One of the coolest things when you are a teacher is when a student writes to you with what she has learned and used from your classes.  Last week, I was tickled pink to receive an e-mail from Susan Molin who took my Fabric Postcards class at the Merrimack Quilt Guild in New Hampshire in late January.  The first picture I saw was this wonderful rhinoceros…doesn’t he just make you grin?

I think Susan did a fabulous job using the printed fabric, the yarn-edge finishing technqiue, and creative embellishments.  I had shared a piece or two that I did where I made the postcards first, then applied them to a quilted background (for example, the Mountain Seasons pattern in my book, ThreadWork Unraveled, is made that way).  The photo of the overall quilt, Jungle Play,  is a tad blurry, but I’m including it anyway so you get the feel for how she has done the piece:

Here is the giraffe–the “hair” for the mane is PERFECT:

and the gorilla–love those hanging-down branches:

I like how Susan has used understated quilting, creative beads and buttons, and couched yarn to the background quilt.   Very effective!  Thanks so much Susan for sharing with me and letting me, in turn, share here on my blog!

Heads up!  Dijanne is beginning a new lino-cutting class on March 8th! To sign up, visit her blog and contact her by clicking here.

I’ve been trying to work on my online lino-cutting class with Dijanne Cevaal during the Olympics and breaks from working on that quilt I can’t tell you about yet.  I’ve been having FUN! One of the exercises was to cut a monogram / initial.   As part of that, I decided to print up some stamps I had carved in the past and share with the class, so thought I’d share them here, too.  The older stamps are all done in either Speedy-Cut (a somewhat soft, rubbery material, or a generic version of same), an art eraser (the grass)  or the cuts-like-a-hot-knife-in-butter MasterCarve (the bunny and leaf in the top row are on opposite sides of the same block).  The sheet below is an 8 1/2 by 11 inch (about A4 size paper) piece of paper.  The rose block is about 3 1/2 inches square, the bunny maybe 1 1/4 inches across (printed on point).

Here are the carvings for class (the “S”) and an older tree of life design printed onto paper with textile paint (brown) or stamp pad ink (black):

I also did an owl in Dick Blick (online purveyor of art supplies) Wonder Cut, a type of linoleum.  It is about 1/4″ thick, and feels like tightly compressed sawdust.  It is harder to cut than the rubbery stuff, but easier than the Golden cut or battleship gray linoleum.  Since I have (I think) incipient arthritis and other issues with my hands, I used that first:

I didn’t really like the three echo lines to the left of the owl, so I subsequently removed them.  I’ll share prints made with the revised version a few blogposts down the line…..The lino cut is at the bottom, the paint on paper prints at the top, and paint on cloth to the right (along with a few attempts with the “S”).  I need to get a better print on cloth… I think I figured out the trick.  It is called buy MORE paint supplies, the kind suitable for lino-printing! More on that later, too….. you get the same exploring and learning curve I had!

Last, a stamp I made a while ago to use on labels.  It is large… 5 1/5 by 8 inches (half a sheet of paper).   I traced my hand then drew inside it, then carved the whole shebang into the soft-cut rubber.  I had thought I would need to make this into a Thermofax screen for screenprinting, as I was not having luck getting such a large surface colored up with textile paint and printed before the paint began to dry.  However, with my buy-more-stuff discovery, maybe I don’t.  Hmmm….I’ll have to go try the new stuff with this stamp….hmmmm……

Anyway, hope you like my total collection of stamps, which will be growing!  I like the lino-cutting!

A woman on one of my e-mail lists recently asked me a question, and I think (with the help of a good mechanic at a good store) I finally have an answer:  why does one’s free-motion straight stitch sometimes wobble?  Here’s an example that she spotted in my sampler in my book (good eye! and good catch).  Look at the vertical lines in the upper left square..some wobble, some don’t (both photos are clickable for a larger view):

Here’s her original question, and portions of my replies.  I think maybe we have at long last solved the mystery of the wobbly stitch.  If anyone else has any good information, DO comment!  This is how we all learn:

***Question:

Sarah,

I posed a question to the … group about a free-motion stitch problem I was having. Since I posted the question, I found your  book (it had been “temporarily misplaced” in a sea of quilt  papers) and was looking through it. I was particularly looking at  your quilting stitches because I know you also use a 6600 and I  see my problem in one of your stitch samplers. If you would, on  page 91 of your book, the middle square on the left side, (sort  of a windowpane design), look closely at the 3 center vertical  stitches. I can see by the  path of your stitches that the first  line was stitched with the  fabric coming toward you, the center  line was stitched with you  pushing the fabric away from you, and  the 3rd line, again, was  stitched with the fabric coming toward  you. Do you see how the  center line of stitching is much  “cleaner” or neater looking than  the 2 rows on either side of it?  That is what is happening to my  stitching, and it is making me crazier than usual. Do you think that  is just something inherent  in the machine?….. I have loved my 6600 up to this  point  and I can’t imagine using a macine with a smaller harp area,  but  I really need more precision than I seem to be getting. …..

[and a note from Sarah:  the woman writing is a top award winning quilter, and was wondering how to improve her quilting having recently been plagued by some wobbles, and looked closely at both her work and mine in my book to see if she could find the answer…she used my example because it looked just like what was happening to her.   I’m thrilled she asked, because we may have both learned something!… read on)

***My first answer:

I have yet to see a good explanation of what is happening,  but I think it is a combination of two things:

going backwards isn’t always as smooth a movement as forwards

Stitching with the grain of the fabric (instead of on a bias)

I think the latter is they key thing….  it would be interesting  to try doing 3 or 5 or whatever parallel lines on the straight of  the grain, on the cross grain, and on the bias.  I *think* that  some of that wobbly look happens when you are free-motioning  parallel to the threads of the fabric.  If you go on a bias, not  an issue… it has to do with which side of the weave of the  fabric the needle enters …if you are stitching along one thread  and the needle enters on one side of the fabric-thread on one stitch, then on the other side on the next stitch…

It isn’t just our machines… I’ve noticed this on many different brands when test-driving them…..

***And my second answer, thanks to Don at Tony’s Sewing Machines in Biddeford, Maine:

…. on the way to  my teaching gig in NH last Thurs-Sat, I stopped in a really good  sewing machine store in southern Maine for a totally different  reason.  The guy there seemed knowledgeable so I asked your  question…. I have an answer, and it makes sense!

There are two reasons for the wobble [in a free motion straight stitch]… the first was my idea that the needle is coming down on opposite sides of the thread when you are  sewing with the grain.

The second, more important, reason is that the needle bar on all  zigzag machines must move.  So it does!!  When you free-motion,  vibrations, the motions, etc. cause it to wiggle sometimes, leading to  the variations in stitching.  On straight-stitch only machines (like  the Singer Featherweight which has the best straight stitch ever made because that is all it does), NO wobbling because the needle-bar is  fixed/doesn’t move.  The Mega Quilter is, I am pretty sure, a straight  stitch only, so the needle-bar doesn’t move.  On the Janome 11000 (top  of the line) there is a special “locking” mechanism that locks the  needle bar in place when set on a straight stitch, so that prevents  the problem.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

As for the mechanic with whom you spoke…. for sure when going in reverse with the feed dogs up there are issues, like on most  programmed buttonholes, that is why the density of zigzag is different  from one side to the next.  The best programmed buttonhole I ever saw  (I think it was my old Bernina …forget the number, but it was a fancy one in 1996) went down one side in forward, then stitched in  reverse in a STRAIGHT stitch on the other side, then did the zigzag in  forward on the second side, so the two sides matched perfectly.

Anyway, I think the reverse thing the repairman suggested doesn’t  apply to free-motion,…. BUT the straight-stitch only machine /  needle-bar that doesn’t move DOES make sense…..my guess is that by  stitching on the bias, the wobble is disguised on our machines….

***As an addendum, it seems to me that reducing vibrations by slowing down and having a sturdy table/cabinet will minimize motion in the needle bar, and thereby reduce wobbles in the straight lines.  Now, to go to a show with a practice quilt sandwichand test this theory out on a number of straight-stitch only and zigzag machines!

Deborah Boschert, one of my Frayed Edges mini-group, is also part of a wonderful project called Twelve  x 12.  They have a blog here, and a website here, and even better…..well, not sure if I can tell you about it yet but there is something really cool coming in their future!   So hold on to that thought.  Anyway, Deborah now lives (sob we miss her) near Dallas, and the Dallas Quilt Guild is hosting a 12 x 12 challenge.  The rules:  anything goes as long as it is 12 by 12 inches.  Deborah invited us to participate and send quilts to hand in the show this March.  Well…..

I was totally, utterly blocked.  I had NOT A CLUE.  Not a whiff of an idea.  Inside of brain darker than a cave in a coalmine with no lights.  Nada.  Nicht.  Zip.  Zilch.  Then I had to walk the dog.  This dog (note…there are fifteen photos in this post, and all are clickable for a larger view):

Isn’t he CUTE?  Even from the hind view with curly little tail and dog butt, he is CUTE.  Well, the good news is that the quilt is NOT of his hind end.  I figured the cuteness of a dog’s butt is not necessarily appreciated by all, but how could ANYONE not love a pug mug?   So, I scoured through the umpteen thousand (literally) photos on my hard drive, found the one above, and cropped the photo:

Then I decided to use value as my plan of attack for fusing up this puppy.  At first I selected beige, tan, charcoal, and went YUCK.  I wanna play with color.  Back in the fused fabric stash they went.  Out came the colored fused stash.  I started with medium values…some lovely turquoises.  Then lights, deep darks, and some transitional values.  Not suprisingly, the light lights were yellows, the deep darks were navy and purple.

To get ready, I enlarged the photo to 12 inches on my computer, got out the large tracing paper, and traced his outlines.  This tracing was my pattern guide in cutting the pieces of fabric for his sweet face.  Here is the first bits:

Then a bit more work–you can see the tracing in the top left, the laptop with the cropped photo for reference, and the scattered bits of pre-fused fabrics tossed about (and note the yellow mug…I LOVE the fiesta ware!):

Here’s a close-up of the pug at this stage:

Then even more; I have added the background, but notice the face is kinda upright, not that cute cocked head, the quizzical look (note the green fiestaware mug):

Edges trimmed, but face is still upright…wrong!

So after uttering a few cuss words at having not noticed I was trimming him with his head in the wrong position, I sliced things off and fused up some more background–and yes, there is an “issue” with the shape of his head on the left, but I knew that would be cropped off so I ignored it:

This shows ‘Widgeon quilted (tho not the background…more on that in a sec):

and a close-up:

Here’s what it looks like from the back:

Next, I trimmed away the “middle-backing” and the wool batt I was using from under the turquoise background:

I then added cotton batting and the “real” backing and quilted the background, plus some of the major creases in his pug mug:

Finally, I had thought I would face the edges.  I used an old rust colored fabric on the back, and for the facings, and realized it looked MUCH better than the turned/faced edge.  So I found a better quality hand-dyed and made narrow bias bindings:

Last but not least…two close-ups.

Hope you liked the journey through the process. The quilt started out with a working title of “You want me to sit STILL?” (as in sit still so I can take a picture of you!), but that evolved into either “Walkies?  Puhleeze walkies!” or “Cookie???? PLEEEZE cookie!”  Eli (the dog is really his) and I both liked the Cookie version better, so that’s the title!

I absolutely ADORE this little 12 x 12 inch quilt… I think I did OK, because each time my sons see the quilt they start grinning, too!  Of course, we are biased and utterly in love with the little dog-beast!

Happy New Year Everyone!   May the good stuff from last year continue, may the icky stuff go away…as simple as that!

Someone on the QuiltArt list asked what our “word for the year 2010” would be.  I’ve not really done that before—I tend to be NOT introspective and don’t make specific long-term goals, and quit making resolutions years ago.   [I resolved that I would no longer make New Year’s Resolutions, but instead would make them when they needed making!  I’ve done that, and it is the first New Year’s resolution I’ve managed to keep for years!]

Anyway, after thinking, de-clutter, de-stress, and a few other similar concepts, I came up with

Simplify.

I need to simplify what I do, how I do it, and reserve more time to make art and allow myself to re-charge.  Since I got back from Houston in late October, I’ve been playing a catch up game, feeling that I’m in a fallow period for art.   I need time to restore myself, so I’ve been reading novels, spending time with family, and generally trying to not kill myself with work!

Along with the theme of simplify, I thought I’d share these fabric postcards, many of which I make for an online swap.  The theme was Art Nouveau/Art Deco, and I think the design is nice, straightforward, and fairly simplified!

Here’s how I made them.  First I carved my own stamp, based on a design from a Dover book (copyright-use OK).  I simplified the design which was too intricate for carving in a stamp that is just under 3×3 inches, then added a frame of vine-branches. You can see some test-prints on paper, and some test-swatches of the paints…mostly Jacquard Lumiere and Setacolor Pearlescents.

I printed onto my own hand-dyed cloth with Ancient Page archival ink:

The cards were then quilted and painted:

Next, I painted some of those leaves.  It actually took longer to paint the leaves than to quilt the cards!

Finally, I added a couched yarn edge-finish:

Here’s a close-up of two of the silvery-white roses, one with just the pale green-gold leaves, the other with two-tone leaves:

I have mounted three of these cards and will be offering them for sale, but need to take pictures.  Hopefully I’ll get those posted soon…in the meantime, welcome to 2010, to the snow that is falling turning the view out the window into a white and grayscape wonderland, and to making art!