Allie's in Stitches

New Colors from Point Bonita

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:35:00 +0000

Every year at Point Bonita there are two events that bring all of us out of our studios to the main gathering room: the Bazaar, where anyone can bring their wares to sell, and the Silent Auction, where people donate quilt-related items that are auctioned off for the charity of the buyer's choice.

The bidding at the auction can get quite intense. Ladies hovered over the bid cards and blatantly crossed off each others bids, smiling ferociously at their rivals as the time left was called out: "One minute remaining!" "30 seconds remaining!" I was in such a bidding war for a huge and luscious pile of silk samples...and lost, alas! But when there were but 15 seconds to go I gave up, scooted across the room to another table, and put my winning bid on these incredible wool shawl ends covered with exquisite tambour work. (Here's a great link to see how tambour work is done.)

This is high quality wool, and a most satisfying consolation prize for losing out on those silks.

At the Bazaar my old friend Vicki Day had some ravishing hand-dyed felted wool for sale, so I bought a nice palette-full.

This is just ultra-wonderful and I know I'll be using it a lot.

More color! I took a painting workshop with Lynn Koolish, who was demonstrating some possibilities of the Liquitex paints C & T is selling to the quilt shops this year.
I wasn't interested in painting on fabrics, but I did try it out on some lace and trim.

That little sheet is Lutrador...I think I'll be able to cut some nice flower petals out of it.

Being in the creative atmosphere of Point Bonita inspired me to step way out of character and paint a shirt too. Well, actually I used the shirt as the background for when I was painting the lace....

I do find the cuff details quite fetching.
My husband says it looks like someone was riding a motorcycle and ran into a South American parrot.
I haven't had the courage to try it on yet!

Some of the wool and painted lace found its way into the project I worked on all week. It is a floral framed portrait of my beautiful niece, Amaleah.

"Amaleah: Welcome Home" 18" X 18"

It was so great looking down at that wonderful smile all week as I stitched. I used a vintage quilt block as my background.

Here is a detail shot:

There is a painted lace leaf along the bottom, and a four-petaled purple wool flower along the left side, with the blue flower bead in its center. (I learned that flower from Conni Jenkins here.) The embroidered leaves are of Vicki's wool as well.
There are several needlepunch ribbon flowers on this piece, and gathered lace flowers too.

What a great week it was.....

Julie and Joe's Quilt Adventure: Crazy Quilting

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:59:00 +0000

I had a GLORIOUS week at the annual Point Bonita Getaway for 70 quilters this past week.

Unlike over the past few years, I am not going to post too much about the retreat itself....there were some objections to my "live" reports last year, as some of the ladies just wanted complete privacy. But I will still have a few pictures of my class (which went great!), the studio where we worked, and the project that held my attention all week--it wasn't my Vintage CQ either!

But first I have to tell you about Julie and Joe's Quilt Adventure, which I attended last Sunday (playing hooky for the day from Point Bonita).

Julie Silber is one of the foremost quilt historians, collectors, curators, and dealers in the country with over 40 years' experience. Thousands and thousands of quilts have passed through her hands. Joe Cunningham is one of her best friends; some of you might know him as "Joe the Quilter". Joe apprenticed himself to a master quiltmaker back in the 1970's and is committed to honoring the glory of the American quilt tradition. He too is a quilt historian, but branched out to make art quilts of his own many years ago.
He is also a performer and very, very funny.

The Adventure took place at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, which has hosted a marvelous crazy quilt exhibit over the past few months. Julie and Joe immersed themselves in the history of crazy quilting to prepare for this event, and the result is that I learned so much about the genre I love.
An added bonus was the inclusion of Barbara Brackman on the program, another of America's great quilt historians. Barbara is at Point Bonita as well, so she came on down for the afternoon part of the program to talk about how to date some of the odd and old quilts that Julie brought to stump her.
Barbara was impossible to stump, however.

The first part of the program was spent touring the museum's gallery of crazy quilts, with Julie, Joe, and the museum's knowledgeable executive director, Jane Przybysz, Ph.D, putting them in the context of social history and teasing out such fascinating information from each quilt.

The picture above shows the "trunk show" part of the program which took place after lunch, with amazing quilts from Julie and Joe's personal collections. (This one is made mostly from cigarette and cigar silks.) They brought many quilts, and often had spirited disagreements about them, too!

As you can see from the body language....

My goodness!

How I wish I could remember what the issue was here. I was laughing too hard to follow it!
(And by the way, that is a very rare tile quilt behind them. Click on the picture to see it.)

They gave me permission to post pictures from their talks, so here are just a few of the great quilts they showed us:

There is Barbara on the right. They all guessed that this was a mourning quilt, with some of the black fabrics possibly made from the mourning dress worn by the widow. It was a sad but lovely piece....some of the stitching betrayed real distress.

Julie's definition of a crazy quilt was that it have randomness to the piecing. I believe that the use of fancy fabrics and embroidery stitching along the seams is also part of what makes a quilt "crazy"...so to me this quilt almost qualifies, though they called it a "sampler". But a detail of the middle block on the right at least reveals the crazy influence....

The quiltmaker filled in the squares of her 20-patch block with crazy stitching! How cool is that?

Then there were some of my very favorite crazy quilts, the ones made of cotton that had random elements to the piecing but were quilted (I think) and used as bed covers.

I find this one utterly compelling.
I might have to make it some day....I took a picture of one of the blocks sideways and "not on point" to help me analyze it. All the blocks are the same lay-out using the same values, with slightly different fabrics. It is the repetition of them that slays me.

I know this quilt is in my future..... ;-)

One of the highlights of my Quilt Adventure experience was the commute: driving down from Point Bonita to San Jose with Joe in the morning was so much fun, with stimulating talk the entire way about such things as what is in "the DNA of American quilting"--which Joe says has been freedom of choice, from the very beginning...and then the return drive with Barbara. I was one lucky gal; it was a day I will always treasure.

If you ever have a chance to attend any of Julie and Joe's future Adventures, no matter what the subject in quilting, you will be so glad you did.
Thanks, you two!!!!!

My Workshop at Point Bonita..."May"

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Our fearless leader of the Point Bonita quilt retreat, Kathy Ronsheimer, asked me if I would lead the guest workshop this year. What an honor!
Our artists-in-residence, Bettina Havig, Mickey Lawler, Judy Warren Blaydon, and Nancy Halpern give fabulous new workshops every year...plus one "guest teacher" is invited to offer a workshop each year too. Attendees usually pick one workshop per year from these offerings, and it is really hard to choose, too.
Actually this year there will be two of us filling the guest teacher slot. Lynn Koolish, author and editor at C & T Publishing, is showing students how to paint on fabric using C & T's new Surface Design Center products. (That's the workshop I'll be taking. Very excited about it!)

And I will be teaching a little project showing how to make a small embellished portrait.

"May"
8" X 8", 2009

Each of my students will be bringing in their own photo-transferred "subject" already appliqued onto background fabric, and then they will be learning the flowers shown here.
I can't wait to get the needles into their hands!

New Issue of CQMagOnline is Live

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:28:00 +0000

www.cqmagonline.com

Our editor, Rissa Peace Root, has done another fantastic job. Check it out!

More Needlepunch Ribbon Flowers

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:27:00 +0000

My friend Freda was so nice to lend me her Dancing Needle. I purchased my own (here) so sent hers back with one of my flowers.
*edit* The large Dancing Needle--also known as the Ribbon Needle--this one.*

Freda is a very elegant lady (and as warm and sweet as she is beautiful) so I tried to make something she might enjoy.
I liked using the velvet millinery leaves a lot.

Then I tried to needlepunch some ribbon on needlepoint canvas, wanting to see if it would work...

For the larger ribbon it did, but I couldn't use anything smaller in the center. Sewing those beads on was easy, though.
I did like not having to use a hoop for this, and I think it will cut out and applique just fine on a quilt.

This one is about 3" wide.

The annual quilt retreat at Point Bonita is in a week! Because this marks its 30th year, we are all encouraged to make a challenge quilt, 18" X 18", to celebrate with the theme "Point Bonita, My Second Home". There should be some doozies. I'll post mine here when it is done...having some fun with it!

D.C. Area Fundraiser for the Alliance for American Quilts!

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:05:00 +0000

The nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts will host two fundraising events in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 4.

The "Connected by Threads" events will celebrate quilts, quiltmakers and quilt history through the lens of two speakers, Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi and Le Rowell, both board members of The Alliance for American Quilts (AAQ). Mazloomi will speak at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm including a tea reception, and Rowell will speak at a dinner and silent auction from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the DACOR Bacon House. The events will benefit the nonprofit AAQ, a national organization that documents, preserves and shares the rich history of quilts and quiltmakers (www.AllianceforAmericanQuilts.org). Both Mazloomi and Rowell will be sharing quilts from their own collections and studies. "Connected by Threads" is sponsored by Lisa Ellis of the Sacred Threads Exhibit and maker of Art Call, the on-line artist registration, jurying and exhibit administration system, www.ellisquilts.com, and the Rowell Family Charities. An individual ticket including both events is $85 for AAQ members and $100 for nonmembers. Individual event tickets are also available.

Live by the Sun, Love by the Moon...Epilogue

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:05:00 +0000

Andy has returned from visiting his girl Caylie back East. He presented her with his gift, the wall hanging he commissioned from me, and I do believe it had the desired effect. :-)

There is no better medium for conveying love than quilts...this we know!!!!

I received this remarkable letter and picture this morning, and am so happy to share it with you who have followed this tender tale.....

Aunt Allie,

It’s nice to meet the creator of my amazing Christmas present! My name is Caylie and I am your nephew Andy’s girl, as well as the recipient of your beautiful artwork. I’ve had the gift for a few days now and I still smile every time I look at it hanging on my wall. It has definitely been the most thoughtful and special gift I have ever received. Andy is, by far, the most thoughtful, sweet, and genuine person I have ever met. You are very lucky to have him as a part of your family. I only wish I had met him sooner. His ideas for this were perfect. He knew how much I love watching the moonsets over the ocean with him. And he even incorporated one of my favorite quotes “Live by the sun..love by the moon” into it. Perfect, perfect, perfect! Between his perfect ideas for the art and your creative hands, it’s the greatest gift ever....

And the fact that you blogged about making my gift made the story behind the art so much cooler! You had so many people excited about the progress on your work and so many others excited for Andy and I. And Andy definitely scored “major points” with this gift! I don’t think he will be able to top this one!

I noticed that there were many followers to your blogs that were eager to hear what I thought of it too. So if you want, feel free to post my letter and picture on your website.

I hope someday when I’m out on the west coast we can meet and I can thank you in person!

Thank you so much Aunt Allie!!

Caylie

Caylie my dear, you are most welcome!
May you and Andy watch many, many more moonsets together....
Love,
Aunt Allie

Vintage CQ...Finishing the Center in Progress

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:55:00 +0000

All those little wheel blocks are sewn together, but that doesn't mean the center is finished!

The fly stitching in the seams between the triangles in each block must now be added to the seams between the blocks. I am adding little silk ribbon flowers at the intersections of all the black diamond points too.

It is slow but very agreeable work.

I'm placing a Swarovski pearl at the center of the wheels themselves, just to help define them a little bit.
The outer blocks are up on the design wall calling to me...but I may not be able to dive into them until my quilt retreat at Point Bonita at the end of the month. That will be such a joy....

Esther's Hats

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:24:00 +0000

My son's girlfriend Esther is a clever artisan who works with recycled materials in all her projects.
She gave me a tour this morning (I am visiting them) of her recent series of hats, and I flipped for them. She has them in her Etsy store.
Have a look!

Angry Robot

She uses reclaimed sweater yarn and felt from recycled bottles. The thread is from Goodwill.
She is serious about this aspect of her work.
The used hat stand was purchased on Ebay, and paper mache-d with torn grocery bags and a paste of flour, water, and salt. (Find some recipes for this here.)

Dogs in Galoshes

Trees in Love

Surprise Encounter

Happy Sunnyville

She has many projects in the works and they all share the same high standards of environmental respect. Add that to a quirky and compelling design sense and you have some very interesting fare coming off her needles!

Vintage CQ...Outer Blocks Pieced

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:14:00 +0000

Some of you have asked about what I meant by constructing crazy quilt blocks "the traditional way", so I thought I'd show my take on that.

It's really just cutting out shapes, ironing under edges, and basting the whole thing together on a foundation before sewing it all down.
Here's how it looks on an old and unfinished crazy quilt:

This is about 8" X 10", the size of most of the blocks I made. You can still see all the basting threads.

But I decided pin basting was faster and more accurate...

Very occasionally I would flip and sew a couple of pieces together, but mostly all my blocks came together like this.

Sometimes I would sew part of it down before adding the rest of the pieces, but usually not.

I topstitched everything with clear monofilament thread. In the bobbin I use a rayon thread by Wonderfil...it is so thin that a lot fits on the bobbin at once. This is a good thing. Also, it is strong but still lightweight enough to make it easy to tear off a patch, if need be, in order to switch up the block's lay-out. A quick hard tug and zip, it's off with no damage done.
I did that quite a bit, actually!

Here are some more blocks:

...the "Ribbon Block"...

...and the "Tapestry Block". The leaping critter is actually a photo transfer of a picture I took of a wonderful textile that was in my great-grandfather's furniture store in Indiana well over a hundred years ago. Obviously I wasn't going to cut that up...but I could still use the design this way.

I've had some fun mixing the old with the new like this. I pieced some fragments of that unfinished crazy quilt into my blocks, and salvaged a few of the embroidered motifs as well (the flowers in the top right corner above are an example). I also pieced in some old fabrics from that quilt in with my own contemporary fabrics. And each block has one of the vintage Kensitas flower cigarette silks that I bought from Maureen a few months ago.

My friend Conni Jenkins, of The Scoop, the Score, and the Deal had sent me a really cool artist trading card with an embroidered clover leaf on it. Well....I just had to put it in the quilt too.

She stitched it on some lovely felt she made with her embellisher.

It totally belongs here. It's the same perle cotton and style of embroidery as the antique motifs!

My goal has been to combine vintage and contemporary in this quilt, and I feel more successful with my second attempt at the border blocks.

The blocks are all trimmed, zigzagged, interfaced, and ready for handwork.

The last two major CQs I made (the H Quilt and the Spring CQ) had much more controlled overall designs. The tops were assembled first, and as a whole, before embellishing.
But in the old days crazy quilters almost never worked that way. Their piecing was random and they finished embroidering their individual blocks before assembling them into a top.
It truly gives a different look. So that's what I'm doing this time around.

There is a lot more work to do on the center section first though....

Vintage CQ...Piecing Frenzy!

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Now that my flower blocks are sewn together, it is time to piece the blocks that will surround the center section. My first attempt at these blocks last summer didn't work--they were too loud for this "dignified" (read: traditional) a crazy quilt--but that's o.k. because oh, do I love piecing!

So I pulled some fabrics, cut out my muslin foundations, pinned them in place on my design wall, and have gotten to work....

I am using the same construction method for the blocks that they used in the old days....laying out the patches, basting them into place, and then sewing them down. I really think the method of block construction determines the "look" of a CQ, and I am going for that antique feel this time around...mostly. There will be a few aberrations!

In keeping with this approach, I'm including a ribbon commemorating our country's Bicentennial. It was a gift to me from my cousins, who found it in their mother's sewing basket after she passed away in November. I am so proud to include it in this quilt, in memory of my Aunt Sally.

The little fan is from an old, half-started cutter CQ that a friend sent to me a few years ago...I finally realized that I would never finish it, but I certainly would love to mine it for fabrics and even some of the motifs.

So I've got many pleasant hours of sewing ahead of me over the next few days...

"My Madonna"....UFO finished

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:01:00 +0000

My good friends Barbara Curiel and Debra Spincic have been working on a joint project called "The Madonna Idea" for a few years now, each making their own quilts about the Madonna and collaborating on some too. They have a blog where you can see them here. They are wonderful.

When Debra and I first "met" online over four years ago, I emailed her my favorite image of the Madonna and she made a gel transfer print out of it for me. In February of 2006 I started working with it at the annual quilt retreat I attend at Point Bonita.

This is as far as I got, appliqueing all the elements by hand....

For some reason I was experimenting with laying out my quilt and embellishing it directly onto batting as my foundation. I can't remember why I thought that would be a good idea, but I do remember not liking it.
After I got home from PB, my Madonna waited almost four years for me to finish Her.

This is what I started with a few days ago.

And here it is, completed. She is 15" X 20 1/2".
I wanted the embellishments to be lavish but very understated. You have to come close to really see them...a metaphor, perhaps, for our inner approach to Her.

Here are a few detail pictures, though.

This is supposed to suggest a rose window in a church...at least, that is what it meant to me.

I enjoyed drawing from my collection of lace motifs and doilies, sometimes layering one over part of another.

I'm so glad this is finished...it's going to hang in my room at last.

Needlepunch Flower Pin... A Tutorial

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Continuing my experiments with the Dancing Needle, I made a couple of flower pins to give as last minute Christmas gifts. Or maybe I'll call them "New Year's Gifts"...yes, that's better!

I took pictures along the way so you could see how the process went. My biggest pleasure and discovery is that needlepunch allows for combining all kinds of fibers...and we crazy quilters definitely have big stashes of those to draw from.

There are 15 pictures in all, with the captions below each picture.

This is my initial "gathering" for one of the flowers. As you can see, fibers range from sewing machine thread to unspun thick silk to silk habotai meant for rotary cutting into 1" strips.

Using my smallest needle punch, I used three threads at once for the center of the flower, starting with the outline of the shape I wanted to fill in.

Nice! Along the outer edge of the circle I had taken out the darkest thread, so it looks lighter. Lots of fun color play is possible with this stuff!

Switching to a larger needle and increasing the length of the loops, I added unspun silk thread. Texture is another big variable to play with using this technique.

Fast forward....4mm and 7mm silk ribbon have gone on, along with more unspun silk. Here I am adding the silk habotai. I could have gone wider with the strips if I'd wanted to; this huge needlepunch still had plenty of "room" in it.

I was working on a blue and white flower, too. This picture is to show that you can add detail using fine threads after the fact of getting the bulky ribbon punched in.

Fast forward again. I've felted some silk and wool fibers onto green cotton flannel for my leaves and cut them out. The Timtex circles on the left are cut out to fit the backs of the flowers.

Here I am making a running stitch around the perimeter of the flower's base fabric, using beading thread for strength.

I pulled on the thread and it gathered pretty well. A few extra stitches here and there tightened things up.

The leaves have been embroidered and wire sewn onto their backs so they can be shaped. In this picture I have sewn on a backing of lightweight silk, leaving the bottom open. I trimmed the silk, turned the leaves, and sewed them onto the timtex on the backs of my flowers.

Two more Timtex circles were cut out and a pinback glued to each one.

I made slits in the ultrasuede to poke the ends of the pinback through, and then glued the ultrasuede onto the Timtex and to the back. Then I sewed this to the back of the flower, covering the ends of the leaves and giving a nice finish.

I also added a few beads around the edges of the leaves on this one.

So here is one of them....it could look great pinned to a black scarf...

This one I imagine worn on the lapel of a jean jacket...

I could keep playing with these but I have a UFO calling to me....it's been waiting for five years and the time is right. You'll see!.....

Vintage CQ...Flowers #29 and #30

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Got them all done by Christmas!

#29 was another experiment with the Dancing Needle. This time I loaded it up with four 4mm silk ribbons at once, to get some very dense loops.
Really, it is so easy to achieve this much detail in almost no time at all.

This is supposed to be a marigold...the leaves were cut from silk that had been dunked in a 1 part glue/2 parts water solution. This acts to prevent the fabric from fraying, but the fabric is still cut and sewable. Easy peasy.

#30 was made from a lace motif hand dyed by Nicki Lee. I love her soft colors. I cut it up and rearranged things a bit, and added some small wired rim ribbon bells....

The biggest challenge with this 30 block series has been to fill that black diamond space in different ways. I think there were about four basic variations...

Now I get to play with arranging them all and then I will sew them together at last. I'll have to add more fly stitching to the new seams of course. That should take awhile...good busy work for airplane rides, of which there will be many for me in the coming year.

Meanwhile, after it is sewn together I will start making a new set of blocks to go around this center section. The ones from last summer didn't cut it! But that's fine, because I love to sew blocks.....

Dancing Needle Experiment

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:24:00 +0000

A reader named Allison left a comment on my last post that got me thinking...her point was that the Dancing Needle would go through a lot of 13mm silk ribbon to make a flower, implying that that could be pretty expensive.

So I thought, "Why not make my own "ribbon" out of 1/2" strips of very light weight silk? I know, we are veering into rug hooking territory here. Silk ribbon is in a class by itself, no doubt about that but still, there must be other ways to dance with that needle....

Different gauges of needles are required for different kinds of fibers. They make really tiny needlepunches, smaller than what I have here, for very fine fibers and detailed work.
I thought I'd try combining a few kinds and sizes of fibers for my flower experiment.

Also the length you set the depth of the needle in the needlepunch determines the length of the loop you will get. So that's another variable to play with.

With my rotary cutter I made these 1/2" strips of both silk chiffon and silk habotai. There is 4mm silk ribbon, 6 strand silk floss, and a combination of three finer threads that I wound together on an empty spool...

Here's a close up of the strips. Nothing fancy. They were cut with the grain, not on the bias. I'll bet one of those wavy edged rotary cutter blades would add some nice texture here...but no, that is a toy I don't have!

Here is my flower in the hoop, on green linen. Click so you can see it better...
Lots of potential here...and it doesn't have to cost a lot!

Vintage CQ...Flower #28

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:54:00 +0000

First I need to report about Andy's reception to "Love by the Moon" last week-end.
He showed me a picture on his phone of the beach where he and his gal love to walk....and it looked exactly like the beach in the piece I made. And I hadn't seen the picture.
We both thought that was pretty cool. He was happy.

On to my first adventures with the Dancing Needle....

(Sorry this picture is a little blurry.)
You can see I painted the center of where the flower will be..the color is much richer on the other side of the fabric. I used a slightly open weave linen to accommodate that huge needle. You have to try and poke it between the threads of the weave so you don't just destry the fabric as you punch. This fabric worked great.
I started with an inner ring of 4mm silk ribbon and then added two rings of the 13mm ribbon. That stuff from RiverSilks holds up so well.

Here it is still in the hoop. Such fluffiness!!!!

The extra fabric has been trimmed with an inch of margin all the way around, then tucked to the back and tacked into place.

When I placed it on a sample block, alas, it was too large.

So I made a smaller one. But first you have to see how I made some little leaves to go with it.

This is some of the Mokuba ribbon I love so much. I've gathered it by pulling out a thread on one edge of the ribbon.

Then I got out my handy dandy and indispensable Thread Zapper to seal the cut ends of the ribbon. You push that button on the side and it heats up that little wire tip. (There's a AA battery in there.) You just run it over the cut edges of the ribbon and it seals them right up, with a satisfying wisp of smoke.

The sealed ends won't ravel and hold the gather in place. Very slick! (I just Googled "Bead Smith Thread Zap" and you can find it on Ebay here.)
So then I made a lot of these, using up almost a yard's worth of ribbon, and sewed them onto my block. Over them went my smaller, pre-made needle punched flower.

I added another row of 4mm ribbon by hand around the outside edge of the flower after it was sewn on. It just seemed like it needed it.
The beads in the center add a little sparkle and keep the flower secured into place.
The green detached chain stitches on either side just added some air.

Here's a close-up of the flower...

Couldn't you just fill up a whole quilt with these? I could!!!

Vintage CQ...Flower #27

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Needlepunch!
What a great technique it is for creating three dimensional flowers. For Flower #27 of the Vintage CQ I decided to try needlepunch with 4mm silk ribbon.

Because I couldn't ''punch'' directly onto one of my blocks (you have to keep the punching surface very taut in a hoop and the block was too small for that), I punched into a tightly woven cotton black fabric that I could then applique onto my block.
The above picture shows three flower centers punched with 6 strand cotton floss...with the needle punch adding the 4mm silk ribbon.

Here is how it looks on the other side of the hoop. Those ribbon loops were so quick and easy to form!

And here is the finished block:

I stitched on some of that pre-fab leaf trim you can buy (after I dunked it into some "Sulpher Green" Dye-Na-Flow and let it dry).
Then I cut out my three flowers, folded under the margin of black fabric around them, and stitched them into place.

This block is so top heavy and wonky! Really, it must have been one of the first ones I made, as the black star is so asymmetrical. I tried to compensate for that with the shape of the flower...I just didn't want to redo the whole block at this stage of the game! (My bad....)

My dear friend Freda B has lent me the use of her "Dancing Needle". It is a needlepunch tool especially designed for using WIDE 7mm and 13mm ribbon.

This tool looks positively lethal, doesn't it? We used to give our cows IVs for milk fever with needles that were not nearly this big!
But it could make a really awesome Vintage Flower #28.... We'll try that next!

Love by the Moon...Finished!

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:19:00 +0000

There wasn't much more to do, really....I zigzagged the seams between the fused Hanna ribbons in the border, sewed down the moon as well...added some teeny tiny beads to the stars to fill them in just a little...put a serif of sorts on the "L"s.....and added a sun. Though it is pretty low key and not the main focus, it did need to be there.
I stretched it over foam core and put a nice finished back on it. I wrote an article on how to do this for CQMagOnline a few years ago...you can find that here.

So here we have it....

I hope Andy and his girl both like it...and that they enjoy plenty more love by the moon....;-)

Thanks for your encouragement and suggestions, too! Landscape quilts are so fun....

Love by the Moon...Day 4

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Thanks for your very kind comments regarding this little piece! It's been a lot of fun to work on...

One of my quilt buddies actually called me long distance this morning to tell me how much she liked it....and that she hoped I wasn't going to put flowers all over it!
I thought that was so funny....

....but I am trying to figure out how to emphasize the "Live by the Sun" part of the equation...and had thought some growing things (yes, flowers) in the yellow border could do that. I'll just have to see.

Meanwhile, I got the lettering on. It will probably be jazzed up a little but for the most part it is done, using a beaded backstitch.

And I do want to add some more stars....

Love by the Moon...Day 3

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:10:00 +0000

The borders are on, and until they are filled in with their writing and other stitching, they look kind of strange.
Often, we must proceed on faith at this stage of the game....

The size is now 13'' X 16''.

Next comes the writing, done in beads along the wide borders. It is howling and freezing outside, so it is a good day to spend beading....

Love by the Moon...Day 2

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:59:00 +0000

I'm so glad you will join me for this project as it goes along this week!

Andy is also the funniest kid in the family. A typical Andy move...
For his graduation from h.s., each graduate was to choose a short quotation or dedication for the school principal to read aloud as the graduate walked solo down the aisle to get the diploma. Nice idea, isn't it?
Have you ever tried to say "Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat..." twenty times in a row, really fast? Try it.
That's what Andy had his principal read as he danced down the aisle....

I got the basic beach scene laid out and sewn down yesterday, after studying many pages of ''moonlit beach'' on Google Images....

This is about 8'' X 11''.

But then I just had to go shopping for beads and ribbons for the borders and writing. I mean, this has to be just right!
The Button Emporium in Portland is my favorite store and I just love Marvis, who owns it with her husband. They have the best selection of Hanna silk ribbons around, also wired edge ribbon, which is getting hard to find in good colors. I got some fancy silver seed beads from Dava Bead and Trade on my way into downtown. A most pleasant excursion it was.

Now I am set up for Day 3's work. I do have to get the sunshine in there too....so that's the challenge, to evoke both the sun and the moon in this small space here.

I'm really going to try not to put any flowers in this but there are no guarantees....

"Love by the Moon"...Day 1

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:09:00 +0000

My nephew Andy is a force of nature. How many stories I could tell you about him! From his childhood he was a complete heller who broke more stuff and went to the E.R. the most of any of the kids...he pushed my buttons like a Master, causing me to scream dire threats at him, which he thought was funny (he did say, "Aunt Allie is the worst cousin ever.") He almost died as a young teen from an allergic reaction to a vaccine that resulted in his having to endure a bone marrow transplant. Yes, we almost lost him...
He blew off high school but managed to graduate anyway due to a clerical error in his favor.
Andy... So much untamed energy.
But so much heart.
Sometime along the way he made up his mind to become a fireman. So he channeled that incredible will of his and:
--went to his local Community College, got his EMT, and then went through the Fire Academy
--drove ambulance in South Central LA to pay for school and gain experience. He told his mom once, "Yeah, it was a brains in the hands week-end...."
--graduated from a Paramedic program last spring gaining the top class honor of "Best in the Field" (meaning, if you have a heart attack, you want Andy as your first responder).
--Laughed at the impossible job market and got hired by his local fire department, straight out of school.
His first day on the job he saved a baby's life. That's Andy.

This picture was taken the day he graduated from Paramedic school. He's 22.

So he called me yesterday.
He's in love.
He is commissioning me to make the Christmas present he wants to give to his new girlfriend. "I want to score major points with this one," he told me.
She has a saying she loves, "Live by the sun, Love by the moon"...and I guess they've enjoyed some special moonlit nights on the beach. So that's what my commission piece is about: the beach at night, with those words on it.
"I trust you, Aunt Allie, do whatever you want...."

Luckily for both of us, I have a window of free time over the next week, so today is Day 1 on "Love by the Moon".

This is where I am at the very beginning.
I'll be posting my progress at the end of each day, so stop by if you like....

Next week-end I will be delivering it to Andy in person in San Diego. Maybe I won't be the worst cousin ever anymore!

Vintage CQ...Flower #26

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:50:00 +0000

California poppies are a favorite around here, the way they reseed themselves everywhere and are one of the earliest sources of bright color in the spring.
I've been making this flower for a few years, too....but never tried it on this small a scale. It was fun!

I started by creating the leaves on water soluble stabilizer, just using embroidery thread in a straight stitch on my Juki sewing machine with the feed dogs down.

For the petals I fused two pieces of silk together with some heavy weight Steam A Seam fusible web. Fusing the fabrics does tend to reduce fraying along the edge when you cut it.
See how nice the leaf came out, after I washed the stabilzer away?

And here they are blooming.
I added a little shading to the leaf with some gel pens.

Four more flowers to go! Then I get to sew them all together....

Crazy Quilt Class With Me

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:26:00 +0000

I wanted to let you know....
If you live near Battleground, WA this message is for you. And by "living near" I use that term loosely... A very kind reader of my blog has organized a private crazy quilt class with me and a few of her friends and there's one space left. (There will be 7 students in all.) She lives near Salem, OR... and that's quite a ways from Battleground! The class will be held in a newly built private home with lots of light and space.

It will be a three part class, each day running from 9 a.m. til 4:30 p.m. on three Saturdays, each a month apart, beginning in February. Class 1 will cover different ways to construct blocks; Class 2 concerns crazy quilt embroidery; Class 3 will explore 3 dimensional embellishment, especially flowers. Each student will be creating her own project with my guidance.

If you are interested, email LISA ENCABO at cutienbo@hotmail.com and she'll send you all the details. Please put "crazy quilter" or something like that in the subject line, so your email doesn't get deleted. Thanks!

Battle Ground is in the upper right of the map.

Vintage CQ...Flower #25

aaller@gmail.com (Allison Ann Aller) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:58:00 +0000

A quick post before getting to cooking in the kitchen. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I've been making this flower for a few years now, and wanted to include it in the quilt as a memento.

A cornflower for my Mom, who loved them so....

This little block has hand dyed silk, hand painted silk, antique obi cloth, rayon jacquard, quilters' cotton polka dots...it's good to remember that crazy quilting is just as much about the juxtaposition of fabrics as it is about the stitching...at least, to this fabric lover it is!

Hope you all have a loving and safe holiday...