Blog

Yikes! Spiders on a Baby Quilt!

6 Comments

A new little girl was recently born into our family. My nephew and his wife have been the subject of a few of my blog posts. You may remember them as the ones who brought me back African fabric from their time in the Gambia with the Peace Corps (click here for a post about those fabrics, and click here for one with Kevin, Alex and the wedding quilt I made them that was inspired by, and backed with, those fabrics).

Roan Mary Walters is a joy! And she needed a quilt 😄. Last summer my Open Lab group met a number of times in each other’s yards, and on one of those days we brought in items to share. I picked up an unfinished top with fabric inspired by the book The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

For some reason I just knew it would be the perfect quilt for Roan, so I layered it with bright green fleece and straight line quilted it on my HQ Sweet 16 with my channel ruler.

Then I free-motion quilted 5 of the red squares with my own webs just for fun.

I quilted “Made with love for Roan Mary by Aunt Chris” along with the words to “Jesus Loves Me” in the borders.

And in no time it was done. I showed it to Mike and he was a little surprised that I would make a quilt with spiders on it for a little girl. That thought hadn’t crossed my mind (this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned that we don’t always think alike 🤪). I chose to move forward anyways and wrapped it up with a copy of the book. We gave it to Roan when we saw everyone on Mother’s Day. Not only did Kevin and Alex love it, but Kevin’s brother Adam said he wanted one for himself (my nephew Adam is a grown man who did a tour of duty in Iraq! I guess I’m going to have to do some searching for more VB spider fabric online).

Here’s Roan with her new quilt and her grandma Mary Sue.

If you’ve heard any of my lectures you may remember me mentioning my dear sister-in-law who talked me into taking a quilting class back in 1987, never finished her first quilt, and contributed greatly to my addiction!!! This is her! And I’ll be indebted to her forever 😊.

Homestead Barn Sale

8 Comments

While driving home from the farmer’s market in Ft. Atkinson a few weeks ago, Mike and I followed some signs to a barn sale. We found a beautiful old barn filled with treasures galore. When we stepped inside the ladies running the sale were very welcoming. There were oodles of interesting items and a lot of variety. Furniture, jewelry, barn boards, tools, toys, sewing items, and a whole lot more. And the prices were reasonable.

In one of the small rooms at the end of the barn I noticed a large, lovely framed photograph of a bride. There was something familiar about her.

On the other side of the room I discovered a large framed photo of the barn I was standing in, with the family name Spangler.

This brought back memories of my friend Diane, a very talented quilter who used to take my classes in Watertown. I heard she had passed away a few years ago, and I was quite sure she lived on Hwy Y near Johnson Creek. And… one of the women who greeted us resembled her. So I went back to the front table and asked her if she was related to Diane Spangler. Not only was she Diane’s daughter Lynn, but we had actually met years before at WCTC where we were both teaching. What a small world! That was when Lynn said that when she first saw me she thought I looked familiar too. She introduced me to her sister Amy and we had a wonderful conversation. I actually know their brother Mike too, since I own 2 of his Tracey’s Tables!

Lynn showed me the family tree charts that were hanging in the room with the photographs and I learned that the farm had been in the family for 5 generations.

Note the stack of vintage ironing boards. I have one that I’ve used as a sideboard in my dining room for years.

I asked them about the sale. They said that they had moved back into the family homestead a few years ago and began going through Diane’s things. She had many nice vintage items and they didn’t want to have a simple garage sale. Then Lynn was given the responsibility for handling the estates of two different friends who had passed away, one of which was quite a collector (bordering on horder). They decided to have a Homestead Barn Sale and knew they had enough to run it all Summer long, as they continued to go through the estates.

I asked them if they had a schedule and this is what they sent me:

Our 2021 sale weekend schedule is set as follows:
June 10-13
June 24-27
July 15-18
July 29-August 1
August 12-15
August 26-29
September 9-12
September 23-26
September 30-October 3

We will be open for all sales on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays; 9 am to 5 pm Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and 9 am to 4 pm on Sundays.

We are located 1 mile south of Johnson Creek, just past Rob’s Motorsports. You can also find your way to our sale from Highway 18 near the former St. Coletta campus just east of Jefferson. Watch for the big pink signage. Our address is N5761 County Road Y, Johnson Creek. Sometimes GPS likes the street address as N5761 C-r Y better.

Please PULL INTO THE DRIVEWAY to park. Park on the grass if needed. Safety is of utmost importance. Don’t leave your pet in the car. Bring a leash. We usually add new items daily and definitely add new items for each sale. Come see what’s new at The Homestead Barn.

Koda (our 5 month old puppy) liked their dog friendly attitude! We went back this past weekend to take a few more photos (and buy a few more treasures).

Everything was neat and well organized. Lynn confided that her mom would be pleased to have her things displayed with this much love, and would have hated a jumbled rummage sale. Here are just a few of the treasures I brought home:

The book is a bridal shower gift. When I saw santa peeking out of the bottom of the jar of red buttons, I couldn’t resist it. The Sunbonnet Sue needle case will be a wonderful addition to my collection. There are actually 6 plates that coordinate but don’t match. And… don’t miss my new $3 ring. Very unique — and they had a lot of jewelry.

If you live in southeastern Wisconsin, I highly recommend taking a ride out in the country to visit Lynn and Amy. If you do, please let them know you heard about it here 😊.

Laundering a Large Quilt

15 Comments

I think it’s finally time to take the winter quilts off the beds and clean them for storage (It’s 92 degrees today, although in Wisconsin you can never be too sure 😊). My friend Mary recently asked me for advice on doing this and I thought it might be helpful to share it with the rest of you. Here’s what I find works well for me:

I would avoid dry cleaning, especially since all the materials are washable.

Choose a rainfree/windfree day. Use a front loading washer, as it uses centrifugal force rather than the agitation of the toploader that can put pressure on stitches.

Load the quilt and select cold or lukewarm water and Orvus soap. This is available at quilt shops in small quantities or at Farm and Fleet – as a horse soap where it is much less expensive. I use it for delicates and it’s great for other laundry, especially if you have a septic system; as you need only a tablespoon per load, and it’s very gentle. Since we’re using cool water to wash the quilt, I dissolve the Orvus in a cup of warm water before adding it to the machine (can you tell I used this wooden spoon when dyeing my denim blue socks?)

Once the quilt is washed, I lay a sheet beneath the washer opening and gently dump the quilt out onto the sheet. Try not to yank or stretch anything as wet threads break easily.

Wrap it up in the sheet and carry it outside “Santa” style.

Lay a dry sheet out over an area of grass or a clump of bushes

and lay the wet quilt on it to air dry – this again is easier on the stitches than hanging it on a line.

If the sun is bright, or there is a fear of bird droppings, cover the quilt with another sheet. You may need to place heavy objects at the corners of the sheets to keep things from blowing if on the ground, or use clothspins to hold the sheet to the bush.

Once it’s dry – or almost dry – it can be air fluffed in the dryer on no/low heat for a few minutes. And remember to do any mending on the quilt before you carefully store it for the summer.

***************************

I’m posting this week from the Cattail retreat center near Lodi Wisconsin. This is the third time I’ve been with this group and we’re having a wonderful time!

Sewing,

eating our retreat treats (and so much more),

and getting things done!

It’s been a blast and I’d like to leave you with a smile. Saturday was Laura’s birthday and we gave her a card from the gang:

We decided it almost looked like us, but not quite. Photoshop to the rescue – and Laura even joined in as a cat (per her request).

Happy birthday Laura! Thanks for planning another wonderful retreat!

Accordion Door Quilts

2 Comments

Last week Suzanne commented that she’d like to know how I make an accordion door quilt (click here to read that post). I’ve been asked if I would ever teach a class on this technique and my answer is always “I don’t think anyone else is crazy enough to want to make three quilts to get one” 🤣. But I guess there are a few of us out there, so I decided to share the basics now. I did a bit of searching and discovered I had covered this technique briefly once before, but that was back in 2013 – so let’s do it again.

The first time I made an accordion door quilt was back in the late 1990’s. It was made for a contest with the theme “Reflections”. Making hand mirrors with the reflections of the women who were part of my quilting journey seemed like a good idea. These included my great, great grandmother Mary (lower left). She is the only quilter in my family tree. I never met her but I own, and treasure, 2 of her quilts. My mom is in the upper left mirror and she taught me how to sew when I was 7. She is still one of my biggest cheerleaders (Dad’s the other – praise the LORD!) My dear friend Sharon is in the mirror on the lower right. She taught me how to quilt when I was 40 and is still one of my closest friends. And the last mirror is of me. I included interlocking circles to represent the Trinity (since my faith is a huge part of my inspiration as an artist), and I connected them all with a twisting red thread.

This quilt was interesting, but it wasn’t interesting enough to enter into the contest, so I made a second quilt the exact same size. The design began in the lower left corner with log cabin blocks similar to those in one of my grandma Mary’s quilts. These blocks morphed into a variation of my Parallelisms quilts. I felt it represented my earliest quilt inspiration in one corner flowing into my passion at that time, art quilts, on the other.

As you can guess, I had to find a way to put them together and the accordian door quilt was born. I call it “Reflections of My Quilting Heritage”. The base quilt I made to hang the “accordion door” from measures 70″ x 50″ and contains small shisha mirrors which I hand embroidered in place to keep the reflections theme going. It was all put together through the magic of Velcro™.

A few years later I felt the urge to make another one, but smaller. It was inspired by a stack of vintage double wedding ring arcs a friend found at a rummage sale. She gave them to me and I gave one to each of the members of the Milwaukee Art Quilters and asked them to do something creative with it. I began by putting paper backed fusible on the back of my arc and cutting it into skinnier arcs. Then I fused them to a background fabric in a swirling design and quilted concentric circles. The blue lines are where the quilt will be cut.

I pieced and quilted a more traditional intersection of double wedding ring arcs for the second quilt (cutting lines marked here too).

Both quilts were cut on the blue lines and laid out in alternating strips which I zig-zag stitched together with invisible thread, and then bound the entire piece.

On the back I stitched a length of the hook portion of Velcro™ tape along both sides and down every other seam (the grandmothers flower garden on the back is a preprinted cheater fabric). I used white and black Velcro™ because that’s what I had on hand.

On the base quilt I sewed the loop Velcro™ strips.

The Velcro™ strips are then matched up and this is the finished quilt from the left and right:

How Beautiful – Liberty is the third and most recent in my series.

I’m not sure if/when I have another one in me, but if you decide to play around with this crazy technique please send me pictures!

PS If you’d like to see all the other Objet D’Arc quilts in the Milwaukee Art Quilter’s “double wedding ring arc” challenge click here.

A Time Saving Machine

7 Comments

Last week Joanne commented that she wanted to know more about my Brother Scan ‘n Cut™. I’m actually using it on a current project and it is such a time and “hand” saver. Let me start at the beginning 😊.

A few years ago you might remember I made a quilt entitled “How Beautiful – Liberty”. It was one of my accordian door quilts, so it was made as 3 quilts: 2 were cut into vertical slices and sewn back together alternately, and the third was the base for the others to hang from. When viewed from the front the center portion is a bit confusing:

But by simply moving a few feet to the left you can see the New York Beauty quilt,

and viewed from the right the true New York Beauty appears!

While making the base quilt I wanted to include the first sentence in the Declaration of Independence, but how to make those tiny letters??? My husband suggested there must be a device that would save me from all that intricate and laborious cutting. So I called my friend Wendy at Sew Much More and she recommended the Scan ‘n Cut™. I did a post on how well it made the letters back in 2015 and you can click here to read all about it.

Since then I’ve used the Scan ‘n Cut™ for a variety of projects with great results. Many letters and shapes are loaded in the machine’s memory, so many projects can be created on the screen. Plus Brother™ has a site on the web called “Canvas” in which many, many more projects and alphabets can be found.

I made the words for my postcards featured in last week’s post with an alphabet in the Scan ‘n Cut™.

This week I began a new project in which I wanted to make 6 identical moths in fabric. I found a photo I liked

and traced the 3 different colored areas onto the paper side of fusible web. I ironed them to the appropriate fabric, cut them out by hand, and fused them all together. It worked, but my hand ached. That’s when I remembered the scanning feature on my Scan ‘n Cut™. I traced those 3 shapes again, onto paper this time, and placed it on the sticky area of the Scan ‘n Cut™ mat.

I loaded it into the machine, but this time I used the scanning feature to save my image in the Scan ‘n Cut™ memory. I was able to crop out the empty moth body shape in my scan and duplicate it 5 times on the screen to create my first “project”. I ironed the fusible web to the back of the black fabric, put it on the sticky mat, and chose the cutting feature this time to cut out 5 identical black moth bodies.

I was thrilled. I left the paper from the fusible web on the back of these shapes and went back to my original scan to crop out the shape to be cut from the dark blue fabric. I made a new project screen with 5 of those shapes. They were rather intricate and this time I was not thrilled 😟. The machine didn’t cut the tiny areas well at all and everything bunched up, and there were many areas that didn’t even cut through (sorry, I was frustrated and didn’t think to snap a photo).

It was then I had a lightbulb moment. I’ve been using this machine for over 5 years and never changed the blade. The size of the blade and the way it works is mind-boggling to me. This is what you see of it in the holder (it’s so tiny I had a difficult time getting a clear shot):

I decided to watch a few videos about it before purchasing a new blade and realized the whole area needed regular cleaning (duh). I took the unit apart and it was full of lint. I cleaned out the case with a dry cotton swab:

and used it to wipe off the blade also:

Once it was back together it cut the dark blue pieces perfectly! I fused them onto the black moth bodies.

The light blue portion of the wings was just as intricate – and the machine did a wonderful job! The background cutaway on the right is just laying on the mat loosely after I pulled it away from the wing pieces (please ignore the black lines on the mat – they were an oops from a previous project):

After fusing these final pieces in place

I was very pleased!

And so happy I didn’t have to cut it all out by hand. My hands don’t do the intricate cutting as well as they used to, so this machine is a real blessing to me!

The additional detail on the moths will be stitched in. These moths will be part of a new challenge quilt I’m making. Stay tuned to see what comes of them!

Fun Mail

3 Comments

Ever since I was a child I’ve loved getting mail, and in response to a few of my recent posts I’ve really been enjoying the daily trip to the mailbox.

In April I posted about my first “Non-virtual” class since the pandemic began (click here to read that post). My friend, Jo Jacobi, followed that post up with this email:

“Hi Chris, I love reading your blogs! The one you posted about teaching Seminole patchwork reminded me of one the first quilting classes I took. Helen Kelly taught Seminole at a WQI Symposium. My project is still a UFO but I was so enthusiastic that a friend gave me an authentic Seminole apron and tiny doll. Probably made for the Florida tourists. I want to give them a good home instead of keeping them stored away. I will send them to you if you give me your mailing address.”

The package arrived a few days later and I was thrilled!

The child’s size apron is delightful and the tiny doll is only 3″ tall! She is wearing a beaded necklace and her head is even made with the traditional palmetto leaves.

I’m looking forward to sharing them in future classes. Thanks so much Jo!

On top of that I received 2 postcards after my Fabric Postcard post (click here to read that post). Christy’s was the first:

The hummingbird on the front is lovely. Then a few days later Marilynn’s flying geese flew into my box:

These were so much fun to receive that I decided I needed to return the favor. But what design should I use for the front of the cards? I pulled down the bin containing my paints and inks, with the intent to create something pretty, only to find a stack of fabric pieces I’d made on a previous “play day”. They were perfect for the cards, so I cut them to 4″ x 6″ and fused them to rectangles of a very stiff interfacing I found in another bin.

The cards were pretty, but most needed a focal point.

It was time to pull the Scan n Cut off the shelf and cut out some letters.

I stitched down the words. Then these card fronts were fused to another piece of fabric from the bin for the backs.

I satin stitched around them for the finishing touch (Marilynn and I both learned not to put cardstock on the back because it tears away along the dotted line). Then messages were written, addresses/stamps applied, and they were off to return the smiles to some of my friends.

What a blessing quilting friends are!

Fascinating Fasteners

Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago I received an email from my friend Alice with photos of a lovely wall hanging. Our mutual friend Mary sent the photos to her and I was so pleased to have Alice include me in the sharing. If you look closely you’ll see that all of the designs were made from sewing fasteners!

Who knew you could make something so beautiful from snaps, hooks and eyes??? I contacted Mary and got this wonderful story to go with the photographs:

“Greetings, Chris!
What a delightful surprise to hear from you – and to hear that our photos had made their way to you.  As a result of your inquiry, I had a delightful phone conversation this morning with the resident (Clara Bleak) who made the hanging.  We met her briefly the first day we were here, but, because of COVID, I have not talked with her since.  
Clara lives at Founders Ridge in Bloomington, MN.  At one time she made all her own clothing, but other than mending and hemming she no longer sews. (Frank thinks she is in her 90s.)   Clara designed and made the black and white wallhanging while she and her husband lived in France where he was working.  She said, “I needed something to do.”  (Isn’t it wonderful how creativity can be nurtured in times of isolation?)  Clara has given the other wallhangings she designed and sewed at that time to her niece – said she has meant to ask her niece for photos of them.  The other wall hangings incorporate embroidery and brass hairpins and other little items she found in France. She said this wall hanging “got lost in the back of a closet”, so she decided to hang it on her door.  I noted that she has not signed or dated it.
You are welcome!
Gratefully, Mary”

Clara certainly has an eye for artistic placement of these utilitarian elements. What an imagination!

I was planning to put together a project for a future beading class and I’m thinking I may need to include some fasteners. Thank you Mary… and Clara!

Fabric Postcards

1 Comment

The idea of fabric postcards has been around for quite a while. Recently this topic has been brought to my attention from 2 different directions, so I had to do a post!

I taught a virtual Compass Capers workshop for the Hot Springs Village Quilters in March. It was a 3 hour Zoom class in which everyone drafted a compass and then I demonstrated how to paper piece them. It was a great learning experience for me and I think it went quite well. Grace sent me a photo of the compass she made the day after the class! Wow!

Don’t you just love the colors? And look at all those wonderful points!

Then, a little over a week later I received this fabric postcard in the mail from Patty!

It’s spectacular! The Compass is 3″ in diameter – and surrounded with cherry fabric (since I mentioned in my lecture that Kirsch is German for cherries). What a thoughtful and very much appreciated gift!!! I don’t have Patty’s email, so I’d like to send a huge thank-you to her now!

This is the back of her card:

The postcard arrived in a plastic sleeve.

I’m so glad it made it through the mail and I will treasure it.

During this time the ThreadBenders fiber art group I belong to decided to have a postcard challenge. We were to make a card and send it to the member who originated the idea, by a prespecified date. We each took photos front and back before they were mailed. Here’s mine:

I decided to make a small, simple, raw-edged landscape. Once the top was done I glue sticked it to a piece of cardstock and satin stitched around the outer edge. Bad plan. All the stitching holes allowed the card to immediately tear out along the perforations and I had to fuse it back into place. Then I added one line of stitching to be sure it wouldn’t come apart. We were all to photograph our postcards before we sent them in case they didn’t make it.

I went to our local post office and was told it needed to be weighed and hand stamped. A postage label was printed and trimmed to fit. And my postcard was on it’s way.

Eight of us participated and Cindy brought them to the following meeting. It was fun to see all the cards and hear their stories.

Cindy sent herself a card she made from a fabric printed for this very purpose.
Laura had the most “postcard making” experience and even had the proper plastic sleeve for mailing.
This card arrived at Cindy’s in great condition. Vicki said she sent an identical postcard to her son and it was badly mangled.

We really enjoyed seeing all the cards and Cindy did a great job of presenting them at the last meeting. There were many different techniques used in making the cards – and many different mailing methods. The ones that just stuck on a stamp made it as well as those who made the trip to the post office for the “recommended” way. If you look at the postage you may notice that my trust in my local PO cost me more than any of the others – and didn’t look as nice 🤣.

I enjoyed participating in this fun challenge, and I’m pretty sure Cindy enjoyed recieving all the cards.

The best part for me was finding Patty’s fabric postcard in my mailbox. Receiving them is even more fun than making them! Thanks again Patty! I’m encouraged to send out my own cards in the future and bring a smile to my friends! I think sending one to Patty is at the top of my list!