Biggs Details

I am finished with the Apple Pie Ridge Star block, First of the Benjamin Biggs BOM.  

I kept thinking that the shape looked familiar and finally decided that it's the Idaho WIC logo.

Not bad symbolism actually, as I was a WIC Dietitian for 10 years.   But if I were to do it over, I'd do a double scroll like the one from QuakerQuiltHistory.com.

The reason that I LOVE applique is the opportunity to do some really cool details, most of which are only known to me.

I fussy cut the swirls on the flower bud.  And lined up the center veining on both the bud and the leaf.

Here's my process for "fussy cutting" using Backbasting applique.

Use long pins to mark the center veining.  Also the top bottom, and for this shape, bottom of the bud.

By feeling through the fabric, you can position any center veining as well as other designs on your fabric.  I like using small applique pins to attach the fabric to the right side.

Use a contrasting thread to baste the fabric in place.  My general plan is that I can make longer stitches where it is long straight runs, and closer together for the curves and fussy bits.

Remove the basting an inch or so at a time,  and use needle turn techniques to sew the shape down.  I like silk thread and a size 11 or 12 needle.    Clover Black Gold is my favorite, but this is my last one, so I may need to take out a second mortgage to stock up.

Things don't always turn out like I planned.
I'm pretty laid back about letting things look organic...but square leaves are a deal breaker.  (I was busy watching the game and talking to my daughter and didn't notice how bad they were as I was making them. )

I rarely  make this kind of error when hand stitching, but it's not a hard fix.

I used a seam ripper to un-stitch the curves, leaving the inner points that were just fine.

Stitching better.  Though the photography is not.

My point is that sometimes a couple minutes is worth the fuss.

 I'm on my way over the the Benjamin Biggs Blog.  Join us over there if you're working on this quilt.  I'll be blogging both places but with different content.

Progress and a Lie

I am slowly getting a feel for feathers.  Feeling bold enough to try some with yellow thread on dark green.  And I might be convinced to give variegated thread a second chance.  I kind of like it on these skinny doodly lines that I used for fill.

I looked at some Feather Quilt Porn on line and decided I needed to try adding some curly bits, but was cautious enough to do it on the yellow where it wouldn't show much if I didn't like it.  I ended up drawing out the feathers to follow on that side so both sides would come out similar.  I was feeling pretty bold and just drew the spines on the green and did freehand feathers.  Some of them are still coming out kind of square.  I need to work on that.

Now on to the lie.
A couple posts ago I said I wasn't going to start anything new until I'd cleared 10 things off the list.  You knew that wouldn't really happen, right?  Besides, 20 WIPs is a nice round number.

There just happens to be a free BOM that started today.  (Follow the link above to join in.)
It seems like the perfect excuse for using the red batik collection I've been hoarding for years.
It's been washed in Retayne and is in the drier as I type.
I considered my "usual" color palate of lime & fuschia, but think that maybe it's time for a really traditional applique.  I'm not really keen on all the blocks, but sometimes it's good to do something uncomfortable.  Hello Benjamin Biggs.

WIPs on Wed Nov 14

I survived the mixed-method trapunto experiment...but did manage to break about 5 needles.  Which is weird since I can't even remember the last time I ever broke a needle while hand stitching.

Normally I have a stash of needles since I'm forever losing them.

I had to run to the LQS to replenish the stock.  I have to say I'm not too happy.  The Piecemaker's 12's are lovely to sew with, but the glazed quilting threads are too thick to fit through the eye.  The Clover big eye 12's are nice, but really what I would consider an 11.  I was excited to try the Roxanne 11's - cute case, but quite the price since there are 50.  I had all kinds of bad words to say once I started using them as they are what I would consider a chubby 10.   Seriously now...what's the point of a numbering system if it differs by brand???

I am very pleased with this center motif.  It is pieces and parts of Ester's Heart's Desire.  Actually, I think it's all from the same outer border.  The big flowers were in the center of each side and the 3 petaled flowers were draped over the basket handle.  Fill is just straight(ish) lines 3/8" apart.

I re-hooped to the section of leaves closest to the center.  It will also look familiar to many of you who know her design since it was block 2 of the quilt along.

This was me pondering how closely I really need to quilt everything to be happy.

I'm afraid that the correct answer is "very, very close".

The additional veining in dark green and curley-q's in pale green make me very happy.  I stitched the flower buds in magenta.  Funny how those details will be completely lost to anyone standing more than a foot away.  But still, I smile.

Very Pun Give-Away

I get such joy in sharing my quilting addiction with other people.  I've been so very (well, kind-of) good about not buying much fabric lately that I can use this month's fabric budget to pay for postage to mail prizes all over the world!!!

I arbitrarily picked January 25th as the date that I would select winners for my give away as it is the birthday of the venerable Harley Dude, a date I was unlikely to forget.

Besides being a great dad, my Dear Husband Harley Dude (...ok, that's funny...how often can does your title and nickname combine to be a palindrome?)...uh...where was I...oh yes!  DH,HD is a renowned pun-master.

To qualify for prizes, you must submit as your entry, a very funny pun as a comment on this post.  Did you sleep through English class?  By definition, a pun is "a humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more of it's meanings, or the meaning of a word similar in sound."

The only clean jokes I know are actually puns.
What did the fish say when it ran into the wall?  Dam.
Two peanuts walk into a bar.  One was a salted 
A man walks into a bar with a piece of asphalt under his arm.  He says "I'll have one for me, and one for the road". 
A rope walks into a bar.  The bartender says "we don't serve your kind, now get out."  He goes outside, twists himself into a knot and then fluffs up his loose ends.  He returns to the bar.  The bartender says "Hey! Aren't you a rope??"  to which he replies "Nope...a frayed knot."


Each day from now until January 24th, I will read the entries to DH,HD.  His favorites entries of the day will be entered into a good-old-fashioned-pieces-of-paper-drawing for the very cool prizes (which I'm about to tell you about).   I will announce the winners bright and early (Mountain Time) on January 25th before I go to work.  One entry per person.

One my favorite quilt bloggers is Frauke at Quilthexle's World.    I find her style of piecing very inspirational. Recently she seems to have become addicted to dying fabric.  This is phenomenally good news for all of us.  There are gorgeous dyed fabrics available in her etsy shop.  She has put together a set of beauty just for us!! The pieces are hand dyed from upcycled damask fabric.  There are 4 pieces in the set, sized about 21"x 32".  Be sure to check out her other fabrics and projects.     

Renae Allen, in addition to being a wonderful person, is the reason that I am learning to Free Motion Quilt (FMQ) on my home machine.  I've known Renae about 20 years as friend-of-a-friend.   I could fill an entire page with "nice quilty things Renae has done for me".  But in May...she let me FMQ on her machine.   The good news is that I discovered that most of my FMQ issues were resolvable with a new foot for my machine....well, that and a good dose of confidence.  Renae has created an entire FMQ practice concept with a combination of videos, pamphlets and  pre-printed practice panels.   Renae looks at traditional quilt patterns and considers multiple ways to quilt them.  She has offered the Design Builder's Package  from her website as a prize for the Pun give-away.This includes the book, DVD and the fabric panel shown in the video above.   BUT WAIT!  That's not all.  She is doing a bonus give away.  If you answer a question on her blog, you are eligible for an additional prize. Post your answer on her blog to one of the following questions: What is your worst free motion quilting (FMQ) disaster?OR What is your greatest FMQ challenge? She's giving extra chances to win the bonus if you follow her blog.    Enter puns on this blog,  FMQ stories on hers. 


I have 3 prizes from my stash: 

I met these authors at the May 2011 Quilt Market.  Colleen uses paper piecing to make those intricate, seeming impossible medallions.  Donna's flip method makes intricate piecing simple.  Both of my autographed copies will be sent to one lucky winner who will hopefully USE them instead of just admire them as I did.  

And for those of you who like smaller projects, an autographed copy of Gudrun's book on table runners plus Elissa & Heather's bag patterns that include full size applique patterns (I was all excited about skipping the copy-shop step).  

I carefully laid these batik charm squares from my stash out for a picture, then after they were stacked up,  discovered that I didn't have the memory card in.  You'll just have to trust me that they are gorgeous in shades of blue, purple, green, pink & yellow.  There are 103 squares of all different batik fabrics (no repeats). 


So that's it.  5 prize packages.  To enter, add your favorite pun as a comment on this post. 

Blooming Good!

I made a lot of progress on flowers over the past 2 days.  This one is my favorite.  I love the way the pink/green print really connects the flower to the stem.

This was my progress by the end of Saturday.

 And by the end of Sunday, I can almost declare this section done.   (Just 3 leaves to go)

 But there's another weekend worth of leaves to be done on the right 2/3 of the panel.

I don't have Photoshop so my photo splicing is really rough, but this is kind of where I think I'm going.  I want some open space in the middle balance out all the vines.  I'm considering trying some trapunto. If I extend the vines under the bird to the lower right corner, and same from the circle vine going toward the upper left, I'd end up with a 15" x 30" rectangle in the center.


I'm open to suggestions.  What would you do with the center?

Petal Progress

I got one of the small flowers stitched last night.  I was thinking of the large flowers when I was picking fabric placement, so I'm not entirely happy with this one.  But not unhappy enough to  un-sew it.

Unfortunately, I already had the outer 3 petals stitched on this one too.  Clever color placement, however will make for improvements.

Leaves

My daughter had friends over Saturday to watch movies and eat pizza to celebrate her birthday, so I was displaced to the bedroom to applique and listen to football on the radio.

I have a rather alarming pile of green batik scraps.

Which means that there's a lot of variety in my leaves.   13 leaves finished over 2 days.

As is the one blossom that I made months ago using the freezer paper method.  The others will be back basting.

Thanks for all of you who took the time to leave comments about format. I like the classic format too, so you'll keep seeing posts this way.

Potential New Addiction

Wednesday I blogged about the Batik class that Skater Girl and I took at Cindy Peterson's Studio through the Boise School District Community Education Classes.


DD2 and I did 2 pieces collaboratively.  This lion is a Cosmetology School Graduation gift for Big Sis/DD1-aka-Guitar Girl who just happens to be a Leo.  White is the initial outline (with a  painted eye and nose).  Then dipped in tan for 40 min.  Then the next week, the face was waxed off then dipped in red for 15 min.  All the lion was waxed then dipped in black overnight.  

This is the giant lion that appeared as a tattoo on on DD1's back when she turned 18.  You can see why we thought this was a good plan.

Cindy issued a challenge that was supposed to be a green color-transition project.  But with the short time of the class, the outline and hand painting that Skater Girl did, only underwent a black dip.  The black dye ended up a cool splotchy purple.  This morning I bought some black Rit Dye and after waxing off the background, dipped the bird body in black dye ( 1/2 bottle dye, 1/2 c salt, 2 gal water) and let it soak for 2 hrs.  If I would have left it longer, the background would have had more crackle.

And,  well...you know me.

Since there was black dye available, I decided to make a wax stamp out of a hanger.  I was really trying to take advantage to the normal curves of the hangar, but I think it looks like a nose.

I stamped the nose randomly in the hopes it would look less nose-like, on some dark pink fabric.

Clearly, I need a new camera.  The real color of this is a dark purple that is nearly black in natural light.  The base color is a dark pink.

So, obviously, not only do I love batik fabric, but I really love making batik fabric and paintings.  Does this have the potential of getting out of hand?  Yea. Duh.

WIP on Wed Oct 19

Last night was my last of 4 batik classes.  It was a Parent / Child class through the local Community Education program and taught by local artist Cindy Peterson.  If you go to her online gallery, you can see that she uses batik as an art medium instead of just a fabric design element.

The first assignment was to paint the dye on and blend 2 complimentary colors.  The second week, the dragonfly was waxed off and dipped in yellow.  Week 3 was a teal dip to get the green.

This fabric is cherry red in real life and was the result of my playing with some of her stamping tools while I was waiting for my daughter to finish her project.

We have 2 collaborative pieces that Skater Girl and I did together - a lion in tan & red, and a toucan.  They both spent the night in the black dye and I have to go back to pick them up tonight.

My TV time for the past couple weeks has been spent trying to finish up this Crazy Quilt from the UFO bin.  The blue fabric is leftovers from the Hawaiian Quilt Samplers that I made for the girls in 2003.   It has probably been in the UFO basket that long.  I had decided to do all hand embroidery on every seam in a variety of stitches (click on photo to enlarge).  Like traditional Crazies, it will not include a batting.  There is fuseable interfacing on the back of the piecing for more stability.  I have to finish the outer frame stitching (pink & blue) on 7 more blocks.  Then it will be tacked at intervals to a blue Minkee back and bound in hot pink.

Last, but not least, ever distracted by bright shiny objects....  When I read Leah Day's Pea Gravel Path post, I immediately ran to the machine to try it. Yes, I read and immediately ignored the "Advanced" level warning.  And I did really try it on paper first.  Aside from my swirls looking "Seussian" rather than "Smoothly Swirly" I'm quite pleased.

Treasure Valley Shop Hop

OK...I'm a little annoyed.

I've been in 2 of my LQS's in the past week and only inadvertently discovered that the Shop Hop in my area starts TODAY.

In shop #1...they were cutting FQ of batik in preparation for the hoards.  Cool.  So I went to shop #2 to find out more details, and only the owner in the back (who was consulted twice) could provide any info before it "officially starts on Thursday".  Seriously?  Have they never heard of SOCIAL NETWORKING?   Shop Hop was not on the blogs of either of my LQS.

Even my most  Internet-savvy shop had nothing.

The reason that I was even made aware of this was that someone "Googled" Treasure Valley Shop Hop and stumbled upon my random entry at #8 saying I was looking for someone to go with Oregon with me and she left me a post.

Sheesh.  So...this is my Public Service Announcement.

Treasure Valley Shop Hop, is listed as Treasure Shop Hop and starts today.
Boise Basin Quilters (BBQ) have the most comprehensive description that I could find.

Most of the links to Treasure Shop Hop don't work, but after tons of searching found this one that does.

Emily and I are doing the Oregon loop on Saturday.  Look for a tall brunette cruizin' with a red-head.  Buy us a round of fat quarters when you see us.