Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Days 29 - 33: Flamingos and Hashtags and Adverbs, Oh My!

Day 29: Flamingo Carrom 

This was made in the early 2000's, when my kids, my fabric stash, and I were so young! Also, I was obsessed with Marilyn Doheney's wedge rulers. Despite the frenetic color, and, lordy, the gold lame in the center (what was I thinking?)....

...I still sort of love it. Flamingos and zebras and tigers, oh my! 

Day 30: Frankenquilt! 

The previous project left me a bunch of extra wedges, which I stuffed into my UFO cabinet. About 15 years later, I pulled them out and made the central circle and inner border of this quilt: 

 

The outer borders were more recent experiments in modern hashtag blocks.

I tried to come up with different ways to make hashtags.

This time, I had the sense not to put gold lame in the middle. Just a  nice soothing solid yellow. 

Read more about this quilt in my blog post here.

Day 31: New York State of Mind 

This was my first cityscape quilt, made in 2018, and it happened completely by accident. I was trying to make improv modern ladders. When I offset the tops, skyscrapers appeared! 

I used my trusty Doheney wedge ruler to make the top portion.  The circles and triangles over the wedges create something that looks like a group of diverse people. All happy accidents! The quilting was then inspired by NYC's iconic Chrysler Building. 

More photos in this blog post. The intentional city quilts that followed this quilt are blogged here.

Day 32: "The Road to Hell is Paved with Adverbs"

The quotation is from writer Stephen King, and it's so true! In researching this quilt, I plowed through (adverb) an exhausting yet non-comprehensive list of 3732 adverbs.  

I rubber stamped the adverbs I abuse most, onto pieces of fabric, before piecing and appliqueing everything together.  A closer look is in my earlier blog post, here. 

DAY #33: Seven Sisters Potential Wedding Canopy (Chuppah)

This quilt was made in the '90s, using the technique in the book "Magic Stack and Whack Quilts" by Bethany Reynolds, which was was all the rage - for good reason! Start with large scale print; stack layers, matching printed motifs precisely.

Then rotary cut diamonds - you wind up with multiple sets of 6 identical pieces. When you sew them together, they kaleidoscope, and non-quilting friends declare you a genius! You humbly say, "Aw, shucks," but you and your guild know the truth - even relative beginners can follow this book, have a blast with it, and come up with something spectacular.

The simple-looking bias tape border took MUCH longer (and more skill) than the center.

(There's a "Chai," the Hebrew word for "Life," quilted in gold thread in the corner, but it's hard to see.) I think this quilt would make an excellent, dignified wedding canopy, but no one has asked, so it's still a wedding virgin.

More porch show quilts coming soon!

A "No Apologies" Tutorial for Improv Paper Pieced Log Cabin Triangle Quilts

UPDATE: My book with step-by-step directions for this quilt and its cousins, "Improv Log Cabin Triangle Kaleidoscope Quilts," is available in my etsy shop, here. An on-demand class, which includes the book with this pattern, is here.

When I started this quilt, the idea was to make a rainbow-colored 6-pointed star. I hoped to create a pattern people might use to make a wedding canopy, among other things.  The most relaxing way to do that, I figured, would be to start with log cabin triangles.  

So what you see in the central area of this quilt are a whole lot of log cabin pieced triangles - each center piece is light, and the three "logs" around it are darker. You're also seeing blocks I call "water lilies" - from left to right, the oddball orange, pink and purple blocks, as well as the lavender blocks on the bottom of the photo. These blocks are a log cabin variation, with light triangle corners added.

The problem with log cabin piecing triangles - compared to squares - is that the angles quickly become awkward and confusing, with sharp bias-cut corners. 

That's why I decided to piece all my triangles on clean scrap paper and/or newsprint from the packing store - $6.00 bought me a lifetime supply!  Most triangles were improv-pieced from the top of the paper - stitch-and -flip - with no markings needed on the paper. 

I pieced the water lilies onto scrap paper cut into triangles. Here's how it looked halfway through. 

 Then I stitched lighter colors to cover each corner:

The last step is using my equilateral triangle ruler to trim the excess. (In this photo, I'm doing it on a pink block.) 

My favorite part of this quilt is the six stars in the corners  - spontaneous and irregular piecing makes them vibrate! Here are a couple.

The triangles in the dark outer border are mostly crazy-pieced 

When the quilt reached 67" at the widest by 57" high, still hexagon- shaped, I decided it was finished.  If it were a wedding canopy (a "chuppah" in the Jewish tradition) it would need 6 poles for all the corners!?  Better yet, if someone wants to use this pattern for a canopy, they could sew the top to a square or rectangular background. 

[UPDATE: Several people have suggested that the finished hexagon could be basted to a square of lightweight chiffon. It would create the illusion of a floating hexagon! I love that idea, thank you!]

When it was done, and I counted the number of equilateral triangles, I was astonished. No matter how many times I counted, it kept adding up to 600! How cool is that? Thus the title of this quilt: "Fireflower 600."

Another quilt in this series was shown last week. 

My on-demand class, which includes a book containing directions for making this quilt, is now here.  If you just want the book, it's in my etsy shop, here.

"Sew Jewish" Book Review

One thing I love about Jewish tradition is that it requires plenty of textiles. Important occasions are marked not only with prayer, gratitude, and (usually) food, but also fabric creations. These include:

•      Marriage - the ceremony requires a chuppah, a wedding canopy, 
•      Bar or Bat Mitzvah - the child needs a tallit, a prayer shawl; people need kippot, headcoverings,
•       Sabbath, aka Shabbat, which comes every week - the challah bread wants its own little bedcover,
•      Passover - The ceremonial matzoh cracker needs a cover; the people need theme pillows and kippot,

...And much, much more! I won't even describe here the fibrous imperatives of  Rosh Hashanah,  Purim, Sukkoth or Chanukah - but  they are surprisingly compelling once you start thinking this way!

Today, one of the most significant gathering places for like-minded people is the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework, a nonprofit organization approaching its 40th year. Members include quilters, needlepointers, embroiderers, knitters, weavers, beadworkers - you name it. All skill levels are welcome. (Learn more here.)

And one of the most exciting new voices in the world of fibrous Judaica design is Maria Bywater of Hudson Valley, N.Y. Maria is a professional huppah-maker, who rents out wedding canopies at huppahs.com, and blogs at SewJewish.com. She recently sent me a complementary copy of her book, "Sew Jewish."

The book is geared to beginners on up. Most of the 18 projects are not quilts, but they draw on the same basic sewing techniques. They cover the Jewish lifecycle and calendar: 

• For weddings, she offers not only simple chuppah directions, but also a bridal veil, kippot, tallit, tallit bag, and teffilin bag.
• For Shabbat, there's a challah cover, and, when Shabbat ends, a havdalah ritual spice pouch. 
• For Chanukah, there are directions for a dreidel (spinning top) game kit, complete with cut-out labels that explain how the game works. 
• For Purim, there are bright and cheerful mishloach manot gift containers.
• For Passover, a matzoh cover, and handwashing towel.
• I especially like her detailed prayer shawl pattern/instructions, which answers all the questions beginners and beyond have been asking me for years about construction. 
• For the home, there's a pattern for a mezuzah case; a tzedakah (charity) jar wrap; a mizrah (which marks the Eastern wall); a "Shalom" pillow; and an aleph-bet (Hebrew alphabet) cuddle blanket, and this lovely, whimsical hamsa (a hand-shaped good luck wall hanging): 

The book is clear and beautifully illustrated, There's an entire chapter that covers the most basic stitching concepts. 

Find it  on Maria's Etsy shop or Amazon,  in paperback or downloadable PDF.  The Etsy site also sells more tallit collar patterns, and a different hamsa wall hanging than the one in the book. (No financial affiliation with any of this!)

I am thinking that this book would be a terrific present for a teen, especially a bar or bat mitzvah who is interested in sewing; for newlyweds; for people who are celebrating conversion; for new retirees; and for anyone who wants to sew and is interested in Jewish heritage and ritual. I also think it's a must-have for synagogue and Jewish school libraries. Maria, yasher koach, well done! 

Interested in seeing more Judaica? Go to Pomegranateguild.org, and also check out my own Judaiquilt.com website. 

           

Eleven Totes that Used Up My Problem Fabrics

Some fabrics are impossible to work into a quilt. They're too thick or too strange or just too - something.

But - assuming they're sturdy - you might be able to move them out of your stash and turn them into one-of-a-kind environment-protecting conversation-piece tote bags. Here are some examples.

1. Australian Foldaway Tote A -  I never go anywhere without a bundled foldaway in my purse. A couple of years ago, I made one out of anti-smoking cartoon fabric (blogged here), which grocery baggers found entertaining. But about a month ago, that bag mysteriously vanished. So here's the replacement, made from a sturdy Australian canvas that my DH brought back from a trip down under ten years ago:

I auditioned this fabric for many quilts over many years, but could never work it in. Reason one is because it's so brown. Reason two is that it's thick canvas. But it's perfect as a tote! Here's the bag folded into its front pocket: 

2. Australian Foldaway Tote B -  My DD liked the one above so much she asked me to make her one from the OTHER piece of sturdy Australian canvas that my husband brought home, which had ALSO been sitting around in my stash for a decade, awaiting a purpose in life.  

You can almost see the pocket front and center. 

Here it is bundled:

My how-to-make-a-foldaway tutorial with a magic reversible pocket is at the bottom of this post (look for the diagrams.)

4. The next bags don't fold into pockets, but they have other gimmicks. First, a reversible tote made from mahjong fabric. I made it long, to fit a friend's mahjong set. Side one:

Side two: 

Tip: Use webbing for handles to save time. That particular mahjong fabric may be out of print, but there are other options currently on sale, at one of my favorite fabric vendors, 1-800-dreidel.com. Find their mahjong fabrics at http://www.1-800-dreidel.com/mahjonggfabrics.aspx. No affiliation.

5. Another reversible tote, with African fabric on one side.

A six-pointed star is an African symbol, but I'm not sure what it means. So it's accidentally Jewish. On the reverse side, I used this intentionally-Jewish holiday fabric : 

It made a nice book bag for a Hebrew teacher.

6. Next, I laid out a long piece of denim, and stitched on embroidered ribbons. I think most of them are from the 70s and 80s.  

A friend gifted me with the pseudo-Smurf ribbon - priceless, no? Based on the harvest gold, I'm guessing it's from the '70s. 

I used denim yardage as the base (it could have been made from a jeans leg.) Unfortunately, it developed a tear at the top left, which I repaired after this photo was taken.

7. The next three bags were made from a big book of brocade upholstery samples, fabric so thick that it was useless for a conventional quilts (though arguably useful for art quilts.) This first one one involves a deer (stag? springbok? antelope? muntjac?)

Because upholstery samples are relatively small, I made each pattern piece from a different fabric. So it's like a scrap project.

8. Fruity:

9: Rampant lions:

10. Collard greens!? Who designs these strange fabrics? And I like to use belts as straps. 

It's fun to embellish (and hold) the belt ends with buttons: 

11. Next, an unlined large tote I made for a wedding party to carry their quilted wedding canopy (chuppah) to their seaside ceremony. It used leftover fabric from the chuppah. 

Here's the matching canopy (Blogged here). The outermost border fabric was used on top of the bag. 

12. Finally, it's not a tote, but here's the purple octopus bag I showed a couple of weeks ago (in my review of QuiltCon), made from a trendy new Japanese fabric. 

( The pattern is  Yoyomama Designs' Fort Street Market Bag. No affiliation)

I'm showing it again because it now has fabulous buttons!  I originally attached the plainish matte purple button below, front and center, Then my friend Saraj sent me a set of insanely cute octopus buttons!  I placed one south of the original button. 

Is that not adorable? The other's on a pocket:

Thank you, Saraj, you made my bag! (Well, I made it, but you know what I mean!)  

Want to make a tote from your unique/problem fabrics (and buttons?) There are approximately 267,548 easy tote bag tutorials online. Find a really good one from Purl Soho here;  it is actually three  in one - easy, easier, and easiest. If that's not enough, Google "how to sew an easy tote bag"; you'll find more than enough to get you going.

My Wedding Canopy Article in Machine Quilting Unlimited Magazine

Extreme excitement: My 7-page article about making a commissioned wedding canopy is in the new January 2016 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine.  Here's the cover of the issue, with a glorious animal portrait quilt by Susan Carlson, on of my quilting idols.

Here's the first page of my article: 

It's a step-by-step description of my collaboration with the bride, and the technicalities of making this kind of medallion quilt (way easier than it looks.) 

MQU is a beautiful magazine that I only became aware of recently.  By "machine quilter", they don't just mean longarmers - the articles are for anyone who does any part of any quilt with any kind of machine. You could be a hand worker and still love the editorial. 

The same issue has an article about one of my quilt heroes, Susan Carlson, who makes intoxicating animal portraits; Lisa Walton's insanely intricate wholecloth painted quilts inspired by Spanish tiles; a stupendous labyrinth quilt by Sarah Ann Smith; exquisite new versions of antique Baltimore Album quilts; and so much more. It covers the broad territory from traditional to cutting-edge art quilts, and they make it all look gorgeous!

 If your LQS doesn't carry this magazine, they should - tell them about it! Meanwhile, you can buy the January 2016 issue, or back issues, here.