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From Flop to Functional

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I’m sure you’re aware that not every project I attempt turns out well, but who would write a blog post about it? Well, as the last huge snow pile melts away at the end of our driveway

I made the decision to share one last winter story. You may ask “why would I want to share the story of a project gone wrong?” Perhaps for the lessons learned, how I turned it around, or simply because it’s nice to know we all have flops 😄. So here goes.

Over the years I have become passionate about bamboo socks, especially those hand-dyed by Wendy Richardson. I would purchase a few pairs every time I visited her booth at a quilt show.

Since I’m allergic to wool, these very warm/soft alternatives have gotten me through many winters. I love them so much that many pairs are wearing out in both the heel and ball of the foot. Because of the pandemic there are no shows to buy more (Wendy doesn’t sell them on her website).

So, during the midst of our very snowy winter I decided to dye socks. I’ve taken some classes and I love the effect of dyeing. My favorite was a class on ice dyeing Laura and I took with Cindy Lohbeck in Paducah a few years ago (click here to read that post).

Those results were great, but I usually don’t fare as well on my own and I’ve been known to say that I’d rather support those who are good at dyeing than to dye it myself. I should have stuck with that statement. But…

I found prepared for dyeing bamboo socks online and decided it was worth a try. I tend to wear blue and black jeans most often, so I decided to use those colors and make it simple. Since I didn’t plan on doing a lot of dyeing, I took the easy way out and bought Rit dye, etc. at my local JoAnns (all of you hand-dyers out there have my permission to stop reading at this point). I mixed it up and put it into squirty type bottles I found around the house.

I then set up the bin according to Cindy’s directions, soaked the socks and manipulated them for fun effects across the mesh. I even diagramed the different manipulations for future reference.

It was then time to brave the cold and I invited Frosty to help. I have found I prefer the results of dyeing with ice, but the snow was so plentiful I couldn’t resist it.

I sprinkled on a good covering of snow, squirted on the dye, and put the bin in the shed to do it’s magic. When I checked an hour later the temperature in the barn wasn’t warm enough to melt the snow or let the dye through. I was still hopeful things would work and brought it in the house for some melting time.

I was extremely disappointed when I scooped off the last of the snow a few hours later only to discover the socks were HIDEOUSLY UGLY! Barely any denim or black had reached the socks, but there were awful purply “veins” here and there over a pale gray dinginess. I couldn’t even force myself to take a photo – because I knew this would never make my blog 🤣.

Instead I went back to the store, got some more dye and overdyed them in denim blue and black. I love them!

Looking back I can see where I erred. The snow layer was too thick. The whole thing needed to be placed somewhere warm right away so the dye could melt through quickly. The snow/dye should have been removed sooner because everything got very diluted. And I’m sure there are many more. I’m really hopeful the quilt shows will return, Wendy will have socks for sale once again, and I can support a very talented artist while getting the beautiful socks I love. Until then – solid is good enough. I’m grateful for a happy ending!

I think it’s always nice to know that other people have flops too. Any of you have a story to share???

And one last thought. The photograph at the top of this post is of the cuffs of all the socks I’ve worn out. They were so pretty I just couldn’t throw them away, so I cut them off and piled them on the counter hoping inspiration would strike. I’m coming up with bupkis so far. Any thoughts???

A Quilted Theater?

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A friend told me about an Artisan’s Market in Watertown that sells items made in Wisconsin. Mike and I decided to stop by and enjoyed the locally made woolen goods, wooden items, pottery and specialty foods (they even have fresh duck eggs!). The Artisan Market is at 111 N. 4th St. Click here for their website. I highly recommend visiting our town. Watertown boasts many delightful shops in it’s downtown, including our favorite bakery: Sweet Talkin Treats. Our favorite coffee/lunch spot is the Connection Cafe located on Hwy 19 on the west side of Watertown.

So what does this have to do with a quilted theater? Well, I couldn’t resist buying two hand-knit finger puppets, a tiger and a lizard, while at the market. I didn’t know why, but I knew I had to have them – plus they were priced at $3 each! When we got home I remembered the sweet little girl finger puppet I purchased while in Estonia. After a bit of searching, I found her and an idea struck! Sommer’s 9th birthday was coming soon and she loves to write stories. Wouldn’t a Finger Puppet Theater be “just the ticket” for her birthday? So I gathered some fun fabrics and a few sheets of plastic mesh canvas – and I was off creating!

I cut an opening in a sheet of mesh, used glue stick to cover it with batting,

and then made the cover by placing 2 rectangles of fabric, right sides together, and sewing the “opening” into the fabric rectangles, trimming it so I could turn it right side out.

I then positioned the polka dot cover on the mesh/batt theater front and fused a dark binding around the edges. To make it stand up I determined I needed to make sides for the theater while contemplating how and where to put the words “Sommer’s Finger Puppet Theater” on the project. In my stash I had a piece of chalkboard fabric leftover from a project in my second book Snuggle and Learn Quilts for Kids entitled “Rolled Up Fun”.

It’s a take-a-long toy that doesn’t require batteries 😊. I knew the chalkboard fabric would be perfect and attached it to the side fabric pieces with rick-rack. I then cut the remaining plastic mesh in half, glue sticked batting over it, and covered the sides.

In order for the theater to be folded flat for storage, I tied the sections together with pretty silk ribbon bows. And the finishing touch was to paint the words in white on the chalkboard, leaving an area open under “Now Playing” for Sommer to write in the title of her current production in chalk.

Some hearts and lacy trim were the finishing touches:

It all came together so well and, as you may have noticed, I decided the cast of characters needed to be increased. It was a great excuse to visit the Artisan’s Market one more time!

I added a fabric covered book for Sommer to compose her skits in, authored a first skit, and made a carrying tote for it all. And she loved it!

The puppets were a hit with Trey too!

Even the matching tote bag made her smile.

What a wonderful afternoon. It was a fun celebration and we felt so blessed to spend it with the kids and my parents!

Well Behaved Beads Revisited

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Before I get to my “topic of the week”, I’m sure there are a few of you who’d like to know what name we chose for our puppy 😁. Thanks for all of your great suggestions last week. Mike and I really liked the name Noah, but he’s already hearing the command “no” a lot lately and we were concerned it might be confusing to have a name so similar to a word he won’t want to hear. We went back and forth for 2 days trying to find a name we agreed on. Since Mike is a big doggie person, and the two of them will be best buds, I gave in and agreed to the name he liked best since before we met the little guy. So, meet Koda (it means friend or bear):

He’s sweet, funny, and oh so busy; but I still think we should have named him Puddles! He turned 8 weeks old today and, in the 3 days since we took this photo, his floppy ear is sticking up just like the other one. He’s growing fast.

And now … on with the post!

I’ve been creating fiber art for many years and I often add beads to my projects.

I know many of you have taken my classes on this topic, so what I share today may sound familiar – but an email from my friend Nancy caused me to think it was worth repeating:

“Hi Chris,  I have been looking through a lot of my magazines and there is one that I really liked a lot.  It is the American Quilter Magazine. To be specific the April 23, 2007 issue.  The article is titled “Well Behaved Beads”.  I did one medium sized beaded wall hanging.  And I really liked adding the beads.  I thought to myself I would like to do that again.  I started reading the article and had another thought, Who wrote this really neat piece about beading? I checked back to page 82 and there and behold the author is CHRIS LYNN KIRSCH!  WOW!!! I like your idea.  I really need something to keep my beads in place, with no train, boat, car, or no great-grandchildren around.   So thank you for writing the article.   Now I have a bigger motive to start a beaded quilt. Take care!  Nancy” 

Trying to pick up tiny beads that are sitting on a table, with a tiny needle, which is tethered by a thread to your work, can be aggravating. Years ago I came up with a way to make those beads behave and have them a lot closer to my work surface. These techniques are included in my book “Where Do I Start With Fiber Art” along with other beading tricks and information (click here to purchase a copy of that book).

The magic tool is clear mailing tape! And it’s really quite simple:

When the Lord dropped this idea into my brain, I was working on a project that was using a mixture of beads. I decided to sprinkle the beads on my quilt, near the area I wanted to bead, and placed a 2″ length of mailing tape over the loose beads. This held them to the quilt so they couldn’t run away. Once my needle was threaded and I was ready to begin, I rolled the tape back onto itself so a few beads came to the top.

I was then able to touch the tip of the needle to the hole in a bead and – it hopped right on! I stitched it to the quilt and continued unrolling and beading until I was done, or I had to stop.

If I stopped before I was finished beading that area, I simply rolled the tape back down against the quilt to capture the loose beads and went about my business until it was time to bead again.

Hint: If it’s going to be more than a couple of hours before you get back to the beading, I recommend rubbing the beads off the tape and into a container as they will get sticky if left on the tape too long (ask me how I know 😊).

After beading in this fashion for a while, a new idea hit! I could use the tape to keep the beads behaving and precisely where they’re needed by wrapping the tape around my finger:

1.  Wrap a piece of mailing tape, sticky side out, around the forefinger of your non-dominant hand (i.e. left, if you’re right handed).

2.  Pour the beads onto a flat surface and dip your taped finger into them.

3.  Knot your thread and bring it up through the quilt where the bead needs to go, touch the tip of the needle to the hole in a bead and it will hop onto the needle. Attach that bead to the quilt and repeat.

Voila! Beading can be done in the doctor’s office, at kid’s sporting events and even in a moving vehicle. One of the best advantages of this technique is that the beads are close to the work area and so, as the thread gets shorter, the beads are easy to reach.

I hope you’ll give it a try! Please send comments or photos if you do.

Thanks for the reminder Nancy!

Museums and Quilts and Puppies, Oh My!

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It’s been a while since Mike and I have done any traveling, but this past week we put an end to that. Mike traveled all over the world as a corporate pilot and, since he retired, he doesn’t want to go anywhere… unless he has a good enough reason.

Well, we lost our dog Annabelle in 2019.

She was a Belgian Sheepdog, and one of only a few breeds I’m not allergic to, so it took some time to find another one. The puppy we found was in Ohio and that was all the reason we needed! We both had been wanting to visit the full sized Noah’s Ark and Creation Museum near Cincinnati. We decided it was worth driving a few hours out of our way – and we are so glad we did!

You may be asking now “what does this have to do with quilting?” Just hold on a little longer and you’ll see.

The Ark Encounter was the first spot on our agenda and it did not disappoint!

It opened to the public in 2019 and Answers in Genesis strove to make it as accurate to the Bible as possible. We learned so much and it was amazing!

The Bible states that the Ark had only one door and this symbolizes Jesus as the only way to salvation!

They have a small, but lovely zoo on the property, along with a Virtual Reality ride that was a blast! For more information please click here!

The next day we went to the Ark’s sister attraction, the Creation Museum, and it was fascinating also.

The exhibits and programs were wonderful plus – there were quilts in both main stairwells!

They were beautiful, and the one with circles was incredibly intricate! Click here for the story of the quilts and their maker.

We enjoyed all the exhibits, presentations, and the 4D Planetarium show.

The next day we picked up the puppy near Akron, and headed home.

It was a whirlwind adventure and we are so blessed. The next phase is housetraining our new little boy … while coming up with a name 🤪. I don’t know why it seems so hard this time. After seeing him do you have any suggestions?

Perspective

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A few weeks ago, when I posted about “Binding Odd Angles”, Barb commented with a question, and it’s a great segue into this week’s post:

“Hi Chris, On the Christmas Hexie you made, did you use 2 1/2 inch strips and how big did it end up when finished.  Were you able to get all the cuts out of one width of fabric.
Thanks much.”

In answer: yes, the strips were cut at 2 1/2″ and require 1 strip each of 5 different fabrics. The stripped units were cut into 60 degree triangles, and the topper finishes 20″ from flat side to flat side.

And this week’s post is about those toppers! Last week I shared my dear husband’s encouragement concerning my new sewing machine. This week he has consented to let me share this story and, as my “pins” post from January insinuated, we’re noticing many quirky differences between us now that we’re together so much.

You might remember this photo of the toppers I made at our our December quilt retreat

When we visited friends during the Christmas season, we would gift them a topper with a holiday plant.

The first one we gave was to Brad and Deandra early in the Christmas season. Theirs was made from a contemporary line of Christmas fabrics – I loved the little trees in the black print:

I was so pleased when Deandra placed it in the middle of the kitchen table. Then we had a lovely visit.

The next day Mike asked me if I was disappointed that she placed the quilt upside down on the table. I responded “no she didn’t”. He repeated that she did and we went back and forth a few times before he grabbed one of the remaining toppers and flipped it over saying “this is the Christmas side”.

I burst out laughing and said “you’re just like your mother”. He looked confused and hurt, so I apologized and shared the following story (if it sounds familiar, I do share it in my Quilt Tales lecture).

Years ago (we’re talking the 1990s) we purchased small quilt hangers to give to our parents for Christmas along with a small Christmas quilt. This gift had an ulterior motive since both sets of parents were hard to buy for (like us, they were blessed and didn’t really need anything). I reasoned I could make them wall quilts for their hanger for the different seasons. The next quilts I made for them had a July theme.

I chose to back both quilts with a log cabin cheater cloth,

and sent Mike’s mom’s to her in Iowa as a birthday gift. She called 3 days later to tell me how much she loved the quilt! I believe her exact words were “Dad hung it right away. Those little children are just adorable!”

I guess it was hard for her to tell the front from the back because there was no sleeve and, not being a quilter, she didn’t realize all the work I put into the flag side. So, I took a breath and responded: “I’m so glad you like it” 😁. We talked a little longer and after I hung up – I laughed out loud. Mike happened to be passing by and asked me why I was laughing at his mom. I told him what happened and he didn’t think it was funny. He said I should call her back and tell her the truth.

My response: “Why? She’s happy”. He rolled his eyes at me and walked away.

Fast forward 27 years. He’s now made the same assumption his mom did, and once again I found it funny. I stopped laughing when he asked me why I was kind to his mom, but couldn’t resist telling him he was wrong. Oops. So I apologized and then it was his turn to laugh. We do like a bit of good natured kidding, and what fun is life if we can’t laugh at ourselves?

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

And… to keep you smiling… I’d like to introduce you to the Quilt Sissie’s cousins, the Flat Suzies:

Terri sent me this photograph recently along with their story:

“Hi Chris,
Your story/photo of the “Flat Stanley” dolls was inspiring to me. We have a “birthday group” of 5 ladies. We have been together over 30 years. We all belonged to the same church when we started and are quilters. Now we are spread out in all parts of the county. Most years we gather together to celebrate our birthdays. Of course this year it wasn’t possible. To celebrate a birthday January 30 in Goodman, WI, we each made a “Flat Suzy” and sent them by mail. In how the Lord works, they each arrived in the mail consecutive days (from around the country) leading up to her birthday. She knew nothing of our gathering for her birthday party and was just thrilled! It was so much fun for all of us – planning, sewing; joy, creativity and connecting with one another while not being able to physically be together. Thought others might like to hear how your blog inspired us, and in turn inspire them in these strange times.
The Lord worked through you to bless us. Thank you and the Lord’s continued blessings on you! Love in Jesus,
Terri, Susan, Charlotte, Diana and Diane”

You’re so welcome! Wendy and I are thrilled to have been an inspiration! God’s blessings to each of you too!

My New Arrival

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At the last quilt retreat my older sewing machine was giving me some trouble. It’s been having issues for a while and I keep struggling along. My friend Cathy told me I really needed a new machine and that thought started to percolate. A while later I told Mike about my machine issues and he responded “get a new one”. Now what quilter would let that suggestion go unfulfilled??? So I called Wendy at Sew Much More in Waukesha and that afternoon we had a new member of the family! Wendy recommended the Bernina 770 Quilters Edition, and that’s what Cathy had recommended also. My friends know me well 😊.

I’d like to say it dropped into my Tracey’s Table and I was ready to sew, but that wasn’t what happened. The machine was less than 1/4″ too wide to fit into the well on my table. My dear husband was able to enlarge the opening to fit and I was so grateful (even though it delayed my using the machine for 2 days). It was worth the wait.

Since I’d finished my most recent challenge quilt, I was between projects. But I really wanted to sew! So I pulled a stack of scrappy blocks out of my UFO bin (click here for the post about these blocks) and laid them out on the floor. Last week we had Barb Eckmeier do a Zoom lecture on Sashings and Cornerstones at Patched Lives quilt guild, which inspired me to do more than just sew the blocks to one another. I chose my sashing fabrics, cut some strips and squares,

and I was finally sewing.

I’m loving this new machine. It hums along quietly and the lighting is excellent. It has an 11″ opening, a built in “walking foot” (even feed), and the extra large bobbins are icing on the cake.

All this and my specialty feet from my old Bernina actually fit this new one. Hooray! I especially love the simplicity of the face panel.

The basics are all there without having to go into the computer screen: stitch width and length knobs, needle position, needle up/needle down, etc., all there and easy to find. I am getting used to the computer options – and I’m looking forward to my first class!

And did I mention it has a stitch regulator? I didn’t think I wanted it, and I’m not very good at it, but I’m keeping an open mind. I’ll let you know how that goes 😄.

My machine is calling, so it’s time to go and sew. See you next week!

Binding Odd Angles

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I few weeks ago Lynn emailed me and asked:

“Do you have a favorite way of binding an hexie quilt?”

As usual – I do 🤣. In reading over her question I realized there are at least two things that come to mind when I think of a hexie quilt. One would be a quilt made up of many hexagons, like this antique Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt from my husband’s side of the family:

Since these hexagons are only 1 1/2″ in size, binding this quilt would be a real pain. Whoever made it must have agreed and instead she stitched it to the backing all the way around and turned it right-side-out, envelope style. It was quilted after the layers were put together. This is how I finished my Christmas table toppers this year too:

The other possibility is to bind around the edges as I did on my Octabulous Star quilt:

Now I know that an octagon is different from a hexagon, but my binding technique works equally well for both. This quilt is 40″ wide and I bound it with the orange floral fabric. The corners on either shape are greater than 90 degrees (obtuse) and I bind the corners in the same way I do a square or rectangular quilt. Here are the diagrams from my binding handout for a 90 degree corner:

Use your desired binding width as your seam allowance (ie. 1/2″). Stop and backstitch this distance from the next corner.
Fold the binding strip up at a 45 degree angle. The raw edge of the binding will create a straight line with the next edge to be bound.
Fold binding strip down over quilt, and continue stitching.

And that’s it. So how do we adjust for odd obtuse angles? Let’s do the octagon first. I use a single binding, but this technique works just as well for a double (French) binding.

Stitch the binding to the squared up quilt. Be sure your seam allowance is the same as the width you’d like your finished binding to be (mine is 3/8″). I’ll be ending the stitching line 3/8″ from both edges at the corner, and I have an easy way to determine where that spot is!

Stop stitching about 3″ from the corner, fold back the binding strip exactly at the corner of your quilt, with the strip completing a straight line with the next edge of the quilt to be bound (the ruler is there to show the continuation of the edge). Crease this fold with your fingernail.

This crease will be exactly on top of the corner of the quilt:

Lay the binding strip back in place and sew to the crease, ending with a backstitch. Remove from machine.

Fold the binding back over the crease,

then fold it down through the corner,

laying the edge of the binding along the new edge to be bound. This creates the perfect angle without any measuring.

Begin sewing near the crease, and continue down this new edge. Repeat around entire quilt.

To turn the binding to the back, bring the entire binding around to the back of the quilt. It will want to “cup” at the corners. Choose a corner and fold the raw edge of the binding strip even with the raw edge of the quilt.

Next fold the portion on the left down tight around the quilt edge and flat against the back (a double binding strip will already have the fold and needs only to be folded down over the previous stitching).

Fold the next side over the edge of the quilt, gift wrap style, adjusting the crease to fit from point to inside corner. You may have to fiddle a bit to get it to lay correctly. It’s worth trying a few times to get it right.

Pin.

And this is how it looks on the front:

Hand-stitch binding in place around entire quilt.

Binding a hexagon is the same technique and, because we didn’t have to do any measuring, the angle may be different but it doesn’t matter.

Stitch the binding strip to the quilt, fold the angle, and crease as before:

Backstitch and remove from machine:

Fold binding strip back along previous crease, and then in place along the next edge as with the octagon binding, and continue:

The turning to the back is done as with the octagon also. And here are the pinned corners of both angles:

There is a search box on my site to locate these tutorials whenever you actually need them, or they can be printed from a computer by simply clicking on “File” at the top of the screen, then “Print”, and follow the prompts.

Quilt Float Revisited

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Before I jump into this week’s “topic”, I just have to share an email I received from Peg:
“This is a great post. I do have a question. Can’t you simply measure the diagonal of the raw edge blocks, average them, and cut your squares that size plus 1 1/2?”

My response? – I wish I’d thought of that!!! So, instead of laying out 2 blocks and measuring the space between their points (as in last week’s post):

you’ll get the same results by simply measuring the diagonal of an unfinished block:

Either way the result is 8 1/2″ for these 9 patch blocks and 1 1/2″ can be added to that, resulting in 10″ squares that will be cut on both diagonals! Thanks Peg!

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

And now for this week’s topic!

A number of quilters have recently asked about my Quilt Float system. It’s not a medieval torture device, but rather a great way to make quilting a large quilt less stressful.

The time to revisit this topic has arrived! I wrote my original post back in 2012. Many of you weren’t reading my blog back then, so this is for you 😊 – or for anyone who’d like a refresher.

The idea behind this contraption is to “lift” the weight of the quilt so that it doesn’t pull and drag as we quilt large projects. It works with any sit down machine. My studio is finished so I can’t hang things from the ceiling, but if you sew in an unfinished basement, you could easily hang the chains from nails in the rafters and avoid the support structure altogether.

To “build” your Quilt Float I’m reposting portions from that first post in 2012 here, along with some updated photos. It begins with helpful set up hints for quilting large projects:

“Before we get to the actual frame, there’s a few tips I’d like to share. If your sewing machine is in a cabinet – great. It is also helpful to have some support to the left of the machine. If you don’t have any, placing an adjustable ironing board there is a good solution.

If you don’t have a cabinet you will want to find a way to avoid “sewing on a mountain”, ie: with the machine perched on top of a table or desk. Even table extenders don’t solve this problem with a large quilt because pins and folds of quilt get caught on the edges. My best suggestion is to place a card table in an “L” against your kitchen table or a banquet table. Then set the machine on a tv tray in the inside corner with enough magazines to make the bed of the machine flush with the tables.

Now you’re ready to float the quilt. All of these supplies can be purchased at your local hardware store.”

2 Lengths of Chain (approximately 18” long – links should be 1 ½” long)

2 Bull Nose Clips (1”)  These can be found with office supplies. They are inexpensive and will clip and unclip the chain together very easily to adjust the height of the floating quilt.

2 Spring Clamps (6” long) These are plastic, fairly inexpensive and have holes in the handle ends for attaching the chains. They squeeze to open.

2 Slide Clamps (36” long)  Both the old fashioned “C” clamps that screw to tighten or the deluxe new ones that pump tight will work.

Choose the best quality clamps you can afford. I took my husband shopping and thus I own the Cadillac of clamps, but I did wait until they were on sale. They are very easy to use! It’s important to have a hole in the bar at the non-clamp end for a rod or bolt to go through.

1 Top bar – you’ll want the “Quilt Float” positioned about 1 ½ feet behind the sewing machine. Depending upon your space, you’ll need to choose a “top bar” option:

1. If your table/cabinet is less than 6’ wide and more than 1½’ deep you’ll want to place the clamps on the sides (as in the clamp photo above). For this arrangement you’ll need: 2 bolts and 2 wing nuts that will fit through the holes at the ends of the Slide Clamps, and a length of aluminum slat that measures at least a foot longer than the width of your table/cabinet, with holes at even intervals along the length (mine had no holes so my husband drilled them to fit my table – he also painted it black 😊).

2. If your table/cabinet is more than 60” wide and less than 2 feet deep, you’ll want to place the clamps along the back of the table. For this arrangement you’ll need to buy a ¼” diameter Steel Rod (4’ long). This is the arrangement I used at retreat:

The rod will slide through the hole in the end of the long clamps.

And that’s it! Attach your support frame to the table, place your quilt under the machine, reach back and grab a handful of quilt with the spring clamp (as in the photo at the top of this post. Voila – your quilt is floating and the process of quilting will be much more enjoyable. I guarantee it!

And just out of curiosity – are any of you using a Quilt Float of this design? Please comment or email me at .