Lemon Tree Tales

Paperless Piecing Class with Cristy Fincher

On Tuesday I took a Paperless Piecing class with Cristy Fincher that was hosted by my quilt guild, SCVQA in San Jose. Cristy Fincher of Purple Daisies Quilting is the daughter of award-winning quilter, Sharon Schamber. The two of them developed this fantastic alternative to foundation paper piecing. No more dealing with little bits of paper that you have to tweeze out of the seams. And lots of super pointy points. It all comes down to glue-basting and old fashioned pressing.

We spent all day learning the technique while working on a 12" block from Cristy's very modern quilt pattern, Folded. Of course I grabbed some of my favorite colors from the stash to make my block. It still needs to be starched, pressed and trimmed but it's nice to see the super point of that long triangle piece.

 

Cristy showed us a new-to-me app called PicFrame. Using my iPhone I took a square picture of the quilt block cropped to take off the seam allowance. Then it's collaged into a four-patch so that we can see what the final quilt will look like.

(My phone takes better pictures than the camera does at night.)

 

 

Of course the beauty of PicFrame is that you can rotate the block and play around with the number of squares. Here's what it'd look like if I changed the direction of those points. And then here's the quilt with 16 blocks. Not sure that I'd do that but it's nice to find a quick and easy app to help decide how to place a quilt.

 

I had to finish a client's baby quilt Tuesday night and yesterday, but today I spent some time cutting out the pieces for the next three blocks. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to sew them and get the top done. I'll probably add a border to it. Cristy developed a beautiful one that looks like it'll be fun to sew.

 

A few of us took Cristy out to dinner on Monday night. We had interesting conversations and got to know her a little better. She's very sweet and is in her element as a teacher. If there's more than one way to do something she'll show them to you and let you decide what you want to do. And we all got done, or were pretty darn close to finishing that one block and learning the technique. That's a skill that not every teacher has. Now I'm wondering how I can transform more quilt patterns into these paperless piecing blocks. Thank you for a wonderful class Cristy!

Pismo Beach Walks

Steve and I, plus the doggies, took a quick trip to Pismo Beach. We love walking along the beach during the off season. It's less crowded and the weather is still nice. This was Frankie's first trip in the RV as well as going to the ocean. He did very well but has a ways to go in walking on a leash. We tried walking all three of the dogs, Fearghus, Fiona and Frankie, but that was a handful. The next time we walked with just Fearghus and Fiona. Of course I didn't get many pictures because my hands were full. It was beautiful as always. Lovely blue skies. There's nothing like the ocean air to recharge your batteries.

I only managed to snap this one picture of Fearghus before realizing that it was not going to be a good picture taking trip. Instead we decided to just relax and enjoy ourselves. We can't wait to take another mini break there. Maybe next time I'll get a few pictures of Frankie and the water.

Glam Clam Quilt has left the building

Last week I finished the hand sewing on the binding for my Glam Clam quilt that I began in Latifah Saafir's workshop this past summer. (The pattern can be found for free on craftsy here.) I couldn't resist adding that hot pink accent under the teal/gold print. It helps to balance the lines of pink in the quilt. The quilting pattern is called Bubbles Everywhere and I quilted it with my APQS Freddie longarm quilting machine in between working on client quilts and charity quilts.

Since this quilt is also entered in the quilt show this weekend I had to sew on a hanging sleeve. This hanging sleeve tutorial by Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River is fantastic. But I'm not sure where it'll hang when it returns home. I'm thinking that my hallway of mini quilts need to be rearranged.

If you're in the Santa Clara, CA area this weekend, pop on by the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association quilt show. They're celebrating their 40th anniversary and should be lots of fun. The next one won't be for another two years. There's also going to be a special exhibit of modern quilts from the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild (BAM). Tickets are $12 at the door.

Nine Years Later a Quilt is Born

Yes, it only took me a total of nine years to complete the Stack A New Deck quilt that I started back in March of 2006. Yikes! After it was pieced I began hand-quilting it but didn't like the look. So it went into a little box and wasn't heard from again. When I needed a practice quilt to take with me to the Gammill longarm quilting rental center in Fort Collins, CO I found it again. Of course at that point I realized that my borders were out of control and wonky. Turns out that short-cutting the border attachment results in lots of waves. There's no way that would have quilted out in a nice way. So I ripped out the stitches, re-measured, PINNED and then sewed the borders back on. What a difference! This time they were flat and I was able to load the quilt top on the longarm with no problems back in January 2014.

This was the first time that I had tried using a computerized longarm quilting pattern. I chose Natalia Majors' Simple Waterdrops. It was a lot of fun but I never seemed to make the time to sew on the binding. Yes, once again this poor little wall-hanging went into a box until recently.

One of the guilds I belong to is having their SCVQA biannual quilt show at the Santa Clara Convention Center on March 14th and 15th. This marks their 40th anniversary so I really wanted to enter something. Out came that box of UFOs and finally this quilt got a binding attached.

This wasn't just any old binding, but the faux piping binding that I found on 52 Quilts blog called Susie's Magic Binding. Wow! What a fun technique that is to use. I'll definitely be adding this to my bag of tricks. It's perfect for baby quilts but I think that in the future I'll keep with the traditional hand-sewn binding for wall-hangings.

It's a fun way to add more contrast to your binding. I may experiment with different widths the next time I try this technique. Now I keep showing you the quilt horizontally (and that is how I want to hang it up at home) but for the show I'm sewing on a hanging sleeve so that it goes vertically. If you're in the south bay area of northern California on the weekend of March 14 and 15, then swing on by the Santa Clara Convention Center and see the show. Tickets are $12 at the door.

Amish: The Modern Muse exhibit Part II

The second part of the exhibit, Amish: The Modern Muse, is finally up at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. I volunteered to assist several of the local modern quilt guild members with the hanging of the quilts a week ago. It's a wonderful experience to do that and see the exhibit before it was opened to the public. Then last Sunday Steve said that we should jump in the car and drive over to see it without all the ladders and work carts in the way. Just a word of warning that parking is only available on the street. We had to park a few blocks away because of another event nearby. So plan accordingly.

Here are some of the striking quilts on display. As always, pictures just don't do justice to the beauty of fabric in person.

 

Squared Repeat by Terri Carpenter

I like the offset design and all the thick/think quilted lines.

 

Triple X by Terri Carpenter

Just look at the little red embroidered stitches that give such great texture to the bright blue sections. It's a nice accent of handwork to accompany the machine stitching.

 

Mistakes Were Made by Stacey Sharman

The artist used vintage denims and other fabrics in a very traditional double wedding ring pattern that is timeless.

 

Churned by Linda Sinclair

Sometimes all you need is one oversized and offset block to make a strong impact.

 

Diamond and Jewels by Tina Michalik

Those greens are some of my favorite colors. Don't they look vibrant against that sea of black?

 

Songs of a Distant Lancaster by Tami Levin (yes, here's my quilt .. yay!)

This is a picture of the back just as I finished the last stitching on the binding and label. One of these days I'll have to rig up a system for photographing quilts. This is the first time that I tried a wide 1" binding with traditional mitered corners. It really finishes off the quilt. I'll probably try that technique out again on a future quilt.

A quick snap from installation day .. the blue ladder is off to the right. The perspective is exaggerated but I wanted to show you how nicely my quilt hangs with these other two. It's almost like we got together and planned it.

Steve took a quick snap of me standing next to the quilt. It was very exciting to see my work displayed at the museum. It's inspired me to try again and design more quilts. Maybe I can have one to enter in our local quilt show. If you have time please go to the museum and take a look at the quilts. The antique Amish quilts on display in the larger gallery are treasures and shouldn't be missed. The show runs until March 1, 2015.

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Amish: The Modern Muse exhibit Part I

Amish: The Modern Muse exhibit Part I

Before the new year I went with my friend Rachel to see the first installation of the exhibit "Amish: The Modern Muse" being shown in the small gallery at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. In the larger gallery they had antique Amish quilts from the Darwin D. Bearley collection. Unfortunately I can't share the photos of the antique quilts because the museum asked that you only use them for personal use. They will be on display until March 1, 2015.

The other exhibit are quilts that three local modern quilt guilds made that are inspired by Amish quilts. My quilt will be in the second installation that hopefully will be hung soon. There's been a water main break in the street and the city won't allow visitors until their water (and bathroom) are restored. I'll post pics as soon as it's up. In the meantime here's a few of the modern quilts that I thought you'd enjoy. 

 

House Top Quilt by Tara Faughnan

Don't you love the bright colors? It's such a cheerful quilt and looks like it's quilted with stitch-in-the-ditch.

 

Zyklen by Vanessa de Fabrega, quilted by Angie Woolman

 

Feeling Blue by Linda Hlday

Linda used her own hand-dyed fabrics and hand quilted it. The colors were all very soothing in person.

 

X by Stacey Sharman

It was very hard to photograph this quilt because of all the subtle blacks and grey fabrics. It's quite striking in person and I really enjoyed it.

Goodbye 2014 .. Hello 2015!

With each passing year I'm constantly surprised when that year comes to an end. It seems like they're beginning to pass us by quicker and quicker. 2014 was full of changes for our little family. At the beginning we were still experiencing the winter cold of Wyoming.

In February we made a trip back to LA to attend my grandparents' birthday party. My grandpa turned 90 and my grandma turned 85 just a few days later. They're still very active and drive their RV between Simi Valley and the Thousand Trails RV park near Palmdale. They even make the four hour drive in their little pickup to spend mini vacations in Laughlin. Wow, way to go. This next year they'll celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.

In May we decided that as much as we were enjoying life on the prairie that California's siren call was beckoning us back home. By June we had moved back to our home in the bay area, sad to say goodbye to new friends in WY but happy to be near old friends once again.

In June I welcomed Freddie the longarm to the family room and by August I had opened my new longarm quilting business, The Quilted Lemon. So far Freddie and I have been busy quilting charity quilts and some beautiful client quilts. Building up my client list will definitely be the priority for 2015. New patterns are being added to my pattern library.

In October I learned that my quilt was juried into an exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. It's in the second show that will open in another week. Yay! That's my very first time with a quilt in a show and I can't wait to share it with you. First I'll share some of the quilts that were in the first half of the show.

The fall saw quite a bit of RV travel including a trip to visit Frankie when he was still only 8 weeks old. Of course we were more than happy to pick him up a couple weeks later. I'm afraid that it's been mostly all puppy all the time here at the Levin house while we work on housebreaking and basic training. But the fall also was family time with a quick visit from my dad in September, and one by my mom in October and another trip to LA to see my in-laws. Finally in December we had a visit from our niece before and after she went on her birthright trip to Israel. That was a nice time and she liked playing with Frankie. So now we're a family of five ... Steve and I and three cairn terriers - Fearghus, Fiona and Frankie. (We call them the F-troop.) We're all looking forward to a wonderful 2015. Happy New Years!!!

Introducing Frankie

Two weekends ago we drove up to Washington state to visit Fiona's breeder because she had two little puppies to show us. The male was gorgeous but had an overbite so he was available for adoption. Since he was only 8 weeks old at the time we had to wait until this past weekend to go and bring him home. Let me introduce you to Frankie, our newest cairn terrier addition to the Levin house.

He's ten weeks old and will most likely be a beautiful red boy. He's Fiona's nephew, the son of Fiona's brother as well as being a distant cousin of Fearghus. They all are descended from General Patton, who was the grandsire of Fearghus and Fiona and Frankie's great-grandsire. They have the sweetest temperment which is why we really wanted to stick with this line of dogs. And obviously we don't care about the little things that make them companion dogs as opposed to show dogs.

 

He's so little compared to the other two. During the day we're having supervised backyard time. Fiona is curious about him and Fearghus doesn't seem too impressed yet but will tolerate Frankie to a certain degree. It's all very new so everyone is a bit out of sorts as we adjust to a new schedule and new family member. Right now Frankie only sleeps four hours at a time before he needs potty time. I had forgotten this part but luckily he goes right back to sleep in his crate after peeing. It won't be too long before he's big enough to sleep all night long.

 

He was playing with his image in the mirror and then looking backward at me. Funny little guy.

 

 

This is a video of Frankie and his sister Ellie playing together when they were only 8 weeks old. Ellie is a bit darker and a bit smaller but she's more aggressive and loved biting Frankie's ear. 

As you may imagine we're already in love with Frankie and look forward to watching him grow and blend in with the other two.

Happy Thanksgiving

I’m so grateful for the blessings in my life: my love, my family, my dogs, and all the friends that I’ve made over the years. Hope you take a moment to reflect on all the little things in life that make it worth living. Here’s wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

Quilted Pillow from Heidi

Back in August I joined the South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild (SBAMQG) and immediately signed up for their house goods swap. I figured that it’d be a nice way to begin getting to know the members. As you may recall I made the mini low volume quilt for my swap partner. She wasn’t at the meeting that night so I’m not sure if she liked it or not. I don’t believe she’s been to last month’s meeting to find out. In the meantime I have yet to share with you what I received from my swap partner Heidi. She made me this wonderful pillow. It’s the perfect color to complement the navy sofa and recliners in our living room. I’m starting to get a cool collection of pillows to add pops of color. Of course I don’t like to have them out all the time because I hate how the dogs like to paw things. We let them have old blankets instead and save the pillows for when company comes over. ;-)

The best thing is that the back side of the pillow is pieced as well so if I ever want a change of scenery I can flip it over. Thank you Heidi!

 

As you can tell by the picture, both Heidi and I were very happy about our swap. Funny thing is that I carpooled with Heidi and her friend that evening so she was being a bit cagey about her swap item bag. Ha ha. I'm so glad that it was for me because it's a beaut!