So, now what?

Up to this point, our posts, the few that there are, have been about completed works.  I guess we're sort trying to catch the blog up to where we're at now and figure this whole blog thing out too. While we do have some other completed projects we'd like to share, we both have a couple of projects under way so a post about what we're working on now might be in order.

Found this old Singer in a thrift shop a couple of days ago.  It works great and was really cheap!  I even got the cabinet (needs minor repair), the original buttonholer kit and a box full of feet with it. What a kick.

                                         

The wiring is old and a bit worn, so it needs to be replaced.  But, other than that, good cleaning and lubricating, it should be good to go.  I've been doing a little homework on fixing these old machines up, but if anyone has any experience with them let us know.

That quilt on the design wall in the background is something Angela is working on.  She did a great job with the applique on the left side and there is another applique panel she's wrapping up that goes on the right.  I don't have the info right here on the designer or source, but we will get back to it.

This... this is one of my messes.

It started from this doodle:

I got this idea for a small, wonky house quilt driving down the street.  So, when I finally parked, I torn a scrap off of something in the glove compartment and made this doodle.  I don't know, we'll see what happens.  The goal is these odd little houses, bright colors (hence the note: Burano It., not to look like Burano, but to remind me bright) and just, I don't know...odd. We'll see where it goes, the fun part is trying to figure it all out.

Just finished:

I wanted to make a baby quilt for some friends, but knew time was going to be at a premium, so I chose this City View pattern from Connecting Threads.  It is a simple design, but I'd always liked it, so here was a chance to use it.  I know this is going to seem like a commercial for Connecting Threads, but so what, I found their "Kit Builder" tool very helpful and kinda fun to use too.  I know it isn't anything revolutionary, but I'm still new at this and I got a kick out it.  So if you haven't played with it, give it a try.

Jay

Check this out!

So I see my buddy Drew, of along the doodlescape, this morning and his says "You gotta check out my blog!" Well, I'll be damned if he didn't do a painting based on one of Angela's quilts, "Summer Rain in Bali."

Ok, she just posted on this piece yesterday and by 11pm, Drew had done his. Wow.

You gotta see this!

I think this is just way too neat.  I am very proud of them both.

Like this blog, Drew's is new too. So, look around at his posts and check back in with him. I've been watching him draw and create for a while now, you're going to find some great work on his blog!

Summer Rain in Bali

So, this would be my (Angela) first post. 

I made this quilt sometime during late 2009 - 2010 for a close friend's new house.  Melissa and I have known each other since we were both 14 and living in Sydney, Australia.  I was there for a few years with my family and she had emigrated with hers from Malaysia.  

The inspiration for this came from a stack of Bali batik fabric I got (on sale!) at Hancock's of Paducah.  The image I had when I saw those fabrics laid out on the table was one of gently falling summer rain through a window.  The blue and white are punctuated with flashes of light pink--perhaps the flowers outside.  What you cannot see too clearly from the photo is the stitching, which was done with light blue rayon thread along the vertical seams, to imitate rivulets of water sliding down the window.  The back and border are light denim.  I didn't have a middle layer--this is just supposed to be a summer throw--so technically, I guess it's not a quilt, but I added a sleeve at the top for her to hang, to get the feeling of the image I tried to convey.

Gavin's Squares

I seemed to be drawn to slightly out of whack geometric shapes.  

      As I'm trying to find my own "quilting voice," a lot of the quilts that inspire me, seem to be slightly out of whack geometric shapes.  I really enjoy the work of Denyse Schmidt and you can certainly see the influence of her "What a Bunch of Squares" quilt.

      This was actually made as a gift for some friends who were having a baby. I hesitate to call it a 'baby quilt' because of the style and size (basically a throw).  They were using grays and oranges in the little guy's new room and they have more modern, not flowery-print or basket-block, sensibilities, so I went modern-wonky.  I made it nice and large so that it could be used for him to play on the floor, in the yard, bundled up on the couch with mom, whatever.  

The way the back turned out on this really made me happy.  The simple design here helped the random quilting stand out. 

Jay

A crook.

"Time. Time. What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. You know what I say? I say time is a crook." 
O'Hara (Peter Lorre) from "Beat the Devil" 1953

In one of the quilting magazines Ang gets, there was a project idea for quilted clocks by Linda Graham.  Of course, I can't remember which magazine it was and can't find it now, but I was smart enough to have bookmarked her blog when I worked this project.  And of course, in my typical fashion, I kinda skimmed the project instructions and then went on my merry way just winging it.

In short, in you design a mini quilt, stretch it over a painting canvas (here a 10"x10"), put the clock works through the middle and there you go. I stitched on some fun beads instead of numbers.

Mondrian Mini

So, this weekend I finally got around to doing a project I'd been wanting to for a while now.

Nothing terribly amazing, but it was fun.

Last year, in 1st grade, my daughter's art class discussed different artists and their styles.  One of the artists they talked about and tried to emulate was Piet Mondrian.  She created the work you see here on top.  Seeing as I love anything my daughter does, I enjoy Mondrian's work, and have this new quilting thing going on, I figured what the heck, let's quilt it.

You can see, I tried to copy her work as closely as possible.  Measuring everything out and adding seam allowances, while not that hard, was a great exercise.  Below you can see a bit of my over thinking things...

Jay

A blog huh?

Ok, well here's our first post.

We've been talking about setting up a blog for a while now, and when my buddy set one up the other day, it was inspiration for me to finally get to it.
You Quilt?
The name comes from the response I get from people when they find out I've started quilting. Most of the time though, it is followed by "How cool." or "I wish I could do that."  And, I must admit that I get a kick out the brain cramps I cause the ladies at the fabric store!
Who are we?
We're Angela and Jay. We have a daughter, a dog, three cats and all the chaos that we can handle.
We like to quilt. Ang did first, she's does other stuff too, which I'm sure we'll get to here eventually. After thumbing through her books and magazines for a long time, I asked her to show me how to get started.
What you won't find here: Artsy pictures of our meals.  We probably won't post mouth watering, "Doris Day filter" effect photos of our workspace either. (It's a mess and will probably stay that way) But, knowing Ang, I'm sure there'll end up being some cute pics of the cats.
:)

My first quilt.

To start things off, my first quilt.  This was modeled on the project  "Around the Block" by Rebeka Lambert from the book Pretty Little Mini Quilts.  Her project called for 9 blocks, I scaled it down to four.  

This ended up being a great quilt to start with because the piecing was very straight forward and gave me a chance to play with colors and patterns.  And the inherent wonkyness allowed me not to beat myself up if things weren't perfectly straight.  They weren't supposed to be! That was very liberating, especially when trying a totally new craft.  Besides, I always kinda like things that are a bit out of whack, like me.

A lot of credit needs to go to Angela for not only letting me in her stash, but showing me how to use the sewing machine, and for coming down to the basement when she heard colorful expletives of frustration.

Jay