Jenyfer Matthews

There were many things I forgot packing away in our storage unit way back when, but there were some things I could not forget – several special quilts.

I didn’t have many quilts back in 1999 – I was self taught from books and had only made two baby quilts for my then baby nieces and two bigger quilts, only one of which I kept. When we were packing things away, I put all of the special quilts in my cedar “hope” chest – and very much hoped that they would be okay when we returned!

The storage unit we rented was in North Carolina and was NOT climate controlled. Over the years I worried about humidity, heat, pests, hurricanes, mildew, etc. The worst I have had to contend with yet has been dust and intense cedar scent from the hope chest and all the cedar blocks I packed away with all the linens!

This is the first big quilt I ever made, made in 1998 according to the satin stitched signature on the back (guess who had more time and patience then??), now on my daughter’s bed.

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I quite clearly remember piecing this quilt seated in front of my hope chest, where my Kenmore sewing machine was parked, and then spending hours hand quilting it while watching a BBC production of Sense and Sensibility over and over again.

Check out how I finished the edge. Guess I hadn’t figured out how to do bindings yet! Again – much more patience and time!!!

Guess what one of my first projects will be when my fabric arrives??

There were also a couple of old family quilts that my parents gave me. This yellow quilt is from my father’s side:

It has no signature or date to tell me when it was made, but it was given to me when I was about 20 years old. I am almost positive that other than the embroidery it is machine quilted, which you don’t see much in older quilts.

I don’t recall the embroidery being in such sad shape when I put it away, but my memory isn’t what it used to be either.

It is so pretty I am *half* tempted to try and repair it… Wonder if that would be a worthwhile thing to do?? The rest of the quilt is in pretty good shape, though I am not sure I’d want to put it into everyday use.

This next quilt is from my mother’s side. It’s a bit unusual I think because it is a common pattern, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, appliqued to the top instead of pieced. Also, it is knotted instead of tied.

I remember trying to use this quilt on my bed when I was single and in grad school. Not only was it really, really heavy (thick cotton or wool batting?) but while I was away in class my cat would sit on the bed and untie the knots with her teeth. I decided it was better to put it away!

The quilt was rather threadbare in places and delicate when I put it away and still is. I don’t know exactly what to do with it. I’d kind of like to display it, but I wonder if it is even strong enough to be hung on a wall?

Check out how that edge is finished – maybe a binding is less critical than I thought!

Today is my birthday. It’s a milestone year, but honestly I don’t feel so much different than I did 10 or 15 years ago – though I don’t look quite the same as my hair begins to frost itself. Maybe a switch to black and white photography will help with that? I’m making myself a cake today for a small family celebration later. If it comes out pretty, I’ll take a picture to share tomorrow. I’m also planning on having some friends over at the weekend (a Monday birthday, really?) which will nicely catch me up on the whole new recipe / new dessert resolution. Stay tuned…

Almost as soon as Christmas was over, I changed the quilt on my bed to my “winter quilt”. I finished this one in a hurry last year, just so I could use it on schedule in January (anal much??). Then, after looking at it all month, I decided it needed more quilting so I added some.

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I love this quilt – the blue stars were meant to look like snowflakes and the red squares really make it pop. The additional quilting really gives it a traditional, heirloom look.

I added all the “diamonds” in the white space around the stars, as well as a row along the outermost edge.

The only thing that bothers me about this quilt is that it is a tad too small for our bed. It only just covers the mattress and if our room was colder, I think we’d be fighting for it all night long. It would be much better suited to a full sized bed, and I could kick myself for not adding an extra border on it when I had the chance. I admit that I had my doubts about the size when I was laying it out to prepare for quilting but I was in too big a hurry to just be done so I left it as is. I gave some thought to making it bigger, in the way that I enlarged the other quilt a few months ago, but have decided against it. I’d have to add borders to all four sides of this one and it since it is so heavily quilted, nearly right up to the edge, trying to add borders would be very difficult and time consuming. Frankly, I have other things I’d rather be doing.

But the lesson of the quilt stayed in my head when I was working on what I am now thinking of as my “circle of life” quilt. No way was I going to put in so much work on the cutting and piecing and then end up with a quilt that was too small. No shortcuts this time. I added a border on this quilt not because it wasn’t big enough already but because I felt it deserved a frame. At 98″ square, there will be ample overhang. We could even buy a bigger bed!

The digital picture doesn’t do the color justice. It’s bright. It’s bold. As usual, I started out thinking I’d do the wheels in shades of purple for a subtle, muted, sophisticated look. As usual, all the other colors started creeping in and went nuts. I love it and I think it totally works.

I did wonder what on earth I was going to use for backing for such a bright quilt. I wasn’t planning this quilt so I hadn’t bought anything special. However, I have miles (acres!) of fabric in my cupboards so I decided that I’d piece a backing if necessary. I want to use up some of my supplies, not keep buying more. How thrilled was I when I remembered that I had about 12 yards of what seemed to me to be the perfect fabric. I bought this print (7? 8??) years ago, when I had plans to make a quilt for my BIL. That quilt never got made, but the fabric is finally being put to good use.

For those who know fabric, this is a Hoffman print. I bought it because it had an Asian feel that I thought might appeal to my BIL. For some reason once I remembered I had it, I knew it was the perfect complement to the wild colors of the top. I got the layers all basted yesterday and will start the quilting as soon as I can find a quiet hour.

Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with these, the cut-away bits from the red background pieces?

I only have one hundred of them!

As usual, I have more to do than time to do it. I got three new covers yesterday for the three books I’m planning to re-release this year. They. Are. Gorgeous. I can’t wait to share them with you. It does however mean that I need to get on the ball proofing and formatting. I’m the only one holding things up now…

Well, not literally. Decorating my halls would be a wasted effort – they are very dark!

I put up the tree last week and let the children decorate it. Then I redistributed the ornaments when they went to school the next day. Why is it that they leave some branches entirely bare and hang 8 ornaments on another?

I also decorated the beds. I put the two Christmas quilts I made the children a few years back on their beds (not sure why I never posted a picture of my son’s quilt?) My own Christmas quilt is one of the first bed sized quilts I made after I got serious about quilting. I borrowed the pattern from my quilting mentor at the time – who was adamant that all ‘beginner’ quilters start with Log Cabin. I had never really liked Log Cabin until I saw this pattern, at which point I jumped at it. The signature on the back says 2003. Surely doesn’t seem so long ago.

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I remember buying the fabric for this quilt. I wanted it to look scrappy so I would buy 1/4 yard of every red, white, or green Christmas fabric I found and liked. Laughable! Fabric was so inexpensive in Dubai that only a few months later I would buy 3 yards minimum if I liked the fabric.

Every time I look at the quilting I am impressed and … astonished. What was I thinking?? I hand quilted the entire quilt, every block – starting in the center and moving diagonally across every strippy piece. I finished it in about a month and also made a lap sized quilt in the same pattern for a friend of mine. Insane.

As with most quilt patterns I really like, I imagined and planned to do this one in other color schemes. Lavender, white, and pale green was my plan. Never did get to that. One day…

The only thing I have left to do for decorations is to buy some new poinsettias (I like to think that they make up for the fake tree) Why did I decorate so early? Because I am going to Germany this evening, to visit my roommate and friend from the tour I took in Thailand back in January.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the Christmas fairs in person. And my friend said that we would go and light a candle for my mother in the Cologne Cathedral, one of the few large buildings to survive the Allied bombing during WWII. When I told my mother about my intended travel plans this past summer, she was very pleased – “You’re finally going someplace civilized!” My mother was very proud of her German heritage so I can only imagine she’d be pleased by both my trip and the candle I’ll light for her.

I’ll be gone a week but I plan to check in when possible. Keep an eye open for pictures…

I haven’t felt like doing much besides lying around and reading lately, as you can imagine. As much as I adore the J.D. Robb books, my eyes get tired after a while. Feeling as low as I do, it would be the perfect time to sit on the couch and zone out with the TV while working on a quilt. Problem? I don’t actually have a quilt to work on at the moment.

I’ve had my next quilt in mind for some time, but have been too lazy to start it. I gave myself a kick yesterday and made a test block.

All in all, in spite of the curves, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected it to be to construct. The most difficult and time consuming bit was cutting all the wedge pieces. And the inner and outer pieces – all of them require templates. It doesn’t exactly speed things up when you cut your cardboard template in half either.

The pattern in the magazine suggested using red and brown in the background pieces but I like the red and orangey/red combination better. What do you think?

I’ve always wanted to make a quilt in reds and purples. I once had a friend who talked me out of using reds and purples by telling me that it would be garish and tacky. I’m no longer in touch with that person and it may only be my opinion, but I love this color combination.

The plan is to make 25 of these blocks for a queen sized quilt and I’m hoping I can have it ready to quilt by January. I already have a reservation on the couch and I’m sure I’ll be ready for a little downtime after having had the kids home for the holidays.

I decided to take advantage of the “free time” I had on Monday as a result of the maid being here and get some baking done. I made a batch of banana bread muffins and took my cast-iron waffle iron for another spin. That used up about ONE of the EIGHT hours she was in the house. The rest of the time I read and lurked. It was a very LONG day. Next week I pledge that I will do something more productive with my time – like maybe write a book or something.

I still haven’t gotten out my ceramic jack o’lantern decorations, but I did at least hang up a Halloween wall hanging I made several years ago.

I have been in a bit of a creative funk. I want to do something, just didn’t know exactly what. Yesterday I decided that I would get out the wall hanging kit that my step-mother gave me going on two years ago. After the jigsaw puzzle moose, I put off doing this one, but it seemed like the perfect project to get me back in the mood – especially since my work desk is actually usable now.

It’s slightly more sophisticated than the above wall hanging. While fairly easy to assemble, it took forever to cut out all of those intricate shapes!

Maybe it’s just the pretty batik fabrics, but it certainly makes the first hanging look juvenile and clumsy, doesn’t it?

The next challenge is quilting it. I love how the instructions say “may be raw edge applique” – as if I was actually going to sit there and needle turn all those tree branches down! The glue will have to do. It might actually be done before Halloween if I get my butt in gear today and tomorrow.

I looked back in my posts to see if I could link to the picture of the jigsaw puzzle moose and realized that I never did post a picture! I think I had intended on posting it hung in its new home but was then distracted by all the real wildlife in the area. So, much delayed, here is the moose.

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All the varying shades on its antlers and body? All different slivers of fabric – which then each needed to be quilted down. Shudder. Just remembering all those bits and pieces makes me appreciate the simplicity of the witch hanging above all the more!

Imagine that you are asked to make a quilt for someone. You discuss patterns, colors, and once that is all decided, they give you the measurements. They want the quilt to fit the mattress without too much overhang. You make the quilt to the specifications they requested and when you deliver it, they say it’s too small, can you fix it?

Um, no.

This really happened to me last year. A miscommunication of very irritating and frustrating proportions. Typically you make a quilt either to fit over the top of a pillow or from the bottom of the pillow with overhang at the sides and foot of the bed. She wanted the quilt to have overhang at the head and foot of the bed, as well as the sides. I offered to make her a matching pillow sham, but she did not want one. She wanted me to make this quilt longer and wider.

In the end I made her a whole different quilt and kept the first one.

The quilt was about 42″x73″ finished. I think what bugged me most was that even while I was making it I thought, Hmmm, this sure is narrow, but hey, that’s what she asked for. It is pretty so it wasn’t such a hardship to keep it, but the problem stuck in the back of my brain and whispered, “can it be fixed?”

Since as you all know, I have nothing else to do all day long, I decided to give it a go last week. I’m not adding a lot of detailed sewing instructions because I’m assuming that if you’re reading it for know-how, you probably already know the sewing / quilting basics anyway.

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The first thing I had to do was take off the binding on the edge.

I could have cut it off with scissors, but then I would have lost at least a 1/4″ of the fabric plus the seam allowance when I added the next row, which would have thrown off the proportions of the block. Maybe no one would have noticed, but this is a case of if you are going to do it, do it right. At the same time, I had to rip out some of the quilting stitches so that I could lift the top layer of the quilt in order to add the extra pieced row.

Lucky me, I had enough cut scraps to put together another row.

Lay the extra row right sides down with the edge of the quilt, line up the seams of the blocks, and pin. Sew 1/4″ from the raw edge.

Next step: add a layer of batting the width of the extra row. As it happens, I had a strip of batting that was almost exactly the right width and length.

Baste the edges of the batting together loosely and so that they meet edge to edge. This will eliminate any extra bulk at that seam.

Next, add a strip of backing fabric.

If you are lucky, you will have more of the same backing fabric that you used for the original quilt. (Let’s ignore the fact that if you are *really* lucky, this is an issue you will never have to deal with) I did not have enough of the original backing fabric so I found a fabric that matched some of the tones and blended well enough. It’s not perfect, but it is the back of the quilt after all.

Match the raw edges of the new strip of backing to the backing layer of the quilt and sew with a 1/4″ seam.

When the three layers are attached to the quilt body, quilt as desired. (I’ve always wanted to say that)

I had machine quilted the rest of this quilt in-the-ditch (seams) so I did the same with the add-on row.

Last, add the binding edge in the usual way. I use a double-fold binding and sew on with my walking foot.

I just happened to have extra binding all pressed and ready for this quilt as if somewhere in my subconscious I already knew that I was going to have to do this project.

Trim off extra fabric and batting, flip the binding over to the back and whip stitch into place.

Voila! A newly fixed, better proportioned quilt, now about 52″x73″ give or take. It fits my daughter’s twin bed very nicely now.

Can you tell to which side the row was added?

The back doesn’t look as nice, in part because I didn’t use the same fabric.

Also, there is an obvious line of stitching because of the in-the-ditch quilting from the top. Had I done an overall quilting motif in the first place, it would have blended much better. (However, it would have been more difficult to pick out to add the layers as well) The swirls are done by hand, with variegated thread. Perhaps it was petty of me, but I did not add hand-quilting to the do-over quilt that I delivered in the end.

All in all, it probably took me six hours to complete this project, start to finish – about three hours to piece the row and attach all the layers, machine quilt, and put on the binding. Another three or so to whip stitch the binding and add the hand quilting.

Obviously, not all quilts would be so easy to fix. This one had no borders so it wasn’t that difficult to simply add another row. I have another, larger quilt which I’d like to make bigger – the size of that one is no one’s fault but my own because I was anxious to be finished with it. That quilt however has borders and I’d have to add to all four sides to preserve the proportions. I’ve not yet convinced myself that it is worth the effort, but I might change my mind after a month of nighttime tug-of-war with my husband…

I’m very happy to say that the children started school yesterday – yeah hooray! You might think that after having spent all day, every day with them for the entire summer I might have done something fun with myself like go and have a pedicure or a coffee morning with the other moms. Nope. I know how to really have fun.

I came home and changed no less than seven light bulbs, a few of which required me to stand tip-toe at the top of a six foot ladder. In my stairwell. If that’s not an adrenalin rush, I don’t know what is.

One of the first things I did upon returning home from vacation was to change all the bedding, including quilts. I washed and stowed the Broken Star quilt for another year and put on what I think of as my late summer quilt.

I made this quilt at least five years ago using a variety of bali / batiks and marble fabrics. It’s a fairly simple pattern that really lets the gorgeous fabric sing. My original plan was to use black sashing between the blocks but once I had all the blocks done, black seemed too harsh so I opted for navy blue.

It’s a bit difficult to see, but I hand quilted swirly suns using rainbow variegated thread in the center of the blocks.

I backed this quilt with a large scale bamboo and hibiscus print that is all in shades of blue. It was a print I fell in love with at first sight while fabric shopping in Dubai one day and bought acres of, figuring that one day I would use it as for backing. This quilt was just the perfect candidate.

I was sort of thinking of making each of the children a Halloween quilt this year, but somehow I think that’s a project I should have started in May if I was going to finish this year!

This particular baby quilt was probably the one that took me the longest start to finish, and without someone telling me they wanted to buy it, it probably wouldn’t be finished now. Not too bad, is it?

It’s still not really my favorite color combination, but as Anny pointed out in the comments on a previous post it is wonderfully busy. If this doesn’t provide a child with visual stimulation, nothing will!

It took me a while to decide on how to quilt the alternating blocks of print fabric, but in the end stars seemed to be the obvious choice given the itty-bitty stars on the red border fabric (also the backing fabric)

I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have finally come to the end of my “must-do-before-vacation” list. I have more of the Noah’s Ark fabric set aside for another baby quilt but that one is waiting until after I get back.

Wednesday is the last day of school, then we’ll have a little over a week to hang around and relax before we pack up and start our fun-filled vacation. I’m taking my new netbook with me this year – it will give me a good excuse to sit in the cafe near my dad’s house and have a glass of wine while I take advantage of their wi-fi (you did notice which of those two I listed first, didn’t you?)

Here is it – I finished the large commission quilt up shortly after I posted about it on Monday.

I always have mixed feelings about commission pieces. On the one hand, it’s always nice to have your skills appreciated and sought after (yeah me!) On the other hand, there is a fair amount of stress that goes into making something for someone else, that may or may not appeal to your own tastes. Did I interpret their request properly? Will the finished product live up to the vision in their heads? For instance, I would have preferred putting a black binding edge on this quilt – in my mind it would have balanced the bolder blocks of color in the center nicely as well as being more dramatic. However, the person who commissioned the quilt was quite specific about wanting me to use the lighter, neutral backing fabric as the binding. They also said that I was free to do as I wished so I went back and forth on the point the entire time I worked on this quilt. At the end of the day it’s not my quilt so I went with the lighter fabric. It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it might.

This is also the cleanest quilt ever now. Ironically, rather than using pencil to mark my quilt lines as I usually do, this time I decided to be cautious and use chalk because it would be less likely to stain. Imagine my alarm when I took it from the washing machine and found blue chalk lines still visible – even after two washings! I ended up having to take stain remover and a tooth brush to all the lines and then wash it again before it came out satisfactorily. (I can still see it in places, but you’d really have to know where to look).

Now I can turn my full attention to finishing the Noah’s Ark baby quilt.

I ordered a dance light for my daughter’s birthday present on Sunday and picked it up today – only to discover that it spins from the bottom post but does not rotate on its top axis as it should. I decided rather than take it back to the shop to make them exchange it, I would take it to my favorite repair place instead. Why? Because they special ordered it for me and I assumed that if I took it back to the shop, they would first argue with me that it was fine as it is (as they did when I took it) and then next would likely try to fix it themselves, further mucking it up and dragging the process out more. Yes, I’m paying to fix a “new” item, but also skipping a step (and a headache) As we say in Egypt mahlaysch (nevermind)!

I am finally turning my attention to the commission quilt I accepted back in November. It’s a queen sized quilt and I wasn’t super enthusiastic about taking on such a big project at the time – I even tried to put them off by saying I had other projects I was working on and that it would take me at least six months to finish. They didn’t mind. How was I supposed to know that I was going to move to a new house and take a medical trip to the US in the meantime? It really is creeping up on six months now and I’m not finished.

I did set a personal record and got the entire quilt pieced, pressed, and the layers basted in two days last week – just before my weekend in bus hell away.

I switched the quilt on my own bed this week and it happened to be another quilt that I made at a time of many life disruptions back in 2006. I took an online class and my plan was to finish this quilt before summer vacation. Little did I know that my husband was going to get a new job and that I’d be organizing an international move before that summer too. I ended up finishing the quilt top and packing it up in my suitcase along with the very colorful pieced backing I’d constructed to go with it. My plan was to lay it out in my mother’s living room and get it basted and ready to quilt when we got to our new home in Egypt.

While I was in the US, I started to worry about the colorful backing – the front was fairly light colored and I didn’t want the colors from the backing to bleed. So I decided to wash the backing with a color fixer called Retayne. Mistake! The colors might have been permanent after the wash, but the seams frayed so badly I would have had to cut it the pieces apart and reconstruct the backing. I decided to just buy some other fabric for the back instead.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I took the quilt top out of my suitcase to start basting the layers together and discovered that the sewing machine oil that I’d tossed in my suitcase (in a baggie) at the last minute had leaked onto the quilt top!! Having learned my lesson about washing things from the having ruined the original backing, I treated the oil spots with dish soap and spot cleaned it the best I could – and kept my fingers crossed the rest would come out when I could eventually wash it.

Once we finally made it to Egypt, it was quite a while before I had the time or the energy to do any hand quilting in the evenings, though the quilt was finally more or less ready to go. I hadn’t been working on it for very long when I stood up after a couple hours of quilting and ruptured a disk. After all the heavy lifting and hard work I’d been doing all summer long, it was sitting on the couch in one position too long that did me in.

I was in bed for about six months with my back injury but I did eventually get back to the quilt. I stitched in the ditch around every single piece with variegated rainbow colored thread. I made my own template to fill in the “blank” areas. I scribbled all over it as I tried one pattern and changed my mind in favor of another motif before I sent an SOS to another quilt friend for advice. She gave me a great idea and I was finally able put the last stitches in it. I can usually finish a large quilt in a couple of months, hand quilting. What with delays and injuries, this quilt took me closer to two years!

It was the singular most troublesome quilt I ever made for myself, but it’s so pretty I think it’s almost worth all that trouble.

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I change my quilts for the seasons and this one is early summer.

I actually like the plain backing a lot – really shows off the rainbow stitching!

I’m hoping that the commission quilt won’t be quite so much trouble as this one was to finish. At least I’ve learned my lesson about sitting for too long at a stretch!