Vintage Quilts

I don't know anything about these quilts. Just loved the colors!

Umbrellas

And yes I made an Umbrella Quilt!

Umbrellas

I have a 'thing' going with the sun. I love it, it doesn't love me. I have been caring a parasol for years. I have special requirements for an umbrella. I like very light weight one, that folds up to purse size. Cheap ones are usual best for this, but once I find one I love they don't seem to last very long. At a quilt show recently I say an embellished one that I loved.Too impractical to use, but oh so tempting.

Sewing Machines

I'm up to 12,668,999 stitches on mine!

Someone asked me the other day what kind of machine I use. I sew on a BERNINA 830. With its generous dimensions, it offers significantly more working area than other sewing machines! The free arm leaves a 12" of space to the right of the needle, letting me spread out my project and guide it comfortably. This design provides enough room even for large quilts, and ensures optimum vision and control when quilting.

What I really think she wanted to know  was what kind of sewing machine do I recommend. I have three thoughts on the subject. Buy the very best you can afford, by European made and look very hard at who you buy it from. You are going to have a long relationship with your dealer.

There are other things to think about: what features do you need? I am a long time lover of BERNINA. The knee lift for the presser foot and the ability to raise or lower the needle with the 'gas' petal are favorite features of my old machine. 

Contemporary sewing machines are outfitted with many, many more options: duel feed, automatic needle threaders, switches that let you run the machine without pressing on a foot pedal, sewing machines with loads of specialty switches, the ability to make the needle end up in the down position or in the up position when the machine is stopped -- those features are just a sampling of what you'll find when you shop for a machine.

Take what you sew most with you to the dealer and play!

Enlarging & Reducing Photocopy Chart

I am working on a quilting design for my latest quilt. I drew the design just the way I wanted it. But wouldn't you know that it was too small. Here is the chart I use to make it just the right size!

	1”	2”	3”	4”	5”	6”	7”	8”	9”
1”	100%	200%	300%	400%	500%	600%	700%	800%	900%
2”	50%	100%	150%	200%	250%	300%	350%	400%	450%
3”	33%	66%	100%	133%	166%	200%	233%	266%	300%
4”	25%	50%	75%	100%	125%	150%	175%	200%	250%
5”	20%	40%	60%	80%	100%	120%	140%	160%	180%
6”	17%	33%	50%	67%	83%	100%	117%	133%	150%
7”	14%	28%	43%	52%	71%	86%	100%	114%	128%
8”	12%	25%	37%	50%	62%	75%	87%	100%	112%
9”	11%	22%	33%	443%	55%	66%	77%	88%	100%

Locate your current block size down the left hand column and then across the top find the size that you want your new block to be. Follow the column down and the row across till they meet and this will give you the amount you either need to enlarge or reduce your original pattern.

Example
To enlarge from 5" to 7", from the left column find 5", look across to 7". The percentage is 140% .
To reduce from 6" to 5", from the left column find 6" and across to 5". The percentage is 85%.

Parisienne Rose, My Favorite Garment

This garment is my favorite of all of them. Yours too, it was voted by the viewers as one of the top ten favorites! 

Parisienne Rose, captures the romance and excitement you would expect to see at a glittering ball in one of Europe’s capital cities, or perhaps gracing a shop window along the Champs d’Elise, enticing delighted passers-by to take a closer look.

Constructed of heavy silk taffeta hand-selected and imported directly from China, the brilliant red woven jacquard fabric is a delightful panorama of delicate roses in red and black. The fabric itself served as inspiration for the ultimate design. The close-fitting strapless gown has a darted dropped waist bodice and a double gathered skirt trimmed in lace Melody herself created using software, 15,000 yards of fuchsia-colored thread Her Bernina worked furiously for over 100 hours on just the lace motifs, alone. 

The long evening shawl, an original design, is made of shocking pink polyester lined with red Chinese silk taffeta to match the gown. The beautiful dimension you see is achieved with pin tucks stitched with a 2.5 double needle and red thread just a few shades darker than the fabric. Each of the 86 small lace motif along the shawl’s edges took 30 minutes to stitch, and the 14 larger ones each required over an hour.

Both gown and shawl are embellished with 5,000 Swarovski crystals, ranging in size from 3 to 5 mm. Their brilliant colors – fuchsia, ruby, rose, Siam, light Siam, and light Siam Aurora Borealis – twinkle and flash, just like the eyes of the beautiful woman fortunate enough to wear this chic and stunning ensemble.

 

A Fast Way to Finish Small Quilts

Some quilts just need a fast finish. I just learned this method from my friend Linda.

It really only works well on smaller quilts, because the batting and quilt top need to be cut the same size. Add the backing which is at least 1 1/2" larger than the front all the way around. Quilt.

Cut the backing exactly 1" larger than the front.

Press the back in half.

Fold the quilt diagonally, and place a ruler perpendicular to the folded edge. Draw a line from the fold down 3/4".

Stitch on the line, back stitch at both ends. Trim.

Tuck the edges in and top stitch. The corner is perfect every time!

Donna Martin - Guest Artist

Donna shared "Some of my tiny wall quilts."

3-D Bow tie blocks

3-D Bow tie blocks are easy to make in any size. To make an 3" (finished) bow tie, you will need two 2" squares of your background fabric and three 2" squares of a print fabric for each block. 

Fold in half, wrong sides together, one of your bow tie squares. Finger press. Place this folded bow tie square between a background and another print square, right sides together, with the fold in the center. Sew along the raw edges.

Open up, and pull out the folded tie piece. Sew that together the remaining background and tie squares.

If the background is on the top of the first set, then it belongs on the bottom set this time. 

Open the knot piece and put both pieces right sides together, matching the center seam. Put seam allowances on opposing sides, one in each direction, so you won't have a huge lump on one side. Sew.

Open and press.

Want a different size? Cut all the squares one half the desired block size plus 1" for seam allowance. The process is the same.

Have Fun!!

   

On Pressing Seams Open

I have been pressing seams open for almost 20 years. I didn't admit to it for a long time. I guess because I was afraid of the quilt police. I press open for a couple of reasons.

A very flat quilt, means less bulk when quilting and fewer skipped stitches.
When you press to one side, unless careful, piecing can be less accurate. 

I suspect the original reason to press to one side was to strengthen the hand stitched seam.  This was much more important with hand pieced quilts and old cotton battings.


Pressing seams open works for me, perhaps it will work for you as well. Try it you'll like it!

embellish

verb make beautiful;

Sometimes it's a dress.

decorate   
adorn
dress
embroider
exaggerate
festoon
gild
spiff up
amplify
array
beautify
color
deck
elaborate
enhance
enrich
fudge
garnish
grace
magnify

Sometimes its a purse

ornament
trim
add bells and whistles
fix up

Inspiration: "the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions".

I find inspiration in many things:

I find inspiration in many things. The strength of the building against the power of the hills.

The lines of the cactus including its spines.

The colors in nature.

Flower Power

Beauties In A Basket

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the summer of love, which gave birth to the anti-war flower power slogan. I thought I would share a couple of my 'flower' quilts.

Never forget the label

Flowers are a significant visual influence in my daily life.  I can almost feel the warm summer sun and smell the fragrance of the flowers from my quilt bouquet. The background of small half log cabin blocks was a joy to make. It was a personal challenge to combine three dimensional appliqué with log cabin blocks.

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Plum Blossom   27” X 32”,  100 % cotton fabrics, machine pieced, appliqued & quilted

Oriental designs have always fascinated me. This is a challenge piece incorporating the backs of fabrics for increased variety.  Layered fans and lamé fabrics provide movement. The floral applique accent adds dimension.