A look back to 2018

Today is the 19th day of the month and 

for lack of a prompt, I went back 19 months 

to see what I was up to then...

I may use this prompt again:)

In May of 2018 I had gone up to 

Virginia to dog sit my parents 

little pup so they could take 

a 50th Anniversary trip.

I brought plenty of work with me 

and made an appointment with 

the Colonial Williamsburg museum for a 

behind the scenes tour of some of

their antique quilts for my appraisal research.

Isn't this a lovely design?!!

The trip to Williamsburg was SO Much

more than I anticipated:)

These lovely ladies work in the

 back room preserving history!

I wish I could remember their names

because they were delightful and

invited me to come hand quilt on the 

design above.

It was being reproduced from

an antique in the collection in whole cloth

as a display piece in one of the homes

in the colonial village now with a few

of my stitches added.

After spending a lovely morning with them,

I went shopping at a local shop and found

this FABULOUS Carolina Lily that is 

now part of my guild lecture, 

An Evening with Well-Loved Ladies: 

Red & Green Traditions

It was a great visit and this is why 

I need to be open to what may come:)

You just never know what adventure

waits around the corner.

See you tomorrow~R

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com 

for more blogs to follow.

'Currant Pinwheels' in Simply Vintage!

Thank you all for sticking through 

some of the boring posts this past week

and here is your reward:)

 Here is the new issue of Simply Vintage, 

one of my Favorite publications!!

Inside you will find a sweet

red and green treat based on

this antique quilt below.

 This is Coxcombs and Currants which I own.

I thought I would try designing a 

smaller piece inspired by the quilt

but in a different colorway.

 These are some of my other 'go-to' 

colors; red, orange, black.

 I really like the small loop design within the leaves.

This one was all done by machine but

felt a bit too small so.....

 I started picking out my red, green, 

and white fabrics for a more traditional 

look to match the original quilt.

 This time I did all the work by 

hand (applique and quilting).

 I really enjoy the look of straight 

lines against curved lines.

Someone commented on the unique 

use of leaves on only one side of the 

vine vs. both sides as we traditionally see.

 I really wanted that FRAME appearance.

Then look how absolutely lovely

they staged it in the magazine!!

Thank you Simply Vintage and the 

whole Quiltmania staff!

I can't wait to see what other

colors people do this in!

Keep stitching~R

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com 

for more blogs to follow.

The INSTANT QUILT

Disclaimer: May have a "Soapbox" feel as they are MY opinions:)

Instant Pots are all the rage and I feel like 

quilters expect the same thing from quilting.

I totally understand time restraints, 

ailing health issues that don't allow

someone to do everything they once did 

and I sympathize with those frustrations but.....

I do get confused when they say they are "Passionate" about quilting but want to rush through every stage by getting all the fabrics pre cut or pre laser cut/fused, assemble the top and then send it out to be quilted.  Where was the joy in selecting your own fabrics?

I am not against working smarter not harder (Thank you rotary cutter inventor!!), but I wonder how much enjoyment is being lost in the process when the urge to rush through it is there.
Every process in life has parts that are less enjoyable than others and I admit being at the machine is the least enjoyable for me.

When we live in such a rush rush world, I feel quilters are cheating themselves of the JOY of quilting, the meditative process that can come with slow stitching.  Physical limitations are starting to affect how much I can do but I am not ready to throw in the towel and rush the process when I have so many lovelies in my stash to play with.

I want Everyone to quilt and I hope that we can find a way to slow down and enjoy choosing the colors/prints, the feel of the fabric as we prepare it for stitching, and the sense of accomplishment at every stage of the process! 

Back to work and keep stitching~R

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com for more blogs to follow.

HERITAGE STORIES: Jewel Fans

I love quilting for Kay:)  Her work is put together meticulously and she gives me some leeway to design some of the quilting.  
We are a great team!  Once I have some ideas, I run them past her and we collaborate.
Her lovely Jewel Fans allowed for each fan to be quilted just a tad differently so I didn't get bored:)

I like to mark in a way that won't be permanent or too difficult to remove.  My favorites are either the white pencil or a hera marker.

 In the hoop ready to go!

 By the piece quilting.

 Diagonally across the blades.

In the corners I did some fun Art Deco 

styling that echoed one of the blocks.

And here is the lovely Kay holding her quilt when I visited her this past Spring.  She does use color well and so it is no wonder her blog name is Quilts Plus Color.  You can read her postings on this quilt with the below links.

https://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2019/03/fantastic-fan-quilt-is-finished.html 

https://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2019/03/robin-koehler-day-on-todays-blog-post.html

"Inspired Free Motion Quilting: 90 Antique Designs Reinterpreted for Today’s Quilter"

Bill Volckening and Amanda Leins have joined forces to bring us a quilting book full of antique quilt eye candy!  As an antique quilt student and avid hand quilter, these quilts and designs overwhelmed me with their beauty and creativity. Bill I have been following for a few years now and he provided the gorgeous quilts from his collection. Mandy is a newer name to me and I am so intrigued!! A history in archaeology......Wow! She brings her long arm quilting expertise to the design recreation process all the while making us feel how easy it is to do.

Ok, the book! It isn't just for antique quilt lovers though because the purpose is to make the quilting designs accessible to quilters today, in particular, machine quilters. I am not a machine quilter so the designs will be great for my hand quilting too since they are continuous line designs. Any time you can keep the thread continuous without knotting off is a good thing, adding strength to the quilting.  

The first thing that greets you when you open the book is a Fantastic Pictorial Table of Contents. Admittedly I don't buy a lot of books but I don't believe I have ever had a visual contents page before and I felt that was clever for dealing with a visual medium audience.

The book offers thought provoking moments like sometimes less is more.  
Mandy, “I’ve been so immersed in these
quilts, it would be unusual if I wasn’t affected,”
she says. Mandy has noticed particularly that her
quilting work has become less dense over time and
now incorporates many elements of design from the
top itself—piecing, appliqué, and prints—to create a
cohesive design that works to enhance the top.
This type of less-is-more quilting has a different set 
of issues than very dense quilting."
Then she explains what is meant by this.
That resonated with me because I have felt this way for some time and use it as an approach in my own commission work and my workshop, "Fabric Collaborations".

Mandy offers great marking tips and the big take away for me is a stencil grid that is a base for marking designs. Great idea!

Each antique quilt is discussed with detail pics of the amazing quilting all done by hand of course:) Even if there wasn't a picture, you would be able to see it via the wonderfully descriptive writing. So you get a bit of history (some ca 1790) before the designs from those quilts are broken down into accessible bites for the home quilter to recreate in their own works of art!

FULL QUILT

QUILT DETAIL SHOWING ORANGE PEEL QUILTING

My goal with this post is to show you how to go beyond the idea of quilting alone.  ANY outline design is perfectly set for applique and embroidery as well.  I hate limits:) Can you tell? 

The first one that struck me was this Orange Peel design.  For awhile now I have been looking for a cute clock to put in my workspace and when I saw this, I immediately thought, "clock"!! Very exciting.  Thankfully I already had some bias vine done and in the right lengths:)

 I traced out my circle and peel lines and started adding bias tape. These were then hand appliqued in place.

I then added applique petals just as the design shows in needle turn applique but you could just as easily fuse it all.  

It was done in 2 parts, a back petal that encompassed the side petals and a center petal that I fussy cut so that the noon tulip was straight and the other 3 bend counter clockwise. 

Then I had to decide whether more marks were needed to represent 1,2,4,5, etc.  I decided yes but not in applique so I found a lovely deep orange variegated machine quilting thread from YLI and used it to hand embroider the single petal in those places.  It is visible but very subtle so that the applique is the star!

Since there are only so many hours in a day, I had to stop with this Thistle even though I could have designed for hours!  

This design is from an antique applique 

quilt but I thought it would be lovely in embroidery.  

I have a wonderful selection of 

Weeks Dye Works variegated flosses.

I chose to make it a bit smaller and trace it out 4 up on a block.  This too may be a clock as a gift because 

I couldn't make a decision:)

It may also make a small decorative pillow.

The book is laid out for visual people. You have a lovely photo of an antique element and then Mandy walks you through step by step how to make it your own or combine it with other elements.

It was exactly what I was hoping it would be!

I will leave you with this lovely quote by Mandy:

“We never cut our threads to the past,” says Mandy. “We just knot on and continue with a different color". 

I hope you will visit the other participants to see how they are being inspired. 

Their blog links are found below.  There are giveaways too:)

For my giveaway, please leave a comment about your favorite part of the entire quilting process from choosing fabrics to binding and everything in between. Make sure your contact information is available.

On January 14th I will draw a winner and announce it here and on my FB page. The winner from my day will receive a FREE EBook from C&T Publishing.  Mandy will also have an additional giveaway on her day (the last one:).

Keep quilting!

January 7: C&T Publishing, Bill Volckening

January 8: Amanda Murphy of Amanda Murphy Design, Kim Lapacek of http://www.kimlapacek.com/

and Stephanie Palmer of The Quilter's Planner   

January 9: Teri Lucas, Lynn Harris, Debby Brown of Debby Brown Quilts

January 10: Robin Koehler of NESTLINGS by Robin, Patty Murphy of Patty Murphy Handmade,

Mary Abreu of Confessions of a Craft Addict

January 11: Joanna Marsh of Kustom Kwilts, and Amanda Leins of Mandalei Quilts

Day 14: Procrastination!

I would like to say that I was procrastinating because there is one thing that I just don't want to do. 
Unfortunately I have a life long struggle with this issue.  The work list is long and I tend to feel overwhelmed easily somedays so that day's list doesn't get done which adds to the next and the next and the …… Now I am deep in the rabbit hole so why bother?? !!!

I like to have a pic or two for you when you take the time to come over to the blog and not just click like on the FB post so I went in search of....

I about fell out of my chair laughing at this one!!!  There are lots of phrases or memes but no real photographs that represent.  
This one takes the cake:)

About the only thing in my life that I DO NOT Procrastinate on is quilting and spending time with my family!  Many things get put off so that I can sit and quilt.  Thankfully with 'Hand Quilting' services as part of my job, I can still count myself as working:)
So this next meme definitely describes me:

OR, finishing supply lists, updating websites, marketing myself, writing patterns...…… The housework is the least of my worries since I have a wonderful husband who picks up the slack when I am in the 'zone' (which is any day I can do it).

I feel this time of year overwhelms us easily and we need to be kinder to ourselves.  IT doesn't all NEED to get done!  My husband likes to continually remind me that NEED is a very strong word.  He is right.  Our needs overall are small even when you run a business.  Give yourself permission to take just one thing off your To Do list and you will feel a bit of relief.  That relief gives you strength to do it again and so on....  Mental health is very important and sometimes procrastination can be a good thing.

Pop over to see who else is blogging...

http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/

Day 9: Football Sunday

Today as I tidied up leftover items from decorating yesterday, I pondered how Football Sunday has changed around here lately.  I used to loathe this day of the week but it worked out well because I would go hole up in my work room and let the husband have the whole living room to himself:) When he was still working, I know he appreciated that bit of alone time.

In years I vended at Market this was fantastic dedicated work time/preps.  At some point I stopped doing NESTLINGS work on Sundays and allowed that quilting time for myself,  to work on something just for me

As I stepped away from vending and took on more hand quilting commissions, I preferred to quilt in the living room and so had to listen to football-ugh.

It isn't my favorite thing to listen to but I can tolerate it now and the husband likes to talk about stats of people I have no clue about.  It is good reciprocation for all the quilting stories I tell about people he has no clue about:)
There are other things I could be doing but I have decided that relaxed hand work whether for NESTLINGS or myself is more important for my health than to keep going all the time. My motto has always been that it all gets done eventually!

So to the couch I go for more hand work!  This one is for me and for work so Win/Win:) 

Pop over to see who else is blogging...

http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/