Commission #2 - finished 2008 (45x60)

Okay, Suzie had been asking me to take a commission for quite some time, and I had done one for Yasemin, so I had to accept. (Of course, I adore Suzie, so probably would have done it for free; she has already paid me :p )

She had a baby shower coming up for a very dear friend. I accepted the commission and the deadline. We met together and she told be about her friend, and we brainstormed.

Another mom that knew she was having a girl. She has a two year old, and wasn't into cartoons and stuff. Definitely ligth colors, frills and lace. I pointed to her tea bag, and a few other items in the room to give her an idea of the colors she had conveyed to me. We accepted the pallette, and went on to the design. A very girly girl, so butterflies, flowers and princesses all cam to mind.

I sketched the picture below, and Suzie was on board. A trip to Pacific Fabrics at lunch, and I had the fabrics to confirm.

I made up / tried a new technique. Turned under applique, using fuseable bond to secure the turns. I made the freezer paper design, then cut out the fusing material. Ironed the fuse to the back of the fabric, then cut the notches for turning. I then pulled up the backing, and ironed down the seam allowance. Viola! It held long enough to secure it to the background. I used the satin stich selection on my machine for the first time on this one. My favorite touches are the sparkly net, and the frilly crown.

The quilting was stippled flowers for everything under arm level. On the upper left there are a few butterflies, and some air current swooshes. More butterflies to the right of the net. The border is stich-in-the-ditch and the blank patches each have one flower and one butterfly.

Commission # 1 - finished 2008 (45x60)

Yasemin's friend Ebru was pregnant (she knew it was a girl), and she wanted to know what I would charge to make a quilt. I hadn't ever sold one myself before, but designing for someone else was a neat challenge. I watch those Food Network Challenges all the time, and it is always amazing how they match their style to the client's taste.

Back to the world wide web. I sent Yasemin some links to quilts online to get a sense for what style of piecing she liked. The few she selected were very free form and graphic. I had just stocked up on flanels, since JoAnne's had a 2$ a yard sale. ( I can now make a whole lot of baby quilts).

I got a whole bolt of what ended up the backing fabric. Baby animals in wild color combinations. I brought in all the coordinating fabrics for Yasemin's selection, and then took the color pallete home and set to work.

Here is the Excel sheet I used to get a feel for the color combination. I shrunk the cells to make a grid, and then used different color fills to simulate the fabric swatches.

I had a blast quilting this one. I really went to town. Each little section has a new pattern. Stippled stars, hears, flowers, butterflies, a snail, you name it, it's in there.

Notebook Gifts - finished 2007 (9.5x13)

For month's I gazed at Sarah's hot air balloon picture while filling my water cups. (as you all know, I drink a ton of water). I was pondering how exactly I would construct a balloon quilt. Then the holidays neared, and I wasn't sure what to get for people on my team. I didn't have the time or the funds to do a full quilt for each person. And I couldn't think of anything that was meaningful to buy.

My meeting notebook ran out of paper, so I was at Staples looking for a new one. They had some neat covers, and I realized that was something that people would actually use. I used a stapler and some computer paper and worked out the mechanics of how to put one together. I purchased some multi packs of spiral notebooks, and then a trip to the fabric shop. Pacific Fabrics has such a great batik section. I got a few, and then to the designing.

Emma was easy; she loves nature, flowers, and great colors. I found some very exotic flowers, and narrowed it down to the fern, and the orchid. I managed to piece the orchid upside down, but the back side gave it a nice pale and delicate color. Some marker highlighted the outline.


The blue dupioni silk drew me to Yasemin. Her 'god's eye' medalion above her desk is just that shade of blue. She had explained to me that it was good luck to have one around. It is a bit egg shaped, but I like how the colors define the symbol. I will have to ask again the Turkish name for the symbol.



Now Ann's photo of her past horse (I have forgotten his name) graces the wall of her office. Her horses seem to embody her love of nature, her freedom of spirit, and her noble ways. All attributes I admire in her.



Rosi's is the trinity symbol. She had made a great ceramic chalis and plate for her Wednesday worship group, and this embodies her way of life.



I did figgure out how to make that ballon. I used strips of the colored fabrics left over from Mirjam's quilt, and then cut each vein of the balloon from a slightly lower place on the lines. The shading is my favorite aspect of this one.



And Suzie's was the most clandestine. I snuck into her office after she went home one evening, and photo copied the photo of Arianna (her daughter). She actually replaced her swanky leather cover, and carries this to all her meetings.

Mona's quilt - Lug of Hope - finished 2007 (45x60)

Lug of hope was a long time design project, and an even longer time putting it all together. It was a labor of love, and I grew more making this quilt than in any one piece prior.

When Mona first started trying to get pregnant, I decided to design a hope quilt. The sentiment was like those old fashioned hope chests. A work that encompassed the desire to see someone's life come together the way they planned. This was not for any specific child, although, I finished just after Maya was born. (I made her another blanket).

My very first piece of the design was of a 3x4 grid with a swirl. (you can just barely see the sketched swirl on that grid below).

I was interested in circles, so I began studying bubbles. I wanted to capture the roundness and transparency of a bubble. Through my searching, I found the photo that I had taken of Leena years below. Those bubbles were in the perfect placement.

Now when Mona got wind that I might design something for her, she showed me the colors that she was interested in. Felts in cream, a pale grey, and a mottled green. I carried swatches of those felts in my purse for months. Even drug them on one of the quilt shop hops. I was looking for and buying anything in that realm of color.

I had this great puffy faux lambswool, a grey on white elephant print (which I dyed cream, and then didn't use), and piles of greens.

Mona is really into biology, and fish. I scoured pictures of interesting beetles, bugs, swordfish, and even those fish with the lures on the ends of their noses. None of them really looked quiltlike.

I took the elephant from the dyed fabric, photocopied and enlarged it. The bubbles looked neat coming out of his trunk, but this just wasn't the essence of Mona.

Lug is the yard ornament that she gave us for a housewarming gift years ago. He sits by the window under Paul's computer chair. I was inspired, and took a ton of photos. I sketched him out, had it enlarged, and viola. A subject for the quilt. The bubble placement would work, and so would the swoosh. Now how was I going to get the whole thing to look like it was in water.

I drew the placement (just an outline of Lug for this), and transferred it to freezer paper (thinking I would paper piece). I drew in the 'current lines', originally each block had the lined going perpendicular to the one adjacent. This was to give it a patchwork look. I later decided to connect the lines, and any given line sticks with the same fabric up until the swoosh, which is where the values go from light to dark. This was intended to look like a ray of light shining from above.

I used water soluble paper for the paper pieced stabilizer. I used the freezer paper drawing to cut out each template. Iron it to the fabric, rough cut, then notch. Iron the turned under edges, then pin to the stabilizer. Once I had a section about hand sized, I would sew it to secure on the stabilizer.

The real trick was that after the 'patchy' thought, I never got rid of the idea of creating it in blocks. I wasn't bad, but I wasn't exactly accurate. Some of those blocks didn't perfectly match up in the end.

The final product is my pride and joy. Not the luminescence I envisioned, and I would make some value changes in the fish if I did it again, but definitely a cherished project.

Below, you will see the backing (with the quilting), and bits and pieces of the design work.

Backing

Initial sketch of swoosh

bubble placement

Introducing Lug

Putting all those ideas together

Mirjam's quilt - finished 2007 (about 60 from edge to edge)

I got my new Brother Quilt pro - Inovis 1000 and was raring to try it out. Mirjam was pregnant, and I was without a project. One lunch at JoAnne's, and I was off on a new idea. I really wanted to tackle value, and cubes seamed the perfect model. The first iteration was of a ring of cubes, Esher like, with the value showing their depth in space to create that dimensional look. The 7x15 parallelagram faces were just not giving that effect. My first value page of 18 fabrics, later became the one shown below with 27 swatches. The background color wasn't doing anything for the effect either.


Next try, a single block, with the value shifting on each face. This was one the rectangular, so the edges would each show a piece of the adjacent block.


Okay, the hexagon was just calling out. The finished shape really made the piece. I sewed each face like it was a straight quilt, and only had to deal with one 'Y' seam. I didn't get it quite right, but I was able to quilt the lumps into oblivion.


Finally, feed dogs that dropped, so this is my first free-motion quilting that really went well. I drafted each face like a side on a child's block. One is of blocks spelling out I 'heart' mom, one is a giant teddy bear, and the blue one is a duck floating in waves. Very elementary execution, but I was getting the hang of it by the end.



Another hand made binding, and I am not quite sure how I got around those corners.


I am so pleased with this finished product. For all the mistakes that I will see in each of my pieces, I truly met the goal of showing value, and getting dimensional.



Backing and border


Up close on quilting of the teddy bear


First Layout



Adding more color for a different layout





Color sketch of how 'interim' layout should go




Fabric cut and placed in 'interim' layout. Final iteration was the hexagon you see in the finished quilt.

River's quilt - Finished 2007 (45x60)

Ali was pregnant, and we were on a couples date on Whidbey Island. There was a great yarn shop, and Ali was expounding on the colors she liked, and how this was not going to be a traditional pink and frills little girl.

Of course, the frog passion brings to mind green, green, green.

When we got home, I was watching TV but got struck with an idea (zing). I spent the next hours painstakingly drafting this diagonal plaid type design. Highlighters showed how many colors I need. A trip to JoAnne's, and I think that every color I have found was a color that Ali picked up at the yarn store.

Now for the frogs. But wait, Ali is blogging, and says she hopes people don't overdo the frog thing. Well, I could do animals. I know, a different animal for each square. Ok, maybe just the big squares.

See the drafts below for the phases. First, each animal was different. Then I started looking at animal cartoons, and sketching free hand. The elephant, duck, turtel, frog, and rabbit each passed the "I can sketch it" test. Lots of photocopies later, each was in the same size range, and would fit inside one of those blocks. I traced a plastic template of each animal, and used raw-edged applique. OK, so I had already used flannel triangles, but who knew that it would fray that much.

I did remember that applique will shrink a block, so each animal was secured before piecing began. I was exacting with the cutting, and pretty clean with the sewing lines. Then came putting all those diagonal rows together. The one thing I kept not planning because "it would work itself out" was the finished size, and where to square it up. The whole thing ran 1-3 inches beyong the edge in a giant zigzag. I used a rotary cutter, and just went length by length until I was all the way around.

It still didn't feel finished, and I just didn't know what to do for the binding. Many trips to all the fabric stores, and finally, Gathering Fabric owner suggested the black and white check. I thought it would be too wild but brought it home anyway. I love how it adds to the inner border. I still used the crayon colored stripes as the ruffle, but I do agree, they wouldn't have worked as well as a binding. After everything was done (quilting included), the animals were not looking so great. I hand quilted around each to better secure them, and to bring the animal shapes to the back. Thank you Ali for letting me take it back after the shower to finish the hand quilting.

Amy's quilt - finished 2003 (36x36)

Amy was pregnant with Jacob, and I was invited to the shower. I was torn, get something off the registry or make a quilt. A little less than a week before, I decided on the quilt, and made it overnight.

I drew out each face of the 'cube' on flattened paper grocery bags, one at a time. Ruler, and a protractor to get the angles. What I didn't consider was the shortening needed for the cube to look cubic. Hence, the rectangular prisms seen here.

The quilting is my first attepmt at stippling, (still no dropping feed-dogs). The binding is store bought satin tape, and I can't recall if I used Warm and Natural or flannel for batting.

Jodi's quilt - finished 2004 (45x60)

This one was an interesting progression. I was itching for another project, and a teacher friend, Casey was pregnant and renovating her house. I was eager for a project, and asked what colors she liked; "All I can think of is chaos right now". JoAnne's had the great batik flanels with animals and I was off.

The pattern was derived from a freebie triangular log cabin. The actual pattern had many more layers of the triangles, and didn't have the big center. I used a window template to fussy cut the center squares, and a regular template for the triangles (why more flanel triangles??). I cut all the pieces, and sewed the first 10 blocks together the first 2 days (see the patern 'try' below).

I disliked the way they looked together, and ripped them all apart. Flanel doesn't rip and re-sew so well. It took more than a year to find the Sesame Street fabric again, so that I could cut more pieces.

I moved away, and then lost contact with Casey. Stall.

I got the Elm Creek Quilter's book on tape, and pulled the project out of a box. Some more work at the computer, and I had a different layout, that I was pleased with. I picked it back up in time to make it a baby shower gift for a colleague's wife.

Jodi, I hope you like the history of your quilt.

I have since mastered the 1/4 inch seam, and would have better luck if I tried this project again. I decided that I wasn't too fond of flanel on the bias, so probably won't re-try.

I made the border from a rainbow shaded fabric, which I bias cut it. It is about 6 layers. (folded in even thirds, then sewed all the way through one side, folded over, and topstiched through the other side.

THEN

NOW

Mom and Dad's tanagram quilt - finished 2000 (kingsized bedspread)

When Mom and Dad moved to Iceland, I was ready for my third quilt. I had the bug, and though I was ready to design my own blocks. I settled on a sampler type pattern, with a ladder, a pieced 4-patch, something resembling tanagrams, and an 'X' to balance it all.

I went to JoAnne's and found sets of flannels that had good color combinations. Polar bears, light yellow, lavender flowers for Mom. Dalmatians, dogs, browns, maroons, and blue check for Dad.

Originally, each of the 9 blocks was going to be its own color scheme. Then I decided the colors didn't flow, so instead, each color is represented in each position of the quilt exactly once. NOT pleased with how the colors fight each other, but I had already cut all the pieces, and wasn't starting over.

The top is all flannel. I learned how hard it is to work with flannel on the diagonal, and that I would need to leave more room for seam allowances if I used flannel again. I also learned not to use the selvage as the seam allowance. The main sashing is stitch in the ditch quilted, and the interior of each block is tied, since I couldn't force the quilt through my machine's throat for more intricate quilting.

I used Warm & Natural batting, and this quilt is heavy.

Leena's baby Looney Tunes - Finished 1999 (45x60, denim, flanel, cotton)

The first itieration of this layout had red and lemon yellow, and dark blue. Then we found out that Leena was slated to be a girl, and the purple and pink fell into place.

The larger faces are very lightweight cotton weave. I was puzzled with how they would hold up next to the denim, so I lined each with a layer of white.

I made a cardboard window template to fussy cut the smaller denim blocks. There was a lot of waste, but I am pleased with how the blocks turned out.

I agonized about not having the same character more than once in the same line.

Having quilted Tannith's first, this time, I researched various wall stencils, and came up with a pattern I was pleased with. See the history for a close up on the quilting, and binding.

I made the binding from a 10 inch wide strip of bias cut flanel. I love the baby animal foot prints. 3 layers thick, then sewn to one side, folded over, and topstiched on the other side. Amazingly, I still haven't conquered bindings, and I used the same stich / fold / stich technique on my latest quilt.

(close up of the quilting, and then a close up of the binding)

Tannith's jungle animals - finished 1999 (45x60, calicos)

Tannith chose to cross her legs during the ultrasound, so this was a neutral quilt. The jungle animal print was the inspiration fabric. I figured I was only up to straight piecing, so the design was more based on the layout of the blocks. (okay, I can't find that aged, yellowed receipt, but I have the computer version of the design at the bottom of post).

This was the first quilt I ever finished (I bought the fabrics for Leena's first).

The quilting is very dense. Each block has a rectangular spiral, with each loop about 3/8 inch a part. I now know that quilting doesn't have to be quite that dense, but I do like the textured effect the spirals created. I can't remember how I bound it, and I don't have access to find out.

Tannith is very dear to me, and I am so glad that I created this for her.

A quilting history...

I will be taking you through my quitling journey from then to now. You can visit each quilt, and find out about the creative process involved, or you can find an overview in the Gallery, which has only one shot of each piece in their basic order of design.