MY QUILT IS MORPHING!

The stonefields quilt is becoming a Chuck Nohara quilt!  I wish I had begun using Chuck's blocks from the very beginning and no Stonefields as Chuck's blocks really speak to me.  I find them imaginative and lively. When it is finished my quilt will have about 1/3 Stonefields, 1/2 Chuck and the rest will be from my inner reaches.

Some one asked me what I meant when I said I adapted blocks.  I will demonstrate.  The basket block above is pretty much verbatim-a close replica.  The pattern is 2 inches x 2 inches so needs to be enlarged to 6X6 inches which, if you are interested, is 265 on the copier. I just choose the fabrics and went for it.

 

This block is also pretty close to the original.  The only change I made was to make the tendrils more delicate with embroidery thread instead of bias stems and to add an extra tendril.  When I quilt this I will add definition to the leaves. So this is a block with only a small adaptation.

 
You can see the adaptions here.  I made two changes.  I did not make the saw-toothed edges on the flowers as I was working on too small a scale to make it work.  Ditto the leaves.  I tried to capture what Chuck was doing here-blossoms on the outside and leaves all clustered in the center of the block.  Very effective.  I had to make it simpler with less leaves but still try to capture the concept.  Its up to you to decide if I succeeded.

Okay, I love this block!  I have a real fondness for squirrels.  We have as many as 14 in our backyard at one time.  They are so fun to watch and they have the world's greatest tails.  We have red squirrels so their tails are copper colored.  The squirrels use them as umbrellas in the rain and to signal when the cats come near.  I changed this block more than the others.  I thought I could improve on the squirrels body and make the acorns more definite.  This was a tricky block because of the neutral coloring.  The squirrel is all yellow-gold and I felt the block wanted more color variation.  So I added the oak leaves and made the acorns green and newly hatched.  Also I like to put eyes on my various critters so I did that.  So this one is close to the original but with lots of adaptions.  I like the fabric I choose for the tail.

Here is Chuck's book for those of you who are not familiar with it. It is published and sold by Quiltmania.  Matter of fact, Quiltmania has a 2 block of the month going on now using Chuck's blocks.  It is called 

"Les fleurs du mardi" or Tuesdays Flowers.

You can see it on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-6FaRRykLg



I have been working on the free motion machine quilting sampler and have finished lesson 4-feathers.

This turned out well I think.  While I have never quilted feathers on a quilt, I have practiced them a lot in all their various forms so was a step ahead on this block.  Here is the sampler so far:

If you want to join in with this sampler group, go to the facebook group Sit Down Free Motion Quilters and sign up.

We have lots of Blue Jays around the birdfeeder and squirrel feeders.  They are so funny on the birdfeeders because they do not fit at all and use all kinds of tricks and gyrations to get the sunflower seeds.

If Blue Jays weren't so common, people would be excited to see them.  They are so pretty.  The photo below is copied from the Audobon site.  Look at this bird-turquoise, powder blue, slate, grey.  Really it looks like an exotic from the steamy jungles of South America.


I will have my new camera soon so will be able to take photos of birds such as the one above instead of the lame fuzzy ones I always show you.  I hope also that this new camera will be more sensitive to color of fabrics.  My current camera has a devil of a time trying to get colors right.

Okay, I'm  off now to begin a new week of work.  Maybe I will do some simpler blocks this week.  However, as you know if you follow Cathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, the adventure is in getting there not the destination so enjoy the process!

HAPPY QUILTING!

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday, Monday Making, MCM, Oh Scrap, BOM, Esther's WOW, NTN and Whoop, Whoop!  Thanks for hosting and giving us all a chance to share and see what others are working on!

THIS WEEK'S FOUR PACK MAKES 100!!.....also machine quilting update

I like all of this weeks blocks very much.  They are all adaptations from Chuck Nohara's book.

This one is my favorite.  The flowers and stems are from Chuck's book but I did not like her bird and substituted this broderie perse one.  I love how graceful the stems and flowers are and how the bird complements the colors.

Chuck's sunflower petals were shaped differently.  Since I wanted to use a directional fabric and her pattern called for the petals to be cut from one piece, I had to cut individual pieces and I also shaped them differently.  This is the beauty of having good resources- they generate ideas instead of being slavishly copied.

I love sunflowers!  We have some volunteers growing up around our birdfeeder.  They will not "make" as rural farmers call it-they are spindly and small.  The ground is too dry and uncultivated there.

This basket was fun but time consuming.  I have told you of my frustrations with hexagons-triangles are easier-the thread does not wrap around so much. Also I received some good advice on how to handle paper pieces working with them.  I wanted to put into practice the advice I had received and I think the basket turned out okay.  I had to call into account my math skills when making this block when I sized it up from being 2x2 inches to 6x6.  I also thought the braided handle would be more interesting than the simple one from the pattern.

I have never seen a block like the one below.  It has such a different look. This makes 100 blocks-43 to go but who's counting!

I have been working on my free motion sampler and have completed week three. This was an especially hard one-not sure why.  I have included a copy for the pattern for a couple reasons.  One-you can see the difficulty with this pattern-one sews around the circle and then backtracks and shoots off in another direction. The hard part was not getting trapped in a corner.  I drew and drew this and did some practice squares.  The other interesting thing is how individual style is achieved with practice.  My circles are closer together and are more curvy.  This just happened.  The fmq is not perfect but I am pleased.

As promised, here are two more blocks from my Caswell Quilt:

The robin block on the left is from the original pattern except I wanted the block to be 8x13 instead of 11x11.  So I deconstructed and rearranged it and added the snail.  The second pink flower bloc is taken from the original Caswell rug.  The idea for the caterpillar came from looking at Elizabethan stitchery and the dragonfly is placed on a seam to break down the barriers between blocks. 

Lastly, we have a red bellied woodpecker who visits the corn feeder.  He edges down the tree to the feeder, snatches up a kernel, goes back up the tree to beat the kernel against the bark before he eats it.  You can't see the kernel but that is what he is doing.

I will be so glad when my birthday is here in a couple weeks-I will have my new camera and hopefully be done with fuzzy photos!  We also had a large yellow flicker wood pecker some to the fountain but he flew off before I could grab my camera.

Happy quilting!

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday, MCM, Moving it Forward Monday, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Easter's WOW, and NTT .

  Thanks for hosting ladies!

IT HAS BEEN A LONG HOT WEEK HERE IN THE BACK OF BEYOND!     
              I have mostly been laying low and staying cool. I have been working on Stonefields blocks.  The top two are from the Stonefields pattern, the ewer is from Chuck Nohara's book and the sailboat floated in on my imagination.  
                                                   
 Not too exciting but pretty French General fabric.
  
          This one is straight from the pattern   It is a charming pot of buds.
I love this one.  The combination of ewer and bowl and tulip is lots of fun.  I added the extra tulip.

This one is my favorites right now.  Notice the racing strips on the sail.  When I was a girl, we sailed on the San Francisco Bay.  My father's hobby was building sailboats.  He build a lovely 27 footer when I was about 5 or 6 years old.  I used to help him by handing him tools or holding something or stirring glue.  My father was great.  He was so empowering.  I asked him if he thought I could build a sailboat when I was older and he said "Yes.  Just get a pattern and follow it".  You must understand was in the 1950's years before Betty Friedan's first cry of feminism.  He did not think I was handicapped by not being a boy.  It was this far-sighted and generous thinking on my father's part that enabled me to undertake any number of activities other girls felt they could not do.

Anyway, we kept the sailboat in a marina on the bay and went there every Saturday.  We either sailed or did maintenance on the boat (wood hulls required constant upkeep in the days before fiberglass).  I loved tacking with the breezes as the side of the boat dipped close to the water and we flew along with the sea birds.  When I was older, he built a 37 footer where he lived for a few years.  Sailing lead to a life-long love of the water.

This is a photo of the fmq sampler from the Sit Down Free Motion Quilters facebook group.  We are on week two which I have completed not to my complete satisfaction.

Week two is the orange peel.  There are some wobblies in there.  I thought I would have done better on this as I used a stitch like this on Mountmellick which I finished last month. Here you can see the orange peel quilting.    

                       

I decided since I have shown some of Mountmellick, I will show you some of the border applique made from Petra Prins Dutch chintz and is perfect for broderie perse which is one of my favorite things to do.  The original border was composed of stars and the little pots of flowers are mine.

          

      

      

 

Here you can see how the border fits together: 

HAPPY QUILTING

AND

STAY COOL!

Linking with MCM, Moving it Forward Monday, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Easter's WOW, NTT and Low Stitching Sunday.  Thanks for hosting ladies!

92 FINISHED-51 TO GO!

I know one thing....I have given up goal setting!  Talk about something that gets in the way and can alienate your life!  Here is a for instance:

You know by now that I am pretty terrified by free motion quilting.  I think the terror lurks because I have devoted so many hours of my love and life to a hand appliqued quilt or wall hanging.   The possibility of ruining my heart's work with inept quilting is an unbearable thought.  

You might wonder what this had to do with goal setting but I will tell you.  I was getting so wrapped up in making 25 blocks for June that I almost discarded the opportunity to work on the thing that gives me nightmares.   The facebook group The Sit Down Free Motion Quilters is offering a fmq sampler for members to work along side each other to see how everyone is progressing and learning from each other and showing our contributions.  My goal mind set said "no you cannot do that-you don't have time-you have 25 blocks to finish". That is when I drew the line on this goal process-it was getting in the way of progress!

The Sit Down Free Motion Quilters is such a nice group.  They have provided lots of good info and instructions for the sampler which I have downloaded and printed (so I can lug them around with me).  I was meticulous in making my quilt sandwich even though this is a sampler and not the "real thing".  

Look how snug my quilt sandwich is.  I marked the top before I made the sandwich as I thought that would be easier. I used blue painter's tape to hold down the backing.  That stuff really sticks!  I follow Cindy Needham"s instructions for making a quilt sandwich and always end up with excellent results.

This is the stabilized sandwich.  I am quilting the top with shades of rose/purple and the bobbin will be orange.  Now that it is stabilized, I took the pins out.

Here is a question for anyone:    I know why quilters who use a quilting frame leave large margins beyond where the quilt will end.  That is so they can clamp and pull these edges for good tension.  However, for a sit down fmq is it necessary to leave such large margins? Sometimes these large margins get in the way and can flop around accidentally getting sewn into the quilting.  What are people's opinion on this?  I left about 2.5 inches for this quilt and basted the edges together.  This gives me enough if I need to hold the quilt for the fmq process.

Here is another reason to abandon goals:

I was beginning to get a production line going for my blocks in order to reach 25 for June and making blocks because 25 needed to be made.  I have always been a self motivated person and never had a problem finishing a project. Loving what I do finishes projects.

These are my blocks for this post.  I don't know what the source of the first block is-maybe I made it up-it is a logical block. The second two are variations on blocks from the Stonefields pattern.  I added the broderie perse and the butterfly to the third block as it seemed kind of stark and alone.  Here is a close up of the middle block : 

That's all for now.  We have been having a heat wave with 98 degrees and high humidity.  Right now there is a wonderful thunderstorm with cracks of lightening and buckets of rain.  Maybe this will bring in some cooler weather.

Happy Quilting

Linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday (good day for slow stitching!)

Main Crush Monday

Making Monday

Whats Your WOW?

Moving it Forward Monday

BOMs Away Monday

Let's Bee Social

   

More Detail On My Caswell Quilt

I showed the fruit basket block on my last post.  I had lots of comments on it.  I love how this block turned out from the ants to the layout of the flowers to the fruit.

Also I like it because the fruit basket from the original Caswell Carpet in the Metropolitan Museum has been used many times by designers who fell in love with this motif.  To me, this is one of the joys of quilting that motifs our great-grandmothers and beyond are appreciated by quilters today and given a new twist. Here is the original cropped from the carpet:

The photo is very fuzzy because it is cropped off a page in a book,  American Folk Art, by Jean Lipman.  You get the general idea though.  Here are three different adaptations by 3 different designers.  

Erica Wilson of needle work fame adapted the block as a needlepoint design.  I believe the canvas was printed with the design and maybe the yarns were sold with it.  You can see the similarities and the differences.  No matter the changes, the derivation is unarguable.

Another example is a folk art painting by T. Holland dated 1977, found in Pa., and is painted on pine wood.This is a charming adaption in yet another medium.  I found this listed for sale on ebay.

The final example you will have to look up for yourself.  You can google Caswell Carpet to find beautiful red quilt by the fabulous Barbara Korengold.  No further words needed.

Here are some details from the basket:

This block took about 2 months to complete.  I worked on it off and on as ideas came to me on how to arrange and design the fruit.  I took it apart more times that can be counted.  The pineapple is made of about 30 fingernail shaped pieces which were cut carefully to allow for the color variation. 

Here is the cause of the ant problem-an abandoned picnic! I hope your recognize the wine and baguette, grapes and apples, and wedges of cheese.  Since I collect blue and white china, that is what is in use at the picnic.  This photo is also a close up of the ants which are about 3/4 of an inch long and royal pain to make.  Their legs are embroidered.

And finally here is a view watching the ants progress to the sweet and juicy pears!

Here are the latest Stonefields blocks.  The bottom 2 are based on designs in Chuck Nohara's book mentioned in a previous post and the top one is one i thought up.  One advantage to making Stonefields is the opportunity to try different techniques.  I have been wanting to try out a "tile" design and now I have with the flower.

Happy quilting! 

Links to:

Needle and Thread Thursday

Can I get a Whoop