Sacred Threads Exhibition 2005

This was the first quilt I entered in the show, way back in 2005.



Our quilting group at my former church undertook a huge project to make 25+ full sized bed quilts for a Christian retreat center in Bolivia. We had a blast hand painting several bolts of PFD fabric, using Pebeo Setaclolor transparent paints and salt. The whole congregation and many people from the community were involved. You can read more about the project here. If you want to know the technique, this link to Phil Beaver’s instructions will guide you.

Even though we had a designer who designed the quilts for maximum use of the dyed fabrics, we still had lots of scraps, most were less than 2” wide. To celebrate the event, I made this string pieced quilt. It was accepted in the Sacred Threads 2007 exhibition in the category, Brotherhood.

It has graced the walls of my studio for the past seven years, but it’s time for a change. Eastminster Presbyterian Church of Evansville, the congregation that made this project possible is experiencing a milestone this fall. The pastor is celebrating twenty-one years with the congregation. A celebratory banner is in order.  The church has lots of wall space for display. It will find a home there, and I still have my sewing machine cover and a bag of scraps.

Sneak Peak

Shhh, it’s a commission quilt for a friend. She says she likes soft colors…colors that look like they have been in the sun a few weeks, then beaten with a rock. Those of you who read my blog know I love to quilt with bright colors and graphic designs but this has been a welcome change.

I don’t know if every color will make the final cut, but it sure has been fun playing with the fabrics.

End of an Era

Last week I finished the last of my sock monkey fabric, today I finished the last of my giant Gerber daisy fabric.  I made at least seven baby quilts from this pattern as well as a queen sized bed quilt.

The fabric is no longer available, so I’m going to have to go shopping. My other quilts in this series were quilted with a cross hatch design, but I decided to try the serpentine stitch for this one. Here’s a link to last week’s post about the  serpentine stitch. It’s from Bernina, but the multi-point zigzag stitch is a utility stitch on just about every sewing machine. To get the serpentine look, it’s all in a matter of adjusting the width and length of the stitch. I quilted the vertical rows 1 1/2” apart. I used Superior Bottom Line thread in the top and bottom. It's a very thin thread which just gives texture.

Back view

It’s also the last of this Henry Glass print too.
I really like the look of V and Co.’s tutorial on the oversized Dutchman’s puzzle block. Maybe this is my next series? Click on the photo to go to Vanessa’s tutorial for this pattern.

Machine Stitched Binding

I have hand sewn my quilt bindings for years, but recently, my wrist has been causing some problems so this week I decided to give machine binding a serious try.
Here’s a big thank you to Jan McKinney who showed me how she binds quilts for customers at the Sew and Quilt Shop in Bunnell.
Rather than using a straight stitch, or a zigzag stitch, she uses an adaptation of the multi-point zigzag stitch (or as Bernina calls it, a running stitch) to create a serpentine stitch.

Begin by stitching the binding to the back of the quilt. This is the reverse of how you would do it if you were hand stitching the binding. Fold the binding to the front and select a multi-point zigzag stitch. Lengthen the stitch length and make the width narrower. You’ll need to practice on some samples, but I set my stitch length at 1.6 and my stitch width at 2.0. There are endless variations to try.
Here’s how it looks on the back. I slipped off the edge in a couple of places, but with the serpentine stitch it’s really hard to tell.

Here’s a tip sheet from Bernina about using the running stitch as a quilt stitch.
The results? Three finished baby quilts.