making a rhapsody quilt with ricky

For those of you who are members at The Quilt Show, have you been following the Rhapsody Reality Blog, where Ricky Tims is posting the whole process of making a Rhapsody Quilt? (To see what a Rhapsody Quilt is, visit Ricky Tim’s website gallery.)

I’ve decided to try to make one along the way. Above are my first computer sketches (made with Adobe Illustrator software). The top two are from the same half-square-triangle drawing, copied, reflected and rotated, and the bottom two from a second half-square-triangle drawing, also copied, reflected and rotated. On the left are the original triangles that the squares came from.

My plan was to make a pair of Rhapsody Quilts from the same half-square-triangle drawing and hang them together, as their looks are quite different, even though they came from the same drawing. The top pair is interesting on its own, but wouldn’t have as much room as the bottom pair for all the appliqué. For now though, I’ll just start with one and see how it goes. I’m sure it’s a very time-consuming project. As for which one to make first, it will probably be one of the bottom squares. They’re simpler than the top ones, and I don’t have a whole lot of experience with that sort of curved piecing.

If any of you Quilt Show members are inspired, why don’t you try making a Rhapsody Quilt as well.

happy quilting!

this and that

March CBQ meeting Judy Leonard presented “One More Couldn’t Hurt,” an amusing and inspiring look at her collection of quilt dresses she makes. We saw hundreds of dresses made from feed sacks, orphan blocks, pieces of vintage tablecloths, and fun embellishments. What was so interesting was the individual stories of how she took a tablecloth or quilt block and designed a whole dress around it. It made me think about using the things around me. In fact a week or so later I was thinking about appliqué as I was getting dressed one morning. There was a wonderful chartreuse silk/lycra blouse in my closet that I haven’t worn for ages. As I looked at it I thought what wonderful leaves that would make and maybe I could cut some off the bottom for leaves and still wear the blouse, only shorter. So I quickly put it on before I got any more ideas.

If you haven’t watched The Quilt Show yet, you should. Episode 101 with Joe Cunningham and Bob Purcell from Superior Threads is free. I’ve already watched it twice. Joe shows how he makes his hand quilting frame. I just had to have one. You don’t even have to baste! So I ran down to Lowe’s and wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t remember if he said 1×2′s or 2×3′s. Well the 1×2′s were pre-cut to easy 4 foot lengths, as well as nice and smooth, like you would make furniture from. In fact I think I have some furniture from Ikea, made out of those very same 1×2′s. The 2×3′s were rough, about 10 feet long, and looked like lumber you would build a house out of. It’s not hard to guess which wood I purchased. I’m making a quilt here, not building an entire studio. Turns out I made the right decision. I will keep you posted on my quilt frame progress.

I absolutely adore Superior Threads. If you haven’t used any, you really should. Whenever I start to wonder if I have too much fabric in my stash, I buy thread instead. And you can also never know too much about thread. Now if I could just figure out how to use my Sulky Sliver without breaking.

Episode 102 is also available. I’m looking forward to checking it out soon.

happy quilting!