Initials

I love letters. As a design student back in the day, our earliest exercises involved working with letter forms, and for good reason. They are beautiful and iconic shapes in and of themselves.

So I've enjoyed working with them over the last few days on a couple different projects. The first is the Crumb Pillow top...I cross stitched my husband's and my initials in those two central patches--feeling sentimental as our 30th anniversary approaches. Then I made some fabric postcards for a swap that used some of my own flower letters from a few summers ago.

First, the letters on the pillow....I used waste canvas. (You can get it at JoAnn's.)

Here they are underway. I've drawn the letter onto the canvas with a gel pen but I also refer to the chart in the book that I have while I stitch. (Another great source for cross stitch letter charts is this blog, where you can find a plethora of vintage alphabets and cross stitch patterns for free.)

Here are the letters with the canvas removed. I went with the blue and green threads just to provide some contrast with the rest of the colors in the pillow top, so the letters would stand out in all that craziness. That's why I chose the wide-bodied font as well.

And then to my very first ever fabric postcards! They are part of a swap with some of my Point Bonita friends.

What was fun was using silk ribbon to piece with! On such a small scale as this, their selvages and pretty shine made them a perfect choice for some micro-log cabin action. I made my machine stitch short and just flipped and sewed these Riversilks ribbons....you should try it, it's fun!

Finally, I want to steer you to Lynn Schoeffler's fabulous article in the brand new issue of CQMagOnline. In "L" is for Lynn, she gives some great techniques for creating intricate but easy monograms for your stitching work. The rest of the issue is good reading too, so check it out.. ;-)

Vintage CQ...Waste Canvas Grids

I blame it all on the great Barbara Meger, a national smocking teacher whom I was honored to teach crazy piecing to last year. I had suggested she incorporate smocking into a crazy quilt block and just look at what she did...

Besides her extraordinary smocking and stitching, what really grabbed me about this block is that grid in the lower right. I just love it!

So on a much humbler level I decided to put some grids in some of the patches of my border blocks. Using waste canvas seemed like the best way to get them accurate.

Just count and stitch. Easy peasy.

This is how it looks with the waste canvas grid removed. (Bev, this is the offending yellow patch, by the way.)
And here is how I like to do that....

I cut away the excess, then cut again to make the strings shorter and therefore easier to pull out. And on this one, I added the second color of thread after removing the grid, figuring I could eyeball that o.k. Again, this lesser amount of stitching makes the grid easier to remove....

...and you get this.

Then I thought, why not just use the grid as a marking tool and dispense stitching through it altogether?

Comme ci...

Comme ca....

....Et voila!

And again, using a larger grid this time....

The chalk pencil is good for the larger grid and dark fabric.

This one uses a third color and I like it, so I will probably go back and add that to the other grids...

...like this one.
(Isn't that Oya needlelace trim great? As well as the pinkish/violet one in the fifth picture from the top? You can buy your own here from Rengin in Istanbul...)

But then I got cocky and tried doing the whole grid stitching process without a marking anything at all.

It was a small patch and I thought I could get away with it. Looks pretty wonky, though, especially with that perfectly woven grid nearby. I'm glad I didn't use highly contrasting colors.

I love these grids and will add more to my blocks, but first I'm taking a small break to work on a present that I can't blog about. I'll be back in a week or so....bye for now!

Butterfly Motifs

One of my friends wrote this morning and asked me if, now that I've experienced teaching, I would like to do more of it.
The answer is yes! So if any of you out there are interested, drop me a private email and we'll talk....and thanks.

I really haven't been doing much stitching over the last month so it felt good to have a little fun over the last 2 days creating some butterfly motifs. I used two different techniques.

The first one used waste canvas, with a design by Pamela Kellogg.

The second one was beaded onto cotton fabric, with an archival interleave paper basted to the back to act as a stabilizer. Robin Atkins teaches this method, and you can find the paper on her website here.

The design is by Sande Abel. I just eyeballed my butterfly according to the photo, which was torn from an old beading magazine and sent to me by my cousin Tracy. If you might (understandably) want to work more accurately, you can download a real pattern for a small fee here.

Once I had all my beads on, I prepared it for applique...

...cutting off the excess fabric....

...carefully trimming the paper on the back without inadvertently snipping any threads...

...stitching the excess fabric to the back.....

...and appliqueing it in place.
Look where it landed!

The waste canvas butterfly landed on the Spring CQ too.

This quilt has been resting over the winter. All along I've planned on adding a little more detail and complexity to it. Now seems to be just the right time.

Especially as there is so much inspiration right outside my front door!

Waste Canvas Block....Finished

Pam Kellogg's book was a lot of fun to work with. I'll be writing about it in detail for the next issue of CQMagOnline, but in the meantime, here are some pictures.

Once all the seams were stitched, I got to add the beads. It's been too long since I played with all my beads! It was a good warm-up for the big Bead Expo that Interweave is putting on in Portland this week-end. I plan on doing a little shopping...just a little....

The seams looked really nice before, but I can't help but think that the beads bring them to life.

My friend KT loves things that sparkle and shine, so I just had to go for it!

And meanwhile, the college boy is home for spring break and comes into the sewing room every now and again. Here he is explaining some new programming language he is learning for the fun of it while he is on vacation from school.
I had forgotten how much I enjoyed his elaborate technical monologues. I can even just barely sort of semi follow them!
His girlfriend is here too and God Bless her has brought her needlework. I am going to introduce her to the embellisher tomorrow.....should be fun!!!

Waste Canvas Block

I am writing a book review of Pam Kellogg's ebook, Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments, for the upcoming issue of CQMagOnline. So to help myself burrow into the contents of the book, I am using it to create the embellishments on a block, doing a test drive, as it were.

I pieced the block using straight seams to accommodate Pam's charted designs. She says she is working on a way to adapt some of them to curved seams, which I am eagerly waiting for. Of course, these designs can be used on gentle curves as is, but for my review I want to use the book the way it is intended.
This block is also doing dual duty, as it will become a present for my friend, KT, as well. ;-)
Those are some of my floral letters and flower fabric framing them. I sure love using my flower imagery...it helps fight the effects of the omnipresent gray skies around here.

Here is the block so far.
This kind of work is really satisfying; the math and counting remind me of my early attempts to read music, massaging a part of my brain I don't use often enough!
I can't wait, though, til all the stitching is on the block, so I can start adding the beads and sequins to the seams....you can click on Pam's blog to see how she does that, too.

"K is for Kreinik"....Finished!

...well almost finished. I need to hear from the Creative Director at Kreinik to learn if she wants this piece stretched over foam core or finished like a little quilt.

But the stitching is done! Have a look...

"K is for Kreinik"
15" X 15"

There was the usual last minute tweaking, adding different bits of fabric to the corners, etc. to try and get the composition more focused. Here are some final detail shots...

It was fun continuing that line of scalloped fans from the vertical left border over to the bottom horizontal one.

That first set of needlewoven leaves...I added the needlewoven fan under them to break up that soft green batik patch, which was too big. Embellishments can always be used to compensate for piecing errors...I do that constantly. But would it ever cause me to plan out my piecing better beforehand?
What do you think?
Not!!!

The lettering here came out a little light....I still have so much to learn about this whole waste canvas lettering concept. Still, it's o.k.
This whole piece of course has nothing but Kreinik threads on it. It was really a pleasure to "get to know" them, and all the different stitching properties those threads have.

Now....I get to play with my new toy!!! I traded in my prize sewing machine from the $100,000 Quilting Challenge for a Baby Lock Embellisher Emb7. Yes, Freda's machine got under my skin and I just had to have one. But no family cash flow was involved! Stay tuned for some experimenting... ;-)

Take It Futher, February....Block Pieced

Our Take it Further Challenge for February, as set up and posed to us by Sharon Boggin, is about memory...what are we old enough to remember?
Lots of stitchers have weighed in with lovely nostalgic reminiscences...mostly in a cultural and historical vein. Old favorite TV shows, world changing public events, and early impressions of nature, too...
But I got to thinking more of interior states that I remember, of who I used to be....

My piece this month is kind of sad, in a way. And no, it is not a reaction to that hussy the Reform School Girl! ;-) It is about remembering when I was innocent, and when that state was lost to me. Every so often old issues circle around for me to take another look at, and the gray days of February are a perfect time for that...
And just perhaps, innocence can be regained.....

"Innocence Remembered"...that is the emotion I am exploring this month....
Sharon's color palette left me blank, so I am forgoing it this time.

I plan on using Pamela Kellogg's brilliant new EBook, "Elegant Crazyquilt Seam Treatments" to guide my stitching on this block, as a way to get to know some of her patterns and her waste canvas embroidery technique.

But first I am going on a quick trip to Florida on the redeye...tonight! My DH and I celebrate anniversary #27 this week-end, plus I get to meet up with two dear crazy quilting friends in Orlando while he attends some seminars. But I'm bringing my laptop this time...9 days was too long without it last time....

TIF Day 7: Nora

Yes, CQMagOnline's retired editor Nora Creeach is the object of my admiration! She tirelessly promoted crazy quilting via her work on the magazine (without pay) for many years; she also has faced health difficulties with great courage and humor. She's been a real inspiration to me.
Nora, you are the best!

I finished the fourth side of my CQ pieced border...

Say goodbye to that white inner border because by tomorrow it will be histoire. It has bugged me all along, but I've had plans for it, and you will see!

I used 15 count waste canvas, and a double strand of the Kreinik Silk Bella thread to spell out Nora's name. (I kept the value of the letters close to the value of the background fabric, as I wanted it to be subtle, not jumping out at the viewer first thing.) That thread is wonderful...but I will never used it doubled in waste canvas again. What a hassle!!!!
Single strand would have meant fainter letters, but the stitching wouldn't be so cramped and wonky. Plus the tangling on the back would have been far less.

But that's not all I did today....

Here is my longtime photographer, the fabulous Bill Bachhuber of Portland, Oregon, lining up a detail shot of the H quilt. Bill is sooooo good at what he does!

Had a great time with Robert's side of the family in LA over the week-end, with the birthday "boy" doing so well at 85.
Wish I had had my camera for the lovely sunset walk along Manhattan Beach that my sweetie and I took!....But as always, no matter how long or short a time I am away, it is always so great to get home.

The Lure of Waste Canvas...TIF Day 5

The Take It Further Challenge is off to a great start across the web. If this is new to you, do check out Sharon Boggon's blog that explains what is going on. She is the fabulous instigator of all this purple and green activity!

My experience with using waste canvas for the lettering of my "H" quilt was so enjoyable to me that I wanted to try it out again on this month's challenge. I used one charted lace pattern--in teeny tiny 18 count--generously supplied to me by needlepoint designer friend, Judy Harper. (You can see more of her elaborate charted lace here; Judy gave me a beginner pattern to start with.)
I also used large-holed waste canvas to try out one of the cross stitch based seam treatments in Joan Waldman's book. No way would my large X's be even without some help.

This is the canvas basted into place with the stitching completed.

The canvas has been removed. You can see that the yellow cross-stitched pattern below took a lot more work. Very dainty; it looks like a trim.

Here is a shot of the completed second side....

....and an overall view of the N at the halfway point (along with some of my gorgeous stash of Kreinik threads).
There is a fan in its future.....

Waste Canvas Lettering Complete

Blogging on Thanksgiving morning! I am about to step into 4 hours of joyful work in the kitchen, but my goal was to get the letters finished on the H quilt and pictures up for you to see before I start my cooking marathon.
I am really happy with how these came out. They enhance the vintage quality of this quilt for sure, and properly honor my Uncle Hal.

You can see the quilt needs some serious blocking, but I am sure it will straighten up.

It is highly unlikely that anyone in his entire life called H "Harold"!

The youngest of the 4 Bryant brothers, H was named for his father.

From the time he was 18, H was a Marine first and last. He was with Charlie Company, 1st Battalian/21st Marines/3rd Marine Division, a humble American hero of the battle of Iwo Jima.

Here is an overall view...the writing totally changes the affect of this quilt, does it not?

O.K., it is on to the pies.......Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Removing the Waste Canvas

After my lettering was stitched through the waste canvas and directly onto my quilt (includingover seams and some previous stitching), I clip the canvas close to my lettering and then pull out the threads of the mesh with tweazers.

There is something innately satisfying about this!

Adding Lettering to the "H" Quilt

I have been anticipating this step toward finishing up the "H" quilt with great pleasure! I'm at the point where I get to cross-stitch the inscription onto this memorial quilt to my Uncle Hal.
I am using 14 count waste canvas with the letters drawn onto it with gel pen...this after spending a day doing a paper mock-up (I made b&w copies of the canvas to use as my graph paper). I had to make sure all the words would fit in their alloted spaces.

I chose my font from this wonderful book that Sharon Boggin pointed us to awhile back on her blog. (Sorry I can't find the exact post, but if you Google Linn Skinner I know you can track down this book.) My font's design is attributed to a German named Schonsperger, possibly from the early 1500's.

Here is the paper mock-up of the first corner's phrase. If you click on the picture you should be able to see it better. It says, "IN MEMORY".

Glad I did the mock-up first, so that I could adjust for little spacing issues before permanently marking the waste canvas with my gel pen. Here is the canvas, basted into place and ready for stitching.

I decided to use yellow thread so it would be very easy to read the lettering against the black background. (Remember, the canvas will be gone.) The yellow stitching also picks up some of the yellow/orange in the main section of quilt quite well.

Rather than using a double strand of silk floss, I am going with a single cotton perle, very fine, sold under the name "Flower Thread", by DMC. I'm using a nice fine milliner's needle, too, as it has no bulge at the "eye" end, thus enabling me to pull the needle through those itty bitty squares in the mesh quite easily.
So the next week or so will have me spelling out my love to my Uncle Hal. This is really bringing him close...it is wonderful!