Graffiti Quilting Fun

I'm a huge fan of Karlee Porter, who is known for her unique and awe-inspiring graffiti quilting. Although I own all her books, I wasn't quite able to understand the concepts well enough, until I finally took a Graffiti Quilting Master Class with her awhile ago.

I've taken quite a few quilting classes over the years, but most of them are just fangirl moments for me. I'm excited to meet the instructor, but I rarely take away that much from the classes because I tend to learn best from books. However, Karlee's Graffiti Quilting Master Class definitely taught me a lot more than I expected, and it was one of the best classes I've ever taken.

I didn't actually do any quilting during the lessons, and instead practiced drawing. This was my first attempt:

Then, I tried a bottom-up approach. On a longarm, I would have to quilt top-down, obviously.

Finally, I decided to have some fun with gradient coloring while I drew my 3rd sample.

I still haven't had a chance to try this on a real quilt, but I have no doubt that if can draw it, I can quilt it. I've been having so much fun just drawing them, though! In a way, it reminds me of improv piecing, where my brain hurts because it's on all the time, but the results are usually surprising and exciting for that very reason.

QuiltCon 2020

Ah, QuiltCon. My favorite quilt show. The only show I feel like I must attend. The place where I feel overwhelmed and inspired, intimidated and rejuvenated, all at the same time.

Last weekend I attended QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, and as always, it was an exhausting but fantastic time. I tried not to overload myself, but still ended up with 4 classes over 2 days. It was supposed to be 5, but I had to cancel one at the last minute.

I took 2 longarm classes (Fill It With Style, More Than Just Lines) with Jodi Robinson where I learned some great ideas for background fillers. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a quilting rut where all I can come up with are swirls and more swirls, so it's nice to take a class to get more ideas! However, I realize that I don't like the longarm portion of these classes. I'd rather they be drawing / design classes so I'm spending time learning new designs instead of spending time on a totally foreign longarm machine.

My third class is called Making Color Work with Heather Black and it's a very interesting class, totally different from anything I've ever done before. The class uses watercolor to explore color theory, and though I knew most of the theory, actually experimenting with them is a totally different experience. Now, I'll never get tint, shade, and saturation confused again! My watercolor skills are horrendous, but it was a fun class and I think I shall play with these color ideas more ... digitally, that is.

My last class is Serpentine Line Designs with Angela Walters. I'm a total Angela groupie so I always try to get a class with her whenever I can. I always feel so inspired being in the same room as her, enjoying her energy, humor, and enthusiasm, and of course learning from her. She is such an idea factory!

Taking classes is great, and form 49% of my reason for being at QuiltCon. But what is the 51%? The shopping, of course! At most quilt shows, I'm interested in about 10% of the booths. At QuiltCon, I'm interested in all the booths. I had originally planned to drive so I didn't have a restriction on how much I can buy (budget notwithstanding) but at the last minute I scrapped my plans and flew to Austin instead, so I could only take home what can fit in my suitcase ...

... which still turned out to be a lot. This is due to me bringing as little clothes as possible so I can squeeze in as much shopping as possible. Hey, I've got my priorities!

Tangled: A Paper Quilt

Since I've been on a mini quilt kick lately, I thought I'd show my latest finished mini quilt. Except this one is not sewn, it's drawn!

I took a Zentangle class at International Quilt Festival in Rosemont a few months ago, and this was one of the class projects. Out of all the classes I've taken, this is the first one that produced a project I actually really like. In a way, Zentangle is just like free-motion quilting, and indeed some of the motifs are very similar. I used 25 different motifs in the "block" section which is meant to resemble cathedral windows, and I decorated the sides with some fancy feathers and some "free-motion" swirls.

One of the reasons I took the class is to help me with being more free with my doodling in general, which I hope will translate into more creative free-motion quilting. And since the last part of Zentangling is to sign your work, I tried my hand at calligraphy and signed my initials.

This will be hung in my quilting studio along with the other minis I finished. I highly recommend trying zentangling as not only a relaxing way to play on paper, but to practice doodling to improve free-motion quilting!

International Quilt Festival Chicago 2018

April is an exciting time of the year for me. Not only is the weather finally starting to think about warming up, but the quilt show season has officially begun!

I look forward to the Quilt Festival in Rosemont every year. This is my 3rd year going, and each year it's been different. In 2016, I was a newbie quilter and everything was shiny and new to me. I rushed around trying not to miss anything, but overall felt very overwhelmed. Last year, I concentrated solely on testing out longarms so I didn't do much else. This year, I'm no longer a newbie and no longer shopping for a longarm, so I felt like I could slow down a bit more and enjoy the show.

The best part of any quilt show is always the shopping. In fact, I judge a quilt show by the quality of the vendors. I always describe myself as drunk on fabric fumes at a quilt show, and I will usually pick up a few things that I wouldn't normally. I rarely have buyer's remorse, though!

On day two of the show, I spent some time in classes. My morning class is with Jamie Wallen from Quilter's Apothecary called Mystical Blocks and Borders. Jamie is an accomplished quilter, and his work is stunning. He also had a low-key humor and so much quilting knowledge that the room was filled with sounds of people writing as he gave tip after tip after tip. Even though this is a longarm hands-on class, we spent most of the time drawing, which I think is a good thing. I could learn so much more drawing than trying to quilt something on a machine that I'm not even familiar with. In fact, Jamie said, "Don't think of it as drawing. Think of it as quilting on paper."

While this sort of quilting is very elegant, it also requires more marking than I would want to bother with. However, I know that I will be able to take the principles I learned here and apply it to my own work.

But ... I didn't quite get to finish the class. About 3 hours in, someone came in and said that there was a fire, and we all had to vacate the classes. There were a bunch of police cars and fire trucks parked outside and they locked the area down so nobody could go back in. What it did mean was that I had extra time at the vendor mall and my wallet suffered greatly for it.

Happily, they took care of the fire situation eventually and my afternoon class called Black, White, and Zentangled didn't get cancelled. When I arrived, the instructor told me it was going to be a private lesson, because apparently I was the only one who signed up! I was surprised they didn't just cancel the class. But I had a great time in the class, and the class projects I worked on are probably the first class projects ever that I'm super proud of and actually want to keep!

It comes as no surprise to me that I would enjoy Zentangling. After all, it's free-form doodling, and isn't that exactly what I do with free-motion quilting? I'm excited to finish the class project and hang it in my sewing room!

It's been another great year at International Quilt Festival, and I hope to be back next year!

Curves, Oh My!

I would never have believed it, but lately I've been really, really hankering to sew ... of all things ... curves!

I tried curved piecing for the first time (a little Drunkard's Path block) about a year and a half ago. I was on the verge of tears, and gave up right then. I tried it again about a year ago, and although I had more success, I still didn't like it very much, and I haven't made a single quilt with curves in it.

But strangely enough, lately I've really been wanting to do it. I feel like it's the one piece (no pun intended) missing from my piecing skill set. Being able to sew a basic curve seems to be an important skill, and there are so many gorgeous patterns that use curves. Even though I have resorted to raw edged applique in the past, it's really not the same!

So ... one day I sat down, took out my circle ruler and some scrap charms, and just cut several pieces for a few Drunkard's Path blocks. Then, I sat down at the machine, used no pins, and sewed up a few blocks.

These are actually pretty good for me! And most importantly, it was actually fun. The best part is that I used no pins or glue or anything like that. I'm not sure where I got the nerve to do that, but I suspect it's from watching Suzy Williams's video on no pins curved sewing. Seeing how easily she did it somehow gave me the confidence to try mine that way!

So, now that I finally think curved piecing is doable and even fun, I think there'll be a curved quilt coming up in my future!

A Hearty Recommendation

I was watching the QuiltCon 2013 (first QuiltCon?) lectures on Craftsy again, and I was suddenly reminded of what a breakthrough this lecture series was for me. I had to share it here, because if you haven't seen it yet ... it's totally worth the time! And it's free. I'm not affiliated with Craftsy at all, so this is just my personal, honest opinion. It's one of my favorite "classes" on Craftsy.

All of the lectures are great, but here are the ones I watch over and over again:

David Butler on Homemade Lifestyle Photography

This lecture led to better quilt photos for me. Period. I honestly had no idea about light, shadows, temperature, composition, and staging before that. I used to take photos of my quilts at night (because that's when I usually finish them), with some yellow lightbulb light. No joke. They turned out awful, and I never knew why! After watching this lecture, I noticed an immediate improvement in my quilt photos.

Angela Walters on Modern Machine Quilting

Before this lecture ... I had actually never heard of Angela Walters. I was still fairly new to quilting when I first watched this, and Angela's lecture was my first real introduction to modern machine quilting, and I fell head over heels in love with machine quilting ... and of course, Angela herself! She gives really great tips about how to pick designs, how to highlight, how to combine, and I found myself laughing a lot because, of course, she's also hilarious! This is one of my favorite lectures, and the Q & A that followed is gold.

Mary Fons on Notes From a Quilt Mafia Daughter

Mary Fons is the daughter of Marianne Fons, of Fons & Porter, one of the biggest names in quilting. In this engaging, funny, and touching lecture, Mary explores her past and along the way, quilting history in America in general. I'm really not much of a history person, but Mary made it fun and interesting! One of my favorite things about Mary is that she's so genuine. I've since met her in person and she's just as nice and energetic as she seems on TV and in this lecture.

Jacquie Gering on Quilting Modern, Honoring Tradition

If Mary's lecture is on quilting history in America, then Jacquie's lecture feels like history of modern quilting. While that's not what it's actually about, you get a heavy dosage of that, and it's so interesting! Along the way, I was genuinely moved by Jacquie's amazing style, her genuineness, and her desire to make quilts do more than just cover the bed. Her quilts are beautiful and so creative, and she's really funny!

***

And that's not all! There's also Amy Butler on color story, Heather Jones on the process of turning inspiration into quilts, and even a panel that talks about fabric design.

I admit when I first saw this class on Craftsy, I thought to myself, They have lectures for quilts?? But yes, they do, and the lectures are excellent. I wish Craftsy could have taped more from the following years. I would have paid for it!

Longarm Quilting With Linda Taylor

Since I was getting serious about a longarm, I figured this is a good time to actually take some classes. If longarming is definitely wrong for me, I would want to know before I spend such a heavy chunk of money on a machine! So last Saturday, I attended a whole day of longarm classes with Linda Taylor (whom Angela Walters called the "godmother of machine quilting") during the International Quilt Festival.

Both classes were for beginners, although I quickly realized I was one of the few people in the class who did't have a longarm at home, and hence was more beginner than most. The first class taught pantographs, and although I don't see myself doing a lot of pantographs (because I like custom quilting), I've always been curious how they worked. Here is my first attempt:

I must admit, it was really fun and mindless to just trace a pantograph. I enjoyed it more than I expected, because there's no stress here. This might be the way to go for charity quilts, baby quilts, or very busy quilts where it's not worth it to do custom quilting. My second pantograph attempt was a ballerina, which was a bit more difficult, but not too badly so. After that, I worked some freehand quilting to embellish her.

The afternoon class was all freehand quilting. This is where I realized that just because I know how to do these designs on a sit-down machine, it doesn't mean the skill translates very well to a longarm. Sure I know in my head how it's supposed to look ... but I don't have very good control over the machine, and it doesn't really end up looking like it does in my head. In particular, any design with traveling was really, really tough. Here's my class sample:

I didn't do the frames or the pretty outer border design, as that was already done for us. I just had to fill in all of the spaces with filler designs. It was very fun to do, and since I didn't intend for this sample to actually become something, I allowed myself to be pretty sloppy ... and it was pretty sloppy. Some designs are definitely easier on a longarm (such as wavy lines) than on a sit-down, and some designs are much harder (anything with traveling, or really small designs).

I think I'm officially addicted to longarming. After I got home, all I wanted to do was to longarm some more, but I don't have a machine yet. In conclusion, I think longarming is almost certainly in my future. (But what machine to get? That's a dilemma for another blog post.)

An Experiment In Curves

My first experience sewing curves was about a year ago when I worked on the Craftsy Block of the Month 2012 quilt. One of the months had Drunkard's Paths, and I was so frustrated sewing them that I was on the verge of tears. In the end, I substituted different blocks for those curved blocks, and I haven't touched curves since.

Though it's been a year, that experience is still fresh in my mind, and I still have a fear of curves. However, I'm finally ready to try them again. In the past year I've watched every YouTube video I could get my hands on about curves, and I've picked up books about curves. There are so many different ways to do them!

So I thought it'd be a fun experiment to cut some scraps and make some Drunkard's Path blocks, with all the different method I've seen, to see what works for me.

1. The Angela Pingel Method

Angela Pingel, the author of A Quilter's Mixology, wrote about a method in her book, which is all about Drunkard's Paths. She demonstrates it here.

2. The Glue It Method

Glue-basting involves pre-gluing the seams together before sewing. This is a costly method since the glue pens get pretty pricey!

3. The All-Pins Method

Probably the one that a lot of people still use, but since I usually sew with zero pins, the thought of all those pins makes me want to quit right here and now. I did it for the sake of this experiment, though.

4. The Triple Pin Method

Instead of pinning rigorously, this method just requires the ends and the middle be pinned.

5. The No Pin Method

I consider this method for the ultra-skilled. It is basically like the Curve Master foot, except with a regular patchwork foot.

6. The Curve Master Method

Alright, I didn't actually try this method this time because I no longer own the Curve Master foot, but I bought it last year and hated it so much that I ended up returning it. I had to write that here, though, as it's a method that works well for some people. But not for me.

So how did I do? Honestly ... it didn't turn out as badly as I thought. From the pictures, #1 (Angela Pingel) is the best one, and while the others are usable, they're not ideal. Some of them are too small, and others are distorted. (It might look okay on the pressing board, but I've discovered my pressing board's measurements are a little smaller than my ruler!) As far as pain level goes, #2 (Glue-Baste) and #3 (All-Pins) are the most painful, while the rest are about the same: painful but not excruciating.

In conclusion, after tonight's experiment, I'll probably use #1 (Angela Pingel) and #4 (Three-Pin) together. While I can't honestly say I like curved piecing, I'm glad I can at least do it to some degree now.

Updated to include a link to Angela Pingel's method that she demonstrates in a YouTube video. Thanks to Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts for the link!

Playing with Processing

March = flu season. A house full of sick children & sick adults = less time in the basement (quilting room), and more time on watch duty. But even if I can't quilt, I can play with quilting ideas ... digitally.

Awhile ago, I saw a couple of patterns by Libs Elliott called Just Like Heaven and Rebel Quilt that shared something interesting: they were both incredibly striking, and both were designed using a language called Processing. It's described as a programming language for artists. It sounded interesting so I decided to explore more.

After playing with it a bit, I saw its potential for improv-style experimentation. While I would choose EQ7 or plain pencil / paper for slightly more structured and traditional designs, Processing offered a super quick way for the computer to randomly generate designs for improv style quilts.

The fabric bundle / color palette I'm using is Creative Rockstar from Rad and Happy by Riley Blake, which is just crying out to be made into a quilt with geometric motifs. I wrote up my little quilt generator and set out to make some random HST designs. The powerful part of this program is the ability to tweak different parameters for a new look immediately. First, I experimented with having a roughly equal number of 1-patch HST blocks and 4-patch HST blocks.

Then, I decided to try a ratio of 65% 1-patch HSTs and 35% 4-patch HSTs.

I reversed the ratio and tried 35% 1-patch HSTs and 65% 4-patch HSTs.

I can tell right away that I prefer the look of more 1-patch HSTs and less 4-patch HSTs. (Plus that's less piecing to do.) However, I'm still not sure what to go for exactly. It can become addictive to keep generating new layouts, and though I find ones I like a lot, it's hard to know when to stop, for fear I'd miss out on some genius random layout!

Besides ratio of 1-patch and 4-patch HSTs, other things I can quickly experiment with include distribution of colors (for example, if I want more of one color than another), and whether the colors should be randomly scattered, or more clustered together. I'll be playing with it still, and the quilt I end up making may look nothing like what's above.

I'm really, really excited to have discovered this new tool for design! I can just imagine what it might be able to do for me. (The version of Processing I'm using is p5js, which is in javascript.)

Electric Quilt Time!

It's on my New Year's resolutions to learn EQ7, but I kept putting it off. It's just not as much fun as, say, machine quilting, or even piecing, you know?

I bought EQ last year after hesitating for months, because I heard there was a significant learning curve. When I finally started trying to use it, I saw what people meant. I suppose this software is so powerful that it's impossible to also be intuitive.

Since then, I've played with it off and on, and I think I finally figured out enough to get some use out of it. My favorite part of EQ is the ability to visualize how my quilt will look with my own fabrics, and being able to change the colors quickly and easily. I've realized that color is what I struggle most with when it comes to quilt making, so being able to visualize it when planning a quilt ... priceless!

Anyway, here are some quilts I was playing with, just for fun.

Greek Cross

I'm quite fascinated by how some of the traditional blocks, when set without sashing, create secondary designs. The Greek Cross block is one such block.

Citrus Peel

This design is actually from Jeni Baker's Patchwork Essentials, but I had a jelly roll of yellows and pinks, and I wanted to see if it will work. I think it'll work beautifully!

Modern Log Cabin

What would a log cabin with an alternating color layout look like, but with one square colored entirely differently? Now I know.

I've figured out enough of the software that I'm starting to be excited about it. Next, I'll play around with some other layouts, and hopefully move into non-traditional layouts!

In Search of the Perfect 1/4"

I've completed a few quilts, but I have not mastered the most basic element of piecing, the scant quarter inch. For a lot of the projects I picked, it didn't matter, because as long as I was consistent, it was fine. However, that is no long-term solution, so I'm experimenting to find out what adjustment or feet or pressing method will get me the perfect quarter inch.

I'm using the method of sewing together 3 strips of 2.5" across, then measuring, and hoping the end result is perfectly 6.5". For each foot / needle-position combination, I'll first press to the side, measure, then press open and re-measure.

Test 1: Zigzag foot at needle position 3.5.

Pressed to the Side: Just shy of 6 5/8
Pressed Open: 6 5/8

Test 2: Zigzag foot at needle position 3.3

Pressed to the Side: 6 7/16
Pressed Open: 6 1/2

Test 3: Quarter-inch foot (no adjustment)

Pressed to the Side: A few hairs more than 6 3/8
Pressed Open: A few hairs less than 6 1/2

The closest was using needle position 3.3 and pressing open. It seems when I first press to the side, it's not very accurate, but if I press open and *then* to the side again, it's much closer. That's a lot of work, but worth it if I want more accuracy and nesting seams as well.