Sunday, October 24, 2010

Quilting the 1st Layer Builds a Strong Foundation!

I have finish the first layer of quilting the quilt. Whew!!!! It wasn't difficult,just a bit tedious. For those of you who are familiar with my work, I do quite a bit of machine quilting and is very maticulous with the little things that I place on the quilt. I think the most time consuming in this step was the hearts, words and ribbon symbols. The quilt needs some green leaves; the hearts are not enough so for the second layer, I will add some green leaves and maybe some more hearts along with the women figures.

While quilting, I realized that there were some things that I hadn't mentioned or needed to reiderate about the machine quilting process.......and as things come to me, I will mention them in blogs to come.

1. When quilting you must put enough pressure on the foot pedal so that you will get ample enough speed and stitches per inch. If you go to slow, your stitches will seem jerky looking; almost like a person is driving a car  with two feet and the car keeps coming to a hault and moving in a jerking motion. The second thing is, when machine quilting too slow it's not like driving a car, you do not slow down when going around curves. When you want your stitches to make a loop or a circle or outline a curved shape, your bobbin thread will show on top if you are going to slow. 

Pulling up the bobbin thread to the top of the quilt when starting
2. In the picture with the finger (yes it's my finger), I have pulled the bobbin thread up to the top of the quilt because I am starting to quilt. You only do this when you are starting to begin stitching ( at the beginning when you are starting to stitch at any point during the quilt project or if you change the thread color or if you've had to stop sewing because the bobbin thread ran out and you have to start again).If you don't do that, your bobbing thread will work it's way back into the bobbin case and cause all kinds of problems including tangling of the bobbin thread. If the bobbin thread happens to run out, cut a descent length of the top thread and pull it to the back of the quilt project that you are working on by pulling a stitch from the back of the quilt.The will bring the top thread and the end of the bobbin thread to the back. Some quilters work it into the quilt layers once the quilt if finished. I stitch over those threads to lock them in place.....then begin quilting again where I left off.




Note: I took pictures of areas of the completed 1st layer. I wanted you to see how the threads seem to connect to one another. I don't cut the thread every time that I sew an appliqued piece if I am using the same color for each of the appliqued symbols. I just pull a length of thread long enough to move from one symbol on to the next one. Once I finish the whole 1st layer, cut the thread or clean up the area to prepare for layer 2. Well on to the next layer.                              

Friday, October 22, 2010

It's On Now!!!!!!!!!


Yes, it is on and in the quilting zone! I got up this morning and went straight to my sewing machine. Wow! This feels great!!. Oh, almost forgot to mention that today is my Earth Day.
Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday dear Myraaaaaaaah,
Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!
So.... I feel even better that I am giving back for a good cause on my birthday

Alright, back to the business of quilting. I should give a little machine quilting 101. Okay, I use "The Bottom Line" thread on the bobbin. I love this thread on my bobbin because it is strong and thin and allows me to load three times the amount in relationship to other types of thread. The other great thing about "The Bottom Line" is that it comes in numerous colors. Some quilters don't like it because it is not a natural fiber. It is a polyester material. You know from the last post what thread I am starting the quilting with.

The Way I Free Motion Quilt
1. I drop the feed dog.
2. I set my stitch tension to a comfortable position. I think it is a mental thing :-) (Really, the stitch tension doesn't really make a difference since you will moving the fabric through the machine at will.)
3. I don't use gloves or fingers or any device to help keep the quilt from sliding through my finger. I just use my bare hands. Love the feel of the cloth.
4. Then........I just go for it. I get a comfortable speed so that everything is in sink; my hands with my mind and my foot and my gut. I almost get into a meditative state. It's like nothing else around me matters. It's just me the quilt and the my machine; which is and older version of the Bernina family called the Quilter's Edition. They don't make them anymore, but it is one of the most sturdy machines that Bernina has ever made. That's what the man who cleans my machine told me.
5. Oh yeah, almost forgot, even though the rythem when free motion quilting can feel great without dropping the feed dog can feel exceptionally well, ALWAYS drop it when machine quilting. I almost lost old faithful  because I got in the habit of machine quilting on it without dropping the feed dog. I ran well for a good while. Then it started making a loud noise. Finally, the machine just stopped. When I took it to the mechanic, he asked me if I had taken it apart and tried to put it back together myself because he had never seen any machine in such bad shape. I said ,"No" and after a number of questions we realized that I had injured the timing mechanism by pulling the quilt across the feed dog. The repair cost me over $ 200.00. I was able to save my baby; the Bernina that is LOL.

I'll report again on the process of the quilt once I get to Quilting Phase 2. I still have to upload the radio program shows, "Voices of Art". Maybe later on today I'll get to at least 1 of them. I'm going to spend some time with my Granddaughter. She's taking me to lunch for my B-Day!!!!!!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Staying On Course


I'm back in my two seater, convertible, lapis blue Jaguar; the highest end model of course. Get it? Back on the wagon is how the saying really goes. I kept walking past the sewing machine... and the quilt.... and the thread, gently gazing as I walked past. "Go for it", I say to myself. "Just jump on in; get started on the quilting and finish it. There's not a whole lot to do". So I pull out a bin of my thread. The ones that are yellow,red, and variegated with a sprinkle of purple threads here and there. I am a thread finatic. I probably have just as many spools of delicious thread as I do fabric. I think it has to do with the thread colors and texture. I also like the fact that one can hold a spool of thread in your hand. Don't the threads look yummy? I have a love for all types of cotton and other types of  threads but Madiera viscose thread seams to always steal my heart. I use 'black core' thread quite a bit. The black core is made exactly the way it is named. It has a strand or a couple of strands of thread in the center of the strand. The strand of thread is wrapped  or twisted with a metallic strand that seems different from other metallic threads that I have used in the past. I don't have trouble with breakage and it gives off a wonderful glitter next to the fabric; depending on the way you look at the finished quilt.  The viscose variegated that is pictured to the right will be used for the tree and the background sun rays and sky. I think it will promote contrast but blend nicely, at the same time, with the tree. The brown color that is a part of it variegated nature will blend in. I'll probably use a cotton thread for the outline of the women's bodies and the hearts that will serve as leaves. I'll let the quilt tell me what it wants. 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Harlem Needle Arts is Featured

Angela Harden (General Manager), Michelle Bishop (Director,HNA), and Me


I keep hearing this voice in my head saying," Finish that quilt, finish that quilt. You know it was due days ago." What a whirlwind of a schedule it's been this week and we are only approaching Wednesday. Well, tonight was the Voices of Art radio/web broadcast and the Harlem Needle Arts, founded and directed by Michelle Bishop was the guest. What a wonderful show!!!!!! I felt right at home; in my element. I never realized how much work it takes to produce a successful radio show, as specially one that is streamed live on the web. I enjoyed myself quite a bit though!!!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Voices of Art airs on WHCR 90.3FM and the Stitch Goes On!!!!

                                                                                                                     Getting ready for the radio show tomorrow evening from 5-6 pm. Voices of Art airs on WHCR 90.3 FM or streamed in live at www.whcr.org. This will be the final Voices of Art broadcast until November 2nd. I will be doing two a month until the end of year. Oh, I do have a surprise show that will be aired either in November or December. One of those months will run three shows. I will let you know as we get closer. Tomorrow's guest will be Michelle Bishop, Director of Harlem Needle Arts. I am looking forward to the interview because I love introducing folks to arts that  may be unfamiliar to them. 



Feather
Spiral
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I'm still working on the quilt. It's on the sewing machine. I am a free motion quilter. That means, I use the machine needle as a drawing tool. The feed dog is dropped......Under normal sewing circumstances, the feed dog ( the thing that looks like dog teeth) within the plate of the sewing machine is used to keep the fabric from sliding when one sews. Well, I move that out of the way so that my fabric can slide or move freely, allowing me to move what I am sewing in any direction at any time. I  outline the shapes that I want, create detail and shadow in the shapes, and I always sign my name using the free motion sewing technique. There is a special sewing machine foot that we use. It has a round shape and kind of jumps up and down so that you can move the quilt layers freely. Once I get in the groove, I can free motion quilt for hours at a time. These are a couple of my favorite images to free motion quilt. I frequent three LOL! 1. My rendition of the feather, 2. A spiral or coil, and 3. My name of course. I always sign my quilts with just my first name and add an Egyptian Ankh( The Ankh is a symbol of everlasting life) at the end.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

It's Pinned!!!!!!


Just wanted those that don't quilt or those that may want to experiment with machine quilting to see how the three layers are  sandwiched together. I'm finally ready to quilt.Whew! Safety pins used for quilting have a curved side so it can easily go through the three layers without the fabric and batting gathering once the pin is clipped. When machine quilting the three layers together, the pins are removed as you approach each one. I baste my sandwiched piece with pins when I am getting ready to quilt it because I try not to leave the pins too long. I find that holes can be left in the cloth when the pins are removed; depending on how tightly woven the fabric. Now is the time when I choose the color thread. I am still thinking about whether I want to use a solid color or a variegated one. I've got loads of thread. I am ashamed to say  that I almost have just as much thread as I do fabric. Thought I'd get to begin quilting tonight, but, looks like that is not going to happen.Gotta get ready for tomorrows class at the college. I will be teaching my students how to cut templates and hand applique'. That should be fun; wink, wink.

Time to Sandwich, Pin and Quilt

I decided that the quilt top needed a border. I had no intention of putting a border on this piece, but it was calling for one. For those of you who are non- quilters, we quilting folks have very special relationships with our fabrics which ultimately become quilts. Each peice of fabric becomes almost like children to us and no matter how much fabric that we have in our stash, we  remember each one and know when a piece of fabric has been moved to another space.  I piece most of my quilt borders. .......and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I quilt in phases too. I will quilt what you see, then add the hearts(cut out from one the bandanas we had to use for this project) which will serve as leaves and all of the women that will dance at the tree of life. When basting my quilts, I use quilters safety pins since I machine quilt. Between you and me, I'll use straight pins if that's all that I have access to at the time.:-) Now on to pulling a piece of fabric for the backing, finding some batting (cotton of course) to use for the finishing of this quilt and beginning the quilting for Phase III

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Phase III Begins

Before leaving for the Fall Festival with all of my daughters and grand, I began auditioning fabrics for the female images in my quilt. I decided to put four women in the quilt; each representing one of the four parts of the world, North, South, East and West.The colors have nothing to do with the parts of the world; just personal preference. I usually don't dress the women or put hair or features on any of them. I leave it to the imagination of the viewer to decide what that think each woman looks like. I'm still cutting more words to add somewhere on the piece. One of the bandanas had a number of hearts printed on it. I have cut countless hearts which I will use as leaves. Another one of the bandanas had a number of the symbol for women. I think that I might create a banner of some sort, with inspirational words cut from the bandanas. thatthe words will seem to be floating in the sky like a cloud. I'll decide all of that after I sandwich the quilt (layer the top, batting, and backing together [for my friends who don't quilt]) and stitch the tree to the sandwiched piece. I'm going to sew all day tomorrow...at least that is what I am planning.

Friday, October 15, 2010

In the Process Part II: The Canvas (Yeah!!!!!!!!)

Okay, a huge part of my process when quilting is making the foundation or the quilt top as the background or canvas. I machine applique' A LOT on my quilts. Sometimes there are touches of hand applique',  like the curved yellow patches in the top center and left. They are left over pieces from a quilt that was totally hand appliqued around 2002.... I think I was going through some soul searching then.LOL....but for the most part, I machine stitch everything. I also quilt all layers together at the same time. Yes...I quilt the top, batting, and backing together along with everything that I have appliqued on the top at the same time. Sometimes there are up to six layers. I always said to myself, "Self (LOL)....why stitch the applique' pattern pieces onto the top then restitch or quilt everything together AGAIN?" So for the past twenty years, I have been stitching all of the layers together at once. Saves me time, thread and I love the look.

So....I've finished my canvas which always has some piecing in it. I am a fan of traditional and improvisational quilts. Both types, I believe are synonymous with one another.  My points will not always be evident (to me points don't always make a great quilt), you will rarely find African fabrics used in any of my quilts (I'll tell you about that later on) and there will either be an obvious border or NOT. ,.......and, unless I am using striped fabric for the binding, I make a straight grain binding. I love the look of stripes on the bais.

I've used three of the tools by Darlene Zimmerman. The 12 1/2" x 6 1/2"  ruler, the 45 degree triangle and the Flip and Set. The Flip and Set got the Myrah Brown Green treatment.:-) In quilter's lingo that means: I couldn't figure out how to use the thing so I used it the way that I thought made sense. LOL!! Once my canvas or foundation or quiltop as background is complete I begin to dress it with all of the wonderful applique' images in preparation for anything else that I might add after Phase III is complete.
On to Phase III

In the Process!!!!!!


Been working on a quilt for the past couple of weeks. An aquaintance asked me to create it. Although I knew that I was very busy, I decided to squeeze it into my schedule. I didn't realize how maticulous I am until I was in the middle of cutting out the words on the bandanas that were required to incorporate in the quilt. I decided to go with a quilt that will become a part of my "Dancin' at the Tree of Life" series. The theme of the quilt is for breast cancer awareness. I wanted an upbeat quilt look and of course Boa Boa trees are always my comfort zone. The thought of women dancing and celebrating at the African Boa Boa tree(where ancestors have also been known to dwell) would fit perfectly. Oh almost forgot to mention, we had to incorporate the use of these rulers designed by a woman named Darlene Zimmerman. So I am using the rulers to create the background (sky, land etc.). I am more of a free spirit when it comes to cutting fabric for quilts. I usually decide on a size of the fabric patch based on the fabric that I want to use, then build everything around it. I am still trying to stay true to my game LOL by alternating various lengths of cloth even though the tools must be used; keeping the quilt to about 24" X 24" square. Let's see what the final verdict will be. Whew........ I love the quilt process!!!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Its Me Again

                                          
                                           Top: Afro Blue c 2006     
                                          Bottom: Requiem for Dada  Luka c 2006

I find that I have become quite comfortable with how I relate to Art. My spirit is free to express what I see and relay what I process. Each day I get closer and closer to finding that one thing that unlocks the door to that artistic journey that will pull me across the threshold, lead me through color and balance and contour lines, then take me to that wonderful place where a special collection of quilts will be born. Until then, I will meditate while gazing  into the fiber of those that I have already given birth.

Voices of Art

Remembering what a wonderful show that I had with the Weusi Artist. Dindga McCannon, MlJ Johnson, and Robert Daniels graced us with their masterful presence on my radio/web show at WHCR 90.3 FM at the City College of New York. How humbling of an experience it was to reach out to so many people around the country.