It's been a while...

It's been a while since I wrote on my blog and since things have slowed down a bit, I thought I'd fill you in.
I've been in a whirlwind since January.
     In May of this year we lost Jim's mother, Marilyn. She had moved in with us to seek alternative treatments here in California. While she did feel better, the cancer eventually was just too much for her.
 It started about 25 years ago with breast cancer and progressed to 9 different types of cancer over the rest of her life but she fought off each one. Her doctors called her a miracle lady with one even asking "how are you still here?".
     She was an amazing woman with an amazing spirit and if I'm even half the person she was, I'll consider my life fulfilled.
     On a quilting note, she especially loved 2 of my quilts so I hung them in her room to cheer her up if she got down.
     I hadn't been quilting in 5 months while we took care of her and last week finally fired up the machine only to stare at it for ten minutes asking myself "now how do you operate this thing again?" It only took about a half hour of practice and I was back in the swing of it again.
Muscle memory is a wonderful thing.
     I received some wonderful news this week. I submitted two quilts to Houston this year one of which was not accepted last year. Well, they were BOTH accepted this year! To have even one quilt hanging in Houston is a complete honor let alone TWO! I was, and still am, over the moon with joy.
     And that brings me to my second bit of good news. After returning from Marilyn's funeral in Illinois we realized we were pretty tapped out financially for a while. Since I now had 2 quilts accepted to Houston I thought I should really try and get to the show, but it wasn't looking good.
     Well, quilters being the wonderful people they are, I was offered an opportunity to be able to attend the Houston show and I grabbed it. So I will be there will bells on! Not literally. But if I win a prize I'll look like a Budweiser Clydesdale at Christmas with full sleigh bells wrapped around my entire body! Look for me jingling up and down the aisles.
     So there you have it. I think I've brought you up to speed and I'll be writing and posting pics and tips more often.
     Until next time my friends, my the only tension in your life come from your sewing machines,
     Much love,
     Jerry   

    

How to build quilting confidence...

People have asked me how they can build their quilting confidence. My answer usually comes with blank stares and confusion. I tell them "easy...go to your sewing space, sit down in front of your machine, put your ego away, and work on the one thing that is your greatest weakness."

Ouch.

Why do I say that? Because it's true. We've all heard the old saying "you are only as strong as your weakest link" and it applies to quilting as well. If you constantly ignore your weaknesses, you've created a glass ceiling for yourself. You'll only be as good a quilter as you are at that very moment. You won't improve.
So how do you bust through that ceiling?
Let me give you an example:
Let's say binding is your greatest weakness. To a show quilter, a poor binding is the difference between Best of Show and First Place.
So if judges constantly critique you on your bindings...fix them!
If you make quilts for yourself and family, a poor binding will fall apart in the wash very quickly.
So if your bindings fall apart or wear out too quickly...fix them!
Find someone that is awesome at doing bindings and pick their brain. Have them show you how they create bindings and then practice, practice, practice those techniques.
With just a bit of effort, you will have bindings that shine!
You get my drift. Pick something you're weakest at and work on it until it becomes a strength.

Phil Mickelson, the amazing pro golfer has said:

"I never felt comfortable flying, so I went and got my pilot's license," Mickelson once said. "I never felt comfortable with being in an awkward situation, so I took up martial arts. I just always wanted to take on my fears head-on. That's kind of the way I approach golf. If there's a shot that I don't feel comfortable with, I'll go on the range and work on it until I do, until I turn that weakness into strength.

"Where I see a lot of mistakes being made out here is people practice their strengths, and they don't take their weaknesses and turn them into strengths," he added. "It feels better to practice things you're good at, not the things you struggle at, and I've always tried to do the opposite."

Awesome words indeed.

So what are your weaknesses? Be honest with yourself, dig in, and turn them into strengths.
You can do it. YOU GOT THIS!

Pinning, pinning, and more pinning!

     Well my fingers have just about had it. For the last two days I've been pin basting my newest competition quilt. The final total came out to be 1700 pins. You read that right...1700. 

     There's really no other way around it. I've tried thread basting (have you ever tried to remove threads from under dense quilting? It's enough to send anyone to an institution), water soluble thread basting (it worked ok but the water soluble thread still has a loft to it which creates a small space between the top thread and the quilt leading to loose stitches), mistyfusing (which added another layer, and the mistyfuse added an adhesive layer which I didn't like). 

     You name it, I've tried it. It just seems good ole fashioned pinning works for me. But it takes time...lots of time...and creates sore fingers.

So here are some pictures of the process...

 

Layer 1. This is the backing taped down with painters tape to a tile floor. I like using painters tape as it releases easily. Also it makes it easy to pin on the tile floor. Also, isn't this fabric gorgeous? It was created by Sondra Millard and it goes perfectly with the quilt top. Thanks Sondra!

 

Layer 2. I used Quilter's Dream Request Poly. I like using this batting as it is very thin but strong. Since I quilt on a domestic machine, I don't want too much loft in my batting. Also, I knew I was adding another layer of batting so I wanted to keep this first layer thin.

Layer 3. Quilter's Dream Wool. I like the combination of wool on top of poly because since I quilt for competition, I want the quilt to hang straight, look good, and diminish fold lines when shipping. The poly adds body to a hanging quilt and the wool gives a trapunto effect to any unquilted area without going through the labor of trapunto. It works very well!

 Layer 4 is the quilt top which I cannot show you at this time. It's a secret!

NOW comes one of the hardest parts...pinning:

It's a little tough to see the pins but trust me, they are there. All 1700 of 'em!

 While pinning is time consuming and a bit painful, it's all worth it. It takes me one step closer to what I love...the quilting! 

I just love creating quilts and enjoy each step of the process...and yes, even the pinning. 

Until next time...HAPPY QUILTING!

Fixed!

     After my harrowing day yesterday cutting through my quilt top (and several glasses of wine later) I decided to put things away and wait until today to find a solution. It was that or throw it all in the trash and start all over again. I decided on the former...
     The good news is that my quilt is fixed and I want to take you through the steps of what I did in case it happens to you (I sure hope not!). Now I realize there are many "fixes" that can be done but this was what I did based on my quilt and what I wanted the final outcome to look like. 
So here we go...

As you may recall in our last episode, Jerry was distraught because of this...

This is what happens when you cut away the fabric behind an appliqué and get over-confident and start to rush. Word of advice...be patient and slow down!

 

 

 

      So now this section has to be fixed. I sat and thought about it for a while because I don't want to add any more bulk to this section (or as little as possible) and I came up with several possibilities:
1) I could rip this section out and create an entirely new appliqué section.
2) I could create new individual sections of turned-under lamé and appliqué those over the top of the purple and gold sections. 
3) I could create new gold and purple sections without turning under the edges (raw edge) and use Wonder-under to fuse those on top of the pieces that were cut.

     I decided on number 3 and here's why. Number 1 was just too labor intensive for such a small section and would have created bigger problems. It would have been like a home improvement project. You know the kind....where you start with one small project like replacing a bathroom faucet and you end up remodeling the entire bathroom because you find problems along the way. 
     Number 2 would have created more bulk at the edges of the pieces where it was turned under. It would have made it more difficult to appliqué those edges down. 
     So number 3 it was. It seemed like the least problematic solution. Fusing a raw edge piece down would eliminate bulk along the edges and prevent ripping anything out.  As for the raw edges, I was going to use a fine zig-zag anyway so that would prevent any fraying. 
     
So here's what I did...
1) I layed out my quilt nice and flat and used tracing paper to trace over the section I wanted to create using a regular mechanical pencil.

 2) Then, I ironed three layers of freezer paper together to create a stiff template material and ironed this to the BACK of the traced image. You want to iron it to the back because you have to think in reverse. If you iron the freezer paper to the front, the final piece of fabric will be reversed and not correct. 

  
 3) I then cut out the image on the line I drew. After cutting, I carefully peeled away the tracing paper from the freezer paper. 

4) I pressed the freezer paper template to the wrong side of a piece of lamé that I stabilized using a sheer weight fusible interfacing. I then carefully cut around the template.

5) After I did this, I peeled away the stabilized lamé from the freezer paper template.

6) I used my handy dandy glue stick (Elmers washable school glue stick) to glue the fabric shape to the fusible side of Wonder Under, NOT the paper side. (The fusible side is the rough side). You could also use a teflon pressing sheet to do this but this seemed just as easy.

7) Carefully cut around the fabric shape and peel away the paper backing from the fabric shape. 

8) I then fused this purple piece right over the top of the piece that was cut on my quilt. I repeated these same steps with the gold piece. I used Superior Monopoly (clear) and a very tiny zig-zag stitch to stich around each piece. 

Problem solved! You can't tell that anything was ever cut on the quilt and fixing it this way eliminated as much bulk as possible. 
Now I get to start quilting this top and have fun combining threads and patterns!

Happy Quilting!!!

Oops!

Yep, it happens. 
Even though I've been quilting for 38 years, mistakes still happen. And when they do, they happen BIG. I was cutting away the backing fabric from behind an appliqué when IT happened. Before I knew it, my scissors clipped my quilt top...twice. 
After spewing a voracious array of various words I didn't even think I knew, I tossed my scissors aside and decided to walk away before it got REALLY ugly. 
And why did this happen? Because I got over confident and started to rush. There's a lesson in there. SLOW DOWN no matter how good things are going. 
So what now? I'll have to figure out a way to appliqué over these sections without adding any bulk. 
But that starts tomorrow... 

My Navy Years

     People have been asking about my Navy years so I thought I'd post some pics I found and tell you about them. 
     I joined the US Navy as a musician in 1982 and retired in 2003 for a total of 21 years. I had wonderful experiences and met some wonderful people and got to play some wonderful gigs. I will always look back on my time fondly. 
     Here are some pics from that time:

We were playing in a small town in France. Here I am with my alto saxophone trying to look cool in my shades...lol. I am to the right of the trombone soloist standing behind the stand that says "States". 

This was taken in the mountains of Italy. I've put down the saxophone, grabbed a microphone, and took the center position. I was too hip for a microphone stand apparently.

This picture has a deep, personal meaning for me and is one of the most important pictures I have. This was taken in Beirut, Lebanon. We were playing in the Marine barracks (I'm on the far right with the microphone) that was bombed a week later killing 241 Marines. We took comfort that we were able to bring some entertainment and joy in the lives of these brave Marines before they met such a violent end. We also stayed in these barracks while we toured Lebanon with Bob Hope as his back-up band. This picture still gives me chills.

So that's just a little bit about me and my Navy years. I look forward to sharing more about me and my life's journey and how it impacts my quilting.

The Quilt Show!

     Last week I was completely honored to be a guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims in San Antonio, TX. Both Alex and Ricky and the entire crew were the consummate professionals. It was exciting to present my quilts and how they are created to the viewers. 
     Also, it was my first time spending any length of time in San Antonio. What a beautiful city! I loved the architecture and the Riverwalk area. Great food and shops. I also got to see the Alamo. As a history buff I got goosebumps to see this national treasure and the catalyst for the independence of Texas. I would definitely go back to this city again!
     Until next time...Happy Quilting!
    

The Quilt Show folks were completely awesome!