First Day in Paducah

My class at the National Quilt Museum began today! We have 20 talented machine quilters from all over the country and Canada, learning to hone their skills and take it to the "next level." I think they are well on their way to their goal after only one day in class.

Tomorrow we have lunch at Caryl Bryer Fallert's studio and a studio tour, just a short hop from the museum, plus we'll take a brief tour of some of the quilts in the collection here, and of course quilt, quilt, quilt, and laugh too. What a talented fun group!

I'll be here next week for a second class called "The Adventure Continues" which is more independent study with brainstorming sessions for the whole group, and a few new techniques from me. I have to pace myself to do two intense sessions, back-to-back.

Photos perhaps later as I meant to take pictures today but was too busy with students, machines, and all the rest that a class involves. Stay tuned - I will try and get some visuals here soon. Meanwhile....keep quilting, your work DOES get better every day!

And my little silk quilt arrived safely in New York,

Diane

A Door Opens

Many quilters are invited to participate in exhibits and share our work with the public, either at quilt shows that include a variety of exhibits, or museums, events, or curated exhibits at various venues.

Today I am packing up and shipping “Rabbit in Green,” detail left, a 40” square silk two-color wholecloth quilt to Binghamton University in New York.

I look for stray threads, cat hair, loose stitches, then carefully fold it and cushion it with tissue, place it in its box, and send it on its way.

Two years ago at this exact time it was part of Gallery Night in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, where it won over all sorts of art fans who discovered modern machine quilting merged with a love of the past in my work. I was out of town at the time, but my husband proudly attended and answered questions about the quilt, me, my work, and the rabbit. It’s always nice to hear good things, but especially nice when a family member hears them!

This little quilt is special to me. When I made it I turned a corner in my quiltmaking and ventured into uncharted territory. For the first time I used all silk fabrics and thread, wool batt, and used a few art supplies to add just a hint of that subtle “something” to the green center section. This was the first time I had finished a quilt and then gone back and added more.

I realized I now approached a traditional quilt as a piece of art. It opened many possibilities for me. Freehand quilting many of the feathers and motifs rather than marking them also opened a door for my future quilting, a door which I have happily gone through.

Remember, as you create your quilt, whatever style it might be, you are the one in control. You choose the design, whether to mark it or wing it, the fabrics, color, contrast, threads, binding. Every choice you make reflects your artistic vision. Someone else could have added crystals or hand sewn beads to the top of this quilt and achieved an entirely different effect. Or added fancy binding with beading hanging down, intricate edging detail, fancy threads, oh so many wonderful options.

Another person would have quilted the designs with contrast thread, variegated or heavy embroidery weight thread. I chose this path and loved the process, as well as the result. I kept the effect subtle, as if part of the natural hills and valleys of the designs. Many viewers note the variety of thread colors, the play of light across the reflective silk, the richness of the colors, almost a patina of age.

Vintage, elegant, whimsical, beautiful. These are some of the adjectives I’ve heard used to describe this little quilt, and I love hearing them. But for me it will always be the fun spur-of-the-moment quilt that allowed me to be free in my quilting, throw in some new thread colors, create designs by the seat of my pants. It is the quilt that opened the door.

Safe travels, little silk quilt.

I hope many of you can see this exhibit and enjoy the splendid array of visual delights it will have, from contemporary, traditional, art. Titled “Full-Spectrum: Natural Fibers, Quilts, and the Textile Arts,” it runs from Sept. 10-Dec. 5 at Binghamton University Art Museum, NY. For more information: http://www.artmuseum.binghamton.edu/

Keep quilting! Your work gets better every day. Try something new today. Perhaps a door will open.

Diane

Time flies

I was pressing my white linen skirt for my upcoming trip to Paducah because where else in the world can you wear white linen in August if not Kentucky? I feel the need for a mint julep coming on as well, maybe a pulled pork BBQ sandwich…..love going to the South.

While ironing, I needed more than just heat and steam from my trusty Rowenta on recalcitrant linen, so found my plastic spray bottle of water as I had no starch mixed up. A bit of extra dampness would help the process.

I smiled as I remembered learning to iron as a child with this huge heavy all-metal iron that my mother turned off when she was done with the real ironing and then let me use, making use of the leftover heat in it. I remember it was hard to lift, but once it was down, moving it around was OK. But oh it was heavy.

Then I stood at the wooden ironing board that she lowered a notch or two for me. My special job was pressing my father’s handkerchiefs, mostly plaid shirting style, some white and dressy. I loved the weight of the iron and how it moved over the cloth and pressed out all the wrinkles from drying on the clothesline. We had no dryer then, and I helped hang out clothes, take them down, hurry and take them down if an unexpected rainstorm blew in. I could press until the heat ran out, but it lasted a long time, enough for me to complete a lovely stack of pressed handkerchiefs.

My mother kept a green glass bottle on the ironing board with a sprinkler top with cork bottom that inserted into it, and we “sprinkled” the laundry before pressing. My plastic spray bottle with the ultra-fine mist I use now reminded me of this bottle and how I used to love to iron when I was oh, 7 or 8 years old.

I don’t have much now to press except quilting-related fabrics, but every now and then something needs the touch of my iron, and it all comes back, all these years later. The smell of hot cotton, the feel of the iron in my hand as I watch all the creases disappear, and crisp smooth garments emerge, all are so familiar.

I wonder if the day will come when we no longer have to iron anything at all? I would miss it.

Have a great weekend and keep quilting,
Diane

Markers

One of the most frequently asked questions I hear is “what marker do you use?” And I have to say that usually I do use the infamous blue washout marker. It is a felt tip marking pen, with light turquoise-blue colored ink that rinses out with plain, cool water.

If a mistake in marking is made, I dip a Q-tip in water and run it over the lines and they disappear enough for me to re-mark in about 15 minutes or so. However, when the quilt is completed I do immerse it in cool water and swish it about, spin it out if it is in my washer, or let drip if it is a small piece, then air dry flat. I want to make sure all traces of the marker are gone from my quilt.

However you wash and dry the quilt, it is important with this marker to thoroughly rinse it out before adding soap to the wash, or before drying the quilt or applying any heat to it. I’ve never had marks reappear later or set permanently and I’ve been using these blue markers for over 20 years.

For really dark fabrics I use the Clover white marking pen. It goes on as an ink, but you need to use a very light touch, almost letting the fabric draw the ink out of the pen. Pressure ruins the pen’s tip, as it does with the blue marker, and makes the line look worse, not better.

Wait a full minute and the white line will develop. Don’t go over the line many times because you can’t see it; do one line, wait a minute, then see how it looks. If you use a light touch, have two of these pens so you can alternate between them, they last a very long time.

The line is crisp and white, not chalky or powdery, and lasts through all the quilting, rolling, packaging, and scrunching we do to a quilt top to get it in a home sewing machine. It washes out with some scrubbing, but I prefer to run the tip of my iron over the lines to erase them. See package instructions for the ways to remove this or any marker, and yes, test on your fabric first to make sure it works properly before marking the quilt itself. It might work great on yellow cotton, but not on red sateen.

Any remaining invisible residue comes out when I do wash my quilt when it is completed.

I also am liking the Bohin white marker that is like a mechanical pencil. There are other brands out there, and there is an eraser in the pen itself for removing the lines. I like this for “mark-as-you-go” designs that I mark and then quilt right away, with little moving or re-bundling of the quilt itself. Then I erase the remaining line before moving on to another design. They do smudge a bit with handling the quilt, so watch for that. But you can get a very precise, and easy-to-see line with these. Nice!

Always mark a test area and then place it in the machine to see how it appears there, not in room light, but in sewing machine light.

Chalk pencils, lead pencils, chalk wheels, water soluble white markers, Pounce pads, purple disappearing markers—these are all options for us, but I don’t use them often myself. You can try all of them and then decide what works for you in various quilting situations.

I don’t worry about marker ink on my fabric nearly as much as I would about chemicals I cannot use because of allergies to them, items like spray adhesives, or even fusibles, art supplies, glues, and so on.

TEST ahead of time with all markers. And with any marker – make sure it comes out, you can see it, it isn’t a struggle to use.

One thing I’ve learned from entering quilts in shows or exhibits is to take the quilt into an area with fluorescent lighting to see if there are any marks remaining. The Ott light will also show up marks that you cannot see in daylight or normal room lighting.

Another tip is to quilt right next to the line, not on the line itself, and it is easier to remove it when you are finished.

If you haunt your local quilt shops the owners probably have all kinds of favorite markers to show you, explain and sell to you. These intrepid people go to Quilt Market and see everything out there for quilters, and buy what they think will work for their customers. Ask! See what’s new at your quilt shops. But make up your own mind about what product works best for YOU.

Don’t fear markers. They are amazing new tools for quilting and help us create the perfect quilting design.

Keep quilting! Your work gets better every day.

Diane

Marking quilting designs

It’s so much fun to quilt freehand, but many times, even in a folk art, informal, or pictorial style quilt, it’s nice to be able to plan ahead, plot out your special design, and mark it on the top. You have the control to see where it looks best, move it, change it, be the designer who steps back and looks at the result before stitches go in.

I love to do freehand work, but I do also like to control where designs will end up on my quilt top and how they will look. Often as a counterpoint to freehand designs I definitely like to mark some repetitive, symmetrical design and quilt on the lines rather than “winging it” when the quilt is under the needle.

When I first began quilting I marked everything, absolutely everything. I was way too afraid to try to quilt with no lines. Now I love to do that, and if I draw my own designs many times change them as I quilt them, when I see they would be smoother, better, easier if I make a quick modification. But, those lines are still guiding me, giving me the basis of the design.

You can choose from purchased standard stencils, newer designer stencils, basic traced quilting designs from books or magazines that you must do with a light box, or tracing around moveable motifs.

I really like to draw out a design on freezer paper, cut it out, and place it on the quilt and trace around it. The motif can be pressed with an iron for easier tracing, but be careful not to press any previous blue washout markings when you do this.

For me, with years of experience, I only trace major elements—the outside border, crucial interior lines—and do much of the interior work freehand. Designs will look alike at first glance, but will have variety of detail because of the freehand work.

You can also choose to change out some of the interiors for more interest. Fill one flower center with clamshells, and others with tiny leaves, rocks, or bananas. It also keeps work interesting for you.

Sandra Leichner’s blog shows you how she does freezer paper stencils for her original designs: http://sandraleichner.com/wordpress The entry is titled Freezer Paper “Stencils.”

Try marking a few designs. It’s easier than you think, can be your original work or something standard, and it is SO nice to quilt when the lines are there for you to follow.

Keep quilting, your work gets better every day.
Diane

What lies beneath...

This beautiful Musky, a huge fish in the cold waters of Minaki, Ontario, was spotted by my husband on his recent catch-and-release fishing trip. The way it looks suspended in liquid, molten silver, floating without a care beneath the soft ripples of the clear water, makes this appear to be a photo shop composition.

However, it is very real, just as he saw it. I told him it would be a beautiful quilt, and immediately I thought -- what fabrics, how to quilt it, maybe I should now learn some appliqué. What size, what batt, on and on.

All it takes is a brief look at something out of your ordinary day to get the wheels turning. Maybe you can find something “below the surface” and get the creative sparks sparking!

Keep quilting and enjoy your own summer pastimes even if you don’t do anything more than observe, do some virtual quilting, and store up some ideas for the winter by taking in summer’s beauty.

Diane

Getting even

Even, consistent stitches in machine quilting are a result of everything being “in sync.” The speed of your machine, your hands and how smoothly and evenly they move, the set-up for your machine, even your mood can affect what those stitches look like.

One of the things I suggest over and over to students is to make more than small projects. Start at a 40” quilt. There is a lot of territory to cover in something this size, so you will have some time to build your quality and confidence.

A bigger project, like, oh, a bed quilt, is even better!

The sample of quilting, above, is from the border of my quilt “Shadows of Umbria” and shows how Diane-shiko can be used as a border design. Believe me, after quilting this border on an 85” square quilt I could just about do this design with my eyes closed, and my stitches were nice and even.

It’s harder for me to demo a small sample of a design in class, just sit and begin it and quilt for students, as I am doing it without any warm-up. I have to depend on the fact I’ve done it a lot so that my brain will remember how it all goes and be able to replicate the design.

Quilting on a large quilt gives me the opportunity to really burn in that mind/muscle connection. As I work on one type of quilting until all of it is completed, I can see it smooth out and get better each day. Then I switch to another type of design.

Jumping between designs does not let you build your skill level as successfully.

I take frequent breaks, don’t work when I am tired or in an impatient mood. Quilting is the part of a quilt that lets you escape, sit and hear the comforting rhythmic sound of the machine, in your space with your things around you, in a little cocoon of contentment. At least that is what I am hoping for!

The stitches will even out. They always do. Show them who’s boss.


Keep quilting, your work gets better every day,
Diane