Season Transition 9 patch

T his is my "change of seasons" quilt, another variation of a 9 patch pizzaz quilt. I saw a quilt similar to this one with the changes of the seasons across the quilt in the same book "( Patch Pizzaz" by Judy Sisneroz) as my other 9 patch Animal quilt.

With this quilt, I learned how to make a fancy outer border and how to make a 'cheater' edging also known as 'mock binding".

Most of the quilt versions shown in the book had directions telling you how much fabric you needed and how to cut the fabric, how many blocks to make and where to put them, etc. This version, however did not have directions for it. It was in the section on finishing the quilts and only showed a photo.

So I decided to figure it out for myself. I scanned the photo on the computer and printed it. Next I drew the lines on it to show the various blocks and from there I figured out how many of each type of block I would need to make. But I decided to make the quilt a bit larger than shown, like I did with the 9 patch animal quilt so I added an extra row along the side and on the bottom. Just to be on the safe side I made some extra blocks so that it would give me leeway to change the pattern if I wanted to when I arranged the blocks. I had fun planning these blocks!

After making all the blocks, I laid them out and looked at them, rearranging them a few times till I was satisfied with the over all picture. I left it for a day then looked at it again, and again made a few changes. A trick I learned at a workshop from a very knowledgeable instructor was to use a pair of binoculars and look at the quilt block pattern through the WRONG END so the individual 9 patch blocks receded but the overall pattern stood out. It is easier to see the flow of the design that way!

After that I started sewing the rows of blocks together with help from various cats and the dog who all came to sit on the blocks (that were arranged on the floor) to give their approval and leave a few treasures behind ( Hairs, I mean. What were you thinking!?)

Next I put a narrow 1 1/2 inch black inner border around the blocks and after that a 6 inch tan pebbles border. I decided to use a fancy border technique that I had seen but I had never tried before. I used some of the smaller squares from the quilt blocks and incorporated them into the border, too so it looks like the quilt blocks continue out into the border. The winter side of the quilt has some of the winter fabric in the border, the early fall side has early fall fabric, etc. The photo above doesn't really show the border so I hope I explained it well enough for you to imagine it.

The back fabric is tan colour with tan trees on it. I used the excess back fabric and flipped it forward to make a 'cheater edge/ mock binding' which is a lot less work then making binding from strips of fabric, as I discovered. It only works well if you chose a back fabric that compliments your quilt top, though.

I had taken a Saturday workshop in late January 2008 on embroidery and some machine free motion quilting so I decided to use that to quilt this one.

It's a good idea to practice a bit first. That way if you make mistakes it isn't on a quilt which has taken you weeks to make. I just used some extra brown/ tree fabric, and sandwiched some spare batting in between. You need a special machine foot to allow free motion and remember to put down the 'feed dogs' on your machine. Put the presser foot halfway down ( I found that the most difficult thing to remember! ) to allow the thread to flow quickly. Free motion quilting takes a huge amount of thread but looks great with a little practice. I machine quilted all the fabric blocks, both the inner and outer borders separately. I tried various free motion designs which followed the patterns on the fabric itself. I love how it turned out!

I was very pleased with the finished quilt. It was completed in late Jan 2008. I liked the practice swatches so much I made 4 larger versions and made them into place mats! Just didn't want to waste an opportunity to try something new! LOL!

After that was completed I still had fabric left over so I decided to make a pillow sham to match out of a few extra blocks.

Yes, by then it had definitely become an obsession!

I realized soon after that, that it was consuming me more than gardening and I LOVE gardening!

Red Deer / Central Alberta Quilt Show

On Saturday we went to see the Red Deer/ Central Alberta Quilt Show in Red Deer at the Westerner. It was fabulous! There were quite a

number of central Alberta quilt groups present displaying their exquisite handiwork.

When you walk in you see rows and rows of beautiful quilts hanging

up on large wooden frames. They all had a label explaining who made the quilt, the name of the quilt pattern, if any, and who quilted it.

(The person who quilts a quilt top, isn't always the same one who made it.)

You are given 3 tickets at the door, two for the door prizes and one to fill in the name and quilt number of your favorite quilt in the exhibition. Now that's a tough choice!

You could really appreciate the beauty and workmanship of each one even if you weren't a quilter. My husband was very impressed.

The variety of fabrics and patterns, different borders and back fabrics was astounding!

Some people were so creative they even created a pattern on the back of their quilt! It really gave me a tremendous amount of incentive to continue trying different things!

There were many quilt shops present on the outer perimeter of the hall selling their wares and they seemed to be doing a rousing

business.

Every half hour or so there would be a quilt skills demonstration/

workshop put on by various quilt experts. I wish we would have had

time to stay longer, but we had a previous engagement,

(to attend our twin grandniece and nephew's first birthday party that same afternoon.)

Next year I will make sure that we don't plan any other activity the

same day as the quilt show so I have more

time to enjoy it and to watch some of the demonstrations.

At one point, I struck up a conversation with one lady (who I'll call

Ann) who was sitting at a table with information about central Alberta quilters.

Well, lo and behold, although she now lives in Red Deer, it turns out that she used to live in my area and was a member of the quilt group there

(remember the one that didn't want any new members?)

She asked me if I was a member of their group.

"Sadly, no," I told her and I told her why.

She was flabbergasted! She couldn't believe that they had become so elitist that they were turning down quilters who wanted to join them!

Then she did 2 things.

First she invited me to join their quilt group in Red Deer, telling me when they met and where.

Then she called over a woman who was passing by and introduced me to her. (I'll call her Joy).

Joy not only belongs to the quilt group in my area, and so of course knows all the women involved, she is the person who machine quilts all their quilts for them!

I guess Ann was thinking that if I got to know one member of the group, she might speak in my favor.

Ann and Joy know each other quite well and much to my chagrin, Ann proceeded to criticize Joy's quilt group...

what are they coming to when they are turning down people... it never used to be like that... etc.

I felt like sinking into the floor with embarrassment! I sure hadn't planned to make a name for myself that way!

Now that group really would snub me if they thought I had been bad mouthing them!

Anyway, Joy agreed with Ann and proceeded to give me her business card. She told me to call her, that she would love to meet me for

lunch in town.

I plan on calling Joy in the next week or two and we'll see how this all pans out... :)

The other ironic thing was that, with all the quilting fabrics, patterns and quilting impliments that were for sale there, what did I end up

buying? 7 balls of yarn! LOL! (Yes, I love to knit, too! But that's a

whole different set of blogs!)

Mother-in-law's Sawtooth Star Quilt

This pattern is called 'Pink Lemonade" and it's from the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, April 09 issue.

This is the completed saw tooth star quilt which was a gift for my mother-in-law. She loves to snuggle under it while she watches TV.

As I mentioned already, this was the second sawtooth star quilt top I made last fall. I loved the batik colors in the first quilt top, but it didn't have quite the look I wanted to achieve for her. This photo really doesn't do the quilt justice. The colors in this photo are not very accurate. The greens don't show up very well here at all.

The finished quilt is 54 1/2" X 61 1/2". The quilt blocks are all 7 inches square. The actual pattern directions in the magazine produced tiny 4 inch blocks, but after making several that size, I decided it would take forever to make a decent sized quilt top at the rate, so my husband helped me to figure out the math to increase the block size to 7 inches. Like I mentioned before, I like to take a pattern sometimes and make it my own, change it to suit what I need in a quilt at that time.

This quiltt has a forest green inner border ( not black like the photo seems to show) which is 1 3/4 inches wide. The outer border is a green floral fabric, with tea pots and tea cups on it, 5 inches wide. The stars are mostly lavendar and purple with some pink flowers as well. The edging is the same dark forest green as the inner border. I was quite pleased with the finished result. Wish I would have remembered to take a photo of the back, though. It was really pretty fabric.

To be honest, I haven't made a quilt yet, that I didn't like! LOL! There's always something that you think could be improved or different, but overall it gives me a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when I've completed at quilt! I like to hang it over the back of the rocking chair in the family room for a week or so just to see it and admire it before I give it away. I hope that doesn't sound too egotistical! :)

And yes, I said 'Give it away." Most of the quilts I have made were gifts for someone else.

How many have I made so far? Oh, but, I'm getting ahead of myself! LOL!

In between the sunflower quilt from my first blog and the two 9 patch pizzaz quilts mentioned in the second blog , there were 7 other quilts! (Yep, 7! That's not a typo! ) They were all little baby sized quilts, approximately 36" X 36", but almost as much work as a regular quilt to plan, execute and finish!

Oh, and I forgot to mention the 4 sets of place mats with matching runners I made for Christmas '08 ... and the 4 tote bags? Yup! I have been busy quilting up a storm in the last 3 years! LOL!!!

The Lone Quilter

Right Now...

Butterfly quilt top- saw tooth star pattern. (Still in progress at this stage...)

Back to the present!

What am I working on right now, you may wonder? (Or maybe not... lol!)

At this time I have 4 quilts in various stages of completion. Yes, I said 4! LOL!

I'm presently machine quilting a first birthday quilt for a friend's baby girl who celebrates her first birthday in May. The blocks are mostly a saw tooth star pattern made from glittery butterfly fabric. The background fabric is green with tiny white flowers and the butterflies are multicolored but mainly pink and purple.. Sound weird? I think it's turning out well! The photo of the quilt top speaks for itself. :) Size: about 54 X 61".

This is the 3rd time I've made this saw tooth star pattern in the last 5 months. I sometimes like to make the same pattern more than once for a couple of reasons. First, it's easy to make the same pattern again once you've ironed all the bugs out the first time, so it goes faster. Secondly, I love to see how the same pattern made with different fabrics can look so completely different, so unlike the first one ...

Are you wondering what happened to the first and second saw tooth star quilt top? Well, it all started last fall when I decided to make a throw sized quilt for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I saw a pattern I loved in a quilting magazine and bought some batik fabric to make it from. I loved the sawtooth star blocks made out of the colored batik fabric, but once the top was done it looked too 'youthful', not like an 82 yr. old mother-in-law quilt at all. It's still only a quilt top at this point and I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet, but I really like it..... (see below.)

The first batik sawtooth star quilt top

This one is still only a quilt top (but it's kitty approved! :)

Then I started a whole new quilt top made of saw tooth stars for my mother-in-law with different fabrics and this time I liked the results. The colors were greens and browns, a little darker than the batik, and I liked the finished results. (photo to follow...)

Quilting with Others

Quilting with others occasionally is the best way to quilt. That way if you have any problems or questions or you need some motivation, you have someone there for you. It's also a big boost to have someone admire what you've accomplished once in a while. Another good reason, of course is that we learn from each other. That's why it's a good idea to sign up for a class or two once in a while or see if there's a local quilt group to join. Aside from the occasional class, I usually quilt alone, though and my husband is both my biggest fan and biggest critic.

Here in Alberta we live out in the country. When we first moved here we went to town one day to run some errands and get a feel of the place. Lo and behold, we stumbled on a sign on one street announcing a quilt show in progress! "How lucky could I get!" I thought. We paid the modest admission and eager to check out the huge variety of quilts on display on the walls. We were given a white cotton glove to wear so we could touch the quilts without the danger of getting anything on the works of beauty. In Manitoba where we had moved from, there was a lively group of quilter who always welcomed new members. "Wouldn't this be a great way to meet new people of similar interest?" I thought.

So I spoke to the woman taking admission to see if I could join their group of quilters. She wasn't sure she said, so she directed me to another woman who told me, no, they didn't want any new members. Their group was already large enough and too many members would make the monthly meetings in each others homes too difficult. My husband was floored! He took it as a snub, although that wasn't my first thought. I was disappointed, yes, but having rather good self esteem, I didn't take it as a rejection. I'm really rather a loner anyway so it didn't daunt me too much.

I mostly buy quilting magazines looking for patterns I like and I try things on my own. For some reason I'm not afraid of trying variations to a quilt pattern on my own and I often changed a pattern to suit my own needs. (but keep that 'under your hat', so to speak.)

One day I read in a quilting magazine that a quilter should always follow the quilt directions in the books and magazines they way they are set out because it is an insult to the creator of that pattern if you change it! I certainly never meant to offend anyone! I think it's just the opposite! Cudos to the creator of a quilt pattern that is so well thought out that it lends itself easily to be adapted for the needs of everyone! What do you think???

I have since met a friend, who I'll call Maggie, who lives in a small town about 35 km from us. maggie is a master quilter and very artistic. We met through a mutual knitting friend actually and I have "picked Maggie's brain" a few times about quilting issues. Maggie, it turns out, knows a number of the women in this elite group of quilters that didn't want me. But I haven't given up on them entirely! Maybe one day I'll try and join the quilt group again. Or better still, maybe one day I'll meet a few other 'lone quilters' and we'll form our own group! :)

Quilt Roll Photos

A couple of photos showing how to roll your (pinned together) 'sandwiched' quilt in order to machine quilt it. (See previous blog "9 Patch Pizzaz" for directions.)

9 Patch Pizzaz

The second quilt I made was a double sized 9 patch quilt (60 X 66"). I used a pattern called 9 Patch Pizzaz. I took two evening classes in town at the local quilt shop in 2007 to learn how to make this quilt. The blocks are really simple to make once you get on to it. Choosing where to put the fabric so the block variations would 'flow' was much trickier.

It always comes back to the same thing... making accurate 1/4 inch seams, pressing all your seams properly and before you sew the blocks together, measure each one carefully with your ruler to make sure they are exactly the right size ( in this case, 6 1/2 inches square.)

This is my daughter's quilt which I gave her for Christmas 2007. She didn't really want floral fabric and she loves animals so I used animals fabrics and some browns and greens: a brown brick fabric and tan earthy looking fabric as well a green fern print and dark forest solid colors.

I learned to machine quilt 'in the ditch' with this quilt. Make sure to decrease the stitch length for quilt stitching. Also decrease the tension on your machine and check to make sure the stitches sit right before you proceed. If your thread keeps breaking or matting up, your machine tension is off. It's also best to start with a new sewing needle on your machine and use good quality thread.

To quilt 'in the ditch', you sew along the main seams of the quilt top, using your fingers to spread the quilt flat on either side as you sew. This will hide the stitch row somewhat which is what you want. Use your right hand to gently pull your quilt as your are quilting the layers.

But first take your quilt and roll it up from the right and from the left towards the middle of the quilt where you will be starting.

Then start at the top middle of the quilt and sew the seams one by one to the right, unrolling the quilt as you go. Then turn the quilt upside down, start at the top middle again and sew the seams to the right again. (You are now working on the other half of the quilt.) Now you have all the vertical seams quilted.

It's important to periodically check your quilt for mistakes before you quilt too much to fix. Check the back, too, to see if your seams look good, (not bunched up.) At this point, if any of the stitches don't suit you, you may have to become good friends with your seam ripper. Now's the time to take stitches or even whole rows out and re-do them to your satisfaction.

Next, turn the quilt on the side, and re-roll the quilt towards the middle like before. Start in the middle at the (new) top and do the same thing as before, using your hands or fingers to keep the fabric tight on either side as you sew. After that, you will have the horizontal seams all quilted. Isn't it looking more and more like a real quilt now?

Next thing to quilt, the borders. The borders of this quilt were another challenge! :)

(See next blog for photo...)

Sunflower Quilt photo

Okay, here is the photo this time....

I finally figured out how to upload photos properly. U have to be in the 'compose' mode... not Edit Html (which it always starts out as when you choose 'new post') ... then click on the photo icon... etc.

This sunflower quilt is my 3 year labor of love, my very first quilt, and it's all hand quilted!

The Sunflower quilt

I'm a morning person and, as I mentioned, sometimes I'm lying in bed in the morning, enjoying the early rays of the sun sliding through the lace curtains, when I suddenly think of my latest quilt project. It seems to be calling me, urging me to come and work on it. I eagerly jump out of bed, grab a cup of coffee and go downstairs to my quilting room to see what I'm going to work on next.

It's an obsession! LOL!

Choice of fabric is important. It can make or break your quilt. When choosing your fabrics, for a good balance you need some light colored fabrics, some dark and some medium; some need to be prints and some should be solids.

I chose mostly sunflower fabric for my first quilt, (the sampler block quilt.) One fabric had large sunflowers, one with small sunflowers, a green fern pattern fabric, a solid golden yellow, a solid tawny brown and a dark forest green. Every quilt needs to have a 'surprise element' in it as well, so I added a little rose floral fabric that I saved from a favorite sundress (which I had outgrown and didn't want to part with.)

I completed 23 sampler blocks, and chose 20 of them for my quilt top, ( 5 rows of 4 blocks.) I sewed 4 inch wide dark green sashing in between the 20 blocks (sashing is like a picture frame around your finished blocks). Then Isewed all the rows together.

At this stage, it's time to chose the border to put around the outside of the quilt top blocks. I decided on an 8 inch border of the large sunflower material.

First measure 2 opposite sides of your quilt and cut your fabric that length. Then sew it on the sides then measure the other 2 sides including the width of the borders you just sewed on. Then sew those on as well. Now you have the border sewed on all sides. I was so thrilled with my completed quilt top! ( I was one of only 2 people in the course who actually finished the quilt top!)

But don't get too excited... that's only the beginning.... only halfway towards a finished quilt.

Now you have to find a fabric for the back of your quilt and batting for the inside. The back fabric needs to be at least 4 inches wider than your quilt top on all sides because when you quilt it all, some of the excess back fabric gets taken up in the quilting.

And who knew there would be so many decisions about the inside batting! There are many different materials and thickness (called loft) to choose from, wool , cotton, polyester, wool being the most expensive. I consulted my quilter friend Connie and when I went to buy the batting, luckily there was a knowlegable sales person there to give me advice. I bought the natural cotton. It's warm, and washes well. It stays in place (doesn't bunch up in the quilt when washed) and is easy to machine or hand quilt.

Now comes the fun part, the 'sandwiching'! You need a large space to put your quilt layers together. One of my colleagues at school had taken the same course and she suggested that we sandwich the quilt on the large tables in the school library. So one night she, my husband and I did just that! We put several tables together and taped the quilt back fabric( wrong side up) to the top of the tables. Next we laid the batting on top of the back fabric and last we laid the quilt top over the other 2 layers. Then it was time to hand baste all 3 layers together so they wouldn't move when quilted.

We climbed up on top of the tables with our needles and pieces of long white thread and started basting long 2- 3 inch stitches through all 3 layers. We started in the middle of the quilt and worked our way outwards, smoothing and tightening the quilt top as we went. Much thread and time later, we were done; 2 and a half hours had gone by!!!

We removed the masking tape from the back, gently rolled up the quilt, and took it home.

Our instructor had shown us how to hand quilt which is the only way to finish a quilt according to the 'purist' quilters. But many people send their quilts away to be professionally machine quilted to the tune of $100 to $200! I decided I would hand quilt mine, so I bought a 14 inch quilting frame and got started, block by block. I stenciled a vine pattern on some of the 4 inch sashing with a chalk pencil and a plastic stencil, and hand quilted them, too.

Last, I hand quilted around all the sunflowers in the 8 inch wide outer border! That whole process from start to finish took me 3 years! But through out that time I was determined it would get finished and cover our bed sooner or later and I never gave up.

We moved, in the meantime, from northern Manitoba to Alberta where I finished the quilting of the sunflower quilt. Lastly, I followed my instructor's written directions for making the edging from the dark green fabric and sewing it on the quilt. It was a proud day when I finally had the whole thing completed! It's 98" x 82" in size and looks great on our bed!

I decided I needed some pillow shams to match, so I took apart an old pillow sham, measured the pieces, then designed and constructed 2 sunflower pillow shams from 2 of the leftover quilt blocks and some of the leftover fabric. I had my first machine quilting experience with those pillow shams and they turned out well, too, if I do say so myself! :)

(If I can figure out how to post photos, I'll put one one here.)

After that I went on to make my second quilt, my daughter's 9 patch Pizzaz animal quilt. It's a mixture of hand quilting and machine quilting.

More about that later...

Quilting addiction

Quilting! I'm hooked! I can't stop!

For me it's one of those rare things that sometimes comes along in a person's life that takes you to a new level. Something that 'clicks' with you right off the bat and you take to like a duck to water. It feeds the creative juices. LOL!

I love the thrill of looking through quilting magazines and finding a quilt that I want to try to create. I love choosing the fabrics to put in just the right places. I love the colors and the patterns.

My husband teases me about buying large pieces of fabric just to cut them into small pieces to sew back together again.

"Yes", I tell him, "That's true, but the pieces get sewn back together in a new more beautiful pattern than before."

I love how, depending on which fabric you put where, it makes the same quilt pattern look like a totally different quilt. You can make the same quilt pattern many times and it never looks the same. Each one is better than the last!

It all started for me about 6 years ago. My friend Connie was a quilter and she told me about a quilting course that was starting that spring on 8 Saturdays every 2 weeks. I was still teaching elementary school full time then and wasn't sure at first that I wanted to commit that much time. I had planned to learn to quilt after I had retired, I reminded myself. But in the end, I signed up for the course and haven't looked back since! The instructor, Chris was very knowledgeable and patient with us. She taught us an amazing amount of useful skills for beginners ( as I later realized!)

She taught us how to choose our fabrics; we could choose whatever color we wanted, but had to have at least 1 dark fabric, 1 light fabric and some medium shades. We learned how to fold our fabric to make handling it easier: Fold it lengthwise with the salvage edges (uncut bound edges) together. Slide the creases out with your hand, then fold it again ( 4 layers of fabric).

Chris showed us how to use our rotary cutters to cut a straight edge. "Put the fabric you want to 'keep' under your ruler, she said, and double check the measurement, then cut along the ruler edge away from yourself. Always lock your cutter when you put it down."

She impressed upon us the importance to sewing accurate 1/4 inch seams, pressing out those seams properly, and recutting your fabric periodically to make sure the edge is straight.

We learned how to make 12 different sampler blocks in that beginners course that spring. We were supposed to make 2 of each block for 'homework' for the following class with our fabrics in different places ... I was hooked right from the first day! I loved the thrill of putting the little squares and rectangles together which I had cut so meticulously to make the bigger blocks. Like building a jigsaw puzzle. (Although I was never very good at jigsaw puzzles. LOL!)

I became ambitious and decided to start big! I was going to make a queen sized quilt for our bed!

And so it began...

(.... More about that to come. :)

Sometimes as I'm lying in bed in the morning enjoying the early rays of the sun sliding through the lace curtains, I can 'feel' my quilting 'calling' me from downstairs. I think it's become an addiction!

Carola