What are Hawaiian Quilts?

Do you remember cutting snowflakes out of paper when you were a child?  Making a Hawaiian quilt is very similar!  Hawaiian quilts are designed by a similar process, making a pattern from one large sheet of paper which has been folded.  Designs are cut from the folded paper, and the finished pattern is then transferred to one large piece of fabric.  A Hawaiian quilt is essentially a two-color quilt made from a backing fabric and a large whole-design applique placed on top.

Some good books on Hawaiian Quilting:

A beautiful day

The Woodworker and I like to go walking in the early morning hours on Saturday. Today was a beautiful day to do that!  Sixty-five degrees out, not too humid, the sun was starting to come up, and the birds were talking to us all along the way.  We’ve had a lot of rain the past two days, which we really needed.  Near where we live, there is a creek that flows under one of the main roads.  In the summertime, the police have an extra job to keep the neighborhood teenagers from swimming in the creek.  We walked by the “swimming hole” this morning, and with the added rainwater, there was a pretty good eddy going. You could hear the water rushing; it actually was pretty loud!

My daylilies have been sluggish this summer, what with the lack of rain and all.  I finally got a few that wanted their pictures taken.

 

I think I need to work on my garden beds to prepare them better for next spring. Add that to my list of “to do’s.”

What is an applique’ quilt?

An applique quilt is constructed totally differently than a patchwork quilt.  With a patchwork (or pieced) quilt, different pieces of fabric are stitched together at the edges, and the more pieces you put together, the larger the quilt becomes.  You are, in essence, creating the cloth top of the quilt one little piece at a time.

An applique quilt is somewhat more fussy to make.  With applique, you start with a background fabric. Then, following patterns you have purchased or designed yourself, separate designs are cut out of another piece of fabric (normally colored fabric); those pieces are then appliqued or sewn on to the top of the background fabric.  An applique quilt can be a two-color quilt, as in the blue and orange photo you see below, or it may be constructed of many different fabrics in many different colors.

The following are all examples of applique:

You can also combine patchwork (piecing) and applique in the same quilt, as seen here in “Floral Star of Bethlehem.”

What is a "patchwork quilt?"

There are many different kinds of quilts, and the term "patchwork quilt" is an old name for quilts which are pieced or "patched" together.  In the United States during pioneer times, the main purpose of making a quilt was to provide warmth for someone.  Quilts were often made by taking pieces of old clothing, scraps of fabric from aprons, old blankets and whatever fabric you could find.  The maker used what they had, cutting around worn areas and keeping those parts of the fabric that still had some life left in them.  These pieces of fabric that were still good were trimmed to a certain shape (square, rectangle, triangle, etc.) and then pieced together with other shapes to produce a piece of cloth that was a mixture of "patches" held together by stitching. 

An artistic person would often assemble all the scraps they could find and carefully create a pattern of the colors, rather than simply sew the bits of cloth randomly and quickly, paying no attention to design. 

The following are examples of some very basic, simple patchwork quilts.  Any of these patterns would be good for a beginning quilter!

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at applique’ quilts!

Learn How to Quilt

Have you ever wanted to learn how to quilt?  Perhaps you’re awe-struck looking at all the beautiful fabrics that are available to suit any taste.  Maybe you feel like you need a hobby that you will not only enjoy, but that will have a fabulous end result:  a beautiful quilt.

So where do you begin?  There are lots of places to begin, but here’s my suggestion for how to proceed.

1) Look through some quilting magazines, books and quilting websites.  Take some notes about the kinds of quilts you enjoy looking at.  Write down your favorite colors and styles of fabrics.  If you purchase books or magazines, put sticky note bookmarks where you see quilts you like and write a few words about what you like about them.

2) Visit a QUILT SHOP.  Do you notice that the words QUILT SHOP were written to catch your attention?  Don’t go to a discount store or “big box” sewing or craft store.  You really do want a quilt shop for several reasons.

a) A QUILT SHOP specializes in quilts and quilters.  They know what they are doing, and can answer any questions you might have about quiltmaking.

b) There is a vast difference in the quality of the fabric when you compare fabric from a QUILT SHOP and fabic from a “big box” sewing or craft store.  It will hold up better for you and be totally different to work with. 

3) Ask the people at the shop about upcoming classes for beginners.  They are sure to have a beginning class coming up soon!  If they don’t,

4) Find another quilt shop that DOES, or check the local quilt guilds for available instructors.

5) If you are interested in quilting, find a quilt guild in your area and join.  Attend meetings, even if you haven’t yet held a needle and thimble in your hand.  They will be happy to know you’re a beginner, and you’ll get lots of great help and advice.

Best wishes on making your first quilt!

Samantha’s Polka Pots!!!

Polka   Dot  Pot Pinwheels for a lavender bedroom.

Shhhhh… this is from Santa!

Two Goals for Today

I haven’t posted in a few days.  I’ve been busy working on several different things outside of my normal work day.  I have all my pinwheels sewn, and the alternating blocks are now cut, ready and waiting.  I have laid out all the blocks on the bed and positioned them the way I want them. 

Goal #1 for the day: 

Sew the blocks together.  I don’t know if I’ll get ALL of them sewn together, but it’s a goal.  This is for Samantha’s twin size bed, but the blocks were laid out on my queen size.

Goal #2 for the day:

Catch up on my blog reading.  I use Google Reader, which I love, but when the number of items I need to read gets above 30, it puts me into a panic.  Why do I let it do that?  Over the past three days, I’ve been busy with other things and haven’t even scanned the blogs I love.   So to my dismay, this morning the number is three times what I’d like it to be.  But then, I turned around and saw that the Woodworker is on his own Google Reader, and his number is 1000+, so I guess I need to put things into perspective.  It’s not a race, right?  There’s no punishment for having a big number, except now that you know I haven’t read blogs in a few days you might think I’ve been ignoring you.  And in talking about this with the Woodworker, he’s sure I’m off my rocker.  Aren’t you glad YOU don’t live with me? 

Pinwheels are Moving Forward!

I purchased the fabric for the plain blocks and border for Samantha’s quilt, and a cute purple scroll for a very narrow flange that will go just inside the border on the edge of the quilt.  So here’s the plan, Stan:

I wanted the border fabric and the alternating plain blocks to have some color in them, yet not be so busy that the whole quilt gives you a headache to look at it.  So I found this textured pink and purple fabric that I love.  Samantha’s bedroom walls are a light lavender, so this will be perfect (and she loves pink).  And to look at some of the other blocks that are already pieced:

I think it’s going to turn out just fine!

Now for the weekend sewing blitz!

See ya later!

A Successful Pinwheel Evening

A few more pinwheels were created last night…

I’m loving these!

Pinwheel crazy

I’m on a roll now…

It’s a Good Start

All the half-square triangles are sewn and pressed for Samantha’s quilt.  Here are the first two sewn together into blocks.  Now to assemble all the rest of the pinwheels and choose the right fabric to go in the alternating squares.  Note:  Each pinwheel is made of a different “polka pot” fabric, and there will be lots of color in this quilt.  What to do… what to do…

Hot Fun in the Summertime…

Wow, is it ever a hot one today!  I’m not a fan of extreme heat, so I’ll probably spend most of my day in the house working on Samantha’s quilt or reading. 

Hot fun in the Summertime… Sly and the Family Stone keeps running through my mind.

One year ago today our family had lots of Hot fun in the Summertime when our son and daughter-in-law were married.  Here’s some fun pictures from that great (though hot at 98 degrees) day… Clicking on a picture should open it up full size.

  

   

 

Great music by the Trinidad Steel Drum Band! 

Hey, wait a minute!  

Why is the best man carrying the groom?

Amish Quilts Exhibit at Flint Institute of Arts

Mark your calendar!   

       Amish Quilts are coming to the Flint Institute of Arts. The exhibition will open on September 10^th and continue through November 13^th. A lecture will be given on September 9^th by collector, Marsha French. The exhibit will showcase the design and sewing skills of Amish quilters from Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The quilts were made between 1880 and 1950.

Crunch time!

Why do we do this to ourselves? We pile so much on our plates and commit to completing items and then stress ourselves out!!!

On my plate:

• Barn Owl quilt
• Applique part of a quilt border for guild raffle quilt by October 1
• Create 25 inch square challenge quilt for guild by November 15th
• Make and quilt Samantha’s Polka Pot quilt for Christmas
• Hand quilt wall-hanging for a Christmas gift
• Quilt the Yes We Can, Jane Obama quilt by the end of 2012

 

 

So… what’s on YOUR plate?  Are you feeling a crunch?

Thread Painting

Gosh darn it, I hate it when I break a needle thread painting!  I was working on the trees around the barn, and SNAP!   Away she goes.  Stupid, stupid, stupid needles.  Don’t they know they’re supposed to last forever?

You can’t tell from the picture where the thread painting is… unless you get up close to it.  Then it becomes obvious.  Nothing has been done in the foreground yet, and I know it looks kind of strange the way it is.  It will all look better when it’s done.  Trust me!

Don’t know what “thread painting” is?  Pop over to Nancy Price’s website and take a look. I do my thread painting a little more informally than Nancy does, but I love her work.

Photographic Inspiration

Inspiration comes from many different places.  Where do you get yours? I save pictures on my computer that inspire me.  Here are just a few of the hundreds I’ve collected.

  

 

I see a quilt in each one of these.  Post pictures you have that inspire you!  Leave a comment below with the URL so we can be inspired as well.

Hard to believe… almost one year!

 

Congratulations, Loren and Margaret Mosey!  We love you!

Samantha’s Polka Pots – Fabric Selection

Did you read my post “Looking for Polka Pots” ???

My granddaughter Samantha likes pink and purple, but this is going to be a multi-color quilt. I went shopping for fabric and came up with some I love.  I’m still looking though…I didn’t want them all the same size, and I wanted them to be fun polka pots! 

What do you think for the background? It's going to be a pinwheel pattern with alternating plain blocks. Opinions? Please share in the comment section below!  I’d love to hear from you.