Fabric Play written by Deanne Moore is the perfect book for a beginning quilt-maker.
In her book, Deanne gives you a mock-up drawing of the entire quilt for you to play with different fabrics in creating your own quilt.
She also gives suggestions for using different fabrics with each quilt.
Many thanks to Martingale Press and their photographer for providing the eBooks for these reviews. You can find more information on this book here.
Since I haven’t had any quilts to work on lately, I’ve been busy with other fabric-related things… My Mother-in-Law passed away in October, and we have been very busy clearing out her house. My husband doesn’t “get” my knack for feeling sorry for left-outs, which includes inanimate objects. This was one such object. I didn’t think to take a “before” picture, so in this photo, I put the old fabric on it and took a picture.
After I stripped it of the fabric, I was surprised to find caning in the back of the chair. It was obvious to me that the wood used for the back of the chair was Quarter-Sawn (or Tiger Eye) Oak, which was popular back in the Victorian Era. When I took the fabric off, I also noticed a sticker that reads “Murphy Chair Company – Detroit, Michigan.” I googled it and found that it was a company in Detroit around 1900. Woah! Anyhow, after looking at several chairs like this, I imagine it had a needlepoint seat covering. I was giving this to our daughter, though, and I already had fabric to go with her decorating taste, so I used that.
We also inherited 3 rocking chairs. One of them was covered with orange fabric, which is great for Autumn when we inherited it, but didn’t go with any body’s home decor.
I have always wanted to reupholster a chair, so I got the opportunity to do just that with this chair. Here’s what it looks like now. I don’t normally like to paint over wood unless it is butt ugly. This wood did nothing for the chair, so I painted it black and then distressed it to expose parts of the wood.
Keeping the tradition of showing the back of a quilt, here is the back of the chair.
This, too, is going to my daughter’s house. We already had 1 rocking chair inside and 2 on the porch, so now with the other 2 rocking chairs that we inherited, we have 5 rocking chairs. We do not need this to make it 6.
I found that I really liked re-covering these chairs and can imagine them with lots of colorful fabrics and even covered with patchwork blocks – I can see myself reupholstering more chairs in my future.
I have a list of goals for 2014, but I find that my ADD interferes a lot and my mind is constantly dreaming up something new that needs to get done right now! That’s how this next project happened. I knew I was going to get a customer quilt on Friday, so I cleaned my studio on Tuesday when our guild meeting was cancelled. Cleaning my studio led to me taking everything off my wooden counter for a good wipe-down. When I originally built this counter, I had planned on covering it with laminate or staining the wood or doing something to cover the wood. Cleaning it reminded me that I’d never gotten around to “finishing” that project. You can see a “before” picture in a post I wrote here. I pulled some fabric out of my stash (a bolt that had never been opened!) that looked like rocks. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the bolt of fabric and laid it out on the counter top. I smiled and thought this was kismet. Rays of light shown down from the heavens and the angels sang… and my smile “sang” too!
Doesn’t it look like granite? I Mod-Podged it down and cut off the excess fabric with an Exacto knife. This shot was taken while it was fresh on the counter top and still wet, so that’s why you see streaks or cloudiness in areas. The Mod Podge dries clear. Here’s a close-up.
I have more projects in the works telling me I need to add them to my never-ending list swimming around in my head, but first I need to work on that customer quilt. I am so looking forward to being back at my quilting machine!
Back in June I posted about a quilt I had quilted for a friend… Trisch. Well, on her blog, she offers some quick tips on Tuesdays. I would like to share one with you today that I think is well worth the visit to her page. If you’ve ever had trouble getting perfect circles for needle-turn applique and other hand-work, you’ve gotta check out how she does her circles on this Quick tip Tuesday page of hers. You won’t regret it!
So, imagine this chair in your quilting studio and all the threads that it would collect.
I got this chair as a Christmas present last year. It was one of the best gifts I received. I love it to this day. For whatever reason, it makes me feel important, like I am an artist. However, the fabric seems to catch all my lose threads. I’m okay with that, and it really doesn’t bother me, but I’ve had this French Country damask fabric that has been patiently waiting to be glorified in something. Originally I was going to make a purse from it, and I might still do that. But, I really do love it as a decorating fabric, so I chose to add a feminine touch to my studio by covering this chair with it. And, here is what it looks like now.
This is just a slip cover over the seat and back. Here’s one of the back. Can you see the fabric tie with the black’s sister fabric that matches the front of the seat back and the seat ruffle?
And, here’s a better look at the black fabric on the seat.
New decorations make me feel like I have a new studio. I love that feeling!
P.S. The fabric is Olde World Style by Monique Dillard for Maywood Studio
This has been a particularly rough week. I’ve been working my tail off this week, doing volunteer stuff for 2 quilting guilds. By Friday night, I was nearly in tears. I was so dog gone tired and my body hurt all over. So, in spite of how busy I know I am right now, I decided to take a break.
I used to live in a small town in Indiana. I loved living in the small town, away from the hustle and bustle and rat race of busy city life. We moved to the Kansas City area 3 years ago to be near family, and we moved into a house that is far enough out from the city for me to be okay and close enough in to the city for my husband to be okay. So… my way of taking a break yesterday was to get far enough away from the city to feel like I am in another world.
Have you ever been to Quilting on the Square in Holton, Kansas? I have been meaning to get there, but never had. Yesterday I got there. Quilting on the Square is a quilt store that is located on the corner of Holton’s town square. Holton is a charming little town that is like being in fairy tale world of days gone past. It’s close enough to Topeka, but it is far enough out to have that small town feel.
Mark and Mary Pfeiler, Quilting on the Square’s owners, took me on a tour of their newly extended store. They also showed off their new room for their longarm quilting machine and business – I was envious! For whatever reason, I was transported into another world as I gazed open-mouth like a child in a candy store at their fabrics, etc. They have it all arranged so colorfully well, that you feel like you are having an out of body experience as you put bolt of bolt of fabric on the counter to be cut and taken home. There were so many fabrics that I love. I don’t know what happened, but I left there with more fabric than I think I’ve bought in the last year. But, you know what? As I drove home, I was at peace. I was at peace with what I’d spent, and I was at peace with the shared experience with Mary, Mark, and their assistants. If you haven’t been there, you need to go!!! I warn you, though, to take your SUV, van or truck, your debit card and credit card and all the cash you can stash. You’ll be glad you did.
Check out this blog on another way to store fabric. I thought this was pretty cool!
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2012/01/tool-time-tuesdayfile-your-fabric.html
A recent study indicated that fabric gives off certain Pheromones that actually hypnotize women and cause them to purchase unreasonable amounts. When stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the Pheromones (in the fabric) causes memory loss and induces the nesting syndrome (similar to the one squirrels have before the onset of winter i.e., storing food). Therefore perpetuating their species and not having a population loss due to their kind being cut into pieces and mixed with others.
Sound tests have also revealed that these fabrics emit a very high pitched sound, heard only by a select few, a breed of women know as “quilters.” When played backwards on an LP, the sounds are heard as chants, “buy me, cut me and sew me.” In order to overcome the so called “feeding frenzy effect” that these fabrics cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility and use ear plugs to avoid being pulled into their grip. One must laugh, however, at the sight of customers in a quilt fabric store, with WWII army gas masks and headphones!
Studies have also indicated that aliens have inhabited the earth, helping to spread the effects that these fabrics have on the human population. They are called QUILT FABRIC STORE CLERKS. It’s also been experienced that these same Pheromones cause a pathological need to hide these fabric purchases when taken home (or at least blend them into the existing stash), and when asked by significant other if the fabric is new, the reply is “I’ve had it for awhile.”
~ Kathy Smith Harris, 1997
Happy Sunday morning! We so needed the rain today, a good atmosphere for quilting! After all the eye surgeries, and working like a cyclops, I am finally finished with my latest quilt. I was one of 615 participants in the SOTTT (Sisterhood of the Traveling Triangles) exchange. Edyta Sitar was on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims showing quilts that could be made with fabric exchanges. That’s when Debbie posted on the forum that she would like to start a Half Square Triangle exchange. Little did she know the work involved! Anyhow, it grew into 615 participants from around the world. I had a lot of fun putting the quilt from this exchange together and then quilting it. 
So, it’s off to get to the rest of my neglected house and to the quilt guild meeting this week! Have a super week!
Cowtown Quilts 