Quilting Arts TV

Whenever I get the opportunity I watch Quilting Arts TV.  Locally its on WLIW Friday’s at 3:00.   It’s not often I get to watch it ’cause I’m usually quilting.

I talked with Pokey Bolton on the phone about a week ago.  Pokey is the editor of Quilting Arts Magazine, a quilter and artist.  The conversation resulted in an invitation to go to Cleveland at the end of August and be a guest on Quilting Arts Tv.  This segment will be tips and hints on machine quilting.

I leave for Cleveland on August 31st to get familiar with the studio and spend some time with the Bernina rep.  I’ll probably be working with a Bernina 440QE.  I’ll tape on September 1st and come back home on the 2nd.    I’m excited!

Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River will be there around the same time, it would be lovely to meet her in person.

Happy quilting!

Teri

 

Creative play

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on two different projects in the quilt room.  Both projects require a lot of attention to detail and are on hard time lines.  I love deadlines, they make it so much easier to work.

At a certain point in the day I needed to stop & play for a while.   With each blog post Linda Poole has a color fix where she finds photos that are meant to inspire new ways of looking at color and get your creative juices flowing.  Every time Linda posts I can see a quilt in my minds eye and will be working on building my thread stash to see what I can do to make these happen.  Linda has encouraged me to work on a small scale, something I can accomplish in  an hour or so.  Thanks Linda!

So last night I played.  And had so much fun.  I started with the green for the stems.  Randomly placing the straight ones until I was happy where they were – at this point I didn’t know they were going to be flowers.

Next I saw the lighter color batik with the oranges, purples, yellow & gray…the shape reminded me of flowers so now I have a direction to go with.

Then the dark red came from another project I’m working on for an exhibit with the City Quilter and had about that much fabric left.   I cut circles from the dark red and then smaller circles from the background of the flower batik and fused them together to create the centers for the other flowers.

On it’s own this is quite a fun fabric.  Each flower is quilted differently to give a bit of interest.

Around each one of the red flowers I used blue to create petals and orange to create a bit of detail.

I have quite a bit of quilting left to do.  The finished piece will be no larger than 18 x 20.  I’m not quite sure of a title yet, I’ll ask the gals in my mini group later this afternoon.  They’re awesome for input!

Have a great day!

Teri

 

Sweet Emily’s

Last night my sweetie, a couple of friends and I went into the City for dinner.  Restaurant.com is our guide to some fab dining anywhere we go.  There have been a few clunkers however it’s rare.

Last night was the rule.  We dined at Sweet Emily’s 321 W 51st St.  My sweetie called to make reservations for 6:00, chatted with Emily…of course with NYCity traffic we were late, however our friends already arrived so we didn’t lose anything.  It worked out well as most of the pre-theatre crowd was on their way to see their shows!

Emily met us at the door with enthusiasm and charm.  Our friends had the Seafood Ceviche while they waited for us and enjoyed it.  My sweetie ordered the Bacon Mac & Cheese Croquette…we shared them with him and then had a second order.  For dinner my sweetie had the Chicken Fried Steak…it was as good as we remember from when we lived in Georgia!  Yum.  I had smoked pork tenderloin, wrapped in bacon with grits and port wine reduction…oh my goodness!  It was off the hook.  Vincent, the chef, smokes the meat right there at the restaurant and does an amazing job.  The meat was tender, not overly smokey and melted in my mouth like butter.

Vincent and Emily made the rounds of the tables when things were a bit slower.  Nice couple.  The bought the place after the restaurant was closed for a year.  They just opened Sweet Emily’s in February and have quite a nice thing going.  The decor is warm and inviting.  There’s a space for larger groups and they’re just finishing setting up a space for premiers and viewings.

If you’re ever in the City this is a great place for dinner.  I know we’ll be back.  Soon.

Teri

 

Singer Treadle

This beauty came home with my sweetie yesterday afternoon.  I was a bit shocked to find this in the back of the car.  Holy Cow.

She’s a treadle.  I have two other Singers, both model 15’s one’s birthdate is 1910 and the other is 1951.  The one from 1910 was a treadle and someone modified it to be run on electric.  It has been my dream to restore her to a treadle.

With the addition of this beauty, I think I’ll let that slide.

the base is in good condition.  Sweetie thinks that someone painted it at some point, probably to prevent rust.  I tried the pedal and it moves.  All that’s needed is a belt and we’ll be working in no time.

The woodwork on the cabinet is gorgeous and quite detailed.  It needs a bit of restoration and sweetie will take care of that.  This piece actually tips forward and there’s a little drawer there.

This is the woodwork on the side of the drawers.  The cabinet alone is pretty.  I’d say master cabinet makers at work here.

Here’s the original manual that was in one of the drawers.  There is a sales receipt as well.  If the sales receipt is accurate the woman, who’s name is Theresa (my name) purchased the machine in 1906.  I’m calling Singer with the seriel number tomorrow.  As I searched the internet yesterday I was getting some conflicting information.

This is the slide out for the bobbin housing.  The last patent date is 1896.

I still have to figure out where she’s going to live.  My sewing space is rather full at the moment.  Hmm.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

More FAQ

My favorite quilting tools have to be by far (after my machine) my seam ripper and my stiletto.  When I’m not happy with the quilting I will rip it out.  Particularly when it’s for a customer.

Basting…sometimes I baste and sometimes I don’t.  That’s right, sometimes I just don’t baste.  If a piece is small enough and I’m using cotton batting I won’t baste.  My basting method of choice these days is spray basting.  A large can of 505 basting spray sits on my sewing table When I first tried this I used too much spray and pressed too hard and ended up with wrinkly stuff.  This is one of those cases where less is more and reading directions is key.  Spraying the batting and not the fabric is essential.  I know this method is still somewhat controversial as we don’t know what the adhesive will do to the fiber down the road.  We use adhesives for applique without hesitation so my theory is just go for it.

For a long, long time I pin basted.  I like this method as this gives me time to stretch my shoulders now and then as I have to stop the machine to remove the pins.  Occasionally I will spray baste and add pins for good measure.  My only problem with pinning is the whole crawling around on the floor bit.  My carpet has some pile to it so I will sometimes get stuck.  I have thought about bringing one of my mat’s down to use under the quilt…just hasn’t happened yet.

Thread basting.  I think the only way I would ever thread baste is if I were using water soluable thread to baste.  Even with paying attention to where the thread is I end up stitching over it and then trying to get it out later on.

Batting – My first quilt had polyester batting.  The bearding drove me nutty.  For the next several years I used Warm & Natural.  At the time I was primarily a hand quilter with either bees wax or Thread Heaven, a size 11 or 12 needle and I was good to go.  Reneé introduced me to Quilters Dream.  I’m hooked.  Their Request Loft (thinnest batt) is the best, particularly when making tote bags.

Recently I started playing with wool.  I’ve wanted to give wool a try since I saw a field piece on Simply Quilts on the Cedarburg Woolen Mill.  I was in Cedarburg a couple of years ago and am still annoyed that I didn’t stop in and get this batting.  I didn’t stop to check out the Hinterberg frames either.  But that’s a story for another day.

I’ve used Matilda’s Own, Hobbs Heirloom and Hobbs Tuscany and would and do use any of them in my quilts.  There is a lot less stress on the shoulders moving this under the needle.  I love the drape.  I love that wool, unlike cotton, does not have a memory so when unfolding and hanging there won’t be creases that stay.  I very much would like to try silk batting and will get there.

Needles I use primarily a 90/14 or 80/12 top stitching needle and will use an embroidery, sharps, metallic, microtex or anything along that line.  It has to be sharp!  Going through three, sometimes 4 layers means that the needle has to do some serious work.  I do change needles either with a project or after about 6 hours.  Sometimes this means I change needles twice in one day.  Yipes, but well worth it though.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

Frequently Asked Question

One question I’m frequently asked is what machine do I use for quilting.  Often “long arm” preceeds machine.  I use a Bernina 1080 that I purchased brand new in 1995 shortly after moving here to New York.  I’ve quilted quilts as large as an over sized queen and will be quilting a slighly oversized King later this summer.  When I started machine quilting I focused on smaller pieces until I started understanding what works and what doesn’t, at least for me.

Then one morning I watched Paula Reid on Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson.  Paula uses her Bernina to quilt rather large quilts…she fluffs and stuffs.  I considered purchasing her DVD however, after watching the show I had the basic concept so just went to quilting the larger quilts I love to make so much.  Thanks Paula!

I would very much like the new 830…or at least the 820 however, I know how my machine sounds and feels and works and I’m quite happy with the results.  I’ve hesitated getting a new machine for a long time partly due to the bells and whistles . . .not quite sure I’m needing them wanting sure, needing no.

I would also have a difficult time giving up my 1080’s.  I have two of them.  I’d give up the antique & vintage Singers before giving up the 1080’s.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

One block wonder

For the last night of class when I teach machine quilting I’ll have the students bring in a quilt to have me quilt for them.  This helps each of us begin to see the possibilities of how the actual quilting will work with a piece.  Occasionally one of my students will have me quilt for them.  This is one of those times.

One Block Wonders are always individual quilts and have unique personalities.  For this quilt I quilted each hexagon individually with MasterPiece red on top and SoFine! gray on the back.  The effect is very subtle and very detailed.

I realized at one point that because of where I started marking the circles they weren’t going to match up at the bottom of the quilt.  So I started quilting these lines.  They were a lot of fun and gave me a break from going around and around and around.  In the middle of the lines I took the stencil and marked one more section of circles, quilting a portion of this in red.

The gal loves this section because for her it fixed a problem.

This is one of my favorite parts of this quilt.  I love how this pops and floats on the quilt.  I chose to use Superiors Metallic here for a little bit of glitz and glam.

Two of these block floated out into the rest of the quilt…I chose to spiral this one….

This is almost a full image of the back of the quilt.  She used left over fabric and

hexagons that didn’t make the front of the quilt.  I love these kinds of back as they’re as interesting as the fronts.  You can really see here how heavily I quilted.  I had such a great time.

She loved the quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

Full Days

Every now & again I get to watch either Matt or Bradie Sparrow quilt.  This sweet couple with 8 kids run a quilting business from their home and teach.  They’ve set up a video camera so that we can see them quilt.  It’s fun actually.  Here’s a link to their site.  Matt is also the guy who runs the ManQuilters site I mentioned a few posts ago.

I chatted with Matt the other night and he’d done an online search for New York Beauty and quilting or something along that line and my site was the second one on the list.  That’s ridiculously cool.  The photos I have on site didn’t give him the detail he wanted however, I posted pictures for him on Man Quilters.  Matt’s doing a great job on his own.

As you know I check patterns and am starting to design patterns for Benartex.   So the other day I’m flipping through the Keepsake Quilting Catalog and the front cover looks oddly familiar to me.  Can’t quite figure out why (too many quilts on the brain at the moment.)  So I look at the info and sure enough it’s on of the patterns I’d checked for Benartex.  I didn’t get do do the quilting on this one just checked the pattern.  I had a great time playing with Caryl Fallerts fabric.  Love the variety of color in this one.  Every quilt from this pattern will have variations because of Caryls fabrics.

Today is set up day for Mary Anne’s QQQ Celebration.  Mary Anne’s been working on layout of the space so things should go pretty well.  My non-blogging friend Anne will be there…she’ helped hang quilts at the Village Squares Quilters show in November so we have some experience with this process.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I sent my first quilt design off to Benartex yesterday morning.  I’m finishing the directions and sending the pdf off to them later today.  I’m not quite sure how long it will take to get on site however when I know, you’ll know.  =-)  Update: I got an email from Benartex – they love the quilt.  The way I designed the pattern it will be fat quarter friendly!

Have a great day!

Teri

 

A preview for Mary Anne

Mary Anne is celebrating her 50 1/2 birthday this Saturday.  I offered to quilt a smallish quilt for her and at our last guild meeting she handed me a small piece.

I figured this is an opportunity to practice swirling feathers and play around with feathers in general.  The gray called out for black so I used King Tut Ebony on the front.  I used King Tut on the back as well with a variety of colors.

This is what started it all.  I won’t tell you how many times I picked the quilting out of this and a couple of other spots.

My Bernina 1080 is in the shop for a spa treatment so I’m using the back up machine.  I had tension problems and couldn’t figure out why.  I took the bobbin out and tried to drop it holding the thread…it wouldn’t move.  Once I realized why the tension was off it took another 15 minutes of fiddling to get the bobbin screw in just the right position.  I shouldn’t have any further problems.

With the deep color of the back it’s a bit challenging to see all of the quilting…I used two different variegateds for this.  I’ll say it was fun!!!

I really enjoyed quilting this…the fun part will be giving it to her tomorrow.  I did consider trimming it however I’m not sure if she trims then puts the binding on or binds then trims the  excess batting and backing.

Feathers are fun.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

This week has been full

I worked on various projects including the Benartex quilt – which I am in the process of quilting right now. I’ve decided to include a lot of grid work in the center portion of the quilt and I decided that after I decided to baste the quilt. I’m using wool batting and loving it.
I quilted a small quilt for the shop today and ran it up there for them. It was fun to get something done. Most of the quilts I’m working on right now are larger pieces and they take more time. I’ll work on this quilt again tomorrow until it’s time to go out for Barbecue!!!
Monday night is our last guild meeting until September – so it’s dinner with the girls. I like these times as sharing a meal together is one of my favorite things to do.
I’m working on a quilt for Mary Anne C that is coming along nicely…no pics yet…my sweetie still has the camera most of the week. I’ll get some pics of anything I can put on here soon.

Teri