Quilty Pleasures: Our Lady of Guadalupita

I taught a class at ThreadBear a while back on improvisational medallion quilts. The three session class was designed to give everyone a start on the process, so I haven't seen their finished products.  Nonetheless, it was fun sewing along with the students so they could watch the process and get some ideas, with a few instructional stops along the way.

You may have seen the Lady of Guadalupe quilt I made after taking an epic class on Liberated Quilting hosted by quilting buddies Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran. (Click on the link above to get that story.)

Anyway, I still had some Our Lady panels in my stash (and have started another quilt that I hope to finish this winter), so that's where I started. Since this quilt was improvised, there was no clue what the finished product would look like, just starting in the center, working border by border.

Here's a look at the quilt. I built around the center, got bored with that and decided to add details at the top and the bottom.

Here's a close up of the different layers I added around the center panel. Because I wanted this quilt to be finished quickly, I made strategic use of interesting fabric rather than piecing each border. Freddy Moran, whose quilts have a plethora of fabric and color, likes black and white borders in a busy quilt so our eyes can stop and rest. For reference, the half square triangles are 1.5 inches finished. I'm not sure about the orange and rose fabric touching each other, but it's done and a small matter. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Look at the quilting Michael at ThreadBear did, the rose and leaf quilting pattern echoing both the roses in the red border and and the general flower motif I repeated throughout the quilt. Oops! Don't look at that stray white thread. Oh, you looked, didn't you?

Towards the top of the quilt is an arch of Gwen Marston's Liberated Stars. I made the stars first and worried they would get lost in the bold colors, but by placing them at the top,  they become a focus motif. Liberated stars are free pieced, no measuring the stars' points, so each one is different.

At the quilt's bottom, I used Gwen's Liberated Basket technique to make flower pots, the flowers from an old Kaffe Fasset fabric. Gwen has used these same pots in one of the Lady of Guadalupe quilts Freddy and Gwen made for their book Collaborative Quilting.

An aside: If you haven't seen Quiltfolk magazine, please do. This issue is about the Michigan quilt community and features an article about Gwen, my quilting hero and a national treasure.

The backing fabric is Alma y Corazon by Alexander Henry. Love his fabrics and am grateful for Ann at ThreadBear, who made a bee line to this exact fabric, knowing it would be perfect.

 As I was making the quilt, I thought about a student I taught in Corona whose mother had gifted me years ago with a beautiful white crocheted sweater and later, after I had retired to the mountains, sent me a cozy hat and scarf to ward off the cold. I've always been so grateful for these gifts because, well, it was a parent who wanted to show me I was valued, and her son Juan went on to become a teacher, too, which is even better. So I sent her the quilt, now named Our Lady of Guadalupita. The name? Guadalupita, NM is the closest village to our place so it makes perfect sense since that's where I made it.

It looks like Mrs. Rosa Salgado likes Our Lady of Guadalupita, so I am glad to have been able to make her just as happy as I was receiving her gifts of love.

Quilty Pleasures: Lady of Guadalupe 2 In Progress

I've been spending most Tuesdays with some quilty friends at ThreadBear, my local quilt store in Las Vegas, NM, each of us working on projects and just having a good old time hanging out. There are usually burritos from the tiendita down the street involved and my favorite is the ground beef, potato and green chile variety.

Another Lady of Guadalupe quilt has been on the list for quite a while and my friend Betty gave me the push to get started. We are using ideas from Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran's books about collaborative quilting along with our own ideas, the ones that spring forth when the room is spinning with creativity.

Here's what we have so far:

I started with Robert Kaufman's Our Lady of Guadalupe panel from the Enchanted Desert line of fabric. It's pretty old, but you may still be able to find some if you do a little internetting.

The panel's border is a black and white polka dot to make it stand out and not just blend into the other fabrics. Next is a pieced border involving 1.5 inch red squares with 1 inch strips around and in between. It looks like I wove a red ribbon through the purplish-blue fabric.

After I attached that red square border,  it looked a little wavy, so decided to square it up with a turquoise stripe from some fabric I found in my stash. It still looks wavy, but this is liberated quilting, so let's not beat ourselves up about it.

I wanted a sky with angels in houses and liberated stars, so this is the layout today. It's not sewn together, yet, and there will probably be a lot of staring and arranging and staring some more before it becomes permanent.

Next: trees in a forest and a flower garden. This is going to take a while, but my mind is cooking with ideas and I suspect I will dream about this tonight.

Stay tuned.

Black Stack

I've been sorting fabric and for some reason, these blacks just caught my eye. I have a small collection of black with white and white with black because Gwen and Freddy say those fabrics help the eye rest when you have a quilt with many fabrics and many colors.

 What would you make with them?

International Quilting Day: My Favorite Quilt

In the 12 or so years since I began quilting in our daughter's bedroom after she went off to college, I've made and given away more quilts than I can remember. Note to new quilters: take a photo of each quilt you make and put it in a safe place so when you are old and senile, you have it right there.

My favorite quilt, though, is one I kept and hangs on the living room wall. Why do I love it?

1. It's the first quilt I made where I didn't have a clue how it would look at the end.
2. My brain was so engaged in making this quilt that I even dreamed about it.
3. Looking at it is always a new experience. And not because I am old and senile, but because there are surprises, like that fabric in the bottom right,  different from the rest of the border.

 Thanks, Pattie Prothero, for inspiring me to start this most rewarding occupation.

Quilty Pleasures-Make Two Quilts At The Same Time!

"Leaders and Enders" is a term I first encountered on Bonnie Hunter's blog, Quiltville's Quips and Snips. For years I have used scraps of fabric to start and end my piecing because it eliminates having to hold the thread tails taut as I begin a seam (to eliminate that bird's nest of thread you get if you don't). I never thought about actually making another quilt with those scraps!

Essentially, leaders and enders are scraps of fabric that will eventually go into a quilt, chain pieced in between the beginnings and endings of the main quilting project you are working on.

Let me show you because it's kind of hard to explain without looking at it.

I am working on Bonnie's Mystery Quilt called Easy Street, piecing the blocks, which are purple, turquoise, green, gray, black and white.

 Here are some half square triangles (Honey Honey by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics)
because I want to make a quilt out of them someday in the future. So I "lead" with two half square triangles, right sides together. Some people use two inch squares and here's a guy who uses Dresden plate blades.

 I was thinking about Gwen Marston's and Freddy Moran's "parts department," where you make pieces for a quilt, just to stock up for when you want to make one.

So here we go, starting with the triangles. Don't look at how they are a tad uneven and definitely don't tell the quilt police. And this close up of the lint on the machine? Pictures don't lie! OMG! Get out the lint brush!

After the triangle, I move right ahead to the Easy Street quilt without stopping and chain sew along as far as I can go.

 When I finish chain piecing the Easy Street quilt, there's another pair of triangles ready. I chain right onto the new triangles.

I sew right up to the end of the triangles, the "enders," and leave the fabric under the foot, ready for the next round of sewing.

 I snip off what's behind it,  all the chain piecing I just did with a little triangle stuck to the end.  I clip off that triangle.

 And I toss it into a box.

So far I don't have many half square pieces, but eventually they will add up and I will have enough parts for another quilt. 

Not only do I have some new "parts," but I've saved time and thread, too.

I hope this is a clear explanation. If it isn't, feel free to leave your questions and comments. Also, what have you made with your leaders and enders?

Jacquie Gering Workshop Quilt

A couple months ago two of my quilty buddies and I drove to Hip Stitch in Albuquerque for a workshop by Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio fame. I had followed her blog for several years and recently bought her book, Quilting Modern. Her designs were intriguing and new, something I would like to try someday.

That someday came and the workshop was a gigantic learning experience, especially watching quilters try something that took them out of their comfort zones. Let's face it: many of us started making quilts from patterns or from diagrams and to all of a sudden be told, "Just cut a rectangle. No, don't measure it," can be downright scary.

I had been lucky to have done some free piecing-Liberated-Collaborative quilting at several Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran workshops and the Beaver Island Quilt Retreat, so for me it was fun fun and a chance to dive into modern quilting once again.

I started this quilt at Jacquie's workshop and have been working on it little by little. I think I am close to final assembly

The other day at Thread Bear in Las Vegas, New Mexico, we pinned the background fabric, Moda Grunge, to the design wall and I started arranging the blocks. They are a type of log cabin, but not your grandma's log cabin, that's for sure.

This is what I have so far. I think it looks pretty balanced, but if any of you spacial relationships people want to weigh in by leaving a comment, I would appreciate any feedback you might have.

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday: Dia de los Muertos Flimsy

The Quilt Cave is seeing a resurgence of activity lately with a bed sized quilt finished and at the quilter's plus a wall hanging that I'm going to attempt to quilt myself. I thought I was done with this particular quilt and even started to hand quilt it, but then it floated around for months while I played around with other projects (that aren't done). Finally, after moving the little quilt for the zillionth time, I realized there was more to do if I was ever going to be satisfied with it.

I bought the Alexander Henry fabrics, Fiesta de Los Muertos and Paseo de Los Muertos, at Thread Bear, my local quilt store.

The red border was where I left off, but someone suggested some gold to brighten it up a bit and I was off like a shot!

I couldn't stop at gold, though, and decided to add one more border and some liberated stars. I am a fan of both Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran, so there are homages to both ladies: stars for Gwen and the house for Freddy.

Because the center of this medallion is so busy, the borders become incrementally calmer so they don't compete.

Below is a detail of one of the stars and also of the house where the couple lives.

When I fussy cut the skeleton couple, I included pieces of two other characters. Don't you love the fellow peeking into the right bottom corner?

I found some Christmas fabric with words for the top of the house's door.

How am I going to quilt this? Heavens, I don't know, but when it's finished, you'll see it here.

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday-Unplanned Community, A Freddy and Gwen Inspired Quilt

Today it's a guest post by sis-in-law Pattie, quilter extraordinaire, the person who inspired me to start quilting. A couple years ago we went to an Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar, California, for a class with Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran.  I'll let Pattie tell you the rest of the story:

 This quilt is a product of a Gwen Marston-Freddy Moran collaborative quilting class I took 2 1/2 years ago.  My quilting history has always been as a traditional and conventional "interpreter" of quilt design...i.e. I just copied a pattern and added my own fabrics, usually civil war or other 1800 repos.

Taking a Marston-Moran liberated quilting class was a huge step out of the box for me, so huge, it took me 2 years to complete the project.  Deciding on what 'parts' to use and how to arrange them without any absolute design threw me into creative anarchy: Anything goes....nothing is wrong...everything matches...there are no wrong choices....all colors and fabrics go together...the more the merrier.  There was only one rule: use some black and white to rest the eye once in a while.

In truth, I didn't feel very "liberated."  I felt like I had to make decisions based on my preference,  but what was my preference?  How do you build a quilt without dictated shapes, sizes, borders, measurements?

I had a plethora of block designs from Freddy and Gwen to choose from...houses, wonky stars, trees, pinwheels, four patches and even some really cute chickens!   I loved them all!  No fabric was left out; everything went together!

 Each time I sat down to sew I experienced a mixture of frustration and angst combined with manic euphoria. Over the course of 2 years I tenaciously struggled with my new found "liberation" and finally completed my "Unplanned Community," called that because there are lots of houses:) and because the only 'rhyme or reason' was mine.

That's the back of the quilt

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday-Our Lady of Guadalupe Quilt

 We got back from our road trip on Monday and the unpacking continues. Many of you who are my Facebook friends will recognize this quilt and say, "Geez! Bridget's getting lazy! I've seen this quilt a million times." So I apologize to you and promise to have some new stuff next time we talk quilts.

A couple years ago my sis-in-law, Pattie, and I attended an Empty Spools seminar taught by quiltmakers Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston.  A five day seminar held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds near Pacific Grove, California, it was an intensely creative combination of summer camp and sweatshop and a watershed moment for my journey as a quilt maker.

Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran in Freddy's studio

Gwen Marston introduced her liberated quiltmaking techniques twenty years ago. She is the design half of the Collaborative Quilting team. I love her Liberated Quiltmaking book.

Freddy Moran uses color fearlessly, considers red a neutral, and her book Freddy's House introduced her color sensibility to the quilting world.

Together they challenged my classmates and me to look at old quilts, learn from them, and make our own using no patterns and no set plans.

Here's my Lady of Guadalupe quilt, made using collaborative quilting techniques I learned from Gwen and Freddy.

Gwen taught me how to make liberated stars.

 

Freddy taught me how to make houses for my angels and skeleton buddies.

And they taught me to be bold with both design and color.

In September Pattie and I will be taking a trip to Gwen's Beaver Island Quilt Retreat where we will learn about using solids and making little quilts.

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday

We are back for another round of "Quilty Pleasures." A friend said that it sounds naughty, but we know that all things quilty are actually quite nice.

I am a big fan of Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, authors of the books Collaborative Quilting and Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again: Freewheeling Twists on Traditional Quilt Designs.

 Sorry about the writing on the covers, but I really really don't want to lose these books.

Freddy is all about color;that's her in front. Gwen is the go-to person for design.

Although they live far from each other, Freddy in California and Gwen on Beaver Island in Michigan, they find time to collaborate on quilts, traveling to each others' homes to design and sew quilts. If you ever get a chance to take a class from these two, it's a kick!

Anyway, I was bitten by the crazy colors and free piecing that are signature Freddy and Gwen. My latest project is a smaller quilt, around 30" by 24" and it's called Pure Bliss. I apologize for the photos. It's bright sunny here and I am still learning the camera.

I used a central fabric and started building around it, using scraps I had for the house and the borders surrounding it.

The center fabric was fussy cut from a fabric called Paseo de los Muertos. I like how the little guy at the right bottom corner is peeking up at the happy couple.

The black fabric is called Grateful Skeletons and the outer red border is called Petals. I think they are all Alexander Henry fabrics. Now, to quilt it, which I have been saying for several months now.