Q58 – Christmas Quilt – PJs & Packages

Only 132 days ‘til Christmas…

Morning,

It is August. The countdown has begun. Only 132 days, 14 hours, and 40 minutes ‘til Christmas… but who’s counting. I am. You are.

As promised, today we are presenting the first of our 2010 Christmas Quilts, our PJs & Packages Series. And sure enough, number one quilt of this series is titled PJs & Packages. The fabrics remind me somewhat of Christmas pajamas, as well as the paper wrappings strewn all around the living room.

The dimensions of PJs and Packages are: Width – 59 ½” (151 cms); Length – 70 ½” (179 cms). This is an original quilt and the idea, looking at it from above, is a geometric rendition of a two-dimensional decorated Christmas tree. My idea must have originated from looking at too many Google 2D maps.

Here are the close-ups of the front and back. Please note that colors in the images may vary online.

Stay tuned for the Isle of The Misfit Toys, Christmas Packages I, Christmas Packages II, and Moon Racer. Check out earlier My Quips for additional information. All fabric used in the PJs and Packages Series was obtained from Fabric.com.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blog site does not properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always striving to make sure an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

And thank you, Marie.

Enjoy,

Jim

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My Quip – Quilts In Progress – Fuyudori and Moon Racer

Afternoon,

I was asked how do we, that is Andy and I, work on a quilt without getting in each other’s way. And believe it or not there is a very simple response. We seem to work at two different ends of the spectrum. Both ends appear to complement each other.

For an example our next quilt, the fifth one of the PJs & Packages Series began from two different directions. One direction stems from the choice of fabrics. You can see samples of those fabrics for our PJs & Packages Series in My Quip, yesterday.

Four ideas, that is, four quilts were and are being worked on. Two are done and two are at the stage of being “sandwiched”. The fifth began with an idea from Kumiko Sudo’s book East Quilts West which was published in 1993.

In my review of Kumiko Sudo’s book there is a block pattern named Fuyudori – Migratory Birds of which I thought would be a good possibility for the foundation block of a quilt. I reconstructed the block and tweaked and calibrated the expected dimensions. I created the new quilt specifications using my reconstructed Fuyudori block and the PJs & Packages fabric. I entered the reconstructed block pattern into Electric Quilt; EQ7. The patterns were completed. I then printed out the patterns and templates for Andy to begin the construction.

In the meantime, after listening to the Rudolf The Reindeer, The Island of Misfit Toys video, (see My Quip Posting), I chanced upon the phrase “King Moon Racer”. Voila, the title of the next quilt of the PJs & Packages Series, Moon Racer.

Having cut out all the pieces, Andy began the construction part of the blocks. Each block should be 16-inch square; 40.64 centimeters square.

And then the issue. It appears that one part is off by 1/8th of an inch… 0.3175 centimeters. That’s one hell of a fraction to be off; in most cases it could be ignored. But understand that’s eight one-eighth of an inch off, or one whole inch for each block. That is one hell of an error.

Andy was very calm about it. I was blasting the software. I then examined Kumiko Sudo’s Fuyudori’s pattern against our own. Whereas I had tried to match points to points, her pattern was not at all set at point-to-point. I felt like taking some sort of flight pattern with some noisy migratory birds.

And then Andy fixed the block… Each of the offending pieces has been shaved, that is, cut by 1/8th of an inch. The fix works. Construction on Moon Racer continues.

Stay tuned. I will Posting the quilts of our PJs & Packages Series shortly.

Enjoy.

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My Quip - Quilts in Progress - Christmas Is Coming - PJs & Packages

Afternoon,

Well it is August 2nd. The stores have had their Christmas-in-July sales. Check out our Christmas Quilts here at Quilts SB and at Quilts SB Etsy. I have added a new Christmas Quilt Section at the Quilts SB Site. Find the Christmas Quilts upper link in the right-hand corner of the Quilts SB Etsy Site.

And that gets me now to announcing our first 2010 Christmas series – PJs & Packages.

The above inserted image is a depiction of the seven main fabrics we are using in the creation and construction of the PJ & Packages quilts. When I first decided to use these fabrics I really questioned myself that I could come up with some good designs. I think you may be surprised. I am.

The toys and plaid fabrics are from the Jolly Ol Saint Nick collection by Susan Winget through Benartex, The holly on black background is A Call to Joy by Danhui Nai from Wilmington Prints. The holly on red background, my apologies, I cannot find anything excepting a 100% cotton pattern #.15924. Both holly fabrics were used in some previous quilts, Christmas Holly & Coins, Noel Green Coins, and Noel Red Coins.

Stay-tuned and watch out for the first of our PJ & Packages Quilts.

Enjoy,

Jim

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Q57 – Quilt – Continuation – Wall Hanging

Afternoon,

Continuation has been completed. It is a quilted wall hanging of a landscape with the intended hope of an insight into the elements of a family genealogy. Continuation is an abstract that incorporates Bargello, mosaic, and strip-piecing techniques.

The dimensions of Continuation are: Width – 35 ¼” (89.5 cms) and Length – 48 ½” (123.2 cms). The fabrics were chosen to represent the sky, the woods and the forests, the hills and the mountains, the mist of the Falls, the waters of the river and lake, the fields of farmed and tilled lands, and a solitary tree and leaf.

Continuation is destined to find its way to its new home in Asheville, North Carolina.

Here are the close-ups of the front and the back. The quilting of the sky and landscape is parallel lines one-half inch apart. The quilting of the tree and branch are free-form intended to represent the bark lines. Please note that colors in the images may vary on line.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blog site does not properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always striving to make sure an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.
Enjoy,

Jim

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My Quip - Quilts In Progress - PJ and Packages - Quilts SB Etsy

Morning,

Hear-ye, hear-ye, hear-ye… Only 150 days until Christmas! And it is not very difficult to think that this one has lost more than a few marbles.

It is July 27. The windows are soaked in TampaBay humidity. The sun’s shining and the temperature is expected to near 94˚ F (34.44˚ C) with a heat index of 105˚ F (40.56˚ C). And I’m thinking of Rudolph and toys and snow.

The first quilt of our PJ Christmas Series has been finished. The title of the first quilt is Isle of The Misfit Toys… (Our apologies to the animated Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer movie.)

Three other tops have been done: PJs and Packages; PJ Christmas I; and PJ Christmas II. Design is in the works for a fifth – Moon Racer.

Did I forget yesterday to mention to visit our Quilts SB Etsy site/store?

Stay tuned.

Enjoy,

Jim

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My Quip – Quilts In Progress – Continuation - Only 151 Days

Good Morning,

The top of our quilt, Continuation was completed last night. All-things-being-equal the sandwich, quilting and the binding should all be finished by week’s end. Continuation has been an exciting process… from the drafting, design, picking the fabrics, the construction, and of course, the conversations.

The inserted image is an early draft of the landscape and composition of Continuation. The conversion to fabric, needless to say was somewhat “interesting”. Three main techniques are used in the final creation of Continuation: Bargello; mosaic; and strip piecing.

Continuation will be shortly finding its home in Asheville, North Carolina.

Hear-ye, hear-ye, hear-ye… Only 151 days until Christmas!!

Stay tuned.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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Quilt 56 – Quilt - Kanzashi

Afternoon,

The fifth quilt of our TayTow Series is now complete. Kanzashi, along with the four others: Provence, Café au Lait, Bayberry, and Tango 3. All five were the cumination of a challenge that we took on - Create as many quilts from a set of fabrics. And yeah we’re finished… with the TayTow Series, for the moment.

The challenge was to take a fixed amount of fabric, and try and see how many quilts and designs we could construct and complete. Well here it is, five. You can see all five at the TayTow Series Page. Press the TayTow Series tab under and to the right of the Quilts SB Heading above.

Our Kanzashi Quilt is a design incorporating a variation on a foundation 16” x 16” (40.6 cm x 40.6 cm) square that I had chanced upon. I found the pattern for the square in Kumiko Sudo’s book East Quilts West, published by The Quilt Digest Press; California in 1992. The author’s explanation of Kanzashi is a “Girl’s Hair Decoration.” Wikipedia states that Kanzashi are hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles. Kanzashi were first used in Japan during the Jōmon period. During that time, a single thin rod or stick was considered to have mystical powers which could ward off evil spirits, so people would wear them in their hair. With this information we could only title our quilt, Kanzashi.

The dimensions of our Kanzashi are: Width – 61 ½” (156 cms) and Length – 68” (173 cms). Its dimensions place this quilt in the category of a lap quilt. The backing fabric color is a smokey blue to compliment the colors of the top.

Here are the close-ups of the front and the back. The quilting is in the form of continuous spirals possibly depicting the swirls of long tresses. Please note that colors in the images may vary on line.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

Please let me know if anything on the Blog site does not properly work, or do what it says it is supposed to do. I’m always striving to make sure an ease of use.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of the available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please get in touch with me at our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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