Star and Leaf Quilt - Part 5

I am making progress on the Star and Leaf quilt.  Another star block has been completed and I am half way finished with my first leaf block.  The leaf and veins have been quilted.  The corner pieces have been quilted.  The background of the leaf needs to be quilted.  I had to come up with a plan for the background.  There is too much negative space in the block to leave it bare.  I had to come up with a plan.

Leaf block before quilting.

When I was at my local craft store last week, I saw a stencil that I thought would have been perfect for the block.  It was just a simple series of loops.  I could do that free-hand, but I am trying to make the blocks look like each other.  The contrast between the thread and fabric is high in this area, so I felt that the quilting needed some consistency.  I had not purchased the stencil when I was at the craft store because I wanted to come back to the house and make some measurements and make sure it would fit before I purchased the stencil.  There are plenty of stencils out there, the problem is finding one that is the right size.

   Once home, I determined that the stencil would work, and a few days later made a trip up to the craft store.  Wouldn't you know it, between one trip and the next, they had reset the stencil area.  The stencil I wanted was gone.  The clerk was helpful and checked the back room, but all the old stencils had been sent to wherever the store sends its merchandise that does not sell.  Sigh.

I had to make a new plan.  I decided that I would make a stencil of some maple leaves and a spiral.  I will trace the stencils one at a time onto the fabric with disappearing ink.  Then I will quilt over the stencil lines. I worked out a pattern that I think will be acceptable.  I already had a stencil burner tip for my wood burning tool and I had some stencil making material also.  I drew a spiral and a leaf, traced them onto my stencil material, and started cutting them out.  I did the leaf twice.  The first one was a bit of a learning curve.  It came out a little rough, and I had cut to the edge of the stencil when cutting out the leaf, which made it hard to keep in place.  The open edge allowed one side to shift about.  I then thought that it might have be easier to trace around the inside of the stencil rather than trace around the leaf.  I made a second leaf, this time with a closed template.  This one came out a little smoother. 

I think that by interspersing leaves and spirals around the large leaves will make for some interesting quilting.   My other option was to stipple quilt.  I am trying to avoid that because there will be so much of it.  Hand quilting takes a long time.  Stipple quilting would take a lot longer.  I guess I will see how things go with my new plan.  Worst comes to worst, I will pull the stuff out and start stippling. 

Star and Leaf Quilt 4

There is an old saying, "Well begun is half done."   I am not anywhere near half done with the Star and Leaf Quilt, but at least I have the quilting started.  It took a while.  Quilting a king size quilt by hand is a difficult undertaking no matter how you quilt it.  I needed to take a sewing break and give myself a pep talk to get in the mood to start quilting it. 

Part of the reason that it took so long to get started is that I had quilting ideas that were just too ambitious for hand quilting.  I wanted to quilt small maple leaves in the yellow squares and rosettes in the red center squares of the stars.  I spent a fair time drafting the patterns.  When I started quilting the rosettes I began to run into trouble.  I could not do the whole rosette with one piece of thread.  I ended up ripping the paper pattern when I tried to tie off the knot and sink the knot for the next thread.  I had to start over. 

I started again.  This time I had figured out how to use a portion of the pattern so that I would have enough thread to get to a stopping point before I ran out of thread.  Even then, it was difficult to work with a thread that long.  The thread kept knotting.  I finished the rosette.  There was not enough contrast between the thread and the fabric.  You could barely see the thing after all that work.  I took out the stitching and started again.

The third attempt at the rosette did not go so well either.  I finished it, the contrast was better, but not great.  The worst part was that the paper had shifted slightly and the rosette was off center.  I ended up ripping it off again.  At that point I decided that my plans for the quilting were perhaps a little too ambitious.  I decided to go for a simpler manner of quilting.

I started over yet again.  At this point, I have one block completed and a second block mostly finished.  The large blocks take a long time to quilt.  Alas, my blocks are not as I wanted them to be, but at least the quilting is starting to progress.  I wish I could make smaller stitches, but they are about as small as I can make them.  My hands are getting to stiff to make small dainty stitches.  On the other hand, I have always preferred the look of quilts that look like they were made to be used rather than ones that look as if you would not dare use them for fear of ruining them.  So I guess I am satisfied enough with my quilting to say that I am going to leave it as it is.

So far, I have only worked on the star blocks.  I have not quilted any of the leaf blocks yet.  I will have to do some additional quilting other than just quilting the leaves.  There is too much space in the block to leave it bare.  I think I will do something simple like a spiral.  I really would like to get the quilting done before it gets really hot.  

I quilt in the evenings when we sit down to watch television.  At the moment, we have so much going on in the evenings that I am only quilting about three nights a week.  It is good to be in a place in life that we have many interests and social interactions.  However, it means that it is going to take even longer to get the quilt completed. 

I work on other projects during the day.  I will be blogging about one of them on the next blog post.

Elephant Quilt Wall Hanging

I completed the pin cushions and that was quite a bit of work.  When I was not working on them, I have  been working on some other textile projects.  One of them is an Elephant Quilt.  More specifically, an elephant quilted wall hanging.  At least it will be one when it is finished.

This all started when one of my friends and I went to a quilt show.  A group of quilters had worked on several challenges over the course of the last year and decided to show them at a local art center.  One of the quilts caught my friend's eye.  It was a small block quilt that had an elephant on it.  I guess it inspired her because she has small grandchildren and thought that making an elephant quilt or wall hanging would be a fun addition to a child's room.  

My friend asked me if we wanted to make something with an elephant on it and we would do it as a challenge to each other.  We emailed back and forth a few times deciding on dimensions and a pattern and things of that nature.  Then we set a date for completion and said that we would get together and show off our elephant themed projects.

We set the date far in advance because neither of us have the time to work on another project, even if it is a small one.  I searched for fabrics at nearby stores but could not find anything that suited me as far as color or pattern.  I eventually made a trip across town to the quilt store before finding something that was in line with my ideas.

Time was passing quickly.  I usually sew by hand in the evenings when we sit down to watch television.  I decided that I would try fusing the pieces then using a blanket stitch around the edges of each piece to secure it to the background.  I hoped it would be quicker.  I had never used fusible on a quilt before, although I have seen that many people use that technique when making fabric collage quilts.     

Well now I have tried it and I can't really say that I am thrilled with the technique.  The fusible feels very stiff under the fabric.  It is not what I would want if I was making a cuddly quilt for a child.  However, it will be acceptable for a wall hanging.  I used Heat and Bond Light Weight.  I can sew through it, but it is more work than hand sewing through fabric.  All the pieces were fused together and then fused to the background.  If I had it to do over again, I would probably have used a washable fabric glue stick and sewn each piece together.  When the piece was finished it could be washed to remove the glue.  Well, live and learn.  Next time I will know better.

Right now, I am still working on the blanket stitching.  There will also be some beading and embroidery on the elephant.  Then I will add the batting and backing and quilt the piece.  I will also add a hanging sleeve so the piece can hang on the wall. 

I will be blogging on this piece from time to time as it progresses.  I will also be blogging on the star and leaf quilt from time to time.  Check back on Sunday for the next blog post.

Pin Cushions Completed

The pin cushions are now complete, or at least as complete as I am going to make them.  When I began this project, I had visions of some adding some beading and some flowers and leaves to embellish them.  However, this project has taken so much longer than I thought it would that  I decided to leave them at the finish point of the original instructions.  I found the instructions in an old Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts publication.  I kept it in mind for "one of these days I'll get around to it."  And now I have.

The photo shows the project almost at completion.  I needed to add one more thread to the medium sized pin cushion, and both the medium and large pin cushion need to have a yo-yo sewn to the top.  Every one of those pin cushions had a yo-yo (the little round piece on top of the pin cushions) on top to cover the area that was cut open so that the pin cushions could be stuffed.  The yo-yos would not have taken so long to make if I had a yo-yo maker.  I went to my local craft store to purchase one, but they had mysteriously decided not to carry them any more.  I swear I had seen them at the store just a month earlier.  I considered ordering one online, but the price asked was high and there were shipping charges as well.  I ended up making all the yo-yos by hand.  Chalk up more time added to this project.  But it is over with now, so I guess I saved myself a little money.  I don't think I will be making too many projects with yo-yos, so I really did have a further use for the yo-yo maker.

As I have been writing throughout the blog posts on this project, every step of this project was deceptively time consuming.  You would not think from looking at them that it would take very long to get them done.  Since I was making a lot of them, it took quite a while.  If you should plan on making them as gifts, my recommendation would be to start early on the project.

I have been working on a couple of other projects.  I will be blogging about them in the next couple of blog posts.  Check back on Thursday.

Pin Cushions 3 -Photos

Today I have the latest photos on the pin cushions.  I have added threads in each of the indentations of the "petals".  At this point the threads are knotted in the center and look a little like the stamens of a flower.  I think I can do better than that, so there will be further embellishments as the project progresses.  I want to finish getting all of the pin cushions tied before I go on to the next step.

The knots in the center and threads in each indentation add visual interest, but they also have another function.  Pulling the threads to the pin cushions helps make the cushion a little more compact.  The pin cushions need to be very solidly stuffed if you want your pins to stay where you put them.    If the cushion is not firm enough it just does not feel right either.  It is hard to describe just how firm it needs to be, but you know it when you feel it.

Adding the threads has taken longer than I thought it would.  One set of three pin cushions took about two and a half hours to complete.  It also took a lot of hand strength and dexterity.  I work with my hands all the time, but my hands were sore after completing two sets in one day.  Not every body is going to make multiple sets of pin cushions, but if someone were contemplating making them as gifts, my advice would be to give yourself plenty of time.  When I add the five hours to tie the two sets of pin cushions to the nineteen hours to get them up to that point, I am now twenty-four hours in on this project and I still have another five hours ago to tie up the other two sets of cushions.  There is further embellishment to come after that; which has not been started yet.  Even simple things can be surprisingly time involved.

The pin cushions come in three sizes.  My assessment of them is the large size is somewhat larger than many people would want to carry around with them.  The medium size is the one I am most likely to use on a regular basis.  The small pin cushion is a little small to be practical in most situations.  However, the small pin cushion looks to be about the right size use for making a wrist pin cushion with a band around the wrist and fastens with hook and loop tape.  I did not make the band for it because my experience with wrist pin cushions is that sooner or later I lose concentration and end up stabbing myself with a pin.  If I could figure out a way to put a piece of plastic inside the cushion to prevent the pins from coming out the bottom, it might make a nice wrist pin cushion.  So for now, I am going to use the small pin cushion as a cushion for holding a needle.  The cushion is not thick enough for a needle to be lost in the stuffing.

When pulling the thread through the center of the large pin cushions, I used a long soft sculpture needle.  It was long enough to go through the cushion easily and flexible enough that I could make sure that the needle came out the bottom at exactly the right spot.  It used to be that you could find these needles in any craft store, but most of the time you have to look for them online at doll making web sites.  A long upholstery needle could be used, but they are more rigid.  Smaller needles could be used on the two other pin cushions, but I continued to use the large needle because of its flexibility. 

Each indentation has its own piece of six strands of embroidery thread.  That would mean eight threads per cushion.  For the large size, each piece was fourteen inches (35.56 cm).  The smaller sizes used twelve inch (30.48 cm) and ten inch (25.4 cm) respectively.  It could actually be done two inches (5.08 cm) shorter, but I found that the longer thread length was more comfortable on my hands. 

The threads need to be pulled tight.  It was difficult to pull one tight then hold it tight while making a knot.  I found two things to be helpful while knotting the thread.  First off, after I pulled the thread through the center and up around the indentation I switched from the long soft sculpture needle to a large eye crewel work needle and made a small stay stitch after I pulled the thread tight.  (The soft sculpture needle is so long that I would have needed extra thread to accommodate that needle making the stay stitch.)  The stay stitch helped keep the thread from slipping loose while I was knotting it.  The second helpful item was a crochet hook.  Rather than trying to pull the thread through with my fingers while simultaneously pulling it tight, I used a crochet hook to grab the thread and pull it through to make the knot.  It saved a little time.  That movement felt clumsy at first, but after a few attempts the action became more fluid. 

At this point, I still have two sets of pin cushions to tie.  I expect to get them finished within a day or two.  After that, I start working on hand quilting my leaf and start quilt.  That will take some time.  I have other projects in the works.  I will be blogging on all of those projects as I get to a point where I have something interesting to show.  Check back on Thursday for the latest blog post.

Leaf and Star Quilt Update - Photos

I reached a new milestone this week on the quilt.  I finally made the quilt sandwich by adding the backing and batting and pinning the quilt together in preparation for quilting.  I have been procrastinating on this for a while.  I find pinning the quilt to be the least enjoyable part of the process of making a quilt.  It is a lot of work. 

This quilt is a large quilt; 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm).  It was made for a queen or king size bed.  When I laid the quilt on the bed, I was not able to reach the center of the bed to start pinning the quilt.  (I am fairly short.)  I had to lay the quilt out on the floor in order to work on it.  This meant that I was crawling around on my hands and knees.  It took me four hours and fifteen minutes to pin the quilt.  I worked straight through.  Thank goodness I had some knee pads (from when we laid the flooring in the den).  I don't think my knees would have held out otherwise.  If anyone has any work to do on the floor I heartily recommend using knee pads. 

The quilt took up most of the available floor space.  I did not have a lot of room to work.  When I was not crawling on hands and knees, I was sitting in uncomfortable positions.  By the time I was finished my muscles were stiff and sore.   I also had my Tai Chi class that night.  It was a challenge to make it through the class without giving in to the discomfort.  

Now that the quilt is all together, it is time to begin the quilting. I would like to get it completed soon because warm weather is coming.  It can become uncomfortable to quilt when it is hot outside.  This week we have already had days where the temperature reached 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.67 C.).  Last night a weather front came through and the temperature is only supposed to be about 53 degrees (11.67 C.).  I may have a few weeks of cool quilting weather, but Spring is on its way and Summer weather is not far behind.

This week I finally feel as if I am catching up a bit.  Getting this quilt ready has been a big sticking point.  I could not move on till it was done.  I have also caught up on getting some things ready so I would have hand work to do for my Thursday quilting group and for a wall hanging that I am working on with a friend.  I will be showing pictures of the wall hanging in a future blog post.  I am still working on stuffing those pin cushions.  I had no idea that they would take that long to stuff.  At least I am getting to a point of almost ready to move to the next phase on them.  Now that I have those projects set, I can start working on my Flamenco Dancer doll in the coming week.  It feels good to get to a point where I am making progress.

Check back Sunday for the next blog post.