Mystery gaining momentum

I am surprised and delighted every day when more Beyond the Block Mystery Quilt contest entries arrive. The one above one is from Elsie Vredenburg of Tustin, Michigan. Using photos of gloriosa daisies from her garden as inspiration, Elsie created these gorgeous focus blocks with fusible appliqué and thread painting.
Willie Fiedler of Sandwich, Massachusetts, writes, "After a trying few days to get my blocks to work, I persevered and got them together. I tried to work out of my stash which worked out until the cutting error in the directions. So, as I always say, there are no mistakes, only design opportunities. The large green areas are going to include appliqued vines when I get the quilt top together. Thanks for giving me a spark of creativity and a challenge when I really needed it."
You still have plenty of time to start the mystery quilt in the September 2010 issue of American Quilter magazine and enter our contest. (If you haven't yet begun the project, please make note of the corrected diagrams for patches E and H, shown in my blog posting on July 23rd.) The pattern starts on page 60 and contest details are on page 66. (AQS members can also access the pattern online at http://www.americanquilter.com/.) Be sure to send your contact information (address, phone, e-mail) along with photos of your focus blocks and completed Part 1 blocks.

More mystery

If you're working on the Beyond the Block Mystery Quilt (Part 1 was just published in the September 2010 issue of American Quilter magazine), be sure to read my blog post of July 23, which details the corrected dimensions and diagrams for two patches in the rotary cutting box.

Barb Bruce of Salisbury, North Carolina, sent me these photos of her focus blocks and four Part 1 blocks. The focus blocks are cut from a panel fabric, designed by Sarah Moe for Blank Fabrics. Barb added a frame around them to get the correct size.
Gorgeous fabrics and color palette, Barb! Thank you for sharing.

Mystery Quilt Update

If you’re working on Part 1 of the Beyond the Block Mystery Quilt (published in the September 2010 issue of American Quilter), please note that two illustrations in the Rotary Cutting box on page 62 were not correct. These are the correct diagrams for patches E and H:

We apologize for this small error, but it does not affect the yardage requirements or any other aspect of the construction in Part 1.

Pat Thompson, an experienced quilter from Mount Vernon, Washington, is using vintage linens, embroidered with directional flower baskets, for her mystery quilt focus blocks.

If you plan to use directional focus blocks (blocks with a definite top and bottom design), follow the figure 9 below rather than the one pictured on page 65. Both are correct, depending on your focus fabric.

Janet Foster, another quilter from Washington, is using Oriental-style fabrics for her focus blocks. This is her finished Star block from Part 1:

And quilter/author Joan Hanson from Seattle, Washington, has forged ahead and already finished Part 1. She used a gorgeous large-scale print as her focus fabric, combined with a variety of complementary batiks and commercial prints. I can’t wait to see her completed quilt!

If you are making a mystery quilt, be sure to enter the contest described on page 66 of the September issue. You could win quilt books, fabrics, and a subscription to American Quilter!

Better fitting mitered borders

(Submitted by Marje Rhine, American Quilter magazine pattern editor)
I used to have a lot of trouble accurately applying mitered borders. It seemed more often than not I would end up with pointy or sometimes rounded borders. This was because I could not accurately cut the angles of the borders when they were already attached to the quilt. I also sometimes had wavy borders because most mitered border techniques do not have you cut your border to exactly fit the quilt. Here is my now-preferred method for cutting mitered borders.
Measure the quilt from side to side. Measure the width of the border. Tip: If your quilt has several mitered borders, sew the border strips together first. Make sure your length of border is long enough. To determine this, take the width of the quilt as measured, add 2 times the width of the border, and then add 2″. In my example below, the quilt measures 36″ from side to side and my border width is 4″. My length of border must be at least 46″.

36″ + (2 x 4″) + 2″ = 46″

Cut one end of the border strip at a 45° angle. Discard the resulting triangle. From the inside point of the cut, measure and mark the width of the quilt minus 1/4″.

Starting precisely at that mark, cut the border strip at a 45° angle. Make sure this cut goes in the opposite direction from the previous cut. Cut 2 borders this way—one for the top and one for the bottom of the quilt.

Measure and cut the side borders in the same manner before sewing any border to the quilt.

Now center and pin a border to the quilt. Use alignment pins to make sure that the intersections of the 1/4″ seam allowances on the border match the intersections of the seam allowances on the quilt. Stitch the border to the quilt. Be sure to backstitch at each end of the seam.

 Add all borders to the quilt in the same manner, then finish the mitered corners with a 1/4″ seam.
ADDENDUM: There was a question about why I subtract 1/4" from the measurement before cutting. Here is a diagram that shows why the diagonal for the cut piece is started at 1/4" less than the measured quilt width. Notice how because of the angle and seam allowances the the lower raw edge of the border is shorter than the raw edge of the quilt. I must admit that I often cannot remember if I add or subtract 1/4" to get the length to cut. For large quilts I often start the cut at exactly the width of the quilt then ease in that extra 1/4" as I go.

Set-in seams: Here's how!

Set-in seams, also known as Y seams, are used to make blocks that can't be assembled with straight, continuous seams. The stunning quilt shown here, Borealis by Marla Yeager, offers plenty of opportunity to practice setting in seams. The complete pattern and instructions for Borealis will be published in the September 2010 issue of American Quilter magazine, including the instructions below. Set-in seams are a skill every quilter should know, for application in classic quilt blocks such as Attic Windows and Feathered Star. (Yes, you can usually alter block patterns to avoid set-in seams, but adding more seam lines can detract from a block's visual appeal and make the sewing and quilting more complicated.)
In Borealis, most of the seams connecting larger triangle patches to pointed units must be set in. To sew these seams, you’ll stitch only on the sewing lines and not into the seam allowances. On the wrong side of the patches, mark dots, 1/4” from the edges, to indicate the beginning and end of each set-in seam (fig. 1). Place 2 patches right sides together. Use pins to line up the dots on the 2 patches. Then sew from dot to dot, backstitching at the beginning and end, and taking care not to stitch into the seam allowance (fig. 2).                

Add the next patch, sewing one seam from dot to dot and backstitching at each end (fig. 3). Pivot the patch, align the remaining edges, and sew the final seam in the same manner (fig. 4).

Averting disaster at a quilt show

One of the great benefits for those of us immersed in the quilt world is the exchange of knowledge, not only of patterns and techniques, but also of experiences. Quilter Mary Peterson recently shared with me her could-have-been catastrophic experience during a small quilt show in Shreveport, Louisiana.


“I was co-chair of a quilt show held in conjunction with the American Rose Society convention. My husband was hanging one of the quilts in the educational hall at the ARS headquarters when he encountered a small white plastic panel on the wall. (The quilt, entered by Bobbie Reed of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was created by a group of participants as a fund raiser for a future ARS event.) We asked staff what the panel was for and were told to ignore it.”

“Some hours later, a tree fell on nearby power lines and the center lost power. The mysterious plastic panel opened and two high-intensity emergency lights emerged, touching the back of Bobbie’s quilt hanging over them. In no time at all, one of the bulbs had burned completely through the quilt, leaving a charred 1-1/2" hole near the border (see photo below). Fortunately, the groundskeeper smelled smoke and pulled the quilt away from the panel before anymore damage was done. To say the least, we were devastated that one of the quilts given into our care had been damaged.”

Mary continues: “We tried to find some measure of good to come out of this, and decided that if Bobbie had used a different batting, the entire quilt may have caught fire along with the exhibition hall in which it was displayed.”

According to Mary, Bobbie was extremely generous and understanding when told about the mini-disaster. Reconstruction is already underway, and Bobbie plans to make a new label for the back of the quilt, relating the entire story. She said she thought she might rename the quilt The Phoenix, as it rose from the ashes.

Mary feels fortunate that Bobbie’s good humor carried the day and hopes by sharing this experience, other quilt show organizers can avert disaster. “Never hang a quilt over anything that might damage it, and never take ‘Don’t worry about it’ as the last word.”

Good advice, Mary! Do you have a quilt story to share?

Deidre Scherer wins Artistic Achievement Award

The Alumni Association of the Rhode Island School of Design has named textile artist Deidre Scherer the winner of its 2010 Award for Artistic Achievement. Initially drawn to painting as a student, Deidre later turned to making portraits using fabric as her canvas, and needles, thread and a sewing machine as her brushes.
“I never met a type of paint that made me as happy as the fabrics I use,” says the Vermont-based artist. “I love the artistic challenge of cobbling together narrative and figurative pieces.” For the past two decades she has been inspired to use her unusual technique to capture the poignancy of family, aging and mortality, as in Three Women and Dog (shown above with permission from the artist).

Two major traveling exhibitions of her portrait series, called Surrounded by Family and Friends and The Last Year, have introduced people across the country to her work, which has also appeared on the covers of several books and is included in public and private collections worldwide.
You can read more about Deidre in the May 2010 of American Quilter magazine. The article is also available online at http://www.americanquilter.com/ exclusively for AQS members. To see more of Deidre’s work, visit http://dscherer.com/.