Part 3: String quilt top

To call this Part 3 of the series of posts I have put here is a bit misleading, yet it is not entirely inaccurate; here's why. And make sure you read the first two parts so that this post will make sense.


The weekend of the USCT Grand Review, I was finishing up a quilt. It wasn't just any quilt; it was a first for me on several counts.

This is obviously a string quilt; this beautiful string quilt was my inspiration. You may have recognized a trend in my quilting; I typically use large blocks, and do not really do true piecing. Thus, this string quilt is the first time I have really "pieced" a quilt and worked with smaller pieces to create pieced blocks.


But, it's not just any string quilt. It's also a charm quilt. So, that means that every single piece of fabric in this quilt is unique; no two pieces are the same. (Note to self: Do not EVER do that again!)


And here's the really neat part...it's an I Spy quilt! I'll show you each of the six panels, and then you can see if you can find everything. My younger daughter and I wrote an I Spy poem for it!

I spy bunny ears, a butterfly, a tree,

Dogs, a pepper, and some broccoli.

I spy a giraffe, a horse, some French fries,

An eggplant, an orange, and owls so wise.

I spy a fortune cookie, a stack of dishes,

A peacock, a black motorcycle, a cat, and fishes.

I spy a pumpkin, a duck, a snake,

A guitar, yellow sunflowers, and a slice of cake.

The reason why this quilt is part of the series is this. I was not quite finished with it by the time Thursday came. But, after working with Tina in the schools, and I thought about the fact that we'd be a part of her lecture/educational sessions on Saturday, I knew it would be good to have a quilt like this as part of the exhibit. So, I rushed to finish the last few blocks of this quilt, and added the wildly colorful tie dye border that you see, having been inspired by Tina's generous use of colorful tie dye fabrics in her quilts.

I really enjoyed making this quilt; string quilts are a lot of fun to make, although I will not put myself thru the torture again of making sure that every single string is different.

A final, windy day picture.

USCT Grand Review Part 2: Quilt Artist Tina Williams Brewer

This is part 2 of a series of posts about the US Colored Troops (USCT) Grand Review weekend; it is best to start with part 1 for an understanding of the weekend as a whole.

As part of the festivities last weekend of the USCT Grand Review, quilt artist (or art quilter?) Tina Williams Brewer came to the event to show her art quilts at a couple of educational sessions on Saturday. But, on the Thursday and Friday prior to the event, she traveled to some of the local elementary schools to introduce children to the idea of storytelling, history, and cultural expression thru art quilts.

My quilting group (not to be confused with my charity sewing group), since one of our members knows Tina very well, had the opportunity to work with her in the schools. You might be able to see my daughters in the pictures below, standing/bending in the background and helping the students with the hands-on project of log cabin block construction.

Tina takes the blocks that the children have created with glue on a muslin foundation, and then somehow sews them together. She visited three schools; she will create three quilts, one for each school.

I was in awe of the event. First, I found it amazing that a quilter--and an art quilter, to boot--would be interested in teaching children about art quilts. I truly admire her desire to instill in the next generation an appreciation for an art form that has revivals from time to time, but never really seems to be thriving anymore. Second, I was shocked that she travels with her museum quality quilts, and allows children to handle them! But her belief is that, as they are insured, they are meant to be experienced and enjoyed, and a quilt--and the quilting process--should not be inaccessible. That gave me pause. As much as I am adamant about creating utilitarian quilts, I do still believe that not every quilt should be used frequently. Well, Tina's perspective has given me pause, and caused me to begin to evaluate even more my way of thinking about quilts.

She was also incredibly gracious. On Saturday afternoon, she held two educational sessions about her quilts. Not only had she given us, our quilting group, opportunities to instruct right alongside her in the schools on Thursday and Friday, but on Saturday, she even gave us the opportunity to display some of our quilts along with hers. We are quilters, but she is an artist. Below is one of her exhibits of quilts, with some of my quilts. You might recognize what is probably my best known quilt (see the white one with the square, folded and lying on the table?). Under it is my picnic quilt top, and to the right on another table is my Yellow Brick Road quilt:

I do not have permission to share photos of my quilt group (except for one or two members), so I'll only show some of the pictures of the room where we were stationed. In the photo below is my High Light quilt:

See the woman in the foreground on the right with the hat and red dress? She was one of the re-enactors (see the Part 1 post); she was on break from her own session, and stopped thru our room:

Here I am seated at my sewing machine, sewing some of the setting blocks that Tina will use when she assembles the childrens' quilts; I am positioned in front of the quilt that I will present to you in Part 3 of this series!

USCT Grand Review Part 1

(On this day, Veteran's Day, it is most appropriate to talk about one particular group of veterans...)

We had a very interesting weekend this past weekend. In order to fully explain it, I'll need to give you a bit of history over the course of three blog entries, which will help lay the groundwork for making the connection to quilting. Here's the first one.

At the end of the Civil War, Washington wanted to honor its troops for their service in the war with a grand review. However, they made a grave oversight and decided not to extend the invitation to the US Colored Troops (USCT). Yes; in this, our brand new United States, some of us were still not welcome.

(Now, Pennsylvania at least decided to hold a grand review, and they did invite colored troops to the affair, but the governor did not attend.)

So, here we are, at the sesquicentennial (150 year) mark. Pennsylvania decides to hold a sesquicentennial celebration of the grand review, and makes a point to extend to the colored troops the honor that Washington should have extended them a century and a half ago. I will not consider the injustice, irony, etc. of it all; I will simply be grateful for this past weekend. And for the governor's presence this time around. Below, you can see him posing with some of the troops.

And the mayor, too; here she is, being escorted to the podium.

To celebrate the event, on Saturday there was a procession of troops on the streets of the state's capital. There are companies of men across the country who participate in re-enactment events, and were more than happy to travel to Harrisburg in their Union Army garb to honor the men who fought many years ago for the cause of freedom.

Some of the companies consisted of very young men. :) These drummers are in their early teens.

There were also men and women dressed in "civilian" attire of the time, who represented certain characters in history. For example, one woman was Harriet Jacobs. If you walked up to any of the actors, they would, in character, explain who they were, and what part they played in history.

It was hard not to be moved by the events of the weekend. It was amazing.

Next:
Part 2--an art quilter (or quilt artist?)

Picnic Quilt

I've got good news and bad news.

First, the bad news.

I have not yet finished the socks.

Ugh.

Now, the good news.

I have a quilt top to show you!

(Have you ever tried to take pictures of a quilt top outside on a windy day? Oy!!)

Early this summer, I took a good look at my fabric stash. It hit me rather hard that I love novelty fabrics, especially food fabrics. (Now, that makes for a very colorful, and very interesting stash, but not a very versatile one. I'm slowly, bit by bit, trying to remedy that. But in the meantime...)

So, I thought it would be nice to make a picnic quilt, comprised of my food fabrics!

You might recognize the pattern. It is the Fresh Vanilla pattern, that I have already used for two other quilts to date. Remember these?

 

 I love the versatility of this pattern; see how the sashing and fabrics changed the look of this quilt completely?

Ordinarily, I wait to reveal a quilt once I have fully completed it--the quilting, binding, etc. I actually finished this one a month or two ago. But this one is still a top, and will remain a top until I figure out how I will quilt this on a regular home sewing machine. It is HUGE; also, I broke the presser foot I had been using for free motion, so I need to first figure out which of my machines to buy a new one for, and then go and buy it. And maybe a walking foot, too.

I have another quilt top to reveal later this week. I will finish up my grading, and then share with you a very special event, and a very unique quilt.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2010

I have blogged about this quilt before, but because it is my most favorite quilt, I just had to enter it into the Bloggers's Quilt Festival Fall 2010. It is so big, that it graces our king sized bed. I get to look at it, and sleep under it, every day. I truly love this quilt, and the beautiful batik colors in it. It is a pattern called Picture This from the Happy Hour book by Terry Atkinson.

I decided to actually take a class in order to do this quilt. I'd done some quilts before, but I had never taken a class, and I liked the idea of being in a class setting, to serve as motivation to "get 'er done." It was definitely worth it; I finished the blocks in the class. It just took me awhile to actually assemble them, and get them bordered. :)

This quilt is incredibly hard to photograph, in order to showcase its real beauty. I can say that, because it is the fabrics, and not my extraordinary quilting skills, which make this so beautiful! :) I think that, had I gone with the smaller version of this block, it might have photographed better. But it is still lovely to view in person, regardless.

This was one of the quilts that I rented time on a long arm machine to quilt.

It is done in a meandering free motion design.

I entered my second most favorite quilt, which was new at the time, and an original pattern, into the Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2010. But this red and brown batik quilt, even at that time, was probably still my favorite. So, of course, I had to show it here!

Make sure you go and visit all of the other really beautiful quilts; click the button to be directed to them:

One last photo.

Sock progress: Heel

I finished the heel turn. Next, the gusset. I'd hoped to finish more this past weekend, but a painful wrist cut down on the time I was able to spend knitting. Ah, well; onward.

Socktoberfest 2010

I don't think I told you about this...

I decided to participate in Socktoberfest this year. The goal of this month-long activity is to knit socks, as the name implies. So, since I have been knitting the same pair of socks for longer than I care to mention, I have decided that this will be the month that I finish these socks. (I have SSS--Second Sock Syndrome; I finished the first sock eons ago.) I will use time that I am in the car, either as a passenger (we have a road trip this coming weekend), or while I am waiting for my children during their lessons.

I'd show you a picture of my progress, but someone in my house has taken the card out of my camera.

Please; don't ask.


Don't. Even. Go. There.


Update:

I was just handed a card (not mine) that fits my camera. Again, don't ask.

So, here are some pictures:

I started them so long ago, I have to find the yarn tag details. AH; here it is! This is Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock Print Sassy Stripe 502 Yarn. If you know anything about knitted sock construction, you can see that I am knitting these socks on two circular needles from the toe up.

I am using the book More Sensational Knitted Socks, which I absolutely love, because it has so many options--knitting top down or toe up, knitting on 3 double pointed needles (DPNs), 4 DPNs, or two circs. Your yarn and foot size determine the number of stitches--you do not have to try to figure out how to alter a pre-determined pattern to suit your personal needs. Trust me; if I can use this book successfully, anyone can.

Here's the first sock, above.

Here's the second sock in progress. I've done the toe, instep, sole, and heel flap. I just need to turn the heel, do the gusset, then the leg and the cuff, and I'm done. Not much more to go. I even bought clear jelly boots for the occasion a couple of years back, just to show these puppies off.

I WILL finish these this month.

Totin' in style!

Aren't these just the cutest little totes ever?!!

My bloggy friend sent us these two totes. She calls them sandwich bags, but they are the most creative, most roomy sandwich bags I've ever had! Look at the detailed heart stitching up there, on the handles!

And here's a shot of the inside. Donut fabric! {swoon} My girls immediately claimed them and quickly whisked them off to parts unknown. I had to gather them up again to take these photos.

Thanks SEW much, A.

I got my brown bag!

Look what came in yesterday's mail!

All the way from Australia!

As you might recall from the last post, I joined a Brown Bag Quilt challenge. This is what my partner sent me!

Um...I think this is a bit more than 2 yards of fabric. :) Isn't she generous?!!!

There appear to be 9 quarter yard cuts:

And 24 charm squares:

Wow! And, these are supposed to be rejects?!!

Some of this fabric feels a bit heavier than the regular all cotton quilting weight fabric I normally use. But it still feels like all cotton, and very soft. I am already envisioning what fabrics I'll pull from my abundant stash to put with this...

I sent her half-yard cuts of each of these four fabrics:

I really and truly hope she likes it as much as I like her choices for me. Thanks, partner. :)

Brown bagging it

I will be brown bagging it.

I entered a Brown Bag Quilt contest. The idea is to swap 2 yards of fabric (4 half yards or 8 fat quarters) from your stash with someone. At least 90% of that fabric must be used in a quilt, combined with any amount of fabric in your stash, to create a quilt in the size of your choice. If you buy fabric, you may only buy one piece.

This BBQ (ha! love the acronym!) is being sponsored by the ladies over at Stash Manicure, who work hard to create quilts from their bountiful stashes, as opposed to purchasing new fabric, in the effort to reducing the amount of fabric in their personal stashes--and to encourage you to do the same. This is supposed to be a nice way of having an "ugly quilt" contest, they said. Actually, to be clear, it is a way of passing onto someone else some fabric you are no longer in love with, or are just not using and may never use. So, it's as if you are getting more quilt fabric for free--not only did you not pay for it, but you didn't even increase the size of your stash to get it! Like that!

I'll be sending my fabric to my partner tomorrow. Once she gets a brown bag from me, and I receive a brown bag from her, I'll share pictures of the fabric with you. This is one project I can justify, because it will ultimately mean more fabric out of my house!