Little Quilt for SAQA

Every year the Studio Art Quilters Association holds a benefit auction. They ask members to donate one 12inch by 12 inch quilt which they auction off in two separate venues: one on-line, and one at the Houston International Quilt Show.

Here's what the SAQA auction has taught me about donating art to worthy causes:
--A 12x12-inch quilt brings in about the same amount of money as a larger quilt donation, with far less investment of time and materials. So when asked for an art donation for an auction, i find myself working in this smaller scale.
--12x12-inch quilts are large enough to experiment with elements I might wish to include in larger works.
--The quilt name needs to tell the whole story, since an artist's statement is not typically included with the art donation, but the "story" can and does add value. This is particularly true with topics that have strong messages that may not be blatantly obvious.
--I donate art pieces because my work usually brings in more money than i could afford to donate to the cause or organization in cash.
--Rumor has it that donating art work "gets your name out there." I have not found that to be true.

I've Gone Off Press n Seal

After struggling to remove all the plastic Press n Seal from under the stitches of my free motion projects, I'm giving it up.

I'm back to using Golden Threads paper. I mark the paper with a thin chalk pencil, then pin it to my quilt. The paper gets perforated as I stitch, and mostly falls away. The chalk easily brushes off the fabric, unlike the ink I used on the press and seal that sometimes got driven into the fabric and thread as I stitched.

Press n Seal was a good effort, but just doesn't work for me.

Mark Quilt Top with Press 'n' Seal

Ella's self-portrait, heavily free-motion quilted

When Deep In December won an honorable mention at The LaConner Quilt Fest, the reviewers wrote that the composition and construction were good, but the free-motion quilting needed help.  Since then I've been working on my free-motion techniques.  Working on little practice squares just doesn't do it more me.  I need the tension of working on a real quilt to push my skills along.

So, I've made a couple simple quilts that rely on the quilting to be effective, including this one I made from my granddaughter's drawing of herself.

Marking the quilt top is one of the challenges.  Mostly I've used a blue, water-soluable pen, which is OK if the finish quilt top can be wetted, and if the fabrics aren't too dark, though I swear, I have ghosts of blue pen in spots on my quilts. 

Advantages of Press'n'Seal
 Recently I've been experimenting with Glad's Press 'n' Seal.  I like it for these reasons:
1.  You can easily place the Press 'n' Seal over the design you want to copy, and trace it on to the Press'n'Seal.

2.  When finger pressed on to fabric, the Press'n'Seal stays put...even if you have to pick out stitches, it doesn't budge.

3.  After the stitching is done, the Press'n'Seal can be torn away.

Disadvantages
1.  Tearing the press and seal away from heavily stitched areas can be REALLY tedious.
2.  Some of the marked plastic may get trapped under the thread and be impossible to remove.

Press'n'Seal partially removed

Considerations
1.  Make sure the pen you use doesn't rub off because the smears can end up on your quilt, defeating the whole purpose of using  Press'n'Seal. 

2.  Chose an thin, permanent marker, and test the product by sewing through marked press and seal with white thread on white fabric.  Tear off the Press'n'Seal.  If you see any color on the white fabric or thread, chose another pen.  So far, my fav is an extra-fine Sharpie.

3.  Be wary of piling up a lot of thread on the Press'n'Seal, as you will inevitably trap some of the plastic underneath the thread.  If the plastic has dark markings and the fabric or thread is light colored, the ink on the plastic will show and be just about impossible to remove.

Posterazor for Enlarging Photos for Quilt Patterns

A while back I wrote about enlarging photos to use them as a basis for a pictorial quilt.  At that time the only ways I knew how to do this with reasonable accuracy and minimal expense were:
 

New Quilting Art Goals

newest work...Going Home (Salmon to be added.)

When I was a teacher, every fall I had to write annual goals.  I found that process useful, so when I retired and changed professions, I decided to keep the goal-writing practice.  It has been a useful tool for bumping me along the road of my art career.

Super Storm Sandy and the Red Cross

I've mostly ignored my blog for quite a while.  Life has a way of getting in the way of the best laid plans.

  My fall plans shifted just a bit when on November 16th I deployed with the Red Cross for Disaster Relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Free-Form Machine Applique, the Master Pattern

Line drawing, and a photo of the finished 36"x28" quilt

I taught a class this past weekend on how to do the sort of turned-edge, free-form work that I do.  I realize I didn't do a good job explaining the importance of making a good pattern, AND the extreme importance of using freezer paper and nylon netting for a stablizer in the construction process to keep everything true.

I've made a quilts that were "air layered," that is, each piece was sewn to the next piece with NO backing.  What WAS I thinking?!! I fought with those quilts at every step of the way, they skewed to the right, and to the left.  One side usually ended up longer than the other, they stretched and bagged...in the end they worked, but whew...they drove me crazy.

I've made machine appliqued quilts with a variety of other backings--muslin, iron-on-tear-off Totally Stable Solvy, light-weight Pellon, and French fuse.  All of which were more difficult to work with than my current combination of netting and freezer paper.  I did not explaining this process to the participants in my class well enough.  I don't think they became true believers, and consequently I think they may have more trouble making their quilts than they need to.   So, I'm going to write more about making the pattern and then the construction process--my penance,  I guess.   Here's the first, and really, most important part...making the pattern.

Choose an image for your pictorial quilt

I've talked about copyright issues before, and choosing images with a strong focal point, and lots of value changes.  Those are important, so take a look at those past posts.  I've also talked about how to go from a photo to a line drawing that can be enlarged to the actual pattern size.

Now add to that:

Master pattern on left, marked with arrows and dashes.

• The enlarged line drawing IS the master pattern--or will be.  Hang it on the wall and study it.  
• Enlargements sometimes have problems that do not show up in the smaller format--things like leaning buildings, odd shaped foliage, big blank areas.  These things can be corrected on the master pattern with some White-Out and a dark pencil, or even a little cut-and-paste.

When you are pleased with the enlargement:

• Think about where you will begin.  The middle and work out?  An upper corner?  Generally, I start with the background and work from the top down, but I know quilters who begin with the focal point, the bottom, the middle.  You have to decide.
• Mark your master pattern...which pieces are going to tuck under, which ones will have a clean, turned edge?  Use a pencil to begin the marking.  This takes time, and you will erase a lot, especially at first.  Don't get discouraged, this somewhat laborious process will make everything go smoother later on.
• I should say that all my marks are made with permanent, fine-point Sharpies--they don't bleed when they get wet, and they make a nice, dark line.
• I use either arrows, or a green line, to indicate the edge I want to turn under, and dashed lines to indicate the edge that will remain raw, and slip under the neighboring piece.  The solid line is the cutting line for the PAPER pieces.  NO SEAM ALLOWANCE IS INCLUDED, that is added when templates are attached to the fabric. 
• I often, though not always use colored pencils to color some or all of my master pattern with the basic color I think will work in one area or another of the quilt.

Don't rush this stage.  The more you think about the master pattern, the more problems you will solve.

As you look at the shapes in your pattern think about how easy/hard it will be to make each piece.  Any shape can be made, but some will be easier than others.

For example, in this cube pattern, piece # 5 has sharp corners.  If the top edge of piece number 6, and the adjoining edge of piece 1--both straight edges,  are turned under where they lay along piece #5, then no sharp point needs to be turned, The point on the left of piece #5 will be formed when #5 is tucked in place under #1 and #6. 

Working these things out in the paper stage really puts it all in your head so that later on, the cutting, and sewing is much easier.

OK.  Enough for now.   Spend time on the pattern, it'll pay off in the long run.