adventures of a quilting diva

Here’s a drawer filled with bits and pieces of an unfinished quilt. You know those drawers … You have them too, right?

Everything I need to finish my quilt is in this drawer (I hope!) Go to my post Quilt of Dreams 2004 to see the quilt I’m making. I donated the first one to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This one is for my daughter.

This is a detail of the rainbow garden on that quilt. Luckily most of the garden is already completed.

There’s a magical stage in the quilt-making journey where you have enough skills to turn the quilts you dream up into reality, but not quite enough experience to realize just how painful a process it might be. Way back in 2004 when I dreamt up this quilt was one of those times. Oh well, at least the second time around I’ll know what to watch out for.

Finally finished! You might remember the sneak peak of this quilt way back from summer 2009. (Read the post from July 15, 2009)

The pattern is The Gift by Brandon Mably, found in the book, Kaffe Fassett’s Country Garden Quilts. I made this quilt for a book report at my guild. Now I’m not going back to school and presenting you with a formal book report, but I will tell you a few things about Country Garden Quilts: The whole first third of the book is chock full of gorgeous photos of vibrant quilts that look like they just sprouted out of magnificent gardens (set at Great Dixter in Sussex, a 15th-century English manor). It’s enough to just sit back in a comfortable chair and flip through the pages. Pour yourself a glass of lemonade and enjoy!

If you must break out the needle and thread, this book is more than just eye candy. There are clear instructions, great tips, full views of the quilts, alternate colorways and suggestions for quilting. Projects are divided into easy, intermediate and difficult. I really like that with not just one, but a whole team of quilt designers, you get a wide variety of styles to choose from. Mostly pieced, but a bit of applique as well.

I chose The Gift not only because it was so charming, but because it combined fusible applique with the piecing. A little secret: I made my version at half-size, 13.5″x16.5″ because I didn’t want to take the time to find a copy machine and enlarge the pattern pieces. It worked splendidly right out of the book, and the math to reduce the block sizes was quick and easy to do. I included some of the Kaffe fabrics from my stash, as well as some other prints that I thought were in keeping with the overall feel and scale of the original. I hand-quilted it with salmon pink thread like the original, and added hot-fix crystals for a touch of bling.

I wholeheartedly recommend Kaffe Fassett’s Country Garden Quilts, whether for actual quilt-making or simply the sheer beauty of the book.

Speaking of Kaffe quilt books, I’m reminded of Kaffe Fassett Patchwork: Over 25 Glorious Quilt Designs, one of the very first quilt books I ever owned. One of the very first quilted objects I ever made uses several of the quilt blocks from this book as well (including that glorious cover quilt) … but that’s another story for another day.

Here’s a great idea for more cover button fun from Rocky Mountain Sewing & Vacuum in Colorado. I just might have to go out and find myself an embroidery machine and digitizer!

“I often have a difficult time finding the ‘perfect’ button for many of my projects; I also like to have matching accessories for my outfits. So finding the book ‘Fast Fun and Easy Fabric Cover-Button Jewelry’ by Laura West Kong was a windfall. Now I can always have the perfect (and matching) button for any garment, any purse, pillow, etc that I am making. I can also have unique (and matching, of course) accessories for any outfit I desire. To complement this book I used ‘Button-Ups’ software from Hope Yoder, 4D software (both the fabric decorator and digitizer) and the Floriani software to design some wonderful designer covered buttons.” —Rocky Mountain Sewing & Vacuum

Resources

• Rocky Mountain Sewing & Vacuum (homepage | Facebook page)
• Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Cover-Button Jewelry (buy a signed copy
  | C&T Publishing | Amazon)
• Hope Yoder Button-Ups
• Husqvarna Viking 4D Embroidery Software
• Floriani Embroidery Software

Looking through my photos from the 2010 IQA Long Beach Quilt Festival I discovered that most of the quilts that caught my eye happened to be red. So here’s a selection of red quilts straight from Long Beach to you!

Seven Steps To…..
by Lora Libigs Colby

Each of the double-sided leaves were first stitched around the outside edge, then sewn down to the quilt through the center vein, giving the quilt a wonderful touch of dimension.

Sunny Side Up
by Timna Tarr

This quilt was inspired by an 1840s quilt. I love the lively color palette and the attention to detail in the binding.

Rooted Series VII: Aquifer
by Kristin La Flamme

This quilt has a deeper meaning about home and roots, but it’s also just plain fun to look at with all the hand-painted details.

I Pray
by Harumi Iida

With some careful planning and piecing, a Log Cabin block becomes a Shinto shrine. Very artistic, and anything but ordinary!

Thanks for joining me on my virtual quilt show tour of red quilts. Have you ever made a red quilt? Please share a link, I’d love to see it!

International Quilt Festival Long Beach was fabulous! I’ll show you some of the quilts later. For now here’s a little peek into my shopping bag:

#5. chalkboard cloth from The Fabric Patch. So fun! I have to admit this is the closest thing to fabric that I bought there. I don’t know why, there was certainly a lot of wonderful fabric to choose from. It just seemed like I’d seen it all before. Do you ever feel that way when you go fabric shopping?

#4. polka-dotted purse handles from Sewing Party. More fun! I told myself I wasn’t going to buy any more purse handles until I finish the two purses I’ve already started. But honestly, what girl can resist polka-dotted purse handles?

#3. kimono silk thread from Superior Threads. This absolutely yummy #100 silk thread is a brand new addition to Superior’s lineup. So new in fact, it’s not even in stores … yet. Be sure to ask for it at your favorite quilt shop.

#2. texture magic also from Superior Threads. I was amazed by the demos of all the different ways you can use Texture Magic. Can’t wait for the next quilt show to see for yourself? Check out the Texture Magic online videos.

#1. longarm quilter from Nolting. I test drove every longarm machine at the quilt show, no joke. This one was my absolute favorite. What I love best about it is how simple and easy it is to use. Can’t wait for the frame to arrive so I can get it all set up. *Happy dance!!!*

Here’s my latest quilt, “Magritte and Me” (17″x23″). I created it for the FFFC Challenge #46, Geology with Unexpected Color.

I really love working with the little paintbrush strokes of fabric. It’s relaxing and fun to do and I like the way it turns out. I have several more ideas for this method of fusible applique quilt that I want to try.

Here’s a detail shot of the castle. This quilt is completely in hand dyed fabric. There are 3 different hand dyed whites. Painters will tell you that there is a difference between white paints and it’s the same with white fabric. Once it’s cut up into bits, you can’t always tell which is which until you place them side by side. Then you can easily see this one is a blue white, that one is a yellow white, and the other is a pink white.

I originally painted the reproduction below  for an exercise in a painting class. My reference was one of those little color plates in a fine art book. Remember when fine art books had those sections of color plates in the middle? If you were actually reading the text you always had to flip back and forth between the pages to see what the author was talking about. You can see a print of the original Le Chateau Des Pyrenees by Rene Magritte on Amazon.

I’m not sure what Magritte’s meaning of The Castle in the Pyrenees is. I read somewhere that he made it for a friend. I liked the image well enough to stare at it for hours on end while working on it, so I chose it for my original assignment and once again for this challenge.

“To be a surrealist means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been.” ~ René Magritte

Quilters have long known that a quilt is a loving tribute that bonds quilters with recipients across generations and across vast distances. The warmth of a quilt is enhanced by the often bright patterns and colorful images which frequently suggest a simpler time.

Under a unique donation program organized by Jeffree Itrich of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) and the University of California San Diego, quilts are brightening the lives of Alzheimer’s patients around the nation.

The Alzheimer’s Study Quilt Program began in late January 2010. As a quilter herself, Jeffree knows how positively people react when given a quilt and how quilters are amazingly generous people. Her plea for quilts to give participants in the NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) Study was picked up by numerous quilting newsletters. Good Samaritans circulated the request for quilts and they began arriving from communities all over the U.S. The program has received nearly enough quilts for all the NGF Study participants and are now looking for quilts for their IgIV and ADNI studies. (They’ll need at least 1,760 quilts!)

Those study participants who have received quilts so far realize that the quilts were made with love, sincerity, and gratitude (to the volunteers for participating in the study and helping future generations). Many of the quilters who donated quilts had family members with Alzheimer’s (AD). One woman who lost her mother to AD made and donated 12 quilts and another whose grandfather had AD provided 11 quilts. A woman in Pennsylvania made five flannel quilts in one week!

One study coordinator (the person who works directly with the study participants) had a woman come to her appointment angry and in a terrible mood (Alzheimer’s frequently causes behavioral changes). She was ready to chew out the study coordinator. But before she could say anything the study coordinator gave her one of the quilts. The woman calmed down immediately and forgot all about her anger.

Another study coordinator gave a quilt to a participant who was undergoing an MRI (an imaging test). It was very cold in the room so the study coordinator gave her a quilt to keep her warm. The woman was both touched and grateful and her daughter’s eyes filled with tears. These quilts are doing wonders for the patients!

If you would like to donate a lap-sized quilt to the Alzheimer’s Quilt Study Project, please contact Jeffree Itrich. To learn more about the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study visit their website at www.adcs.org. You may create a quilt with a pattern of your choice or try your hand at making an Alzheimer’s Fidget Quilt (click here for a tutorial).

Please spread the word in your guilds, sewing circles, blogs, Facebook and Twitter networks. Together we can make a difference in the lives of Alzheimer’s patients and their families and caregivers. Thanks!

Earlier this month I went to a guild meeting and saw a lecture by Tammie Bowser (www.mosaicquilt.com). She’s the one who does those fabulous photo quilts that are made up of pixels of fabric. You could say I got bit by the picture quilt bug so I tried my hand at a picture quilt of my own. But I didn’t want to use pixels. I was thinking more along the lines of brush strokes of fabric.

Coincidentally while reorganizing my studio I came across this acrylic study I did some 20 years ago. Like a quilter warming up on a practice sandwich before stitching on the real quilt, painters also warm up before hitting the real canvas. When I found it I knew immediately what the subject of my picture quilt would be.

And here’s the final result. It’s done with random pieces of fabric stuck to Lite Steam A Seam 2 on a fusible interfacing background. (My personal preference for this kind of quilt is the Lite, but Regular Steam A Seam 2 works in a pinch.) It’s completely done with fabric. No paints, inks, or thread were used to add detail. I quilted the picture part with invisible thread so it would give texture and hold the layers together without altering the colors of the fabric.

No Paints Were Harmed in the Making of This Quilt
©2010 by Laura West Kong

I was so charmed by this quilt that I started another one just a few days later. Unfortunately in the process I used up my complete supply of both Lite and Regular Steam A Seam 2, so quilt #2 is at a standstill for now. Considering that the lecture was less than 2 weeks ago and I’ve already finished 1-1/2 picture quilts, you shouldn’t have to wait very long for me to finish the second quilt once I get to the store.

The second quilt is also from an already painted study, but when I’m finished with that one I plan on doing a real-life still life directly with fabric as if I were painting, no photography. There’s something special about working from still life and live models that you don’t get from photographic references. I don’t know what it is, but I miss it.

In a way it’s a good thing that I ran out of all my Steam A Seam 2. Otherwise I would have been tempted to stick Steam A Seam 2 onto my entire stash and cut it all up into random pieces. Then I wouldn’t be able to make any other kinds of quilts. I suppose I could go fabric shopping then, and I would have a grand selection of fabric “paint”, so that wouldn’t be all bad.

happy quilting! ^_^

Just when you finally set your fabrics down to go mop the floors, along comes a cleaner that tempts you back to the studio … not to work, but to play.

Meet CitraSolv, natural cleaner, degreaser, and fabulous fabric photo transfer solution. I’m sure that CitraSolv is a very effective cleaner, I’m just too busy having fun with photo fabric transfers to find out.

Here’s Maneki Neko, my first CitraSolv experiment (and another Dear Diary 2010 block).

After transferring the black and white image to fabric with CitraSolv, I added a dash of color with Tsukineko All-Purpose Inks and finished it off with machine stitching and hand sashiko. Check out the CitraSolv Artist Site for inspiration and how-to’s. I was too excited to stop and take step-by-step photos, but that’s OK, CitraSolv has some great tutorials.

I’ve transferred some images onto some solid color fabrics and will be doing some bleach discharge dyeing on those, so you can look forward to photos of more CitraSolv experiments in the very near future.

Until then, happy quilting! ^_^

I’m working on a few blocks for my guild’s Opportunity Quilt and they have to be Perfect with a capital P. So here’s #1 of 4.

I’m afraid that I probably should have gone counter-clockwise, so all that sparkly perfection may be in vain. I’m holding off on making a date with Mr. Seam Ripper, as well as sewing any more blocks until I have confirmed which direction the logs should be spinning. Either way, it’s a beauty to behold. Just wait until I have a photo of the completed technicolor king size quilt with pillow shams to show you!

Here’s my version of a Log Cabin block, stress-free style. The last red log wanted to go on the other side, so of course I obliged. (How could I refuse?) This one’s for my Dear Diary 2010 quilt, but it would be fun to do a whole quilt of these mixed up Log Cabins.

happy piecing! ^_^