April 7, 2014  No Rules Quilting

Whenever I teach a course the first thing I like to impress upon my fellow quilters is that I discovered how to make landscape quilts using my own techniques while I was running (not walking) away from all the rules of traditional quilting.  Don't get me wrong, I learned from excellent quilters ( thank you Andrea, Jennifer, Judy, Jane and Loretta) and I know about precise cuts and perfect points and setting seams and careful pressing and although these rules are good and make for beautiful quilts, in my world they can sometimes cut into your creativity and imagination.  So last summer I decided that cutting with scissors was okay, strips did not have to be evenly cut, a quarter inch seam wasn't always necessary or what was needed, quilting lines could be whatever was artistically pleasing and crinoline, netting, sheer fabrics and paint could be a great addition to landscape quilts!  It was delicious freedom to let go of the rules and let the imagination run free.  When my students ask a question about what they are sewing, I love to answer, "there are no rules."  At my last course, one of the quilters ripped fabric instead of using scissors.  Again, no rules!  Whatever works for you, and your landscape is probably the correct decision.

Here's a tip to help you with inspiration for your landscape quilts.  Find a Rubbermaid container or a shoe box.  In it place photos, pictures or sketches that you love.  Continue to add to it often.  When you are about to start a new project, peruse your "stash" of images and think about how you could make one of them into a landscape quilt.

My friend Joan made this little beauty last week.  She had it almost finished when she felt that the sun needed balancing with additional colour elsewhere in the art piece and so she added herself and her dog, Keeper.  Voila.  Joan is new to landscaping, but she is an inspiration to us all. I love the little snow capped pine on the left.

Keep on sewing.

Happy Easter!

New landscaping course this Thursday, April 9 at the Ullswater Community Hall starting at 9:30.  Bring your machine, thread, creativity and scissors.  Pack a bag lunch.  If you are interested in joining us for this one, or courses in the future, call Mary or Terri.

March 28, 2015 Not landscaping but a money saver you might be interested in!

So for something completely off topic I bring you a series of pictures showing you how to recover a worn office chair. No more boring tweeds and pleathers!  Your office chair can be fun and funky! This chair was purchased for $9 at the local Restore.  Fabric to recover it was $20.00 (we needed 2 metres).  The only other thing we needed was a staple gun, some cotton quilting batting - also 2 metres - and a sewing maching.  Here goes...

You will need allen keys and a screw driver to take the chair apart.  Remove the seat back and seat, the arms and the legs.  A good idea to keep track or take pictures as you take it apart to make it easier to put it back together.  Then, have a hay day cutting the old fabric off and discarding it!

Wrap the old seat back and seat in a fresh layer of quilt batting to cover up the old padding.  Staple firmly in place. Don't skimp on staples.

March 2015   What to do with the mounting pile of quilted landscapes....

I have about ten quilted landscapes at all times in a basket in my house.  My friend Mary has 5 full quilt tops waiting  to be quilted.  Another friend has a drawer full of finished quilts. At the many courses that Mary and I do we often here people talking about how to display or use their landscape quilts.

First of all, I consider these pieces to be art and you should too.  All quilts are art in every sense of the word.  Art can be functional, like pottery, or it can strictly be to beautify a space, like a painting or a sculpture.  Art often makes people pause and think.

I have compiled a list of uses for your landscapes.  I have gleaned this list from listening to quilters chat as they sew.  I want to share it with you.

1)gratitude gifts are gifts that we give out of thankfulness.  Landscape quilts can make a great gratitude gift.  I like this suggestion very much.  One of my favourites.

2)framed pieces either behind glass ( inexpensive Ikea frames) or framed without glass.  Both look great.  If you have a handyman in your life, beautiful frames can be made.  Scan down through earlier posts to see some great framing ideas.  Professionally framed pieces look outstanding too.

3)hung on the wall - I have seen this done by velcroing the landscape to a piece of wood that is screwed to the wall, or by sewing a sleeve or small sleeves onto the back of the landscape.  People sometimes use interesting pieces of birch, beaver chews or other interesting sticks to enhance the art they hang

4)runners or art pieces for a table or flat surface.  I call these table art.  I love the way a lively landscape on a coffee, dining or sofa table can bring colour and conversation to a room

5)cushion/pillow covers to draw attention to a couch or a chair or as a pillow arrangement on a bed

6)placemats - think of making the four seasons.  These are the kinds of placemats that you leave on your table as art.  If you plan to use them to eat off of I suggest prewashing the fabrics and using a polyester batting so that they will wash.
7)join several together into a large themed landscape quilt (see You Tube video on how to join the each landscape quilt together with binding fabric)
8) decorative and functional tea cozies
9) made into bags or totes
10)sewn into the back of a jacket
-

Any other ideas?

Email me or leave a comment in the comment section with other ideas for landscape quilts.
tghowell54@gmail.com

March 26, 2015 Making "painterly" quilted landscapes

After you have mastered making landscapes with horizontal strips, it is time to move on to bigger and better things and try sewing on vertical strips.You are probably scratching your head wondering what I am talking about.  If you look back, you will see Starry Night and the mixed media house picture are actually made this way.  The starry background in Starry Night is made from vertical strips of fabric that I made by sewing strips of fabric together so that each strip included sky and snow and shadow.

For my latest landscape, which is a maple bush scene, I made the background fabric at left.  I horizontally pieced fabrics together to make a snow scene, with yellow shadows, trees in the distance and sunset sky at the top.  This is simply fabrics sewn together, no quilt batting or backing yet.  At my latest workshop, Lori followed my example to do the same.  See her example on the right.  I make this piece of pieced fabric the same size or slightly bigger than my quilt batting and backing that I have ready for my quilt as you go landscape.

Once your background fabric is made, the next step is to slice off the first vertical strip.  Both Lori and I were making a forest scene and so tall fabric trees would be going between the sliced pieces of background. You can cut the background strips with scissors but a rotary cutter works well too.  Each tree gets sewn onto the background fabric using the same quilt as you go method where you sew through the batting and backing.

You will need to spend time thinking about the size of each vertical strip and the placement of trees. When it is all made you can add some branches using Heat and Bond light or Steam a Seam.  

Quilting these vertical quilts is a bit more challenging....think about how you would do it.  Lori's finished piece is below on the left.  I think it turned out better than mine!  Learning from each other is where it is at.

Thursday's quilting group with their gorgeous creations.  Well done.

Stay tuned, another workshop is coming soon.  We have a list of interested people.  Let Mary or I know if you want to be added to that list.

March 24, 2015  Maintaining your new machine, fixing that old sewing machine, new projects and more

New work

Welcome back!  Spring has sprung...or hasn't yet in our neck of the woods.  We continue to be plagued by cold temperatures and maple sap buckets that just won't fill!  Fingers crossed for warmer temperatures in the April weeks to follow.

My lastest project is above.  I call it Belle Eau Claire Sunset. It is an evening view I enjoyed in my youth, looking across Georgian Bay to Collingwood on summer nights just as the sun was setting. Again it is quilt as you go, overquilted and bound.  It uses a slightly new technique to give the illusion of the fingers reaching out on the water and in the sky.  Onward I go to a spring tree scene inspired by my friends Joan and Mary.

Landscape quilters have to be mindful of their sewing machines.  A couple of tips to help you keep your machine functioning well:

1) change your needle often.  Quilt batting and lots of piecing tends to dull the needle.  Dull needles don't sew well.  Bent needles don't sew well either. Get in the habit of changing the needle after two or three quilts.
2) clean all the fluff from the quilt batting out of your bobbin case on a regular basis - use the brush that came with your machine, or a tooth brush or even a small vacuum cleaner.  If you can, remove the bobbin case so you can clean it thoroughly. Resist the urge to blow the dust out.  Moisture from your breath isn't necessarily good for your machine. Quilt batting can really build up so be sure to clean the bobbin case often.
3) Open the little door to the left of the tension and brush out the dust and debris in this area as well. Quilt batting has a habit of migrating everywhere.

Lots of people are still sewing on old mechanical sewing machines, which is just great.  You don't need anything expensive for piecing and sewing quilts.  In fact, I know people who have found $25 sewing machines at the Restore or Salvation Army that sew just fine.  The price of  new sewing machines ha come down in the last few years.  Great sewing machines with lots of features can be had for under $300.00.  I purchased a machine about 12 years ago for $1000.  A similar machine can be bought for $299.00 today.  These cheaper prices make you think twice before taking your old machine for a pricey clean and fix.  The price for this service can run about $60.00 and if parts or work has to be done you are easily over $100, which makes that $299.00 Janome computerized machine look pretty reasonable.  I took that $1000. machine in recently because it wouldn't sew through several layers of fabric without skipping stitches and I ended up leaving it at the repair place. The cost to repair it was more than I was willing to pay to get an older mechanical machine up and running.

If you have an older mechanical sewing machine that isn't sewing well, before taking it to a pricey repair shop try these things:

1. Change the needle.  An old burred or bent needle just won't sew right. Make sure you put the needle in correctly (usually flat side to the back) and tighten in place. Make sure you are using the right needle for your machine or a universal needle.
2. Clean the bobbin case thoroughly (see above).
3. Mechanical machines often need oil.  If you have the original manual, find out where to put the machine oil.
4.Ensure your are using the correct bobbin.  A bobbin that is too small in diameter won't make good stitches.  A good rule of thumb is to buy your bobbins from the manufacturer.  Some of the generic bobbins wont work in some machines,
5. Wind a fresh bobbin.  If the old bobbin in the machine wasn't wound right it could be the problem
6. If you can open the upper case on the machine to the left of the tension, clean dust and debris out of there as well.  Again, no blowing the dust.
7. Ensure that the machine is set for straight sewing and that the dials haven't been changed to something else.
8.  Put a quality new spool of thread in the machine and in the bobbin.

Timing is often an issue with older machines, particularly if you have run over and struck pins. Timing is a job for a pro.  Ultimately that was the problem with my older machine.  The timing was off and it needed to have the entire case pulled off to fix it, plus parts.  Not worth it!  On some machines, timing is a easier fix, but still for a pro.

Thread or bobbin tension can also be a culprit with a machine that isn't working.  I leave these issues to the pros too although it can't hurt to play with them if the machine isn't sewing correctly.  The worst that can happen is that it still won't sew.  Time for an expert or a new machine.

Check for dust an debris and brush it out of here too

Hope this helps.

Mixed Media

February 25, 2015 Brrrrr yet again...

I thought I would post a sneak preview of a mixed media piece my daughter and I are working on.  It is a landscape quilt around a felted piece.  I did the landscape with quilting fabrics and my daughter needle felted the house.  The foreground tree and the children are appliqued.  I have yet to quilt it, but that is tomorrow's project.

To make it, I first drew the house on the quilt batting.  I then used a quilt as you go technique to attach the snow and trees.  The snow was made from several white and slightly off white fabrics.  I tried to keep the sky consistently blue within a limited range of colour. The actual house, on which the landscape is based, has large trees surrounding it and in the afternoon the shadows reaching toward the house are dramatic. In the waning sunshine at the end of the day the shadows always appear blue or purplish.  I think the windows should cast a yellowish haze, for warmth, but my daughter thought otherwise.  I may have to change that.  My sensibility says that purple and yellow and blues go wonderfully together and will give warmth and cohesion to the picture.  I may have to compromise with just a few yellow glows in the windows.

You can felt through the quilt batting or through the fabric.  This makes for crisp edges and a house that pops every so slightly out of the background.  In the end we plan on wood framing this piece but probably without glass.  There is a story to tell about this landscape, but because it is going to be a gift I will save the story until it is given.  If you are looking for felt roving in wonderful colours, Pondering Rock Farm in Rosseau, Ontario, owned by Heather Darlington is the place to go.  She dyes her own wool and you can meet and greet the sheep that so generously donate their fleece to be turned into roving. I love visiting and purchasing her terrific colours.  If I only had more time....

Here is the landscape - remember it is not yet quilted or bound and the pieces are still waiting to be appliqued.