After three fun filled days with my sister, we left Carlsbad and headed to Albuquerque to see my nephew. On the way we stopped at Salinas National Monument and visited the Gran Quivira Ruins
and the Quarai Ruins.
From Albuquerque, we journeyed to Bandelier National Monument to see the ancient cliff dwellings.
There were a few caves there that you could enter to see what it was like. P enjoyed that.
The wall shown below had many petroglyphs just above the level of the upper post holes.
Here is a carving of a parrot.
Next, we vistited the ruins of Fort Union, which had quite a spectacular location. It is way in the distance of the photo below.
Visiting Old Quilts
One of the bonuses of visiting family is seeing quilts that I forgot I made for them. This is a cowboy quilt I made for my niece in her horse crazy younger years.
Who am I kidding? She may still be in her horse crazy years, she will be applying to vet schools in a year.In our hurry to get on the road to see all the wonderful places around Carlsbad I didn't snap a photo of the backing fabric which has large wild horses galloping on it.
Here's another blast from the past, a stack-n-whack quilt from a bright chili pepper print.
It's so fun to see some of these old treasures.
Spring Break - part 2 - Carlsbad
We enjoyed getting out and seeing the sights around Carlsbad, NM. My brother-in-law took us to his secret pecos diamond hunting spot which thrilled P, our budding geologist.
On the hottest day of our visit we toured the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The view below was from the parking lot at the caverns.
On our last day my brother-in-law took us to more great spots with big views. The first stop was Sitting Bull Falls where miss P and her cousins played in the water.
We had our picnic lunch there.
The next stop was Dark Canyon. We were amused that my great niece read the sign as "Dark Canyon, LOOKOUT!"
We hiked to Cottonwood Cave, a much less visited cave than the caverns.
My brother-in-law knows all the best places to hike.
We finished the day with a sunset view from "the rim" and late night star viewing from dark canyon.
This really was a trip of big views.
Spring Break - part 1 - traveling to New Mexico
Last week was P's spring break from school. We extended break by one day so that we could drive to New Mexico and visit my sister and her family. On the way there we stopped at the southern tip of Illinois and visited Heron Pond.
In addition to the state champion Cherrybark Oak shown below, we saw a thousand year old tupelo tree and the state champion Cypress tree. We were on our way to visit the nation's longest covered bridge but, sadly, that road was closed due to high water.
The next day we enjoyed the wide open spaces in Oklahoma at the Washita River Battlefield. We welcomed the big, blue, clear skies.
We also visted the Abilates Flint Quarries on our way to see my niece in Canyon, Texas. There was a beautiful camping area in the park. That's B up on top of the hill checking out the view.
Miss P enjoyed looking for fossils, and cacti.
We soaked up the big views.
Wordless Wednesday
Details from a Quilt Show
Last week, Debbie Grifka and I drove up to Flint to see the show, "From Heart to Hand - African American quilts from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts"Here are a few of the details from some of the quilts in the show.Unknown Maker - late 20th century
The red and white striped backing was carried around to the front to bind the edge. A strip of solid red was added to make the backing large enough.Catherine Somerville - Log Cabin 1950-60
I liked pretty much everything about this quilt. It was made from old jeans and khakis.Mary Lee Bendolph - Strings 2003-4
This one is made from the hip seams of pants.Nora Ezell - Star Puzzle 2001
I am reminded of my desire to add gingham to my quilts.Unknown maker - Crib Quilt 1945
Most of these prints have faded to the same soft look. So much pattern together but I like it with this soft look.Yvonne Wells - Yesterday: Civil Rights in the South III - 1989
I love the free form fan quilting Yvonne Wells uses on her quilts.
Twirled Seam Tutorial
I'm often asked how I manage the seams when working with small pieces of fabric like in this quilt that is made entirely of half inch finished squares.I've written up a tutorial showing my process. Here, I'm using larger pieces of fabric but the process is the same no matter the size of the pieces used.
First, you will start with sewn pairs of squares. These can either be cut from strip pieced sections or be made by sewing individual squares together. I typically cut squares and sew them together. I am almost always working with scraps so this makes sense to me. Press the seam allowance to one side. Since we are using only two fabrics, in this first step, press all of the seams to the darker fabric.
Next, sew these into fourpatch units. When sewing these, make sure that the seams "nest" with each other. Sew the seam with the top seam allowance pointing away from you as shown. The seam allowance on the bottom will be pointing towards you.
You will need to take out the few stitches in the seam allowance and press so that the seams all point in a clockwise configuration as shown below.
Here are nine four patches arranged as they will be sewn together to make a checkerboard pattern. As you can see, the way the seams have been pressed allow all of the next seam crossings to also nest with each other so that the seam allowances will face in opposite directions.
When sewing these fourpatches together into pairs, the seams will be oriented opposite to the way they were before. Now, the seam allowances on top will point towards you and the bottom seam allowances will point away from you.
Again, take out the few stitches in the seam allowance and press these seams in a twirl in the counterclockwise direction.
Sew two units as above and then sew them to make a larger fourpatch. Here, you can see that all of the seams will nest.
The seam just shown is going across in the middle of the photo below. The seam twirls alternate direction across the fourpatch.
You can continue making a full size quilt in this manner. Make many of the units as above and then put them together to make even larger fourpatch units. Just keep building larger fourpatch units. Eventually you might have to join smaller sections to get the desired finished block/quilt size. As long as you always start with the seams on the first pair of fabric pieces pointing in the same direction, it will all work out. The direction of the seam twirl on the block will always alternate and no matter how large your quilt, the blocks will aways go together.
Here is a finished 6 by 6 block on the back.
Twirling the seams makes for a flatter finish to your quilt and will make the quilting step much easier! And look how perfectly those nested seams match up.
The Applique Book
Have you heard about Casey York's new book, The Applique Book? It's a comprehensive guide on applique outlining the techniques for many different kinds of hand and machine applique. Works from 21 designers are included along with 16 quilt projects you can make.My quilt, Astrid, is in the "reverse applique" section of the book. I love the minimal look of this quilt. The design is made from an arrangement of very simple blocks.
The background is a pretty peacock Peppered Cotton with the warp and weft different colors, one black and the other the peacock blue. You can see the effect in the different blocks here.
I like the subtle color change that happens depending on the viewing angle.
Fading Foliage is in the "turned edge" section of Casey's book. I had been wanting to make this quilt for quite some time. The key to the design is finding just the right fabric. You need a large scale two color print, the blue and black print in this quilt. The other two fabrics for the quilt should look like the two colors of the large scale print, the blue print and black solid here. With this combination parts of the applique design will "fade" into the background giving an unexpected look to the applique.Here you can see the shape of the applique in the light blue fabric on the black background.
I made six blocks of the same design but used all six possible combinations of the three fabrics. Here, the block is made with the two color print appliqued to the black. Notice how the design fades away where the black of the print is on the edge of the applique. This was just what I was hoping for!
This block has the two fabrics reversed. Again, a subtle design in contrast to the first photo above.
My daughter-in-law fell in love with these blocks while I was making them and helped design the finished layout of the quilt.
Here's the full view.
With the fabric print playing such an important part of the design in this quilt, I really want to make it again in different fabrics. I'm on the hunt for another fabric!If you would like to purchase a signed copy of the book, you can get one directly from Casey here.
Wardrobe Upcycle
This weekend Miss P and I went through her dresser to switch out the winter and spring clothes. She tried everything on and we bagged up the items that were too small to wear anymore.She was pleased that she can still fit into this dress I made her back in August of 2012! That was second grade, folks! Look at what a little peanut she was then. The dress is much shorter on her now but it still fits in the chest and shoulder area.
This is the pile of tights we found that were too short to wear anymore.
Her cousin recently sent her a box of hand-me-downs that included a couple of pair of leggings that she has been wearing with her skirts and dresses. We decided to try converting the tights to leggings.It was easy as pie. I cut the foot part off and hemmed up the lower edge using a multi-step zigzag stitch on the sewing machine. I used the foot portion to test out which stitch worked best.P is thrilled to have new wardrobe pieces made from her old favorites.
She wishes that favorite brown jacket were a little bigger so she could wear that too! She squeezed herself into it for the photo.
Depression - quilt 2 in the domestic abuse series
Depression - finsished size 16'' x 16''
The injuries from emotional/verbal abuse are invisible to the eye; they do not show up as bruises or broken bones.
The victims of abuse often develop depression. Bruce Linton, a family therapist, quoted in this article, speculates that we are inclined to underestimate the damage that verbal assaults -- harsh words, or even words spoken in a harsh manner -- can inflict. Over time, the unremitting assault on individuals' autonomy and sense of identity can erode their confidence and self-esteem.
In her book Verbal Abuse Survivors Speak Out: On Relationship and Recovery, Patricia Evans defines 15 types of verbal abuse:
- Withholding (refusing to talk to or acknowledge the victim)
- Countering (always telling the victim that he or she is wrong)
- Discounting (not taking into account the victim's perceptions)
- Verbal abuse disguised as a joke
- Blocking and diverting (thwarting the victim's attempts at communication)
- Accusing and blaming
- Judging and criticizing
- Trivializing (telling the victim his or her concerns are inconsequential)
- Undermining (eroding the victim's confidence)
- Threatening (implying physical harm through a fit of rage or though an unspoken threat, like punching the wall)
- Name calling
- Forgetting (regularly "forgetting" appointments, agreements, or incidents)
- Ordering and demanding
- Denial (denying all abusive behavior)
- Abusive anger (frightening the victim with repeated angry outbursts)
Children who have been abused have a higher risk of developing depression in later life. "The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that among adults ages 18 and older, approximately 15 million have major depression and 3 million have chronic mild depression. The onset for depression for most people begins after age 30, and it affects a higher percentage of women than men. People with a history of emotional and physical abuse have an earlier age at onset of depression and a longer duration of illness, according to a study published in the "Journal of Psychiatric Research" in 2010."
If you have a friend or family member who is experiencing abuse here are some things you can do to help. The most important thing to remember is that the choice to leave or not is theirs. You can't make them leave a bad situation but you can be supportive and helpful in their choice. They will need someone they can count on when/if they do decide to end or leave the abusive relationship.
Domestic Violence knows knows no boundaries when it comes to race/gender/sexuality/age/
Remember, domestic abuse affects ten million people in the US every year. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, please know that the folks at the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1 800 799 SAFE or thehotline.org) are ready to listen and support you, as well as refer you to a local program or organization. If you observe someone being abused, you can also call the hotline. A good samaritan call can save a life!
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All of the quilts in the Domestic Abuse series so far can be viewed here.
Coal Seam
Coal Seam was started in a class with Luke Hanes last year during QuiltCon 2015 and was included in Gwen Marton's book, Free Range Triangle Quilts. When I shipped it to the publisher for photography I had only quilted the black lines.
As the QuiltCon 2016 submission deadline came up, I pulled this out to enter in the show but after looking at it again, thought it needed a bit more quilting in the background. So, I started adding some seed stitch quilting to the white.
When I started the stitching, I didn't carefully calculate how long the stitching would actually take.
Six weeks of steady stitching later, I finished the quilting on New Year's eve. Needless to say, it wasn't finished in time for QuiltCon submission. There's always next year, right?
I used Glide thread and am thrilled with the way the stitches shine, an effect that is very difficult to capture with the camera.
I enjoyed the process immensely and plan to add more hand stitching to future projects.
Textiles: Contemporary American Quiltmaking
I am honored and excited that two of my quilts will be hanging in a gallery show later this month. This will be the first time any of my quilts have been shown in a gallery setting.Hosted by Gallery EOSS at Watermark Gallery in East Providence, Rhode Island, this exhibit will showcase the work of ten artists. Featured artists will be: Melissa Averinos of West Barnstable, Massachusetts; Teresa Coates of Portland, Oregon; Lynn Harris of Chelsea, Michigan; Mandy Leins of Saratoga Springs, New York; Tricia Royal of Chicago; Denyse Schmidt of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Maria Shell of Anchorage, Alaska; Gail Weiss of Portland, Oregon; Victoria Findlay Wolfe of New York City; and Sherri Lynn Wood of Oakland, California. The exhibit will be on display from March 18th to April 10th, 2016.The show was curated by Bill Volckening.Please go see the show if you are in the area.Here are the two quilts of mine that will be in the show:Bar Scene
Atomic Pinwheels
Isolation - the first in a series
Ten million Americans experience domestic abuse every year. Ten million. Someone I love and care about is a victim of abuse and has been for nearly twenty years. Odds are you or someone you know is a victim as well. I have learned a lot about domestic abuse over the last two decades and the number one fact I have learned is that most incidents are never reported. Ten million people every year and that number doesn't reflect the full scope of abuse in the US, as many people aren't able to safely share and report their stories. I am a doer. I like to make and fix things. Sadly, I cannot fix things for the person in my life who is being abused. But, I can speak up. And I can sew. And hopefully I can make a difference. (Statistics from the CDC)I am currently working on a series of quilts dealing with Domestic Abuse.The first quilt in this series is Isolation.
Finished quilt 16" x 16".
Isolation or exclusion is often the first method an abuser uses to gain control over his/her victim. Abusers do this by limiting who their partner sees, talks to, what they read/watch and even where he/she goes. They can do this by deleting emails, intercepting mail, erasing phone messages, changing any plans the abused may try to make that would connect him/her to others, blocking calls, and lying to and about others. They often use jealousy to justify their actions. You can read more about Isolation and Exclusion here and here.
Domestic Violence knows knows no boundaries when it comes to race/gender/sexuality/age/
Remember, it affects ten million in the US every year. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, please know that the folks at the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1 800 799 SAFE or thehotline.org) are ready to listen and support you, as well as refer you to a local program or organization. If you observe someone being abused, you can also call the hotline. A good samaritan call can save a life!
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All of the quilts in the Domestic Abuse series so far can be viewed here.
Every Last Piece - feature quilt - Troubles with Scraps
The design for Troubles with Scraps came from playing with the parts for the traditional Kansas Troubles block.
The basic pieced unit for Kansas Troubles reads as a half square triangle. I tried many different settings and layouts for the hst unit and finally settled on this bullseye look.
This was one of the first quilts I quilted on my longarm and I really had fun with the feathers and bubbles.
Finished size: 42'' by 55''The pattern and directions for Troubles with Scraps can be found in chapter two of my book.You can purchase an autographed copy of the Every Last Piece from me here.
The Splendid Sampler - Wings
Have you started the Splendid Sampler sew along, a year long sew along organized by Pat Sloane and Jane Davidson yet?I have finished the second block, Wings, designed by Jane Davidson.
I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to add the embroidery detail. Here is is with the first block before I added the antennae.
I have enjoyed scrolling through the #TheSplendidSampler hashtag on Instagram to see all of the different versions of the blocks. Come join the fun and add your photos.
Wordless Wednesday
Sleeping Bear Dunes - a winter visit
We took a quick overnight trip up to Sleeping Bear Dunes this weekend. It was quite chilly and we had the dune trail to ourselves Monday morning.
We also walked on the beach. P REALLY wanted to find a Petosky stone but was not successful in that venture. We did see lots of ice.
Every Last Piece - feature quilt - Square Dance
The design for Square Dance came about while playing around with the four patch and nine patch parts for Square Root.
I saw that I could piece the design I wanted for this quilt more easily by piecing ninepatch and ninepatch variation blocks.
I carefully chose a selection of pale or light fabrics that contrasted with the dark cerise I wanted for the background. I love the little surprised found in some of these fabrics, like this little goldfish.
When you save all your scraps it is easier to have enough variety to make a quilt like this.
The design for this quilt is fairly simple but it is still one of my favorites.
Sometimes an unexpected fabric choice for a background or "neutral" is all it takes to make a simple design sing.
Finished size: 44'' by 55''The pattern and directions for Square Dance can be found in chapter two of my book.You can purchase an autographed copy of the Every Last Piece from me here.
Splendid Sampler - Hearts Aflutter
Are you participating in the Splendid Sampler sew along, a year long sew along organized by Pat Sloane and Jane Davidson? Today they posted the directions for the first block.Here's my version of Pat's Hears Aflutter block.
I'll be using scraps to make my blocks but I have chosen two solid fabrics, Kona Oasis, and Kona Wasabi, to help give the quilt a more cohesive look.Each week two new block designs will be posted at the Splendid Sampler website. Hop over and read more about it.There are 80 designers who have contributed blocks, so, at some point in the year, one of my block designs will pop up! I hope you can join us. It's going to be a fun year!
Tiny Piecing
I do love playing with tiny pieces of fabric. These little four patches are trimmed to one inch square.
You can see a few of them sprinkled in these little blocks.
I'm not sure where this is headed yet but I'm having fun making them.
