When I teach the after-intro-level machine quilting class, the one for folks who are comfortable with free-motion (I always say you don’t have to be good at it, just comfortable with the concept) and want to explore playing with threads, usually I have students do a sampler to test thread tension on their machines with various needles and thread combinations. However, in Paducah, the students will be using loaner machines (HOORAY>… I got the Janome classroom filled with my loved 6600s!). I wanted the students to learn HOW to make the tension sampler, but what they need most is to take the sampler home and then play with the tension on THEIR machines! That would leave some extra time in the class.

That led to the idea of a project. I grabbed my tossed leaves patterns to use as handouts, and thought gee, let’s quilt up a square that could be practice OR be a pillow top (or whatever) that lets students play with a variety of fancy threads. Rather than fuss with applique or whatever, the students can simply outline the shapes on their fabric, then quilt them as if it were a wholecloth. Of course, I decided I wanted to play with paint (who wants to mark a quilt when you can paint it?), which led to the sample above. I took some 12+ year old black print fabric and painted on the back through a freezer paper stencil using Lumiere paints. I then tossed in a few other leaf shapes (the fine white lines you see on the black) .

I used the following threads, all from Superior Threads:

• Rainbows, a variegated 40-wt trilobal (shiny) poly
• Highlights and the other 40-wt. trilobal polyesters in a solid color
• Metallic (gold I think it was?)
• Glitter, a holographic thread
• in the bobbin, The Bottom Line, a 60-wt poly

To see a close up of this quilt, click on the thumbnail (if you are on a PC and right click, you can open in a separate tab or window, if on a Mac click the apple key and mouse at the same time):

And here is a detail shot:

if you click on the shot, it will open up larger, too.

Superior offers this awesome service: as a teacher, I can order a bunch of thread, then have them re-wind the cones onto “bobbins” (not for use in the bobbin, more like micro-spools on a clear plastic bobbins). Then I can make kits for students with a range of threads. For $15, my students will get samples of the Bottom Line (on bobbins that can actually be USED in the bobbins), King Tut (variegated cotton), MasterPiece (50/2 cotton, solid colors), Rainbows (variegated poly), 40-wt trilobal poly, metallic and Glitter! You’d MAYBE be able to buy two spools of thread, and they get to try six different types of thread to see if the look is right for their style of quilting and compatible with their machines (after all, we KNOW some machines are just cranky!) without spending a fortune on spools they might never use again. Cool! Love the service!  And then I know the students will have good quality thread and not be frustrated with junky stuff or not have a good selection because 8 spools just costs too much!

Great news…. the Lark book with 8 projects by the Frayed Edges is now available!!!!

I’ve ordered copies, and as soon as they arrive you’ll be able to order up an autographed copy (or unmarked if you prefer… either way is great!) here. I have also obtained a supply of the drop beads I used, so if folks want, let me know and I can add a baggie of enough beads to make one journal cover to the store site if there is any demand for them.

I am so proud of ALL of the Frayed Edges! Four of the five of us submitted proposals, we were all accepted and we are either

• on the cover (my pomegranate notebook cover, which you can see here)
• on the table of contents (Deborah)
• on the Introduction pages (Deborah and Kate)
• or the FIRST project in the book (Kathy!)

WOW! Here are some pictures and a bit of a review of the book:

After the elation of learning a while ago that my project was on the cover, it only got better as soon as I opened the book. Here is the table of contents, with part of Deborah‘s Cobblestones piece on the lower right:

Then I turned the page to the Introduction, which repeats Cobblestones and has BOTH of Kate Cutko’s pieces (Broken Dishes and Petroglyph):

Then I turned to the projects, and it begins with Kathy Daniels‘ sea piece:

Kate’s Petroglyph panel (one day at one of our regular Frayed Edges meetings, we decided the beads were too bright and shiny, so we sandpapered them and stained them with leftover coffee!):

Deborah’s landscape triptych with her signature writing on her fabrics (one of her THREE projects!):

The layout of the book is good–nice and clean, clear instructions, concise (I tend to go into LOTS of detail!). The projects look as though they could all be fairly easily and quickly accomplished (once you get the “stuff” you need for them anyway!). A basics and tips/ideas section starts the book, then it progresses to the projects, which are nicely illustrated and beautifully photographed! I hope the photography in my book turns out as well as this! Apart from the Frayed Edges projects, there were a couple I loved, and I could see doing a riff on this bag in an art quilt:

The projects shown could easily be adapted to use in your own art work or done as is… way cool.

At the end of the book is a gallery of inspiring pieces. These are much more in-depth, complicated works of art from some of the top art quilters today. It would probably be impossible to pattern these works of art (if the artists would even be willing), but they show what you can do with the techniques learned in the book. Just let yourself loose and PLAY! Which is what I hope to do when I get back from teaching in Paducah.

I should be home on April 27th, and the books for sale should be here that week. I’ll start shipping as soon as I’m unpacked!

Double-duty projects (aka the grim phrase killing two birds with one stone) is becoming a habit. I needed to make some samples for my still-not-finished (sigh) book on threadwork in quilting AND have different free-motion designs for the 3-bhour “Nearly No-Mark Machine Quilting” class I’ll be teaching this week. I made two… one on a pink batik, the other on a turquoise “batik solid.” I like the former much better, but still really like the patterns on the turquoise, just not the overall piece.

The pink one is done with about six different Superior Threads 40-wt. trilobal polyester (shiny like rayon but stronger and more lightfast) through the needle and a single medium-pink/coral Bottom Line (60-wt. poly) in the bobbin. I LOVE the design on this one. I’ve had this “thing” for circle, arcs and orbs lately, and this was a fun way to play with different quilting patterns. The thing I have found is that I prefer curvy shapes to actually quilt, but that to make them really stand out, I need to incorporate straight lines (either in separators or alternate background patterns).

This detail shot let’s you see every stitch, and that I varied the shades of color slightly for effect. You can also see that what you look at isn’t so much the stitching line, as the puffy in-between shapes the lines create. See how much more the scroll (snails and spiky snails) stands out when I didn’t fill in the background? To see a larger version of this detail shot, click the thumbnail, below:

Here’s the turquoise one, which I did first.

A copule problems… the beautiful variegated thread I used for the “sashing” is too dark compared to the colors I used in the quilting, which seems to disappear. Oops. Also, the overall composition isn’t great, but oh well….   think of this as my Southern California quilting motifs:  sun, palm tree fronds, orange sections, stucco arcs (like the patterns on the stucco on the outside of my gramma’s house), sailboat sails, and Joshua trees.  This was a class sample not a work of art. Obviously. Clicking on the thumbnail below will open up a larger window/view:

The fill patterns are done on a fairly small scale…these pieces are approx. 18×18 inches, but it would be easy to scale them up to use as an overall quilting pattern for a lap quilt, say. Anyway, I hope you like them. Also hope the editors of my book like the, too!

Well, it has been busy! This post will “publish” on Tuesday while I am winging my way south to teach in Paducah! As usual, life has been insanely hectic. I began getting ready for Paducah. Here is the first round of “stuff” in the crate:

Then, there is another round of “stuff” to pack and take. These things are mostly my teaching binders, a few handouts (most were shipped ahead of time), and my teachers’ samples:

On top of prepping all this stuff, I had to MAKE some new samples (which I’ll show you in a couple of days) to go with the shorter 3-hour format classes Paducah prefers. Then, an opportunity fell into my lap: write a proposal for an art quilt project at the Camden-Rockport Middle School. So in addition to continuing to get mom settled, the regular daily stuff, dog-walking and litter-box-cleaning (not to mention laundry, food and sleep), I wrote up this:

The project would be seven panels. Six panels are 3 feet wide by about 4.5 feet long, with a seventh panel 40 inches wide by 18 inches deep to go over the door in the middle of the 24+ foot wall! The principal LOVES the idea of depicting inspirational people / things from around the world and across time (folks like MLKing, Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, engineers (a bridge maybe), shipbuilders and explorers, teachers, doctors), and is going to submit the proposal to a local grant-giving group. If a small miracle happens and I get it, it would be a MAJOR commission that would keep me busy the rest of the year!

Thanks to a nice tax refund, I was able to finally get my eyes checked, and will be buying new frames for the first time in 3 years. This is the most likely pair (so far):

Please ignore the dippy expression, fat on my neck, lack of makeup etc….They are a matte black, and I’m leery of black. I had wanted a deep ruby red, turquoise, or plum…. so far no luck, but some new frames coming in soon….. what do you think of these? Are they too stark on my face or OK? I do like the shape…..

I’ll be back online in a few days (well, a new post will come up) with one of the new class samples I made for Paducah AND a book review….

to all of you who have written (on the blog and directly) and sent your good thoughts for Yeti. I’m amazed at how many have written… I’m going to try to reply to each of you individually, but since I leave in less than 36 hours for teaching in Paducah, I may not get to it for a while, and I wanted you all to know how much I appreciate your kindness. The internet is truly an amazing place, that we can have friends we’ve never met even, all over the world. Hugs and thanks, Sarah