Be a Thread Picker

It takes imagination to choose the best threads for your quilt. And the more stitching there is, the more important it becomes to give it some thought beforehand. When Sarah Vedeler was at that point in making GO! Be Dazzled, the TQL April Centerfold, she had a plan:
• 2-3 threads to match the dark fabric (one the same, one lighter and/or darker)
• 2-3 threads to match the medium fabric (one the same, one lighter and/or darker)
• 2-3 threads to match the light fabric (on the same, one lighter and/or darker)
• 2-3 threads that will "pop."

GO! Be Dazzled, Too

    


 "When you are using a monochromatic color scheme with your fabric, as I did on GO! Be Dazzled, Too, use the complementary color in a couple of different shades, or a split complementary to give you two colors," says Sarah.

GO! Be Dazzled

"In GO! BE Dazzled, my pop colors were turquoise and chartreuse. The fabric colors all came from the warm side of the color wheel, so the pop colors added some cool tones." She went on to say that working with a color wheel, such as Joen Wolfrom's 3-in-1 Color Tool, is always a good idea!

Be Dazzled Even More Than You Were Before

The TQL April Centerfold, Sarah Vedeler's quilt GO! Be Dazzled, is a knockout. Sarah mentioned that the quilt has a little sister, GO! Be Dazzled Too, which you get to see here. It's a simpler version of the centerfold quilt. It's a fun exercise to open your April magazine to the centerfold, and compare the two.

Simpler though this one may be, it's still stunning. Sarah has advice for choosing fabric and thread for a quilt. "For embroidered applique, I want the fabric to be as plain as possible so that the thread—which is the main source of the design—shows up as much as possible. Solid colors work well, as do tone-on-tone colors." And what fabrics should you avoid? "Any fabric that has a distinct design. The thread just won't show up. And if you've devoted a lot of time and effort to the embroidery, you want it to be noticed!"

But what if you have a piece of fabric that you REALLY want to include in the quilt, but it has a lot of pattern on it? "Consider using it for the sashing and borders, or maybe the setting triangles or any corners in the center of the quilt. In other words, places where there is no applique or detailed quilting."

Great advice, Sarah!

Happy birthday, TQL!

The April issue is now out. It's our second April issue! That means The Quilt Life is celebrating its first birthday. Thanks to our wonderful loyal readers, it looks like we'll be serving up bi-monthly slices of quilt lives for some time to come. Keep those submissions and ideas coming. We love to hear from our readers!
    The Quilt Life will have a booth at the AQS Lancaster show & Contest next week. If you're there, stop by, introduce yourself, and let us know what features you've enjoyed the most. Or what you'd like to see in the future!

The passing of Jean Ray Laury

The loss of Jean on March 2nd was another great loss for the quilt community. She was of one of the "mothers" of the late 20th century quilt revival, there even before the quilt revival got going. I became a fan of her before I became a quilter. Back in 1977, I purchased her book The Creative Woman's Getting-It-All-Together at Home Handbook and it was a life-changer. I still have it and cherish my hardback, black-and-white, dog-eared, and stained copy with the broken spine! Back when women's roles were shifting and we couldn't always count on respect for our voices or in the workplace, Jean showed us how some artists managed their version of "having it all" (creative career and family).
    Years later, after Jean and I met and worked together on various articles, she maintained her persona that I had created for her just from that book and what I knew about her reputation in the quilt world: innovative, warm and supportive, and such a talented lady!

 I send our sincere sympathies on behalf of The Quilt Life to her family. She will be missed by so many.

Something a quilter would use?

What do they look like to you? Some of you will know right away. Others have never seen these before (like me, before these arrived at my doorstep). Of course, if you've gotten the latest issue of TQL, you already know who the quilter is who uses these as embellishments. Answer: spent shotgun shells, artistically fanned out and arranged. Colorful, aren't they? Read about an usual quilter and her creative quiltmaking in "Making something out of nothing" in the April 2011 issue.

Applique tip from Linda Roy

Wrapping up my chat with Linda Roy about Vintage Button Bouquet, I thought info about the idiosyncrasies of how Linda does things would be helpful.
      Jan: So, Linda, do you have any tips for us?
     Linda: Sure. I can tell you that I premake components for my quilt and do so whenever possible. I find it relaxing to sit and applique those already-made units. All the small circles you see on this quilt are premade on discs, with fabric cut twice the diameter of the disc so that they self-stuff. I padded the larger circles by inserting a layer of the wool batting underneath.
     If there are items to go on the quilt that don't lend themselves to premaking, I usually use the needle-turn method. On occasion I have even needle turned straight edges instead of turning on my sewing machine to accomplish the same look with a straight pieced seam. That includes appliqueing mitered borders! I've also found that it is easier to get smooth edges by having the smallest seam allowance you can handle.
     Jan: Thanks for sharing with us, Linda. I look forward to seeing your next masterpiece!

Which came first?

Jan: What a great idea to get applique design inspiration from vintage buttons! Now do you choose your bracelets based on how well they will translate into applique? Or do you just buy what appeals to you as jewelry?
Linda: I have so many ideas running around in my head that are inspired by antique buttons that I really don't need to purchase any more! It is difficult to define exactly why a bracelet appeals to me because I can't help but see things through the "filter" of design, which applies to jewelry and quiltmaking. Patterns and ideas are all around us and impossible to ignore once you are bitten by the quilting bug.
Jan: It's interesting that there are still so many antique buttons available.
Linda: Yes, there are enough that some vendors group the button jewelry pieces by "style," meaning bird motifs, picture buttons, florals, and some are very colorful, to mention just a few kinds.

Next time: tips for hand applique

Surface treatments: buttons, ruching, swags

Jan: The vintage buttons shown here aren't actually from your collection, Linda, but I thought our readers would like to see them anyway because they are so lovely. There are 12 vintage buttons on the quilt. Could you tell us more about adding those and when you do that?
Linda: The buttons were sewn onto the background after the surface applique was completed. I found it much easier to handle by doing as much applique as possible in quarter sections, including the swags and the linear ruching, and then joining those. I only had one-yard pieces  of the background anyway so it made sense. Every quilter how sometimes you have to make do—make the construction match the materials and limitations you have!
Jan: And how about the embroidery?
Linda: That is done on top of the quilting so that it sits on top. But the upside-down stuffed yoyos were added to the top as the last thing.
Jan: You mentioned in the magazine that the bracelets you collect sometimes have "perfume buttons." I had never heard of those before and did a little investigating. These are charming buttons from the 1800s made with velvet and overlaid with an openwork metal design, perfect for dabbing a teensy bit of perfume on instead of dabbing it on the skin where it would be likely to stain the clothing. Now that I know what they are, I'll look for them wherever I find antique buttons for sale. Not to worry, Linda, I won't become your competition by collecting them! I just want to savor them because, as I mentioned last time, anything vintage is interesting to me.

Next time: vintage button inspiration

More from Linda Roy about Vintage Button Bouquet

Have you reveled in the exquisite details of Vintage Button Bouquet that are shown in the February centerfold? There were numerous reasons for my love at first sight of this quilt: hand applique is my favorite quiltmaking process; Linda's workmanship!; orange in all its variations tops my favorite color list; and vintage anything catches my attention. I thought you would like to know more about the quilt's making and see more detail photos so this week, Linda will be here to tell us more. Today the topic is crosshatching.
    Jan: Straight, even crosshatch quilting is much harder than it looks. How do you keep it so even and consistent across such large areas?

Upper left quadrant with
 large crosshatched area.

    Linda: It works best for me if I can mark the entire top before quilting even begins, even before layering the quilt sandwich. I lay the quilt flat on the floor and lightly tack the edges to the boards I use for basting.
     J: There are different scales of crosshatching, wider in the wide open cheddar areas and tighter in the circles. This really adds a rhythm to the quilting.  Do you mark the smaller areas in the same way?

     L: If there are smaller blocks within the quilt, or in this case, they are circular "blocks," I carefully mark the edges all around with dots and then draw lines corner to corner. Then I can use a table for marking the individual blocks.
     J: What do you use to mark those lines?
     L: The blue Mark B Gone water soluble pen works well on lighter fabrics.
     J: Do all your quilts have some crosshatch quilting?
     L: Each quilt is different depending on the design, but I do use a great deal of crosshatching as it compliments the curved applique that I frequently use.

Next time: the "button" applique

The Missing Man Contest

A fun contest based on an article in the February issue, "Behind the scenes at the museum." The museum is the American Folk Art Museum and the man is "missing" from the Bird of Paradise quilt top made 1858-1863. Why are we saying there is a man missing from the quilt? Because the families that were guardians of this quilt before it entered the museum's collection were kind enough to keep the newspaper templates made for the applique along with the quilt. And though there are men depicted on this quilt top, not THIS man!

You can see the lady made from the template in the top "row" of the quilt, but you won't find her intended companion It's a mystery. 

     Tell us what you think happened to keep the man off the quilt in 100 words or less. Email your story to Info@TheQuiltLife.com and put "Missing Man" in the subject line. Deadline is Feb. 14th. If your story is one of the three most interesting entries, you'll win a copy of the Museum's beautiful new book QUILTS: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum!
Quilt photo by Gavin Ashworth, New York; template photo by John Parnell, New York

   

White House Quilting Bee and TQL

It may not be for real, but we can wish it were! If you haven't seen the animated video of Larry King interviewing President Obama about the White House quilting bee, don't miss it. The "President" even mentions The Quilt Life and Alex and Ricky! You can view the video on the Black Threads blog. It was created (and so is Black Threads) by the very accomplished author and historian Krya Hicks. She was having fun with a new service that allows you to create a short animated "movie" just by providing a script. Now that sounds like fun! The President rights says that quilting is common ground, something that people of different political persuasions can all enjoy. Did you know that Larry is an accomplished applique artist? It's all great fun, take a look. While you're there, take in all the other marvelously interesting info on at Black Threads.

What's in a name?

A block name, that is. It struck me when Barbara Brackman mentioned in the December issue of TQL (in If You Could Ask One Question feature) that "Names we assume to be folk tradition often were invented by needlework editors." Such power! I realize that happens these days, but never thought about it happening way back when. Those traditional names seem so right, so set, so generally accepted that they must have been handed from time immemorial. Barbara shot that assumption of mine down!

Skill building for charity

The Helping Hands department helps lots of quilters to find a way to use their skills to do good for others. The Sutter Cancer Center Quilt Auction is the featured charity in the TQL December issue and it offers a slightly different opportunity for quilters (in addition to the usual focus on quantity of quilts): quality of quilts! This event happens every three years, so you have time to give your all to a project to make it the best it can be or to make a sustained effort to perfect a new technique, and then donate it to the auction. I know I take my skill building a lot more seriously when it's used for something that will be seen and not just on a practice piece. And when you know it will be auctioned, well, that's even more motivation to master the technique. Check it out; December issue is on the newsstands now.

Haitian quilters' work coming to Macy's

Hey, as I was driving home, I heard a story on NPR about PeaceQuilts Haiti, the charitable organization that we reported on in our August issue. It has partnered with Macy's, providing handmade items made by some of the Haitian quilters for the department store's new line of home decor products called Heart of Haiti! Since the article was published, Jeanne Staples, the PeaceQuilts founder, has kept me up to date on how things are going and sure enough, as soon as I got home and checked the email, there was the news from Jeanne. For now, you can find brightly colored pouches and oven mitts, and only at Macy's online but  it's a great start.
    This reminds me of what happened with the Freedom Quilting Bee, of the same rural Alabama area as Gee's Bend and with some of the same personalities. The Bee's quilts and quilting style became the toast of New York in the late 1960s and early '70s, promoted heavily in Bloomingdale's. That was during that period right before the bicentennial, when new life was breathed into quilting, which eventually resulted in its "revival" and flowering that we still are experiencing today. This is a fascinating story that you can read about in a book titled "The Freedom Quilting Bee" by Nancy Callahan, originally written in 1987 but reissued in 2005.

Sunset Strip Revisited

What a fantastic version of Ricky's pattern that was in the August issue! Other than a few fabrics used in the houses, TQL reader Sue Ann Vannoy of Huachuca, Arizona, used all hand-dyes from her stash. That sounds like a good reason to go out and get more hand-dyes, Sue Ann. I love the way the waves of color flow from top left to bottom right. Thanks for sharing! If you've made a quilt, or a block, from a TQL pattern or the Cook-Off thanks-for-voting blocks, we'd love to see it.

Rights and copyrights

That pesky copyright question about what your rights are as a quiltmaker and as a copyright holder always creates confusion, doesn't it? Bonnie Browning, the AQS show chairman, has a very helpful post on the AQS website that addresses some of the questions. As an editor, people frequently question me about copyright law, thinking that it must be part of my job to understand it. And it is, to a certain extent, so I'm always eager to add to my imperfect understanding, but I must leave the legal advice to the experts. It's good for quiltmakers educate themselves, though, to prevent disappointment, as in "You mean this quilt of mine that was 2 years in the making can't be displayed? Or published? Or sold?" Bonnie's post is one that I'll keep as a reference. It even links to a chart. Check it out here.

Do you know these characters, oops, I mean caricatures?

TQL's esteemed expert on collecting antique quilts, Laura Fisher (who writes the regular feature For All It's Worth), sent over a request for our readers: have you any information you can share about this 1903 quilt from New Hampshire? The blocks have inked caricatures of folks that she thinks might have been real people in the Keene area at the time. The one shown below is inscribed "Thou art my own love. —Burton J." Laura is hoping to find out "the who, where, and why" of this quilt. I'm always amazed to see the unique examples that Laura comes up with for her TQL articles. Those one-offs must still be out there for today's collectors to scout out. Her column is like the Antiques Roadshow for antique quilt collectors and dealers. When I grow up, I'm want to travel the country hunting up treasures like these. I hope there are a few left when that time comes! Coming up in the October issue: a very unusual House quilt, pieced, showing the little "village" at night instead of the bright white of a daytime background. Look for it later in August on the newsstand.

Hot for handwork

4th of July usually is the hottest time of the year where I live. Even at our cabin in the mountains, the nights are comfortably cool but the days are still hot, hot, hot! That's why it's a perfect place for me to do handwork. (Did I mention that there's also no electricity there to run a sewing machine? That's a good reason too.) Applique and piecing by hand have given me some of my happiest moments and I'm looking forward to a few more this weekend. I'm between projects right now, so I'd better head up to the sewing room to make some decisions, pull some fabrics, gather some tools, and pack up for the long holiday weekend. Safe travels, all!

Update on PeaceQuilts Haiti

This is the project that was covered in the August issue's Helping Hands section of The Quilt Life. I recently got a message from director Jeanne Staples: 

     "Since we last communicated, I traveled to Haiti—the first time since the earthquake. The devastation is just incredible. It was emotionally challenging, yet ultimately rather inspiring to see how the women have continued to create beautiful quilts, even though most of them either lost their homes or had serious damage, so that they are now living in tents. My colleague Maureen, a clinical psychotherapist, was able to do some personal assessments with many of the women, and provide some post-trauma counseling. We were also able to meet members of our newest cooperative in Cité Soleil, the notorious slum in Port-au-Prince. They are amazing! 13 women are working there, and 10 girls are learning to sew and quilt in an afterschool program, shown here, that our co-op manager started. We are headed back in a couple of weeks, and part of our agenda will be to explore ways that we can create opportunities for those with disabilities (especially as a result of the earthquake) to become fully integrated members in our cooperatives. I hope all is well with you, and wish you continued success with the magazine."

     Wishing you and everyone at PeaceQuilts the very best, Jeanne. Keep up the good work.

Summer NIght Sky variations

Variations on Summer Night Sky, one of the patterns in the June issue of TQL, have been sent in by Elsie Campbell, the designer and maker of the original.

She had mentioned these other beautiful versions made by friends of hers and now we get to see them. They are very lovely, proof that anyone can take a published pattern and put their creative stamp on it. The original is at left.

At right is a version from Jean Tomson. I love love love this creative treatment!

And at left, one from Becky Schweitzer....

...and finally, a version by Judy Arnold, right.










Makes you want to organize a challenge, doesn't it? The full pattern is on page 76 in The Quilt Life June 2010.