Monthly Archives: September 2012

City Streets Quilt Block

Today, I am presenting, City Streets, also found in the perpetual calendar, 365 Quilt Blocks a Year by Nancy Martin.

City Streets is drafted from a 3 x 3 grid.

Here it is presented in a simple straight set (blocks set square…side by side) with borders:

City Streets Straight Set

And, to make it interesting, in a straight set with sashing:

City Streets Straight Set 2

How about adding a few plain blocks:

City Streets Straight Set 3

Plain blocks are opportunities for adding applique or showing off quilting designs.

Here is what City Streets looks like in a simple on point set with borders:

City Streets On Point Set

Now let’s try it with sashing and plain blocks:

City Streets On Point Set 2

As always, my intent in presenting these blocks is to introduce you to basic quilt design.  There is so much more one could try simply by experimenting with alternate blocks, value and color, and different borders to completely change the look.

Free Motion Quilt Challenge – September

The September Free Motion Quilt Challenge at SewCalGal is a tutorial from the guest expert, Paula Reid.   I feel a bit of an affinity for Paula since she lives in Palmdale, CA.  Hubby and I have family living in this area, and we both graduated from Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, CA.

Paula’s tutorial has us practicing our free motion quilting with a stencil.  I drew the design onto my fabric with a blue marker and the use of a light table.

I used a 12 weight Aurifil to quilt the stencil.  I needed a larger needle and couldn’t find a Schmetz denim sharp (my needle of choice) in the size I wanted.  So…I used a Schmetz leather 100/18.  I know!  But I was desperate!

I could hear Tim Gunn, “Make it work!”

I think this might look nicer if the the thread colors were reversed, but, in any case, this will make a lovely pillow someday.

Shaving Cream Marbling on Fabric

A few quilty sisters and I got together recently and tried our hand with the ancient art of marbling.

We did it with shaving cream.

We are not Rembrandt, Monet or Picasso. 

We are impressionist artist wannabes.

Pat is mixing her shaving cream to create a light milk chocolate background.

Examples of our creativity!

Donna could be creating a confectionary delight!

We had plenty of fun!

We used cheap dollar store shaving cream and not so cheap Tsukineko inks.  I have since done a Google search on ‘shaving cream marbling on fabric’ (maybe I should have done this first), and discovered that fiber reactive dyes and textile paints can be successfully used.  There are lots of tutorials out there.  This is a quick and fun project!