All About the Fabric

Spring Maid Founder's House Sampler reproduction fabric

Most quilts have a main 'thing' that drives the decisions about design and materials. Sometimes it's the piecing or the quilting. This quilt is really all about the fabric. All the decisions that I made about the layout, the colours, the threads and the quilting design were really all about how best to showcase the fabric. 

one of the Springs adverts, my mom's dress was similar

The fabric for this quilt is a reproduction of a fabric originally produced by Spring Mills in 1951. My mother had a dress made from this fabric. I borrowed it from the attic to use in a Harvest Festival folk dance  in 1975. I lost track of the dress during my move to England in 1989, so when I saw the reproduction fabric featured in a magazine advert in the 90's I had to buy some. 

piecing the borders

I'd been saving it for something special and when my son, Ben's girlfriend Jade admired it, I decided to make her a quilt. Jade shares my love of things retro so I knew that she would appreciate it. I didn't want to cut the fabric so I decided to frame it within a couple of borders. At first I'd considered using a pieced chevron border. I even dedicated a whole pinterest board to the idea. But I wasn't happy with the look. In the end I chose a lovely large Kaffe Fassett rose print against an aubergine background and a small blue print. It was simple. The colours were rich and it set off the central panel beautifully. 

 machine quilted with a JUKI TL98P on the 8 foot New English Quilter2

My next choice was the quilting patterns. I decided to quilt the borders differently from the central panel. I wanted to use Emily's pattern for the large rose outer border. But as I practised it on paper the design morphed into something a bit different. I used a stack of hearts for the small blue border.   The central panel is a series of stripes and I decided quilt each stripe differently. 

this #306 Buttercup Kimono Silk thread was perfect for the central panel

My thread choices also were aimed at showcasing the fabric. At first I chose a dark red Rainbows #832 called Rose Garden. But as I began quilting the Kaffe Rose fabric border it was just too good of a match and I found that I was quilting blind. So I changed to #814 Gypsy, a thread which showed up just enough so that I could see what I was doing. And no I did not unpick the first stitching! It was close enough. I used this same thread to stitch the hearts in the blue border. For the main central panel, I also wanted a thread to blend in, merely to create texture and not to draw attention to itself. This gold Kimono silk thread was perfect. 

subtle stitching that echoes the fabric design

 I've just taken the quilt off the frame and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. Now it just needs the binding! I take some photos in daylight and I'll post about why I should have called the quilt Eight Maids a Milking.

Nine Ladies Dancing

One of the great things about the holidays is that they come around again giving me another chance to finish my projects. I call this quilt, Nine Ladies Dancing because of the gorgeous retro fabric. You can read the back story in the link to the previous post. I posted about this quilt last Christmas! So I'm not post early for this Christmas just late from last year! I got stuck on the design part and didn't get un-stuck until a couple weeks ago. So I am very chuffed to be finishing it. My daughter Rosie, filmed  a short video clip of the quilting. I'm quilting a heart design on a chevron stripe in the fabric.I think Rosie did a fantastic job with the filming and the editing, she's 16!  I'll post more tomorrow.

The Starry Night

Emily came home last week for a film shoot. And while she was here she saw her sister Ellie working on an art project inspired by Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night. We had the 6 foot Art Quilter frame loaded up with some black fabric and fleece all ready for a film shoot. So Emily decided to thread paint Van Gogh's Starry Night. I'll let her tell you herself:

Emily's Van Gogh on the 6 ft Art Quilter frame

"Quilting is so fun! Last week, I was at home for my university Reading Week. One of my little sisters, Ellie, was doing an art project on Van Gogh's Starry Night piece.

She'd done a beautiful pen rendering of it on paper, and on seeing it I was struck by the notion that I could quite easily do the same thing on the Art Quilter!

The long, repetitive movements that Ellie created with the pen strokes could be also created with my sewing machine needle and thread as I guided it on the frame!"

Ellie's Starry Night colour sketch for her patterns in nature school project

"So, while I was practising some designs for our Christmas film shoot, I decided to have a go at Van Gogh!

First of all, I found a good, high resolution picture on the internet of Starry Night, and put my laptop by the Art Quilter, so I could see what I was 'painting'.

 I simply used the Art Quilter like an easel and drew myself a rectangle to 'paint' in, which helped me keep proportions correct. Then...I just went for it!"

"There were a lot of thread changes, and some practising outside of the box to see if the colours I wanted to use would actually work - they sometimes didn't! - and I kept my thumb on the Stop/Start button on the Nifty Grips , which helped with precision. I mixed a lot of threads together, for example the light blue variegated Rainbows and the purple King Tut, to make the background, which just meant that I got more colour for my thread! I also added the black thread in last, as it was easier to go over and cover up the lighter colours than it would have been to do it the other way around." 

Van Gogh's Starry Night  interpreted in thread by Emily Milne

I love how Emily really captured the movement in the original painting. Isn't it amazing what you can do with the right tools and some great thread.

Two views of the original and a bit of background on the piece.

Starry Night is Vincent van Gogh's most famous painting. "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big," van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo. A work rooted in imagination and memory, Starry Night's sweeping brush strokes convey movement as a flame like cyprus tree unites the churning sky to the quiet village below.

Painted by Vincent van Gogh in June 1889, currently in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Doing Demo's

I love doing demo's! Lots of our customers who purchase our New English Quilter and Art Quilter frames are opting to come and collect them instead of arranging for shipping. We're offering free tutorials - so new owners can get off to a good start. I really enjoy the tutorials. They provide an opportunity to get better acquainted with our customers. There's plenty of time to go over any questions. We take the frame apart and set it up again. We discuss loading options so that new owners are clear about how to load a quilt on the frame. We go though sewing machines and tensioning and basic trouble shooting. We look at lots of quilts and and try various threads. Finally, we spend a bit of time with pen and paper showing how to create bold and flowing line designs. We pack a lot of information into a few hours! People leave happy and confident with lots of ideas. They come as customers but leave as friends.

Lynda's mussel shell background. 

 I'm so glad to get photos of projects. Lynda has created some lovely texture to go behind the embroidery on these pillows. In the beginning lots of little projects are the best.

Stephanie used fleece to back this little crib quilt

 Loops are one of the best line designs to start out with. They help you to gain fluency as you circle every which way around your quilt top. Stephanie has been doing lots of little projects. It's the perfect way to make good progress. I'm always thrilled to get photos! A big thank you to Lynda and Stephanie!

Stephanie used loops as an all over pattern

Pumpkin Light

Peter likes using power tools.

Rosie made masks out of leaves.

Ellie carved an owl and a pussy cat.

We wish you all joy in your pumpkins! Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Day approaches

Source: bsmodernquilting.com via Martha on Pinterest

I've been collecting lots of great pumpkin ideas on my pumpkins etc pinterest board.

Source: inspirationlane.tumblr.com via Martha on Pinterest

All kinds of things from quilty pumpkin carving to kitty costumes to fun food. If you're looking for some pumpkin inspiration for tomorrow follow the link to my pinterest board.

Source: Uploaded by user via Martha on Pinterest

monster patches

Source: refashionco-op.blogspot.com via Martha on Pinterest

I thought this was a brilliant idea when I saw it on pinterest several weeks ago. So I saved it to one of my boards. Today when my son, Peter told me that all his trousers had holes in the knees I decided that it would be a good time to try it out.

I have lots of fleece scraps in many colours left over from my quilting projects,

which served as the mouth, teeth and eyes. One of the great features about fleece is that it won't unravel so these trousers should go through the wash just fine.

I used the sewing macine, a JUKI Exceed 600, to sew the teeth and the mouth.

I used buttons and fleece

to hand sew the eyes.

Here's one leg done.

And now both modelled by Pete. A double barrelled monster
all ready for Halloween.