My Baltimore Album Style Quilt is Finally Done After a Mere Thirty Years!

Well, it is finally done!  If I get truly inspired, I may add some more ruched roses in the border but don't hold your breath!!  It is 90 inches x 90 inches but may never find its way to a bed!  It was hard to find a place to even take a picture!!  My fingers are still chewed up from all the hand quilting.  However, that whole cloth quilt top that has been sitting in my closet for years might be the project of the year for next year's trip south as I do like having a quilt to hand quilt.  All my early quilts were hand quilted but the past few years that has changed -- mostly because the type of quilts I do has changed a lot!!  

This is a closeup of one corner where  you can see the ruched flowers and the hand quilting.  Note to self:  don't add applique after your whole quilt is finished including the hand quilting!

When I started quilting almost 40 years ago now, I thought I would be doing hand and machine applique and took my first quilting class just because I thought I couldn't call myself a quilter unless I knew the basics of piecing!!!  I always tell people to try anything as they never ever know what they will like.  It was advice I gave my kids when they went off to college as well encouraging them to try a bit of everything.  My first dyeing class was taken just because I had to choose three classes to enable me to get into an Elly Sienkievicz class taught at a local venue 30 years ago!!  

 Here are the remaining four quilts that will be in the Genesee Valley Quilt Show next weekend.  You can see how eclectic my quilting is.  This uses fused applique and machine quilting techniques and contains my hand dyed fabrics.  Called Colin Deconstructed.

 This is one of my many Serendipity quilts called Snowflakes.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted.

This of course is my Serengeti Lions drafted from a picture my daughter took in Africa her last trip.  It is totally machine pieced and machine quilted and contains my hand dyed fabrics.  Pictoral quilts are really my favorites so maybe I am not as far from my origins as you might think!

Another of the Serendipity quilts from Sara Nephew's books.  This one is called Calypso because of the colors.

 The snowy winter was wonderful for our azaleas which were more colorful than I have ever seen them!

 Dear Husband planted this fragrant lilac in our yard this spring!

 He has also been purchasing more and more hibiscus which we cart down to NC each winter.  I think the van will only have space for plants this next trip.... I do like this white one though!

Our neighbors have planted these beautiful tree peonies and I got some pictures just as they unfurled!

 Another of the new hibiscus plants.  

Patricia's Summer Quilt Show

Well, today was the official unveiling of the Serengetti Lion quilt which I decided to have hung at Patricia's summer quilt show.  I wanted to have it done for the GVQC show but it took a long time for the machine quilting.


It was in a great place so that you could stand back and see it and I got some very nice comments.  Judging by what people were staring at, the mouth area of the male lion is the focal point!

I thought this was such a nice little quilt which an excellent use of those Laurel Birch fabrics that I love all fussy cut.  It was by Gratia Pfromm.

This was a beautiful little kalaidoscope by Cindy Merrow.  Loved the colors in it.

This was a nice variation on the traditional Drunkard's Path by Audrey Andrus.

Icicles by Lynn Hayes.  This was a beautiful use of batiks.

This was an original pattern done by Lynn Wigstone-Birch as a divorce quilt.

Of course, no day would be complete without the requisite butterfly although I did get one request that I pass on some butterflies in my blog!!  This is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on the Butterfly Bush in my neighbor's yard.  This is her underside.


I have been madly madly machine quilting and putting binding on comfort quilts the last week.  I will have 13 done by Monday hopefully, 10 of which will get donated, 2 gifted and one for good measure to be kept for a miscellaneous baby someone is sure to have!  I still have 9 regular sized tops to machine quilt, 7 of which also need to be basted as well.


There were a lot of other nice quilts in the show but it was hard to get back far enough to photo many of these.  I definitely got some ideas!

Most of the Machine Quilting is FINALLY Done -- Lions Emerge

Well, I finally finished most of the machine quilting on the whole piece. It has taken more time than any other quilt that I have ever made and I am not totally satisfied with it. I still want to do a little more dense stitching in some places to add a little more definition but I am not going to go crazy. I may also add a bit more of the light green along the top but this cropped version doesn't look bad even cutting off some of the male lion's head, so may not after all.


This is a little bit of a closeup so you can see the stitching a bit better. Oops, see a thread that needs to be cut. Trimming the threads on the back took three hours the other night and now there is a bunch more to do! And I only have one more Midsomer Murders dvd to watch.. Oh dear....

This was a bug in the garden and right off hand can't identify him but looks like it should be pretty easy with a little detective work - six legs so he must be an insect.

Now I just have to do some work to get all three of my projects fully complete.

Next Thursday, I am doing a demonstration at RAFA and leading a small group in doing some monoprinting with thickened MX dyes so have to get prepared for that. Bought some new dyes for the first time in a long time this week and prep'ed the fabric today. So maybe there will be some dyeing to report on soon! The nice thing about the techniques is that they are just as applicable for paints!

Lions....All Pieced

The quilt top is finally done except for some miscellaneous fix-ups of areas. I have already done a good deal of applique in strategic areas which were not looking as they should. You can probably tell if you look at some of the old blog photos.

The top is currently 75 inches wide by 55 inches high but it will probably shrink some during quilting. I intend to baste the top later this week and then start the machine quilting. I prefer to do my "thread painting" at this stage and incorporate it into the quilting rather than do the intense machine embroidery earlier. You have to be careful doing it during the final quilting as you can badly warp a quilt if you don't do the quilting relatively evenly.

In the meantime, I am cleaning up the total disaster that I call my sewing room. I can walk to the sewing machine now without taking my life in my hands and watching my every step!! I will be working on machine quilting another quilt for the next couple of days. I have done some quilting on it already to stabilize it but it will require a lot more!

Marcia is working on another of her jet trail pieces -- the colors are just beautiful and this is a big one.

Priscilla was putting the final touches on her quilt. She is certainly the trooper!!

The Lions' Story

The lions are progressing. They still are only in sections but I only have six sections left -- important ones but smaller ones than those I have done. I have been doing a lot of piecing to make "fabric" for the manes.


Well, I thought I would do a little summary of my process for doing the lions. It is based of course on the technique that Ruth McDowell details in many of her books. I do things a bit differently though as probably anybody does when they have worked with someone else's process.

I first find a photo I really like and this is really important. I try to find a photo that has a good range of values in it. I then use Photoshop (or any photo program) to change the photo to black and white (desaturate the color). I then "posterize" it so that there are larger areas of one shading. I again check the picture to make sure there is enough differentiation of the areas and that it hasn't gone to far to "cartoon" like. Next I take the black and white image to Staples and have them blow it up to double size. I use this as my base. I use transparent plastic to trace around the different clumps of shading, getting as much detail differentiation as I can. I then put a piece of tracing paper over this and start deconstructing the drawing by trying to find large linear components. After I have sub-divided the drawing using these large linear elements, I just keep subdividing until you can begin to see the original image in this large straight line piece. I have used curves in one piece as well but do prefer the more abstract representations created with the straight lines.

This is the posterized version of the converted picture.
After I have gotten the tracing to where I am comfortable, I then take a picture of the tracing paper drawing. I determine how large I want to make the final piece at this point and use an online poster program to blow up the tracing paper image into the size I want. The lions took 49 pieces of paper (4 1/2 feet by 6 feet). If the final piece will be less that 3 feet by 4 feet, I will have Staples again blow up the image on their large copier and will make two copies (instead of using the poster program).

I then use use a colored marker over the solid black lines to differentiate the sections. Now it is important to make sure all the lines on this original drawing are dark enough. Then I place a piece (usually have to tape a number of sections of freezer paper together) of freezer paper over the whole drawing with the shiny side facing up. I carefully tape it to the blownup drawing and then tracing using a thin black permanent marker all the lines onto the freezer paper. This will be my pattern. I then turn the freezer paper over and make all the tick marks so that I can put the pieces back together (see Ruth's books for her techniques here which I use religiously).

I now mark piece numbers on my tracing paper pattern using a section letter and a piece number. I then transfer these to the freezer paper pattern (not on the shiny side). After the freezer paper pattern is fully marked up, I then cut it into sections and place each section in plastic bags. If I have a second Staples copy of the whole pattern, I then cut it into sections and place the appropriate section in the plastic bag with the freezer paper section. If I have used the poster program I take the individuals sections and then photocopy the shiny side. This gives me a piece I can work on at the sewing machine (I have very tiny parts in my pieces). I pin up the master pattern on the wall and as I finish a section at the sewing machine, I will pin it to the appropriate area on the master pattern.

At this time I also make sure I have printed out a color copy of the original picture as well as a transparency of the original tracing paper pattern (both 8 1/2 x 11). I tape the transparency over the original picture and this helps with the individual color selections.

Working each section, I first put together a pallette of colors I think will work for this area (out of the huge selection I have chosen for the whole piece ahead of time). I will mark these color choices on the copies of the section sitting by my sewing machine. I will then cut the freezer paper pieces apart as I group all the pieces together that I want out of one of the color selections. I will pin them onto the fabric and then rough cut around giving at least 1/2 in around the piece. After I complete doing this for a section, I go to the ironing board and iron all the freezer paper pieces onto the appropriate fabrics. I then take the pieces back to my work area by the sewing machine and use a rotary cutter and ruler to make 1/4 inch seams all the way around. I then place them back into my plastic bags. I try to do the color matching during the day as I have found I make better choices.

After I finish 3 or 4 sections, I use my pattern copy as a guide and start sewing the pieces together. It is a lot like doing jig saw puzzles but with careful marking and 1/4 in seams, they go together effortlessly no matter how small! There is a real danger to doing each section at a time and I do have to undo pieces when I put them up on the wall occasionally and at the end I will sometimes applique over a troubling area that is too hard to undo.

I leave the freezer paper patterns in until the very end as many times I will use the pattern piece again to replace a color that didn't work. Also it helps to stabilize the piece which by this time has every bias imaginable (I am not terribly careful except on the large pieces to mark the grain lines -- I am thinking in the future that I would like somehow to have a grid on the paper that I use or the freezer paper ideally).

This is a closeup of the mane on the male lion.

Another technique that I use is to make my own "backgrounds". I haven't done this on all my pieces but have found that when I have large areas to fill, I prefer to make my own fabric to fill these areas. I decide on the general color and range of values that I want to use and then I randomly put the pieces together using curved piecing methods to create in some cases fairly substantial yardage. I then use this like any other striped fabric. I have used this extensively in both the background for the lions and in the mane of the male lion as I wanted a more organic look. It does complicate the piecing process a bit as I like the stripes to generally match across a large area (which is generally made up of many small templates).

Whew....Lions Marching On but Almost Didn't

This is my most recent incarnation of the lions! Our lioness now has her legs pieced (although still not sewn altogether) and the top part of her head is in place. On the male lion, you can begin to see the mane below his mouth. Below you will see the progress through the day.

Here is a little less done.

Now I'm not the world's worst housekeeper but my sewing room could give the title a run for the money, especially when I am madly working on a large project that requires boxes of different fabrics! I have been going back and forth to Marcia's with my two bags and a box of fabric as well as the master pattern. I was getting ready to go to her house yesterday and I realized I was missing two of the pattern envelopes I had been working on!

I then came to the realization that I was missing all the gradated fabrics that I had dyed and was using for the lioness (I had not kept records of the gradations either)!!! I tore the car and sewing room apart and no luck. I figured I must have left them at Marcia's and unfortunately, that was not the case!!! Luckily I had some projects I could still do so went forward with that an determined that I would move everything out of my sewing room when I got home. I was hoping that I hadn't stupidly left it on the top of the car or something equally as "seniorish" (I can say that).

Finally when I got home and was ready to tear the sewing room apart, I tripped on something and looked down with a glance into my hallway. There covered by two boxes of fat quarters (part of the sale last week) was the offending missing box with the paper patterns in them!!! What a relief!!

I am modifying my process almost daily and really need to take some serious notes so I won't forget for the next time! My newest improvementwas to only cut out the freezer paper templates as I identify the fabric. This is determined from the master pattern which I have labelled using my transparency over the colored picture. Because I am working on something so large, I have a duplicate master pattern for each section so I can put the sections together at my sewing machine rather than getting up and walking across the room to places pieces so small I can't see them up on the wall!!.

There is no way I could audition all the fabrics the way Ruth McDowell does, as I am working with smaller pieces in many instances. I don't use as much pattern fabric as she does and like to piece my backgrounds separately for the most part (although not always). However, piecing in sections does have its pitfalls and I do have to undo some pieces when I put them together and occasionally have to applique a piece to adjust the color. You will notice on the above piece that I have some pinned pieces on the ears and one down under the mane of the lion as I got the color wrong and it was important. I am sure there are others that I will have to adjust once I get it all together and I find something that really annoys me!

Here, just the legs are done. The one at the top of the page has three more sections completed! I made a lot of progress and it is beginning to feel more manageable!
Priscilla has finished machine quilting the bright side of her leaves piece -- I think you can see the quilting if you double click. It is looking just wonderful and she plans on entering it into some shows in the fall. She will have to take a brief hiatus as a knee is being replaced this week and despite what she says, I am sure this will require some rest!

I got a kick out of Marcia up on a ladder starting another Jet Trails piece. Her pieces are large enough that a ladder is a necessary tool to their placement and completion!!

The Race is On.....

Continuing progress is being made on the lions. Eventually I will get to a place where I will work every hour I can in the day to get it done but haven't gotten there yet. I have made several process improvements for myself which have made life far easier for me with this large very complex piece. As a large colored picture would be far too expensive to print, my only full color picture is 8 1/2 x 11. As the piece is 4 1/2 feet by about 6 1/2 feet, there was quite a bit of difficulty translating the places for the colors. My master is the same size as the final quilt and my piecing diagram is about 2 feet by 3 feet but is only the outlines. I finally took the outline I have been using and "Photo Shopped" it down to 8 1/2 x 11 and put it onto a transparency. It doesn't have any numbering on it but does have the lines, even though the areas are tiny in many places. It is enough to help me decide better on the shading and colors as I place it over the color photo I have. I had used an enlarged black and white picture originally to help me draft the pattern and set up the divisions between the areas.

After our preliminary discussions on the various dvds and tapes we exchanged this morning, Priscilla got down to work on the final quilting of her piece. Marcia has been relentless in her support of Priscilla getting this done by next Wednesday! I was forbidden to give her any excuses and Bill was only allowed to exchange a few comments before Marcia brought out the whip again. And just when we were getting plans together for the First Firth Film Festival -- date to be determined.

It is officially spring here as the crocus are blooming all over our front lawn. We still could get snow but it is easy from here!!

I had a question about our Project Iron Quilter that will be part of our 2011 GVQC Quilt Show to be held the first weekend in June. Full details about the show and information can be found at http://www.gvqc.org/. The Project Iron Quilter information is there as well. It will be a contest to finish a quilt (three layers with some kind of binding) in about four hours. Contestants will be able to bring one piece of fabric they can use but the rest will be chosen from a large pile at the beginning of the competition. Contestants will be told the theme of the competition at that time as well. There will be many prizes with the main prize being a Bernina sewing machine. We have room for 20 quilters and 16 have signed up. The last day for signing up is April 15 but you can send a note to me or Priscilla Kibbee (her blog is on my sidebar) or Marcia DeCamp (ditto) if you want to participate. There is a $25 charge but that gets you free entry to the show on Saturday (but you will be busy). Genie Barnes has agreed to be our judge and our main goal is to have a lot of fun.

The finished quilts will be auctioned off by Pat Pauly and the money raised donated to charity.

The Lions are Starting to Sit Up and Take Notice!

Well, Priscilla pronounced this a giant white heart on background. More optimistically, I think I am making progress although I will have to redo a large section on the right hand side (not shown finished in the picture). The female lion is a lot lighter than the male but not as light as I had first pieced her. I really feel like it is beginning to come together. Once I reach a certain point, I become possessed but that hasn't come to pass yet!!

Priscilla has finished putting together her leaves and today she managed to get it basted with batting and backing so now ALL she has to do is the machine quilting. Marcia has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Priscilla to get it done by next Wednesday despite the fact that Priscilla won't be home a large part of the time between now and then!! Luckily Priscilla doesn't require a lot of sleep!!


It was a great day of fun at Marcia's where we determined many of the categories for prizes in our Iron Quilter challenge at the quilt show in June. We have 15 people signed up for it now and it looks to be a lot of fun. People are begging us for the theme which is a deep dark secret!

A Day of Problem Solving.....

Spring is finally beginning to look like it is coming although the temps don't seem to match that expectation. The sun is shining very brightly but one still has to bundle up to go outside. The lions are beginning to hear a little better (they have ears now) and on the bottom are the pieced greens for the foreground.

Priscilla's leaves are really taking shape now and she is rapidly running out of time. Next will be fusing and then sewing. Yesterday was spent at Marcia's studio working on my lions and solving the problems of the world (which we do best). Priscilla, Marcia and I are co-chairs for our version of Iron Quilter which will be Saturday of our big GVQC quilt show in June -- we currently have 13 participants so it should be lots of fun. Genie Barnes has consented to be the judge for the competetion and for all those that know Genie, that should add a whole layer of more fun to this!!! We have finally picked our theme (a secret) and are selecting our prize categories and prizes! Mark Lipinski had been our judge but had to cancel at the last minute because of impending surgery. I think Genie will be at least as much fun if not more!!

Mary W joined us in the morning as she wanted some photos taken of this quilt for a competition she is entering. Beautiful quilt!

Of course part of aforementioned problem solving was our opening discussion of Colin Firth and the fact that he will be live in a play in London next fall. Les Mis is also playing there still so a trip may be in the offing for Priscilla and I...... I saw The Kings Speech for the second time last night and it was even better than the first time -- it has been probably forty years since the last time I wanted to see a movie a second time. I still didn't want to leave the theatre! Priscilla thinks I need an intervention!! (I might add that Priscilla has been to see this movie twice too.)

This is another of Mary's beautiful quilts. It has exquisite hand quilting but you can't see it too well in this photo. Of all the dumb things, I brought the wrong camera to Marcia's yesterday to take pictures for Mary! Can't believe I did that but luckily the old camera still had some battery life and had good sized SD card in it!

The Lions are Beginning to Purr....

Even though it doesn't look like much yet, this is actually three sections almost done on the quilt top I have been working on from a design standpoint for months. I decided to start with piecing the background on this one rather than the foreground as I was a bit intimidated by the detail work. It was a wise decision as It is beginning to be easier to work on. This stage literally involves putting pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle -- a very detailed one!! There are 31 sections and probably over 1000 individual pieces which all will be backed with their freezer paper templates. I have been working on it a section at a time. There is some risk in this approach as there will probably be some "do overs" if the sections to merge well color and value wise! Ruth McDowells recommends putting all the fabric up before sewing anything together but I wouldn't finish this one in a lifetime.


This is Marcia in a jacket made from fabric she got from a friend who is retiring from dyeing. It's even nicer in person!


Last week was spent working on the beginning of fabric placement on my lions quilt top. Yesterday was spent at Marcia's beginning to actually construct the top (as you can see above). None of this started, however, until I had regaled Priscilla and Marcia with synopses of the latest old Colin Firth movies I had seen since last we met! I have been obsessed since seeing The King's Speech which is easily one of the most perfect movies I have ever watched! I don't mind being the butt of the amusement my obsession has provided to these ladies!! It is always good to laugh first thing in the morning. I do feel like, however, that I could start a standup routine on this!!

This is Marcia's latest quilt (although the bottom part was blocked by a table). It really is quite wonderful.

And oh, my! This is what greeted me when I entered Marcia's studio. It is the quilt top that Priscilla has almost finished (only needs its borders). It is made with all Kaffe Fassett fabrics (which I LOVE) and is just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

Priscilla is also well on her way to finishing this top in anticipation of a juried exhibit coming up. Marcia also encouraged her to enter it into other quilt venues. Priscilla is such a perfectionist, we may have to do some convincing along the way!!

It is always such a pleasure to work in Marcia's studio with such great company!