Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

The Snow Child Applique

Things are coming along with my Snow Child piece, though not quite as fast as I would like.  I have most of the applique done, but haven't been able to work on it very much this week due to other obligations and a nagging neck pain.  This pain is exacerbated by looking down as I always do when I'm hand sewing.  I am seeing a chiropracter tomorrow and hope for some relief soon.  

I have lots of ideas for embellishing this piece.  We are leaving on Saturday for a vacation somewhere warm and wonderful and I thought I might bring this for something to do on the airplane.  I have done a mixture of turned and raw edge applique. I'm also taking advantage of the edgings that some of the vintage linens came with.  I love working with these old linens.  They are so soft and pliable, so interesting to look at and it feels great to breathe new life into an old kitchen towel!

I've used harem cloth as a base layer and this will end up being the "batting" for this piece.  This is a technique I learned from Jude Hill.  It's lovely and light to work with, but really adds a nice bit of dimension to the stitching. It's also tames some of the squirrely linens and silk I like to use.  

I just sent in my entry form to participate in the Around the Block Fiber Arts Stroll on July 7.  I plan to demonstrate using vintage linens in small textile art pieces.  I did a demo on slow cloth last year and this will be somewhat similar, but I plan to have a lot of my newer pieces made with vintage linens. 

I will be back here in two weeks, unless I do a mini post while on the beach.  Aloha!

Blue and Orange

Blue and orange seem to be taking over the studio.  I was just standing in my studio, looking at my table and realized that this is quite a coincidence.

First there was the liberated cat quilt that I got out and started making more blocks for over the weekend.  

Then there were the piles of fabric I just pulled for a liberated star quilt for Ryan.  You see, his graduation is coming up and I just realized that he'd be due a quilt!  Hurray, another quilt to add to the growing list.  Fortunately, I know I will love to make this one and I think it will do double duty and be in the show this July too.

For the past two days I've been obsessed with trying to make a plan for my next Novel Idea piece.  This year the book that has been chosen is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.  If you haven't read it, you must!  It is a marvelous book, universally liked by everyone I've talked to and very quilt friendly.  After two days of poring over books, illustrations and re-reading passages in the book, I've chosen a simple folk arty design with a fox, some trees, and a hand dyed moon.  Nearly all the fabrics are ones that I hand dyed and they also include several vintage linens, including the marvelous background piece with the attached lace.  I'm looking forward to this one!

So, I guess I'm all about the blue and orange.  I just looked back at some older posts and realized this is not a first for me.  Both of my quilts in the Sisters Quilt Show flyer are blue and orange and that January AAQI quilt, Dandy Lion, is blue and orange.  Hmmmmm..  Wonder what that says about me?

Happy Inauguration Day!

I got the Obama quilt done last night and it's mostly hand quilted.  I only used the machine for quilting in the ditch around the blue borders of the flag.  

The backing fabric is a hoot.  I found this print at Greenbaum's in Salem, OR and it's just perfect for this!

I signed up online for the Inaugural festivities and got this nice invitation in the mail.  Something to keep with the quilt!

Here are the specs:  

• cotton quilting fabrics
• Tuscany silk batting
• Cotton embroidery threads for quilting.  Usually I use 2 strands, but sometimes just one.  Some of the threads were hand dyed with indigo.

Give me an "O"...

Give me a "B".  You may have seen some of the Obama quilts that were inspired  by his first election and inauguration.  A little internet search leads to lots of images and some good websites about political quilts in general.  There's even a book about some of them!  I was also surprised to find this blog post by Lazy Gal Tonya that I had forgotten about.  The DVD series, Why Quilts Matter, has an episode on the history of political quilts.  That whole series is wonderful, by the way.  I convinced our guild to buy it for our guild library. 

I decided to jump on the band wagon, even though a political quilt may seem out of character for me.  I started my Obama way back in 2008, intending to have it done for the first inauguration, but something made me put it on hold and I just recently got it out again to finish.  

Perhaps I put it off thinking that he might have a second term and I wanted to be sure it would all go into one quilt.  I remember thinking originally that I would have more words in the border:  Yes We Can and Change and so on.  Those words didn't seem quite right this time around.  A few weeks ago I had been making the stars to go around the border when I decided I needed some dates.  

The central panel is a marvelous print alternating an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech with an excerpt of the Declaration of Independence.   

This quilt combines some machine quilting and some hand quilting.  I plan to have it done by Monday.  I will post a photo then!

AAQI for January

This is an oldie, but a goodie, called Dandy Lion.  I decided to send it in to AAQI this month to get my last Quilt-A-Month club check.  That would be 2 years of making a quilt every month, except for a few where I bought one.  I am proud to say that my little quilts have made nearly $1500 for the AAQI!  

However, just the other day I got early news that the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative will be shutting down at the end of 2013.  This is because they hope to reach the 1 million dollar mark by the end of the year!  That is amazing.  Can you imagine all the little quilts you need to sell to make that much money!  Over 13,000 so far.  So, anyway, I just can't see quitting the QAMC when they are so close to the end, so I will continue right up until July.  For all the details about this year's deadlines see the AAQI blog post:  Sprint to the Finish.  

If you have not made an AAQI quilt yet, there's no time like the present!  Get in your studio and get to work making a little gem.  The last day to register quilts will be August 1, 2013.  While you are on the website, check out the hundreds of quilts for sale right now.  It's truly an amazing grass roots effort and Ami Simms and her dedicated volunteer team deserve all the credit for making it all happen.  

Done: Little Tree in the Big Snowy Woods

Alright, it's done except for the label and sleeve, but that's pretty good for me!  Quilting this went quickly and it was a good thing I chose to do the free motion quilting.  All that turning would have killed me if I had used the walking foot.

I was concerned about the quilting obscuring the lovely textural background fabrics, but I don't think it's a problem. 

The light is horrible for photos today. Not horrible for sewing though.  I love sunny afternoons in the studio!

So, I had to use the flash to try to get something decent.  Of course, it's not the same as seeing it in person.

I think the back is pretty cool. I don't usually want my stitches to show up on the back and so will do a highly patterned novelty or something that relates to the front. On this quilt I didn't want to have show through when the quilt is hung outdoors, so I used an off white Kona.  I'm not sure which one this is, but I love the Kona off whites.

So, one down, ? to go!  The countdown clock is ticking....

Quilting

I ended up making three small machine quilting samples.  These were created from all the little scraps I had left over and are wonderful little mini quilts themselves.  I tried free motion quilting straight lines.

I tried various free motion loop de loops and straight lines and some with contrasting thread.

Then I tried using my walking foot to make very straight lines.  It turned out, much to my surprise, that I liked this one the least.

So I decided to free motion the whole thing with a little patterning on the trees.

Then lots of free motion straight lines on the background.  Very nice indeed!  

Little Tree in the Big Snowy Woods

So, this week I got to work with the pile of fabrics destined to be my Modern Quilt Guild challenge.  The challenge is to use Kona Lime and Kona Coal in any amount, plus one other color.  Prints could be used in the same color shades.  White or black could be used in small amounts or as the other color.  When I looked at the green and grey I started to see trees and it was snowy outside and I was reading several books featuring winter environs.  It seemed natural to put my trees in a field of snow.  When I remembered these textured fabrics in my stash, I knew they were perfect.  I got them at the Stitchin' Post and I don't remember the fabric company, but they are awesome to work with!

I tried several arrangements of trees, but since I didn't make the blocks any particular size, I just had to get started fitting the pieces together, adding coping strips and trimming here and there.  The top is done and now, I just need to figure out how to quilt it.  Ha!  

I think I'll make a little mini sample to try some stuff out on.  These quilts will be displayed at the Sisters Quilt Show this summer.

My 2012 Santa

Chloe outdid herself for my 2012 hand carved Santa.  This one is amazingly detailed and larger than the previous ones.  It made a difference that we bought a new and larger carving block last December!  Of course, while I knew she was working on this I had no idea what it would look like.  She estimates about 30-40 hours of work went into this one!

I love the face and beard and that adorable little quilt block he is holding!

I also love that he is wearing green instead of red.  Above is the lineup from years 2007 to 2012.  Amazing!

I am a lucky mom to have such a talented daughter.  This year I don't really expect a Santa.  Chloe will be studying abroad in Ecuador this fall and we plan to visit her after the semester ends.  This will likely mean there will be no carving time, but I am so pleased with the treasures I have already.  Thank you so much Chloe!

Freshening Up & Looking Ahead

Well, after a good two weeks of near total sloth, I am ready to start the new year!  I spent my holiday reading, drinking tea (and occasionally wine, beer and spirits too!), going to the movies, skiing (a little), enjoying a beautiful white Christmas, spinning, knitting and generally staying far from the studio and my computer.  It was really nice to take time away.  

Now, I have lots of new plans and projects, new ideas and a fresh perspective.  That all starts with a new look to the blog.  Below are some glimpses of new projects in the works.

A little something for the Inauguration.  Do I have time to finish it?

A project for the Modern Quilt Guild's 2013 challenge.

A brand new idea for the Novel Idea Quilt challenge for 2013, based on the book, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.

Finally, the most amazing thing arrived in the mail- the brochure for the 2013 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  Even though I knew it was coming, it was still a surprise to turn the page and see me there!  I've got a lot to do in the next 6 months and I'll be sharing the behind the scenes here as I go along.  Wow- what a year this will be!