Return of the Yoyos

Those of you who have been reading since the beginning may have wondered whatever happened to those 409 yoyos?  Well, I had a few challenges to sort out with them, but now they are back on track:

I spent a couple of weeks waiting for the new binding fabric, because I wanted to make some yoyos from it as well.  Then it took me a while to cut the background strips, and a while longer to make the template and mark the yoyo positions.  But the biggest challenge was figuring out the best way to sew the yoyos down.

I made five samples before I was happy with my method.  I really wanted to preserve the nice pleats that the Clover yoyo maker produces, and I didn't want to flatten the edges too much.  But they also needed to be relatively firmly attached.  The instructions called for a running stitch around the edge.  The method that worked best for me was to take a very short tack stitch inside each groove of the yoyo, quite close to the edge:

This is a surprisingly strong way to sew them down, and with the short stitches on the front the thread will not be exposed to much wear.  And, it is going very quickly now!  I am 1/4 of the way done with only a few days of work.  I am choosing the yoyos completely randomly by closing my eyes and sticking my hand in the box.  So it is fun and very motivating to see which one will be next.  The only time I throw one back is if I get two consecutive ones in the same fabric.  Otherwise, anything goes!

In the end, though, I don't think this will be the most practical quilt.  The yoyos are quite lumpy, so if you were making a bed quilt for a young person it would not be very comfortable to sit or play on.  Mine will probably be a sofa throw.  I have a feeling that it will spend most of its time folded at one end of the sofa, and only used if I am cold.  But it certainly is a fun project!

Inspirations 73

Today I have a magazine for Book Review Day - the latest issue of Inspirations, number 73.  I keep all my Inspirations magazines on my book shelves, though, so maybe it is partly a book!

I was introduced to this excellent magazine at one of the bookseller stalls at a stitching and needlecraft show at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, back when I lived in California.  There was a whole rack of back issues on display, and I was standing there mesmerized by all the beautiful covers, along with another rather quiet woman and her pushy friend.  The pushy friend was not a stitcher, but she was strongly encouraging the quiet woman to put a deep dent in her credit card by buying several of the magazines.  I was internally debating the same thing, because I knew it had to be all or nothing.  Buying just one would make me want the others even more.  The dynamic between the two friends was a little tense, though, so I moved away.  Eventually they did too.

I went back, of course, and agonized a little more before I caved and bought about 15 of them.  Many of those are now sold out issues, so I am still glad I did it!  The quiet woman also ended up buying at least 10, shortly after me.

Inspirations bills itself as "the world's most beautiful embroidery magazine," and I have never had reason to doubt it.  It features beautiful, classic designs from top embroidery designers around the world, using the best materials and combining modern and traditional techniques.  Several different types of embroidery projects are included in each issue, from surface embroidery with cotton, wool or silk threads, to stumpwork, goldwork, silk ribbon embroidery, various whitework and pulled thread techniques, blackwork, cutwork, and on and on.  Beyond the designs themselves though, what really drew me in was that each project has detailed, thorough instructions with colour pictures on how to do the various stitches and techniques.  Anyone with a little basic embroidery knowledge and a willingness to learn can tackle most of the projects in each issue.  I have learned so much since I started reading it!

Ok, let's talk about the current issue.  There are nine projects, all from Australian designers.  (Inspirations is an Australian publication.)  Australia is a hotbed of embroidery talent, which I think has been nourished and supported by this magazine over the years.  So there are a number of excellent projects this time!

The cover piece by Jane Nicholas is one of the ones I quite like.  Usually stumpwork (raised embroidery) is not my most favourite technique, mainly because I hate the raw edges that you often get with the detached leaves and petals.  But in this piece the edges are all turned under, which I like much, much better.  The pomegranates are juicy, the padded snail shell is particularly nice, and I love the goldwork beetle.  Nicholas also has a whole book of beetles in various techniques, which is great fun.

Carolyn Pearce has been a steady contributor to Inspirations since the earliest issues.  I aspire to make bullion roses as nice as hers some day!  Somehow she manages to taper the ends of her bullion knots, which makes all the difference.  I would love to know her secret!  In this issue she manages the same look with silk ribbon:

This is something I'll be trying soon.  I think I have some of those Czech glass flower beads in my stash somewhere too.  While I won't be making this exact project, I'll definitely be using some of these ideas.

I'll also be borrowing Jan Kerton's needlewoven daisies from this project:

These daisies are the answer to two outstanding dilemmas I've had.  One is a UFO wall hanging that combines cross stitch and quilting.  I wanted to incorporate daisies in it somehow, but the right idea didn't come along until now.  These will be just the thing!  Maybe the lady bugs too. 

The second thing I've wanted for a while is to make a brooch of my online identity photo with the Black Eyed Susans.  I've grown quite attached to that photo, and I think it is very recognizable, so I'd like to have something to wear in the real world that ties it in.  I debated thread painting it, but this technique will be better.

The magazine publisher, Country Bumpkin, also sells kits for all the projects.  These are usually a good value, because they save you chasing down specialty supplies from several different stores.  The Australian dollar is a lot higher these days, and shipping can be costly, but the convenience may still be a benefit to overseas shoppers. 

Two other projects that I really like in this issue are the Hardanger box from Janie Hubble and the delightful Yvette Stanton, and Margaret Light's pretty pouch made from blue and white ticking and embroidered with beautiful red pelargonium in Gumnut's juicy perle silk.  The kits for them both are tempting me now!

Well, this was probably my longest post yet, but I cannot say enough about this excellent magazine.  It is the only subscription I have left.  Highly recommended!

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!

Sweet Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today is the 50th anniversary of my parents' engagement, so Valentine's Day has always been a big deal in my family.  In honour of the day, here is a redwork project that I have just started work on again.

I bought these at www.redwork.info several years ago now.  I have been to the site more recently, and I am not sure if it is still active, it has not been updated in years - so use with caution!

I have been on again, off again with this project.  Sunday evening I started to think about it again, and I made a new quilt design incorporating just these nine blocks.  My previous plan had been to combine these with some other redwork patterns, but the whole thing was going so slowly, and poorly, that I just abandoned it.

From the front, my first attempt did not look that bad, but it was chaos on the back:

Old block - front

Old block - back

It doesn't look like all the ends on the back matter, until you see the block against a white background:

I did briefly consider lining the blocks with red fabric to hide all the ends!  But that didn't feel right to me, so the project became another UFO.

Now that a few years have passed, I've learned a lot about how to deal with the ends on the back, and suddenly the project seems a lot easier.  I realized that it can be my elusive "tv project."  I am so far behind on Coronation Street!  CBC only keeps the last three weeks online, and I have been missing episodes because I have nothing to do while watching them.   I spent most of yesterday tracing new blocks, and I have 3 left to do today.  I am also stitching the label for Edward's quilt, so there is a lot of outlining in my future.  Which is good, because I think Audrey and Mark's secret is about to become the talk of the neighbourhood!

Finished Flimsy

At my guild Rouge Valley they call unquilted tops "floppies" or "flimsies."  Do they do that where you live?  I had never heard it before.  I think flimsy is a pretty cute word, so I am adopting it.  It's much more fun than "top."

So the flimsy for Edward's quilt is finally finished!  Here it is:

This is not the first flimsy I've finished.  The last one was in the late 90s, and by the time it was done it was such a disaster that I couldn't bring myself to spend any more time or money on it.  The fabrics are pretty, but the blocks were all different sizes, and I had to adjust the width of the sashings just to get it all together.  And then I ran out of sashing fabric...  It was intended to be a scrap quilt, but it was just TOO scrappy by the end.  I still have it though, so you may see it some day.  I am keeping it for free motion quilting practice.

Edward's quilt has been a totally different story.  I did not measure the whole quilt until I had the white inner border on.  At first I thought I was a couple of inches off!  But then I realized that my math was faulty, not my sewing, and in fact it was almost exactly 52.5 inches.  At most an eighth inch too big.  That was very gratifying!  It made my day.  I really feel now like I have got the hang of this.

The one piece of advice that has made all the difference to me was something Alex Anderson said in an early episode of The Quilt Show.  She recommended that we practice our 1/4 inch seams until they are perfect.  Cut, sew, press and measure until the finished piece measures exactly what it is supposed to.  This was a surprising process for me, but it only took about an hour and a few squares of ugly fabric to get it right.  And boy has it paid off!  Thank you Alex!

Schnibbles Times Two

I have been thinking that I may make Fridays "Book Review Day."  I can think of quite a few books I'd like to review, so we'll see how it goes.

Today I am featuring Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles Times Two, quilts from 5" or 10" squares (Martingale & Company, 2010). 

This is the first Schnibbles book, and I gather it has been so popular that she has done another.  The premise is that the quilts can be made entirely from 5" and 10" precut squares, such as the Moda layer cakes.  Sometimes yardage of the background fabric is also needed, as well as binding and backing.

Each of the twelve designs is done twice, in two sizes, one for 5" squares and one for 10" squares.  This also gives you two colourways of each quilt for inspiration.  The small quilts are about 30" square, and the large ones are over 60" square.  I am just realizing that almost all the quilts ARE square.  I tend to prefer square quilts, so that may be part of the appeal for me.

But there are many things I like about this book.  The designs are simple and graphic, for the most part, and easy enough for a confident beginner.  The rotary cutting and quick-piecing instructions are excellent, and the quilts will go together quickly.  Special care is taken with ironing the seam allowances so that everything fits together perfectly.

The quilt I am making for Edward (I just have the last border left now) is based on the McGuffey pattern from this book:

I did not use precut squares for Edward's quilt, and the great thing about this book is that you don't have to.  You can certainly use yardage or fabric from your stash instead.  They are great patterns for scraps.

I am giving serious thought to making this quilt as well:

These are like half snowball blocks.  The quick piecing instructions for this quilt are very clever, so I am keen to try it.  I can see kind of a leaf pattern in there, and I think if I play it up with green fabrics and leafy quilting, it would make a great summer quilt for our living room.

So, I highly recommend this book!  5 out of 5 stars.