Thursday, November 19, 2009

100th Post Giveaway!

This is my 100th post and I'm having a giveaway. The giveaway includes the book, Design Workshop by Ruth McDowell, a zippered bag by Moda and 3 "blue" fat quarters. I really appreciate everyone who stops by my blog and thank you for all the nice comments. I really do enjoy reading the comments!

You can enter my giveaway by leaving a comment: tell me about your favorite quilt pattern and your favorite color!

I will draw the winning name on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving or on November 28th. By the way, my favorite quilt pattern is Lucky Stars by Atkinson Designs (I have made three quilts from that pattern) and my favorite color is blue.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Smocking Truck Show

The photo above shows duplicate stitching, has cast on stitch flowers and bullions for the cup handle.

This is an overlay for a beautiful smocked dress made by Jill Efting, from Cable Car Cablers of San Francisco, CA. The bullions and ribbon work on the front of this piece I thought was gorgeous.

This is beautiful smocking with pearls added during the smocking. The flowers are made from bullions.

The stitching and shadow work of this delicate piece was beautiful. White on white I love it!

I didn't get to photograph a baby layette with boutis provençal by Marie Yolanda, it was beautiful and you can see it here. There is a link to a video with Marie Yolanda on how to do the technque. There was also a baby jacket made from a satin batiste, note to self, beautiful fabric.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Getting Out of Your Personal Rut!

I visited the Cottonwood Quilt Guild in Elkhorn to see Debbie Bowles, owner of Maple Island Quilts Pattern Company. Debbie showed different versions of the same quilt pattern to show how the contrast and intensity of fabrics affects the overall design of the quilt. The above quilt pattern is called Piqued.


The quilts above are from the quilt pattern, Show Off. Debbie said this pattern is great for border prints and a border print is used in the quilt on the right. The black and white wave stripe she used in the red quilt gives a lot of movement and has various widths and doesn't need to be matched.


The pattern, Posh, is great for adding rickrack to your quilts. This photo shows two different looks with the same pattern. Debbie said a way to change your style if you're not used to making bright quilts is to pick out the brightest fabrics in the fabric store and then when you put them all together in a quilt they cancel each other out. This is the case in the fushia and red quilt. Debbie used yellow rickrack in the border of this quilt.

Long Lines is a pattern Debbie designed to use with all those large florals that are popular right now.


Debbie's patterns are fun and she uses the manipulation of fabric to change the look of the quilt. In the beginning of her talk, she started out by having us think of our favorite quilt pattern, the one you use over and over. Then, to think of different ways to change up your style so you can get out of your rut and to challenge yourself. Some other ideas of changing your style is adding curved lines, circles in your border, and to reduce or enlarge the size of your pattern. You can also change the sashing in your quilt by doing something you wouldn't normally do, adding sashing if your pattern doesn't call for it, using bright sashing or putting a sashing with the same contrast or same intensity as your quilt blocks. By the end of the talk, I had lots of ideas to change the way I put together my next quilt, and thought of ways to improve my quilts.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Clown Quilt


I've been working on this clown quilt this week and I need to make the points for the border and then stitch everything together. I've been trying to use my stash and make things from what I already have. I've already made a quilt from these three fabrics and I gave it away to Ronald McDonald house in Omaha. I think the fabrics are cute and kind of have a vintage feel. I like the way this quilt is coming together and the three fabrics will be used up after this quilt.

Friday, November 13, 2009

I Love History!

Darlene Zimmerman was the guest speaker at the LQG meeting for November. Darlene talked about Treasures of the Trunk. Her talk was full of history about fabrics and quilting. She brought many quilts to show and I loved every minute of her talk. I learned that bed covers have only been made in the last 200 years. Before the 1820's every bit of fabric had to be handmade, which meant creating the fibers, weaving, and dyeing of the fabric. The fabrics were made for clothing because of the time it took to create fabric.


The above photo is a early salesman's sample used to show fabrics that merchants could buy.


The early fabric was dark because a person only had a couple of garments and they were only laundered once a week. Also, you were lucky to have one needle and a few pins in your home because they were so hard to make. A needle at that time took 125 steps to make. That's where the term "pin money" came from because you had to save up to buy them. When the treadle sewing machine was invented, Coats and Clarks made a stronger thread for the machines. The initials on the spool "ONT" stands for Our New Thread and is still on the spools today.


The quilt with the red sashing was quilted in the Baptist Fan pattern and was a common pattern for the quilting because it follows the motion of your arm and you get less fatigued. In 1861, a quilt would be quilted by hand for about $2.00 and it took about 200 hours. In 1930, the price went up to about $5.00 and the quilting was charged by the spool.


Butterflies were popular quilt applique designs for persons who lived through World War One and the Depression. The butterflies were a sign of freedom. There are a lot of different designs for butterflies because a woman would see a design and then go home and draw her own. This is the same with Sun Bonnet Sue. That's why there are so many versions of those patterns.


I loved this sampler quilt. Before patterns, a person would have a box of quilt blocks and they were samples of quilt blocks they had seen at a fair or when visiting a neighbor or friend. The quilt block would be reproduced when they got home and then stored in a box. Later, women's magazines and newspapers promoted quilting and included patterns. Mountain Mist also included patterns in the batting.


The above quilt is a 30's quilt and it shows how bright and cheery the fabrics had become. Darlene designs 30's fabrics and patterns.


Darlene also brought an antique redwork quilt and it had this cute bunny on it and I couldn't resist. Thank you Darlene for all the knowledge you gave us during your talk it was very informative. It was a treat to see your collection of quilts!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Guild Christmas Stockings


The stocking above was the first place winner for viewer's choice and the stocking below is second place winner viewer's choice. My stocking was the third place winner. Each of the winners got Christmas fat quarters. Other stockings made by guild members are also inclued in this post. This is a fun community outreach project for our guild.