Yay! I finally finished another quilt! This quilt was started in a class I took from my guild several weeks ago. I used fusible applique and machine blanket stitching techniques. I’m showing …
Hey Kids! Today is SO EXCITING!! I finally get to show you my Cruise workshop projects. I have worked feverishly on these projects for the past couple of months and I am finally ready to share them…
Patchwork patterns.
Yay! I finally finished another quilt! This quilt was started in a class I took from my guild several weeks ago. I used fusible applique and machine blanket stitching techniques. I’m showing …
Click here to get signed copies of my books. Scroll to see all of the quilts from my books, including some variations and remakes. Piece and Quilt with Precuts (2017) All of the quilts in this book…
Yay! I finally finished another quilt! This quilt was started in a class I took from my guild several weeks ago. I used fusible applique and machine blanket stitching techniques. I’m showing …
THEY CAME!!! Ya gotta just check out my "magic slippers"! Seriously, I think these have special powers. If my daughter had a pair, she me...
Roses by Rita Verroca About five years ago, I (Kara), was working at the Elly Sienkiewicz Appliqué Academy in Williamsburg. It was my first time helping there, and administrator Bette Augustine had me run a note down to one of the classrooms. As I approached the door, I heard peals of laughter coming from inside, and when I went into the classroom, the hilarity continued. The laughter caught my attention, but it was the amazing quilts that caught my eye. That was my first experience meeting Rita Verroca and seeing her exquisite work. Since that time, I have continually been inspired not only by Rita's passion for quilting, but also her surprising love of American history considering she is originally from Dusseldorf, Germany. Teri and I have long admired Rita's eye for color and detail, so when the Baltimore Appliqué Society offered one of her workshops, we jumped at the chance and signed up. Prior to the workshop, we had the opportunity to listen to Rita speak at our monthly BAS (Baltimore Appliqué Society) meeting. Rita shared six of her award-winning quilts and told delightful stories about each. You can view all of the quilts on her website, here. Prairie Trail, by Rita Verroca Sundance, by Rita Verroca Roses of Shenandoah, by Rita Verroca Lady of the Lake, by Rita Verroca Rita sharing how the medallion of this quilt was constructed The use of color in these quilts is absolutely amazing, and it was such a treat to be able to look at them closely and marvel at the detail and life that Rita brought out in them. Here are some detail shots for you to study. Two days later, Teri and I fought the morning traffic to get to the workshop. When we arrived, we pulled out the lovely kits that we had picked up at the meeting and began to work. The kits came complete with an enlarged pattern to lay out the pieces, laminated templates to cut out, paper templates for reference, and of course, the best part—a selection of fabrics in Rita's signature bright colors. What great fabric choices for this kit! Rita showed us her method of choosing a section to work on, and then cutting the templates and fabrics for that area. Both Teri and I prefer the back-basting method of appliqué, but we were intrigued by Rita's method of having all the fabric parts cut out ahead of time. This allows for some flexibility in changing a color or fabric if you don't like the way it is working with the rest of the design. I decided to give it a try and really liked it! It's always good to learn new methods and see how they work for you. In my case, I morphed what I do with what I learned, and I look forward to putting it into practice as I work on this block. There were so many great tips that Rita gave us, but one stood out from the rest—fraying the seam allowance on sharp points. It sounds a bit counter productive for needle-turn, but it works so well. Stitch to the point. Trim underneath and use the needle to fray the end a bit. Ready to be turned under A perfect sharp point Rita's floral designs include many split leaves, and she showed us how she makes them, with an added bonus of teaching her special trick for making a sharp point at the tip of the leaf with two fabrics. Pinning the second fabric in place Ready to turn under and stitch My first leaf ready to be appliquéd To learn how to do all the things we learned in the workshop, you can purchase Rita's book, Baltimore Album of Roses, here. You will love the gorgeous pictures of Rita's work and the many detailed directions telling how to re-create these amazing works or art. We had a great time at the workshop with many of our BAS friends. A big thank you to Springwater Designs Quilting for providing such a lovely, well-lit, workshop space. If you have a chance to take a class from Rita, you will not be disappointed. She is a wonderful teacher, historian, and artist. As a self-taught quilter, she is an inspiration to appliqué lovers everywhere. Rita Verroca
5 Favorite Paper Piecing Quilt Patterns animals and flowers. By professional quilter Janeen van Niekerk shares her work.
It certainly has been awhile since I've share some client quilts and talked about them. I have quite a few to share with you today, hope y...
Probably as a result of all the napkin stitching, I have managed to develop tendonitis in my left hand which requires a rest from any hand sewing until the thumb heals. I thought this might be a good time to post some of my vintage quilt booklets, so I have started the process of scanning the page
I finished a quilt that I have been working on for the last 11 months. Yeah! I saw it last year at the Minnesota quilt show in the Fiberworks Quilt Shop booth. I debated for quite a while over i…
It isn't often that there is so much consensus about the winning quilt in a quilt show. But this year everyone agreed that this was the best quilt. it is called Rings & Roses by Janet Treen. The design was...
"Red Rose in Full Bloom" by Keiko Miyauchi
This one has been a little neglected. Part of the reason was that I had made all my favourite blocks from the Threadbear Civil War Bride pattern, and was not sure about others, not sure about elephants and horses (apologies to horse lovers out there) and thinking I might make some more changes to suit me. So...there are changes. I especially love the fruit bowl in the original quilt (not included in the Threadbear pattern). Here is the bowl - a zoomed in photo of the antique original quilt (in the book Treasury of American Quilts by Nelson and Carter Houck): And here is a version of the bowl block in "A Bountiful Life" pattern book: The block in Bountiful Life is a square and I am making rectangle blocks (as in the Threadbear pattern ) - so it was not going to be possible to simply grab a block from Bountiful Life. Some drafting was needed to fit my 15" by 12" blocks. Here's what I came up with: And then I gave the poor bird an eye (more on that later) Can you see butterflies fluttering out of this fabric? Another block to be changed...am not so sure about the eagles. This block (from the Threadbear pattern).. Threadbear block ...became this block by adapting the leafy branches and adding a rabbit and a butterfly: my sketch I decided the block with the horses and elephants was not for me (sorry - it is a fun block but just not what I want for my version) and needed a completely new block to replace it. So I went for another gentle creature - a squirrel - and borrowing the oak leaves and acorns that were in an earlier block - remember this one completed a while ago? My new block - similar leaves: It seemed fitting to use this fabric for the squirrel's body.. Having made these changes there were only two more blocks to finish! The second last ...with lots of berries. The last block ..back basting prep for needle turn applique - looks chaotic but there is method in there and I find it works a treat. Just a note on eyes - for all the creatures in the blocks. I had left a lot of them 'eyeless' but in the end went back to add eyes and I like how they look. This fabric was handy for the smallest eyes - an old line from In the Beginning fabrics: So all the blocks were done and all I had to do was lay them out and stitch together...sounds easy? But I can tell you it took some fiddling around to achieve a relatively balanced feel - not just balance in value, but also the style and subject of the blocks and the fabrics used. I thought it would be nice to have an urn in each corner. Not sure I have achieved a value-balance but now they are stitched together and that's how they'll stay! Once a border goes on it should draw it all together better. Next is planning the border - could go with some elements from the original or I'm thinking maybe lots and lots of scrappy leaves on a trailing vine. Here is a little family of tubs I made recently when a friend came over to stitch for the day. Many thanks to Kyle from Timeless Reflections for the inspiration and the link to the free pattern. They should take only an hour each to make - and I'm pretty pleased to have three made in a day, despite all the chat going on! There is a lot of work to be done in the garden - trimming back perennials after their autumn flowering. But I am holding off as garden visitors are still munching on the seed heads. The crimson rosellas love the salvias .
Yay! I finally finished another quilt! This quilt was started in a class I took from my guild several weeks ago. I used fusible applique and machine blanket stitching techniques. I’m showing …
Yay! I finally finished another quilt! This quilt was started in a class I took from my guild several weeks ago. I used fusible applique and machine blanket stitching techniques. I’m showing …
Streamers Made from Dazzle Dots Click here to get my free Streamers quilt pattern via email. Click here to view all Dazzle Dots Fabric. Click here to get the Streamers Quilt Kit, while supplies las…
This is what is on my design board today...some new motifs I have been dreaming up while hand quilting away on "Baltimore Rhapsody." I exercised great restraint in not messing around with them until the hand quilting was finished. Each blossom is half of a new block for a project that I think I will call "Belles and Blossoms." Can you guess what the other thing in the block will be? I know, I am a terrible tease... The blocks will finish to 8 inches square, and there will only be six blocks in the quilt. After hand quilting a 96" x 96" quilt, it was time for a smaller, more portable hand quilting project! I think the whole project will only be about 35" x 46". We'll see how I like it as it leaks out of my head and transforms itself into colorful cotton applique motifs. There are so many project elements on my design wall and in containers on the shelf, which I will catch you up on in later posts. I look at all these ongoing projects like pretty, painted horsies on a lovely, antique carousel...I hear the calliope music, I watch them all prance and dance around the quilt cave, and I choose one to "ride" for a while before putting it back on the design wall or in its container until the next spark of inspiration hits me. Wacky, huh? I really do love my little containers of snip-its and small scraps when I prepare the applique pieces. These containers hold tone-on-tone fabrics, sorted by color (and sometimes size). They make choosing fabrics for doing scrappy applique prep SO easy and fast. Picking through them using my long forceps takes the clumsiness out of manipulating all those irregular little scraps with my dopey, stupid fingers. Yahoo! I hope you get to do something great in your sewing area this weekend! Maybe I can show you some belles next time... In stitches, Teresa :o)
The month of May was a whirlwind of activities for me -- the local guild quilt show, out-of-town lectures and workshops, family events, new...
Another productive week! I need to catch up on holiday stuff at some point but I was able to complete another Hawaiian block and another Baltimore Album block!! I also finished my Spring Chick's row quilt strip (which will be revealed at a later date) and am beginning to work on my 12 inch by 12 inch challenge art quilt. The word for the art quilt is Tranquility and I need to figure out what that means to me. I am not a tranquil person so finding my tranquility may be a challenge in itself, not to mention putting that on a 12X12 quilt. Humm, maybe if I quilt some more I will find my vibe on this!!
I love making every part of a quilt, including the binding, so I thought I’d share with you my favorite method for binding my quilts. It’s called continuous length, double fold, straigh…
Quilt pattern to make a traditional red and green appliqué quilt designed by award-winning Canadian quilt designer, Rosemary Makhan. This quilt honours her Canadian heritage with its design. Complete instructions are given for an easy freezer paper method of appliqué using an invisible machine stitching technique; other appliqué methods would work equally as well. This digital version includes the pattern for the 18.5" x 18.5" block design, border pattern sheets and a feather quilting pattern to trace for completing the quilt. The pattern is for a quilt that finishes to 82" x 102". The block design could be also adapted to make a wallhanging or table topper. NOTE: this listing is for an instant digital download version. For best results print the block and border pattern sheets on 11" x 17". If you prefer a printed version, see separate listing: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/627755106/canadiana-rose-applique-quilt-pattern?click_key=1586f6837fc9591e1e924cdaa4f0b5b9ce656812%3A627755106&click_sum=34ac9bb3&ref=shop_home_active_20
Onze vakantie zit er eigenlijk al een weekje op maar ik heb mezelf nog een week blogvakantie toegekend! Kwestie van de werkdruk te overleve...
Happy February to everyone - a month full of holidays with Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, President's Day, and more. For me, it's a time to catch my breath after January, and see if my goal setting is on track or if I've already fallen behind. In truth, I'm behind because it was only today that I finally sat down and figured out what I want to accomplish for the year! I have lots of ideas... lots of projects... lots of hopes... and I plan to have fun doing all of it. Life is good! This month I will share how many of my ideas flow from one quilt into the next -- it's an exercise in creativity for me: to take something I like and use it again in a fresh way. At the same time, you can view some of my quilting; I do believe that quilting can help bring a quilt to life. And finally, I'll close with some comments about your comments and various emails I've gotten. Let's get started! Mama Said was a quilt I made several years ago. I wanted to make a quilt that would honor my parents, and this was the result. The nine blocks celebrate what I was taught to do - and those living verbs remain with me today. You cannot see it in the picture below, but each block is surrounded with embroidered phrases that also "taught" me something. Here's a close-up of one of the blocks; in it you can read some of the phrases that are embroidered around the block. I had so much fun creating this quilt! After I finished Mama Said, I took several of the blocks and used them to "play" with various border options. I wanted to explore how to create different borders and how to let one idea flow into another creation. In this first one, Share, you can see that I used the same border motifs but changed the overall color scheme - and the quilt block was enlarged quite a bit. Sometimes creativity does not have to be more complicated than changing sizes and colors. Here's another large wall hanging using one of the Mama Said blocks, Trust. I loved this quilt because it was the first time I tried making quarter-square triangles and using them in a border. Those quarter-square triangles are 3-inches in size. I chose to explore letting applique overlap the pieced borders behind it. It gives a quilt another dimension and sense of depth to do that. Here's a close-up of the word at the top of this quilt -- I loved adding different motifs as I created this quilt. And here, in Laugh, is one more of the "child of Mama Said" quilts. This is smaller - about 2 feet by 3 feet - but I love its simplicity. In this quilt, I took the Laugh block and added borders and then quilted it with a delicate cross-hatching. The colors are different than the other colors, too - I like seeing how different colors give a different feel to a quilt. Here's a close-up of the quilting in Laugh - it was so much fun to see this quilt come to life with the quilting! I hear complaints all the time about people who love my quilts but don't applique. I have an answer for them. You don't have to know how to applique to do an applique quilt! No - I have yet to meet a quilt (other than, perhaps, a complex Baltimore album style quilt) that I can't turn into an embroidered quilt. Below, Redwork Mama Said accomplishes the same thing that the appliqued Mama Said did, with its words and motifs. Even the phrases that were appliqued around each of the original Mama Said blocks are included in this redwork version; take a look at the close-up, below. So... can you see how you can take just about any pattern and turn it into a variety of different-looking quilts? I see it all the time when people send me pictures of their quilts (and thank you, to those of you that do!) -- I love seeing how quilters take my ideas and add different motifs, use different colors, enlarge or shrink blocks... it's great to know that creativity is alive and well! Further down in this post, you will see how someone took one of my designs and did something amazingly different with it. But first! Here is an old pattern of mine: Classic Santas. This quilt is what I have always called a "jumble" quilt -- lots of blocks, various sizes, all laid out in a totally non-symmetrical arrangement. I loved making all those different Santas, and the pattern tells the source of the Santa; each is from a different country and is associated with the customs of that country. Here's a close-up of one of the Santas -- the Swiss Samichlaus who rides in from the wintry forests on a little donkey. Announced by the gentle tinkle of bells at the door, he is invited in and gives gifts after asking the children in the house about their behavior and their prayers. He leaves after shaking hands with everyone. You can see, in this close-up, some of the quilting that adds to the quilt, with curls in the flowing beard. When I hand quilt, I always echo around every bit of applique - and in this case, I echo quilted around the applique. I liked Classic Santas a lot... so much so that I decided to re-make it, but with an entirely different look and feel to it. Below is my Classic Santas done entirely in white, off-white, creams, tans, and taupe colors. The setting - there is no "jumble" here - is very symmetrical. I love this quilt because the warm colors remind me of Christmas baking: melted butter, brown sugar, cookies, graham crackers and marshmallows... I can just smell Christmas when I see this quilt! I will point out that the large 8 inch open white border gave me a large space in which to quilt a meandering feathered vine. I love spaces like this; they give us a place to rest our eyes, and also pull our vision toward the center of the quilt. And here is the same Samichlaus block -- doesn't he look different? But it's the same pattern as the red and green Santa above. Take a look at the fabrics here -- to make this quilt even more warm-looking, I used quite a few metallic (gold) fabrics that added to the overall richness of the quilt. Here's another example of taking a block and using it again. First, a green feathered star quilt: Here's a close-up of that feathered star block. Feathered stars are classic blocks. They are often viewed as difficult to make, but I find them fun. I said fun, not fast! There are a lot of pieces in a feathered star - which is what makes them take so much time to make. I often teach feathered star workshops because people want to make this block but need to know how to do it with ease. Here's another quilt - Stars for a New Day - that uses the same feathered star as the center block. In this quilt, I made the center of the feathered star plain; the rest of the quilt carries the complexity of the overall quilt. And here is another medallion-style quilt with a central feathered star. In this quilt, Washington Medallion, I used another feathered star, but because the rest of the quilt was not as detailed and complicated (meaning the blocks were larger and had fewer pieces), I simplified the feathered star. See how you can take the same block and use it in a different way in a different quilt? Sweet! But don't think for a second that the simpler feathered star makes the quilt less interesting. Oh, no. In this case, I let the quilting carry the interest forward in the quilt. Check out the quilting in the detail shot, below. Here is another of my favorite blocks: The Coxcomb and Currants block. I love it and have used it over and over again. Note that I used a busy print for the background; some quilts can handle prints like this as the background fabric. It keeps the quilt from being boring! Here's the first quilt I used it in. I haven't quilted it yet -- that's on my list of things to do this year! But I just love how this quilt looks and already have a picture in my head of double feathered wreaths in the open blocks and a feathered vine in the border. I just need a few more hours every day to get started on all these projects. Ha! That very same block was used again in this quilt... Coxcomb Medallion. Note that the currants in the center block are in a color gradation, to add interest. And the corners of the interior swag border have the coxcomb flower in them. Repetition pulls a quilt together. When I made the quilt above, I made a double set of all of the pieced blocks. I took them and added a pinwheel border. Again, can you see how one quilt begets another? It's not hard; you just have to be intentional about it. And here, again is another of my same coxcomb and current blocks. When a group of friends all decided to do a round robin, I decided that my starting block would be a coxcomb and currants block. Here it is (it also includes some of the next rounds of the round robin additions). Again, the berries in this block were done using a gradation of medium to dark red fabrics. I like doing that when it makes sense; it adds interest to a block. And here is how the quilt looked when it was done -- note that the center of the block (the flower) was repeated as cornerstones in the center white border. Yes, repetition helps pull a quilt together. Here is another quilt from that round robin - my friend Marsha F started with the center block... and when it was my turn to add a border, I added that border of red semi-circles with green circles in each, just outside of the star border. I had a lot of fun creating that border... and when I made Bed of Roses, below, I used that same design as the final border. I think it's interesting how designs tumble forward from one quilt into the next. Maybe that's part of why we see so many blocks in the old Baltimore album quilts that are duplicated... before copy machines were ever invented! Here's another example of tumbling one idea forward from one quilt to another. At one point in the past, I was enthralled with four-block quilts. I made this quilt, called The Washingtonian because I made it while I was living in DC and working for NASA for an extended period of time. Here are two close-ups of that quilt - first, of a pineapple block and second, of the border. Check out the quilting in these blocks; they add to the quilt's look. That pineapple block was about 22 inches square. I decided to use it, set on point, to demonstrate how one block, when set on point, can "grow" a quilt quite quickly. In this quilt, called The Houstonian because by the time I made this quilt, I'd moved back to Houston to serve as the Johnson Space Center's Associate Director. In this quilt, a 22 inch block set on point becomes a 31 inch block, and with added borders, it easily makes a 45 inch lap quilt. Not bad, eh? What I love about setting blocks on point is not only that they quickly enlarge a quilt; they also give me very nice area for adding hand quilting. Check out the picture below.... I hope you notice, in the picture above, that there is not a single border motif... rather, I used several different quilting stencils to add borders to the setting triangle. Sometimes, to make a stencil fit, you have to be creative! Now... remember earlier when I said I'd show you how someone sent me a picture of a quilt they'd designed using one of my patterns? First, here is the quilt I made - Sleeping Beauty. It was based on a quilt made in the 1800s by a 17-year old girl. I loved her notion of using black prints with a sprinkling of other colors. Look closely, and then... take a look at this quilt, ShapeShifter, made by Nancy Arseneault of Tucson, Arizona. In this award-winning quilt, Nancy broke with all historical precedents and set her New York Beauty blocks on point. She said that left her with some difficult choices: how would she fill in the large corners? She began by extending the sashing and added more of those little stars at the end, like exclamation points. She then added the outer dogtooth border. When she went to quilt Shapeshifter, Nancy did lots of quilting in the ditch before quilting feathers in the open spaces. But that's not all Nancy did. Look at the detail picture below. Aside from the lovely ribbon she received, she bound the quilt and then added felted balls, attached with little beads. Nancy said she chose the name of her quilt because "as it developed on my design wall, a friend said that every time she saw it, she noticed different shapes in the patchwork." Congrats go to Nancy for a well-designed quilt, incorporating exquisite technical merit! One more thing... go back and look at the original Sleeping Beauty quilt. See how one pattern can be deftly changed and become an entirely different quilt? That's what I love seeing -- send pictures if you make my quilts, whether they follow the pattern to the letter or divert substantially. Your pictures inspire me to keep on designing new quilts! So what have I been working on lately? WAY TOO MANY NEW THINGS! If I could settle myself down and work on just one project at a time, I'd probably make much more progress... at least on that one item. Instead, I'm working on seven or eight different projects at a time, switching back and forth at a whim. I HOPE that next month I will have more to show you, but for now, I'll just give you a little clue: That's right.... that's at least forty different pinwheel sashing strips for one of the quilts I'm working on. I have another twenty done... and another forty to go. I'm hot on the trail! And then the other projects... well, I'll just wait and see how far I get. I might even surprise myself! Now... a few comments. This past month I've gotten a couple of heart-felt emails through the COMMENTS you have made. I love your comments and read them as soon as they appear. I learn a lot about what you like and what you want to see. Here's the problem, though: sometimes, you ask me a question that needs to be answered. Unless your profile includes your email address, I can't answer you! I can add another comment to my own blog post... but sometimes the question I am asked is far too personal... or asks for detailed instructions on some facet of a pattern... or... well, you get the idea. If you want me to answer you in these cases, I MUST have your email address! Either add it to your profile, or email me off-line (I DO read my emails and I answer 99.9 percent of them). My email address is included in my profile and I've now added it to the sidebar (though I may remove it from the sidebar if I start getting weird spam...). Please.... please... I don't want any of you to think that I am ignoring you! Someone else asked if I might consider posting more often than once a month. I would LOVE to do that! Really! The only problem is... well, I just think that you wouldn't be as happy with a short little post every few days... versus a long post with lots of information in it. And the bigger issue is that it takes time to prepare these focused entries; today I started preparing the photos just after noon and when you take out a three hour break to have dinner out with my sweetie, it's now past ten, which means this post took almost 7 hours. Phew! No wonder I only do this once a month! So for now, just look me up on the first of the month or a day or two later. I'll keep updating... and once somebody (please!) invents those extra few hours in each day, I'll start posting a lot and a lot more often! Also... if you'd like to see me post or write about something in particular, zap me a note or make a comment. I'm always looking for something new to think about and write about. In the meantime... my sewing machine is crying for attention, my quilt frame is begging to be tended to, and yes, my vacuum says it needs a little aerobic activity in my sewing room. I guess I'd better answer their calls. Happy quilting! Sue (c)2013 Susan H. Garman
