Batik Gems - Part 8

The orange quilt is now finished and I even had a proper name for it - Garden in the Sun.  Here it is all finished.

Here is what I quilted in the border. It is a picture from the back, the picture from the front didn't show the quilting very well.

Below I've attached pictures of what the butterfly quilting looks like which was done down the middle column.  If you remember these were outlines that I created from images of butterfly tatoos.

So now onto the next 75th birthday quilt, Cherish Nature.

Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar - Part 2

A couple of folks have asked me if I could give a few more details on the Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar and what I learned from it. So here goes. First of all we got a history of how Ricky got into quilting and his story of the process of how he went from your basic pieced block sampler (which I think most of us is where we likely started our quilting experience) to where he is now.

One of the main themes along the way was Ricky was willing to take a chance, take a risk and try something new. So what if it didn't work out the way he hoped it would, he still learned from the experience. Too many of us are afraid of taking that risk because it might not work. As Ricky said, you still learn from the experience, you improve your skills and in taking that risk you may also figure out a way of doing what it was that you wanted to do. As Ricky would say "Whoo Hoo!!! Below is a picture of Ricky's first landscape quilt that was done not knowing the so called "rules" of needing to add a seam allowance to the pieces that he cut. He experimented with different shapes and methods and when two pieces were giving him extra trouble he just steam ironed them to death LOL. After a good steaming the fabric fell into place. (sorry about the photo it's a bit crooked, but it was hanging crooked)

One other key philosophy that Ricky has is that time is your most important resource and you only have a finite amount of time so use it wisely. From this philosophy emerged the concept of when you have to be precise then you be precise, but where you don't have to be precise why worry about that 1/4" seam. Ricky is a master of figuring out ways of doing things that give amazing results yet you don't have to fret over every little detail. His "Caveman" quilting emerged from this and the use of paper piecing to get precision without the headaches. Oh did I just say an evil word to some of you, paper piecing. Don't fret, Ricky shows an easy method for paper piecing as well. Below is one of Ricky's Caveman quilts.

In addition Ricky shows you how to make his Convergence quilts, Kaleidoscope quilts and Rhapsody quilts (see samples of these quilts below). He also goes over design elements, as well as shows tips and tricks including how to piece curves without pins, setting in corners to make great looking borders, machine appliqué, machine quilting, piped bindings that save you time and look great, and some bobbin work. In  case you are wondering you get a wonderful workbook that has all the key information and instructions that are taught in the seminar so you are not taking a pile of notes.

Libby Lehman teaches two sessions.  She is a master quilter and one of the sessions she shows how she developed her Sheer Ribbon Illusion quilts.  It looks amazing even complex, but once you know the secrets you are going to want to try it for yourself.

Alex Anderson is a renowned hand quilter and teacher and she demonstrates hand quilting techniques and she talks about quilting design.  Here is one of Alex's hand quilted quilts.

I hope this gives everyone a better sense of what the 2 1/2 days are all about.  They are packed full of great information, learnings and wonderful stories.  I really hope that you all can get a chance to attend one of Ricky's seminars in the future.  It is time and money well worth spent.

Whoo Hoo!!! Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar Two Thumbs Up!!!

I'm back from a fabulous time at the Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar in Hyannis MA. This has got to be one of the most memorable quilting seminars/retreats/events whatever you want to call it available.  It was a jam packed 2 1/2 days of information, demonstrations, tips, tricks, stories, laughs, and all around good times. I highly recommend this to anyone who is thinking about taking it and for everyone who hasn't to really look into it, because it truly is an amazing time to get away and have a great quilting experience. Ricky, Libby Lehman and Alex Anderson have created an awsome seminar and their skills and talents complement each other.

Here are just a few pictures from the event.  Here is Ricky at the sewing machine, yes he really does sew his own quilts.

They had an area of samples and some of Ricky's design ideas on display which gave you a sense of the process he goes through in designing a quilt.

In addition there were lots of quilts on display, done by Ricky as well as others.  What is interesting is that not only does Ricky do contemporary quilts but he also does traditional designs.

You also get to see the quilts up close and see the actual quilting. Ricky has some lovely quilting designs on his quilts. Yes he also quilts his own quilts.

So now I wish I had another week off so I can start trying out some of the new things that I learned.  But it's off to work tomorrow and I still need to finish the orange quilt for the 75th birthday.  I've got a few ideas brewing so stay tuned and once the 2nd 75th birthday quilt is finished (Cherish Nature), I'm thinking I'm going to tackle a Kaleidoscope quilt.

Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar

WOW, I can't believe that it is almost here.  The last time I posted about the Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar http://www.rickytims.com/seminars/ was back in April when my friend Sue from Long Island and I decided to attend Ricky's seminar in Cape Cod.  So I'm leaving tomorrow around lunch time from work so that  I can take it easy travelling to the Cape.  I will stop over night in Rochester NY.  Then Wednesday it's onto Hyannis, MA. The seminar starts on Thursday and goes through to Saturday.  I will then head home on Sunday, again a stop over in Rochester NY and home on Monday, Labour Day. 

So obviously no quilting while I'm gone.  I did make some more progress on the orange quilt and got another column of flowers done but I didn't get to the butterflies yet.  So that will be waiting for me when I get home. 

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the Labour Day weekend. I'll let everyone know what I think of the seminar when I get back since I don't have a laptop and likely won't have access to a computer until I get back.

Batik Gems - Part 7

I've been working on the flower quilting on the Orange Batik Gems quilt.  I have half of the flowers quilted.  Each flower takes up the width of two batik columns.  In the length of two of these columns there are 7 flowers alternating between cone flowers and day lilies.  Since there are 9 columns in total, I will have 4 columns of flowers, 2 on either side of the quilt. 

Here is a close up of what the two flowers look like.

And a shot from the back.

For the middle column I'm going to quilt some butterflies.  When I first went looking for butterfly patterns I didn't find anything very interesting on any of the quilting sites, pretty basic designs.  I then decided to do a Google search on butterflies and I discovered that the Tattoo world has some very interesting designs.  I was just looking for some unique outlines so I took some of the interesting tattoo designs and modified them into butterfly outlines.  Below are some examples of the original tattoo designs and then the modified outlines. I think they will make for some interesting quilting.

EQ7 & Cherish Nature

This past week was very busy at work including working late so I didn't get much much quilting done. I did manage to figure out the modifications for the Cherish Nature quilt and here is what it will looks like.

The inner section of half square triangle squares have now become half square triangle rectangles. The top and bottom ones had to be reduced in height while the side ones had to be reduced in width to accommodate the increase in size of the inner border that you see represented by the egg fabric. In reality the egg fabric requires 2 1/4" to ensure that the eggs don't get cropped. The original border was only 1" wide so by increasing it by 1 1/4" I had to reduce the inner half square triangle blocks since there were only a few of them. Otherwise the outer set would be completely off and much harder to fix. Also on the inner set there are various appliqués that will be added on top so I felt it really doesn't matter if these blocks were square or rectangle in shape.

My sewing machine came back from being serviced and it sews like a dream. This weekend I got all the stitch in the ditching done on the orange quilt so I can now move on to the actual quilting. I'm looking forward to starting that and hopefully work won't be crazy busy this week.

Pets on Quilts

Today is the start of SewCalGal's Pets on Quilts Show. It runs until August 21st so you still have lots of time to post your entry into the show.

My entry is in the dog category even though technically the quilt has both cats and dogs. This is the quilt that I made as part of an exchange that we had in our small quilt group called "Quilter's Pets" this past year. The reason why we call ourselves "Quilters Pets" is because everyone has either cats and/or dogs. We drew a name of one of the members of our group of 8 and the common theme of all the quilts that were made was the stylized paper pieced cats and dogs. This was the group's way of getting an introduction into paper piecing since only a couple of the gals had done paper piecing and the rest of us were interested in learning. I had picked Kathi's name and she had a Bichon name Gillian who unfortunately had passed away the previous year.

After completing the basic cats and dogs, I was trying to figure out how to make this quilt special for Kathi given that Gilligan had recently passed away. I was looking on the internet when I happened to come across a paper piecing site called Silver Linings Originals http://silverliningsoriginals.com/index.html. Linda Hibbert creates some of the most amazing paper pieced patterns you will find anywhere and I found one of a Bichon. I really wanted to make this but initially was a bit intimidated because I had just started paper piecing and this pattern looked rather complex. I did buy the pattern and eventually over came the intimidation and actually made 3 Bichons for the quilt.

Here are some closeup pictures of the Bichons.

And here is a picture of the back of the quilt with some more doggy fabrics.