Happy Mail!
What a great mail day! This block for my map quilt came from Adrienne of Hermione J. Schwartz. She is the leader of our Snip.Sew.Send. group. Isn’t it wonderful? Adrienne mapped out a “road trip” that one would take to visit all of the Snip.Sew.Send. members and this is what it would look like. Then, she added the dear little VW camper with a girl holding a map! We have a little Eurovan camper, so this is just perfect – and who knows, maybe someday I can take that road trip and go see all my bee friends!
She also sent me this wonderful handmade dishcloth which I have declared is too pretty to be used except as a coaster in my sewing room. Thanks, Adrienne!
Also, in the mail was a package from Janice of Prytz Family. She is not only a quilter, but loves books so much that she works part-time at Barnes and Noble. A week or two ago, she had a multi-book giveaway to celebrate her birthday, 200th post, etc. One of the books was “City Quilts” by Cherri House. It was on my “must buy” list, and I was lucky enough to win it from the ever generous Janice. Thank you so much!
The third package I opened was this:
Yep, it’s more yellow, gray, black, and white fabric. It is part of the Bridgewater line of fabrics that I’m using for the “Math Curse” quilt and a design that I hadn’t seen until a few days ago, so I ordered enough yardage from Hawthorne Threads to hopefully be used for the backing of the quilt.
Last, you have got to see this block that my friend Zonnah just made for Snip.Sew.Send.
Zonnah's Addictions Wonky Star Ring
Didn’t she do a fantastic interpretation of a wonky star block? She was gracious enough to put up a tutorial of how she made this block. Wouldn’t it be a perfect block to consider for quilting bee? It has been definitely moved onto the “must try” list.
The Math Curse Quilt
August is my month to send out fabric for The Stitchin’ Bee. The fabric is this yellow, gray, black, and white fabric.
The theme for this quilt is “The Math Curse”. The name comes from a book by Jon Sciezka and illustrated by Lane Smith.
photo from Amazon.com
It is a great children’s book and is especially apropos in our family because my husband is a mathematician and our daughter is a math major, but I confine my knowledge about math to what I need to know for quilting and cooking!
I would like the blocks to pertain to math symbols – plus, minus, equal, greater than, less than, divided by, square root, etc. The style is for this quilt is preferably clean, modern, and not wonky or overly fussy. Please make the blocks 12.5 inches by 12.5 inches (finished size 12×12).
I can’t find a quilt that has exactly what I’m looking for online, but here are the closest things I’ve seen, and a list of some math symbols to think about:
1. latex_math_symbols, 2. plus and minus block #3 (common threads), 3. the plan! (for common threads vqb), 4. Busy-bee-quilt
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Brace Yourselves!
There’s a lot to report, today. First, just when I think I can’t be any more astounded by the great work of my Snip.Sew.Send. bee friends, another map block comes and it takes my breath away like the ones I’ve already received.
This block is from Robin of Crafty Musings. It is a map of her childhood neighborhood. Doesn’t it just tell quite a story of a happy time as a child? Robin used pen, crayon, applique, embroidery, etc. to make this amazing block all while taking care of a toddler and a brand new baby! I have been touched so deeply by the blocks my quilting bee friends have made that I can’t even begin to thank them enough.
In the meantime, some of the other blocks I’ve already received are getting quilted in the “quilt as you go” method that I decided to use for this quilt. Here’s the adorable block from Rebecca of Lula Dahl.
I did some pretty heavy quilting on this one because I wanted the dear little hexagons to really pop when you looked at it. The water part of the map was done in swirly waves and the land areas were done in curved shapes with some tiny stippling and kind of a branch-looking quilting.
I used King Tut variegated thread for the top and white for the bottom. The quilting designs were inspired by Leah Day’s 365 Days of Free-motion Quilting Designs. Here’s the back:
So far, the plan is for the back of the quilt to be this Alexander Henry “This Land is Your Land” fabric.
The block Heather, of Quiltin’ Like Crazy”, sent was a great map of her home, so each “room” was quilted differently.
If that weren’t enough excitement, I went to the AQS Quilt Show in Knoxville, TN yesterday. That’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive from here, so it seemed doable in one day. I sent an email to my blog friend Jean, of Patchwork and Pug, and asked if she wanted to go, too. We had not had a chance to meet in person yet, so we figured 7 hours in the car should give us plenty of opportunity to talk.
It was great fun to meet someone I had only known online and the driving time was a piece of cake because we had so much fun talking.
My Mom also came over from Asheville, NC to meet us at the show.
What we learned about this show was that one day was not enough, even without taking any classes. Our original plan was to walk through the vendors kind of quickly to scope out what all was there, go see the quilts, then go back and spend the rest of the time shopping at the vendors. That didn’t work. There was so much to see and long-arm machines to try out, vendors doing demonstrations, etc., that it was pretty late before we started looking at quilts.
For vendors, there were all the major sewing machine dealers, a number of thread companies, eg Superior Threads, Aurifil, etc., some fabric stores with cut yardage and patterns, books, notions, and a lot of long-arm machine dealers. It was a blast trying out the long-arm machines. If there were space and dollars to spare, I can see that it would be fun to have one. There was one vendor with a machine quilting frame called Easy Quilter. It works with a regular home machine and costs about $450. It was an intriguing concept and I found it pretty easy to operate, but I was a little concerned about the build quality of the system with heavy use. When we went back to take a second look, I asked my Mom to give it a try and it was not as intuitive to her. The vendor was rude and pushy to my Mom, so much so that I could not consider purchasing from him. Here’s basically what it looked like and it allowed you to free motion quilt in all directions:
AQS does not allow you to post photos of the quilts online without the quilter’s permission : ( So, all I can offer are my impressions. There was a LOT of heavy quilting on most of the quilts. And, a lot of very tiny micro-stippling filling in spaces. The winning quilts seemed to be more traditional in style and tended to have beige backgrounds. There was a lot of metallic thread used in quilting and lots of crystals applied to the quilts. My Mom and I agreed about our favorite quilt – it was a gorilla mother and baby. It didn’t even get honorable mention. You kind of wish they’d have a little guest book by the quilts so you could tell the quilter how much you liked their work even if the judges didn’t see what you saw. I won’t be entering a quilt anytime soon!
It was a little bit of sensory overload in one day, so I didn’t come home with much. I bought this fabric:
It is to send out for my month for the Stitchin’ Bee along with this fabric:
(Edited to add: Several people have asked me what line the fabrics are. In the top photo, the paisley looking fabrics are “Eclipse” designed for Exclusively Quilters. The gray and white geometric is “Mingle” by Robert Kaufman. In the bottom photo, the solids are Kona Cotton, but I don’t remember the color name (maybe Kona could add that in the selvedge!). The gray, yellow, and white fabrics are a line called “Bridgewater” by Camelot Cottons and were purchased at a store called Quilters Refuge in Decatur, AL.)
And, thanks to my Mom, I also brought home the Supreme Slider silicone sheet to use for free-motion quilting and a Quilt Halo that helps with free-motion quilting without gloves! We won’t mention what my new friend, Jean, is bringing home (but it starts with Bern______ and has a stitch regulator, etc!)
Are you still reading or have you said, “Enough already!”? The last bit of exciting news is that I am learning how to knit!!!!!
A couple of my neighbor friends have started a bi-weekly coffee and knitting/crocheting/painting get-together. It is really fun to just sit and chat and learn something new and in a short time, I’m already seeing how addictive knitting is!
Whew! I’m done, now!
Snip.Sew.Send. Round #2
A few members of Snip.Sew.Send. were interested in keeping our bee going for a little while longer, so round 2 has started. Rebecca of Lula Dahl had July. She sent summery aqua and orange fabrics and requested 10 inch wonky stars blocks. For one block, I made a star within a star. For the second one, I pieced together some of the other oranges that Rebecca sent and cut a square for the center. Wonky stars are very addictive and these fabrics were fun to put together.
The same day those fabrics came, I received another addition to the map blocks I requested for my turn.
This block came from Heather of Quiltin’ Like Crazy. She described it as a map of the rooms of her house. It should be a fun one to do some more elaborate quilting on. I like clean and modern and Heather’s block fits that really nicely.
And finally, yesterday, I opened the mailbox to find a little surprise from Kris of Summer at Grandma’s House. I had commented on some fabric in a gorgeous block she had made and when I opened the envelope, there were two pieces of that adorable little polka dot she had used. Thanks, Kris!
A”Maze”ing Quilt Block
If you’ve ever wondered why being in a quilting bee is so much fun, take a look at this block that I just received. June was my month for Snip.Sew.Send. and I requested blocks with a theme of “maps”.
This block came from Zonnah of Zonnah’s Addictions. Isn’t it a”maze”ing?! She took the title of my blog and incorporated it in this block. It is hand pieced! I would have loved to watch how she put it together, because even though it is a complex block, it isn’t bulky at all. My husband doesn’t usually pay much attention to quilting things, but he commented what a great logo this would make and said I should frame it instead of putting it in the quilt!
Putting this block together with the other two fabulous blocks that I received from Kris (Summer at Grandma’s House) and Rebecca (Lula Dahl) , and the two that I already made, will make the start of a wonderful map-themed quilt!
Every so often, I feel the urge to sew clothing because, after all, how hard can a simple summer dress be? Well, this one can be marked down as a failure and is going to turn into a dust rag.
The pattern is Vogue 8351, a simple scoop neck dress with a tie in the back and gathered sleeves. I looked it up on Sewing Pattern Review and several comments mentioned that it tended to be low cut, so I added 1/2 inch height to the neckline and 1/4 inch width to the inside of the shoulders to bring it in a little more.
After putting in the sleeves, I went to try it on and it is unwearable. Even with the adjustments I made, it is definitely way too low cut and the shoulders need to be quite a bit wider.
The lesson I learned is that it is much easier to cut and piece together fabric to equal a 12 1/2 inch square than to take a commercial dress pattern and be able to read how it will fit on a human body.
Ric-Rac Daydreams Quilt Block
Lisa of imalisawork sent gorgeous fabrics for The Stitchin’ Bee for July. She wants to put together blocks to make a quilt that she can daydream on her couch under. The only rules were that she wanted the ric rac used in the block.
I started this block by making little pleats and tucking the ric rac under before stitching it down.
Then, I thought, why not pleat and smock some of her fabric and weave the ric rac through that.
It has been years since I’ve done any smocking, but I still have my pleater.
Amazing! I still kind of remember how to do smocking.
The ric-rac was fed through the smocking. I tried to continue the ric-rac theme by smocking a wave shape in yellow and by stitching together triangles at the top of the block.
Hopefully, all of Lisa’s dreams will be good!
More Map Blocks
This fantastic block just arrived from Kris of Summer at Grandma’s House. The appliqued states show the places she’s lived with the embroidered arrows showing how she moved. Kris is in graduate school and planning a wedding, so I’m very grateful that she took the time to make such a perfect block for my month of Snip.Sew.Send.
I am assuming that each block I receive will be very different from each other, so I am quilting them as I go and then will piece them together. Kris showed the map that she used on her blog and after printing it off, I quilted the outlines of the states.
It is so much more fun to quilt small blocks than trying to wrestle a queen-sized quilt through my machine.
Map Quilt Blocks and Mail
This is the first block that I’ve received back for my month of Snip.Sew.Send. I requested blocks with the theme “Maps”. This fabulous block was made by Rebecca of Lula Dahl. I really love her interpretation which she described as what you might see looking out an airplane window. What makes this block really special are the adorable, teeny hexagons that she included.
Aren’t they perfect? A little sailboat and anchor in the blue “ocean” and the little rooster on land. I can’t wait to put this together with the other blocks and see how the quilt turns out.
Rebecca also sent me these dear little fabric covered pins. I have seen fabric covered buttons, but not pins before. They might have to find a home on the quilt, too!
I haven’t really been sure what direction my bee partners were going to go with this, so I just started playing a little bit with some ideas and these may or may not end up being included in the quilt.
This is the first one I made. The red, yellow and green are for my husband, daughter, and me and the lines reflect the moves we’ve made. We were all born in CA. I moved to NC and then back to CA. Pat and I moved to Boston and then back to CA. After Elizabeth was born, we moved to Huntsville, AL, then one year in DC, and now Elizabeth has gone off to college.
The second block I made is a map of the moon orbit showing it at apogee and perigee. Even though the ellipse didn’t end up quite as good as it should be, I like this block!
The day before Rebecca’s block arrived, I got this fun package from t.j.. of Tales from Studio Mailbox, who is my blog friend in Germany. She does fabulous creative paper arts with lots of stitching, typography, mixed media, etc. It was so exciting to open the envelope and find these art treasures inside and now they are decorating my sewing/crafting space. Such a fun surprise! Thanks, t.j.!
The Stitchin’ Bee, Winning, and Memorial Day
Here are the blocks I made for June for The Stitchin’ Bee. Jennifer sent a package of beautiful patterned fabrics and requested an “organic” block. We could also add solids from our stash. There was a lot going on with these fabrics, so I went for a simple, zen-like look with the first block. I pulled out some white Kona cotton and inserted a block of the orange floral fabric. Then,I stitched two fabrics together for the tuck and inserted it vertically and tacked it down in different directions to show both sides of the tuck.
In case this wasn’t what Jennifer had in mind, I made a second block with the remaining fabric that she sent.
For this block, I did a modification of the Pretty Bird quilt block here. I didn’t have enough of any one fabric to do the whole bird, so the head and wings are one fabric and the body another. A little bead is sewn on for the eye. Quite a different look from the first block, wouldn’t you say?!
During the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day, I won a little package from a great blog that I read called modernJax. She was giving away this tote bag with the most fabulous fabric.
It is sewn beautifully and lined with the same fabric in a different colorway. Inside it was this:
Aren’t the fabrics pretty and she sent matching thread and adorable felt buttons, too! Thank you, Beth!
Finally, it is a day to remember our fallen soldiers, with thanks for paying the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedoms.
