Safety Pin Studio: What's Happening Now

The little quilt above was made using some wonderful kimono fabrics that I bought from a vendor at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  I made two quilts with these amazing textiles.  The second one is a combination of the kimono fabrics and fabrics from other Japanese fabrics I've collected.

Up close and personal on the quilting.

My green fabrics have been doing yeoman service this year with the two big wedding quilts I made, so I decided to make a little baby bento box quilt just in case.

Here's the back and the binding.

Jack, the little boy for whom I made the Film at Five quilt, just had a little sister, so I've been working on a quilt for Fiona.  I made Jack a baby quilt using the Single Girl pattern, so I did the same pattern for Fiona and used one of the fabrics I used in Jack's quilt as well.  Fiona and Jack's momma is Anna's best friend, so there are also several fabrics that appear in quilts I've made for Anna.

The African Striped Baby Quilt continues its appeal for me and I made this one for a friend of Steph's who just had a baby.

Christmas quilt is finished

Greetings to all and happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends!  The quilt I made for Mom is finished and will be off to Florida tomorrow.  It is another in a series of "Single Girl" quilts I've made in the last few years and has a warm, fleecy back to keep her warm and cozy.

Here's a close-up of the tag.  You can read about the title here.

I heartily hope you will find time to enjoy this joyous season.  As we age, I think it becomes increasingly difficult to rise above all that there is to be sad or worried about in our personal lives and in the world.  I feel blessed that I am surrounded during the week by lots of little folks who are happy and full of energy. They provide me with a wonderful example to follow.  Happy Holidays.

"Steppdecke für Katz": in the hoop

Thanks to the three-day weekend, I was finally able to get back into the studio to finish the top for the Christmas quilt for Mom.  The photo above is the beginning of the marking process.

I'm still fussing with the Nikon.  About every other photo isn't sharp enough for my taste.

I made a set of plastic templates based on Denyse Schmidt's recommended quilting pattern for this Single Girl patterned quilt.  Not only is it attractive, it's very well designed to catch up every piece in the quilting.  For a quilt that will get lots of handling, that's the best kind IMHO.

Here's the start on the quilting in the early morning light of Sunday.

"Steppdecke für Katz"

I know I promised, but the Christmas elf made me do it.  I never know what to get my mother and it occurred to me that she's always cold now, so a nice lap quilt might be in order. Our family heritage is German and as a youngster, Mom was called Katz--short for Kathleen.  Steppdecke is the German word for quilt , so this is the quilt for Katz.

This is the fabric pull.  The fleece for the back is in the foreground of the photo and was the color inspiration for the rings.

The final nine pieces are being fussy cut here.  My mother loves roses, so I pulled several fabrics with large rose designs.  You can see the turquoise tone on tone fabric that I'm using for the background of the rings.

The bias binding is all made, too.

The fabric plot is finished and the first quarter of a ring is laid out.

This is the second quarter of the ring.  I always try to include large and small scale designs as well as a mix of florals and abstract designs.  I want your eye to move around the rings when you look at the quilt.

The first ring is finished.  It's so bright compared with my woobie, but I'm liking it.

Speaking of my woobie, it's in the hoop and I'm hand quilting it in the living room.

Update: August 8, 2011

Three rings finished.

Basting when it's beastly

This is the back of my woobie quilt that I pieced this morning.  (In the background you can see the roll of gorgeous Kaufman decorator fabric I scored at Hancocks.  I'm making some café curtains for Anna's office.  More on these in a later post.)

The big table on the screened porch is great for basting large quilts, so even though it's supposed to be 98 degrees today, I'm anxious to get started.  Thread basting takes a lot longer than pin basting, but with a quilt this large, thread basting is a must. I can work for about 20 or 30 minutes, then I have to go inside to cool off and drink gallons of water. And, yes, it is hot enough for me.

The upholstery needle doesn't show up in this picture, but that's what I use.  I'm planning to do the quilting pattern that Denyse Schmidt designed for the Single Girl pattern.  I got a thread that is in the same color family as the little dots on the background fabric--a sort of brown gold.

Camp Fisher: Missing its younger campers

When our children visited recently, I gave everyone one of these t-shirts.  They come from a great little company called Inkpixi.  We all have Fisher University shirts from them as well.  It characterized this visit-- relaxing, easy-going, family fun.  Right now, we older campers are really missing the younger ones. Craft fun is still going on in Safety Pin studio, however.

My birthday pennants have now taken up residence in the studio to keep me company. I couldn't put them away yet.

My "Single Girl"(design by Denyse Schmidt) woobie is all pieced and I will try to brave the heat to baste it on the screened porch tomorrow.  

Dana's new woobie: yet another Single Girl quilt

I know what you're thinking: When is she going to move on, already?  There is something very seductive about this Single Girl pattern that I'm finding hard to let go of, but I promise I am going to make other quilts.  The fabrics I chose for this quilt will go with the one I made for Jim.  There are even some repeats.  Fabrics from Anna's wedding quilt are also included.  Above is the first quarter of the ring. It's got a Liberty print and a great conversational fabric with pens and calligraphy on it.

This is the second quarter. Note the owl fabric.

Here's the third quarter.  It's got the Big Ben fabric and several fabrics from Anna's wedding quilt.

Now the final quarter which features a Paula Nadelstern fabric, fish fabric, and the background fabric from Jim's woobie quilt.

The first ring is completed.  I love using batiks for the background fabric because of the variance in color.  It makes such great visual texture.  No more now until it's all done, I promise.

Back in the saddle...er, studio...again

Jim and I had a wonderful visit with Dan and Anna, highlighted by a trip to the International Civil Rights Museum and watching the last (sigh) Harry Potter film together.  We cooked together, watched movies, sat and read on the porch (thanks to a break in the weather), played Sporcle on the computer, put puzzles together, and talked and talked.  It was beyond wonderful.

I cannot say enough good things about the International Civil Rights Museum--the exhibits are state-of-the-art, but at the the same time, actually walking into the Woolworth's lunch counter where the sit-in took place transports one back to the 1960's in a segregated country.  If you are anywhere nearby, you need to come and visit.

Millions of words have already been written about the Harry Potter films, but just let me say that I think this series of movies is a very special achievement.  They certainly don't replace the books, but they definitely captured the world that Jo Rowling  so lovingly created.  I'm happy that I will always have the books and the films to draw me back into that world.

Now that things are quiet again, I'm back to the studio to work on my woobie quilt and, hopefully, finish the Brownies quilt. Happy July to ya'll from the hot and steamy Piedmont.

Cat-approved quilting

Henry's mother sent me this wonderful picture of their cat, Benno, very much approving the first version of Henry's quilt that got ruined by the bleeding fabric. ( See this post.)
Update 6/28/2011
Still more cat-approved quilting: this is Rockette, my niece's cat on the quilt I made her for Christmas last year.

Babies, babies, babies!

School is finally out.  I scanned my last item around noon yesterday to finish an inventory of our entire collection--14,000 and change and I scanned every one of them.  Now I can get on with the really important tasks of finishing baby quilts because two more tiny ones have joined our little friend, Henry on this earth and a little ahead of schedule.  This one above is for Demos and will go in the mail today. It was made with the Kaffe Fassett African Stripe pattern.

This is Demos with his beautiful mommy.

This little miss is Flora with her grandmother, my dear friend Diane, and her big brother, Angus who was also the recipient of a baby quilt.

These are the fabrics I've chosen for her quilt which will also be in the African Stripe pattern--all PRE-WASHED, I might add!

Finally, little Henry will get both of his quilts by the end of the week.  (The ruined one will make a great beach blanket.) For those readers unfamiliar with this little drama, this quilt and its brother where made using the Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl pattern.

Henry and his friend look blissfully happy.

Weekend in review

The Piedmont Triad was treated to a glorious weekend.  After a wonderful breakfast at the Smith Street Diner on Saturday morning, Jim and I went to the Greensboro Curb Market and then spent the afternoon on the screened porch.  He was reading and I was finishing up the quilting on this African Striped Baby Quilt.  To see more baby quilts, click on Kaffe Fassett or baby quilts or African Striped Baby quilts in the labels.

Since I had finished piecing Henry's new baby quilt, I pieced a back and made bias binding. I'm using the bamboo/cotton blend batting that I got at JoAnn Fabric with my 40% off coupon.

The big table on the screened porch makes a great place to baste.  Here's the back taped down with the centers marked.

The quilt sandwich is made and I am ready to baste. You can see more examples of Denyse Schmidt's "Single Girl" pattern by clicking on that phrase in the labels.