring fell out of the machine but I am forging on as it doesn't affect much except the presser foot lever.  It's now a bit wobbly and limp.  Onward!

Oliver has been banished from my room.  How he opened the door twice I do not know.  He is a clever boy.

Relax a bit during this hectic time of year.  For me, that is an hour or so of quilting in my room, door closed, lights on, music playing.  It does wonders for you.

If you learn anything at all from my exhibit at the museum it is that I did keep quilting, and yes, my work did get better!

Happy Holidays,

Diane

Needle, Thread, and Fabric

Many times finding the right thread, needle, and fabric combination is the key to experiencing non-frustrating machine quilting.

The sample of one of my new "Quilting Whimsy" digitized designs, above, was done on fine cotton fabric ("Gradations" by Caryl Bryer Fallert for Benartex) with #100 silk YLI thread and a #60 Schmetz Microtex Sharp needle. 

However, when I decided to do one line of echo quilting with "Sparkle," a YLI thread that combines #100 silk with a strand of metallic, I switched to a #80 Topstitch needle, which has always handled threads that tend to fray or skip just fine.  This time it did, but not as well as I would have liked.

Every so often a skipped stitch, oh no.  A bit of gold metallic showed through to the backing, oh no.  And worse, it would ball up behind the needle and fray to the point that I noticed no gold in the stitch at all, had to stop, re-thread, then continue, which resulted in.......frustration!

After doing some research, one of my students contacted me with the same problem and she went directly to the manufacturer of the thread, YLI.  I also did the same, and the answer was something I would never have considered, a JERSEY ball point needle!  Who knew!  I thought they were for knits only, wrong.

Evidently the friction from going through a pierced hole in the cotton fabric, rather than a nice opening made by the ball point needle was fraying the thread.  I bought some #80 SUK Schmetz Jersey ball point needles, put one in my machine, and gave the Sparkle thread a big workout. 

It worked perfectly.  None of the problems occurred.  I did have to quilt just a bit slower, lowered the top tension more, and I took a slightly larger stitch than with plain silk thread.  Sometimes it looked a little wobbly when going in directions away from myself, but all in all, very nice, definitely will use this again in a quilt and know I will have good results with the proper needle.

The thread itself is lovely.  It isn't a full-on metallic, so for me blends into the quilt well, but shows well too.  It is subtle bling, a touch of fairy dust on your quilt.  It comes in gold or silver with various neutral silk threads.

The new issue of the AQS magazine Quilt Life has a good article about thread with comments by many in the industry.  We do need to keep up on thread information so when we choose something that will enhance our work we can get it to work for us.

Keep quilting!  Your work gets better every day.

Diane

January Tips

It is sunny but miserably cold here in Wisconsin today, so it's time for some January quilting tips. Above, a Pfaff foot probably designed for embroidery but modified for free motion quilting. The front of the foot has been cut out (use a tool like a Dremel) and filed smooth so the quilter can have better visibility to the needle for more precise aiming, and more relaxed muscles due to the simple fact it's easier to see while quilting.

Plastic feet can be modified easily, or ask your sewing machine technician to do this for you. If you do it yourself be careful not to continue through and cut out the back of the foot as well. Ah yes, I have been told this happens.

In one of my classes an intrepid totally prepared nurse had a scalpel and was so frustrated trying to see the intersections while quilting Diane-shiko that she stopped, got out her scalpel, cut out the front of her plastic sewing machine foot, and continued successfully with her quilting. A foot is an inexpensive thing to replace should this not go well, but the advantages here far outweigh the risks.

More tips:

• Be sure and check the thread on the spindle or cone holder. If it winds around the spindle or gets caught on something your tension will be too tight, needles will bend and break. The moment you feel something is wrong, stop the machine and check thread pathway.
• Take a few moments and warm up "off quilt" before beginning your quilting session. It pays off bigtime in keeping your work at a higher level and keeping it consistent. Try to begin each session with something you are comfortable with; don't dive into the hardest thing first thing.
• Get out and check out some real quilts! Books, online photos, magazines are wonderful, but the real deal is the best. I have a tendency to hibernate in the winter and if you don't see glorious color and stitching, fabrics, thread, you miss out on getting new inspiration and ideas. Get thee to a quilt shop, quilt meeting, quilt show. I went to an art quilt exhibit opening at the Anderson Art Center in Kenosha, WI (http://www.andersonartscenter.com/ ) last weekend that was energizing, fun, beautiful. I am so glad I had the chance to be around quilters and quilt art after several months of cave dwelling, horrid weather, dark days. Soon I'll be going to our Wisconsin Quilters meeting (http://www.wisconsinquilters.com/ ) for more inspiration.
• If you are intrigued by specialty or sparkly threads, add just a touch of them to your work and see what you think. I recently quilted a simple feather on muslin and added one echo of Sparkle thread (YLI) around the outer edge and then went back to silk thread and that touch really is quite lovely. Will I do this in a quilt? Don't know, but it was fun to play with some bling.
• Before making a decision about what goes where or what design to choose, quilt some samples on the actual quilt fabric and see what looks best, what you enjoy quilting, what gives the most payoff for the quilt itself. Sometimes it's the faster design, sometimes you have to grit your teeth and go for the one that looks fabulous but takes a bit longer.
• Don't overquilt. Leave some puff for interest. We don't want to be seeing all thread - there should be dimension in a quilt.

Keep quilting! Your work gets better every day.

Diane

Sparkle Spirals

Spirals with Sparkle, YLI #100 silk plus metallic = Sparkle thread. It gives a soft shine, little twinkles of light. Nice for upcoming holiday quilting.

The design, above, is on muslin and was done with a #80 Top Stitch needle and worked perfectly in my Benina 730, tension on top set at 2.50. The thread was ecru with gold metallic. Stitch length an estimated 1.6. Of course in free motion you make your own stitch length.

I wanted to give you a better sample than the one from the post yesterday, so here it is. I ended up playing at my machine all afternoon, and have some lovely new samples for classes.

Keep quilting, your work gets better every day!
Diane

Sparkle

Sparkle! This is a new thread from YLI that combines my fave #100 silk thread with a strand of metallic, giving subtle specks of bling in your quilting. I like it so much better than metallic and it is a great new tool to add to your arsenal for that place in your quilting that just "needs something special."

I used it with my usual Microtex Sharp needle, a bit larger, a #70, but if it frays try a needle made for metallic thread. I also loosened my top tension a bit more than with plain #100 silk, and used YLI #100 silk thread in the bobbin. I had no problems at all quilting with it, just went a bit slower than I usually do on a speedy design like "Bouncing Bananas." It's fun watching something sort of boring turn into glamour right before your eyes.

Later I tried a #80 Topstitch needle and it worked better, no fraying at all. The thread fed through the machine easily and perfectly.

I mentioned it in my new listing of Tips on my web site http://www.dianegaudynski.net/ today, so thought I would add more here. I haven't used this thread in a quilt yet but yes, even I, who never ever adds sparkly anything to my quilts, might consider this thread here and there. It comes in a variety of tones, cool silvery ones, and warm golden ones to a deep taupe with gold I used on the green fabric in the sample. Mud with Bling!! Hurray!

Try some quilting today in between "the other stuff" you have to do....experiment!

Keep quilting,
Diane