Full of Soup

I bought this pattern at Keepsake Quilting over the summer, and despite the delay in posting the results, I did actually have this finished three weeks before Halloween!

My rug is such a heinous back-drop. Sorry about that. This should be the kind of project that zips up in a night or two, but I broke down while working on this multiple times.

Do you see this shape? I somehow imagined sewing this to fusible web (a light material that has glue on one side), then turning it inside out and gluing it down. Turning it inside out didn’t work out at all. Turns out I needed a different gluey material. I needed to cut everything out all over again. Then, I completely destroyed my iron with glue. The pattern also didn’t include enough fabric for a backing or a binding. Thanks, guys! That wasn’t a pain at all!

The good news is I am starting to get the hang of quilting on my machine for these small projects.

I lost my rotary cutter and realized that my sewing area was getting slightly out of hand.

I opened up all my shoe boxes, cloth bins, and plastic containers and laid out all of my supplies to get them organized. I was pretty amazed with how well stocked I am.

Neutral thread? Check.

Safety pins? Check.

Walking foot? Why yes, three.

N

Needles? For every type of project imaginable.

Miscellaneous tools from quilt shows? All of them.

And yes, Two rotary cutters.

Indy’s favorite necklace? Always.

On November 5th and 6th the Evening Star Quilters Guild of Mineola had their annual guild show. It was a small show, but there were many inspiring quilts.

If you look closely, you can see these are all batik fabrics. I think some quilts that use these fabrics become all about showcasing the prints, but her subtle use really lets the pattern shine through.

My camera was incapable of capturing this lovely tone of lavender, so enjoy this sub-par version.

I love the use of near-solids in this quilt. It’s so colorful without feeling like a rainbow.

Can’t go wrong with a scrappy log cabin.

Something modern! And beautiful quilting.

Double Irish Chain. Really perfect version of this classic pattern.

This woman purchased all of the handkerchiefs from eBay. I was thinking this would be a great way to zip up a simple quilt, but then she went ahead and intricately quilted each block.

I love this pattern.

Love. I think I’ll make something very similar someday soon.

Cathedral Windows.

This is sorcery to me.

Oh HANDS DOWN my favorite of the show.

Delilah’s Doll Shoppe!

Beads on the trees.

Apparently the bought the pattern at City Quilter. I hope it’s still there!

This was my take home from the show. I’m psyched.

I started this quilt in 2007 or 2008.

It was the second quilt top I made so I was looking for something just a bit more challenging than my first top (which is still being hand quilted). I picked up the pattern at The Cambridge Quilt Shop, and then annoyed a very kind Joanne’s sales associate by asking her to cut me a 1/4 yard of all of these fabrics. “Well this will certainly be a scrappy quilt,” she said.

One of the bigger mistakes I made was not cutting off back layers of fabric, so the top became very thick and quilting this by hand through all those layers would be impossible. This lead to my main problem- I don’t know how to quilt by machine.

After a couple months of trying to shove this quilt under my machine and spinning it to create straight lines around the stars, I gave up. My mom’s quilting teacher, Margaret, helped me let go of this insane idea and simplify the quilting design into squares rather than a more complicated pattern around the stars.

I’m so happy with how it came out. I took these pictures before I added the binding around the edge and pulled out all the loose strings.

I submitted my quilt to an art show at my job and they will have it hanging until January! I’m so pleased to have another finished quilt under my belt.

I can’t wait to have it home.

I think “extravaganza” is actually fitting for what I witnessed at this show.

This was an enormous quilt. I felt like I was looking through a window and had to turn my head to see it all.

Love these colors.

This quilt, from Japan, was made up of 61,000 pieces. For reference, my Trip Around The World quilt was about 1,500.

These quilts, also from Japan, were incredibly intricate their effect was unlike anything I have ever seen before.

I love the way this one is framed. I love how it looks realistic, but not so much that you forget it’s a quilt.

This was a total show stopper for me. I love this painting and had just visited it at the MoMa the day before, so I really appreciate the startling accuracy.

Okay, this BLEW my mind. The next three quilts are made from the same pattern:

I forget where this one is from. I need to take notes.

I love this one. Can’t describe why.

This quilt is from South Africa.

This quilt was so stunning in person. It reminded me of the “crazy quilts” from the 20s.

Detailed fabric flowers were a recurring theme in this show.

Loved this! I can’t even figure out how this was done. And this is just one square!

On the right there is a 3-D spider crawling out of the quilt!

There was a section of the show that was for quilts that address racism. This artist feels that the current US flag is too clear cut for the layered history and the many different cultures represented in America.

This was her version.

This quilt was another stunner in person. It reminded me of Elizabeth’s “Touch this Quilt” piece. There white spaces are newspaper articles about racism in the US.

This one’s for my sister- these animals are felted!

This quilt really stretches the definition of quilt. I love seeing the unexpected at these shows.

This quilt, titled “Bathing in the Ganges,” won Best in Show. I really like it when more modern quilts make a nod to the traditional. The detailed log cabin blocks that border this piece really brings it all together for me.

And bling!!

I realize I didn’t take a picture of this whole quilt, but the embroidery on this one was off the hook.

What?

Again, really amazing details here.

There is no photo that can do this quilt justice. If you are still scrolling through all these pics, click on this twice to get the biggest image you can.  Please note that “white” is not a background fabric, but actually an embroidered pattern. Also, every flower, bee and butterfly is embroidered.

I hope this can give you more of an idea.

It took us 5 hours to get through this show and all the vendors and I took many, many more pics, but I think there’s only so many times I can use the word “love” in a single post. It was such a freaking blast. I also bought a bunch of fabric for my next project! I’m so inspired!

I can finally report a somewhat successful evening of quilting! Full Disclosure: I went to a full day workshop with my mom’s quilting teacher, Margaret, who has been teaching quilting for 30 years. She spent a full hour holding my hand and wiping my tears and teaching me how to do this.

Step 1: Find a lot of things that are circles!

Take a piece of fabric and a piece of fusible web and put the “right” sides together. The right side of the fusible web is more course and has all those spots of glue. Pro tip: When someone gives you a bunch of free fusible web so you can go home and start right away without forgetting how to do this, don’t lose that fusible web then go to an overpriced quilt shop and pay top dollar for Designer’s Lite Luxury Apparel Fusibles.

Trace a circle on the fusible web side of things and pin it all together.

Quilt exactly on the line. EXACTLY, I SAID.

Cut about a 1/4 inch away from the line you just showed. Don’t ask questions about why my demo includes three different pieces of fabric. We will stick to this fabric for the rest of the demo.

Cut a slice through the fusible web. Do not cut the fabric.

Turn it inside out. Now you have the glue side on the back and the fabric side on the front. You can cut more of the fusible web off if you are worried that it will affect how your finished quilt will feel as long as you leave about an inch around the edges.

Okay folks. I was really inspired by the quilts at the Somers Quilt Show that had blocks of maritime flags and the mariner’s compass that I went ahead and purchased some solids and started mapping out my project.

The flags are made up of five solid colors and most of them are pretty simple square blocks. My plan is to make a quilt with 6×5 10″ blocks with 2″ of sashing framing them and filling in the negative space in blocks A and B.

I already have black fabric, so bought these Kona solids for the flags and the grey will be the sashing.

There are 26 blocks, so the plan is to make four mariner’s compasses for each of the corners to make a 30 block, rectangular quilt.

I can’t really front here, this should be a super simple quilt and adding on the 1/4 inch seam allowance around each block should not be that difficult, but somehow I’ve already managed to screw up block Q and block K. Scroll up and look at how simple those blocks are. BLOCK Q! I’ve decided to change the blade on my rotary cutter. I mean, that is the only explanation. I’ve also decided to give Bounce another shot.

I bought a few things at the Quilt Show.

At Somers, I got this animal print that I ‘d like to make something for my niece with. She has a play kitchen so I’ve been thinking about an apron or some hot mitts, but I’m not sure how much use she’d get out of that. I think she’d love a bag, but the print is pretty large and I’d like to use all of the animals. I’m just not sure what to do.

I also purchased these prints at the quilt show for myself:

These actually go well with what I have leftover from my Mug Rug project. I just wish I knew how to make clothes.

I like the bold colors in this print. I think it would make beautiful kitchen curtains.

The last weekend of April, the Northern Star Quilters Guild had there annual show in Somers, NY.

It was a beautiful, cold spring day.

The raffle quilt was a take-off on Kaffe’s Bounce Quilt. Instead of snowball borders, they used pinwheels. I loved the look in pastels. It still doesn’t make me want to go back to that project yet though.

The halls of the high school were lined with vendors and the library was transformed into a “boutique.”

The quilts made by the guild members were displayed in the gym.

I’m planning to make a quilt with a few mariner’s compass blocks next. I was inspired by this sampler of them. I think the bottom center one seems the most reasonable for me to try.

Applique!

I love this quilt! My big plan is to make a quilt with all the mariners flags, which this quilter used as one of her borders. There are 26 flags and I want to make the four corners of the quilt mariners compasses. This quilt made me want to start immediately.

These cranes were 3D. Ill!

This quilter and her friend make the same quilt together every year. This was her version of their 2009 quilt. I love the idea of doing a complex project like this with a friend. I’m sure doing something like that would help me keep pace. Or at least keep sanity.

The women with white gloves! For you non-quilters, you have to ask these ladies to show you the backs of the quilts.

Love these colors and the thin sashing.

I’m forever impressed by tiny piecing.

Yes, this is a quilt. All those tiny black lines are strings of fabric. Mind blowing!

The first Seven Days of Christmas!

The rest of the days of Christmas. I want this.

Stars! Reminded me of the quilts from the 70’s I saw at the Folk Art Museum.

I purchased one fabric to make something for my niece, but I haven’t decided what to make yet.

I’ve been jonesing to try a smaller project step away from Bounce and when I was invited to a bridal shower, I had the perfect reason to put away the quilt and try making something different. I was thinking of making coasters or oven mitts, but then I remembered seeing Nova post about a whole new category of household things: mug rugs.

Seriously, click that link and look at those photos. Mug rugs are bigger than coasters, but smaller than placemats. They are supposed to be sized for a mug and a snack.

I started at the fabric store.

Then I pulled out my personal stash.

After clicking through tons of examples of mug rugs, I started putting together my design.

I spent a day psyched about how quickly I finished the top.

I have very little experience machine quilting, so even though it was straightforward, it took me some time to get comfortable.

And of course the thin, blue binding wasn’t finished until I was on the train headed to the party, which made getting shots of the finished product difficult.