Category: Quilting

Baby Quilts

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Minnesota State Fair, QuiltingLeave a comment

Recently, the daughter of one of my friends announced that she was expecting a baby.  This new life will be the first grandchild for my friend, a miracle that will bring lots of joy to the future parents and grandparents.

This happy news gave me the opportunity to design a baby quilt, something that I haven’t done before.  Looking for inspiration, I came across a photo of baby blocks and that sparked an idea.

EQ7 design for Baby Quilt
Close-up of Quilting
Pink Baby Quilt
Blue Baby Quilt

 

I did enter the pink quilt in the MN
State Fair and received a blue ribbon.

Another State Fair Quilt

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap QuiltLeave a comment
Photo from State Fair
About a year ago, I won a package of fabrics from a local charity auction.  This set was a thick “layer cake” which included over one hundred of the 1895 Bali Handpaints Batik fabrics.
Palette of all 370 of the Bali 1895 Batik fabrics.

 

I love these fabrics, they are beautiful to look at, all of the colors of the rainbow.
After I arriving home with prize, I decided to sort them into the base colors.  In doing so, I realized that they would make a lovely quilt with the fabrics sorted into their respective color groups.
Using my EQ7 program, I started playing around with some ideas I had, looking for a design that would show off the gradations of the colors.
Shooting Star Block and Modified Block
The block I settled on is a modified and simplified version of the Shooting Star Block.
EQ7 design
By removing some seams and changing the coloring, I achieved a design that looked like intertwined ribbons.

Time to start sewing!

Finished Quilt “Dancing Ribbons”
Decorative Pillow

 

Pillow Sham – really shows the quilting in the “ribbons”.

 

Minnesota State Fair

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Applique, Fabric Dyeing, Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap Quilt1 Comment

The Minnesota State Fair ended one week ago.  Finished up just in time, I entered my butterfly quilt this year.  A third place finish was a nice outcome considering that the Sweepstakes winner was the first place quilt in my category.

Butterfly Quilt on display at the MN State Fair
Quilt and Pillows on our guest room bed.
Pillow sham

After submitting the quilt, I did have some time to make a pillow sham and decorative pillow.  The sham was made with custom dyed fabric and thread painting similar to the quilt.

Decorative Pillow

For a decorative throw pillow, I did an on-line search for paper piecing butterflies and found a really nice site (https://lillyella.com/2015/09/02/butterfly-charm-block-paper-piecing-patterns/).  I really enjoyed using my dyed fabrics to make the butterflies for the pillow.

Butterfly Art Quilt – Quilting and Final Product

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Applique, Fabric Dyeing, Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap Quilt1 Comment

My butterfly quilt is complete!

From a distance, it is hard to see the details.  But, close up it’s really fun to look at.

I find inspiration for my quilting from a variety of sources – photos, coloring books, . Sometimes the quilt block “suggests” the quilting design.  Other times, it can be a bit illusive.

When planning this butterfly quilt, I knew I wanted the quilting along the edges to look like grass, but I also wanted to add some creativity to the border.  While at work, I found inspiration in a recent copy  of Martha Stewart “Living” magazine.  I liked the ferns and curly spikes in this photo and thought they would be a great addition to the quilting.
I also wanted to add some flowers and butterflies flying in the background.
Here are some close-up pictures:

The back is fun to look at as well!

 

 

Butterfly Art Quilt – Custom Dyed Background and Backing

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fabric Dyeing, Gradation Dyeing, Quilting2 Comments

After my butterflies were all cut, it was time to create the background fabric that they will be appliqued onto.  Inspiration – my garden (ie: grass and blue sky).

For this edge of the fabric, I am hoping to create something that looks like grass, using the Shibori technique.  For the sky, I am thinking that ice dyeing with blue might work well. Ice dyeing is similar to snow dyeing but with ice cubes instead of snow since it is summer here in Minnesota.  So, I setup to do some more fabric dyeing

Green Grass edge:
1. Cut 4 yards of Combed Cotton (Dharma Trading Company) lengthwise into three strips 144″ x 15″.
2. Sew each strip into a long tube (using a basting stitch) and scrunch onto 4″ x 24″ PVC pipe.
3. Place the fabric tube into wallpaper water tray that contains 750 ml Emerald Green Dye (2 mg/ml concentration) for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the fabric from the dye, place on paper towel to absorb excess dye solution, then wrap in plastic and batch for 4 hours.
5. Remove the stitching, rinse with cold water and wash with Blue Dawn.

Blue Sky Center:
1. Cut the green dyed fabric into two pieces 105″ in length and two pieces 75″ in length.
2. Sew these to the sides of a 72″ x 45″ piece of undyed Combed Cotton, making mitered corners.
3. Soak the fabric in warm water and wring out excess so that the fabric is just damp, not dripping.
4. Scrunch the undyed center fabric into a drain tray (sorry, but I didn’t take pictures of this), with the green edges hanging over this sides of the tray to keep from getting too much blue dye on the “green grass”. Place a 12′ x 15′ piece of scrap fabric over the scrunched fabric to catch any undissolved dye particles.
5. Cover the fabric with ice cubes.  I used eight trays of ice, which made the layer about 3″ thick.
6. Sprinkle with 0.5 gm Mixing Blue  and 1.5 gm Royal Blue dye powder.
7. Place the drain tray in a large plastic bucket to collect the melting ice and cover (to keep my cat out of the dye).
8. After the ice has melted (about 8 hours), pour one liter of hot Soda Ash solution over the fabric to set the dye and allow to batch for one hour.
9. Rinse out the excess dye with cold water and wash with Blue Dawn.
10. After drying, scrunch the edges of the fabric together and dip in Evergreen dye (1 liter of 2 mg/ml) to create a darker green edge.
11. Batch for four hours, rinse and wash.

 

 

The background fabric was now ready to applique the butterflies.  I used a variagated silk thread for the applique (Tiara #705 Silk, Superior Threads).

For my backing fabric, I wanted to complement the quilting that I was planning for the top of the quilt. To do this, I thought I would try to ombre dye the fabric.  As an added detail, I decided to first use dye magnet and dye blocker to make some butterflies that would appear in the dye.

Backing Fabric:
1. 80″ x 110″ Combed Cotton
2. Cut butterfly stencils out of adhesive vinyl using my Cameo stencil cutter.
3. Paint dye magnet near the center of the fabric to create five butterflies that will be darker than the dyed background color in those areas.
4. Paint dye blocker (Nori Glue) in the outer part of the fabric to  create five butterflies that will be white the the darker areas of the fabric. Allow both magnet and blocker to dry completely overnight.
5. Pull the center of the fabric together and secure to a wooden pole, similar to that described for ombre dyed sheers.
6. Fill a 4 gallon bucket with 8 liters of hot soda ash solution.
7. Add 1ml dye solution (200mg concentrate) and dip fabric to about 4″ from center fabric attached to pole.
8. Remove fabric, add more dye concentrate and dip the fabric again but this time stopping 4″ less than previously dipped. Repeat this process stopping 4″ shorter each time. Dye concentrate amounts used were 1,1,2,2,5,5,8,8,10,10,20,20 ml of 200 mg/ml solution.
9. Allow to hang and batch, with excess dye dripping off, for two hours.
10. Dip fabric in 4 liters of dilute Retayne and hang again for 20 minutes to allow the dye to set to the fabric.
11. Rinse out excess dye with cold water and wash with Blue Dawn.

I am now ready to load this quilt onto my longarm machine and start the custom quilting process.

Butterfly Art Quilt

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Applique, Dye Resist, Fabric Dyeing, Gradation Dyeing, Quilting, Scrap QuiltLeave a comment

As a pediatric dentist, I see lots of kids with interesting clothing selections.  Some have mismatched colors, some have their shirts on backwards (or their shoes), but some are absolutely adorable.  Last winter, one of my younger patients (she was a little over 3 years old) came in with a t-shirt on that had a large butterfly printed on it.
Now, I love butterflies – with their beautiful colors and graceful wings. This little girl was fearful of having me check her teeth, so I tried to help her relax by talking to her about her t-shirt.  Turned out that she liked butterflies too and gladly started showing me her t-shirt.  On closer inspection, this large butterfly was actually made up of smaller butterflies and was really cute.  After a successful dental checkup, she left cavity free and happy!
Since it was a busy day, I didn’t think more about the patient until my lunch break when my staff commented that they were happy she overcame her fears and was able to complete an exam and cleaning. One of my staff commented that the conversation about the butterflies may have been what helped her to relax. This conversation sparked an idea in my mind – to make a quilt with a butterfly made out of little butterflies.

http://www.missoulabutterflyhouse.org/store/

An on-line image search was unsuccessful in finding a picture of the t-shirt that matched what I remembered seeing earlier that day. I did, however, find a link to the Missoula Insectarium. In their store, they sell a t-shirt with butterflies  that I thought might be a good inspiration for my quilt.

Using a graphics program, I did a quick design to see how the idea might look. This, I thought, was going to be a fun quilt to make.

Creating the applique butterflies:
Using the graphics program, I cropped the butterfly image around each of individual butterflies.  In doing this, I found that several of the butterflies were about the same shape.  So, I actually only had 12 different butterflies to work with.  Using the Bernina DesignWorks software, I created a Cutwork and Applique file for each butterfly.

For my fabrics, I used the samples from my many trials of fabric dyeing – shibori, mandala, etc).  These fabrics had symmetrical colorings and patterns that worked well for butterfly wings.

More on this project in my next posting…

Christmas Decorating

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Bed Runner, Quilting1 Comment

It’s the day after Thanksgiving.  While many people are out shopping, I prefer to avoid the stores on this day.  Over the years, our family tradition has been to decorate the house instead.  So, today, the boxes came out and the Christmas decorations went up.  To add to the festive atmosphere, a few inches of snow fell yesterday.  So, the evergreens on the front step are dusted with some fluffy white.

The stockings are hung, the garlands are strung and the tree is lit.  All I have left to do is put the ornaments on.

Just in time for the holiday decorating, I finished up a Christmas Bed Runner.  It is made with a pineapple block and scraps of red and green fabrics.

Bed Runners

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Bed Runner, QuiltingLeave a comment

My machine quilting adventure began in 2007.  While helping my husband pick up his car from an auto body shop, I drove past a store called Quilt Yourself.  Assuming it was a regular quilt shop, I dropped off my husband and went back to do some shopping.  What I found was not a place to buy more fabric, but a place to rent time on a long-arm machine.  Fascinated, I signed up for a lesson and was immediately hooked!  I now had a means to complete more quilts than I could by hand quilting.


Soon after, I started designing quilt tops with the quilting in mind.  Eventually, I designed a “whole cloth” quilt.  However, I quickly realized that to complete the quilt with the detail I wanted, I would need to spend many hours (if not days) on their machine, all at a fee of $25 per hour and a 45 minute drive each way to get to their location.

When I added up the cost of the rental time on their machine, I figured that it would cost about half the price of the actual machine.  Thus, I started thinking about purchasing my own long arm machine.  I did eventually purchase a BabyLock Jewel and it was time to make my whole cloth quilt – a design I called Cream and Sugar.  After 32 bobbins of thread and an undetermined number of hours quilting, one of my friends told me I should actually name it Obsessive and Compulsive.

The quilt turned our very nice and has actually won a few awards.


To add some color to the bed, I decided to make a bed runner.  Bed runners can pack a big impact in a small package.  They are widely used in hotels to add color to a room. While they may warm your toes on a cool night, they would be more worthwhile if they had other uses.  As pointed out by one of my sons, “why can’t you sew two of them together?”  His statement sparked an idea – a folded seasonal bed runner. Folded, the runner displays the current season. Unfolded, the runner can be used as a thin coverlet when taking a nap or  just relaxing on you bed.

If you are interested in making one for yourself – I have a pattern on PatternSpot. Enjoy!

Starting Something New

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Applique, QuiltingLeave a comment
While I have a job that gives me satisfaction in helping others, what I really enjoy is creating things. Whether it is sewing, gardening or cooking, I like to do “my own thing”.  I am not someone who follows a published quilting pattern, or follows a recipe word for word.  I simply enjoy the thought process that goes into designing and creating, from the beginning thought to the final product. Over the years, I have made many things.  When showing them to friends, a few have suggested that I should teach others what I do. Well, it’s hard to fit a teaching job into my professional schedule. But, over time, this blog may become a tool to teach other about the things that are important to me.  I have many hobbies that I enjoy – Fiber Arts (quilting, knitting, crocheting), Flora (gardening and flowers), Food (cooking and baking). Of greater importance is my Faith – I see God’s creation around me and it inspires the creativity within me. Hopefully with time I will have a few good stories to share and some pretty pictures to post as well.  So, you can each have some Fun in reading these postings.
Yesterday was my half birthday.  Half birthdays are big days for many young children.  But, as an adult, we are not supposed to think about our birthday, let alone our half birthday.  I, however, have decided to ignore this normal adult attitude. So – Happy Half Birthday to myself!
It was also a delightful fall day here in Minnesota –  sunny with temperatures in the low 70s. So, to celebrate the beautiful day, I delivered a belated birthday gift to my sister-in-law. Several years ago, I asked her whether she would like a quilt for her bedroom.  In response, she sent me the following image and asked if I could make a quilt to look like it.
. B&B idea flippedimage by Sheila Rosamond, digitaldoodle.com
Seeing this as a fun design challenge, I decided to see what I could come up with. Using EQ7, I designed  the following quilt, which was given to her for Christmas that year. It was made with batik fabrics and hand quilted by an Amish lady who lived near my mother.  Overall, a very enjoyable project to do at the time.
CometTrailB&B1
As a follow-up, this year I decided to be more creative and make a wall art quilt to match.  So, that is what I delivered to her yesterday.
IMG_0129a
Happy Belated Birthday Barbara!