Glacier Star quilt – Valerie's Thread Tales

Star Bright Glacier Star

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017

Photo overload on this but I do have some step by step processes on this one. This was my most bold thread attempt I think I have ever done. I wasn’t even sure if it would work but I was willing to try out one set of rays and rip it out if I did not like it.

Lou Ellen is a good friend of mine, fellow WWIT bee member and a master at piecing anything. She had a vision for this quilt. Diane Phillips “supernova quilt” had caught her attention. She wanted to do something a little on the wild side and play with crystals. She requested long extended points behind the compass rays. I thought, those all look like crystals added to that quilt. What if I quilt in thread colors to match each rainbow section? I had not done this before, wasn’t sure I could pull it off but I was intrigued. I pulled my threads.

But first I ditched and was able to do some fills before working on each color. I do love The Quilted Pineapple curved rulers! #8 was a perfect fit for these units.

Unquilted on the wall – Lou Ellen and I were trying to decide which way was going to be the top. It can really look different as you turn this quilt hanging the top at each of those 4 locations. This was our favorite version that seemed balanced.

Crawling underneath the frame looking at the backing

#8 Curved Ruler and Superiors Micro Quilter 100 wt thread. I loved that thread for ditching this quilt.

Trying it out. First I had to draw in a design that I liked that gave the appearance of overlapping rays. Next was the problem that I had so many starts and stops. Using Glide threads, those end must be buried. I find if I were to just snip those, they often fray at the edge and there is no getting rid of that bit of fuzzy end. Because of the design I chose, I could not backtrack to get to the next section because it was high contrast thread. I did give up on the small compass detail and backtracked in that curve. If I had not, I would have had 20…. Yes TWENTY starts and stops on that tiny section. As the old saying goes… Time is money…. so I backtracked. Just no other option.

I even changed thread color for each of those rays.

Starting to look nice! I also allowed space for Lou Ellen to be creative with her crystals.

Looking down from my sewing room (Previously my longarm room)

Oh those colors made me happy to see them each morning

Backing side

Blue Ribbon at Greater Houston Quilt Show

At quilt retreat this past week, several had black and rainbow quilts for show and tell. Lou Ellen made #1 and #3. #2 is Denise Green (Holly Dee Quilts – Judy Niemeyer CI) and #4 is a Ann Moore (local DSM quilting instructor). and on the table unquilted is another by Denise Green.

I know, way too many pictures. I love this quilt and I am so happy that Lou Ellen challenged my skills to create something very “out of the box” for me. Lou Ellen picked up it up on Friday, bound it over the weekend and then had to deliver on Monday for that show. Next local show will be in the fall so she has time to work out the next phase of her transformation. I cannot wait to see what she does with this!

Joy of Quilts 2017

May 7, 2017May 7, 2017

I went to the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston’s quilt show… Joy of Quilts today. It was a lovely show and I had a few quilts hanging with my name attached as my own or quilted by me. A couple of these have not been blogged about yet so this is the first you will have seen them.

Let’s just start with the best. 1st place! Pieced Wallhanging – Large. Lou Ellen Hassold’s “Star Bright quilted by me! Lou Ellen had a vision for this quilt and thankfully I was able to step up to the challenge.

2nd Place – Group Quilt – Pam Heine Double 4 Patch. This one makes me really happy as this is an e2e design. I think our shows need to include a category for e2e quilts because they may be impecabbly pieced and have great color composition but if they are not quilted to death they lose points to those more elaborately quilted pieces.

3rd Place – Modern – 5th Grade Primer – by ME! I really did not expect to ribbon on this… it was a small practice piece – a challenge for our longarm group. I decided at the last minute to enter this one because it is rather interesting. Much to my surprise it ribboned! There were 6 in the category too so it was not by default. I’m happy about that.

Now I was rather hoping to maybe come in 3rd on this one… This is my quilt “Gravity” which is considered a Block of the Month. I don’t understand why these have to be in a separate category…. and unfortunately this style quilt cannot compare to the detailed applique quilt BOMS… and it appears that any applique trumps just pieced. More points I suppose. 5 in that grouping and the 3 that ribboned all had applique, the 2 that did not ribbon… were only pieced. I don’t even understand why something labeled a BOM has to be separate. I bought the pattern as a booklet… and the designer had 2 blocks a month for 9 months and a 10 month to assemble. I pieced and quilted in 3 months.

Lastly, Alice Sadeghpour entered her Thankful Thanksgiving quilt in Mixed Technique – Large. It did not ribbon either but it looked pretty hanging there. I’m not sure what this show defined Mixed Technique as… but I call that category as having applique, piecing, maybe embroidery or painting… something with 3 or more distinct techniques that make it unique. She has hand piecing, machine piecing and some panels used. That’s not really mixed JMHO. Now on my end … it WAS mixed LOL! I used a combination of computer custom designs and some hand guided quilting too but that should not have dictated entry into this category. Another odd thing, this show only splits Large Pieced quilts into 1 or 2 person quilts… everything else is judged together regardless if pieced or quilted by someone considered a professional or master or someone less skilled. Probably because this guild has so much talent that it is pointless to try to separate! Anyway… here is Alice’s quilt which also has not been blogged about by me. She asked that I wait until after the show.

Fun show, many thanks to the guild and their volunteers for putting on yet another fantastic show. You do not have to be a member to enter a quilt at this show which is held on the other side of Houston from me.