Announcing “Pink Petal Party”

We have a name! A few weeks ago, I asked readers of my blog to help me pick a name for my pink and green quilt, which I am going to be marketing as a block-of-the-month pattern. I got so many wonderful names, and it was hard to pick. After narrowing the list down to the 20 or so I liked best, I googled the remainder to find the most original one (I didn’t want to name it something that was already widely used).

Meg, a reader and “stitch chick” from California, suggested “Petal Party.” I‘m going to add “Pink” to that. When you're doing alliteration, you might as well go all the way, right? Check out the beautiful work Meg is doing on her blog, Craft Adventures of Stitch Chick.

As soon as I finish my current block-of-the-month patterns, “Bohemian Bouquet,” I'll start working on and releasing the patterns for “Pink Petal Party.” The block above is ”Poppies.”

Thanks, Meg!

The Four Pieces Project

This is the latest project I've been working on for the Pandoras, a group of four art quilters dedicated to thinking (and working) "outside of the box." For this project, we all chose a 4x6" photo, blew it up by 400% to approximately 16x24", and then cut it into four pieces about the same size (in my case, 6x16"). Each person in the group got a different piece.

I took a photo of ferns a few years ago while visiting my best friend in New Hampshire, and thought using it would be a great exercise in value and texture. (You can see my slice of the photo below, above my quilted piece.) It is made with fused fabric, painted with Jacquard textile medium to pull out the highlights and shadows, then stitched. I used a pillowcase turn, because a binding would be distracting once I get the other pieces back and put the whole thing together. I'm probably going to stitch them together on the back, and then either mount them on canvas, or just hang them up using a rod.

The Pandoras decided that we would stick with the basic colors (in this case, green) but we were free to use what ever techniques and materials we wanted. Creativity is encouraged, but we have to stick with the outlines of the basic image fairly closely, because all the pieces have to go back together, like a puzzle, at the end. All of my pieces are due back at our May 12 meeting, and I can't wait to see them! For the next three months, we will work on the other members' photos.



Here's a detail shot:

Jolly Jabber Idol Contest

My entry in the Jolly Jabber Idol Contest ("The Tulip Bag") won second place! A darling "Layer Cake dress" by Shannon Ford won first place, and Carol Lewis' "Mary Engelbreit Bib Apron" won third place. Hope you had fun looking at the entries and voting.

Musings

I’ve been meaning to post about something that happened about a month ago, the day I made this sketch. I have not really sketched anything for months, if not years. I keep reading about how important it is to have a sketchbook, and I believe it is important, but I just don't seem to find (or make) the time to sketch. So at one of my younger daughter’s soccer practices, I took some paper and a felt-tip pen and sketched the townhouses and trees in the distance. The results were not too great, but I was having fun.

As practice was finishing up, my older daughter came over to look at what I was doing, and gasped in surprise. “Oh my gosh, mama, you can draw like an artist!” she exclaimed. I was dumbfounded. Somehow, this crude sketch was more “art” to her than my work hanging on our walls at home. She sees me working everyday. I call myself an artist (although this is a fairly recent development that has taken place in the last few years). Yet my daughter only really thought of me as an artist when I drew on paper.

“How is this sketch more ‘art’ than my art quilts?” I asked my daughter, and she couldn’t find a good answer. I spent a few minutes explaining that art was not defined by the medium, nor limited to something done on paper.

On the Studio Art Quilt Associates Yahoo group, there has been much discussion lately on whether we should still be calling ourselves "art quilters" due to the stereotype that still exists that quilters are grannies making bedcoverings. There is talk of redefining our image, rebranding, marketing approaches.

When I designed my business cards, I chose to call myself a "quilt artist," and I still think of myself that way, because I started out as a quilter. I suspect that if I had started out by being educated as an artist, worked in another medium and moved to fabric and thread, I would call myself a fiber or textile artist today.

And while I can understand why so many of us are fussing about this issue, there's another part of me that thinks, "who cares?" I am reminded of the bizarre incident where the musician named Prince decided he was renaming himself using an unpronounceable symbol he created. Newspapers and magazines did not have this symbol to print in stories about him, and radio and TV announcers could not pronounce the name, and were forced to refer to him as "the artist formerly known as Prince." How absurd! Even if we call ourselves something different, does that change who we are, what we do, or what we create? Maybe. Maybe not.

In my mind, what we need to do is to continue to educate people that works made in fabric, threads and fibers can be art, to enter and participate in the art world as well as in the quilt world (which has mostly supported us), and to keep on keeping on...

I'm a 2009 Quilting Arts Calendar Finalist!

I'm a finalist in the 2009 Quilting Arts Calendar competition! I am feeling very thrilled and honored tonight.

According to Pokey Bolton, editor of Quilting Arts magazine, they received 243 entries from around the globe. The theme was “Celebrating Home.” I entered two pieces, and “Home Planet” made the first cut. I can’t show it to you yet, because all the works are kept under wraps until a later date.

My quilt “The Bluest Eye” was a finalist and Judges’ Choice winner last year.

From here, the piece goes to Quilting Arts headquarters, where the judges will decide on the 13 pieces to grace the cover and monthly pages of the calendar.

Participating in this competition has been a really good experience for me, since it encouraged me to try new techniques and materials that I might not have tried otherwise. And working this small (12" x 12") is fun.

Here’s the list of all of the 2009 calendar finalists. Congratulations to all of them, and to everyone who participated.

Linda Aavedal
Natalya Aikens (both quilts)
Judy Alexander
Christine Alexiou
Polly Bean (“Home: Nest is Best!”)
Marianne Bettinger
Donna Clauer
Susan Conaway
Michelle Dobrin (both quilts)
Janet Davis
Cait Gordon
Tone Haugen-Cogburn
Linda Johnson
Susan B. Knapp (“Home Planet”)
Marisa Landa-Love
Susan Mayfield
Sylvia Naylor (both quilts)
Deb Nichol
Wen Redmond (both quilts)
Linda Weinstein

Please vote!

FatQuarterShop.com, a fabulous online fabric and pattern company, is having a competition, and my pattern “The Tulip Bag” is an entry in it. My friend Grace also has an entry, a darling table topper quilt called ”Simply Spring.”

The idea was to create a craft or quilt using the Simplicity fabric line by 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics. There’s some mighty cute stuff here!

You can see all the entries and vote on their blog, the Jolly Jabber, here: http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/

Bohemian Bouquet Block #4

Here’s Bohemian Bouquet Block #4. It is a thistle to celebrate my Scottish heritage (we have McKee and McDanel in my family, and my husband has Armstrong on his side, and he claims to be related to Robert Burns, Scotland's favorite son). My version (needleturn on a black background) is above. My friend DeLane’s version is below, on a cream background. She fused her appliqué and did satin stitch around it. I love the fabric she used for the big leaves; it makes them look even more prickly! Patterns for the entire Mystery Block of the Month series are available on my website, www.bluemoonriver.com. (Each pattern is released on the 15h of the month.)

Woo-hoo!

I found out tonight that “Harbinger’s Hope” won Best of Show - Large Quilt, Best Use of Color, and a blue ribbon in the Professional Art Quilt category at the 2008 Charlotte Quilters Guild show!

The show is wonderful, and there are lots of great vendors, so if you live in the area, don't miss it. It’s at the Fletcher School, 8500 Sardis Road, Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 from 9 to 6, and Sunday April 13 from noon to 4.

Help me name this quilt!

Help! I'm at a loss to name this quilt! Send me your ideas. If I pick your name, I'll send you two of my patterns; you can check them out on my website, www.bluemoonriver.com. (The block-of-the-month patterns all count as separate patterns.)

This quilt features 16 applique blocks done in shades of pink and green. I'm doing needleturn applique, but it could be done with fusibles. It is all done except for the borders, which have similar applique to the sashings, and will be scalloped. After I finish the borders, I'm going to hand quilt it. I'm hoping to have it all done later this year so I can offer the patterns in 2009.

So put your thinking caps on and send me your best ideas (in the comments section), please! I'll decide on the winning name and post the winner here on May 1, 2008.

Nudity in art

As artists, I think we all need to speak out when art is censored. Here is a case I found particularly objectionable, especially since I am trained as a journalist and taught that the right to free expression (whether in words or images) is critical to the democratic process.

The Virginian-Pilot, the newspaper in Norfolk, Va., holds a competition for high school art students each year. This year, the student artist originally named first place did not receive her prize. It was taken away by newspaper executives who rejected two winners chosen by the first jurors because the work involved nudity.

The first judge selected Nancy "Beth" Reid's painting, a self portrait in which she is crouching, unclothed, but with no private parts visible.

The second judge selected a ceramic sculpture of a pregnant nude torso by Jasmine Childs. It was also rejected.

Local art lovers are raising $1,000 to give to Reid to make up for her lost prize winnings.

You can read the full story here, on The Virginian-Pilot's website:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/art-lovers-raise-money-teen-who-lost-student-gallery-title

And you can leave a comment after you read the story.

Denver National Quilt Festival acceptance

I got news earlier this week that my quilt “Harbinger’s Hope” was juried into the Denver National Quilt Festival, to be held May 1-4, 2008. I'm not going to be able to attend the Denver show, so if anyone out there is going, please write afterward and let me know how you liked the show. I attended Mancuso's Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival earlier this year, and it was wonderful. Don't miss the Fiber Force exhibit curated by Lisa Chipetine of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA); it features cutting-edge fiber art, and is a knockout!

For more information on Fiber Force: A Futuristic Approach, go to Lisa Chipetine's website.

I've made the decision to go for the first time to Quilt Market in Portland this May. Quilt Market is a trade show for those who make and sell quilting products and services. I'm hoping to learn more about how to market my quilt patterns, and about general trends in the quilting world. It will also be an opportunity to meet other designers, quilt shop owners, fabric company reps, etc. I realized yesterday that I am about to publish my 25th quilt pattern!

Violets and poems

One of the benefits of not using a chemical weed control product on our yard (which at this point is mostly weeds and moss!) is the lovely violets that are carpeting some of the shadier spots in the yard this spring. As a child, I used to pick bouquets like this one for my mother. So violets always make me think of her, and of these poems by Emily Dickinson, one of her favorite poets (and mine, too!)



Spring is the Period
Express from God.
Among the other seasons
Himself abide,

But during March and April
None stir abroad
Without a cordial interview
With God.

– Emily Dickinson



I held a jewel in my fingers —
And went to sleep —
The day was warm, and winds were prosy —
I said “’Twill keep” —

I woke — and chid my honest fingers —
The Gem was gone —
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own —

— Emily Dickinson

Greta’s Bohemian Bouquet

My friend Greta McCrea is doing my Bohemian Bouquet patterns in completely different colors than I used, and it is fabulous! She showed me her blocks last night, and today sent me this photo of two of them completed. It is so fun for me to see how people are making my designs their own through their color choices.

If you are making Bohemian Bouquet and have photos, please send them to me via e-mail and I will try to post them here. To see my blocks (done on a black background) and my friend DeLane’s blocks (done on a cream background), click here
and here and here.

Tulip Bag

Here is my newest creation, the Tulip Bag! I used the Simplicity fabric line by 3 Sisters for Moda. The bag is 14" high, and is lined, with lots of pockets inside. I'm going to use mine as a purse, but it is big enough to use for a tote if you prefer. The front also has a large pocket perfect for your keys, so they don’t get lost inside.

There’s a Bag-E-Bottoms acrylic base (size D) in the bottom, so it sits flat and doesn’t tip over. (If you don’t know about Bag-E-Bottoms’ great products, visit www.bag-e-bottoms.com.) I use them in all my fabric bags, and they are fabulous!

The Tulip Bag pattern will also include directions for the little cell phone carrier, which can loop around the purse strap (there’s Velcro under the button on the front, so it’s easy to attach and detach it).

The pattern will be available on my website, www.bluemoonriver.com, by the end of March.

Quilting featured on CBS’s “Sunday Morning”

So did you see "Sunday Morning" on CBS today? They did a segment on the International Quilt Festival, and interviewed Karey Bresenhan, the director of the festival, and Ricky Tims.

There was only a short bit from the indomitable Bresenahn, one of quilting’s grande dames, and a kind, generous and amazing woman. Too bad. Most of the segment focused on Ricky Tims in his Colorado studio, and footage of him meeting and greeting and teaching at Festival. He did a good job of explaining how quilting is changing, and Karey pointed out that quilting is nearly a 4 billion dollar industry annually. Plus nice footage of the festival, and of the gorgeous quilts, both traditional and contemporary.


There was some of the same old, ”Wow! These quilts don’t look anything like what grandma used to make!” which I suppose is to be expected. Overall, it was a great segment that I think will interest many and open some eyes. All good things for quilting!

I do have to admit that the feminist in me was a bit put off that CBS found one of the handful of prominent quilters who are male to feature. I take pride that it is primarily woman who have taken quilting from craft to fine art, whether they make traditional quilts or art quilts.

Don't get me wrong... I think it is fabulous that men are quilting, too. The more, the merrier! And as a journalist, I recognize that a man who wins awards for quilting is more newsworthy than a woman who does, because he is more rare. But gosh, they didn't even use Hollis Chatelain's name when they talked about and showed her "Hope for our World,” which won Best of Show and $10,000 in Festival 2007! Ouch!

Bohemian Bouquet Block #3

Here’s Bohemian Bouquet Block #3! My version (needleturn on a black background) is above. My friend DeLane’s version is below, on a cream background. She fused her appliqué and did satin stitch around it. (And yes, hers is reversed!)Patterns for the entire Mystery Block of the Month series will be available on my website, www.bluemoonriver.com. (Each pattern is released on the 15h of the month.)

Cool shoes

It’s almost spring, and lately I’ve had a yen for some cool arty shoes. I saw some fun Converse One Star tennies at Target a few days ago, but none were in my colors, so I bought a pair in white and painted them. I mixed some Jacquard Textile Medium in sky blue and grass green and slathered it on. Now I’m using some varigated Perle cotton to embroider them.

“What are those?” my pre-teen daughter asked yesterday, with a fair amount of disdain in her voice, after spotting them on my cutting table where I’d left them to dry. “You are so weird!”

Yep.

Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio

I'm feeling very honored this morning because I just found out that one of my favorite bloggers, Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio, just tagged me (again)!

Kathy has a wonderful contemporary style that shines through in everything she designs, and she is a really nice person, too. The only reason I didn't tag her was that she'd already been tagged, and I thought I had to pick new people to tag!

Kathy's blog is a wonderful and insiring read, full of beautiful photos, quilts, knitting, sewing and craft ideas.

She also has an Etsy shop where you can buy her handmade goodies (be warned; they sell out fast!) She sells her patterns on her website.

Thanks, Kathy!

Free pattern coming soon!

I have designed a block for a free quilt pattern called “Exuberance” offered through Cotton Spice. The quilt has a combination of applique and pieced blocks; mine is a foundaton-pieced block (number 13), and will be available on the Cotton Spice website later this month. The quilt has 12 applique setting triangles and 13 pieced blocks, all by different designers.

If you don't know about Cotton Spice, you should! It is a website offering an online quarterly magazine for quilters that includes regular columns, a quick project, quilt fiction and quilt designs complete with instructions and templates. Here is “Exuberance” so far (my block will be number 13):

Tag! I’m it!

I've been tagged by appliqué legend Kay MacKenzie of Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs! (She's the author of lots of books and patterns for quilters who appliqué, including her newest book, Teapots 2 to Appliqué. )

This cyber game of tag is a great way for all of us who blog (or just read blogs) to connect in a new way. Once you are tagged, you are supposed to post seven things about yourself, and tag seven other blogs.

So, here goes...

Seven things you might not know about me:

1. I am also a graphic designer, and design corporate newsletters, logos and such under my other company, Black Cat Graphics.



2. The black cat is my personal symbol, since I was born on Halloween. I have had several black cats in my life. The current black cat – well, mostly black... she has been licking her fur off lately and is rather splotchy – is named Trouble.



I also have a dog, Sophie, and another cat, Max, who is a real character and likes to pose for the camera. Max is shown below riding the vacuum cleaner. Yes, really.



3. I have a compound mitre saw and I'm not afraid to use it. Since my husband and I purchased our 1916 home about 11 years ago, I've discovered that I love to renovate. (When I'm not absorbed in a quilting project, that is.) Here's my house, all decked out for Halloween:



4. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and have lived in 7 states (Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia) and one foreign country (Scotland, where I spent my junior year of college at the University of St. Andrews).

5. I have an affinity with trees. One of my biggest pet peeves is ignorant people who top their trees. (Topping is improperly pruning a tree by crudely chopping off the end of the branches. It is ugly and it promotes insect damage and disease.) I wish our trees today could be like those in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, and come to life to punish the bad guys ... I'd pay good money to see the trees take a chain saw to the evil tree company men who top them!

Here’s a view of the maple tree outside my bedroom window on a rare snowy morning:



5. I love the Dave Matthews Band (my husband and I have seen them nine times so far). I love the music, and I love the message (enjoy life and all its gifts, live in peace).



6. My mom is also a quilter, and she is my biggest fan. When she and my dad gave me a new sewing machine for my fortieth birthday a few years ago, it changed my quilts and my life. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) It is so wonderful to be able to share a hobby with your mom. Here's a photo of my mother as a baby, with her mother, Dorothy (who was a wonderful seamstress and also made quilts!)




7. My quilt “The Bluest Eye” is now hanging at Barack Obama's Ohio headquarters. I met a fascinating woman and art quilt collector, Michele Hardman, at the 2007 SAQA conference, and she asked if she could exhbit the quilt at Obama's headquarters in Chicago, where she works. She hung the quilt in Ohio about a month ago when she helped open Obama's Ohio headquarters in Columbus. I love Obama’s optimism, eloquence and energy.




Seven great bloggers you should know:

1. Sarah Ann Smith is a wonderful art quilter from Camden, Maine, who will be teaching at the AQS show in Paducah this spring. Her art will also grace the cover of the book Quilting with Beads, to be released in May or June 2008.

2. Melinda Schwakhofer is an American fiber artist living in England. Some of her blog is about cooking, some about quilting, and some about her life in the English countryside. I enjoy her beautiful photos of England, and her thoughtful musings on a wide variety of subjects.

3. Grace Howes is a good friend who started out as a quilter but is now a full-fledged fiber artist. She grew up in the Bahamas, has a wonderfully hearty laugh and an upbeat attitude that is infectious.

4. Ellen Guerrant is a wonderful, warm, deep-thinking fiber artist who lives in the Charlotte area. I enjoy reading her thoughts on art and many other subjects on her blog.

5. You may already recognize Lyric Kinard from her wonderful series of articles in Quilting Arts magazine. Lyric lives in North Carolina, and I met her at the regional SAQA conference in October 2007. She is teaching several classes at this year's International Quilt Festival in Houston.

6. Janine Matthews is a fiber artist, quilt teacher and designer from New South Wales, Australia. She makes beautiful jewelry, too. I met her online through the QuiltArt listserve. I enjoy her blog because it has a big personality (like her!) and because it gives me a little taste of Australia each time I visit.

7. Melanie Testa is a cutting-edge fiber artist whose work I love. You may have read her articles in Quilting Arts magazine (the latest is on soy wax layered with monoprinting), or for her widely exhibited work. She is writing a book about all the processes she uses in her art.

Spring Classes

I have finally scheduled some classes at Quilters Loft Company for April and May. These are classes I have taught before, back by popular demand:





Creative Surface Design Workshop
Saturday, April 19, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
OR
Saturday, May 3,
10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Come and learn how to create interesting textures and colors in your quilts, using fabric paints, Shiva paintstiks, Angelina fibers, Tyvek, rubber stamps, Wonder Under (used not as a fusible, but as a paint transfer material) and more. All supplies are supplied in a kit available from me at class for $10. This is a no-stress, fun playtime.

Beginning Machine Quilting
Tuesday, April 8, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

If you are a beginning quilter who wants to learn how to machine quilt your tops, this is the class for you. You'll learn the basics of how to prepare the quilt sandwich by layering and basting, how to free-motion quilt several motifs, and lots of tips about threads, needles, thread tension, and batting to ensure good results.





Supply lists for both classes will be at Quilters Loft next week.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

I attended the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, Virginia this weekend, and took a great advanced machine quilting class from Linda Fiedler (shown above with some of her work). I took this class because I wanted to make cleaner starts and stops in my machine thread painting and machine quilting. I also wanted to work on my stitch length consistency. In addition to learning these things, I came home with a different way of thinking about how to quilt my traditional quilts and my art quilts, and convinced that I needed to design and use more original quilting motifs in my work.

Linda's quilts feature foreground motifs she quilts in thread colors that contrast with the backgrounds, and in heavier thread (or several layers of thread) to make them really stand out. Then she goes back in and quilts more subtle background motifs. These layers make her quilts great fun to view up close for a long time.

She has a very placid, positive demeanor, and did a great job of gently encouraging those in our group who felt uncertain or afraid to take on some of the more advanced motifs (including the two friends, Grace and DeLane, I coerced into taking the class with me!)

We also got great information about threads, needles, tension and batting.

The Festival itself was great; lots of quilts, lots of vendors, and several wonderful exhibits. My favorite was Fiber Force: A Futuristic Approach, curated by Lisa Chipetine. This exhibit featured avante-garde art quilts that were among the most innovative and thought-provoking in the entire Festival.

More appliqué questions

When I designed and stitched “Heart’s Desire” I actually used hand quilting thread for the needleturn appliqué. I've learned a lot since then! Now, I either use silk thread or a fine cotton embroidery thread, and my stitches are barely visible. (“Heart’s Desire” was offered through Keepsake Quilting’s catalog about a year ago; patterns are available on my website now.)

A student in one of my needleturn appliqué classes wrote me a few days ago with a bunch of questions. After writing her back, I figured they were worth sharing.

Q. Do you have any suggestions on keeping some of my pieces from being wonky after sewing them down? Mainly it’s on the smaller pieces. I thought about trying some basting glue like Roxanne’s. I also have areas of flat where it should look more round. I don’t seem to notice until after I’m finished with the piece for some reason.

A. I didn't notice any wonkyness when I saw your work ... are you using enough pins? You might try that, or you could try basting the pieces down with thread before you sew them down for real. Some people swear by that. (To me, it takes too much time.)

About the areas that are straight when they should be round: Only take a few stitches, then use your needle to push the fabric under or sweep it under, then take a few more stitches. I don't think I ever take more than two or three stitches without adjusting the fabric. And keep a close eye on the pencil line, making sure that it is turned under so it doesn't show.

Q. Have you heard anything on the Aurifil thread for hand appliqué? I’ve been looking into it … The Aurifl is that Egyptian long staple 2 ply cotton from Italy and I’ve seen many good comments about it on the internet. It’s also supposed to be very good for regular machine piecework so you don’t have to worry about doing a scant ¼” seam. Very thin but wonderful quality.

A. I have used Aurifil Wool threads for wool appliqué (Sue Spargo recommends it and sells their wool threads on her website, www.suespargo.com), but not their cotton ones. After your question, I did a little research, and it made me want to try it for needleturn. Their U.S. headquarters is in Chicago, and there are several online sources (just do a Google search for Aurifil). I always try to buy from local quilt shops first (we have to keep them in business so we can feed our fabric addictions, don't we?), but if they don't carry a product I need, I go online.

The things I have read on other quilters' blogs have all been good. I think the "Aurifil 50 Mako' Cotton" is what you'd want for needleturn applique. The 50 in the name is the weight. One supplier (Red Rock Threads) describes it as "ideal for machine quilting, detailed machine embroidery, red work, serging and lace design."

There is a 200 MT minispool and a 1.300 MT spool, and a 5.900 MT long-arm size; all come on orange spool holders. On www.redrockthreads.com, their 1422-yard spool size (I think this is what Aurifil calls the 1.300 MT spool) costs $8.95 and the cone (probably what Aurifil calls the long-arm size) costs $32.95. So it is pricey. But it sounds like it goes a long way (more fits on a bobbin than with other threads).

Q. I’d like to keep using a 100% cotton thread but I’m not real happy with the Mettler embroidery [thread]. Seems to fray easy. I have used silk thread in the past but now I’m concerned about it cutting through the cotton fibers according to the New Applique Sampler book. They don’t recommend silk or polyester because they are so much stronger than cotton. We take such a tiny bite into the appliqué pieces and now it’s got me wondering about using it anymore.

A. You've had problems with Mettler embroidery thread fraying? How long of a piece of thread are you cutting? The only time this has happened to me is when I cut a very long thread (like about three feet!). Most books recommend no more than 12-18 inches. If it is too long, then it may shred, because so much stress is put on it from each time you pull it through the fabric.

Also, have you tried Thread Heaven? This is a tiny blue box of clearish stuff (a synthetic chemical compound) that is a fantastic thread conditioner. It makes your thread less knotty and more slippery, so it glides through the fabric more easily. I find that it also makes it easier to thread through a small eye of a needle.

To address your concerns about using silk thread: I have heard some quilters say that silk or polyester "cuts through" the weaker cotton threads in fabric. But there are many, many more quilters who use silk thread (and have used it for a long time), and who swear by it. I have not been able to find any studies or research to support the claim that silk thread will cut through the applique. Have you?

YLI’s website states, “Our silk threads are the choice of some of the most accomplished designers throughout the world, and our thread and colors are specified in many books and instructions.”

Award-winning quilter Diane Gaudynski actually uses YLI #100 silk as a machine quilting thread. Pat Campbell and Elly Sienkiewicz, world-famous needleturn appliquers, use silk thread for hand needleturn. All three have YLI silk thread collections they endorse.

So I don’t worry about using silk thread. I love the way it sinks into the cotton fibers and almost disappears. I also find it to be very strong, and easy to use once treated with Thread Heaven. Without this product, it does tend to twist and kink up. It seems expensive, but once you realize how many yards are on a spool, it is not much more than cotton. I find that three or four shades of gray work on most fabrics, so I don't have to buy all the colors.

Second block of “Bohemian Bouquet”

This is the second block in my mystery block-of-the-month quilt “Bohemian Bouquet.” It is 14" square. Mail order patterns went out today, and fabric kits for the block are available at Quilters Loft Company in Mooresville tomorrow. The next block will be revealed, and the pattern available, on March 15. There are a total of 11 patterns to this quilt.

My friend DeLane Rosenau is doing this quilt in different colors, and using fused appliqué with satin stitch. Here is her block. Isn't it great?



If you don’t live in Mooresville and want to purchase patterns, you can buy them on my website, www.bluemoonriver.com, and I’ll ship a new block to you each month for 11 months. The cost is $55 for all 11, plus $1 shipping per month, for a grand total of $66.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

When I was a kid, I always made valentines instead of buying them. At my house, my mom (a home economics teacher before she was a full-time mom and homemaker) got out the paper doilies and the red and pink construction paper, and we went to town. Nowadays, it seems like most kids buy valentines. But not here at the Knapp household! It’s handmade for us, all the way!

This year, we made paper flowers, using pencils as the stems. The flowers are actually three hearts, cut out and glued at the points. After punching a hole with a standard size hole punch, you can slide the pencil through it and it stays without gluing to the pencil. Then, use a tiny piece of double-sided tape to secure the leaf, upon which is written a little Valentine’s Day greeting. Together, they make a glorious bouquet!

I have to give Martha Stewart her due: This idea is hers, but she used lollipops instead of pencils, and I'm not sure if she did leaves.

I decided to go the low-sugar option (the kids always come home with about a month’s supply of sugar on holidays!) and bought pink pencils. After my kids were completely done making these, my seven-year-0ld asked, “So where are we going to attach the candy?” and was completely horrified when I told her that the pencil was the treat. So I caved. They are headed for school today with the pencil flower valentines … and lollipops.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful day filled with love! Susan

Discharging

Some friends and I tried discharging (using a bleaching agent to remove color from fabric) today. We tried “SoftScrub Gel With Bleach” and Jacquard Discharge Paste. On some of the fabrics, one product worked great and the other didn't. On one piece of fabric, neither worked, and we later wondered if it was cotton, or a synthetic. With the discharge paste, you let it dry, then steam it heavily with an iron before the discharging takes place. You have to do this outside, because the fumes are bad. With the SoftScrub, the discharging starts quickly, and did not seem to be speeded along by the steam.

Fabrics react differently depending on how they were dyed. For example, some black fabrics discharged yellow-orange, some almost white, and some pink. You also have to use something to stop the chemical reaction and keep the bleach from eating through the fabric. We used Chlor Out, a product used to eliminate chlorine in fishtanks.

We used rubber stamps, freezer paper stencils, free-hand painting, and also some old cast-iron water meter covers that I have been collecting. (I made friends with some of the guys at our town’s water department, and asked them to bring me the old covers as they replace them with new ones. The ones I have received are chipped and unusable as water meter covers, but they make very cool stamps and door stops!) The first photo in this post, showing stamping with a water meter cover, was done on Robert Kaufman Kona cotton with the SoftScrub.

I also discharged a coat I bought on sale for $10 at my favorite discount store, Target, this week. It was a black-ish gray canvas with a corduroy collar, and the collar discharged an orangy-pink. I used the water meter cover to stamp it first, then drizzled the SoftScrub on top. After it was washed and dried, I went back in with Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow and painted in some of the discharged areas. If you look closely, you can see the word "WATER" in reverse all over it. I'm not sure if it is done yet; I may go back and do more later. Here it is now:



Here's another stamp done with discharge paste on one of the water meter covers on blue fabric:


I also tried dribbling the SoftScrub right from the bottle onto the fabric (black Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton) and got some beautiful gradations from bronze to gold within the drips:


I just love this piece Alisan printed on a piece of cheap red fabric she bought at my least favorite discount store. She got some beautiful oranges and yellows:

And she got some beautiful periwinkle blues on this purple fabric:


A more subtle over-all effect with a rubber stamp, on the same fabric:

DeLane got this cool effect on a fabric that had a black print on top of a bluish base:

If you are a total control freak, this technique is probably not for you. You roll the dice and you take your chances. Of course, once you know a little bit about how the fabric will react, you can plan a bit. This was really fun, and worth further experimentation.