Creative Life Sampler

"Q" Number 2 Still working on my latest wall hanging; progress can be slow when hand quilting. The shapes are all outlined with a running stitch and, at this point, choices have to be made about how to quilt the open spaces in the background.  There are so many options! So I decided to create a mini quilt,- my second " Q is for quilting." This has given me an opportunity to experiment with some new textures in the background, before applying them to the larger version.  There are six choices here, and they would each add interest to the piece. But they would also each give the quilt a very different look.  Stay tuned for the final reveal...

Before the Final Reveal The joining of the two halves of the text quilt was a success. Yellow topped pins stand out and lead the way on this hem job. With the right sides of the two tops facing each other, they were seamed leaving the batting free. The edges of batting from the two halves were then aligned to lay flat and a flap on the back was sewn in place to cover the batting on the back of the quilt. This is definitely a "sampler" quilt; a lot of experimenting was going on here. Some words are "pieced," meaning pieces of fabric are joined together to build the letter/word: These letters are based on a hexagon. Others are appliquéd, or a combination of appliqué and piecing: Or reverse appliquéd: The wrong side of a reverse appliquéd letter. And there are a few things to note before I show the completed text quilt. I'll start by saying "Mistakes were made." For instance, I thought that these two fabrics would be inter...

Linen Closet- Bible Themed Wall Hanging  This wall hanging was created in 2016 as a thank you gift to a friend. The inspiration fabric was a floral print in autumn colors and the sampler blocks included off white, hunter green, burgundy and gold fabrics against a moss green background.  The name for each block in this sampler references a Bible story or citation. The center medallion is a Tree of Life block. From the top left corner, moving to the right around the outside, they are: 1.   Bethlehem Rose- top left corner 2.   Crown of Thorns 3.   Golgotha 4.   Star of Magi- top right corner  5.   Garden of Eden 6.   Dove at the Window 7.   Heavenly Stars- bottom right corner 8.   David and Goliath 9.   Joseph's Coat 10.  Carpenter's Wheel- bottom left corner 11.  Jacob's Ladder 12.  Lion's Paws Most of these blocks and the overall design can ...

Linen Closet- Christmas Stars Wishing you all much joy and a new year of hope, health and peace!!! This is my Christmas Star Sampler. Finished in January of 2009, it was an experiment in piecing as well as quilting. All the blocks, including the smaller 8 point stars are quilted with a different pattern; a sampler in the truest sense. I can tell you it was most gratifying to finish this! It is a king sized quilt and it was quite a task to quilt with my domestic sewing machine.

One Last History Note  (4 of 4) These are two squares from my 2016 sampler quilt. The one on the right is the original pattern from  Laurie Aaron Hird's,  The Farmer's Wife's 1930's Sampler Quilt .   On the left you see the result of not paying attention when sewing block units together.  They are made up of exactly same units... I just screwed up.  I wonder how many new patterns are a result of that kind of mistake. My last summer reading,  Soft Covers for Hard Times  by Merikay Waldvogel, gave me even more perspective on quilting history. You see, until the early 1900's quilt patterns were shared within families and communities, friend to friend, quilter to quilter, and even if they thought to name a pattern, the name would have significance to that community or region. In pre-industrialized America, a single piecing pattern could have several names. Quilt making received a creative boost in the 1920's with the Colonial Revival wh...

Sampler History (3 of 4) One of my knitting buddies just shared that she had started a new project with an unfamiliar pattern. Before beginning the full project, she took the time to knit through the pattern in a smaller portion as a trial run. She was taking part in the age-old learning method of the sampler. Assuming she didn’t pull it all out to incorporate the yarn into her project, she now has a square of this pattern. I’ve learned from my summer history reading that this is how some sampler quilts came in to being. It turns out that the sampler quilt in the form that I’ve been practicing- gathering various blocks to try them in coordinated fabrics and setting them in a quilt, might be a relatively new phenomenon. Perhaps it has gained popularity with books of pattern collections which include an example of a sampler option that incorporates all the pattern blocks in one quilt... a final “ta da!” moment at the end of the book. This sampler quilt was inspired by L...

And the Finished Quilt...  (4of 4) "Spring- Summer Sampler" was finished in 2010. It is a king size quilt... very heavy. The blocks measure approximately 11.25 inches square and are set in a 6x7 grid with 2.5 inch sashing. When deciding on each block's place, my goal was to evenly distribute the less successful squares and the simple patterns among the more complex blocks, while balancing the colors throughout the quilt... no small task. And yes, the backing is pieced from the remainders of the fabric from the top of the quilt.

Every Block Serves a Purpose (3 of 4) So when all was said and done (or should I say sewn?), I couldn't help but have my favorites. But even the less impressive blocks serve a purpose. They rest the eye when you scan the quilt. In fact each block plays its part by providing a contrast to the blocks that surround it. And I couldn't resist  including two squares that simply showcased some favorite fabrics- a sampler within the sampler, if you will. 

Color Choices Examined   (2 of 4) There was no system in choosing the fabric combinations for each block in this quilt. Some blocks called for two or three different fabrics and others were more complex, so I just pulled together fabrics I thought would look good together. The result was that some blocks were more successful than others- there was a bit of a learning curve here, I admit it. Blocks that read well from a distance had greater contrasts between the fabrics, so you could see the individual shapes in the pattern clearly. In the examples below, the two outside blocks have 3 different fabrics but 2 of the choices are close in value (though not the same color), that means your eye goes to the lightest shapes and the whole design is lost. In the center square, all you see is the star shape because the choices for the outside shapes were too close in value and the color difference wasn't enough to show the whole design from a distance. Live and learn... ...

Linen Closet- the Spring- Summer Sampler   (1 of 4) According to my  New Standard Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language  , a sampler is "often worked as a sample of the beginners skill..." It is designed to give one lots of practice and hopefully  demonstrates proficiency upon completion... hopefully. 😏 One of my first sampler quilts was “Spring- Summer Sampler”. I can’t remember now which came first; the idea to try squares from an encyclopedia of quilt blocks, or collecting the fabrics. But, at some point the fabrics in dusty roses and mossy greens became my color palette for this experiment in classic quilt patterns. And this was good practice in making points, lining up seams for straight lines and much more. These are some of the fabrics I started with- I chose the third one for the strips between the squares, (called "sashing"). This fabric's design shows a good amount of warm, neutral background, and includes hints of all the color...