And Even More Antique Quilts!

Hello again -- it's amazing how quickly a month can fly by. Last month I said that I would show you some of the things that I'm working on. I will... but only one quilt this month; hopefully next month you will see a lot of Baltimore album blocks that I have been working on. They're not quite ready for prime time yet, though! Instead... I'll start with a bunch of antique quilts and comments - and then you can take a look at my latest medallion quilt, "Coxcomb Medallion."

First, here is a lovely Carolina Lily quilt. In viewing many antique quilts, I am continually astonished by the creativity of yesteryear's quilters. Look at the borders on this quilt: opposite sides match; adjacent sides do not. And why do you think this quilter chose to put a little block motif (other than the Carolina Lilies) in the top and bottom left corners? Would you have imagined doing something like that? Not me - but then I really like absolute symmetry in quilts like this. do you think she "owed" putting these blocks into this quilt? Who knows?!

Carolina Lily, 19th century with vine border (89 x 94")

At first glance, this next quilt is a four-block quilt. It's actually a 16-block quilt - set to look like a four-block quilt. Setting blocks like this makes for interesting secondary patterns. Think about that, the next time you are making sets of blocks: can you build another pattern out of the way you set the blocks?

Tulip Quilt, 19th century (77 x 77")

This next quilt is definitely a four-block quilt -- what a delightful motif each block uses! The trailing vine is very primitive and not nearly as complex as the center blocks. Do you think that the quilter was just tired of all that detail and wanted to get the quilt done? I know there are times when I've opted for a simple, plain border just so I could move on to the next new quilt project.

Floral Spray quilt with Trailing Vine, 19th century (78 x 79")

This 9-block quilt looks like it started out as a set of Rose of Sharon blocks but the quilter turned them into peppermint tulips. Don't you just love this kind of creative spirit? It teaches me not to be afraid to try something different.

Decorative tulip quilt, 19th century (95 x 99")

Here is another quilt where the quilter went a little wild with her desire to be creative -- look at the different borders she used on each side of the quilt. Interesting, to say the least!

Rose quilt, 19th century (98 x 96")

This Baltimore album quilt was probably a treasured gift for a minister or a bride and groom. Made in 1873, it represented the highest form of quilt art at the time. This quilt sold a year or two ago for around $25,000.

Baltimore Album, 1873 (104 x 101")

I love berries, so I could not resist including this quilt in this set of old quilts. Somebody had a lot of patience -- this quilt was made well before the advent of mylar templates, which have revolutionized berry-making.

Berry Wreaths, 19th century (89 x 94")

Here is an old log cabin quilt -- I love log cabin quilts that are a bit whimsical -- and this one is, with its use of high-contrast fabrics in the border and in the "light" logs.

Courthouse Steps log cabin quilt, circa 1900 (77 x 77")

And now here is another log cabin quilt -- it's a bit different because it was done in silk fabrics and includes a ruffled border. It was made for a youth -- what a delight!

Youth log cabin quilt, 1893 (65 x 54")

This next quilt is one that I have always wanted to reproduce -- a simple alphabet quilt. It was made in Pennsylvania in 1917 by Addie Heipler Allen. This era saw quite a few alphabet quilts - I particularly love the use of cheddar in these quilts.

Alphabet Quilt, 1917 (90 x 78")

The next two quilts are whimsical folk art renditions. I liked putting them together because they both contain animal motifs -- the first one has roosters and cats, and the second one has cats. Cute, aren't they?

Crib quilt, 1900 (32.5 x 34")
Trapunto quilt, 19th century (90 x 90")

Last but not least, here is my "Coxcomb Medallion" quilt. I decided early on in the design process that I wanted to have a double swag border -- but I wanted to put it in the interior of the quilt, rather than as an outer border. I like how it breaks the path of the eye and highlights the central portion of the quilt. This is a block-of-the-month that will be sold (retail and wholesale) through Quakertown Quilts in my hometown of Friendswood, Texas.

Coxcomb Medallion, 2010 (94 x 94")

That's all for this month -- I hope to see you again in another month. Until then, happy sewing!

Sue
(c)2010 Susan H. Garman

Lessons from Early Quilts...

This month, I thought I would just show a few of my very early quilts -- quilts from 20 to 50 years ago! We sometimes forget that those early quilts, while not necessarily stunning, taught us much that we can carry into today's quiltmaking.

Lesson One: Use your scraps. This quilt was made over 50 years ago; it is a utility quilt made entirely from scraps sewn to squares of muslin. Try making these blocks in color sets (e.g., red/green, blue/peach, or purple/yellow scraps) - or make them totally scrappy. Before you know it, you'll have enough squares for a full-sized bed quilt.

Lesson Two: Don't expect to make a perfect quilt the first time you make one... or every time. When I do lectures for quilt guilds, I always bring along one of my earliest quilts. The point I make with it is that we all have to start somewhere. And that first quilt is not always going to be a blue ribbon prize-winning quilt. Don't be too hard on yourself; learn as you go - and remember that experience is the best teacher of all, so keep on sewing. One of my earliest (remaining in my possession) quilts was inspired by a 1972 Family Circle magazine -- when I saw the cover photo, I wanted to make that quilt!

Of course, little did I know that the "instructions included" were limited to one page of thumbnail-sized drawings - and a lot of imagination. Quilt books were in short supply in 1972... along with instructions.

I had to use the teachings of my grandmother, plus what my Mom had taught me about hemming skirts, to make and design my quilt. You can get pretty ingenious with that kind of experience. But the resulting twin-sized quilt was not so bad.

Lesson Three: Don't forget to use solid-colored fabrics. I continued quilt-making -- including some classic patterns such as the Amish bars quilt. Today, many quilt shops are just beginning to return to carrying solid-colored bolts; I nearly always try and use at least one solid fabric in my quilts -- they can add zip to a quilt that otherwise is "busy" with prints.

Lesson Four: Scrappy quilts delight the eye -- and block exchanges are delightful ways to make scrappy quilts. The quilt below was done as a scrappy block exchange between Cynthia England and me back in the early 90s. We were neighbors and decided to make a bunch of 8" blocks of red and white/off-white fabrics and then swap sets with each other. Using a ton of different fabrics makes your eye dance across the face of a quilt. And to get variety in the scraps, it's easier if you find one or more friends to exchange blocks with. Just make sure that everyone agrees on the rules of the exchange so that nobody's expectations are dashed.

Lesson Five: Establish resource files. I have a bookshelf full of books that I peruse when looking for patterns - as well as plenty of patterns, photos, etc. I can skim through these and find endless sources of inspiration. Go to your local bookstore and look through the Dover Press art books -- they have lots of lots of drawings and pictures that can be converted into quilt designs - and many of them are copyright free. This cartouche book (below) served as the inspiration for...

this quilt (below) -- I enlarged a cartouche, refined it as a quilt design, and then inserted drawings I found from other sources. Had I not maintained files full of inspiration pictures and drawings and patterns, I would never have made this 1992 quilt, celebrating Columbus' journey across the Atlantic.

Lesson Six: If you don't try, you won't learn. In the early 90s, I decided to try my hand at hand-quilting. I started with a full-sized quilt. Two months later, I had fully hand-quilted this quilt - which was made in a mystery class.

Here's a close-up that shows the quilting. I learned a lot... just by practicing, stitch by stitch. After a while, what is a struggle in the beginning becomes therapeutic, mindless, and relaxing!

Now... here's a lesson within a lesson. Each one of those stars had a feathered rosette in the middle of it that took 45 minutes to quilt. Guess what? You can't see all that work. Put your time into what really counts.

Before closing, I thought I would share a little bit of humor. My grand daughter, when she was around 2-1/2, was being potty-trained. She came running into my sewing room saying she needed to use the bathroom. I pointed to the bathroom door and said, "Hurry! Go!" She ran to the door... and came to a screeching halt. She had glanced in and seen a bath tub that was being temporarily used to hold three large bolts of batting for my longarm machine.

She stared at them and gingerly turned, saying, "Grandma -- you sure do have BIG toilet paper!"

Next month, I hope to show you some of the projects that I've been working on since the beginning of the year. In particular, you will see a new block-of-the-month and several new Baltimore album blocks. Family matters have kept me tied down for a while, but work has continued.

Until we meet again, happy sewing!

Sue

(c)2010 Susan H. Garman
Photos and text are not to be used without permission

Shhhh! It's a Secret!

It seems as though there are never enough hours in the day. This past month I spent an incredible amount of time working on quilts and quilt blocks and I have almost nothing to show for those hours. That does not mean that I failed to make progress. It just means that I cannot SHOW you what I've been working on... yet! Okay, okay - so I'm terrible at keeping these kinds of secrets. Tonight, I tip-toed into my sewing room (shhhhh!!!) and took the picture (below) of a quilt I'm in the process of quilting. There are more photos to come in a couple of weeks, but this is a sneak-peak of one of two quilts that will debut at the big quilt International Quilting Association (IQA) show in Houston this month. Please don't tell anybody, okay?!!! It's supposed to be a surprise!

Sneak-peak picture of "Hugs and Kisses"

Stay tuned - I'll post more photos soon.
Happy sewing, everyone!

Sue Garman
(c)2009 Susan H. Garman

I'm on the Way to Baltimore!!!

Actually, I'm not really going to Baltimore, although I would certainly love to go back. The last time I was there, I was privileged to view several old Baltimore Album quilts. I particularly love those that are almost obsessively filled with flowers, cornucopias, eagles, baskets, epergnes, and so on. I am designing my own "Beyond Baltimore" quilt, filled with flowers and a border reminiscent of that found in my Ladies of the Sea quilt. For now... here's a sneak peek at two of the blocks in the quilt. I will be teaching a workshop with these blocks at Elly Sienkiewicz's Applique Academy in Williamsburg next February (http://www.ellysienkiewicz.com/).

This block showcases an ornate floral basket block like those found in many of the Baltimore Album quilts made in the 1840s and 1850s; the choice of flowers in that era was symbolic -- to the extent that the Baltimore ladies read dictionaries of flowers to ensure that their bouquets communicated the appropriate message. My, how times have changed!

And every Baltimore Album quilt needs to have a Baltimore Clipper ship on it, right?! Baltimore was a thriving seaport during the era of album quilts - which allowed for the newest textiles to be delivered to the women who needed them for their quilts. More blocks and more history are to come... along with more quilts.

Until then, happy sewing!

Sue Garman

(c)2009 Susan H. Garman

Feathered Stars, Hearts, and Quilting

Finally, I found my camera. It was hiding on top of the freezer; I can't imagine how it climbed up there all by itself! I have been a quilting fool for the past two months. I've finished several quilts; here are photos of the two latest ones.

My Green Feathered Star

I am going to teach this Feathered Star quilt at the Colorado Quilt Council in a couple of weeks; I love lecturing and teaching, and this will be a fun workshop.

Hearts in Bloom

This quilt is a new Saturday Sampler/block-of-the-month quilt that I designed for Quakertown Quilts. To me, it is one of the "happiest" quilts I've done in a while; it just sings of joy to me. Is that what hearts do to a quilt? or is it just the rich reds and greens?

Take a look at the quilting on Hearts in Bloom. When I designed this quilt, I intentionally put in large sashing strips and left a lot of "open" areas on the quilt for machine quilting. Sometimes we forget to "plan" for the quilting designs when we make quilts. My advice: consider the quilting, just as you consider color, contrast, etc. - quilting is like adding a fine Easter hat to an outfit; it really dresses it up (not that I ever wear Easter hats, of course!).

Below is another example of how "quilting makes the quilt." My Green Feathered Star quilt benefitted from an ample addition of feathers - surrounded by calming "piano key" quilting in the outer border. Until next time... happy quilting!

Sue
(c)2009 Susan H. Garman

Smile!

Once in a while, someone actually sends me a photo of a quilt they have made using one of my patterns. I really enjoy seeing how creative other people are -- quilters are amazing! I believe that I'm fairly creative, yet when I see how someone has taken one of my patterns and added their own unique touch... I'm blown away. Last week Pat Dicker from California sent me a photo of a quilt she made from a pattern that I had done several years ago. Here's my version of "All Around the Town," a quilt that celebrates the joys of living in a small village.

"All Around the Town"
(c)2000 Susan H. Garman

As you can see, the quilt was done in muted brights (oops... is that a contradiction in terms?). So when Pat sent me a picture of her quilt... it was all I could do to keep myself from laughing out loud. Talk about a quilt that would make anyone smile!

Pat said her "dot drawer" was overflowing, and so she chose to make her quilt out of lots of dots. Her creative use of fabric is amazing - wouldn't you agree? If you "spot" Pat in the future, thank her for sharing. And for all the quilters out there who have doubts, who can't find a niche because their fabrics and tastes don't agree with those you so often see elsewhere... take a lesson from Pat. Use whatever you like. Pat made me smile and my guess is that you smiled, too!

Until next time, happy sewing!

Sue
(c)2009 Susan H. Garman

Thanksgiving and Quilting

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is a wonderful time to celebrate and give thanks for all of the blessings that fill our lives: loving families, good health, deep friendships, freedom and happiness... the list is endless. And somewhere on my list is quilting! Quilting offers all of us something. For some of us, it offers us creativity and art. For others, it offers friendship with fellow quilters. For others, it offers an opportunity to share one's talent with friends and strangers alike. No matter what your reason is for quilting, I hope that it gives you great satisfaction.

Over the past couple of weeks I have had the chance to work on finishing up several projects. Here is a sampling - enjoy!

Lily Rosenberry, 83 x 83 inches

This quilt was originally done in red and green on a warm off-white background. This version was done in bubble gum pink and soft green on a rich chocolate background. Denise Green and I collaborated on this quilt and made it together.

The Walkaway Star Quilt, 60 x 74 inches

I am going to teach participants how to make this quilt at the annual February 2009 Quakertown Quilts retreat on Galveston Island (and yes, the island recovery is going great -- lots of work ahead, but the retreat site is in great condition!). The block is one that I designed, based on an antique block. I call the quilt the "walk away" star quilt because the quilt really CAN be done in a day, if one stays focused. That pleases me; I do not think that I am alone in saying that I don't like coming home from classes and retreats with more UFOs!

The Walkaway Star Quilt (#2), 60 x 74 inches

Okay... I liked the first Walkaway Star Quilt so much that I made another one. This time, the blocks are made from a dozen different blue prints and a dozen different shirting fabrics. I like "scrappy" quilts.

The Walkaway Star Quilt (#3), 60-1/2 by 75-1/2 inches

In fact, I liked this block so much that I made a pint-size version of it (7" blocks) with 1/2-inch sashing between each block. I used a variety of civil war reproduction fabrics; the scrappiness of this quilt makes one's eyes dance across its surface. I also like making quilts that don not contain any "background" fabrics -- no white, off-white, taupe, or neutral fabrics, only colored print fabrics. As long as the fabrics contain a good balance of light, medium, and dark prints, the scrappiness adds a wonderful richness to the finished quilt.

So what else am I working on? There are a lot of ideas floating around in my head, following the great Houston quilt show -- I saw a lot of antique quilts that inspired me, and so I'm sure you'll be seeing some of those ideas reformulated into new quilt patterns. I met with the wonderful folks from P&B Textiles and I'm working on a new fabric line for them. Once again, it will have a juvenile flavor to it -- think nursery songs!

Until next time... happy sewing!
Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

The Washington Medallion Quilt

As promised, here is a photo of the finished Washington Medallion Quilt. It feels great to finish a quilt, doesn't it?! After I finished the quilt, it took two long days to machine quilt and another 3 hours to bind. A sleeve remains to be attached, along with a label. Quilters, please don't forget to label your quilts; when I look at vintage antique quilts, I always wish I knew their story... don't let the next generation of quilters wonder the same thing about your quilts!

Happy stitching -

Sue Garman

(c)Susan H. Garman 2008

Medallions Galore!

I love medallion quilts -- the quilts that have multiple borders surrounding a central block. Today, The Quilt Show (Ricky Tims' and Alex Anderson's online quilt community - http://www.thequiltshow.com/) aired and a long-secret announcement was made: Alex and Ricky have asked me to design the next block-of-the-month for The Quilt Show. Their 2008 online block-of-the-month, "Bouquets for a New Day" was designed by me and is being shared in monthly installments, with the final one to be posted online in December. The "Bouquets" quilt has a dozen appliqued blocks in it. For 2009, I was asked to design a pieced block-of-the-month; I just finished making it this week (except for the binding!). It is a medallion quilt, with a feathered star in the middle, surrounded by borders and blocks; the monthly patterns have a ton of tips in them, along with many photos to show how to make the quilt. While everyone who is reading this now knows the secret about who is doing next year's block-of-the-month design, I will still wait for Ricky and Alex to debut a picture of the quilt. So... what the quilt looks like still remains a secret!

In the meantime, I have been working on another medallion quilt called "The Washington Medallion Quilt" that my distributor, Quakertown Quilts (http://www.quakertownquilts.com/), will begin offering as a block-of-the-month in September. This quilt is unique in that I made this quilt as a "learn to quilt" block-of-the-month. Each month, there are lessons on precision piecing, accurate measuring and cutting, different techniques for making units, etc. An adventurous beginner should be able to make this quilt.

So where is the photo of this quilt? Well... I confess that I haven't taken a picture of it yet! I have a couple of "teaser" photos for you to see -- a close-up of the center star, and a photo of the first four months of stitching. You'll see the remaining 8 months of additions when I post again, soon!


Until then,
happy quilting!

Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

The Quilt Show Debut!

Today, the taping I did with The Quilt Show aired. The Quilt Show is Ricky Tims' and Alex Anderson's online web community; if you haven't explored it and have some time, you'll find that joining gives you a pretty good "bang for the buck." Their web community has "shows" with a wide, diverse range of quilters, as well as "classes" with Ricky and Alex, free mini-projects, a quilt gallery with thousands of quilts posted by members, a free block-of-the-month pattern, blogs galore, and lots of online friends who offer their experiences, ideas, and support. If you check out their "take the tour" pages and go to page 4, you can watch a part of one show and learn a cool way to make flying geese with one seam line, how to do great photo transfers, and how Jean Wells designs and makes her lovely quilts. Check it out at www.thequiltshow.com.

Being an introvert, taping the show made me a nervous wreck, but Ricky and Alex put me at ease in a nanosecond. They are wonderful people, as are John Anderson, Justin Shults, and the entire TQS film crew. In my taping, I demonstrated how I do as much pre-work as possible when making a quilt -- it makes quilt-making go so much faster! In the show you'll also see some close-up photos of some of my quilts.

Enjoy!
Sue
(c)2008 Susan H. Garman

Feathers Galore!

I love quilting feathers - they are elegant and rich in a quilt, and add a touch of gracefulness. I was asked how I "make feathers" on a recent morning in a quilt shop, and so I gave a quick demonstration... followed by a request to repeat the information. The easiest way to do that is to put it here on my blog. Note that the drawings here are "quick and dirty" -- they have not been cleaned up and smoothed out, because I wanted to get them done. Take a look, and the next time you need to figure out what to put on a quilt.... think about feathers!

These are "formal feathers" which are a bit more elegant than "folk art feathers." You'll see the difference between formal and folk art feathers at the bottom of this entry. Formal feathers require you to back-track on a stitch line.

Step 1: Define the center line for the feathers (the "spine") and the edges that will contain the feathers.

Step 2: Start by making a gentle swoop out and back -- think "half of a heart" (sort of)... You want the feathers to be gracefully curved. This comes with practice. Don't use straight lines on your feathers!

Step 3: Make the second feather. Swoop back with a second "half of a heart" and meet at the top of the first feather.

Step 4: Your needle (hand or machine) is now blocked in and you can't draw another feather... until you back-track across the feather you just made. If you are making feathers by machine, stitch back across the top of the feather you just made, being ever so careful to keep your stitches on top of the first set. This takes some practice, but you will improve with every feather you make. If you are quilting feathers by hand, just slip your needle between the layers of fabric and make it pop out where feather 3 will start.






Step 5: Back-track across the top of 2 and swoop around to make feather 3. Again, think "half of a heart." Some people like to draw all the feather tops and then come back and draw the swooping lines -- they use a penny or a quarter or a quilt spool to draw half-circles, like a row of little hats, along the outer edge of the border line. If that works for you, great. I find it harder to do it that way because my "swoops" don't always want to fit under those little hats!

Step 6: Now that you've done feather 3, go back and draw feather 4 -- half a heart, swooping up to meet the top of feather 3... and then you'll backtrack across the top of the feather you just drew, and finally, draw feather 5.

Step 7: Keep on drawing those feathers... and when you get to the end of the spine, make a little teardrop.

Step 8: Start over at the bottom of the feather spine and draw the feathers on the other side of the spine. You should always draw or stitch your feathers in the direction they move -- don't try and draw them going backwards; they will end up misshapen (unless you can think in reverse better than I can!).

When I am finished, I like to add an "outline" about an eighth of an inch away from the edges of all of the feathers -- it helps define the plume, and it also helps hide any unevenness.

Part of the beauty of feathers is that they can be drawn in an inexhaustible set of shapes and sizes. You can have a straight spine, no spine, a wavy spine, or spines that look like trees, with branches on them. Your feathers can be big and chunky or thin and delicate. You can add little decorative twirls between the feathers. You can make the tops of the feathers rounded... or the shape of a heart... or square. You can do whatever you want!

Here is an example of how to put feathers into a triangle shape. Start by drawing a spine -- you don't have to quilt the spine, but you have to know where it is. In this case, I added a "branch" on the spine. Start at the bottom and begin to add feathers. When you get to the end of the spine, make a teardrop and then start again at the bottom of the spine, on the other side of it. Continue to add feathers and more feathers until the area is full of feathers. Voile!

Okay - but what about the "non-formal" feathers - the folk art feathers? Those are easy to make, and certain quilts will call for them instead of formal feathers. They are more "thready" on a quilt because both sides of every feather are drawn and quilted.

To the right is a quick drawing with the folk art feathers on both sides of a non-existent spine -- the feathers on the left side are fun and silly and imaginative -- perfect for some quilts!

Have fun trying out different feathers. Keep a pencil and paper handy for practicing feathers - you'll be an expert in no time at all!

Happy sewing -

Sue Garman

(c)2008 Susan H. Garman