I Washed It

At one of the classes I taught a few weeks ago, I took a good look at my quilt, Letters From Home, and realized it was dirty. There were some dusty greasy stains across the top edge, and some spots along the edges.

Now, this quilt hangs in my house, just outside my kitchen.  It doesn't get any sunlight, but it has been rather active during it's 3 year life. It's been to Tennessee, to Washington State, to Quilt Market in Houston, to Quilted Threads in Henniker NH, to work with me, and anywhere I can show it off, so with all that, it wasn't really a surprise to me that it was a little soiled.  So I washed it.

In my usual cavalier fashion, I just tossed it in the washing machine (cold water, permanent press cycle) with some detergent and a color catcher.  When it came out, I tossed it in the dryer on low, then took it out when it was slightly damp and let it dry flat.  After a week, I hung it back up. It looks lovely, with the quilty wrinkles a lot of quilters like.

I'll bring it with me to Quintessential Quilts 2013 in St Louis next year, and after that I think I might take it down and let it rest.

Alphabet Samper Quilt - finished

It's all finished. I finished hand sewing the binding and the sleeve in a marathon sewing session on Saturday.

It's in my dining room, the largest room in my apartment, so it's really center stage. This is the wall the quilt was designed for. It is a wall that will never get direct sunlight, thank goodness, yet the quilting shows up very well in all lighting situations

It's 44-1/2" x 62"

All it needs is a label. My mom has a color bubble jet printer, but she was sick all weekend, and I don't want to get sick, so I will print the label next weekend. I can't bring myself to write on the back of the quilt with a permanent marker.




btw, the quilt is taller than I am!

Alphabet Sampler Quilt - Quilted

I have to add the binding (it will be the white of the edges) and a sleeve on the back for hanging, and a label, and then it will be really finished. Chris asked if I was going to wash it, and I think she was a bit startled when I said no. It will hang in my dining room.

I had always wanted this quilt to be reminiscent of an antique needlework sampler, and it incorporates many of the same elements: the upper and lower case letters, numbers, a house, some decorative stitching separating the elements, the maker's name and location as well as the year of completion. Many of these samplers also included the maker's age, an element I decided not to include.

The house is modeled after the house I live in. The letters and hearts are from Tonya of Lazy Gal Quilting, the little asterisk-flowers are from Sarah. The little wonky stars are from Belinda. The hand is my own hand, and I designed the butterflies. The quilt was quilted by the wonderful and talented Chris Ballard and photographed by Julie Sefton.

Aside from the hand, which is pieced in traditional patchwork, the quilt is entirely free-pieced, and made without templates, patterns or foundation paper piecing.

You can click the photo to enlarge.

Alphabet Sampler Quilt Top is Finished

I am really happy with it. It is 41" x 60".

The row of yellow dots went up at the top. The lavender ones went below the numbers, the soft green went below the house, and pink ones are at the very bottom. Now I am working on piecing the backing and making binding.

I also have to figure out how to quilt it, which is going to be interesting because I don't have a longarm machine, and my elderly Kenmore is not designed for stipple quilting.

You can click the photo to enlarge.

The Dotted Line

I'm starting to assemble the top of the Alphabet Sampler Quilt, and I didn't like the way the upper and lower case letters blended together.

I wanted each of them to have their own emphasis. In the historical samplers, there is usually a line of decorative stitching separating the various rows of letters. So I decided to make a row of little squares on their points. I didn't want the little squares to disappear, but I didn't want them too too bright either. So I used a dusty blue. I am very happy with the way looks now.

I guess I've set myself up to make a couple more of these. (I'll post a tutorial to make this Seminole "band" tomorrow.)

Alphabet Line Up

Sewing the uppercase letters together is easy, because they are all the same height. I just sew a 1" strip to the left side of each letter, and then join them. I might fiddle with them a bit, but by and large it's pretty straightforward.

The lower case letters, however, are a different story. Some have extra bits that go up (b, d, h, k, l, & t) and some have bits that go down (g, p, q, y). So the lower case letters need extra fabric both above and below, in addition to the bit along the side for spacing.


So here is a layout that I like so far.

I'm not 100% sure, however, and I have learned that when I get to that place, it's best to stop and do something else. At any rate, I have to make the letters that spell my name and the date. I've also decided to fill in some of the empty spaces at the beginning and ending of the letter rows with hearts, flowers and butterflies, kind of like this:


I've run out of the colorful polka dot fabric that I've used for the background of the letters. So I'll improvise. I should have known better. When I made Violette's quilt, I went back to the fabric store repeatedly to buy more of the same background fabric. In the end, I bought close to 10 yards. Of course, when I bought the white for the alphabet, I wasn't sure if I would use the letters with the white or black background.

I am really, really, really liking this quilt, and am very excited because it will be MINE when it is finished.

NUMB3RS

I finally finished the numbers for my Alphabet Sampler Quilt. When I got the fabrics for this quilt, I deliberately selected 26 different colored batiks, and made each letter of the alphabet a different fabric/color. When I was making the letters, I didn't want a "rainbow", or "color wheel" effect, but for the numbers, I did.

By the way, the title of this blog, "NUMB3RS" is a leet version of the word "numbers." For information about leet, check the Wikipedia entry. Can you tell I have a job as a geek?

By the way, the Wikipedia entry for needlework samplers is interesting.

And yes, I watch the tv show, NUMB3RS, faithfully. It's my second favorite TV show after the original CSI.

M-N-O-P

Here are the results of last night's work. There is no accident I stopped at "P." The upper case "Q" is really tricky, and I was getting tired.



No colors are repeated in the letters, except for the background. I have 26 different colors, and each letter is a different color.

The letters with the white background look really fresh and spring-y.
The letters with the black background look really avant-garde and arty.As you can see, my cat Millie is involved with the design process.I am planning on making this into a quilt version of a traditional "sampler" with all the letters, upper and lower case, and numbers. I plan to add my name and the date, and the name of the city where I live. I am also thinking about a house, since those are often depicted in samplers.

I have a feeling Millie might make an appearance as well.