Time to Get Over Myself

Do you know that I have now done 15 posts about Sedona Star, and I have yet to completely finish any of the months?  The sticking point all along has been the fusible applique.  Well, I am over it!  And I have this brilliant quilt to thank:

Go! Bedazzled

Isn't it beautiful?  This was made by Sandy Lawrence of Phoenix, AZ.  It is another Sarah Vedeler design.  Sandy was lucky enough to take a class with Sarah when she made this quilt, and another class with Diane Gaudynski for the quilting!  As you can see by the ribbons, the quilt won First Place for Machine Embroidery and Best of Show at the Arizona Quilter's Guild show in 2012.  No surprise!  You can click the photo to see it larger.

What I really love about this quilt, and what has finally converted me, is the way Sandy has made the machine embroidery into a separate design element of the quilt.  The embroidery is not just a way to hold the appliques down.  For instance, most of the hits of turquoise that you see in the quilt are thread.  Imagine the quilt without it!  I love the Southwest colours she has used.  If you look at the large photo, you can see areas where more than one colour of thread was used around the edges of the appliques.  Sandy has also done embroidery within the shapes. 

There are so many great ideas here!  Even with my basic machine I can think of some interesting combinations to try.  Now I am so keen to get started again!  Alas, I am still waiting for my new iron, so it may still be a while.

Now it looks like I won't be paper piecing Month 2 after all!  But I'm still glad I did it, because it made me very aware of how the dark fabrics show through the light appliques.  I will have to do some careful trimming, I think.

Sandy, thanks so much for the photo, and all the inspiration too!


Related Posts:

Paper pieced practice block

Adjusting the template for paper piecing

Paper Piecing Sedona Star Month 2

If you're wondering where I posted my picture of my completed Month 1 blocks, the answer is that they aren't finished yet!  I am still experimenting with my turned applique by machine technique.  In the mean time, I went ahead with paper piecing Month 2, and showed my practice block yesterday.  The practice block was made with the real fabrics, so you can see where I am going with it.

As I promised yesterday, here is how I altered the Month 2 template to accomodate paper piecing:

I left the image fairly large, so if you click the photo you can see all the details.  Here's a description of what I did:

1. I assembled the template from plain copy paper and drew on all my revisions.  Then I copy each quadrant onto the Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff.  The edges were trimmed down so that each side, including the centre seam, fits onto just two pages.
2. I pieced it in two sub-units, sewed the centre seam, and then added the appliques and outer border.  You can see that I extended one side of the centre point both up and down.  I am indebted to TQS member FLAero52 for this idea.  She did it slightly differently, but the sub-unit idea is key.  I added a cutting line on either side of the seam, mainly to remind me that it IS the seam.
3. I extended the corners of the grey background grid out to the edges, and also added a trim line parallel to the grid on all four sides.  This is to speed the assembly of the templates.  I trim the copies at the trim line, butt the edges against my Olfa mat, and line up the corner extensions at the 0" and 16" marks on the mat.  Then I know for sure that the assembled template is exactly to scale. 
4. I also added some small lines across the seam line at precise right angles to serve as pin markings when I sew the centre seam.  That seam has to be dead on, or the final shape of the block may be distorted.
5. The background pieces 4a and 4b are an awkward shape.  Rather than using a very large rectangle and then cutting away most of the fabric, I traced the shapes onto wax paper (freezer paper) to use as pattern pieces.  This allows me to cut the angle for the seam so that the fabric will flip up exactly into the right position.  Yes, it IS tricky.  But it works great once you get it.  Please let me know in the comments if you want to see a picture, and I will take one once I get going again.

I ordered this cute iron from Keepsake Quilting today, and the pressing surface too.  With my small sewing space, I think it will be a better solution than a full size iron.  Maybe there was a silver lining to my misadventure yesterday!

Sedona Star Month 2

Since December, when I decided to commit to the TQS 2012 BOM, Sedona Star, I have been debating how to handle the points in the Month 2 blocks:

The instructions call for raw edge, fusible applique, but I don't much like raw edges, or fusibles either.  My applique plan for the quilt has been to use Beth Ferrier's technique for turned applique by machine.  I have a comprehensive review of that technique coming up! 

The centre point on the Month 2 block is very sharp, though.  I know I could do it by hand, because you would sew one side first, and then stuff all the seam allowances against it as you stitched the second side.  But there are nine large blocks!  I thought about machine sewing part of the point and hand sewing just the end, but it seemed very complicated.

I briefly considered converting the block to paper piecing, but I saw problems with that.  However, one of the other TQS members, FLAero52, did it, so I was inspired to try too.  It is NOT EASIER.  There is a lot to figure out, and I did it a little differently than FLAero52.  Here is my practice block:

There are a few problems with it, but they are fixable, so this is how I'm going to proceed. I am very happy with the points.  Another benefit of paper piecing is that the dark blue background fabric won't show through the light appliques.  I love that fabric - it's actually a blender from the Elvis on Tour collection!  The white dots are spotlights.  :)

I'll show you how I revised the template to accomodate paper piecing tomorrow.  For now, though, here's some of the problems that I need to address:

• My white fabric applique at the base is fairly sheer, and the yellow and orange fabrics show through, so I need to trim the seam allowances from the points.  Also, the "Template F" lettering on the template shows through, so I will have to mask that from future copies.  The placement of that applique is also a little off, but that is easily corrected next time.
• You can see a dark shadow on the right side of the top point.  That is the blue fabric showing through the light green, where it got caught in the centre seam.  I will have to trim those blue seam allowances before I sew the two sub-units together.
• The yellow fabric from the centre point also goes too far up in the centre seam, which adds bulk and which will make it hard to applique the final dot.  I just have to trim it before I stitch the seam.
• I used my Clover plastic pressing tool to press the seams, but for this block I think a hot iron will be better.  The long background pieces are a little loose, and so are the long light green pieces.  And what did I do today?  I broke my iron!!  Disaster!!  So it will be a few days before you see any more of these.

Sedona Star Month 1 Points

After so much time at the sewing machine over the past few days, my back was really complaining, so I've been taking it slower again.  I've been doing the log cabin points a few at a time:

Four more to go!  You'll be seeing a lot more of these particular fabrics as the quilt progresses.  An unexpected benefit of using solid fabrics is that there is no wrong side, which makes the paper piecing even easier.  I hope, though, that it does not make me sloppy once I progress to prints later in the quilt.

It's been really fun so far.  The finished points have a satisfying weight to them, with the fairly thick Kaufman Kona Solid fabric, and the Ricky Tims Stable Stuff on the back.  I've been using 1/4" seams too.  The instructions call for 1/8" seams, but as a new paper piecer I just didn't feel comfortable with that.  If I pay for it later, so be it.

Many people have also mentioned the somewhat frugal cutting instructions for the quilt.  Because I was planning to use a wider seam allowance, I just measured the widths right off the template.  I ended up adding 1/4" to the width, and about 1/2" to the length for these pieces - it may have been more for some of the others.  I have lots of fabric, so I am not worried about running out!

Beginning to Paper Piece Sedona Star

I was very excited to actually start sewing Sedona Star!  I began with the ring on Month 1, because that looked the easiest to me:

The light colour here is actually this light purple fabric.  The camera made it blue.  But the piecing went really well.  I very nearly sewed the two ends wrong sides together, even after reminding myself about it!  But fortunately I realized my mistake before actually sewing it.  I was so encouraged by this initial success that I moved on to the centre star:

I realized a few things when I was about halfway through this.  The first was that my colour scheme is not going to leave me any room for error!  I deliberately chose the high contrast scheme to show off the more difficult parts of the quilt.  I wasn't thinking though, that it meant I am going to have to do those parts really well.  Anyway, so far, so good.  I'll have to be super careful with those points when I sew the two circles together.

The second issue is that the dark fabrics really show lint!  I can see that this is going to be a problem for the lifetime of the quilt.  It looks much worse in the photo because the flash picked out the light particles.  I wondered where all that lint was coming from, and I realized that it is from the Ricky Tims Stable Stuff.  It is shedding tiny, shiny, polyester fibres as I work with it.

On the TQS forum Margo suggested that I can wash the finished flimsy to remove all the Stable Stuff before I quilt it.  Now that I've seen how these fibres stick to the fabric, I don't think that will be an option.  For now, I'll just use a good lint roller before I take any final photos!

Otherwise, though, the Stable Stuff is a dream to work with.  It is much easier to use for paper piecing than the vellum was.  It makes a very clean fold when you are cutting the seam allowance.  The vellum didn't always want to fold along the line, but with the Stable Stuff there is no problem.  And because the Stable Stuff is more like Pellon interfacing, it doesn't remember all the fold lines, so you can wrinkle it up all over and it still goes back to lying flat when you're done.

When I lay the two parts together, it looks like this:

My intention with the centre of the quilt was to keep it simple, and I am satisfied with the result so far.  The main focus of the quilt will be the applique blocks we're doing this summer, so I didn't want to do too much here.  I'll show you one or two of the log cabin points tomorrow, and then it'll be on to the applique circles!

Preparing the Templates for Sedona Star

Well, I had a busy weekend.  I finally started Sedona Star!  Hard to believe, I know.  :)

Saturday night I put together the templates.  What a tricky job!  I have a feeling this was probably the most fiddly bit of the whole quilt.  But, if they are right, everything will go smoothly, so I didn't rush it.

The grey gridlines were a huge help.  I ended up cutting the templates just a millimetre or two away from the outside gridline, and butting them up against the edge of my Olfa mat, which I used as a ruler.  This allowed me to make sure that the overall measurement was 12" for the inside template, and 18" for the outside one.

I am using the Ricky Tims Stable Stuff for my templates.  As designer Sarah Vedeler suggested, I used Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 in the 1/4" width to hold them together.  It was pretty convenient to use, and held the pages together well.  Before I tried it I was worried about it adding bulk to the quilt. I found, however, that there is almost nothing to it, so added weight is not a worry.

There were no gridlines for Template 2, which is the ring with the appliqued circles.  To make sure that it would fit properly inside the outer ring, I used the assembled Template 3 as a guide:

I carefully lined up the solid stitching lines on each template (not the cutting lines!).  Template 3 has convenient marks for each section of Template 2, so it is easy to lay it right in place.  I worked my way around the ring, ironing each section to the previous one as I went:

I am not ironing the two layers together, just using the bottom layer as a guide.  Once it was finished, I knew it would fit into the outer ring perfectly.

Hopefully, with these tricks in my toolbox, assembling the templates in future months will be less painful.  Fortunately, the paper piecing on Sunday went really well.  I'll show you tomorrow!

Inspiration for Sedona Star, Part 2

Sedona Star

For those who have been dying to get a good look at the official Sedona Star photo, here it is, photographed by Gregory Case.  Click the photo to see it full size!

Yesterday I told you about the great synchronicity between Valerie Giles' version of Sedona Star, inspired by the colours of The Red Centre in Australia, and the colours of Sedona, Arizona, which are both very spiritual locations.  It seemed to me that there is a lot of potential for synchronicities in the design, with its reference to Sedona, and the repetition of the number nine throughout the quilt.  I have speculated about the potential meaning of it all previously, but I thought it was time to get the real story from the designer herself, Sarah Vedeler.

I asked her about the significance of "Sedona" in the title, and what was up with all the nines?  Here's her reply:

Sarah Vedeler

"In January of last year, Ricky sent me an email saying "We need to talk!". It wasn't until March until we eventually connected - March 16 to be precise, the Wednesday in the middle of Spring Break, and I was just about to get into the car with my daughters to drive up to Sedona for a couple of days. Having had the conversation with Ricky, I spent the entire 2 hour drive up to Sedona thinking up ideas for what the quilt would look like - and started to design it in Corel Draw when we got there (after taking the girls for a hike - which was the purpose of the trip!). So the quilt has always been associated with Sedona in my mind.

"As for there being 9 of pretty much everything... I created 2 initial designs (very basic outlines) that I submitted to Ricky and Alex to see what they thought. One had 8 points, the other had 12 points. The 12 point one was too big - so I started to shrink the design and play with the number of points to see what would work. 9 points did the trick!

"So there's really nothing very mysterious about it!!!"

LOL!  Isn't that great?!  I guess when you send your design out into the world, you never know what meanings people will give to it.  Thanks Sarah!

Like Valerie, my colourway also developed a lot more meaning for me than may have been originally intended.  I am 100% in favour of pretty things whose only purpose is to make you happy when you look at them.  However, I also think that if your design develops additional meanings, be they spiritual or simply happy memories, that can only add to the overall joy in the quilt.  For me, joy is the only reason to make a quilt, and anything that increases that is a good thing!

I know it is ridiculous for me to keep talking about a colourway no one has seen yet, but I really am still waiting for fabric!  Although I didn't change my mind about the colours, I did change my mind about the fabric, so that is the reason for all this delay.  But, with so many TQS members managing to finish each month in a few days, I don't think I am that far behind.  I'll be caught up soon enough!

Inspiration for Sedona Star, Part 1

Valerie Giles, whose Month 1 photo of Sedona Star I featured a couple of weeks ago, has already finished Month 2 as well:

The Red Centre - Month 2

It was not my intention to follow Valerie's quilt every month, but I've been learning more about the story behind her inspiration for her beautiful colour scheme, so I had to post about it again.

I didn't realize that The Red Centre is actually a place - the area in central Australia around Uluru, or Ayer's Rock.  When I asked Valerie about her inspiration, she wrote me this: 

"I guess my inspiration comes from the trip we made in 2010 to Alice Springs and Uluru.  The emotion I felt at seeing the Rock was overwhelming.  The colours change constantly and the textures are so beautiful.  I absolutely love all our indigenous fabrics and at Uluru we got to see the ancient rock paintings, so my aim is to get as much of this into my very first block of the month."

I love that story!  Thank you, Valerie.  And I also love that the colours of central Australia are very similar to the colours around Sedona, Arizona:

courtesy of  www.dailyventure.com

I was so impressed by the synchronicity between Valerie's quilt and Sedona itself, which are also both significant spiritual locations, that I finally contacted Sedona Star designer Sarah Vedeler to find out what her inspiration was.  She sent me a great reply, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to read it!

Alternatives for Sedona Star

I know that I had a string of posts last month with no pictures at all, for which I deeply apologize!  I'll try not to let it happen again!  Given that I still don't have any Sedona Star photos of my own to show, I did get permission from a couple of TQS members to show theirs.

I chose both of these because they are dramatically different from Sarah Vedeler's original design.  First up is Susan McFarland of Oxnard, California.  She has gone completely scrappy!

Scrappy - Susan McFarland

I love scrap quilts, and you can already see that this quilt is going to be amazing.  Just by repeating a few elements, like the red circles and green outer borders of the points, Susan has been able to go completely random with the rest.  I know I would never deliberately choose some of the combinations here, but it all works, and I bet it is a blast to make!

Next I have the work of Valerie Giles of Mt. Barker, South Australia.  She is using her collection of Australian indigenous fabrics, which is certainly an advantage.  But the thing that struck me was her log cabin points:

The Red Centre - Valerie Giles

Valerie is the only one in the Show & Tell so far who has used a traditional light and dark log cabin scheme on the points.  This gives them a more three dimensional, architectural effect, if you will excuse the pun.  What great out-of-the-box thinking!  I have to tell you, I am very sorry that I didn't think of this myself.  I also love the warm colours, so it will be great to see where this quilt goes next.

Big thanks to both Susan and Valerie!  The other reason that I chose to show these quilts here, is because both of them strongly tempted me away from my original plan.  I love those scraps, and those points!  I think that my Month 1 will actually have the distinction of using the fewest number of fabrics.  But for now I will stick with my plan.

In any case, I have decided to abandon the Kaffe Fassett shot cottons, and use Kaufman Kona Solids instead.  I was disappointed with the shot cottons, they were not as interesting as I had hoped.  The Kona solids will give me a better range of colours, and they are heavier so I expect they will be easier to use.  So once again I am waiting for fabric to arrive.

My idea with the solids is that they will allow more scope for creative quilting.  How the quilting will be done is still in the air, of course.  I called a local Bernina dealer for a quote on the 820 and 830 today.  Holy crow!!  I had no idea.  Well, I still have year!

Martha Schellingerhoud

Martha Schellingerhoud was the speaker at our Rouge Valley Quilter's Guild meeting last night.  As soon as we walked into the hall we all saw this quilt hanging up on the stage.  Click the link, it is really gorgeous!  She told us that it has been chosen to represent Canada at a quilt show in France this fall.  I think it is a great choice.

Martha did her trunk show for us.  The thread of her narrative was how she has developed different techniques for machine quilting large quilts in sections on a domestic machine.  I immediately began to pay close attention!  She showed us several quilts based on square blocks, and described her technique of joining pre-quilted sections together with sashing, and then quilting the sashing after.  All this time I am looking at that big circular design up on the stage and thinking about Sedona Star.  I could see how the concentric rings could be pre-quilted and then joined with those flying geese rings.

And indeed, she told us that had been her plan, but then on this quilt she changed her mind and quilted the whole thing in one piece!  Sigh.  She was worried that it would not lie flat if quilted in sections.  So that idea went out the window!

But the trunk show was excellent, and her miniatures have to be seen to be believed.  There was one with over 700 pieces!

In any case, I still have a year to figure out how I will quilt Sedona Star.  I'm sure the right idea, or better equipment, will come along!

Status - Sedona Star

Once again, I've been thinking hard about Sedona Star this weekend.  There's been a heck of a lot of thinking considering I haven't done any sewing yet!

The whole kerfuffle with the way the templates don't print properly on some printers, including mine, has somewhat got my back up.  I had to ask myself if I should do the quilt at all.  I wanted the quilt to be a stretch for me, but chasing down technical fixes wasn't exactly what I had in mind!  I've only bought about a third of the fabric so far, which could always be used somewhere else.  But the thought of not doing the quilt felt like going backwards, so I knew I still had to do it.  Quilters are resourceful, right?  My drafting skills are pretty good, and I think I will be able to draw in the parts of the templates that don't print.

So, I'll be doing the whole thing by machine.  I'll use the Ricky Tims Stable Stuff, and leave it in the quilt until the end.  I'll use Beth Ferrier's method of turned edge applique by machine, and use her fusible wash-away applique sheets, which should also help stabilize the lightweight shot cottons.  I can see the whole thing will be much quicker this way, and even though fast is not always a priority for me, it will give me more time for other projects as well, which also feels good.

Of course, the Stable Stuff and the applique sheets will have to be bought, which will have to wait until February.  But, that gives me three weeks to work on my other quilts, which I think will be a very good thing!