National Quilting Day 2011

Today was National Quilting Day and for me it was a wonderful day seeing fantastic quilts, seeing quilt related demonstrations and listening to inspiring speakers and spending the day with quilty friends.  My good friend M and I traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska to attend the day that was held at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.  We as Nebraskans are so lucky to have this facility here in our state.  If you are ever in Lincoln make it a point to visit this state of the art quilt study center and museum. 

Back to today…We attended lectures by Nebraska quilters on color, setting in circles, hand dyeing and using panels in creative ways.  We picked up a few tips and enjoyed listening and learning and seeing a few of the quilts made by these talented women.

The special exhibit of the museum on display until May 22, 2011 is called Marseille: White Corded Quilting.  Wow!  That pretty much sums up this display.  Most of the quilted pieces on display were made in the 1700s and were beyond stunning.  The corded channels that are hand quilted are small – 1/8” or so and stuffed with cording and the corded designs are solid across the quilts.  I just can’t even imagine how long it took to stitch and cord them.  This is what the website says about this display…. The first US exhibition exclusively devoted to the French needlework tradition broderie de Marseille, will be shown from November 13, 2010 through May 22, 2011.  “Marseille: White Corded Quilting” demonstrates the qualities that make French whole cloth quilted and corded needlework unique, review the origins and development of the tradition, and describe its influence on quilted needlework traditions over three centuries on five continents.

The photos of some of the quilts on the web page just don’t show the intricate work on these Marseille quilts.  One other thing I want to point out is that anyone can do a search on the the museum website and look at any of the quilts in their own large collection (over 3500.)  You can also sign up to get an email each month with one quilt highlighted.

I digress, as you noticed.  My sister and a friend of hers came down today too so got to hang out with her too.  My friend M that came with me just happened to have a birthday today, was enjoying her day immersed in quilting plus her son that lives in Lincoln came to the museum and presented her with a red rose for her birthday…isn’t that sweet.

Another great thing about today is that I got to see lots of quilters I know that live across the state.  Loved doing a little catching up and seeing these wonderful women today. 

It has been a long day so guess I had better head off to bed and dream of quilters and quilts.
Lynn

Hints and Tips for Coiled Clothesline Projects

First off I want to show you a basket/bowl that my sister made and gave to me.  As you see it is squarish instead of round or oval.  To make it she first made a round center then added pieces to 4 corners to make it square …I think directions for this is in one of the books you can purchase.   You could make other shapes doing the same thing too I would imagine.  I have not made that many items but posted twice before about the coiled clothesline on these blog entries.  March 28, 2008 
  

July 14, 2008

 It really is easy like I told you so give it a try.

  

Yesterday after posting the blog about the things I just made I thought of other things you might like to know if you have not done this before.

* Cotton Clothesline Cord - I don’t know how much clothesline cord it takes to make a project but try to keep at least a couple packages on hand.  I say packages as the ones I purchased before were sealed in plastic and 100 yds. but when I looked the other day at Wallmart it is now wrapped around a black plastic thing and it costs around $2.50 but still 100 yards.  I know you can get one large bowl and probably a few coasters from one package.  This cord has a Pellon interfacing looking center core that is sometimes white and sometimes blue and has a cream colored cotton woven wrapping.  Look at the photos below for a closer look at the cord.


* Fabric – I don’t know how much it takes for a project but measured this morning and a 3/4” strip 20” long covered 15” of the cord.  I always cut it on the bias if I can as the fabric doesn’t ravel and I feel I can pull it tighter when I wrap too.  Like I said yesterday, pattern doesn’t matter, just color so use up that old fabric or cut up old shirts, etc.  (Make sure they are not someone’s favorite though!)  Another thing about the fabric is that some printed fabric looks kind of white on the back and that can show at times so if that is not the look you are going for you might not want to use that fabric.  I keep left over strips in bags by fabric or color and put all left over cord and bags of cut strips in a container ready for the next time.  Another thing about the fabric strips – I like to work with strips that are about 20” long.  The longer ones are harder to flip over the cord when wrapping and end up taking more time to use.  You can use shorter pieces too but just have to glue on a new strip more often - I always glue the start and finish of each strip for about 2" to secure it before it it is stitched.  I usually wrap about 15-20” of cord at a time as that is the boring part.


*Needle – I use a size 90 needle.
*Thread – I use a good regular weight cotton thread but you could use up some of your old thread in this project and it wouldn’t matter.
*Glue Stick – I use the inexpensive kind kids use.

		Starting to Wrap VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Follow the photos to see how I wrap the cord.  Notice that the starting end is cut on an angle.  I do glue the fabric to the cord for this beginning step and glue several wraps down so it won’t shift when I do the beginning of the coil.  I overlap my wraps by about 1/4" or so.  It is so much easier for me to show the steps with photos than to tell you how to do it.

		Coiling and Stitching VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The next step is the coiling – photos show holding the beginning coil together with the straight pins.  I use a stiletto or the point of a seam ripper to help push the coil together in the center.  You don’t want a hole in the middle of your project.  I zigzag it starting from the bend in the coil usually stitching a couple of times then lifting the presser foot and nudging it forward and repeat until the center is finished.  Remember to take out the pins before you run over them.  After the first bend is stitched just nudge the coil around and start stitching new cord to the center.  You may have to stop and push it forward the first round but after that the feed dogs take over and you just zigzag round and round adding new covered cord as you go.


You may be wondering what the pink thing is on my machine…it is a pencil eraser that has been cut down and goes over the needle screw to give me better grip on it.  You can read about how I cut it down to fit on this post on Jan. 16, 2009.

		Splicing the Clothesline Cord VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The next series of photos shows how I splice a new cord on when I run out before a project is finished and you can use up the ends of the cord so there is no waste.  Cut both pieces at an angle and glue together with glue stick - the won't stick together the best but it does help.  I like to also rub the glue stick on the fabric strip for a couple inches so when I wrap it tightly over the join it will not work loose.  After stitching you will never see the join but I would advise not to join on the last round as it is not as stable and could come loose so do your joins with at least one round beyond that row.

One thing I try to do is keep my rows of one fabric in odd numbers before I switch to another fabric if I am trying to do rows of fabric colors.  I say try, as I don’t always do it but it does have a pleasing effect and more balanced look.  Random fabrics look good too - one of the ones I showed in the March 28, 2008 post is random fabrics.  Just looking at the notes I took while eating breakfast this morning and see that I wanted to tell you to use the needle down setting on your machine if you have it as it makes turning easier, especially at the beginning of a coil.


Another thing you might have noticed on the photos is the lint on the presser foot.  This will be slightly linty as you stitch so you may have to clean out the bobbin area more often than just stitching quilt patches together.

One more thing I just thought of...the coil at the ending of the basket.  I figured out where the basket should end and rolled up the cord to see how much it would take for the coil that I stitched to the side of the basket and cut the clothesline at that point.  I wrapped the cord to the end then coiled it up how I wanted from that end and zigzagged the the small coil together.  I then laid it on the basket that I turned inside out and stitched as far as I could one direction then took it out and maneuvered it around to be able to stitch all sides and the leading coil from the basket.  I probably had to start and stop 3 or 4 times before I got it all stitched down, finished and turned right side out.


These items make great gifts – think of matching the colors of dishes to make bread baskets, hot mats or other items for a gift or even for yourself.   It is not an expensive item to make either and just think of all that old stash fabric you could use up!

Lynn
(Look back to the March 16 post for more.) 
 

Help!!!

I am trying to add tabs at the top of my blog under my heading and am having some problems.  I figured out how to make a tab but now I can't get the information moved over to it.  I created a tab called "About Me" and wanted to move the information I have on the right side of my blog to that tab but can't figure out how to do it.  Any help out there?

I am trying to clean up the right side of my blog and want to have a photos tab and a tutorial tab too.  What I get is a drafts looking page to type in information not a list making page.  Does this make sense?  Please help me if you know what I am talking about and how to do what I want.  PLEASE!

Lynn

P.S. I did figure out how to put information on the tab "About Me" ....now to try and figure out how to do one on Tutorial links back to my blog.

Clothesline Projects

Only read this on the original blog post as it has been pirated.  Look for the link on 3/16/11 on my blog at the following address  http://nebraskaviews.blogspot.com 
  
The last two days I have been working on a project other than my mini quilt.  Our quilt guild will be having an auction of small quilts and other items in April so I decided to make a coiled basket, mat to set hot pans/casserole dishes on and 4 coasters.  I haven’t made any coiled items for a while and sure hope someone wants to bid on them.  I plan to bundle all the items together so maybe that will help get a bid.

Of course when ever I work on these the sewing table and floor get to be a really big mess.  I cut  the strips on the bias to help keep them from raveling and they are cut 3/4” wide.  Have my iPod handy to listen to an audio book as I sew sitting on the table too plus you can see my mini sitting behind my machine just waiting for it’s binding. 

To start any of the projects I wrap the tapered tip of the cotton clothesline cord with the end of the fabric strip.  I secure it to the cord by applying glue from a glue stick to the first 2 inches of the fabric.  The strip is wrapped over the end of the clothesline cord then wrapped diagonally down the strip.  As one piece of fabric is finished I  glue the end to secure and the next strip is overlapped and glued to start and wrapped diagonally like the one ahead of it.  When I want to change colors of fabric I just stop one and overlap the new on and keep on in the same manner.  

Now to the stitching…the first part is a little tricky but the coil is started by folding over a short bit and zig-zagging together.  For a round base  the fold is small and if the base is to be oblong to make an oval mat or basket the fold is longer.  I found that if I put a couple of straight pins temporarily into each side of the two pieces I want to stay together and do a zig-zag stitch by turning the hand wheel then do another and another the same way.  I lift the presser foot up and nudge the piece forward for the new stitches.  After this start the rest is very easy, just zig-zagging new covered clothesline to the every expanding coil.

I like to use the open toed embroidery foot so I can see where I am stitching.  For Bernina owners, I tried the #59 foot which is the double cord foot but I just couldn’t get it to work well at all, it kept sliding off and I couldn’t see where it was stitching as it is closed in front.  The zig-zag width should be adjusted to take a bite into the covered clothesline on each side.  The density of the stitch is pretty wide as you don’t want a satin stitch….I am guessing the space between stitches is about as long as the stitch is wide.

After the first fold is stitched the coil is zig-zagged as the covered clothesline is coiled around the previously stitched coils.  The coil should be turning with the new cord being added towards the inside of the machine.  If the clothesline is coiled from the outside eventually the flat piece the is being made will bump up against the machine and you certainly can’t make a bowl or basket this way.  Look at the photo above to see what I am trying to say about the direction to stitch the coil.  This photo was of the basket base.










After the stitched coil base is as large as I want for the bowl or basket the base is lifted as new coils are added and magically the bowl is formed.  The more I tip the base up as I stitch the sharper angle the sides will be. 

		Coiled Clothesline Basket, Coasters, Mat VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The handles are made by lifting the clothesline away from the basket for a few inches while stitching along the previous edge then laid down several inches away and continue stitching it to the basket.  I made a second row after the handles were first formed to make the handles more substantial.  I added the coil to the side to end the clothesline in a decorative way but usually just taper the end of the clothesline cord and wrap it to the end to cover and lay it along the side and zig-zag like the rest.  I like to do a final line of zig-zag stitching around the last coil to secure the fabric that is wrapped that last round so it doesn’t shift and show the clothesline cord inside.  There is no need to tie knots just overlap the stitching when finished or if you miss catching two pieces just go back and re-stitch.

I really enjoy making these coiled projects.  I don’t have to think and they are so easy to make and the best part is I can use up some of that old fabric.  The fabric pattern or designs make no difference at all….just the color is important.  I purchase my clothesline cord at Wallmart in the rope area.  It must be cotton so you don’t ruin your machine by stitching on the firmer cord that would actually be better to use as line put up to hang your laundry to dry.  This cotton stuff would probably not last too long when used outside but it is wonderful for this.  There are books out there with more projects and probably more information than I have given you here so check them out.

Guess that is all…if you have any questions just ask and I will try to answer with what I do or use.
Lynn