Tuesday, August 22, 2017

AHIQ 24: Pieced and Appliqued Words

Wasn't the solar eclipse exciting? I hope you had a good view of it, too. If not in person then at least on the news. NASA had an entire series of telescopes set up to view the live event as it crossed the US. Here's a feed from Madras, Oregon.

This is the second month of #AHIQwords invitation.  Part of improvisation is trying new techniques even if we must push ourselves. I may be the last quilter to add lettering to a quilt but it's something I always wanted to try. This is the time for me to check it off my list. The thing is: it's so much fun I can't wait to start another! Who'd a thought?



Baseball Quilt

The blocks are pieced and sewn with sashing. After realizing blue would dissolve the hat and red the shoes, I chose a white-and-blue stripe combined with red-and-white make a wide sashing. The quilt is getting livelier by the day. In baseball, the team name is on the front while the player's name and number is on the back. I could put numbers on each player or simply a "P" but haven't decided yet. {In part because FO hasn't sent me a list of his favorite players.}


Baseball players in red and white pinstripe
Phillies baseball team with sashing


Words on Quilts

This is as good a place as any to add words to a quilt. My first idea was to freely piece words around the borders until I realized the Phillies name is usually red in an upright cursive.  That's a machine applique job. After many attempts, my script finally looks similar to theirs. 

I traced Phillies onto red fabric then prepped the entire 8"x 25" rectangle using Lara's method in Crafted Applique. Years ago, Cindy England told me the best way to make sure a word is straight is to cut it out after it's laid on the background. And Audrey at Quilty Folk keeps writing that she appliques before sewing the border to the quilt. Isn't it helpful to have such smarties around? It's certainly made the job easier.


After lining the word up with the edge of the border, I pinned it, pressed it, then machined sewed along the pencilled lines. Then, taking a very deep breath, I cut about an eighth-inch away to remove the extra. 



Starting to cut away the applique

Mel at Piece, Love & Happiness loves Havel snips for this. I tried hers a few times but couldn't get enough control. Fortunately, Havel has another pair that remind me of nail scissors. The curved blades made cutting around the curves a snap; I simply turned the scissors back and forth in my hand to match the seam. Thanks, Mel!


With some relaxing music while sitting at a sturdy table with good light, I finished in about an hour. 



Continuing to cut away the applique with Havel scissors

The FO's name and graduation year need a location - border or back.

They won the World Series in 1980 and 2008. Their mascot, Phillie Phanatic, is considered the best in baseball.  Features of their ballpark include:
  • The Angle
  • Ashburn Alley
  • Liberty Bell {lights up for home runs}
  • Veterans Memorial
  • Memory Lane
  • Rooftop bleacher seats
Also under consideration are these sayings by Phillies players and announcers:
  • Moon Shot.
  • Ya gotta believe.
  • Swing and a long drive. That ball is outta here.
  • When it is time to go out on the field, we all go out through the same door.
  • For who? My teammates. For what? To win.
  • Half of this game is ninety percent mental.
  • Root, root, root for the Phillies
Looking at this increasingly long list, piecing them on the back might be the best plan. It seems very hard to keep creating this wide, even cursive. Besides, I've been itching to try free-piecing letters.

What words have you found for your project? How are you planning to add them to your quilt? Kaja and I created a new Pinterest board, Alphabet, with a variety of pieced and appliqued words and letters. It's a good starting point to spark your own ideas.

Just in case you're still working on with Chinese Coins, take a look at Patricia's quilt for Nora combining Coins with words. Wish I'd thought of that.


Eli Leon, African American Quilt Collector

A friend forwarded this article about Eli Leon. In the 1970s Eli began collecting African American quilts in Berkeley CA. After winning a Guggenheim fellowship, he travelled across the South to research and purchase more of this art. Eli 
posited, "There were African survivals and enduring African influences in African-American quilts, and that quilts made by African-Americans reflected the survival of a cultural identify under siege." He mounted several local and national exhibits from his extensive collection. Sherri Lynn Wood wrote more about him here and here.

Enjoy the day, Ann

InLinkz removed because it was hacked.

18 comments:

LA Paylor said...

reverse applique... I've done this a long time and it works great especially if you like texture. And I do. Plus you have the positive image of the word not a reversed one for fusing. I haven't done this in a long long time, and you've made me want to do it again! I have a completely, reverse appliqued valentine quilt made in '88 done in a similar way. I should show that. LeeAnna

Quiltdivajulie said...

Like Kaja, I have nothing to share with the link up this month except to say that I've enjoyed a lot of grandma-time with Mr. Marvelous while his parents have negotiated the purchase of a new house (pending the seller's response to the home inspection results) and done heroic work to prepare their current house for market. There's been a lot of background thinking - and I know WHAT I want to do when I finally have time to pursue those thoughts.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I have added a link to my November 2010 post featuring my free pieced word quilts that were included in Tonya Ricucci's book WORD PLAY QUILTS (out of print but available as a e-book from Martingale - her publisher). Even more inspiration to share.

Janie said...

You've made progress! And you're having fun with this.
Putting yourself into your projects is rewarding.

Ann said...

I wish I'd used reverse but this is just regular applique. But the long letters had me convinced it was better to lay out the piece of fabric and cut away rather than try to straighten it first. Please do show us the Valentine quilt. You have a beautiful series of them, as I recall. Hugs to Milo.

Ann said...

Lucky Grandma! I wonder how we managed raising our own children then remember we were much younger.
You'll sweep through this when you have some alone time.

Ann said...

I read the link. Delightful! Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.

Ann said...

I have. And it's way more fun to head out in my own direction, even if it's weird. Ideas keeps sparking more now.

Mel Beach said...

The baseball player blocks are fabulous!! Are they paper pieced?!? Yay for Havel snips...glad you found a pair that you like and work for you!

Ann said...

No. I just drafted the design and cut the pieces separately. Thanks for the tip on Havel's.

Nifty Quilts said...

I love the way you sashed and bordered this quilt. It makes it even more fun!

JanineMarie said...

Having avid baseball fans in the family, I'm fascinated by what you are making. I was sure you had paper pieced those players. Did you use any templates at all or cut in layers? I've only done pieced letters, so I'm paying extra attention to how you are doing these with applique. Thanks for sharing how you are doing the cutting. I'm looking forward to seeing what letters you choose and how you add them.

Ann said...

Thanks, LeeAnna. These fabrics made it more colorful. And I think the recipient will like it.

Ann said...

I cut each piece separately by putting the paper template on the fabric and adding seam allowances. There were only nine after all. As I worked through it I've gotten more ideas for another quilt. Good thing because I have several baseball fans in my family, too.
You're ahead of me. I haven't pieced letters either. But I'm planning to do it soon.

Mystic Quilter said...

Love the "roundness of" your lettering Ann, although I think if I was attempting this I would have given in and machine appliqued
I'm afraid I haven't found any words to add to my non-existent piece of work, however I'm off to have a look at the Pinterest board and perhaps that will spark some creativity!

Ann said...

Thanks, Maureen. It took some time to work that out and I don't think I could do more than one word in that "font" since I had to figure it out myself. I had lots of trouble thinking of words to use. But as I worked on the baseball quilt so many ideas have developed. You will probably have the same result as you work through it.

Cathy said...

Oh my goodness..this is soooooo cute!

Ann said...

Thanks, Cathy. I get a charge out of this but still worry whether the recipient will like it. Hence the name of my blog. Ha.