National Quilt Museum

As I do a couple times a year, over Labor Day I traveled to Paducah, Kentucky to visit my family.
Paducah is known for the BIG quilt show every April (and now they've added a show in the Fall), Hancock's of Paducah, and the National Quilt Museum.   My baby sister and I made a visit to the Museum. (I meant to post this pictures then....) 

On exhibit were some amazing collage quilts by Danny Amazonas.

My Favorite

I have completed two collage quilts to date:  Laura Heine's Cat and the Piggie Quilt in memory of my mom and my quilting Auntie, Nyla. They are not as easy as you might think.  Choice of fabrics and getting the colors and shades just right is the trick.  Danny Amazonas is a very talented artist, to be sure!  Google his name.

Laura Heine is probably the most recognized name for collage quilts.  She is a featured speaker at a lot of guild meetings across the country and she makes a presence at quilt shows. (I was introduced to her patterns at the Road to California show.) But here is another option, The Collage Quilter. I LOVE her Adoration quilt.  I also found a a collage quilt tutorial.  While not exactly the way I would do it, it was pretty good.  This has kind of given me 'the bug', again.

Spinning Out by Helen Remick of Seattle, WA - My sister's favorite display.

P.S. While we are talking about the Quilt Museum, they also sponsor a BOM* every year.  Last year's blocks were part of the exhibit. The blocks were very imaginative and very good, but not out-of-this-world.  Don't be intimidated!  At the bottom of the BOM page, click through the blocks. They do an excellent job of giving you all the tools for creating the blocks. Check it out!  YOU can do it!

*BOM:  Block of the Month

Don't Wear White Shoes After Labor Day

Labor Day is the official (unofficial?) end of summer.  School for my g-sons starts tomorrow; football season has started
(Boy has it ever....I'm the foober* driver for Wednesdays and Thursdays...) and I think we can squeeze in one more quick trip.....

Tomorrow Miss Ellie and I will board a Southwest flight for Nashville.  Off to see my baby sister and the B-I-L in their new home "in town." (My dad is now living with them instead of next door.)  She asked me to bring my sewing machine to make curtains for their new home.

"Really, sis?" 

Miss Ellie.  1953 Featherweight.

     But, this is what we do for those we love. 






      So last night I gave Miss Ellie a spa night and she is now all de-fuzed,
      oiled up and shined up... ready for her trip. (I will admit, I did have to watch a few 
      video's from The Featherweight Shop on how to un-assemble and 
      reassemble a Featherweight.)



     (I have flown with Miss Ellie in the past....no one blinks.  
     She may get swabbed for bomb dust.)







I will get my quilting fix, however.... their new house is only a few miles from Hancock's of Paducah! 

 And The National Quilt Museum.

My April 2019 Kentucky Trip.
The official sendoff...breakfast at Cracker Barrel

*foober = football Uber

Row, Row, Row Your .... Boat?

The internet is a WONDERFUL tool, no?  You can find and order just about anything on the internet from Aurifil thread to Zippers and everything in between.  If Amazon doesn't have it, it will be out there...somewhere.
(FYI, Amazon sells Aurifil thread and zippers.)

With all the internet shopping going on, there is understandably less traffic in the shops.

How to get quilters and sewists back into the shops..... hummm ... By jove, I've got it! 

Make a game of it.... have a contest .... win prizes!

Row-By-Row Experience.  

What IS it?  Row by Row was started 8 years ago.  The purpose is to get people off their computers and back out to the quilt shops and fabric stores.

Every year there is a theme.  Individual quilt shops pay a fee to participate and they design a row according to the theme. Beginning in June and running until sometime in September, when you visit a participating shop you'll see a display of that shop's row and you can pick up a free pattern.  Often the shop will make up kits  for purchase with all the fabric and embellishments you'll need for their row.

You then rush home and sew up all your collected rows just as fast as ever you can (neglecting hubby, house work and and all other distractions.) When your R X R quilt is completely finished....quilting, binding and labeling ... be the first to take your finished quilt to any participating  shop and win lots of prizes.  That's it.  It's fun and exciting.

This years R X R is in full swing and the theme is Taste the Experience.  It is not too late to get started.

Here is one winner from Washington State.

                              The creativity of people still amazes me.

Find participating shops in your area, click HERE.

Check out the Inspiration page for more fun, quilty stuff and pictures of other winning quilts.

The last couple of years a R X R Junior has been added to encourage our younger quilters.  And don't stop there.... check out the supplemental patterns for young quilters.... I'm tempted to try some of these, myself.

For the curious folk who would like to see rows and blocks from past years, I found this website, Seams to Be Sew.  Grab a cup of Kicking Horse (or a nice red, depending on the time of day) and take a tour.  There is a lot of stuff on this site.....

If you can stand just one more link, Row by Row Studio on Facebook.  What fun!

The Ties That Bind

Pile-O-Binding

That's right, let's talk about binding.....


After the quilt top has been pieced and completed...
After the backing has been prepared...
After the "sandwich" has been made.... (hold the mayo)
After the quilting has been done (by you or someone else)....
The next-to-the-last step is the binding.

(The very last step is the label.  That is a subject for another time.)










WHAT is the binding?  That nice, finished edge.

Miss Mary, one of my quilting buddies, called me today.  She is fairly new to quilting.  She was asking me about binding....how wide to cut the strips, how do you know how much fabric you need, etc.  So here we go.

Binding Methods:  Determine what kind of binding you want.

There are two camps on binding:  Method one, the RIGHT way and Method two, the FAST way.

Method 1: Attaching the binding completely by hand.  This is the quilter-purist-preferred method.  My quilting-buddy, Auntie would turn over in her grave if she knew I did not attach all my bindings using this method.

Prepare your binding.  Sew the binding to the front side of the quilt, flip to the back and hand stitch the back side down (sitting in front of the TV  with a glass of wine watching some Hallmark movie...because everyone always lives happily every after.)  Watch this good video by  Melanie Kahm.

I use this method for most bed quilts.  I must admit, it is prettier and there is just something more loving about hand stitching your binding. Think of the bragging rights!  "I slaved over a hot needle for 6 hours attaching that binding!"

Method 2:  The Flange Method.  Here is one of the best tutorials I've seen using this method from Quilt Social.com.
The quilt in the picture above is bound using this method.  See the tiny green flange?  This method is fast and I like the look.  I use this method for baby quilts and wall hangings.

But for every positive there is a negative.  For me the negative is you can see the stitching on the back side.  Also, you need to be very careful about your stitching on the front of the quilt, keeping it even and as close to the ditch  as you can.

How Much Fabric: To determine how much fabric you need for the binding (or for the borders, or for the backing)  I love  the website Quilters Paradise to calculate my borders, my backing and my binding.

There are a number of calculators on this site that I find really easy to use, even from my cell phone because don't-you-know I will have forgotten to take my measurements and write it all down BEFORE I went to the Quilt Shop. Just plug in the numbers and away you go.

 

Binding tools:  As a quilter you have most likely already discovered you can spend a TON of money on lots of  rulers, markers and other gadgets.  One that I purchased at a quilt show but could NEVER get to work for me was the Binding Tool Ruler.

I watched video after video on YouTube, but I just don't get it.  If it helps you and if you can get it to work for you (and it does for many) then I say go for it.  I don't feel to bad though, Jenny Doan has a couple tutorials on YouTube for some pretty awesome quilts using this ruler:  Geese in Motion Quilt and the Binding Tool Star Quilt.

Getting Started Series: What Now?

It's been a rather crooked journey down this "Getting Started" road ... hopefully somewhat informative.
Some of the basics have been reinforced for me, that much I can say.

 

Where have we been?

We learned about the proper use and technique of a Rotary Cutter. 

All about Fabrics.

Whether we want to Stash or not Stash.

Not all Thread is created equal.

How to Square up fabric.

And finally the most important of all, that 1/4" seam.

We haven't yet discussed other "stuff" you'll need.... I have blogged about STUFF in the past; 

Follow these links:  More about rotary cutters and mats,  and other helpful stuff.

"So, now what?  We have a bunch of random bits of information, how do I actually MAKE a quilt?"

You have to start by picking a pattern.  The very, VERY first quilt I made was a simple four-patch lap quilt for my son.  I honestly can't remember where the idea came from or why I even had the chili pepper fabrics on hand, but I did....and he was impressed (me, too, truth be known.)

Over the years I've accumulated LOTS-O- patterns; both purchased and free, plucked off the internet or acquired here-and-there.  There is lots of inspiration "out there."
 

Pat Sloan, of course.  She has both for-purchase patterns and free patterns. 

Easy Quilting Corner

Quilted Twins 

Moda Fabrics

Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company has a ton of tutorial videos on YouTube.  Many are no- pattern-needed.  

And don't forget Pinterest.  Many of the links lead to free tutorials and patterns.

And, speaking of YouTube.... you could get lost in the world of quilting tutorial videos on YouTube.  Anything you would EVER want to know about quilting is there.  Get a coffee (or a wine...depending on the time of day) and have a look.

Instructables.  This is the most fun website.  You can learn ANYTHING from this site.  And, look what I found! Quilting 101.  EVERY SINGLE step for making a simple quilt!  Have a look. (Disclaimer, I don't necessarily agree with every technique, i.e. using sheets for backing.  But, it's a good place to start.)

If you can stand just one more, Art Gallery Fabrics' site is amazing!

Also, check out your local quilt shops.  Take classes.  The second and third quilts I ever made were the result of a Block-of-the-Month class I took at Cool Cottons in Portland, OR. 

Even though I was following the directions, exactly (or so I thought) I managed to put EVERY SINGLE corner on EVERY SINGLE block on backward.  I didn't even notice until someone in the group said "Oh, look, how interesting your corners are...."  There is a verse in the Bible that says "Even a fool looks smart if he/she keeps their mouth shut."  I didn't say a word.

There are aspects of this quilt I like even now, I try to over look the many mistakes.  My g-sons cuddle up with it all the time, still, even though their little feet stick out.

 

You've heard the saying "If I can do it, you can do it."
Ya just have to get started.

June Gloom

June weather in California is cloudy and gloomy....sometimes it burns off during the day, sometimes it does not.  Californians have a name for it "June Gloom."

That pretty much describes my mental climate of late.

We laid the quilting Auntie to rest and I spent some time with Unkie just touching her stuff in her quilting studio and reminiscing.  We cried and we laughed as we recalled fun times.

"...and it came to pass...". After June Gloom comes sunny July and then scorching August.  Happens every year.

Sprinkled throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is a phrase that sounds particularly good to me right now;
"...and it came to pass..."  Its true meaning is "...and then it happened..."  but I am claiming it as my own for now to mean
"...it did not come to stay, but it will pass..."


I'm sure you've heard the saying "fake it 'til you make it."  That's what I'm doing for now.  I am forcing myself to sit down at the sewing machine a bit most days and work on a baby quilt for a new mom and a fun wall hanging for friends who are planning a car trip (taking all their kids left-behind belongs and delivering them to their door steps.)  Both fun, cheery projects.































Last evening I spent time with my quilting neighbor, one of the Sew Sisters where I live, and went over a new pattern with her.

The quilting mojo will return.

My Beautiful Quilting Auntie And Partner In Crime

Piled on top of the general busyness of life -- work, g-ma duties, travel for work, some quilting (not much) and still more work -- I have been dealing with my lovely, quilting-buddy Auntie as she prepares to leave this world and meet her maker...her creator, who knit her together Psalms 139:13.












It is a very tough time, as you can imagine.  I was at her bedside in Spokane last week and during her wakeful times we talked about family, God and Quilt Week in Paducah.
 

Over the years we traveled to Paducah for Quilt Week many times. I have family in Paducah; my mom and dad and my sister and B-I-L.  We ladies were a foursome. Although my mom and sister do not quilt, they were gracious and put up with us and our quilting addiction.

I said good-bye to my mom a little over two years ago.  Now it is time to say good-bye to my second mom.
With Auntie's eminent passing, I must say, I've lost a bit of my enthusiasm for quilting.  It's just not the same.

Mom and Aunt Nyla 2016

The wall hanging I made in Memory of my mom and in Honor of my Quilting Auntie.