On my design wall – 2013.06.26

Posted on June 26, 2013 by TerryAske

TerryAske-RainyDayPeople4A nice surprise in my email inbox yesterday – my entry to the Quilting Arts ‘Text Me’ reader challenge was featured in the Quilting Daily newsletter email.  And again in today’s email!

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Which reminds me, my entry to the ‘Map It Out’ reader challenge  appeared in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts magazine.  I always get such a thrill when I see my work published!

 

I’m working on two projects right now.  I’ve been working for two or three weeks on a custom portrait quilt.  The photo it’s based on is fairly blurry, and the heads in the quilt will each be only 3 or 4 inches high, so I won’t do any facial features.  I’ve used that technique before in this quilt of me and my sisters, and just added some shading around the edges of the faces.  I think this technique will work well for this portrait.

I’m taking photos of my process and will eventually post some tutorials on how I go from photo to pattern, and how I construct a portrait quilt.   Here’s the starting photo and my pattern (reversed for use with fusible web).

Kristi_portrait_cropped Kristi_portrait_line drawing-001

I spent quite a bit of time selecting fabrics. After several iterations, I’ve come up with fabrics I’m very happy with. I sent the photo below to my customer before I fused the fabrics together to get her approval (she said she thought the fabrics were perfect!)   For the background, only the light fabrics have been cut to size – the others are just there to check the colors.  I’ve actually done a lot more work on the background since this photo was taken, but will post photos of that later.

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I’ve had to set the portrait quilt aside for a couple of days because I suddenly realized a deadline was looming.  I had sent away a long time ago for a fat quarter to participate in the Sew Batik challenge for the Pacific West Quilt Show.  I realized a couple of days ago that my quilt has to arrive in Washington state by the end of next week.   Since mail from Canada to the US takes a long time, I need to get it finished quickly.  I’ve always known what theme I wanted to do – Starry Winter Night – but hadn’t really thought about the details.  I decided to go with an abstract look, and challenged myself to complete it in two days.  Last night I selected fabrics and fused the background.  This morning, I layered the quilt, added the tree trunks (most of them have an extra layer of batting for added dimension) and quilted it.  I took the photo below at noon.  I just have to apply the facings, sleeve and label.  I plan to mail it tomorrow morning – some sort of record for me!  Then I can get back to the portrait quilt.

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As always, I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday.  Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.

Quiltsy WiP    WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced  

 

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Quilting is a spectator sport!

Posted on June 23, 2013 by TerryAske

IMG_3864The Fraser Valley Quilters Guild’s Biennial Quilt Show is being held in Langley BC this weekend.  The FVQG has 6 teams and they are each competing against a team from another guild.  Our team, the VMQG Mod Quilters, competed on Saturday morning.   The challenge – each team to complete a quilt – 36 x 36 inches or larger – quilted, bound and labeled, within 2 hours.  And just before the start of the challenge, each team is given a fat quarter of fabric that they must feature in their quilt.

IMG_3859We were the only Modern Quilt Guild in the competition, and we decided our priorities were to create a distinctly modern quilt, using improv techniques, and to have fun!  So, unlike the other teams, we didn’t have our fabrics totally planned and/or precut.  We had a basic plan, and we each brought some solid fabric and a few printed fat quarters.  We didn’t decide which solid color to use for the front until we saw the feature fabric (which everyone loved!).

Here are some action shots of our team at work:

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We didn’t quite get our quilt finished in the 2 hours (it was quilted, the label was on, and I was about 10 minutes from finishing sewing the binding on), so we didn’t win.  But we’re really proud of our quilt – and the other team members even made a matching pillow cover, while I was frantically sewing the binding on. IMG_3875 IMG_3878

 

IMG_1910I couldn’t believe how many spectators were interested in watching us quilt, although I understood the fascination later, when I found myself part of the excited crowd as the clock ticked down for the afternoon challenge.
It was a lot of fun, and I would definitely participate again!

 

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A fiber-filled week – 2013.06.21

Posted on June 21, 2013 by TerryAske

At the VMQG meeting on Monday night, we had a block lottery with the theme – modernized disappearing 9-patch.  I made my blocks on Monday afternoon.  When you see all the entries together you can see what a wonderful quilt they would make!  I didn’t win in the block lottery, but I did win a wonderful door prize  – a quilt made by Laurraine of Patchwork Pottery.

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On Tuesday, I went to visit my sister Anne for a couple of days.  We drove down to La Conner and saw the Karin Franzen exhibit at the La Conner Quilt Museum – fantastic work!  Anne and I had a wonderful visit – with a real focus on creativity and fiber art.

 

On Saturday, I will be participating in the Iron Quilter Challenge at the Fraser Valley Quilters Guild Biennial Quilt Show in Langley.  The FVQG has 6 teams and they will each compete against a team from another guild.  Our team, the VMQG Mod Quilters, will be competing at 10:30 on Saturday.   Each team of 6 people must complete a quilt in 2 hours – 36 x 36 inches or larger, including quilting, binding and a label.  It’s going to be a lot of fun!

 

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And last night, I received some photos of the preschool quilt being presented to the teachers at the class graduation ceremony.   I was told the quilt was very well received and the teachers loved it very much.  Aren’t the kids cute in their graduation caps and hand-print t-shirts?

 

Linking up to:

 

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On my design wall – 2013.06.17

Posted on June 17, 2013 by TerryAske

Tonight is the monthly meeting of the Vancouver MQG – and also our 3rd anniversary party!  We also have a block challenge that was announced last month, due this month.  It’s a modern take on the disappearing 9-patch block.   We’re using 5 inch squares and each block will be made from 4 scrappy-bright squares and 5 solid black squares – each block with a different layout.
So this afternoon, I pulled out some black fabric and several printed charm squares with black in them.  I made 3 blocks, then sliced each into quarters.  I rearranged them on my design wall, just to see what they would look like – pretty cool.

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I’ll take them to the meeting tonight, and hopefully I’ll win a few of these in the block lottery.  Wish me luck!

 

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On my design wall – 2013.06.12

Posted on June 12, 2013 by TerryAske

The preschool quit is finished – I love how it turned out!  I’m delivering it today to one of the parents.TerryAske_PreschoolQuiltFinished

 

TerryAske_PreschoolQuilt-detailI quilted it with straight lines with a light lime-green thread.  The vertical quilting lines are about 2.25 inches apart, and the horizontal line about 5 inches apart.

On a quilt like this, I would normally use a 2.25 inch strip for binding, attached entirely by machine, which would finish to about 3/8 inch on the front.  On this quilt, I wanted the striped binding to be about the same width as the frames for the hand-prints.  With a bit of experimentation, I determined that a 3 inch strip, sewn 1/4 inch from the edge on the back, would finish at 3/4 inch when folded to the front.

Originally, I had planned to attach a standard hanging sleeve, split in the middle.  But given that the quilt is 77 inches long, more than one split might be required for the hanging rod supports.  The parents told me they haven’t decided exactly what type of hardware they will use to hang it, so we don’t know how many supports there will be, or how far apart they will be.  So I turned to the Internet for alternative hanging options.  I found this post by Mary Burns at Martingale, showing a variety of hanging methods.  I was intrigued by the invisible hanging tab technique at Modify Tradition.

I decided to use several mini-sleeves (a hybrid of tabs and sleeves).  Here’s a little tutorial about how I made the mini-sleeves.

I hemmed the sides of a 6.5 by 48 inch piece of fabric, then cut it into 8 pieces, each 7 inches long.  I folded each piece in half and positioned them with the raw edges along the top of the quilt, and caught the raw edges in the stitching when I bound the quilt.  When I hand-sewed the bottom of each mini-sleeve, I left some slack so there is room for the hanging rod.  I positioned the sleeves with a gap of 4 inches between each one, with one of the gaps right at the center of the quilt.  This will provide a lot of flexibility for hanging hardware and number of supports, while ensuring the quilt won’t sag when hung on the rod.

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As always, I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday.  Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.

Quiltsy WiP    WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced  

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On my design wall – 2013.06.05

Posted on June 5, 2013 by TerryAske

TerryAske_longer than my 6 ft high design wallWow, I can’t believe it’s June already!

I’ve been working on the preschool quilt, and it’s now all pieced.  We had planned a finished size of 30 x 60 inches, but it’s going to be closer to 33 x 77 inches.  I pinned it sideways on my 6 foot tall design wall, and had to tape the top to the cupboards above.  I’m really happy with the center panel with the logo.

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Next, I have to piece the back, layer and quilt it.  I’ll bind it with the stripe fabric that’s outlining the center logo panel.

 

As always, I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday.  Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.

Quiltsy WiP    WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced  

 

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Off the design wall – ‘Abstracted’ pieces finished – 2013.05.31

Posted on May 31, 2013 by TerryAske

If you’ve been reading along, you’ll recall the red bench quilt is for an exhibit by Fibre Art Network members.

‘Abstracted’ will explore the development of a subject from a realistic image to one that illustrates the essence of that subject in an abstract, or in a non representative way. Pairs of artists will illustrate their subject – one in a representative fibre art piece and one in a abstract / non-representative fibre art piece. 

My fibre artist sister Anne de Verteuil is my partner.  She finished her abstract piece just the other day.  We haven’t actually seen each other’s piece yet – we’ve just been sending photos to each other.  Using the magic of photo-imaging software, I’ve made it look like they are hanging next to each other.  I think they look fabulous together, and I can’t wait to see Anne’s abstract piece ‘in person’.

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Linking up to:

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On my design wall – 2013.05.29

Posted on May 29, 2013 by TerryAske

I was contacted earlier this month about making a quilt for a ‘graduating’ class of preschoolers at Friendly Forest Preschool.   It will be hung on a wall in the school as a legacy from the class of 20 kids.  I met with one of the moms to select fabrics.  We started with a cute lizard print for the background and a coordinating stripe for binding.  Then we picked several matching solid colors.

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One of the moms cut the solid fabrics into squares and each child put their hand print on one square.  The wall space available for the quilt is 3 feet high by 10 feet long, so the quilt will be about 30 inches by 60 inches.  I’ve put borders on each hand printed square, and decided on a layout.  The blank area with have a fused image of the preschool’s logo.   It’s going to be a fun and colorful quilt!

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As always, I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday.  Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.

Quiltsy WiP    WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced  

 

Make sure you head over to Amy’s Bloggers Quilt Festival and check out all the fabulous quilts.  You can vote for your favorite in each of the 15 categories – voting closes tomorrow.  I have 2 quilts entered – one in the Scrap Quilt category and one in the ROYBGIV – color wheel category.

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Off my design wall – red bench finished – 2013.05.27

Posted on May 27, 2013 by TerryAske

I’ve finished the red bench quilt.  I’m going to call it ‘Solitude’.

Anne is still working on her abstracted version.  Below you can see the original photo, my finished quilt, and an in-progress shot of Anne’s abstract piece.  Anne has used very similar colors, but with geometric shapes.  Her red bench fabric is flipped back in the photo below, until she finishes some stitching that will be under it.  She may add some more squares of dark green fabric before layering and quilting it, and trimming it to the final size of 18 x 45 inches.

     Original    Terry_Aske-Solitude_Full    Anne de verteuil - Abstract in progress

I’m really happy with my quilting – especially the leaf pattern on the bushes with a green variegated thread – and also the wood-grain quilting I did on the back of the bench.   I was unhappy with the sky – it wasn’t lying flat and was resisting my efforts to steam it into submission.  So I fused some clouds onto the sky, and I think it made a huge improvement to the whole piece.  It added to the impression of distance.

Terry Aske-Solitude-detail1   TerryAske-Solitude-detail2

To square and trim the quilt, I again used the Pellon 1-inch grid.  This time I folded the Pellon to 18 x 45 inches – the required finished size of the quilt.  I then trimmed the quilt  1/2 inch larger on all sides.  I finished it with a facing, and I know from previous experience that these dimensions will give me the exact finished size I want, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance and rolling the front of the quilt about 1/8 inch to the back.

I used a combination of my facing technique and  this one by Victoria at The Silly Boodilly.  I prefer Victoria’s single-layer facing with the edge turned under 1/4 inch, and her corner treatment.  Some day, I’ll re-write my technique – for now I just refer to both.

I’ve submitted my quilt to the Fibre Art Network ‘Abstracted’ exhibit.  Anne will be entering her piece in a couple of days.  In June, I’m going to visit Anne, so we can see our two pieces side by side.

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Canadian Quilt Conference in Penticton BC

Posted on May 25, 2013 by TerryAske

Last week I attended the Canadian Quilt Conference in Penticton BC.   My friend Janet drove us from New Westminster to Penticton – a beautiful scenic drive!

When we arrived in Penticton, we went straight to the convention center, and discovered that Janet’s quilt had won an award!   After we admired her quilt and beautiful ribbon, we looked at all of the other quilts in the juried show – gorgeous entries, stunning workmanship, inspiring techniques – it was almost overwhelming!  We weren’t permitted to take photos in the show, but you can see the award winners here.  Of course, the quilts were so much more impressive in person than on a computer screen!  I had two quilts in the show, and it was a thrill to see them hanging there, even though they didn’t win any awards.

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There were also 3 concurrent quilt shows.  My Rainy Day People art quilt was in the Fibrescapes exhibit with works by other members of the Fibre Art Network.

It was also an opportunity to reconnect with fellow fibre artists, including a meetup with several on-line friends who I had never met face-to-face.  We had an interesting lunch conversation.

On Friday evening, we attended a lecture by Anna Hergert, resulting in even more inspirational ideas!  And I won 2 door prizes!

When we woke up Saturday morning, we looked out our hotel window to discover a street market, where we wandered through many interesting booths selling arts and crafts, baked goods, jams and jellies, fresh produce and many other interesting wares.  IMG_1841    IMG_1839

Then it was back to the conference center for one last tour of the quilts before heading back home.  All in all, a wonderful weekend!

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