Quilt Ninja

Quilting, protesting, quilting.

2018-07-01T23:56:00.001-05:00

It may not look like much yet, but it's the first quilt I've worked on in about four years. I moved from Kansas to Portland, moved from a rental to a house we purchased, and worked on my doctorate. I kept denying myself the time and the pleasure to just get in there and sew.

And, of course, I do need the pleasure. I need something in the face of what looks an awful lot like the end of the world.

I've been thinking about protest quilts. I'm certainly not alone. Right now, it's enough that I'm quilting again. For some forms of protest, existing and quilting is enough. I encourage reading this very thoughtful post on the subject and on whitewashing, which brings us right around to modern protest quilting again.

I Haven't Updated in Foreeeever

2013-04-01T15:09:00.005-05:00

So, this year I've finished one quilt before the local quilt show. One. And I gave it to my brother. That means there will be no quilts from me. However, I have started a block of the month over on Wired.

March
February
January

And then the GeekMom blog moved off of Wired, so I'm not sure what will happen with those links. The new pattern will have to go on the GeekMom.com site.

Meanwhile, my daughter made the most gorgeous quilt for the show:

So at least somebody is quilting right now. I've got some UFOs. There will be more quilts. Just not for this year's show.

Finished

2012-09-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

I did get all the quilting done, and I think it came out really well. I had enough time to show it off at quilt guild, and then it was off to Oregon to visit my brother and his family. I gave them the quilt as a housewarming present.

2012-06-01T14:24:00.001-05:00

I've been working on something. I'm obviously not done yet, but I think it's going to be both fantastic and use up a lot of those scraps I'd been gathering. There's also a string quilt about 3/4 done, and eventually I'll get started on those other projects I've been pondering.

Decision paralysis

2012-04-27T16:33:00.002-05:00

So, I got this lovely batch of scrap fabric from Marmalade Fabrics at the quilt show, and I keep going through all the lovely possibilities of things I could make with it. Something spontaneous? Something tightly planned?

Oh, I can't decide, but in my mind I've planned out a bunch of mariner's stars and the most amazing phoenix design in applique. I don't think I've got the fabric for that in this batch, but I'll allow those ideas to percolate.

Stars

2012-04-24T10:34:00.001-05:00

I love, love love how this turned out. This is my Spring Stars quilt I've been working on for a while but hadn't posted the finished product, and it makes me very happy. Just so bright and cheerful.

Finished quilt

2012-04-22T19:13:00.001-05:00

Finished quilt, a photo by haizram on Flickr.

Here she is in the show. And you can see many of the other quilts in the show here.

Serious concentration

2012-04-15T11:52:00.001-05:00

DSC02059.JPG, a photo by haizram on Flickr.

quilt

2012-04-13T23:54:00.001-05:00

quilt, a photo by haizram on Flickr.

And yet more progress...

Quilting

2012-04-11T19:33:00.001-05:00

This is her favorite part. I expect to hear singing and sewing machine from the living room for the next several nights.

Goggles!

2012-04-09T11:31:00.001-05:00

DSC02035.JPG, a photo by haizram on Flickr.

I finished my steampunk goggles. I'll have a tutorial up on GeekMom shortly.

2012-04-09T08:45:00.002-05:00

And the quilt takes shape! She got the sashing done and then went back and added a solid border. Tonight I'll help her get everything basted for quilting.

I'm super proud of her. She's grown leaps and bounds with her piecing skills, and she continues to have a great eye for color.

This will be a rush job to get finished before this month's quilt show, but I know she can do it.

Kid Quilt Ahoy

2012-04-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

My daughter is almost done with her sampler quilt. I think it's her best quilt so far. She's pieced all the squares now and picked an aubergine fabric for the sashing.
There's a little over a week to finish this thing in time for the quilt show, so it's going to be a bit of a race, but the hardest part is done.
I discovered that the best way for her to sew the trickiest bits was to use some washable magic marker to dot all the points on the triangles. She's also gotten so much better at using the foot to keep her seams at 1/4 inch.
These squares were cut from an Accuquilt, and that probably saved us hours of heartache and meltdown time. I might have tried to get her to make a sampler without it, but it would have been much smaller and taken much longer.

Free Motion

2012-02-21T04:49:00.000-06:00

freemotion, originally uploaded by haizram.

We had a mini quilt challenge using fellow guild member Barbara Brackman's Moda reproduction calico fabrics from the 60s/70s.

I decided my fabric should play at the Fillmore in a quilting rock band called Free Motion.

Geekmom

2011-10-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Hey kids, I've got a post outlining the reasons you want to teach your kids to sew over here.

Babies!

2011-09-08T11:45:00.000-05:00

I think one of the best excuses to make a quilt is when someone has a baby, especially when two of my great friends both ended up pregnant at the same time. We made a road trip to visit with another friend from Germany and took the chance to have them pose for cheesy maternity shots.

Aren't they awesome cheesy-maternity-picture posers? Well, they tried.

Anyway, I gave them both quilts and forgot to shoot pictures of them actually with their quilts or the final quilts themselves. I'm just that organized. I did, however, shoot a series of pictures explaining how I make my quilt sandwich, and I'll get those up as a tutorial.

PS: Baby John was born one week ago with a full head of red hair like his mama.

Threads

2011-08-07T11:56:00.000-05:00

So I had to get my sewing machine serviced. It's the first time I've had to have it cleaned, and it was about time. When I picked it up, the repair guy told me my thread was crap. He said Coats & Clark was ordinarily a decent company, but apparently they've taken to selling lower quality stuff to the chain stores. That was his guess, anyway. Maybe they're just no longer a good company. It was marked as machine quilting thread, but it wasn't a consistent thickness, meaning that it was causing my poor sewing machine unnecessary stress and breaking more often than it should. Whew - it wasn't my technique.

Coincidentally, we had a guest lecturer give super huge high praise to a thread I hadn't tried - Aurofil Mako Ne. I picked a couple spools at the local quilt shop, and I'll give it a try. It's pricier than what I was using, for sure, but if it pieces and quilts as awesomely as they claim it does, it will be money well spent.

Parimono and Purse

2011-07-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

Parimono and Purse, originally uploaded by haizram.

It's county fair season again. This is her entry for this year's sewing. We had some problem with tailor's chalk that wouldn't erase, but the final result is still pretty spectacular. She even made a matching purse with a zipper.

Pinwheels

2011-07-05T05:54:00.000-05:00

Pinwheels, originally uploaded by haizram.

This is her fourth quilt. She's completed the top, and it's now time to quilt and bind it. She'll use my machine instead of her Hello Kitty machine for that step. This is larger than the wall-hanging she did last time, but it's not so huge that I'm worried about her ability to maneuver it for free-motion quilting.

This quilt uses the Twister Tool - so there's only the cutting and sewing of squares involved. Perfect for a relatively new sewer.

London 2011

2011-06-20T06:07:00.000-05:00

London 2011, a set on Flickr.

Here's London. The whole trip was inspiring, but it may take a while to sort my days and nights out again.

Paris 2011

2011-06-20T06:06:00.000-05:00

Paris 2011, a set on Flickr.

And here's the Paris section.

Prague 2011

2011-06-20T06:05:00.000-05:00

Prague 2011, a set on Flickr.

Here's some pictures of my trip.

Gonna Fly

2011-05-26T06:23:00.000-05:00

I haven't gotten much done, because I'm distracted by two or three things. I'm writing another book, and I'm getting ready to go on a three-generation girls' vacation. It's going to be awesome. Europe!

I did get a few things done that I haven't posted. I've sewn one gift that I can't post yet. I've sewn one gift I forgot to photograph. I've almost quilted that robot quilt, and I should post some pictures soon. The girl's started on a freezer paper project that she'll have to finish when we get back. This one's been percolating in her brain for a while, so I think it will turn out great. I also hope she gets around to starting that "night and day" quilt idea she's been working on.

In the mean time, maybe Harold will update about his steam punk costume progress. We're a family of lazy bloggers.

Flaming Furniture

2011-05-02T03:41:00.000-05:00

DSC00693.JPG, originally uploaded by haizram.

This was one of my favorites from the quilt show. The same group of women from my quilt guild who made the now infamous Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue made this quilt. They thought people were reading a bit too much into the Sunbonnet Sue deaths, so they picked something totally random - flaming furniture.

Quilt Show

2011-05-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

DSC00690.JPG, originally uploaded by haizram.

And here's how my quilt looked in the show. Woo hoo! I swear I'm sewing a hanging loop on the back of all my quilts from now on.