Saturday, November 25, 2017

Meet Laura Brainard

OMG, I am a Quilter!  My mother and grandmother would be so proud. They both sewed.  My mother made polyester pantsuits (for herself- not Hillary) and my grandmother made hats in New York City to match the dresses purchased by wealthy ladies.  I hated sewing as a child but asked for a sewing machine for my college graduation.  I used it to fix ripped seams once or twice.  



It seems like I started quilting yesterday but I think it was 2 years ago when I was in Alejandrina’s home and saw her stunning modern quilts.  I wanted one, but couldn’t ask for it because my parents taught me better manners.  My only option was to try to make one.  Not only did Alejandrina guide, teach and mentor me through my first quilt but she loaned me one of her machines. It is a wonderful Pfaff Tiptronic 6270. (Is possession 9/10 of the law?)  She took me to my first guild meeting.  What an amazing meeting and group of people. You all inspire me so much.  Sew day came and I thought I would go (since Alejandrina was driving), but I wasn’t really looking forward to it.  Hooked again! I love sew day because everyone encourages you and inspires you with their beautiful quilting.


I couldn’t pick a favorite sewing possession but it would have to be all the beautiful material.  My friend said it best when we were on our way home from the quilt store and she said, “I can’t wait to get home and caress my fabric”.  I now have a lot of fabric and hope I don’t die and make my husband have to figure out what to do with it. 

My first quilt was a square tabletop quilt for my round table.  My next one was one of my favorite quilts, a disappearing 9 patch FSU quilt for my 30 year old son.  It was huge and he loved it. 



My other favorite quilt was a scrappy tree wall hanging for my daughter from the Shannon Brinkley class. I think the reason I liked it so much was my quilting was so much better than before because of the lessons I learned in the Jacquie Gering class.  The classes the guild offers have really been so important to my quilting education.  



I have taken over the whole house with my quilting supplies and work and it gets messy at times.  I shared an office with my husband and now it is my quilting room and his desk. I even moved all his cook books out so I could use the shelves. The guest room has more quilting stuff than guests.




Right now I am working on finishing all my projects.  I have 3 scrap quilts I am working on and they all involve little pieces.



There may need to be Quilters Anonymous group for me because I have become an addict. I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything but quilt. I think a big part of why  I  became a quilter is because of our guild.  I am in awe of the charity work and how everyone just makes it happen. I started quilting right before the guild started working on the pulse quilts and was worried about being able to make one block.  Before I knew it I had made a whole top and sewed it together.  At a sew day, I was encouraged to take a top, batting and back home to quilt.  I wasn’t sure of my skills but jumped in.  It was just the beginning.  The guild gives me the encouragement to go beyond my comfort zone while having fun.  

Thank you so much Laura for sharing a bit more about yourself!

Friday, November 10, 2017

Meet Mary Smart

Meet Mary Smart 

Mary serves on the Board as our current Secretary. You can thank her for the detailed meeting minutes posted on our blog each month. Next time you see her with her iPad out at a meeting you may want to say "Cheese"!

Mary at Blue Springs State Park

Please tell us how long you have been sewing and/or quilting and when you joined the Orlando MQG.

I’ve sewn since junior high, took my portable Singer across the country to college with me, made clothing from time to time including little girl clothes for my daughter, but mostly used it to make curtains or repair things till I joined a quilt guild in a small Montana town in 1995 and went full-bore quilt-nut. I joined OMQG in November 2014

How did you learn to quilt?

When I moved to Montana, I wasn’t working, didn’t know anyone but my husband, and there was a wonderful quilt shop I started to frequent. First I made a Jacket Jazz jacket for my mother (a great introduction to patchwork), and attended a meeting about forming a local quilt guild I’d seen advertised on posters. I’ve been a quiltaholic ever since. There was a ton of experience in that group, and there was a wonderful quilt shop, so everything fell into place -- access to great fabric and books, new friends with years of experience making quilts, and lots of time to sew.  I was self-taught from books - we didn’t even have Sew Days - but I had lots of support and resources.

Feathered Star is the kind of quilting I was doing in 2000 on my domestic machine - machine trapunto, very traditional.


What machine(s) do you drive?

A 12-13 year old Bernina Virtuosa 160 Quilters Edition, a Featherweight and a vintage Kenmore 1030 I use at Sew Days and classes, and an APQS Millenium longarm machine I got in 2003 with stitch regulation but nothing else computerized.

What and/or who inspires you?

Early I was inspired by very traditional quilts I loved and wanted to own, so I was inspired then by Harriet Hargrave, Fons & Porter, Anita Shackelford, Karen McTavish, and every quilt I saw. Now I look for inspiration on Instragram, bookmarking pictures of wonderful quilting daily, and from Angela Walters (in her many books, classes in person and online, her special exhibit at QuiltCon 2017) and other longarm quilters who do amazing work.  Ongoing, I am inspired by all quilt and all quilters – guild Show N Tell, quilt shows, magazines, and books.



What is your most treasured (sewing related) possession?

A wonderful Irises quilt made by my grandmother but left unquilted, which my mother had hand-quilted by a family friend, and then was on my daughter’s bed for years. I didn’t make it, but I love it for the family connection; and I have it but it’s not even mine, it’s really my daughter’s.

Irises - quilt made by my grandmother - is my favorite sewing-related possession.


Do you sew with your shoes on or off?

Shoes off at home, because I only put them on when I go out – but I leave them on at Sew Days and retreats, because I’m so excited to start sewing I don’t think about them!



What is your favorite thing you’ve made to date?

Two Gravity quilts, designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. I wanted to make one when I first saw a picture – a color wheel star of 114 different colors of Kona solids. It was fun to make and lots of fun to quilt, but it’s also a vibrant rainbow of color that makes me smile everyday.  I made the second one for my daughter. Someday maybe I’ll make it again with scraps and prints.

One of my favorites, Swatch, designed by Modern Quilt Studio - I have never had it at Show n Tell (my latest quilt hasn't been either).


What is your next sewing adventure?

I am currently trying to make a quilt without a pattern, something I rarely do because I’m not very good at it. I spent a year buying “retro” prints to make a quilt for my retro husband, and so far I have almost finished putting them together in a 70" circle of wedges cut with a 2-piece ruler. I have a lot of ideas to finish the quilt, but I am not sure how it'll go -- I'm leaving open the possibility of it turning into a big bunch of scraps instead of a quilt. If I get it done, it won't be pretty, but I hope it's fun. I'm making it up as I go - a real challenge for me. And in this one, it's the fabric not the quilting that is the focus.

My sewing space - not quite as cramped as it looks but definitely as full of stuff.

Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

A Quilt of Valor I quilted for a Florida quiltmaker was in a special QOV display in the National Quilt Museum in Paducah for several months a few years ago. The quilts were given to veterans on Veterans Day at the end of the display. It was exciting to know something I worked on was in the museum, but neither the quilt maker nor I got there to see it.

Wildcard question: (Pick a question from the list or make up your own interview question.)  What do I love about quilting?

I love watching the layers of a quilt come together, with the sculptural effect that the quilting stitches add, right under my hands. It takes lot of time to improve your quilting skills to the point where it’s more fun than frustratingly short of what you want to do – but it’s worth the effort – and I say that even though I’m still not where I’d like to be with quilting. It’s the one thing I do that makes time pass without my noticing – my flow experience.

This is a picture of my last quilt quilted.
You can find Mary on Instagram @maryesmart

Wednesday, November 1, 2017



MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Maitland, FL

WELCOME


President Sarah opened the meeting saying it would be a very short business meeting following by our guest lecturer, Jen Lee of Red Thread Studio in Palm City, FL. Everyone who signed up ahead for a kit or wished to have one, including guests, chose a Sashiko kit (choice of fabric color and printed Sashiko design) and color of Sashiko thread to work on during the meeting under Jen’s direction.


Wendy showed the finished Festival of Trees (FOT) quilt, which was bound by Judy S and will be raffled at this year’s FOT at the OrlandoMuseum of Art. Paula announced that she has some tickets to FOT, given to the guild by the Council of 101 in exchange for our donation of the quilt, and asked anyone interested in getting one to ask her at the end of the meeting.

Block of the Month (BOM)



The spool Blocks of the Month were won by Karol. Mary So showed the Block of the Month for November, Flying Geese, in a block designed bySharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts. The tutorial has been posted on the guild blog. Mary asked that the blocks be made in white and gray with colored geese.



Creactive Club

Caroline drew #5 for the next number on your list of UFOs to be finished now.

Community Outreach

Mary W announced that she had 4 kits at the back of the room for anyone willing to take, blocks and fabric to finish into quilts for the Legal Aid Society project of making quilts for young adults aging out of foster care, which are due at the January meeting.

Education Basket

Susan F returned the Education Basket filled with fabric, books, and many other interesting items including the book The Artist’s Way, which she recommended to everyone. The basket was won by Yanick.


Sashiko and Big Stitch Quilting


 Jen Lee

Sashiko – pronounced sash-ko (the “I” is silent) – means small steps

Paula introduced Jen Lee of Red Thread Studio to present a program on Sashiko and Big Stitch Quilting. Jen said she has an interest in quilting, cross stitch, and embroidery and is focused on handwork.


She finds Sashiko to be something she enjoys that she can do while on the go with her children, along with English paper piecing and wool appliqué. She likes the fact that it requires only needle, thread, and fabric, and you can use what you have.


She gave us a short history. Sashiko appeared about 1598 out of necessity, first used by farmers and fisherman to make clothes warm and to make them last, as well as to decorate them, and these stitched items were recycled into other items through a cycle of clothing, which when worn out was made into items to use in the home, such as curtains, other items of décor, and eventually be used as washcloths, diapers, and rags.

 Sashiko Items Available on her Website

She says the details of its history are highly debated, but there are motifs which are, or were, associated with specific areas of Japan and specific families. Traditionally it was done in white thread on navy, because of the availability of the indigo plant for dyeing fabric navy blue. She told about Japanese firemen, who wore vests of Sashiko – they wore the vests as protection, because they fought fires by using their shoulders to knock burning walls over into the burning buildings to burn themselves out, rather than fighting fire with water, and after the fire was out, vests were turned inside out to display decorative stitching to celebrate the success. Over the years it became embellishment.

 Our Sashiko Kits

The elements of Sashiko include the fabric, needles, and thread. The thread is long staple coarse cotton. There is official Japanese Olympus Sashiko thread, such as we have in our kits today, but perle cottons 5, Sue Spargo’s Eleganza 8, 6-strand embroidery floss (either all strands of 2-3 for delicate designs), or silk can be used. She suggests 18-24” as the ideal length and recommended getting enough for a project, because dye lots do vary. Traditional Sashiko is done in white thread, though old projects have sometimes turned blue from the navy fabric.


She gave us a demonstration of thread management (available through this link to her website). You carefully separate the 2 sides of the skein of yarn, hold from the end that is tied with the end of the thread, cut the skein in half at the bottom as you hold it, cut off 1 piece each about 5” long from 2 strands, hold at the top (have someone help) and tie with one 5” piece, braid loosely – tie at the bottom with the other 5” piece. When stitching, slowly and carefully, pull a thread out from the top of the braid, cut that in half for an 18” length.


There are special Sashiko needles. She recommends Tulip needles from Japan, which come in either assorted short or assorted long packages. Needle eyes need to be large enough to accommodate the thread and sharp enough to pull both strands through the fabric. In Sashiko, you hold the needle still and fold the fabric onto it – the longer needles hold more fabric than short and keeps lines straighter when the thread is pulled through. She noted that in Japan, there is a day in February to honor the needle. She said Japanese needles are meant to last and should be stored in pincushions, not sideways through fabric. She recommends the Bohin Super Threader for threading needles, and said the company which made Thread Heaven thread conditioner has gone out of business, so, if you like it, you should buy it while the last of it is still available. You can iron your thread so it won’t twist or knot, and you can use wax, even candle wax, on thread for hand sewing.


Sashiko fabric is made of natural plant fibers, cotton, hemp or linen, but it can be anything loosely woven. Traditional Sashiko fabric is 13” wide in white or navy, because designed to be used making kimonos in panels.

Design Elements: Jen said there are 3 categories of design:
·       Continuous line, which never crosses
·       Gridlike, where lines may cross
·       One most like cross stitch while the others are a running stitch
Big Stitch and Sashiko are said to be best at 4 stitches/inch, but hers are 3/inch.
Most Sashiko is done on preprinted fabric, and that defines the stitch length. The printed designs will disappear if wet and will be set if ironed. When done stitching, agitate in warm water and the design lines disappear. Use a quilter’s knot – a few times around the needle and pulled to the end – or double back 3 stitches and stitch over to lock into place. Traditionally to stitch, begin on the border and try to have knots on the outside edge. Do not use a stabilizer or a hoop (because you’re moving the fabric into the needle so the fabric needs to be free to fold onto the needle).

Then Jen had us each use our kit and stitch the chosen pattern on the coaster-sized fabric. She gave us individual help and general advice while we each were able to try Sashiko with official fabric, needle, and thread. She has these things available on her website at redthreadstudio.com. 

[Any mistakes in this description of Jen Lee’s program on Sashiko and Big Stitch Quilting are the fault of the secretary.]

LUNCH

Members going to lunch together met at Olea Mezze Grille in Maitland.

UPCOMING EVENTS

·       November 2-5, 2017 – Retreat, Wyndham Ocean Walk, Daytona Beach
·       Novvember 6, 2017 – Maitland Sew Day, Maitland Public Library, 10-4
·       November 12, 2017 – Quilts for Pulse Brain Dump, 2-4, Mary W’s home (see roster for address) – to develop a document for other guilds about dealing with a similar project
·       November 18, 2017 – Dr. Phillips Sew Day, Dr. Phillips Public Library, 10-4
·       January 18-20, 2018 - Mancuso World Quilt Florida, Orange County Convention Center
·       January 20, 2018 – Sarah Sharp class, Dr. Phillips Public Library, 10-4
·       February 22-25, 2018 - QuiltCon 2018, Pasadena, CA
·       April 21, 2018 – Jen Carlton Bailey class, Dr. Phillips Public Library, 10-4
·       October 20, 2018 – Melissa Averinos class, Dr. Phillips Public Library, 10-4
 

November Block of the Month




The November Block of the Month is a nice take on Flying Geese designed by Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts, which she titled “Make a Mini Quilt”. This block will also make a great large quilt, maybe something like this:





You will find Sharon’s tutorial by clicking on this linkSharon also has great patterns, ideas and lots of tutorials, so be sure to look around her website while you are there.

For a modern look, let’s do this in gray and white backgrounds with six assorted bright prints of one color. The cutting is easy! To make a 12½” block you will need to cut:

·       From gray background, six rectangles 7” x 2½”
·       From white background, six rectangles 7” x 2½”
·       From each of six assorted prints of one color, one 2½” x 4½” rectangle

Position a white strip and a print strip, right sides together, draw a diagonal stitching line, and sew.



Trim the seam allowance to ¼”. Press seam allowances toward the white.




Now add the gray strip. Draw your stitching line, sew, trim and press seam allowances toward the gray.



Your sewn unit should look like this.



Now make five more, so you have a total of six units.



Now all you need to do is sew the six units together. When you sew, be sure that you are sewing with the “goose” triangle point on top as shown here.



This makes it easier to see what you are sewing, and sew to a nice sharp point.



Block will trim to 12 ½” x 12 ½”, but let’s leave the trimming to the winner of the blocks.




Have fun with this block. Someone is going to have a great quilt! 

- Mary Sorensen