Nacho Grandma's Quilts!!

In case you haven't noticed, Men Quilt Too!!

2011-10-11T12:06:00.000-05:00

Where have I been?? Where are my manners??

I've entered an online all-male exhibition and competition on Pigtales and Quilts.

Check it out!! (and, vote for me . . .)

Mock Celtic Knot Cross . . . (Completed)

2011-05-30T08:15:00.001-05:00

It was not a good week: last Monday evening, I was gonna fuse the pieces of my mock Celtic knot cross to the background. I unpinned the bottom two pieces and shifted them straight down an inch or so, thinking that I could shift the entire cross by degrees as I fused the pieces. What could it hurt??

PLENTY!! (I'm sorry, there are no pictures of the results . . .)

So, Tuesday evening, I went shopping and bought more fabric and fusible web, and started over again. This time, I pressed vertical and horizontal lines in the background fabric to serve as guides to keep the pieces aligned. When I was satisfied with the arrangement, I slid a small, portable ironing pad under the background, and ironed all the pieces in place with no shifting of pieces (I at least learned THAT much).

Saturday morning, I was ready to quilt . . .

I originally planned on quilting around the shapes with a narrow zig-zag, but a quick trial showed how difficult (and unwieldy) that would be. So, I decided to grid-quilt the entire top to at least stitch down the long edges of the pieces in case the fusible web gave way.

I took the quilted (but unbound) piece to church yesterday . . . it was a big hit!! Some people gave me some great marketing ideas, and others requested a workshop on the no-sew technique (which only served to give me MORE ideas)!!

Last night, I made binding from the last of the fabric; this morning, I attached it. What do you think of the results? The quilt measures 44" by 67".

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

Mock Celtic Knot Cross . . . (part 4)

2011-05-22T09:01:00.001-05:00

Last night (or early this morning), I laid out most of the pieces for the cross. It turns out that there are FOUR different shapes, not three; I decided they would wait until morning.

I went to bed.

I got up early this morning to lay out my pieces, but first I had to peel off the paper backing. The paper backing had curled up overnight; I was afraid the fabric wouldn't lay flat, but it did. I traced and prepped the missing shape (and made a few extra straight pieces while I was at it).

It took about two hours to lay all the pieces in position, then pin them in place. I pinned them down because I wanted to hang the piece on the wall to take a picture of it; I will remove the pins as I fuse the pieces to the background.

Are you ready for this??

I can say that I get a better feel for this when I'm looking at it head-on than when I'm looking at it lying on my worktable; I can see that there are some pieces that I'll re-position before fusing them down.

Take a moment to "follow the knot" with your finger . . . I had an extra set of pieces in the lower section originally. When I followed the knot, I came up with two interlocking knots, not one. When I removed the pieces, I came up with only one knot. Who would have thought??

Mock Celtic Knot Cross . . . (part 3)

2011-05-21T23:51:00.000-05:00

It was a productive evening . . .

I traced the Celtic knot pieces on the Wonder Under . . .

Then, I cut out the pieces and ironed them to the back of the fabric . . .

Then, I cut the pieces out . . .

Tomorrow, I'll pin, then fuse the pieces in place on background fabric . . .

Mock Celtic Knot Cross . . .

2011-05-21T18:21:00.001-05:00

Remember this cross?? I reckon there's only three shapes that make up this cross: the corner shapes, the curved shapes, and the straight shapes (as I've highlighted). There are twelve corner shapes, twenty-two curved shapes, and 24 straight shapes.

Since I posted the last post, I've sent a jpeg of this cross to Kinko's to enlarge to 36" by 60"; I've gone to Hancock Fabrics to buy Wonder Under and cotton fabrics in white and Kelly green.

After dinner, I'm gonna trace the needed shapes on the Wonder Under before adhering it to the green cotton.

Later, sweet 'taters!!

A mock Celtic knot cross . . .

2011-05-21T16:26:00.001-05:00

Today, I'm starting a new project.

I'm making a prayer quilt for a friend who requested a Celtic knot quilt years ago when Celtic knots were not my thing. They still aren't my thing, but I think I have a "workaround."

Here's a picture of the knot:

Now, looking at this, what do you see?? You see what looks like a continuous braid in the shape of the cross. What makes it a continuous braid?? Well, the band is woven: it goes over and under itself until it returns to the beginning. But, is it REALLY woven?? Well, no . . .

Keep your eyes on this space, there's more to come . . .

The Three Lessons I Learned From This Baby Quilt

2011-05-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

This is the quilt I made for Ava, the 1-year-old daughter of a co-worker. It measures 36" x 48" and is a multi-colored 1-shape tessellation.

I learned several lessons while making it.

1. I used various fabrics from several fabric swaps I participated in. I thought I wanted a "scrappy" look, but I think too many colors detract from the single shape tessellation. What do you think??
2. I used multiple fabrics for several of the colors (purple, red, yellow, cream, and green). Except for the green, the fabrics were close in hue, so there wasn't much contrast. In the lower left corner is a shape using different greens which didn't work out quite the way I expected. Elsewhere, I used matching greens with better results.
3. I experimented with a different construction technique for the blocks. I used a muslin foundation, but I sewed the individual pieces to it from the front, instead of from the back as usually done with paper (or foundation) piecing. Mind you, there was no design printed on the back of the muslin; this was pretty much sewing the block together using the seam allowances as guide (just with a muslin foundation underneath). I stitched around the block through all layers in the seam allowance before trimming the blocks to size.
I had perfectly square blocks, but the joins were less-than-perfect along the seam lines; my points did not necessarily match. I was less-than-thrilled with the results. I will be returning to my muslin foundations with the block printed on them with my very next project.

I feel that each quilt is a chance to learn and grow from whatever mistakes I've made. I don't dislike this quilt, but I have learned what I need to do to improve it.

Baby Quilt!!

2011-05-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

This morning before work, I finished binding this baby quilt.

It measures 48" x 36", and is actually two smaller pieces using the same fabrics, joined into one (look at the color changes down the middle).

I made this quilt for the baby of one of my co-workers; the baby is now 20 months old (ok, so I'm a little behind). I have two more to make: one baby is a year old, the second baby is only weeks old (I'm catching up, at least, lol).

I also need to make a prayer quilt for a woman at church, and maybe an additional baby quilt (if the interested party can find additional funds). It could be a busy time for me, yes??

Prayer quilts . . .

2011-04-30T07:58:00.000-05:00

I'm a member of Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican/Episcopal) . . . I lector and sing in the choir.

I'm also associated with the Prayer Quilt ministry. We make small lap quilts for folks who've been in the hospital, or otherwise suffering in body, mind, or spirit. The quilts are made prayerfully, and yarns are passed through the quilts for tying. At a presentation ceremony, the congregation assembles and says a prayer as they tie a knot in the yarns. Then, the quilt is present to the recipient, along with the wishes and prayers of many.

We've received a quilt request, and I volunteered to make it (since I now have a "stash" to dispose of) . . .

Then, I found out who it's for . . . it's a good friend. Years ago, this friend talked about a quilt with a Celtic knot cross on it. I'm gonna design one . . .

Experimenting with a different technique . . .

2011-04-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

Many of you know I love foundation piecing, with a twist . . .

Instead of sewing fabric to paper, which gets torn out when the block is completed, I used slightly-starched muslin that I've stamped my design on. Call me lazy, but what's the point of going to all the trouble of teaing out all that paper??

I love foundation piecing because of the accuracy and consistency of the blocks. I sometime enlist my dad's help in constructing quilt blocks. With foundation piecing, it doesn't matter who constructs the blocks; they'll all come out the same.

Of course, I have a fair bit of prep work upfront to make up for the paper tearing at the end: I must pre-shrink the muslin; cut the muslin into strips; soak the strips in a starch/water solution; press the strips before cutting them into squares; and then print my design with a rubber stamp. WHEW!!

I found a product that I blogged about previously that let me run foundation sheets through my printer: June Tailor's "Perfect Piecing." It is non-woven, and feels like a slightly stiff paper; it can be either left in the project or torn out. Well, I left it in the project, but it leaves the projected sorta stiff and it has the sound of paper crinkling . . . ERK!!

Back to the muslin . . . If I could just find a method that didn't have so many steps . . .

Years ago, I tried something I mentioned on my "Simply Quilts" appearance. Instead of pinning fabric to the right side of the muslin foundation and sewing along the printed lines on the back, I tried sewing the fabric from the front. It should be possible to use the sewing foot as guide. I decided to give this another try.

Unfortunately, I have half-inch seam allowances built into my templates. To remedy this, I attached a quilting guide at the half-inch mark, as shown below.

Then, I pinned my fabric to the muslin foundation and sewed it, using the quilting guide as guide for my half-inch seam allowance.

The jury is still out on the results: the fabric pieces go together well enough, but the trimming of the finished square leaves something to be desired. The squares are exactly seven inches square, and I'm using a half-inch seam allowance to assemble them, but the accuracy is off; my points just don't seem to meet as perfectly as before.

I may go back to rubber-stamping my muslin, and sewing from the back . . .

Baby Quilts all around . . .

2011-04-30T07:19:00.000-05:00

My office manager recently had a baby . . . hers is the third baby born to the office, as it were, in the past 18 months!!

Have I made any baby quilts??

No, but that's about to change . . .

How to grow a fabric stash . . .

2011-04-30T07:16:00.001-05:00

For years, I prided myself for being a "quilter without a stash." I just didn't get the concept of collecting fabric that wasn't put to use. When I had a project in mind, I'd buy fabric for it, and whatever I didn't use was put to use in the NEXT project, or I passed the remaining fabric to my dad, who also quilts.

Well, last year, I joined several fabric swaps sponsored by the Yahoo! group, QuiltGuy. One theme was Fall, and the other theme was Winter Blues.

Earlier this year, I joined not one but THREE different fabric swaps: Solids, Neutrals, and Tone-on-Tone. There were about twenty guys in on each, so that meant I had to buy about five yards of each, with the promise of getting about five yards each, cut into fat quarters.

Here they are . . . what do you think of 'em??

Granted, I did have a little fabric of my own to add to the stack (the rest I'd given to my dad as a Christmas present), so there's maybe twenty yards of fabric here.

Whatever shall I do with it?? It's for darn sure it won't sit around gathering dust!!

More Male Quilters than you can shake a stick at . . .

2011-03-31T15:48:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it's been eight months since I last posted a link to my list of Male Quilters??

It has . . .

Here's a new link to an old page: Male Quilters with an online presence.

Enjoy!!

I can hardly stand it!!

2011-03-31T13:55:00.000-05:00

Do you remember me telling you about the Yahoo! QuiltGuy group?? I've participated in several fabric swaps with them in the past.

Well, I've done it again!!

This time, I entered not one, not two, but THREE different fabric swaps!! One was themed "Solids," one was themed "Tone-on-Tone," and one was themed "Neutrals." There were about 20 guys in each swap, so I got about 5 yards of fat-quarter fabrics!!

So much for being a "quilter without a stash" because now I have 15 yards of fabric!! I guess it's a start, eh?? First, I'm gonna sort it, then I'm gonna determine "what's missing." I'll post pics (I promise).

What am I gonna do with this fabric?? Well, my other blog, Tessellation Nation, turns one year old tomorrow. I'm gonna post some new patterns there and pick one (or more) to work with.

One blog feeds another . . .

2011-02-28T10:00:00.000-06:00

I hadn't notice how little I've posted on this blog until my latest post . . . uh oh.

Will you forgive me??

My last post told about the difficulties I've been having with my other blog, Tessellation Nation. I think there's an added benefit to fixing the problem.

Tessellation Nation can provide fodder for THIS blog. It's been awhile since I've started any new quilts, mainly because I hadn't seen any patterns that really grabbed me. Well, I'm gonna use some of the single-shape tessellations from Tessellation Nation for new projects.

Which means, I'll be posting more on this blog, as I work with color selection, construction, etc. And, I'll keep you posted every step of the way!!

How a comment question launched a new direction . . .

2011-02-28T09:25:00.000-06:00

This blog, Nacho Grandma's Quilts!!, is a "work-in-progress about works-in-progress." One of these "works-in-progress" is my other blog, Tessellation Nation.

It has been a struggle. I may have mentioned that since its launch on April 1, 2010, I have changed the theme several times, I have changed the content and its format several times, and January 1, 2011, I completely wiped out the preceding nine months worth of blog posts to start over.

The tagline for the blog is, "Tessellated patterns generated from a single 9-patch unit." Yeah, none too snappy; I gotta work on that. The content consists mainly of posts showing the different possible patterns using my design tile. I've tagged the posts with the catalog number, the symmetry group, and the number of shapes in the tessellation.

Reduction Puzzles
I've been playing with the patterns, turning them into what I call "Reduction Puzzles." The majority of the patterns produce tessellations with multiple shapes. I've been combining the shapes to make a 1-shape tessellation (which is what most people think of when you mention tessellations). It's kinda neat because a single multi-shape tessellation can generate multiple single-shape tessellations.

Anyway, over the weekend, I had a person ask me a question in a comment: "How do I make the blocks to make a quilt from this one????

Now, I had tried in the past to write posts that showed how to make a quilt and I knew it was more trouble than it was worth. After making the drawings and writing detailed instructions, I'd be more likely to attempt to market a pattern rather than posting it for free on my blog.

So, I did the next best thing . . .

How to transform a tessellation into a quilt . . .
I wrote a blog post, "How to transform a tessellation into a quilt . . ." to describe the process of tessellation-to-quilt without giving yardage charts, or detailed instructions for cutting, sewing, pressing, quilting, etc.

The post shows a blank pattern; then, the same pattern, colored; then, adds sashing between the 4-patch blocks (to show they're all the same); and finally, adds sashing between the patches in the block (to show they're all colored differently).

The idea is that if a quilter REALLY wants to make a quilt from the tessellation, there's enough information to do so (if they engage their brain a little).

I think it caught on because my view stats skyrocketed!! (Of course, my view stats tend to be "up-and-down" normally, so I could be wrong, LOL!!)

Variations on top of variations . . .
Most of these tessellations will make multiple single-shape tessellations, so I can show "variations on a theme."

The question is: "Should I present one variation at a time on a daily basis, or several variations a day several times a week??"

Doing the "Naughty Dance" . . .

2011-02-10T10:44:00.000-06:00

Remember this quilt?? I call it "Mardi Gras Men." Well, this morning, I was informed that it's been accepted into "Naughti Gras 4," an erotic art show at the Koken Art Factory, a local gallery.

How does my quilt fit in with erotic art??

Consider it a homo-erotic piece: each man has his head between another man's legs, he's leaning on the calf of the man in front of him, and he's touching the leg of the man behind him as if to say, "just wait your turn"!! Of course, as each man touches three other men, three other men touch him. It's an orgy!!

I missed the deadline to enter this quilt in last year's show, but sent an email anyway, saying, "Better luck next year, eh??" Imagine my surprise when I got a reply to the very email a year later with all the entry particulars!! To think they kept my email for a year just to respond to it!! I'm glad they did . . .

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Oh, by the way, it's my birthday . . .

2011-01-31T21:23:00.000-06:00

I was born January 31, 1955 . . . who would have thought I'd come this far??

I was in the office today (not that I got much work done) . . . I spent most of the time thanking all my Facebook friends for their birthday wishes!!

With the bad weather and all, tomorrow may be a "snow day" (Hope Springs Eternal) . . . I'll post pics of my latest projects!!

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment and follow this blog!!

How June Tailor made me a better quilter . . .

2011-01-31T13:44:00.000-06:00

I think everyone of a certain age knows of the June Taylor dancers . . . they appeared on the Jackie Gleason show (a black-and-white TV show). In case you don't know (or remember) them, here's a little video:

I can remember watching the kaleidoscopic portion of the dance routine, and thinking, "gee, what great patterns!!" Of course, nowadays, I'm familiar with mandalas, but I thank June Taylor for introducing me to the concept.

Now, if you've followed me for any length of time, you know that my favorite construction technique is foundation piecing. I use starch-stiffened muslin for my foundation instead of paper because who has time to rip out all that paper afterwards?? It's quite a process: wash the muslin in hot water to shrink it; cut the dried muslin in 9-inch strips; soak the strips in a liquid starch/water solution; lay out the strips to dry; iron the strips flat; cut the strips into 9-inch squares; then, stencil or stamp the design on the squares.

Well, that changed. (You're probably wondering what took so long.)

I tried ironing freezer paper to the muslin, trimming the paper/muslin to 8-inch squares, then feeding them through my inkjet printer. I was surprised that it actually worked (and took much less effort than my previous method). The problem cropped up when it came to separating the muslin from the freezer paper; the muslin would distort outta shape (mind you, there was no starch on the muslin).

Back to the drawing board . . .

I recently tried June Tailor's Perfect Piecing. It's a non-woven, transparent sheet that feeds through my inkjet printer (though sometimes, the sheet just feeds through without getting printed on, or it jams). It comes in packages of 25 sheets. I can easily sew my fabric to it; either side, since it's fairly transparent. Once sewn, it can even be left in as a stabilizer (or, because I'm too lazy to tear it all out). I like the stuff!!

I'd recommend you go out and buy some (just not here in St. Louis, because I'm buying all I can find)!!

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment and follow this blog!!

"Shaking the Winter Blues" Completed!!

2011-01-20T12:03:00.000-06:00

Here's a shot of "Shaking the Winter Blues" and a detail shot of a corner. The quilt measures 80" x 80". I finished binding the quilt last night, but waited for daylight before taking any pics. Originally, I was gonna take the quilt to my office, and photograph it, but it snowed overnight and the Courts closed today (so, I got a "snow day").

"Shaking the Winter Blues" was my last project of 2010 . . . I have several new directions I wanna take in the coming year.

For one, I will start working in miniature (3" blocks, instead of 6"). I can still play with color and pattern, without making a bed-size quilt in the process. At the quilt show last month, my smaller pieces sold well, and the gallery owner would like to see more of my work to sell on an ongoing basis. A collector in New York City bought three table runners and is having them installed as a triptych. I had never considered that (until now). I am going to create series of small quilts (15" square) related by color or by pattern; there will be four to eight quilts in each series. One or more of the quilts can be grouped together as a "polyptych."

There will also be a new turn in construction techniques . . . (more to come).

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

"Shaking the Winter Blues" (in more ways than one) . . .

2011-01-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning, I awoke around 6:00 a.m. (yeah, on a Saturday, when I could just as easily sleep in). I went to my studio to work on "Shaking the Winter Blues." I had finished the top Wednesday night, and it was spread out on my worktable.

I prepared the flannel backing, and spent over an hour pressing the seams flat on the top.

I safety-pinned the two layers together, and started marking and quilting . . . I'm about one-quarter done. I'm listening to an audio book, "Dexter by Design," and I'm halfway done.

In other news, yesterday was "a Christmas day deferred." Ed and I went shopping for gifts: I bought him French Rosetta Stone; he bought me Electric Quilt 7 (I've been using EQ4 for years). The store had to order the Rosetta Stone I wanted (it will be delivered to my office in about a week).

Reading the EQ7 manual was exciting; I could see the possibilities stretching ahead of me. I didn't attempt to load the EQ7 software until late last night (a mistake) . . . no matter what I tried, it wouldn't load. And the Electric Quilt Company only answers questions and handles technical problems during business hours, Monday through Friday. Now, THAT'S a load, LOL!!

Guess I'll go back to quilting . . .

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Nine months worth of audio books . . .

2011-01-04T12:08:00.000-06:00

In April, 2010, I joined Audible.com and began listening to audio books. I found audio books to be very freeing, because I could let the story run as background to whatever else I may be doing, like sewing. Here in alphabetic order is a list of the books I listened to in 2010:

Abarat, by Clive Barker.
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, by Clive Barker.
Crush It!, by Gary Vaynerchuk.
Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Dead and Alive, by Dean Koontz.
Destroyer of Worlds, by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner.
Dexter Is Delicious, by Jeff Lindsay.
The Engines of God, by Jack McDevitt.
The Fifth Elephant: Discworld #24, by Terry Pratchett.
Frankenstein: Lost Souls, by Dean Koontz.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson.
The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson.
The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox.
Going Postal: Discworld #29, by Terry Pratchett.
Holiday Classics by O. Henry, by O. Henry.
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown.
Making Money: Discworld #31, by Terry Pratchett.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt.
The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Night Watch: Discworld #27, by Terry Pratchett.
No Excuses!, by Brian Tracy.
The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy.
The Passage, by Justin Cronin.
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein.
Under the Dome, by Stephen King.
The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi.

Do you recognize any of these titles?? Have you read any of these titles??

Except for Numbers 3 and 22, they are all fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. I guess you'd consider Numbers 3 and 22 as "self-help" (I've already listened to both of 'em more than once).

Here's a list of what's on tap for 2011 (so far):

The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss.
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas.
Dexter by Design, by Jeff Linsday.
Flashforward, by Robert J. Sawyer.
Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
METAtropolis, by Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, and Karl Schroeder.
METAtropilis: Cascadia, by Jay Lake, Mary Robinette Kowal, Elizabeth Bear, Ken Scholes, Karl Schroeder, and Tobias Buckell.
Pandora's Star, by Peter F. Hamilton.
A Princess of Landover, by Terry Brooks.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a book to listen to . . .

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Goodbye "Tessellation Nation" . . . Hello "Tessellation Nation"!!

2011-01-03T11:05:00.000-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Yeah, yeah, this comes at least two days late to many of you, but it's Monday, I'm back in the office (not that I'm doing any work), and it's the first time I've had a moment to catch my breath, LOL!!

Here's a quick "quilting recap" of the end of 2010 that I wanted to pass along . . .

Early in December, I posted about "Gifted 2010," a show I participated in. Well, it was quite a success!! The opening weekend, I sold three-fourths of my inventory!! A collector in New York called and bought FIVE pieces!! (He's given me ideas for new projects, but we'll come to that later.)

Mere days before Christmas, I helped a friend (and future quilter) bind blue jeans quilts she had made (with help from someone else).

I was invited by my friend Wayne Kollinger to participate in his "Why I Design Quilts" Initiative, where he asked various quilt designers "WHY??"

And, on New Year's Eve, I erased my "Tessellation Nation" blog . . . completely.

Now, mind you, the blog launched on April Fools Day, 2010. Over the past nine months I had changed the theme (the "skin," or how it looked) a couple of times; I had changed the nature of the content (and had often asked my readers what did they wanna see); I bumbled and bungled along and deleted graphics (and the associated blog posts). It was quite a learning experience.

Anyway, I wanted a "fresh start" as it were for the new year. So, I uninstalled WordPress and re-installed it (with help from Go Daddy, my host). I spent most of New Years Eve Day at home, posting to the new blog. Now, call me anal, but I want the blog to reflect its true age, so the posts were "back dated" as it were. I'm pleased to report that I posted a month's worth in a weekend, LOL!!

Here's the link to the new blog: Tessellation Nation. There's still stuff I wanna do to it (like add a subscription widget, write an "About" page, etc.), but the basics are there. My big hurdle now is to catch up in less than nine months!!

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Shaking the Winter Blues, top 64% complete . . .

2010-12-16T11:15:00.000-06:00

Here's a look at "Shaking the Winter Blues" so far . . . I hope to finish the top over the weekend. If so, I'll start quilting it next week.

Gifted 2010

2010-12-04T06:15:00.003-06:00

"GIFTED 2010"

Original Art for Holiday Giving

The 2nd Annual Holiday Gift Show

On View

December 4 - January 8, 2011

WEEKEND RECEPTION

Saturday & Sunday,

December 4 & 5, 2010

11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. (both days)

(while you’re here, check out the 27th Annual Antique Row Cookie Spree!)

Skip the malls this year and make your gift a unique expression of creativity! PHD Gallery hosts “GIFTED 2010”: Original Art for Holiday Giving, The 2nd Annual Holiday Gift Show.

Featuring the work of over a dozen artists, the seasonal exhibition offers “recession friendly” artwork priced to fit your holiday budget.

Included among the artworks, shoppers will find original oil paintings, textile art, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photography & limited edition prints.

Featured artists include Mark Weber, Marsha Sanguinette & Susan Nanny, Jim Sabo, Ruth Ann Reese, Casey Rae, Nick Prinster, Michelle "Mike" Ochonicky, Janet Mueller, Noel Leicht, David Lancaster, Raymond Houston, Mark Florida, and Jerry Breakstone.

“GIFTED” opens in tandem with the 27th Annual Cherokee Antique Row Cookie Spree. Local merchants will offer a host of holiday surprises with each store featuring a variety of holiday cookies! Enjoy music, festivities and old-fashioned yuletide charm.

"Shaking the Winter Blues," Part Two

2010-11-23T16:46:00.001-06:00

The last time I posted about this quilt was June 1, 2010 . . . How did the time get away from me?? That was before we moved, and what I'd worked on got packed in a box. Now that my studio is "up and running" as it were, I ready to tackle this quilt again.

In case you may have missed my earlier post, this is a drawing of the proposed quilt:

The pattern is a 3-shape tessellation: alternating, interlocking light/dark blue pinwheels on a background of orange stars and yellow on-point squares. This pattern features what I call an Integrated Border: the red border mimics the arms of the blue pinwheels, extending into the body of the quilt to frame the orange stars and yellow squares. The light and dark blue fabrics are left over from my "Winter Blues" quilt. In that quilt, each pinwheel was consistently one color. This time around, I'm "mixing it up."
This past week, I've been sewing squares for this quilt. The pattern requires thirteen different colorations of the same square!!

Here's the square for the four corners:

Here's the two squares for when a dark pinwheel extends into the border:

Here's the two squares for when a light pinwheel extends into the border:

Here are the four squares for a dark blue pinwheel. Three of the four squares are for use along the outside of the quilt body, hence the red border pinwheel arms. Only the lower left square is used throughout the interior of the quilt body to make dark blue pinwheels.

Here are the four squares for a light blue pinwheel. Three of the four squares are for use along the outside of the quilt body, hence the red border pinwheel arms. Only the lower right square is used throughout the interior of the quilt body to make light blue pinwheels.

I'm currently laying out these squares on my worktable to see the pattern emerge, and to gimme ideas for square placement. I'm also sewing more squares as I go; I only started with eight each of the twelve colorations, but I know I'll need more in order to use up as many squares as possible.

I'm thinking of safety-pinning the squares together, so I can easily move the piece around the worktable as it grows. I'll post pictures of THAT when I get there.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Today is World Toilet Day!! (no "potty" jokes, please)

2010-11-19T09:47:00.000-06:00

I've posted in the past about the Global Quilt Project to benefit Central Africa Republic.
I'm sorry to report the bidding has ended on this first quilt, but you'll have another chance soon . . .

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please take a moment to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Let the bidding begin!!

2010-11-04T16:24:00.000-05:00

Some time back, I mentioned donating seven quilt blocks for the Global Quilt Project . . .

Well, the first quilt made from the donated blocks is up for auction on eBay!!

There were over 300 blocks donated . . . that means there are plenty more quilts to come. I'm holding out for the quilt that has MY blocks in it!!

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe/follow this blog!!

Studio Tour, 2010!! (Part 2)

2010-10-31T16:19:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month, I gave you a tour of my proposed studio space . . . the place was a wreck!! Well, slow but sure, I've been working on the room: moving boxes into the closet (mostly); and, setting up my worktable, sewing table, and ironing table (finally!!). Here's what the room looks like from the stairs coming up from the 2nd floor:

Now, here's standing at the top of the stairs (my latest quilt top, "Winter Blues," is on my worktable):

Turning to the left you see my sewing area. I've placed two long tables at a 90 degree angle; the table to the left is good for holding the quilt I'm feeding through the sewing machine.

To the left of the sewing area is my ironing table. I made this table from a 3 ft. by 6 ft. sheet of plywood, covered with batting and that silverish ironing board cover material, stapled down. The ironing table is supported by a pair of sawhorses at waist height. Of course, you can't see any of this because of the quilts stacked on top of it, LOL!! These quilts are for an upcoming exhibit at a local gallery. I want the quilts to lay as flat as possible (to ease out "folding wrinkles").

Here are a couple of shots of what's on my worktable. I love this worktable because it's large (4 ft. by 8 ft.) and stands about 36 in. tall (waist height). I can comfortable stand and work at the table without bending over (which can be murder on the back!!).

Here's a closer view of my pinning, marking, and stitching on this quilt. Because I used foundation piecing, I only back the quilt with a layer of flannel. I pin the top to the back with safety pins at the four corners and at the center of each square. I am quilting a grid at a 45-degree angle, dividing the squares into thirds. To mark the quilting lines, I lay my acrylic ruler where I want the line, then run the dull, back edge of a regular table knife along the ruler several times. This leaves a depression on the fabric and a shiny line (kinda like a suit that's been pressed one too many times). I pin across the line the distance of the width of my palm. Then, I stitch. The stitching lines never come close to the safety pins, which I'll remove once the entire quilt is done.

As always, thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

Men and the art of Quiltmaking . . .

2010-10-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

I went to the AQS quilt show in Des Moines this weekend . . .

I had Friday off, and I busied myself shopping, packing, cleaning the litter box, and taking out the trash. When I picked up Ed from work, we headed northeast. We listened to the last hour or so of "Abarat, Book Two" by Clive Barker, then started on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larson. We drove as far as Ottumwa, IA, and stopped for the night.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we hit the road again. We got to Des Moines in plenty of time: we parked the car, got our passes, and found the hall where Joe Cunningham was gonna speak. There were two other men present who were also included in Joe's book, Men and the art of Quiltmaking: Mike McNamara and Erick Wolfmeyer. The four of us did a round-robin of autographing each other's copies of the book, LOL!! Then, we took the time for a "photo op."

Pictured above (from left to right) are Mike McNamara, Erick Wolfmeyer, Joe Cunningham, and myself.

Joe gave an interesting lecture, featuring many of the men in his book and their quilts, but it wasn't well-attended; there were less than two dozen people in the hall. Afterwards, Ed and I went to see some of the quilts, particularly the display curated by Joe of some of the male quilter's quilts. This is me beside the quilt I had on display (which is also featured in the book).

Ed and I wandered around for a little while, looking at some of the other quilts, but I had seen who I came to see, and there were a LOT of other quilts to look at (it would have taken the rest of the day). I still had a long drive ahead of me. So, I had a twelve-hour drive for a two-hour visit, but it was worth it for me.

We headed back to St. Louis, stopping only for gas, and food (and chocolate).

I may do it again next year . . .

Des Moines, here I come!!

2010-09-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Remember I mentioned being interviewed for Joe Cunningham's book, Men and the Art of Quiltmaking?? I submitted three quilts for inclusion in the book, and prepared a pattern for one of them.

Well, his book is now REALLY a book (a living, breathing, physical thing)!!

AQS (American Quilter's Society), the publisher is gonna launch the book at their show in Des Moines, IA, October 6-9. Joe will be there, signing copies of his book. One of my quilts will be there, as part of a promotional quilt show, in conjunction with the book launch.

And, I'M gonna be there, to stand near and talk about my quilt . . . I'm thinking of driving up for opening day and driving back afterwards (or maybe find a hotel along the way and sleep).

I've never been to one of these shows (no, I've never been to Paducah, either) . . . what are they like?? If you've been to one, I'd love to hear from you.

Studio Tour, 2010!!

2010-09-11T09:54:00.001-05:00

Alright, alright . . . I told you I found my digital camera some time ago, but I haven't taken any pics of the new studio space (until this morning).

Here I am, nearing the top of the stairs to my studio, and this is what greets me:

. . . a mess, huh?? Another step or two, and I'm at the top of the stairs and you can see more of the room:

I'm facing south. To my right is the only unbroken wall in the place; it's painted brick. Leaned up against it are the top and shelf to my worktable, and my ironing board. In the far corner are the sawhorses that support the ironing board.

Now, I'll turn to the left a bit . . .

Here's more of the room: bookshelves, boxes, and a computer table that holds my sewing machine (in the case) and microwave (for fabric dyeing).

Now, a little more to the left . . .

This wall faces east. There are two windows in this wall (one holds the a/c unit). The only electric outlet in this room is just past the window on the left. I have a rolling secretary's chair (which rolled fitfully on hardwood floors and this place is wall-to-wall carpeting). There are three white plastic tables and one sewing machine cabinet (which isn't for the machine I have).

Now, a little more to the left . . .

You can't see it from where I'm standing, but that dark vertical bar at the left of the picture is the opening to a closet (I'll have to move into the room to take a picture of that).

Turning left again . . .

The opening to the closet is at the right of the picture, now. The closet is neither very wide nor deep, and there is no door on it.

Turning left again . . .

This window faces north, and overlooks the roof of the second floor bedroom.

One final turn brings me . . .

. . . back to the stairwell I just came up. There's a little shelf level with the floor. I put my "Road Hog" on it: he's a plush pink pig dressed in leather cap and vest. When you squeeze his hoof, he dances and sings a cute little song that ends, "c'mon baby, talk dirty to me!!"

Well, there you have it . . . the start of a beautiful relationship. I just need to put things in order.

I'll keep you updated on my progress (I promise) . . .

Thank you for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

Is it Christmas, or what??

2010-08-31T22:04:00.003-05:00

As you may recall from my last post, I moved last month . . . I promised pictures of my new studio space (once I unearthed the digital camera from the box it was hiding in). Well, I've found the camera (though I was looking for something else at the time)!!

I intend to take "Before" pictures of the room (even though it's full of boxes) . . . I'll also give you an inventory of what's in the boxes, too. Now, even though I have an idea of how I wanna arrange the room, I'd like some input from you . . . Think about it: how would you arrange your perfect studio??

On a different note, I received two packages in the mail: a new set of 3" templates from Ardco (I've been considering working in miniature), and "Head First WordPress," a book for my other blog, Tessellation Nation. There'll be more about them as I get into 'em.

Thank you for reading this blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

MOVED!! (but not yet settled) . . .

2010-07-29T09:50:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, Ed and I moved into our new home. It is a 3-story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse. For the past month, we've been packing boxes (or, repacking boxes we hadn't opened in years). Last week, I took a week vacation: three days leading up to the move; the move; then, three days after the move.

The movers removed the front door for ease of moving, and leaned it against the porch. The door fell over, shattering the glass (so much for sneaking out on the landlords, lol). The moving company will replace the glass, but the glass company won't even come to measure the door until next Monday; the glass won't arrive until the following week. In the interim, I've stapled a shower curtain over the opening (it LOOKS like glass, at least).

There's just a carload or two of small things that weren't packed in time for the movers to transport to the new place. Then, I'll put the keys in an envelope with a list of the defects the landlords need to address before attempting to rent the apartment to others, and drop the envelope in the landlords' mail slot. I'll call and leave a message on their voicemail (I ALWAYS get their voicemail) telling them we've moved and the situation with the front door. Then it's "bye, bye slumlords."

The BEST news about the new place is my new studio: I get the entire third floor . . . it's one, big room (15' x 30'). I have room to set up my 4' x 8' worktable (which spent the last three years propped along a wall because the movers couldn't get the table top up to my old studio). I have room to set up a separate dyeing area. There's a great closet for storage. My sewing machine will set between two windows with an eastern exposure (ah, to sew and watch the sun come up).

I would have taken a picture of the new studio, but I packed the camera . . .

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Updated Male Qulters list . . .

2010-07-20T15:33:00.002-05:00

A long time ago (or, so it seems), I wrote a post listing other male quilters like myself with an internet presence . . .

I've spent the better part of the day updating that list, adding new quilters, checking links, and so on . . .

I invite you to take a look (or another look) at Male Quilters with an Internet Presence . . .

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

Blocks for the Global Quilt Project . . .

2010-07-14T08:25:00.004-05:00

Here, in no certain order, are the seven blocks I'm donating to the Global Quilt Project:

The blocks were fun and easy to make, but mind you, I had stacks of the different shapes in different colors already cut and ready-to-sew. In fact, sewing the blocks inspired me to write several future blog posts (but, you'll have to wait to see 'em).

The blocks above are going out in today's mail . . . Amy at GlobalChange.me says going to check the mail is like Christmas every day . . . I can well imagine it is!!

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. . . what was I thinking??

2010-07-12T15:26:00.004-05:00

I no sooner pressed "Publish" for my last blog post when I was struck by two flashes of insight. I didn't like the "haphazard" look of the first block I made, but I LIKE the "ordered scrappiness" of these blocks. The first four blocks used 90 degree rotations but I hadn't looked at 180 degree rotations (there are a few more variations to take a look at).

Here's variation 5, with all four patches facing the same direction:

Here's variation 6, with the lower two patches rotated 180 degrees:

Here's variation 7, with the left two patches facing upright and the right two patches rotated 180 degrees:

Here's variation 8, with the upper left and lower right patches facing upright and the upper right and lower left patches rotated 180 degrees:

Thank you for bearing with me during my absence . . . it feels good to be back.

Blocks for the Global Quilt . . .

2010-07-12T14:24:00.007-05:00

Last time I posted (has it really been nearly a month??), I told you I had offered to make two quilt blocks for the Global Quilt Project . . .

Well, I got to work on them this weekend.

Since I only sew blocks using my design tile, and since I'm sure the block would not match anything else sent in, I went for a "scrappy" look, with only one piece all the same color throughout. This is what I came up with . . .

I kinda liked the orange star in the center of the block, but I wasn't all that happy with the "scrappy" bits (they looked too "haphazard"). I wondered what the block would look like if I maintained consistent colors for each shape throughout, so I made another four patches. Placed together, they look like this . . .

Now, if I rotate all the patches 90 degrees clockwise, they look like this . . .

And if I rotate all the patches 90 degrees clockwise, they look like this . . .

And if I rotate all the patches 90 degrees clockwise yet again, they look like this . . .

Which variation(s) do YOU like??

Now, you may know how I am about "pre-coloring" patches--I'm against it. I feel that shapes that adjoin from patch to patch really should be the same color, which you can't always maintain when you color the patches first, then put them together. So, looking at these four designs I see I can color the first and third variations with only four colors; I can color the second and fourth variations with six colors.

I'm off to the fabric store this evening . . .

"And now for something completely different . . ."

2010-06-17T11:03:00.002-05:00

This morning I was invited to participate in a Global Quilt Project. The project invites quilters from around the world to donate blocks to be sewn into a quilt for an auction to benefit Central Africa Republic.

"Shaking the Winter Blues" may have to take a backseat for a while . . .

I invite you to join me in this cause.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

I've been published (again)!!

2010-06-15T11:35:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot to mention that I'm in the latest issue of Quilter's Home!!

Some time back (maybe a year??), I got an email from a freelance writer in Paris, wanting to know if I had any stories about my inspirations. Well, I did, and I told her so . . . she just had to find a magazine to buy the story.

Lucky Quilter's Home!!

My name is even on the front cover!!

If you haven't seen it yet, go out and buy a copy!! I bought five!!

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"Shaking the Winter Blues," revised . . .

2010-06-01T22:01:00.009-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, I started sewing squares for my "Shaking the Winter Blues" quilt. I started with stacks of cut fabric like this . . .

I sewed the first two pieces to my muslin foundations to see how far they'd go. I sewed two different squares . . . I sewed eighty light blue and orange pieces (until I ran out of light blue), then I sewed 100 dark blue and orange pieces (until I ran out of orange).

I calculate that I can make twenty 4-patch blocks of light blue, and twenty-five 4-patch blocks of dark blue, for a total of 45 4-patch blocks. Knowing how many blocks I have to work with, I drew the quilt again.

I sewed red pieces to a limited number of squares for the border blocks.

Now, I'm sewing blue pieces to the remaining squares.

(I'll be at this for a while . . .)

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Has it really been two weeks since I've posted??

2010-05-18T13:27:00.003-05:00

I could say, "my, how time flies when you're having fun," but I'd be lying . . .

It's been pretty much "business as usual" (until recently) . . .

Saturday, I started working on "Shaking the Winter Blues." I sewed the first two pieces to eighty foundations for one colorway, and started sewing the first two pieces to foundations for the alternating colorway (I just don't know how many, yet). Once I have an accurate count, then I can determine how big this piece will be (I'm determined to use up ALL that leftover fabric).

I hope to post some pics, soon . . .

Today, a friend on Facebook told me I'm on page 35 of the latest issue of Quilter's Home . . . now, I've got to find a local shop that sells the magazine.

Next weekend (Memorial Day weekend), I'll be attending the first International Society of African-American Quilters conference, here in St. Louis . . . I'll even be presenting design workshops. I'm pretty excited about that.

Thanks for reading my blog (though you should gimme a yell when I've been away too long) . . . please take a moment to leave a comment and subscribe to this blog.

Ketchup (or, Wow!! What a week!!)

2010-05-01T20:51:00.002-05:00

Monday: I joined Facebook . . . I started with the people in my mailing lists who have Facebook profiles . . . then, I moved on to people with common friends . . . now, I'm being approached by people who I know (but haven't seen in awhile). I'm at 355 friends (with no end in sight). Monday night, I bought some more orange fabric for "Shaking the Winter Blues" (and now I need to buy some more yellow).

Tuesday: I took the day off so I could prepare for my lecture at Bits 'N' Pieces quilt guild. I spent the day stapling bundles of muslin foundations and gluing card stock templates to sandpaper. I packed the car, and picked up Ed after work, but had to make a stop before heading to the lecture because our new car was ready!! We now have an '09 Chevy Impala with 35,000 miles (and loving it). After signing the paperwork, we left the car on the lot (and picked it up after the lecture).

The lecture went well: there were about 90 people in attendance, and many of them told me how entertaining my talk was. One woman owns a quilt shop in Eureka, MO, and offered to sell me a copy of Electric Quilt 7 at a 30% discount if I plugged her shop in my blog: Susie Q Quilting, 131 S. Central Ave., Eureka, MO 63025 (636-587-2772). It'll be a couple of months before she'll have EQ7 in her shop.

Wednesday: My blog, Tessellation Nation, was chosen as "Website of the Week" by The Stitch-N-Frame Shop. Needless to say, the blog experienced the second highest number of views since it launched!! After work, Ed and I went to our usual microbrewery, Mattingly Brewing Co. to celebrate.

Thursday: Ed and I joined some of my fellow choristers for dinner at a posh French bistro for Dining out for Life. Restaurants throughout the city donate 25% of their proceeds to the St. Louis Effort for Aids.

Friday: At work, I was awarded a Justice Award from the Circuit Attorney's office to recognize my contributions to the office . . . I won't bore you with the details of their praise, but it involved taking on most of the work of my office-mate for several months while she recuperated from back surgery (and continuing the workload even after her return). There was a nice framed certificate, and a check for a couple hundred dollars!!

Saturday: This morning, Ed and I drove an hour west of St. Louis to have breakfast with my dad and brothers. Afterwards, we drove back to St. Louis to do our usual banking and shopping errands (I rewarded myself with a new mp3 player to download audiobooks). Late afternoon, we went to see The Clash of the Titans 3D. This evening, I downloaded my first audiobook, Under the Dome by Stephen King (over 34 hours of listening).

I'm tired . . .

As always, thank you for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Facebook, here I come!!

2010-04-27T09:25:00.002-05:00

Yes, I broke down and did something I thought I'd never do ("never" should never be used in thought, word, or deed) . . .

Yesterday, several attorneys were talking about the benefits of Facebook profiles . . . specifically, a defendant in a case they were working on had posted pictures and comments about the very case they were working on!! (is that Stupid or Arrogant??)

One of the attorneys turned to me and commented that she was sure I'd have a Facebook profile, with my quilting and all . . . I had to admit I did not, but it was a very slow day in the office and I'd check it out.

Now, I've been on other "social media" sites (which will remain nameless to protect the innocent: me), and I was less than impressed. But, in the spirit of adventure, I posted a profile, and allowed Facebook to comb my email address books (I have three) to find other people who have profiles posted on Facebook. There were so many profiles, I had to click "ALL" rather than send a friend request to each individual.

Hoo Boy!!

Twenty-four hours later, I have over 200 friends!! Someone asked me how much did I pay them . . . I told him that I paid them the same amount I paid HIM, LOL!! "Wow, they must really love you!!" he said. I guess he's right.

Now, I wonder what will happen if I invite those people in my address books who DON'T have a Facebook profile . . . but, first, I need to learn my way around a bit better, post some pics, make some comments, you know, "learn the lay of the land" (unlike those OTHER sites where I "learn the land of the lay" (my bad)).

There have been several new people join my mailing list, and a couple new followers of the blog . . . we'll see where this leads.

As usual, thank you for reading my blog . . . feel free to leave a comment, and follow this blog (and now, Facebook, too)!!

Bidding Farewell to Quilt University . . .

2010-04-15T09:20:00.004-05:00

After much deliberation, I have decided to withdraw from Quilt University . . .

I had been teaching there since before my appearance on "Simply Quilts" (I was not allowed to mention Quilt University on air). I held the double distinction of being the first male instructor, as well as the first African-American instructor.

My class was called Symmetry Play (a precursor to Beyond Symmetry). The first time the class was offered, eighty-one students enrolled!! Carol Miller, the dean, closed enrollment and offered the class again the following month (a rare occurrence). I've taught students from around the world.

Several years ago, around the time I started working on my book, Beyond Symmetry, I discussed updating my class. Carol said "fine," but the more I worked on the book, the less interested I became in the class. My heart just wasn't in it. Last December, I submitted a class based on my book; Carol was less than thrilled. I told her I'd work on the changes she suggested.

Now, four months later, those changes STILL need to be made (talk about procrastinating!!). I bit the bullet, and wrote Carol to tell her where I stood and ask if she'd remove me from the faculty roster. I told her that teaching is a learning experience, and I thanked her for the opportunity to do both.

Carol accepted my resignation graciously, and said if I ever came up with a new class, she'd be glad to look it over . . .at least, I haven't burned my bridge behind me.

As always, thank you for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

Tessellation Nation changes for the third (and final) time . . .

2010-04-13T09:53:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I launched a new blog, Tessellation Nation. The format displayed line drawings of the 4-tile blocks and 9-block patterns. I worked hard to have plenty of posts (about 125) for people to pore over.

A week later, I changed the format to display a line drawing of the 4-tile block and a colored 9-block pattern in black, white, and shades of gray. I deleted all of the previous posts, through a stupid mistake. I have no one to blame but myself.

Well, a couple of days ago, I made a discovery: a 4-block pattern and a 9-block pattern are not necessarily colored the same way!! ARRGH!!

Yesterday, I tried something new. Now, each post displays a line drawing of the 4-tile block and 4-block pattern, followed by a step-by-step coloring of the pattern. Then, there's a line drawing of the 9-block pattern, and a colored pattern (if different from the 4-block pattern).

I'm certain this is the LAST time I'll change the format!! And, I won't delete the prior posts until I've replaced them with new ones, LOL!!

Thank you for reading my blog(s) . . . please feel free to leave a comment, and follow these blogs!!

Shaking the Winter Blues . . .

2010-04-13T08:32:00.000-05:00

Last week I mentioned I had a lot of leftover fabric from my Winter Blues quilt . . . well, I've come up with a way to get rid of it. Granted, I'm limited to the same pattern as before, since all the blue fabric has already been cut in only three shapes. What I need is a different background (instead of the black I used before).

I decided to use warm colors for the stars, squares, and border: yellow for the squares; orange for the stars; and, dark red for the border.

What do you think of it?? This is just my preliminary drawing of the final quilt (the actual colors may vary, depending on what catches my eye at the fabric store). I may even "mix it up" a bit with several shades of the different colors (three different yellows, oranges, and reds).

As usual, thank you for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

"Ring around the Rosie . . ."

2010-04-08T14:55:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed (or not) the new button(s) in the upper right corner of this page . . . I've been invited to join a quilt designer's blog ring!!

Some of the names I recognize, and others I'll get to know . . .

So, if it's working, take a spin around the ring (and tell 'em, "Raymond sent ya," wink, wink).

I've also added a button with a link to my other blog, Tessellation Nation. If you visited it before, you'll notice a slight change . . . like, 121 blog entries are missing!! The other day, I was surfing the 'net, looking for other tessellation blogs/websites because I intend to start a Links page. What I found inspired me to trash everything and start over (and, I won't be doing THAT again, LOL)!! So far, I've received favorable comments about the change. I'm liking the look, myself.

Thank you for reading my blog(s) . . . please feel free to leave a comment and FOLLOW THESE BLOGS!!

So if it's Springtime already, why do I still have these Winter Blues??

2010-04-08T14:46:00.001-05:00

Yeah, it's time to shake the winter blues . . . not that state of mind that comes from being cooped up inside during the cold months, but a pile of fabric.

Earlier this year, I made a quilt I dubbed "Winter Blues" made from blue fabric from a fabric swap with the QuiltGuy Yahoo! group.

Well, I still have stacks of light and dark blue fabric left over!! I do not own a stash, and these piles of fabric are too "stashlike" for my tastes . . . They've got to go!!

What I have in mind is buying some fabric in warm colors (yellow, orange, and red) to balance all these blues. I'll put together a drawing to see how I like it . . . and, I'll share it with you (to see how YOU like it).

More to come . . .

Thanks for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

A New Blog (no foolin')!!

2010-03-31T16:58:00.001-05:00

I was gonna save this news until tomorrow until I realized it's the first of April . . . I didn't want you to think I was pulling an April Fool's joke.

I've launched a new blog (I may have hinted at this before) . . .

The blog is Tessellation Nation (it's got a catchy ring to it, don't you think??). It's primarily a catalog of the blocks and patterns possible using my design tile. I intend to post to it often, but, even so, it'll take 5-6 months to get through all of the patterns. The blog entries are drawings, nothing but drawings . . . all the real meat is in the pages in the sidebar.

I invite you to take a look, leave a comment (or two), and subscribe (via reader or email) . . .

Don't fret . . . I'm not abandoning THIS blog. I just thought the patterns deserved a blog of their own. Besides, I'm still quilting!! Just wait till you see the next project . . .

My 100th post!!

2010-03-23T21:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been quiet . . . several people have written to ask "what's up"??

The truth is, I've been busy. Too busy to write, you wonder?? Well, in a word, "yes."

Several weeks ago, I got an email from Joe Cunningham. He's the quilter in San Francisco who interviewed me last year for the book he was writing about male quilters. Anyway, he sent me a pic of the book cover. This book will be out in the fall, and I'm in it!!

Joe had a favor to ask of me: would I be willing to write a pattern for one of my quilts shown in the book?? Though I'd never written a pattern before, I said, "yes." The process was quite fun, actually. I configured Electric Quilt to print the templates to a file; then, I imported that file into CorelDraw, where I made the cutting lines thicker, the seam lines dashed, and positioned the templates next to each other to facilitate cutting them apart. The instructions were originally 12 typed pages long!! I managed to edit them down to three (which is what the editor wanted). I could see doing this again . . . in fact, I DID do it again with the templates for my design tile, which leads me to my next activity.

Last week, I gave a lecture and workshop for the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild in Santa Rosa, CA. I prepared about 35 sandpaper-backed templates for my design tile, and 500 muslin foundations!! I shipped slides, templates, foundations, and quilts to Santa Rosa overnight, rather than stuff 'em all in my suitcase. The lecture was well-received, with about 200 quilters in attendance, and there were about 14 quilters in the workshop the following morning. And, of course there were requests for patterns!! I'm gonna have to work on those . . .

Now, I'm home and getting ready for a lecture at a local guild next month. I want to have plenty of templates and foundation muslins on hand, LOL!!

I'm toying with the idea of starting a new blog . . . don't freak out!! I'm not abandoning THIS one (and leave you behind), but I want to focus on a single topic. I'm all over the place on this one, LOL!! I will certainly keep you posted on developments . . .

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please feel free to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

A busy week, indeed . . .

2010-02-28T05:59:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe that we ended our 10-day Mardi Gras vacation just a week ago today . . .

To cap off our trip, Ed and I both caught colds so we were coming home in worse condition than when we left (I didn't work Monday and Tuesday; Ed didn't work Tuesday and Wednesday).

On Monday, Ed had an accident with the car. Nothing was fractured or broken, just a bruised and stiff forearm for a couple of days, and a small bruise in the middle of his forehead. Our leased wreck of a car was stolen from the highway (which still confounds me); we only had a couple of months before the lease ended.

But, on to quilting matters . . .

A freelance writer in France approached me months ago about an article she was writing about "wild and crazy inspiration sources." While we were on vacation, she contacted me with additional questions now that Quilter's Home magazine has agreed to publish the article (in the June/July issue, I think). Yesterday, I emailed her a fleshed-out interview to use.

Also while we were on vacation, the quilt guild in Santa Rosa, CA emailed that they were considering cancelling my appearance in March because they weren't getting enough interest in my workshop. I offered them several suggestions, and now I have little over two weeks to put together a new workshop.

This week, I mailed out the contract for a lecture for a local quilt guild here in St. Louis in April.

I still need to put together my proposal for a workshop (or two) at the first International Society of African-American Quilters convention here in St. Louis in May.

Joe Cunningham asked if I'd write a pattern for one of the quilts I submitted for his book, due out in the fall. I finally figured out how to "print to file" my Electric Quilt templates, then import the file into a graphics program so I could arrange the templates onto one sheet of paper and manipulate the cutting and seam lines. Now, all I have to do is write the instructions . . . this will be my first published pattern, and it has nothing to do with design tile (yes, something completely different). Of course, the experience has shown me that I could probably do a lot more patterns (hmmm, that gives me several ideas).

So, with that said, I hope you don't mind if I tell you, "I'm outta here!!" I'll be back soon with more news, projects, musings, and to tell you about another blog I've started (but, more on that later).

Thank you for reading my blog . . . as always, feel free to leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

Fat Tuesday!! (Mardi Gras!!)

2010-02-16T07:41:00.000-06:00

How y'all are??

Here I am in The Big Easy (New Orleans) . . . we've been here since Thursday.

The train ride down was comfortable and relaxing; we loved our little roomette (complete with meals in the dining car). Our host threw a surprise birthday party for his friend upon our arrival, and we've had a great time ever since.

We took in four parades on Friday, and caught our share of beads (and maybe some of yours, too)!!

On Saturday, we were guests at a house party at the start of another parade; fun was had by all . . .

We stayed in on Sunday. On the train down, we started reading "The Sparrow," and continued whenever we weren't doing something else.

Yesterday, Ed and I took the bus into the French Quarter. We had lunch along Decatur St., then wandered back home. Later, we went to a bar . . .

Today is Mardi Gras Day!! Even though the BIG parades are today, our hosts are gonna watch 'em from the comfort of the living room. The temperature is in the 30s, and that's just TOO cold to stand, watching a parade and catching beads (no biggie).

Tomorrow, Ed and I will go to church to get ashes imposed (that sorta thing happens on Ash Wednesday).

The rest of the week, we'll get out and about more, since Mardi Gras is over (and Lent has begun).

I have limited internet access (and no access to my computer files, software, etc.). So, there'll be no Transformation Tessellation Tuesday (or, coloring pages on Wednesday). I'll be back on schedule next week, once the vacation is over.

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please feel free to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

1-1-2-4M

2010-02-10T02:08:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-3M

2010-02-10T02:07:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-2M

2010-02-10T02:06:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-1M

2010-02-10T02:05:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-4

2010-02-10T02:04:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-3

2010-02-10T02:03:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-2

2010-02-10T02:02:00.000-06:00

1-1-2-1

2010-02-10T02:01:00.000-06:00

Transformation Tessellation Tuesday

2010-02-09T12:06:00.000-06:00

Last week I demonstrated how you can transform a single-shape tessellation to make additional single-shape tessellations. This week I will demonstrate transforming a multiple-shape tessellation.

First, I begin with a 4-patch block as shown below.

This is what nine blocks looks like.

There are four distinct Shapes in this tessellation. I have outlined them below.

Now, in order to transform these shapes, you will have to "borrow" a piece of one Shape to add to another. Below, I have shaded a piece of the smaller Shape and shaded where that same piece touches the larger Shape. The lower tessellations show how the Shapes have been transformed by adding the shaded pieces to the larger Shape, and deleting the shaded pieces from the smaller Shape.

Below, I have shaded a piece from a different Shape and also shaded where that same piece touches the larger Shape. The lower tessellations show how the Shapes have been transformed by adding the shaded pieces to the larger Shape, and deleting the shaded pieces from the medium Shape.

You are neither limited to the number of pieces you trade between Shapes, nor the number Shapes you transform. Below, I have shaded two different pieces of two of the Shapes. The remaining tessellations show these pieces added to two different Shapes. Yet it still remains a multi-shape tessellation, though quite different from the Shapes I outlined at the beginning of this post. Amazing!!

As always, thank you for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

With so much running going on, you'd think there was a marathon underway . . .

2010-02-07T03:02:00.001-06:00

. . . and in a way, there is.

You may remember the set of table runners I made (see blog post here).

I thought you'd like to see how I finished 'em.

First, I cut a piece of contrasting flannel (green) the same width as the runner, and a 1/2" longer at both ends.

Then, I pinned and sewed the two long ends, right sides together, leaving the ends open. I turned the runner right side out and pressed.

Next, I turned in the ends and pressed. You may wonder why didn't I just sew around three sides and only have to turn in one end?? I did that on some of the runners, but I didn't necessarily care for the kinda rounded corners at the sewn end. Turning and pressing both ends gives me nice square corners.

Let me say, "I thoroughly dislike hand-sewing!!" That said, let me proceed.

I want to attach a hanging sleeve on these runners, just in case the owner doesn't want wine spilled on 'em and would rather hang 'em on the wall than lay 'em on the table. So, I cut a piece of muslin 8" wide and the width of the runner. I fold and press the short ends twice, then stitch 'em down.

I insert one long edge into the folded and pressed opening at one end of the runner, and pin in place. Then, I topstitch through all layers all around the runner.

Since there is no batting, and I'm only concerned with keeping the two layers together, I stitch-in-the-ditch between the blocks. First, I stitched the long vertical row right down the center of the runner, keeping the hanging sleeve free.

Next, I turned under the long edge of the hanging sleeve and pressed it. Then, I folded the hanging sleeve to the back of the runner and positioned the pressed edge of the sleeve beyond the proposed stitching line (since my blocks are 6" square, I placed the pressed edge about 6-1/4" from the end of the runner). I smoothed out the muslin (it kinda sticks to the flannel), turned the runner over, and pinned the muslin in place.

Then, I stitched the short horizontal columns along the length of the runner. The stitching caught the pressed edge of the hanging sleeve, and I didn't have to hand-stitch it down (did I mention that I don't like hand-stitching??). Run a rod through the hanging sleeve and hang the runner as you like, or place it on your table (if you're brave)!!

As always, thank you for reading my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

1-1-1-4M

2010-02-03T02:08:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-3M

2010-02-03T02:07:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-2M

2010-02-03T02:06:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-1M

2010-02-03T02:05:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-4

2010-02-03T02:04:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-3

2010-02-03T02:03:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-2

2010-02-03T02:02:00.000-06:00

1-1-1-1

2010-02-03T02:01:00.000-06:00

A catalog of design tile patterns . . .

2010-02-03T02:00:00.000-06:00

Today, I'm starting a new feature on this blog . . . a catalog of the blocks and patterns using the design tile.

The title of each post will be the 4-digit notation of the block, so you can recreate it yourself. I intend to post these patterns in sequence (1-1-1-1, 1-1-1-2, 1-1-1-3, 1-1-1-4, 1-1-1-1M, 1-1-1-2M, 1-1-1-3M, etc.).

If it works, you should be able to click on the picture, then print it out to color and play with as you wish . . . if it doesn't work, then back to the drawing board for me, LOL!!

Transformation Tessellation Tuesday (with a nod and a wink to LoveBug Studios*)

2010-02-02T08:02:00.000-06:00

Today, I will discuss tessellations and how to transform them . . .

What is a tessellation? A tessellation is "one or more congruent geometric shapes that cover an infinite plane without gaps or overlaps." Huh? How about "one or more shapes that fit together to make a repeating pattern"? The Dutch graphic artist, M.C. Esher (my hero), is well-known for his tessellations.

I will begin with my design tile arranged as a 9-patch block . . .

All nine tiles maintain the same orientation, that is, they are all facing the same direction. This is an example of the operation of symmetry called Translation. Any given tile can be shifted up, down, left, right, or diagonally onto its neighbor without changing the overall pattern.

Speaking of pattern, do you see the Shape outlined below? (Notice that I refer to this as a capital "S" Shape.)

This qualifies as a tessellation because it is a single Shape that fits with itself to make a repeating pattern. Here are four 9-patch blocks, with complete Shapes outlined.

Let's take another look at the basic Shape . . . it is made up of six contiguous shapes, that is, six smaller shapes that touch each other. In fact, these are the six shapes that make up the original design tile!! One shape each from six different design tiles make up this larger Shape. (These individual shapes are lowercase "s" shapes.)

Here's where the "transformation" comes in . . .

Below, I have shaded in the shape at the bottom of our Shape . . . I have also shaded in the same shape at two other points where they touch the Shape.

By using one of the alternative shapes, I can make two different Shapes that are also tessellations.

Try it yourself with one (or more) of the other shapes in the Shape . . .

Next week: how to transform multiple-Shape tessellations!!

*You can check out LoveBug Studios here . . .

As always, thank you for reading my blog . . . please feel free to leave a comment or follow this blog!!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

2010-01-31T00:39:00.000-06:00

Today, January 31st, is my birthday . . . this year, I am the same age as the year I was born, '55.

Years ago, someone told me about one's "Golden Birthday," the year they're the same age as the date they were born (in my case, thirty-one). What is my current birthday called?? Platinum?? Diamond??

So, in honor of my birthday, I'm gonna have a giveaway: I'm gonna give you my address.
Raymond K. Houston
2017-A Ann Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63104

Now, send me something . . . I've already given you two suggestions.

(Gotcha!! LOL!!)

Laissez les bon temps roullez!!*

2010-01-27T09:35:00.001-06:00

In several weeks, Ed and I will board the City of New Orleans and ride the rails on our way to Mardi Gras . . . Ed and I have attended Mardi Gras every year but one since Hurricane Katrina. It's been interesting and encouraging to see how much of the city has come back each year we go. And, riding the train has been a relaxing way to travel. This year, we got a roomette, with two facing seats next to a window, and berths (with pillows and blankets) at night. There's nothing like being rocked to sleep by the motion of the train . . .

Last year, I made our host, Johnny, a small wall hanging. It was the first "Mardi Gras Men" quilt . . . I liked it so much that I made another (larger) one when we got back home. I had a bit of fabric left over, so I cut it up and made kits which I gave to my dad to practice on . . . the idea was to improve his efficiency. Well, he did nothing with it, and I took the kits back over the holidays.

Originally, I was gonna make a series of small wall hangings for a possible quilt show. Then, I was gonna make a table runner for Johnny in New Orleans. First, I had to sew the squares . . . that took about a week to make 120 squares (60 each, right- and left-handed squares). This past week, I've made a series of 12" x 48" table runners (and one 18" x 48" table runner).

What do you think of 'em??

I broke two of my own rules in making these: do not work without a plan; and, do not color your tiles beforehand.

The design tiles are very versatile: no matter which way you put 'em together, you'll always get a pattern. This is why I call 'em "shape-driven patterns." This is why I recommend not coloring the tiles until you've arranged 'em. Otherwise, you're left with "color-driven patterns" and you miss out on the full effect of the arrangement of tiles.

Since all my squares were gonna be colored the same, I gave up trying to plan beforehand . . . all I did was try out different arrangements, knowing the colors wouldn't necessarily define any shapes. The exceptions were when I used mirror-image squares as well as regular ones.

(*Let the good times roll!!)

As always, thank you for reading my blog . . . please feel free to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

A day of joy and sadness . . .

2010-01-18T20:28:00.000-06:00

I'll leave it to you to determine which is which . . .

Today, we celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday . . . since I work for the City, I had the day off; my partner, Ed, did not.

I got an email from a local quilt guild wanting me to speak at their meeting . . . tenatively, I'll speak to them in April.

I realized I missed the deadline (Saturday) to enter my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt in the 3rd annual "Naughti Gras," an erotic art show

In a way, "Mardi Gras Men" is a homo-erotic quilt: each man has his head between another man's legs; he's leaning on the calf of the man in front of him; and, his other arm is reaching back as though to tell the guy, "don't go anywhere 'cause you're next!!" Of course, each man also has someone else's head between his legs, he's being leaned on by a second man, and a third is telling him, "don't go anywhere 'cause you're next!!" An orgy in fabric (and me on the outside looking in, sigh).

Despite the housework I shoulda done on my day off, I sat at my sewing machine, sewing squares for my next project: a series of table runners in Mardi Gras colors (more about that in the days to come).

Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican/Episcopal), where Ed and I attend, celebrated the day with readings of Martin Luther King's letter, sermons, etc. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. . . . I volunteered to read from 4:00 to 4:30. I read one short piece and one lengthy sermon about "Love Your Enemies" (it was quite moving) . . . I actually read from about 4:15 to 5:00!!

Then, it was time to pick Ed up from work, swing by to get his new glasses, then home to fix fettucine alfredo with asparagus and shrimp for dinner.

Ed went off to his writing class, and I went back to my studio . . . I got several emails from my friends Greg and Ebony with "wonderfully wacky" ideas. They inspired me!!

(p.s. . . . I found out my checking account is overdrawn, and payday isn't until Thursday.)

"Winter Blues" part 4.999 . . .

2010-01-12T08:45:00.000-06:00

Yes, at long last, the quilt top is complete!! . . . I've stapled the quilt to the wall in my office, so I can look at it every day. One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn free-motion quilting . . . this quilt will be one of the first ones (after I've had plenty of practice, that is)!!

Here's a detail picture of a single pinwheel . . .

I used two different blacks in this quilt: one with gold stars and spots for the background, and one with dark gray spots for the border . . . this pic shows how the border extends into the body of the quilt, mimicking the arms of the pinwheels, which extend into the border of the quilt. I'd like to think of this as an "integrated border," the border is an integral component of the design, and not just four strips of fabric slapped on . . .

I still have plenty of leftover blue fabrics already cut out . . . except for the dark and light blue fabrics I bought to supplement the supply, there aren't enough pieces in any given color to make complete pinwheels. I'm thinking of "mixing it up" with the fabrics, maintaining the light/dark contrast between the pinwheels, but giving the pinwheels more of a "scrappy" look. I'm thinking of changing the background/border to yellow/orange/red instead of black (which I'll use to make a couple of dark pinwheels in the body of the quilt. What do you think of that??

As always, thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

"Leaders" need "followers," don't they??

2010-01-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

My friend, Greg, over at Flat Out Quilting has started chronicling his first quilt using my design tiles, templates, and muslin foundations.

He praised me so much that I blushed (and, do YOU know how hard it is to get red out of a black man??), LOL!!

Go check him out!! And, if you use my design tiles in a project, please let me know . . . I'd love to send people to see YOUR work, too!!

Thank you for reading and/or following this blog . . .

"Winter Blues" part 4.66

2010-01-08T09:37:00.001-06:00

I took a vacation day yesterday to take our car to the shop . . . we'd gotten snow overnight, and the highways taking Ed to work weren't in the best condition. The worst weather day of the year, and I'm out in it to get our car repaired!! (The weather was bad enough that the courts closed for the day, which meant I took a vacation day for nothing!!)

I spent the day, sewing . . . this is as deep as the quilt will get. From here on out, it'll only get wider (three more columns of pinwheels, plus border.

Hopefully, I can finish it over the weekend . . . start on a new project next week!!

"Winter Blues," part 4.45

2010-01-06T08:13:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I called in sick (actually, I told the office manager Monday afternoon that I wouldn't be in) . . . I had an entire day of Nyquil, megadoses of vitamin C, echinacea, liquids, and a little quilting. I added another column on the right and another row on the bottom. I have 3.5 columns and 1.5 rows to go!!

"Winter Blues," part 4.26

2010-01-04T08:02:00.000-06:00

After I finished sewing the squares for the "Winter Blues" quilt, I was eager to start assembling the blocks . . .

This is as far as I got, this weekend . . .

This represents 26% of the entire quilt . . . there's more to come.

A tutorial on foundation piecing . . .

2010-01-03T10:50:00.000-06:00

Today's post was written by a guest blogger . . . ME!!

Years ago, on another blog (long-abandoned), I wrote a lengthy post outlining the steps I took prepping, and sewing a foundation-pieced square. Rather than "reinvent the wheel," I decided to link to that post from that one.

Foundation piecing, part one . . .

Foundation piecing, part two . . .

I hope these are of help to you . . .

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment, and "follow this blog!!"

Stencils, pencils, muslin, and stamps . . .

2010-01-02T23:52:00.000-06:00

Years ago, when I first started experimenting with foundation piecing on muslin, I was faced with the problem of how to transfer the design onto the muslin square. I chose to make a stencil of the design.

First, I printed the design on card stock.

Then, I used spray adhesive to glue the card stock to the back (smooth side) of a sheet of medium-grit sandpaper. I chose sandpaper because it would grab the muslin and not slide around.

Next, I cut openings in the design using a rotary cutter and acrylic ruler as shown below. Note that I cut the openings shy of the places where two or more lines connected. This space was 1/4" to 1/2". These "uncut" places are called bridges and hold the stencil together. Otherwise, the entire stencil would just fall apart. The opening were wide enough to accommodate a pencil lead. I used a mechanical pencil, so the thickness of the lead would be consistent.

I made two of these stencils: one was a mirror-image of the other.

Now for the muslin . . .

I wanted the muslin to be stable, so I starched it. I used liquid starch, available at the grocery store alongside the laundy soap (it comes scented and unscented). I experimented with different strengths. Full strength was too strong: the muslin was more like cardboard, and sent up little puffs of powdered starch while sewing. I settled for a solution of liquid starch and water somewhere between "light" and "medium."

I could stencil a muslin square in a couple of minutes . . . it was the sort of activity I could do in front of the TV (back when I watched TV, that is). There were only two drawbacks: stencilling several hundred muslin squares added up, timewise; and, I realized that the longer I used the stencil the less accurate it became. The pencil lead was slowly wearing away the sides of the stencil openings, making them larger . . . uh oh.

Now what??

I decided to go with a rubber stamp. A local company would make one for me from artwork I provided. They assured me that the stamp would be a photographic reproduction of my artwork, but the resulting stamp was larger than I expected. Since I didn't remember measuring my artwork, I couldn't say for sure that the fault was theirs.

I used a small, shallow cookie sheet with a sheet of felt as a stamp pad. I bought some indelible fabric ink and tried the stamp. The ink was thin (like water). Good thing the muslin squares were starched; the ink bled through the fabric, making the muslin squares reversible. But, the ink had a tendency to wick outwards, making thick lines . . . not good, but acceptable. The ink gave off noxious fumes, too. I could stamp muslin squares in a fraction of the time, but I wasn't pleased with the overall outcome.

I abandoned the rubber stamp and its smelly ink.

Recently, I decided to give it another try. This time, I DID measure my artwork . . . the resulting stamps came out smaller than my artwork.

I decided to use them anyway . . . as long as I was using them solely, and not trying to use other sized blocks, what did it matter?? I also found a supply of foam rubber to use as stamp pad and a better, slightly thicker ink. The ink still bled through the starched muslin, but it wicked outward much less (and didn't smell as bad, either). These stamps should last indefinitely (which makes it worth the investment).

I'm still getting the hang of stamping . . . sometimes, the lines don't show up as well as I'd like. I got a fabric pen to perform a little "quality control" on the possible rejects.

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment, and "follow this blog"!!

"Winter Blues" part 3.5

2010-01-02T04:00:00.001-06:00

When I last posted about this project, I left you with a pic of the piles of cut fabric on my worktable . . .

There are two reasons why this turned out to be a good thing: the final quilt will have alternating pinwheels in light and dark blue. Arranging the piles like this let me see what's next to what.

The second reason I liked this arrangement of piles is that each pinwheel block has elements of the surrounding pinwheels within it. Having alternating piles of pieces on the table helped when it came to piecing the squares. I could easily see what fabrics appear above, below, and to the sides of any given pinwheel.

Of course, that was the middle of November . . . then, "life got in the way" and I did nothing with the pieces.

On Christmas Day, I started piecing the squares. I needed 140 of 'em for the body of the quilt. With only a week left in the old year, I pieced up a storm . . . I managed to sew 60 squares over that weekend.

During the week, I continued to sew squares. I pushed to finish sewing the squares before year's end, if possible. About two-thirds of the way, I discovered a piecing mistake I'd consistently made. Now, there was no way I was gonna rip out all that stitching, so I changed the design "on the fly" as it were (twice, even). I'm eager (and curious) to see what the changes will bring. I'm not even gonna tell ya what they are . . . when I'm finished with the quilt, we'll see 'em together. The changes may be too subtle to be noticed, but we'll see.

Now, after a week of hard sewing, I'm pleased to say that I finished sewing all the squares for the body of the quilt . . . 140 squares, in all. I'll need another 52 squares for the pieced border, but for the moment, I'm not gonna worry about the border (though there are gonna be changes there, as well).

When I cut the fabric, I cut ALL the fabric, knowing that I'd have some leftovers . . . not enough to make full pinwheels, though. These are the leftover pieces. The dark and light blue fabrics in the upper row were the fabrics I bought to supplement the fabrics in the swap; there's more than enough of those pieces to make complete one-color pinwheels. The dark and light blue fabrics in the lower row are "fabric swap" leftovers. There are not enough pieces to make complete pinwheels. What I have in mind is to arrange them by value and use them to make "scrappy" pinwheels, alternating with solid pinwheels (as well as alternating light/dark). But, I have other plans in mind for THAT quilt (like a yellow/orange/red background).

Thank you for reading this blog . . . leave a comment, and "follow this blog"!!

"Pulling a Madonna . . ."

2010-01-02T01:09:00.000-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I thank all of you for reading my blog this year past. I wish you and yours a happy, healthy, and creative year to come.

As for the title of this post, no, I'm not spending millions to adopt children in a faraway land . . . this is the year I "reinvent" myself. I have a list of resolutions a mile long (and the resolve to implement them). Quilting, Writing, Health, Finances, Household, and Fun Stuff are the major categories (with more to add as I see fit). This time next year should see me leaner (physically), and meaner (not really, but it rhymes). I dunno if I"ll blog about it here, or start a new one to track my progress . . . I DO intend to start a new blog this year cataloging the NGQ tile patterns.

As for THIS blog, there are some neat things coming up (and, I'm not talking about losing my lunch): I've finished the squares for my "Winter Blues" quilt, and will be posting pics of my progress; I'll be posting tutorials on making sandpaper stencils, how to foundation piece, and my views on color theory; I'll be writing the definitive reasons (with examples) of why you shouldn't color your design tiles before arranging them (and just this evening, I got an idea of a card game using the tiles). Once I figure it out, I'll be adding widgets to the blog to make it easier to follow/subscribe to this blog (one of my resolutions is to be more diligent about posting).

I hope you're ready . . . I am!!

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. If YOU figure it out, follow this blog!!

"Winter Blues" part 3.0

2009-12-30T01:37:00.001-06:00

Well, the pieces of my "Winter Blues" quilt sat on my worktable for too long . . . for far too long.

On Christmas Day, I started sewing . . . I decided I'd prefer to have this last project of 2009 done this year (what's left of it).

I need 168 squares for the quilt (and border) . . . as of this moment, I have 80 squares completed.

I WILL finish the top by the end of the week, and the end of the year (at least, that's my intention).

(Pics to come . . .)

One reason why Santa may not make it to your house tonight . . .

2009-12-24T09:54:00.000-06:00

. . . he's been busted.

My name is Raymond, and I'm a paralegal in Child Support Enforcement.

My beat is dead-beat dads . . . Father Christmas tops the list, this time of year. He's got a rap sheet a mile long. Did I say "rap" sheet"?? (That's "Yo, Yo, Yo," not "Ho, Ho, Ho" as originally thought.)

A number of our clients fingered the fat man as "my baby's daddy." He's gotta learn that toys once a year does not count as child support.

Mike and Rick apprehended the perp on the roof, just as he was about to slide down the chimney. They wrestled him to the roof; his accomplices flew away (eight tiny reindeer, pulling a minature sleigh). They confiscated a list headed "Naughty Girls" from him; too bad he wasn't packing the list of "Naughty Boys" (I wanted a peek at that one, myself).

Mrs. Clause is trying to raise his bail . . . I guess this isn't the first time.

Just kidding, folks . . . the "Santa in Chains" is the office decoration down the hall as part of the office-wide Holiday Decorations contest. Last year, I hung my Men of Biblical Proportions "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" quilt on the wall and renamed it, "May Christmas Revelers Burn in Hell!!" I was going for the "Scrooge" award (I didn't win it).

. . . and I heard him exclaim, ere he rode out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!"

Pumpkin Juice

2009-12-18T06:37:00.001-06:00

Here's a pic of my last quilt, "Pumpkin Juice." I finished it just before Halloween with the last of the "Fall" fabric swap on the QuiltGuy Yahoo! group. I donated it to my church, Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican/Episcopal), for a fundraising benefit for the choir (I sing baritone/bass). I didn't have time to photograph it before donating it, so I asked a fellow chorister to take a pic of it at the event.

Two months later, and I just got the pic . . . freelancers: you can't live with 'em, you can't shoot 'em, LOL!!

If the pattern looks familiar, it's the same one I'm gonna use for my "Winter Blues" quilt (which is pretty much as you last saw it in earlier posts). I was "getting a feel for it" this time around. With all the elapsed time, I'm gonna have to "feel" all over again!!

This 36" square quilt raised $200 at auction, btw . . .

Genesis of a design tile . . .

2009-12-06T07:22:00.000-06:00

About 5-6 years ago, I sat down with graph paper, pencil, and ruler to design a new quilt block. I had three requirements: it had to have fourfold rotation; it had to extend past the confines of a 4-patch block; and, all the patches had to be identical.

First, I drew a 2x2 grid, and divided the sides into thirds with little tick marks:

Next, I drew two lines in one of the squares. Since this block would have fourfold rotation, I drew the same two lines in the remaining three squares, rotating the lines 90 degrees in each. The block now had four arms, ending at the outer edges of the block:

Next, I drew four more squares next to the truncated arms and drew my original two lines in each (remember, each patch has to be identical):

Now what??

I drew another pair of diagonal lines, leading from the original pair of lines to an adjacent side of the square (and added the same lines to my original four squares). The block was still incomplete, because the arms still ended at the outer edges of the block:

Finally, I drew four more squares next to the truncated arms and drew all the lines I'd drawn so far in each of them:

Looking at my progress so far, there was only one place left for me to draw a line. At this point, there was a line beginning or ending at each of the tick marks I had drawn originally.

All the squares were identical; all the lines connected with the lines in the adjacent squares; and, look at the shapes!! I added some more squares and drew the same lines in them.

My design tile was born (though I didn't realize it at the time) . . .

Please excuse my absence . . .

2009-12-01T17:46:00.000-06:00

If you've been following my blog, you've probably noticed there's been nothing to follow . . .

Last you heard from me, I was preparing to start sewing my "Winter Blues" quilt . . .

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from a woman in the U.K. asking about my Quilt University class. She had even contacted Carol Miller, the Dean of QU, asking about my class. THEN, I got an email from Carol Miller, asking about my class.

(A year ago, I told Carol I was revising the class . . . then, I decided it would make a better book than a class, and worked on self-publishing "Beyond Symmetry: A New Perspective." After my Chicagoland '09 Tour, I started working on a 2nd edition of the book . . . a class was the last thing on my mind.)

These past several weeks, I've been working on the Quilt University class. I've added examples showing how I color the patterns; I've added a new section on linear patterns (borders); and, I've fleshed out the section on designing your own tiles. Whereas the book was only 48 pages, this class is well over 70 pages (and counting)!!

I hope to wrap it up sometime this week, and send it on its way to Carol . . . then, I can get back to my "Winter Blues" quilt, and a series of Mardi Gras-colored quilts for a show early next year. Of course, the QU class will make a perfect 2nd edition of my book, so I'm looking to self-publish it. I even have an idea I'm planning to launch in the new year, so keep your eyes open.

As always, thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a message and follow this blog!!

"Winter Blues" part 2.5

2009-11-19T06:42:00.000-06:00

Below are pictures of my proposed layout of the pinwheels in "Winter Blues." I will alternate light and dark blues. In the foreground of the first pic are the additional fabrics for the stars, squares, and border (and extra light and dark blue pinwheel fabric). Laying out the cut pieces like this allows me to keep track of which pinwheels touch (and, aids in piecing).

Now, to clean and oil my sewing machine . . . I should start sewing this weekend.

My next post will give a step-by-step tutorial on the foundation piecing method I use.

As always, thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

"Winter Blues" part 2

2009-11-17T01:06:00.000-06:00

It took me a week, but I managed to cut all the pieces of my new quilt from about 21 yards of fabric (29 fat quarters, 3.5 yds. light blue, 3.5 yds. dark blue, 3.5 yds. black with gold stars, and 3.5 yds. black with gray spots), but who's counting??

Here's where I would have inserted pics of the piles of cut fabric if my !@#$%^&*!!! camera hadn't crapped out on me!! I can see 'em just fine on the display screen; I can see 'em to download to my computer; but, I just can't open any of the files to edit, etc., etc., etc. . . . no doubt, you've seen pics of cut fabrics before (but, I wanted to show you MINE!!). Crap or no, the images uploaded just fine, GRRRRR (and, not in a good way).

These are the dark blues (though some seem more blue-green) . . .

These are most of the fabrics cut . . .

I even have pics of the two fabrics I decided NOT to use in this quilt (they didn't say "winter" to me, and they were most definitely NOT blue). They were among the fabrics of the swap, but why should someone else's fabric choices be reflected in MY quilt?? If it'll make those persons feel better, they can choose to not use my fabric in their quilts (but, my fabric IS most definitely blue, and they'll be hard-pressed to know which one is mine).

These are the two blacks I'm using (believe me they're black, even though they look more navy in this pic) . . .

These are the light blues, prior to cutting . . .

These are stacks of cut dark blues. Each of these stacks were cut from a single fat quarter, except for the group in the upper left corner of the pic . . . that's about 3.5 yrds. of fabric I bought to "fill in." Each fat quarter stack will make 1.5 pinwheels (though I'm only using complete pinwheels in this quilt). I have a total of 28 different fabrics to make 35 pinwheels, so I bought extra dark and light fabric to make up the difference. I may go for a "scrappy" look with whatever's left.

Thank you for reading . . . as always, please leave a comment, and follow this blog!!

"Winter Blues" part 1.5

2009-11-12T17:57:00.000-06:00

I've been busy cutting fabric for the new quilt . . . while cutting, I've been busy thinking, too. I decided to make a change (or two) to the design.

I generally don't add borders to my quilts. Somewhere along the way, I read one should add borders to a quilt "to set it apart from the wall." Well, with my quilts, I think if you can't tell where the quilt ends and the wall begins, why do you need my quilt on your wall anyway?? LOL!!

This time, I decided to add a black border around the quilt for the sole purpose of extending the pinwheel arms into it. I didn't like the "chopped off" quality of the outer pinwheels; I wanted complete pinwheels throughout. This is what I came up with.

I liked the look . . . what do you think of it??

A little later, I thought "if my quilt extends into the border, why can't the border extend into the quilt"?? I tried something else . . . in the drawing below, I used gray for the border to show how it mimics the pinwheel arms, extending into the body of the quilt. It also helps to define the shape of the stars.

Actually, this may be more subtle than the drawing shows: my actual fabric for the stars and squares is a black with gold stars and dots printed on it . . . I bought black fabric with mulberry spots printed on it for the border. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Either way, I DO like the idea of a border that incorporates elements of the overall design in it. I think I'll call this an "integrated" border because of its mimicry as well as outlining shapes in the pattern. Cool idea, huh??

As always, thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment and follow this blog!!

"Winter Blues" part 1

2009-11-08T04:05:00.000-06:00

Below is my initial drawing for my "Winter Blues" quilt. There are two other drawings: one has white for the background instead of black (but, I've already bought the black fabric); the other has orange for the background (but, it looked more Fall than Winter). I've made this quilt several times before: once in shades of purple; and, once in shades of brown (both are on my website under "Gallery."

This is an easy quilt to make . . . it only requires the same same square colored two different ways as shown below. I believe the number of colorways is the key to the level of difficulty for my patterns: many of my patterns require the same square colored four different ways, while my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt required NINE different colorways!!

Now, I have fifteen light blue fat quarters and thirteen dark blue fat quarters for this quilt from the fabric swap. I bought an additional 3.5 yards of light and dark blue fabric and a black fabric with gold stars for the background (pics to come). I know I can get 1.5 pinwheel from each fat quarter (and a lot more from the additional yardage).

I'm thinking about cutting the fabric into strips wide enough to accommodate my templates; then, cut the fabric into my desired shapes; then, shuffle the stacks so I don't use two of the same fabrics in any given square. Then, with muslin foundations at the ready, I'll sew the fabric to the foundations (reshuffling the stacks of pieces as needed). After I've sewn all the squares, I'll sort 'em by colorway. Since the pattern has a light/dark contrast going on, I'm not gonna be too concerned if the pinwheels aren't entirely the same fabric (there will be more pinwheels from the additional yardage, anyway). There are several fabrics that don't match my perception of "blue" but I'm gonna use 'em anyway; I hope to diffuse their lack of "blueness" by spreading 'em out.

Next up: the fabrics.

Thank you for reading: please feel free to leave a comment and follow this blog!!

National "Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day"

2009-11-07T16:51:00.000-06:00

Who woulda thought??

For about 6 months, Ed and I have gone to a local microbrewery for "Peek-a-Brew" on Wednesday evening. There's a small keg of different homebrews from the brewmaster for tasting. It's generally tasty, and sometimes "exotic" but we've been enjoying it.

Today was National "Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day" (but, I'd already told you that) . . . Ed and I got to the brewery around 8:30 a.m. and there were five guys there already: Jerrod, the assistant brewmaster; Scott, who was milling his grain; Grant; and, John and Chris, two brewing brothers. A little later, Kelly showed up, and Mike arrived and set up his equipment. More people showed up as the morning went on. There was even a reporter from a local online neighborhood newsletter, interviewing the brewers (and wannabees, too).

Ed and I learned a lot about the process of homebrewing (and got to sample the various homebrews from the other brewers).

Noon came before we knew it, LOL!! Ed and I went to load the car for a trip to an Episcopal church two hours south of St. Louis tomorrow: mobile bookstore. We had some lunch, then back to the brewery (but the brewing was nearly done). We sampled some more, then home for a nap (but, wouldn't you??).

We may take up a new hobby . . .

Time to make something pretty . . . Winter Blues

2009-11-07T07:14:00.000-06:00

I'm a member of the Yahoo! QuiltGuy group . . . recently, I participated in a fabric swap with the theme of "Winter Blues," but with the Chicago '09 tour and writing and all, I haven't had a chance to do any sewing.

That's gonna change . . .

I've decided on an original pattern, with an eye toward self-publishing (I just can't get away from writing, can I??). I've also decided to post the project as a "work-in-progress" here on my blog, from initial drawing to cutting fabric to constructing the foundation squares to assembling the top to quilting to binding.

Keep your eyes peeled . . . better yet, leave your eyes alone and peel me a grape!!

Thank you for reading . . . leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Other happenings . . .

2009-11-03T00:01:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted . . . sorry. Here's a few other things that have been happening . . .

After work, I shipped three quilts to Paducah for a "photo shoot." They've been selected to accompany the article about me in Joe Cunningham's book about male quilters, due out next spring I think. Here's what they look like:

Last week, I stopped by my photographer's gallery. Ten years ago, I gave a small quilt show around Mardi Gras. I asked if I could do one next year around Mardi Gras. He said, "sure!!" Guess I'd best get to sewing, huh??

I took part in a fabric swap on the Yahoo! QuiltGuy group with the theme "Winter Blues." I got 29 fat quarters in shades of blue. I'll be starting a new quilt with them, with an eye toward making it my first published pattern. Keep your eyes peeled . . .

Thank you for reading my blog, and please leave a comment and follow this blog!!

Happy Anniversary to us!!

2009-11-02T23:52:00.000-06:00

This evening, over dinner, I realized that it was our anniversary. Ed and I have been together 25 years. The reason it nearly slipped by us is that we don't celebrate a date per se . . . our anniversary is the first Monday in November (like Election Day is the first Tuesday in November).

Giveaway?? . . . no, I'm afraid there'll be no giveaway. I gave away my heart 25 years ago, LOL!! I'll leave you to pick over the parts and pieces that are left (but bear in mind, they're 25 years older, too).

After dinner, we went to bed: Ed promptly fell asleep and I lay listening to classical music on the radio, composing this post in my head, until I fell asleep too. Four hours later, we woke up (it was only 11:00 p.m.). We celebrated with a dish of Edy's Swiss Orange (orange sherbet with dark chocolate chips) and Milano cookies.

E-Book on Sale!!

2009-10-19T11:23:00.000-05:00

As you've read in earlier posts, my Chicagoland tour was a great success . . . I debuted my book, "Beyond Symmetry: A New Perspective," and sold over half of the books I had printed.

Well, I've got good news, bad news, and more good news . . .

Because of the ideas and suggestions from the participants in the design workshops, I'm working on a second edition of my book . . . my original book is now outdated . . . because so many of you have been patiently waiting for this book, I'm offering an electronic version at half price (only $10).

Here's how it works:
If you're interested in buying a copy of the e-book, please email me at raymondkhouston@gmail.com, with "E-Book on Sale!!" in the Subject line . . . I will email you a PayPal invoice . . . once I've received confirmation that you've paid for the book, I will email you the .pdf file.

I'm currently waiting for PayPal to confirm that I am indeed the owner of my bank account. Once they're satisfied, I'll begin sending out invoices (hopefully by Wednesday).

Thank you for your patience . . .

Thank you for reading my blog . . . please leave a comment and follow me!!

The Rockford/Hinsdale '09 Tour is over!! . . . (was it all a dream??)

2009-10-13T21:01:00.000-05:00

My feelings of euphoria faded fast when I woke up this morning in front of the computer terminal in the office--a pile of files beside me, and a line of people with requests in front of me (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration . . . the people in front of me at least asked, "how was the vacation??" before they asked, "could you do this for me??" and handed me another file).

Did I dream it all??

Last Thursday, I repacked my rental and drove north to Willowbrook, IL, a southwestern suburb of Chicago. I had time to check into my hotel, shower and change before leaving for the Hinsdale Community House for my lecture. I got a little turned around, but managed to arrive five minutes before the guild meeting started. A woman pointed me toward the stage at the front of the crowded room (there were about 200 women there), and pointed to the digital projector. "You can just plug your laptop into here," she said.

Um, er, I don't own a laptop, and I have a carousel of slides. "Don't you have a slide projector??" I asked. "I'll go ask," she said and bustled off.

I set up my display stand with my "Mardi Gras Men" quilt on it . . . I set up my framed magazine articles . . . I laid out my business cards . . . I unpacked my "trunk show" quilts . . . all in plain view of my expectant audience.

My contact, Terri, came up to me and said, "they don't have a slide projector . . . can you punt??" I said, "I guess I'll have to, won't I??" I sat at the foot of the stage while the guild conducted their business meeting . . . my mind was working a mile a minute. When Terri introduced me, she said that through no fault of my own I'd be unable to show my slides (there were audible moans).

I took the stage, opened my slide carousel, and held up the first slide. "This is my first quilt," I said, "and here is my third," holding up another slide. There were chuckles in the audience. I replace the slides in my carousel. Slides?? Slides?? We don't need no stinkin' slides!! I talked off-the-cuff and off-the-top-of-my-head for 45 minutes about how I started sewing; how I taught my father to sew; how I started quilting; and, I told stories about some of the quilts I've made (punctuated with, "I wish you could've seen THIS quilt!!"). I answered questions as I went along (instead of saving 'em for the end). I had volunteers hold up and parade the quilts I'd brought with me. Then, I dropped the bombshell--all the quilts had been made from the same set of templates, which segued into a talk about my design system and construction techniques. Several volunteers passed out my free design tiles, but ran out (I'm gonna have to send 'em some more before their next meeting). At some point, I asked if they'd heard enough of me, and the audience burst into an emphatic NO!! LOL!!

After my talk, I sold plenty of books, templates, and muslin foundations; many also took my business card, eager to get online and see what all the fuss was about!! Many agreed it was the best slide show they'd never seen!! I was in my element!! It was a great night!!

I had a small class on Friday morning for the design workshop. We had a fun day of coming up with new patterns. I had my copier with me, so the students could make copies and color 'em in. They were eager for Saturday's construction workshop. I asked Terri if she knew how many had signed up for Saturday and she told me 14. FOURTEEN?? I didn't have near enough muslin foundations for 'em all. Friday night found me in my hotel room, stamping muslin foundations to beat the band!!

I had a pattern in mind for the students who hadn't taken the design workshop. Students bought templates and muslin foundations and cleaned out my inventory. I walked 'em through my sandpaper-back templates: how to cut 'em apart and how to use 'em to cut their fabric. Everyone fell to cutting out fabric, some quicker than others. I walked 'em through the muslin foundations: where to start and how to sew 'em. Several students who hadn't taken the design class HAD taken the free design tiles at the lecture and came prepared with their own designs. For the rest of the students, I had to bite my tongue--once they sewed enough of the squares, they started designing patterns that were not the pattern I had in mind. I gave them free reign.

I couldn't have been happier as I drove back to St. Louis . . . not because I was leaving Hinsdale behind, but because of the great people I had the pleasure to work with, and the great input, feedback, suggestions, and ideas we all shared. My only regret was not having another guild lined up for NEXT weekend, LOL!! As usual, my partner, Ed, was glad to have me back home (Rambo and Sambo could have cared less) . . .

Thank you for reading . . . please leave a comment and follow this blog (there's more to come) . . .