“Mama Bear” 2015 Pantone Quilt Challenge, Marsala,

April 17, 2015June 30, 201514 Comments

Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose mother read her the story of “The Three Bears.” And, she said, “that’s just like us: Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear.” That little girl insisted her name was “Baby Bear” and her mother was “Mama Bear” and her father was “Papa Bear.”

A year went by and the little girl insisted her parents call her by her given name and not “Baby Bear,” but her mother and father continued to be “Mama Bear” and “Papa Bear.”

I struggled to find the right design for this quilt challenge. I had sketched a quilt called “The Three Bears” with three bear’s paw blocks, but settled on a quilt celebrating my love of my name, Mama Bear, and my love for quilting. You can read more about the design process here.

The quilt measures 54 inches by 54 inches. I’m entering it in the 2015 Pantone Quilt Challenge, Marsala, hosted by On the Windy Side and Play Crafts.

Mama Bear

The Bear’s Paw block is typically made with a square as the paw of the bear and the half-square triangles as the “claws”. I machine quilted “paw” prints, instead of pieced squares adjacent to half-square triangles. I chose prints in paisley, feathers and geometric circles for the “claws”.

The Marsala color was the perfect choice for this quilt.

Close up of the free motion quilting. The bear paw footprints are surrounded by pebbles and pea pods.

I made a one-half inch binding, instead of one-quarter inch. I used scraps of Marsala inspired fabric. Love and Kisses on the binding is just — serendipity

On the back of the quilt I used a variety of Marsala-inspired fabrics as well. The quilting really shows up on the back.

Marsala is a great color to wear as well. Check out this site for tips on wearing marsala.

Loving Marsala,

Mama Bear

Fretting over Shadows

April 14, 2015June 30, 20151 Comment

I don’t know when I learned that quilting shadows were bad, but now I fret over them. I worry I’ll miss a shadow sliver and once it’s in the quilting phase I won’t be able to fix it. Quilting Shadows are those annoying slivers of fabric which show through a lighter fabric. They are easy to avoid if you’re pressing to the dark side all the time:

Seams pressed to the darker fabric.

But, make a simple four-block and you can’t press only to the dark side:

And, I like releasing the threads in the middle seam to reduce the bulk in the middle of the four-block. This also confirms you have a perfectly matched seam.

Now, the seams are pressed toward the white and away from the darker fabric, and, of course, this one has a blue shadow.

What to do?

TRIM THE SHADOWS!

The result is a block with NO DARK SHADOWS:

I’m linking up with The Late Night Quilters’ Tips and Tutorials Tuesday.

Getting out of the shadows,

Wanda

One tip: perfect needle-turn applique

March 31, 2015June 30, 20159 Comments

I am very good at raw edge applique, but needle-turn applique intimidated me, and every attempt looked sloppy. Until now. Carolyn Friedlander suggested in her book, Savor Each Stitch, that you baste the piece to the background one-quarter inch from the applique edge as a guide for turning under the fabric. This changed everything. I deviated from her instructions and instead I stitched one-quarter inch from the edge of the piece, separate from the background:

I applied starch on the edges and ironed:

I used temporary glue to attach to the background fabric:

At this point I had the choice to stitch down by machine or by hand. I choose by hand, using a Size 11 gold needle by John James and 50 weight thread from Mettler in a matching thread. I’m experimenting with curves as part of the Savor Each Stitch Book Bee and studying Contrast. The pink and orange seemed like a good place to start.