Turquoise Stars

Turquoise Stars 
by Ilene Atkins

I finished this one recently, Pieced from a collection of turquoise fabrics. I love turquoise. Many of the clothes I wear are turquoise. Or blue. Or pink! So this colour combination if perfect for me. I wrote previously about making this quilt top, and now I can gladly say it is a finish.

Quilted quite heavily, using mostly King Tut thread. I was practicing different fill patterns inside those stars, and used a few stencils as well.

I believe I can say I'm getting better at what to quilt where, but I'm still learning what looks best. Often you don't know until it's quilted and all stitched up.

Trip Around the World

Trip Around the World
by Ilene Atkins

Trip Around the World detail
by Ilene Atkins

One day my friend handed me a bag of fabric with a TATW pattern and asked me if I could make this quilt! I found myself saying yes. She told me her mother used to make quilts but isn't able to anymore, but still wanted this quilt made.

It was an experience, I tell you. If you know anything about me, it is that I never use patterns, and prefer to do my own thing. But I read through the pattern, did some serious math, and came up with something that would work.

I found that I had to add several fabrics to make the dark to light progression work a little more smoothly. Fabric prints have changed quite a bit, so that was a challenge. My friend's mother had chosen all the other prints herself, and they were quite lovely together.

I quilted it quite simply, since most of her quilts had been hand quilted. It was a treat to make this quilt. I went over to her house to present the finished quilt, and was treated to a very nice quilt show of many of the quilts she has made over the years.

Never Ending Winter

I shouldn't complain about this winter that just won't quit. It is still much colder and / or snowier in other parts of the country. Brrrrr. We had our first day of above freezing yesterday, and the sounds of chipping ice off the sidewalks could be heard all over the neighbourhood!  And my cats have spring fever something fierce. In out in out in out in out. . . .  It is nice to hear the cardinals singing their spring songs, though.


Meanwhile, I've been working slowly along on a few quilts. I've been doing some handstitching on this Red and White quilt. I've decided to add more hearts in those central white patches, so I had to cut out a lot more. I'm getting the skinny vine laid down, too. There is a lot of applique to get done, so you probably won't hear about this quilt again until later in the year, when I have it all put together.





And I now have backings and tops made for these two quilts, the Red and White Log Cabin, and the Turquoise Star.  I'm starting to think about sandwiching them, but I'm not there yet.

MUST QUILT

5% Red
by Ilene Atkins

I've had this big neon sign flashing inside my head for some time now, saying MUST QUILT. So that's what I've been doing. It does beg the question, why must I quilt?  I've always loved sewing, sewing anything, really. But why quilting, why now?

I was recently making the Dragonfly Quilt, here, and had some insight. After my presentation last week to my quilt guild, here, I heard those voices inside my head that say I'm not good enough, and Who do I think I am?  You know those voices!  But getting feedback on my quilts has been so positive.  This disconnect between the outside world and my inside world just didn't make sense to me.

5% Red, detail
by Ilene Atkins

So today I was emailing my friend about the dragonfly quilt, and I came to the realization that when I'm making my quilts, they are the visual representation of the essence of who I am. It is the deepest part of me coming out for the world to see. Any worries or troubles or discontent in my life become inconsequential.

The quilt I'm showing today is a finish from last fall, and I didn't get it photographed until recently. I think I pieced it the year before, and got it quilted in last years finishing frenzy. I've called it 5% red, since it has so little red. I think now I could have put in more red, but this is the way it turned out, so I'm leaving it at that. And I just quilted it with wavy lines. It's been added to my growing stack of finished quilts.

Linking up this time to The Needle and Thread Network, here, and Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, here.

Sewing Therapy

 I've put aside all of my other projects for the time being, in favour of working on some "easy" sewing. Just cut strips and sew them together. I needed something productive to do, without a lot of thinking! No planning and no designing, either. To balance the other challenges in my life at the moment. Turns out this kind of quiltmaking is very rewarding.

I had out my box of reds, and a selection of white/cream/lights. Just cut strips and sew them together.  I have 48 blocks made at this point, and am going for 64 blocks. 1" logs, 9" blocks.  I think I'll switch the centre to white, though, so the biggest full diamond ends up being red. And I could quilt something on the white centre, too.

Some of my inspiration for this one comes from Wanda over at Exuberant Color, link here.  She has made over 30 Log Cabin quilts, and I read through most of her posts about them. Very interesting reading.  I really like the way she puts her many different fabrics together into amazing quilts.

It's a long way from being finished, and I don't know when I'll get to quilting it, but I just love how this is looking so far.

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network, here, and Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, here.

Welcome to Blog-A-Thon Canada

If you are stopping by from the last day of the Blog-a-Thon, I'd like to welcome you with an introduction.

I live in Kitchener, Ontario, which has a very active quilting community. Some say the Waterloo Region is the Quilt Capital of Canada!  Quilt shows and quilt stores abound in this area, so there is no shortage of inspiration. Along with making quilts, I like to get out to see the wonderful quilts that others have made. I also like photography, cooking, gardening, cycling, nature, and travelling. I've been known to sew many different kinds of items, and have on occasion picked up knitting or embroidery needles.

This Blog-A-Thon is a Canadian adventure, sponsored by the great Sew Sisters Quilt Shop, and the hosts for today are Jackie's Art Quilts, and Krista Quilts. You may hop on over to win great prizes by leaving a comment, and have a look at other Canadian bloggers you might not yet have seen.

I'd like to show you a few of the quilts I've made.

Magnolia Quilt, front

Magnolia Quilt, back

Sienna's Quilt

Stardust

Red & Denim #4

Wintergreen

In other news:  My home team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, are playing in the Grey Cup tomorrow. I don't usually keep track of or watch football, but when the Grey Cup is on the line, and the 'Riders are playing, I'm paying attention!  Go 'Riders.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Ancestral Jewelby Ilene Atkins

I've decided to join the excitement over at Amy's Creative Side, and enter this quilt into the Quilt Photography category. See the link here. You can vote for your favourite from November 1st to the 7th.  Hop on over to see other fabulous quilts.

This is one of the first quilts I made, shortly after leaving the corporate world for more, shall we say, blue collar work. I no longer needed those woollen skirts and jackets, so I cut them up into 4" squares. Yes, cut them up. Happily cut them up.

The squares seemed big to me, so I cut them into quarters for 2" squares. I laid them down on the floor in a random diagonal way, then stitched them all together into rows. 

Pressing was a big job, since all those seams are pressed open. If you've pressed wool before, you will know it takes a lot longer to press than cotton. You must wait for it to dry and cool as you press. 

The finished quilt top was quite heavy, and reminded me of the heavy quilts my family had around when I was young, made from men's wool trousers. Mostly grey and brown, I loved sleeping under them. Loved the weight and the warmth in a (quite) cool room. I'm still like that! It didn't occur to me to put batting in the middle, so it just has a flannel backing. The quilting is all diagonal. Sorry, no close-ups.

I wanted to photograph this quilt and two others in nearby Woodside National Historic Site while there was still snow on the ground. It was mid March and quite warm, so I headed out to get my photos. The next day, all the snow was gone!

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network, link here, and Anything Goes Monday, here.

A Fine Finish

Magnolia Quilt
Back

Magnolia Quilt
Front

I think all of you have been waiting for the big finish on my Magnolia Quilt. Well, I can say at last that it is finished. I was away on holidays last week, and was able to get the hand sewing done on the binding. And this week, I have been doing all the tying in of loose threads left from the quilting. I had a lot of them, since a lot of my straight lines met another one in the middle, and I wanted all those ends nice and tidy.

Magnolia Quilt
detail

A couple of decisions early on had me changing my quilting plan into these straight lines, but I like the way it all turned out. There is something to be said for simple, read quick, quilting. Also this week, I took off the middle circle, and replaced it with a different fabric. The first one was the background ivory colour, and seemed too stark. The new one was a bit creamier, and fits in better with the purples and greens. I'm embarrassed to say it was also off centre, so that had to be fixed up in any case. It was a bit tricky to get off after the quilting was done, but I carefully cut it away.

I had this quilt at quilt guild the week before for show and tell. I spoke about the "modern" side, then asked the white glovers to turn it over, and a hundred quilt ladies gasped when they saw the dresden side. Very satisfying, indeed.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced, here, and Work In Progress Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network, here, and over at Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, here.

Quilt Sandwich for Lunch

I've been working like mad on this quilt. I finally finished up the hand applique yesterday, which took far longer than I had counted on, and so the back has been moving along very rapidly since then. I put the borders on this afternoon, and was able to make the quilt sandwich this evening, since the pieced front was finished last week.  Whew.  No time for cooking, and the laundry has piled up, but this quilt's progress is amazing even myself! I have plans for tomorrow, but I can start quilting it on Thursday.  This is the exciting stage for me, when the top and back are made, and it starts to really look like something.  It seems like a lot of purple, but I think it is okay.

I`m linking up this week with Work in Progress Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network, here, which is a blog that "celebrates a collective identity for textile artists in Canada."

Still Magnolia Quilting

I've been working away on this magnolia quilt, so named for the inspiration fabric from a sheet set available right now at The Bay. You can see this pillowcase here in the photo. I had laid out the blocks last weekend, and have now nearly completed joining them together. This part is pretty easy, except for needing more of the ivory fabric, twice. . .   It is a short run to pick up more, though. There is still a bit of handsewing to do on the giant dresden plate on the back, but that's coming along, too. I can feel the deadline fast approacing, and will be much happier when this thing is sandwiched  for quilting.

If you were wondering, I got this idea from Ellie, over at Color My World. She used this quilt block, though she said the idea is not hers. Read about her quilt here. Hers looks quite different, but I like both of them.

Linking up again with Work In Process Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network, here, at Anything Goes, here, and at Really Random Thursday, over at Live a Colorful Life, here.

Magnolia Quilt

Magnolia Quilt Fabrics

I'm a little behind in blogging. I've decided to go ahead and make a quilt for an upcoming wedding, so I was out shopping for just the right fabrics. I found five of the dusty purples I was looking for, along with a good number of greens and browns. The hardest part was finding just the right background ivory, but I did find one for the front and another one for the back, so that is most excellent. These dusty colours are not ones I usually work with, so I didn't have anything in my stash that would work. Most of my colours tend towards the bright and clear. Indeed, many of the purples in quilt stores now lean towards bright and clear. These five are all from the same line, and they are perfect.

Magnolia Quilt

I made a 9 degree ruler in three separate versions for a giant medallion style grandmother's fan for the back of the quilt. And I've cut out all the coloured pieces I'll need. Not much to see yet. I have to cut out the white patches, and I'll soon be getting on to my favourite part, the piecing and sewing. Now that I'm committed to this quilt, I'm very excited about it. I'm sure the bride will love it.

Quilt for Sienna

I've finished piecing the quilt top for Sienna's quilt. It seems quite bright to me, and even though I love bright quilts, I have to go with my intuition on this one. I hope my friend likes it, and more importantly, will her daughter like it? We shall see!

I had originally planned to make a piano border out of all the colours I had used in the blocks, but when I laid it out to look at it, I decided it need a stronger, more defined border, so I used a nearly black print with a skinny pink line to separate the two border fabrics. I'm not sure what I will use for binding. I might choose one of the greens, or make it the same black as the last border. There is still time for that decision. I'm hoping to get the quilt sandwich finished tonight, so I can get on to quilting. I'd like to get this puppy finished, because it is a bit warmer now and the garden is demanding some attention.

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network, here.

Piecing vs. Free Motion Quilting

Piecing won out today, and I made another quilt top to add to my stack! I'm giving only a sneak peak at this one, that I think I'll call 5% Red. I say that, because so far, for every quilt I've made, I wish I'd done something differently. And on this one, I wish I had put in a lot  more red. With the blocks all joined together, it looks pretty pale, and more red in the mix would have given it a more striking contrast. It's together, though, so I'll chalk this up to experience and leave it at that. Since I think it will look good  quilted in circles of varying sizes, I might move it to the front of the sandwich line.

And speaking of quilting. I am realizing up until now, piecing has come naturally to me, from my previous sewing experience. The free motion quilting part is all new to me. I've had some epic failures with this, so I am hesitant to get to quilting my pieced tops. I must remind myself that I've also had some epic successes, so this is my struggle at the moment. My determination to get my quilt tops turned into finished quilts is what is keeping me going. So on that note, I started quilting one of my sandwiches this afternoon. Nothing big to show yet, just laying down some grid lines along all the block edges.

The saga continues. Having this blog medium to work this out helps tremendously, and for that I am grateful.

A Little Organizing

After a busy week, I wanted to sleep in a bit today, but I was so excited to work on quilts that I got up early and have been at it ever since! My mind is swirling with quilt thoughts, images and calculations keeping me up at night. Not complaining, though, it's good.

I went through all some of my stuff, in various boxes around the house, and pulled out all my large quilt tops that need to be quilted and finished up. One of them is the first quilt top I pieced in 2000! I finally think I can get to quilting all of them, but they need to have backings and bindings made, and battings purchased. So I made myself a chart to keep it all clear. I found 5 completed tops, and 5 with blocks made. I keep finding plastic zipper bags in my stuff, with cut pieces or blocks along with my scribbled notes.

I think I've gotten a little smarter, since now when I make a quilt top, I plan and make the backing, binding and sleeve to go with it. This makes actually finishing the quilt much more likely. I usually make a complex backing, so it is not a simple or quick task to get that done. And if I wait until some time later, I've lost the train of thought that went with making the top. The more time passes, the more difficult it is to get the same colours and look to the back. Experience has taught me to do the whole thing at the same time.

It will take some work to get all of these done, but I am determined at the moment to get on with it. I think it's time to actually get some of these projects finished, wouldn't you agree?

Another thing I was working on yesterday and today is this quilt I was planning, out of white shirts and skinny red lines. This one, too, was started a while ago, I cut up some white shirtings I had left from my tailoring days, along with some other b&w's I had accumulated, and appliqued these red lines on, in a random way. I started off random, then I was trying to set them up into a heart pattern, but they just weren't made to cooperate that way. I wish I'd thought of the heart thing before I appliqued, but this is what I have. So I've reverted to the random idea. I can't leave them out too long around here, so I'll probably just go with what I have.

I'm hooking this up to Leah Day's UFO Sunday blog post, link here.

Leftovers from Leftover UFO's

In my previous post, I described a Tablet cover I made, using an old UFO. I was looking for ideas on how I could use the rest of this UFO, knowing I would never use it for any wallhanging. I was inspired by the work of many artists in the Art Quilt World, to make ATC's, or Artist Trading Cards. These are postcard sized quilted items, painted, beaded, or otherwise embellished to suit the artist.

Out came my cutting board, ruler, and rotary cutter. I cut as many 4x6" cards as I could get from my leftover piece, and cut the rest into Inchies, which are tiny versions of the ATC's. Mine are a little bigger, almost 2x2", but I still call them Inchies. Then I set about finishing them up.

The first step was to do a quick zigzag stitch around the edges. Nothing fancy here. Just getting the edges closed. Then I trimmed all the loose threads with scissors. Just cleaning up the edges.

Step two was to complete the finishing on the edges. On one card, I used a close zigzag with rayon thread. I've never liked this method. I can never get it to look as beautiful as I want, so I moved on to my favourite method, which is to zigzag yarns around

the edge. I thread matched the yarn, and used a grooved foot in

my machine to control the yarn along the edges. I found a better foot in my box of accessories, with more grooves, and an open toe, worked like a charm. I finished the Inchies the same way.

Then I used this same foot, and other yarn to race across the cards, adding dimension. Beads followed soon after, and the cards were nearly complete. My favourite card turned out to be the one for which I added three Inchies, shown at left.

A New Gadget Needs a New Quilted Cover

I got a new electronic gadget for Christmas. It's a 10.1" Samsung Galaxy Tablet, and I love it. I had been thinking about it for a while, and my sweetheart surprised me, really surprised me, with one for Christmas. It's amazing what's possible in the technology world. Anyway, I decided I needed to make a cover for it, since the neoprene ones weren't very exciting or personal for me.

I looked around the house for ideas, for fabric, for whatever I could use. There were several possibilities, but what I came across was a quilted piece I'd started some years ago, and never finished. I had extra blocks left from making a quilt, and put them together into a wall hanging. I quilted the stuffing out of it, in a contrasting colour, and didn't much like where that was going. Where it went after that was into the closet, quickly forgotten. I didn't know what else to do with it.

I was only too pleased to cut it up into something more useful. I even

managed to find the original fabric for the binding. It was easy

enough to figure out how big to cut it, and joined the edges in an envelope fashion to fit the Tablet. I added beads and yard for trim, and added Velcro for a closure.

I now have a very personal Tablet cover.

Laptop Case

I decided before I went to Houston, that I wanted to take my laptop with me. Heavy, doesn't fit in my backpack, but it might be useful for looking up stuff in the hotel at night. It's fairly new, and I hadn't yet acquired a case for it. I had in mind a zippered colourful neoprene thing. That's what I had in mind. What I ended up with is colourful all right, but not zippered, not neoprene!  I looked around the house for another UFO I knew was somewhere. . . I found this.

I had this quilted piece around, one of the first things I made, before I knew anything about quilting.  Looking at it now, I didn't know how to do bindings or applique. It all seems pretty unorthadox now, but I really like the colours, and the second chakra design I worked with at the time.  And I didn't have much stash to work with!  My stash has improved immensely by now, and I probably wouldn't have stuck that turquoise on it.

Anyway, it didn't have any quilting on it, so I did some quick free-motion work to it, joined the corners together, added some velcro for a closure, and voila:  a brand new laptop case. And it makes good use of an old piece that wasn't seeing any action before.

More on Houston

 When I was in Houston, one of the quilt displays I saw was a selection of Texas Star Quilts.  It was an amazing display of a variety of pieced, appliqued and art quilts, mostly with a star or Texas theme. All were made in Texas by Texas residents.  Here you see the front and back covers of the book, Lone Stars III: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1986 - 2011, by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes. Images reproduced here with written permission.

There were two previous books about earlier Texas quilts, and this third book represents the more recent history of quilts in Texas. It was a very impressive display. I think I've said this before, but to see the quilts in print is one thing, but to see them on display is quite another. You get to see the stitching and pieces up close, and get a real feel for the piece in person.

There was no photography allowed in this particular exhibit, so I bought the book. I am pleased to do so in any case, since it is the best representation of the show, and is a good memory keepsake of my trip to Houston.

In Houston. . .

So I spent the weekend at the Houston International Quilt Festival, with two of my friends from Alberta.  I've known them for a long time, from way back in my tailoring days, and we are all quilters now. Anyway, they are both a lot of fun, and all three of us had a blast in Houston.

We will never be the same again! Seeing so many amazing and beautiful quilts all in the same place is spectacular, and changes the way you see the world of quilts. It also changes the way you see your  own place in the quilt world, and the way you create your own work, so I'm very happy to have been there. We all feel now, that there is room to improve our own work. If nothing else, seeing all the fabulous quilts will make us better quilters.

Seeing the quilt displays was one thing.  The quilt market was quite another!  HUGE. Did I mention it was huge?!  There were so many vendors, it was hard to cover them all, but not impossible. And cover them we did. We all bought a lot of fabric, gadgets, patterns, and other cool stuff that we can't find in our corners of the world. At the end of each day, we would all lay out our purchases to show and tell. So much fun. Now we all have enough projects to keep us busy for a while. Can't wait to get at it.

Marmalade's First Snow
by David Taylor

I want to include a photo of a quilt that I particularly love. A cat of course, and there were a number of cat quilts, and being a cat person, I especially like this one. When I was looking at this quilt, I feel like I've known this cat for a long time.  Plus, I really like red tabbies, so that caught my eye, too. This quilt is by David Taylor, called Marmalade's First Snow. 

If All Else Fails. . .

My faithful, trusty 30 year old Pfaff is out of commission. Unbelievable! I feel pretty lost when I can't access my sewing machine. I have backup machines, but they just aren't as good as my Pfaff. One of my friends at work was no longer using their machine, so she gave it to me. Just gave it to me, because she thought I'd use it more. What a treat. It's better than my other backup one, so I'm using it for a couple of weeks. One of these days, I'll have to buy a new one.

We've also had a sick kitty cat here, so we've been looking after her, poor girl. She's made another comeback, so she's good for another while. On top of that, a traffic ticket, and a few appliances have broken down recently. We're wondering where we picked up this bad karma. And wondering how we can turn this around into better luck. All somewhat discouraging.

So I thought the best thing to do under the circumstances is to start a new quilt! One aspect of my stash collecting has been a tiny black print on white background. Mostly white, with only a little black, so it still reads about 95% towards white. I'll cut these into blocks, and then applique bright coloured flowers on top. Maybe add some green leaves, maybe a vine and leaf border. This should keep me busy at least until my machine gets repaired, or perhaps for the next couple of summers. I like to sit outside summer evenings and do some handsewing, but so far this summer, I haven't had a project to work on. This one might get me going in the right direction.