Cranes In The Sky - 5 More Days

Good day,

As promised, here is the 2nd-half, 5 more days that Andy and I spent working, completing, and delivering our newest Cranes in the Sky quilt bedspread.

The 1st 5 days are summarized at our posting "A Break From Our Project - Sort Of".

Day 6 – Halleluiah, Part 4 has been completed. The top design is amazing.

We now move on to Part 5. Part 5 covers an area of 5,512 square inches and includes a 26” drop on the sides of the Twin-Size Cranes Quilt Bedspread.

Our design will include approximately 212 parallel lines.

Day 7 – Parallel lines, 1-inch apart, approximately 26” each, equals 212 lines of stitching.

We now realize the size of our Cranes Bedspread Quilt. The clean geometric design of 25 Cranes on the white Kona fabric is amazing.

Target for Day 8 is to complete and clean up all quilting. All-things-being-equal we should be able to attach the binding.

Day 8 – Guess what?

The quilting of our latest, the Cranes Quilt Bedspread has been completed.

Next steps, the binding, the creation of a label, and the once-over with a magnifying glass.

Andy and I have decided on the name of our new quilt bedspread, “Cranes in the Sky”.

Day 9 – You know the thrill you have when you can see the tape at the finish line? Well that’s how Andy and I are feeling right now.

All the quilting for our new Cranes in the Sky has been completed. The binding has been attached and hand sewn.

Next step is the label. and then the delivery.

Day 10 – Label completed and Attached.

Cranes in the Sky to be delivered today.

When Andy and I give our word, we really try to deliver.

Cranes in the Sky delivered on August 31, 2018.

Praise be that our Quilt fits the showcase bed. And overview of the plans for the Exhibition display is astounding.

Cranes in the Sky will be showcased at the Florida CraftArt “At Home with Craft” Exhibition, September 7 through October 27 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Thanks for your support.

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. 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 us Quilts SB, at jsmith58@gmail.com.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

A Break From Our Hope Project - Sort Of

Good Day

Andy and I have been invited to submit/create a twin-size Crane Quilt Bedspread.

Some members of Florida CraftArt has seen our Hope Project work and invited us to present a Crane Quilt Bedspread for their upcoming “At Home With Craft” exhibit.

The dates are September 7 – October 27 in St. Petersburg, Florida

Our new Cranes Quilt Bedspread will be placed on the bed in the Boudoir (Bedroom).

Yes, we only have 10 days, which started August 21, to design, create, construct, quilt, and deliver a twin-size Cranes Quilt Bedspread for the “At Home with Craft” exhibit.

The exhibit opens privately to sponsor RE/MAX METRO on September 6 and publicly on September 7.

Praise be that we just had 25 Cranes already made of which we were trying to figure out what type of Cranes Quilt we should design and make.

A duplicate set of 25 colored plus additional white Cranes have been, with Marijke van Welzen, created and exquisitely constructed in a Cranes Coat. The Cranes Coat will be on display with our Hope Project.

Day 1 – Design and layout completed. Center section of the Crane Quilt Bedspread top has been sewn.

Cranes Bedspread Quilt
Jim Smith and Andy Brunhammer
2018

Day 2 - As this is a bedspread quilt the size is approximately 94" wide by 106" long, it includes the over-the-side-of-the-bed drop.

The quilt sandwich has been prepared.

We have drafted our quilting design.

Using our Janome 6600, the first part of our quilting design is to outline all 25 colored 6-inch Cranes. The Cranes were created using Kimberly Einmo’s fabric Solid…ish.

Yes, each Crane block is composed of 17 pieces of fabric. The pieces were cut with Andy’s and Jim’s designed AccuQuilt cutter die.

Day 3 – The 1st part of our quilting, outlining the 25 Cranes has been completed.

Part 2 was to stitch in the ditch in the very long sashing strips. This will help to stabilize the 3 parts of the quilt sandwich.

Next, Part 3 is to pebble the entire length, approximately 106”, of each of the six sashing strips. (Alliteration not intended.)

Day 4 – All strips have been pebbled, that’s Part 3 of our quilting design.

We now have moved on to Part 4, the quilting of the 5 6-inch spaces between the pebbled strips. We are creating a geometric motif as a part of our quilting design. The approximate area is 3,180 square inches.

Part 5 covers an additional 5,512 square inches.

And yes, there is a continuous hum of our Janome.

Day 5 – Two of the 6” spaces/strips between the pebbled strips have been quilted. This has turned out of to be an arduous task while also a labor of love. The number of starts and stops, especially around each Crane is time consuming.

An approximate time frame to complete the two spaces/strips has been about 14 hours. Yes, we are using our Janome 6600 domestic machine.

Three more spaces/strips to complete. This is our target to complete the top of the Crane Quilt Bedspread.

Keep following our status as we begin Day 6.

Thanks for your support.

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. 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 us Quilts SB, at jsmith58@gmail.com.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Blumish Two Quilt Top Completed

Good Day,

And we’re just waiting for our third winter this season. Yeah, that’s right, Tampa has mini-winters. This cold snap should bring in some possible freezing temperatures. There’s supposed to be snow up in Tallahassee. Guess there are enough quilts in this house to keep warm, and I so glad, not necessarily pecuniarily, but we had a brand new AC – Heat pump put in this week.

We have finished the top of our new Blumish Two quilt. Here is a preview taken this morning in the sunshine.

Blumish Two is a composition of 56 six-inch and unique blocks. Inspiration of our Blumish Two can be attributed to the works of Yoshiko Jinzenzi and Kimberly Einmo. The fabrics are of Robert Kaufmann Kona Cotton and Moda Bella Solids. We worked with a gradation of blues and beige-browns. The overlay of an intermittent grid has been created through our process of a machine appliqué. Obviously there is an inspiration of sorts from the works of Piet Mondrian. In our recent quilt, Mondrian I, (See Q98), we created the grid borders by sashing.

Our guesstimation for the final and completed size of Blumish Two will be 54” wide and 66” long.

We have been working on the designs for the quilting for both our Blumish (See My Quip – Blumish) and Blumish Two quilts. I believe we have settled on initial complimentary patterns.

Stay tuned to Quilts SB and check our Quilts SB Facebook page for updates of our progress.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Blumish Two – A Peek at Our Progress

Good Day,

Blumish Two is beginning to take shape. The top, constructed of 56 original blocks, is now complete. Each block is uniquely different. The only similarities are that they all are the same size and constructed of shades of blue and brown. The fabrics are both Robert Kaufmann Kona Cotton and Moda Fabrics Bella Solids. The borders, which aren’t really borders, have been added.

And we are trying something very new, that is, new to our quilt workings. From our design for our Blumish Two, we included a number of strip-like borders which provide an offsetting highlight to the top. Andy has created each strip individually and is endeavoring to machine appliqué the strips to the top. We are not adding them to our pattern design as sashing.

And here are a couple more previews of the work on Blumish Two.  Lighting and shades are somewhat variable in each image.

I am still working on ideas for the overall quilting design… and each day I get closer to something that I hope will be a part of the art-form and complement the complete design.

Continue to follow our progress on Blumish Two. And stay tuned for our new work, Cosmos’ Moon.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy.

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Blumish Two – New and Progress Update

Good Day,

As you know we finished the quilt top to Blumish, our deconstruction of Kimberly Einmo’s Mystery Amish design. (See My Quip on January 27.) And we were toyed with the idea of using the leftover scraps to create the backing.

Well as I was designing the back of Blumish I flipped through Yoshiko Jinzenji’s book Quilting Line + Color and thought that we could attempt a construction with similar attributes to her designs. Then one thing led to another, and we realized that Andy and I were actually creating another new quilt. Thus our Blumish Two.

Here are a few more of the 56 blocks that we created for Blumish Two.

Initially we began with the idea of 49 squares. Blumish Two will now be the construction of 56 six-inch squares. Each of the 56 blocks will be uniquely different. Including the borders it will approximate 54” wide and 66” long. In our design Andy is going to attempt something that is sort of like sashing but yet not really. He is also going to attach the irregular sashing in what we think is akin to straight line machine appliqué. We hope it works.

I’m toying with ideas for quilting Blumish Two. I like the idea of straight parallel lines, either horizontally or vertically across or crisscrossing at 90° angles. Stay tuned for the updates.

Thank you Kimberly and Yoshiko and to all who have provided comments, thoughts, and questions.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Blumish – Quilt Top Just About Completed

Good Day,

Andy’s construction is out of this world. (I just need to pat him on the back.) The top of our Blumish quilt is just about completed.

Do you think Kimberly Einmo will mind our deconstruction? Our current size is a 52” (132.1 cms) square. It will, once completed, present a nice lap quilt or wall hanging.

As you can see we added complimentary shades of beige and brown to offset and enhance the multiple blues. The fabrics are solid colors of Robert Kaufmann Kona Cotton. The wide sashing and the back will be composed of the light blue, a Moda Bella Solid cotton. Some of the design features will be incorporated into the back.

Stay tuned, more to come.

Also check out my new attempt to create the beginnings of a Quilts SB Tumblr site.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

My Quip – Blumish – Quilt Now In Progress

Good Day,

Andy and I are now working on a new quilt. This quilt began with Kimberly Einmo and her original 2011 design, Almost Amish Star Chain Mystery Quilt. After meeting with Kimberly and learning her prized techniques, we decided we would venture a wee bit out to left field. We have decided to deconstruct and explode her original design and tweak it a bit. We are creating our Blumish.

Keeping with some classic Amish traditions, we are using solid colored fabrics. All fabrics are of the Robert Kaufmann Kona Cotton series. Also we are maintaining an essence of a central design.

At present we’re heading toward a quilt with the width of somewhere between 50 and 60 inches.

Here are some of the constructed parts awaiting assembly.

Keep checking Quilts SB for our current progress and quilts and wall hangings in process.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...

Q87 Update – The Happy Bug Quilt – Goes Home To New Jersey

Good Day,

And The Happy Bug Quilt has now flown home, to its new home in New Jersey…and accompanied with a companion pillow.

Previously I had written and posted, prematurely, that The Happy Bug, in its unfinished form was waiting just for the right person to take it in. See my previous Posting at The Happy Bug Quilt.

The name and date have been embroidered in celebration of the little one’s birthdate.

The dimensions of The Happy Bug Quilt are 42 ½” by 42 ½”, (108 cms by 108 cms). There are eight fabrics, including the backing of 100% cotton. The Happy Bug is our adaptation of Kimberly Einmo’s design Cross Bows.

Here are more images of The Happy Bug. Check out our freehand and free-form quilting of butterflies, in keeping with the theme of the Happy Bug fabric.

If you are interested in purchasing and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

And if you are interested in commissioning us to create you a special Quilt, please contact me via Email. Some of our Commissioned Quilts include NC the coast; Dogwood Steps; Continuation; and Deer Lake.

Keep abreast of all our updates. I have added a “Follow By Email” capability at the bottom right of each posting under The Grid. You can also become a Follower of Quilts SB. Click on the “Join this site” in the right-hand column to follow Quilts SB.

I’ve added another means to follow the images of our quilt creations via Pinterest. Also check out our new Quilts SB Page on Facebook. Link over to Quilts SB and become a Fan, albeit “Like” us.

Check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

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 or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via Email.

I'm not sure if I have missed any, but enjoy,

Jim and Andy

Click here to continue reading...