Feathering the Pop-Up Nest

On Saturday, after a mentorship meeting with Jane Davila, several of is stayed to clean up a small studio that we are renting as the Pop Up Fiber Artists during the Bridgeport Arts Trail, November 8-10.

This amazing group of women will be exhibiting and selling quilts, fiber arts, wall hangings, and accessories. We will be at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor of the Nest Arts Factory, 1720 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport. Mark your calendars and come see us!

I have been experimenting with hand-dying and leaf stamping. This is one of my pieces that will be for sale that weekend. It is 8"x10" and gallery mounted on stretched canvas and ready to hang.

"Tree in the Forest" for SAQA CT exhibit at the Slater Museum

This is a small art quilt that I just completed. It will be offered for sale at the Slater Museum in November in conjunction with the "Local Color" exhibit December 8, 2013 - January 14, 2014.  A portion of the sale of this item will go to the Slater Museum.

The "Local Color" opening reception will be Sunday, December 8, 2013 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Slater Memorial Museum on the campus of the Norwich Free Academy
108 Cresent Street
Norwich, CT 06360

Boxed to the Brim: Donation to 500Hats.org

Yesterday we spent a beautiful autumn day with our younger son at his college in Massachusetts. It was Family and Alumni weekend and there were all types of activities going on from student research presentations to a farm festival and a horse-drawn wagon.

Among the attractions of that region is Northampton and Webs Yarn shop. If you love wool as I do and you have never been there, it is time to plan a trip. Yesterday we managed to stop there on our way to a coffee shop around the corner.

As it would happen, Webs, as well as Northampton Wools, is collecting hats for children and adults in conjunction with the 500 Hats Project www.500hats.org . If you are a regular follower, you know I enjoy making hats too. The inital goal was to collect 500 winter hats for distribution throughout the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts. They met that first goal and have now set the second goal of 1500 hats by the end of October!

I was so inspired that I have decided to pack and ship 21 hats that I made over the last 3 years. They are all colors, two-thirds are felted wool, and about half are children's sizes.

It is not too late to send hats in. I am shipping mine to Webs, but you can also drop off at numerous yarn shops around the Springfield-Northampton area. If you have questions check the website or send an email to: warmhats@gmail.com

Spool in Time

Just finished is my donation block for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Windham Textile and History Museum in May 2014. The museum in Willimantic, Connecticut.

Willimantic is from a Native American word for "land of swift running water". The town's industrial base in 1828 was the cotton thread industry. By that year the town was home to 6 cotton factories. Willimantic was once home to the American Thread Company, which was once the largest employer in the the state, and one of the largest producers of thread in the world.

The spool is made from vintage linen. The ends of the spool are the same fabric that has been painted.  Raw edge appliqué was used to affix the label to the top of the spool. The spool was then stitched onto a piece of my own hand-dyed fabric made by using Carol R. Eaton's ice dying technique www.carolreatondesigns.com

This block along with dozens of others created by SAQA-CT members will be incorporated into the show quilt.  Check back for more information on this exhibit.

Back to the Red, White, and Blue!

Finished is the pieced backing for the RWB quilt that I posted a week or so ago.

Here it is partially laid out on my studio floor.

And here it is completed. I used leftover blocks of various shapes and sizes adding strips of similar fabric wherever need to fill in.

How to Make a Mitered Border using 3 Fabrics

Many of my early quilts featured flat strip borders that met at a 90 degree angle and often I would add borders one strip at a time to the finished quilt top. This was an effective, albeit utilitarian way to finish.

Since then I have learned to sew border strips together lengthwise first, then attach them to the quilt top using mitered corners. The result is crisp and tidy. This is the border I put on the RWB quilt in my previous post. I think you might like the result.

Steps:

1. Gather 3 fabric strips (I suggest you use three 2" x 30" strips of three different fabrics and a 12"-18" square of scrap fabric to practice and gain confidence with the technique before trying this on your next quilt).
2. Sew the three 2" strips together lengthwise. 
3. Cut 30" length into two 15" segments.
4. Press the seams to the center fabric strip on one 15" segment, and away from the center fabric on the other 15"segment 
5. Sew the 15" segments onto adjoining sides of your 12"-18" practice square. Do not sew all the way to the corner, leave about 1/4" free at end where the strips meet.
6. Fold one strip back at 45 degree angle. See photo below.
7. Fold second strip back at 45 degree angle to match. Make sure the seams of border strips are pressed in opposite directions so the strips nest. Press.
8. Carefully turn over, pin strips together.
9.  Sew on folded mark from outer edge to inner corner.
10. Open and admire your handiwork. Trim seam.
11. Repeat these steps on other corners of quilt top.

 

Step 6

 

 

Step 7

 

Step 8

 

Step 9

 

Step 10