Lights for Christmas

I finished some Christmas lights just in the nick (St. Knick) of time.

Remember those old, old Christmas tree light strings? The kind that were so delicate and temperamental. If one light went out, the whole string went dark. To fix it you had to remove one light bulb at a time and replace it with one you knew was good. You would go from bulb to bulb and finally two bulbs from the last one the string lit up!

This was a tedious process. It was important to plug in the string and see that it lit up before you hung it on the tree. My father did this. After a few days of admiring the tree with its festive display, one string would go dark. To do the testing and replacing one had to crawl around and into the tree. It was worth it.

Today, I sewed up some 4.5" square Christmas lights quilt blocks that will never blink off.

If you would like to make your own paper pieced Christmas lights, click on the graphic below and you will find a three-part foundation to print out. If you don't know how to paper piece, go to my Paper Piecing Primer http://www.winnowing.com/ppp.html

Here is a suggestion for fabric placement:

Merry Christmas.

Ghost of a needle

"The needle is among the oldest of artifacts, and its usefulness is without question. ... Needles can be thought of as headless pins with a single eye meant to pass readily through anything from the hem of a veil to the hide of a camel, leaving behind only a thread of a clue to their presence. When fully sewn into a garment, a piece of thread can be thought of as a continuous and flexible ghost of a needle. ..."
From The Evolution of Useful Things by Henry Petroski.

South Africa

Many people are thinking about Nelson Mandela and South Africa right now. I posted a free 4-inch paper pieced pattern of the flag in 2009. You can click on the photo below and go to the page if you would like to make one.

Super Moon

We will all be able to see a "super moon" this weekend. It is especially beautiful where I live in the California Delta because it hangs over Mt. Diablo. I made a little paper pieced foundation in 2009 as my tribute to the moon over Diablo.

You can see the old post here. There are instructions for making the moon for applique, and the foundations for paper piecing.

Got some 'splainin' to do

I made the chocolate quilt top and took progress pictures as I went along. I know what I did and how it went together, but now I have to explain how to do it so I can put out a pattern for others to follow. I have 10 draft pages of Dear Hearts so far. I will look for a pattern tester to try it out in another color-way. I'll show the tester my project and hand over the pattern draft pages. I won't add any verbal explanation. If she or he gets terribly stuck we can talk and I can add more words or pictures. It is an interesting process to come up with a final, salable pattern.

 

Where did Feather go?

Last evening, way past dinnertime, I started to worry about my cat, Feather. I called and called him but his big white form did not emerge from the darkness outside. By 10:30 PM I was really worried. I had to go to bed. I passed by my sewing room door and thought I'd peek in there. To my great surprise, there was Feather. He had not made a sound. I did not go into my sewing room all day yesterday. I don't even remember opening the door once during the day. Very strange. I am sure he was comfortable because he had lots of soft piles of fabric to cuddle with.

 

And, speaking of cats, we have a new resident in the house. Her name is Phoenix. She is less than a year old. She was abandoned by a family which moved out of a rental house on Taylor Road in late March. The day after they moved out, the house caught fire and burned to the ground and burned up the house next door, too. A cat rescue organization found her and she was in "foster cat care" for a while. A friend called me and asked if I wanted a cat. I did not want a cat, but when I heard her story I said, "bring her over." When I saw her I was so surprised because she looked just exactly like our old cat Aucuba who lived with us for 18 years. Phoenix seems to be the right name for her because her coat looks as if it is "sooty." She knows her name now, is very pleasant, and gets along very well with Feather. I've tried and tried to take a good photo of her with no luck. She looks grumpy in her pictures, but she isn't.

Chocolate craving

This project has increased my craving for chocolate. The top is finished and I can sandwich it and quilt it. Ice cream sandwich? Next I am going to do a vegetable one -- you must have all the food groups. This is for my Dear Hearts series.

Filling the box

I'm halfway with my chocolate box quilt top. I had to run to the store and buy a Hershey bar because I got so hungry while working on it.

I started at the top left corner and pinned the patches on my design board. Halfway done now. We have dark chocolate, milk chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, a gold foil-wrapped surprise, chocolate-marshmallow, butterscotch, and I am just adding a honeycomb (or seafoam) piece now at the bottom left.

My mother used to make honeycomb candy and I believe See's Candies still sells it. I looked up recipes for seafoam candy on the web and here is a good site with step-by-step instructions and a video -- http://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/honeycomb/

Delicious fun

Sometimes you need a bit of inspiration to get going. I received a gift certificate for See's Candy. It's been sitting on a counter that I pass by every day. So tempting.

I've got it! I'll make a chocolate box quilt. I pulled fabric from my stash. I had everything I needed -- lots of browns and a few accent colors. Now I am putting it together. At last, I am making a table runner with my "Dear Hearts" pattern. I'm photographing the steps as I go along and writing the instructions. Such fun

Fire station quilt on TV

The Bethel Island Fire Station was on KTVU Fox 2 last night. A reporter named Noelle and photojournalist Randee Deason from channel 2 were here on the island filming a piece about our fire station. They interviewed Chief Hugh Henderson and went inside the station to see the mold and asbestos damage. Henderson called me over to the station to talk about it becoming a historical building.
The County Board of Supervisors approved the historic designation last week. That means that the station can be repaired. This was important so the building does not have to be raised up in the air above flood height. Historic buildings get an exemption from the FEMA floodplain requirements.
I rushed from my house to meet the crew at the station. I did not have time to change and get all fixed up for an interview. I brought along parts of the fundraising quilt I am making, and there is a quick glimpse of the pieces in the video.
I told the reporters that we would like them to come back and film when our volunteers are working on refurbishing the building. Those could be good action shots with a lot of human interest.

I think if you click on the picture above will take you to the segment. You will have to sit through a commercial before it starts.

I've got the picture now

I found my inspiration on Tanya Watanabe’s Blog. She showed a photo quilt she was making with a pattern by Karen Montgomery called “Picture This Pattern.”  Click on Tanya’s quilt to go to her blog.

 What a clever idea. I sent off for the pattern this morning. In the meantime I sketched out my ideas for arranging the fire station quilt. Putting the miscellaneous photos in film strips is such a good solution. I have not found a background fabric or figured out the border yet, so I just filled in with grey. I’ll be using my own dimensions, but credit must go to the pattern designer, Karen.

 You can click on the photo below to order the pattern from the Quilt Company.

How to arrange the elements?

I sure would like some help arranging these quilting blocks into a coherent quilt. I’ve made the blocks and printed photos on cloth for our fundraising quilt for the Bethel Island fire station refurbishing project. The largest block is a whole station view which is 32.5” wide by 17” high (unfinished size).

The other elements are: a strip 19” long by 1.5” wide saying “There is no future without a past” (I can appliqué this strip anywhere on the finished top); a Dalmatian dog face with floppy ears -- 6” wide by 8” high; a fire badge -- 3.25” wide by 3.5” high;  a contemporary photo of the fire station – 10.5’ wide by 6.75” high; a vintage black and white photo from 1951 – 10.5” wide by 7.75” high; a composite photo made from a contemporary picture and part of the vintage photo – 18” wide by 9.25” high including the cloth frame. (I think I shot the elements and the large block at the same scale, but I’m not positive.)

 I can make filler blocks to put around the elements and make top all fit together. I thought I’d use Marcia’s Quilter’ Cache 8-inch block called Maltese Cross because it is a symbol used by firefighters. I can make it in any color combination and any appropriate size. I can make filler strips and sashing to fill in the gaps, too.

If you have an hour or two to spare can you help me? You can click on the photos and print them out. Then cut the elements apart and shuffle them around on a piece of paper. When you get them arranged, tape or glue them to the paper and put your arrangement in your scanner and/or copier and send it to me. Of course if you have a graphics program you can use that. My e-mail address can be found in my profile, but you can send me mail at: christine (at sign) winnowing.com. Thank you very much. I have to present the quilt top at the county historical committee meeting on Thursday.

I have a few more touches for the largest block. I have to appliqué a sign saying “Bethel Island Fire Department” above the window. 

Bits and pieces coming together

My last posts have been all about our island fire station closing. It’s been very upsetting to me and all of us living here. However there is hope for getting the station to serve an important function. We’ve applied to have it declared a historic structure. If it is designated, then we can start refurbishing it with the help of a licensed contractor supervising volunteer laborers. Funds will be needed for materials.

How do people raise money for a good cause? They make quilts, of course. My printer has been printing, my machine has been humming. Today I did a template for the centerpiece.

 I enlarged my sketch and am now laying out fabrics to use. The stripe at the top right will be for the Quonset Hut building front section, the red brick fabric will be used for the brick outside-wainscoting along the front, the brown for the shingle trim, the off-white for the cement block walls, and the blue for the sky. It’s fun to pull from my stash. I’ve found two fire truck photos to put in the bays. I’ll print the photos on fabric.
This is the photo (below) of the station that I am copying, but the quilted one will have the doors open.

 I’ve finished another aspect of the quilt by printing a composite photo on cloth (2012 and 1951). I am really pleased with it. It will be fun to quilt around the arched Quonset Hut roof tying the two parts together. I’ll emphasize a few other details with quilting, too.

I needed help with a caption for the composite piece. So I went on Facebook to our Bethel Island group, posted a photo, and asked for ideas. Jack Whitener, our Island fire chief from the 1970s and 1980s, came up with a wonderful caption: “There is no future without a past.” I printed it out the caption on fabric and I will appliqué it on the finished quilt.

Gone but not forgotten

 The five Featherweights are heading for their new home in a north coast state. A mother-daughter quilting team wanted to take the machines under their wings. (See March 21st post.) An intricate traveling schedule involving grandsons, sons, and a sister going on vacation facilitated their journey.

I won’t forget the machines because I’m quilting a Featherweight wallhanging to put up in my sewing room. It has been a PhD (Project half done) and now it will soon be finished. It's being quilted on one of the Featherweight's big sisters -- a Singer 301.

Helping with the balance of trade

There was gloomy news about the United States’ trade balance for last year. “Commerce Department data showed that the trade gap was $47.8 billion in November, exceeding analysts’ forecast of a $45 billion deficit,” according to the New York Times business page.

Well, I’m working very hard trying to reverse the trend. This January I’ve had more sales outside of the U.S. than usual. Last week I shipped patterns to: Kathleen in Kensington, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Juan Carlos in Barcelona, Spain; Janet in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, Canada; Michelle in Arris, Ontario, Canada; and Beverley in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.

It’s fun to think of my quilt patterns in their big yellow envelopes going to quilters all over the world.

Waiting for my muse

This new year is off to a slow start. I keep thinking, “Any minute now I’m going to get inspired and get busy.” I’ve just been mucking around and I don’t have much to blog about. I’ve been reading. I read my old journals from 1979 through 1999.

 Talk about a story with no plot! I have a complete log of the weather, details of house cleaning, gardening, and good meals that Robert cooked. There were some highlights, of course, but they are not for publication. If my children ever read them they might be surprised. The journals start with our arrival on the island and starting the Bethel Island Beacon weekly newspaper. They skip six years (because you don’t need a journal when you have a newspaper) and start up again in 1990 when we sold the newspaper and opened our bookstore, the Island Book Galley. After that, they cover my years at the island levee district and my excitement discovering quilting – page after page after page about quilting. They stop abruptly in March, 1999. It was really strange to read the journals all in one sitting.

I’ve also read some books: Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, Threadbare by Monica Ferris, Alpine Vengeance and Alpine Winter by Mary Daheim, The Table Comes First by Adam Gopnik. I’m reading The Obamas by Jodi Kantor right now (about 1/3 of the way through and nothing exciting so far).

 I’ve cooked some delicious things.

And I’m finally binding the little quilt pad. My daughter-in-law Toni quilted the hearts way back in October. I’m feeling a little guilty.

Templates & Piecing 101 -- tutorial

 I received an e-mail from a disappointed customer yesterday. She said, “I decided to try the pattern. It doesn’t work. I went to a friend’s for help – she does paper piecing all the time. She couldn’t figure it out either. I made the separate pieces ... When I sewed A & B & C together it doesn’t come out like a boot.”

Oh dear. The pattern in question is called Dancing Boots. It is template pieced, not paper foundation pieced. There isn’t much information on the internet about making quilt templates and basic piecing. (I do have my Quick Stick & Rotary Cut up on the web.) But there isn't much that’s easy to find. I thought I’d better make a boot and take step-by-step photos. It’s pretty basic stuff and you can skip it if you are an experienced quilter.

Templates are found in quilting magazines, books, or packaged patterns. They are usually black and white drawings with two lines around the edges – one the sewing line, the other the cutting line. Make copies of the templates you need (keep the originals in a safe place). Rough cut around your copied templates. You will use them to cut out your fabric patches for quilting. Here are my paper templates arranged on some fabric ready to cut the patches. (You can click on any of the photos to see more detail.)


 The paper templates are stuck onto the fabric with sticky tape on the non-printed side. I use rolled pieces of transparent tape, but you could use double sided sticky tape. Put the tape pieces in the corners and here and there along the sides.

 Line up your see-through ruler along the outside cutting line (on a self-healing cutting surface). Use your rotary cutter to cut on this line.

When all your templates are cut, keep the paper stuck to them until you arrange them for sewing (following the piecing diagram). It is sometimes hard to tell one fabric patch from another similar one unless you have a guideline.

 Pull off the paper templates and arrange the fabric patches in the order you are going to sew them together.

 Sew the first two logical fabric patches together on your machine using a ¼ inch seam. For the Dancing Boot "standing boot" sew patch C to patch B. Press the seam to one side after sewing. Press all your seams as you go.

 Sew your combined C and B to patch D. This begins the leg portion of the boot. Press seam.

 Sew patch A to E.

 Sew the two boot leg strips together. Press the seam.

Sew patches G and F to the two top corners of the boot leg strip. Press seams.

 Sew patch H across the top of the boot leg assembly. Press seam.

 Sew patch J to I to assemble the toe section of the boot. Press seam.

 Sew the leg section to the toe section to finish the block. Press all seams to flatten the block. The complete block should be 9 ½ inches by 9 ½ inches because there are ¼ inch seam allowances all around the sides. The finished block will be 9 inches when it is sewn into a quilt.

I had such a good time making the standing boot (it was years ago I made the first ones for a quilt) that I sewed up a kicking boot. The kicking boot is a little harder to put together than the standing one. Now I have two boots in red and green for Christmas.

A Hobbit birthday

roses f rom Robbie

 I like the tradition of Hobbits giving presents to others on their birthdays. My day worked out like that yesterday. I listed my Vintage Singer 101 sewing machine on my local FreeCycle on Tuesday. Twenty people e-mailed responses. It was hard figuring out which one to pick. Yesterday, a nice woman came to get the heavy machine. She brought her 20-year-old son to help carry the cabinet downstairs and out to her SUV. She has a modern machine at home so we had a short lesson on how to operate an old Singer. She told me that her grandmother has made quilts. I showed her how the free-motion foot worked as well as the regular foot. I gave her the cola tin too. She really liked the knee-lever.

FreeCycle is such a good organization. Check it out here. There is probably one in your area. This past month I’ve given away chicken wire and old rabbit ears antenna and converter box. I found an announcement on FreeCycle about a nearby e-waste event so I was able to take my old TV to that instead of the dump. Today, a teacher is coming to my house to pick up a box of yarn for class projects. She asked for yarn on FreeCycle and I responded.

Fall, at last

 Two leaves from the mulberry tree fell on my new walkway this week. So it must be fall.

To celebrate the occasion I reached back to a 4-inch paper pieced maple leaf block from 2009.


 If you get busy today you could make a lot of these blocks for a Thanksgiving table runner.

Click on the small graphic below for full sized foundations for the leaf. Print them out for your personal use.