Starshine Stitches

Holly Dolly Dress Day

 

Second from last for a reason - I get to put it all together. 

Those of you who know me will most likely understand the yoke on this dress.  I may be big on machines, but there is a love of the hand-made-itsy-bitsy in me.  The technique is North American Smocking.  It's unlike traditional English smocking.  The finished product has no elasticity, and is usually worked on a straight checked fabric.  The fabric here is printed on the diagonal and produces a straight basket weave.  Honestly I don't know what comes over me sometime, just thought it would be cool.  All you need to know to do this is tie a knot with a needle. 

The dress pattern had a smocked dress look to me (the whole fabric collection too), so I fiddled a bit with a few ideas.  This type of smocking seemed better suited to applique.  Now since Tim Holly lives a hop skip and jump from me you know I had to "work it".  She was even kind enough to make me the pretty poet's bow. 

Now if anyone is actually interested in the technique I would be happy to post further -  just leave me a comment. 

Back to the workroom.....Cheryl

String Quilt Class

String quilts are back in vogue.  The editor of McCall's Quilting has her own wonderful Silk String quilt in the October issue.  Now I need to get my hands on some silk scraps I think.  All those solid colors - just think of the quilting possibilities!

The ladies from last fall at the Local community school did a wonderful job with their own string quilts. 

I love quilts that reflect the students own color preferences.  There were two goals here.  Learn about grain, and how to straight set blocks with speed.  This is one of the two quilt patterns I use when I need a gift in a hurry, or just want to get the scrap box under control.   I miss the days when I kept up with my fabric purchases.   

Back to the Workroom.......Cheryl

Doll Dresses

 

Sometimes group projects are so cute I can't resist. 

Cheryl

It's a Good Day :)

It's a good day when a lovely lady wins a nice big Best of Show ribbon!  It's truly a good day when that quilt was a round robin, and in the commercially quilted category!  In some respects it's kind of like a miracle.  Round robins don't generally get that far in a quilt show, or restrictions keep them off the big ribbon list. 

Whoo Hoo! 

So you get to see the quilting, below is a "post quilting" picture on my green sofa.  At about 3PM the sun is just perfect for quilting pictures.

 

Cheryl

Darla

Darla AKA Run or Sashquatch (you should see her feet) our little athlete. You can find her on top of curtain rods.  She is a cat's cat with very little use for humans.  She clearly understands momentum and its uses.  She only runs or trots, never to be found just walking.  If a tree spontaneously grew in the house she would be in heaven.   I would have named her Eore if she were a he, markings make it look as of someone plugged in her tail.  Did I say she was fast?  I have tried for months to get a picture of her back end but everything ends up blurry. 

Darla Darling has a sweet little voice but don't let it fool you - she's a little rascal at heart.

Cheryl

Don't Panic they can come in!

It has been brought to my attention that a cat is sitting on a quilt.  Yes, Buster Valentine fell asleep on a quilt, slid off the stool with the quilt and woke with a big yawn on the floor.  Silly boy.

It's my quilt.  I snuggle up with it + a cat or two.  It is a wonderful quilt with loads of nice work on it.  I haven't named it yet, it will have the words "round robin" in the title.  It was a really different sort of group work.  The top was fully constructed by me, stabilized with stitch-in-the-ditch quilting, and I quilted the center.  It went off to quilters around the country and each person quilted a border. 

Now I have an idea about how much fun it is to pick up your quilt from a quilter!  It felt like Christmas to open the box and see my pretty. 

Please don't panic, customer quilts don't leave the workroom where no cats are allowed to go.

Back to work.......... Cheryl

Buster Valentine

Today isn't only Valentines Day- It's Buster's Birthday.  The picture from the day we brought him home.   Yes that's my knee he climbed.  His manners have improved this year.  He has got to be the sweetest male cat I have ever known.  Quite the gentleman, and a hit with the girls( more about them later).

We lost our big love bug, a German Shepard from Akita rescue.  It was so lonely without the patter of little feet.   

Buster has been a bundle of fun.  He loves to play "make the bed" and "sweep the floor".   By far his favorite activity is strolling along high places.    Unfortunately his plan to get on the ledge above the door is not so cute.  He may be part monkey- we aren't sure.  The silly guy climbs the screen door.  (the screen did need replacing) 

His newest hobby is dropping toys in the toilet.  He lives for lids left up.  What is the fascination with toilets anyway?   If you want the cat to appear- just flush. 

Favorite toys come from Wall Mart- 4 days of fun for $1.82! 

My favorite picture of him needs a caption........

The little stinker pulled my quilt off the stool and had a lovely nap.  I snapped the picture in mid yawn, but it kind of looks like he is saying something.

Cheryl 

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Wide binding corners

I used to really hate binding quilts.   Corners came out cupped or dog eared.    When I jumped into quilting for hire I had to get it right.  Most directions allow for 1/2" finished without problems.  Wider than 1/2" and I was in trouble.  So I had to sit down and figure out how to consistently turn a corner with any finished width binding.

I am going to assume that readers know how to fold a corner.  The point I want to make is - do you know where to put the fold.  Most directions tell you to line it up with the edge of the quilt.

I do mark the finished perimeter+1/4" and make 1/4" corner marks so I know where the finished corner is.  We all sew to within 1/4" of the corner and back-tack.  My little 1/4" line is my guide to stop and back-tack.

To put the right amount of fabric in the corner I measure from the seam to the fold of the binding.  That measurement is transferred along the seam line of the binding and I mark a dot.  The binding is folded as usual and the dot goes right at the corner, using the corner mark.  The images are of a 1" finished binding, cut width is 4 1/2".   I begin sewing the next side at the fold.   Cut the quilt layers after the binding is attached. 

Back to the workroom........ Cheryl

 

Hydrangea Wholecloth Quilt Pattern

Truly, some fabrics are just to pretty to cut up.  Holly's Hydrangea fabric is one of them.  The clusters of blooms are wonderful.   Using the fabric as it comes off the bolt is a bit tricky.  In simple words, it has no central focal point.  The focal point needs to found and centered.  The small picture is the fabric as it comes off the bolt.  There are 3 1/2 large blooms across the width.  The quilt above centers one of the large blooms to create a pleasant grouping.  The pattern includes twin and queen quilt sizes.  Email me for pattern information and pricing (WC-01).  Wouldn't this look great in a guest room, or an entry way? 

I took the quilt to guild show and tell after market and was asked how long it took to make.  Let me answer it here, 10 hours minus the hand finishing.     Let's break that down.  About an hour was devoted to finding the "sweet spot" on the yardage.  45 minutes to cut the panel (first time to do this takes time) and the booth requirements must be met!  Borders usually take me 1/2 hour ( add 10 minutes for the stripe- gotta keep it straight).  When the tops are finished I usually assemble the binding, 20 minutes.  Marking the scallops was quick, less than 10 minutes.  The remainder of the time was quilting.   

Quilting was the bulk of time with this one.  I wanted the quilt to have a trapunto effect but didn't have the time to do the real thing.  So I layered a polyester batting on top of a cotton.  The cotton will shrink just a bit after washing and the poly will not. 

The flower blooms are "lightly" quilted and outlined.  The filler around them had to be tight, to give the blooms lift.  Holly hated my choice - oh well.  I used it for 2 reasons.  1. it's quick.  2. it's easy to get around the stems.  It's not the best choice but the market clock was ticking and it had to get finished. 

I want to go back and try an idea on the inner border........ more on that later.

The outer border was quilted to look like a large scale stripe/floral print.  Crosshatching is one of the hardest things to do on a longarm.  Picture trying to fill an "Etch-a-Sketch" screen with crosshatching.  The longarm works kind of the same way, horizontal and vertical movements that combine to make diagonals.  There are no feed dogs to guide the stitches, you must use a ruler along the hopping foot to stitch a straight line.   

I hope you enjoyed a peek at this project.

Back to the workroom, Cheryl   

Scarey Snow

After a lovely visit with my daughter and the Grand Kitties, I got a call that would make any parent cringe.  Robin was on the side of the road with a broken windshield.  I chunk of snow flew off the car in front of her.  The guy did stop, but was rather nasty.  The police wouldn't come out since there was no injury.  Why oh why is it so hard to take responsibility for accidents. 

I could hear the kitties in the background, clearly upset.  I told her to make as many notes as possible aside from the usual exchange of information.  You never know what little detail will be important.   She was at a point just about half way back, Mom couldn't quickly buzz over to assist.  Thank goodness for safety glass. 

She made it back.  The girls were happy to be home.  Although they did pick up some new habits from my kitty crew.  The window is fixed and all is back to normal? 

Cheryl