Row by Row - June 21 can't come soon enough!

I'm very excited about the Row by Row Experience that is scheduled to begin on June 21. Quilt shops who choose to participate sign up to design a row that fits the theme that is chosen for the year. This year's theme is Home Sweet Home and there are some adorable designs already posted. You visit each participating quilt shop and they will provide their row pattern to you for free. You can only receive the pattern by visiting the shop - no email, no internet. (I saw on a YouTube interview that the woman who started the Row by Row idea decided it should run from the first day of summer to Labor Day.)

It's an awesome way to encourage quilters to visit their local shops. We don't want quilt shops to die out and this is an excellent way to show our support. Even if we don't intend to purchase anything, I don't think I've ever been to a quilt shop and walked out empty handed. There is always that one piece of fabric that calls my name and won't let me leave it behind.

All the details for the Row by Row event are on Facebook. This is the link for the North Carolina shops: North Carolina Row by Row Experience.

You can find all the information about Row by Row at their official website: Row by Row Experience. It lists the participating stores by state so you can print off the stores in your home state. I already have a printed list of North Carolina's participating stores so I'm ready to hit the road! I even talked my sister to come from Maryland to go with me! I'm hoping she'll visit as many Maryland stores as she can manage so I can admire those as well.

This is the post from Ye Olde Forest Quilt Shop, the LQS I frequent the most often:

Isn't it fabulous???

So excited to start!

Fear of Finishing

I'm sure I'm not alone in this.... I love making quilt tops. It's turning those into quilts that scares the daylights out of me. Even though I don't consider myself a perfectionist, in reality I fear that I am. This stops me from taking those final steps to finish a quilt. If I don't finish it, I have the chance to make it even better or maybe even perfect. Which of course is nonsense. Unfinished quilts beg to be completed, to be used and loved and appreciated.

I know I don't stand alone before this mental hurdle. There is a reason there are quilt retreats devoted to tackling UFOs. Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves that we can't take the necessary steps to complete our fabric artwork?

I have the top of the pennant quilt complete. I love the colors, the pattern, the way they came together. But I can't take those last final steps to make the quilt sandwich and quilt it. Why? What is the hold up?

I wish I had a definitive answer but the only one I can come up with is that so many quilt patterns and instructional videos and traditional wisdom stress the importance of exactness - exact 1/4 inch seams, quilting that is dense and fluid... the list goes on. I am not capable of achieving those levels of exactness. I'm not sure many people are. And the fact remains - if my seams aren't exactly perfect, and my quilting is not as dense as recommended, it ultimately doesn't matter. I'm making a quilt that I think is beautiful and will keep me warm no matter how imperfect it may be. I need to let go of unrealistic expectations and allow myself to love the process.

I think this quote sums up my feelings about my hesitation to actually finish my latest quilt:

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing. ~Harriet Braiker

And with that in mind, I am going to go finish my quilt sandwich so I can finish my quilt. Quilting without fear is my goal! And I'll post pictures of my finished quilt as soon as it's done. It won't be perfect but it will still be pretty!

Adventures in Landscape Quilting Pt 1

The other day, I decided to make a landscape / art quilt. I had seen several landscape quilts which were breathtaking and thought I'd try my hand at it. 

Being impulsive, as I can sometimes be, I launched right into it without any idea of the way one should make a landscape quilt. I found several beautiful landscape photos of the Great Smokey Mountains and created a template:

My first step was to print this design onto muslin. Since I didn't know the usual process for landscape quilts, I figured that would give me a good guide in building the landscape.

The next step was to reverse the template, print it on paper, and number each each piece. I then traced it onto fusible web, numbering each piece on the fusible web. I knew I'd need to overlap the pieces and thought I'd left a large enough margin at the bottom of each piece. In this I miscalculated. Oops. But that's jumping ahead.

I pawed through my stash (some of which is courtesy of my sister) and came up with fabrics I thought would work out. Here is the "rough draft" of the fabrics.

I was pretty pleased with the variety of colors until I got to the greens. I'm still not sure I chose the best colors to represent the foreground mountains. The trees in the bottom third seem to disappear into the hills. As it's my first attempt, I decided to go ahead and try it with these colors.

As mentioned earlier, some of the pieces didn't turn out large enough to cover the entire muslin template. I can't figure out how the pieces ended up too small since they should have been plenty big. Maybe not researching the technique in advance was a mistake? I managed to get the muslin covered and fused the pieces in place.

After starting this project, I checked YouTube for landscape videos. It was there I discovered I need to make the entire quilt sandwich before I sew down the landscape pieces. That makes perfect sense but I hadn't actually thought that far ahead. So the next step is make the two borders I'm planning to add, and cut the batting and backing. Then I can start sewing it. I'll post pictures when that process is started.

Bicycle Wall Hanging

A little red bicycle with a basket of flowers and books - few things say summer to me more than this image! To celebrate the coming of summer, I designed and created this bicycle wall hanging. It incorporates my love of appliqué, bicycles, books, flowers, and polka dots. I wanted this to be as happy a wall hanging as I could manage, and I think I succeeded.

What do you think?

More pictures are available here.

Although not clear in this photo, the tires and seat are black polka dots, like the border. I am a lover of all things polka dot. Few designs are as cheerful to me as dots of all colors.

This completed wall hanging is available at my Etsy shop.

This is a completely original design. I used Adobe Illustrator to trace several different kinds of bicycles until I got it looking like an old-timey two wheeler. For the flowers and books in the basket, I fussy cut from appropriate fabrics that spoke to me. (You can't really see the books in the basket but they are there.)

 If you would like to make your own wall hanging, here is a copy of the bicycle. Please don't claim this design as yours - a link back would be nice but not required. Anything you choose to do with this design is up to you, as long as you don't say you designed it yourself. Thanks!

Bicycle for applique (c) Crafts of Note

Quilting pattern for wall hanging border (c) Crafts of Note 2016

Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company!

The other day, I was looking for quilt videos. Although I've been sewing for a really long time, I am a sporadic quilter. Mostly I'm a quilt starter, not a quilt finisher.

Be that as it may, I wanted to brush up on my quilting skills so did what any quilter of the modern era would do - went to YouTube. There I discovered the wonders of Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I am now a disciple of Jenny and her videos! One of the reasons I have been a lifelong sporadic quilter is that the demand for precision has scared me into inaction. Jenny likes precision but as she puts it, if it doesn't come out quite right, nobody dies and you can make do.

Jenny is upbeat, funny, sensible, and inspires me to make ALL the quilts. I watch her videos for quilts I never intend to make.

One of the things I most appreciate is that she can make even the most complicated patterns simple. And she makes me believe I can make those same patterns. When I watch her videos, I have the same feelings of security and tranquility I used to find with Bob Ross's painting videos and his happy little trees. Jenny makes adorable quilts and loves sharing them with her audience.

After watching this video, I decided to make my own pennant quilt. As soon as I have it finished, I'll post the end results. (It is a really fun quilt to make!)

Go enjoy Jenny and her videos which will inspire you to want to make ALL the quilts.

Pattern Copyright Law

I found this article very interesting. I thought you might find it useful as well.

Sewing Pattern Copyright Law on so-sew-easy