On folding quilts…

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I have, for years, folded my quilts on the diagonal and have been pleased with the results. But there are many experienced quilters who feel strongly about folding on the straight of grain and today Bonnie Browning, Executive Show Director for AQS, has convinced me that folding on the straight has merit.

As we looked at quilts in the show (AQS Lancaster 2018), it was easy to see which quilts had been folded on the diagonal because those folds were very obvious. Bonnie said that pressing and/or steaming will usually make straight creases disappear, but it doesn’t help diagonal creases. She added that the weight of quilts folded ‘straight’ helps the creases fade after they are hung.

Quilts hanging in shows are relatively new and crisp, which may have something to do with it. They may not have been folded often, in either direction. I fold my quilts a lot (into and out of suitcases) and never in quite the same way.  That softens them up which may be why I don’t see hard diagonal creases in my quilts.

Bonnie also said that diagonal folding can cause the outer edges of the quilt to stretch a bit. That got my attention because I think that is probably true. I have only seen a tiny bit of give in my outer edges, but even a little is too much.

My quilts at home are rolled onto 2″ PVC pipes covered with sleeves cut from cotton fabric — that flattens creases between foldings. Any quilt that stays folded all the time is likely to show creases, no matter which way it is folded. If quilts are stacked on top of each other, that will add to the problem.

I visited with Sue Patton who always washes her quilts (washer and dryer) and reports that creases are not an issue for her. That’s a thought, right? For we hand appliquérs, it’s a scary thought, but still. I’m going to carefully choose some quilts to test this out on. In fact, I have two to share in a blog post, soon.

Sue also recommended the Tuscany Cotton Wool batting from Hobbs for its softness and possible non-crease-worthiness. I’m going to try it, soon I hope.

So, chime in with your thoughts and experiences. It’s how we all learn new things!

I’ll leave you with this photo that has nothing at all to do with the topic at hand, but I like it: Lancaster, in the snow.

Lancaster-Snow-2018

Show and Tell

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You all are finishing things right and left! Judie Fleming made a Magical Unicorn 18” pillow for her granddaughter. Judie reports that her granddaughter really likes it, as do I!

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I have to admit that I never thought of making the block into a pillow, but that is a fantastic idea! I asked Judie how she got the pattern that small and it turns out that she enlarged the color photo and traced the pattern from that. Quilters are such creative thinkers!

Thank you, Judie, for sharing!

Show and Tell

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Laurie Schierer took my Pick-Up Sticks class at the Hands All Around Quilt Guild a couple of weeks ago in Normal, IL. Not only is her quilt amazing, it is also quilted and bound! Way to go, Laurie! (The Pick-Up Sticks pattern is in my book, The Quilter’s Practical Guide to Color.)

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During the design part of this class, we put together student blocks in a variety of sets. It occurred to me that you could add triangles to the blocks to form a center (wonky) square. Laurie ran with that idea and I’m so glad she did!

Here are just a few of the other settings, combining student blocks, that we played with:

 

 

Wednesday Giveaway

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Judy Barnett is this week’s lucky winner of the Strawberry Pincushion UFO. If you want to make one, the pattern is in our book, Wool Applique the Piece O’ Cake Way.

13_06.JPGCute, right?!

StrawberryPincushion

Leave a comment/reply on this blog post to enter the drawing. A winner will be chosen by the random number generator Thursday, March 15.

Tiny Rugs & Embroidery Fun

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This is a guest post from Lorna!

A while ago, I had an idea to use the Purl & Loop Minute Weaver to make a design for my Yazzii organizer. I love beautiful thread, and this seemed like a fun way to work with it. The woven squares are sewn to a piece of dark blue wool that is then sewn to the top of my Yazzii.

I decided to just use #3 perle cotton thread (including some Painters Perles) for the loom. The squares are pretty fast to put together, and you can create different looks by switching up the colors, the size of the thread, maybe using wool thread. I made a couple of “tiny rugs” with fringe using the instructions from Jack’s (my 10-year-old) wee weaver. Here’s a picture story I made for you:

After a few tries at finger tying the knots in the fringe, I thought of using the eye of a needle. I grabbed a chenille needle that I’d been using in the weaving (from the assorted pack by Tulip) with a big eye, and it worked perfectly. Varied chenille needles worked for sewing/embroidering the squares to the wool, and later the wool to the yazzii.

Once the squares were made, I arranged them, and pinned them to the wool. Even though, or maybe because, my design was purposefully haphazard, pinning them all down helped a lot.

I embroidered with #8 perle cotton (again, including the painter’s pearl) and Judith Baker Montano’s Embroidery & Crazy Quilt Stitch Tool. Embroidery is new to me, and it was actually really easy to get rolling with the instructions. I picked a simple stitch, and went for it – my very first awkward stitches I kept. Crazy, right?! I tried different stitches, mixing it up, and at some point I thought of embroidering the squares before I attached them.

It was nice to have a project that was small enough to work on anywhere – on the couch, outside on the porch while Bear (my 5-year-old) played. And I discovered I enjoy handwork.

Gran (Becky’s mom) gave Bear the button stash that the two of them had played with when he was a toddler (he still loves to get it out and sort through them). I found some wonderful pieces, and used them as part of securely attaching the whole thing to the Yazzii. I feel like Gran would approve of her tiny puppy on the tiny rug. Altogether, a fun learning project, AND I like it enough to keep looking at it.