Grandmother's Cabin

I finally finished my quilt last week, Grandmother's Cabin, and thought I would share some photos with you, since I know I am long overdue for an update.  Some of these pictures are before I put the binding on, some are with a different camera so colors may vary, but you get the idea. 

I had hoped I'd finish it long before now, but a few of life's interruptions during the month of September pushed my finish date up a bit further than I originally planned.  However, I was still able to meet a deadline I had set for entering it into several shows coming up, so on that note, I am quite pleased it is done and ready to send off into the quilt show world.

"Grandmother's Cabin"

I made the top back in 2012 and it has been sitting in a closet waiting to be quilted up until a couple of months ago.  I knew I wanted a lot of quilting on it, but really wasn't certain as to how elaborate I wanted it to be.

The log cabin blocks were foundation-pieced on paper.  The hexagon flowers were made using the English paper-piecing method.  The Dresden plates and the hexagon flower vine are all hand-appliqued.  This is only the second quilt I have ever hand-appliqued.

Since the quilt is so busy visually with so many pieces and such a wide variety of different fabrics, I decided to keep the quilting clean and simple with lots of grid quilting and straight lines.  Although though there is still a ton of quilting, it tends to play a more supportive "background" role instead of obliterating the details of the quilt itself.   This is also the first time I have used a wool batting, which is Hobb's Tuscany Wool.  The top thread is Wonderfil Invisafil 100 weight and the bobbin thread is Wonderfil DecoBob 80 weight.  The quilt finishes at 91 inches square, the log cabin blocks are 9 inches and the border is approximately 9 1/2 inches wide.

 

I did mark every single line with a fine-tipped water-soluble blue pen.  The grid lines are a half-inch apart and all of the lines were quilted with free-motion quilting.  The only thing I used the walking foot on is the narrow cable in the border.  The log cabin blocks are free-motion quilted in the ditch, spiraling out from the center by quilting in the seam line of each strip.



My inspiration for this quilt came from my infatuation with traditional quilts from the 1930s.  After I finished the log cabin blocks and was deciding on a border, I got the idea to combine a couple of classic quilt motifs that are easily recognizable into a single quilt to pay tribute to the 30s era as well as to our grandmothers that made them.  Since I also love scrap quilts as well as collecting fabrics that are reminiscent of the Depression Era, I challenged myself to use as many fabrics in the quilt as possible.  I kept the overall values on the lighter side in order to evoke a sense of the pastel, candy colors associated with that time period.  This is an original design and there is no pattern available.



And finally I would like to send out a big thank you to all of you who have been e-mailing me as to my whereabouts, your various questions, and the lovely comments I receive on my tutorials.  I am so flattered and appreciative of all the e-mails, as well as being overwhelmed at the interest in my work.  You never really know how many people you reach when you blog, but I will say that the response from all of you is very gratifying and I wish there was a way I could meet you all in person to say thanks from the bottom of my heart!  Until next time. . . Happy Quilting!

Finished. . .Finally!

Well, my Ocean Waves quilt is finally finished and I am really happy with how it turned out and ready to move on! 

I still have lots to do as far as decorating/re-decorating our bedroom goes, but this quilt was probably the most labor intensive part of the project, so now I feel like I can officially BEGIN with the rest of my to-do list now that this is done.  I started this quilt in mid-December and have put off so many other things these last few months in order to stay focused on this quilt.  But now I am really ready to play catch up, including a major spring cleaning of our house.

I did get my Bernina 710 back in time to finish the quilt.  I had probably done about 80% of the quilting with my old 440 and it worked great through the entire process.  But having the 710 and the extra space under the arm made a world of difference!  I could easily quilt the feathered wreaths in the center of the quilt without cramming the rest of the quilt under the machine.  It was wonderful!  And between free-motion quilting and straight line quilting with the walking foot, I had no issues with the Invisafil thread shredding this time around.  Hooray! 

For those of you that are curious, the upper thread is Invisafil (100% polyester, 100 weight, very fine) and the bobbin thread is Mettler Metrosene (100% polyester, fine).   The batting is Hobb's Heirloom 80% cotton/20% polyester.  I use this batting predominately because I really like a flat, crinkled, vintage look.  I did wash the quilt prior to binding it.  I know many quilters have made the transition over to the wool battings but I have yet to do so.  Something about wool in Florida just doesn't sound appealing to me!  But I do think the quilts that are quilted with the wool battings are just spectacular and I will probably eventually try one just to see if I like it.

All the straight lines, the two cable borders, and the straight lines behind the large feathered border were done with a walking foot.  The feathered wreaths in the white squares and feathered border were all free-motioned.  I did use the Schmetz #75/11 quilting needle and I did slow down my quilting speed.  I also lowered my tension even more than what my dealer suggested.  Part of the reason for this is that I used a pale pink thread in the bobbin to match the backing and with the tension set at 3.0, I could see little pink dots of thread coming to the top of the quilt in the holes the needle left behind.  So for free-motion quilting I set the tension down to 2.0 and for walking foot quilting, I set the tension at 2.25.  The stitch quality looks fine on both the front and back and this eliminated any bobbin thread from showing on the top side.  I did not have a single thread breakage!  Back to being a happy quilter!

And I just want to thank those of you that cheered me on for my perseverance!  I appreciate the support!  I'm sure you've all been in a situation at least once where you keep asking yourself, why the heck am I going to so much trouble and aggravation??  But the extra effort is generally worth it in the end and I will admit that I really am happy with the way this turned out.

And one last thank you. . . .I LOVE all of the comments and e-mails you all are sending me and I am just so overwhelmed at the response I've gotten from all of you!  I know I don't blog nearly as often as many popular bloggers do, but I really do appreciate your loyalty and sticking around in spite of that.  You really have no idea how broad of an audience you have when you blog, there are stats you can check to see how many hits a post gets, but as far as readership, I am truly clueless as to how big of an audience I have.  Sometimes I wish I could take a roll call!  But it is just so reassuring to have real live feedback from you and it lets me know that I am not just writing to some void in outer space!  So again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, and for your support!  Hugs to all of you! 

I may be gone for a bit longer between posts since I have tons to catch up on, but don't worry, I will update you as soon as I have something to show you again.  Happy Quilting. . .

Irish Blue

I thought I would squeeze a quick post in before the month of May is over!  I've been sidetracked this month, working on some old needlework projects and framing some pieces that have been sitting around for years in the closet, so I only managed to get one quilt finished, but I thought I'd do a little show and tell anyway.

I finished quilting this quilt earlier this month and thought you all would like to see more cables done with a walking foot.  This is a triple Irish Chain quilt I did a few years back in blue and white as a class sample for a workshop I taught.  I waited to quilt it until recently, it's been one of several in a stack needing to be quilted.  This quilt was also a tester for a border cable I've been wanting to try as well as a feathered wreath in the alternating white blocks.

I know it may be somewhat difficult to see the quilting in some of these pics, once again, a photographer I am not!  But I did try shining a lamp off to the side so the quilting would show a little more.  There is also a small cable in the inner white border.  The straight lines and all the cable quilting were done with a walking foot.

Don't you love this cable?  I had seen a similar one on an antique quilt long ago and then came across a drawing of it in a very old quilt magazine.  I photocopied it, enlarging it many times, and then reworked it to figure out the repeats so that it would fit on my border.  The inner cable is from a stencil I have, perfect for a narrow space.

This was another experiment, trying free-motioned feather wreaths.  I will admit, I am not a big free-motion quilter, although I have done some.  I love the look, but don't really enjoy doing it, mainly because I wind up with such a sore neck and back, I feel like I've been in a car accident!  And I do try very hard not to tense up, but it still requires a great amount of physical and mental energy, no matter how much I try to relax.  But that being said, I am thrilled with the results.

Here you can see how the border wraps the corner of the quilt, a bit different than many that you see.  And if you look closely at the inner white border, I just ran it into the seamline and didn't bother wrapping the corner on that one.  So it works either way, it's really a matter of taste and how much extra work you want to put into it.

And a quick note here, this quilt is really VERY white, but once again, due to lighting and amateur photography, you are seeing a dirty beige!  I'm sorry, but I figured in this case, you really needed to see the quilting more than all that whiteness.

For those of you that are curious, the batting I used is Hobb's 80/20, whoops, my mistake, it is Mountain Mist 100% cotton.  Normally I use Hobb's 80/20, but I wanted to try this one out for a change.  And I loved it, it's very thin and drapes well, very similar to an antique quilt.  The top thread I quilt with is Wonderfil's Invisafil, my absolute favorite thread for quilting.  It is very fine, similar to silk at 100 wt., but is a very soft polyester and very strong.  It sinks into the fabric, so you see the indentation, not the thread, and it works extremely well for scrappy quilts when you have a wide array of colors and prints, blending in almost perfectly on most colors.  I have used it now exclusively for many years and absolutely love it.  And in the bobbin I used Wonderfil's Konfetti 50 wt. Egyptian cotton, a very nice, low-lint cotton thread.

And finally, I want to put out a HUGE thank you and GIANT group hug to all of you that have commented or e-mailed me on the tutorial I posted on quilting cables with a walking foot!!!  I am BLOWN AWAY at the response I received, I truly had no idea it would reach so many of you!  It makes me happier than words can say to hear from you.  And to know there are like-minded women out there that feel the same way I do about traditional style quilting is just so reassuring to know that I am not alone in how I feel!  Let me just say that when I started this blog, it was a bit nerve wracking writing to "air" and not thinking that anyone would read or care what I had to say.  So I just have to let you all know that bloggers DO want your comments, especially me!  And I hope that all of you that took the time to write received my replies because I did respond to everyone.  If you aren't getting a response from me, please let me know!  I am still trying to figure this all out and sometimes it's by the seat of my pants.

Hope you continue to be inspired!  Until next time. . . .Happy Quilting!!!