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Eleanor’s Story

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Over the years Wendy and I have had many wonderful repeat travelers with us on our Sew We Go adventures. One of the most enjoyable “characters” we’ve had join us is a dear woman named Eleanor. Eleanor lives in Illinois and heard about our Mississippi riverboat cruise when I spoke to her quilt guild. She and her friend Claire decided to join us, way back in the Spring of 2001, and we had a marvelous time (Eleanor is third from the left, I’ll let you figure out where Wendy and I are 🙂 ).
Our next cruise was to Alaska and Eleanor was one of the first to sign up (in this picture she’s just below me – top left).
We followed that trip with a European riverboat cruise on the blue Danube. We floated from Germany, through Austria and completed our trip in Hungary. It was delightful – and Eleanor was right there with us (to the left of Wendy in the first row).
Next we were off to Holland during tulip time. I love this picture of “quilting” time in the lounge with Wendy explaining to Eleanor the next step in our project. This is followed by Eleanor and her roommate Mary in Keukenhof Gardens.
I must admit, my most memorable times with her were on our riverboat cruise through France on the Rhone and Soane rivers. Eleanor had been a teacher in Paris in her youth and she was the most amazing tour guide for us during our post-cruise extension. She led us from Notre Dam Cathedral on a lovely walk along the Seine (stopping for a photo shoot), that culminated in a delicious lunch at Christines!
These photos include Eleanor’s dear friend and roommate Susan. She plays an important part in the rest of the story!
A few years after this trip I got word that Eleanor was in poor health and was living in a care facility. We really missed her on our subsequent adventures.
Fast forward to just a few weeks ago. To my surprise, and extreme delight, I got an email from Eleanor and this is what she said:
“Dear Chris, Until April I had not quilted for three years! Here’s why:  I had a fall which caused a concussion, misdiagnosed as being caused by a seizure. The medication caused all kinds of side effects which I won’t go into. But the turn around came when Susan, (you may remember her from the Rhone trip) made a brilliant remark. I had changed doctors, the side effects had disappeared, but the nursing home did not want to let me return to my apartment. (I used a wheelchair and had a caregiver).
Susan said, “Let’s go to Paris!” Doctor gave the OK and with Sylvia (my caregiver) and Susan’s generosity, off we went.
So where is quilting?  Well, when we got back to Lake Forest, the care facility was willing to let me return to my apartment. Sylvia and I were unpacking fabrics and discovered two that I had purchased years ago. “My grandson would love this; he’s into creepy crawlies.” I thought. Only problem: my wheelchair was too wide to fit into the console of the sewing machine. A former student knew of a place where I could buy a wheelchair narrow enough. I didn’t want to cut the fabric up too much and Sylvia wanted to be a part of things so I kept it simple. Only quilting done: freehand stars done in glow in the dark thread on the “dark” side
and outlining the stars on the daytime side.
She also included this wonderful photograph of herself and Sylvia.
What a blessing! I emailed her right back to ask if I could tell all of you about her in a blog post. Her response?
“Dear Chris , I am delighted to hear from you! (Although your blogs WERE the communication that kept me going when I was too weak to turn over in bed). You are welcome to share my story.”
And that’s what I’m doing.
Dear Eleanor, I’m thrilled to see you feeling well and back to quilting. I’m humbled and pleased to hear that you enjoyed my blog posts throughout your difficult journey.
Thank you so much for one more trip – the one down memory lane!
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A Tribute to Pat

As I’m writing this post my heart is aching over the loss of a dear quilting friend, Pat Gilane. She and Bob are at the foot of the staircase in the Alaskan group picture above (Pat’s the one in the pretty red floral dress  🙂 ).

Pat had struggled with pulmonary fibrosis for years. She was a true example of grace in suffering, and a joy to so many. She knew Jesus as her Savior and is breathing easy in His presence at last. I’m praying for Bob and their family as they move forward without this sweet lady. She will be missed.

Burning Fabric

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Why would anyone want to burn fabric?

Perhaps a better question is: have you ever wondered if a fabric you want to use in a quilt is 100% cotton? There is an easy test to check. Many of you may already know this, but I’m hoping some of you will find this helpful.

Recently I was cleaning out the cupboard where I keep my quilt backing pieces and non-cotton fabrics. I found a piece of black and white polka dot fabric and wondered why it wasn’t in with the rest of my stash.

Perhaps it was a polyester blend. Nothing on the selvedge showed fiber content, so I grabbed a book of matches, cut off a corner of the yardage, and went outside.

I lit the pointy end with a match and watched it burn. I waited for it to cool, then I picked it up and when I rubbed it between my fingers, the residue was a soft ash.

This is the case for natural fibers such as cotton, rayon, linen, silk, etc.

For the sake of comparison I cut a triangle from a fabric I knew was a polyester.

The results? It melted.

You can see the light reflecting in the “plastic-like” burned semi-circle on the fabric, and the small black piece was stuck to the cement. Man made fabrics like polyester and nylon melt rather than ash.

The next day I pulled out some beautiful scraps I wanted to use in my next challenge quilt.

They were given to me by a woman I stayed with when I taught for a quilt guild in Eau Claire, WI. She told me there was a men’s necktie factory nearby and they sold their scraps by the pound. She then gifted me with a bag full.

Before I attempted to make them into appliqué shapes, I thought I’d better check to see if they were silk or polyester, because ties can be made from either. I’m happy to say they all passed the burn test and are silk:

The interesting thing was the ash was not as soft as the cotton fabric and it had a bit of a gritty feel when I rubbed it between my fingers. I guess I’ve never burned silk before because I was a little surprised by this.

Do any of you use this test for your fabrics? Any other thoughts you’d like to share  🙂 ?

Photo Inspiration: Door

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I belong to a group of fiber artists called ThreadBenders. ThreadBenders is a relatively new group, and we have some delightful and very enthusiastic artists. We recently completed our first “big” guild challenge and 13 of our 16 members participated. I was very impressed with the results!

The challenge was named “Photo Inspiration: Door”. The picture we chose to inspire our quilts was taken by a friend of one of our members in St. Thomas, VI.

You can read the rules and see all of the quilts at: https://threadbendersblog.wordpress.com/

About 5 years ago I took a 10 week class at WCTC about Adobe Photoshop™. It was a great class and I think I’ve forgotten more than I remember because Photoshop™ can do so much. But the things that have stuck with me have been incredibly helpful. One aspect of the program I was particularly interested in was called “transform”. You can do the most amazing things with your pictures by using commands like “skew”, “warp”, “distort”, etc..

 

Fascinating, but weird. And after making all of these weird variations, what do you do with them?

Well, I chose the last one and made a quilt.

“Stretch, Warp, Abstract” has a very odd outer edge and the portion that stretches across the main body of the quilt was actually made as a separate quilt, and attached after both were quilted. This quilt forced me to come up with new techniques and try a lot of different ones I already had in my bag of tricks. That’s what I love about challenges, and that’s why I take classes and read magazines – to learn new techniques.

I loved making this quilt (well I loved it most of the time  😉 ). It could easily be the most unusual quilt I’ve ever made. I was impressed with the variety and imagination of all the challenge quilts, and I hope you will visit our site to see them: https://threadbendersblog.wordpress.com/

And here’s the icing on the cake. We chose 8 of the quilts to enter in the “Ultimate Guild Challenge” competition held at the AQS show in Grand Rapids, MI and they were accepted! They’ll be traveling to Grand Rapids for the show in August! We’re all very excited!

Once they return, we’ll be looking for venues to display them. If you know of a quilt show, shop, art museum, etc. that would be interested, please let us know by emailing me at .

A Quilted Flag

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I have been traveling a lot lately. I recently spent 3 days with the Shawnee Quilters in Carbondale, IL, teaching both Repliqué and Beginning Fiber Art. The students were delightful and, since I did a lecture for their guild meeting on the third day of my visit, they were able to bring their workshop projects for show & tell.

Great job ladies!!! Thanks for a lovely time!

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In May I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a week in New York City with my cousins. Deb, Cindy and I had a spectacular time touring the Big Apple, taking in two Broadway shows, and indulging in delicious meals – all interspersed with lots of giggles. We had an amazing view from our hotel room – 35 floors above Times Square.

We did a 2 ½ hour guided bike tour through Central Park with Tony,

and walked or took the subway all over Manhattan. We even walked across the Brooklyn Bridge!

Cindy, Deb and I enjoyed our ferry ride with a tour of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Our guide Zach made it especially fun.

He did a great job of sharing a lot of history and fascinating information about these two amazing places, plus he spiced it up with his “Zach facts” 😀 ! They weren’t necessarily true, but they kept us smiling (note his flag in the picture above). Here he is next to an actual size replica of the Statue’s foot in the pedestal museum beneath Lady Liberty.

During the rest stop on the tour I showed Zach pictures of my “How Beautiful – Liberty” quilt (click here to see a post about that quilt).

This got me to talking about the tours I’ve led and how Wendy and I have a mascot who often finds herself atop flags so we can keep track of our guides, like when Rudy and Quiltina led us through Siena, Italy.

Zach jokingly mentioned he’d love a personal flag that announced his “Zach Facts”, and when I got home I decided it would be fun to make him one to wave along with his orange “company” flag. He emailed me the “head shot” he wanted me to use, I transferred it to white fabric – along with the words, added the Statue fabric to the back and did a bit of fun quilting. Here are the results – front and back:

And this was his response via email:

“Hey Chris, I just received your quilt and card in the mail today and I want you to know how honored I am. It really made my day. Even the back side of it is beautiful. Loved the card as well. Can’t wait to proudly wave that flag. I am truly thankful.”

That made it so worthwhile. Isn’t it interesting how quilters can find a way to bring quilting into all aspects of life (LOL)?

Quilted Memories – A Contemporary Twist

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Shortly after I posted to my blog last week, Cheryl commented that she has a booklet about the Sunday School Picnic quilt.

That led me to do an internet search and I was thrilled to discover the whole story of this amazing quilt. I added the link to my post, but by then over 300 people had already read it, so I thought I’d better share the link again here for those of you who might be interested. It’s a fascinating story and well worth the read. Click here for the link.

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This week I’m going to follow up on the vintage memory quilts by showing my own modern version. The majority of those antique quilts were bed sized and hand quilted. You don’t see many memory quilts like those being made today. But we still want to make quilts to commemorate people, places and events. I love to travel and I’ve often thought about making one quilt about my travels. The problem is I’ve been so many places – praise the Lord – that it seemed to be overwhelming.

Last year while planning for our Sew We Go cruise from Quebec to Boston I had a “light bulb” moment. What if I would choose one photo from each trip that triggered all the wonderful memories of the entire vacation? Then I could make each photograph into a block and …

Modular Memory Quilts was born! I gave a lecture on this “quilt”, and all the techniques I used to make the blocks, for our group while on board the Norwegian Dawn and it went over quite well (to read about the projects on that trip click here).

This block is one of my favorites from the “quilt”.

It’s from Mike’s and my first visit to Hawaii when our son, Brad, was a senior in High School. We invited his best friend along and, while stopping at a waterfall on the Road to Hana, the boys decided to climb to the top and jump!

Others were doing it and it was a real case of “monkey see, monkey do”.

To make the block I used a bunch of techniques: glue-stick raw edge appliqué, stitched cheesecloth, and even thread painting on tulle to create my jumping Brad. What fun – and what a great memory.

As you may know, Wendy and I are taking a group of quilters to Hawaii this January. We still have a few cabins available, but since this trip will fill, Norwegian Cruise Lines is requesting all the “non-spoken-for” cabins be returned to them soon. If you have been thinking about joining us – click here for all the details and instructions for signing up while you still can!

 

Now back to Modular Memory Quilts  🙂 .

 

One of my favorite parts of making Modular Memory Quilts is that each block is made, bordered, quilted and bound as a separate unit. There’s no quilting and finishing a big quilt! Then I connect them together with my own unique technique, using hair bands and safety pins (yes – really 🙂 ). This is what makes it completely modular. The blocks can be moved around; additional blocks can be added over time; other’s can be taken away; or, if the “quilt” becomes too large, it can be broken up into two separate quilts.

I was working on this project during the Madison Quilt Expo last September and, while walking through the show, I was delighted to see my friend Wendy Butler Berns had made a quilt in a similar fashion and entered it in the show (click here to visit Wendy’s website).

“Unconditional Love – Always” was made as a triptych of quilts of her children with their pets, using her Picture Image Machine Appliqué technique. She put them together with strips of fabric and buttons, so they can eventually be separated and each child can have their own quilt at some point in the future. What a wonderful idea!

Since making my travel quilt, I’ve thought of many more types of memory quilts that would work well as a Modular Memory Quilt: children’s art, grandma’s embroidered squares or hankies, workshop samples … just think of the possibilities! Here’s one – the project we’ll be making on the Hawaiian cruise is a type of “Paint-stik™ appliqué” I wrote about a few months ago (click here for that post). I made three quilts with this technique and decided to combine them “modularly”.

I’ve since made a few other of these “quilts”. Completing small, individual block quilts is quick and a lot of fun. I’m very excited about the results and I’ll be doing a lecture on these fun souvenir quilts at the Madison Quilt Expo this September. Not only will I talk about the quilts and my connecting technique, but I’ll also demonstrate step-by-step instructions for many of the techniques I used to create the blocks. Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Child’s play – Markers on Fabric

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Oops! If you linked to this post and were looking for my recent post about aprons, I apologize for the linking error. Please click here to be redirected.

And now for the Markers post: A few years ago my friend Linda and I played around with Sharpie™ Markers, muslin and isopropyl alcohol (to read that post go to: https://chrisquilts.net/?p=6023)

A while later I decided to try it with Sommer. We colored circles:

Then added alcohol with an eye dropper:

Here are our results:

Then we tried again. Sommer drew anything she wanted (these are lighter and brighter, and make me smile):

I decided I liked the way the black bled to purple and made it the focus of my design, allowing some space between the elements:

I was happier with these results:

Have you played with markers like this? Any pictures you’d like to share?

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And one more note on Sommer and crafts – our passion is not always their’s!

A few months after Sommer made her first quilt (you can read that post at:  https://chrisquilts.net/?p=9537 )  I wanted to make her an apron. She was excited and wanted to help. We pulled out a pattern I’d purchased a while ago and she picked a pretty fabric from my stash. I ended up cutting it out with my rotary cutter and she didn’t like the waiting and watching, so she lost interest for that day. The next afternoon, while Trey was napping, she helped me set up the featherweight, we pinned a seam together and she began to sew.

Three seams later she asked if she could go play. When I asked her if she wanted to work on it tomorrow or if I should finish it – she perked up and said I could finish it  😕 . So I did.

She’s happy to wear it and help me cook. Her favorite part is tasting the “gredients”.

Quilting with Difficult Fabrics

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I’ve put Minky™ fabric on the back of a few quilts to make them extra snuggly – with good results. In fact, on my granddaughter Rainee’s quilt I put it on the back and turned it to the front to make the bound edge; and I reverse Repliquéd it into an “R” on the front of the quilt too (this is a technique in my book “Snuggle and Learn Quilts for Kids)! To read about that quilt go to https://chrisquilts.net/?p=6186 .

turned back to front binding

Recently I was making a quilt for my dear niece Kate. She and her husband are expecting a little girl in June and I couldn’t wait to make her a quilt. The problem was I chose to piece with Minky™ this time. I found the fabrics I wanted to use at Vogue Fabrics near Chicago. Minky™ is an ultra soft, plush type of fleece, and what I found there was similar, but I’m not sure that’s what it’s actually called. The pink check on the right is for the back of the quilt and the white was what I decided to piece into a star – just look at the height of that nap! What was I thinking!!!

I cut squares of a pink cotton and drew a diagonal line on the wrong side. I then placed them right-sides-together with the “furry nightmare fabric” called “fnf” from now on 🙂 , pinning intensely. I sewed on both sides of the line and cut down the middle. The nap made everything squish and squirm. I was really glad I’d oversized the squares. After trimming them down I needed to pieced these half-square triangle units into a star. That meant “fnf” right sides together with “fnf”. It was awful. I’ve sewn on velvet and this was much worse. But I refused to give up.

Done!

Once the star was finished the entire perimeter was the cotton fabric, so I could breathe a little easier and lay out all the other pink squares.

Did I mention the nursery theme is pink with stars? And Kate and Ryan are both hunters, thus the pink camo fabric (thanks Maria!) The rest of the piecing was a breeze.

What I learned is that one should never try to put a really high nap fabric right-sides-together with anything else and expect to have great results. I decided I could still use the pink checked Minky™ for the back because it wasn’t sewn right-sides-together with anything, and it worked well. To quilt the “fnf” star, I cut a heart from freezer paper, ironed it in place on the back of the quilt,

and quilted around it from the back.

It all came together and I was happy with the results. Especially when I saw the smile on Kate’s and Nonna Deb’s faces.

Can’t wait to meet this little sweetie in June. Love you guys!

Repaired and Back on the Bed!

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In last week’s post I told the story of a quilt (it’s really a comforter because it’s tied, not quilted) that has kept Mike and me warm for 42 years. I was overwhelmed with the wonderful comments and suggestions to that post. I washed it, hung it outside (Spring is finally here!) and took a few minutes to simply look at it.

As puckery and worn as it is, it has too many wonderful memories to end it’s usefulness now. But how to repair it? Since almost all of the worn blocks were on the edge – why not cover them with a border “quilt-as-you-go” style? Please bear in mind my original comforter was layered with a sheet and a sheet blanket, stitched around and turned; then it was tied with yarn every 16″ – so it never laid flat, even before the wool shrunk. That added a minor layer of difficulty to this process, but I persevered.

I pulled out a pretty fabric from the “multi-yard” area of my stash, and cut a strip of fabric the length of each side of the comforter by the width of the outer row of blocks + 1 ½”. I laid a border strip, right sides together, with it’s appropriate side of the quilt, covering the outer row seam by 1/8″ and stitching with a ½” seam allowance.

As I continued stitching I found a block that shows why something had to be done  🙂 !

Once the seam was done I folded the border strip over the row of worn blocks, turned everything over to the back, and folded the border back on itself to create a “self-binding”.

I stitched it in place from the front with a decorative stitch.

I repeated this for the other side, then I added the top and bottom strips, this time leaving 1 ½” extra on both ends to finish the corners.

While working on the borders I did find 2 squares in the interior that were threadbare. To fix them I went through my box of 6″ squares, chose 2, trimmed them down to the right size, pressed under 1/4″ hem, and topstitched them in place with a mending stitch on my machine.

My old friend is still quite wonky, and there were some unavoidable puckers on the back (which I will not share pictures of), but it’s back on the bed and ready for another 42 years!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!