Celebrate Freedom!

Most people just refer to Independence Day as "the 4th". The 4th? Why don't we use the real name of the celebration? Think about this: What about "the 11th"? Who calls 9/11, "the 11th" (actually National Day of Service)? Any, what about 10/11? What about 11/11? If you know what those dates are, you probably refer to the holiday, rather than saying "the 11th". Just to jog your memory, Oct. 11 is Columbus Day, and Nov. 11 is Veterans' Day.

Why don't we do that with Independence Day? It is the MOST important federal holiday in our country's history. Without declaring our independence from Great Britain, we would still be a colony of theirs, and subject to the imposition of laws and regulations that we would have little or no control over. So let's join the Independence Day celebration - the celebration of our freedom, our way of life, and our sovereignty! Independence Day is a joyful time of parades, fireworks, and cookouts AND a time to rejoice and praise God for the courage of our forefathers to stand up for Freedom! Let's call the holiday what it is: our nation's Independence Day.

Note: If you have an American Flag, please fly it proudly and with great respect, this week. You may not be aware that there are protocols of respect for the flag, so here is a link to the specifics: Rules for handling the American Flag.

God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

News from the Studio

 

APQS Lenni Price Reduced!

As you know, I am eager to order my new APQS Millie longarm, so I have reduced the price on my 2013 APQS Lenni to $7500! If you are considering a high quality, easy to use longarm, simple to maintain, highly reliable machine, contact me to schedule a test drive. All of my contact information is at  the bottom of the flyer. Do you know Wayne Waldroup? He is our guru of sewing / quilting / serging / and industrial versions of those machines. APQS is #1 on his very short list of great longarms because, as he said to me, "they just never break down".

 

SABRINA'S GARDEN  Got 2nd Place!

My quilt, Sabrina's Garden took 2nd place in it's category in June's Smoky Mountain Quilters show in Knoxville. I was very surprised!

AHQ 2016-2017 Block of the Month

Didn't Barb do a wonderful job on her guild BOM! She add the embroidered "L" in the center after the quilt was quilted. I love the colors and the festive binding. It was quilted with a free-motion spiral, and the center block was custom quilted.

Words of Life

Although this quilt is not yet quilted, I wanted to show it to you. It is a gift for my dear friend Dorothy, whom many of you have met. It dawned on me a few weeks ago, that in all these years I had never made a quilt for her. I used one of the Moda Cake Mix Recipe packs (from which I got enough blocks to make a second lap quilt), and used a batik layer cake and a layer cake of cream background batik. (See below for some tips on working with batiks)

It doesn't seem to be worthy of the "Words of Life" name, but it is. Dorothy's favorite quilt that I put on her bed when she visits has words quilted into it. A digital pantograph was used by my quilter (pre-longarm days) called "Hope". It stitches out words like: hope, love, family, courage, perseverance, etc. Determined to find the digital file of it, I finally asked the quilter where she got the file. So, she sent me the file in just the right format! AND, my longarm dealer also went looking for it and found it online on a site with free digital pantos! So I'm ready to quilt! As soon as I find just the right thread, I will take to the dealer's studio and quilt it on one of her computerized machines. Can hardly wait!

Tips and Techniques

 

Working with batiks

Batiks, Etc. - Wytheville, VA (a small part of their stock)

Many people are afraid to use either batik yardage or pre-cuts. I don't really understand why. If I am not working on a project that must have prints, I will use batik - every time. Why? It doesn't RAVEL the way print fabric does. You just don't risk losing half your seam allowance somewhere just because you pulled on the wrong thread!

However, there is one and only one thing to be aware of with batiks - very important. Most batiks bleed! Count on it. BUT - never fear! That is a non-issue if you just learn how to wash batiks.

Ok, ready? This is how I do it.

First, YARDAGE: Yardage is easy.

• Separate yardage by depth of color. Definitely do darks separately!
• I use the detergent, Synthrapol. It is a special detergent that will release all of the loose, un-bonded dye molecules from the fabric and prevent them from bonding to other fabric! Do NOT use regular detergent. Small bottles of Synthrapol can be found a many quilt shops - but become cost-prohibitive if you use a lot of batiks. I buy it in quarts either from Amazon or Dharma Trading Co. 
• Start filling the washing machine with HOT water. Add 1/4 C of Synthrapol for a full load, or adjust the amount and the water level to fit the amount of fabric you have. 
• After the detergent begins to mix in with the water, add the load of fabric. Use your regular cycle. I usually do 2 rinses. Dry in the dryer on warm or hot.

Now, PRE-CUTS: They are easy too.

• NEVER pre-wash batik pre-cuts smaller than a fat quarter.
• Just make your quilt.
• Done? So, NOW start filling the washing machine with HOT water. Add 1/4 C of Synthrapol for a full load. Adjust amount as needed. Do NOT use regular detergent. Make sure the quilt can be submerged in the water fully. Run your regular cycle. Rinse a couple of times if you want to. 
• Dry as usual.

That's all there is to it. Just be willing to pre-wash batiks in the right detergent. Next time you want to go to Batiks, Etc. in Wytheville, call me!

How Batiks are Made

It is fascinating to see how batiks are made. This is the best documentary on the subject that I've seen. Enjoy.
Modern Batik Production

Enjoy your Independence Day celebrations!
Now, let's go quilt something!

Soar on wings like eagles.

A nesting pair of bald eagles nesting near Johnson City TN

What do you know about eagles? Sad to say, I don't know much. Just that when I see one in flight, I am awestruck. So I snooped in google for information. There were 2 interesting facts I didn't know. First, not only do they hunt for prey with keen vision and great skill, they don't mind a good mugging now and then. Why work, when you can take the spoils of someone else's endeavor? What was really surprising to me, was that eagles love to play. They have been witnessed using various objects, including empty plastic bottles, as toys. One person reported seeing 6 eagles in flight, gleefully passing a stick from one to the other. Cool.

East Tennessee State University is following this darling couple with a live camera feed. They have eggs in the nest that should be hatching soon. When I checked the cam just now, they were eating supper. Check them out at: ETSU Live Eagle Cam.

News from the Studio

Just shoot me!

When it comes to quilting, I am a project buyer. I don't keep a stash. I'm also a one-project-at-a-time kinda girl. At least I thought I was. But, right now there must be 10 or 12 (or more) projects in some state of construction (or hoping to be constructed) sitting around the studio in their plastic project boxes gathering dust.

So, I swore off buying any more fabric until I finish a few of them. But a recent 45% off sale from Craftsy sucked me in.  Check out this gorgeous line from Robert Kaufman. I saw it and my mouth started watering - really! So quick - I designed a super simple twin size Hunter's Star, and ordered 2 layer cakes (and a jelly roll which will be used to decorate the studio for now). Of course, I didn't discover that I only need 1 layer cake for my quilt until I had already drooled on both of them.

On the Frame

I'm about half finished with an edge to edge free motion on T.'s What Knots quilt. Isn't it beautiful! She does nice work. The quilting is a simple leafy meander that the DH calls "poison ivy pattern." Not funny.


 

Off the Frame

I came to a stopping place on J's lovely Rippling Star quilt. so I took it off the frame for a few days to work in a couple of quick quilts. Doesn't it remind you of a happy french garden?

Tips and Techniques

Are you "scrappy-challenged" like I am? Do you always agonize about what would look great with what, and change your mind a million times per block? Well I have a solution. But first you have to GIVE UP CONTROL and embrace the notion of "random."

• First, USE A PRE-CUT! It contains all of the fabrics from the same line, and they all already go together!
• Next, put the pieces you need to join into  separate containers, and jumble them up. 
• Then, squeeze your eyes shut, refuse to look into the boxes, and pull out one piece from each box. No, no! Do not make a decision about whether they look good together. They DO. They were designed to go together!
• I do, indeed, give you permission to put a piece back if it EXACTLY matches the other one. 

Try this technique - come on now, be brave. Your quilt will be nice and scrappy, look beautiful, and you will have saved yourself a lot of heartache.

Learning for the Week

Doing taxes makes my head hurt.

Enjoy your weekend, and for Pete's sake, go quilt something!

Surprise! Surprise!

I usually don't like surprises. I'm afraid I won't like what I'm surprised with, or that it won't be exactly what I would have bought for myself. The same is true with me and fabric. To get that guarantee that all the fabrics in a quilt go together, I've been using pre-cuts and yardage from the same line. It's a safe way to get a well-balanced look in a quilt. But I love to use batiks. Since most batiks bleed, I must be able to pre-wash them, which is impossible with pre-cuts. So, I use a limited number of batik fabrics in a project, and agonize over selecting ones that coordinate with each other. Thankfully, there is a little collection of color cards that are a big help to me. If you are color-challenged, check out the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool by Joen Wolfrom. It is a big help at the quilt store, and I'm usually pleased with the results.

Lately, I've been wanting to make one of Jenny Doan's easy, scrappy quilts with batiks, but have been thwarted by the idea of finding a myriad of fabrics to work with. Lucky me! Batiks Etc has been having a Fat Quarter Frenzy (20 fat quarters for $30). So, I just sucked it up and ordered a bundle online! Scary, for sure, trusting a total stranger to pick 20 fabrics for me, but I could get 20 fabrics and not have to select a single one. I told them that I like cool colors, and which colors I like the best and just waited to see what I would get. Well, today the happy collection showed up in my mailbox and I am very pleased with them! Whoever had the job of picking out the fat quarters did a wonderful job!

Seems like a lot of us quilters want to be in control of our fabric choices - at least most of the time. My hunch is that many of us need to be in control of other things in our lives, as well. Maybe it's time for us to learn to relax a little, and trust someone else to make a fabric choice for us. We might be pleasantly surprised.

Have a great week! Now, let's go quilt something.