How Clever is This

This month's instructor over at the free motion quilting challenge is Don Linn, aka Mr. Quilt. The instruction is  a very clever technique to transfer your design to your quilt.  He goes over ways to take a line quilt drawing and gives suggestions to make changes, not only to the design to make it a little more individual, but also to adjust the size using a photocopier.  He then uses tulle, placed in a wooden embroidery hoop

and places it over the line drawn quilt design and traces it with a sharpie marker.  This works so nicely I just could not believe how accurate my quilt pattern traced and how well I could see it. 

 A quick iron of the tulle on the nylon setting to heat set the sharpie ink and I was ready to transfer the design to my practice quilt block. 

I place the tulle down on the section of the quilt block I needed the design and simply retraced it, this time using one of my preferred quilt marking pens. 

I have a closet full of quilt stencils,

but never seem to have one that fits my current project, this technique is opening up a lot of new possibilities for me to draw my own designs to fit exactly where I need them to and to get them transferred to the quilt in a quick and accurate way.  LOVE this technique!

Happy Stitching All!

Red and Green Album

In March I saw this album quilt in the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.  This quilt is the inspiration for a new quilt I am working on, a hand applique project.  I liked the smaller blocks with the simple red sashing.  I came home and got out the graph paper and started working the numbers.

  How many blocks?  What size sashing?  Border?  I finally decided on 9 inch finished blocks, and a border that will eventually have the red sashing fabric used for triangle points around the outer edge and a simple applique border.  The layout is going to be 6 X 7 blocks so I have 42 applique blocks to play with. 

The color choices was the easiest decision, it will be red and green with a few yellow touches. 

 I started pulling mostly Jo Morton's prints out of the 19th century reproductions I had on hand and then had a wonderful fabric shopping trip to the local quilt store and added to them. 

Here are my first few  blocks:

 I am choosing the blocks from all my favorite books,  the thrifty little squirrel is from Elly Sienkiewicz's Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts, the other three are from Jenifer Dick's The Circuit Rider's Quilt as are the next two blocks I am working on.

 I really want to draw some of my own blocks and put in some blocks that are personal.  This is an idea of how the quilt will look with the sashing.

The clematis are blooming, they are just beautiful this year.

 Actually they are beautiful every year to me.  Maybe I need to be thinking about a clematis applique block.

Happy Stitching All!

   

States Quilt Finished

This past fall and winter I have been working on a quilt with my Mom. She embroidered all 50 of the state blocks and I put the quilt together and finished quilting it last month. 

We have been traveling the last two weeks and the first part of our trip was to Denver, Colorado to celebrate my parent's 60th wedding anniversary.  Being able to deliver the finished quilt was another happy surprise to our weekend there.  The little guy inspecting the quilt is my great nephew Koda.

My Mom has early dementia/Alzheimers.  We had a wonderful visit and she is doing well.  My parents have adjusted well to their move to assisted living.    She was so proud of her part in the making of this quilt and was enjoying showing it to all of her new friends. 

Happy Stitching All