Using SILK YARN in the border Of the CHORAL QUILT

 Many time after the main part of a quilt is finished I ponder the border. The first idea for a border for the choir or CHORAL quilt, came from a photo in the "Quilter's Newsletter Magazine" December 2001, No. 338.  I have collected those magazines for years for reference and ideas.  The piece I admired was called, "Shed a Little Light", by Shelly Burg of Lincoln Nebraska.  I liked how the border emanated from the center piece.  This may represent sound emitting from the choir.  But it turned out looking too casual for the formal choir.  It needed something with a more classical look, with a hint of keyboard.  Then I saw an article in the AQS magazine "American Quilter" September 2011 Vol XXVII No. 5, called Sweeping Bars: Suspension Engineering for Quilts", by Barbara E. Lies.  I was inspired to do a border with a similar look, but using black silk yarn from Scotland instaed of bias tape, as in the article.
  I went to use the Husqvarna/Viking 3 Hole Yarn Foot, which I learned how to use at the Mancuso Quilt Show in West Palm Beach, FL last fall.  The class was taught by Carol Taylor. I loved that class and wanted to put the lesson to work, to help seal it in my memory.  But it turned out that the Viking Foot did not fit in the Janome Machine that was available for my use.  So I needed to buy a new foot.  Searching online I discovered the Creative Feet "Sequins 'N Ribbons" foot and optional yarn guides, that would feed my small silk yarn.  Well it worked wonderfully and I am thrilled I got it, as it will be  useful for many projects, and works on all machines.
  So now the choir quilt  is finished and named, "The Robert Sharon Chorale: Joined in Harmony".  The back of the quilt is not a typical backing, as I fused an applique design of the treble and base clef intertwined into a joined form.
  The quilt really is square (though it may look off), but now I need to learn how to photograph them better.  Will let you know what I learn about that next.

 The photo at the above shows the first design idea I had for the quilt that did not work  seem to work for this design.  Borders are so important, like a good picture frame.  A useful tool is to cut out a piece of paper, to use to view the design.

Chorale Quilt

The Chorale Quilt is a quilt in its beginning phase. It has grown from my active participation as a Soprano 2 in the Robert Sharon Chorale located in Palm Beach County, Florida.  We just came back from a wonderful concert tour trip in Austria & Slovakia in June.

I had been thinking about doing such a project for a long time, but was not sure how I wanted it to look, that is, until I took a quilt class at the Mancuso World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach, FL in 2010. The class was taught by Robbi Joy Eklow. In her class, fusible webbing is an active part of the quilt pattern construction. I chose one of her patterns that I used, and altered a bit. See the picture of the "Bursting Sunshine" at the top. The circular motion it has, gave me the inspiration to make the CHORALE QUILT in a curved shape. Like music it flows!

Believe me I have a lot more little hands to applique, and many decisions to be made on how to border it. Just waiting for more inspiration while I work away at it. Singing while I sew is great, too!

Splendid Rose Quilt for Scripps Research

A new, twin bed sized, quilt named "Splendid Roses", has just been finished. This quilt was made for a charity raffle coming up in 2012 to benefit a fundraiser that Frenchman's Creek Women for Cancer Research will hold for the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida.

The roses in it were made using my Geometric Rose Pattern #1. Two of the rose blocks were made by students ( Norma Glazer & Robin Goodfriend) that volunteered to learn how to make the rose block, knowing that the quilt made using the block they made, would become a raffle quilt. Making this quilt block, was the first experience that Robin had ever had using a sewing machine, and making a precision pieced block at the same time, with great success.

I rented the Gammel longarm sewing machine at Quilter's Choice in Jupiter to quilt this beautiful quilt. Everytime I use this machine, I try to learn more, and also speed up my work. It took a day and a half for me to quilt this piece, which may seem slow. However, I was using some more intense quilting designs and different colored quilting threads, so that ate up some of the time.

I also bought flannel graft fabric there , to use on my design wall to help me make sure that my quilts are geometrically in proportion. It has always been difficult for me to proportion large quilts, but this tool should make that easy. For a King sized quilt you would need 6 yards of it. Then cut it in half and sew them together, matching the grid lines. It is easy to get it on and off my design wall, that already has a plain colored flannel on it, if I need to move it around on travels.

Rag Quilt Class at the Oakwood Center

My textile class at the Oakwood Center, in which I'll be teaching, how to make a RAG QUILT, is coming up soon. The art teachers at Oakwood were recently honored during the 40th anniversary gala event. Here is a photo of it from the Palm Beach Post.

Now that my class is quickly approaching, I am gathering up supplies. Gold Coast Sew & Vac Center will lease sewing machines daily, to help out.

The name of the class has been changed from "sewing" to "textiles", to attract male students. It seems the word "sewing" makes them think of it, as a woman's class. Personally, I have always thought that using a sewing machine was similar to driving a car (since you press the peddle with your foot to go faster and steer with your hands). What man doesn't like that? I hope they give it a try.

This year we will be making throw sized (40" x 56") quilts. They are fast and easy to make, and fun to snuggle up with, when finished. Since the class time is so limited and I want the students to have a finished product. They will each get a prepared kit (I use a raffle to distribute them as the color combos are various). The kit contains 35 squares of 9.25". Each square consists of a 9.25" back square an 8" square of batting and another piece of 9.25" for the front. Each square is numbered with stick-on paper for its location in the quilt. Also, a design sketch of the pattern is included. The students creativity will come out when they learn to free form quilt each block with the feed dog down. Then the blocks will be pieced together with the raw edges all exposed on one side of the quilt. We will then use Fiskar Scissors for clipping into and around the raw edges, for the fuzzy effect. I think they will love it.