Book, bargain, biting the bullet and border!

Alliteration....when a series of words begin with the same sound or consonant.Today I have a bevy of B words share with you! Beauty, eh?

Book!
I got myself a new book, Minimal Quiltmaking by Gwen Marston. Gwen is known for her liberated quiltmaking techniques so her books are about methods rather than providing patterns although there are a couple of pattern in her newest book. I am a huge fan of her work....she has a wonderful colour sense. To those of you not familiar with her methods you should know that liberated quiltmaking does not mean sloppy work. It is just a more liberated method of quilt making. If a point gets cut a triangle it isn't the end of the world. Reading her book Liberated Medallion Quilts was a wonderful eyeopener for me!

In Gwen's latest book the focus is on larger pieces of fabric in solid colours and the real star of the quilts is the quilting either by hand or machine. I've not had time to sit down and read the book but it is in the "to be read" pile. But what I've read so far is interesting, inspirational and it makes me want to sew, sew, sew! Here are some examples of my work that was inspired by the likes of Gwen Marston, Rayna Gillman and Jean Wells. The pieces in my quilts tend to get small and then smaller as you can see in the pictures below. My goal is to one day make a quilt that is comprised of larger pieces with some fabulous quilting!

Jack by Karen H 2013

Darlington by Karen H 2012

Green Beans Several Ways by Karen H 2012

2 Knives, No Fork by Karen H 2014 (not yet quilted)

Bargain!
I got some new fabric from Connecting Threads. I had signed up for their newsletter and sale notices. A couple of weeks back they sent a coupon - buy one yard of their fabric and get a second yard for free. They sell their own fabrics so you won't see them anywhere else and the prices are excellent. The other critical factor for me is that the shipping to Canada is very reasonable. So I decided to take advantage and ordered a yard, got a free yard, ordered two half yard pieces and there were some solids on sale for $3/yd so I bought a one yard length of two oranges!

Biting the Bullet!
I don't know about you but when I get new fabric I want to touch it and admire it. The longer I do that the harder it is to cut it but once you do it somehow gets easier. So I had this lovely new Connecting Threads fabric and decided to bite the bullet. I cut six pieces and made a hexagon rosette that will be a centre for one of the blocks in my quilt Lozagons. If I had fussy cut the patches it would have been a very interesting block!

Border!
Although I'm not finished quilting the centre panel in 81 I wanted to try out the thread that I've selected for the inner border. I had two to chose from, a grey with a hint of blue or a dusty navy with a hint of grey. I did a test bit of quilting in the border (big stitches that were FMQed) with each of the two threads and settled on the grey thread with the hint of blue. I removed the test quilting before getting stared on the quilting. I like to do an actual test on the quilt to get a truer picture of how the thread will look. I wrote how and why I do this here. Here's a little sneak peak of how the quilting looks with the grey thread!

Close-up of quilting in 81 The Giant Monstrosity

I was worried that the the thread might look dark on the light stripe and light on the dark stripe but it worked out just fine! I decided to continue with the free form (doodle) quilting motifs in the border.


That's it for today! Until I post again (and in keeping with the B theme), happy sewing and bye bye!
Karen H

Green Beans Several Ways, pinning and crusty bread

If you’ve been following my blog you will see that my quilt/fibre art interests are varied. I love everything from the very traditional to the ultra-modern. The “liberated” techniques taught by the likes of Gwen Marston, Jean Wells and Rayna Gillman are particularly interesting because they present a new set of challenges. In many respects they are the same challenges that my pioneering grandparents faced; they had to make do with what they had whether it was tools or raw materials. Setting aside the rotary cutter in favour of scissors and make do with the fabric (especially scraps) that you have on hand is a challenge but one can learn a great deal about colour, block construction, pressing, creativity, innovative thinking and problem solving! There is no pattern so you think, plan and sew as you go. Once you have a group of “blocks” you have to think about how they will fit and how you will pull everything together into a unified quilt. The pieces don’t have to be small. Work with what you have and what is comfortable. The results can be spectacular – look no further than the Gee’s Bend quilts. 

 

I call this quilt “Green Beans Several Ways”. It measures 26" x 31". My goal was to use my solid greens interspersed with bits and pieces of leftovers. I made quite a few little blocks, added to them, chopped them up smaller when they weren’t what I had in mind and moved them around. I am very pleased with the final result. I learned a great deal about putting together odd shapes and also the quilting of this type of quilt. It isn’t perfect and I’m just fine with that – I got some much enjoyment from the making.

I wanted to share another tip with you. I like pinning when I sew. It’s how I learned to sew as a child and it is something that has stuck with me. Do you find that when sewing two pieces together one of the pieces has shifted when you get to the end so that they aren’t even? This problem can be reduced if not eliminated by placing a pin perpendicular to the seam at the end of the fabric and one pin parallel to the seam you are about to sew. It is a simple thing but it makes a difference. Give it a go and see if you don’t agree that it works a treat!

Finally if you like homemade bread try this recipe from a blog titled Simply So Good. No kneading is required and the bread does not have that yeasty taste that homemade breads tend to have. I’ve made the bread several times and each time I add different ingredients. It is super easy and really tasty with a bowl of soup or stew!

 

Don't forget to visit Quilting Gallery's Show and Tell where you can vote for your favourite hexagon quilt. Mine is "There's a Snail in Grandma's Flower Garden". Voting closes on Monday at 6:00 pm EST.

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!