Quilted!

I spent the week quilting this and learning new skills. 

"Winter Solstice"  68" x 88"

Pattern by Gwen Marston in her book, Liberated String Quilts.

                                                       

I thought I was learning feathers, but they turned out to be hearts.  Oh well.  I like hearts too.

I never thought I'd say this.  FREE MOTION QUILTING IS FUN!  (With plenty of dark chocolate.)

Now, off to shop for binding fabric and baste the next one. 

This just may be the summer of fmq for me!

Exciting Email!

I received a most exciting email from one of my heroes--Nancy Ray!  She's been collecting string quilts for 30 years, and has an amazing collection.  I've been inspired by a number of her quilts in Gwen Marston's book, Liberated String Quilts.  She spotted my "Spring Equinox" quilt, and wrote this lovely email with a photo of the original inspiration quilt!  

Hello,

  Your string top, Spring Equinox is lovely, and I'm happy to see that string quilts are getting so much attention. I own the spider web quilt that is the inspiration for this top (and many others), and I've always considered this quilt to be a masterpiece. In fact, Gwen and I were disappointed that the publisher gave it such a small picture in Liberated String Quilts, but nonetheless it seems to reach out to quilters. When I think it was pieced on newspaper, long before design walls existed, I'm awed by the quilter's ability to combine so many different fabrics with such a sure hand. She really was a master.

  I'm sorry I can't put my hand on a better picture of it at the moment, but I'm attaching a picture of this quilt hanging at the Vermont Quilt Festival in a special exhibit of my string quilts in 2005. I've loved string quilts since I bought the first one 30 years ago, and this one is an enduring favorite.

   Best,

   Nancy Ray

Spring Equinox, 2012, 85" x 85"

Ta-da!

I'd been wanting to make this quilt for a long time.  I thought it might take all winter, and it did!  Hence the name, "Spring Equinox."   87" x 87"

The inspiration came from this 1930's string quilt in Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts Book.  

Sarah Fielke made a similar quilt in the book, Material Obsession Two, by she and Kathy Doughty.  I started off by using the instructions in the book, which are great.  But I decided to try making it without foundation piecing.  

Wanda suggested I make the webs with strips, and I tried it.  I found I could get two and a half webs from two sets of four strips.  Half webs go on the edges.  The kaleidoscope ruler was key.  

To get pinwheels in the middles, I sewed the pinwheel fabrics on after the strips were cut.

And cut them again. 

I made the connecting pieces 15 minutes play style and cut them with a template.  I had to figure out a  template size that would fit with the pie shape pieces.  First I tested it with muslin.

Here are the pieces for one block. 

First you sew them into triangles...

Then squares, using lots of pins...

Then rows.  10 rows x 10 blocks each = 100 blocks = 1 queen size quilt!

Any ideas on quilting it?

Scraps, dots and plaids, oh my!

I woke up to snow this morning, so stayed home and shamelessly sewed all day.

Here's what I completed.  It began last month, sewing scrap "strings" together, Gwen Marston style.  Each block finishes at 19".  The whole quilt is 69" x 81".

First I sorted my scraps by length, with no preference for color, pattern or style.  These scraps are 4" to 7" long.  (I have other plans for the longer scraps.)  Then I sewed them together, chain stitching--1 plus 1, then 2 plus 2, then 4 plus 4--to get a strip of 8.  Then I traced the template from Gwen's book, Liberated String Quilts.

And cut along the lines.

 

Eight of these makes...

One scrappy star.

Add dots...

and plaids...

And go out and play in the snow!

Do you think this rose is a little confused?

Happy Birthday, Em!

Look what arrived in my mailbox last week! It comes from Em, the jubilant and talented quiltmaker in Utah who regularly dishes out love and happiness to all. I don't know why she picked me to be the recipient of this beautiful piece, but I'm so happy she did! It hangs in my sewing room, cheering me up everyday and reminding me of all the generous and supportive souls here in blogland.

If you get a chance, stop by her blog and wish her a happy birthday this weekend. You'll be inspired and entertained by her many happy quilts!



I'm still playing around with this group quilt from the 15 minutes play gals. I have a lot of these red petal shaped scraps leftover from the eyelashes quilt. Well, we've got to find a way to use those scraps. Right?