C&T Publishing Blog » Staff Pick

Quilt for a friend

Teresa Stroin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:45:30 +0000

We had an occasion to commemorate—Carolyn was retiring from C&T! Well, not retiring exactly; more like transitioning into retirement. She went from being a very-valued full-time employee to a very-valued freelancer. But we were going to miss seeing her in the office every day. She’d worked for C&T for 13 years and was a great resource as she knew everything a technical editor needed to know, plus some. Carolyn is the type of person who is not only a co-worker but a friend, too.

So what do we do at C&T when someone retires? (Or has a baby? Or gets married?) We make them a quilt, of course!

Here’s Carolyn with the quilt after we presented it to her last week.

Oh, and just for fun, here’s my dog, Ollie, loving the quilt, too. I had the quilt at home to sew the label on and thought I’d snap a photo.

In case you get the urge to make a quilt like this one—it’s from the book Super Simple Jelly Roll Quilts with Alex Anderson and Liz Aneloski.

Hey, I finished 2 quilting projects!

Teresa Stroin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:00:43 +0000

Maybe you read my previous post about my PhDs (Projects half Done). Well, I’m here to say that I finished something!

A few of the folks at C&T have been making table runners from the book French Braid Quilts by Jane Hardy Miller. They inspired me to give it a try. Above is the one I’m giving to my mom for Christmas. (Mom—don’t look!) All the fabrics but one are from different C&T give-aways over the past year or two. All from Kaufman, too.

I even made the runner reversible so Mom can use it year-round if she so chooses.

I was on a roll so I took advantage of the momentum and made 2 table runners. Here’s the one I made for myself.

It’s not too late for you to make one! With the easy-to-follow directions in the book, these runners each take about a day to whip up and can be made from scraps that you have around.

Study the value (relative lightness/darkness) of your fabrics carefully. That is one of the keys to success. To help you determine value, find a way to “take the color” out of your fabrics: use a black-and-white camera setting, photocopy the fabrics in black and white, squint, or try a red or green value finder (like the one inside our Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool). When you look at fabric in shades of grey, it’s easier to see value. Arrange your fabrics from lightest to darkest, cut your strips, and you’re on your way.

Happy Holidays!

Recuperating

Teresa Stroin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:00:41 +0000

When you can't use your sewing machine...switch to hand work!

I recently had foot surgery and wasn’t able to leave the couch for 3 weeks. Fortunately I had a crazy quilt block made in a class with Allie Aller. I got hold of two books: Allie Aller’s Crazy Quilting and Judith Baker Montano’s Embroidery and Crazy Quilt Stitch Tool. Then I started embroidering and embellishing. It was so much fun. I used the threads and beads I had on hand, leftovers from other projects.

Buttonhole

Buttonhole wheel

Cretan

Detached fly

Detached chain

Palestrina knot

Fly and French knots

Whipped double running stitch

Chain zigzag

Broderie perse butterfly with beads

I’m guessing I’ll make this into a pillow but I still plan to keep adding more stitches!

How much thread do you need to quilt?

Lynn Koolish — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:00:55 +0000

I am personally a big fan of Superior Threads. I like their products and I like the people who run the company. While reading their June 2011 newsletter, I came across the following article. I have never seen this information presented so succinctly, that I wanted to pass it on (reprinted with permission).

I also highly recommend that you sign up for their monthly email newsletter, it has great educational information, good deals on thread, and a “superior joke” every month from Bob Purcell.

We often are asked, “How much thread does it take to quilt a quilt?” It depends on the size of the quilt and the type of quilting to be done. Everyone’s technique is different, so the following are only averages. Of course it is possible to use much more or much less thread. These numbers are for the top thread only.

—————– Light Quilting – Medium Quilting – Heavy Quilting
Lap/Crib Size: 200 yds…………………400 yds……………………….600 yds
Twin Size: 400 yds………………..800 yds……………………..1200 yds
Queen Size: 600 yds………………..1000 yds…………………….1600 yds
King Size: 800 yds………………..1400 yds…………………….2000 yds

Used with permission from Bob Purcell—www.superiorthreads.com

Now that you know how much thread you’ll need, take a look at these great books and many more, for quilting patterns and techniques!

Do quilters journal?

Teresa Stroin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:00:41 +0000

Yes, quilters use journals to capture lots of information. Fabric samples, sketches of ideas for future quilts, and quilting designs are three things that come to mind. Being a technical editor, I also use mine for math. Whenever I come up with an idea for my next quilt, I graph it out to scale, then calculate the piece sizes and yardages in my journal. That way everything is in one place instead of on lots of little slips of paper floating around my studio.

C&T makes the best journals that I’ve found. It has graph paper in the back and hand-made sketching paper in the front. I’ve been using one of these journals for my quilt-making life for some time now and thought I’d share a couple of pages from it.

These are examples of some feather quilting designs that I’ve been doodling. I find the better I can draw something, the easier I can free-motion quilt it. (And as you can see, I need all the practice I can get!)

It’s easy to work out potential glitches in construction ahead of time with the graph paper that is in the back of the journal. Eventually, I chose a different layout from the two that I graphed below at the right for my “I Spy” quilt. The visual helped me decide.

Here’s fabric from the latest quilt I’m working on. I took this with me to my local fabric store this weekend and added some green to the mix!

Other uses for a quilting journal: It’s a great tool to have with you at all times for whenever inspiration strikes. Documenting an idea in a journal keeps it from being forgotten. One quilter I know keeps track of all the different machine settings she uses for a project, whether it is needle postion, stitch length and type, or necessary tension changes. With all the wonderful threads on the market, remember to write down the settings you changed to get a smooth stitch from each different thread.

Finally, a journal can be a quilt-making bucket list: that is a list of all the techniques, processes, and projects that have caught your eye and you want to try. I know I’ve got a list a mile long!

Monday is give-away day!

fast2sew™ Ultimate Seam Guide

Lynn Koolish — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:31:07 +0000

Sewing diagonal seam for binding

I put the new fast2sew™ Ultimate Seam Guide on my machine this weekend to try it out. I like that it makes it really easy to sew a nice 1/4″ seam–not always easy on my machine.

But I love the way it makes is super easy to sew on the diagonal, like when you are making binding or half-square triangle blocks.

I don’t think I’ll have it on my machine all the time, so I punched a little hole in one corner, so I can keep it and the cutout pinned to my design wall, right by my sewing machine.

Try it for yourself, and you’ll see that it really does make things fast 2 sew!

Mixed media journal cover

Sandy Peterson — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:12:29 +0000

One of my favorite books is Rebekah Meier‘s Fabric Art Collage—40+ Mixed Media Techniques. The pages just feel so luxurious when I thumb through, and there are many mixed-media techniques that call to me.

A while ago, our Education & Communications Manager, Lisa Fulmer, held a class to teach us newbies how to get our fingers into some of the mixed media techniques Rebekah features in her book. I made the cover of a blank board book into a real work of art and now the book is a journal!

I started with a 8″ x 8″ Black Ready-to-Go!^® Blank Board Book, and added a layer of Lutradur^®. On top of that I placed a foil sheet, and then a layer of regular fast2fuse on top. I colored the Lutradur and fast2fuse using Liquitex^®soft body acrylicpaints. A sequin waste background stencil made an interesting pattern of repeated circles on top. A heat gun melted the edges of the Lutradur to make a lace effect and I used the Walnut Hollow Creative Textile Tool to add divots and stamping textures around the edges of the fast2fuse.

my finished board book cover

Liquitex^® Matte Gel medium was used to attach each layer to the one below. Placing the layered book cover under a heavy book while it dried ensured it would be flat when dry.

This all was accomplished in little time—it was less than 1 hour. So easy, and fun to do. Now I need to get organized and decorate the interior pages and the back cover to complete the project. One of these days…..

Sandy

Bright Lights for Baby Lucy

Teresa Stroin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:38:56 +0000

I’m at an age . . . . it’s not my friends who are having babies but my friends’ daughters! It’s wonderful. Recently, Marcie’s daughter, Amy, had her first child—a beautiful daughter named Lucy. To give you some perspective, Amy used to babysit for my children, who are now both in college!

The name Lucy means “light.” So I picked bright fabrics and named this quilt “Bright Lights for Lucy.” The block pattern is really an old one, Cracker, but it reminds me of little lanterns swaying in the wind.

An interesting traditional use of this block is for a baby shower. All the attendees sign the quilt in the little white rectangles.

I was inspired to make this quilt by “Baby Crackers” in Alex Anderson’s Baby Quilts with Love. Here’s Alex’s version.

Thanks, Alex, for the beautiful inspiration!

Quick and easy thank-you cards

Amy Marson, Publisher — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:00:23 +0000

After the holidays, I like to send thank-you notes for the Christmas gifts I have received. I am a bit old-fashioned…believing that a card in the mail is the best way to express appreciation for a thoughtful gift. Since I am a motivated crafter, I wanted to make my own cards. I used a pack of Carol Doak’s Keepsake Frame Cards for the first time and they are beautiful. The cards and envelopes feel glorious because they are handmade paper and the texture is soft and rich.

To make the centerpiece, I used a 3″x 5″ piece of wool felt for the background with about 8″ of variegated wool yarn for the tree to whip up a set of four cards. I squiggled the yarn around until it looked like a tree and then used my Clover needlefelting tool to attach it to the background. Each card took about two minutes to make. Quick, easy and in the mail!

December Creative Troupe Round-Up

Alyice Edrich — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:00:27 +0000

Did Santa give you lots of goodies for making arts and crafts this year? Perhaps these projects from our Creative Troupe members can help you turn those supplies into fun projects to give as gifts or decorate your home or office.

A. Carole Grant has been creating amazing journals this month. I really love the way bird lays on top of the subtle background colors of this handcrafted paperbag book. I wonder if she used one of her favorite things, TAP® Transfer Artist Paper in this project? This is just one of the beautiful, artistic treasures you can find on her site.

Kim Sherrod shares a tutorial for creating a last-minute gift while watching your favorite movie with the person you’re giving it to! This sweet table-topper was pieced and quilted in just one evening. What a lovely way to spend the evening together.

Ann Marie shares a quick and easy craft you can do with your kids the next time the snow takes over the roads and closes the schools. These colorfully abstract rocks are created with gesso and used crayons. Parental supervision is definitely needed since the rocks must be hot prior to coloring, but I think anyone between the ages of five and ten would get a huge kick out of this project.

Annie Yu shares how using letter stamps can enhance a collage piece—they can even add a strong contrast to your own handwriting. I really like the simplicity of this piece, don’t you? The colors are subtle while the black letters really pop.

Cyn Cagen needed a last-minute gift for her daughter’s boyfriend, so she embellished a wood frame from the Dollar Store using clear tape, metal tape, and alcohol inks. I think it’s just a brilliant way to use supplies you have on hand to create something gorgeous.

Have you joined the Creative Troupe yet? It’s free. It’s fun. And it only takes a moment to sign up!

Click here for all the details about membership. Then check out the member blog links here for even more artsy inspiration.