A Thing of (New York) Beauty

This is the first of three New York Beauty variations that I get to quilt this season. This is the smallest, at only 34 inches square. Really! The base of some of the NY Beauty spikes is only ¼ inch wide!!! This customer creates her own designs, right down to drafting her own paper foundations. It has always been a joy to finish her quilts, as her piecing is incredibly accurate.

This picture shows the top two-thirds of the quilt. There are some teeny, tiny areas to quilt into, so I decided to place larger, filled feather wreaths over the spikes. The background fills are very dense.

I used Military Gold Glide thread. The sparkle is already in the fabrics. Just enough sheen from the Glide thread.

The New York Beauty block is so named because it looks like you are gazing right down from over the top of Lady Liberty's head, with the spikes of her crown splayed out in all directions.

Here are my 3 ½ inch long stork scissors for scale reference. Whew! This was intense to do. I'm pretty glad this one is finished!

"When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take that step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen...there will be something solid for us to stand on, or we will be taught to fly."   Anon.

Quilt Camp

Recently I spent three wonderful days at Quilt Camp. I get to do this every March. Three days of friendship, laughter, sewing, laughter, eating, laughter, wine drinking, laughter. And, did I mention laughter?!

If you have never experienced the intensity of a full time, multiple day and evening quilt retreat, then you are really missing something. As a longarm quilter, I rarely get a chance to work on my own projects. I sewed an entire Four Patch Posey quilt this year, in just three days. But, that is not really why I attend. I attend Quilt Camp for the fun of it.

First of all, I really enjoy the friendship of other quilters. What creative people! Our guild is made up of quilters of varying experience levels. But, never mind that, they are all really fabulous, creative people. I was so impressed by the colors and the patterns and the variety of pieces being worked on.

I would post pictures for you, but you know what they say. “What happens at Quilt Camp stays at Quilt Camp!”

I was asked to give a short demo at Quilt Camp on how to add borders to a quilt so that they do not “flare and wave” when loaded onto a longarm frame. Now, I've been a quilter for 30 years, and I really don't remember when in that time I learned that you cannot just sew a strip of fabric onto a quilt, lop off the extra fabric, and expect to get a square and flat result. Yes, I have quilted my share of customer quilts with borders that wave at you like they are in the Fourth of July Parade!

Then someone asked if they had to measure and do math? No! Not with my technique, which works every time to make a quilt square and flat. But, I was amazed at how many people there said they had never heard a method other than the “sew it on and lop it off” method.

So, here is my easy way to a square quilt. Lay out the quilt top and then lay the top and bottom borders across the middle of the quilt. Smooth the strips over the quilt and cut them to match the edge of the quilt. Move them to the top and bottom edges and pin them, starting at the ends of the strips and easing the fullness as you go. Really, there is nothing more to it than that. Sew them on, and go on to the next set of strips for the left and right borders. Works every time.

Now here is a look at the piece I just finished today; a Fish and Flies quilt. Quilted the center with wavy lines to look like a stream, interspersed with pebbles to look like the stream bottom. Fun border patterns as well. Have a great day!

Use what talents you possess. The forest would be very quiet if no birds sang there but those that sang the very best.

I am a Patchwork Quilt

I am a patchwork quilt.

Many varied pieces from my life

strewn across the floor

solitary scraps each singing a tiny tune

laying around waiting.

Waiting for someone to

sew them all together

knit them into a whole

compose the song.

Choose the best pattern

the layout of colors

the flow of the vibe

the rhythm of my life.

I am a patchwork quilt.

My stitches pull and strain

to keep my life on track

to keep joy intact.

Threads that try to hold

pieces that want to fly

in swirling circles

in troubling breezes.

I am a patchwork quilt.

My patches are my quilter friends

the best pieces of a life

that doesn't deserve them

but they are still here

patient, glowing,

singing, inspiring.

Dresden Fans

This is the second of three very different quilts – all made from the same pattern. And, all made by the same person. The choice of fabric changes their personality greatly. When I quilted the first one, my customer said she was going to hang it. It is 60 inches square – she has a BIG empty wall! All the walls in my house are already covered with a variety of quilts. No spare space to be had in my house! (And, I have a very understanding husband.)

The first picture is before I loaded it on the frame. Doesn't the path around the middle Dresden just scream to be the center of attention? I thought so, too.

When I quilted the first version, I had plans for a pretty little curl pattern in the blades of the fans. Whoops! You couldn't see anything. I couldn't even see to backtrack on the curls. So, I ripped it out and meandered the busy fabrics. I knew ahead of time, then, that this was the same way to handle this version.

And, here is a picture of how I handled the yellow background.

The last of the three versions is made of Christmas fabrics, so I have permission to let that one slide down the list a bit, as she won't be needing it right away. I'm envisioning a ring of holly leaves, berries and ribbon curls around that center Dresden. Won't that be pretty?!

Quilting the Realistic Quilt

In my neck of the woods (literally, I live where elk and deer roam across the road and through our yards), there are a whole lot of people who LOVE Toni Whitney's designs. Originally a painter, Toni now creates amazingly realistic animal portraits in fabric. Her kits and patterns are very popular here. I've quilted the elk portrait five times now.

The fabric pieces are fused, usually onto a stitched “frame” to surround the image. The first one handed to me had been blown up 50% over the original pattern size. A majestic presence! I've quilted the same elk twice more where it was used as a centerpiece for larger quilts to be used on a bed.

How do you quilt a realistic animal face? The first one of these designs that I saw in a show, was quilted with an outline stitch. Essentially, the stitch line sewed each little fabric piece down, and, of course, quilted the piece at the same time. But, that's not what I saw was needed to maintain the realistic feel that the designer so deliberately set down.

So, I flowed the quilting lines along what I saw as the natural “fur” flow of the animal. I say “fur” although I mean also the mane of the horse, as well as the natural hairs that cover the animals' faces.

The quilting is done in long and short “lazy S” shapes, sometimes flowing off the edge of a fabric piece just a bit, to blur the hard cut edges.

I have a whole lot of appreciation for the makers of these quilts. Tiny pattern pieces are laid out on fabric, watching to take advantage of the natural flow of the design in the fabric. Fabrics are chosen to create the highlights and shadows that make these pieces look so true to life. Then, tiny little edges are cut, moving scissors back and forth until their fingers must hurt. All these little pieces are laid out according to the pattern. Lots of time consuming stuff here!

And, here is Jezebel, wearing her First Place and Exemplary Machine Quilting ribbons from the recent Arizona Quilters Guild show. My customer and I are quite proud of her!

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing were a miracle. The other is as though everything were a miracle.” Albert Einstein