Inspired By Elvis

On June 28, 2018, a new art quilt book celebrating Elvis will be made available for purchase and one of MY QUILTS is in that book!  Here is the book, INSPIRED BY ELVIS, if you are interested.

In 2016, the author, Donna Desoto, put out a call for entries.  Participating artists were encouraged to choose a song or other theme having to do with Elvis.  When I read the lyrics to the song MEMORIES, I knew that would be my choice!

The  reason?

One evening in 1975, I was driving home from work and passing by Graceland, as I did twice each day, when I was surprised to find the gates open and Elvis himself signing autographs for a small group of fans.  This was the one and only time I ever saw him in real life.  I wanted to represent that memory with my quilt.

MEMORIES by Patricia Smith   36" x 36"

I am fortunate that MY QUILT will be exhibited at the INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL in Houston this fall, 2018!

The song I chose, MEMORIES, speaks of 'holding hands and red bouquets', which are depicted by the Elvis fans  My 'twilight sky' is 'trimmed with purple haze' while 'golden autumn leaves' fall to the ground.  The 'laughing eyes' of Elvis can be found in the grass in the foreground (bottom right).

The golden silk fabric in the sky represents the silk drapes that hang in the living room at Graceland, where Elvis entertained family and friends.  The digital camouflage fabric in the distant lawn (between trees) represents his service in the Army.  His face can be found on two areas of the lawn as can a guitar.  To represent his Western movies, there are cowboy hats and boots sparkling in the treetops.  There are palm trees and flowers to represent his beach movies.  Glittered felt musical notes remind us of his gift.  There are three Blackjack hands...and Ace and a Queen...scattered around the quilt to remind us of the decades he spent performing as a showman in Vegas. 

And last but not least, the back of the quilt is covered with money, to represent the income Elvis continues to provide for his family long after he has passed.

The working title of this quilt was ‘TINY GRACELAND’ because this house is TINY!  The west-facing windows are made with three layers of fabric...a silver lame’, a gold glittery organza and a purple-gold tulle...to give the impression of reflecting a setting sun as well as duplicate the diamond grid pattern of the windows at Graceland.  

The 'laughing eyes' of Elvis peer out from the grass, made of various fibers and fabrics.

Back in 1975, the road was still a highway and there was a grassy area between the fence and road...unlike today's concrete pads.

The golden silk fabric used to depict clouds reflecting the setting sun was actually torn from the drapes at my own home!

Tiny Elvis and his fans were made paper doll style...creating the overall form in fabric, then making clothing from separate fabric pieces.  I asked my friends to pose for me one day in a restaurant to provide models for the fans.

The fans depict the song lyrics,' holding hands' and 'red bouquets'.

'Golden autumn leaves' are scattered on the ground behind Elvis.

 Elvis continues to provide.

Perhaps you remember the song?

"Memories"

Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind

Memories, sweetened thru the ages just like wine

Quiet thought come floating down

And settle softly to the ground

Like golden autumn leaves around my feet

I touched them and they burst apart with sweet memories,

Sweet memories

Of holding hands and red bouquets

And twilight trimmed in purple haze

And laughing eyes and simple ways

And quiet nights and gentle days with you

Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind

Memories, sweetened thru the ages just like wine,

Memories, memories, sweet memories

Grandma's Quilt

If you wait until you are finally READY, you will be waiting all your life...

Two years ago, I got a long arm quilting machine and frame...an A-1. A few years prior, I had purchased a Handi-Quilter Frame to use with a domestic machine and had made several quilts using that, but I was limited in the size of the quilt designs that were possible...I needed a longer throat on the machine to do larger, more sweeping designs. So, my dear husband agreed to the purchase of the larger machine.

My husband liked the idea of quilting for other people (and earning money!) but I was hesitant...firstly, I didn't have the skills yet. I would wait until I was ready. And secondly, I was NOT going to 'market' myself...if anyone ASKED me to quilt for them, I would do it, but I wasn't comfortable putting myself out there. But more importantly, I really just wanted the machine to enable me to complete the art quilts which I loved making.

I knew I would gain skills as I quilted each quilt, but as it turns out, I cannot make quilts fast enough to get as much quilting practice as I wanted! I did bring home a 'hospice' quilt from the local guild to quilt and I did an all-over design on it. But I had not done any quilts that had definite 'blocks' and sashing and borders and stuff. No traditional quilts.

Enter Grandma's quilt.

This was a flimsy top that was hand-pieced by Grandma Grace, my husband's now-deceased maternal grandmother. His sister, Julie, had it and was more than willing to let me take it home to quilt it. Grandma had used whatever fabrics were available to her in her small town...perhaps from Sears or Wal-Mart. She used muslin for the background...the kind with tiny dark bits of the cotton plant stuck in the weave...and pieced and appliqued a two-fabric Dresden plate design onto the muslin. She used a solid avocado green that is surely a poly-cotton blend, as well as a green floral print, which seems to be a cotton fabric. She also sewed a strip of the solid green to one side of each block before piecing them all together, so there is a strip of green between rows of the plates.

Well, her seam allowances varied, as did the block sizes and the widths of the solid strips. The outer edge of the quilt top was not even...some blocks jutted out more than others. Plus, Julie had washed this flimsy after bringing it home. That meant that the muslin had shrunk, but we all know that poly-cotton doesn't shrink, so the plates were a bit 'proud' of the muslin...they were blousy.

The raw edges of the poly-cotton fabric were resistant to staying turned under and wanted to 'peak out' between the hand stitches every here and there. Grandma's stitches were large, too...I wondered what kind of thread was used and how strong it was? I felt like I needed to 'nail down' every seam with my quilting!

Does it sound like I am making excuses? grin.

I have had this quilt top in my possession for nearly two years...I brought it home in the fall of 2011. I decided it was TIME to get this one done.

The quilt top came to me with several yards of the green poly-cotton, which was (we think) intended to be used as the backing for the quilt. Too bad there wasn't quite enough.

After much ironing to force the seam allowances to behave (where possible, sometimes they were sewn down in the wrong direction so could not be forced!), I finally added borders around all edges of the quilt top (borders that I cut from the green fabric) then loaded it on the frame and set to work. I bought some natural colored cotton sateen to use as the backing...120 inches wide, 320 thread count. Nicer than anything used on the top!

After basting the edges and stitching in the ditches, I came up with a design for the 'plates' and began there, although I still didn't yet see the big picture in my head. As I stitched the plates, I began to think of them as lily pads...YES! I decided to do 'frog eggs' in the long sashing strips...coupled with a wavy stitching pattern, I could perhaps disguise the mismatched widths and crooked stripes.

I used chalk to mark the quilt, giving me guidelines so I could keep all the swirls going in the same direction, as well as create' targets' for the scalloped outline that would jump on and off the edge of the plates...er, lily pads.

I began to think of this quilt as a pond...after all, it had lily pads and frog eggs!  I felt like the background stitching would need to be done in blue thread and perhaps done in a style that would give the impression of water.   Ideas were percolating...

But just before I started the blue stitching, I decided...what if...what if I put a few water lilies in there? I could do some triangular feathers at the block intersections that would a) help nail down those seams and b) break up the background stitching. So I drew out a design and added the feathered lilies...I liked the way they looked!

Too bad I hadn't thought of this design BEFORE I stitched the stripes with the wavy lines and frog eggs...I could have lessened the thread build-up that occurred. Oh well! That is why it is good to have experience...

Next, it was time to tackle the borders. I wanted to do a feather border on this one, even though it probably wasn't the BEST design for this particular quilt. But I needed the practice at doing feathers, so feathers it is!

There weren't many feathers, and by the time I felt halfway competent, I was finished.  sigh.

I did the top border and TRIED to do the side borders as I rolled each section, but didn't like the thread build-up that resulted with that method.  So I skipped the sides, did the bottom, then moved on to the blue background quilting.  Once that was finished, I took the quilt off the frame and turned it 90 degrees then reloaded it to stitch the side borders.  It made it SOOOO much easier and they looked better, too.

Once I started doing the blue background stitching, I was again reminded of my inexperience! There were areas of ballooning fabric between a few of the plates...er, lily pads.  Because the blocks were stitched together willy-nilly, the excess fabric had to be dealt with somehow!

I tried stitching closely, but that still resulting in some pleating and puckering.

So I took a needle and thread and (by hand) sewed double-ended darts at a few of the seams to tuck out the excess muslin before quilting those areas. That worked!

I started out using a darker thread to sew these temporary 'darts' then removed the thread after quilting, but it didn't take long before I realized...use matching thread and you can leave it in!  duh...

Once the quilting was finished, I cut some bias strips from the remaining green fabric and joined them together to create the binding.  After pressing it in half, I loosely wound it around an empty thread cone and put that cone on a thread holder next to my machine.  This made it so much easier to control the binding as I applied it the around the edges of the quilt.

Now all that is left to do is sew the binding down by hand on the backside...I will let Julie do that! I will take this quilt to her this weekend...I wonder if she even remembers I have it!

The blue thread I chose was very faint...not the bright teal I had originally envisioned!
Probably a better choice...

 

This binding on the edge looks wide, but has not been wrapped to the back yet.  It will finish much narrower...

Despite my wavy lines and frog eggs, the sashing strips ARE still crooked. 
No miracles were performed in the making of this quilt! ;)

Using colored threads in the bobbin, too, makes the back of the quilt kind of interesting.  The colors are subtle and the stitching really shows up.

 Eventually, the green binding will show on the back edges.

And, as a side note...I now have, in my possession, my FIRST CUSTOMER QUILT!
That's right...I will be quilting for someone else...on a quilt that I didn't make...for money!

I am ready.

While my skills have improved, there is still a lot of improvement needed (duh!) but the only way to get better is to DO IT! This customer knows my work and is pleased with what she has seen me do...she is delighted that I agreed to quilt for her!
 
And you know that makes me feel good...
:)

Treasured Times, preview only

Back in October of 2011, I was asked to make an art quilt for a couple of friends of mine. They wanted it to be 6 feet wide by 3 feet tall; have greens, blues, browns, and a touch of red; and to reflect this time in their lives. I was thrilled and terrified! But I accepted...noting that I wouldn't even start on it until after the first of the year.

Well, in 2012, I DID start on it! And it consumed my entire Spring! I worked on this for about 6 months and on July 4th, it went to its 'forever home'. This piece is called 'TREASURED TIMES'.

I had planned to show the finished quilt and the entire creation process here on the blog, taking lots of pictures along the way to make that possible. But once it was finished and shown to my quilting friends, I was strongly urged to enter it in a quilt show.

I have never entered a quilt show before (although I have had two quilts in the AQS's ULTIMATE GUILD CHALLENGEs in the past!), and the idea is (again) both thrilling and terrifying!
But I decided to do it.
And that means that I can't show pictures of the finished quilt here on the blog! Not just yet.

But I will share a few images of the process, just to give an idea of what has been going on at my house! :)

This piece was done as a 'fiber collage'...I cut up small bits of fabric and used them like paint to create the image. Handling the bits was sometimes tricky; I found using a putty knife and/or tweezers made it easier to slip one bit under the edge of another bit. These were not stitched or fused...merely positioned on the batting until the whole background was sandwiched under black tulle for the stitching.

The background was created intuitively...I was not referring to an image as I created this fantasy place. I used chunks of colored construction paper to give me a sense of what shapes I might want the landscape to take.

I decided to include the faces of this couple, as well as their dog, on the quilt. I took photos of them on New Years Eve so that I would have something to work with...they were unaware!

The dog was fun to do, yet challenging at the same time. I had learned to do "portrait" applique from my friend, Vanessa, so I used that same method to create the dog, as well as a few other elements on the quilt. Here you can see the various fabrics I have chosen and labelled to use for the dog.

The dog and other various elements were created separately, to be applied to the quilt after the initial stitching. Various fibers and treasures were also included in this collage.

I created a pair of ducks to represent the oldest son...he is the Duckmaster at the Peabody Hotel here in Memphis. Each color was a separate bit of fabric! The foot is layered under a piece of blue tulle to give the illusion of it being under the water. I spent a whole DAY making these two ducks!

Now you can get a little perspective...those ducks are tiny! Each one is about 1-1.5"...tiny! But they were a necessary element!

I used beads to create the body for a butterfly for this piece. A good friend of mine gave me the black beads from her stash.

Here, the butterfly is sewn on the quilt. I tacked the wing tips so that the wings maintained a curve...creating some dimension.

The robin was a bit of fun! The nest was created from many tiny slivers of fabrics, cut and arranged then stitched.

Ok, that is all I can show you of this quilt for now.
I hope it isn't TOO MUCH! I plan to enter this in shows in 2013...after that, I can give the whole story!

My Brown-Eyed Girl Quilt

At the November, 2011, retreat of my quilt guild, I took a class from Susan Cleveland. She taught us her 'piped applique' technique that she used on her 'Eye of the Piper' quilt.

I bought her PIPING HOT BINDING tool, as I could see it would come in handy, both for quilts and clothing. It is a clear plastic unmarked ruler with grooves on the underside near each long edge...the groove on one side is 0.25" from the edge and on the other side it is 0.5"
from edge.

This means you can cut the strips slightly wider and not worry about keeping the edges perfectly aligned when you fold your strip over the filler cord to sew...because you will use the tool to trim the finished piping to have a flange of the exact width.

The covered filler cord rides in the groove of the tool and the rotary cutter is used to cut along the adjacent edge to trim the flange to, in this case, 0.25".

Once the piping for this project was made, it was time to make the blocks.

The pieces are cut using layered freezer paper templates. There was one A, B, C, and D template for each block. I wanted to make more than one block at a time, so I made duplicates of the templates, allowing me to make 4 clocks at once.

After choosing which fabric would go where, the templates were ironed to my fabrics.

I cut out each shape, leaving a generous 1/2" along the curved edge but cutting the other 3 sides according to the template.

Then I began adding the piping to the curved edge of each piece.

I chain-sewed these pieces (not cutting the piping between templates) and used a small wooden skewer to help hold the piping in place as I sewed. Susan had lots of helpful tips for sewing these blocks!

Once the piping was added, the blocks were cut apart and sorted according to template.

I then turned the seam allowance of the curved edge and piping to the backside and pressed carefully. This leaves a little 'gap' between the template and the piping...perfect!

Now to assemble the blocks...

I used a waxy paper for wrapping deli sandwiches, which I purchased from Sam's Club, as my foundation. I cut the fabric rectangle that was to be the 'eye' and pinned it to the paper.

Then I used masking tape to position the template (to avoid having to pin through the 3-layered freezer paper!).

Then I carefully stitched in the ditch along side of the piping to attach this piece.

Once stitched, only THEN can the freezer paper template be removed!

I carefully folded back this layer to trim the 'eye' (rectangle) close to the stitching to eliminate bulk.

Then I smoothed the fabric back in place and added the next piece.

I continued to build blocks in this way...starting with template A, then B, then C, then D, until the block was completed.

See the masking tape to hold the piece in place for sewing...and the wooden skewer which helps spread the ditch open to sew in it.

The last piece of this block is ready to be stitched.

With each addition, the underlayers are trimmed to reduce bulk. But after the first layer, it is easier to fold the paper back and trim from the backside.

Here I am playing with the various finished blocks, trying to decide how I will arrange these and how many more I will need.

This is the final design. But even though I like it, it seems like it is not enough by itself.

I decide to make some stacks of chinese coins to put on either side!

After selecting the fabrics to use and sewing them together, I layered the pieces on the quilting machine to quilt.

Speacking of quilting, although I have no pictures of this part, this piece had to be quilted on the sewing machine instead of the longarm. The quilting consists of stitching in those same ditches that were stitched in as the blocks were assembled. Susan warned us about doing too much additional stitching, which will draw up the quilt, as the filler in the piping will not shrink up like the rest of the fabric and you can end up with 'mountains'.

So I spent hours stitching in those ditches...again! I thought how ironic this was...I was a new longarm owner and here I was, quilting on the sewing machine instead! boo hiss.

Once the two panels of 'coins' were made, I decided this needed a panel across the top...something to put a hanging sleeve on! I wanted to join all the various panels together using beads...so there needed to be a way to hang this without having the rod show.

I auditioned fabric for the top panel...trying to decide whether to use a dark strip within a lighter field or a light strip within a darker field.

The darker strip in the lighter field won out. But instead of a strip, I wanted a zigzag.

I cut little 60 degree triangles from some of the leftover fabric strips and arranged them in a pleasing way. Then one by one, these were sewn together.

I decided to put the piping around each section, between the binding and the body of the quilt.

I was now toying with the idea of hanging some stuff from the bottom edge.

(the clips are just holding the binding in place until it is sewn by hand.)

You can see my body as I hold the camera out over the table, trying to gain perspective. I have no design wall, so photos are the way I decide what to do next!

I settled on the distance I would leave BETWEEN each of the sections, then shortened the top section to accomodate that.

The finished quilt: Here, you can see some of the quilting, which really doesn't show much in the photos taken straight on. The top section holds the others with large wooden beads. There are bead spacers at intervals between the center and side sections.

I used cotton batting for this, but added an additional layer of polyester in the top section to create a trapunto-like affect. I stippled in the light triangles above and below the dark zigzag.

For the bottom of the quilt, I created 3 triangles. Two are 60 degrees, like the ones in the top, and the center one is 90 degrees. I used a product called INNER FUSE by Dritz, a double-sided stiff fusible interfacing. After cutting the triangles, I cut and sewed fabric to enclose them, leaving the upper edge to close by hand when the spacer-beads were added. The triangles also hang from the main quilt with beads. There is a wooden circle hanging from the center triangle and wooden and brass beads on the side ones.

The side coin strips also have a wooden circle at the lower edge. These circles were left over from a 'challenge quilt' I did before.

Here is the back of the quilt. You can see the minimal quilting in the main piece...just the stitching in the ditch around the 'eyes' and also, between the blocks.

Also, notice, the hanging sleeve has been added...this is laying sideways--the top is at the left of your screen.

And here is the finished piece, MY BROWN-EYED GIRL, which was a birthday gift for MY brown-eyed girl, Kelly.