Berkeley Public Library’s annual quilt show

Posted on May 9, 2016 by admin

I won the lottery (sort of)! The central/main Berkeley Public Library has a quilt show in the second floor’s original lobby, and by the reference desk. Anyone can have a postcard size quilt in the show, but there’s a lottery for the limited space for larger quilts. I won the lottery for the right to put a 3′ x 3′ quilt in the show. I have a few quilts in that size that I could have used, but I wanted it to be something new. However, my newest quilts are my 12″ x 12″ quilts. I took nine of my favorite 12 x 12’s, safety pinned them together, and pinned on a hanging sleeve. Like magic, I had a new 3′ x 3′ quilt! It’s hanging over the reference desk on the second floor. If you go to the show, ask at the reference desk for the show catalog. Each quilt has a number. Only if you look in the catalog, will you know who made the quilt, or any other information about it. The show is up from May 1 through June 5.

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Stitch Modern

Posted on April 20, 2016 by admin

I have a quilt in the East Bay Modern Quilters’ show! The show, Stitch Modern, is at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont, CA, from now until May 8. For more info, go to http://eastbaymodernquilters.com .

I took an interesting all day workshop with Pam Rocco at the Stitch Modern show. The class was called “Quilting by the seat of your pants: Designing an original quilt.” One exercise, called a ‘thumbnail sketch,’  was to look at pictures in books and magazines through a one or two inch window in a sheet of paper. This was mine.

thumbnail

I found it in a book about African architecture. It’s a painted wall of a building, and part of a window. Below is the quilt block I made from it.

Thumbnail block

Thumbnail block

I added the dark blue square on the bottom left because it needed something there. I like the “mistake” in the orange stair steps.

 

Posted in Improvisational piecing, modern quilts, Quilt Shows, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Postcards for Voices In Cloth

Posted on March 15, 2016 by admin
Postcards for Voices In Cloth

Postcards for Voices In Cloth

EBHQ (East Bay Heritage Quilter)’s big quilt show, Voices In Cloth, is coming up March 19 and 20. http://www.ebhq.org/quilt-shows/vic2016?utm_source=VIC+&utm_campaign=VIC+2016&utm_medium=email  I’ve been making postcards that they sell to raise money for EBHQ. Here are some made of selvages. If you’re anywhere near Richmond, CA, this show is really worth seeing. I’m in charge of the demonstrations, at the back of the hall. Come by and say hello.

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Coasters

Posted on February 15, 2016 by admin

coasters

I’ve been working on some coasters for my daughter’s apartment. She wants them to be black and white plus one other color. These four are actually replacements for the ones that were lost when she moved. They are two sided, with “Fast2Fuse” in the middle, instead of batting. They’re just like a postcard, but 4″ x 4″. I sewed a tight zigzag or satin stitch around the outside edge. Here is the reverse, which is certainly not the back, but rather another front.

Coasters, reverse side

Coasters, reverse side

I embellished them with a few of the embroidery stitches on my machine.

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More slow progress

Posted on February 1, 2016 by admin

Amulet 3.2

I’m still working on this amulet. I added a lot of beads, French knots, fly stitches, and one shisha mirror. In this photo you can see the dimensionality of the center window, because of the shadow. My 12 x 12 group meets in a week. I’m hoping to have it done, including binding by then.

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Slow progress

Posted on January 27, 2016 by admin

Amulet 3.1I’m making very slow progress on this double layered amulet. I keep getting distracted by other projects. When I put the binding on, it will connect the two quilt layers together. I also plan to put beads and at least one Indian shisha mirror on it.

Posted in 12 x 12, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Experimenting with Seminole patchwork

Posted on January 13, 2016 by admin
Seminole patchwork samples

Seminole patchwork samples

I’m experimenting with Seminole patchwork today. It’s the original method of strip piecing invented by the Seminole people (Native Americans), in the late 1800’s with hand cranked sewing machines. I’m doing a short “tips and tricks” demo on it at the Thursday night EBHQ meetup http://www.ebhq.org. Lately quilters use a lot of strip piecing, but it seems as if we’ve forgotten about the Seminole version.

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Four color placemats

Posted on January 4, 2016 by admin

My college aged daughter asked for two placemats for her new apartment. She specified that they should be black, white, blue and green. This is how I started. I did not have a plan. I just cut wedge shaped strips, and sewed them together.

wedge shaped strips

wedge shaped strips

This wasn’t interesting enough, so I cut it into strips.

cutting the strips

cutting the strips

Then I used the strips as a border around some fussy cut centers.

placemat.3

I continued piecing in an improvisational manner, until it was the right size. Here are the finished placemats.

placemat.4

 

 

placemat #2

placemat #2

I’m pretty happy with them, except that the outside edges are a little wavy. Here’s what the back looks like.

 

back of placemat

back of placemat

These placemats are for the daughter with the dragon quilt. She chose the backing fabric as well as many of the other fabrics in the placemats.

Posted in Improvisational piecing | Tagged | 4 Comments

WIP (Work In Progress) new amulet

Posted on January 1, 2016 by admin
Amulet, a work in progress 2015

Amulet, a work in progress 2015

Happy 2016! This is what I’m working on. It will be a double layered 12″ x 12″ quilt, similar to the one below. However I’ve been working on the precision of the satin stitch edge. I’m much happier with the new one, even though there are other things I love about the one below.

Amulet For Healing 2015 (12" x 12")

Amulet For Healing 2015 (12″ x 12″)

I pieced it with commercial cotton fabrics and batting, then embellished it with machine and hand embroidery, obsolete Israeli pay-phone tokens “asimonim”, glass and wooden beads, and two mirrors from India.

 

 

 

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Happy last night of Chanukah

Posted on December 15, 2015 by admin

JerusalemChanukiaLitTM

Here is a chanukiah (or menorah) I made several years ago, lit for the last night of Chanukah. Every year I think that I should make a Chanukah quilt. Then I forget about it until it’s too late. I’ve also thought about making Chanukah or Passover placemats, just for my own use, not to sell. However that hasn’t happened either.

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