Exploring Fabric Designers

I have been continuing my journey of exploration into discovering who designs the fabrics I like to use when making quilts for children.  I was at a local quilt shop recently and put several fabric collections onto my Christmas Wish List.  Then I looked into the very talented people that put these collections together.

First up is Richard Neuman:

Richard holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising design and a master’s degree in art graphics.  His paintings and designs are held in high regard by many patrons worldwide, and he includes  clients among large corporations such as GE and John Deere.  His artistic efforts include whimsical renditions of tractors, barns, lighthouses and much  more.  To learn more about the background of this talented man, see http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/designer_bio.asp?ID=30

Have you ever met a kid that could resist watching heavy machinery?  Me neither (and not just the boys … just sayin’)!  Well, during his varied career, Richard (as illustrator) partnered with author Stacey Gabel and introduced the early reader series of books for children with “The New Blue Tractor”.  Check out these darling books for children who love machines at his website:  http://www.richard-neuman-artist.com/

Some of Richard’s designs are now available in the Clothworks Textiles collections.  Two of my favorites are “Ready Go” and “Choo Choo You” (I’m a BIG train lover!):

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/readygoquilt.pdf

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/choochooyouquilt.pdf

Clothworks has also sponsored free patterns for quilters.  Click on the links under the pictures above to take you to .pdf files of the free patterns shown here.

To see all of the fabrics in each of these collections, click on the following links.

Ready Go:

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/collection.asp?ID=316

Choo Choo You:

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/collection.asp?ID=290

Another talented designer tomorrow!

Veteran's Day on 11/11/11

There has been a lot of buzz this year about how special today is for numerology because of the number alignment of this date, but what happened 100 years ago on another 11/11/11?  Well, on 11/11/1911, the Great Blue Norther (a major cold snap) set record highs and record lows on the same day in many cities in the Midwest.  Freaky, huh?!  Now was that attributed to Global Warming?  …  I bet not.

But, today is also, and most importantly, celebrated as Veteran’s Day in the USA. 

Did you know that Veteran’s Day has its roots in the armistice of World War I?  The cessation of hostilities between the Allies and Germany in 1918 went into effect at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (11 o’clock on 11/11).  The actual Treaty of Versailles was not to be signed until seven months later in June of 1919.

The picture above depicts soldiers of the 353^rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse, in France as they wait for an end to the hostilities.  It was taken at 10:58, two minutes before the Armistice went into effect.

In November of 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11^th as Armistice Day – a day set aside to honor the veterans of the First World War.  That war – known as the Great War - was thought (and hoped) to be the “war to end all wars”.

But in 1954, the 83^rd Congress replaced the word “Armistice” with “Veteran’s” in order to also honor all of the valiant personnel that had served in World War II and in the Korean conflict.  When President Eisenhower signed the legislation into effect, November 11 became the day to honor and celebrate the heroism of all veterans of all wars.

Today we salute and thank all Veterans who served in any of the Armed Forces. 

And if you are a quilter, you might want to check into Quilts of Valor at http://qovf.org/.  Their mission is to “cover all combat service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.”

Stars and Stripes Quilt for QOV from
http://quiltwithus.connectingthreads.com/
that donated fabric and sponsors a QOV group

The QOV organization has given out over 57,000 quilts, but unfortunately, they need quilts now … because we haven’t learned how to end all wars.  May we sometime find Peace and bring all of our service members home. 

Interesting Textiles

I’m spending my time until my machine comes back from repair by doing a little gardening and researching textiles.  If I can’t play with fabric then I’ll drool over all of the lovely designs and dream of what I’ll be making next!

One of the early textile designers I’ve discovered is William Morris of the United Kingdom.  Not only are his designs beautiful, the history of his design enterprise, Morris & Company, is as fascinating as the man himself. 

Portrait by Frederick Hollyer in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

William Morris (1834 – 1896) was inspired by his love of medieval art and worked to revive craftsmanship, particularly hand crafting.  He thought such a revival would engender a love of their work in his workers and greatly improve their satisfaction of their jobs.  Morris was also an ardent socialist, scholar, translator, publisher and environmental campaigner … many of his ideas were ahead of his time.  He is now thought to be the most influential designer of the nineteenth century and Morris & Company continues to produce authentic reproductions of his fabrics and wallpapers along with new interpretations.



1883 - Indigo discharged and block printed
cotton on display at the Victoria and Albert
 Museum in London

Morris’ most famous maxim is:

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

The United Kingdom’s Royal Mail celebrated Morris & Company’s 150^th Anniversary this year by issuing stamps depicting Morris’ designs.  Here are some of them:

You can find out more about them at:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/content1?catId=137400793&mediaId=137400799

Good Ol' Days and a Walk

Since I’m without my sewing machine, I thought I’d take you on a short trip down memory lane.  I guess these prices are from before many of us were born, but it sure would be nice to see something like this in a store today!

Photo from http://thevintagemoth.blogspot.com/

And since it was so nice outside this morning, I went for an extra long walk.  I took my camera and was watching for Fall colors (not the norm for many of the trees in Florida).  I found lots, including berries, muhly grass, zinnias and marigolds:

And I saw this fabulous orchid growing in the crook of a tree in a nearby neighborhood.  Isn't this amazing?!!  I sure wish my puny little orchid would grow like this ...

Daylight Savings Time and a Quilt

It’s time for my regular rant about Daylight Savings Time.  I never miss an opportunity to display my misery about time changes – it’s unnatural to mess with Time!  You can read more about the origins of the DST abomination at this post.  I won’t bore you with it again!

But that having been said – don’t forget to set back your clocks tonight … and change the batteries in your smoke alarms.  Just my Word to the Wise.

I quilted the interior of the last of the tops waiting in line today.  This one still needs the borders quilted on my Viking that is in the repair shop and to be bound, of course.  I just did a simple meandering for the quilting – it’s a good strong design for utility quilts for children.

This is the stack that I have now waiting for bindings:

I might just have to take my Janome off of the frame and put it on the table so I can keep sewing.  It’s been dedicated to being on the frame since it is just a straight-stitch machine.  And it’s always a bit of a nuisance to remove it from the frame (and it’s very heavy).  I have to take off the take-up rail that runs through the throat of the machine and then have to get a wrench and take apart some of the rack it is sitting in since it is partially enclosed.

But if I can sew on a few bindings until my other machine comes back, I guess that will be making progress.  Attitude is everything and I’ll just have to pretend it’s an adventure!

Machine Troubles Again

Once again I was devastated when the needle struck the plate of my sewing machine.  I had only had it back from the repair shop a few days and the shaft is still out of alignment with the hole in the plate ... so back to the shop it went.  I immediately sank into a deep funk.

Meanwhile, I had to stop into a quilt shop very near to my house (for mental health purposes only).  I was sure glad I did!  This was my first time there and I liked just about everything that Crafty Threads sells ... very dangerous to my credit card.

I had already started my Christmas list and the Lil' Twister tool was on it - and wouldn't you know that this shop sold them.   Just too much of a coincidence in my troubled state of mind.  I swooped right on it and I have begun cutting out 5 inch squares from my stash (remember my supposed austerity plan where I don't spend much? - well, at least I'm using my stash!).  And I can feel good that I can still accomplish something "quilty" related while my machine gets repaired!  The lighting wasn't good for this photo, but I'll post more pictures when the top gets started.

If you haven't seen one of these quilts made up, Moda Fabrics featured several on their blog:
http://modafabrics.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-roadwith-moda.html
The possibilities are endless!

Halloween Go OK?

So how was your Halloween last night?  I felt sorry for the kids in the northeast US that had to trudge through the snow and ice to get their traditional Treats.  We had a great evening and the night was clear and crisp after the early morning rain.  We had over 100 kids come knocking and some of the cutest little kids' costumes - really clever this year.  This is a shot of the dog next door with his Hot Dog costume.

My poor dog only got a Halloween bandana (well, maybe she was the lucky one)!

So to take my mind off of the leftover candy, I walked up to the drugstore (a mile up there) dragging my bag of library books (at least 20 lbs - ok, maybe it only felt that way) and back to the library (another mile) to exchange the books and then back home (at least 10 miles - oh, just kidding!).  And I found this book to distract me:

I might read, take a nap, and then sew a little today!  There'll be time to garden tomorrow.

Modifying the Mystery

Today’s job is to complete the Mystery sponsored by Cindy Carter at Quilt Patterns from Seattle.

You can see lots of finished tops that used the suggested jellyroll at this link:

http://carterquilter.wordpress.com/jelly-roll-mystery-quilt-2011-photos/

I especially liked the one there that used Hawaiian prints and the turquoise one that used a jellyroll (most there did use a jellyroll).  They turned out great.

But, since jellyrolls are 2 ½ inches wide - and I cut all of my quilt bindings 2 ½ inches wide – and I have lots of binding scraps - and I didn’t happen to have any jellyrolls on hand – whew! – I just used scraps to make up my Mystery quilt.  The instructions specified to use a single light or dark for the background, so I used all of my light binding scraps for that.  And then I used dark binding scraps where it specified to use the jellyroll.  This is what I have so far:

I don't think a little girl would mind having a scrappy Dora the Exporer peeking out at her.  You’ll notice that I am also going to use simple borders instead of the checkerboard called for.  I guess I’ll just have to claim poetic license!  I hope to be done with this one and one that is waiting to be quilted today … maybe ...

Fabulous Friday

Well, we all know that Fridays are usually the Best Day ... but what's so special about this Friday?  My sewing machine came home all fixed, of course!  No better day to celebrate than a Friday.  I was amazed since I had been expecting them to keep it at least a week (and I was definitely going into withdrawal), and they had it fixed and back in three days.  Whoop, whoop.  I'll be finishing up my mystery top this weekend.

I did get this top quilted with a clamshell design - it looks ok even if some of the rounded clamshells look more like semi-rounded dunce caps!  It's still pinned, waiting for my tabletop machine to have the borders quilted - another weekend project.  Oh the possibilities - now that my Viking is home ...

Minor Sewing Crisis

Now my tune has changed … I’m glad that I have a few quilt tops stacked up waiting to be quilted and it’s all due to a minor crisis.

My poor baby Viking has to go to the repair shop.  She’s the machine that I use for piecing my quilt tops and she’s a real workhorse.  I’ve had her for about 15 years and I just love her.  She never gives me any trouble, but she started snapping off the thread.  It happened twice, which I thought was very odd, so I changed the needle thinking it might have been a burr in the eye.  Then I sewed really slowly so I could see what was happening.  It turns out that the shank had gotten out of alignment and the needle was actually so close to the edge of the plate that it was cutting the thread and was leaving a mark on the edge of that heavy metal plate. 

I might have caused it when I was sewing thru too many layers of heavy denim making handles on tote bags for kids earlier this year and I was stretching and tugging the fabric (bad idea).  But, if I had kept on sewing on the lightweight cotton quilting fabric, it could have caught completely on that plate and snapped the needle in two instead of just the thread.  That was a close call.  So off she goes to get realigned:

The workhorse with her hard-hat is in the car, ready for a ride

And now I’m left in the middle of working up a Mystery Quilt.  This was one of Cindy Carter’s mysteries from over the weekend.

I have printed off the final instructions, but I didn’t look at them so see what the final quilt looks like.  Mine will be mostly scrappy.  You can see the instructions here, but don’t let me know … LOL:

 http://carterquilter.wordpress.com/

Meanwhile, I’m loading another finished top onto the frame and quilting it up with the Janome that just sews straight stitches so it’s dedicated to quilting.  Who knew I’d ever really need two machines?  I’m a lucky dog to have them!

Friday Night Sew-In Results

Friday Night Sew-In was Fun!

I made some progress on the quilt top that I’m going to call “Windows on the Serengeti”.  All of the fabric in this line has a wonderful hand and is so nice to work with.  I make my quilts for children in need and I’m betting a child somewhere is going to like all of the animals in this quilt!

Sure needs ironing!

I’m planning to put an internal border from the plainer golden tone-on-tone (on the left in the larger picture) – then the outside will be from the tone-on-tone green (in yesterday’s post).

I’m thinking I’ll like it and might even finish it up today.  Best laid plans, of course … the weather is great and the yard needs attention … we'll see.

I Wish I Could Knit!

Did you hear about the poor penguins?  The big oil spill in New Zealand has left the penguins needing sweaters – and, no, this is NOT a joke.  The darling little sweaters help to keep the critters from plucking at their oil covered feathers and it keeps them warm until they’re well enough to be tended and cleaned up.

A Kiwi yarn store has posted a pattern for the “penguin jumpers” and the site has been swamped.  I really wish I could knit and contribute to this project.  This apparently isn’t the first time there has been a call for these sweaters – the Tasmanian Conservation Trust stockpiled some of the little garments after a similar spill in 2001, but they need more.  And of course, they keep – so if they receive a lot now, they’ll save them for the next human mistake.

Do you knit?  Check out this site for the info on where to send them and a link to the yarn shop that has the pattern:  http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/penguins.asp

And in keeping with the "critter" theme ... Tonight I’ll be participating in the Friday Night Sew-In.  I have some cute jungle prints to whip up something special!  I should have another post tomorrow with what I've worked up from these:

Quilting Again

Just a quick update so that it gets duly noted that I accomplished some more quilting … I just had too many tops stacked up and needed to get some of them moving!  The one I quilted today was made from the fabric that was distributed to members of the Sunshine On-line Quilt Guild from a dear member’s stash when she passed away.  Another member told me that the four-squares that I ended up with were probably part of a long-ago member’s challenge that Bev B. was working on.  I wasn’t a member then but I felt a real link with the group when I was able to put together this top – I liked knowing about the continuity, I guess.  When it is finished it will go to Wrap-a-Smile, a group that Bev was passionate about helping.  Bev put her signature heart quilting in the corner of her quilts, so I quilted hearts on the four patches in her memory and meandered on the rest.  It needs to have the binding put on and into the box it will go!



Detail - maybe the heart
 quilting shows





Here are two of the tops, sitting on their proposed backings, that are waiting in line to be put on the frame.  A “girl” quilt on the left with a red calico backing and a “boy” quilt on the right with the sports equipment (yeah, I stereotype sometimes). 

Gotta keep moving!

Quilting Today

I’m chipping away at the stack of tops to be quilted.  I quilted this one today and will add it to the stack that needs binding.  I have three more tops ready to be quilted, but at least the stacks are changing!

And I added another row onto the novelties top I was working on – of course, I had to move some blocks around to spread the colors our more evenly when I added these new block fabrics.  I’m going to have to give up on the layout soon, and get to sewing the pieces together.  I keep thinking that there is that perfect combination of colors, but if I persist in that thought, I’ll go crazy (ok – no laughing - might be almost there anyway!).

On Friday, Oct 21^st, Heidi’s Friday Night Sew-In will be in session.  Hop on over to Bobbi’s  blog, Crafty Vegas Mom, to sign up.  Bobbi is Heidi’s co-host and cousin and she will be hosting the Sew-In this Friday.  There will be lots of prizes, so join in!

Works in Process

I bought a few more annuals yesterday to plant in my front yard – maybe to entice those trick-or-treaters so I won’t eat all of the candy myself!  I was going to plant them this morning, but it rained.  Then the yard man came and sprayed the yard and I couldn’t go out until it dried.  Meanwhile, they sit on the sidewalk – enticing nobody.  Maybe tomorrow …

So I sewed today instead.  I used a block from the Quilter’s Cache called Tam’s Patch so that I could use up lots of 2 ½ inch scraps of solids.  It looks a lot like a Disappearing 9-Patch, but since I didn’t make the 9-patches, I could use up smaller scraps.  The larger blocks are 4 ½ inches and a good size to use up some novelty fabrics I had left over.  The block finishes at 8 inches.  Here’s a link to the block: http://www.quilterscache.com/T/TamsPatchBlock.html

Here it is unsewn on the floor – I’ll have to move a few of the colors around to suit me and finish up the top tomorrow.  I’m thinking a multi-color stripe for the borders, but I haven’t decided on that yet.

Detail of some novelties

Happy Columbus Day

Today is the second Monday in October and the day that we celebrate the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.  But, was Columbus the first to really discover America on his voyage in 1492? 

Hawaii and South Dakota do not celebrate Columbus’ “discovery” today.  Hawaii celebrates what it has named “Discovery Day” instead as a commemoration of the Polynesian discovers of the islands.  And South Dakota has a State holiday today designated as “Native American  Day” to recognize the native Americans that were here before Columbus.

And yesterday, October 9^th, was Leif Erikson Day.  A now familiar idea is that the Vikings were the true European explorers that “discovered” this New World.  Leif Erikson Day is an official day of observance in seven states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington and California).

Personally, I think the first people probably came across the Bering Land Bridge that once connected Alaska and Siberia – although that theory is now being challenged because some think it became flooded over much earlier than previously thought.

But no matter – today is a holiday from work for some and that’s always to be celebrated!  So let’s raise a toast to all of the Explorers that dare to travel to exotic lands – may their discoveries always be fruitful and may Man always stretch to find new Frontiers …

This is my nautical fabric to make up a quilt to honor Explorers who traveled by sea.  I'll work up something soon!

Second Sunday Sewing

Today (Sunday) is what my on-line quilt guild calls “Second Sunday Sewing”.  It’s just a designated day in the month when we might all pause and catch up on some charity sewing, especially if we haven’t had time to do any, and we chat on-line about what we’re working on.

On the Frame

I did some actual quilting today and yesterday.  My tops have been piling up (since I consider that the fun part) and I have needed to get some done for a long time.  I finished quilting these two, but don’t have the borders on yet.  I’m liking how they are turning out - simple meandering on both.

And on the nature front, I saw a Painted Bunting at our bird feeder!  I have seen these very colorful birds over on the east coast of Florida, but I don't remember having seen one here on the west coast.  The bird book actually has it on its cover since they are so cute.

Painted Bunting on the cover

The description says they are probably around here and will come to forested bird feeders like mine.  Maybe I finally hit on just the right birdseed that they like!  I usually have the kind of seed that cardinals like (and doves and squirrels and raccoons …), so I see lots of those, but this was special.

My photo is very bad since he was skittish and I had to shoot through the screen, but if you look closely, you can see his blue head and yellow back and red underbelly - very bright colors.  Too cool!

New Quilt Books!

What was I thinking?!!  … Allowing myself to go out and look at the big sale last month at C&T Publishing’s warehouse.  Well, it turned out that what I paid was 75% off (including shipping) and I got a great haul of quilt books that I never would have paid full price for.  So I feel vindicated (no matter what looks the dear hubby gave me – at least it wasn’t a bucket of golf balls – to each his own, I always say).  This is what I got:

I’m going upstairs now to play with elements from the 150 Baby Blocks book – it has a very clever presentation that shows a block, then at the bottom of the page it shows that block mixed and matched with one or more other blocks from the book like this:

"150 blocks for baby quilts" by Susan Briscoe

Very cool ideas that are getting my quilting brain out of the rut it’s gotten into … sometimes we just need a new spark of an idea to get us back on the bandwagon.

I did get one paper-pieced block made up for a swap group member that was asking for one signed block.  She has a friend whose cancer has recurred after 5 yrs remission.  That news is so demoralizing but I hope that wrapping up in a quilt while she receives treatment will let her friend know that she is surrounded by prayer.

I have another friend that is volunteering to walk in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Pinellas County, FL on Oct 22, 2011.  I applaud people like my friend who are taking action to raise funds for cancer research.  Bless your heart, GJ.

Research has and will make a difference.  Click on this link to donate to the American Cancer Society:

http://tinyurl.com/42b7mfq