Diamond Hill, by Esther Aliu

Part One of Esther Aliu's 2017 Free Block of the Month: Diamond Hill. This is so fun to do. To transfer the pattern to the dark background fabric, I used the "Pierce Paper and Pounce" method.
First I traced the pattern to freezer paper. Then, starting with stems and the vase, I pierced the paper with a needle point tracing wheel. I cut 3 holes in the pattern in the background area to make registration points on the fabric, to be able to subsequently line up the pattern multiple times. Using a chalk pounce pad, I pounced the pattern, forcing the chalk through the holes.

When preparing the applique pieces - I used double thickness of freezer paper for templates, and medium to heavy starch on the edges before turning them under with the iron. For sharp inside corners, I found that Fray Check works to prevent stray threads. I have ordered the Floriani Stitch and Wash Stabilizer, but couldn't wait for it to arrive to get started. Two of the fabrics for the leaves were from fabric samples from the 1980s that survived through the years and provide a memorable reminder of days gone by.

Experiment With Value

I think I will start collecting black and white fabric for the fabric stash. I want to experiment with value, using Blackwork Embroidery concepts - to see if light center, dark surround is best - or the reverse. Testing med vs dk vs lt, using classic quilt blocks. May move on to stripes. I suppose the fabric doesn't have to be black and white, so long as it is only 2 color. Fabric selection may be limited otherwise.

Hetsie Van Wyk is one of the foremost fiber artists. Her book "Embroider Now" is a favorite reference. Pictured is an illustration of one of her blackwork pieces - a tray cloth. I post it here in hopes of illustrating a pictorial definition of "Blackwork." The book is out of print but is available from Amazon at a very reasonable price.

Some armchair sewing - the Lemoyne Star pattern. I had red fabric - didn't have black and white. I wonder if this concept is where "Redwork" came from?

The Piece Keepers

The Piece Keepers

For keeping the Peace in the Crafting Corner

 For those who love applique...check out  Esther Aliu's little shop of wondrous patterns!

© Elaine Rutledge 2015
I started making Piece Keepers years ago, when working on an involved applique quilt, and had to put the project aside for moving state to state, and with life just getting in the way. I needed a way to pick up where I’d left off without losing the many small flower petals, leave, stems and centers. A Piece Keeper is simply a sheet of acid free cardstock, with four overlapping flaps. It opens wide, and stays closed with a pair of Velcro® dots. You should never, ever store fabric in a non-acid free environment.
Tools and supplies
1 Pad of Strathmore Bristol, size 14 inches X 17 inches – Acid Free
A ruler you can see through
Pencil
Paper cutting scissors or craft knife
A dry ballpoint pen, or small crochet hook, or bamboo point turner
Hook and loop fasteners, such as Velcro® Dots, self-adhesive
Fabric or paper scraps for color coding the contents, and glue or iron-on web

Optional:
An inexpensive tweezers for scoring flaps for thicker contents
A circle Cutter, a roll of clear cellophane gift wrap, and paper glue for making a window in the Keeper

Step 1. Draw the cutting lines:
Measure and mark 4 ½” parallel to the short side of paper. Draw a line 3 ¾” parallel to the long side.
At the edge of the paper, make a dot ½” inside each line, and draw a diagonal line from the dot to the intersection of the
lines. Draw a line to round off the corner if desired.

Step 2. Cut out Keeper with a scissor or craft knife. Using the cut keeper, draw a pattern on the next sheet in the pad. I
cut the entire pad at one time, using a craft knife and a lot of pressure on a cutting mat. I don’t remove the glued tablet
end until cutting the last flap and clamped the other 3 sides with binder clips to keep it from shifting under the pressure.

Step 3. Score the folding lines (dotted lines on the illustration) running your tool alongside a ruler: an empty ballpoint
pen, or any pointed tool that will “dent” the paper without cutting it. If you expect your contents to be thicker than ¼”
you may want to score two parallel lines on each flap with a tweezers – using your index finger to press down and keep
the points from spreading further apart.

Step 4. Fold the sides of the Keeper to the inside, then fold the bottom up. Place a pair of self-adhesive hook and loop
fasteners, joined to the edge of the flap, and fold the top flap down, securing the one side of the fastener to the top flap.

Optional Window:
Cut a circle in the bottom of the Keeper, and glue down a piece of clear cellophane wrap.

You can “Color Code” the contents with a scrap of fabric, or scrapbooking paper.
When the Keeper is open, all the contents are visible and accessible.

A Valentine Banner or Table Runner

Some UFO blocks made in the 1980s...decided to use them for a Valentine wall hanging. I love that it combines so many of the pinks and blue colorways that were popular at the time. I have some of these fabrics in current day projects  - like honoring old friends.

Made from 2.5" strips (fabric samples) and scraps.

The Instructions:

Finished block is 12" - Finished size is  46" X 18" (approximately) Directions are for one block.



1.  Cut a 14"* square in a medium to dark color, and fold in half, press to crease. Unfold, and fold in half the other direction, and press to crease. Cut apart on the creases, giving you 4 background units. Cut one square into two rectangles 2.5" by 6.5" for the top section of the heart.

2. Place one background unit on a contrasting fabric. Make a line from corner to corner, and stitch to make one half square triangle. Repeat for another background unit. Press seams open** and trim to 6.5" X 6.5". This is the bottom part of the heart.

3. Cut 6 strips 2.5" wide X 6.5" from contrasting fabric, medium to light colored:  Make a 4 patch with 4 of the strips. Press seams to one side, and spin the intersection. Note: do not press until all four are together, so you will know which direction to press the side seam allowances. YouTube has many videos on spinning, or twirling the intersections of a 4 patch.

4. With the remaining 2 strips, and two strips of background, make a half square triangle on each end of the lighter strip. (See illustrations below). Do not cut the diagonal seam allowance until you know you have a good proportioned triangle.

5. Stitch the block half pieces together, and stitch the three sections to complete the block.

Making a HST from 2 strips

Cut off excess background

Make a HST on other side of the light strip.

Sashing and Sashing Cornerstones are made from 2.5" strips.

* The background block is cut larger than needed to trim to the right size. This is done because when stitching large diagonals, it is easy for the fabric to distort. This is a FUN project - let's make it easy.
**When piecing blocks that will ultimately have a lot of intersections, I will press seams open instead of my normal practice of pressing to one side.

There are many books and instructions on finishing, so I am stopping here with one exception: the hanging sleeve:

 I like to sew the sleeve on by machine - but that means I can't quilt in the area of the sleeve. I solved this problem by basting a piece of backing to the batting, and quilting that area first, with the rest of the backing (with the sleeve) folded out of the way.

A Corner in My Studio

It is that uncomfortable time between finishing a project and moving on. Should I start a new project? Finish UFOs? Continue with the main project? So many quilts, so little time.
 Meanwhile, here is a photo of my favorite corner of the art studio: Quilted color wheel, cans of colored pencils with magnets attached to a steel bar, templates and drafting tools....

Freezer Paper FMQ Guides

 If you scroll down, you will see more comprehensive instructions for how I use these.

Paper Doilies

I've been cutting out paper doilies - aka paper snowflakes - from freezer paper and ironing them onto construction paper. I am trying to build a library of Free Motion Quilting ideas. - One idea, that is shown on the backside of one page, was to fold the paper only once, draw my name and then cut it out. The blue paper is one I decided to use from a Harriet Hargrave book that includes quilting ideas.

Tips for Quilters

This is a photo that illustrates many sewing tips for the Third Weekend In October quilt pattern by Ruth Powers Art Quilts. I loved this pattern so much, I enjoyed re-drawing it on graph paper and coloring it in. That exercise gave me a lot of answers and was most helpful. In the photo above, the smaller "map" is a portion of that pattern cut into a specified number of units. The units were laid out and stitched in order - then they were put back on the design board and checked for accuracy.

FMQ THE SNOWFLAKES!!!

Remember when we would cut paper snowflakes from folded paper? Living in the desert - those paper doilies were the only snowflakes we ever saw.
1. Cut a square of freezer paper the size of space to fill with free motion quilting. Fold it in half, half again, and again until you have tails - cut off the tails. This will give you a rough circle.
2. Unfold paper and refold into 4-8 equal segments - start cutting. This is the fun part. Be sure to snip a wedge out of the center so you can line it up with the center of your space.

3. Fuse the freezer paper to the fabric with the iron. You can then cut more detail without losing the position if you are careful. I just nudge the point of the scissors under an edge.

4. Quilt around the motif, add as much detail as desired. You may wish to stop and start more than once to get the effect you want. When you are done, if you have been careful you may pull up the freezer paper and use it again, but I prefer to cut a new motif.

This is also a great way to practice your FMQ-ing. Set the machine speed at the slowest, and quilt with a mindfulness of the length of stitches in relation to the speed. Speed the machine up a little if it feels more comfortable. I wear rubber (latex) gloves when FMQ-ing  If my hands are dry, I may apply lotion before putting on the gloves. When I cook, I use gloves frequently, and after using them on a food product, I will let them dry and stash them by the sewing machine for double duty. Just can't stand waste.

I wanted to practice stitching feathers - so I folded the paper square in half on the diagonal, and in half again. I drew a feather shape on the folded edge and cut it out. This gave me two feathers, which I used, re-positioned and used again to make a cross shaped feather. Echo quilting is also an option.

I am having so much fun with this alternative to tracing patterns, and marking the fabric. I'd rather be sewing, wouldn't you?

If you want a more detailed "pattern" you can make a double bladed cutter by taping two hobby knife blades to a popsicle stick. With extremely simple shapes you can sew, and move the shape numerous times for complex looking quilting motifs. Squares, circles and triangles give you endless design possibilities. The simpler the shape, the more creative possibilities there are.

About that cotton quilting thread - even expensive 100% cotton will rot eventually. When your machine acts up - check your thread. If a gentle tug on it breaks the thread, chances are it is too old.