Fabric Dolls--Episode Six: It's a Boy!

Here's my first try at making a Waldorf-type Boy Doll.  This little surfer guy is 10.5" tall.  It took me more time to make him than the 2 larger girls I made before him!

I didn't find any clothes for boy dolls his size so I had to design everything he is wearing.  I don't have any training designing patterns.  It takes me a while to fuddle through the process.  His pants were initially too short in the back despite his straight trunk and his shirt was too big and needed to be taken in.  Once I do figure out what seems to work, I go back and re-draw my patterns so it will be easier next time I have to make clothes for a doll this size. 

His sandals were the easiest part of his outfit!

The cutest? His sun-bleached thatch of hair!  Or, maybe his underpants made from a white knit with a tobogganing polar bear print!  Too funny since he is wearing board shorts! 

I've finally starting be able to get a doll's head rolled a bit tighter and I now know how to made tight ball under his head so his neck doesn't wobble. I think rolling the heads tightly enough is one of the hardest things about making these dolls. 

This little guy just makes me smile!

Spring Cleaning

What's this?

It's Spring Cleaning time.  The sewing machine has gone off to Ann's Fabrics Sewing Machine Center for it's annual spa treatment.  Andy, the long-time repairman there and now the owner of the shop, recommends annual cleaning and tune-ups for sewing machines.  Considering how much I sew and how much lint I clean out of my machine after finishing quilting a project, I know it's important.  All that fuzz really gums up the works.

A clean machine is a happy machine!

All the machine work on the "Snow Melt" quilt is done.  I still have several hours of work burying threads.  I'm considering entering it in this Spring's Blogger's Quilt Festival which runs from May 15-29, 2015.  Amy Ellis holds this on-line quilt show twice a year, during Quilt Market.  She started it in 2009 as a special event for folks not involved in the trade show!  

Anyone can enter up to 2 quilts but you do need to be a blogger.  You must write a new post about your quilt(s) during the week of the festival to link up.  All types of quilts are eligible--there are 11 categories from Art Quilt to Scrappy.  Information about entering is available at the link above.  I just found out this about this semi-annual show reading the issue 4 of the magazine MakeModern.

The show is just a month away.  If I decide to enter "Snow Melt" that's when I'll post photos the finished quilt!

Now.  Spring cleaning.  I have a small collection of fabrics from recently finished quilts which needs to go back into the stash. The sewing room could use a good tidy-up too!

I'll share some non-quilting projects next week.

Working on the "Snow Melt" Quilt

The irony that I was working on my "Snow Melt" quilt on a day when it was snowing (again!) was not lost on me!  But the the silk screened of crocus card that I made years ago, tucked into my ruler stand, added a hopeful feeling to the day!

Here are a couple of pictures of the quilt top and back.  I can't decide which I like better!  It was very windy the day I took these photos. The only place I could keep the fabric still was draped over the deck railing facing the wind.  

"Snow Melt" Quilt top

"Snow Melt" quilt back

Part of the quilting I'm doing on this project is grid work.  I've used an pastel sea green thread for most of the stitching. At the moment I'm adding diagonal quilting with yellow thread--sun beams!

My diagonal yellow stitching extends over 1/3 of the quilt.  I used painter's tape to mark the first line of diagonal quilting. Additional lines of quilting are stitched using the marking lines on my walking foot, following the first line of diagonal stitching.  The painter's tape works really well. It doesn't leave any sticky residue.  However I wouldn't put the tape on a quilt and leave it there for more than a day. I've read that masking tape will leave a residue of glue on the fabric so make sure you use only use painter's tape.

Here's a photo of diagonal quilting using painter's tape as a marking line on the "Early Birds" quilt that I just completed.

Painter's tape on the "Early Birds" quilt, ready for quilting a long diagonal line

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

"Early Birds" Low Volume Fabrics in a Modern Flying Geese Quilt

I put my "Snow Melt" quilt aside to work on a sample quilt for a class I teach at my local quilt (and yarn) shop, JP Knit & Stitch.   I had seen the Cloud 9 "YoYogi Park" fabrics designed by Heather Moore of Skinny la Minx in the shop and thought it would be fun to use them in the quilt. Genevieve, the shop owner, agreed.  

I chose the grey and white "Peeking Birds" first, then the deep teal and light aqua fabrics from the same line.  Genevieve wanted yellow in the quilt so I added the yellow from Carolyn Freidlander's "Doe" line from RobertKaufman.com.  She picked the bright orange and white floral fabric ("Nobi" from Alexander Henry) for the back!

All of the fabrics on the front of the quilt meet the criteria for Low Volume Fabrics.  (See my post from 3/19/2015).  This quilt has a lot of negative space.  I'd made a quilt using this design once before and that time chose two light solids in the negative space. It's an entirely different quilt using all low volume fabrics. 

I like both quilts. Each has a unique character.  

I usually try to put a solid in a quilt with a lot of print fabrics to give the eye a place to rest. Up close this quilt is busy.  At a distance, the flying geese blocks read as solids while the pattern in negative space in the background seems much more dominant. That's really interesting. 

I really enjoyed making this quilt.  I had recently listened to Abby Glassenberg's great podcast with Heather Moore.  Heather lives in Cape Town, South Africa.  It's unlikely I'd ever meet her or go to her shop, but it was fun to hear Heather talk about designing fabrics.  The Internet really can make Half-a-world-away feel like Right-next-door!

There are still a couple places in my class, Beyond Beginner Quilting, at JP Knit & Stitch if you'd like to join us!  The class starts Saturday, May 2, 2015. 

Another use for leftover quilt batting bits

A couple of weeks ago the temperature hit the 50s for a couple days, a novelty here in Boston this winter. I used the break in the weather to shovel out a parking space on the street so my friends could have somewhere to park when they visit.  It was a great afternoon. I got to talk to  several neighbors out walking their dogs and one even had her newborn with her.  

I decided to make some dog friendly baby presents. Seems like dog-themed baby items are always for boys. But wait! Girls love dogs too!  I looked around the internet for patterns and found a great site, Fishsticks Designs.  Bonnie, the designer, has a free bib tutorial on her blog and lots of other fun and useful patterns.  (All the patterns in her Etsy shop, FishsticksDesigns, are half price through March 29, 2015.  There patterns for a variety of bags, super comfy clothes for kids and teens, especially clothes for boys, and even few patterns for adults). 

Bonnie recommends using flannel as the middle layer of the bib. But I have so many small odd bits of leftover quilt batting that I decided to use that instead.  I put the flannel on the back of the bib so it will feel cozy next to the baby's skin!  I also used velcro in place of the metal snaps because that's what I had on hand.

To keep the batting from shifting, I quilted a heart on the front of the bib, with a line of echo stitching around it. Makes a sweet detail.  Where possible, I put the heart around the dog that most resembles the family's dog!  

The bibs come together really quickly. Taping together the pieces of the PDF pattern is the most challenging part of this project. But because all the pages have registration marks and are sequentially numbered, assembling the pattern pieces really is straightforward and not difficult.

Infant and toddler sized bibs

Lunch anyone?

Low Volume Fabrics in a Quilt--WIP

After a winter with unusually heavy snowfall, Massachusetts is just starting The Long Melt.  (Can Mud Season be far behind)?  While some years, March here does seem like the beginning of spring, this year the landscape reminds me of low volume quilting fabrics:  Mostly white with a bit of color.

Low volume designs of snow and shrubs in my front yard:

After watching part of Cheryl Arkison's class, "Quilting with Low Volume Fabrics" on CreativeLive, and looking again at her book, A Month of Sundays,  I decided to try making a quilt with just low volume fabrics.  A low volume quilt perfectly echoes the world outside my window.

What are low volume fabrics?  Cheryl describes them as white or light colored fabrics with a colored design OR a colored fabric with a white design. "Low Volume".  It's a term created by, and only used by, quilters. Unlike most other design and color terms, this one isn't used in the art world.

I also think of low volume fabrics as light colored fabrics with some design and which are especially well suited for backgrounds in quilts.  These fabrics have color, but it's understated. 

Making a whole quilt with low volume fabrics is a challenge. You need to pay attention to value so the quilt isn't flat looking. Cheryl uses the "X Plus Block" in her class.  I didn't want both an X and a plus sign in my blocks. So I modified the pattern, keeping the plus sign but changing out the X for a small fold-over triangle which will create a secondary pattern of small diamonds in the negative space of the joined blocks. 

Above are four of my blocks. I've laid them out on a snowbank.  They have the pale blues, green and lavenders of the snow and it's shadows and then the light yellow block, like the March sun, whispering of warmer, brighter days to come. 

Fabric Dolls--Episode Five. Bamboletta.com's Piccolina Girl Kit

At the beginning of February I ordered a doll kit from Bamboletta.com.  This January the good folks at Bamboletta started offering kits for their Piccolina dolls.  These dolls are 9 inches tall. They sell this size doll at craft fairs and events but not in their on-line shop. The site states the kits are intended for the "crafty, not crafty person."  January and February 2015 they offered the Piccolina Girl doll. With the Piccolina Girl kit I purchased, I had a choice of a couple skin colors, 3 hair colors, 3 eye colors, 2 lip colors and a choice of two different dresses. This month, March, they are offering a Mermaid!  (A post on Instagram this weekend stated that they will have the regular Piccolina dolls available again on their website this week. They are currently all sold out).

My Piccolina Girl kit arrived last week.  What a beautiful kit! The kit itself is a work of art! (See above)!   The kit includes a mostly completed doll body, the head ready but not yet attached to the body, yarn for hair, wool roving to stuff the torso and all the other supplies you need to finish the doll, including needles and thread. 

The kit has wonderful, very detailed, instruction manual with lots of great drawn illustrations.  On their website there are also 4 great videos for the kit.  Everything you need to know to make your doll is brilliantly explained!

The afternoon my kit arrived, I sat down after supper to read through the instruction booklet. Right. That lasted 5 minutes!  The instructions are so great that I felt totally comfortable doing the steps as I read them. Granted, this wasn't my first doll, but I not sure that made much of a difference.  I was still a bit nervous about getting this doll right.

One of the suggestions for tools in the kit booklet is have a pair of plier and a thimble. I'd say absolutely to both!  The wool in my doll's head was so tightly rolled (a good thing) that I really needed my needle nose pliers to get the needle to grab a bit of the wool in the head and back out to the torso when I was sewing the doll together.  I would also recommend getting a back-up set of long doll needles. (I found Dritz doll needles at my Joann's Fabric).  The 4 inch needle my the kit ended up so curved that I needed to switch it out for new, straight needle so I find the exit points I wanted when I embroidered the doll's face. 

Here's my doll with her head attached to her torso. She is wearing the underpants supplied in the kit.  

PIccolina Girl Kit, body assembled.

Arriving at the point of embroidering the face is one of the best places in this kit.  The booklet explains EXACTLY how to place the eyes and mouth, as well as giving detailed, illustrated, instructions for the embroidery itself.  But they also state that if you want to do your doll's face differently, to feel free to do so--they want this doll to be your doll. I really appreciated that comment in their instruction manual.  I used the green embroidery thread in the kit for my doll's eyes but mixed it with a deep blue thread.  The resulting 2 color mix is really subtle. 

I had been planning to do a step-by-step photo essay of embroidering the doll's face.  But I was having so much fun I totally forgot to take the pictures! (I think that was a good thing!)

Adding the hair is also fun too.  There is lots of yarn included in the kit!!  I added a about 12 strands of other colors of wool yarn.  I chose the blonde hair offered in the kit for my doll. I added a bit of orange yarn, a couple strands of brown and a couple of red. 

Here's Karen, my finished Piccolina Girl Kit Doll.  Look at her outside in yard in front of the snowbank!  She's got attitude! She wanted to stand, NOT sit!!, on the the doll chair!  Isn't she cute?

If you want to make a doll yourself, absolutely buy a Piccolina Kit from Bamboletta.com!  It's so much fun!  When you are done, you'll have a lovely new friend.  Her body is just the right size to hold in a hand.  The Piccolina is the perfect size doll to go places with a child.

I can't wait to see what special doll kit Bamboletta.com creates for April!

Irish Mini Quilt "40+ Shades of Green"

With St Patrick's Day just around the corner, I made a little Irish Mini quilt.  

Ireland: ocean, beach and green hills. There are three 1 inch blocks in the upper half of the quilt that run almost on a diagonal.  White, light grey and dark grey, these blocks are symbolic sheep on the hills.  There's a realistic horse pulling a wagon on the far left if you look, a couple of shamrocks too!

This mini quilt was totally improv pieced. I pulled most of the fabrics out of my bag of strings. The rest of the pieces came my collection of pre-trimmed scraps, 1 1/2 inch squares and 2 inch squares. 

Because the piecing was truly improv, the completed top was off kilter. (It was more off kilter than shown in the picture below!  The tilt bothered me enough that I only took a detail photo of the top!)  I wasn't at all sure this little quilt was going to work.  But once I started quilting the curves of the hills, it was just fine!

While the celebration officially isn't until next Tuesday, it's never too early to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Fabric Dolls--Episode Four. Waldorf-type Dolls

Sometime in January I was doing handwork on a quilt and listening to one of Abby Glassenberg's WhileSheNaps.com podcasts.  The January 19, 2015  Episode #41 was with Christina Platt, the owner of Bamboletta.com.  When it was over, I went straight to my computer to see the Bamboletta dolls. 

These were the dolls I had always wanted when I was a little girl.  They have realistic faces with cotton knit bodies and wool stuffing. Christina's initial doll was based on a Waldorf (Steiner) type of doll.  She has since created her own patterns and her dolls have smiles,  Christina said in the podcast that she no longer thinks of them as Waldorf style dolls*. Bamboletta is a small company, really a cottage industry, in Canada. These folks make beautiful dolls. That first day I must have spent at least a half an hour looking at all the dolls they had for sale on their website. I kept going back and forth looking at each face. Christina embroiders all the faces herself, and each really is unique.  I finally purchased a Sitting Friend girl with red dreadlocks for hair. Much later I realized that the doll I got is one of the dolls posted with the information on WhileSheNaps.com about the podcast. Go take a look!

*Waldorf type dolls are used in Waldorf schools. The dolls are all natural, usually made with cotton knit bodies, washed wool roving for stuffing and with embroidered faces. The Waldorf dolls are made without much facial expression. This is done intentionally so that the doll can better reflect the feelings of the child playing with it. 

In January this year, Bamboletta started selling kits for their 9 inch Piccolina dolls. I purchased a kit for a Girl Doll at the beginning of February. They ship kits once a month--it's due to arrive this week. Christina says the kits are for the "crafty, not crafty type of person!"  The doll in the kit comes with pre-sewn body and clothes. It doesn't include a pattern for the doll. You get to embroider the face, add the hair and attach the head to the doll. 

Back in the 1970s and 80s when I was making dolls I'd wanted to try making a doll which was really 3 dimensional. Somehow I never found out about Waldorf dolls. There was no internet back then....  But looking at Waldorf doll resources on-line recently, I realized I'd had a copy of The Childrens' Year by Stephanie Cooper, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marye Rowling (the 1986 edition) on my bookshelf.  This book has directions for making a Waldorf doll. I don't know if I just missed it or if I thought I wouldn't be able to find the supplies to make the doll.  (Remember, no internet)!

I just spent a couple weeks collecting books, patterns, perusing Pinterest and watching YouTube videos. I even watched some with Russian narration!  It didn't matter, just watching was informative!  I week ago I sat down to make my own Waldorf-type doll.  I wanted to do this before my Bamboletta kit arrived, before I had to chance to look inside a doll to see how the pros put one together. I wanted to be able to make a doll that was mine, not a copy.

I purchased the supplies to make the doll's body from Etsy shop Reggiesdolls. The hair for this doll came from my great local quilt/knitting store JP Knit & Stitch, with the colored strands of wool from Peace Fleece.

I had 4 books and 2 patterns as resources:  The Children's Year noted above, Growing Up sew liberated by Meg McElwee, Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke, Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealey, a pattern for the 16 in Play doll from the Etsy shop TimbleGarden and Silver Penny's tutorial and pattern "Making a Waldorf-Style Doll: Tips and Techniques on Craftsy.com.

I culled ideas and techniques from all my sources but decided to use the pattern and great illustrated directions for the "little amigo cloth doll" in Growing Up sew liberated. Because my clothes patterns were mostly for 15 inch dolls, I made the doll slightly shorter than the pattern and made the torso straight rather than curved.  Here is the result:  "Blue-eye Becky". 

Becky's shirt is the pattern included in Growing Up sew liberated, her jumper is from McCall's Crafts Pattern M4338, the tights are from a pattern purchased from Reggiesdolls, her panties are a pattern from the lovely blog Frokenskicklig.com, from her post on April 14, 2013.  I made Becky's felt boots without a pattern,

This is a great doll.  If you want to make a Waldorf-type doll using a pattern I highly recommend the pattern in Growing Up sew liberated.

I really like this doll, but decided I wanted to change a few things. I wasn't able to create feet per the pattern instructions. I'd stuffed her legs too tight without leaving an allowance to fold up the feet. I also wanted a doll with more relaxed arms.  I had enough doll fabric (barely) to make another 15 inch doll.  So I decided to try again. 

This time I drew my own pattern.  I made arms with a slight curve which attach to the torso and legs with an outline which is a bit more anatomically correct and with formed feet that have soles.  Here's "Nellwyn."  Her name is an old English name which means "bright friend."

Her shirt and panties from the same patterns I used for Blue-eye Becky.  I designed her skirt and her MaryJane felt shoes. 

Nellwyn's head is a bit wobbly because I cut the head covering a little too short. Other than that, I'm really happy with her. Now that I have my own pattern for a Waldorf type doll that I like and which works for me, I can't wait to see the doll in the Bamboletta kit!  I'll do another doll post when I make the kit. 

It was really fun to make these 2 Waldorf type dolls. I really learned a lot.  Now that I have drawn a pattern of my own, I probably will make a doll from time to time. But the business of making dolls for sale?  I'm leaving that to the pros!!

Book Review: "Cultural Fusion Quilts" by Sujata Shah

Every so often I pick up a new quilting book and all I can say is "Wow!"  Sujata Shah has put together a book of 15 amazing quilts.  The quilt designs in Cultural Fusion Quilts--A Melting Pot of Piecing Traditions are inspired by art, handcrafted items, textiles, and quilts from India, Africa, and the United States. The Pennsylvania countryside, where she currently lives, also gives her ideas for her quilts. 

The designs are bright, colorful and have lots of movement. The blocks are purposely not perfect.   She uses common quilt blocks and cuts slightly curved lines in place of straight lines. In several of the quilts, she makes a traditional block and then cuts it up to create something new. 

The basic block for the quilt, "Zigzag Amish Impressions" on the lower half back cover of the book, is the Square in a Square Economy Block!  That really surprised me!  A lightning storm and Kuba cloth from Kenya were the inspiration for this quilt.  On the page in the book facing this quilt she has a photo of her sons watching the electric storm and a picture of the fabric from Kenya. 

Sujata Shah has included lots of photos of various works of art that relate to each quilt in the book. I really appreciate being able to see the tangible work of art next to the quilt based on that design.  That's a brilliant feature of this book!

This book will appeal to a wide group of quilters:  those looking for patterns based on ethnic designs, modern quilters who love blocks with asymmetry and anyone who loves bright, exciting quilts!  Click the link above to see more photos of the quilts in the book.  (If you click on the small quilts in the scroll under the book cover, they will open in a larger window).

I highly recommend this book!  It's a wonderful addition to my library of books with quilt patterns.

Quilts Finished in February...and one on-going project

Here is a gallery of the 5 quilts I completed in Finish It February.  My stack of UFOs is down to one, but I'm working on it! There are a couple of blocks from that quilt at the end of the post. 

Economy Blocks with Broken Chain-Twin size

"Grand Illusion" Bonnie Hunter 2014 Winter Mystery Quilt-Twin size

"Into the Blue"  Lap quilt

2 Lap Quilts "Twin Cities" 

Backs of the "Twin Cities" quilts

I didn't finish quilting my Vintage Quilt Revival sampler quilt.  I did quilt the negative space in 8 more blocks. Overall, about 1/3 of this project has been quilted.  This is a quilt which can't be hurried!   I'll get it done sometime this year!

Finish It February 2015 Update!

February 26th.  Two more days for Finish it February projects! 

Boston has had record breaking snowfall this winter, most of the snow falling this month.  I'd had visions of sitting in my sewing room, happily quilting while snow gently swirled outside the window.  In reality, I was outside dealing with the snow!  Daily chores included shoveling walks, brushing snow off the roof and working to keep leaks from the attic to a minimum.  The dogs, on the other hand, have been having a great time playing in the mountains of snow in the yard!  As they say, a tired dog is a good dog.  Three sleeping dogs makes concentrating on quilting easier!

All the hours spent dealing with the snow meant there was far less time for quilting than I had expected,  But it looks like I'll still be able to complete 5 of the 6 quilts in my stack!

Here are details of the two twin sized quilts.  The photos show some of the quilting and I've flipped a the edge of the quilts over to show the backing.

I'll post a gallery of all the finished quilts next week!  

Bonnie Hunter "Grand Illusion" Winter 2014 Mystery Quilt

Fabric Dolls--Episode Three. Dolls I designed as Child Life tools

PARENTAL SUPERVISION ADVISED:  These dolls were designed for use with children by medical professionals, not as toys.  Each doll's abdomen can be opened up to show human anatomy.  If you are squeamish, skip this post!  Children viewing this should do so in the company of a parent. 

I was a biology major in college. Anatomy was fun and fascinating!  I wanted a career in the medical field but wasn't sure what I wanted to do. It took me a while to get there, but I ended up in the field of nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner.  I spent almost off of my career working in pediatrics. 

I made Surgical Suzie on a whim, years before I went to school for nursing. I'd already made a few dolls (see Fabric Dolls--Episode Two) so I decided to see if I could make a doll with "guts"!   The answer was yes!  

Surgical Suzie's trunk unbuttons to reveal her internal organs.   She has bronchi and lungs and a heart in her chest.  In her abdomen, there is stomach, small intestines, large intestines, liver, kidneys and a bladder. She is 16 inches tall.

The father of a friend was a pediatrician.  He thought Surgical Suzie was great!  She lived at his office for a while.  Surgical Suzie is such a sweetie that she just never seemed scary to any of the children I shared her with.  I wasn't using her professionally. The kids were friends and family  They would all go wide-eyed when I opened her up to reveal her organs.  They'd be quiet for a minute but then became totally engaged as we took her apart and talked about her insides.  

Of all the dolls I've made over the years, Surgical Suzie is the only doll I kept. She's enchanting, just as a doll.

Timothy, Toddler size Child Life Doll

This is Timothy.  He's the size of Toddler and wears size 2T children's clothes.  I designed him after I'd become a Nurse Practitioner.  I had worked for several years at a children's hospital and then moved to primary care pediatrics at a large Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). I made Timothy for the Child Life Specialist who worked in the Pediatric Departments across the HMO.  By this time I had a good idea about what medical procedures were really stressful for children.  Young children learn by looking and touching.  They can't follow a lot of talking explanations.  Showing a child what is going to happen and letting them do it too, helps to decrease anxiety.  Decreasing anxiety helps the child better cope and better cooperate with what needs to be done.

A child can do a whole physical exam on Timothy.  He can have his temperature taken orally or rectally.  His ears are open to allow them to be examined with an otoscope.  One ear is bright red (see below) and clearly infected, the other ear is pink and fine.  He has tonsils in his mouth. One is pink and fine, the one show below looks like a strep infection. The infected tonsil is attached to the throat by velcro and can be removed, as it would be in a tonsillectomy.

He has blue veins in one arm so he could have his blood taken and on the back of a hand for an IV. 

Timothy has the same internal organs as Surgical Suzie, with the addition of an appendix.

He also has male genitalia.  He can be used to explain how a bladder is catheterized.  He is also designed to explain a couple of common surgical procedures that young boys sometimes need.

Our Child Life Specialist found Timothy to be a great tool.  When the budget at the HMO got tight and her position was eliminated, she took Timothy with her.  He deserved to be used, not sitting in a chair at my house!

The body construction for both Surgical Suzie and Timothy was based on the dolls I had created for play.  While Surgical Suzie is basically a 2-D doll, Timothy has a 3-D head.  My pattern for Timothy's head was based on the head construction of the Blue Ridge Mountain Doll.  Both are made of cotton-poly fabrics. The heart, lungs and one of Timothy's tonsils are fabrics from Marblehead Handprints.  Both dolls have polyester yarn hair stitched on in a Loop-and-Lock technique.

I loved the challenge  of making both of these dolls. It was fun, twice. But I don't plan to ever make another doll with guts!

Board Basting Quilts

I had good plans for my quilting this week.  But instead, Winter 2015 has demanded my attentions.  With over 100 inches of snow in Boston in the past 4 week I'm spending a lot of time dealing with the demands of mounds of snow on the ground and ice and snow on the roof.  Lots of time outside, very little time working on quilts!

Yesterday I did grab a hour to sandwich my Bonnie Hunter Winter 2014 "Grand Illusion" Mystery Quilt.  Whew!  I was so glad to get that done before I went back outside.

Layering and basting quilts is so much easier since I discovered Pat Merkle's Board Basting method. She blogs at www.colormequilty.blogspot.com.  Pat's board basting technique is pure genius.  All you need is a long table (I use my dining room table with 2 large cutting mats on it) and two  1" x 3" x 72" boards from your local home improvement store.  (If you have a choice of lumber, purchase the better quality boards. They should be straighter with smoother cuts which means less likely to splinter).  With board basting, I can put a queen size quilt together in a about an hour.  The layers are always flat and wrinkle free.  I have said good-bye to the volatile basting sprays that I used to use.  That's good for the environment, my lungs and the fabric in the quilts.  Check out Board Basting at the link above!

Winter has won a few rounds in our battles this month.  Yesterday a friend asked for a mitten pattern.  When I ran upstairs to the printer I heard "rain" in my sewing room.  What??   Water was dripping from the molding of my craft closet. Grrr. That was a very low blow from Winter. My craft closet of all things!!  I was able to contain source of the leak in the attic and there was no damage to the items in the closet.  Whew. It could have been a lot worse.

My craft closet is back to back with a linen closet where I keep my seasonal quilts, I pulled them out and tossed them on my bed which is in another room.  I didn't think any more about those quilts until bedtime. I discovered they were all under the watchful care of Hazel and Tipper!  

Tipper, left, and Hazel guarding the quilts

What good dogs!

Hoping to find some time for quilting soon....

Fabric Dolls -- Episode Two. Dolls I designed for play.

Today I'd like to introduce you to some of the dolls I've designed and made.  They were sewn in the 1970s and 1980s.  My Mom gave me a copy of Jean Ray Laury's Doll Making:  A Creative Approach.  It is a great resource which explains how to design, joint and add hair for children's toys as well as art dolls.  

My dolls are all products of their day:  Their bodies are cotton polyester fabric and they are all stuffed the polyester fill. The clothes are cotton or cotton polyester blend.  I chose to use the cotton poly fabric.  There wasn't a wide range of solid cotton fabrics available at the time and I didn't like the look or feel of the muslin which was rough to the touch.  

Each of the dolls were created for someone special.  Most were made for the children in my life though two dolls were made for adults who fell in love with them and asked if they could have one.  

"Amy", the doll above is the second doll I made.  Her photo is dated 1975.  I have 2 photos of my first doll, but unfortunately those pictures have faded with time and didn't scan well.   "Amy" and my first doll are from the same pattern, though as my second doll, "Amy's" fabric hair has better styling!  Both these early dolls were made for children under 2 years old.  They are toddler-safe:  No fuzzy hair to chew and the doll's features are embroidered.  One of the faded photos of is a toddler and her doll together in a wagon.  Sweet!

As the children got a bit older, I made them larger dolls with yarn hair.  Here is "Annenina".  She was my first child doll and still my favorite. 

"Annenina"

These dolls were made with a separate head, torso, arms and legs.  The head was stuffed and then sewn onto the completed torso.  The doll's arms have joints at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. The legs have hips, knees and ankles. The arms and legs are sewn into the torso--no buttons.  I drew the pattern pieces for the doll on the paper used to pad packages for shipping. I still have the pattern!

The dolls are a bit floppy but the joints in the extremities do make the dolls delightfully posable.  I didn't know about Waldorf dolls when I was making these dolls. The construction of the Waldorf doll has the key to a doll with a separate head which isn't floppy. Waldorf dolls have a neck section which extends into the torso which gives it excellent stability.  

To make my dolls washable, I chose to use polyester yarn for their hair.  Only one of the dolls, "Annje" so is on the far right below, has wool hair. 

Here are some of the other dolls.  Left to right, "Molly", "Kaja" and "Annje."   Molly's freckles are French knots. I really like them!  Seeing them now, I wish I'd used them on more of the dolls!

I was making smocked dresses for the doll's owners at the time, so the dolls often got smocked dresses as well!   The checked gingham provides a perfect grid for the gathering needed for the smocking, no marking required!

I made one doll for a boy.  "Meriadoc" is based on one of the hobbits from J. R. R. Tolkein's book The Hobbitt.  He has yarn loop hair on his head and his feet!  This hair is created by sewing the yarn directly into the head.  One loose loop is followed by a tight loop to lock the first stitch in place. It's very secure and has a great effect. It takes a long time to make a head of hair this way, and it's a bit hard on the fingers.  But is really is worth it!

"Meriadoc"

"Meriadoc" has French knot freckles and embroidered rosy cheeks!  He's a cutie!

"Meriadoc" and "Molly" are both dressed in fabrics hand silkscreened by Marblehead Handprints from Marblehead, Massachusetts.  I was living near Marblehead at the time and frequently used their fabrics for both crafts and clothing construction. It fun to shop in their store and see the ladies doing the silkscreening.  The Marblehead Handprints shop closed years ago but you can see some of their other fabrics and products on Pinterest by clicking the link above.

Next Monday I'll show you a couple of my other dolls.  You'll be surprised!  

I'm the binding on the Economy Block bird quilt today.  Bonnie Hunter's "Grand Illusion" Mystery Quilt is next in the Finish it February quilt pile!

Quilting Feathers: Never say "Never"!

Never!  I was convinced I would never, ever, quilt feathers.  I'd tried.  They were always warped looking. Besides, with so many other options for quilting designs, who needs feathers?  

But then I took Angela Walter's great course Machine Quilting--Small Changes on Craftsy.  Angela explain that feathers really are just heart shapes...and they don't have to be perfect to look great. Thanks Angela!!  I still wasn't planning to use this information.  But I'm working on my Bird Economy Block quilt with alternating chain blocks with lots of negative space. Birds--they need feathers!  And you know, Angela is absolutely correct.  Feathers aren't that hard to quilt and they do look great even when they aren't perfect.  

Quilting a feather sequence, left to right.  Note the heart shape at the bottom of 3rd feather

One of my great quilting tools is my Fisher-Price Doodle Pro.  Using this erasable tablet you can practice your quilting designs before you start to sew.  If you hold the stylus with a closed fist, rather than your fingers, your brain will develop muscle memory that is similar to the way hands move fabric under the needle for free motion quilting. It really does work.

The photo on the Doodle Pro above illustrates how I stitched out my feathers.  

Here is a feather being stitched on the machine.   

Quilting a Feather

On the left side of the photo at the top of this post, note that my stitching moved from the top of a feather into a meander stitch in the adjacent 4 patch block.  I was able to quilt about 1/3 of the blocks without having stop. 

This was my first attempt to quilt feathers. Do my feathers all have perfect heart shapes?  No. But The overall effect is great.  I'm really happy with the results!

Fabric Dolls -- Episode One. Doll from the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I started making cloth dolls a couple of years after I learned to quilt.  They have a lot in common. 2 layers of fabric with batting or stuffing in the middle. A fabric doll is essentially a quilt with animation!  While I work on quilting my stack of Finish it February UFOs, I thought I'd share some of my adventures with cloth dolls and their construction. I hope you will enjoy this detour!

Dolls.  I was one of those little girls who always loved dolls.  But only baby dolls.  I was given a couple wonderful English and Italian baby dolls when we lived overseas.  But were both hard molded plastic.  I loved them all, but longed for a doll with a soft cuddly body.  I had stuffed animals but no fabric dolls in my "family."

Until our family came home for a break in the early 1960s and we took a road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Along the way we stopped at a craft store. There I found the most amazing cloth dolls. I had to have one.  I was probably 10 years old. I remember a discussion about my being a bit old for a new doll. Not so!  Somehow I was able to convince my folks that this doll was different and worth purchasing.  And so she was!

Many years later, showing evidence of years of love, here she is!  She is wearing all her original clothing. Only her hair ribbons have been replaced. 

She really is an amazing doll.  The sections of her head and body are made from continuous long curvy strips of fabric.  The center strip that makes up the middle of her face extends through the middle of her trunk.  She was stuffed through an opening on the right side of her abdomen.

She has articulated button arms and legs.  There is a nice curve in both her arms and legs. She sits well.

Legs are stuffed at the knee on the front of the leg!

Her hair is wool yarn.  I loved being able to braid it!

Hair detail

When I started making dolls, I considered trying to replicate her.  But making a pattern with those continuous head to trunk strips really stumped me.  I did design my own patterns for the cloth dolls I made. The patterns had a more conventional doll construction with separate head, trunk and extremities.  I'll share some of my own creations next week.

Back to the UFOs!

Quilting straight lines

Finish It February is underway. I'm currently working on the royal blue flying geese lap quilt.  It's so modern, that quilting using straight lines using my walking foot felt like the best match for most of the quilt. Here are some photos of my quilting.

Echo stitching the "geese" in the flying geese blocks

I like to use painter's tape for straight line quilting over areas with negative space, especially if I am quilting diagonally. It's easy to apply, it stays in place and can be used several times before it gets too linty to stick well, and it doesn't leave a glue residue when removed.  The painter's tape in the photos is 1 inch wide. When I stitch, I keep the inner edge of my walking foot right at the edge of the painter's tape. It's easy to follow as I sew and it keeps me from sewing over the tape.  

If I have a stitch line that I want to follow but I want the distance between rows of stitching to be more than 1 inch, I use the metal guide bar on the walking foot.  The bar runs right over the line of stitches.  The line of stitching you get is only as good as the row of stitching you are following. Daydreaming isn't advised!

Using the guide bar on the walking foot

I used the wavy serpentine stitch on the blue and yellow strips in the quilt.  It's stitch #4 on my Bernina and I increase the length to 25 to get a wider wave and I use the walking foot.

This quilt is almost done.  I'm still thinking about how to quilt the small flying geese blocks. 

Quilt number two has top, backing and batting all set to sandwich!  Hopefully I'll get that done today. 

Finish it February -- 2015

It's snowy February here in Massachusetts.  It's a fine month to stay indoors and work on that pile of UFOs.  My stack of quilt tops which need to be turned into finished quilts is beginning to rival the height of the snowbanks outdoors!

4 of the quilts are bed size (2 twin, 2 queen +), 3 are lap or crib size.  One of bed quilts needs to be quilted on a long arm--I don't expect to get that one done this month.  The others I can do on with my Bernina.  

These aren't the sort of projects I can just whip out.  I'll post some of my quilting on the blog as I work.  I also plan to share some other sewing/fiber projects during the month. 

Here's the first--placemats.  It's the perfect project to work on applying bindings with mitered corners. 4 placemats =  16 miters!  You'll be a pro when you're done!  

These placemats, which look like Spring are made using a fabric with the design printed in squares. I just quilted along the line between the different designs, making this an easy project. 

Here is slide show of applying a binding to a quilt. This binding was made with scrap strips so the binding may change colors between frames. For the quilt, I used a 2 1/2 inch double fold binding with diagonal seams between the binding strips.  

With the placemats, I used straight 1/4 inch seams between binding strips.  They are a bit easier to manage on a small project.  On the last side of the placemat, overlap the end of the binding strip 1/2 inch over the beginning piece of binding.  (With diagonal seams measure 2 1/2 inches OR the width of the fabric cut for the binding).   Cut the end piece at that 1/2 inch point.  Open up the folds in the binding, put right sides together and sew a 1/4 inch seam. (With the diagonal seams, follow photos below).  Finger press the seam open, turn the binding to the right side and finish sewing the binding to the placemat. 

Have fun working on your miters!  Enjoy your new placemats!  

Happy Ground Hog's Day!!  Any Ground Hog in Massachusetts foolish enough to dig out of the burrow is definitely NOT seeing her shadow today--we are in the middle of a Nor'easter!  Better luck next time!

"Construction Zone": A modern twist on Bonnie Hunter's "Grand Illusion" 2014 Mystery Quilt

This week Boston had the largest January snow storm on record--24 1/2 inches. It was predicted well in advance.  "Snow Day!" I thought.  "I can sit inside and quilt and watch the snow accumulate outside."  That so did not happen!   I spent the snow day snow-blowing and shoveling.  And catching up with neighbors-- that's one of the great things about Big Snow in this city.  (My neighbor @franklin.e, an artist at work at home during the storm, did a watercolor of me shoveling show. It's on IG at #snowdraw.  How cool is that)!!

I did find some time yesterday to finish up my Modern take on Bonnie Hunter's "Grand Illusion" 2014 Winter Mystery quilt.  It was made from the orphan blocks I had left over after I decided to make the quilt twin size instead of queen size. 

This morning I went out and shoveled around the fence in the backyard so I could take some photos to share with you. Then I went out front and put the quilt on a sunny snow drift in the front yard to get the photos of the quilting.  That's why the photos are a bit ripply!

Shoveled out for photos!

This modern quilt is a snapshot of the assembly of the "Grand Illusion" quilt. (Click the link to see my completed "Grand Illusion" quilt top).   Top to bottom:  Outer border, inner border, "exploded block" on the left, block components on center right, blocks falling off the sewing table bottom left and completed block on the bottom right.

Here are some pictures of the quilting. I used my walking foot for the geometric/straight quilting and did free motion quilting for the flowers and vine.  I used the serpentine stitch (#4 on my Bernina) to create the motion of the blocks falling off the table onto the floor. 

And here is the back.  The backing fabric wasn't wide enough so I added some the left over border strips.

"Construction Zone" Back

Now, time to tackle quilting my real "Grand Illusion" quilt!!