Sandwiches and Moderns
My quilt sandwiches are now ready for my Houston students-whoop! Last year I was frantically assembling at the last minute because I severely underestimated the time it would take as well as how much fabric I needed. All of my Houston classes are already full except for a few spaces in Monday afternoon’s Fills and Frills class-wahoo!
A note about how IQF handles a full class: you can check current availability of classes here. Even though a class might be full now, keep checking back, as students might drop and choose another. Online enrollment closes Sept 25. But if you’re still looking to get into a class and it is full at the close of online enrollment, you still enroll onsite. When you get to the show, check with the Enrollment people on the second floor and you may just snag a spot.
My photos this week are from my old phone-a virus attacked my computer and somehow my latest photos are nowhere to be found.
I’m teaching 4 half-day classes, one full-day class and participating in both the Machine Quilters Forum and the Friday Sampler. I have committed to kitting the classes for my students so that meant a whole lot of quilt sandwiches-400 to be exact, plus a few extras.
I probably way over-thought my fabric choices-not that I ever over-think, ahem. I used Kona cotton because so many quilters favor it. I wanted to choose happy colors, not too bright, certainly not dull. So I went with a “sand and sea” theme of Bahama Blue and Parchment. Research shows blue as the world’s favorite color so that was a good start. I hope it gives my students a wee bit of a smile.
I ordered 110 yds of Kona-just the right amount this year. It sounds like a lot of cutting (it was) but not nearly as bad as I thought. It took maybe 4-6 hours to cut it into 14″ squares.
My batting arrived later than I anticipated so I was so happy when it finally came. I immediately went to work cutting it into squares.
My dining room table became Sandwich Central for awhile. I hear that in some parts of the world people actually eat on these!
Yes, 400 squares of batting. Again, took less time than I thought.
I did not realize that hard part was the assembly. Each sandwich needed 5 pins. Okay, 5 pins times 400 sandwiches is 2,000 pins! The Kwik Clip did not help in this case. I ended up putting a Machinger glove on my left (closing) hand to lessen the discomfort. I am soooo lucky that I have no hand issues!
I’m a counter by nature. It took about 70 seconds/sandwich for assembly (that calcs to 7.78 hours, giggle). It was incredibly boring. About halfway through I realized that if I called friends on my phone’s speaker, time went by in a flash!
And this was my reward-I got the sandwiches done just in time for a class with Modern quilter Latifah Saafir:
We made a quick little bag using no pins (gasp!) to do those curves. I decided to cheat later in the project-I have a pin addiction. It’s all about control…
And our treat at the end of class was a quick Trunk Show of Latifah’s quilts. Latifah is co-founder of both the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild and the worldwide Modern Quilt Guild. She is an engineer by training and you definitely saw that in her quilts. The Modern movement is gaining hold in the Sacramento area so it was fabulous to have Latifah visit and inspire. I’ll be linking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Friday as usual-always great links there.
Next time give me a call, I’ll help you with some cutting, pinning, etc. Of course that would mean giving up some control of each quilt sandwich…lol.
Thank you Luanne! I kept on thinking I would ask for help. But I would need a break from quilting so I would do a little bit. And then I couldn’t sleep and I would do a little bit. The hardest part was the assembly and then it seemed too late to call for help. It would have been fun to have a pinning party!
Suggestion for you — I think that you should look into those basting tag guns for assembling your class batting samples. Have you seen them? It’s the same kind of little “gun” that retail shops use to attach price tags to garments, except that the little plastic tag connector is much shorter, like 1/4″ or so. But all you have to do is squeeze the trigger to put the tags in, pop pop pop, and I think it would go much faster and be easier on your hands when you have 400 or more samples to assemble at a time. Students would just clip the tags off with a scissor (not their fabric scissor!) as they came to them, the same as they would remove pins.
I love the calming blues and greens, by the way, and NO it is not overthinking! So many of us stress out just THINKING about FMQ and colors really do influence our attitudes and moods. Wish I could take your class, Jenny!
That is a great idea Rebecca! I won’t use them on real quilts as it allows the fabric to move too much. But for these sandwiches it would be perfect! And lighter too-2,000 safety pins up the shipping weight. And soooo much easier. Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
Hi Jenny,
I believe Linda and Laura Kemshall use those basting guns all the time for their art pieces. Given their success as artists, I’d follow suit!
I get too much movement from the basting guns. I think Linda and Laura generally work under 24″ or so. I think they work well for a smaller piece but with my heavy quilting I get lots of shrinkage and movement that I need to control. I WILL use these for my practice sandwiches and student sandwiches though! Wish I had thought of this before I put in 2,000 safety pins!
The bag with curves – no it is not cheating to use pins!!1 We all have to find our own way to get things doen to our satisfaction – that clamshell patchwork looks fabulous, form here anyway! If it works better for you that way, why not? I use pins with improvisational piecing, and the curvier it gets the more pins I use – rarely have to pull anything out – and in fact my post on Nina-Marie’s friday post today is about this very thing.
Thank you Alison. It’s funny you mention that. She explained the math of it, that the outside of the curve is bigger than our sewing line-I already understood that. But, because of that, we can stretch the bias to make it fit because we’re trying to get that 1/4″ seam. I don’t know if my words make sense, but it is logical. I’ve always been super careful about bias edges, not even touching them. When I take a class, I try to fully embrace my instructor, doing it their way. I may later do it my way, but in class I try to embrace the concept. Of course I did use pins in class but I may try to get good at doing it pinless.
Wow, that’s a lot of cutting and pinning! Your colors are scrumptious and I’m sure your students will be pleased.
I sure hope so! I do look forward to meeting my students and the whole Houston experience. I will be looking for your gorgeous quilt Norma.
My hands were aching after I read about all the prep work you did for your classes. And I hope you have a chance to get into modern quilting more once Houston is past. While some of the modern stuff is simply repackaged traditional quilting IMHO, others is truly different. Latifah has done amazing work with curves and bias strips. Hope the word bias didn’t make you break out in hives.
Joanna-thank you for that comment. Yes, some of what is passed off as Modern is not, but as the movement evolves, there is more clarity and authenticity and innovative work. I am really intrigued. I probably will not go full tilt Modern, but I am working on a quilt now that I consider Modern. Can’t wait to work on it-got a few things to finish first.