CQJP 2014: July. Celebrate

Well, hello. Where have I been!? Can't seem to get to finishing any needlework or blogging lately.
I did finish my CQJP 2012 block for July and here it is.

The baby is my granddaughter born in July and now eleven years old. And the colors celebrate our country's birthday as well.

I'm half way through a year of blocks. I'm working now on June: rain forest. Motivate me to speed things up, someone.

Hello, Viking!

It's the simplest Husqvarna Viking sewing machine and it's come to live at my house. What happened to my fifty year old Singer is a sad example of my incorrigible flakiness. I took out the bobbin and it's holder to rewind it. I walked across the room to get a spool of thread. When I returned, the bobbin holder was not to be found. It's got to be in this room or else aliens from another dimension have it. It's been 6 months at least and I haven't found it, so I've put the Singer aside with regret and brought a Viking into the house. I'm hoping it can ward off the aliens.

 This post is to show you what I have created trying out the machine: place mats.  True to my crazy quilting love, they are crazy pieced using the layer cake "stack and whack" method. I made eight mats, eight layers of fabric to stack and whack. After all the whacked pieces were sewn together and layered with a piece of interfacing, and  a backing fabric placed right sides together on the top, I sewed around the edges, leaving an open space to turn the mat right side out. After ironing each mat neatly, I used the machine feather stitch to decorate each seam and, at the same time quilt the mat. I finished the whole with a machine scalloped satin stitch around the edge. The machine works very nicely and I'm pleased with my set of eight new place mats.

Surprised by needlework on a family reunion tour

This weekend I was in High Point, North Carolina for a reunion of the Mendenhall Family Association. When I was actively doing family research, I followed the line of my great-grandmother, Sarah Ann Mendenhall Mount, and found other Mendenhall researchers. I was a charter member of the Association when it formed and have attended all seven reunions held.

The Mendenhall's were among the first to buy property from William Penn in his new American land grant named Pennsylvania. Four siblings, John, Benjamin, Margary (Martin) and Mary (Newlin) moved there in 1684. I'm descended from John and his grandson James, who in 1862 moved to Guilford County, North Carolina, where many Pennsylvania Quakers migrated and settled. They were millers, farmers and very active in education. The little town of Jamestown near High Point was named for James. His grandson Richard built a plantation house there which is on the register of historic places and was on our reunion tour, along with three local Quaker meeting houses and Guilford College.

Okay, I'm getting to the needlework. There is a tiny little museum at the plantation containing some artifacts of the time period (late 1700s-early 1800s). First thing that caught my eye was this stunning dress.

 

I don't know if this was worn by Quakers; they did sometimes dress less plainly than commonly thought, but this is very "not plain." Here are some close ups of the lace and embroidery trim.

 

 

 

 

The pretty coverlet is in a case.

 

In another building on the site, there was a poster display about Quaker dress, which had these two interesting photos.

 

 

We then moved on to the Springfield Meeting House which maintains a larger museum of period artifacts. Here is a Quaker wedding dress.

 

 

Plain, but lovely. And there are these two other examples of nice needlework in the museum.

 

 

 







What fun to find such unexpected and lovely needlework on a family history tour. 







Big Honkin Needle Circle finished

I've been working slowly lately, but have finished the circle part of my quilt from the Betty Pillsbury workshops.

 

 

 

I continued the pansy theme with a beaded pansy from a pattern in The Beaded Garden by Diane Fitzgerald, Interweave Press LLC, 2005. I also titled the block "Big Honkin' Needle" because that is Betty's term for the size chenille needle needed to work with chenille. It's a size 14. I used it for the chenille flower inside the heart on the left.

Betty is, besides a crazy quilter, a herbalist. During informal discussion at the workshop, cleavers was mentioned. It's an interesting plant that makes tea said to aid weight loss. I pulled out my Petersen's Guide to Edible Wild Plants and used the line drawing of cleavers there to add a picture of it to the block.

I added a third dragonfly; this one with woven picot wings and a couple of 7 mm silk ribbon pansies.

I plan to set this circle into an asymmetrical border, inspired by a couple of Betty's quilts she had on display during the workshops. I'm putting it aside for now, though. I'm feeling the pull of my Pink Flower Garden quilt UFO. It's a big one and I plan to work on it until I get bored, then take up my CQJP blocks again. Follow your bliss.

Big Honkin' Needle

My local Embroidery Guild of  America (EGA) chapter (Constellation, Baltimore, Maryland) last week hosted two crazy quilt workshops by Betty Pillsbury. I was especially happy about this because I had gone to workshop Betty gave at the Adventure in Crazy Quilting retreat in Connecticut in 2011. She is good: clear instructions, interesting projects and fun. It was there we first heard her refer to using a "big honkin' needle" for embroidering with chenile thread. We used it again at the Constellation chapter workshops.

The first workshop was entitled "Motifs from Antique Crazy Quilts." Betty has a wonderful collection of antique crazy quilts from which she selected three to teach. I might have named this class "honkin' big motif" because they were, at 4x6 inches and 5x7 inches, way bigger than I have used on my quilts. After this class I will think bigger.

The first motif was a sprig of goldenrod worked in chenile on velveteen using our "big honkin' needles."

We were supposed to use silk chenile thread for this, but it was somewhat hard to find and I used rayon. It is a flat thread, whereas silk puffs out around the whole center. I like the way the rayon looks fine, but you can see the difference by looking at the lemon colored french knots in the lower center of the motif. These are in silk thread I got from a friend.

A second motif was also done on velveteen, a palette.

The flower on this is made with wired ribbon

Third was a pansy made of silk dupioni with ribbon stem and leaf.

 

I worked this on a crazy quilted 15" diameter circle I made up for use in the class.

 

This is it after the work from the second workshop entitled "Notebook Sampler." Here are the motifs made in this workshop:

A 3" flower made from silk essense fabric.

A 2 1/2" pansy  made from wired ribbon.

 

 

 

Two flowers with  needlewoven petals and two beaded dragonflies.

The green dragonfly is from a kit Betty provided.

 

 

 

Spiderweb made with metallic machine embroidery thread and 2 bullion roses.

 

These were two wonderful days of learning and fun with friends.

 



 





CQJP2012 May and July

At last "Barefoot Girl," my May crazy quilt journal project block is complete. And here it is almost May again. Can I finish this project in 2013? We'll see.

I have blocks June through September pieced, but I have mislaid a piece of yarn I need for June. So I am working on July entitled "Independence and Creativity in honor of my nine year-old granddaughter, Lorelei, who was born in July. I's her infant "I am woman" pose featured as a silky on the block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independence is for the birthday of the USA and creativity is for my granddaughter's because she is a very creative person. I love that about her.

 

The red circle at the top left is meant to be a balloon, but it needs a different highlight to look like one. It will be one of 3 in red, white and blue. There will be mice on the block, because Lorelei has been a mouse enthusiast since she got two as pets for her fifth birthday. She still draws them often and they populate her fantasy place, Meek World.  Other ideas will come in the crazy quilting way as I work along on the block.

 

I'm wondering how all these blocks in different color ways will go together at the end. Hmmm.



Progress on CQJP 2012 and some beaded flowers

Progress on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 is not so great. I'm still working on May: Barefoot Girl. But I'm enjoying it and getting some good advice from the women in my EGA crazy quilt interest group.

This block's theme is another memory from my childhood on an Iowa farm. I was a barefoot girl in the summertime and sometimes so early in the spring my feet would be cold, but not cold enough for donning shoes. In summer the soles of my feet would get so tough I could race over rought terrain without any discomfort. And bare feet are very useful for climbing trees. I spent a lot of time in trees, eating mulberries, challenging myself to new heights and just sitting and swaying. After a rain, bare feet in the mud are a delight and help to dam up runoff rivulets.

I confess, I've never given them up. I still have my shoes off as much as possible. That could be why yoga is my exercise program of choice after walking. I don't wear shoes when I go into my backyard or visit the neighbors in theirs. And, I'm particular to have my shoes as comfortable as possible when I must wear them.

Here is my progress on my CQJP 2012 Barefoot Girl block. The photo of the girl is not me, but it could be. I found the image and the one of the dangling feet on the internet. I regret to admit I can't find them again to attribute them. I definitely will start making a habit of recording attribution for photos I use in the future.

I need to finish needle painting the cows and add a branch on the right to support the cat face (suggestion from Susan of my CQ group). The end is in sight. Following is a close up of the chicken group in the foreground.

I indulged a diversion while I was in Portland, Maine, to visit my my 9 year-old granddaughte, Lorelei (and her parents) during her school break. I took along the new-to-me book, The Beaded Garden, by Diane Fitzgerald, Interweave Press, 2005. I made a few of the flowers from the book with no particular use in mind. Lorelei gave it a try, but decided it wasn't for her. The beads were too small and she didn't want to try size 8 which I had. Here are the flowers I made while listening with Lorelei to Jim Dale read Harry Potter on audio.

Something Special from Peru

In July I took the trip I had been dreaming of for years: an Amazon River Cruise and Rain Forest exploration. I loved it. The weather was perfect, it was less buggy than here in Maryland, the trip leader was excellent and fun, lots of wildlife showed itself and the villagers (riverenos) were friendly.

I had my eye out for embroidery, of course. At a gift shop at an archeological site outside Lima, before we even reached the Amazon watershed, I found my favorite piece. Yes it's a  mountain scene and I didn't visit the mountains, but I had to have it anyway.

You can see it is applique and embroidery with stumpwork. Just up my alley. I will use it for pointers to add figures to a years-old UFO I have, if I ever get back to it.

Below are close ups of some of the stumpwork figures  on it.

 

 

In Iquitos, the headwaters port on the Amazon, there were other embroideries for sale that I wish I had bought. Ah, well.

Southern Spring, CQJP 2012 April Block

Oh, me. This isn't the end of April, is it. It IS the finish of a flowered block inspired by spring in the south. I'm a native of Iowa. When I moved from there in 1970 to Raleigh, North Carolina, I was delighted with the blooming of  shrubs and trees in the spring. Azalea, dogwood, redbud, apple, pear, and cherry blossom. And it goes on all summer with magnolia, crepe myrtle, mimosa. Just plain beautiful. I now live in Maryland, where it is still the south and I am still delighted every spring.

 The photo on this block is of the pink dogwood in front of my house. Mine is the the house in the foreground with the big picture window for viewing it. The tree is very old. I don't know how many more years I will have it, so I savor all the more the pink beauties it blooms each spring.

March CQJP 2012 Block

Yes, March brings the spring equinox and this year it was really spring when it came.
In Iowa, where I grew up the daughter of a tenant farmer, March 1 was moving day. Farm leases began on March 1 so moving in could be finished in time to prepare the fields and plant the crops. Of course the old saying about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb or vice versa was based on a little bit of truth about the iffy weather. In my fifth grade year, my sisters and I were snowed in with my Aunt Sarah's family for three days when a blizzard came during our move. My parents were snowed in at the new farmhouse without everything hooked up. I wish now I could ask details about how they managed, but alas they are gone now.

My March Crazy Quilt Journal Project  block remembers moving day, this time without the blizzard. The daffodils are blooming in crocheted glory and forsithia adds it's bright yellow to the day. The family dog makes the move, too, representing the livestock that goes. The year of the blizzard, our old dog Bud, made the trip, but didn't stay. He made his way back to farm where he had spent his life until now. He had actually been my Grandparents' dog and we had lived on the home farm after they retired to town. My Dad made arrangements for him to stay there with the people who moved in behind us.

February CQJP 2012 Block

It''s woman power and the stages of a woman's life. I had no idea this would be it when I began. I just wanted to use a beautiful carved cameo cabochon of a girl which I have had for a long time.

This lovely maiden made we think of the stages of a woman's life: maiden, mother, wise woman. And a theme was born.

I added the vintage brooch of a woman I bought at Accessories of Old several years ago when they still had their bricks and morter store.

I needed the face of an old woman for the wise woman image, so I pulled out the package of sculpey my son-in-law gave me for Christmas and made one. Actually I made 3 and picked my favorite, although I almost decided to look for something else, because I'm definitely an amatuer sculptor. I think now she looks like she could give some good advise.

I also added a dragon charm as a symbol of woman power.  Way back in 1978, as a slightly frustrated feminist (the Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution was going down to defeat), I was reenergized and inspired by reading, When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone. It was in this book I learned that the dragon was an ancient symbol for the goddess and I have used and collected dragon images and items since then.

My friend Helen, of my crazy quilt group told me it is also a symbol of transformation. And, doesn't that fit with the whole theme, too!

At last April's Crazy Quilt Adventure in Connecticut, we exchanged hand-made  motifs. Some pretty ribbon flowers I received were the perfect color for this block. I regret I discarded the card that was with them, so I can't personally thank the friend who made them. I hope you see this to see how pleasingly they were used.

After all the seams were embellished, I had one spot left for a motif, so I furthered the mother theme with an image of madonna and child.

Here is the completed block, finished 2 days into March. I hope to make up that slippage and stay on schedule to have a complete quilt at the end of the year. I didn't want to start slipping this soon. These are 8 inch blocks.

CQJP 2012 January block finished

Okay. I finished my January block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 (CQJP 2012) just in the nick of time. I  hope this doesn't bode badly for the rest of the months.

This is an 8 inch block as all will be.

Since I learned that the winter holidays origninated with ancient people celebrating the return of the sun, I have loved the idea. Well, in 1965, the sun's return heralded the arrival of my son, Joe, on the 28th. I think he began yelling and kicking before he was born. He was a difficult one to raise, but also a charmer. Hence all the meanings of "ka-pow" came into my life. I'm happy to report he became a responsible adult and the sun still returns to my pleasure in January.

Crazy Quilts are Quilts, Too

www.pigtalesandquilts.com is having a Crazy Quilts are Quilts Too online contest and show. I didn't enter a piece in the contest, but I'm doing the "linky" thing. Here a picture of my latest finished piece, Green Apple Flutter.

It is 14 inches square. It started with a 6 inch square block I made to experiment with the colors orange and lime green. I decided to enlarge the piece to take to the Crazy Quilt Adventure retreat in Connecticut last April for a work piece. I decided to include some plastic stickers I had with uplifting words to go with the bright colors: grow, play and bloom. I used a fair number of new to me techniques on the block, including stumwork wired butterflies. My friend Susan brainstormed to help me chose a new name for it, Green Apple Flutter. I had been calling it red orange and apple green block. That didn't exactly flow.

I've been crazy quilting since a few months after I retired in 1997. I wanted to make a quilt and was looking through old ideas and patterns I had kept. I was struck immediately by a crazy quilt pattern, ca 1960s and started on a full sized quilt I called "The Sampler." I read that a spider and web on a quilt is good luck. I remembered the big garden spiders that built their webs between the corn rows on the Iowa farm where I grew up. I made a "corn rows" block with a spider in the middle that is 3 1/2 inches long from including the legs. She was published in the first issue of Quilting Arts magazine.  I finished the quilt in 2001.

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During that time I joined the Crazy Quilt group on Quiltropolis and found a great community for learning and friendship. I participated in a number of round robins over several years. I enjoyed them a lot, but have given them up because I want the time to work on my own projects. As various new crazy quilt groups have formed, I've joined them, too. Can't say enough about how valuable they are for promoting our art.

I've made two other full-sized quilts: one for my friend Maggie:

Since Marguarite means daisy, the quilt was full of daisy motifs and "silkies." It was made of cotton fabrics from my stash in purples.

And another for my sister: Bells and Butterflies for Betty



This is  blues, her favorite color and features the objects of her collections, bells and butterflies.

I've also made blocks for donations, ornament and toys over the years:

These are some examples. As I look back through my pictures I see I've had a lot of fun with my crazy quilting needle. 

Two Ornaments

Solstice is here, Hanukkah is underway, Christmas eve is coming soon. Best wishes to all of you for these and other celebrations of the season.

This year I made two Christmas ornaments. The first was for my Crazy Quilt Group holiday exchange. I forgot to take a picture, but  Susan took one during the party. Here is her post on the event.
 
The second one was for my friend Laura. We exchange dogsitting, so I took some pictures of her dog Wagner while he was staying with us, printed them on silk and pieced them into the ornament.



Both ornaments were made with four inch circles pieced on interleaving paper instead of muslin to get enough stiffness to hold the form. The embellished, folded in half and put together like segments of and orange. Laura's has three segments so Wagner's picture shows well. The exchange one now belonging to Maureen has five segments. I rather like the way they turned out.