tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848550458871281462024-03-13T06:36:05.374-07:00Greenwich Minus 8...notes from my study...WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-41672337095178457212012-11-08T13:02:00.001-08:002012-11-08T14:23:36.525-08:00More Fabric Loves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There is a shift going on in the quilting fabric world, as quiltmakers who themselves are not hand dyeing or printing fabric are searching for that surface design look, a look I blogged about earlier in a post featuring the work of independent fabric designer <a href="http://www.marciaderse.com/" target="_blank">Marcia Derse</a>.<br />
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Fabric houses are reacting, and much more quickly than they have in the past, to new avenues in fabric design. On a recent fabric browse I picked up a charm pack of the new Moda collection <a href="http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_simple-marks-summer.pdf" target="_blank">"simple marks"</a> by <a href="http://stitchindye.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Malka Dubrawsky</a>.<br />
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I am a big fan of bright, saturated tuquoise, and that is one of the signature colours of this fresh, earth tone oriented collection:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DOzCdOxsGyw/UJwSr4MEgeI/AAAAAAAAArQ/chpuyR_C6_Y/s1600/simple+marks+group+shot+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DOzCdOxsGyw/UJwSr4MEgeI/AAAAAAAAArQ/chpuyR_C6_Y/s640/simple+marks+group+shot+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sample of "simple marks" by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Especially useful are the "cheater cloth" designs, good for quick projects, and particularly handy if you just want to do a quick sandwich on which to practice your free motion skills:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4pQ0YfWbuDU/UJwT8V4lu2I/AAAAAAAAArY/Yv34WcUFwnc/s1600/simple+marks+preview+cheater+cloth+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4pQ0YfWbuDU/UJwT8V4lu2I/AAAAAAAAArY/Yv34WcUFwnc/s400/simple+marks+preview+cheater+cloth+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheater cloth, summer tones</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Like Marcia's abstracts, these fabrics make a good addition to the modern quilt/art quilt stash.<br />
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I would also like to send you all over to my friend Susan's new blog, <a href="http://sewsusansew.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Sew Susan Sew</a>! I met Portland Oregon's Susan Albright at the 2011 Sisters, Oregon Outdoor Quilt Show, and have shamelessly invited myself back to her home several times! Susan's quilting is beautifully informed, colour-full and as she is a prolific artist, I have had the pleasure of watching her design process over the course of several projects. Take a good look at the round robin blog postings...that round robin was my first and I was amazed at how it pushed me to really think about design, and to work creatively within what I first found to be an uncomfortably limited framework. To my surprise, it was that framework that pushed me to new design learnings; the tight structure of dealing with a work already begun, and hewing to its creative identity forced me to narrow my design focus and really concentrate on how to pull together elements that worked. It was a watershed experience, one I highly recommend.<br />
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Here, from the same round robin, is another work:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QdM8WKYORtI/UJwWQLR3A9I/AAAAAAAAAro/f9G9TrbJDPk/s1600/Hirome+plus+MJ.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QdM8WKYORtI/UJwWQLR3A9I/AAAAAAAAAro/f9G9TrbJDPk/s400/Hirome+plus+MJ.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I received this piece as the third in a line of three round robin quilters. The only terms of our RR agreement were to add on between 2" and 10" per
round, and to send on to the next quilter at least two of the fabrics
already used in the piece. I had a personal resolve to only have each RR
installment in my workroom for one month. In that time I had to figure
out what to do, do it, and mail the package off to the next quilter in
line.<br />
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When I opened this parcel, I was dismayed. The muted tones are not colours I was comfortable working in, and as in most round robin projects, I was unhappy with the ever expanding square within a square progression. Because you are adding on, it is very hard not to just keep adding border after border. The second quilter had made a concerted effort to bring movement and diagonal elements into the work, honouring the creative piecing in the centre. But I had a big ol' cerise square frame pushing for attention.<br />
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I debated....would I add on just to the top and bottom, to force a rectangular finished shape? How would I manage the grey sky fabric...could I make it an homage to our dark and rainy, soggy Pacific Northwest winters? How was I going to deal with that cerise border? It was usurping centre stage as the piece's design focus, and I was pretty sure the original intention was to highlight the beauty and whimsy of butterflies, along with the idea of windows onto other landscapes. And I wanted to avoid making the piece too "matchy" or twee.<br />
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I parked the piece on a design wall and gave myself permission to think about it for a few days. Meanwhile, I treated myself to a new book: Quilting Modern, by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen. I was idly leafing through the pages when with a shock I realized their Supernova Quilt (p. 104) was similar in many ways to the RR I was struggling with:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JWTV7u-Hd4Y/UJwaFzp9R4I/AAAAAAAAAr8/S5cMzHPbOrw/s1600/Hirome+inspiration+shot+supernova-quilt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JWTV7u-Hd4Y/UJwaFzp9R4I/AAAAAAAAAr8/S5cMzHPbOrw/s1600/Hirome+inspiration+shot+supernova-quilt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supernova quilt from "Quilting Modern" by Pedersen and Gering</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Here was a novel approach...a border pieced together in such a way as to be based on a square grid, but suggesting diagonal, broken lines. Aha! And the free form shapes on the outer edges suggested butterflies. Double Aha! Here too, the designer had dealt with a strong centre element (also cerise) by using the element again (as the cerise in the outer ring). Which is one great lesson...if something in a block is taking over the visuals, you can quiet it down by repeating its elements elsewhere in the quilt. This gives you an avenue to also add balance while you strive to unify the "voice" in the quilt.<br />
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I decided to frame the piece I had with the "not frame" technique used in the supernova quilt. I tried to pick up the cerise, but that created a big problem...the dark purple elements in the butterflies and two of the tilted butterfly frames were then left as the boldest of the quilt voices and became the focal point. And they did not work well as the focal point. I switched over to electric purple fabrics, ones with lighter hits of pink and cerise in them, and tried again. It worked.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7G7jniEVMaE/UJwcENnCEiI/AAAAAAAAAsE/qzYb0QM-pYY/s1600/Hirome+MJ+J1+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7G7jniEVMaE/UJwcENnCEiI/AAAAAAAAAsE/qzYb0QM-pYY/s400/Hirome+MJ+J1+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I add my first round, a wonky border based on a grid of squares!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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To finish off, I auditioned many, many solid or reads as solid fabrics for the final background. I thought the yellow green would be the logical go-to fabric, but it looked underwhelming, drab. Ditto the orange and then salmon fabrics I tried. I pulled out half my stash looking for the right fabric...and realized I had already used it. The winning fabric turned out to be the reverse side of one of my purple border fabrics. I was lucky that yardage was still available locally. I pieced a second round of wonky border, and then finished quickly by composing the background out of a grid of squares, piecing on corner bits that finally ended up coming together as free form butterflies that echoed the bright colours in the central piecing.<br />
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I felt brilliant! By staying tightly focused on the original elements, listening to what they were saying, I was able to figure out a path that both amplified and enhanced what I had been sent. I liked it a lot, and I hope you do too!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8RSdemaLEs/UJwdpKRLz8I/AAAAAAAAAsM/21fNBE1MIiM/s1600/Hirome+final.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8RSdemaLEs/UJwdpKRLz8I/AAAAAAAAAsM/21fNBE1MIiM/s400/Hirome+final.JPG" width="342" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished Round Robin top for Hirome!</td></tr>
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WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-29875258633134248062012-03-03T18:46:00.003-08:002012-06-10T16:00:18.536-07:00Fibre Love: Stash Building and One Block Wonder / Kaleidoscope Quilt Pick<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>My name is Janet.</i><br />
<i>And I am a fabri-holic</i><b><i>.</i></b><br />
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Well, aren't we all? I like fabric, and I especially like stash building. I have been actively stash building over the last year and as my fabric collection has grown, so has my "eye"; that indefinable sense of colour and design that is the wind under our quilterly wings.<br />
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Today we went on a little weekend jaunt which included a nice, leisurely visit to <a href="http://www.fourthcornerquilts.com/" target="_blank">Fourth Corner Quilts</a> in Bellingham, WA. I have been planning my first landscape quilt, and that project requires a wide range of solids, mixers and low pattern batiks, all fabric categories I have never really collected before.<br />
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I was overjoyed to find this wonderful fabric, by <a href="http://www.marciaderse.com/" target="_blank">Marcia Derse</a> for Troy Corporation, from her "Line 5" collection.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f-FlLKgB4Uw/T1LUUvIyxoI/AAAAAAAAAqY/1Z9m7LKZCP8/s1600/marcia+derse+line+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f-FlLKgB4Uw/T1LUUvIyxoI/AAAAAAAAAqY/1Z9m7LKZCP8/s400/marcia+derse+line+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Line 5 Collection, Marcia Derse</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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This fabric is a wonderful, offbeat mixer, a fabulous backing fabric, and will work well in my arbutus tree themed landscape quilt.<br />
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Intruiged by this designer I had never heard of before, I looked up the line. Wow.<br />
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This is one fabulous line. Any one of these prints would make a great stash addition, particularly for <b>art quilters and landscape quilters</b>: I would strongly advocate putting away a yard or two of each print. They look like great, timeless, "go to" fabrics. I will definitely keep an eye on Marcia's blog; can't wait to see what she comes up with next!<br />
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Always on the hunt for prints that work well in One Block Wonder (or Kaleidoscope) quilts, I found this luscious print:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tDQRdHcsOco/T1LWKuk9rmI/AAAAAAAAAqg/LyHoTLNLyZQ/s1600/French+Journal+anjou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tDQRdHcsOco/T1LWKuk9rmI/AAAAAAAAAqg/LyHoTLNLyZQ/s400/French+Journal+anjou.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French Journal in Anjou, Michael Miller Fabrics</td></tr>
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I ran my OBW mirror over it and was delighted! This one has all the features of a great OBW fabric...large, discrete areas of colour. The white background makes for a really clean design as well, and will keep the beautiful, strong colours and shapes separate and defined. I was particularly taken with the rich russet reds of the wild roses against the buttery golds and clear, wintry blues.<br />
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This fabric would also be gorgeous as a backing, or simply stretched over a large canvas and hung on the wall as a piece of fabric art.<br />
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Enjoy!</div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-82086900380276639882012-02-12T15:19:00.000-08:002012-02-12T15:32:43.684-08:00Colour Studies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It was easy to sign up for a Quilting 101 class. It was easy (if expensive) to acquire the tools you needed to complete the class. But as I stood in front of the shop's wall of fabrics I realized: choosing colours and patterns for my class sampler quilt...Was Not Easy.<br />
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I had arrived at age 50 with absolutely no training in the basics of colour and design. A bit of a handicap for a quilt noob! The fabric wall defeated me; I appealed to the shop owner for help in choosing a set of fabrics for my class quilt. We managed, but I have learned since that it is almost impossible, and not likely advisable, to choose all the fabrics for a project in one shop. You are all too likely to end up, like I did, "doing just okay". Your quilt will be fine, but chances are, you could have done a lot better.<br />
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Fabrics chosen for me, I launched into the class and worked hard on things like 1/4" seams (<a href="http://quiltingaccuracy101.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i>accurate</i> 1/4" seams</a>), <a href="http://greenwich-8.blogspot.com/2011/08/ode-to-half-square-triangles-hsts.html" target="_blank">half square triangles</a>, cutting fabric properly, and all the myriad sewing skills that quilters must master. By the end of the course, I was a much better seamstress. But I was still floundering in the colour and design category.<br />
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An online shop helped me choose my fabrics for my Quilt 201 class. With a wider range of options, and by now using quilt software to preview fabric choice and placement in blocks, my second quilt turned out much better.<br />
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But I still couldn't have chosen fabrics on my own.<br />
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I realized I had to get some training in basic colour theory, and bought some books to help me along. They worked well, but it was not until I wandered into a small shop in Pacific Grove, CA whilst on holiday that I really began my colour education. On the wall was an incredible quilt, <i>Red Sticks</i>:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnYGIRaIBjI/Tzgap1Et5OI/AAAAAAAAAoo/cfzp-L0ubzE/s1600/011712-F-G-RS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnYGIRaIBjI/Tzgap1Et5OI/AAAAAAAAAoo/cfzp-L0ubzE/s400/011712-F-G-RS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I had never seen a quilt like this! Below it were the Collaborative Quilting books by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran. I bought them both. I carefully read and re-read them over the next few weeks, soaking up the luminous, saturated colours, the abstract designs, and the joie de vivre! I signed up for a Freddy/Gwennie course at <a href="http://www.emptyspoolsseminars.com/" target="_blank">Empty Spools Seminars</a> and began collecting the brights and black and whites needed for these quilts, and creating my own Parts Department.<br />
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Suddenly, I was in colour country. And with no defined pattern to work from, I learned to really look at the fabrics I was working with. The education of my eye had begun in earnest, and over the course of a year I gained a degree of colour and design confidence I honestly thought was beyond my grasp.<br />
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One of the things Freddy encouraged me to do was to make small colour studies, just randomly piecing together combinations from my stash that I found pleasing. I began by just pulling out my most recent favourite fabric, and finding in my (by now enormous) stash a perfect companion. I borrowed from my books on colour theory and tried classic colour harmonies...they worked! And relied on my ever increasingly competent sense of what felt right. Once my free form pieced work got large enough, I would take my 4" square ruler and cut out a pleasing 4" square section, and make that into a coaster. Choosing the backing and binding were colour study exercises on their own.<br />
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Many of these colour studies became quilt blocks and quilts. All became coasters, on which I often practice free form hand stitched quilting in crochet cottons. These colour saturated coasters give me a real lift, and make fun little prezzies.<br />
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I encourage you to take some time for fabric play, and make some colour studies. My recipe follows:<br />
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<b>Colour Study Coasters</b></div>
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Choose a fabric you <i>adore</i>.</div>
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Find a fabric (from your stash?) that looks fabulous with that first fabric.</div>
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Find a third fabric, either a black and white print or a third colour that also looks great.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just felt it needed a pop of hot colour! And I chose a more vibrant yellow-green.</td></tr>
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Take the lightest and brightest of the the three.</div>
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Cut from that fabric a small free form, roughly 2.5" in diameter.</div>
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<i>(five sided forms work well) </i></div>
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Gradually add on in a wonky log cabin kind of way, mixing the colour order as you go in a way that looks dramatic but balanced and pleasing to your eye.</div>
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Cut across the piece on an angle from time to time, keeping in mind your aim:</div>
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<i>to ignite and energize the composition</i>.</div>
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When your composition is about 6" in diameter, lay a 4" ruler on top and rotate till you find a composition under the ruler you really, really like.</div>
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Cut out that 4" square shape.</div>
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Layer with backing and binding that add to the design. Aim for drama!</div>
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Quilt as desired.</div>
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<i>(I like hand stitching with colourful crochet cottons)</i></div>
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<b>Variations</b></div>
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<b>~</b>work in only three colours</div>
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<b>~</b>work in only black and white</div>
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~work in one colour plus white</div>
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~work in one colour, solid white and solid black</div>
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~work in different hues of a single colour</div>
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~work in four colours</div>
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~work from a <a href="http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm" target="_blank">colour harmony scheme</a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3M1kQZccQyw/TzhHxE2NTgI/AAAAAAAAAqI/pU2f1z6-Z4E/s1600/IMG_3464.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3M1kQZccQyw/TzhHxE2NTgI/AAAAAAAAAqI/pU2f1z6-Z4E/s400/IMG_3464.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cut and resewn <a href="http://mrsschmenkmanquilts.wordpress.com/butterfly-block-tutorial/" target="_blank">butterfly blocks</a>.</td></tr>
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<i> </i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: orange; text-align: center;">
<b>Post your creations <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/1922145@N21/pool/" target="_blank">here</a>!</b></div>
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<br /></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-29090735223252988522011-11-29T08:49:00.001-08:002012-06-04T06:20:12.930-07:00Those Blanket Things...how to value a quilt.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wise to the exigencies of medical practices, and while waiting for the endodontist to finish with an emergency patient, I quietly pulled my bag of handwork out and began hand quilting a small, colourful block in bright, heavy threads. When the doctor finally arrived, he looked at my lovely folk art block and said, bemused "Hmmm. We had a lady here who used to make those...those...blanket things!". <br />
<br />
Indeed. I do make "those blanket things". A lot of us do!<br />
<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XgN6mx0xlaA/TtUZ7r9X0MI/AAAAAAAAAn4/nWGE8AR1HI4/s1600/0KIT-LineArtQuilt_fullview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XgN6mx0xlaA/TtUZ7r9X0MI/AAAAAAAAAn4/nWGE8AR1HI4/s400/0KIT-LineArtQuilt_fullview.jpg" width="330" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The auction quilt pattern...</i></td></tr>
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<br />
Consider the following scenario in an email from quilter Betsy:<br />
<br />
<i>"Do you remember the fundraiser auction for Zach's </i>[her son]<i> elementary school? And how we consulted on fabric and colour choices that would be likely to have broad appeal and be sure to ignite a bidding war? Well, the auction went off last night and guess who bought the quilt? Me! The bidding stopped at $45, and as the auctioneer called, "going twice...", I jumped in and bid $60. Donny </i>[her husband] <i>thought I was crazy until I whispered to him that the quilt cost me $80 in materials alone, and it took at least 12 hours to make (it was a strip design, so went together quickly). Fairly valued, even with my time at rock bottom minimum wage, it probably cost $225 to make before factoring in the cost of my machines, tools and training, or a profit margin. I would rather gift it to someone who appreciates it and consider my $60 bid a donation to the Zach's kindergarten class. He raised his eyebrows at that but was even more surprised when three of the moms from the school approached me later and asked if I did custom work...they loved the lap quilt and really wanted one of their own, but in colours to match their decor. When I explained to them I would be happy to make them lap quilts, but handmade quilts like these, depending on the complexity of the design and quilting would start at $300. The moms were totally surprised, and a bit miffed too. They just did not believe a quilt could cost that much to make, and thought I might be padding the quote. One actually said (fingering my lap quilt) "my mom just gives these away". Donny turned to me after and said "wow, were they pissed!". I was angry too, and hurt. Nobody understands the value of what we make."</i><br />
<br />
I have had similar experiences, and in my pre-quilter life was guilty of similar trespasses. In an age when you can get a "bed in a bag" from a big box store for $49.99, no one understands what actually goes into a hand made quilt. Even those people who say, and I hear it a lot, "oh! I sure wish you'd make me a quilt!". Quilts are undervalued in our culture.<br />
<br />
This fact was brought home to me when friends at a camping trip noticed the lap quilt I had brought along for chilly evenings. They all oohed and ahhed, and then somebody said, "we'll just call you Martha from now on!". As in Martha Stewart. Which is code in hen-peck for "frumpy and funny". And when asked about doing one for each of them, I gave a quote like Betsy's, and was met with a similar level of astonishment...and hostility.<br />
<br />
Why hostility, I wondered? <br />
<br />
I have certainly encountered the pioneer myth...that quilters are
saintly creatures who, toiling by lantern light, make transcendent quilts out of the treasured scraps left over from worn out family
garments. Evidently Mother loves her family so much that even the clan rags are as silks to her! The domestic goddess' time is considered free, the materials certainly free, and the work is valued accordingly. <br />
<br />
<br />
And part of the explanation seems to be that in a post-feminist revolution world, many women are themselves uncomfortable with the traditional domestic arts and pursuits. They have worked so hard to be seen as more than mothers and housekeepers, they avoid doing anything that might consign them back into those categories. Quilting and sewing, in their minds, let the side down. That makes for a disconnect: they love quilts, but denigrate what it takes to make them. It is an uncomfortable...and sad...reality. It is the unexamined life.<br />
<br />
And we are all under considerable pressure to be something "uber". It is not enough to be "just" a person, you need to be a superstar in your own life, which itself is an unending, engineered stream of Hallmark Moments. It is important to impress others, to be awesome in every sense of that word. It goes beyond healthy ambition, into some shadowy need to be "more than", to be a celebrity, to be recognized as first, best and always. And it often strikes me that there is considerable pressure now to justify your tenure on this earth. You must be a warrior...for peace, or for the environment, making a contribution so huge and momentous it will get you into the Sundance film festival, the UN General Assembly, and the Sports Hall of Fame... preferably all three! The quotidian is just not good enough. This life, served straight up, is not good enough.<br />
<br />
The quilter, quietly busy with fabric and threads, stitching her dreams and experiences into "one of those blanket things", is creating and contributing on an entirely different level. <br />
<br />
So, how to value that quilt?<br />
<br />
Here is what quilting is to me. I began quilting as a young adult, in the days of cardboard templates and hand sewing. I loved the colours and textures, the contemplative nature of the slow but beautiful workmanship, the delight of tackling the learning curve, and that ineffable link to times and peoples past. When the babies came along, I put that all away...it was hard to keep the little ones out of the dangerous bits like pins and needles, and I had no space or time to shop for materials and sit and make things anyway. Once they were all grown, I returned to quilting, now revolutionized by modern tools and techniques. Quilting is now faster, fresher...<br />
<br />
...and outrageously, deliciously, artistic.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FG14gugs4Lg/TtUkeM_OyDI/AAAAAAAAAoI/8ga9DugFYIY/s1600/nicholaslochness+art+under+the+microscop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FG14gugs4Lg/TtUkeM_OyDI/AAAAAAAAAoI/8ga9DugFYIY/s320/nicholaslochness+art+under+the+microscop.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9Uua5qKQeQ/TtUe5uuEoBI/AAAAAAAAAoA/c62nnYpArYs/s1600/quilt1+art+under+the+microscope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9Uua5qKQeQ/TtUe5uuEoBI/AAAAAAAAAoA/c62nnYpArYs/s1600/quilt1+art+under+the+microscope.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Both pieces from the traveling collection</i><br />
<i> <a href="http://www.fiberartists-looseends.com/BioArtGallery.html" target="_blank">"Art Under the Microscope"</a></i></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have been quilting, more or less seriously, for about 4 years, and only now do I feel comfortably in control of my tools and materials. As a noob quilter, I would look at beautiful quilted works and get that uncomfortable feeling that I could never do anything "like that". Now I look at those same works and think "oooh, I can take that concept and take it somewhere!". My hard work at improving my skills and craftsmanship mean that I am inspired, not intimidated.<br />
<br />
And inspired I am. Not just by the gorgeousness of colour and design, but by the zen healing of taking time and space (and money) out for myself, for my creation station time. In my middle fifties, I have arrived at middle age, and have begun to experience the myriad gains that were the focus of my younger self (education, marriage, children, home and travel), as well as the myriad losses that frame my older self (death of loved ones, illness, children becoming independent adults, aging). I realize now more than ever that I am here for a good time, not a long time. Certainly not the forever it felt like when I was 21.<br />
<br />
Creation is proof and comfort against the gathering shadows. Something enduring, something that distills the joy I have been blessed with in this life.<br />
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That is what a quilt is.</div>
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<i>A distillation of life.</i></div>
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Priceless.</div>
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<br /></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-26753005200564034002011-10-11T10:55:00.000-07:002012-06-04T06:25:46.991-07:00The Toxic Myth of Unconditional Love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Unconditional Love: the most sparkly
and toxic bit of 1970′s pop psychology!<br />
<br />
And, alas, arguably the most enduring bit as well.<br />
<br />
I am sorry, Virginia, but there is no such thing as
unconditional love. Nor should there be! But before you write me off as an heartless monster, allow me to explain: we must distinguish carefully
between two very separate ideas, “self worth” and “unconditional love”.<br />
<br />
We all have an innate worth, one every living thing is born with. To
quote <i>The Desiderata “you are a child of the universe, no less than the
trees and the stars, you have a right to be here”.</i><br />
<br />
We do NOT all have, thereby, the free pass that is the heart of the
idea of “unconditional love”. You may be born with an innate worth, but
you are not born with the right to hurt, manipulate, or transgress
against others. You are not born with a right to be loved “no matter
what”.<br />
<br />
Or, to phrase things a little differently, once you are beyond infancy, the love and respect you get in life is <i>earned</i>.<br />
<br />
The phrase “unconditional love” was brought into the lexicon in
response to a traditional parenting style in which love was confused
with approval. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was the motto of that
particular theory of childrearing, and parents felt very comfortable
withdrawing love and affection in response to misbehaviour of any sort.<br />
<br />
This was a devastatingly effective childrearing tool in a culture that valued conformity and obedience. Unfortunately, it has equally devastating side effects. First and foremost, it strikes at the notion that you are born with an innate worth. You become entirely dependent on an external locus of control (the approval of authority figures) for that sense of self worth. And that is a very sad and destructive state of affairs.<br />
<br />
Some bright spark realized, quite correctly, that a parent’s love
should not be revoked each time a child misbehaves. Unfortunately, they
responded with the idea of unconditional love; to whit that parents
should love their children no matter what.<br />
<br />
By and large, parents do feel an overwhelming love for their children. But an important piece
of wisdom is missing from the unconditional love approach: namely,
that love and approval are two different things. You can love your child
even when you do not approve of what that child is doing. ie. <i>"Child
dear, we love you very much, but we do not approve of you bullying your
friends to give you all their cookies at lunch time. Let us sit and
discuss this situation and find a better way to get your needs met.”</i><br />
<br />
Unconditional love is merely the film negative of "obey thy parents". Same sorry picture, image merely reversed. It keeps the worst part of "Old Testament Parenting", where love and approval are hitched together (Old Testament Parent: <i>you only get love IF you earn approval</i>), and replaces that sorry doctrine with the equally toxic "you always get love so you always get approval" (Unconditional Love Parent: <i>Oh sweetie, your telling me to f**k off is wonderful proof you are secure, confident, and fearless!</i>)<br />
<br />
The effects of offering children that steady diet of unconditional
love and unconditional approval have been disastrous. Children are
particularly adept at reading "subtext", at picking up the tension
generated by their parent saying one thing whilst feeling another.
Unconditional love and approval parents will expend enormous amounts of
money and effort in a well meant, but unrealistic effort to prevent
their child experiencing any kind of failure or mediocrity. The parent
will say <i>"I am committed to my child's success and happiness in life; there is nothing I wouldn't do to make sure s/he succeeds"</i>. The child, while grateful for the interest and involvement of their parent, cannot help but read the subtext:<i> "Kid, you really don't cut it, and I cannot bear for you to be anything less than stellar, so I am stepping in here."</i><br />
<br />
And
we have all met the result; adults
and children
who are untrained in the hard work of earning love and respect, who
misbehave regularly in their relationships for the simple purpose of
checking to see if they are still loved "unconditionally". Not a pretty
picture! <br />
<br />
Parents are not immune to the doctrine of unconditional love. For
those of you, who like me were born before the Flood and enjoyed the theatre release of
“Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?”, you will recall a scene in which Sidney
Poitier and his father disagree on the life decision Sidney is
making. “I BROUGHT YOU INTO THIS WORLD, YOU OWE ME!” shouts Sidney’s dad, by way of saying children
should listen to their parents and do what they are told. I was, as a child, shocked that Sidney replies
<i>he doesn’t owe his dad a thing</i>. How could Sidney be so mean to his dad? Many years later I
realized that no child “owes” his parents for the simple fact s/he was
born, brought into this world, loved, fed, clothed and housed, and kept
alive. When a couple conceives, they sign on for those things; indeed
the right to basic care is owed to each child first by his parents, and
collectively by all the other adults in the culture.<br />
<br />
What is not owed to the child is anything much past that. Your job as a parent is to provide the conditions whereby your children can grow up into adults who can take care of themselves and their own happiness (which, incidentally, <i>includes </i>the ability to love and nurture others). You may choose to do more, but that choice is elective, not a moral
imperative.<br />
<br />
Our experience of love, once we are past infancy, is an outgrowth of
the relationships we have. And at the core of healthy relationships are
the choices we make…to be kind, helpful, loving, to support the other
person, to take active good care of them as we would have others take
active good care of us. We earn love and respect thereby. And we have a
right to expect our relationship partners will reciprocate in kind.<br />
<br />
There is no shortcut to earning these things, no shortcut to building
self esteem. You cannot build the self esteem of another beyond telling them they have innate worth: in particular you cannot build self esteem by lavishing un-earned approval on a child. Beyond infancy, we can only earn love and self worth by accomplishing positive
goals.<br />
<br />
I will end this with my favourite quote from the Dalai Lama. It is a
good phrase to live by, covers every situation, and detoxifies much of
the unconditional love misunderstandings that abound in our world:<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div style="color: orange; text-align: center;">
<b><i>"Your task in life is to pursue your own happiness,</i></b></div>
<div style="color: orange; text-align: center;">
<b><i>but only insofar as that pursuit does not compromise the happiness of others.”</i></b></div>
</div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-17589716897754236632011-08-24T09:20:00.007-07:002011-08-29T09:44:38.588-07:00Berries and Cobblers: Blackberry Cobbler, Berry Cobbler<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ycMRCMlUzGs/TlUeEkmm7II/AAAAAAAAAnk/1dSsSp9JlxQ/s1600/blackberries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ycMRCMlUzGs/TlUeEkmm7II/AAAAAAAAAnk/1dSsSp9JlxQ/s320/blackberries.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">I think I can confidently say that you can divide the world up any number of ways, but for our purposes today, the world contains two kinds of people:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">cake people and pie people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Hallooo halloooo and hallloooo all you pie people: I am one of your Nation!</span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">I just love pie. More than cake. Infinitely more than cake! A good pie is a study in contrasts...flaky, crispy crust against succulent, juicy filling...the saltiness of the crust against the sweetness of the filling.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Growing up in a very small Northern-ish Ontario town, we did not have a lot of access to fresh summer fruits. Strawberries were not widely grown in the area when I was a child, and while rhubarb was plentiful, it does not on its own make much of a pie. The baskets of ripe cherries and peaches that pour out of the Niagara Peninsula did not, in the 1960's, generally find their way to little Haliburton, and when they did, it was at great expense. So the standard pies in our houshold were apple, cherry (made with E.D. Smith tinned cherry pie filling), and raisin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Y'all who are my age will remember raisin pie. A waste of good buttertart materials, I say.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It was not until I attended university in the Pacific West that I met up with blackberries. Walking along a Gulf Island road during a camping trip with the young man who would become my husband, I noticed fat, black berries hanging off prickly, dust covered bushes. "Are they edible?" I asked. He looked at me, incredulous. "Try one", he said, and I did. The rest was history!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It became our tradition to go blackberrying every year; here the blackberries begin to ripen in August, and thanks to the cool and uncertain coastal summers, some years the entire crop fails in the face of late summer rains. Last year's crop looked to be the best ever, but as it came to ripen, we had weeks of sustained rains. The berries molded on the vine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It was very sad.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">This year we are set to have perfect blackberry weather, and I will happily carry on our annual summer tradition of "all the fresh blackberry pie you can manage while the season lasts". But I will also make blackberry cobbler...I adore fruit cobblers and turned to them when I had toddlers and no time! It is much, much easier to manage a berry cobbler recipe than a berry and pie pastry recipe; you can bung it together before the toddlers lose interest in batter, bowls and spoons, after which they wander off to get into trouble!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">My favourite cobbler recipe, which I think I found decades ago in a <a href="http://www.lllc.ca/">La Leche League</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Foods-Family-International-Cookbook/dp/0452255031/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314232056&sr=8-2" style="color: #f6b26b;">cookbook</a>, features a very unusual technique for producing a crispy, sugary crust. It is heavenly with blackberries, but I can personally vouch for the fresh peach version as well. For a little preview of heaven, ladle thickened cream over each serving. Oh my.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KvvH65Dnz-Y/TlUkONVkQmI/AAAAAAAAAno/SK-R0e08kKY/s1600/Berry-Cobbler-SM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KvvH65Dnz-Y/TlUkONVkQmI/AAAAAAAAAno/SK-R0e08kKY/s320/Berry-Cobbler-SM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It all comes down to this: Berry Cobbler...</td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Crispy Batter Cake</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">350o, 45-60 minutes</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">2 c. berries (my favourite is blackberries) and/or sliced fruit (sigh, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Ontario peaches!)</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Juice of half a lemon (add in a bit of zest, too!)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Batter:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">1 c. sugar</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">6 T. butter</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">1 c. milk</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">2 c. flour</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">2 t. baking powder</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">½ t. salt</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Topping:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">1 c. sugar</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">2 T. cornstarch</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">½ t. salt</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">1 1/2 c. boiling water</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-preheat oven</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-prepare a lasagna or large cake pan (8” x 13”) (butter, flour)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-spread cleaned fruit on bottom of pan</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-sprinkle with lemon juice and zest</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-in a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-whisk together in another bowl the flour, baking powder and salt</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-pour this batter over the fruit in pan</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-for the topping, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt, sprinkle all over top of batter</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">-<i>immediately</i> before baking, pour the boiling water over the topping and batter (really!!) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Batter cake is done when deep golden brown.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Serve with cream whipped just enough to be thick, so you can drizzle it from a spoon, all over your gorgeous cobbler! I prefer a Chantilly cream, ie. whipping cream with a bit of sugar and vanilla added.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Or serve with ice cream (but try that thick cream, it is fabulous!).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-72456114144279206062011-08-22T11:23:00.005-07:002011-08-25T08:00:21.225-07:00Ode to Half Square Triangles (HST's): how to make half square triangles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: #e69138; text-align: center;"><b><i>" If you can make Half Square Triangles, you have mastered 95% of quilt patterns."</i></b></div><div style="color: #e69138; text-align: center;"><b><i>Brenda Brayfield, quilting teacher extraordinaire</i></b></div><br />
Simple blocks like Pinwheel and Card Trick, sawtooth borders, complex blocks like Crown of Thorns or Bear's Paw; all are built on that rock-solid chassis of quilting, the Half Square Triangle (HST).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KXqwWKj5o8E/TlKRqOpqsbI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/XD_BG1nid3g/s1600/EQMIITriangleBlockDifferentBlockOptions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KXqwWKj5o8E/TlKRqOpqsbI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/XD_BG1nid3g/s320/EQMIITriangleBlockDifferentBlockOptions.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1A6ef2BVOeU/TlKRwxdT9NI/AAAAAAAAAnU/jrlEKljbw08/s1600/sawtooth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="64" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1A6ef2BVOeU/TlKRwxdT9NI/AAAAAAAAAnU/jrlEKljbw08/s320/sawtooth.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fwfe1xGFmDQ/TlKR656unAI/AAAAAAAAAnY/QlGs_lOUlVU/s1600/EQMIITriangleBlockMiniQuilt1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fwfe1xGFmDQ/TlKR656unAI/AAAAAAAAAnY/QlGs_lOUlVU/s320/EQMIITriangleBlockMiniQuilt1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2010/04/simple-triangle-block-sew-along/</td></tr>
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HST's are single handedly responsible for the oft repeated sentiment amongst non-quilters that quilting is just too danged fussy and all quilters are joyless perfectionists. While it is true that HST blocks do not look their best when inaccurate, I would like to rephrase the above criticism and say "there are few sights as pleasing as a quilt constructed with clean, sharp points; the effort required is well worth the heartache involved!". <br />
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The illustration below details the traditional method of HST construction, where two squares are layered together, sewn with a double seam on the diagonal and cut apart. This is generally the first method you will be taught in any Quilting 101 course:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N3bj7yifG88/TlKFP9MXMsI/AAAAAAAAAm4/H-Efhqyfw3Q/s1600/cats1-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N3bj7yifG88/TlKFP9MXMsI/AAAAAAAAAm4/H-Efhqyfw3Q/s320/cats1-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://www.popularpatchwork.com/news/article.asp?a=6842</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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</tbody></table>I might as well come out and say it now...<i>I hate this method!</i> There are so many steps in which one can make tiny accuracy errors, and invariably, no matter how careful I am, I make enough to render any HST project an exercise in endless frustration. I like HST's, but I like them dead accurate with clean and sharp points; they just look so darn pretty that way!<br />
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Not only is the traditional method demanding in terms of accuracy, it is S--L--O--W. Slow as treacly molasses! Many quilting projects made with blocks constructed using HST units demand the production of <b>scores</b> of HST units, ditto for patterns using sawtooth borders, so it was with some determination that I went in search of a method of HST production that was not only easier to get right, but <i>faster to get finished</i>.<br />
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Mercifully, there are many other ways to make HST's! <br />
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The first method I turned to was the "no waste" method. I was not particularly motivated by low or no waste...after having to discard several blocks worth of work and materials thanks to accuracy issues, <i>I realized that the lowest waste is generated by the most reliable route to accuracy!</i> Below is a quick illustration of the classic no waste method:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ca24bhCZDOY/TlKIzYhbqEI/AAAAAAAAAm8/jiLhB2F1cIo/s1600/fast_quarter_square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ca24bhCZDOY/TlKIzYhbqEI/AAAAAAAAAm8/jiLhB2F1cIo/s1600/fast_quarter_square.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://learn2quiltonline.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-make-lots-of-half-square.html</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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You simply put two squares right sides together, sew around the edges with an accurate 1/4" seam, and cut the sewn shape apart on the diagonals. Voilà, you now have four Half Square Triangle units! The major drawback here is that you are left with a lot of exposed bias edges. Not too big a problem if, like me, you wash, dry and starch your raw goods. A good starching gets you through a lot of bias issues! The major advantage of this method is that you get four HST's at a time (note: 4 HST's = 1 pinwheel). Faster, but still not fast enough.<br />
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There are plenty of HST rulers out there...essentially you sew strips of fabric right sides together, and cut them into triangles, which unfold along the sewn line into half square triangles. I tried a few of these clever rulers, but they were not much more accurate than the traditional method, and a bit tricky to cut out with the rotary cutter. And while faster than the traditional method, the ruler method was still too slow for my purposes:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s65gxriHh2Q/TlKNILk2jYI/AAAAAAAAAnA/UZzjpIVtq7g/s1600/ruler+hst+cut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s65gxriHh2Q/TlKNILk2jYI/AAAAAAAAAnA/UZzjpIVtq7g/s320/ruler+hst+cut.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://carole-quiltingadventures.blogspot.com/2011/02/mass-production-half-square-triangles.html</td></tr>
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<b><i>**For all of the above methods,</i></b> I found it was best to admit that I was going to have accuracy problems, and to make the HST's slightly over size, then cut them down to the required size and accuracy:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KXg81JcLThA/TlKPlyRgrBI/AAAAAAAAAnI/1CWi_Ull_GE/s1600/triangle_triming_half_square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KXg81JcLThA/TlKPlyRgrBI/AAAAAAAAAnI/1CWi_Ull_GE/s1600/triangle_triming_half_square.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://www.frugalquilting.com/triangle_half_square.htm</td></tr>
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Finally, I was pointed toward Half Square Triangle papers. You can get these through a variety of sources...there are <a href="http://www.quiltingandwhatnot.ca/Half-Square-Triangle.html">free downloads on the web</a> and there are commercial products, ie. <a href="http://www.thangles.com/">Thangles</a>. Both are great methods, very quick and very, very accurate!<br />
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But in the end, my own addiction to HST projects, particularly the construction of pinwheel blocks, of which I am inordinately fond, led me to the <a href="http://www.bearpawproductions.com/store-detail.php?cat=1&ID=2">Triangulations CD </a>. At last I could easily print off triangle paper (I use copy paper quite successfully) of any required size, and end up with loads of HST units sewn with maximum efficiency and truly impressive accuracy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xt5AIuUQIw/TlKQh_TmmRI/AAAAAAAAAnM/C3dr7tDVQdc/s1600/Triangulations+sample.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xt5AIuUQIw/TlKQh_TmmRI/AAAAAAAAAnM/C3dr7tDVQdc/s320/Triangulations+sample.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdYXEL6L46A/TlKOt2325lI/AAAAAAAAAnE/lkEZMrs49AQ/s1600/Triangulations_3_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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This was the answer I had been searching for! My approach now is to sew up sheets of the Triangulations sheets in whatever size is required, pop them into a work bag with a pair of scissors, and then when I need to keep my hands busy ie. watching tv, on the bus etc., I take out a sheet, cut along the lines, remove the paper from the HST's, and put them aside for pressing. <br />
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When assembling HST projects, I like to keep my seam lines aligned, and work carefully to ensure my points come out neat and sharp. To do this, I press seams open, and pin carefully with fine pins on either side of where seams join. This prevents the seams from shifting apart during sewing. And I am very careful to sew with a very accurate 1/4" seam. You can also watch your seam lines as you sew the points together to make sure you sew right across, but not above or below, the point itself. And I am not afraid to rip out when a point is either buried or left floating.<br />
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(the one exception to this approach is when I am making deliberately wonky, folk art type blocks or units, à la the Collaborative/Liberated Quilting method I learned from Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston. That method demands you pay attention to balance and design rather than perfect accuracy)<br />
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Here is a shot of one of my "made it by accident" blocks, one I ended up liking very much and used in a nice little lap quilt I have under construction. HST's look fabulous in black and white prints...give it a try in your next project!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__jNIMfttyg/TlKdnMmJIbI/AAAAAAAAAng/sAYcl19hbVg/s1600/black+and+white+HSTs+outline.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__jNIMfttyg/TlKdnMmJIbI/AAAAAAAAAng/sAYcl19hbVg/s320/black+and+white+HSTs+outline.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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</div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-34179159425279054442011-07-16T12:37:00.005-07:002011-07-22T12:51:44.268-07:00Pillowcase Party<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Are these not gorgeous!!!???</i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a4khSpsorTE/TiHhmi2uWFI/AAAAAAAAAmU/SC0_IpNPI1Y/s1600/July+2011+flannels+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="449" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a4khSpsorTE/TiHhmi2uWFI/AAAAAAAAAmU/SC0_IpNPI1Y/s640/July+2011+flannels+lo.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I had a bit of pillowcase madness last fall, when I decided to buy massive amounts of Christmas flannels and sew up Christmas/Winter themed flannel pillowcases as stocking stuffers for pretty much everyone on the gift list. I think I sewed up about 30 pillowcases by the time I was done.<br />
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In our house, we love the holidays and the challenge is always to add that special holiday magic to the season even as we fall farther away from our more traditional religious childhoods and families of origin, and are increasingly pulled into the commercialism that we now all associate with the holidays. Years ago we began adding in little traditions of our own, beginning with what is now a gargantuan holiday/winter mug collection that is brought out of the attic on December 1st, and returns to the attic on January 1st.<br />
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I decided the same approach would work well with holiday themed pillowcases. The trick was finding fabrics that had that truly magical feel, that "can't go to sleep on Christmas Eve/miracle of falling snow" component.<br />
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Luckily, in 2010 there were a couple of good holiday flannel releases, and I had tucked away a fabulous print from 2008...not sure at the time what I would make with it. Here is a detail from the set I made for my bed (the snowman fabric is the body of the pillow):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M2cdJJCpMhE/TiHlc2jpfjI/AAAAAAAAAmY/9eknk1CoLvM/s1600/Holiday+Pillowcase+detail.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M2cdJJCpMhE/TiHlc2jpfjI/AAAAAAAAAmY/9eknk1CoLvM/s640/Holiday+Pillowcase+detail.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I used the now famous "sausage roll" pillowcase method, the pattern for which is now available all over the web (I have used the <a href="http://www.rainydayquiltschool.com/Rolled%20Pillowcase%20Pattern.pdf">Rainy Day Quilt School tute</a>) and is filmed on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLnrC9yo8tY">Youtube</a>.<br />
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Sadly, the 2011 flannel releases have been thin on the ground. There are a couple of nice cotton lines out there, but very little flannel done in sufficiently lovely and magical winter/holiday themes. Shelly Comiskey's <a href="http://www.henryglassfabrics.com/">"I Love Snow"</a> is so far the only line that strikes me, but I keep my antennae up at all times for great flannels: flannel prints in designs and colours that appeal across all ages and sexes as well.<br />
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Back to my luscious, '60's floral flannels, above. Once transmuted into pillowcases, they will go into our camping gear, and become a nice little tradition for our summer excursions. <br />
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What flannels are your favourites?<br />
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<b><i>Update Sunday July 11</i></b><br />
<i> The first of my popart pillowcases are complete! </i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i4l2sj4aLQ4/TiMnOtv1XDI/AAAAAAAAAmg/qaOJSRgkcTc/s1600/Paisley+pillowcase+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i4l2sj4aLQ4/TiMnOtv1XDI/AAAAAAAAAmg/qaOJSRgkcTc/s640/Paisley+pillowcase+lo.JPG" width="426" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eEo8KrV6rkI/TihfiX6v3vI/AAAAAAAAAmk/JgXYWT3OSXY/s1600/popart+2+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eEo8KrV6rkI/TihfiX6v3vI/AAAAAAAAAmk/JgXYWT3OSXY/s400/popart+2+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><i> </i></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-33338727728650178892011-04-05T10:01:00.005-07:002011-04-20T18:08:28.233-07:00Collaborative Quilting Part III: Deconstruction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">One of the very best things about the Gwen Marston Freddy Moran books is that they have, particularly in the second volume, taken some time to point out critical &/or significant design elements. That practice not only gives the reader and student a nice peek into the Freddy and Gwennie design process, it helps inform your own process. Marston and Moran place a high value on the inclusion of unexpected elements, which by confounding expectation, cause our eye to stop and say "hey, what gives??" This forces you to look carefully at the composition, and have a little conversation with the quilt in hand.<br />
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A perfect example of this approach is represented in the quilt below:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4E3mUXGUPk/TZtL1IU99TI/AAAAAAAAAl4/MMW_WH4R5-E/s1600/Gwen++Freddy+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4E3mUXGUPk/TZtL1IU99TI/AAAAAAAAAl4/MMW_WH4R5-E/s400/Gwen++Freddy+5.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i> Photo from the Sue Spargo blog, taken at Sisters, Oregon. Quilt by Marston and Moran, "What a Star!" p. 186 of "Collaborate Again"</i><br />
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</tbody></table>First, the colours. Not many times in our quilting lives do we finger a schoolbus orange fabric sprinkled with red dots and say "hmmmm, what a fabulous background fabric this would be"! And yet, it works so very well here. In the notes on this quilt, the makers point out the salient design elements: mixing of liberated and traditional (precision) pieced elements, filler strips both pieced and plain, split blocks, unexpected colour shifts in the sawtooth borders. In addition, you can see blocks constructed of both high and low contrast elements ie. stars that stand out from their background fabric, and stars that blend with it; a small twist on the traditional that makes you stop and look around the quilt for similar unexpected elements.<br />
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It becomes clear as you examine the quilt that these unexpected, non-conforming elements give the quilt its charm and depth of character.<br />
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<i>I have become especially fond of those filler strips</i>. They are, all on their own, tiny design challenges.<br />
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You could lay in a simple strip of fabric, but what if you decide to take that space and fill it with a custom-designed filler composition instead? Will you use tiny stars or tiny Freddy's Gardens? All elements the same size or different sizes? Floating on the background fabric or a new fabric? Sashed? Split?<br />
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I was particularly charmed by the row just inside the outer black & white sawtooth border, which features regular blocks of either stars, churn dash, or broken dishes. That's interesting enough, but the spaces between the blocks, normally reserved for plain background fabric, have instead become mini design fields containing smaller and interestingly placed stars, churn dashes etc.<br />
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And do I need to point out the border of wiggly coloured lines on black? I'd like to meet the fabric designer who had the guts to submit <i>that</i> design for printing! That fabric is wild, strikes me as rather grotesque, and I can't imagine saying "I'll take 3 yards!"...but it totally works in this quilt.<br />
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We talked in class about what drives the composition of a quilt like this, and how you digest it visually. For me, a successful quilt evokes pure emotion, and from the Marston/Moran quilts I get a jolt of unfettered joy. These are not particularly restful quilts, but they are vibrant, resonant, and engaging.<br />
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Like most good friends.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlCMLmHEQ8A/TZtKfqGiLPI/AAAAAAAAAl0/a8hhCaQjo10/s1600/Freddy+and+Gwen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlCMLmHEQ8A/TZtKfqGiLPI/AAAAAAAAAl0/a8hhCaQjo10/s400/Freddy+and+Gwen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">p. 102/103 Collaborative Quilting </td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><i><a href="http://greenwich-8.blogspot.com/2011/04/empty-spools-seminar-asilomar-by-sea.html">Part I</a></i></b><br />
<i><b><a href="http://greenwich-8.blogspot.com/2011/04/process-collaborative-quilting-fabrics.html">Part II</a></b></i></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-83974452704145500102011-04-04T11:46:00.006-07:002011-04-20T18:11:26.001-07:00Collaborative Quilting Part II: Fabrics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It is worth taking a moment to discuss the fine points of fabric acquisition.<br />
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To gear up my stash for the Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston experience, I first turned to collecting black and white fabrics, something completely new to me. I was astonished at the variety available (having never noticed them before, **blush**), and at the effort fabric houses are putting into creating new and useful black and white prints. I quickly learned that these prints fall into three categories: prints that read primarily as black, prints that read primarily as white, and prints that read as grey. This last group, the busy and generally small scale black and whites that read as grey, are of limited use in the Marston/Moran style of quilting. In general, any fabric that is middle of the road in terms of contrast value, neither high nor low contrast value, adds to the "mush factor" in these quilts.<br />
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Many of us have experienced the mush factor via charm pack projects: if you construct a project out of charm packs in any one collection, the fabrics all fight for your eye time, and individual, lovely prints (no matter how prettily they match in terms of palette) get lost, utterly lost, in the visual confusion. The way to remedy this is to add high contrast sashing or rows, and this baby quilt pattern from the <a href="http://www.modabakeshop.com/">Moda Bakeshop</a> site is a perfect example (below). The busy-ness of a charm pack has been pleasantly tamed by the visual rest-stop offered here by white fabric:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lUTgcj-g14Y/TZoD_ML6njI/AAAAAAAAAlg/-jhf6wi6syo/s1600/Baby+Quilt+on+Rocker+good.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lUTgcj-g14Y/TZoD_ML6njI/AAAAAAAAAlg/-jhf6wi6syo/s320/Baby+Quilt+on+Rocker+good.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Marston and Moran use black and white to accomplish the same end, often sprinkling in "reads as black" or black fabric through the blocks themselves, and/or using black and white sawtooth or checkerboard strips to visually separate the more colour-full elements. Note that even in sawtooth or checkerboard construction, high contrast is a must for clean, sharp and sophisticated design. I quickly found that in making my first strips of sawtooth that the best look came from pairing one "reads as white" fabric with one "reads as black" fabric.<br />
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Also useful are fabrics which are some variation on black and white stripes: a big favourite of mine has been this wonderful irregular stripe: Micheal Miller "Ebony Reeds" CX-3529:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wQvGYuBZ-Q/Ta-EK_rfEQI/AAAAAAAAAmI/qylXJ5YeDJ4/s1600/CX3529_EbonyReeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wQvGYuBZ-Q/Ta-EK_rfEQI/AAAAAAAAAmI/qylXJ5YeDJ4/s1600/CX3529_EbonyReeds.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In terms of choosing coloured fabrics, Freddy advocates (wisely) the choice of highly saturated, pure colours, that is to say, colours that are not tinted with black or white. Designers like Brandon Mably and Jane Sassaman spring to mind here, but most bright collections (ie. Moda's "Happy") will contain some winning pure saturates. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The timing of my first visit to Back Porch coincided with the release of the Kaffe Fasset "Spots and Dots" line, and the fabric below revealed itself as one of my "super fabrics", a flexible mixer in clear colours that pleased my eye greatly:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJjd85MO-F8/TZoH6mP4s0I/AAAAAAAAAlo/gF4meAyWr8g/s1600/sapphire+spots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJjd85MO-F8/TZoH6mP4s0I/AAAAAAAAAlo/gF4meAyWr8g/s320/sapphire+spots.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And it turns out, bright polka dot fabrics in all scales will be a good addition to your Collaborative Quilting stash. Brightly coloured stripes, again in various scales, are also reliable stash bets. <i>Both spots and stripes make fabulous binding fabrics.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When it comes to putting these brights together, keeping the contrasts dialed up is again the key to success. You want to include in your base fabrics high value and low value along with high hue balanced against black or black and white. In my mug rug photo, repeated below from an earlier blog post, you can see the contrast principle at work:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIhu5SCjQkQ/TZoJDDuhGTI/AAAAAAAAAls/7LoilKax61Y/s1600/mug+rug+1+lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIhu5SCjQkQ/TZoJDDuhGTI/AAAAAAAAAls/7LoilKax61Y/s320/mug+rug+1+lo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The centre black and white is small scale (and also dotted), and balances against the third row of larger scale, rectangular black and white stripes. The sapphire spot fabric is paired with a glowing cerise and orange stripe (so again, round with squares/rectangles, and hot colours paired against cool colours). Turquoise appears in many of the prints but is not dominant in any. The binding works not only in picking up that turquoise, but offering a dramatic hit of black. I stitched in the ditch (so as not to muddy the clear colours) with a variegated yellow and orange thread, which shows really nicely against the sapphire blue backing (the blue from Patrick Lose's <a href="http://www.robertkaufman.com/fabrics/mixmastersdot_to_dot/">"Mixmasters Dot to Dot"</a> collection).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To begin with, I simply chose fabrics from my stash and laid them against each other on my cutting table. It quickly became clear which paired in a pleasing yet dramatic way. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Working in small projects like these mug rugs is a great way to experiment with colour and design without committing to a huge and expensive project. Liberated log cabin mug rug projects are especially well suited as a learning curve project in colour and design.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Past choosing small projects, I found that in tackling my class project, really my first "Freddy and Gwennie" project, using a strip quilt format worked well. I sewed parts into strips (ie. a strip of pinwheels, a strip of flying geese, a strip of 16 patches on point). Why? Because on the design wall, you can easily lay your strips side by side and start shoving them around into pleasing arrangements. It quickly became clear what background colour for my setting squares worked well, whether to add borders on all sides or just 1 or 2, what sawtooth and checkboard elements worked well between strips, etc. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Where did I get all these fabrics? I shopped brick and mortar when and where I could, faring well at Back Porch. But most of my local fabric stores are heavily traditional, and most in any case only stock a limited number of the new collections, and a limited selection from any one collection at that. Online vendors were a big help, and I could scan their offerings fairly quickly and comfortably, particularly when they allowed sorting the fabric images by colour. I find screen representations surprisingly accurate.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A good site to begin with is www.quiltshops.com, and from there I shop hard for <i>free or no shipping</i>. I like <a href="http://www.desperatequilters.com/">Desperate Quilters</a> and <a href="http://www.quiltexpressions.com/">Quilt Expressions </a>in particular, not just for their selection and pricing, but the fact they tuck fun and useful little gifts (like note pads, pencils and pens) into my orders. Thanks, ladies!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Other online shops I have used include FabricWorm, EQuilter, Fabric Shack, From Here to Quilternity, Hancock's of Paducah, Pink Chalk Fabrics, Sew Mama Sew. There are tons out there, you just have to track down the fabrics you are after, and using Google Images is a good way to turn up hard to find fabric sources. Incidentally, a good online fabric house will advise you if they are not able to fill your order precisely, and will give you the option of adding another fabric before placing your order. Since I often gauge my order to be maximum yardage for a shipping cost category, it can be a real extra cost to me when the fabric house ships me a short order. <i>I track my shipping cost per fabric yard quite carefully.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Enough for today!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>(to be continued...)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><a href="http://greenwich-8.blogspot.com/2011/04/empty-spools-seminar-asilomar-by-sea.html">(Part I)</a> </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-80321865413709140152011-04-03T16:23:00.005-07:002011-04-04T17:19:08.567-07:00Collaborative Quilting Part I:Empty Spools Seminar, Asilomar by the Sea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It all began with a decision to take a long overdue romantic weekend away together, for which we chose the Monterey Peninsula, booking a stay at the transcendent <a href="http://www.oldmontereyinn.com/">Old Monterey Inn</a>. During the course of that delightful weekend, I followed the advice of fellow <a href="http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php">Stitcher's Guild</a> posters and popped into Pacific Grove's <a href="http://www.backporchfabrics.com/">Back Porch Fabrics</a>. Not only was Back Porch the single best quilting store I have ever been in, the selection of quilts hung on the high walls was gallery-worthy. I was struck by one in particular, similar to this one, below:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Based on "Sticks" by Marston and Moran</i></td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now, I am not a huge fan of modern and abstract quilts (perhaps blinkered by my Virgo nature!) but this one really spoke to me. Under the quilt was the tag "from page 180 of Freddy and Gwen's book". I found a book by these ladies and quickly turned to page 180 only to find a page on making liberated star blocks...and realized that there were TWO books! The first was<a href="http://www.gwenmarston.com/books/books.htm"> Collaborative Quilting</a>, the second was <a href="http://www.gwenmarston.com/books/books.htm">Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again</a>. I bought them both.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>These books were a revelation. Never before had I seen such masterful colour handling, and such an unfettered, joyous approach to quilt design. Best described as "sophisticated-primitive", the designs are based on elements in traditional quilts, but respun in a modern esprit, in modern fabrics.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GI2saiN7yfE/TZipSQnT6vI/AAAAAAAAAlM/sDjIJmKOl30/s1600/gwen-marston-freddy-moran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GI2saiN7yfE/TZipSQnT6vI/AAAAAAAAAlM/sDjIJmKOl30/s1600/gwen-marston-freddy-moran.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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I took the books home and read them, scanning the photos over and over. I definitely wanted to make something like these, so I went hunting for a workshop by the authors. First in line was a 5 day seminar hosted by <a href="http://www.emptyspoolsseminars.com/">Empty Spools</a>, on the ground of <a href="http://www.visitasilomar.com/">Asilomar Conference Centre</a> in good old Pacific Grove. The stars were obviously lined up, so I signed up.<br />
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The format of the class is to prepare a number of parts with which to stock what Marston and Moran call "The Parts Department". Living on opposite coasts as they do, they make stacks of quilt elements independently; blocks of various sizes in stars, churn dash, pinwheels, flying geese, free form houses and trees, even chickens and Freddy's signature "Freddy's Garden" blocks. Whether precision pieced or made in a casual "liberated" style, these are made in a rainbow of colours, and to prevent visual overload, are judiciously balanced with strips of black and white elements; sawtooth, straight strips or alternating black and white blocks. These disparate, pre-made elements are brought together when the authors meet, and they design directly with the parts, up on the design wall. The quilts tend to come together very quickly out of a well stocked Parts Department.<br />
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In preparation for class, then, I had to put together some parts of my own, and a quick survey of my stash revealed a complete lack of suitable fabrics. I am young in quilting years, having taken my Quilting 101 class only three years ago. And having spent the intervening years largely focused on building my nascent precision piecing skills via kit projects, not only was my stash small, it was very traditional. And I didn't have a single solitary black and white fabric. For the Freddy and Gwennie style, that would simply not do. Mercifully, Christmas was just around the corner, so I used my tidy sum of Chrismas present money to lay in a suitable range of fabrics, largely by shopping online. I hunted up online fabric houses that offered low or no shipping for large orders, and scanned the sale offerings, which often feature bright, outlandish fabrics perfect for the Collaborative Quilting style, but anathema to the more traditional approach. And I got a swatch card for <a href="http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1532">Kona Solids</a>, and stocked up on saturated solids.<br />
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As the eye-popping packages began to arrive, I quickly found that certain patterns and fabrics really stood out as particularly well adapted to this new approach. When one of these super-fabrics appeared, I would re-order, stocking 5 yards against future quilts and parts. To my surprise, my favourite pieces leaned heavily toward a sapphire blue/orange combo, and the turquoise and red combination from one of the Marston/Moran quilts. I found myself using colours and combinations I had never dreamt of before.<br />
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Given that this saturated palette, balanced by blacks and whites, was new to me, I decided to make a series of "mug-rugs" (aka coasters) in which I would practice my noob colour handling skills:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uvH1pnaeX8I/TZj80R0PMRI/AAAAAAAAAlU/sLKvrm8Pnsw/s1600/mug+rug+1+lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uvH1pnaeX8I/TZj80R0PMRI/AAAAAAAAAlU/sLKvrm8Pnsw/s320/mug+rug+1+lo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IT7XPvZd7us/TZj8swsK34I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/NCLFf_5pL-0/s1600/collection+lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IT7XPvZd7us/TZj8swsK34I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/NCLFf_5pL-0/s320/collection+lo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That proved to be a very good beginning exercise, and I really love using these mug rugs under my endless <a href="http://www.specialtea.com/aboutteas">cups of tea</a>! They also save my cutting mat from warping under the hot cups...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Over the 4 months or so before the course, I made up lots of pinwheels (focusing on combining a black based print with coloured fabric), liberated stars, Freddy's Gardens, black and white sawtooth, nine patches (made of 1" strips), and 16 patches (made of 1 1/2" strips). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i style="color: orange;">I learned quickly that when new fabrics arrived, it paid to cut three 1" strips, and three 1 1/2" strips right away, and then sort them into drawers by light/dark/black & white. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i style="color: orange;"> </i>After my shopping spree was over, I had small Rubbermaid drawer units:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pXptbKB3Dpg/TZkCkD2SX-I/AAAAAAAAAlc/aJ63yd16OSo/s1600/4+drawer+unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pXptbKB3Dpg/TZkCkD2SX-I/AAAAAAAAAlc/aJ63yd16OSo/s1600/4+drawer+unit.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">filled with sorted strips. I could then, at leisure, pull out sets of strips, sew them together, and then when cut into the actual base units needed for assembling the 9 or 16 patch units, stow those base units in their own drawer, ready for assembly. In this way, I could slip up to my studio and sew up a few units without any need to do design or cutting work, meaning even small chunks of time were highly productive.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This suited my situation perfectly...not only was I able to fit sewing in and around my usual roster of chores, but we are very involved currently providing support to a dying family member. The intensity of that situation leaves us mentally and emotionally "on empty" when we get home, and I found the simple sewing of units together from pre-cut elements the perfect way to zen out and regenerate. And working with the cheery colours and finished units was a real joy and solace in a dark and sad time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Having all the base bits ready to go also helps you make the colour quotient in the 9 and 16 patches truly random as possible, which is the aim. For most traditional quilters, the most difficult element of the Collaborative Quilting style is<i style="color: orange;"> letting go of the urge to match things!</i> These quilts do not tolerate the quilter being "matchy". Balance and proportion are brought about by clever manipulation of the groups of elements, not so much by planned colour work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><a href="http://greenwich-8.blogspot.com/2011/04/process-collaborative-quilting-fabrics.html">(Part II)</a> </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-38970734476872762342010-09-05T13:07:00.001-07:002010-09-05T13:07:46.533-07:00Chocolate BrowniesSome years ago, when my first two were small, and the mommy gig was new to me, I realized that my maternal toolbox was missing an essential skill: the making of truly fantabulous brownies. At the time, the internet was in a fledgeling state, all ASCII, no images, but I ran an internet wide contest for The Best Brownies Ever. I got tons of submissions, and for 6 weeks we baked several pans of brownies daily....cakey brownies, chewy brownies, fudgey brownies, every sort and size you can imagine.<br />
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My husband, at first ecstatic to return home to our warm and chocolate scented kitchen, soon learned to dread the nightly plate of brownies. "Try them!" we would urge, and judge which was the new best recipe.<br />
Many, many squares of chocolate later, we had our winner. The winning submission was made by Dave Woodall; the recipe was his grandmother's, and we are all fortunate she was the kindly sort of cook who not only shares her recipes, but shares them complete and un-edited, sans strategic omissions and booby-traps...<br />
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<br />
Today, you can buy those wonderful little One Bite Brownies in the grocery store, and I think they must be based on Dave's grandma's recipe. But nothing beats a pan of these brownies fresh out of the oven, warm and oh so delicious! We love them with good vanilla ice cream.<br />
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Grandma Woodall's Brownies<br />
<br />
2 squares unsweetened chocolate<br />
1 c. oil, canola or corn<br />
2 c. sugar<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 1/2 c. flour<br />
1 t. baking powder<br />
1 t. salt<br />
1 c. broken nuts (optional)<br />
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Mix the flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk.<br />
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Just barely melt the chocolate in the oil (in microwave is easiest).<br />
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Add all other ingredients in the order shown, taking care that the eggs do not cook in the warmed oil/chocolate mixture, adding flour mixture last.<br />
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Pour the completed batter into a greased and floured 9" x 13" pan.<br />
Yes, it has to be that pan size to cook properly!<br />
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Bake 350F<br />
30 minutes<br />
Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.<br />
<br />
Optional garnishes:<br />
Press half walnuts into each square before brownies cool.<br />
Drizzle with chocolate glaze...white chocolate looks nice.<br />
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Enjoy!WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-51915897480640730272010-08-30T08:54:00.008-07:002010-08-30T16:25:35.276-07:00A Milestone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvtJ8DRN9I/AAAAAAAAAhw/TsUNsnYlw3c/s1600/105Gaudynski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvtJ8DRN9I/AAAAAAAAAhw/TsUNsnYlw3c/s400/105Gaudynski.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wizard quality free motion machine quilting - by Diane Gaudynski</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It is funny how random events change the course of your life. Two years ago I was preparing to go out and shop for a <a href="http://www.abminternational.com/innova-long-arm-quilting-machine.php">nice longarm machine and frame</a>. Unfortunately, the recession hit, and our income stream vanished overnight. So much for a big hobby purchase like a longarm! That would have to wait for better times.<br />
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I was at the point in my quilting journey where piecing was coming together and I was beginning to make things I actually wanted to quilt up and keep...but that was the problem! How was I to do the quilting?<br />
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I had hand quilted when I was younger, before babies arrived and the sewing was put away. But even then, bouts of quilting gave me instant tendonitis in my right forearm. And hand quilting was slo-oooo---ow going. I am not content to wait months to finish any given piece. <br />
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The easiest option was to send my quilts out to be quilted by a pro. But the artist in me objected: I wanted to control the quilt creation process from beginning to end. For better or worse!<br />
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I could also use my walking foot and quilt in straight lines. While there are times I do like straight line quilting, I would feel too limited if it were the only kind of quilting I could do.<br />
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I could learn to free motion. I had already taken one workshop and I wasn't half bad for a raw beginner. But I could see that learning to free motion well was going to take a long time and a lot of practice. At one trunk show, the speaker mentioned that it took her about 300 hours of practice before she felt she was in control of her free motion quilting. Wow. Even if an hour a day practice allowed me to learn to free motion quilt as well as she could, that was going to take me a year!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvt9xwAXiI/AAAAAAAAAh4/6cnZUaOo9FI/s1600/salmon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvt9xwAXiI/AAAAAAAAAh4/6cnZUaOo9FI/s400/salmon.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Cassandra Williams - she must have practiced more than a year!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
At first I thought I would just put the quilting on hold for a while. I went back to work on my piecing and design skills, which can always stand a little refining. But with the tops beginning to pile up, I realized I had to change my attitude about free motion quilting. I was deeply reluctant to accept that for a long time, my free motion quilting was going to be herky-jerky and wobbly. I have always hated to hand in less than stellar work, and those high standards applied to my quilting along with all my other endeavours. But those high standards were now getting in my way.<br />
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<i>I had to accept my own journey along the learning curve in order to progress in my craft.</i><br />
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I looked at the lap quilt top I had just finished. I loved it! And I really wanted it quilted up so I could use it as fall descended. It was time to learn to free motion. I went out to the discount fabric store and bought 10 metres of high quality, discount priced quilting cotton. It was ugly, but it would do. I made up a stack of 24" square practice quilt sandwiches. I set up my D1 on a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAS25v3ZTk0">home made quilting table setup.</a> And went to work.<br />
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I was surprised at how quickly I progressed on simple meandering. After a week of daily practice sessions, I felt that I was ready enough. My meanders are a bit wonky, to be sure, and there are plenty of bobbles where I have not yet mastered the art of stopping, repositioning quilt and hands, and continuing on. And my stitch length varies too much. I get excited or panicky and put the pedal to the metal...not so good for nice, regular stitch length! And I often keep trying to quilt when my hands are totally out of position...that makes for really long stitches as I strain for quickly vanishing control.<br />
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Here is my lap quilt all quilted up...what a great feeling it was to take it off the quilting table! Is it perfect? No! Did I improve as I went along? Yes! And was it fun? Totally! Will it be lovely to snuggle under my new lap quilt on winter evenings? Oh, yeah!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvToxrinJI/AAAAAAAAAgU/qZcbJIqFTcA/s1600/lap+quilt+front+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvToxrinJI/AAAAAAAAAgU/qZcbJIqFTcA/s400/lap+quilt+front+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvTwGUqgAI/AAAAAAAAAgc/Qsu99QvXkkk/s1600/lap+quilt+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvTwGUqgAI/AAAAAAAAAgc/Qsu99QvXkkk/s400/lap+quilt+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Next project up is this adorable doll quilt. The sashing and border strips are only 1" wide finished, and I realized I have to have much more control to free motion quilt those creditably than is necessary for large scale meandering. Onward!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvT2PIW5RI/AAAAAAAAAgk/Rtzgawpm9ZU/s1600/doll+quilt+1+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/THvT2PIW5RI/AAAAAAAAAgk/Rtzgawpm9ZU/s400/doll+quilt+1+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-60946352481094701272010-04-08T14:09:00.005-07:002010-06-18T12:53:03.338-07:00Contemporary vs. Traditional Quilts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S75E5pBlKaI/AAAAAAAAAaM/Cf1ZbDgKitQ/s1600/Uptown+Baby+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S75E5pBlKaI/AAAAAAAAAaM/Cf1ZbDgKitQ/s400/Uptown+Baby+web.jpg" width="332" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bunnyhilldesigns.com/store/products/details/?product=uptownb"><i>Bunny Hill Designs - Uptown Baby</i></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I had to post this quilt by Bunny Hill Designs! I thought it did a lovely job of harmonizing the two ends of the quilting spectrum, traditional (the block designs are largely pinwheel, and the plain areas highlight tone on tone quilting) and modern (colour scheme). Isn't it posh? And delightful! And in this case, makes a great quilt for either a baby boy or baby girl.<br />
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I am not a huge fan of very psychedelic quilts, particularly those with multiple sharp pointed elements (which remind me uncomfortably of the horrible visual disturbances that accompany migraine headaches), so for the most part, quilts that are typically defined as modern do not draw my eye. But I do like this next quilt, the pattern for which is available at <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/blueberrybuckle?section_id=6660581">Blueberry Buckle</a>:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S7-H0qCoblI/AAAAAAAAAaU/oTthUvgTrSo/s1600/city+park+by+blueberry+buckle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S7-H0qCoblI/AAAAAAAAAaU/oTthUvgTrSo/s400/city+park+by+blueberry+buckle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>City Park Quilt</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;">It reminds me pleasantly of the patchwork of fields you see whilst flying over the prairies, and of maps and yes, city blocks and parks. And the serene palette (notice the interesting punctuation provided by the two small white squares) is visually rich without feeling like a pop art poster.</div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-58372514903120383002010-03-26T16:37:00.002-07:002010-06-18T12:47:08.717-07:00Work Quilt #2 by Victoria of Silly BooDilly.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S61DS0hglrI/AAAAAAAAAIU/VA6SsBg7w3E/s1600/work+quilt+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="385" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S61DS0hglrI/AAAAAAAAAIU/VA6SsBg7w3E/s400/work+quilt+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I stumbled onto this quilt on the<a href="http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/"> Silly BooDilly</a> site...wow! The front, pictured here, is made of shot cottons; I had no idea what those were, but I surely want some now! From Kaffe Fassett, they are cottons woven with two different colours, given them a really rich and sophisticated dimension. To the basic pattern of mixed rectangles in three shades, Victoria hand applied and hand quilted 31 smaller patches in a brilliantly chosen array of fabrics and shapes. Her quilting, showcased at her <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/boodilly/sets/72157622662604613/">Flickr</a> site, is a mix of machine quilting and hand quilting in brilliantly chosen coloured threads.<br />
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This quilt, possibly the most beautiful I have ever seen, is a perfect example of how simplicity can set the stage for masterful colour and design elements.<br />
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Inspirational.WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-7881634974611052382010-03-25T17:45:00.001-07:002010-03-25T17:48:16.118-07:00Color Mastery Exercise #1The first exercise set you in <i><b>Color Mastery</b></i> is to constuct a colour wheel out of fabrics you find in your own stash (or failing that, from magazine photos). I dutifully photocopied the blank colour wheel onto some canvas textured card stock, and went hunting through my stash, with the book opened to the colour wheel page.<br />
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I needed that page!<br />
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Turns out I am terrible at seeing colour in my head and matching it to fabrics in the real world, but this simple colour wheel exercise was illuminating. I had no trouble with blue, red and yellow, the primary colours. My sense of what they were and which fabrics represented them best was quite accurate. But things began to fall apart when it came to green, purple and orange. Turns out I did not have a clear idea of what those base colours really are. I saw a range of colours as being equivalent, which of course they were not. But with the book's colour wheel at hand, I could match basic green to the basic green fabrics in my stash, putting to one side the yellow greens, and the blue-greens, which suddenly I could see were quite different after all.<br />
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Things got even harder with purple. I had one in my stash that approximated the purple on the colour wheel. All the others were actually from the much pinker looking red-violet range (the same range from which most of my favourite pinks are drawn, although some pinks fall squarely into the red family rather than red-violet. I don't tend to like red based pinks very much.).<br />
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Orange was nearly my downfall. Again, I had only one true orange fabric in my stash. The other "oranges" I had were all yellow-oranges. I had not thought of them as different until I actually compared them to the colour wheel.<br />
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The most difficult colour of all turned out to be red-orange. I had absolutely no awareness of this as a hue all on its own. Couldn't even conjure up a mental image of "red-orange". But again, I compared the red-orange on the colour wheel to my stash...and found ONE fabric that fit the bill. And I was surprised to find I really, really liked that colour. How odd I didn't have more of it!<br />
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Here is my finished colour wheel from Exercise 1. Yours would look different, depending on what fabrics you have in your stash. And Maria advises making up additional fabric colour wheels in variations: all prints, or all solids, or all polka dots. More practice will refine your eye and build your familiarity with your stash:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6v9F6HUGuI/AAAAAAAAAH8/lCS2xPLoF-M/s1600/colour+wheel+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="377" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6v9F6HUGuI/AAAAAAAAAH8/lCS2xPLoF-M/s400/colour+wheel+1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
At the end of the exercise, Maria asks "What hues did you have trouble identifying in the colour wheel?"<br />
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For me, the hardest were blue-violet (again, I only had one and had always thought of it as a blue), and red-orange, which I had never thought about at all. This led me to ask myself "What hues should I be looking for to round out my stash and build my sense of colour?" I resolved to add:<br />
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1. Red-oranges and blue-violets...although I will have to take along the colour wheel at first to keep me "on colour"!<br />
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2. Colours I had few examples of. My stash turned out to be mostly blues, greens, and violet-red pinks. Period.When I go stash shopping, I will actively collect blue-greens, purples, oranges, orange-reds, yellows.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6v-nYSmuxI/AAAAAAAAAIE/tWVj3QqcjHo/s1600/rv.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6v-nYSmuxI/AAAAAAAAAIE/tWVj3QqcjHo/s200/rv.JPG" width="186" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Red-violet.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6wDPP6U9TI/AAAAAAAAAIM/SpGwyl9vd6w/s1600/yo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6wDPP6U9TI/AAAAAAAAAIM/SpGwyl9vd6w/s200/yo.JPG" width="122" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The elusive red-orange!</i></div><br />
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Exercise #2 will focus on value...can't wait!WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-81698277690692217722010-03-23T16:34:00.005-07:002010-06-18T12:52:37.732-07:00Techni-colourOne of the most frustrating aspects of quilting is the not-so-simple task of choosing fabrics for any given project. For my first quilting class, we were pretty much dragooned into buying our class fabrics from the store sponsoring our course. I had no objection to this, but after choosing a focus fabric, wandered the store for half an hour trying, in vain, to find anything that worked with that fabric. I tried another, and once again had absolutely no luck in finding great coordinates. In the end, an ancient fat quarter from my stash saved the day. But since then, I have often walked into a quilt shop and found that while they may have one or two fabrics that work in a given project, they rarely have ALL the fabrics I need. Even when they display collections, most shops cannot afford to stock all the fabrics in any one collection. They pick and choose.<br />
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One of our local stores brought in a particularly beautiful line of Asian inspired fabrics. Ten or twelve different bolts were on the wall, along with a kit for making their display quilt. That display quilt featured a luscious fabric in a dark, plummy purple. But was it available for sale off the bolt? No. They had used the entire bolt for kits.<br />
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And so began my first foray into online fabric shopping. Since then, I have often bought lovely fabrics online that I could not easily find local coordinates for. And it is very hard to colour match online, as digital images are not completely true to the colour in the actual fabric. What to do?<br />
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I found an important colour matching tool in the Moda Marbles swatch cards (there is a card for cottons and another, smaller card for the Moda Marbles Flannels. The swatch cards don't just show me what ranges of colours might work best with the focus fabric I have in hand, they give me<span style="color: #073763;"> </span><b style="color: #073763;">a colour lingua franca</b>. If I ask one of my online sellers to find me some nice fabrics in blue....well, blue can mean a lot of things. Primary blue? Blue-greens and teals? Periwinkles and violet blues? Turquoise? As you can see, below, "blue" encompasses a large range of possible colours:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lNSi1oyHI/AAAAAAAAAHE/kCW2HGnoNtQ/s1600-h/blues+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lNSi1oyHI/AAAAAAAAAHE/kCW2HGnoNtQ/s400/blues+lo.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><br />
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But if I say "I want a few fabrics that coordinate with Moda Marble swatch 9873 Wine", then we have a concrete reference point to work from.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lNq-noBjI/AAAAAAAAAHM/iPDID8etRpY/s1600-h/reds+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lNq-noBjI/AAAAAAAAAHM/iPDID8etRpY/s400/reds+lo.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><br />
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I have also found the swatch cards of great use in working my way through my latest workbook, <i>"Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts"</i> by Maria Peagler. When Maria instructs me to find 5 fabrics to complete a split complement colour scheme, I can use the card swatches to give me a concrete example of the basic colours I am after, enabling me to refine my vision before I go fabric shopping. Turns out I am not terribly good at visualizing colours in my head and then matching that vision to what I find in the real world. Using the swatches helps with that translation process. And I can take the swatches to keep me "on colour" when I am shopping!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lN39TJdJI/AAAAAAAAAHU/liUvQ7O4h8E/s1600-h/yellows+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lN39TJdJI/AAAAAAAAAHU/liUvQ7O4h8E/s400/yellows+lo.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><br />
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I have long wanted to make a baby quilt in a range of neutral flannels along with soft, faded colours also in flannel. But it has been really hard to find a range of neutral flannels and coordinates. For that project, I was able to refine my thinking and then search online for the perfect fabrics, using the Moda Marbles Flannel swatch card as my starting point:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lOn4dYUmI/AAAAAAAAAHc/K9F_VFQncjw/s1600-h/moda+marbles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lOn4dYUmI/AAAAAAAAAHc/K9F_VFQncjw/s400/moda+marbles.jpg" width="335" /></a></div><br />
Hope you found this fun and helpful! I will end with a few close up shots of the cotton cards:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lPP5I8V6I/AAAAAAAAAHk/7nO4eFHxfK8/s1600-h/close+1+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lPP5I8V6I/AAAAAAAAAHk/7nO4eFHxfK8/s400/close+1+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lPZwKdqRI/AAAAAAAAAHs/itzb_9diqmc/s1600-h/close+3+lo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6lPZwKdqRI/AAAAAAAAAHs/itzb_9diqmc/s400/close+3+lo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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</a></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-23546555212810702992010-03-19T14:23:00.005-07:002010-06-18T12:51:16.976-07:00Tidiness Tip #1<div style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>**update June 04, 2010 at end of this posting**</i></span></div><br />
I am a terrible housekeeper. Well, to be more accurate, I can clean house beautifully but I choose not to. There are just so many other more interesting things to do in a day. In spite of my lack of effort in the housekeeping department, I really hate a mess. And one of the things I have always loathed about sewing and quilting is all the danged little thread tails you are left with once you clip the beginnings and ends of your seams. They get all over the place, and all over me. My husband was forever tut-tutting and picking pieces of thread off my clothes (he can't help himself, my mother in law was a Home Ec major...), a process neither of us enjoyed. So I was overjoyed to find I could actually <i>prevent</i> thread tail formation.<br />
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It is called "a scrap piece of fabric". In a nutshell, you sew off the end of whatever it is you are sewing and onto a scrap piece of fabric, leave the needle down in the scrap and cutting your project off behind it. Simple.<br />
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But I am a Virgo. Sons of Home Ec majors are well advised to marry Virgos. We are the only sign that can be relied upon to be as picky as their dear Mamma. This Virgo also loathes random fabric scraps all over the place. So I turned to my trusty unbleached cotton yardage, which I buy locally, trés cheap from a discount fabric warehouse. It is thick, slubby, with a drapey hand, and feels like lightweight raw silk. I love the stuff:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6Pi6ODsi8I/AAAAAAAAAFc/s0k14rQA8W4/s1600-h/folded+natural+cloth.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6Pi6ODsi8I/AAAAAAAAAFc/s0k14rQA8W4/s400/folded+natural+cloth.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I then take a piece of the cloth and cut it into 4 squares, roughly 2" x 2", like so:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PjNT185FI/AAAAAAAAAFk/yUn5nFFodB8/s1600-h/4+cloth+squares.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PjNT185FI/AAAAAAAAAFk/yUn5nFFodB8/s400/4+cloth+squares.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Once that is done, I fold the little squares in half, and iron them flat:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PjeTaC1EI/AAAAAAAAAFs/LU7GxY5Ngn0/s1600-h/fold+and+iron.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PjeTaC1EI/AAAAAAAAAFs/LU7GxY5Ngn0/s400/fold+and+iron.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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To use the scraps, place one under your needle and presserfoot. This all works best if you work with your needle in the needle down setting:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PkFJnMq8I/AAAAAAAAAF8/sFFenCiNQ-c/s1600-h/start+scrap.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PkFJnMq8I/AAAAAAAAAF8/sFFenCiNQ-c/s400/start+scrap.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Sew to the edge of the scrap, and with the needle down, lift your presserfoot, position your actual sewing where you want it (in my case I am usually quilting that all important 1/4" seam with my trusty 1/4" with guide presserfoot) and leave a teensy gap between your cloth and your scrap piece. Note the scrap piece is now to the rear of your needle:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6Pj71IkNGI/AAAAAAAAAF0/Od2uMv04rR4/s1600-h/begin+sewing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6Pj71IkNGI/AAAAAAAAAF0/Od2uMv04rR4/s400/begin+sewing.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Once you have reached the end of your seam, feed another scrap piece under the presserfoot and into the needle, leaving that teensy gap between the scrap and your sewn item, like so:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PlBxL7KDI/AAAAAAAAAGE/c9jh9IEKCMw/s1600-h/end+sewing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PlBxL7KDI/AAAAAAAAAGE/c9jh9IEKCMw/s400/end+sewing.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Now the reason for the gap becomes clear! It is where you clip your sewn item off the scrap piece:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PlY3X_b7I/AAAAAAAAAGM/Uht862t3koI/s1600-h/end+cut.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PlY3X_b7I/AAAAAAAAAGM/Uht862t3koI/s400/end+cut.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
You leave that ending scrap, the one you have sewn off onto, in your machine with the needle down, waiting for your next sewing adventure to begin:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PmXQG1S0I/AAAAAAAAAGc/n1hyCML7Vqw/s1600-h/finish+scrap+in.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PmXQG1S0I/AAAAAAAAAGc/n1hyCML7Vqw/s400/finish+scrap+in.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Of course, the scrap you began sewing with is still attached to your sewn item. Clip that off as well:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PlowuNAGI/AAAAAAAAAGU/eWD-Xs5drDM/s1600-h/cut+begin+off+project.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PlowuNAGI/AAAAAAAAAGU/eWD-Xs5drDM/s400/cut+begin+off+project.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
In this way, you will never, never, never have thread tails to cut off and put in your waste bag or basket, and you will not find you have arrived at a board meeting with thread tails all over your clothes. The floor of your workroom will be beautifully clean...well, it won't have any thread tails...and your little scraps serve two other very important purposes.<br />
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First, even that one inch of sewing across the scrap is a short test of your stitch quality. Better to find out on your starting scrap that the machine is sewing wonky than on your sewn item. Second, I find the older scraps, with their many lines of stitching, quite lovely. When I look at them, they remind me of all the happy work I have done, and if I have used coloured thread, that reminds me of whatever project it was used for. Those scraps hold my quilting history!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PqinZ8w0I/AAAAAAAAAGk/bj0l3-mMk-k/s1600-h/thread+lines.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S6PqinZ8w0I/AAAAAAAAAGk/bj0l3-mMk-k/s400/thread+lines.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Update June 04, 2010</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>An even better idea has been brought to my attention: <a href="http://www.quiltville.com/leadersenders.shtml">leaders and enders</a>! Instead of using a little scrap, take all your scrap fabrics and separate them into light and dark. Cut them all into squares, 2 1/2" is standard but choose what works for you and your scrap pile. Note that a cutting tool is really useful for this, I have used my Accuquilt Go! for this purpose and that really reduces the drudgery.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Load the light squares into one basket or bag, the dark into another. Keep the two baskets close by your machine, and whenever you begin or end a seam, take one light square and one dark one, pair them right sides together and sew together using a 1/4" seam. When you cut them off your sewn work, toss them into a third basket. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Over time, you are going to end up with a lovely big pile of sewn pairs. Press them open and then start sewing them together into blocks and quilts. Brilliant!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>I saw this idea at <a href="http://quiltville.com/">Quiltville.com</a>, which also applies a similar technique to deal with small strips and leftovers, <a href="http://www.quiltville.com/crumbs.shtml">the crumbs technique</a>. Check it out, it's well worth a look!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>And send me a photo of your results!</i></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-66500627881287020732010-02-18T11:25:00.001-08:002010-02-25T13:47:17.920-08:00A Cotton Time ChristmasAre y'all familiar with the fabulous Japanese craft magazine <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/magazine/detail_mag.html?KEY=13823">Cotton Time</a>? It is very difficult and expensive to get here in North America, but I treated myself to a subscription for Christmas 2009.<br />
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I first encountered Cotton Time years ago at sewing Expo in Puyallup, Washington. I had never seen Japanese crafting magazines before and they blew me away. I believe it was in back issue of Cotton Time that I saw a project that haunts me to this day...it was an Advent calendar, done all in the most subtle, sophisticated neutrals. It depicted a landscape, with a road leading to a tiny, hilltop house. Santa was just about to climb down the chimney, and the little pockets depicting the 25 days of Advent were, I think, included in the roadway itself. But the magazine was pricey, and I had already seriously overstepped my sewing expo budget. I passed on that magazine and have regretted that decision ever since!<br />
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The text of Cotton Time is, naturally, entirely in Japanese. And you read it "backwards", starting at the right hand cover and and reading right to left toward the left hand cover. The instructions are reasonably well illustrated; most intermediate seamstresses would have little difficulty working out construction strategies. The projects mostly fall into the Zakka category; handmade items for the home with an adorably decorative twist. <br />
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In each issue you generally find these Zakka projects for household items, both utilitarian and decorative, a crochet or knitting project, lots of handbags, and some clothing, usually a matching mommy-daughter set.<br />
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The designs are unusually restrained, yet joyful and celebratory, and demonstrate a careful use of subtle colour. The use of neutrals to ground and control the designs is masterful. And nowhere is this more artfully demonstrated than in the Cotton Time Christmas editions, which generally come out in November. Below is a lovely shot from the November 2005 issue:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S32QYwgu5GI/AAAAAAAAAE0/rikZd3KZmjE/s1600-h/Cotton+time+Nov+2005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S32QYwgu5GI/AAAAAAAAAE0/rikZd3KZmjE/s320/Cotton+time+Nov+2005.jpg" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Note that in stark contrast to most western Christmas craft publications, Cotton Time depends heavily on neutrals and understated, primitive colour schemes, a technique which not only lets the design elements shine through, but gives the projects a timeless, classic quality immune to "dating".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So after a disastrous run in to Christmas 2009, in which new work commitments took over my life, and left several Christmas present projects languishing on my work table (now destined to be presents for Christmas 2010!), I resolved to work on my life/work balance, and begin early in the year a couple of simple holiday projects. What better place from which to draw inspiration than Cotton Time. On the hunt I went, and immediately found this image, containing an irresistible project...can you spot it?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S32S8DYgeMI/AAAAAAAAAE8/94iDHOP4CKs/s1600-h/Christmas+houses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/S32S8DYgeMI/AAAAAAAAAE8/94iDHOP4CKs/s320/Christmas+houses.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Yes, those yummy shadow boxes. I am determined to make a montage of 5 Christmas shadow boxes modelled on this Cotton Time photo, a little village on a snowy Christmas eve, with one shadow box featuring Santa and his reindeer flying high in the moonlit, snowy sky. I will document the process in a series of entries here on my blog...hope you all enjoy the process and my struggles!<br />
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Meanwhile, as I gather materials and energies, I will search for this particular Cotton Time issue, and all the more recent November issues I can find!<br />
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</div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-89610460240626557642010-02-04T17:48:00.013-08:002010-06-18T12:50:20.253-07:00A Short History: Buying a Sewing Machine and What That Taught Me..I had begun quilting years ago, just before my first baby arrived. She was a lovely baby, but a baby who never, never slept. And even once she finally did, at age three, I found that pins and all the intriguing things you use while sewing are not compatible with small children. On top of that, we did not for many years have the sort of house that would support the reality of A Sewing Room. But finally, I arrived at a place in my life and my real estate portfolio, where I could have both time and space for this oddly compelling activity, which is creative but not too creative, and demanding but not too demanding. And with retirement beginning to loom toward me out of the mists of time, it struck me that quilting and <a href="http://softiescentral.typepad.com/blog/2008/09/zakka-sewing.html">zakka type sewing</a> would be a wonderful activity to carry into old age...particularly that part of old age in which I would have limited mobility. I had watched some of my elders, thanks to modern medicine the first generation to reliably expect an extended old age, experience that old age without any kind of roadmap. Their own parents rarely survived into their late '70's, and their only experience of aging, it turned out, was of much younger people. I watched, sad and helpless, as they tried to hammer their 80 year old selves into a template more suited to 50 year olds. It was not a happy experience. That futile effort not only shortened their lives, it degraded the quality of the life they had.<br />
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This, I promised myself, would never happen to me.<br />
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So part of anticipating my likely long, but increasingly less physically robust old age, was setting the stage with interests and skills that would serve me once hiking, diving and traveling were no longer easy endeavours. I knew there was a whole, wonderful life available to me, even if I tired easily or were confined to my chair. And I very much wanted to make my declining years pleasant for me and less anxiety ridden for my own children.<br />
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The first thing I realized, as I waved my eldest off to university, was that my dear old sewing machine, circa 1975 Sears catalogue, was at the end of its always cranky lifetime. Sewing machines had, in my absence, become computerized. And they could do fabulous things, like embroider. So I began visiting sewing stores. And what a shock that was!<br />
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I confess I did not demo very many machines before I bought my first truly good machine, in part because my Home Ec auntie decreed that Husqvarna was the ONLY way to go, and in part because my exhaustive online research turned up uniformly glowing reviews for Husqvarnas-Viking (HQV) machines. The HQV website was very much better than most and their customer service department responded rapidly, intelligently, and sympathetically to my questions.<br />
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But I was sadly handicapped when I went out to actually look at machines. I was entirely unprepared for the pernicious dealer system that is, unhappily, the signature feature of the sewing industry. The larger manufacturers demand that dealers only sell to those customers who reside in their sales area. Which is all very well if your local dealer is top notch, and hires top notch staff, and if you never move, and if you actually HAVE a local dealer: if you live outside a large metropolitan centre, all bets are off. To ensure that you, the customer, cooperate with the dealer system, your warranty is only valid at the dealer you originally purchased from, and the much vaunted lesson and "support" packages are only valid from your purchase point as well. Too bad if you move, or your dealer retires or goes out of business. The warranty and support <span style="font-style: italic;">are not transferable</span>. They are not attached to your machine or you; they are attached to your purchase dealer. And to further force you to fall in step with this system, the manufacturers and dealers will not advertise prices (a mainstay tactic in all price fixing systems), and will not quote over the phone, email, or postal service.<br />
<div style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />
Since when is the price of consumer goods a state secret???</span></span></div><br />
I can only conclude that this archaic "hog tie you to a dealer" system, which even the automobile industry abandoned long, long ago, is a direct reflection of the fact that the sewing machine industry has written off their typical customers (women) as stupid, easily manipulated persons with zero access to discretionary purchasing decisions, and zero ability to outwit the corrupt dealer system.<br />
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So when I walked into my local dealer, I made every rookie mistake.<br />
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First, I chose the dealership (there were 3 within an hour of my home) that was most highly rated by the HQV website. I did not realize that they were considered best on the basis of sales volume...which set me up for a high pressure sales experience. At the time, I was not only unprepared for a high pressure sales pitch, I was inexperienced and darned uncomfortable with them too.<br />
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My first experience in the shop was sticker shock. Prepare yourself ladies, because as shocked as I was then by the price of new sewing machines, they have tripled in price since. At the time I went in to check things out, I expected to pay around $700 for a really nice machine. How wrong I was. The top of the line (TOL) machine at that time was around $6000. It sewed beautifully. It had auto functions, a computer screen in the front, stored hundreds of specialty stitches, boasted an auto threader....and it <span style="font-style: italic;">embroidered</span>. Well, not quite. It embroidered no more than the few designs they gifted you on a floppy disk UNLESS you purchased approximately $2500 worth of proprietary software. Then you could embroider all kinds of stuff. But only HQV designs. Which cost about $125 a disk...on average $10 per design, roughly.<br />
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Happily for me, I was at least computer savvy, unlike HQV's target demographic (which I regret to say was retired, elderly ladies with husbands who controlled the family budget...note that the sewing machine industry has still to accept that this may not be their target demographic at all). No way was I <span style="font-weight: bold;">ever</span> going to buy proprietary software of any stripe! Open source code was already a hallmark of the computer world, and that would certainly mean "inexpensive work arounds and competitors" to all this klunky sewing software. So I think my response to the astronomically priced HQV embroidery software was an ill considered "You must be kidding me! A first year programming student could knock this off in a weekend!" The dealer shot me a very sour look at that point.<br />
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I dutifully demo'd the models that fit my budget, a bored dealer at my side. At the time that was the Husky line (sadly, also an economy Canadian gas station franchise)...Asian made mechanical machines. They were good, but there was no question in my mind I wanted the feel of a computerized machine. Smooth and powerful. After years of fighting a cranky, clanky mechanical, I was very clear on that.<br />
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I surveyed the entire line, and settled on the relatively new Interlude 445 for very solid reasons. It was computerized, offered an auto buttonhole attachment and some nice, very tasteful and elegant built in decorative stitches. I was tempted by the very new, more luxe Platinum line, but at the lower end, all they really had over the Interlude was an automatic threader and the Interlude had a little gadget that did that anyway. And looking at the top of the Platinum line, it made absolutely no sense to choose one of those rather than the TOL Designer 1 instead. I did not have the $6000 the D1 cost, so bought the $1200 Interlude 445 floor model (it cost $1600 new). My husband nearly divorced me over that sticker price. I was so upset by his disapprobation I could hardly bring myself to sew again. It took me a long time to get over the guilt. Finally, I realized that no matter what this hobby cost, it was something I loved, and a zen retreat for me. I was worth that. And life is to enjoy.<br />
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Which meant that, within the legal "trade up period" that is a hallmark of this industry, I decided to go for it and buy a used D1. While the used machines do not have a warranty (the 20 year warranty expires with original ownership), I knew that these well made machines are relatively trouble free, and I also knew that the warranty didn't always cover expensive problems. I realized the difference in price between the new and used machines leaves you a lot of room to pay for repairs (and lessons if you need them, although all kinds of support is available online). And since I was also fortunate enough to have found a <a href="http://www.eurotechsewrepair.ca/">wonderful independent sewing machine tech</a> in my area, I knew I would have backup if anything did go wrong.<br />
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The dealer agreed to let me know when one came in, and one did...for $4000. I said I would take it and never heard back from her. I guess she had no desire to have my Interlude back in her shop, and got a better price elsewhere. I was equal parts disappointed, humiliated and angry: the average machine purchaser will make hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of accessory purchases on top of their original machine purchase, and I was no exception. But as "my" dealer treated me so shabbily, I took my business elsewhere. Not only were there other dealers in my large metropolitan area, but accessories were already widely available on the web through EBay.<br />
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After three years, I found a dealer not too far away who would talk pricing long distance and who sold me a lovely used D1 for $2200. I still have this machine, and I love it. But the only thing it does not do well is easily sew the perfect 1/4" seam demanded in quilting.Turns out that while Husqvarnas are stellar at everything else, their wide feed dogs mean they do not excel at sewing curves and quilting a stress free 1/4" seam. Using the 1/4" foot, the edge of your fabric barely falls onto the right feed dog. This means the left feed dog pulls the fabric more securely, and at the beginning and end of seams, particularly on small pieces (like ones you use in quilting!) the fabric pulls to the left. This swinging of the fabric can be controlled, but it takes a lot of concentration to do so. Since 90% of quilting is sewing a perfect (and I mean PERFECT) and predictable 1/4" seam, I consulted with my quilting teacher and went in search of a good, used Bernina with narrow (5.5mm) feed dogs. Some Bernina models offer the narrow feed dogs and the traditional Bernina vertical hook system, which produces an incomparable straight stitch and a stress free 1/4" seam. This is getting pretty picky, as the HQV stitch, and the wider (9mm) feed dog Bernina stitch is very, very good. But for the obsessive straight stitch fan or quilter...go narrow feed dog, vertical bobbin Bernina. Period.<br />
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Now, set up with the D1 for embroidery, lots of decorative stitches (and, when fitted with the spring loaded open toe foot, a really nice free motion machine as well), and my trusty Bernina for that 1/4" quilting seam, the only thing that remained was to consider a longarm setup. Longarm machines with stitch regulators are especially appealing to quilters like me who:<br />
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1. Do not want to put in the hours to learn good free motion quilting (most of the quilters I have polled consider that it takes 300 hours of practice to be comfortably in control of their free motion quilting).<br />
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2. Do not wish to quilt on the tiny, restrictive bed of a conventional sewing machine. You have to bundle the quilt up to fit it into the arm, and manhandle the quilt around as you free motion quilt. This is pretty darned inconvenient, and punishing on wrists and upper back. No thanks.<br />
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3. Like the idea of loading up a quilt top, batting, and back, and being able to leave it loaded on the machine, ready to be quilting when you have the time. No taking it on and off the machine.<br />
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4. You are a picky, perfectionistic Virgo like me who can't bear, absolutely <span style="font-style: italic;">cannot BEAR</span> to see uneven free motion stitches. Note: I loathe computerized machine quilting. You might as well buy your bedding if that is what you like. Ivory rayon bedding. From K Mart! Computerized machine quilting is perfect, regular, and sanitized to the point of sterility. I hate it!<br />
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So I have decided, once I have the time to really do lots of quilting, which presently I do not have, to buy an <a href="http://www.abminternational.com/innova-long-arm-quilting-machine.php">Innova ABM longarm quilt machine</a>. It has some wonderful, category killer features and if I had the price in my pocket today, I would buy one tomorrow, baby!<br />
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Meanwhile, my advice to you is:<br />
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1. Buy a new machine if you just have to have that brilliant toy. I do support that toy feeling. Your machine should delight you and it does not need to be practical or pay for itself to be worth your while; we are here for a good time, not a long time, so ENJOY!!<br />
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2. Buy a used machine. There are good used dealers online that you can find through chat rooms and online research. You save a bundle and if you decide you want something else....<br />
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3. Don't be afraid to buy a machine and then sell it and buy one you like better. <span style="font-style: italic;">Get what you want.</span><br />
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4. I learned that as enticing as embroidery is, I rarely use it. Most projects look better without the extra embellishment, and most projects look better with a little simple hand embroidery as opposed to busy, machined motifs. Decorative stitches can add subtle, elegant enhancements all on their own.<br />
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5. At last check, standalone embroidery machines meant very small embroidery fields. Since used TOL machines which both embroider and sew are now widely available, and offer large embroidery fields, try one of those out before you consider a standalone embroidery machine. <br />
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6. Don't underbuy. Just because Grandma only had access to one straight stitch and one zigzag stitch doesn't mean you should too. Get a machine with some features that delight you. Get a machine with features that challenge you to try something new. Feed your creativity, don't restrict it.<br />
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7. Take advantage of the many support sites on the web. There will be chat boards, user groups, blogs and tutorials on any and everything you could possibly want to know about or do with your machine. If you have a great local dealer you can run to, that's great, but most of us do not. And if you are homebound with small children or a tight schedule, it is more convenient to get support online anyway. <br />
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I hope your sewing table gives you as much fun, relaxation and creative pleasure as mine does. Cheers!WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-80958252338039371572010-02-02T11:00:00.003-08:002011-08-18T11:53:31.755-07:00Tools of the Trade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I love to write, and have been working on creative writing projects of my own. Contrary to popular mythology, I find the lonely writer does not sit down at the keyboard, open up a direct line to the muse, and begin spewing beautiful prose onto the screen. Writing well involves a lot of research, a lot of organization, and achingly difficult bridge-building between ideas. It takes all that, and a vast amount of uninterrupted solitude, to make the artifice sound and feel like the real thing.<br />
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One device that has helped me enormously is simple worksheets for organizing timelines and events. I have devised two .pdf's, nothing fancy, for doing that over a <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/ct0jyzrznh2/Timeline%20x%2012.pdf">12 chapter</a> and <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gddiywzytkd">16 chapter </a>framework. Help youselves!<br />
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I would also like to put in a big plug here for a very nicely engineered, inexpensive writing software. I have been using <a href="http://www.ravensheadservices.com/">Write It Now </a>for a few years and I love it. Packed with features, but simple to use, a very easy learning curve, but a very flexible, writer oriented program. Check it out. </div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-28410711031253713592009-06-29T08:56:00.005-07:002009-06-30T11:24:35.127-07:00IncorrigibleWith a vast number of projects stacked on my worktable, you would hardly think I needed to get set up for a new one! But as so often happens, a single fabric caught my eye and suddenly The Perfect Project sprang to mind.<br /><br />I have long intended to sit down and make Christmas Quilts...quilts that come out and are only put on beds between December 1st and January 1st. But it turns out I am extremely picky about my Christmas quilts...I loathe projects that tip over into the sugary-sweet, trite and twee range, and the bulk of Christmas patterns fall into that category. I want something that evokes the spirit of the season without drowning you in it.<br /><br />Enter the <a href="http://www.inthebeginningfabrics.com/cgi-server/itb/displayfab.cgi?product=winterg2">Wintergraphix II fabric line by Jason Yenter for In The Beginning Fabrics</a>! One design jumped out at me, probably because I am a big fan of the lowly pine cone. Something about their simple yet complex design is fascinating, compelling, and satisfying to the eye. I knew I had a fabric worthy of an elegant, distinctive, and joyful Christmas quilt:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkjltJczqCI/AAAAAAAAAEU/V7aqbhgLH_0/s1600-h/wintergraphixII.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 336px; height: 336px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkjltJczqCI/AAAAAAAAAEU/V7aqbhgLH_0/s400/wintergraphixII.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352780720923453474" border="0" /></a><br />The pinky plums of the Amaryllis blooms and the poinsettia appealed, and having put together one <a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/One-block-Wonders-One-Fabric-Maxine-Rosenthal/9781571203229-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527one+block+wonder%2527">One Block Wonder</a> quilt, I could see that this fabric would really shine using that technique.<br /><br />So six yards are on their way from <a href="http://www.quiltedstrait.com/">Quilted Strait</a>. Woo hoo! Yazaa! Now I wonder, which Christmas will this quilt debut on? 2010? Not at the rate I am going!WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-46990449073614777322009-06-24T11:14:00.007-07:002010-06-18T12:49:30.664-07:00Zen and the Art of Baby Quilt Making...<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkJtiwBh8TI/AAAAAAAAAD0/IrDkcvGphJM/s1600-h/Jada+quilt+lo.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350959751043871026" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkJtiwBh8TI/AAAAAAAAAD0/IrDkcvGphJM/s400/Jada+quilt+lo.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Finally! I had stockpiled these luscious flannels for a rag baby quilt, but wouldn't you know it? Everybody was having baby boys! At last, the advent of Jada was announced, and I could go to town with my pink flannels.<br />
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I chose to make a rag quilt, although the square in a square design dictated a rail fence type of rag pattern. I suppose I could somehow have figured out how to rag only the margins of that inner square, but thinking about the logistics made my brain hurt.<br />
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Which violated my Second Law of Quilting:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Quilting has to feed your soul, not drain it.</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">In other words, I quilt to restore my energy levels, not to sit in tears of frustration, madly sewing and ripping against a deadline. I find that working in colours I love is essential to this process: when I work in fabrics and colours I do not like, things do not go well. Not with me, and not with the quilt.<br />
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Baby quilts are not just lovely to make, celebrating the birth of a new little person and working with a heart full of joy and good will, but they are <span style="font-style: italic;">small</span>. And that means you can finish one fairly quickly, and get that pop! that comes from viewing a finished work. It also means you have the luxury of trying out different techniques and finishes, in a timeframe that is friendly to picking up and practicing a new skill without getting tired or bored. And the investment in materials is also small, so if things don't go well, you can afford to either scrap the project or donate it to a worthwhile cause.<br />
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For all those reasons, I am a big fan of baby quilts.<br />
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As I constructed the quilt, I realized it needed a border to set it off, and I was fortunate to find exactly the right fabric, this fabulous yellow and pink pansy flannel from Northcott Fabrics, from the Chapel Hill collection by Ro Gregg:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkJxdmZEH9I/AAAAAAAAAEM/DCvdWm8uliY/s1600-h/chapel+hill.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350964060605390802" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkJxdmZEH9I/AAAAAAAAAEM/DCvdWm8uliY/s400/chapel+hill.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 347px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 399px;" /></a><br />
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To give it a final finish, and because I remember how much I loved the feel of the satin ribbon binding on the blankets we used when I was a child, I hunted out the perfect rich pink ribbon and added that as my final design detail:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkJtt_UJ4kI/AAAAAAAAAD8/CXklm6c90pg/s1600-h/jada+detail+lo.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350959944127078978" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SkJtt_UJ4kI/AAAAAAAAAD8/CXklm6c90pg/s400/jada+detail+lo.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
I have to admit, this one will be hard to give away, a sure sign that you have a design worth repeating! So I stockpiled yardage of all the fabrics I used, and will be making a couple more to have ready for the next little pink bundles of joy.<br />
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Meanwhile, my cousin is expecting triplet boys! So much for pink!WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-51541386053094077162009-06-06T17:06:00.003-07:002009-06-06T17:11:34.096-07:00The Season of Growth<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SisE_yhPUlI/AAAAAAAAADs/-NQcTaMAIF8/s1600-h/columbiines.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SisE_yhPUlI/AAAAAAAAADs/-NQcTaMAIF8/s400/columbiines.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344370876744684114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >Columbine and matching Centranthus ruber, which seeds freely in my garden...<br /></span></div><br />June on the west coast, usually an unsettled month of cold and rain, has been glorious. It has been high summer here at the edge of the Pacific, with temperatures far above even our usual August weather. The gardens are exploding with growth.WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684855045887128146.post-38628357966965443502009-04-25T15:48:00.011-07:002009-04-27T14:47:22.173-07:00Quilts of Valour<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /><br />It is funny sometimes how particles in your life collide at the perfect moment to create something new, or point you in a new direction. A year ago, I lost my father in law under particularly poignant circumstances. It was a watershed experience for me, and I have been missing Dad and thinking a lot about him and his life lately.<br /><br />Dad was a veteran of WWII, a Pilot Officer who crewed on Lancasters as navigator/bombardier. He rarely talked of his service experience, sharing the unfortunate view of so many veterans, that no one could ever understand or empathize who had not been there themselves. I think that is quite untrue; anyone who has ever experienced loss and suffering has the requisite experience to understand, but I think it was more than that. I think Dad just found the combined weight of his wartime memories unbearable. I don't blame him for not wanting to relive them in conversation.<br /><br />And then on Tuesday night's quilting guild meeting, our president Stella announced the guild would like to put together some Quilts of Valour for injured Canadian servicemen and women. With Dad walking so close beside me lately, it seemed a perfect project for me...combining community service, recognition of my Dad's military contributions, and comfort (both for me and the quilt recipient).<br /><br />I did a little searching on QoV images the next day. Many of the quilts were beautiful, but they did not speak to me. I wanted something that honoured the land that inspired the service and sacrifice, but also something filled with life and colour. After all, this quilt will likely go to a young person, recovering from a serious battle injury. They may not be particularly in the mood to celebrate the flag, but will surely need good energy, support, and inspiration.<br /><br />So I started off looking at scenes of Canada...often I find colour schemes in nature that I love, but would never have dreamt up by myself. And so I found my third particle, and the enterprise achieved critical mass:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SfOVzeWZxxI/AAAAAAAAADU/P3Nr8LRDrCw/s1600-h/Maple+Leaves.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SfOVzeWZxxI/AAAAAAAAADU/P3Nr8LRDrCw/s400/Maple+Leaves.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328767495662323474" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Is that not beautiful?! I had already found one block pattern I liked, a modified log cabin with a maple leaf in the centre, from <a href="http://www.debbiemumm.com/Projects/QuiltBlocks/2009/04/">Debbie Mumm</a>:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SfOWctLDcZI/AAAAAAAAADc/nA_Xul7Id_o/s1600-h/Block4-MapleLeaf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SfOWctLDcZI/AAAAAAAAADc/nA_Xul7Id_o/s400/Block4-MapleLeaf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328768204015890834" border="0" /></a><br />I liked the idea of shelter and nurturing in the log cabin portion of the block, and I like this slightly stylized but relaxed maple leaf...one that lends itself well to that wonderful time saver, fused applique. But the browns did not enchant...I imagined instead that luminous blue-mauve from the photograph paired with a more subtle green. And batiks in glowing autumn colours, buttery yellow, pumpkin orange, cerise red, dark plum in the centre. Wow!<br /><br />Somewhere, I can hear a shout of laughter. I think it's Dad.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SfYnQtcRuII/AAAAAAAAADk/oyqMqTklL_s/s1600-h/qov1+lo.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 308px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_O6YI4J969Nw/SfYnQtcRuII/AAAAAAAAADk/oyqMqTklL_s/s400/qov1+lo.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329490377069148290" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The first of my blocks...</span><br /></span></div>WesternWilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12765821422247317378noreply@blogger.com0