Allie's in Stitches

My Exhibit at Road to Californa 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:45:00 +0000

I was honored to be asked to show my crazy quilts at Road to California last week, and glad to give CQs some exposure in the sane quilt world!

I had some very great volunteers helping me hang the quilts.

I couldn't have done it without them!

When everything was ready, it looked like this:

This was the "spring" side...quilts made when things are growing and blooming around here.
And in the fall, my palette shifts over to this:

This has happened for the last 10 years, which is the amount of time this body of work represents, more or less.

It was really fun to secretly watch people taking in the exhibit.

I enjoyed being "backstage" at the show, too, helping a friend of a friend set up her vendor booth.

She asked me to sort her threads for sale into colors. Now what could be more fun than that?

And then she paid me in threads, over lunch! That card is of the Lei Challenge she and her friends in Hawaii participated in...yes, those are long narrow quilts.

My brother and sister each braved the Southern California traffic to come out to Ontario and show support.

Thanks, Matt and Mary!
Oh! And I have been invited to teach there next year, so stay tuned for more information in the coming months....

Gerlinde Hruzek's "All Creatures Large and Small"

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:03:00 +0000

I have spent the last three days at the Road to California show in Ontario, California. It is a big and wonderful quilt show...and one of a minority in the USA that accepts crazy quilts in competition. This year of all the entries there was only one crazy quilt....but it was a masterpiece. It was entered in the "Traditional Other" category.

Its maker is a woman whose work I recognize from fleeting glimpses of tantalizing quilts online here and there. Her name is Gerlinde Hruzek, and I believe she resides in Arizona.

I hope that this fine lady does not mind that I post detailed photos of her quilt, All Creatures Large and Small, for the pleasure and instruction of other crazy quilters. Ms. Hruzek, you are a true inspiration!

This quilt was made entirely by hand: pieced, quilted, embroidered....there is cross stitching, needlepoint, and tatting as well.

I photographed each of the 20 blocks and am showing them below, followed by an overall shot of the quilt. Take your time and enjoy this truly superlative work! Click on the photos to see them enlarged.

This is her eleventh crazy quilt, truly the work of greatness. It took 3rd Place in her category, but I think it should have been 1st!
I'll just bet she is hard at work on #12 now, too......

New Project: Carole's Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:02:00 +0000

One of the highlights of my time at the Victorian Stitchery Retreat in Wichita last fall was spending time with Carole Samples. Most crazy quilters are familiar with her book, Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches, one of the "bibles" of our craft. Far fewer of us have had the privilege of hearing her lecture, taking a class from her, or just hanging out enjoying her delightful conversation. I felt so lucky!

My friend Val Bothell, organizer of the retreat, and I were inspired by her block designs in a challenge we issued to each other: let's see how original our individual "takes" on working up the same block can be! Crazy quilting obviously has room for many, many interpretations....You can fview Val's take on Carole's heart on her blog here.

As always, I LOVE pulling fabrics at the beginning of a new piecing project.

I decided I couldn't do just one heart, you see, so have had a blast over the last week making several of them:

They all will finish out at about 14" X 14 1/2".
I still very much have plaid on the brain. There are the blue ones...

....and the green ones....

...and the brown ones...

...and one white one.

Altogether up on the design wall they look like this:

I definitely scratched my piecing itch this week...now for the fun of embellishment!

Go Crazy....Finished!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:59:00 +0000

Thanks, everyone, for all your sweet comments on my last post!

I have loved making this quilt and am sad to see it end. All that blue herringbone stitching on the blocks accompanied me through the entire year of 2011--on airplanes, while Skypeing, when visiting family--this was the perfect work for those snipets of time when I wanted to be stitching but couldn't think too much about it or bring a whole bunch of stash and tools along.

And the way it all finally came together was really fun, too.

I decided to use the same orange melton wool for the binding as is on the back of the quilt, but wanted to "frame" the outer edge in black as well. The wide black rick rack was my solution. It's zig zag shape mimics the herringbone, too.

It was yummy stitching through the wool binding, getting the rick rack on.

I'm going to have to find another one-block quilt, so I can do this again!

530 Buttons Later....

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:08:00 +0000

This step in finishing my "Go Crazy" quilt took a wee bit longer than I thought it would!

First I had to source the backing fabric, which I found at the Pendelton outlet store in my home town of Washougal, WA., a beautiful orangey-red melton wool for $5.95/yard.

Then I had to find some buttons for the back. I planned on sewing my yellow pearl buttons on the front, while securing them to the back of the quilt with a mix of multi-colored 2 hole buttons. I found those in an antique store in my nearby town of Camas, WA called A Twist on Time.

I love my Pendleton store.

They have beautiful clothes at a serious discount, 2 miles from my house. I rarely shop anywhere else. They also have a nifty selection of woolen fabrics, woven on site there at the mill, that for some indiscernible reason are deemed "seconds" so are very cheap.

Beautiful woolens, the selection always changing at the Pendleton store.

And great buttons at A Twist on Time in Camas. The owner, Belle, let me dig through the bin and pick out just the 2 hole buttons I wanted, which was very gracious and helpful of her! A baggie of all I needed cost me $4.00.

So then I got to work....

I used the intersections of the blocks to space the larger buttons, and a ruler to find the center of the black diagonal shapes for the smaller buttons. I sewed the yellow ones to the colored ones, front to back, and then hid the knots. I did this 265 times... ;-)

These buttons' function is not only decorative, but also to hold the quilt together quite securely, so no quilting is needed.

Here is the quilt pinned up on my design wall. It measures about 62" X 62".

I am very tickled by how the back turned out, I must admit.

I have fantasies of some future grandchild toddler sitting on this quilt and carefully exploring all the different colored buttons on the back...

The final question of course is how to handle the binding. I've thought of lots of ideas, and will settle on one so that I can have this finished by New Year's...I hope!

Pete and Katie

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:11:00 +0000

Readers may remember the project my nephew Andy asked me to make for him to give to his girlfriend Kaylie, called Love by the Moon. Well, another beloved nephew, Peter, made the same request, for a wall hanging for him to give to his girlfriend for Christmas.

What an honor and a pleasure! Pete had a quotation he wanted to include, and the rest was up to me.

Just like little girls and boys
Playing with their little toys.
Seems like all we really were doing
Was waiting for love.
from "Real Love" by the Beatles

It was the "little girls and boys" that gave me my direction...

This measures 15" X 20", and is mounted over foam core.

Here is the back:

It is just whip stitched to the front along the edge of the foam core, with all the edges tucked in nice and neatly.

I used flowers from my friends at M and S Schmalberg, and some appliques from Tinsel Trading, treasure from my recent trip to New York. The trim is from an Indian merchant on Ebay...

They look pretty happy, don't they?
She was very pleased with her gift, Pete says....and his Aunt Allie was thrilled to be a small accomplice in support of this real love.....

"Go Crazy"....Top Complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Busy, busy, busy! I had this done by 4 p.m. Sunday, well ahead of my goal. I would have kept on working at assembling the quilt, but I need to buy some backing fabric and did not have a car today....alas, RIP my '99 green Subaru Outback wagon, which bit the dust Friday...costs more to fix than it is worth....I loved that car... and #2 son needed his parents' other Subaru to get to work today. So no backing fabric!

Anyways, getting the top done was a major push...

This detail shot shows the new look of the quilt, now that the blocks are joined and feather stitched.

Each one of those seams had to be tied off, beginning and end.

Sometimes I'd add an extra stitch or two using the tail of the thread.

Then I'd bring it to the back and knot it with the bobbin thread. I used #12 thread in the top, #30 in the bottom, with a #90 topstitch needle. Because all the seams had been pressed open, I had double fabric thickness for the embroidery, which worked out nicely.

Now the quilt looks like this:

The top measures 65" X 65".

It is about to be transformed again when I add the buttons, which are going to be not only decorative but functional: they will hold the quilt together, serving the same purpose as tying it would.
I'm thinking about backing this with wool, maybe because it is so cold out right now. But I do want to use this quilt for getting cozy on the couch. Wool would be nice for that...and I think it fits the rather rustic theme as well.

I want this bound and finished by Wednesday night!

"Go Crazy"....progress

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:24:00 +0000

It's been a year since I started this quilt, engulfed in a fabulous frenzy making the blocks using my Go! AccuQuilt cutter.

Since then I've embroidered all 144 blocks with the herringbone stitch in different threads/ribbons and shades of blue. On airplanes, while on the phone, in the car....because the stitching was easy, I could do it anywhere. But there sure were a lot of them!

Now I've got the blocks assembled into groups of four...

What is it about plaid that is just so delicious? Wool, silk, cotton flannel, it is all so yummy...even more so when they are all together.

Here is an overall shot...

I love the sane quilting aspect of this work, trimming the blocks, getting their corners to meet exactly. It is like focusing an image with a camera, tightening things up.

Now look in the lower left corner...

That's #12 Aurofil thread in a feather stitch over the center seams...I have one block down, 35 to go....then I'll assemble them and cover the seams between the four block sections with more of the feather stitching. My goal is to have it done by Monday. Wish me luck!!!

I'm a Bluebird!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Do you all remember that great song, by Paul McCartney?

It inspired my little project, along with this lovely velvet bird from Maureen's Vintage Acquisitions.

Maureen commissioned the birds to sell from my friends at M & S Schmalberg Custom Fabric Flowers.

For my segment on Quilt Out Loud last week, I demo-ed how to make a curved applique crazy quilt block. After I got home, I decided I would finish the embellishment so viewers could see "the rest of the story".

Here is is!

That's one of my floral collage photos in the center. The show will be airing in early spring, hence the theme.
I do hope you will click on the link to the song, above. It is so pretty...I played it many times as I was stitching.

But now it is back to Christmas carols.... ;-)

Quilting Out Loud at the Newark Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:32:00 +0000

It was a "pinch me" week-end in the New York City area! I flew in late Thursday and back home early Sunday, with every second in between filled with rich and wonderful quilt-related experiences...

I spent all day Friday in the Garment District visiting M & S Schmalberg Custom Fabric Flowers and my other must-stops to shop for treasure. Right after I got back to Newark, my friend Jodie Davis arrived at the hotel and we turned in early to be fresh for our big day Saturday, filming my segment of "Quilt Out Loud" at the Newark Museum. Our reward for that was a party back in the City....

The Newark Museum is an unsung gem. Among many, many other things, they have a huge quilt collection, most of which never sees the light of day. But right now a fabulously curated show is up that gives a sampling of what they have. Included are some crazy quilts that have never been publicly displayed before now. Have a look! (All photos are posted with permission.)

This is the Hall Family Crazy quilt, completed in 1882 in Providence, Rhode Island. It was a multi-generational family collaboration which I found fascinating. Some of the makers could NOT get with the crazy quilting program and made traditional quilt blocks that they then embroidered. Others simply embroidered their squares. There are a few randomly pieced blocks but not many!

This block is amazing, as it was done by the great-grandmother. She cross stitched her birth year, 1791! The curator, Ulysses Grant Deitz (great great grandson of the president), believes that as a child she learned stitching on samplers, and carried that tradition through into her crazy quilting. Isn't that cool? I think he was right.

There were several crazy type blocks....

But more of them were strange hybrids like this one....

...and this one, which totally cracks me up.

The border is very fine though....

Beautifully rendered...

Ulysses said he didn't like the next quilt. I'm glad that didn't stop him from including it...

....because I think it is awesome! But I love fans...and have never seen them set like this.
The backing fabric is really neat too.

All of us were trying to imagine a whole dress made of this stuff. I think it would have been fabulous but the guys weren't so sure. We all decided it must have been fabric used as linings for mens' smoking jackets.

A later crazy quilt, from 1920, is from Louisiana.

This was made by an African American lady named Mrs. Barbeau.

I really enjoyed talking with Ulysses, whose official title I think is Curator of Decorative Arts. He was really interested in the social context in which all these quilts were not only made, but donated to or purchased by the museum as well. He had both knowledgeable and fresh eyes, and the exhibit is fantastic.

In the morning, Ulysses filmed a tour of the show that will be on Quilt Out Loud early in 2012. In the afternoon, it was my turn to be on camera!

The crew was so good that my experience was fun and stress free. Jodie and Mark are such pros, as were the sound and camera guys, the oh-so-gentle director, and the production assistant too. I was in good hands.

It was fun watching them at work.....

...and it was fun being a part of it too. My segment was shot in the weaving studio. (All those looms made me so hungry to start weaving again.) It will be aired in February 2012.

When we were all done and had hugged the crew good-bye, Jodie and I took the train into Penn Station and walked the few blocks to where our friend and fellow Alliance for American Quilts board member, Victoria Findley Wolf lives. She was having her 4th Annual Girls Party and invited us! There were two other Alliance board members there too, so we had a mini-reunion.

That's Meg Cox, me, Jodie, Marie Bostwick, and Victoria.
Can you tell how much we enjoyed being together? It's a night I will never forget....

And now it is good to be home after logging many miles of fall travel. I've been a very lucky girl... ;-)

CQ Strips....continued

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:59:00 +0000

We came back last night from a lovely Thanksgiving down in Warner Springs, California. Today I just had to sew the CQ Strips project together. This measures 22" X 24" and really will make a great pillow.

I could spend months doing variations on this theme and technique! It is like my Bars and Stripes from last fall (which I sleep under and love every single day.)

I did want to mention that the Mark Quilts are all finished and were given over to Lee, her daughters Ashley and Madison, and her father Don over Thanksgiving. (Lee will bring Manny's to him...Manny is Mark's dad.) It was a private affair so I didn't take any pictures...but I will say they were very, very happy with their quilts, and I was so glad to be able to make them.

I have one more trip before the holidays get underway: Thursday I'm off to Newark to shoot an episode of Quilt Out Loud with Jodie Davis and Mark Lipinski of QNN-TV. It is going to be very wild and fun, full of surprises I have no doubt. I hope they'll let me blog about my experience! Wish me luck that I am not too dorky..... ;-)

CQ Strips

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:14:00 +0000

That class sample from the last post wasn't meant to stand alone...There are several options for cutting up a whole cloth collage/appliqued CQ...into borders, into blocks....or into strips, to be alternated with fabric strips.

I just thought denim would be good here, some of my husband's jeans that wore out over the summer. And lace of course, along with.

I don't have time to sew this up before leaving for our family Thanksgiving get together in California tomorrow...but I think it will make a really neat pillow when I get home.

Meanwhile, have a lovely holiday everyone...and thanks for being so kind to come visit me here.....xoxo

Sewing Table Retrofit

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Fall has definitely progressed while I was away.....I had wonderful travels, and have more ahead of me over the next 2 weeks...but for now I am back in the saddle here at home in the sewing room and loving it.

Before I begin quilting all of the quilts for Mark's family, I just had to finish up the curved piecing sample I started in class in Wichita. I loved the fabrics and colors and couldn't tear myself away from them.

I am really enjoying this collage applique style of crazy block construction. It is so totally right brain and free form.
And it doesn't take long.

This measures 18"X 22".
Some detail shots.....

Apparently some of my vintage blocks and fabrics are finding their way into the mix these days.

And I am very glad to see them!

But now it is time to get those quilts for Mark's family completed. I knew that I needed the best possible surface for quilting these, but I don't have a recessed sewing machine table. What to do?
I found my answer on Squidoo. My humble and heartfelt thanks go out to Alaskan quilter Marguerita McManus, who has some YouTubes up about how to make a foam core sewing table. This is such a brilliant solution!!!!

With the foam core and heavy vinyl sheet over it, I have a large flat slippery surface flush with my needle on the old Juki.

Admittedly it is not the most elegant solution, but it works great and was very inexpensive!

And so it begins.....a long quilting journey over the five quilts. Mark, Lee, Manny, Don, Madison and Ashley will keep me good company along the way....

Wonderful Wichita

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:26:00 +0000

It couldn't have been a better week. Gathering at the Hotel at Old Town, students and teachers enjoyed classes, camaraderie, and the friendly and helpful staff at this restored hotel.
It was a neat neighborhood full of restaurants, shops, and museums, all easy walking distance.

We all raved about this place!

I taught for three days, two of them being my "Home Portraits" class.

My students worked hard, each of them bringing their own unique "take" on this concept.
Bonnie's house, below, is one example.

This photo already has a painterly quality. She is defining the house in stitching here, but later on will have a blast with the foliage. In class we talked about how each person would create a "setting" or context for their portrait, and that was really fun.

During my second session of this class, I had three cousins who all brought the same image, a drawing of their grandmother's house where they used to play together as children.

They were so much fun!

They all plan on finishing these by Christmas and giving them to their mothers, who are sisters. Is that cool or what?

Sandy, the oldest, had brought a beautiful wedding dress for the evening's build-your-stash event (where old dresses are cut up for everyone to get a piece.) Her cousins insisted that the dress was too beautiful for that, and made her put it back in the car!
I agreed with them....but asked if I could "try it on" (putting my arms through the sleeves) before they did. I had never worn a bridal gown (got married in something simpler) and just had to try it.

A bouquet of Judith Montano's silk ribbons for sale completed the array.
I can cross this off my bucket list!

I think everyone learned some new approaches for their own work in the Curved Piecing class.

Busy, busy, busy!

Everybody put their own spin on it.

This student couldn't stand lace, but she loves monsters.
Crazy quilting can take many forms!

There was a great show and tell with some terrific attendees' work for all to admire.

I so wish I could remember names better...this hexagon set CQ was so original and beautifully made.

But the crazy quilt I loved best was this one:

It just speaks to my soul...it is like a many layered poem that I want to read and read some more.

Here are my fellow teachers taking a closer look at a quilt being passed around.

Candace Kling and Judith Montano were a delight to get to know....and learn from.

Another teacher was Carole Samples, who gave a lecture on categorizing crazy quilt blocks that I will never, ever forget.

What a national treasure she is!!!

I can't thank Val Bothell enough for hosting this retreat and doing such a beautiful job for everyone, bringing us together to share our love of crazy quilting, embellishment, and stitching.

Unfortunately, our fellow teacher Gerry Kreuger was busy teaching when we grabbed a chance for a group photo...but the rest of the crew are me, Judith Montano, Candace Kling, Dixie Derksen, Val Bothell, and Carole Samples.
Thanks to everyone who came and made this so special....

Off to the Victorian Stitchery Retreat

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:41:00 +0000

I am thrilled to be leaving for Wichita tomorrow to teach "Curved Crazy 'Piecing'" and also "Home Portraits" at the Victorian Stitchery Retreat. The conference will be held at the restored Hotel at Old Town which looks so cool and inviting.
It will be great to see old friends and meet new ones, enjoy the company of my fellow teachers, and generally stitch like mad for the next four days.

I prepared a new Home Portrait myself to demo and work on alongside my students.

There is a special reason for using a border of antique quilt blocks....I'll tell you about it later. But they fit the Red Guest House at my cousins' ranch in New Mexico pretty well, don't you think?

I did manage to add a few more (crucial) details to "Hummer's Joy" after we got home from Mexico. It just felt like something was missing to me.

It needed more dimensional work. I don't know why, but it did, especially that daisy in the upper right. I added some oya to the center of the flower bouquet, too.

It sure looked different here at home when we got back from Mexico!

Fall really fell.
I wonder if it will be winter when I get back!

Happy Stitching til then.....

Hummer's Joy

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:47:00 +0000

That's my name for the pounded flower experiment I've been stitching on here in Mexico. And it has been a joy.

Now it's time to pack up. Here is my "work station"....I've worked on so many things at this table over the years. A couple of my book projects, a block from "Crazy for Flowers", and quilt for the Alliance for American Quilts contest to name a few....all right here.
Often while my husband is out on the water...

...kayaking and sporting with the dolphins if they come by. That tiny black dot on the water is him!

I have had a soundtrack for this too. It is such a pretty, pretty song. It is called "Blackberry Vine", by Devin Townsend. (In his day job he has a Death Metal band, but it supports gorgeous music projects like this, from the album Ghost.)

I got pretty far on this piece:

It needs an outer border or at least a binding....the big challenge was integrating the 3 D embellishments with the printed photo in the center. I'd like to try it again....

So it is adios to Mexico....it's been grand.

Flower Experiment...progress

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:25:00 +0000

I have a very nice spot in which to work.....

You have to love a place with no phone or TV, but excellent WiFi....lapping waves...sparkly sunshine...
The bright colors all around are just right for working on this project.

One of Debra's hummingbirds flew in!
As always, I am trying to use my seam treatments to "shape" the composition of this piece. If these flowers were still available when we get home, I would do more pounding and take more pictures to add another border of them...but alas, by then they will be gone.
Still, this is a nice warm up for what could be a large project next year.....

CQ Borders for the Flower Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:04:00 +0000

I made some borders to surround the printed photo from my pounded flower experiment. It was so nice to work with these bright colors...a way to thumb my nose at the gray skies descending I guess.

I plan on working these seams and adding a bit to the center while on vacation this coming week....I have no idea where this is going to go, but I know that I am going to the beach!

Flower Pounding Experiments

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:02:00 +0000

This all started with an email from my lovely friend Leonie Hartley Hoover.

I thought her design (above) was most intriguing!

Leonie included a link to a tutorial for how to do this here:

http://www.wnit.org/outdoorelements/pdf/flowerpounding.pdf

And this was what she had to say about her experience:

There are a few tutes out there on the net and I've listed one below from a reliable source I know of to give you an idea how it is done. This gal also wrote a book on it. Some people mix alum and soda for the bath and some folks just use soda. For my own use, I found the best for color density was plain baking soda and I soak the cloth for about 48 hours squeeze it gently and shake it out and then let it air dry. My experience with Borax, which some suggest using, was that the pounding faded more quickly over time. The finished cloth is never washed, as even with heat setting, washing destroys the colors.

For more prolonged longevity, you can do the flower pounding, then scan the fabric into your computer and print out the image on other treated fabric. Lots of options to play with here.

Another thing you can do is tape the flowers down on the fabric if you like with wide masking tape and then do the pounding. Lift the tape carefully and then put the tape (with the squashed remains) down again on another piece of fabric for a softer, more delicate pattern.

For the one I made today, I did not use tape at all, I just positioned carefully with my fingers and watched where the hell the hammer hit (-: and I used plastic food wrap instead of wax paper. My foray into the process today was to see what colors would appear from different plants. For more control you can use tape or even remove the petals one by one and place them carefully on the fabric. There is still some movement however and rarely perfection! However, it is fun to try all the possibilities.

Alright I just had to try this!!!!! And I had a blast.....

I followed Leonie's lead and just soaked my fabric in a baking soda solution and then let it dry for a few days.

During some "test pounds" I learned that red flowers turn into grey so I didn't use any; the oranges and yellows worked best. Always have a test cloth nearby if you are trying out new flowers or leaves.

I had taken individual petals from calendula and California poppy, taped them down, and then pounded them. This circle is about 6" in diameter. The fabric is a silk/cotton blend.

I decided to build (or pound) my composition in stages, so here is the next round.

Those colors sure do shift!

Here I have added some of those striped zebra hollyhocks, and they changed from lavender and purple to aqua and blue! The marigold leaves are in place about to be taped down and pounded.

One more round, with more poppy and calendula petals, and some fuzzy lamb's quarter leaves.

Taped and ready to go under the hammer. Wider tape would have been better, but this is what I had on hand.

Here is where I stopped.

Now, the problem with pounded flower pictures is that they fade. Victoria asked about that in the comments from my previous post. As Leonie mentioned, some people scan the finished fabric even while it is still wet and then print that onto fabric, thus capturing that glorious but evanescent pigment. I didn't want to get my scanner icky, so I decided to photograph instead.

***Edit: See Leonie's comment below! You need to heat set the finished pounded fabric, especially before you scan it (no wet fabric in the scanner allowed.)***

That gave me an idea....

I figured if I was going to have to print the image anyway, why not add some unpounded flowers on top of the fabric? That way I could get some of those reds and pinks I wanted, and of course sharper detail. The pounded fabric would then serve as a background...and a very nice one, too.

Ah, this was fun....this is the photo, and below is the printed fabric (it is cotton lawn; I use EQ Printable fabrics for their dependably high quality results), next to the pounded fabric.

The print is actually a bit larger than the original pounded fabric.

I love the background but it is going to fade. I have the picture though in case I want to print it as is.

My plan is to create a border to go around this printed bouquet and make a little wall piece for my upcoming special exhibit at Road to California in January. Fun!

October Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:42:00 +0000

It is very busy around here, buttoning up the garden before the next rains hit...so I'm not getting much time in the sewing room.
There are a few blooms left though....

Love those dahlias!
I've been playing around a little with flower pounding too...wish I had more time for this!

A simple lay-out.....

...turns into this!
I hope to have more on all this in my next post....
Happy fall, everyone!

Test Driving the Sweet 16 with David Taylor

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:34:00 +0000

That's the HandiQuilter Sweet 16, which I have been lusting after for the past couple of years. It is basically a sitdown quilting machine with a very large flatbed surface to work on. You push the fabric around under the needle, unlike on longarm machines where you guide the movable needle over the fabric. There are no feed dogs and no presser foot. It is strictly for free motion quilting.

David Taylor is a true pro in this type of work, and is an official "Ambassador" for Handiquilter, sharing his expertise and passion for this machine.
He does detailed and meticulous pictorial hand applique, and then enhances the imagery with very close machine quilting, using hundreds of thread color changes along the way. (He likes the Sulky Blendables 30 weight cotton thread for this, by the way, because their variegations in color are random on the thread. Good tip there.)

Here is one of his quilts:

It's his dog, Maynard.

David's class was about "quilting organically". He does not mark his quilts, but intuitively responds to his imagery by quilting "the way things move and grow". I love that approach.....but as you know, I am not this kind of quilter. My agenda was to see if spending a day with a pro and the Sweet 16 would help me see if I could integrate this kind of quilting work with crazy quilting in any way. It has been an issue bugging me a lot. Can it be done?
My friend Debra Hardman is great at it, which is why I wanted her quilt in my book.

She is quite the master. I couldn't hope to quilt anything like this, but still I wanted to see what would happen, how it felt.

David started us out with a neat exercise.

He gave us some large scale floral fabric to practice on.
He also showed us how to handle a larger piece of work on the Sweet 16.

He's got the excess rolled up against the back, and has made "waves" in the quilt so that he can easily move the quilt around under the needle. He likes to quilt from forward to back (probably from years on a regular sewing machine); he starts all his quilts in the center and quilts outward from there, turning the quilt as he needs to.

He emphasized how his lines are always curved, never in a set pattern of length. He demonstrated by doing a freehand animal face.

He slowed the machine down while outlining the eyes. The Sweet 16 lets you set the speed, a great feature. But it is not a stitch regulator. David again and again stressed that the movement of your hands has to match the speed of the machine. Like in driving, how you steer and how much you hit the gas are definitely related. He also said, "You don't watch the steering wheel as you drive, either...do you?"
You are always looking ahead to where you are going to stitch, and your hands will follow your brain's lead....like in driving.
Naturally, this takes lots and lots of practice.

OK, on to my sample. The jury is definitely out for me on this! The results were crude, but held possibility...

First was my crazy quilt block.

Boo. Quilting for quilting's sake on a CQ block is a no go, for me at least. It HAS to be integrated and essential to the overall design of the piece. And that could happen, especially if the CQ was pictorial in nature. I do like the way the butterfly could move on the patch with quilting.

OK, next is the "Go Crazy" 4 block sample.

Again, boo. No likey.

Then I tried messing with May the cat.

The face is a wash. (If I dived into thread painting however, that could be cool....) I learned that there is little point in quilting on velvet. On the other hand, I kind of liked what could be done by quilting the white background doily. Potential there.

Next came the printed photo landscape. This got me excited.

David said that I was embroidering here, not quilting, and he was right. But that's what I do, so who cares? What I liked was that with practice and a deft touch, machine embroidery could work on a photo of this scale. I didn't know that before.

Finally, my biggest rush of the class. I had brought one of the running figures from Mark's quilts to see how I might quilt that. I asked David what he would do, so he sketched out some quilting lines and then I sewed over them. I was thrilled with his idea.

Click on this to see...basically, David put the runner in context, with a simple road leading with perspective to a background. I never EVER would have thought of this. In heavier thread, this would be smashing.
While I won't go this detailed on Mark's quilts, I will definitely use the concept. I had to hug David, I was so happy!

Another thing I came away with was this:

When wearing these gloves, it is very easy to move the quilt around under the needle, because you get such a nice grip. They are breathable and comfortable, light and unobtrusive. This was a major score, and will make quilting Mark's five quilts infinitely easier for me.

Do I still lust after the HandiQuilter Sweet 16? Oh indeed I do. But I can't justify the money for one yet; I can make my Juki do a lot of what I need still......but boy oh boy did I learn a lot in class, and am so glad I went.

Mark's Quilts....Madison's

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:53:00 +0000

This quilt is laid out and pinned, and in the process of being hand basted. I've decided that instead of going over my basting with machine zigzag, I will leave my own stitches in place and skip the unnecessary machine step. So I'm doing a more detailed job with the basting.

These quilts will all be quite heavily machine quilted, which is something I haven't done in awhile.
In order to get up to speed, I'll be attending an all day machine quilting class with David Taylor at the Machine Quilters Exposition, which happens to be in Portland this week.
I'm excited!

We were instructed to bring a quilt sandwich to class--either a top, or just plain muslin. I have lots of different scenarios in which I might want to try new ways of machine quiltwork, so my sample looks like this:

I have an extra running figure from Mark's shirts. I'm so glad I can practice on this before going to work on the quilts! The quilt block above it will give me a chance to play with quilting on a crazy quilt block--something I have resisted for years. The printed landscape photograph will give me a chance to use quilting as thread painting over imagery, something I'm sort of intruiged by. The four block "X" is from my ongoing
"Go Crazy" project that I started last fall. And finally, May the cat on the doily is another new situation for machine quilting.
I hope to have this sample filled by the end of class on Thursday. I'll show you what happens!

Mark's Quilts....Ashley's

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:27:00 +0000

This is the third quilt of five for Mark's family. You can read the story about this project here.

It is very helpful to have a surface large enough for laying out the whole quilt at once!

I'm so glad I revamped the sewing room, it was just in time.
Laying the quilt out this way helps me get a more balanced design than I could have otherwsie. It's tricky with all these images and disparate fabrics. But it is flowing well....

Sewing Room ReDo...Old Work Discovered

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:50:00 +0000

After the epic dual shelf collapse in July from which I found no time to properly recover, my sewing room got so bad that it became literally unusable. Finally my schedule opened up so that I could take the three days required to dig to the very bottoms of the piles, the backs of the drawers, purchase new shelving and bins, and generally do an archeological dig through my sewing life of the last 17 years.

I thought I would show some of my old work that predates my blogging and crazy quilting. I found a bunch of color copies in the bottom of a cabinet....this from the Age Before Jpegs....
So come on along, setting the Way Back Machine to the mid 1990's or so.... ;-)

I was into Broderie Perse, at least my own take on it, in a big way for many years. You will notice the flowers were as much in evidence back then as they are now; I must have cut out a jillion of them from commercial quilt fabric. This piece is 8" X 11". I probably made 35 of these little "sayings quilts", as I called them.
Here's another one:

This was for a friend, using her chosen phrase and favorite flower, the iris, and bug, the dragonfly.
I was into cutting out a lot of letters back then, too.

This is skipping ahead to early CQ days, but the letters and flowers are still there. It was for a friend's doctor's office.

She's a gynecologist. ;-)

From there the stained glass quilt phase began. I found a picture of one that I had totally forgotten about making.

I think this must have been for a church Christmas bazaar.

Then the fabric collages veered into landscapes. I miss doing them and may have to circle back to them one of these days. (There is a small one in my book, though.)

I remember being very inspired by that birch bark fabric, and using up every inch of it.

Pale winter sunlight.... This was for my oldest brother who likes it c-o-l-d.

Maybe my strangest piece, this is a collage (a work in progress shot) rendering of one of my Uncle Bill's kachina dolls. He hung this in his fancy office when he was the head of the F.D.I.C. in Washington, DC, which made me very proud. In exchange for it, he gave me his mother's oak workroom chair, which I am sitting in as I type this.

I read every single one of the 20 Brother Cadfael mysteries during those years, and decided to make a fantasy rendering of what I thought it might look like in the old England of the books...

This was large, very detailed, and kind of burned me out on landscape collage!
The next piece is a small embroidered wool landscape that I loved doing very much, for my friend Cindy Thury-Smith. She fulled the wool in it.

Cindy loves lavender, so I used a Van Gogh painting of lavender fields as my inspiration. Notice that the trees are needlepunched?

Sometimes it feels good strolling down Memory Lane... But now, everything is re-organized, slightly rearranged, and ready for new work.

This view is looking into the room....

...and this view is looking out, back toward the rest of the house.
But what is that on the table?
In the foreground are the contents of an envelope of goodies my friend Tracey Brookshier sent to me. On the end of the table is this....

A UFO! This is when I was using all vintage cottons, I was just in love with them. I had bought some rubber stamps for the precision "paper" piecing, except that the guidelines were stamped on muslin.
I really like this and will have to finish it...someday....

I've got lots of threads I can use....

Teaching the "Pretty Crazy" Pattern

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Aller) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:08:00 +0000

I didn't tell my delightful students this, but yesterday was the first time I have taught my "Pretty Crazy" pattern to sane quilters. I can't express what a thrill this was for me.....because.....they got it!

My two hour "Make and Take" class at the Northwest Quilters Expo was sponsored by one of the top rated quilt shops in the country, Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, of Salem, Oregon. The way we set up this class, Greenbaum's would supply kits for the students to buy in class, and I would come to teach it. I had to have faith that their kits would be good, as Salem was too far for me to go to check on them in person. I worked with their office manager, my friend Lisa Encabo, to give them all the information they needed.

Well!
I was just blown away by how beautiful and professional those kits were. Look!

Here is the kit from the front...included is enough to make a four block "crazy pillow" variation from the pattern. And the back....

Just beautifully, enticingly done!

At 10:30 yesterday morning, my students arrived and I had 2 hours with them. My goal was that each would master the "concept" of this pattern, getting one block sewn by the end of class.
Remember, these are sane quilters. Crazy quilting, with all the strange supplies and out-of-the-box, improvisational sewing is not the normal way they work. But they have great sewing skills.

Oh, they took to it like ducks to water. I was sooooooo happy. And even though they all had the same kits, everyone's block looked a little different. Bingo!
I think my job as a teacher sometimes is to guide students in how to play. I hope that doesn't sound presumptious, really I don't. But what fun it is to have that as my work!

Kathleen was concentrating!

Robin was cranking!

I was too busy to take any more pictures than these, but it does illustrate that my ladies were engaged and emerged successful at the end of class.
A teacher could ask for nothing more..... ;-)