Maybe not so crazy

Maybe not so Crazy

6" square,  March 7 2021 for Project Quilting: Crazy Quilt challenge

machine pieced, hand embroidered

a very controlled crazy quilt,  unique in its use of 'background' on the outer squares to float colorful pieces, improve style. 

I've come up against the deadline for this challenge, so I'll post this.  However this needs more hand embroidery, which I will add in the next few days. 

This is all wishful thinking - as my life is truly crazy right now. 

Peace, 

Paula 

 

Spinning Out of Control

 

"Spinning out of control" - fused applique, machine quilted.  6.5x6.5" 

Created for Project Quilting "Snail's Trail" challenge

The weekly challenge is to use or be inspired by the 

traditional quilt block: "Snail's Trail" - here is a possible layout of 4 blocks by Quilts by Jen: 

The block is made up of a 4-patch surrounded by increasing size triangles. 

I knew that this was not the week to make such a controlled project,  so I colored in a pattern: 

Then cut apart the paper pieces and glued them down in a spiral-type shape, so I could determine if the general spiral was till apparent: 

I intended to paper-piece this in this arrangement,  but the angles were all over the place and I simply didn't have the bandwidth for it. 

Then, because I wanted to use the Steam-a-Seam product sparingly, i arranged all the pieces of the same color Tangram-style to see how much I had to cut.  Look how tight these pieces fit together.  Now I see other arrangements too. 

After cutting the shapes out of fabric, I placed the pieces.  I had intended to stay within the postcard size (4X6")  so the light gray center was cut close to that size.  However this wanted to expand,  which is why there is a different grey behind it. 

Finally, I ironed this all down and quilted with a variegated thread.  

If I was doing this again, I would let these spin out more by arranging the triangles in more extreme angles because I think the color keeps the spiral-shape.  But then I would be more careful with value also, so there would be two light value and two dark value choices. 

This week, my personal life is spinning out of control.  I'll quote feminist theory here and claim that "the personal is political", in that women's personal experiences  "can be traced to one’s location within a system of power relationships."  I'm a strong woman and bristle at the victim-ness of that statement, but I may come to understand this situation in that light.  

I'll be ok. 

You'll be ok too. 

Peace, 

Paula 

 

Kawandi-style Tutorial

 

Kawandi is a style of quilt created by the Siddi people of India, traditionally done by hand.  It is truly scrappy and improvisational.   While I like doing hand work, I was also intrigued by faster machine methods.  I've listed some resources at the end of this tutorial if you are interested in creating Kawandi by hand, want to see another machine tutorial, want to see some footage of Siddi creating Kawandi by hand, and a discussion of creating Kawandi in your own style. 

This tutorial describes a new way of creating Kawandi by machine.  These are NOT traditional Kawandi, but inspired by the joy and movement of Kawandi-style.

I started with a background piece of fabric approximately 8x10",  a piece of batting of the same size, and many scraps of batiks or quilting cottons. 

1) Place the background over the batting, right side up (this is a quilt as you go technique, so the batting is incorporated from the beginning. 

2) Place 4 scraps in the corners, right side DOWN - NOTE  I'm using batiks in these examples, so its hard to tell that these pieces are upside down.  In this image, you are looking at what will be the WRONG side of those scrap corners. 

3) Begin UNDERLAPPING adjoining scraps into the corners.  Fold approximately 1/4 inch on the side that will go UNDER the corner.   Again, the scraps are placed upside down. 

Pin the piece in place along the edge.  This will be machine sewn.

4) When you get to the next corner,   fold the 1/4 inch on both sides of the scrap because it will go under 2 pieces of fabric. 

5) Continue folding and underlapping scraps, pinning along the outer edge until you get the entire edge filled.  

Notice that it doesn't matter if you use short scraps, or long scraps.  And again, its impossible to tell from this image because I'm using batiks, but you are looking at the right side of the background, and the WRONG side of the colorful scraps. 


6) Sew 1/4 in seam all the way around the edge, removing pins as you come to them. 

7) Clip the 4 corners close to the seam, being careful not to cut the thread. 

8) Turn right side out by flipping each scrap over the seam.  Use a tool to poke out or pull out the corners.  

There should be no raw edges of fabric along the edge of the piece because they are either in the seam OR they are folded under. 

9) Carefully press the outer edge - taking care not to press the batting, as it might melt depending on fiber content. 

10) The result is a piece with finished edges like this: 

11) Top stitch close to the edge,  This will secure all the folded under edges of each scrap. 

12)  When you are on the 4th side, approaching the beginning of your stitch line, turn the corner about 1/4" or 3/8" before you get there, to start the 'spiral' of stitching.  

The next steps are done just like Kawandi by hand, but you continue sewing on the machine. 

13) To place the next piece, fold under 2 edges.  Finger press or iron as necessary. 

Overlap the unfinished edges of previous scraps.

  

14) to place a color into a long strip,  fold under 3 edges, staying aware of where you will place another scrap to overlap. 

15) To keep a small scrap straight as you sew over the edge, it may be necessary to use long tweezers or stiletto. 

16)  Continue placing scraps and sewing in concentric rectangles, into the center.

Note: this picture is from another project than the ones above. 

17)  Prepare the final scrap by folding under all 4 sides, and sewing the ever smaller rectangles/squares of stitching. 

18) For the piece made of batiks, I decided the center "squares"  looked better on the diagonal. 

Although not traditional at all, I've already broken so many 'rules', that I just decided to make this mine. 

Also,  I'm aware that traditional Kawandi have 'folded flowers' in the 4 corners.  Include them if you wish. 

Make it yours! 

Paula 

RESOURCES: 

How to make a Kawandi by hand by Kieren Dutcher

https://youtu.be/yFd0xEfKeto

How to make a Kawandi by machine  (with binding) by Mel Beach

https://pieceloveandhappiness.blogspot.com/2019/03/modern-kawandi-making.html  

Margaret Fabrizio travels to India to learn Kawandi from Siddi quilters: 

https://youtu.be/WqdIswL96q4

Margaret Fabrizio shows her own Kawandi quilts, and talks about making them in her own style.  

 https://youtu.be/4NRxqOqp_UA

Greetings from Gatherings

 

"Greetings from Gatherings"  4x6" postcard.  Fused applique, hand embroidery

The Project Quilting prompt "Virtual Vacation"  - where so many responded with images of places they wanted to go once this Covid time is over - brought me to a memory of a my favorite 'place':  a dinner table with a gathering of friends enjoying a meal, a drink and conversation.

This image was such a gathering, hosted at our home in California in about 10 years ago.  I have wonderful memories of this evening. 

So my first task was to convert this to a drawing I could work with. 

 I used various filters on a the "Photo Sketch" app to get to these 2 possibilities.  If I was going to embroider the outline, I may have used this first one. 

Then decided to do some simple shape fusible applique using this as a template: 

Next I traced the simple shapes and made some preliminary color choices. 

This yellow fabric reminds me of the wall color at our home in California.  I made some editorial choices with some colors.  For example, my friend Sam is wearing an orange shirt, although she is in black in the original, because she loves orange.  My friend Adva, although wearing dark blue in the original, is in a grey stripe because that's what she wore when we travelled together to a quilt show. My hair is purple because I always wanted purple hair.  

I assembled this using a lightbox, where I could carefully place the pieces in their correct location.  You can see the tracing under the background in this next image.

I added some plates and bottles of wine to the table, trying to match their approximate location, but this has such a folk art feel, that I'm not too worried about precision.  

Finally,  I embroidered the word "Gatherings" in a variegated orange floss, to match the tablecloth, then arranged the pieces and fused it all to a stiff timtex and a cardboard backing. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has left us all yearning for a return to 'normal', when we can travel at will and gather with friends and family.  As of this post on February 7, 2021,  the USA alone has suffered 462,000 deaths, worldwide the number is 2.3 million.  So many families will experience an empty seat at the table when we can gather again.  From this image alone, we have lost 2 friends: the funny and loving Mark Jason (4th from right) and the amazing, beautiful, brilliant Debbie Salgarolo (2nd from left). Not to Covid, but we miss them nonetheless. Their memories are a blessing. 

Peace, 

Paula 

:

 

Greetings from the White House

 

"Greetings from the White House"  Fabric Postcard  6" x 4.2",  Hand embroidery,  fusible applique, machine quilted.   Created for Project Quilting Season 12 challenge "Fussy Cut"  

The challenge this week is "Fussy Cut",  which in quilting means to carefully cut fabric so that a particular motif is centered in part of a block.    Here is a traditional sample:

Another version of fussy cut is to carefully cut around an image to applique it onto another piece of fabric, a technique called "broderie perse".  

I started this challenge on January 17th, just 3 days before the inauguration of  Joe Biden as our 46th president, I knew that I wanted to CUT the current occupant OUT of the White House. 

So I started with an embroidery of the White House: 

(and yes, for those who know me well, there are 2 shades of gray floss because I started with a small bit of gray and ran out!) 

Next I found a clip art image of a man falling, and redrew it to look like 45,  cut him out as a black silouette then placed him on his signature ridiculous hair. 

I placed him at the base of the White House, as if he was falling or being kicked out.  

I used Steam-a-Seam II fusible, which is slightly sticky before it is ironed down, allowing for rearranging these elements during design phase. 

Since I plan to make a series of these "Greetings from..." postcards, I printed the words in various fonts using Spoonflower services. 

The dark blue shapes are there to provide value contrast for the letters "The White House".

I've also fussy cut a US Flag from this piece of fabric. 
The flag is a little too large, but its what I had on hand. 

When selecting that dark blue, I found this piece of fabric, and realized it looked like the fireworks, that exploded over the capital the night of the inauguration, January 20th.  So I prepared a small piece, then fussy cut fireworks to place above the White House. 

I used a grunge white fabric for the letters, to look like white marble.

Here is the layout before quilting. 

I quilted through this piece and the Timtex so its stiff like a postcard.   Then added cardstock to the back before finishing the edge with a zigzag. 

When photographing I realized the top of the letters HOU were lost against the white banner, so I simply drew in a blue border with a pen. I wouldn't do this on a quilt that was going to be washed, but this is a postcard!

- - - 

After the election in November 2020, with the drumbeat of the conspiracy theorists, stoked by #45, there was some concern that he would not actually leave on January 20th.  The insurrection on January 6th made it clear that there were enough people following this line of un-reasoning that the peaceful transition of power was not guaranteed.   In the end, he left with a grudge by not attending the inauguration of the next administration.  Good riddance! 

The people of the United States, using the peaceful power of the vote, cut a wannabe tyrant out of our government.  I worry about all his followers. I hope that we can somehow regain a shared understanding of facts.  But I don't see that path today. 

More than ever, peace, 

Paula 

 

 

Greetings from New York City

"Greetings from New York City"  Fabric Postcard  6" x 4.5",  Hand embroidery,  fusible applique, machine quilted.   Created for Project Quilting Season 12 challenge "Illuminating" 

UPDATE:  Sold to the private collection of eileen mann

I've been participating in Project Quilting for a number of years.  In the winter, the Kim Lapacek and Trish Frankland create themed challenges, released on Sunday afternoon.  Quilters have ONE WEEK to create a piece to respond to the challenge and post it on social media.  The following week folks vote for their favorites and there are some winners.  Then we get another challenge.  Its a great way to force yourself to MAKE something.  My projects nearly always have a political bend, which is why I originally created this blog. 

This week's challenge is based on the Pantone colors of the year,  a sunny yellow and a drab grey, speaking to the world mood as we hopefully move out of this past year of pandemic lockdown. 

It reminded me of yellow taxi cabs in the grey of NYC streets. 

Neil loves the iconic checker cab,  so I started with this line drawing: 

Using an embroidery technique I like to use,   I created this taxi on a gridded grey fabric, like the grid of streets and buildings in NYC: 

I used this size because I have been wanting to make fabric postcards,  so this was already trimmed to 4"x6" 

I decided to add vintage "Greetings from New York" elements, as can be seen on this vintage postcard: 

Using a bit of Steam-a-Seam fusible,  I cut out tiny letters using some NYC fabric, so you can see some buildings in the letters, like the postcard. 

Then placed them on black fabric, to get the shadow, to end up with this: 

Unfortunately, I had already cut this fabric to postcard size, so the letters fall right off the grey background. I had to rethink this design. 

I chose this coordinating solid grey with a nice linen texture, which is great justification for quilters to have a well stocked "stash" of fabric:

Then I laid out the elements to give space for the letters to float over the taxi embroidery. 

Finally I created the card using instructions from my friend Nanette and machine quilted all the elements to stabilize the whole project. 

This has a muslin backing, rather than a card stock because I don't really intend to send this to anyone,  but it is stiff like a postcard, due to the Peltex layer. 

I think its still missing the "Greetings from" text, which I may fuse on at a later date, but I want to print it on fabric somehow. 

UPDATE on 1/23:  Added the Greetings from text, printed onto Spoonflower swatch.   Completed work shown at the top of this blog post. 

--

This is project is inspired by my love for my adopted city of NEW YORK.  Neil and I moved here 6 years ago (!) and I really feel like I've always belonged here.  We were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April 2020 and I saw New Yorkers respond amazingly well: we stayed home, we wore masks, we washed our hands, we social distanced.  The streets of the city were eerily quiet.  Some people said "New York is dead." 

But its not dead, we are doing what we need to do to keep it alive as best we can.  Those that must ride the subways are masked and keep their distance.  The subways shut down every night for cleaning (can we ALWAYS do this please?!) 

In the summertime, when it was allowed, space on the already crowded streets was turned into outdoor dining.  Bravo to the restaurants for creating instant environments for really nice dining.  

We are not out of the woods yet, but as the vaccines start rolling out and life starts to get back to normal,  when restaurants and theaters open again,  I look forward to life in this vibrant city. 

And while we are at it, let's find a way to make the city better for everyone.  The pandemic and BLM protests this summer have pointed out something hidden in plain sight:  'normal' wasn't great for everyone.  Let's take a step towards a better normal. 

To steal a line from Monty Python (read this with a British accent): We're not dead yet! 

Greetings from New York City.

Peace, 

Paula