Lynn Carson Harris

Atomic Sunday

Silent Saturday - the "isn't this fall?" edition

Flashback Friday

1964 - Cary, North Carolina.

I think holding the purse helped my balance for walking. I like the cute hair bow.

Progress Report

I've had this Frippery Washi top finished for a while but hadn't gotten any photos until today. The fabric is from  Thomas Knauer's new Frippery line. The pattern is Rae's Washi. On this version I did the plain scoop neckline.


I'm please that I was able to get the stripes to match at the side seams!

The Point Me quilt is quilted.  I still need to trim, bind, and wash it. I like the added interest of the unquilted strips. When it's finished I'll try to get a picture of the whole thing.

I've also been building bigger blocks from the wee stars. These are six inch ninepatches.


It has been a productive couple of weeks here on the farm!

Wordless Wednesday - the white on white edition

Point Me - King Size

I am working on a king sized commission quilt. I admit I'm proud of myself for getting it pin basted last night. I've never made a quilt this large before but I'm loving the challenge.

D was home and helped me move the couch out of the living room and get all of the layers spread and even. It's going to be 108 inches wide by 101 inches long. I'm making it a bit larger to allow for shrinkage in quilting and washing.

There is a lot of negative space to fill with quilting and that is a bit intimidating.  I'll quilt it with groups of wavy "straight" line quilting. I want the wavy lines to be close enough to interact with each other but I think quilting the whole quilt that close could be a bit overbearing visually. I discussed quilting options with Gwen Marston last week and she suggested doing the quilting in groups with a space between them. I thought that was a great idea. 
This afternoon I marked some straight lines to help me maintain some order while quilting. I mentioned to D that a chalk line like those used in house construction might be helpful but that I didn't want to risk the chalk not washing out. He went to the basement and came up with this nifty laser level tool. I think I may be adopting it to live in my sewing room.

Isn't this the greatest tool EVER??? The boys came in with a friend this afternoon and I heard the comment "woah, EXTREME quilting!" I love when quilting impresses the boys!

I was wondering how to make sure I trim the quilt straight and square given that there are no blocks or borders to measure from. Problem solved!! I love that. 

 

 

Flashback Friday

I think this was in 1966. The back of the photo reads "Lynn - eating the left over camp cookies!"

Something New

I may have started another quilt last night.

I sort of fell in love with the hourglass block last week. Gwen had a number of medallion quilts that featured the hourglass.  Last night, on a whim, I went through the scrap bin and cut squares that will eventually be made into hourglass blocks. I"ll use the same shortcut method that I used to make the hourglass portions of the stars in the quilt I made at retreat. The method I used is similar to this. (I cut and sew without drawing the line.) The good news is that I can now close the lid on the basket of scraps! 

 

Rossie Made Me Do It

I've really been busy sewing since school started. It's a great feeling to be able to sit and get things done! Here's another finished quilt top to show for my hard work!

This quilt, Rossie Made Me Do It, was made using my swiss chard blogger bundle for Pink Castle Fabrics. I got a half yard bundle and used two thirds of it. The pattern is Honey from Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork. I plan to finish my quilt with a zig zag border instead of trimming the side blocks.  I like the scrappy look to it.

I think this quilt would also look great as a real scrap quilt. It would be a bit more tedious to make, though. For this quilt, you sew the white to other fabrics together in strips and then cut them into triangles. For a scrappy quilt you would have cut the triangles and then sew them individually to the white "grout" strips. 

I started this quilt while at a retreat with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild in August. I brought the bundle to work on but didn't have a plan yet. Rossie suggested that I make the quilt on the cover of Elizabeth's book. I think it was a good suggestion. Thanks Rossie.

Now, back to sewing. Today I'm putting together a king size Point Me commission quilt using Denyse Scmidt's pattern. I'm on a roll! 

My unquilted tops pile is really growing though. I feel a big quilting session in the near future.

Medallion!

Last week I attended Gwen Marston's 2012 quilt retreat. The theme this year was medallion quilts. I love the look of medallion quilts but I was a bit intimidated by making my own. It is not a style that I'm very comfortable working in. 

I was floored by the number of medallion quilts that Gwen had to show in her presentation, given that the quilts in her book, Liberated Medallion Quilts, are currently in a traveling show.  She shared many different styles and fabric palettes. She is an amazing quilter and I am grateful that I have been able to attend her retreats.

When packing, I went through my pile of unfinished projects looking for something that I could use for the center of the quilt. I found several applique pieces that I had done about 10-15 years ago. Not knowing really what I was going to do or what might inspire me when I saw Gwen's presentation, I chose three applique pieces and fabrics to go with each of them. 

In the end, this purple batik block was the one I worked with while at the retreat. The center applique design was from Elly Sienkiewicz's Baltimore Beauties and Beyond: Studies in Classic Album Quilt Applique, Vol. 1.  

I started with the applique and thinking that sawteeth look good on pretty much anything, I added those first. Then I made the star blocks. The size of the finished star blocks dictated the size of the greenish border that came between the sawteeth and the stars. A narrow purple border with green corner stones came next.

At this stage, I decided to set it on point - which doubled the area of the quilt. I added strips of half square triangles and then let the large scale of the the fabric do the work in the rest of the corner. The last round in the medallion is border of the same purple fabric used earlier. I love the way it made the little green corner squares appear to float.

I am thrilled with the results of the medallion building workshop. Maybe some day I'll make medallion quilts from those other long forgotten applique pieces. I am inspired to try different techniques and border styles. As always after retreat, my head is spinning with ideas.

It was lovely to spend a few days relaxing and sewing at the retreat.

White Birch Lodge, Elk Rapids, MI.