Fine Stitches

Green new world

2010-06-03T12:15:00.000-04:00

Hmm... Green Challenge.
A pin cushion? I love pin cushions. And I would really need one for quilting needles. Quilting needles are so small that they get buried into larger cushions, and always the one that feels best in the hands has disappeared into the depths. It really is a mystery to me how one needle can feel just a tiny bit different from the rest of the same batch of needles.

A doll quilt? Miniatures are just charming and they transfer me into enchanting, happy childhood memories, either my own or my girls'.

A pot holder? Sometimes just a little bit of something new in the kitchen may spark up serious cabinet cleaning, or will bring that warm and cozy atmosphere for a cup of coffee in the early morning, or will be a nice farewell for the night while having the last cup of tea before retiring to bed.

Little summery bag? It could be just what I need when queuing in the line before cashier in the Friday afternoon with a bunch of other shoppers.

A sewing caddy? It would be very good to have one dedicated to quilting and one dedicated to appliqué and one dedicated to piecing with appropriate scissors, thimbles, needles and threads at hand at all times.

While I think about the challenge and gather my green fabrics, I will give you few postcards from here...

I was out in the woods earlier this week and took few pictures for you of the landscape. This area is close to us and it is well kept outdoor area with few different paths to hike. And there is green all over. If I was able to fly following this bearing over this country and across the big water, I would eventually land somewhere close to you...

I took a little trip down south last week and visited my two girls. They live in very different places, one in a small rural town and one in Helsinki. I travelled by train from this small town to Helsinki and this is how the railway station looked the morning I took the train. For a while I was alone on the platform but later one, one other person came and two of us hopped onto the train.

I love Helsinki, whenever I get a chance I gladly go there. I was in Helsinki for just one full day and so I did not have time to see much, I more or less just walked around the city and enjoyed people watching. It was a rainy day, dark clouds hanging low so it was not good for pictures, but I did take one or two of downtown.

One of my must-go-places is the Academic Bookstore right in the city and that particular day it was packed with people. John Irwing was there to talk about his newest book. I bought couple of quilting magazines and sat in the cafeteria reading and drinking coffee.

While away the landscape had totally changed back home and the yard is screaming for attention, cleaning and raking after the winter. Yesterday I was out in town and bought few rose bushes that will need to go to the ground today. I also bought peonies, I know I am pushing my luck, it probably is too cold to be successful with them up here, but I will try to find a warm spot for them today, a place where northerly winds cannot get to them and a place that gets plenty of sun.

The summer is just beginning, and while some of the trees have fully recovered and are celebrating the new summer with full sized leaves already, some are just slowly recovering and showing tiny beginnings. Yes, definitely, if ever there was a time for a green challenge, it is now.

Love,

Lene

PS. I took out the Yellow Flowers the other day and played with paper cuts (green paper). I look forward to the day when I can get back to that quilt again.

Spring!

2010-06-01T17:42:00.005-04:00

Dear Lene,

It's been far, far too long. I'm enjoying spring here ... the weather has been (mostly) beautiful, occasional rain storms but those just seem to make everything more green by the day.

So, I've been thinking of a sort of challenge for us. Not a competition at all, just a little something to inspire us. With all the green around (I hope your spring weather is not too far behind ours!), maybe we could make something, each of us, with green as the theme.

It could be anything, really. Pieced, appliquéd, embroidered - whatever you want. And of course, whatever your interpretation of "green" is. There are so many ...

Also, because spring is so fleeting, it doesn't have to be anything big. A pincushion, a pillow cover, or anything at all.

I've been looking at my green fabrics a bit - these look so dull compared to the colours in nature! - but I'm not quite certain yet what my final choices will be.

Hoping you accept this little challenge for a happy spring project,

Cassie

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T12:43:00.006-05:00

Dear Cassie,

If I were able to get a glimpse at your life right this moment, I wonder what I would see... If I would spot you queuing in the grocery store or find you making preparations for Christmas dinner or wrapping presents or maybe quietly sipping your tea feeling peaceful with the thought that everything is taken care of.

I just got home from shopping for the last bits in town and no matter how calm I find myself some commercial hysteria grabs me in the midst of the blinking lights and glittering stars and glazing decorations, not to talk about the long queues. I don't like driving at this time of the year, all the roads are full plus the driving conditions are quite bad right now. The temperature is way below freezing and there is new snow and this powder snow flies all around making the visibility poor at times, especially poor when it is dark. It is such a relief to finally turn to the quiet home way.

I have not been making Christmas presents this year but I have not had idle hands either. I think I have only knitted one scarf but I did manage to find a good balance between quilting and knitting this past month and have enjoyed the variety of projects.

Some time ago I saw this beautiful Civil War Bride Quilt and immediately loved it. I don't remember where I saw it first but followed the link that brought to me to the blog that is dedicated to this quilt. And from there I found the site that sells this pattern.

Last week I received my copy and I could not resist but had to start right away. The blocks are not square and it bothered me a bit and I decided to draw it and spread the motifs to fill a square. I redrew the block but kept changing little bits here and there and in the end my block had changed a lot from the original.I did the appliqué on my block and even though I like it, I am wondering if I should start from the beginning again and be true to the original. I think I will do the next block by re-drawing it also and then I will decide what to do. The original quilt has its own language or spirit and that is what I love about it.

I am looking forward for the holidays, for hours of quilting and knitting, listening to Christmas carols, watching old films on TV and eating chocolate and drinking hot glögg. (With occasional breaks for snow shovelling, the forecast for us is more snow.)I wish You Merry Christmas, be well, enjoy your holidays, and when appropriate, thread the tiny needle and sew away few moments.

Love,
Lene

PS. I don't like red apples, I just had to make the apples yellow.

Spring frenzy

2009-05-15T08:29:00.007-04:00

Dear Cassie,

So the spring - almost summer - has come into these furthest corners of the northern hemisphere. My lake was freed from the ice last weekend and since then I have had very hard time going to bed at nights. I have kept looking at the opposite shore being lit by the last rays of sun and its glorious reflection on the calm surface in windless nights; or kept listening to the lullaby of breaking waves in less quiet evenings. I have stayed up late to wake up by the alarm clock after so short sleep that my body would have loved to stay under the covers but have gotten up to catch the morning chorus of birds. I just love this season.

After the long and dark winter all of a sudden the world is full of noises and and the scenery is slowly changing from one color scheme into the other. It is almost like somebody has taken a box of crayons and is filling this canvas little by little.

Do you remember Quilter Anna Williams? (I know you do, but I could not think of any other sentence here...) Long time ago she and her work was featured in American Quilter and I was touched by her work.

It reminds me a lot of these rag rugs that were and still are woven in Finland, some of them, and the most beautiful ones, are made with whatever is at hand at home. Rags are collected for years and then a long warp is set to a loom and rug after another is woven until the warp is used. Often a lot is left over as a seed for the next crop of rags.

When I saw the quilts of Anna Williams I was inspired to make this blue log cabin called "The village is asleep". (This hangs on the wall in my house but it is very difficult to photograph in its place so I scanned it from a magazine. It was on the cover page of Finn Quilt, a Finnish magazine. It consists mostly of news inside Finnish quilting world.)
For some reason, maybe it is spring to blame here, but I have been overwhelmed by the possibilities of the fabric stash. As the spring proceeds and new colors appear in the nature, I keep introducing new colors into this quilt.This looks a bit wild but I do love these bits and pieces collected over the years. Some of the fabrics are new, some are very old, but not older than my marriage. I could tell my life's story by telling you about some of these fabrics and when and where they were bought and for what intention they were bought...I have been cutting these strips and have them stored in one big container and pick one - whatever happens to please my mood right at that second - and then carry on.

I just so love this spring!

Love,
Lene

A Building Project

2009-04-05T09:10:00.007-04:00

Dear Cassie,

I wish I could see your quilts in person, not just as pictures on the screen, because I know there is much more to feel there than meet the eye here. Your tiny even stitches amaze me every time I get a glimpse of them!

As much as I have enjoyed the quiet and slow needle turn applique with the Piney quilt blocks (6 of them completed so far), I have set up my trusty sewing machine on my desk. Well, to be honest here, I have set it up in my daughter's room, while she is away. I was sorting out fabrics in my own room, after which there is such a mess that I can't stand to stay in there.

Anyway, I realized that I have few pieces of fabric living on the shelves of my cabinets (now on every possible surface), that need to be dealt with. They need to be sewn into quilts or be got rid off some other way. There are few that I cherished so much when I bought them that I did not dare to use them and now they don't seem to fit my mood any more. Today I hope to be wiser. (Also with yarn.)

Here, meet my companion, my Bernina. She is old but she has the most beautiful straight stitch and I value her for that. She is is easy to open up to clean of dust and to oil frequently. I did not remember that I had made some little add-on's to her. To make things simple and easy and to start some kind of de-stashing, I cut few strips and started building a new log cabin. I might be doing these the hard way but I open up the seams - almost always. I think, I am not sure, but I think that when the seams are open, the block will behave in a balanced manner. I trim and iron the block every time after a new log has been added. It takes time but it also gives more of it to ponder about the next selection of fabric.

My good quilting book library is not that big, but I have few treasures there. I bought this huge book long time ago from a book sale (ISBN 3-89508-224-5). The text in it is in English, French and German. It has big good pictures of mostly old quilts and I have many favourites in it. It is hard to name the best one, but it could be this... or then this... then again maybe it is this... I realize that your Sunday is much younger than mine and I want to squeeze few sewing hours into mine yet, so be well until next time,

love,
Lene

quilting time again

2009-03-27T15:09:00.005-04:00

Dear Lene,

I'm sure by now you must be thinking that all of my promises that "I'm thinking about quilting" and "I have a few projects in mind" are all a bunch of excuses. But really, I have started up with some quilting projects again, slowly but surely. It must be something about springtime - we started this quilting binge nearly a year ago, and I guess we both get bit by the quilting bug at this time of year.

The first thing I picked up was some handpiecing, blocks that I started last year and then set down. I've made another dozen (more or less) and am going to continue until I run out of the fabrics. Unfortunately, the two solids are from a discontinued fabric line, so I'll just be working with what I've got on hand, and stop when I'm forced to.

What I've really felt inspired to do lately is hand quilting. I have several projects around that have been languishing, some of them for years I'm afraid.

This simple wholecloth quilt is one that I started a couple of months ago. I liked the fabric and thought a simple baby quilt would be a good thing to have finished. Of course, now that I started it, two of my nephews have had baby boys (both in the past month!) and I realized I'd better pull it out and get it done - quickly.

As simple as it is - or rather, maybe because it is so very simple, I'm afraid I find it a little boring to work on. I had planned some more elaborate improvisation in the areas between the leaves, but I feel kind of pressed for time now (with all of these babies arriving) so I'm not sure if I'm going to do more than finish the leaf outline that I started with.

What I'm really wanting to get back to is something that I know won't bore me at all. Its another baby sized quilt, a more elaborate wholecloth in the Welsh style.

All this one needs is the borders quilted and its done. I'm considering the simple leaf quilt as a warm up excercise for this one. Or maybe this will be a treat to myself, a reward once I finish the simpler one.

I'm hoping that your springtime is filled with flowers, when it finally comes to you up north. Your Piney blocks look beautiful! I'm sure I'll get back to my appliqué soon, but for now I seem to be hand quilting again.

love,
Cassie

Piney again

2009-03-22T08:54:00.014-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Now I do have to admit that the quilting bug has really bitten me hard and there is no turning back at the moment. It must be the anticipation of spring and the amount of light and all this whiteness around that makes me so thirsty for colors. There is nothing but snow all around yet and this longing of colors and flowers has forced me to make a few of my own.

Remember Piney?

I made one block last summer before the yarns took over my life but I never could push this solitary flower out of my mind. The block has lived on my desk in a plastic bag where it was easy to spot and I never had the heart to hide it into a closet. Her jump onto my lap was a short one and since I zipped the bag open, I have not been able to put it down.

I have cut all the pieces for the flowers (except for the centers) and have already hand pieced more than 50 flowers. I am going to need 64 if I manage to carry on that far.

Talking of color --- I keep going back to look at this colorful beauty over and over again. I have not yet made any efforts towards it but there is a part of me that would love to be surrounded with this brightness.

And this is the book that I must have a glimpse of quite frequently. To my delight very talented Janet from Quiltsalot is making a quilt that is very similar to the cover quilt. How's that for an inspiration?

Love,

Lene

It is Green.

2009-03-03T06:34:00.003-05:00

Hi!

I hope all is well and that you are not buried under the snow...

So my December was red. Jean K sent me a question wondering what color is my February.

Most of February went by and I never got around to quilting but the question kept coming back to me. I knit through almost all of February but during the last few days I started to think of life beyond knitting. Finally I decided to quilt for a tiny bit, or sew something at least. I did not have anything special on my mind and went to look for fabrics. I had a firm belief that my inspiration resides in the fabric stash and that I just had to uncover it from there. I was also sure that blue was the color I was after. Light, cold, pure and fresh blue, like the sky up here during these cold and sunny days.

Little did I know that my inner clock was already full ahead for spring. After some poking around I had collected a bundle of greens and picked a block with a bird and dandelions from a Japanese book called Woolwork (ISBN4-579-10989-9). I was all set to make one single block and sew it into a pillow but then... ah, the joy! The tiny needle took me by the hand and so far I am making my third block. (The embroidery will be added later on.)
Love,

Lene

My December is red

2008-12-01T14:00:00.005-05:00

Dear Cassie,

It is December already. The summer with yellow blooms is long gone and winter with frosty flowers is upon us, the day breaks with blue moments and before long it is again blue and even though it is dark and one feels like bed time, it is only four in the afternoon. The day is less than four hours long, it sounds bad, but this season has its best to offer too; the moonlight on white snow or the flames of northern lights in freezing nights, soft candle light in dark rooms and the glow of fire, the feel of a warm cup in cold hands with lovely scented glögg with raisins and almond chips. Very romantic… at times… luckily with a click of a button I can change the scenery, hit the sharpest beam of the lamp at my hands and craft away.

I am not sure what got hold of me last Friday and steered my little wagon on the road towards my local fabric store (is there a shortening for that like LYS in the knitting world?). There I was pulled to Christmas fabrics and table cloths and before long I was happily loading my car with a bag filled with new fabrics, for napkins and some other Christmas-sy items. Linen cloth I find very, extremely difficult, to resist and thus most of the bag was full of that. Beautiful red and natural beige linen and a heart full of fabric dreams and a head full of determination.

To my own astonishment I did take the sewing machine from long hibernation and we were instantly connected and singing together Christmas carols. This is what my weekend was made of.

This cotton is very sturdy and feels good and was sheer pleasure to work with. I made ten napkins of it for Christmas Eve rice pudding breakfast and finished few stars to decorate the table. These stars will have names embroidered to the back side and will mark the places at the table.

I washed and ironed and pressed and sewed and ended up having perfect mitered corners. I sewed the little stars of linen,used fray check on the reverse side when turning them right side out and filled with polyester and hand sewed them closed. Appliquéd stars and added tiny beads (they are so small that they are almost impossible to see) and some embroidery.

Used some of the leftovers for these ribbons.I can’t get enough of red at this time of the year. I know some people prefer white Christmas, or blue, or some pick different theme and colour for every year, but my December so far has always been red. And usually by January first, all the red is packed away until next December. I wonder if this will ever change? There is no need to, right now red is good.

Wishing you lots of red stitches this season,

Lene

PS. Will not talk about Yellow Flowers with you now. Will talk about them later.

a bit of quilting

2008-07-29T23:27:00.003-04:00

Dear Lene,

I'm so sorry. I realize that I've 'dropped the ball' on my end of the blog here lately. It's really just the excitement/worry/planning that going away on a big trip entails. I haven't talked about it much on Fine Stitches, but my planning for the trip to Iceland (I leave on Friday) is just consuming me. I rarely go anywhere, and a trip like this (a big one for me, at least) is taking way more of my time and energy than I really expected. I think you knew otherwise, but were kind enough not to make me nervous by warning me.

A while ago, I took a few pictures of a quilt that I made a few years ago. It's primarily quilted, with minimal piecing. I think if I were to sum up my favorite thing about quiltmaking, it's hand quilting.

This quilt was finished in April 2008. I called it (Not Quite) Twelve Bars, and the piecing is copied from a quilt in Amish Kinder Komforts by Sara Miller. (It's also shown in Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest.) The quilt is now in the collection of the International Quilt Study Center, and can be seen online HERE.

This is the front of the quilt. It's mostly diagonal cross-hatching, with two feathered wreaths in the center. The borders are undulating feathers. I know I made my quilt before the second book (mentioned/linked above) came out - the first book had less clear pictures of the quilting, and so I just did whatever I felt was right.

Here's a closeup of the border.

And here's a picture of the back - also pieced. I have to admit, this quilt served as a valuable lesson. I used a batting for it that I had never tried before. The batting had gotten good reviews, and so I bought some and used it for this quilt - without trying it out ahead of time.

This was a huge lesson. The batting, 100% cotton (I can't or won't remember the brand or name right now - I think I've blocked it out of my mind) was new to me. And unfortunately, had a tendency to have small lumps in it, which with my dark-solid fabrics pulled out to the front of the quilt every few stitches. It caused little white 'pills' on the front of the quilt. "Bearding", to the extreme.

Never again, never, will I use a batting for an extensive quilting project without trying it out or test-quilting with it ahead of time. I managed to shave or snip off most or all of the offending little lumps from the front of the quilt, and it's been washed - but only once.

At the very least, I won't be trying new battings out without at least a resounding recommendation from another hand quilter. Ever since that project, I've stuck with tried and true battings, ones that I'm familiar with and know the properties of, at least for heavily quilted quilts like this one.

There's another cautionary story related to this quilt - about disintegrating black fabrics. But I'll have to save that for another post. Hopefully I'll be back to more of a normal routine after I get back from my trip in mid-August. I feel guilty about not writing more here, and not doing more work on my Tulip quilt, but life has intervened recently (in a good way - no complaints).

love,
Cassie

Almost too bright

2008-07-20T10:36:00.004-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Oh, it has been a while since I wrote. First I left to the bookbinding course to the south of Finland and while I was away you were knitting for your trip to Iceland – you lucky one! I know your trip is coming close and you need to prepare your thoughts to be able to enjoy the woolly island the most.
I don’t quite know how you do this to me, but since you picked up the knitting needles, me, the copycat followed right behind you and started knitting again – a lot. Then you talked a bit about spinning and here I am finding myself obsessed with spinning lace weight… I am not blaming you, actually I am having the time of my life with all the crafts, but this is more or less how it went. Once again, you lead the way, I follow behind ;-).

I have put few stitches on the Piney Quilt but none on the Yellow Flowers. I had two Piney blocks prepared and I thought that I would start sewing them but then I realized that I had cut the stems the wrong way. And sometimes the smallest things can grow to be huge obstacles. I am thinking of cutting the pieces to the flowers so that I can start sewing them together and the same time I can sort out my red fabrics. Again, I had no idea I had so many.

I was organizing my photographs the other day and I came across some bright pillows I made a long time ago. There is no better time to upload them than now, in the middle of the summer when even up here the scenery is filled with different bright colours and there are plenty of birds.

Maybe you should go and get your sunglasses…!

Love,

Lene

bindings and such

2008-07-03T16:30:00.004-04:00

Dear Lene,

I know it's been a while since I wrote - I'm afraid that your being gone for a week has made it hard for me to write anything here. It almost feels like I'm talking to myself (although of course I realize that the blog isn't private and that there are other people reading it).

Right before you went away, you said in an email to me, "Don't worry about the blog nor sewing. Take a break from quilting if you feel like it and spin and knit and relax that way." -- I'm afraid I really took your words to heart. I've spent the last four days maniacally knitting a sweater. A silly sweater (lace) that will be fairly useless for warmth in Iceland, even in August.

But I promised some finished things. Unfortunately, I only have one so far, but I'm working towards a goal of finishing up some old projects as well as working on the tulip appliqué project.

I put bindings on two quilts - the first isn't quite finished yet. It's a quilt I made a few years ago, and the fabrics were so busy I decided to have it simply machine quilted by my friend Bonnie at Quiltville.It's just a simple double four-patch quilt, in two fabrics.

I didn't have enough of the blue left over for the binding, so I chose a solid red. Unfortunately, it's really too hot here right now to work on the binding - it's a twin sized quilt and I'm afraid that our summer weather is making it impossible for me to even think about having it on my lap to finish up the handwork for the binding.

However, I did finish one very small quilt. This was a class sample for an "Amish" color and design workshop I used to teach. Somehow, it got completely finished (with the exception of the binding) and sat around with raw edges for a few years.

I really love this quilt. It's made in Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics, with some from other companies as well. Now that it's completely done, I have no idea why I didn't put the binding on sooner - it only took me part of one morning.

Here's a detail shot of the hand quilting.

I wish there were piles of other projects just lying around that only needed binding. I'm afraid that all of the others are unfinished hand quilting projects, for the most part. I'm very tempted right now to work on a few of them, but I think appliqué is probably the most suitable for the summer heat.

I'm looking forward to your return, and hoping that you are having wonderful time while you're away.

love,
Cassie

an embarrassing parade of UFOs

2008-06-27T11:27:00.004-04:00

Dear Lene,

I'm so thrilled that your Piney/Peony project is making you happy! I sent Family Ties and Legacy to you because they were two books that inspired me, relatively early in my quiltmaking. I think prior to that I had mostly machine pieced, but those books made me into a hand piecer. I still reread Legacy from time to time.

Unfortunately, you've kind of opened a can of worms here. In the neverending push to reorganize the sewing room, I started a pile of unfinished projects from Family Ties to show you. Most of these were made quite a while ago (really sadly, I've misplace my oldest quilt project notebook for the time being and can't give you exact dates for when these were all made. Definitely the 90s, though.)

So, in no particular order, and with some commentary ...

A single Princess Feather block. Which should really be used as the center of a medallion. (Some day!)

A single Eastern Star block. Hand pieced.

Aha! Evidence of a finished project. These are two leftover blocks from a twin sized quilt that I made and gave away. I don't have a digital picture of the finished quilt (nor a scanner to scan the one picture I do have) but this block isn't actually in the book. If you look on page 167 of Legacy, there's a photo of a pile of blocks. I drafted this based on one of them. It's a great pattern and made a gorgeous quilt (all 30s repros, as I remember it). If I do find the notebook I'll post the pattern's cutting instructions to you (if you're interested). [Come to think of it, I can just redraft the pattern, even if I can't find the notebook for a while.]

Five Snowball blocks (I'm starting to sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas in my head about now!). Unfortunately, there is no more of the background fabric to be found in my stash. I think I could make a cute baby quilt with these, even without making more blocks. They remind me of soccer balls, somehow.

Four Butterflies. Again (and alas) no more of the background fabric to be found. Another baby quilt, perhaps?

"Bluebirds in Easy Applique". The original in the book was done in wools with buttonhole stitching. This background fabric I do have a bit more of. (Has that helped me to finish it? Not exactly...)

Ahh... *almost* finished! The "Full Blown Tulip" quilt is baby sized. Just needs more quilting....

One lone Dutch Tulip block. I don't think I ever intended to keep going with these colors, but I do adore a curved pieced tulip. Another one for the lifetime list of quilts I want to make.

Grecian Star, another single block. It's a big one, 17". Now, maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I have a pile of them pieced, in another set of fabrics. I just didn't get around to photographing them. (Another day, maybe.)

A single "Trees in the Park" block.

Whew. There's actually more, but I started to get a little overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.

Now, to be honest, I don't consider a single block a UFO, not really anyway. Sometimes it's more like a swatch, a trying out of the pattern to see if I like it. I've discovered they can be used up efficiently by setting a block on point and then adding borders - even a single 12" block makes a great little medallion quilt that way. Now, have I done that with any of these? Umm.... no. But I could, someday. Or that's what I keep telling myself.

I'm afraid that now that I've shown (even just a glimpse) into what I've got that's still in pieces here, you're going to get worried about me and the Tulip quilt that I'm working on. I have to admit, I've been slacking off. I haven't worked on it much this week, with the excuse that I was too busy cleaning and reorganizing in the sewing room.

But really, I do finish quilts sometimes. Hopefully soon I can show you a few. I'm working on getting bindings on two of them right now.

love,
Cassie

Piney

2008-06-26T15:34:00.004-04:00

Dear Cassie,

This will be a short one, but I just had to pop here to show you this…
I thought that I would knit something while thinking of further quilts and quilting patterns and the border for the Yellow Flowers. Yes, the border is giving me a lot to think about and since I really don’t have a solution right now, I had to find something else to keep me busy. I am really not a kind who can sit with idle hands.

I tried a couple of sock patterns but found no luck nor love there.
Family Ties (ISBN 1-55853-134-3) has been by my bed side ever since you gave it to me. I really love the title: Family Ties “Old Quilt Patterns from New Cloth” – that sounds so simple. The whole book feels that way, the patterns are beautiful and quiet and there is nothing flashy in them. The first time I looked through the book, I stopped at Piney (Peony) and it has happened every time I open the book.
So this is the humble beginning of many happy hours to come.
Love,

Lene

all four blocks done

2008-06-23T10:48:00.007-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Really, I don’t mind seeing all things blue…

Small things moved me also some time ago, the smaller and the more complex the better, but all of a sudden, the phase passed and now I seem to be into all things big and simple. It was all of a sudden, I did not go gradually from small to big, but jumped right from one end to the other.

While I was hand-sewing these huge blocks together I thought that maybe once again I have gone overboard. From the tiny hexagons to these huge and bold flowers… for sure there has to be the middle ground there somewhere. I know I said sometime ago that I plan to sew everything by hand (I will sew the binding partly by machine) but I guess I did not realize it would mean sewing seams that are more than 2 meters long and I am having second thoughts.

All the blocks are done. There was sense of relief and accomplishment after I had pieced the blocks together. I thought about adding something to these blocks all the time while appliquéing and pondered about adding flowers to the borders but so far nothing worked. So my plan today is to add plain off-white borders with no flowers and no leaves. You have kept telling me from the very beginning that quilting will be a great filler. So I will take your advice and start planning quilting designs after I have added the borders.
I have learnt a lot – about everything:

of colours - some combinations worked better than others and I have favourites among the flowers

of shapes - some are heavier than others and while at times I have felt that the shapes are too bold, I have also found beauty in the simplicity

of fabrics - some are easier on the hands and easier to fold while others cause problems with fraying and others by being too dense

of appliqué stitches - I have gone from ladder stitch to fell stitch, back to ladder and then again to fell... and the last block was done totally with fell stitch

of different methods of appliquéing - at first doing more or less everything with English paper piecing, then only partly adding freezer paper on top to the mix and then finally without any freezer paper at all

and I went from trying to be very precise to more or less free hand work.

I am very aware of the fact that I am not even half way there yet but still I keep dreaming of new quilts...

I keep coming back to this one frequently, but so far I have just admired it. As much as I love slow-sewing, there are times when I wish it just was not quite that slow.

Love,

Lene

crazy little blue things

2008-06-19T07:57:00.005-04:00

Dear Lene,

Apparently, with you gone for just a couple of days, I've totally lost steam. Yesterday I didn't manage to do anything on my third block (this in spite of the fact that it really is going faster without the freezer paper). I guess I need your presence to keep me going.

This morning I pulled out two piles of blocks that I had told you about. Started years ago - admittedly at a very stressful point in my life, when I really needed something to focus on.

These are the Dear Jane blocks I did - I think from about 2000-2002. I worked on them in the midst of a very stressful move from one apartment to another.

They're all entirely hand-sewn. I was able to have my handwork in one tiny work bag, and still keep sewing while my entire life was in boxes.

Somewhat unfortunately, I made them all blue. I'm not sure why I got going with that (other than the fact that my blue fabric stash is just enormous), but as you know blue is just not my color. Ultimately, I got bored with them and they've been living in a tin in the closet ever since. Every once in a while (like today) I take them out and think about setting them together. Somehow. I think that's the problem - they don't really move me, I have no idea where to go with them, and yet ... I put so much work into them that they really deserve a life outside of their tin.

The next set of blocks are from Linda Franz's Quilted Diamonds book.

These I actually like, but once again ... they live in a tin. Also all hand pieced. I obviously was on a teeny-tiny piecing kick for a while, but the fever seems to have passed and now I have lots of little blocks (and diamonds).

Just to show you that I've also been bitten by the English paper piecing bug:

hexagons [Edit: that would be octagons!] and squares - blue squares (maybe I don't dislike blue as much as I say I do?)

Stars in hexagons. Again... a lot of blue (but these have pink and purples too).

I really do like the fabrics in this one.

Now, can you please get back and keep me on track here? I'm afraid I might do something crazy. Or something else in blue.

love,
Cassie

second block done!

2008-06-16T11:39:00.004-04:00

Dear Lene,

I know I've been bad about taking pictures of the blocks I'm working on. First we had that heatwave, and now we're into our third day of clouds and thunderstorms here. Fortunately, I prefer that to the heat, but the rare sunlight we've had has made it difficult to find just the right time to take pictures. But I tried my best, to keep you updated.

Here are the first two blocks, finished except for the center reverse appliqué:

The reason I'm waiting to do the reverse appliqué is because I wasn't sure if I was going to have enough of the blue for it. I have other blue fabrics that are similar, though, so I figured if I run out, I can use an alternate fabric at the center. I'm still not sure which fabric I'm going to use for the swags in the border - I'm hoping to have enough of the green, but I may go with blue. (Or maybe the blue will be used for the binding instead? I'm really playing this by ear, as I go along.)

When I was basting down the center yellow piece for the third block, I had a funny parakeet moment, and managed to grab my camera just in time:

That's Moe the parakeet, who just discovered pins for the first time. What I did was to lay down the piece with freezer paper still attached, pin down the seam allowances, and then remove the freezer paper and baste just the fabric down to the background.

For the first two blocks, I left the freezer paper on, and worked around it. Normally, this is one of my favorite methods of appliqué, but with the 22" square yellow piece, it just wasn't practical. After reading the comments about this method, I decided to try something else for the third block. I had thought I was going to mark at least the inner curves (the deep ones at the base of the scallops) with white chalk, but when I tried that I just wasn't happy with it.

Of course, when I finally took a picture, you can't see the white chalk marks at all. But I did spend some time wiping them off in frustration - it really was worse before.

What I decided to do in the end was something new for me. I recently found a small size hera marker in one of my sewing supply tins. I had never used it (it was still in the packaging) but had probably bought it because it was different than the other ones I have, with one end that was pointy - almost like a plastic awl.

I tried using the pointy end of the hera marker to press turning lines into the fabric, and was really pleasantly surprised by the result. I had to lay the freezer paper back over the yellow fabric to do it, but that was easy enough.

I'm very happy with how it's going, and will probably use the same method for the fourth block. Next time, though, I'm going to mark the turning lines before I remove the freezer paper. It will stabilize the fabric a bit more.

When we had started up with this whole idea, I mentioned another four-block quilt I had started a few years ago. I think I said something about lots of leaves being too fussy. I pulled the block out and ironed it (although you can't tell at all from this picture!) and re-examined it.

I really like it, and I realize now that the Tulip quilt I chose to copy is a much harder pattern to sew than this oval wreath pattern. Oh, well. Maybe it will be my next project.

I chose to work on the wreath quilt totally freehand, although I did baste the pieces down using a pattern, I didn't mark any lines. It works out just fine for these smaller pieces, unlike the large piece at the center of the tulip quilt. I found the block with a needle still in place:

I've been really tempted by it - to just pick it up and sew a few pieces down, but I'm resisting the temptation. I'm telling myself it can be my reward for finishing up the tulip quilt top. I only have a quarter of this one block sewn, but have all the fabrics set aside for the entire quilt. Something to look forward to....

love,
Cassie

PS - I'm not ignoring your hexagon madness. But may I make a suggestion? Step very slowly and carefully away from the hexagons. They seem dangerous.

hexagons!

2008-06-14T12:10:00.002-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Since you last posted about that lovely hexagon quilt, I decided to dig into my deep past and reveal some hexagonal madness that I had a few years back. I am little worried if you will ever talk to me again after you see this, but believe me, I am cured now and this is the only, the only, dark secret from my quilting past. Nothing before or since has ever been as bad as this, except maybe knitting the twined sweaters, but that is not a secret, it has been out in the open for many years now.

It all started out very innocently. I received a bunch of paper cuts as a gift from a friend and I set myself into making a doll quilt out of them. I had never liked the grandmother’s flower garden a lot before and it came as a surprise how much I enjoyed the slow-sewing process and how I really liked the outcome.
Then I received another set of paper cuts from the same friend, a little bit smaller yet than the first ones and there was plenty. Without any particular project in mind I started to cut small scraps into hexagons and made a few…
And then a few more…
And then some more…
And then I had this.
But you need not to worry, I don’t do these any more.

Love,

Lene

(PS. I did figure out a way to use some of them!)

signatures

2008-06-09T10:27:00.004-04:00

Dear Lene,

I suppose we can just resign ourselves to being jealous of each other's weather through the summer. I know you think you want some nice warm weather, but really - 35º/95º is not something you really want. Please trust me on this.

I was going to write today about more snowflake quilts, but then I got distracted and wound up going for two quilts that are at least related somewhat. Not the same pattern, but both are signature quilts.

The first is the only antique signature quilt that I've bought. It's the snowflake pattern (again)
I should know a little more about dating it by the fabrics, but I'd say it's from about 1875, although some of the fabrics are definitely circa 1850. There are signatures on it, both by stencil:

and also by hand:

(I just love the name "Delilah Kirby", don't you?) There are a lot of Kirby and Potter names on the quilt, but other than that I have nothing to go on. No idea where it came from, or who anyone is. Ironic, isn't it, that a quilt can be signed for remembrance and then all the names on it forgotten in time?

The other signature quilt that I'm honored to have the safe-keeping of is one that belongs to my aunt. Years ago (about 30) she had rented a house in Vermont for the summer, and one summer she bought this quilt at a local estate auction.

It's an absolutely fabulous hexagon quilt, hand pieced with cheddar orange triangles in between the hexagons. It's signed, and many of the signatures have "Dover, VT" beneath the names.

My aunt spent that summer researching the quilt in the local cemetery. She was able to date it to no later than 1850, based on the names and the gravestones there. The quilt has a fabulous collection of mid nineteenth century fabrics, and is in perfect condition. Obviously never washed or used.

The maker(s?) took enormous care in placing the fabrics in the hexagons to form kaleidoscope patterns.
Every time I look at this quilt, I'm really in awe. Interestingly, it's not paper-pieced, but pieced by hand with a regular running stitch. I love the way the quilt's colors jump out with the orange and white background. I think this quilt is almost entirely to 'blame' for my love of the color orange, actually!

I had hoped to take some more pictures of quilts I've made, but really the weather is too hot to be moving big, warm quilts around. I'll save that for another time. And really, I think these quilts are more special than most (if not all) of the things I've made. A little bit of history to think about.

love,
Cassie

PS - I'm almost halfway done with my second block. I spent the weekend shut in a room with air conditioning, working on it. Today looks like more of the same weather, so I'm hoping to make some more progress and show some updated pictures soon.

beautiful saturday morning

2008-06-07T03:29:00.005-04:00

Dear Cassie,

This is how my work space looks at the moment. Outside the picture are piles of fabrics that I have been auditioning for the border. I am not sure if I have a solution yet, but I am thinking of something that I don’t want to show yet. If I go with this fabric I have on mind, it is somehow going to change the feel of my quilt completely… And a quick sketch for the border design. I am thinking of adding few more big flowers on the border and I talked to one of my girls yesterday, N, and she thinks that I should only add these flowers and do nothing about the empty spaces between the flowers. I sort of agree with her at the moment. But one more block to go before I absolutely need to decide.

I tried to find some small quilts that I have done over the years. They don’t really have any fine stitches on them, they are all machine pieced and machine quilted so I am not sure if this is the forum for them… here thrown between your antique pieces, they seem a bit out of place…

The first one is appliqué, it was just cut and sew, and I made it for the amusement of my girls. They loved Moomin stories when they were small.
This is from a book, Prairie People (by Marji Hadley and J. Dianne Ridgley). I also made a doll from the book but I’ll have to find it. It was in a time when I used to sew lots of dresses for my girls and they all had beautiful Little House on the Prairie bonnets, which really were the best kind of hats.

I love teddy bears. I have done few repros of antique bears and thus was inspired to make quilts with them. I did not like this little quilt even when I had just made it, but I’ll show it because it led to something that I really like, even today. So this came first…
And then this. It is quite big and was made at the time when the girls were learning to read. The timing was perfect!

Please bring on the baby/doll quilts, because I bought this crib some time ago. It is an old one and it needs a quilt. When I brought it home, I was a bit embarrassed to have spent money on something that we really did not need. I called my husband on the way and prepared him on the purchase. I said that I have bought something and stressed that I really don’t want to hear his opinion of it if it is not a favourable one. (I had to remind him of some of his purchases to have emphasis on my case.) I carried it inside, he looked at it and then he said: “But what if there are twins again?”

Guess what, ever since I have been on the lookout for another beautiful crib! Which then again means that there has to be two quilts.

Love,

Lene

PS. I really need to work on the photography on the quilts. I realize that this is all very different from taking pictures of knits.

Or from the scenery. It is a beginning of a lovely day over here at the Arctic Circle. Wonder what the weather is like there when you wake up...

something different

2008-06-04T23:53:00.006-04:00

Dear Lene,

I think I'm starting to feel a little bored - same block, same colors - all of the pictures are more of the same. You mentioned the other day that you were feeling tired of the large, bold pieces in your block. I started my second block on Friday, and had been looking forward to the 'challenge' of the appliquéd scallops in the center. But once I started, I found it quickly got tiresome. It really is a challenge, and as I'm still using the freezer paper on top of the fabric, handling the whole thing with the huge piece of freezer paper is awkward. (Although I guess that it gives me something to look forward to, starting the leaves and stems for the second block, which will be a relief after all those scallops.)

So, I got a little distracted. I had enjoyed hand piecing my tulip flowers, more than I really expected to. They were small and portable, and the running stitch was a nice change from appliqué. Kathie had posted a while ago about a new book, Childhood Treasures: Quilts by and for Children (by Merikay Waldvogel), and I got myself a copy and just love it. I have several books on antique crib and doll quilts, and they're some of my favorites. Small, sometimes primitive, and often very inspiring. Childhood Treasures is all of those things.

There was one quilt in the book that immediately set me off on a tangent. Although maybe tangent isn't the right word, really. I have some blocks that are longstanding favorites, that I love the look of, and love to piece. One of them is called "Snowflake" (well, sometimes it's called that, there are several names for it but 'snowflake' is my favorite one).

A while back, I hand pieced a small top using the snowflake pattern alternated with another block:
This quilt top was a sample for a class I did on signature quilts and quilts with writing on them, several years ago. (All of the quotations deal with idleness and industriousness.) It was a quilt that didn't need to be hand pieced, but I did so anyway. The colors aren't really my usual choices either (well, except for the yellow, and the red) but I was trying to make something a little more modern - to fit in with the shop where I was teaching the class, I suppose.

One of my all-time favorite quilts - one that I own but didn't make is this top that I bought a number of years ago:

The blocks are quite small, just about 5" across. The picture above is just a small section of the quilt top.

This is a single block from it: The quilt top is entirely hand-pieced, with tiny 1/8" (or smaller!) seams.

I had thought I had a picture of another antique quilt I own in this pattern. It's a much larger scale than the one above, and is a signature quilt with the center square of each block signed by someone. Unfortunately, I seem to have neglected taking a picture of it, so that will have to wait for another time. (I do have pictures of another signature quilt that I own, but ... well, that one really deserves a post all it's own, so you'll have to be patient - sorry!)

Whilst reading through Childhood Treasures, I found a slightly - fatter? - version of the snowflake block that I really liked, and so I drafted the pattern (the book has no patterns, it's all history and pictures of old quilts) and started piecing a few blocks.

The blocks are 4.75" square, and I'm using a Japanese fabric (the dark one) and a Liberty of London fabric. I took this picture two days ago, and I have four of the blocks pieced now, and another four cut out and ready to sew. I find myself picking up the little pieces in every spare moment, as it's totally mindless sewing and very relaxing to do. It's going to be small, not even crib-sized. While I like the pattern and love working with the exquisite fabrics, I know I'll get bored quickly with a two-fabric, repeat block quilt. So I'm not going to go very far with it, just enough to get take an edge off the urge.

To really go on a tangent, I actually started a second hand piecing project...
Also very small (4.5") blocks. But a very different look, and a very different hand to the fabrics. These are coarser and go very quickly, with just five pieces per block. Again, this picture is from Tuesday, so ... there are eight of them now.

I'll be getting back to the appliqué quilt shortly, really. I haven't put it away at all, but the hand piecing is a lot easier right now, with all the stress of getting my daughter ready to go on her big summer trip, the little blocks are working out better right now for the time I have to work on these things. The center of the second appliqué block is halfway done, and I'm hoping that after Friday, I'll be able to give it more attention. I keep trying to tell myself that we're not racing to finish the big appliqué quilts, but I guess in the end this is just a note to let you know that while I may have slowed down with the Tulip quilt, I'm still sewing.

love,
Cassie

PS - I just remembered, aside from the snowflake signature quilt, I also have another in the same pattern, with no signatures on it, as well as another old top in a similar pattern (but it omits the center squares, so it's more of an "X" in the middle of a square block). I told you this was one of my favorite patterns! I'll take more pictures soon...

slow-sewing

2008-06-03T12:06:00.005-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Thank you for making me believe that it is actually possible to make quilts by hands only!

When I first started quilting I thought that one lifetime would be too short for quilting without the help of the machine. Now that I have discovered that I can accomplish a lot by doing handwork only and that I really don’t need to battle with my sewing machine or be isolated from the world and to be tied to the machine, I wonder if I’ll ever go back to machine work! The same progress has happened with my other sewing. I enjoy sewing the seams for clothing by hand too. I subscribe this magazine called Threads. It focuses on sewing and even though I have gone through periods in my life when I have not been sewing that much, I have been loyal to this magazine. One issue in the spring (no 135) focused on “slow-sewing” and I have kept coming back to that issue often. I quote the Editor Amber Eden: “Everything these days is so fast. Whether we eat it, buy it, or make it, a top priority is often the speed at which we can accomplish these tasks – so we can do even more. Well, I’m making a case for slow sewing.” And then: “And I don’t know about you, but I get some of my best thinking done when I’m sewing, so I like to take my time. At the end of the day, that’s what couture sewing is really all about: taking your time and doing tasks by hand.”

Last time I wrote to you I talked about using fell stitch for my appliqué stitch. I did, but I have returned back to ladder stitch. I know this must sound a bit fussy, but I did not in the end like the way fell stitch pressed the edges of the patches, while doing ladder stitch the edge stays more rounded! I have not taken any classes on appliqué and am mostly self taught by reading quilting books. Ladder stitch I came across in Ami Simm’s book called “Invisible Appliqué”
and fell stitch is used in couture sewing. It is also called appliqué stitch.

I have bought some new fabrics. A bunch of Japanese (some of these are quite thick and I am thinking of using them for embroidery) and a bunch of solids and few background fabrics for the next hand appliquéd quilts! I am thinking ahead… But really I have just barely started my third block... So the next quilt is far away yet. And so be it because I do love this slow-sewing.

Love,

Lene

PS. That center "floret" in your block looks like the most interesting appliqué shape, it looks very challenging! I am sort of getting bored with my simple bold shapes...

sun dappled tulips

2008-05-30T08:51:00.002-04:00

Dear Lene,

I'm sorry it's been such a long while. While I know that we're not in any kind of race here, I was feeling for a while like you were getting so far ahead of me (I'm still on my first block!). This month is just crazy all around, and these one yard square blocks are not very portable, or good for working on except when I can give the work my full attention.

The good news is that I feel like I finally got back into the swing of the project. I spent yesterday morning basting down a half dozen tulips, and just seeing them laid out there on the background made the whole pattern really come together for me. I spent a good part of the afternoon sitting outside (it was a truly gorgeous spring day here) and peacefully appliquéing.

I now have seven of the twelve tulips appliquéd. It turns out that it's really only possible for me to place them on the background nicely when there's a mirror-image one to place as well (at least for the side tulips - the ones on the long straight stems are pretty easy). I had mentioned earlier that the side tulips create a bit of a mirror image - I'm not sure if you can see it from this angle, but this is what I mean:

In the past, when I've done this type of appliqué pattern, I've used a vinyl overlay - tracing the full pattern onto vinyl, putting it over my background, and slipping the pieces into place using that as a guide. That method can create perfect symmetry, but in this quilt, I'm not interested in perfect symmetry. I love the old quilt, the sometimes crooked tulips, and all the quirks that give it some life. So I'm just placing the pieces down by eye here. I think (hope!) that it will all work out in the end. While it may have some small imperfections or a bit of imbalance, I think it will stay true to the spirit of the old quilt.

This last picture has some shadows, but I think gives a good sense of the overall block. I took it late yesterday afternoon, on my porch, so you can see the shadow of the wrought iron fence on the quilt.

I managed to wash the second piece of background fabric (for some reason I can't explain, I'm handwashing it as I go along), and I'm going to get down the last set of stems and leaves today, hopefully I'll also get a chance to baste the big yellow piece for the second block as well.

Did I ever tell you how I got interested in appliqué in the first place? It wasn't something that immediately interested me when I started quilting. Years ago, before the American Folk Art Museum moved to it's new location, they had a smaller gallery where they'd have an annual show of antique quilts. One year, the show included an absolutely amazing Baltimore Album quilt. (That link is to the Maryland Historical Society, and years ago I was lucky enough to travel there to see a large part of their amazing quilt collection in person.) The first time I saw the quilt at the AFAM, I was stunned - speechless. I just stood there and examined it from every angle, captivated by the intricate work and incredibly tiny stitches. I thought, "I want to do that" and set out to get my appliqué skills up to par (I'm still not sure they're there yet...). For a few years I did a lot of papercut appliqué, a few repro's of Baltimore blocks, and then my tastes changed a bit and I became more interested in less intricate patterns, bigger pieces, and eventually the 4-block bug bit me.

[One funny thing? One of the things that made me lose a bit of interest in the intricate blocks was when I realized that the definitive books with the old patterns had shrunken the designs down to a modern 12" size. A lot of the antique blocks are about 16", and I felt somehow cheated, being tricked into doing such complicated work on a smaller scale than was necessary. While I could have enlarged them, the damage was done, and it was sort of like the end to a relationship that was wrong from the very beginning.]

One of these days I'll find some of those older blocks that I made and take some pictures for you. It's hard having you so far away - if you were closer we could just spend days pulling things off of shelves and out of boxes and playing with them.

love,
Cassie

second block on the way

2008-05-22T13:52:00.001-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Ever since we started this quilting endeavour together, all that I have been thinking of is quilts. And fabrics and thread and scissors and needles.

I have already managed to dull one of my sharp 12’s and I had to pick a new needle this morning. Actually, the dull needle had troubled me for two nights already but I blamed the new background fabric. As I told you I have enough background fabric for three blocks but not for four and I decided to do the different now and all the time I thought that this fabric choice was not good. Finally today I picked a new and fresh needle and sewing has again been smooth dancing.

I have tried two different appliqué stitches. The first block was done completely with ladder stitch. Today I wanted some entertainment and changed the ladder stitch into fell stitch. I think I prefer fell stitch - but when I am appliquéing piece that has paper inside, ladder stitch seems to be easier to control to avoid catching the paper - but I am sure I will get better with fell stitch and will soon do all the appliqué with it.

I don’t think I prefer freezer paper on top from freezer paper inside or the other way around – basting through freezer paper is a pain, no matter what. What I would love to do is to get rid of all the freezer paper and develop good coordination between eye and hand. I am using freezer paper inside for the centre part of the block because I find it easier to place the pieces when you can see the pieces without any seam allowances. But I gather all these steps are part of my appliqué journey and at some point I might be doing everything differently!

So I am already on the second block. I can see very clearly that there is a bridge to be crossed every time I move from one block onto another – it is like starting the second sleeve when making a sweater or like knitting the second sock. Starting the process all over many times worries me, so I have been thinking of preparing the pieces for the third and the fourth blocks soon to be able to avoid the problem but so far it has been just a thought. Maybe over the weekend… The weather forecast for the weekend is sunny so I am not counting on doing that.

What I need is travel quilt – I mean take along project. These huge blocks seem too big to be carrying around and I would love to have something smaller to take along. First I thought of something very simple but then decided to take up on a challenge – maybe.

I have this old folder “Best-Loved Quilt Patterns”, I got it from my MIL long time ago and it is not complete, there are some lessons missing from the folder. It was published in 1991 by Oxmoor House and I think it was a series where you received a package every month. Anyway it has some good old patterns in it and many that are not designed for rotary cutters but plain old scissors and templates.

These are the three I have been thinking of (in order from the top: Joseph's Coat, Double Wedding Ring and Ceasar's Crown). I can’t decide because at some level, I am very worried of starting another quilt, I am cautious for a good reason… I have more ufos in every possible handwork field that I dare to tell you…

Joseph´s Coat is very tempting don’t you think? It is very challenging, there are no straight seams in the whole quilt but since I am willing and eager to learn new things right now, maybe I should try and go for it … or maybe not. Maybe I should stick to Yellow Flowers only because it still makes my heart sing.

It is beautiful sunny evening. It does not get dark at all, the sun dips under the horizon but gets up very quickly. May light is pure magic, I find it very hard to go to bed in the evenings, partly because of the light for sure but partly because of my quilt.

Love,

Lene

stems, leaves, and tulips

2008-05-20T10:43:00.000-04:00

Dear Lene,

I haven't been doing as much work on my quilt as I'd like. When I do get some time, it goes quickly, but I seem to have gotten very self-conscious, showing you close-ups of my work like this, so I've been trying to save my "best" times of the day for my appliqué work. Unfortunately, not all days have a "best time" so there have been a few days when I didn't pick up my project at all.
I've finished one quarter of the leaves and stems for the block, and have sewn on one tulip. To be honest, I was sort of dreading appliquéing the tulips down. I don't love working with things with seams in them - stitching down a solid piece of fabric is so much easier.

After a very thorough ironing, though, the seams really weren't too bad to deal with. I trimmed back a few of them at the base of the tulip, because with all those seam allowances meeting at one spot, it was going to be hard to get a nice edge for the appliqué. I realize, of course, that I could have chosen to appliqué all the parts of the tulips, rather than piecing them first. But the antique quilt had them pieced, and so ... I chose to go with piecing.

I had said that I would try to explain what I'm doing for the stems. Basically, I'm using a hera marker to mark my turning lines for both the long middle stem as well as the curved side stems. For the long straight stems, I'm using a ruler to mark the lines. For the curved stems, I'm running the hera marker against a plastic template. Hopefully you can see the faint marked lines on the stem at the left (above).

I'm doing the leaves totally freehand, though. In some ways, I wish I was brave enough to do all of it freehand, with no marked lines at all. But for now, I'm compromising and doing just a bit that way. Maybe as I get further along - the 2nd block, or maybe the 3rd? - I'll have worked up the nerve to free myself from the marked lines and freezer paper. While I admire the old quilt, which was most definitely done without these things, I still want my quilt to look somewhat even or symmetrical. At the same time, I am placing the leaves and tulips by eye, not using a pattern overlay to place the pieces. I want this to be something that has some life to it, a bit of imperfection, like the old quilt.

This is where I am, as of this morning. The top center stems and leaves are all sewn down, except for half of the middle stem. The bottom pieces are basted in place. I still have a whole bunch of tulips that need to be appliquéd, but I like to iron them right before basting them in place - it keeps the seams flat. Our weather right now is damp and rainy, though, so it seems like when I iron, the pieces immediately start to curl up again. However, having finally sewn down one of the tulips, I realize it isn't as bad as I had feared, so I'll be getting more of them on there soon.

There are so many other things I've been wanting to show you. Some of my other, old appliqué projects - but there's a bit of an embarrassment there, as so many were abandoned and never finished. Also, some of the projects I did from the book Family Ties - there are at least a half dozen of them, probably more. It's just a matter of gathering them together in one place. A day with better light would help too - we've just had what seems like day after day of cloudy rainy weather, and that doesn't make for nice clear pictures. So, I'll save those for another day.

love,
Cassie

PS I forgot to mention that I haven't ironed anything as I've been going along. (Maybe I'm making excuses because it looks a little sloppy right now?

The first block

2008-05-16T06:35:00.000-04:00

Dear Cassie,

I have had a busier week than what I anticipated Monday. I wish I would have been busy with the garden work but that is not the case. This feels almost absurd, usually when the spring finally comes, it comes quickly and proceeds with good paste. Now, the spring has stopped completely. Half of the lake is still covered with ice, the amount of snow is just the same it was on Monday, the temperature is everyday hovering around zero, it is like the spring has come to a complete standstill.

Even though the weather is not a source of joy around here, my quilt very much is. When I started sewing the pieces, there was some discussion about the small stitches and how small they would really need to be to be satisfactory. I looked at yours and admired them but I did not dare to make mine small enough fearing that the amount of stitches would create some bulk and distort the fabric. Little by little I have made my stitches smaller and smaller and noticed that it has not created extra bulk. I am quite pleased with my stitches now.
I am using light yellow thread for all of my stitching. And you are right, when the stitching shows here and there it just adds to the beauty of the quilt.

One thing I have been worrying about a bit lately, are the small dots inside the flowers. First I thought that to be a perfect spot for contrasting colours but somehow I have grown to like the simplicity of the big flowers and I might get rid of the small dots. I have sewn them only to one of the flowers and might even take them out from there. Then on the other hand, maybe I leave them, for the sake of process and letting the mistakes stay. If they start to bother me much and if those small dots are the only thing I see when I look at the block, then I will get rid of them.

I have used three kinds of appliqué techniques. I have used English paper piecing for making the pieced parts (pieced leaves) and have appliqué them onto the fabric letting the papers stay inside until the pieces have been sewn down. I have appliquéd some of the flowers with freezer paper on top (following your example) and then I have tried freehand the big and simple shapes without the aid of the freezer paper.

So the first block is almost complete. I am not completely satisfied with the design and at some point I thought about tossing it away and starting over with some other design. But then I decided to stick with this, this is a challenge now and I want to try to make this work. These are the choices for fabrics for the flowers in the second block; there is some red in there!I don’t have enough fabric for the back ground, so I will need to find something for the fourth block, something quite similar. I thought that I would have more somewhere but that is not the case, I have enough for three blocks but the more I think about this course of things, the more I like the fact. I am forced to make do with what I have and I kind of like that thought.
There is something so very pleasing in the tiny stitches and the yellow little patches that I am purring with delight every time I have a chance to sit by my quilt and sew some. I am hoping to have hours tonight with the quilt.

I am sending lots of healing thoughts to your Grandmother. I do hope she will get better, little better, every single day.

Yours,

Lene

little tulips...

2008-05-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

Dear Lene,
I finished that huge yellow center over the weekend! I kept complaining about it, the big piece of freezer paper that I was pulling off as I got sections appliquéd down, how awkward it was to work in the middle of the piece. And now it's finished. Um... well, almost. I still have to do the reverse appliqué in the center, but I'm saving that for later.

I spent most of the weekend trying to finalize my fabric choices for the stems and leaves, and also for the tulips themselves. Quilting really is a messy sport, isn't it? I have piles of fabric all over the place, things I'd tried out and rejected, and then pieces of the fabrics I'm using draped all over the place (to avoid wrinkling them once I've ironed them).

So, here are the fabrics for the tulips - yellow and blue (trust me, I tried everything else but that blue was the best choice, hands down). The dull green is going to be for the leaves and stems. I tried a whole lot of different greens, some beiges and grays (I had kind of wanted a gray in there, but I'm thinking maybe for the back instead...?), and this green was the fabric that worked:

The tulips are pieced. Fussy little curved seams, but I'm finding them challenging and actually kind of fun. I finally sat down, looked at things and did the math. I need 48 of them! So far I have just five pieced, but most of them cut out and ready to sew for the first block - I think I have ten of twelve for the first block all ready to go.

Here's an overall picture of a quarter of a block. I've left the freezer paper on the small stems for now. I'm thinking I'm going to use a "hera marker" to help with the sewing lines for the long straight stem. I'll tell you more about that another time - I'm not quite there yet.

I think I've decided (sounds definitive, doesn't it) to use two different variations of the colors in the tulips. The yellow is bright and cheery, but I think maybe it could be overdone, so I'm doing just the center tulip in yellow/blue and the side tulips in blue/yellow. This also works out because I have a bit more of the blue fabric to work with than the yellow.

This is one last view from the side. I'm just including it because I find it kind of funny - I just realized that the rug that it's on is pretty much the same set of colors as the quilt block. I hadn't noticed it before, and it kind of made me laugh. The tulips haven't been ironed yet - they've been my pick-up project when I have a little time. I realized when I laid them out to take pictures that I'll probably have to pay pretty close attention to the side tulips, when I baste them down. The angles that they sit at creates a bit of a secondary pattern in the overall quilt, and I want them to be just right.

Things here are still hectic, with my grandma out of the hospital and into the rehabilitation center, but I'm hanging in there. I brought along my little sewing kit yesterday, with some tulips to work on, but never took them out. One of these days I'll show you my little sewing kit - made for me by a friend years ago, it's going to come in handy for making all those little tulips.

love,
Cassie

PS - I just realized that there are actually 52 tulips, if I include the four in the center of the quilt!

Of colours

2008-05-12T10:04:00.000-04:00

Dear Cassie,

Another spring week just dawned today with almost freezing temperatures! The snow that came yesterday is all gone but there still are some old piles. The lake is partly free, but she looks cold and the wind stays in the north. But the sound of the waves is here! Thank you for the sun rays that came this way last Saturday, they were very much appreciated. I enjoyed them tremendously during the day and then by the night, I packaged them carefully (I kept only one) and sent them back to you. I am sure they are all there by now.

Since it was snowing all day yesterday, I stayed in and played with the fabrics and stitches and scissors and needles and tape measures and templates.

One reason I love quilting is the fact that I can pick any colour to work with without having to worry whether or not that particular colour will look good against my skin… or against anybody’s skin. I am free to shop fabrics following my mood and desires. The available amount of fabrics and colours can be a bit overwhelming and sometimes it is difficult to find the right choices. Before I started quilting I never liked yellow! Really it is true, I always thought that yellow was pushy and noisy and it was almost impossible to find any kind of yellow that would be even tolerable.
But since I started to see colours and fabrics from a quilter’s perspective and not from a dress maker’s I fell in love with yellow and many other colours too that hadn’t really been there for me at all.

I am a blue-wearing-person, blue spiced with browns and tiny bit of orange. But I love red - sadly it does not look good on me, at least not the kind of red that I love. So to solve the problem with red, many of my handbags and bags are red, I have a huge beautiful red umbrella and just recently a beautiful little red car too. (Car is necessary for me, I would use public transportation if that was easier, but sadly, at the moment it is not.) And dreams of red quilts; quilts of red and beige, of red and pure clean white, of red and green.

When quilting - no restrictions for me in any way. Always in spring, after the long and dark winter, my heart just aches for sun and yellow. Yellow is bright, it stands for joy and happiness. My yellow season ends by the end of June when these bloom by the lake. Not now, now picture ice and grey blue freezing water, no green, no yellow, except in my quilt.

When I drew the flower and took out the yellow fabrics I knew that I should find a spot where I could add a little bit of the contrasting colour, so I added the little specs to the flower centre. I am not sure how these little specs will look like in the end, what colours exactly are needed there, but there is my option for adding anything necessary and most likely it is going to be purple in some shade. The leaves are green, again I think there should be a spot for just a little bit of red too as a contrast to green, so, I have one fat quarter of this red among the greens. Last night I had a dream that Yellow Flowers was all quilted and I was wondering if the binding should be bright red… Too bad, I can’t remember how it was quilted.

I know, I should not jump ahead, but I am thinking about the quilting already. You told me to wait and let the quilt tell me in the end how she wants to be quilted… Are you sure about this? Are you sure my quilt will talk and tell? I just sincerely wish that she has a good sense and knows what things should be said out loud and what should remain between the two of us… Because I have poked through my finger a couple of times with the needle size sharp 12 and she already knows how I feel about freezer paper and dull needles.
No, I did not try those! Those needles are there because they were used for seaming knits and darning in ends. I should go and make a little pin cushion solely for appliqué and quilting needles.

Next time I will show some process pictures and hopefully by then my stitches have become small enough and my finger tips have grown a thick skin.

In search for tiny stitches,

yours,

Lene

Feeling better ....

2008-05-08T00:54:00.000-04:00

Dear Lene,
I hope I didn't scare you yesterday, with my endless whining and worrying about the fabric choices. (Also that part about wanting to sit in the corner and sulk about it - that was really mature, wasn't it?) But as I said, knowing that we're in this together got me out of my self-pity and up and going again.

I spent some time playing with an alternate set of fabrics. I think I more or less turned the house inside out, looking for different things, literally going through everything here to see what I had. You have very little clue what an undertaking that was - my fabric stash is beyond extensive, it's verging on being legendary. [Scary is another term people have used.] And also, it would be a shame to change my mind now, after I bought all those yards of red fabric for the background - I'm still a little embarrassed that I bought fabric, with everything I have here.

Then you got back home and emailed that you liked the choices. Really liked them. And I thought about it some more. I turned around at one point and saw the new block sitting there on the floor (where I'd put it to see it and some other fabrics from a distance) and suddenly I realized that the yellow? I can't even see the pattern on it from five feet away. The print that was bothering me and worrying me was totally irrelevant to the total scheme of things - okay, it helps that I'm nearsighted and wasn't wearing my glasses at the time, but it was a revelation.

So, I did get started on the block after all, and I haven't shown you much yet other than fabrics. I spent Wednesday cutting out a freezer paper template for the center section, ironing it to the fabric, and basting it down on the background.

It's a huge piece of freezer paper, almost 48cm/19" square, and it took a lot of fiddling to get everything to lie flat. I creased both the background as well as the yellow fabric, to be able to center it properly. This is the center floret (?) pinned into place, just prior to my thread basting it.

Have I ever mentioned that I don't like basting? It's kind of like swatching in knitting, just as necessary but just as distasteful to me.

One very short sewing stint later, it started looking like this -

I'm cutting away the freezer paper as I go along. It's such a big piece that it's awkward and gets in the way of reaching in to sew at the center of the piece. I had toyed with the idea of doing it freehand, but all of those scallops would be tricky to replicate that way, so I chickened out (sort of) and went with the freezer paper.

I laughed when you wondered yesterday about why the quilter of the antique used white thread for her appliqué. I hadn't told you at that point that I'm using white thread. I used to do that sometimes, use non-matching thread to show off a little - kind of like, "Look, I can use any color thread and it still looks good!". Obnoxious, I know. But I've come to appreciate the visibility of tiny stitches in a neutral color, as an accent. Also, I've realize that it makes everything much more simple. One color of thread means no searching for perfect color matches, and just one spool of thread to work from.

I also realized that I have two one-thousand-yard spools of this white thread. It might be interesting to see how much thread it takes to do the project. If I were inclined to do something like that, of course.

I'm not 100% positive yet, about all of the other fabrics. I'm going to have to make a decision pretty soon, especially on the fabric for the stems and leaves. I thought I had the right one, but then today (while looking for a totally different set of fabrics) I found another that might be even better for this group of colors. More about that soon, I hope. Until I make a final decision, I'm leaving the area where the stem needs to be tucked under the floret loose and un-sewn.

So, for now I'm going with the original fabric choices, more or less. I had said something to you about it not being a big deal to ditch the current choices, and just consider it as an appliqué "swatch", but I'm going with it and finishing the block with just a (possible) minor change to the leaf/stem fabric. Thanks for your input on the fabrics, it really helped.

love,
Cassie

PS - I'd love to send you some sun (we've had lots) but I'm not sure it packages up and travels very well....

Lots of drawing

2008-05-07T05:19:00.001-04:00

Cassie,

When I look at the pictures of the old Tulip quilt, it makes me wonder who made it. Her handwriting is all over it, but it leaves out the details that I would love to know: her age, her family, her history … then on the other hand, it probably tells everything she would like us to know of her. There is 8 (???) quilting stitches per centimetre, that surely tells something about her character – I assume the maker was a she, at that time it was more common for a woman to quilt I think. And she chose white thread for all the appliqué – was she short of coloured thread or does it tell that she was not too fussy but relaxed and forgiving? Do you know where it was made and is it typical of the area? Is there any way of knowing when was it made? Maybe by making a repro of it, the quilt will reveal its secrets and start talking to you. Maybe if you have it on your lap in a quiet evening and sip your coffee in silence and close your eyes, you will get to time travel. Please, do share the stories…

I have been at the drawing board. I made one block in size 1:4. One block will be close to one square meter, so it will be big, very. Then I drew the same block into the real size and I tweaked the pattern a little bit.

When I was happy with the design, I marked all the appliqué patches with grain lines and then finally covered the whole big drawing with a film. I am going to need it a lot, so I don’t want to get it smudged.
The next step was to draw all the pieces to template plastic with the grain lines marked. This all took me hours. Now that the drawing and the templates are done, I will draw the pieces onto a freezer paper. I know this sounds like a lot of drawing, but I have done my appliqué with freezer paper always. But again, my history in this art is very short and hopefully one day I can get rid of freezer paper and be more free because I love the hand work feel of the old quilts. Somehow at the moment I am sure of not having to stress about the fact that this would not in the end look like hand work!

Freezer paper makes it so easy to move around the pieces on the background and I aim not to draw on either the background fabric nor to the appliqué pieces, but we’ll see about that.

Now that I have all these paper cuts prepared, I will start ironing them onto the fabrics and that means that I have to make decisions about the fabrics, but definitely yellows. But I will tell about them the next time. Because I need to take a trip to town and that will take most of my afternoon.

I found this old tool and had to try how my block will look when it is multiplied.

I did mention last week that the spring is finally here. It is… The water is high and one cannot walk on the ice any more… There is still some of that white stuff around and when I woke up this morning, there was a little more than yesterday. It snowed lightly again last night.

Could you please send me the sun!

Lene

Fine Details

2008-05-06T10:44:00.000-04:00

Dear Lene,

I managed to get started, at least a little, yesterday. Really taking out the antique quilt and examining it, rather than just quick overview pictures, gave me a sense of how incredibly talented the maker was.

To start out, I put a giant piece of vinyl over one of the blocks, to trace the appliqué pattern. Each block measures 86cm/34", so it really is on the large side, even for these four-block appliqué quilts.

The vine-berry-leaf pattern at the left is actually a tracing of the quilting pattern on that portion of the quilt. It was so stunning, when I looked at it closely, that I thought I'd take the opportunity to highlight it. And also for later reference. (You know, just in case I'm crazy enough to try to replicate the quilting too.)

What really struck me as I slowly traced the shapes of the pieces was the fine stitching. (Ahem, that's our blog title, more or less, isn't it?) All of the appliqué is done with white thread, no matter the color of the fabric.

That's a little section of the border. I'm 99.9% sure that the fabric was originally green.

After I took that first picture, I realized that the scale of it might not be really obvious, so I took another one (from one of the tulips) that included a ruler for scale. You can see how tiny those white stitches are pretty clearly on the red fabric.

And, as I mentioned the quilting earlier, I also took a close-up picture of that.

Again, incredibly fine work. I guess this is what inspires me about the old quilts. Anything with this much attention to detail had to have been made thoughtfully and carefully. There was obviously no rushing or a need to have a blanket on the bed to keep warm.

Ok, I think I've mused enough about the past for today. I'm starting on putting the pattern on paper, making templates, and hopefully will have something ready to be worked on fabric soon. (Enough with all this vinyl and drawing - I'd like to work with a needle and thread!)

love,
Cassie

Yellow Flowers

2008-05-05T13:33:00.000-04:00

Dear Cassie,

I was thrilled to see our very first post up there!!!

It has been snowing (yes!) big dish rags and the wind has been blowing hard from the north, but the weather has not managed to bring my mood down at all. I have been washing and ironing fabrics and drawing the templates in big size.

I will draw the quilt in size 1:3 one of these days! So far I am calling it Yellow Flowers, I know I know, I should have thought of something more interesting to call my very first four-block quilt. I will try to keep this quilt simple and bold and this will be my very first with hand quilting. Your Tulips will be just beautiful.

Is it only two weeks we have been planning this? Is it only two weeks ago when my mail box started to fill with more and more amazing hand quilted quilt pictures after I mentioned to you wanting to try appliqué one day. Of the pictures you sent always the next one was more beautiful than the previous one and then you wrote: “Maybe this will provide some inspiration. ;-)”

So here we are, with lots of plans for the future, quilting together with Fine Stitches. I am glad. I know, we Finns, use sparsely the word love, but here it is very appropriate, because I do love this project of ours.

Here’s to Fine Stitches!

Love,

Lene

PS. Do you think we are ready to go to public or should we let this simmer a bit yet??

Beginnings

2008-05-05T10:31:00.000-04:00

Dear Lene,
It's hard to believe it's been less than two weeks since you mentioned quilts in your email and we got started with this idea. From your little hint about four-block appliqué, to my taking all those pictures of antique quilts, to our idea about starting a quilting blog together. At first I laughed at your note saying that you felt feverish with excitement over all the inspiration you were feeling. Then I began to be inspired as well. I collected those old quilts years ago and somehow in keeping them safely put away, I had forgotten how beautiful they are.

Seeing the antique quilts again really got me thinking that appliqué was my first true love in quilting. I haven't done so much of it the past few years, as I have to pace myself to keep my hands from hurting. And also because knitting and spinning have been what I've spent most of my time on for the past while. But the love is still there, it's just been dormant for a time.

Your excitement was so contagious though, I knew that this (blog) was the right thing to do. I don't think I could maintain this level of inspiration on my own, but I think that having a friend across the ocean to share the ideas and to help fan the flame of excitement about quilts and quilting is the perfect way to go.

Looking at the tulip quilt again, I'm getting a little nervous. I know that my appliqué skills can handle making a reproduction of it, but it really is an ambitious project, isn't it? Maybe it's more than ambitious - crazy might be a better word - but it really is the quilt that sings out to me and inspires me the most right now. Both for the pattern and also for the fine hand quilting. I'm not going to even think about quilting just yet. I think tackling a huge appliqué project gives me plenty to work on for the time being.

I still need to finalize my fabric choices, make a firm decision about whether or not the bright color scheme I'm thinking of is too wild, and also find that vinyl for tracing the pattern from the tulip quilt. I haven't seen anything of your design ideas since that first rough sketch. Where are you with that? Have you been holding it back as a surprise, or are you not finished with the drawings?

All right, then. I'm off to take care of getting my materials together for copying the tulip pattern. I have to start somewhere, and that's got to be done even before I choose the final fabric choices. My excitement is building, but as I said I'm also a little bit nervous. I'm glad we're in this together, because tackling this alone would probably overwhelm me - with the encouragement and excitement of doing it with you, I can stick with it.

love,
Cassie