Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome to Indigo Threads!  I hope you enjoy looking around.  A big Thank You to Amy for putting on this wonderful Quilt Festival again . . . it's so much fun to visit all the other bloggers and see all the beautiful quilts.  I would hazard a guess that this is the world's best quilt show you can see without leaving home!  So pull up your comfy chair, grab your beverage of choice and don't forget a few snackies!  Enjoy the show. . . .


"Button, Button"  25 inches high by 29 inches wide


My entry in the Quilt Festival is called "Button, Button", for obvious reasons!  This was my challenge quilt for my local guild this year.

We did a color challenge this year, and we drew paint chips to get our assigned colors.  We had to draw one dark paint chip and one light one.  My paint chips were eggplant and light lilac.  This photo is closer to the true colors than the first one.  These colors were not only difficult to find in fabric, they're tough to photograph and capture the right color.

This idea was one I had sketched out 4 or 5 years ago, and never seemed to get to.  I wanted to practice Lazy Gal Tonya's free-pieced letters (see her book "Word Play Quilts" in my sidebar - due out in December!).  So, I decided to combine the two ideas. 

"Button Button" had some technical challenges to it, and I tried some new things that I thought were successful. 

This quilt was the most letters I've done.  It was challenging and fun.  The letters get easier the more you do them, although I had a little trouble getting them right as I kept confusing where the dark and light fabrics went. *grin*  I'm even pleased with the hardest letter - "W".  And I had to figure out how to do the question mark.  It took two tries to get one that was right, but I'm really happy with it.

I had some difficulty deciding on the border, but finally decided simple was best.  I didn't want anything that would detract from the letters or the buttons.  I kept the quilting simple for the same reason.

The technicalities of how to construct this were interesting.  I put some light interfacing on the borders to help support the buttons, then I quilted.  I ended up putting a false back over the first one that I had quilted through and attached the buttons to - I wanted to hide all those ugly knots.  It worked great!

I added a lot of buttons from my collection, and hardly made a dent in it!  I used mostly buttons that were special to me - from clothes I sewed for me and my children, buttons from my Mom and Grandmother, buttons to signify various places I've lived, and so on. 

This quilt won 3rd place in the Guild's Challenge Reveal, and then won a blue ribbon and Best of Class in the county fair.   That was such a good feeling.  From now on, it will be hanging in my quilt studio for me to enjoy every day.

I hope you'll come back to visit again, but first go enjoy all the rest of the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Lack of Focus

No, not the picture.  My brain!

I love these fall colors!  I think it's a wonder that they are all on one bush.

Here is where I found them - in my Japanese Maple in the front yard.  Of course, the sun went away right before I got out there, so it doesn't glow as much as in the sunshine, but still, I think it's beautiful.  This bush just up and changed overnight about 2 days ago.  Amazing.

I've actually managed to get myself into the quilt studio the last few days.  I don't have any particular project that I'm focused on.  Mainly I'm just putzing with a lot of different ones.  These are my house exchange blocks that my friends in California are doing, and were nice enough to include me in the exchange.  This is about 2/3 of what I need - we're supposed to make 12 blocks, enough to make a table runner.  But it seems I always have to do something different, so I'm making 16 blocks to make a wallhanging. 

Here are the other 8 blocks, all ready for me to do the stitching on them.  We don't have to have these done until January, but I'm hoping to have them done before Thanksgiving, if not sooner.  *fingers crossed*

Yesterday when I was trying to get some fabrics cut, Shade was "helping" by dancing right in the middle of it all.  So, rather than cut something that shouldn't be cut, whether fabric or feline, I decided I'd better sit down and do some stitching.  Shade likes to lay on the desk next to me when I'm sewing on the machine.  So, when I sat down, he calmed down.  Not having anything in particular to do, I decided to pull out the crumbs and work on some of that.  I always leave some blocks started, so that there's a starting point when I want to sit and stitch for a few minutes.  It eliminates the "brain strain" that could happen if I have to think about it too much!  *grin*  I got a few more blocks finished.  So, I decided to see how many blocks I had.  I had 57!  The ones that I finished brought it to 60.  They're all trimmed to 6 inches and will finish to 5 1/2 inches.  So, I started playing on the design wall.

I had been thinking of adding sashing, but decided that was more work than I wanted to do for a charity quilt.  Then I thought of putting them on point.  I think I like this.  I can't seem to be able to make up my mind about which fabric to use for the alternate squares, so I think I'll just use plain white.  A nice clean look.  So, now I'm back to cutting more fabric!  But this one should be done quickly.

Guess what?  I still have 40 crumb blocks left!  Quilt seeds!  To be played with and decided on another day.  I need to sort my bin of crumb fabrics too.  I've got too many itsy-bitsy pieces in there, and not enough of the larger pieces.

Last Friday I went to a Quilts of Valor sew-in.  I got one quilt trimmed and ready for binding, but forgot my walking foot. so then I got a kit and started piecing.  This will become a Disappearing 9-Patch.  I've got all the strips sewn and now need to cut for the next step. 

And lastly, I've spent two evenings picking out fabrics for pillowcases for Christmas presents for the family.  I see more fabric cutting in my future!  I hope Shade will cooperate!

Not Much Happening. . .

. . . around Haus Indigo lately.  I haven't done much sewing to speak of for a while.  I've been working on my exchange blocks, and I'm about half done with them.  I'll be showing them soon. 

I did manage to finish this little quilt:

This is Boo! # 4 - and the last one.  I think I still have some pumpkin fabric left, but I'm done making these.  I made one for my DDGs, one for my DD, and I gave an unfinished one to Purple Pam a few years ago (in trade for some fabrics, I think).  This one is for me.  I didn't stress over the quilting on this one - I just wanted it done! 

I think I quilted too unevenly.  Now that I have this up in the hallway, it's obvious that it doesn't hang straight at all.  Ooops!
 

Here is one of the visitors to our bird feeder lately.  This is an Evening Grosbeak.  We've had three of them here in the last few days.  They like to sit in the feeder and hog all the sunflower seeds.  As a matter of fact, the  WhatBird website says these birds have been observed eating 96 sunflower seeds in five minutes.  I believe this, because they are definitely greedy guts birds!  I don't know if they're passing through on their way South, or if they'll be staying the winter.  That may depend on how quickly I keep the feeder refilled!

I've been out in the yard trimming plants and cleaning up.  We had a dry spell for a few days and I thought I'd better take advantage of it.  Here is probably my last geranium bloom for this year.  We've been close to freezing lately, and the geraniums will croak when it does freeze.

I trimmed the hydrangeas back severely, as they were too leggy and were just kind of laying on the ground.  The one outside the kitchen window was over my head and blocking the view from inside the house.  They are mere shadows of themselves now.  I did save this one last blossom.  It was just starting to open.  I think it got confused by the weather.  I also had one blossom pop out on my azalea.  Crazy.

Now that we've had some close-to-freezing temps overnight for a few days and a little rain the last day or so, the trees and bushes are finally starting to show some color.  We'd been just kind of fading into fall - leaves just turning brown and falling.  I think a Fall like that is kind of sad.  So I'm very happy to see the colors.  It always puts me in a good mood.  I love a colorful Fall.  I'm going to try to get some photos in the next few days - when it stops raining, hopefully!

Speaking of colorful . . . 

A week ago I taught a fabric-dyeing workshop for my guild.  I didn't get a large turnout - only 5 people.  But I'm more comfortable with fewer people anyway.  It was kind of difficult, as we were outside and the wind kept getting stronger and stronger.  The paint containers (paper cups) kept blowing over.  (We couldn't find any rocks to put in the cups either.)  I was so excited/nervous to do this workshop that I never got the camera out of my bag, so I have no photos to show you.  But this piece (photo above) is the last piece of fabric we dyed.  It's about a fat quarter in size, more or less, and was a white-on-white.  I just took the last of the dyes and poured them onto the plastic-covered table and started smooshing the fabric on top.  When we used all that up, then we smooshed the paint brushes into the fabric too.  It was a ton of fun, and I think this piece came out the best!  I liked this so much, I think I'll just do this at the beginning the next time I dye!

p.s.  Yay! for the Texas Rangers!  And Go Giants!

10-10-10

Today is brought to you by

 the number 10!

This date is so fun I couldn't pass it up.  It just called for a blog post!

It's been so long since I last posted (again), I have too much to show and tell you! 

Yesterday my quilt guild had a progressive lunch, which was a lot of fun.  We went to 3 different houses and had 3 different quilt-related activities or demonstrations.  We had about 12 to 15 people participate, and I think we all had a lot of fun.  And too much yummy food!

At the first house, we had scones, fruit and coffee.  Then we got to dye a silk scarf, with these fun dyes that were new to me.  These dye silk instantly, are non-toxic dyes and need NO heat setting and are permanent while wet.  It was so easy and fun.  Even the people that were a little scared of it were quite successful!

At the second house, J gave a little demonstration of yo-yos and hexagons, as many new quilters had asked her about them.  She was so generous - she had quite a few vintage 1930's Grandmother's Flower Garden units that she had received from a neighbor.  The neighbor had them from her grandmother and didn't want them.  Joanne had made many little projects with the yo-yos and was not going to use the rest.  So, we got to take home the rest! 

I fell in love with the graphic ones first, the ones at the top of this post.  I couldn't pass up that stripe nor the dots!  No one was taking the ones with the cheddar centers, so I took them too.  I think I'll make some small table mats with them.  I've already ironed them and started basting the edges under, which you might be able to see in the right-hand GFG above.

At the last house, we got to play with her long-arm!  I wouldn't call my attempt successful at all.  Oh well.




20 inches wide by 17 inches high

As I promised in my last post, here is the 'sister' quilt to Faultlines.  It remains unnamed, because I can't think of a good name for it!  (any suggestions??)  It was made for the same color challenge.  This is another log cabin, although this is the Courthouse Steps variation. 

This one was harder than it looks!  I have lots of left-over false starts.  This was paper-pieced and I kept getting the fabrics in the wrong place.  It was frustrating, and I sure wouldn't want to do a big quilt in this pattern!  At least not paper-pieced.

In this photo, you can see the quilting design I came up for the border.  Even after something like 10 years, I'm still happy with it! 

I was bothered by the empty white corners, so I decided to put buttons there.  I was inspired by a book on Crazy Quilts by Judith Baker Montano that my DD had.  I had fun doing them all as differently as I could think up!  I also added beads to the buttons.

Here's Shade, playing with his fleece mousie.  He's been begging to play lately, which just amazes me, as he didn't care for a long time.  He cracks me up - he's a goof-ball with his mousie!

Farewell, September

I survived my oral surgery on Tuesday (tooth extraction), and all I can say is, Yay! for general anesthesia!  I didn't feel so great afterwards, but actually better than when I had a raging infection in the tooth.  So, I'm getting back to normal now.  I'm just suffering with a miserable headache, but it's getting better.

Faultlines 18"w x 14.5"h

Since I haven't been in the quilt studio all week, I'm going to show one of my older quilts.  It's a little quilt that I made as part of my guild's color challenge, I think from about 10 years ago.  However, I'm not sure, as I didn't label the quilt.  (Another reason it's good to label quilts - getting forgetful!)  This was my first paint chip challenge.  We drew two colors of paint chips.  My two colors were very close - kind of  teal and turquoise.  But I really liked them.  I liked them so much, I made two quilts for this challenge, and my DD made one too!  (she wasn't even in the guild)  I'll be showing you the second quilt from this challenge in a few days.

This color was tough to find in fabric.  I did find a 4 color gradation packet, which was a life-saver.  I carried those paint chips around with me to all the quilt shops and quilt shows I went to that year, and eventually found enough fabrics.

Faultlines was my first idea, and I had fun with this.  It's all every-which-way, and it's tough to hang it on the wall straight!  I'm not so sure this photo is straight either.  Sometimes I hang it going in the other direction - it's kind of all-purpose that way.  *grin*

I embellished this with beads; it was my first time using beads.  I used teal beads on the black fabric and black beads on the turquiose fabric.  I don't think you can see this in the photo, but the black is densely quilting in a meandering pattern.

And I decided that using a decorative stitch was fun.  I was going for an "earthquake" idea, and  I thought this looked like the read-out on the earthquake detector machine.  We got used to seeing those on the news in California!

I really enjoyed everyone's answer to my question about quilting.  It seems like we all agonize over how to quilt our quilts.  It seems that some quilts will tell us what they want/need, and other quilts are not helpful! 

Whenever I get stuck on how to quilt, I usually fall back on the old patterns from the antique quilts, like the Baptist Fan, the hanging diamond and also cross-hatching.  You know, the patterns that ignore the peiced pattern and just go all over the quilt.  I still like those, and I think they look good on most quilts.  And I think they're more interesting than just meandering or stippling.  I guess some of it depends on whether you're hand or machine quilting, too.  I do all of my quilts by machine now, due to arthritis in my hands.  And, I'm lazy and want the quilt finished faster!   Do you have a favorite pattern you use?

I met my neighbor yesterday.  We've lived here for 3 years now, and we've waved to each other, but not really met.  She lives down at the other end of the street.  She was set up in her driveway, pin basting a quilt on a frame!  DH saw her when he went to get the mail, and made me come see her (even tho' I was not feeling well and was slopping around in my sweats, with goofy hair).  She's around 80, from what she said, and was getting ready to handquilt the quilt she'd made for her grandson.  It was a non-scrappy log cabin in black and white checkerboard with blues and greens - very modern looking.  Then she took me in her house to show me the queen-size quilt she made for another grandson.  She made this quilt, using black and white graphic prints instead of the indigos.  I loved it!  She's looking for a machine quilter to quilt this one for her, so I'll see what I can find out at quilt guild meeting tomorrow.  I'm really glad I went down the street to meet her! 

See you in October! 

The Bad Blogger . . .

. . . is hanging her head here.  I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted!  I've been lurking and reading all your blogs, but that's all I've managed to do. 

I've been busy and also fighting a couple of nasty infections.  I've got a sinus infection that won't let go and also an abscessed tooth that has to come out on Tuesday.  Ugh . . . I'm really not looking forward to that!  I'm hoping for general anethesia.  I'm such a wimpy chicken at the dentist's.  It seems that the third antibiotic might finally be working on the sinus infection. *fingers crossed*

Before all that started, I managed to get some sewing done.  And I can show you all my "secret" sewing, as it's all been received now.



Fragments - 21 x 19 inches

 Here is my little quilt that I made with the scraps from my Liberated Amish 9-Patch.  I first showed the top back in June.  I finally decided how to quilt it AND got it done.  An upcoming guild meeting with nothing for Show & Tell got me moving on this.

Do you have trouble deciding how to quilt your project?  I'm usually afraid that I'm going to screw it up and that paralyzes me.  I thought about how this piece was kind of an afterthought, and totally free and wonky, and then decided I didn't have to do heirloom quilting here.  So I liked the idea of wonky squares around the squares.  It's not a lot of quilting, but enough for a small wallhanging.

And while I was working on the center, I thought some kind of squares in the border would work nicely.  DH suggested that same idea!  So, it was decided.  I fiddled with a test sample for a little bit, and then did this border pretty quickly.  I was afraid I might sew myself into a corner, but it worked out fine.  I had to stop and think a few times though!

I couldn't find the rest of my fabrics that matched.  I must have put them in a safe location!  So I perused my Great Wall of Fabric, and found this batik.  It is exactly the right colors, and I liked the contrast of the circles with the squares in the quilt.  So, I got one thing finished this month!

Belinda of Brown Dirt Cottage

Julie of Quilter Behind the Barn Door blog

Marj of Eclectic Quilter blog

Here are my Pay It Forward gifts, all completed and now all delivered!  I had fun picking out the fabrics to personalize these for each recipient. Please visit their blogs to see the goodies I put in the bags. 

DH and I went to the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup the other day.  We didn't stay too long, as we only visited the pots and potters at the Artists in Action section, and of course saw the quilts.  There were some beautiful quilts there, but as I forgot to bring the camera, I can't show them to you!  (That bad blogger again!)  There were quite a few I recognized from some of the quilt shows I've been to this year.  I never thought to enter any of mine!  (I've been a bear of very little brain lately, it seems.)  Maybe next year I can get it together enough to do that.

Now, I'm off to the quilt studio to work on my exchange blocks.  I'm making an effort to get some stuff done and out of the way.  I've got too many projects "in process". 

Some Results

I've actually been "laboring" in the quilt studio the last few days.  However, I'm not exactly doing what I'm supposed to be doing!  I think I've gotten all my "secret" sewing done, but of course, I can't show anything until the gifts are received.  I'm supposed to be cutting for the block exchange, and quilting some small quilts.  And I haven't even touched the Halloween fabrics or the I Spy that I showed in the last post.

But I've been OUT of the quilt studio as well.  I was sewing at one friend's house on Friday, and then at another friend's house on Saturday.  That was a lot of fun.  Today, I'm at home in my own studio, and I got inspired this morning (more on that later).

33 inches by 47 inches

Here is the charity quilt I made this week.  I got the botannical fabric (for free!) from my guild in July, and thought I should get this done before too much longer.  The pattern was from the guild as well.  The only fabric I had to buy was the pink, as I didn't have the right color in my stash.  However, I'm not so sure that it was really the right tone, as it's kind of overwheming to me.  Of course, pink is not my favorite color, so it could just be me.  

Here is a closeup so that you can really see the fabrics.  I don't know if you can see it, but the pink exactly matches the pink color in the flower.   I should have gone with a lighter pink, or even a red instead. 

I had fun with this pattern, but it was a little challenging.  First off, I did something wrong while cutting and only got 12 strips out of the strata that I made, not 13, so the quilt is a little skinny, even for a wheelchair quilt.  And you might have noticed that there are no seams to match in this one.  Well, I had a little trouble getting started on that.  You're supposed to start with a half-block, and that was another "oops" somehow.  This was one I was sewing at Friend #1's house, and you know how it is when you're sewing with a group.  Quite a bit of talking going on, and I couldn't concentrate enough to figure this out.  So, when I got home I put it up on the design wall.  Then I could make sense of it, and got it figured out and labeled so that the next day, at Friend #2's house, I could finish sewing the rows together without confusion. 

Now I'm thinking I should piece together one more row to bring the quilt up to the right size.  That would make it 36 inches wide.  I think I have enough fabric to do that, and hopefully have enough left for the binding.  Or, it may have a scrappy binding! 

The next time I do this pattern will definitely be easier!  It seems every quilt I do, I learn more.  Do you find that you do too?

This morning as I was eating my breakfast, I was perusing this magazine that I got way back in the beginning of the year.  I suddenly was inspired, and could hardly wait to get the kitchen cleaned up.  I flew into the quilt studio and started pulling fabrics, etc.  (I was also inspired by Lesley Riley's book.)  Three hours later, I had this done:

Blanche - 5 inches by 8 inches

I'm not sure how I managed this, but it came out just like I had envisioned it! 

I used a piece of fabric I dyed for the background (it was originally a white-on-white), a pre-aged piece of lace from my stash and a photo transfer of a photo from the late 1800's that I found on the internets.  (I actually found it in the archives of the library of the town where I grew up.)  I pulled out my reproduction prints to make the little patchwork.  I even *hand-quilted* that little piece before I added it to the quiltlet.      

That's not to say there wasn't a learning curve with this.  If I had it to do over, I think I'd cut the background a little smaller (I may still trim the sides on this yet), and I definitely would have trimmed the seam allowances off the little patchwork piece.  It's too uneven.  And I think the two prints I used in the patchwork are too much the same size - not enough contrast.  The pieces are so small (1 inch finished squares) that it's hard to find a fabric that is the right scale.  But I still love it!  I hope to make some more, maybe with family photos.  That would be fun.

So, even though I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm still doing!  I'm trying to resist making a little quilt like Kathleen Tracy showed on her blog.(scroll down - it's the last quilt on the post).  I love a blue and white quilt, and I love doll quilts.  And the title of her post isn't helping!  hee hee!  So, I'm trying to resist that siren call!

When I'm not sewing, I've been watching Netflix on the computer.  I've been watching Season 1 of 'Dead Like Me', which I'm enjoying more and more.  And I watched a Biography segment on the Kellogg brothers.  (think "Corn Flakes").  Last night I watched "Royal Wedding" (with Fred Astaire).  Loved it!  A classic that I had never seen.  I don't know what I'll watch tonight - there's so many choices!  I LOVE Netflix!

  

I hope everyone is having a fun, creative weekend!

September Already?!

Hey!  What happened to August??  Where'd it go?  I was just getting used to summer, and now it's leaving!  I want more August, please.

Seriously, August seems to have just evaporated!  I guess it was a busy month.  Pottery camp went very well, and both boys seemed to have had a good time.  Lots of pottery was made, lots of fish were caught (and released), and plenty of canoe time was had.  No one got homesick and no one got hurt so I'd call that pretty successful.  The only glitch was the last few days of Boy #2, when we had some major septic issues.  But he was a trooper and never complained.  At least I didn't hear him complaining over my complaining.  We finally got things all sorted out and squared away, after 3 days and many $$$.  Did you ever notice that plumbers are hard to find over the weekend?  And how come the septic only has issues on the weekend?  Sure made me miss city sewer systems!  Oh well, I guess it's the price we pay to enjoy the country life.

After that, the rest of the month is kind of a blur.  I really don't remember anything much.  I was having some allergy issues, and just trying to get caught up after pottery camp and the septic issues (lots of laundry).  And, to add insult, yesterday, Aug 31st, our high temperature was 58* F and it rained all day.  A little foretaste of what's to come.  I swear, some of the trees are starting to turn, the flowers are all on their last legs, and it's starting to feel a little "autumn-y".  I'm not ready!

Not a lot of sewing has been occuring here, what with all the other stuff going on.  Plus, I was kind of "sewn out" after the two challenge quilts.  And, I've been working on some secret projects, so I can't show you much of what has been happening in the studio.  So, the last two days, my brain has seemed to kick in (finally) and I had some ideas.  So, I made up some sample blocks to test my ideas.

Here is my first block for an I Spy quilt for my DGD #2.  I'm way over-due on making her one of these.  Big Sister got hers when she was two, and DGD #2 is 5 now and starting kindergarten.  So, I finally got started on it.  It's a Disappearing 9-Patch, and this is the configuration I'm thinking of using.  The white fabric and the purple dots fabric will be consistent throughout the quilt - the purple matches her bedroom.  I've now cut way more I Spy blocks than I need for the quilt, so I'll have to thin the herd a bit as I sew.  I learned on my first I Spy quilt to not have all the squares going in the same direction (Thanks, Katie!).  It makes the quilt more interesting, and easier to put together, which is the big factor for me.  Especially with this block!

I'm going to be participating in a block exchange with my friends from California, including Purple Pam and Roberta.  We'll be using brights.  Here's just a sample of what I've picked out.  Think they're bright enough??  This one is gonna be fun!  (And why won't this picture go in the center like the other ones??)

And lastly, this increasingly fall-like weather is making me think of Halloween.  I love Halloween, and seeing a pile of cute Halloween fabrics over at Tonya's blog got my brain engaged.  I love Bonnie's free patterns at Quiltville and Scrappy Trips is one of my favorites.  I've made two of them already.  So, I got to thinking. what if I used 3 inch cut strips instead of 2 1/2 inch?  That would make a bigger block, which would make it even faster to make a quilt.  And it would show off some of the bigger Halloween prints better too.  So, I had to test it out. 

Yep, it works!  Of course, my brain wasn't totally with me on the first block.  I cut everything at 3 1/2 inches instead of 3 inches.  Rats! --- Do over!  The 2nd time was much better.  I used up some really crummy fabrics to test, so no biggie that it didn't work the first time.  This makes a 15 inch finished block, so I only need 20 blocks instead of 35 or so.  This would also work for the Scrappy Bargello, which is calling to me lately.  Who knows. . . I might get so excited that I'll cut for both quilts!  That would make a pretty good dent in my Halloween fabrics.

So, I guess I'm getting excited about sewing again.  Now I just need to get in the studio and start cutting and sewing.  Let the fabric fly!