Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

QuiltCon 2015 :: 1

QuiltCon 2015 in Austin, Texas was a blast!  It was a very busy 4 days for the show and one extra day of shopping in Austin.  My plan for reporting on this trip is to go in mostly chronological order and grouping photos in a way that makes sense to me.  All of the photos for these posts will be clickable if you want to see more detail.  Also, my photos don't represent the whole show (how could they?), but they are a taste of what appealed to me at the time.  

Above is my official PDX selfie.  I'm glad I got there before the carpet disappears.  I left Bend on Wednesday morning and flew through Portland and Seattle to Austin.  Along the way I met up with my travel buddy, Marion.  There were also 5 others from the Central Oregon Modern Quilt Guild who traveled to Austin. Thursday morning dawned beautifully. Unfortunately, this was the last we saw of the sun.  The rest of the days in Austin were very grey.  Our hotel room (Hyatt Place) looked out over the convention center and faced east to the rising sun.

We got to our hotel at 7 pm on Wednesday night, too late to register.  So on Thursday morning we waited in a rather long line while some computer issues were worked out.  We got our name tags and a huge goody bag!

The first event on our schedule was the MQG Awards Ceremony.  The ballroom was surrounded by many of the QuiltCon charity quilts, made from MQG's around the world.  There were more in the other ballroom too.

Unfortunately, the convention center did not have the lecture set up finished and the ceremony started about 45 minutes late.  When it did start, Jacquie Gering had no sound system and the power point didn't start working until nearly the end.  That was very disappointing, but I mostly felt bad for the winners who really didn't get their due.  Below, Jacquie shows everyone how to do the "matchstick quilting" dance.

This is our Central Oregon Modern Quilt Guild charity quilt.  We did liberated houses in this alternate grid format.  All the COMQG peeps who made it to the show are in the photo above: Susan, Kayla, Christy, Lindsey, me and Erin!The charity quilts were really wonderful.  Unfortunately, they weren't labeled with the guild name, so I don't know which guilds made which.  Next time I'll be showing quilts from the Quilt Show floor!  Enjoy!

Two in One Community Quilt

These blocks were made before I sorted and bagged all the scraps I talked about last week.  This is made my usual scrappy way with imrov pieced blocks trimmed to 9.5 inches.  The back is pieced of many scraps.  It took a little while to make, but it was better than having to go out and obtain backing fabric.  I like the back even more than the front I think!

Scrappy Times at Home

Whew!  It's been an other whirlwind few days with lots of quilty goings on.  We had the SOQS Volunteer Appreciation Party, which is always fun.  I got a very nice thank you package with wine, a gift certificate and a stack of fabric.  Sarah gave me some of the coffee in her package, so I got that too.  On Thursday was the SAQA meeting, my knitting group and my book club in the evening.

At the same time, I managed to finish the piecing and get this scrappy quilt machine quilted.  Below are some close ups.  This quilt includes all sorts of scraps from older novelty prints to Kaffe Fassett.  This will be donated to my guild's community quilt program.

I am still working to clean up the studio so that I can start fresh in September.  It'll be like going back to school and I'll be concentrating in some areas that I'll share later.  Even as I finished this one, I knew I had enough scraps for a bunch more of these community quilts.  I also knew that it was really starting to drain my energy to work on things that aren't furthering me as an artist.  I have only so much time in the next 6 weeks to get things under control and I have some trips coming up and so forth.  

So, even though I love scraps I just realized last night that I can actually sell/giveaway some scraps and life will go on.  Why is it that it took me so long to accept that?  Anyway, three bins later and I'm making progress.  I decided that it would be better to sort them.  Some scraps are not usable except for those dedicated to small pieces and skinny strips.  The rest was sorted into color piles.  I will be selling these at the Mt. Bachelor Quilters' Guild show on August 16.  I have also raided my magazine piles and book shelves, cleaned out several drawers of ancient projects and old notions, etc.  Things are looking up!

PS. Thank you to those who commented on the previous blog post.  There is still time to get in on the giveaway!  If you want to be in on it, please see the end of the previous post and comment there:  SOQS 2014 :: SCRAPS (AKA ODDS AND ENDS)

Introducing The Men Behind the Quilts!

The Men Behind the Quilts Calendar Premiere Party was a ton of fun!  First off, everyone was getting their calendars signed by the men.  Most of them were there, but unfortunately, not the man who posed with our quilt.

It was very sweet.  They personalized every single one!The quilts were hung all around the edges of the big tent.  After the signing, the men and the quilters were introduced.  

Then the auction began!  Fast paced and a little confusing.  I had a hard time keeping up, but my job was really just to take photos, so that was okay.  Here are some of the Undercovers eagerly awaiting the outcome of our quilt auction.

Our quilt went for $1050!  That's well over the $900 stated value.  You can bet we all breathed a sigh of relief over that!  Below are the lucky winners!

I went over afterwards to congratulate the winners.  They said that they knew that was the one they wanted when they first walked in.  They are going to hang it proudly in their home!

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

The new SOQS Men Behind the Quilts Calendar is out!  My quilt group, The Undercover Quilters Book Club, collaborated on one of the quilts in the calendar.  In fact, our quilt is in the centerfold!

Mr. March is Chris M., one of the daring men of Sisters who graciously agreed to pose with a quilt all in good fun and for a good cause.  Our quilt, called Welcome to the Neighborhood!, will be auctioned off this Wednesday along with the other calendar quilts at the Men Behind the Quilts Calendar Premier Party.  This promises to be a fun party and sadly, the tickets are sold out, but you can buy a calendar at many outlets in Sisters and Bend as well as online at the link above.  

I was really pleased to be invited to head up the project, but all of the Undercovers made a house block and some also made the extra blocks including the word blocks which may have caused some consternation!  However, it all came together beautifully.  What I love about the auction is that it's a fundraiser for the quilt show, but also for various other non-profits in town.  The funds raised from our quilt will be split with the SOQS and the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Isn't that wonderful! 

back row: Cindy, Erin, Martha, Lani, Sandie, Janelle, Betty
front row: Wanda, Susan, Jane, Sally, me

Scraps, Etc.

As I said previously, I have been clearing out the cupboards of half finished projects.  Many of them were piles of variously sized scrappy blocks.  The above quilt had the triangles made and I just needed to assemble the blocks.  This one just needed scraps assembled and cut to 9.5 inch blocks.  Then I added sashing to finish it.  The one below had the triangles done and I had to go looking for something to set it into.  Blue worked out the best and I cleared out more old fabrics from the stash.  The two large spider webs were made of scraps and the middles were very bulky, so I cut them out and added the circles to cover the hole.I've been working on more, but this is Quilt Week in Central Oregon, so I may be blogging sporadically.  I will be back at some point with my reports of all the action here!

Quilts for WA

When I heard about the call for quilts for the victims and first responders of the Oso, Washington landslide, I knew I could come up with something to send.  I also asked if any other locals wanted to join me.  Luckily, my good friend Sarah was able to help out.  This gorgeous modern spiderweb is hers and, oh my, you don't know how tempted I am to keep it!  Isn't it fabulous?  Sarah is an amazing knitter, but she has taken up quilting in a big way this year and made enormous strides.  She's a member of the Central Oregon Modern Quilt Guild too.

I did get it in the box though, so no need to worry about a quilter gone to the dark side.  The other two are mine.  

This basket quilt was made from scraps several years ago, quilted professionally last year and finally bound to send off today.  

This twister baby quilt was destined for Washington from the start.  The blue border fabric and the backing were given to me by a neighbor who knows I quilt and asked if I could use it.  That was two days before the landslide.  I knew immediately it needed to be in a baby quilt for this project.  The rest of the fabric was in my stash and it was quickly put together.  This neighbor moved here from WA so it seemed especially appropriate.

The quilts are all boxed up and will be dropped off at the PO today.  

Recent Happenings

Last Friday I taught my first Modern Improv class.  It was a lot of fun.  I was so busy I forgot to take photos!  Thankfully, Janice, as you can see, managed to finish her top during class and I got this one photo.  Janice was also in my Liberated Basics class last fall and has taken to these techniques quite easily.  Isn't her piece marvelous?  In fact, I heard on Tuesday that she has already quilted it!  

I have two more classes coming up this spring:  Liberated Baskets (April 18) and Modern Improv (May 10).  I'd love to see you there!

I am still making myself crazy with community quilts.  The one above was made with my fabric and large enough to be a lap quilt for an adult.  This will be donated to the Community Quilts program in the Mt Bachelor Quilters' Guild.

The one below was made with my friend, Erin.  It's her birthday today!  Happy Birthday girlfriend!  This one is definitely kid size and made with some groovy fabrics that were donated to the Sisters guild.  This one will go to the Kids Quilts program in Sisters.

Adventures with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II: Hibiscus, Houses and Candy

Further adventures with Neocolor II!  The basic idea with these pieces is that I painted directly on a piece of muslin. First I ironed the muslin to a piece of freezer paper to make it easier to draw on.  I made my design with Neocolor II crayons.  Then I went over it with the textile medium/water solution.

For the hibiscus I let the fabric dry, heat set it with the iron, removed the freezer paper and then washed it under the faucet.  I then ironed it again to dry the piece.  The hand of this one is much softer than the butterfly piece.  I layered it with two pieces of thin batting and quilted it.  Then I did a pillowcase finish with a backing fabric and went around the whole thing with a topstitch.  This has a nice heft and feel, but isn't as stiff as the Fast-2-Fuse cards.  I think I like this better. I certainly like the edges better.

I couldn't resist making some little houses too. I painted it with the basic directions above, but with this one I was impatient to get it done and didn't want to wait for it to dry.  After painting, I placed it between a couple of pieces of regular paper and ironed it with the freezer paper still attached.  Because the paint was still wet, some of the color transferred to the paper when ironed, so it has a softer look, almost a bit antiqued.  The hand of this one is also softer than the butterfly even though I didn't actually wash out the textile medium.  I then layered it with two pieces of thin batting, quilted it, did a pillowcase finish with the backing and topstitched all around to close the opening.  I just love this one!

This "Spice Drops" piece is another 12 x 12 for the theme "candy".  This one was done as above with the painting done on just a piece of muslin attached to freezer paper.  After drying I removed the freezer paper, washed it, ironed to dry and then went on as with any other quilt- layered with batting and backing and machine quilted it. This is my least favorite.  The batting was rather thin for a whole cloth quilt and it just seems so flat- texturally and color-wise.  I love the butterfly one so much that I think I will go for that technique over this one if I try it again.  However, the postcards turned out great.  It's such a fun way to make a little piece like that!  The two postcards are going to the Wish Upon A Card fundraiser.

Here's "Watch Your Step" with the binding partially on.  I thought it needed the bold binding to frame it rather than a facing.  

Wish Upon A Card 2013

I've spent the past two days working on my Wish Upon a Card postcards.  These are part of a fundraiser for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and benefits the show as well as Wendy's Wish which supports cancer patients in Central Oregon. This year they had a challenge fabric and I used that in two of them.  The others are more basic.  I even got to finally use an old SOQS print fabric.

These took 1-2 hours each, often just due to pondering over what embellishment to add.  If you'd like to try one, there's still time.  While the challenge cards are due on April 15th, you can send your non-challenge postcards in by July 1.  I have added this tutorial to the Tutorials and Ideas tab at the top of the blog.  Check out that page to see more of my tutorials!

This is the first one I did and the one I spent the most time on.  The challenge fabric is the brown and black print which you can see better in the next piece.  I embellished with some beads.

The challenge fabric had the tiki faces and was not something that I would normally buy.  It took me a long time to figure out how to use it.  This island paradise includes some of my hand dyed fabric and some batiks.  Embellished with beads again.

I had fun with this one.  I've been saving selvedges forever, but haven't used them much.  I found the SOQS piece and built the rest from there.  The little quilts came from the quilt show fabric you can see in the last three postcards.

I wanted to use up some more of this old hand dyed Pimatex.  I can't hand stitch through the stuff so it's perfect in this application.  I still have some left that I think I'll use for an AAQI quilt or two.

I did the last three today with this Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show fabric from 2005.  I had fun embellishing with charms, buttons and beads as well as the selvedge words.

Fabric Postcard Tutorial

Below is the fabric card tutorial I first posted on  my old blog in 2007.  The cards shown are old ones.

Materials:

• double sided, heavy weight, sturdy fusible interfacing, such as Fast-2-Fuse, for the middle layer
• lightweight fusible web for fusible applique, such as Wonder Under (optional)
• applique pressing sheet or parchment paper
• fabric bits and scraps
• thread to match
• embellishments, selvedge words (optional)

Cut the sturdy fusible interfacing to 4" x 6" or whatever size you plan to make.  The interfacing shown below is Pellon and has a thin plastic backing you can see in the photo.  Fast-2-Fuse doesn't have the plastic backing.    

Choose a background fabric cut slightly larger than the card and fuse it to the heavy weight interfacing. I use an applique pressing sheet underneath to save my ironing board.  Kitchen parchment paper works just as well.  I cut the fabric to the edges of the interfacing after fusing.  I just realized that I have mixed photos of the two different cards I did.  This is actually the background for the second one, so the rest of these photos will show the first card.  You can also piece a background  and fuse it on at this point.

Here you can see how thick this interfacing is.

If you want to add bits of fabric to decorate the front of the card, cut them roughly into squared off pieces so it will be easier to fuse them. The next photo shows some motifs that I'm testing out on the background fabric.

Here they are laid out right side up on the fusible side of the Wonder Under.  I just put them together so the sides are touching.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but you don't want to have areas of fusible web showing between the pieces.   

Then I covered it with a bit of scrap paper to keep the web from melting to my iron and I ironed them for about 10 seconds.  Again, you can use an applique pressing sheet or parchment here.

I cut the motifs with a bit of edging on them, but you can cut all the way to the edges if you like.  If you are cutting fabrics such as the hand dyed ones that don't have a motif, draw your shape on the paper side of the fusible, fuse to the fabric, then cut along the line with paper scissors before you remove the paper.  This ensures that the fusible glue goes all the way to the edge of the shape.

Here are the shapes arranged on the background that has been fused to the heavyweight interfacing.

Now, fuse the whole thing again.  Then, take off the plastic backing as you get ready to sew it all together.  If you are using Fast-2-Fuse, you will not have a plastic backing so be sure to fuse on the applique pressing sheet or some parchment paper.

Once the backing is off and all the pieces are fused to the background you can sew.  I did some straight stitching, free motion embroidery and some of the fancy stitches.  You can doodle as much as you want and even do some "thread painting".

At this point you can add some embellishments if you want.  Be aware that anything like buttons and beads will make it harder to fuse on the backing, but it can be done.  I hand sewed on the buttons and beads right through the interfacing on the cards at the top of this post.

I picked out a fabric for the back of the postcard.  I discovered that the threads on the back showed through so I did a double backing on them.  First I fused a piece of muslin to the back.  Remember, you've already removed the plastic backing so it's ready to fuse.  The fabric was cut a little big, then after fusing trimmed to the exact size of the card.

Then I picked out this pretty yellow to go over the muslin.  I had to use more Wonder Under to fuse this in place.  Again, cut it a bit larger at first and then trim to size after fusing.

Lastly, from the front of the card go around the edges with a zigzag stitch to finish it off.

I'd love to hear if you use this tutorial to create any fabric cards.  Just leave a comment and a link if you have one!  If you have a card without embellishments it is actually possible to send it in the US mail all by itself (extra postage and hand cancelling required).  With the time it takes to make one though, you might wish to place it in a padded envelope for mailing.  Happy Sewing!