Quilt Your City on Pillows

Out of wall space? How about making some quilted pillows?

I might not have thought of this, if I hadn't been asked. A neighbor saw my pandemic porch quilt show (the subject of my last several blog posts), and commissioned me to make four 18" pillows, including two with scenes from our town, South Pasadena, which is part of Los Angeles. We negotiated a price and a backing color - grey - and I was off. It took about two weeks, and here they are. 

The first one in the lineup above represents the town's Gold Line MTA Train crossing. For research, I took my family on a masked Christmas Day photo safari. Action photography is not my forte; it was surprisingly challenging to catch a shot of a train in mid-intersection. But I got a few.

I also photographed our town's iconic "walking man" statue, next to the station. My daughter did a little leap for me, and she provides scale for just how tall this guy is.

The photos helped me set the scene. 

I imported a walking man photo into my CorelDraw program, and traced it, to make the statue outline. Just for fun, the client and I decided to add a small person with the same profile striding in the opposite direction.

There are two coffee shops next to the tracks, so I created a blue table with coffee and pie in the corner. The small shiny black circles on the railroad crossing pole are tiny, vintage black plastic buttons. 

On the back flap, there's a departing train. 

The second scene that the clients requested was our town's 19th century watering trough. Most of the time, it looks like this.

But on Thursday afternoons and evenings, it's surrounded by a lively farmer's market. So I circled my trough with goodies. Here's how the piece looked flat. 

The ostrich is our town's mascot - 100 years ago, South Pas. was home to an eccentric tourist-trap ostrich farm. Historians say it put  us on the map. 

(The ostriches were not purple, I just did that for fun. The farm no longer exists, which is sad for our town's economy, but happy for the ostriches, who were forced to schlep the tourists around in large wooden carriages.)

Here's the scene as a pillow. 

And I added some more food fabrics to the back. 

The two other pillows that my clients requested were a swimming pool pillow - here it is before assembly...

...and then after the pillow was inserted. 

The clients got the idea from the swimming pool quilt I blogged about a while back, with a tutorial about how I gave the pools depth with sturdy fusible interfacing and reverse applique, HERE. 

Finally, they wanted a pillow with my tessellating coffee cups design. Before stuffing, it looked like this.

....And after stuffing: 

Showing this pillow on Facebook led to a discussion in which my candid friends agreed that these look less like coffee mugs with handles (my intention), than some kind of bird or alien heads. Whatever you think it looks like, if you want to make your own version, the pattern is in my "Quilts for Coffee Lovers" PDF booklet on etsy, HERE. 

Have you made quilted pillows?

A Quilted Vase From Swimming Pool Scraps

One of the most overlooked joys of making a quilt is the scrap pile. When the quilt is done, and you (or rather, I), have tidied up the hurricane zone, I often wind up with a scrap pile that's at least as intriguing as the actual quilt.

The leftovers relate to each other in unexpected ways. Because of the relationship - shape, size, color, intention? - they can quickly be turned into something new. (And we all know that working quickly is the most psychotherapeutic form of quilting.)

Like, when I was auditioning embellishments for my big swimming pool quilt (shown last week), deeply pondering the sublime question: Yes, Diving Boards & Umbrellas? No? A lot? A few? I freehand cut a bunch of vaguely umbrella-shaped pieces, in different solid and print fabrics, and tried different quantities and arrangements. I wound up using only a few.

When the quilt was over, the colorful pile of pseudo-umbrellas demanded immediate attention.

So I churned out the following, starting with a 16" x 8.5" parallelogram of grey fabric. (with a purple chevron backing, and batting between two layers.)  (It's actually slightly narrower at the right end than the left, which was pure carelessness ummm, I designed it that way.) I strewed the freeform umbrella shapes about, then stacked them in layers, cutting smaller or larger shapes as needed. There's no fusible on the umbrella backs - they're just raw edge cut.

I added freeform pool shapes from three shades of blue solids. Then, I quilted around and on top of things with variegated thread. Finally, I stitched on a bunch of buttons, small white ones for the centers, larger white ones floating about.  

The same week, serendipity gifted me this vase (from a holiday event centerpiece): 

They came together in a wrap! 

Before washing, this little quilt was quite stiff and stood up straight even without the vase. After washing, as you'll see below, the flowers developed a wonderful texture, and the whole thing got a lot floppier, though it still stood up (barely).

I contemplated it for a while, thinking it might also serve as a little zip-up case (with a zipper joining the short ends, and sides stitched together.), or maybe a small bolster pillow. But who needs a small bolster pillow? I finally decided to set one quilted oval on the bottom. 

The ends overlap: 

Now it's a vase, and the glass insert is optional. I am deciding between putting some tacking stitches in to hold the flap shut for a few more inches from the bottom, or adding buttons and buttonholes. Note that the fact that one end is higher than the other makes for a messy look an artistic look. 

Many more quilty vessels are here (denim vessels 1), here (denim vessels 2), landscape basket with crochet lid here, another one here.

Swimming Pool Quilts II: Serendipity and a Tutorial

 

After finishing the small pool things in the previous post, I was contemplating a larger quilt with multiple pools. By astonishing serendipity, on Monday December 2, as I was eating breakfast, I found a front page article in my Los Angeles Times about - swimming pools?! 

It seems that a young German designer named Benedikt Gross, flying into LA, was fascinated by the glittering landscape of pools below. He partnered with Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Joseph Lee, to map some 43,000 local pools (and hot tubs); they analyzed the data using cutting-edge methods, correlated it with public databases (including the child molester's registry, and people who donated money to defeat same-sex marriage!?) I cannot adequately describe this projects's complexity, so here's Gross's summary.

The project attempts to highlight on one hand the emerging and powerful role of non-domain experts in the discovery of scientifically and socially relevant information, and on the other hand seeks to emphasize the darker, creepier, and more contentious issues surrounding data processing and exploration.

Got that? They wound up with a 6,000 page 74 volume set of results. And here's one of the creepy parts: they produced a voyeuristic silent video called The LA Swimmer which takes you on a Google rover tour through back alleys, peeping over fences at pools. Gross describes it more poetically:

Imagine swimming across Los Angeles as if pool-by-pool they form a river through the city; 43,123 oases stitched together in a desert of hyper-urban reality. You float unabashed down your unmapped highway of water, but are confronted very quickly by the fact that you are not welcome in this realm of kidney and clover bowls, Olympic-sized parallelograms, and hot tubs. Threatened by an unforgiving obstacle course of disgruntled homeowners and an impending court order you continue from pool to pool, your reconciliation awaiting you in the next chlorinated ecosystem.

And speaking of kidneys and clovers (hey, that's an old song! sort of), one more interesting result of their study (that I am capable of comprehending) is how irregular most of the shapes are. You'd think most pools would be perfect ovals, rectangles, and kidneys, but in fact most appear to be quite asymmetric and quirky. 

So I gave myself artistic liberty in imagining various pool shapes. From a quilter's and a viewer's perspective, the most important (and fun) aspect of translating pools into fiber is creating a ridge and a height difference between the water on the lower level and the what I'll call the "patio"fabric above. You can see it in the shadowed outlines:

 

For the patio level, I mostly used  novelty fabrics that resemble flooring - bricks and planks. Quilting along the texture lines of these fabric make touching the quilt irresistable.

The technique I used has a name, reverse applique. I also added a layer of a fusible interfacing called Decor-Bond (thin fusible fleece works too), to raise the ground level above the water. 

To make one block:

1. Cut a square or rectangle of  patio fabric (something that resembles outdoor flooring) the size you want the block (plus a half-inch for seam allowances.) 

2. Cut a piece of Decor Bond or fusible fleece to the same size.

3. Do a few sketches on paper  until you have a pool shape you like. The pool's edges should be at least an inch from any outer edge. For shape inspiration, along with the Gross/Lee study above, I also looked at aerial Google satellite pictures of pool-ridden neighborhoods near my corner of southern California; and at swimming pool builder websites. You will also be struck by how assymetrical many are. For ease of turning under, avoid sharp corners in your pool design.

4. Trace the pool shape onto the interfacing, and cut out it. (We won't need the center for this project.) 

5. Fuse the outer area of the interfacing to the back of the patio fabric. 

6. Cut away the patio fabric inside the hole, leaving just a quarter inch showing all the way around.

7. Clip valley curves only, perpendicular and close to but not touching the edges of the interfacing. Don't clip curves that jut into the space. 

8, Turn the unbacked edges inside and to the back of the interfacing. Glue-stick in place. 

Here's what the back of each block looked like after I'd cut and turned in the edges, and stitched several blocks together, but before I added the blue backing: (Ignore the blue in this picture; it just happened to be resting on that fabric; the idea is that these are holes.)

8. Turn the windowed block over, and lay it on your pressed pool fabric. Pin the pool fabric place around the pool edges (about an inch out), inserting the pins through the patio fabric. 

9. Stitch in place by doing a straight topstitch 1/8" onto the patio fabric,  all the way around the edges. 

When you have enough, sew the blocks together. Assembled, my large quilt looked like this.  

I really liked it undecorated. But since I suffer from chronic horror vacui, I thought: Maybe it needs more? Diving boards; slides; umbrellas? (The satellite imagery that I looked at showed LOTS of umbrellas. Fewer diving boards, and I couldn't identify any slides). I gave some of them white and dark grey diving boards, plus some medium grey slides and colorful pool umbrellas. 

I can't decide which way I like this quilt, naked or loaded, and I would be very grateful for your vote in the comments. 

Meanwhile, here are some more individual pools. I quilted the water in Sulky holographic thread, which gives them a shimmer as you walk by (just like flying over LA). Alas, the shimmer doesn't much show in the pictures. 

The next pool inspired by Las Vegas', maybe the world's most expensive private pool (to the tune of $7 million):

More, 

The slides have Sulky holographic thread strands stitched down them, and  over the edge into the air above the pool (I did that part with wash-away stabilizer).  The pool umbrellas are mounted on shank buttons,so they jut upwards and lean over a bit.

If you're inspired to make a pool quilt, you can consider adding even more features: Water-loving creatures, beach balls, people, palm trees, etc., from novelty fabric, or scan them from copyright free art and print onto fabric sheets run them through your printer. Applique in place with invisible thread. (That's what I did in the previous post.) Send me pictures!

Quilted Pools, Part I

Lately, I've been obsessed with swimming pools. I crocheted a bunch, and then I started making small pool quilts. For the first, I added cutout dogs, a novelty fabric fish, a hot tub, a diving board and a slide. 

 Next, the Gaugin pool, named after the style of the novelty fabric on the lower left. The duck is from a non-Gauginesque pool, and the diver came from a copyright-friendly Dover book.

 And finally, we have a mermaid and her pet goldfish contemplating....a manatee, of course.

Closer:

She's doing the Vulcan mind meld on him. Or maybe it's a love triangle?

I used Sulky's glistening flat holographic thread to make the watery lines. Reverse applique with substantial interfacing (I used 'Decor-Bond') or thin fusible fleece makes the pool sit at a lower level than the surrounding 'patio.' The lines in the brick are quilted, which give them a wonderful texture. The figures are appliqued with a zig-zag stitch with invisible thread.

Want to make your own swimming pool quilt? Stay tuned. Next week, I'll show a larger, multiple-pool quilt, with detailed directions. UPDATE: The next post with directions is here.

Wishing you and your family happy holidays!

Crocheted Swimming Pools: Toys or Desktop Relaxation Devices?

I've always been obsessed with swimming pools. I don't necessarily want to own one - cost and upkeep is a bear - but I've always loved looking at them, jumping in them, and more recently, translating them into space-efficient low-upkeep fiber art.

 

Before I had to stop crocheting a couple of weeks ago to give my sore arm/shoulder/wrist a break, I made a bunch of these desktop relaxation devices.

I embroidered the word "LIFE" on the flotation rings. Embroidering legible letters on crochet is much more challenging than it looks. 

How long do these take me? Too long! 

The slides and diving boards are just big enough for a fellow aquaphile's imagination. 

Next, the inevitable: Quilted Swimming Pools! (Part I and Part II.)

A Rambler Ride through Corded Quilt Edging, Photos, and Harpo at the Hearst

A lot about quilting is easy and intuitive, but some things are not. Whenever possible, I try to avoid the latter, but they eventually catch up with me and I am forced to wrestle with them.

One of the more challenging things is making a neat satin stitch edging by machine. A satin stitch is a tight zig-zag that goes all the way around and covers the edges. The fabric underneath shouldn't show.

When I started making fabric postcards, maybe a decade ago, I was forced to confront my inadequate satin-stitch edging. I couldn't make it smooth, and little threads were poking out (kind of like the grey hairs on my head). In postcard exchanges, I would receive gorgeous cards edged with tight, neat, satin stitching. What was I doing wrong?

(Satin stitching tends to be used for smaller art quilts, and for small- scale tradeables, like Artist Trading Cards and fabric postcards. Especially if they contain fusible interfacing or web,which makes the edges sturdy. I wouldn't even try this technique on a quilt that didn't have fusible at the edges.)

I begged my swap-mates for their secrets. And they gave it to me cheerfully, though it wasn't what I wanted to hear. As it turned out, for quite a few of them, their secret was a cord. Or piece of thin yarn, or 6-strand embroidery floss, in a color that matched the thread. What they were doing was - at the point where the card was fully sandwiched and ready for an edge finish - butting that cord next to (not on top of) the edge, and going around once with a long zig-zag, swooping over the cord on the right swing, and going into the quilt on the left swing, all the way around.

It struck me as impossible. And what about the corners?

But when I tried it, it turned out to be much easier than it sounds! The trick is to do the first round in a very long zig-zag, so the thread doesn't cover the cord yet. Use an open-toed applique foot; sew slowly and carefully. At the corner, make sure your machine takes a stitch to the far right, then zigs in again as you turn the corner.

Once it's loosely zig-zagged on - meaning you can still see the cord and the edge of the quilt very clearly - THEN you tighten up the zig zag, make it a bit wider, and go around, once, maybe twice more this time completely covering the cord. (Crucial tip: Choose cord that's the same color as the thread, so if anything is showing through no one can tell. A marking pen in a matching color can also help with touch-ups.)

I knew I'd tamed a monster when I made the project below and at the top of this post:

Gosh, aren't those edges smooth! That's regular black thread, satin stitched! 

Yes, that is the Hearst Castle. One summer, when I was about 13 our family drove a Rambler from Boston to Los Angeles, and then up the coast to San Francisco. On the way, we stopped at the Hearst Castle. The two swimming pools - indoor and outdoor- were insanely magnificent. Especially that outdoor pool. 

Since that moment, my lifelong dream has been to fall, be pushed, and/or jump into that pool.

But also hoping to fulfill my lifelong dream of never being arrested, I still didn't have the courage to - whoops! - fall in by the time, decades later,  that my husband and I brought our children to see the castle. Well, OK, if I can't jump in it, I might as well make a quilt (or a quiltlet) out of it.  

The glowing turquoise batik and wavy shape reflected the watery theme. Hearst's  indoor pool had turquoise-and-real-gold tile, as I recall. Thus the gold lame 'frame' for each of the photos. 

Also on that childhood trip, dad took a picture of my teenage brother standing next to one of Hearst's nude marble statues. Talk about awkward family photos! Mysteriously driven to inflict the same embarrassment on my children, I got my DH and DD to pose by a shapely headless lady. The tour guide told us that in Hearst's heyday, Harpo Marx once visited, and draped all the nudes with Hearst's mistress Marion Davies' abundant mink coats, as a gag. (Hearst was supposedly miffed and from then on gave Harpo the worst seat at the dinner table.) So who knows? Maybe Harpo hung minks on this very statue!   

Just as there are many ways to put minks onto statues, there are an awful lot of different ways to put photos onto fabric. My current favorite is EQ Printables Premium Cotton Satin Inkjet Sheets, which I print on with my Epson printer loaded with DuraBrite inks. DuraBrite by itself is ostensibly permanent, but I figure the treated sheets can only help.

This quiltlet is 9" high and actually does function as a cuff bracelet. There's a button on both the front and back of the upper left hand corner, and a buttonhole in the lower left corner.  I'm thinking about giving it to my mom. Mom's memory is mostly gone, but she did love the Hearst castle.

I used sturdy interfacing between the layers, and black cotton on the back. A six-strand black embroidery floss serves as the cording.

P.S. Here's an incredibly useful free Quilting Arts booklet about different ways to bind art quilts, including a variation of the cord method: http://theartquiltassociation.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/QA-Quilt-Binding-Methods.pdf.

Here's a similar finish, but with the cord highlighted: http://quiltwhimsy.blogspot.com/2012/01/friday-finishes-shapes-ii-corded.html

And here's a similar approach, but with light zigzagging only: http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/2011/01/cord-bound-edge-treatmenttutorial.html.

Do you have any satin stitch edging tips?