Beauty Shots

 

I finally got outside to take some long overdue beauty shots of a couple of quilts. This is Nonchalant. Everyone who sees it loves it, and I agree. There's a lot to like. It's something anyone can make. It's just bright prints on a white background alternating with White on White blocks. This one has spectacular quilting also.

This is Blitzen, a Christmas themed Macnas quilt that LOOKS simple, but really isn't. The colors repeat in a very specific pattern, each print is kept right side up throughout the quilt (no upside down trees) and the values are very precisely placed. It's a Christmas themed quilt, but I didn't want to knock you over the head with it.

It was my pal Julie who long ago inspired me to make pieced backings for my quilts using leftover blocks and fabrics. The leftover blocks in this quilt are often prints that didn't work on the front surrounding a Christmas themed pre-printed panel. While I was arranging the quilt to take this photo a pinecone dropped on the quilt. It seemed appropriate so I left it there!

The gate to the community garden in my neighborhood is a great place to display a quilt. It was cloudy the day I took this quilt out for beauty shots, but it seems perfect for the mood of this quilt.

I showed this photo the other day, but it's just so pretty I had to show it again.

These are Macnas quilts, inspired by my pal Julie Sefton. She and I have each made about a dozen of these. I still have four that have yet to be quilted. Nothing really special about these - start with blocks that are 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" and have some fun.

Jeweled Macnas Quilt Complete

 

The Jeweled Macnas Quilt is complete and I took it out for some beauty shots. 

There was a new stone wall in my neighborhood so I used it as a prop. I know I'll be photographing more quilts here.

I liked the sun peeking through the leaves for this photo. I've written the story of the quilt, and will gift it soon.

When I wrote about not hand sewing bindings on my quilts, I didn't mean to indicate I was doing it because I couldn't sew invisibly. I am going to stop because it HURTS when I do it, so the answer is definitely NOT to do my hand sewing on the back. I'm inclined to agree with Wanda. If the quilt is Very Special, I may hand sew the binding, but otherwise I'll sew it on by machine. Most people never notice anyway.

A Collection of Riches

 

I picked up three quilts from my longer quilter, Janet-Lee Santeusanio, the other day. This is Dancing Jewels, for my nephew. I'm happy with it, and will be working to finish it up for him ASAP.

I also picked up another quilt that doesn't have a name yet. I've been referring to is as the Jewel-toned Macnas quilt.

Here's another photo. This quilt has a home, so I'll be working on this one after I finish the one for my nephew.

The third quilt I picked up is the third Nightingale*** quilt. The first two of these flew out of my studio pretty quickly so it's nice to have this one to myself.

This photo of a small section of the back of the quilt may show the quilting better.

I have always loved brightly patterned fabrics on a black background, and since I believe if you are going to "go for it" you should really GO, I have picked equally vibrant prints for the back of this quilt. I also like to use panels on the backs of my quilts.

I was giving a talk to a quilt guild once and a lady came up to me afterwards and said, "You like busy backs." I looked at her and said, "Mostly, I hate boring ones." 

This reminds me of something some art critic or historian (I can't remember which) said of the artist and illustrator Alphonse Mucha: "...he doesn't like empty space." 

Apparently, neither do I.

***This quilt is really easy to make, and you can get the tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. While I think it is pretty spectacular made with bright colors on a black background, you can of course make it any color or colors you want. You can see it in green here, And made from bright prints on a white background here.

Little Brother Macnas Quilt

 

The Little Brother Macnas quilt is back from the long arm quilter. I really like this quilt.

I love the quilting.

Here is the quilting as seen on the back of the quilt.

In case you don't know or can't remember, here is the Partly Sunny quilt, (made by Julie Sefton) which was the inspiration for the "Little Brother."

Blitzen is Finished

I finished sewing the binding on the Blitzen quilt. I was streaming some tv cooking competition while I sewed.

Here it is on the couch. 

When I brought it to Janet-Lee to be quilted I said, "This is a very simple quilt." She gave me THE LOOK. "What," I asked? "Lynne, this is NOT a simple quilt. It is a very elegant and sophisticated quilt."

So I said the only thing I could say. I said "Oh-kay."

I love it. I love that it's a Christmas quilt that doesn't hit you over the head with it being a Christmas quilt.

Nonchalant is Finished

Woo hoo! I finished the Nonchalant quilt. I finished it last night so I haven’t had time to take it outside for beauty shots yet! But soon!

 

Quilt PickUp

 

I drove out to Janet-Lee's and picked up Blitzen, the Christmas Macnas quilt, and Nonchalant, the white one, which had been quilted. They are quite glorious.

What I like about the Blitzen quilt is that it's a Christmas quilt, but it doesn't hit you over the head with the idea of it being Christmas. And for me, Christmas colors are red, green, gold and white, which is why those are the only colors I used in the quilt.

The Nonchalant quilt is one of my favorite quilts. It's ridiculously simple and yet stupidly gorgeous.

I love the quilting design. True and funny story: When I first started getting my quilts quilted, I did not like closely quilted designs. My pal Julie told me I might be wrong about that. Over the years I have changed my mind and once again, dear Julie, you have proven correct. When I tell you all that Julie and I influence each other, I am not joking. I have met the most wonderful friends through blogging.

I am probably going to make another one of these. This quilt will fit anywhere, and everyone who sees it falls in love with it.

The Macnas series, which was Julie's inspiration, proves that a simple shape, with its basic repetition, can be more than a "scrap" quilt - it can be elegant and sophisticated  - as both the quilts above show.

It's a Flimsy!

 

The Opalescence quilt is now a flimsy. Here is a shot of the back. Regular readers know all the backs of my quilt are this neat.

Here's the quilt. It's a bit lighter in real life, and I'll try to take a picture of it outside if the weather permits over the next few days.

The quilt is pretty, and I like it more than I expected to. While it looks random, it isn't. Each block was placed, and while there are some blocks that seem to blend into each other, I left them there. I wasn't too worried about the overall "scheme," I wanted something that looked fresh and didn't look too perfect.

I remember some terrific advice I got years ago, "You never want your quilts to look like a machine made them." I don't remember the name of the person who said it. 

My own personal corollary is: "You don't want your quilt to look like it's a design you'll find on the tiled floor of a hotel lobby, airport, museum or public building." Yeah, I know. I'm a bad woman. 

I have six yards of this in my stash, and it will be the backing of the quilt. Woo hoo! 

WHAT will I do next?

I don't know either!

   

Almost, but Not Quite

 These are the last four rows of blocks to sew together for the pastel Macnas quilt, which shall be called Opalescence.

The pieces are pinned together, and you can see by the pins I have put on the leftmost edges, which row each one is, so I don't get them mixed up when I go to sew the rows together.

These four rows will be sewn together and fit into that space at the lower right of the quilt. Then I'll sew all the chunks together and the flimsy will be complete. 

I am happier with this than I expected to be, and am pretty sure I have the backing for it already.

Pastel Macnas Grows

 

I've sewn the top eight rows together into four big chunks and moved it to the top of the design wall.

There's also an eight block wide chunk at the lower left that is sewn together. That far left piece represents the bottom edge of the quilt. 

So it's growing.

The Design Wall Limitations

The design wall in my studio is 64" wide by 83" tall. When I show you photos of what's on it, I generally crop out the floor, and extra stuff around the design wall, like the door at left, the wall of the bookcase at the right (that's a long green cutting mat that hangs on the side of the bookcase) and the area above the design wall.

I also try to straighten the photo. This one, above, is a bit crooked. And I usually move the stepladder out of the way.

BTW, Thank you all for caring so much about my safety. I do indeed have to be very careful with the ladder. I have osteoporosis and arthritis and at my age balance is definitely an issue. It's why I am taking Tai Ji Quan, for better balance. It's not the "normal" Tai Chi. It's is designed for better balance. My Mom asked me the other day if I noticed any changes in my body seven weeks into the class.

"Well, my body hasn't changed. I haven't lost weight and I'm not any thinner, but the other day I put a sock on one foot while standing on the other, and no, I wasn't holding on to anything." Granted I was right next to the bed, but still. And it's only one foot. I can't do that quite as well on the other foot, but I'm better.) A few months ago I would never have even TRIED to balance on one foot. So the Tai Ji Quan class is working for me, although the change is gradual. But I am not going to risk anything on the ladder.

The Pastel Macnas quilt uses blocks that are 2-1/2" x 4-1/2". My design requires 30 of them in each row.

30 x 2.5" = 75”. Note my design wall is 64" wide, so I could only show 25 blocks across, like in the photo above. I needed to sew a lot of blocks together to make room for the extra five blocks to fit on the design wall.

Sewn together, those 30 blocks equal 60.5", which will fit just fine.

But trying to tinker with that many blocks while on a ladder is indeed foolhardy, which is why I have not bothered to fill the design wall with blocks. I'm working as high as I can comfortably reach while standing safely on the floor. Then I'll sew that all up and move it higher on the design wall and work below it.

In the photo above, you can see sorta how I'm working my way along. I've also been working to sew blocks together so I can have enough empty space on the right side to continue to add those five extra blocks to the design.

Is this ideal? Hell no. But needs must.

The size of the blocks definitely makes a difference. In the Dancing Jewels quilt, above, the top row of blocks is eight inches tall, most of the blocks are six inches wide and there are only 10 blocks in each row.

There are tricks. You might be able to see a thin sliver of silver on the green cutting mat in the photos above. That's a thin 24" long metal ruler that hangs on the same nail the long mat hangs on. If I want to remove a high block from the design wall, I just grab the ruler and slide it under the block. This disturbs the surface tension and the block loosens from the wall and flutters down to my feet. (It would be nice if I could catch them, but no such luck.) 

I also know better than to go anywhere near the stepladder when I'm tired.

Finally, Nancy: I used to be a 2D artist and I worked on paper. That means I'd put hundreds of hours into a piece of art on paper, (see the first photo in this post. )so I long ago learned to keep foods or liquids of any kind FAR AWAY from what I was working on. My cup of hot chocolate NEVER sits on my sewing, cutting, or ironing tables. I don't eat in my studio either. Snacking is also forbidden. In fact, I make sure to wash my hands BEFORE I got into the studio and get to work.

 

Pastel Macnas

 I'm less than five feet tall and have to be very careful not to fall, so designing the top of this quilt on the design wall means I'd have to use a stepladder, and that isn't a very good thing for me.

I decided to sew the top part of what I have together, then I can lower it to a comfortable height on the design wall and then I can add the  2 rows above what is shown in the photo. Since my design wall is a bit too narrow for 30 2-1/2" blocks so I decided to sew the leftmost blocks together. This will allow me to shift everything over and add the extra blocks to the right.

The Next Thing

 

I finished sewing the jewel-toned Macnas quilt together. Here it is draped over my ironing table. You can better see the fabrics and colors. A random arrangement of fabrics works well many times, but this regular arrangement has a rhythm that I like very much.

Instead of ironing the backing fabric that needs it, I went into the studio yesterday morning with my hot chocolate and looked around, wondering what to do next.

I've got a lot of fabric in the big scrap bins and I've been working my way through that, but working on the jewel toned Macnas quilt had me searching through my stash, and I discovered a lot of older stuff hidden in there.

WHAT IF... I wondered, I used all the small pieces of forgotten stuff in the stash?

So I put my hot chocolate down, (mind you I was still in my nightgown), and looked through the stash. I found several smallish pieces of a lot of light colors - pastels, really.

Something else jiggled in my brain, and I went over to where I have stacks of Macnas-sized blocks resting on trays. I brought them over to the worktable and sorted through them. I had A LOT of pastel fabrics I didn't even need to cut.

I could get started RIGHT AWAY. 

I got out the laser level and set up plumb lines and cross lines on the design wall, putting random Macnas blocks on the wall the to establish a basic grid. The plumb lines help me to line up the blocks so the design  looks more or less straight and keeps the design from going out of whack. The plumb lines are nothing more than crochet cotton tied to a push pin at the top of the design wall, and with something heavy tied to the bottom. Sometimes it's a bulldog clip with a bunch of old business cards, but anything heavy-ish will work.

It quickly became clear that this new quilt was not going to take long. I knew I wanted something low-volume, pastel, spring-ish colors. I also knew I wanted to arrange the blocks randomly, and not pair them up first.

Excited, I picked up my now empty mug and headed toward the kitchen, where I had breakfast, and then to the bedroom where I got dressed and made the bed. (A shower would come after I got home from Swim class.)

I know from experience that I need 540 pieces to make a quilt 60" x 72" and that when I cut I can get a whole lot more really quickly, so I sorted through those pieces and made a stack. Then I went through the stash and found the smaller pieces of pastels and cut some blocks. It was quickly apparent that I had enough blocks to get started, so I put blocks on the wall, and then I'd cut more.

Quite frankly, these photos look terrible. It's dark, and I have every light in the studio pointed at the design wall, and the sun is out, so you have to believe me. It is not this dark, or dull, or unexciting.

This is not going to take long.

Piece by Piece

 

I've been sewing the blocks of the Jewel toned Macnas quilt together the old fashioned way. In the photo above all the blocks are sewn together into rows and except for the bottom two, the rows are sewn together in pairs, so all, (you know, that pesky "all") I have to do is sew those together and the flimsy will be complete. This one may or may not have a home yet. I haven't quite decided. 

This is the backing fabric I have chosen for the Yellow Macnas quilt,

 and this is the one I have chosen for my nephew's quilt, Dancing Jewels. Both are quilt backings, so quite large pieces. I have to iron them and get them organized. 

This past weekend my local art museum, The Currier Museum, had a show where garden groups from throughout the state were invited to do floral arrangements based on artwork in the museum. This is one of my favorite pieces in the museum, and you can see the floral arrangement beside it. I am always interested in how artists get inspired, so this was a great show to see. I was fortunate enough to be there when the floral designers themselves were available to discuss their thought processes that led to their creations.

Decisions, Decisions

 

I shifted some of the blues, all three of the reds and two of the purples. I was happy with this.

Then I tried to zig zag the design, but I got to this point and decided it didn't bring anything at all to the party, so I put the blocks back.

Again, there's nothing wrong with the zi-zag, it just didn't ring any bells for me.

So now I'll be sewing this together.

I meant to show this photo the other day, but apparently I forgot. These are most of the fabrics in the quilt. (I see I accidentally chopped off the fabric I paired with the blue at the far right. Sorry about that.)