Welcome Cats, Quilts, and Museums (La Conner, WA)

I visited La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum yesterday.  The Tudor-style Victorian mansion was fabulous to see by itself, but the old quilts on display along with the Japanese quilt exhibit made the visit perfect!

This mansion was built in 1891 and was known as the Gaches Castle.

The mansion almost did not make it after being gutted and turned into apartments for 30 years.  One of the tenants caused a major fire that took out the roof and third floor.  

There was talk of tearing down the old place, but one man saw a historic site that needed to be saved and started a restoration group.

They did a wonderful job restoring this mansion.

I just love the colors in this quilt!

They even restored the old fireplaces with Italian tile just as Mrs. Gaches would have liked it.

There are two exhibits at the museum from Japan right now.  One is "Ainu Embroidery" and the other is "At Play - Asobi: Quilts from Japan".  The Ainu Embroidery also included reverse appliqué.  I spent a lot of time studying the artwork.  I think I'm going to give reverse appliqué a try sometime soon. The embroidery consisted of "Cord" stitching or what I call couching. The coat in the photo below is all reverse appliqué and cord embroidery.

The quilts were extraordinary and made from silk, loose woven cotton, and hemp.  One quilt had me and another woman with our noses only inches from its work.  The quilt was filled with small scenes of the old life in Japan.  Beautiful gardens, detailed robes, hair, and their faces were just amazing.  I could have spent more time looking and studying all the quilts, but the museum was very busy that day.

No photos allowed, so here's some samples from a post card.

Back to the real world again.....across the street from the museum was a small butterfly garden for the public.  A very serene spot to relax and smell the flowers.

On The Cutting Board
Remember the cat material I bought a while ago?  Well, I decided to make a Welcome wall-hanging.  I used an old photo of Dusty playing on the scratch post as my kitty model.

I want to use large letters so people can see them at a distance.  I'm still working on the size and style I want to use.

 In the meantime, I am making a border using a paper foundation since the border's pattern is very small and there are a lot of pieces.

Prrrrr!

Happy Quilting!

Happy Scrappy!

or is it - Scrappy Happy?

All I know is that I have been working on this project for awhile, but the scraps seem to be growing....hmm

What to do with all of these scraps!  I hate throwing out scraps, but they are taking up too much space!  The  bags are multiplying!  It's time to use them up and get some storage space back.  So my mission this winter is to use up all of these scraps.

For some reason, most of my scraps are long strips so using this foundation pattern works well for using up all those scrappy strips.  It is a 6 1/2 inch block so the scraps can be pretty small.  Yes, I'm bad about saving the very small pieces.  I think after this quilt is finished, I will use a larger block size and get rid of the larger scraps.

I love using paper piecing.  No measuring or miscalculations!  Well, okay...sometimes I underestimate the size of fabric and end up short when I fold it over.  But that rarely happens now.  After a few of those mistakes, I double check and when in doubt - I look for a larger piece!  I've got plenty of them!

older pattern from Quiltmaker (sorry, I don't which issue)

I separated the scraps by colors.  Two colors per bag.  Yellows/oranges in one bag. Reds/purples in another.  Blues/greens in a third.  Whites/blacks in a fourth and centers for fussy cutting.  Oh yea, plenty of scraps to work with on this project!

I picked out a center and decided to start with the reds and purples.

All the fabric will be placed on the backside of the paper.  I placed the foundation paper face down on the light box* so I can see the pattern through the paper.  I place the center scrap face up and the second scrap face down on top of the center.  Just like sewing two pieces together except there is paper attached to them and the seams don't have to line up.

I make sure there is a little over 1/4 inch of fabric over the guide line I will be sewing on.  I pin parallel and away from the line using a pin with a flat flower head* for less bulk.

*I added links to a couple of my tools so you can see what I am talking about.

 I always shorten the length so the needle will punch more holes per inch in the paper.

Flip the paper over so the foundation pattern is facing up.  This is where the flower flat head pin comes in handy.  The paper lies almost flat.  Sew on the guide line between 1 and 2 spaces.

I like to sew over the lines to help anchor the thread in place.  Sometimes removing the paper pulls the threads loose.

For trimming the extra material, I use a ruler called "Add-A-Quarter"*.  It has a ridge measuring 1/4 inch.  I have two rulers for different lengths - 6 inch and 12 inch long.  I started with the smaller one and found out it doesn't work too well on larger foundation projects.  

There's a 1/8 inch add-on ruler for miniature foundation quilts, but I refuse to go that small just because I would have doubled my scrap bags!

 With the paper pattern face up.

 Fold the paper back along the sewing line.

 Give the paper a good crease.

 Slide the ruler's ridge up against the paper and over the material.  Keep it snug against the paper

 Trim away the extra fabric.

 Turn it over.  Take out the pin.

 Iron the second scrap flat.

All right!  2 down and only 15 more to go!  But it goes fast.  Often I will do 4 to 6 blocks at a time depending on the large selection of scraps.

This shows the fabric's seams.

 Now, you start to repeat from here.  Foundation faces down on the light box.  Place third scrap on top of center covering the guide line between 1 and 3.

 Pin in place.

 Double check to make sure there is enough overhanging for a 1/4 inch seam.  Make sure the scrap is long enough to cover both ends with 1/4 inch seam allowance.

 Foundation facing up for sewing.

 Trim the excess.

 Iron and there is the third scrap.

 It doesn't look so good now, but gets better as I keep adding the scraps.

 Okay, this one is done and now it needs to be trimmed down to the 6 1/2 inch square.

Back to the cutting board.  Using a regular ruler, I line it up to add in the seam allowance.  I trim paper and material together.

Showing the seam allowance

All excess paper and material trimmed away.  I have a block!

To remove the rest of the paper, I start with the outside and work my way in.  I weaken the paper by folding back on the seam and rubbing the crease with my thumb or the with the side of scissors.

I usually save all the blocks for TV time.  I can watch a favorite show and tear paper (and make a mess) at the same time - aren't I multi-talented?  LOL!

When I tear the paper, I stay close to the seam so I do not loosen the threads or pull them out.

Finished block!

Won't these blocks will make a bright and cheerful quilt for Project Linus?

Here are some more free foundation patterns at Quiltmaker.

Just a quick note:  We had a wonderful visit with our son Shaun.  I wish he could have stayed longer since he can't make it back for Christmas.

Well!  Back to sewing!  Happy Quilting All!