In cooking, a Sous-chef must plan and direct how the food is
presented on the plate, keep their kitchen staff in order, train new
chefs, create the work schedule, and make sure all the food that goes to
customers is of the best quality to maintain high standards. I don't think there is a job title for that work in quilting.
In quilting, usually all these roles are held by one person. Those who achieve a bit of celebrity, have a staff to do various tasks. For instance, Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company co-owns and founded the company with her husband, Alan. Their daughters, Sarah & Natalie, and son Alan, various friends of the family and people from their community stock the warehouse, create patterns & tutorials, as well as performing administrative work that runs all aspects of their business.
Not in my studio. Here, I manage my own mini-'warehouse' in my closet, purchase supplementary fabrics, find and use patterns, even adjusting them when needed. Here, I budget for supplies and shipping costs. I even advertise, seeking folks who might want a quilt. I do my own time management, my own everything. Sometimes I fly through the projects. Sometimes not.
Today, I traced 4 sets of appliqué patterns for the remaining La Befana pillows. Rolling my eyes. For as many scraps as I use, there are SO-O many in this stash. I have to keep working to use them, have to keep them organized, and in truth, enjoy every minute. I also cut batting to fit the pages of the soft book. I didn't turn on the machine because this day is dedicated to prep work.
Prep work is part of what I thought a sous-chef would do in the kitchen. No glory in it, but vital to the finished product. At one time, even Jenny did all her own work. While I do not plan to have a staff here in my studio, I will keep doing what I can.
I bought 6 pillow forms with the intention to make and give one to each of my Grandchildren. The leftover red from the Blessed Jets quilt is cut perfectly for 12" pillows.
While each is made from the same pattern, the look of the first two is different from each other, and the pattern. They are the same & yet not. Obviously I will learn from each one I make. It is my hope to make them all red representing the Roman Red used for the Empire's flags, its military uniforms and many of the dresses and togas. Then her hair is gray. There is a scrap of it, and with luck it will extend to all 6 pillows. Or not. I found 2 squares for the face pink, used buttons for eyes. Then there is a poinsettia cutout for the hair flower. It does sort of blend with the background so will take careful placing. The dress is a pink with white dot and the collars will be what scraps are here. I'll try to make three and three of them. I machine stitched the smile and nose on the first one, hand embroidering the second version. I re-did it with the black, and now it pops much like a cartoon image.
After finishing the scrappy back for the 90" square Solstice to Solstice quilt top, I wasn't sure what to start on first.
There is a soft book for a Nanny that is a panel and takes batting scraps. Ok, wait on that one until the next two quilts are basted. There are always scraps cut from the sides. It will be the third one I've made and they are quick.
Then there are six 12" pillows with a holiday appliqué. I've sorted colors and the process might also go quickly if they can be done in assembly fashion.
In my recent sorting, I've found fabrics suitable for backs. One is a lovely orange batik that is perfect for a Hallows quilt with blackwork squares alternating with pieced blocks. It is for next year; first I want to work on those pillows. Here is a link to one of the You Tube tutorials. I will watch a few of them to make sure I know what I am doing. I need to do the appliqué first and then make the pillow envelope or cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJnPEvjdDo
The original pattern for this is by Sally Hutchinson. It was exactly what I wanted to make for the 3-year-old-boy in the family. He loves all vehicles and I wanted to make him a big boy quilt rather than one he would outgrow.
This pattern does it. At first I thought I might add more borders to it. While I have more of the jet-gray, and red from the back, I decided its perfect as a lap quilt, perfect for a growing kid to drag around the house, with him in the car and maybe outside. It will work the way it is. The red for the back needs to be color set before it gets added, so it took 3 washes and the Color Catchers still ended up pink. Grrrr. As much as I love red....
So now, I need to move onto other projects.
I measured larger scrap pieces, I thought about next steps. And that was my day. I've moved into a different phase of my life where I want to work part of the day and speculate, muse, dream, plan the rest of the day. Its working for me. I was able to get flannel scraps the size of the Solstice to Solstice quilt. They are assembled quite randomly and took all day.
I saw a quilt working with a BOM that is a dark blue background with white snowflakes. I joined the group and printed off the pages. It is a challenging project I would like to do next year. I am entering the project in on my sidebar so I don't forget. I'll start it in January and maybe try to find fabric on sale for it.
Meanwhile, the Rainbow Bargello is washed, folded and set aside for the birthday. It actually turned out okay. However, its not a pattern or style I want to work with again.
The rest of the weekend was spent watching videos, measuring pieces for the Solstice-to-Solstice quilt, and joining pieces of the Blessed Jets top. I did decide I want to bring out my Twister templates and use up scraps with that pattern.
The pattern gives the primary instructions for a larger quilt. The lap size, which I am making, only takes 21 Friendship stars. I was almost stressed when the count I had was 13-18-then 21. I went back to the pattern and read with relief that the 21 count was correct.
They are pieced and pressed. The next step works with the Jets as templates and the starry blue fabric making triangles around the various pieces. This pattern might be easy to follow, just tedious with all its many steps. I've had to pay close attention to the difference between the sizes. I've been thinking about how to quilt it and want to do more of a wavy line in channel stitches going vertically to carry them up in the air. I know this is early to consider, yet, being mindful is imperative to all I do.
The next step was easy. A simple HST - Half Square Triangle, cut to make wings for 4 jets. The pattern was meant for the larger quilt & a few things were eliminated on the lap size version. Instructions for the larger version did not translate into the smaller one, so it became confusing for me. As I have said often, I am pattern-reading challenged. As it gets closer to assembly, I make do. Rather than to follow the written text, I am following the visual. And that works.
The Rainbow Bargello is finished, drying and ready to go in the bin, saved til the end of January when it ships.
The Blessed Jets quilt has so many steps to it. Yet, when all is said and done, it will be a sweet quilt for a 3-year-old boy who is growing up every day.
This part of the quilt makes up 66 Friendship blocks. It started with 264 - 2.5" blue and white QST for the star rays. That part was marking, stitching, cutting, pressing and ensuring that they were to size. The Friendship block itself is a 9-patch assembly. That means joining 3 squares across for 3 rows. I actually ran out of pins while working on this step, so will finish for the day with the rows pieced, and then press them to get ready for joining into the block.
This is the kind of quilt that cannot be put away and must be worked on until the top is completed. Rather than make notes-to-self on it, I've been checking off the steps on the pages of the printed pattern. This is page 3 of 8. Yikes.
Sometimes I wonder what I get myself into. However, when a challenge appears, I guess it is something to keep me active, alert and going forward with a purpose. Every morning that I wake up, I feel a sense of gratitude in the sunshine of the daylight shining in my room. I know I made it through the night and have been given the grace to do it all again.
Then, the Cat drooled over the folded quilt. I had just gone to the mirrored closet door to put the birthday quilt away when I saw the Cat. DROOLING on the quilt! So I spent the rest of the day trying to get the stain out. I got to it right away. Evidently, saliva is protein based and extremely hard to remove. True. He has never done this before and seems to want to be on this quilt all the time. Guess he marked it good.
It was still stained this morning after drying overnight, so at the suggestion of one of the quilters I know, I put Dawn dishwashing soap on it. Then I soaked the spot with water. I am thinking more and more that I will wash it with some color catchers before giving it as the gift in February.
I don't ever pre-wash the quilts before giving them; some quilters say they always do. Just a preference.
Then I started cutting for the Blessed Jets quilt. I cut all the fabrics and made 2 strip sets. What a lot of work this one is.
Well, when I organize any way. I know that my stash is organized. And then I put something away and can't find it. My closet bins have been organized many times and things ARE pretty easy. However, when I put a quilt top and back away in the bin for 'next things to work on' and it was the last place I looked, I realized that I needed to go through bins and MARK them with contents.
Things hide easily and memory slips away like winds in the valley.
I found a finished top in fall fabrics that was a BOM called Solstice to Solstice. It is huge and actually lays over my queen size bed. I also found two projects with this top that qualify for backs. Unfortunately, there is no note-to-self. I don't know what I was thinking.
What I did was to cut apart and piece the long flannel. I don't know measurements on anything so don't know if it will fit the top. Then, the other part of a project was all these rail fence blocks. They were pinned in groups of 9. I think there were over 30 of them, so I started joining each grouping of 9 into rows, trying to alter the twists and continued by joining 2 rows together.
Meanwhile, I finished the Bargello quilt, which is the first and last one I will ever make. Claudia, at 5Heart Quilts did a great job with the long-arm on it, and the flannel back makes it ever so cozy. But what a hard one to make. It follows a very simple pattern and looks fine. However, it was just too many cuts, too much matching. I am glad to have it done and ready for my younger Son's birthday in February. It will go in the bin marked to send out. It is a nice size for a personal quilt and he will enjoy the warmth.
I really don't have a pattern to follow. A swapper sent me a FQ of the black fabric with Day of the Dead skulls on it & I had no idea how to use it.
One of the other BOM groups had a block I just copied for the center of this one. It called for two contrasting FQs, so I used the black with a bright white. Then, I pulled a lot of the bright fabrics to go with the print. I wasn't sure how to make this, and decided to go step by step and see what evolved.
I like the teal as a first border and got it into my head to do a checkerboard for another border.
First I added a small 1.5" raw bright yellow, and luckily that added amount helped the 2.5" squares fit perfectly. Another yellow border is on, and I think from this point, it might work to simply do borders with cornerstones and get the whole top to a decent lap top size. I think the other brights can be cut in jelly roll size and just create a random back. As I look at the pic, black might make a good addition for the next one just to bring in the black again. I also have a 6" Friendship block pattern I want to consider.
While I am happy with how it is evolving, like the others for Hallows, it won't get finished until next year. I am in no hurry. What I need to remember is the note-to-self.
It is amazing how the borders or steps go together on this quilt. Very little trim was required, yet the corner squares needed an inch, which was easy to do. Funny thing was that I put away all the quilting projects before leaving for Vegas and 'hid' this project in the unfinished bin. Of course, that was the last place I looked for it. Duh.
It turned out nicely. I am always surprised because the quiltalongs I join are mystery quilts and so I never know what the finish will look like. I didn't like the red hearts in the center but used a red center elsewhere. Knowing what it would look like would help with color choices, but it is a mystery and needs to be left to chance.
When I first did a mystery, I made a quilt that I gave to Mother. Since her move to a nursing care facility, the quilt is in the hands of someone else, and I have no idea where or who. Life is like that. Surrendering to fate, to the choices of others. All we can do is our best in the moment and believe that it is enough.
I gave in to this Holiday quiltalong when I saw others using scraps rather than buying the fabric. I have a fair amount of holiday scraps and pulled some of what I thought would work.
Next, I just started pulling scraps from the bin. With a quilt top like this, it doesn't really matter what fabrics get used as long as there are some repeats. There are 17 planned blocks to the top, and I have already repeated. I'll just pay attention and use what I have in the bin as much as possible.
I also worked on Step 8 of the Medallion quilt. There are more things to do on it before joining it to the center piece. Bit by bit.
Three quilts got delivered this weekend, the Log Cabin, the Ribbon, and the Halloween Twisted 4-patch. One is getting long-armed. One more is ready to be basted. And I will keep pushing myself to get more done and moved along.
I put together three Hallows pot holders with Insul-brite. They have binding machine sewn and ready to hand sew the finishes. I may not get to them while in Vegas, and on the other hand, am prepared if I do need something to keep busy.
The final pieced border to the Medallion quilt is coming along. There are four sets of 3 groupings of Flying Geese that are almost joined. Then there are corner stone blocks to make and the whole thing sewn onto the center piece.
Its been an adventure to keep going on any quilt projects. The grief I feel in getting to acceptance for my aging brings on a lot of inertia, much like grief over the loss of a person would do. This is so different because the 'death' is for the person I used to be...the younger version of who I am.
I still find myself saying, 'what the heck' when I have what the elders used to call a "hitch in my giddy-up". I see others who say they are ok getting down on the ground, but its not as easy to get up. Well, this has spilled into my quilting. I don't want to get complicated patterns right now. I don't want to get down. Thing is, the fewer pieces of fabric there are, the more creative I have to become.
There is a Holiday quilt along that members keep saying how easy and stress free it is. I printed off the first three blocks and pulled out the box of fabric scraps I have. Some people have such cute fabric. That gets intimidating. I love a challenge, and a mystery, so yes. Yes, I am in it.
Whew, both quilts have binding and before I tuck them into boxes, I want to check for loose seams and threads. Its amazing how many times I do that and know that every once in awhile a seam will bust free. It is the nature of hand made items.
The older of the two in my closet was the Hallows Twisted 4-patch. This is one of Claudia's patterns. She owns and operates one of the fabric stores in town, 5 Heart Quilts. She made up this pattern for many sizes and this one comes out as less than the usual twin size and more than the usual lap size.
I put one fabric on the back. My intention was to have a less busy side, however it seems that all Hallows fabrics are busy. This one goes to my eldest Granddaughter who was born on Hallows. Her partner has an end of the month in October birthday as well, so they will enjoy it.
The second finish goes to a friend who often reads my blog. So I am only posting a pic of the back. As everyone who knows me knows, my goal is to use up as much of the scraps in my closet as I have. This is a perfect example. I think they are 4" squares made into 9-patch blocks and then randomly pieced. The top on this is also a scrap quilt. This one is a personal lap or nap quilt that would welcome her furbabies and simply go into the wash when needed. A true utility quilt. I will post the top after she receives it.
I plan a long weekend trip to Vegas from Friday to Monday, so will not be quilting nor blogging. It is my hope to drop off the Bargello quilt so Claudia can long-arm it. I am in no hurry for it as his next birthday is on February 2. However, it feels good to have it ready.
I plan to cut more scraps from leftover fabric to put in the size bins. I did piece enough 2.5" charm sashing by joining them into strips for both BOM Sampler quilts I am making. If more is needed for the sashing and first border, I can add to them as they finish. Also, I found some Insul-bright scraps to make pot holders and want to use up more of the Hallows scraps for them.
I think I have advanced in accepting my life as it is, knowing that the woman I was when I was younger had so much more energy, stamina and creativity than I do now. As I use up these scraps and find more ways to be creative, I am celebrating who I am rather than whining about waning skills, waning energy, stamina and creativity. I am doing the best I can just like I always have. And I am enough.
I am doing two Mystery Scrap Sampler BOM quilts. That means, first of all, We never know what the blocks will be. Second, I am using fabric from my closet so each block is selected as its own color combo. Then being a Sampler means that each block is a different pattern. And lastly, as a Block Of the Month (BOM), Only one block pattern is released each month.
As I looked at what I had in my closet, I found a few random 12.5" blocks and matched them into the two groupings. The way they are set up, it doesn't matter if I add what I have in the closet and gets those blocks used. I pulled up visuals for scrap sampler quilts to see how they are finished. Again, I could go to the store and buy fabric for sashing, yet found several examples where 2.5" charms were joined in strips to make sashing and the first border.
After measuring and calculating, I think I can use 6 of the charms to form the sashing between blocks vertically, and can start with 24 of them to do the horizontal pieces. I made 8 shorter strips and 5 longer ones. That is enough for one of the quilt tops. It surprised me how much was left in the clear shoebox container. It looks like there is enough to do another set of 8 & 5.
I am ecstatic.
What I did was to match pairs first and then keep matching as I tried to vary the strips. I decided to only do as many for the first quilt top and see how it looks.
I took out the Bargello and discovered that it did need a strip on the bottom to make a 3" overhang all around for the long-arm quilting. Growling at JoAnn's for cutting what I needed into two lengths that didn't really work without piecing, I just did it and walked away. Its ready.
Now, I am back to hand sewing the binding on the comfort quilt I want shipped on Friday.
It is my plan to finish and ship two quilts on Friday before the trip to Vegas for the Anniversary party. I am just starting on the second side of the first of them, so cannot look at any of the other projects until they are finished.
There are three projects sitting on the pressing board. One is the last border for the Medallion quilt. One is cutting the Jets quilt to start it. The other is a Hallows quilt with both embroidered and pieced squares to it.
I am not taking pics of all of it sitting on the board. While pics help with the visuals on the blog, there are too many already of just fabric.
Binding quilts is a profound action for me. So many messages and lessons and meanings. Its about closure, containment, finishing, framing. I love this part because it is hand work. Its gotten harder for me to thread needles because of the Essential Tremors, strong in my left hand and starting in the right. Yet, it still relaxes me and gives that sense of completion.
I wonder how much it is a metaphor for aging issues...getting closer to end of life.
Many of the projects in my closet are getting finished and that gives me a strong sense of accomplishment. I loved receiving the fabrics from various friends and family. Yet, one day, when I gathered everything into one place, everything seemed huge. I read how others build rooms to hold endless bolts and keep buying. They admit to needing several lifetimes to use the fabric and take pleasure in having it.
Well, I have never been a shopper or a hunter/gatherer, so for me, it became vital that I use what was here first. Over the years, I had to buy a focus fabric to finish a scrap quilt, and may have to do that yet.
For now, I continue using what I have and finding ways to bring beauty, comfort and joy into the fabric arts.
I pieced the flannel and am a bit irritated with JoAnns for cutting the 6 yards into two pieces of 4 & 2 yards. It took so much work to get them to fit for the top and it barely fits. I cut the batting to fit and then took the top to the pressing board. I found two spots that need re-doing and want to reinforce the edge seams on it. That will take 10 minutes at best.
Then it goes to 5Heart Quilts to get long-armed. Her preference for the pattern is hearts, of course. In this case, I love the concept on this particular quilt. Not only the heart pattern, but how closely she does the pattern. It reinforces the smaller joints of the Bargello. I am glad to check it off as nearly finished on my part. I do not have to baste nor machine quilt. It will need binding, so while I am at that fabric store, I will purchase a solid to complement it. Claudia, the store owner always seems to know the best fabric choices.
I do not think I will do another Bargello pattern. There are lovely ones out there, and while I love the math of it, cutting and piecing to get to the end of it, doesn't seem worth it to make a utility quilt that gets dragged around and washed often. This is another reason why I decided to pay for the long-arm quilting.
Next on my list to finish is a quilt for one of my friends. There is a bit of white as background to the top so I bought a spool of white Aurifil thread. Its 100% cotton, a bit pricey but works beautifully.
My fingers are still bandaged and not hurting as badly. The best I can do with machine quilting these days...with my skills and machine is to channel stitch. Its shows just a little bit if you look closely. This one would not work with either horizontal or vertical lines. It does work with diagonal lines, so I've begun. Taping the lines works better for me than using a pen that could stain. The white fabric will wrinkle more than the colored ones.
It is my hope to finish the binding on this one and Sami's Hallows Twisted 4-Patch and get them both shipped on Friday before a trip to Vegas.
I have enough money to buy another sewing machine. That is not the issue. I don't believe in getting the high priced ones as they do not last any longer than these cheapies. However, I want to finish all my machine quilted projects first before doing that. Once I get what is almost done shipped to their new homes, the spaces in my closet will free up to bring other projects stored on the shelves down to eye level. Seriously. I do not want to spend money when there is still some life in this machine. I need to be aware of its eccentricities and use it wisely.
Yes. Yes it is true. Quilting accidents happen. Someone said I was moving too fast. But I wasn't.
This pic is blurry and that is the way it is. I am halted in the work because these two injured fingers make it hard. Yes it is my non-dominate hand. There is a medical numbering so the index finger is #2; middle finger is #3.
What happened is that I got a cardboard cut (like a paper cut) on #3 on the inside of the first joint (DIP). I pulled out the box holding a non-working machine to use it to figure out how to get my working machine functional again.
I also admit to wondering how the heck anyone could catch their finger by a moving needle. Well, the dog feet part wasn't working so I was pushing fabric through and the next thing I knew, the needel caught my finger and broke when I pulled it back from the motion. That was finger #2 on the outside just above the DIP joint.
I have first aid bandages and that blood barrier piece. However when you are both the patient and the doctor, confusion sets in with the pain. All the stuff was in a first aid bag but unopened & in the original boxes. I had to rip into it while trying to stop the bleeding and pain before I had the medical tools in the kit.
Today, the pain is gone. The fingers remain covered. I am donating one of the machines & plan to look at making a new purchase. I admit to not wanting to buy another machine until this one stops functioning completely. So many lessons here about who I am, how I value what I do, and also huge on that list is not wanting to believe that anything manufactured in our culture is throw-away. I fixed this machine, yet again, but at what cost? Two fingers injured. I can do the machine quilting the way it is, but it will no longer do simple stitching. Gahhh
My machine was not working so I took it apart thinking it needed cleaning, though I had done that recently. What I discovered is the arm to the dog teeth, the part that pulls fabric through is not working. It doesn't go up enough to let the teeth do their job. I have it threaded to do the quilting on the Hallows Log Cabin so that is next on my to do list.
Things go wrong in life. Maybe not wrong, but they don't go according to your plans. I don't want to buy another machine. There is another one in the closet that I plan to pull out and see if I can get it to work and maybe between the two of them start quilting again.
In the old tradition, this day was one of 8 agricultural events honoring their work. It marks the celebration for the first harvesting. Usually, in my gardens it is harvesting herbs and some of the leftover onions & garlic. In my life, it celebrates early accomplishments I've had. As a quilter, I am REALLY grateful for all I have done & learned through fabric arts.
Today, I took the sidebar check list & compared it with current projects, and some that are started waiting for a finish. I updated the check list and went back to work on Step 8 that finishes up the Medallion quilt.
Because my first attempt was done incorrectly and I had to unpick those stitches, I only made one pair of flying geese just to make sure it turned out, & will continue sewing on lines with the blocks. That may be all I get done today before heading out to LA with company. Pieces need to be cut in half & pressed before adding the other wing to each goose. My pressing board and iron are put away for now.
My fabric bins are getting down, however there are small containers on the closet shelf that hold planned projects. Actually I need to get to them next so that when each project is finished, there are more scraps to add to the bins. Its still pretty on-going and far from finished.
I am tempted to join a Holiday mystery quilt-along to use up those fabrics, but like waves in the ocean, there is always another one coming along. I can wait on that. One of the projects to finish is a holiday wonky block. I may need to make a back and those scraps could work.
