Teacher Appreciation Training

As a 'Thank You' for all that teachers do throughout the year, I'm going to be offering a couple of longarm training sessions specifically for teachers during the month of June.  The training is free as long as your first longarm rental session is completed by August 31, 2013.  It's a great way get those UFOs completed over the summer, as well as to make room for next year's projects!  

Training sessions will be held June 3, 17, 24 from 10am-2pm.  Space is limited, so sign up today!
 
Click here to book your training and rental sessions. 

Just like Rock 'n' Roll

First, let me say, QuiltCon was AWESOME! I was able to attend a day and a half of lectures as well as another day roaming the show and shopping floor. I had only planned to do one day of lectures, but couldn’t help myself, and went back for half of Sunday. I would have stayed longer, but had the little one in tow and she needed a nap! But we did manage to stay long enough for her to receive her very first collection for her fabric stash from Mary Fons herself after her lecture! Baby girl has been fondling it non-stop ever since.

One of my favorite lectures was from Jacquie Gering (checkout the lecture for free on Craftsy). I was particularly excited to hear her lecture because I had just done a Block Party with my quilting bee and had chosen to do a version of one of her designs, Shattered Quilt, from her book Quilting Modern. I chose this design because I wanted to use up some of the scraps of fabrics I had bought while in Japan during the 2011 earthquake. I bought the fabrics just six days before the earthquake. When I saw Jacquie's design months later, the fabrics seemed destined to be used for it.

Trial layout for Block Party blocks

Jacquie's lecture did not disappoint! She spoke of her life, family, and inspiration for her quilts.  She also gets the award for best take-away from the festival, ‘Quilt what you love, love what you quilt’.

 

As with any new genre, Modern Quilting comes with it’s own controversy. I like to think of it in comparison to the emergence of Rock 'n' Roll. Some folks didn’t like it nor did they ‘get it’, but Rock 'n' Roll came and stayed. And I truly hope and believe Modern Quilting will follow suit. I listen to Rock 'n' Roll.  I also listen to Bach and Chopin. There is plenty of room for all kinds of music as well as all kinds of quilts. So like Jaquie said, just, ‘Quilt what you love, love what you quilt’. 

Here are a couple of the more interesting comments I heard throughout the weekend:

“She looks like she’s in her late 20s with young children so must have no time to quilt, which is why her quilts are so simple.” 

Though I’m not in my late 20s, I can confirm that this is not a reason modern quilts look like this! We like them to look like that. REALLY.

“Those look like the quilts my great-grandmother made.”

A friend of mine was actually the one to make this comment. She does not define herself as a quilter, but has dabbled in quilting. And I loved her comment. She explained that her great-grandmother was making utilitarian quilts, which is a hallmark of the modern quilting movement.

And one final comment:

“Oh look, Denyse Schmidt’s quilts are machine bound!”

Yes! They were. Great quilts do not have to be hand bound. Though I admit I actually do enjoy hand binding, I have recently gotten into machine binding, especially using the decorative stitches on my machine.  I also just purchased a binding foot that I can’t wait to try out.   

What a great week it was! I can't wait for the next QuiltCon in 2015 and am looking forward to all that is in store for the Modern Quilting movement. Now on to quilting my next quilt so I can break in that binding foot!

QuiltCon Linky Party

With QuiltCon quickly approaching, the Modern Quilt Guild thought it would be fun to do a linky party. I've never done one before so I'm super excited to participate in this one.

Besides the excitement of having a couple quilts in the show (all group quilts), I'm looking forward to taking my daughter on her first international quilt show experience. Even at 7 1/2 months old she is fascinated by fabric and sewing machines! She will be joining me on opening day for shopping and quilt gazing and then will be spending time with daddy on Saturday while I do the lecture circuit.

Five things you may not know about me (in no particular order)

(1) I love to travel. I've been to 45 of the 50 states, have traveled to 20 different countries, and lived on three different continents. I have never been south of the equator.
(2) One of my group quilts that will be in the QuiltCon show was recently censored while hanging in another show. My letter was the one they covered up. :(
(3) Despite losing one of my ovaries to cancer 20 years ago, I gave birth to a daughter in June of last year. She is the love of my life.
(4) This isn't my real hair color
(5) I love movies and am particularly glad to be a resident of Austin, home to Baby Day at the Alamo Drafthouse, where you can bring your baby, drink beer, and watch a movie all at the same time!

Fearless Machine Binding - a Tutorial

I have to admit, I actually love to do hand finishing for my bindings.  I know, it's crazy.  But it's a rare occasion, especially these days with a five month old, that I get to sit down and just focus on one thing, so I like that hand binding forces me into it.

But also because I have a five month old, I've found that I need to adjust my sewing project plans to things that I can work on in shorter time periods.  And I found that hand binding just doesn't fall under that criteria. So I tried a couple different machine binding techniques (zig-zag, blanket stitch, etc.) before I settled on this technique as my standard for machine binding.

I won't go over the steps prior to machine finishing the binding, other than to say I use a 2.5" binding width.  There are some great tutorials out there if you'd like more details about how to attach the binding, my favorite being Sharon Schamber's tutorial.

So let's get started!

Once your binding is attached to the quilt, it should look like this:

(1) The first step is to press your binding to the outside of your quilt as below:

(2) Next we are going to sew a basting stitch just outside the binding edge on the front of the quilt.  To do this, I change my sewing machine settings to the highest stitch length (5.0) and adjust the needle position to the far left-hand side, as shown below. On my machine, the far left needle position is a scant quarter inch from the center needle position.

(3) Once the adjustments are made to your machine, load your quilt face up onto your sewing machine.  Line the binding seam up with the center of your presser foot and stitch a basting stitch to the left of your binding. 

Below is what the front of your quilt will look like once the basting stitch has been sewn:

(4) Next, turn over your quilt.  Below is what the back of your quilt will look like at this point, the basting stitch on top and the binding seam on the bottom:

 
(5) OK, what I'm about to say will shock you, unless, of course, you've already watched the Sharon Shamber binding tutorial!  Get out your glue....washable Elmer's glue, that is.  Don't be afraid. This will, as the name indicates, wash away in the laundry. 

(6)  Place small dots of the glue along the length of the binding seam line as shown below:

(7) Fold over your binding and line it up to the basting stitch, as shown below:

(8) With an iron, press your binding in place.  This will set the glue in place and keep your binding secure until you can machine finish it.  P.S., do not use steam.  Continue to glue and iron set the binding all the way around the quilt.

(9) Now, let's head back to the sewing machine.  First, make sure you place your machine back to the original settings.  For me this was a 2.40 stitch length and a center needle position.

(10) Place the quilt face up onto the sewing machine.  Center the presser foot with the seam of the binding.  Your basting stitch should be to the left of your needle.  Stitch in the ditch around the entire quilt. 

(11) Below is what the topside of your quilt binding will look like at this point, the basting stitch on top, the finishing stitch on the bottom:

(12) Now, remove the basting stitch as shown below:

(13) At this point you will have stitch marks in your quilt from the basting stitch.  I spray with water and steam them out. 

This is what it will look like before steaming out:

This is what it will look like after steaming out:

(14) That's it!  The last step is to checkout the backside of the quilt and admire how evenly you were able to get the spacing from the finishing stitch to the edge of the binding.

On a side note, I've also done this technique where I've not used thread when sewing the basting stitch line...you will be able to see and use the marks from the needle as your guide when lining up the binding on the backside of the quilt.

Thank You, Cancer

Twenty years ago today I was on the way to my high school's homecoming game for the first (and what would be the only) time since graduating. That day, two months into my freshmen year in college, just one month past my 18th birthday, is a day I will not likely forget. Not for the excitement of the game nor the reunion with friends, but because of an unscheduled meeting I had just come from with a man I'd met only once before in my life, on the day that I was born. That man, who wore a bow tie to work every day and, if still alive would be well over 100 years old, had just told me that I almost certainly had cancer. A malignant tumor growing on my right ovary. I didn't hear anything he said after the word 'malignant', just the swishing of the automatic sliding doors in the hospital lobby, where he told us to meet him that night. The woman sitting across from us was knitting. I wondered what brought her there that night. Or if she had any idea what she had just witnessed. Until that day I had never known anyone who had survived cancer.