Simply Quilted

Have you been bitten by the hand quilting bug yet?

(No, this is NOT a photo of me as a child, as someone once asked me. THIS girl would be over 100 yrs old today.  I have a few wrinkles and gray hairs but I don't think I look quite that old, LOL.)

                                      

In the 19th century, quilts were by necessity hand quilted. While there are some antique quilts that were machine pieced toward the end of the 1800s when the treadle sewing machine made its way into more homes, most of the quilting was done by hand. Machine quilting shows up later, near the turn of the century. 

Inspired by simple, antique doll quilts and that soft, puckered look you really can't get from a machine, I actually hand quilted all of the quilts in my first 2 books, and the little ones in my 3rd, not because I am such a purist, but because it was much easier for me. I haven't ever really learned to machine quilt yet—never seemed to have the time to take a class or practice much. After making many, many small quilts on deadline for my books, simple hand stitching always seems the easiest way to get them done so that they have that old-fashioned look.

If I use a simple quilting design, it usually takes a couple of evenings or a week at most to finish a small quilt and is VERY relaxing. If I machine quilted one and ruined it, uh oh, I wouldn't have the time to fix it or make another one in time. If the hand quilting stitches are less than perfect or a little quirky, oh well. Antique doll quilts were not perfect either. I will win no prizes for my doll quilts. But they sure are cute.

Years ago, when I first began making doll quilts for my daughter, I bought some cute preprinted panels of little quilts (some call them "cheater quilts") and found that they were a perfect way to practice my hand quilting stitches without messing up a quilt I'd pieced. If the quilt looks a little puffy, that's because I used polyester batting and it was made before I discovered thin, 100% cotton batting for that antique look. (Stay tuned for another blog entry on that soon.)

In addition to little doll quilts, my next book will include a couple of large quilts—lap and wall quilts. Needless to say, I will not have time to quilt them myself. That's the bad thing about deadlines for a book. I really would love to take the time to hand quilt some of the larger ones too but when I'm making 14 or 16 quilts, the schedule does not permit it. So those will be expertly machine quilted by someone else to make sure they look really good. Can't wait to show everyone the designs I'm working on. When I retire from designing quilts and writing books (that is, when you all stop buying them!), I'll look forward to taking the time, no rush, to hand quilt even some of the bigger ones.

I'm clearly not an expert and my stitches could be a little smaller and straighter, but it sure is fun and I love the look of a little quilt that's hand quilted. If you haven't taken the time to do any hand quilting, try it out on a little doll quilt--it doesn't have to be heavily quilted--try just a straight stitch or Xs in the blocks to get yourself going.

Don't worry too much about the size of your stitches when you're first starting out. You can try using Tiger Tape, which you place along the line you want to quilt as a guide to follow--it has tiny marks to help your stitches stay evenly spaced. Helps me with eyestrain. Even a little bit of hand quilting gives a special look to a quilt. And, don't forget, if you make a mistake, it will only add to the charm.

 

This one was started last year and is quilted in the ditch and in the plain blocks, but I got too busy to finish the quilting and it's going to have to wait.

News Flash: Just heard that Remembering Adelia is now going into its THIRD printing (which simply means it sold out of all copies printed for the second time and they had to print more to keep up with demand). A big THANK YOU to all of you for purchasing the book. (My son in college thanks you too . . . .)

FYI--I will be in Westlake, Ohio next Tues and Wed, Oct 13-14, for a lecture/trunk show and workshop hosted by the North Coast Needlers Guild, followed by a lecture/trunk show in Cambridge Springs, PA on Wed, Oct 14 for the Northwest Pennsylvania Quilt Study Group. Will I see any of you there?  I have scaled back on trips and this is the last one until next spring, when I'll be finished with the book.

Birds on Quilts

Yes, I love Civil War reproduction fabrics and have to admit I use them more than any other type of print in my quilts. But occasionally I like to buy novelty prints and have collected some over the years intending to use them in projects other than quilts (remember my poor daughter's unsewn pinafore?? Oh well, I got busy.).

Recently, the occasion came up to make a project containing blocks with a fussy cut center--the SmallQuiltTalk group Challenge #7.  I uploaded a pattern for a little log cabin block for the group to use to make their own little quilt, with their choice of a favorite novelty fabric in the center of the block as a theme. Sounds like fun, huh? So I went to my Novelty Print drawer over the weekend and pulled out some fabric to use.  Looking at all of them, I realized that I really do seem to have a penchant for little bird prints but never actually get around to making quilts out of them.

Here's as far as I got in the challenge--a pincushion with a little birdhouse in the center. No time to make a whole quilt. Book projects calling out to be made . . . . Hey, at least it's something, and it took all of 45 minutes to make.

I've also always been drawn to quilts that have appliqued birds on them and keep planning one for my books, but applique is not going so well right now with my current eye problems, so maybe in the future.

Everybody knows and loves Sue Spargo and all of her projects with folk art birds on them. I was really inspired seeing her booth at Quilt Market last Spring and asked her if I could take a few photos of the projects that had birds on them. How cute are these quilts made from wool and cotton?

Need to find time to get into wool and buy a few of these patterns or kits. She really has quite a few things on her website I am desperate to make.

I forgot about this LITTLE wallhanging I made awhile ago. I guess I do use some tiny bird scraps now and then:

                           

At the Quilters Hall of Fame quilt show last July I spotted an antique blue and white quilt with birds appliqued on the border. How cool is that?

Does this count as a bird on a quilt??

                                      

Use Your Scraps!

I know we all love to collect our little scraps and save them to make doll quilts someday, but don't forget to use them! One of the best ways I've found to get motivated to do this and actually make those little quilts is to first take the time to organize your scraps. Otherwise, I get bogged down by the clutter and don't know what to do with those little pieces.

Clutter can sometimes make it more difficult to create. For me, it's a huge visual distraction. A clean desk or sewing area definitely helps me be more productive. For others, the mess is necessary for the flow and disturbing the flow can stop the inspiration. I see this in my daughter when she gets creative. For years, before I understood, I wanted to continually clean up after her while she was in the middle of painting, beading or crafting. Eventually, I let go and just let her be. We all create in different ways. The end product is the real point, isn't it?

Does being creative = messy to you??

When I do get around to sorting my scraps, sometimes I turn on the TV, sit on the floor and toss them into different colored piles somewhat mindlessly. The last time I did it it actually wasn't that bad and went a lot quicker than I thought it would (I finished before the movie ended!) and I found quite a few scraps I had forgotten about that I love. If you can't get motivated to begin, ask a friend over to help you sort away.

I put the larger scraps that are left over from previous projects into separate shoebox-sized bins according to color and then place the tiniest scraps into ziplock bags, again according to color. When I begin working on a project and think I'll need a few little pieces (like a pink, purple or poison green print to add a little ZING to the blocks), I bring out my little bags of colored scraps and keep them nearby and just pluck what I need--easy to do since I can readily see the colors through the bags. I wish I could promise that all of my scraps will now stay organized but I know that I'll have to go through the sorting thing again soon, probably many times in the coming months.

I have to admit, my sewing space is often a mess when I'm working on something, especially when it's several projects for a book at the same time (No time to organize, too many things to do! More coffee!). Then it becomes a real chore when it's time to clean it up. But if I do it often and keep it up, it feels SO good to know where everything is, like a cleansing. Sometimes it's almost like getting new fabric because every single time I find a piece or two or three I forgot I had.

Here are a few ideas to help you use up those tiny scraps.

From American Doll Quilts

Also from American Doll Quilts

For the pincushion, I used 1" strips and those decorative stitches on your sewing machine that seldom get used.

Light, More Light!

CAUTION:  Not for the medically squeamish 

Last weekend I suffered a recurrence of a problem I had 2 years ago--a spontaneous tear in the retina of my eye. The retina did not detach, thank goodness (that can lead to blindness if not treated immediately), but that is always a concern and the Dr needed to use a laser procedure last time to make sure the tear was sealed and the retina remained intact.

The cause? I wish I could say that I was training for a triathlon or taking skydiving lessons, but it just happened because I am very, very nearsighted, middle aged (who me? Yikes! When did THAT happen?) and, as my Dr explained, the shape of my myopic eyeball caused the retina to stretch too thin until it just popped. Then there's a little tear that causes bleeding and results in cloudy vision for quite awhile. Not painful, but it's the worst annoyance--overwhelming and totally frustrating, particularly now, as I am in the middle of writing my fourth book. I simply CAN'T SEE out of my right eye and my livelihood currently depends on good eyesight. The last time this happened, it took over a year before I could focus clearly without thinking about how one eye was slightly blurry. I was also between books.

Rigby as seen with my left eye:

Rigby with my right eye:

Actually, it's a little worse than that but that's as blurry as my photo editor would go. The eyestrain from using one eye causes constant headaches if I try to do too much close work or sewing and then I have to give both eyes a good rest before I can do anything else. I can't exercise or lift anything for awhile. So the going will be slow. I alerted my editor and the new book will remain on the schedule. They're willing to work with my disability; I'll simply have to work at a slower pace and get help when I need it with some of the projects. But at least there will still BE a book, so there's that to be grateful for.

In most other respects I've been blessed with good health--this thing happens to have a genetic factor because 2 of my sisters also experienced the same problem within the last several years and my adult niece  had a retinal detachment a few years back. Luckily for me, I recognized the symptoms. Two of my friends who are my age also have had the flashing lights experience and they too avoided retinal detachment. Seriously, nothing to mess with. I had a million questions and my Dr assured me I did nothing to cause this. It also has NOTHING to do with straining your eyes from doing close work like hand quilting, too much reading (guilty) or sitting too close to the television for too many hours, LOL, as our parents warned us.

More info than you probably care to read about retinas . . .

So let this be a lesson AND a public service announcement--Visit your eye Dr regularly for a thorough exam, particularly if you are near or over 50, have seen ANY flashing lights in either eye or notice even a slight loss of vision or an increase in floaters. I shudder to think what COULD have happened if I had not been quick to seek medical attention when one day out of the blue I noticed a flood of floaters .

In the past 2 years, full spectrum lighting has become my quilting friend and I have a hard time sewing or reading without it. I even use those OTT light bulbs over the kitchen island to spread more light everywhere so the whole family can benefit. According to many in the health field: "Light has the profound power to heal our bodies and restore our spirits." As Martha would say: Light--it's a good thing.

 

I'll be using it even more over the next couple of months. (Please escuse any typos.)

Back to School

It's the middle of September and that always means back to school at my house, although technically school began last month. Somehow it doesn't seem like it officially begins in the Midwest until the weather cools off and the air gets crisp. Because of the school connection, to me September always means a fresh start, much more so than Spring or the New Year. (It's also my birthday month--another reason for a fresh start.) Being in "back to school" mode gives me structure, organization and routine. All good things since I'm on a schedule to write a quilting book.

Back to school on the prairie in the 1800s

Little Red Schoolhouse quilt from Prairie Children & Their Quilts

When I lecture, I love to tell the story of how I became inspired to write my second book, Prairie Children & Their Quilts. The town we live in has an original one-room log cabin, which is the oldest standing building in Lake County, IL, dating back to 1837. It is a part of a small historic village that also houses a replica of a one-room schoolhouse.

Every year the fourth-grade elementary school students study a unit on the pioneers and also learn a little about the town's local history. When my kids were in that grade, their teachers had them write a daily diary or journal from the perspective of a child emigrating from a European country to the U.S. in the 1800s. They were supposed to write every day and "recall" things like the trip on the boat as well as describe where they settled and the homesickness they endured after they left their old homes and began new lives in the U.S.

My son wrote: "Dear Diary, the boat rocked so much I threw up 40 times on my folks before we arrived in the new land."  Ha ha, always the humorous writer, even at age 9. He's taking a creative writing class at college this semester, let's hope his writing has improved.

The unit culminated with a field trip to the local historic village to spend a day in the one-room schoolhouse to experience what life may have been like for schoolchildren during the pioneer era. The children were encouraged to dress up for the full effect.

My little prairie girl, sad at leaving behind her old home for a new life

My daughter really got into it, especially the dress-up part. I found an old dress packed away in the basement for her to wear (yes, folks, I actually WORE that Laura Ashley prairie dress  myself in the '70s and saved it!), made an apron and gave her a basket to hold her lunch (pioneers didn't have zip-lock bags, the teachers reminded them!).

Always a prairie girl at heart

I don't drink, but now I wonder what was in that cup to make me think I could get away with that look. Frye boots completed the outfit. It really WAS popular to dress like that, wasn't it?? I THOUGHT I was on the cutting edge of fashion when I was in my 20s. I'm so old now I can't remember.

That diary project of my kids got me to thinking--were there REAL diaries from the 1800s written by children about their experiences traveling west? What kinds of quilts would the children have made? There it was--I had an idea for a book I would write several years later, again inspired by my kids.

Turns out there WERE diaries and letters written by children during the 1800s and I was eventually able to track some down and incorporate excerpts from a few of them into the book, along with patterns for small quilts based on popular quilt designs of the time. In 1846, 12-year-old Virginia Reed, of the ill-fated Donner party, wrote a letter to her cousin Mary describing her experiences: "O Mary, I have not wrote you half of the truble we have had but I wrote you anuf to let you know that you don't know what truble is. . ."  Other than that entry, my editors wouldn't let me include some of the somber details of the Donner party excursion into the book. I wonder why not, LOL. My husband agreed with them and said that when he read my first draft, he felt so depressed he didn't even feel like quilting anymore! (He doesn't really--wondering where my son gets his humor?)

A schoolhouse featured prominently in my next book--

Adelia Thomas, from  Remembering Adelia, lived in McHenry County, IL, in a town called Cary Station, which is now just called Cary. While I was working on the book, I met a woman, Shirley,  who had written a book about barns in the area and who was very interested in local history. She took me to the spot where she thought the Thomas farm may have been situated. It was a rainy day and, as we stood on a bluff overlooking the Fox River, I got chills thinking that the rubble below us was where Adelia's actual farmhouse may have been and where she lived and wrote in 1861.

As we drove away I noticed a street sign—"Thomas St"—so I knew we were in the right place and that the street had been named long ago for her family.  A few months ago, almost a year later, I coincidentally met another woman who attended one of my lectures who had not bought my book yet and never heard of Adelia but actually LIVED on that very same THOMAS St in Cary, IL and remembered playing as a child in the ruins of an old building down in the woods at the end of the street. What are the odds of THAT?? We think it may have been what was left of Adelia's farmhouse and I'm wondering if I should go and take a closer look myself someday. Read about more coincidences while I was writing Remembering Adelia here.

Then we drove a few more blocks and Shirley pointed out the local funeral home, which was built around an original school building from the 1800s. I looked up and saw a bell tower and knew it was probably the old schoolhouse that Adelia mentions in her diary--where she went to "singing school" and "spelling school" every week and where Mr Bennett knocked over the kerosene lamp that almost burned the place down. I feel lucky to have read and reread the original dairy many times. Much was cut from it (she wrote every day) and you have only a smattering of the entries to read because Remembering Adelia is a QUILT PATTERN BOOK above all (my editors had to keep reminding me) and there wasn't room for most of the history.

Here's the original schoolhouse building from Adelia's era (1860s) as it stands today with the funeral home addition built around it.

Here's a midwestern prairie schoolhouse from the 1800s:

"Schoolmarm" doll

In Love with My Scraps

Most of the quilts I make are made with scraps from my scrap basket. Some of the scraps are pretty old--not vintage, just little pieces of some of my favorite fabrics I've saved over the years that are left over from other projects. If you're like me, when a fabric calls to you, you just have to buy it even if you have no particular plans for it. I have a habit of hanging onto my favorite pieces (some of them are now pretty small) and lovingly spreading them throughout my scrap quilts. I never get tired of some of them. Those of you who have all of my books and are pretty sharp may have already noticed that I like to use some of the same scraps over and over in the quilts I make. You'll see that same lovely blue print everywhere you look, LOL. I've had it for years and it's almost gone.

This quilt was made in 2003 and I'm STILL hanging on to some of the same scraps to use in other quilts someday.

It's not that I don't have enough other fabric (goodness) or because I can't afford to buy NEW fabric, I've just formed attachments to some of them. Somehow it feels very satisfying to use those scraps and place the ones I particularly love in several different quilts. Then, every time I look at one I have to smile because I feel a little tug. Seeing the special fabric might make me recall where I bought it or what else I did that day (shopping or lunch with a friend?)

These are a few of my favorite scrap quilts from my latest book, Remembering Adelia.  I love how you can see the Baptist Fan quilting design, a traditional quilting design that was common during the 19th century. The quilting doesn't really show up very well in the photos in the book. I had my machine quilter use this design for two of the quilts. I'll have to see if I can find a Baptist Fan stencil to use for hand quilting someday.

Every scrap quilt looks better with a "scrappy" puppy, however, don't you think? Don't let the relaxed pose fool you though--this was one of the 3 minutes out of the day she didn't pester me to play, taken after she did several laps around the yard.

Here's an idea--can you make a quilt entirely from scraps in your scrap collection? In these "dire economic times," maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Red Hatters

My youngest older sister retired from her job earlier this year, sold her house and dragged her husband into one of those over-55 communities. I have to say it seems to be working for her. She used to be pretty crabby a lot of the time and stressed out from working so much. This new place has a pool, tennis courts, clubhouse, bike paths, etc. and while it's not in Arizona, she's having a great time and especially enjoyed watching the house being built and picking out all new appliances and those things that make it unique. She joined the Garden Club, the Early Morning Walkers Club, takes an Aquatic Fitness class, shops a lot and is totally enjoying retirement to the fullest (even though I have not been able to convince her to take up QUILTING, can you believe it? I think she'd rather I just make her the quilts myself and save her the time.)

Last week she told me she joined the Red Hat Society, God bless her. If you knew my sister, you would find this really amusing. She is typically very shy and introverted, even more than I am. Large social gatherings were never really her thing. So I thought. But, WOW, the RED HAT SOCIETY?? I hear those ladies are pretty flamboyant. Will a feather boa be on her Christmas wish list??

When I need a break from quilting I enjoy making simple jewelry and have made oodles of earrings, necklaces and bracelets for all of my sisters and friends (Actually, anyone who walks in the door usually gets a bunch of earrings to take home. That's how crazy I am sometimes about this jewelry making. If you happen to be wearing blue, have I got a pair of matching earrings for you!)

Last Christmas I gave Ingrid and Linda 7 pairs of earrings each--one for every day of the week, all labeled, you know, just like the days of the week underpants we all had when we were kids?? (Or was I the only one?)  So, when my sister asked me to make her a pair of red and purple earrings for her RED HAT meetings, I went all out and made six pairs of colorful, flashy earrings and told her to pass them out to some of the ladies. I'm thinking that this will intrigue them enough to want to know what else I do in my spare time and then maybe I can eventually convert them all to quilters sooner or later . . . .

I love playing with colorful beads almost as much as I love playing with fabric. Back in my "pop bead" days (2nd or 3rd grade. Remember those?), I had quite a bead collection, thanks to some pretty decent trades at recess, and I guess I never gave it up. My bead collection now is almost as bad as my fabric collection. I mean, almost AS GOOD. So, when my head starts to spin and my back and shoulders ache and I need a break from quilting, I make jewelry. Simple, scrappy, beaded jewelry. What do YOU like to make when you're not quilting?

Little Quilts

One fun part of being an author of quilt pattern books is that I am often in touch with quilt shops around the country. They do a great job of helping me promote my books--taking my trunk shows and clubs and offering classes based on the quilts in the books. I've talked to so many wonderful people and I really appreciate all the nice things they say about my books. They definitely get the word out about little quilts and how much fun they are to make. One shop owner told me she keeps my book at the counter and says "Listen to this" and then reads the diary entries aloud to customers as they're making their purchases. Great way to reel 'em in, LOL.

I recently spent some time sending out e-mails to various shops reminding them about upcoming trunk shows of the quilts from Remembering Adelia that are scheduled for their shops. Right there on the list of shops was Little Quilts of Marietta, GA. Now, this is probably not a big deal to most of you, but it is to me. I made my first "real" quilt 9 years ago from a Martingale & Co. book called Little Quilts All Through the House, written by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt and Sylvia Johnson, the famous Little Quilts ladies.

At the time, I loved quilts and frequently bought small ones at craft shows. Although I was not a quilter (YET!), I had a habit of wandering into quilt shops just to browse and drool over the quilts. I bought the book because I loved all the patterns and I thought if I could not make something like the large, elaborate quilts that hung in the shops, somehow I just knew I could make one of these small quilts. The little quilt that called to me the most was "Hopscotch."  I fell in love with the colors and scrappy look and it just seemed to recall my childhood days playing with my dolls. I could make THIS quilt, I thought. So I went out and bought myself an inexpensive sewing machine just to start, so I wouldn't waste too much money in case this quilting thing wasn't for me or I couldn't actually do it.

I had no idea how to use a rotary cutter or ruler, had no scraps and little sense of design, but I was determined to make this quilt! In fact, I was BOUND and determined to make a quilt and call myself a quilter! The day that I bought the book may have been a defining moment because it was really the beginning of my passion for small quilts. I was definitely reeled in myself.

One quilt shop near me sold little bags of fabric scraps for $5.00 and I bought a few of those plus a rotary cutter, ruler and mat. I was armed and ready! I went home, read the directions over and over while my kids were in school (my only quiet time, you know), made a practice block and then finally started making the quilt. Pretty much the same way little girls began to quilt over 100 years ago. Since I was not a little girl anymore and had missed that "window," I had some catching up to do. I was sure I wasn't even going to try to set the blocks on point though, so I adjusted the pattern to my own skills as a beginner and set them in three straight rows. Besides, I rationalized, this looked more like the way I  played hopscotch anyway, not on the diagonal.

Figured if I wanted the look of the original, I'd just turn it, LOL, and nobody would be the wiser. I loved the awkward look of the quilt--like it had been played with to death. My daughter played with it with her dolls so much the buttons fell off. Looks like it could have been played with by me as a child as well. (Not quite the 19th century, but sometimes it feels like . . . close enough.)

In Spring of 2002 we packed up the kids and drove from Illinois to Orlando, Florida, on a vacation to Disneyworld. A long, 2-day drive each way, but guess what was on the way that I had to look forward to? (Aside from meeting Sleeping Beauty, my favorite princess--I like to sleep a lot, too.) Marietta, Georgia. That's right--where the Little Quilts shop is located, just outside Atlanta. My husband took the kids somewhere for an hour while I shopped. Did I shop! I had also brought my dog-eared copy of the book with me just in case I saw one of the authors and they would be gracious enough to sign it for me. As luck would have it, not one of them was in the shop that day (darn!) so my book went home unsigned. 

I sat on the porch and made my husband take a picture of me in front of the shop sign. Why was that rocking chair there anyway? On the ride home I reread the book, especially the page where the authors wrote about how their company grew from making their own antique-looking little doll quilts and selling them at antiques shows, to a kit business, to the book, then the shop. This part stuck with me and clearly made an impression: "Since 1986, Little Quilts has enjoyed continued growth and success. To women with a creative idea and a desire to go into business, we offer this advice--'Watch out, you're going to do great!'"

Thank you, Little Quilts!