Category Archives: Quilt Therapy Lesson

A Quilter’s Table – Easter Table Runner

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Although it is harder and harder to entertain folks with my multiple sclerosis (noise and chaos send me on a dizzy roller coaster and being on my feet to cook makes my feet, legs and back spasm), I still like to set a pretty table – even if it’s just for our immediate family and my mother-in-law or foster mother in attendance.  I have four table runners we put in the center of the table for everyday use, and a couple of really cute ones for Christmas use – but nothing for the rest of the holidays!  I think, in between the quilts I am making, I will put together some other holiday table runners for more colorfun fun at our dining room table.

Since the next holiday is Easter, I’ll start with a table runner for that holiday.  Just to be clear, Easter is about our Risen Christ as well as the bunny, in our house.  Hence, I’ll combine the two significant events for a fun table runner and if you want to change it because you do not celebrate one or the other (the bunny or Christ), you can just make your table runner with all one block or the other.  You can also add blocks to make your table runner longer or add even more blocks to make a tablecloth.  The possibilities only end with your imagination!

Here are the two blocks I have chosen to use:

This is a pieced Cross block.

This is an applique Easter egg block.

And this is my completed Easter table runner!

Check back tomorrow for another free quilter’s table runner design!

Hand-Quilting Means Quilted Heart Love

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With my foster mother here, she has been tackling my to-do list with vim and vigor.  She already finished whip-stitching the binding on three quilts (two baby quilts and one lap quilt) and is working on a special baby quilt for the Quilts for Kids project sponsored by Downy fabric softener.  She wants to attempt to machine quilt this charity quilt as it’s something she hasn’t done before. 

But, her favorite thing is hand-quilting!  She has nearly finished a prayer/comfort shawl that I am way late in finishing and has another matching one waiting in the wings.  I enjoy her finished project of hand-quilting a quilted project as much as she does doing it!

All of her hard work has definitely inspired me to work on my own quilts, too.  I finished one this evening and have the “Chocolate Cake and Roses” quilt all ready except for the sashing and the borders.  Both of these will be long-arm quilted but I have a few quilt kits waiting in the wings if my FM wants to hand-quilt them.

Hand-quilting gives a very special meaning to some special quilts.  For instance, the comfort/prayer shawls she is hand-quilting were made when I was at her house this summer – and she met the lady who the shawls go to.  At that point, a quilted project becomes very personal – and with each quilted stitch the love from a quilted heart pours into the quilted project.  Nothing beats hand-quilting for a personal approach to quilting.  Unfortunately, I am hampered by too many distractions (kids, dogs, etc.) to get to spend much time hand-quilting anymore.  I gave it up when our kids were little – between them climbing all over my projects and my doggie laying on my quilt to get attention, I had to give it up.  I’m sure, as the years go by and the kids leave the nest, I’ll pick it back up and allow myself to regain the pleasure of hand-quilting my quilts.

I truly enjoy the fabric effects of both long-arm quilting and hand-quilting in my finished quilt projects.  How I determine which way to quilt one of my quilts depends on the special person the project is intended for.  And nothing beats sharing my quilted heart with others!

Choosing a Quilt Design for a Special Reason

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I am one of those quilt designers who needs to make a somewhat spiritual connection between the quilt I am designing and the fabric line or person I am designing the quilt for.  I look at a lot of quilts and think they’re gorgeous, of course, but when it comes to my own designing, I need to have that connection that the fabric or person “fits” with the quilt design I’ve come up with.

For instance, my “Pendleton Inspired” 2013 BOM quilt design was completed in 2006, but until the Moda Marblehead fabrics came out, I didn’t find a fabric line that ‘fit’ with the design.

My “Chocolate Cake and Roses” 2013 six-month BOM was inspired by the fabric – Moda’s Double Chocolate.  The center block in this design is called “Chocolate Cake” and each block in the design is some variation of that center block; and the ‘roses’ part of the name is because the flowers in the fabric are roses:

When making a quilt for a person, again, I have to find a connection between the quilt I design and the person the quilt is designed for.  Here are a couple of examples:


This high school graduation quilt was for a second-cousin (by marriage) of a young man who loves music and played not only in his high school band but also plays a bass guitar.  I had his sister trace his guitar and I made a template of the tracing and made a raw-edge applique of his guitar right in the center of the quilt – then surrounded it with the purple (one of his high school colors) and made it pop with the bright green fabric.

This quilt was also specifically made for another high school graduate:

This young man not only graduated from high school, he also earned his Boy Scout Eagle award while he was a senior in high school.  Hence the letters in the center of the fabric are made from official B.S.A. quilt fabrics and the whole quilt is highlighted with fabrics that make up the quilt but don’t detract from the important center of his quilt.

Not all quilt designers design the same way – especially those who have their own fabric lines and/or those who compete in quilt competitions.  Many design a pattern that is for beginners, others design based on the type of quilting they love doing. 

Me?  I design for the love of a quilted heart connection using the fabrics, blocks and special people and/or special occasions as my inspiration to make a beautiful, lasting quilted memory!

Fabric Colors and Choices

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I design a LOT of quilts, mostly for my websites – www.BOMquilts.com, www.QuiltDash.com, www.QuiltBlockDash.com and www.MysteryQuiltDash.com.  One thing I have been told over-and-over is that I have an amazing knack for putting together color combinations that ‘work’ and not only make a quilt design POP but also shows off the fabric colorways in the best possible ways.  While the professionals probably use a color wheel or something similar, I have come to rely on my lazy way of quilting – I pull out the fabric and mix and match until I get the desired effect for each quilt block and/or overall quilt design! 

Nothing scientific about my approach except taking my fabric into different lights and using my chicken-eye on them.  Plus, I truly believe my cosmetology education in coloring hair gives me the knowledge and confidence to choose colors for quilts. 

 

I do have some hard rules as to what fabric lines I want to work with:

  • The entire fabric colorway *must* have complimentary fabrics to their focus fabrics.  I absolutely refuse to work with fabric lines that do not offer complimentary fabrics.
  • For beginning quilters, it is paramount that the fabric line NOT have plaids or straight lines that would need to be fussy-cut.
  • Since I prefer to piece traditional quilt blocks or utilize raw-edge applique, the fabrics need to have enough color variations so that the applique is clearly visible on the background fabric(s).
  • When I write a pattern with a full or partial fabric line, I make sure there are dark, medium and light colors in the fabrics….and I let the quilter determine which fabric to use based on their own preferences (i.e I do not put a specific fabric in my instructions but put the basic shade in and let the quilter learn to expand their artistic horizons and choose their own specific fabric to use in their quilt).
  • If I am making a personal quilt (perhaps for a relative or friend), I have no problem mixing and matching fabric lines and manufacturers to create a design specifically for the recipient.
  • I try to always have white, ecru, red and black fabrics on-hand.  If some of the fabrics I am given to work with don’t meet my above stated standards, I will add some of these color-staples to the design.
  • Never, ever, ever rely on fluorescent light to match fabric colors – it will give a green tint to everything.  Take the fabric outside and look at it in natural light – will give you a completely different look at the chosen fabrics.
  • Any leftover fabric either goes to someone who needs it or is used for a scrappy backing.  No waste.
  • I will only quilt with high-quality fabric.  No cheap fabric for me – or my sewing machine!
  • I lay out all of my quilt fabric for whatever fabric line I am working with and let it ‘talk’ to me over the course of a few days.  Some fabrics, I immediately see a pattern in my head based solely on the name of the fabric….other fabric, I need to look at, fondle, move around until a design comes to me that “fits” with that fabric and/or the recipient.
  • If I am buying fabric, I always carry a good-sized swatch of what I am working on with me to the quilt shop – that way, I can find the fabric that I need much quicker – and grab the matching thread, too.
  • Every computer monitor has different settings, browsers, etc.  Hence, some of the colors of fabrics found online are actually a bit different when sitting in front of you.  I have been known to ask for the smallest cut of a fabric from an online shop just to make sure the color is what I need, before buying it in larger quantities.
  • Once I have the design for each quilt and the fabric, I will choose my fabrics one block at a time.  This way, I am not locked into a specific fabric for any one block but can use my imagination and skills to make sure the blocks are compatible and worthy of eye candy.
  • If I am testing fabrics for a block, I will either go with it or not.  If not, I save the blocks – who knows what use I can find for it later?!

The moral of this story is that you don’t have to be a professional quilter or designer to choose your own quilt fabrics.  Use your eyes, good light and practice blocks to get the desired result.  If you do not care for the first sample, set it aside and try again.  That first one could make a good potholder or pillow or even a doggie blanket!

Revisiting BOMquilts.com Free Quilt Patterns

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I started my website, BOMquilts.com, because I fell in love with block of the month quilts.  I recall that when I designed my first BOM, the shop that sold the fabric kit ran out more than once – even making a call to Moda’s warehouse in Dallas and making the staff go searching for more fabric in the original fabric line!  The pattern is written for beginners, though certainly not excluding a more advanced quilter who wants to make a quick 12-block quilt.  ALL of my BOM and other quilt patterns remain free and on the BOMquilts.com website.  Sometimes, revisiting a pattern will spark additional creativity for quilters – or it will be a challenge to some who want to make a BOM quilt.  Personally, I know I have made one, if not two, of every quilt pattern I’ve designed.  So, take some time to revisit the oldies but goodies at BOMquilts.com, and if you want someone to put a kit together for you for any of my free quilt designs, give a shout out to Linda at AbbiMays.com and she will definitely assist you!