With this blogpost, we will end the series on how I made the quilt of my son playing guitar.  I had fun with the quilting, too.  Here’s the bucket and bag of threads I used for the quilting:

And here is the completed quilt; notice that the proportions have changed a little.  The finished size for the exhibit is 36 inches wide by 48 inches long, so I needed to remove some extra, especially in the length.  If the quilt hadn’t been in this exhibit, I might have let it go a little longer, but I think in terms of design and composition it is still fine the way it is.

While I was mulling over how to quilt the walls, there was yet another discussion on either QuiltArt or SAQA (or both?) about the line between traditional and art quilting.  As usual there were those who want nothing to do with traditional quilting.  I, however, am proud of our traditional roots and proud of this as an art form that began with women’s work.  As someone recently said to me, Quilt is NOT a four-letter word!

This discussion led me to the idea of using traditional feathered vines for the background quilting.  As you can see from this next photo, though I chose a thread I thought would show up on the background, it was too subtle.  I decided to echo-quilt around the feathered vines, then pencilled in the resulting space/channel to define the outlines of the vines with Prismacolor Pencil (which I later covered with a combination of a textile-friendly varnish and water to seal it to prevent it from rubbing off).

Here is a wider-angled shot of the wall area showing the feathered vines…I just love them!

This shows the quilted quilt with the threads distributed over the top where they were used:

Here are two close-ups of the quilting of Joshua’s face and torso:

I love the backs of my quilts, the line drawing look, so took this (alas blurry) photo–you can see the feathered vines clearly on this semi-solid background fabric, and that the entire quilt is stitched 1/4″ apart or close… a lot of thread!

And to end where we began, but arrayed nicely, all those beautiful threads ( all but one of them Superior Threads):

PS–I am reminded by the comments to add that Joshua –hallelujah!– actually likes the quilt!  Given how picky teenagers are, especially of pictures of themselves, I am so thrilled that he of all people likes it.  Hugs to my firstborn!  Now…. what will the years bring that I can do another quilt, this time of secondborn son?

At long last!  There has been precious little time for making art quilts over the past few years.  What with family chaos, the hurly burly of every-day-life, writing a book and making all the samples, marketing the book, travel-teaching and whatnot, I’ve can scarcely recall the last large art quilt I made just for the sake of making it. Here’s a detail (you’ll have to keep reading to see the rest!  yes, I’m evil <GRIN>):

Last autumn, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison of Dinner at Eight Artists invited me to submit a quilt for consideration in a juried invitational show called “Beneath the Surface.”  (Note:  a list of accepted artists is on their blogpost dated March 22…what fine company!) That means you make a quilt to theme and size (36 wide by 48 tall), and it still might not get in.  My first thought was…I have too much on my plate.  Then I realized the due-date (which always gets me in gear) was early enough in the year that I might actually have time to do it!

My first thoughts were underground waterways, roots, rocks, critters that burrow.  Then, thanks to the influence of my friend Kathy who loves the sea, I thought about under the sea.   But then I thought, no, everyone will do that…. I want to do a portrait!  Then I realized, it could fit the theme:  What is under the surface of a teenage American male?

I took about 65 photos one evening of my older son playing guitar, which is such an elemental part of who he is.  I selected two:  one for the overall body position, another for the face (angle of head, mouth closed, eyes looking down).  I ended up using a third picture because the proportions of the first two didn’t give me enough of the room for the measurements of the quilt.   Luckily, I finished on time and got in!!!

I’ll share the construction process (I’m always fascinated by how a quilt comes to life, but decided I’d show the results here, THEN show the process because, well, I’m impatient and want to share!) in future blogposts. So, here it is!

I think this may be one of the best quilts I’ve ever done; best of all, Joshua likes it too.  I was worried about the funky batik I used for the guitar neck, but when he saw it he said “If I could find a guitar like that in real life I’d BUY IT!” How cool is that?

My original statement for the quilt was (big surprise) a bit too long, so I’ll repeat all of it here:

What is beneath the surface of a 16 year-old male?  Some things are obvious:  music, food, girls, friends, food, school, guitar, food, video games, movies, girls, friends, food. Others are not so obvious.  There is the man he is becoming:  kind, compassionate, interesting, funny, breathing music in his soul, argumentative, loyal, passionate, tolerant, stubborn, smart, gregarious, curious, honest, loving and loved.   “Mom?  Can you fix me something to eat?”

Thanks to Moore’s Sewing Center (in southern California and online) and Brother International, who are sponsoring the exhibit at the IQA show in Long Beach, California; we are hoping the exhibit will continue on to the big IQA show in Houston in Fall 2010.  Thanks also from me to Iris Karp of MistyFuse for her generous support.  This entire quilt top was made with fused applique…MistyFuse ROCKS!

So far I know these artists have blogged about their quilts in the exhibit:

• Deborah Boschert
• Terry Grant
• Karen Rips
• Gerrie Congdon

Those of you who can, I hope you can take pics at Long Beach!  Enjoy, and again thanks to Jamie, Leslie and our sponsors!

that I began my quilty life as a traditional (well, sort of) quilter.  My very first quilt…the one I began first…was a Mariner’s Compass (!!!!).  However, it was too hot in Central Africa, even sitting by the air conditioner, to sit under the quilt for more than 30 minutes so I gave up trying to quilt it by hand until we got back to the Washington, DC, area.   Pretty soon I started playing with colors, quilting designs and themes, though.  Maybe ten years later, I fell in love with Judy Robertson’s hand-dyed fabrics; I spent a small fortune buying two multi-light yards and two multi-colored dark yards and made this quilt, From Sea to Shining Sea:

The colors reminded me of the words from America, the Beautiful, so they song is machine quilted into the quilt, with an American eagle (from the US quarter dollar coin) and a sorta-traditional vine.  I tried…but just couldn’t get a truly traditional feathered vine to look  right on this quilt!  Detail:

That purchase of hand-dyeds started me on learning how to hand-dye myself.  Then I started selling my hand-dyeds.  I wanted to show folks that they could combine hand-dyeds and lookalikes with print fabrics and make fun, contemporary quilts based on traditional blocks.  This quilt is, I think, North Winds, and came from the Quilts from the Quiltmaker’s Gift book (link here) or More Quilts from the Quiltmaker’s Gift (link here…forget which one).   They are both lovely books, with great illustrations to show how the quilts will look in different colorways.

Anyway, this quilt has an official title, but to me it is the Anti-January quilt.  I lived in the Pacific Northwest of the US at the time, where it is gray and dreary from late November until at least February.  I found myself yearning for bright cheery fabrics every January, and made this one at that time of year.  I set the colors to look like the blazing sun surrounded by the green islands and tropical blue waters…..:

and a detail…quilted with tropical seas, palm trees with coconuts, waving beach grass, tropical fish, seagulls……..

Then as a quickie quilt to help sell MY hand-dyed fabric (which I no longer do really), I grabbed some purple (four fat quarters I think) and a very girlie yellow-purple print on my shelf and made this quilt using the Road to Oklahoma block:

Since it is hard to find the block, I did up this photo.  There are nine blocks of 12 inches each in the center of the quilt, which is about 42 x 42 inches (about a metre square).

Hope you enjoyed this trip into medium-ancient quilt history!

As you might have guessed by the lapse in posts, I was busy/away.  Last weekend was fun… on Thursday evening I gave my Decorated Quilt lecture for the Merrimack Quilt Guild of Plaistow, NH (about a stone’s throw from the Mass. border, literally!) and on Saturday taught Fabric Postcards,

which is really a play-day with an introduction to a bunch of art quilt techniques.  Instead of having to buy a zillion things and stuff, I HAUL a zillion things and stuff and folks can try fusing to collage their postcards, Angelina, fabric stamping (I demo stamp carving, so they can see how easy it is, but too sharp tools, too many distractions to do that in the class with so much else going on), fabric rubbings, using found objects as stamps, resists and rubbing plates,  freezer paper stencils, assorted paint techniques, and finally couching yarn as an edge finish. (PS… given the costs of shipping, this class is now available only within a 2-day drive of home…..)

Because it was just a wee bit too far to drive home on Thursday getting home at 2 in the morning on Friday, then get up at 4 in the morning to drive back down on Saturday , my gracious host Cathy Harnish invited me to stay with her, and on Friday—oh joy of joys–we went to Ikea!  I’ve been to this one about three years ago (for a one hour zip through en route to somewhere), and the one in Seattle maybe 8 years ago?   The first time I drove through Boston after we moved to Maine, I just about flipped out…this bridge had NOT been there when I was in grad school in 1981-3!  Since I was a passenger this time, I got to snap pics.  It is supposed to echo the shape of the nearby Bunker Hill monument (an obelisk) and the sailing ships of the days of yore.  It is GORGEOUS…there is a great abstract quilt in this bridge’s lines:

I did pretty well, buying not much–a bamboo placemat for rubbings in the class (which I forgot to unpack and USE in this class…next workshop!), a small lamp for the hall at home, and some shadow boxes in my quest for more ways to display and sell small quilts.  BUT, I saw this… I WANT THIS KITCHEN.  I WANT LIME GREEN COUNTERS!

On Friday night, Cathy invited over a table full of guild members, with her dear hubby braving the table of women.  We had show and tell after, too.  While I was there, Cathy shared this commissioned quilt she did for someone made of ties and shirts.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this border, and think it may be one of the most effective I have seen anywhere–it may have been dictated by the size of the embroideries on the shirts and the leftover scraps, but it is brilliant:

On Saturday, we had a quick set-up time, and then got going.  The morning on this class is learning to use fusibles, especially my favorite  MistyFuse (light hand, easy to use, never any “issues”).   The class was great, and enjoyed the “art smorgasbord” in the afternoon when I set out all the goodies to enjoy.  Everyone always enjoys something different… there are a few things I don’t use hardly ever, but every time I think of eliminating them from the class, there is someone who finds it to be “THEIR” thing, so I keep the materials and techniques included.

I’m afraid I didn’t get names for the makers of all these cards, but thought I’d share them with you… great variety!  Clearly the upcoming Valentine’s Day was on a couple of minds….

Thanks to all who attended the lecture and came to class… it was, as always, a gas!

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!