basket quilt – Sandy Gilreath

Remember Me

In our household, we often quote favorite movie lines to convey a big message in a few words. A bit like a secret language, the power of a select phrase can convey a sense of place, a mood, or a personality, and add to the bond of family.

One phrase that’s part of our oft-repeated mantras is “remember me?” spoken in the tone Julia Roberts used in Pretty Woman. You know the scene when she returns to the uppity sales clerk who had refused to help her. Laden with packages from another Rodeo Drive shop, she twirls about and smugly displays her loot. There’s a follow-up line about working on commission and “Big Mistake.” We quote that sometimes, too.

Several years ago, when I was a member of a mini-group of quilters who called ourselves The Basket Cases, we exchanged blocks to make quilts. The rules were: make a 9” basket for each other member of the group, in the color specified by each gal; then make your own quilt with the result. I chose blue (big surprise), as did Mary. Susan asked for red and pink. Dale requested pastels, and Angie’s color was terra cotta.

The single basket block you see here is from one set of blocks I made to exchange. The others I made for them were similar, but with pieced bows at the top, not appliquéd bows like these. I made some of that type in blue for myself, too.

We made the exchange baskets twice and each assembled her own quilt using whatever setting was desired. I had eight baskets from friends (you can find four pairs of similar baskets in my quilt, each pair from one quilting sister) and four I had made.

I struggled with the various shades of blue and the different levels of contrast until I remembered how I love brown with blue. This dark brown polka dot seemed to be the perfect fabric to enclose the group of baskets and serve as a border.

I tried the polka dot as alternate blocks, but the big blocks of color were distracting. So back to the sewing machine. I made six 7” basket blocks, framed them with 1” borders of the brown which acted as sashing, and was done.

So it was time for a title. The brown polka dots reminded me of a dress Julia Roberts wore at the polo match in Pretty Woman. So, Remember Me was the perfect phrase to convey the movie connection and the spirit of the exchange blocks with the Basket Cases.

The photos of the quilt were made on an outing to Auchumpkee Creek. Jim made some photos, I made others.

In this photo, you see the back of the quilt with a tree’s shadow on it. As I often do, I pieced the backing with several blue fabrics.

I did not do the quilting on this one. My friend and longarm expert, Kathy Darley, did a great job putting the layers together.

Linen Baskets

We headed out the door on a “Saturday ride-about”, bringing cameras and a quilt. This depot was abandoned at the moment, so we posed the quilt and snapped a few shutters.

This little quilt, Linen Baskets, is a sample I made a couple of years ago when my favorite quilt shop had a fat quarter bundle of linen fabrics. The polka dots are all linen, the white background is a Kona cotton solid. Finished, it measures 35” x 43”, a nice size to drape over a chair or hang on the wall.

I love the little baskets. They are adapted from a pattern called Big Bloomers from QuiltSoup. I added wool appliqué in the border with some beading and embellishments.

We live near Zebulon Road, but it doesn’t lead to the town of Zebulon. That fact amuses us. We have noticed many Zebulon Roads in the middle GA area which, when studying a map, do not lead to Zebulon either. So for this little quilt to get to pose on benches and doors and roof brackets of the depot in Zebulon was a fun note to add to our day.

The quilting is a quick loopy meandering trail done with cotton thread and using thin cotton batting. The backing is a bright fun Jane Sassaman design. Many people like basket quilts as much as I do, but when I take this to groups, there are always gasps of delight when they see the back of this one.

I liked the contrast of the soft quilt with the hard lines of the doors and the weathered wood of the floor boards. Jim did some of his darkroom magic on some of his shots, intermingling color and black and white. I never get tired of that!

Birds of Amicalola

On a recent visit to a train station and refurbished old store, I took my camera and a quilt. Birds of Amicalola posed on a bench and in front of the weathered boards of Mildred’s Store.

The quilt is made using the same basket pattern I created for Miss Lily’s Baskets. In this quilt, I used charm squares of Kaffe fabrics for the appliquéd baskets and Cherrywood hand-dyed blue fabric for the background. I made a lot of these blocks (I still have quite a few left over for some yet unknown project) before deciding how to assemble them.

I had some bright fabric on hand that had birds flying all about vines and leaves. Those birds said, “we want to fly amongst those baskets.” And the leaves seemed perfect for the wreaths in the baskets of the three focus blocks, so I fussy cut the leaves and birds and attached those elements with the invisible basting stitch I had learned from Jude Hill. When I quilted, I stitched those pieces down with free motion stitching before moving to the background quilting.

The quilt measures 51 ” x 58″ . The background quilting was done using silk thread (100-weight) on top, two-ply cotton (50 weight) in the bobbin. The vine in the border is quilted with 30-weight polyester thread.

Photos of this quilt in progress were included in the post here. Oh, and we were on a trip to Amicalola Falls State Park when I added the birds and leaves to the basket blocks. That’s the source of the title.

And here is a closeup of the vine stitched on the border.

You can click on any image to enlarge and see details.

An update to include a photo of the entire quilt:

Here it is hanging in our local guild’s show. The ribbon is for Best Machine Quilting on a Home Machine.

Bonnie’s Baskets

A dear friend whose new favorite color is purple needed a quilt. She didn’t know she needed a quilt, but I did. Rather, I knew I needed to make Bonnie a quilt.

You see, Bonnie is having a rough time health-wise. She’s going for chemo treatments every couple of weeks, and in between those she’s having to rest more than she likes to let her body heal.

I don’t live close enough to go with Bonnie to her treatments or to help with cooking and housework. Nor am I close enough for frequent hugs of support. But, as most people know, a quilt is an endless supply of hugs from the maker to the recipient.

I like all traditional quilt blocks (well, ok, most traditional quilt blocks). Four-patches, nine-patches, stars, waves, crowns, all have their appeal. But my go-to quilt block is the basket. I was once part of a mini-group that called ourselves the Basket Cases. The name was probably more appropriate for me than for the others – but you get the idea. We all loved making basket blocks.

So for Bonnie’s quilt, I put together a few purple baskets, one overflowing with flowers and leaves and such. The assembly was quite improvisational, simply baskets on white with white open spaces.

I have a reputation for quilting pieces that are bulletproof because I do like dense quilting. But in this case, I stitched a meandering vine rather sparsely, leaving space for the quilt and batting to breathe, making it more cuddly to wrap oneself in.

The label is a remnant of a vintage doily with a basket embroidered by someone’s loving hand.

As I worked, my whole being was thinking of Bonnie and her treatments. “Every stitch a prayer” kept echoing in my mind. And there are many, many stitches.

Now Bonnie knows that I love her and am mentally traveling with her through her treatments. And I know that she knows.

Christmas Quilts

I love to stitch with the colors of the season. I know professional artists have to work ahead of the season, getting seasonal prints, cards, books ready during the summer for Christmas, working on Easter themes during snowstorms. Not me.

I love to sew on pumpkin colored fabrics in the fall, pastels in the Spring, and give me some red and green to stitch while the tree is up.

Right now, I’m stitching on a project called Mistletoe and Holly (that’s the name given to it by the designers, Barb Adams and Alma Allen – and my working title now. But as the stitching goes on and the design evolves within my life, that name is subject to change). This is a design I’ve loved for years.

Here is a photo of their finished product. This Christmas season finds me stitching on lots of bindings, finishing some projects for gifts, some for our guild’s upcoming quilt show. But I had to start a red and green project or the season wouldn’t feel right to me.

Earlier in December, I stitched this wool appliqué piece from a block-of-the-month from Maggie Bonanomi. I believe this project will be in her book coming out in 2018.

My quilt ladder shows evidence of my fascination with red and green. In the center is Five Seasons in Bonaire folded with the Christmas season showing. The top and bottom are Tree Farm of Lorane and Small Tree Farm. These are two sizes of a quilt I designed and made for my daughter’s family a few years ago. Friends saw it, loved the simple technique, and patterns were born.

Pomegranates and Poinsettias is in the dining room, Miss Lily’s Baskets are in a basket, and a red and green Irish Chain I made for a challenge one year (but did not enter it, I liked another project better for the competition) are around, too. Detailed descriptions of these projects in earlier posts are here and here.

Above the playhouse hutch, a Santa marches through the woods (based on a design by Jan Patek). Just as I finished this piece a couple of years ago (needed something seasonal to fit the space), I found the wooden Santa you see on the top shelf marching along in an antique store. Serendipity! Oh, we do know how to spell Noel in our house, but when I bought these blocks in the 1980’s, Jim said to the clerk, “Do you think I should be worried? I don’t know anyone named Leon. Why do you think my wife is buying this?” Her laughter still rings in our ears. So as a tribute to that memory, we sometimes display the blocks that way. I forgot to move them when I took the photo.

If history repeats itself, the Mistletoe and Holly thing will be part of next year’s display. I have another couple of ideas in my brain, too. But the ideas sometimes flow faster than these fingers can stitch, so only time will tell how much gets done.

Treasures from Toshi

I saw Toshi a few days ago and she came bearing gifts – delightful sacks of fabric scraps. One was silk, the other indigo cotton.

The Japanese silks were from Toshi’s sewing basket. A friend had sent her some fabrics from Kyoto, others Toshi had kept from her sewing days. There was a baker’s dozen silk remnants in all colors, sizes, and weights. The light reflected off all those colors delights my soul!

And, then, there was the dress in another bag. Indigo. I don’t know how old. Toshi wouldn’t guess, either. She had begun deconstructing the dress because the indigo is so precious, so beautiful, it needed to be reused somehow. For sure, it does. I am thrilled beyond belief. I was delighted to find woven cotton earlier this year (in black), with a variety of weaves across the yardage. But to have this in indigo blue, in fabric with a history, oh, my, my.

Even the bags in which Toshi brought these delights were thrilling to me. The silk remnants were in a small plastic bag with French writing, the outer bag was a Japanese store’s bag with, as you would expect, practical, simple, elegant handles. And the moment of serendipity came when I realized the dress was in a bag imprinted with the name of a church where Jim’s great-grandfather was once the preacher. And Toshi has no knowledge of that family history.

Isn’t it fascinating how time and people are woven together?

I’ve incorporated some of the indigo cotton into some blocks I’m hand stitching and I’ve cut squares from each of the silks to make a sampler piece. The rest will be incorporated into my silk collection for a stunning project. I think I have enough variety now to make something special.

An update on the baskets on my design wall – they are now assembled into one unit. The moment when many blocks become one piece of fabric, a quilt top, is always satisfying to me. In this case, there were 39 blocks and 22 setting triangles stitched together. Now it’s pinned to my design wall while I contemplate whether to add borders or not, and, if so, what they will look like.

I’m including two photos in the progress of assembling the blocks. The green bits of tape were used to number blocks as I moved them to the sewing machine, the safety pins reminded me which way to press the seams so they nested when the rows were sewn together.

On My Design Wall

I have a magic wall in my sewing room. Two 4’ x 8’ sheets of foam insulation board are covered with fleece and nailed to the wall. They hold projects for me to consider, analyze, rearrange, and organize for sewing.

My grandmother did not have a design wall. Quilters these days are advised to use a vertical wall to consider color placement and other options in the quiltmaking process. I am fortunate to have space to have a permanent design wall, but there are options to use one that can be put away when it’s not in use.

In the photo here, you see that my space is larger than most quilts I make. The left side holds a wall quilt in progress. Once I start sewing the blocks together, I’ll put them back on the wall in units so the layout doesn’t become confusing. The magic of this wall is that fabric clings to the fleece (or flannel, or batting, whatever you use) without pins. This makes it easy to move blocks around until the arrangement is just right! Once several blocks are sewn together, the weight sometimes makes it necessary to add pins to hold things in place. And, yes, I do move to the floor when the whole thing is too cumbersome to hang – but by then the design decisions have been made.

My wall also serves as a holding station for projects on the way to becoming. As I see pieces in progress (as on the right side of the photo here) I plan ways to bring them to completion, or combine them with another project. Serendipity comes into play sometimes as stray blocks sit beside each other and become companions in a quilt.

The blocks on the wall are a reinterpretation of Miss Lily’s Red Baskets, which I shared here. I stitched all these little baskets (they finish at 5 1/2” square) with Kaffe Fassett fabrics onto a Cherrywood background. Once I put them on the wall, they needed something. I decided to use the focus baskets like one in Miss Lily’s project, but, rather than one, I used three. And, rather than a bow, I added these birds cut from a funky whimsical fabric I had on hand. The leaves came from that fabric, too. While the baskets are all needleturn applique, the birds and leaves are raw-edged. They are held in place with Jude Hill’s invisible baste stitch. As I do the free motion machine quilting, I’ll stitch these pieces down.

This photo shows my debate about using all basket blocks, or including some free-flying birds.

As usual, you can click on any image to enlarge it. When done, just exit the photo and you’ll come back to this page.

Rescued Remnants

It’s been eleven weeks since I wrote about an adventure buying vintage linens. Only today is this piece finished, featuring pieces of an old tablecloth found on that excursion.

This quilt has been in development since I brought that pile in the house. Growing, developing, changing. Pink is not my “go-to” color, maybe that’s why it took so long for me to hear what the fabric was saying.

I know, people have been referred for psychological help when they said their quilts talked to them. But quilts do talk. If only you are willing to listen.

Here is the conversation as this process ensued: Vintage Tablecloth (VT) and me (SG).

VT: This basket motif wants to be the centerpiece of a medallion-like wall hanging.

SG: Ok. I’ll cut one out in an irregular shape and stitch it to a background. With wool batting underneath so you rise to be noticed.

VT: What background? The green pieces from the tablecloth without holes?

SG: Ok. Done. Centered, stitched on the machine with dense machine quilting to make the embroidery pop.

VT: Oh, I’m disappointed. I’m not featured as I should be. I need accentuating.

SG: Ok. I’ll cut you out from that background and put you on something darker.

VT: How about pink? See my perky little bow, let’s do pink!

SG: Noooo, I don’t like pink too much. Let’s try something else. Let’s pick up all those other colors. Here. I like this stripe.

VT: Ok. But horizontally, no. Vertically, no. Both too plain. I’m fancy.

SG: Agreed. How about mitering the stripe so there’s some geometric interest?

VT: Yes, Mrs. G, I know you have to get that in there somewhere.

SG: Done. Now on the green.

VT: uh-uh. I want pink.

SG: Pink? I don’t like pink. I don’t even buy pink fabric. Oh, wait, here is a gradated solid. I bought a pack of these pastels (Lord, what WAS I thinking? That’s not me at all.) But it does work with the colors in the ribbon. How about a pink border around the basket on the stripe?

VT: Yes. At last you heard me. Pink. Pink. Pink.

SG: Ok. There is now a border around the basket. It’s pink. And, can I let it be raw-edged, since that is the way I applied the basket?

VT: Yes. Sure.

SG: Done. Now that is going on the green background from the original tablecloth. Good grief, how many layers is this? I guess I should cut triangles from the green and frame the center rather than continue to build thickness. More cutting and fitting and sewing. But that’s what it needs to be.

Now I need to layer the quilt. Cotton batting this time, and look, I found a pink calico for the backing.

VT: Ok, I’m done talking. Have your way with me now as you quilt. Oh, I guess you will bind me with that stripe, too; since that seems to be the only fabric you can use for a binding. But will you not make it bias this time? Let’s be a little bit subtle with it, ok?

SG: Good idea. Especially since I’ve used almost all of the stripe and it will have a jillion seams anyway. But I’ll place the stripes perpendicular to the edge.

Quilting is done. I repeated the bow motif from the original basket. I drew a replica, resized, marked it on corners of quilt, and stitched with heavy pink thread. I quilted the remainder using a matching fine thread (silk) so the emphasis is on the texture, not the stitch.

VT: Your quilting worked out nicely. But now the center stripe is a bit puffy. Can you get it to settle down a bit?

SG: Sure. I’ll do the seed stitch with a matching thread. But it makes a mess on the back.

VT: Find something pink. You use vintage linens for the labels anyway. Just find one large enough to cover that center square.

SG: I agree that it needs to be pink. I don’t have any vintage pink stuff (nor pink dye). I don’t DO pink. But, you are right – any other color will be too high contrast. It is the back, after all.

VT: So, wait. You don’t have to finish today. Wait until you find the right thing.

SG: Oh, WOW. I saw this pink linen handkerchief at an antique mall. With lace. It was $3. More than I normally pay for a hankie to stitch on as a label. But I thought of you and bought it.

VT: Good girl. I’m worth it.

SG: Done. Label attached with seed stitch that just goes through to the batting. Sleeve attached the same way. You aren’t square, close though. (16” x 17″). And you speak “pink”

The Seed Stitch

I’ve been delighting in a new stitch in the past few months, the seed stitch. It is a simple little stitch which is carefree and easy, but adds an amazing punch to textile work in many situations.

If you are a stitcher and haven’t used this versatile stitch lately, give it some thought. Directions and video tutorials are abundant online. Just search “seed stitch for embroidery”, or you’ll learn knitting.

seed stitch on floozie In recent years, I used the seed stitch in this block of Floozies, a quilt I made using a Sue Spargo kit she called Bird Dance in 2013. In this case, the stitch was done as an embellishment. The seed stitch can be seen in the area under the bird’s feet.

detail of Mourning Flight

In Susan Lenz’s class I took in May and wrote about it in detail here, I realized that this stitch could be used as a quilting stitch, to secure several layers. In this case, I used a heavy black thread making the stitch itself quite obvious. This photo is one from Mourning Flight, detailed here, where all the hand quilting is accomplished using this simple stitch.

seed stitch in car But recently, I’ve used the seed stitch on another piece, this white baby dress on blue, still untitled. Here I’m using a fine thread (30-weight cotton) which matches the background. The stitch is rather small, so all that is visible is the dimple created when the stitch secures the top, batting and backing. The photo here is one I took while riding in the car. (The seed stitch is in the area of the white in the lop left quadrant of the photo.) On a road trip yesterday to see and photograph a rare bird, I got a lot of stitching done. I was not the driver.

The seed stitch is rather random in nature, neither the length nor direction of the stitch having to be consistent, making it a great travel project. Much of the seed stitch on Mourning Flight was also done in the car, this time on a birding trip to Florida.

seed stitch intended pink basket And remember the pile of vintage linens I brought home here? Well, salvageable parts of one of those old tablecloths has become this piece. After quilting the inner pink border and the setting triangles densely, the striped center is a bit puffy. So, I’ll be adding some seed stitch in this area.

One caveat: the seed stitch does not produce an even result on the back of the piece, so an additional back will be needed. But if you plan an additional layer on the back, or you intend to frame the work, the seed stitch is an interesting one to consider for securing layers. I’ve planned for that on the white baby dress, using an extraordinarily thin fabric (harem cloth) as the backing now. And on the pink/green piece, the label will be placed over the seed-stitched area of the back of the finished product.

Orphan Baskets and Bunnies

framed pear Many quilts are made in small units, or blocks, which are then assembled into a larger quilt top. Most quiltmakers I know have an abundance of “orphan blocks”. These can result when a project is abandoned, when extra blocks were made to test color combinations or size, or when the stitcher simply changed her mind about where the design was going.

I sometimes intentionally create orphan blocks. I find hand stitching to be therapeutic and if I’m not in the midst of a big project, I love to explore single block designs. Whether piecing or appliqué, I love playing and planning. Many times, a big idea grows from a small block.

After I completed the appliqué for Indigo Pearadise, I continued to play with this motif in the smaller size. A single pear fit comfortably in a 5” x 7” frame and makes a sweet little gift.

Early in my appliqué experience, I found that I could successfully stitch the running rabbit pictured in the design below. To practice the appliqué stitch, to have handwork to do while visiting with my mother, and to explore the soft colors of Spring, I stitched many running rabbits. Somewhere along the way, I began hearing the phrase “Baskets and Bunnies” in my mind and a theme emerged. I found patterns for other bunnies, drew a simple basket with a rickrack handle, and kept sewing.

baskets & bunnies Some of these baskets and bunnies still reside in a basket awaiting their opportunity to shine. The photo you see here is a quilt top that came about when my minigroup needed a quick project for a donation effort a few years ago. The timing was Spring, my stitching sisters remembered my collection, and we got busy. The completed top was quilted by a local longarm expert and we had a sweet little quilt in record time!

That little block with the rickrack handle has reappeared in reds and framed for Christmas gifts, too. I don’t read many books twice, I don’t watch a lot of reruns on tv, but I do my share of repeating blocks I love.

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