Embroidery

Embroidery is a rather vague term that encompasses just about all needle and thread on fabric techniques. I truly enjoy sitting and talking with my friends or watching a movie while my hands are busy with fabric and thread.

I found a charming little sewing shop in Minneapolis when I was visiting a friend. I couldn't decide on a kit to do, so I picked a blind grab bag that contained an Irish stumpwork sampler. I'd done many forms of needle work, but never heard of stumpwork. The cream flowers on the top are the stumpwork, and the rest is in petit point, pulled thread and other embroidery techniques.

Petit point is a lot like cross stitch, but rather than going over 4 cloth threads, the design goes over only two, making it much smaller than normal. If you look at the letters, you can see the super tiny x's.

I also enjoy needlepoint. This design is actually done with only 3 different skeins of thread, but two are variegated, making the  rainbow pattern. The primary stitch throughout this quilt-like design is the long stitch.

Hardanger is another type of embroidery. It falls into the category of "cut-work". As you embroider, you also cut out threads from the cloth. This gives the appearance of lace. Although I strive for perfection in all forms of needle work, in hardanger, it is a requirement. Cutting and pulling out even one wrong thread can ruin the entire piece.

At the center of this last hardanger is another needlecraft I enjoy- ribbon embroidery. Rather than using a needle and thread, silk ribbons of varying thickness are used. Some ribbon embroidery will also use traditional threads to complete the design or to provide a foundation for weaving the ribbons. I think of ribbon embroidery as one of the fastest methods of needle work. I finish most projects in a few hours rather than the months it takes for something like counted cross stitch.

My first introduction to embroidery, and likely the one most people think of when talking about embroidery, was the iron-on transfers type that grandma used to embroider tea towels and pillow cases. I've always wanted to do a set of towels, but I always seem to start but not finish. Perhaps I change my kitchen colors too often. Here is a bunny I started something like 8 years ago. I really would like to finish, so perhaps I just need to sit and do it.

Dice Bags

Well, it's time to admit to my inner gamer girl. I enjoy playing Pathfinder with my brother and friends (it's sort of like Dungeons and Dragons). I started by making a dice bag for my brother, and as long as I was at it, I made one for myself.

Then my brother went out and bought a pound of dice... a very cheap way of getting lots of dice, but they took up a lot of room.  To make matters worse, a couple months later he bought another pound. Clearly, the first bag would never hold all the dice. So, I altered a purse pattern for his big dice bag. He is fond of oriental designs, so I used three calicoes with a Japanese look. I used colored twill tape for the drawstrings and handle.

My brother's original bag was made of black crushed panne. This is a very stretchy fabric that looks like crushed velvet. The inside is lined with a burgundy brocade.  The outside has two ribbons as decoration.

I made my dice bag from a microsuede  fabric left over from a renaissance dress I sewed a while ago. I trimmed it with a piece of decorative ribbon from the same dress and a pearl lace left over from another project.

I really love the brocade ribbon, so it was nice to have it on something I use weekly.

Thanks for reading my A-Z Challenge post. I will try and visit everyone's blog who posts a comment!

Calico

Quilters primarily use calicoes to make the top of the quilt. This fabric is made of cotton and woven in a simple back and forth pattern. Calicoes then have a designed stamped on them. Quilters primarily use calicoes because they are 100% cotton. When quilting with other materials, the fabric may shrink at different rates, so quilters favor 100% cotton. The simple weave of the fabric is very sturdy and can be cut without too much fear of distortion. Of course, any fabric cut on the bias will stretch and distort, and calicoes are no exception.

When it comes to quilts I have made, almost all of them are made with calicoes. One of my favorites was this baby quilt which I find very punny. It has a calico featuring cats that look like they are made of calico.

I've also made several purses using calico fabric. They are available in so many colors and patterns that the color combinations are endless.

This table runner was also made of calicoes. These fabrics are a higher quality, sold in a quilting shop. The fabric feels a little thicker and softer than what is available in the chain stores.

As for other C words I considered, I thought about writing about crochet, cross stitch. cotton, and clay. I really love crafting, so I do enjoy using many media. For now, I'm trying to stick to quilting as much as I can.

Bamboo Batting

There are plenty of batting options available to quilters. My personal favorite is bamboo. It is not actually 100% bamboo but rather a blend of cotton and rayon made from bamboo fibers. It is extremely soft- much like rayon velvet- it is environmentally friendly, and it is naturally anti-microbial. It is also much more expensive than cotton or polyester batting. It is very low loft, but fluffier than a needled cotton batting. When I can, I will use bamboo batting in baby blankets. It also comes in slightly different sizes than a typical batting. They advertize it as "generous baby" which is a 60 x 60 inch piece rather than 45 x 60. I like the "generous" size better than typical batting because I seem to always end up with baby quilts larger than 45 x 60. Here are some quilts I have made with bamboo batting:

Hot air balloons for Abdiel,

Teddy bears for baby girl,

Pinwheels for Landon,

 And Lady in the Lake for baby girl.

I really like working with bamboo batting. It lays out nicely, rarely wrinkling. When machine quilting, I don't have any trouble with the layers getting too think or the needle getting hung up on the fibers. I have not tried hand quilting with bamboo batting, but I have heard from other quilters that it is also very nice.

As for other B-words, batik, bobbin, all types of batting, and bolts of fabric also came to mind. I really could write about any of them, so maybe when the A-Z challenge is up, I'll go back and write about some of the topics I don't cover here.

Applique, Arizona & Alzheimer's

For the first letter of the A-Z Challenge, I could have chosen any of these A words, so I figured I might as well use them all. I normally avoid writing about personal issues on this blog because I don't like having personal information on the internet, but this time I simply can't write about this quilt without telling a bit about my life.

 I started this quilt about 5 years ago. It was primarily the left-overs from a block of the month kit sold by Jo Ann's. I've worked on it in spurts. I never had a plan for it, so other quilts had higher priority. With the A-Z challenge coming up, I wanted to write about at least one newly finished quilt, and this one only had a few hours of work left to finish it.

I only had the hand sewing left as my trip to AZ approached. I really wanted it finished for the A day, so I decided to take it with and do the hand sewing while I visited with my family. The day before I left, my vacation plans abruptly changed. My grandma has Alzheimer's. She left her independent living facility and somehow ended up four miles away at church, without signing out or telling anyone, on a day that was in the upper 80's.

So, rather than doing the touristy stuff we planned, we had to find her a new secured place to stay. Her old place wouldn't let her stay there unless someone was with her 24/7 and they only allowed overnight guests for 14 days. All the family was under the gun to find her a new place fast.

I've always wanted to make my grandma a quilt, and this was my wake-up call. I needed to give her one before she completely forgot who I was. Right now she knows she has a granddaughter named Melissa, but she doesn't know I am her.

I sat with her for a day as I finished sewing the binding. I decided if she liked the quilt, I would give it to her, and if she didn't I would make her one once I got home. She loved it the moment she saw it (I should mention that hot pink is one of her favorite colors). I gave it to her at least seven times. It was joyful and sad at the same time.  It was joyful seeing her happy, genuinely surprised reaction each time, but it was sad knowing that in five minutes, we would replay the same conversation.

Well, enough of the story, on to the quilt. As I mentioned before, this was a block of the month kit. Each block kit came with enough materials for two of the same blocks. Because this was just the left-overs on clearance,making a normal-sized quilt was a challenge. I tried many layouts before I settled on using rows of the same background color.

This was the first quilt I tried to applique.  I had a few false starts until I figured out how to do it. I did start and finish at least two other applique quilts after starting this one, so I felt like I did a better job on them.

The applique quilts my mom made were always finished with a thick zigzag in a matching color, so I figured that would be a good way to start.

I used the left over fabric from the kits to make the border. I wanted something fun for the corner blocks as well, so I used some leftover fabric to make a heart.

Since I started quilting this about five years ago, I was not very happy with the back of the quilt. I generally quilt much better now, and I thought the back was too messy. I was also unhappy with the white sheet. At the time, it was the only color that was close to matching. I decided to solve both problems by turning this quilt into a duvet cover. This time, I got lucky and found a sheet that was a perfect match to the border color. I used the top and bottom of the sheet for the finished edge of the duvet slit. I am not a fan of closing duvets with buttons because they can be lumpy if you toss and turn and end up with the duvet below you, so I used hook and loop tape in pink.

I really enjoyed working on this quilt over the years, and I am really glad my grandma loved it. I hope that maybe she'll remember me when she reads the inscription I wrote when signing the quilt. And eventually, I will have this quilt to remind me of her and how much she loved spring.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

My good friend, Sangita, has asked me to join her in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For the month of April, I will be posting a blog a day. Since I doubt I can make 26 quilts in one month while maintaining my normal life, I'll focus on quilting techniques and other crafts I enjoy.

I really hope I can keep up!

Lady in the Lake Baby Quilt

This baby quilt was a commission. I was surprised by the color choice: purple and gray. She also said that the theme was middle-eastern. I knew immediately that this would not be a "normal" baby quilt.

I always like trying out "new" blocks or patterns on a baby quilt. After digging through several books, I settled on a block called "Lady in the Lake". The pattern, though not strictly middle-eastern, was reminiscent of some middle-eastern designs I have seen.

I began picking fabric by finding the gray/silver/black swirly fabric. With that as a base, I tried to find fabrics that matched the color while sticking either to flowers, dots or swirls.

The pattern called for three primary fabrics and several secondary colors. Once I found the lavender and pink batik,  I decided to use three purples, three grays and three gray on blacks. I had a hard time picking the third main fabric. Most of the grays in the store were just not a good enough match to the black/silver/gray swirl fabric. I experimented with violet and pink before finding this silver dot on white fabric. It was a nice way to add a little more sparkle in the quilt.

As I worked on the quilt, I started having doubts about how "adult" this quilt was. I went on a search for ribbon and lace to help soften it a bit. I found a black crocheted lace, and I was able to weave a lavender ribbon through the holes. As a final touch, I used more ribbon to place a bow in each corner (sewn down very well to avoid being a choking hazard).

I debated how to quilt it for quite a while. I looked at pictures on the internet, but I didn't see any quilting styles I liked. I finally decided to be bold and used a dark purple thread in the opposite direction from the diagonal block. It truly added another dimension to the quilt.

I truly took my time on this quilt, and it shows. I generally hate triangles because it is very hard to get the points to line up just right. Though I still don't care for doing triangles, I think this quilt was very nice. Nearly all of the triangle turned out perfectly. I have a very small list of quilts that I think were near perfect. I will often regret one of my fabric choices, or I will feel like I could have done a better job assembling or quilting it. This one is one of the rare ones without regrets and may be the best quilt I've made. It certainly makes my top 5 list. I'm eager to hear what both the client and the mom say about this one!


(Lady in the Lake, approx. 45 x 60, Feb. 28, 2013)

Playing with Prezi

For a technology class, we had to make a presentation on a hobby in Prezi. I had lots of fun doing it, so I thought I'd share it here.

Quilting With Sew Honeybee Prezi

My Little Pony

Here is another commissioned quilt.  My brother wanted it for his little girl (she is a 2 year old Shiba Inu, so the fluffy kind of kid). Again, this is a licensed (copyrighted) fabric, so I only make quilts of this nature for gifts or on commission. I am a quilter, not a "My Little Pony" dealer. :)

I love my kitties, but all too often, they like to help.  This is what happens when I take a break and go to the bathroom.

My brother prefers quilted rather than tied quilts. With a doggie blanket, this is especially important; they have a tendency to chew off the ties. With this particular quilt pattern, I normally prefer to do a diamond in square quilting on all the blocks. But this time, I thought it wouldn't look very good.  I was not able to completely center the fussy-cut ponies because I didn't have enough fabric. I didn't want to quilt through the ponies.  It would cause them to look even further off center. My solution was to follow the center purple block in more of a plaid design.

Right before I went around the final edge,  I noticed that my thread was really low.  This is the equivalent of a thriller/suspense movie for a quilter... Would I make it? Would I have to run to the store to finish my quilt? What if I almost make it and it looks bad when I switch to the new thread? What if the store doesn't have the right color thread anymore? (When did I buy this spool? Was it five years ago or ten?) Then my bobbin thread runs out. Fortunately, I am using purple on the bottom, so I reloaded my bobbin and continued. Toward the end I held my breath. Two feet... one foot... eight inches... and done.

Made it by the skin of my teeth.  How exciting!

The final quilt. This is the pattern "Little Sailor's Dream." This is becoming one of my go-to quilt patterns. So often, people want a quilt that features something. This quilt pattern lets me put whatever that something is in an otherwise empty block and still do a pieced quilt. It also has a nice number of accent colors.  I really like the three tilted stripes. It's easy to do, but looks really fun.

(Little Sailor's Dream, 38"x 45", December 20, 2012)

Jewel Tone Quilt Part 2

 If this Jewel Tone quilt looks familiar, than you've been following me for a while.  This has been one of those projects that just sat and sat. I bought the fabric in 2002. I finished the top and started the stippling in 2006. Then it sat. I finally just finished the quilt this past May.

Why did it take so long? Because stippling a large quilt on a normal machine kinda sucks. On the plus side, I love the look, so it really was worth it in the end.

Hoshi photo bomb. She stays away until she can be in the way.  Then she jumps all over me and licks my face.

The final look.  I really like the pinwheel layout of the log cabin blocks. It makes a super cheerful quilt.

Retirement T-Shirt Quilt

This is the quilt that actually caused me to make the other T-shirt quilt. I owe both the commissions to my aunt, who suggested the idea to her office.

School Psychologists play a special role in public education. They work with the parents, students and teachers to help students grades pre-k to 12 with special needs. They go from school to school, testing students and helping create individual educational plans designed to tailor-fit each of the children they help. For this retirement, each school sent one t-shirt for the quilt as a reminder of all the schools and students he helped.

With so many t-shirts and so many colors, this quilt was much harder to arrange than the other t-shirt quilt. They requested education-themed fabric. Apparently, April is not the season for education-themed fabric. I really wanted the black and white chalk-board fabric I had seen a while ago, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  Even the internet failed me on this one. Instead, I went for a black fabric with rainbow letters and numbers.  It was a bit busier than I like, but it was truly my best option.

I hadn't originally planned on adding  a white border, but when I laid everything out, the quilt needed some separation between the letters and the cute school fabric. With all the colors shouting for attention, white was really the only solution. It adds a nice picture frame look to cap off the t-shirts.

I fussy-cut the final border and lined up the fabric with its repeat so I wouldn't cut any of the little motifs in half. I also planned the border so that the design was always right-side-up just in case this quilt ended up on a wall rather than a bed. I finished it off with white ties and a narrow band of the black backing fabric around the edge. Again, I was asked to make whatever size worked. It ended up fitting nicely on a king sized bed, though it did not have the extra pillow-tuck room.

I was pressed for time, and the quilt arrived in the mail on the day of his retirement party. I was told there was lots of oohing and aahing over the quilt, and Ralf was very touched at the thoughtfulness of his gift.

My first T-shirt quilt

It's always fun to try something new. When I worked at Jo Ann Fabric, I often helped customers pick out the correct materials to make a t-shirt quilt and explained the steps. I'd read about them and seen them, but I hadn't actually done one. My customers would often thank me for the help and show me the finished result (North Dakota is a friendly place like that). I always felt a bit like a sham for teaching about the quilt without actually having made one. Now I can say that I've done it, and it was more fun than I thought it would be.

The first step is cutting out the t-shirts. I started with a rough cut where I removed the sleeves and collar then cut the back of the shirt off. I started with the largest design and based the size of the blocks on its width.

Some of the sleeves had designs and some of the shirts had a small logo on the front of the shirt with a large logo on the back. I cut these designs so they had about an inch of fabric around the design.

 The next step was adding a stabilizer to the t-shirts. I used woven fusible interfacing because t-shirts are naturally stretchy. If they were not lined with a woven fusible interface, they would stretch and bunch, making the quilt look really bad, especially after washing it the first time.

Once I had all my blocks ready, I headed out to my dad's cabin in Westcliffe. He has a huge living room, and I love laying out quilts there. The natural sunlight is also great, so it's worth the two-hour drive to sew in a fun location. I arranged the blocks in four lines. All of the large blocks had the same width, so it was rather easy to make the lines work.  I did have to shuffle the blocks quite a bit to get them all the same length and avoid putting two similar colored t-shirts next to each other. I have to say, I got really lucky because I was able to get all the lines of blocks within half an inch of each other.

My sewing buddy Merlin made sure that I did it right.  He is a great supervisor, but he does sleep on the job quite often.

I used denim to tie all the colors together, because what better to put with a t-shirt quilt than jeans material? I also found a maroon home-spun fabric to use as an accent. Since this was a high school graduation gift, the school colors of maroon and gold were also very important.

When I asked what size to make the quilt, I was told to make it whatever size worked with the t-shirts. It ended up working out as an extra long queen. I like making extra long quilts so there is pillow-tuck room. I also thought it would be nice to have an extra long quilt for this very tall, soon to be college student. He could curl up from head to toe without a problem.

I don't own a long-arm quilting machine, so machine quilting  a quilt this large is problematic. I also think that the rustic fabrics mixed with the t-shirts would look better with a tied quilt. I used gold yarn as a little pop of color and a nod to his school colors. They were thrilled with the quilt, and I have to admit I was really happy with the final result.