Lady Slippers and Laughing Places...

 

Hi Everyone!
                         Well, I know a Pink Lady Slipper actually speaks of summertime, but I thought I'd post a bit of my own artwork.  I grew up in very rural Northeastern Pennsylvania.  My grandparents raised me in a big, double-block farm house on a dirt road, about a mile from our little village of Noxen.  The mountains rose all around and across from the creek that ran to the front of our house. 
           As a child, I didn't have many playmates.  The woods all around me was my playground, and I knew every tree and stone wall of it.  At a bend in the road just down from the house, there was an old logging path that ran from the road to the top of the mountain where they logged off quite a bit a long time ago.  My grandma and I loved to hike that road, and if the wash was done and the bread was baked, and the chickens were fed, we'd slip off, up that old path, looking for mushrooms, acorns, pretty stones or anything else that was new and different about the woods that day. 
         We had a special place we'd go that was a turn off the path and up a rise.  We called it the Laughing Place after the tales of Uncle Remus.  Perched at the top of the rise was a big pine.  It was so big that it's branches shaded the ground around it and no grass grew there.  But at a magical time during the warm summer, up through the thick thatch of fallen pine needles, there grew bunches and bunches of Pink Lady Slipper.  We'd climb up to that big old pine in the summer and Gramma would sit down, close her eyes, brush back her graying hair and begin fanning herself with the edge of her apron.  But I was young and active and ALWAYS enchanted with the bright pink lady slipper flowers and their rich green leaves poking up through the dark brown pine needles like God had landscaped a garden under that tree.  When Gramma was cooled off from the walk, she'd stand up and announce it was time to "get on home," and I'd always have a nice big fistful of those Pink Lady slipper orchids from The Laughing Place to put on our kitchen table.

             Ahhhh.....reminiscing!

             Well....there's quilty things to talk about........!

              How about a bit more of the tutorial?




              

Your Sandwich…No…not the BLT!

                  Before anchoring your quilt sandwich, you must make it!  Depending on how large it is, this could require anything from a small card table to your entire living room floor!  Use any surface where the top, batting and backing will fit flat.  Lay your backing fabric down, wrong side up.  Lay your backing on top of that, and then add your top, centered over the backing and batting.  Here’s what’s important to remember:  Your backing fabric should be roughly 6 inches wider and longer than your top, and your batting should be roughly 4 inches wider and longer than your top.  When you quilt, the fabric layers will “shrink” with the quilt work. 

 

                In this picture, you can see the quilter taped her backing fabric to the work surface so it's taught.  Many people tape all around, which is a better idea.  You want the backing to be taught with no wrinkles.  Then she added her batting, then her top.

          Another method is one that I use all the time now.  This method eliminates crawling around on the floor!  It requires 2 or 3 narrow boards, 4-6 feet long and 1 x 2 inches in diameter.  I purchased boards already finished white.  Mark the center of the boards with a magic marker.  Just a good sized dot will do.

 

           Now lay your backing down on the table, wrong side up with either the top or bottom at the edge of the table.  Center your board evenly with the edge of the backing, having the board dot at the middle of the backing edge and let a few Inches hang beyond the board all along the edge. (This is what the dot is for---so you can center the board on the fabric.) Now bring those inches up around the board and scotch tape roughly every 6 inches all along the board. The scotch tape anchors the edge so it's easier to roll, at the beginning.  Begin rolling the fabric up on the board and smoothing the fabric to the left and right.  Try to keep the fabric as even as possible to the right and left.

 

          Once you have all your rolls made, lay the backing roll on the edge of the table and unroll it a time or two.  Position the batting next to it, and then the top.  The whole idea is to unroll the three layers a bit at a time, being able to smooth the three evenly all the way across and “feed” the sandwich to yourself a little at a time.  Pin a section all the way across, pull it toward you, pin a bit more, etc.  (If you are using spray instead of pins, lay the fabric back, spray, smooth it down, pull it toward you and repeat.)  This may seem complicated at first, but once you have done it a time or two you will realize it’s the fastest, most efficient way!  Here’s some shots of the layout for this board method.  The following pictures are from a website called ColorMeQuilty.  These are the best pictures to demonstrate how this is done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a couple shots of mine with my "supervisor."

 

           There’s one last way you can make your quilt sandwich.  If you use this method, there’s no need to pin.  You can use a spray adhesive.  Many people prefer a product called “505 Spray,” but I have used June Tailor’s product and been very pleased with it.  If you go to ColorMeQuilty's website, she's posted great instructions about using spray basting combined with the board method above.

Your Sandwich….No…Not the Ham on Rye!

      There’s several ways to permanently anchor the three layers of your quilt together. But the first thing you want to do is temporarily anchor the layers so they don’t skew while you’re working with the permanent quilting. There are several ways to do to this.  The most common way is to

 

PIN.

 

        There are special, curved pins for this.

          They are curved to make it easier to push the tip down from the top, through the batting, pick up a bit of the backing, and bring the tip back to the top before latching.  There’s no rule for how far apart you should pin, but every 4-6 inches is a good start.  Pin as closely as you feel comfortable with, keeping in mind that you will have to remove the pins as you quilt along.

           Pin all the way out to the edge....

They make a special tool for this process put out by Kwik Klip.  This tool lifts the pin tip so it can be clipped and unclipped easily.  But I will climb up on a very teeny soapbox, again, about this sort of thing.  Even though this is a fine product, it's one of those things that I feel can be replaced with another household tool---needle-nose pliers.  I have RA in my hands and Carpal Tunnel problems, so the pliers are actually much easier than gripping the small pin.  AND, if you puch your pin all the way through and come back up and can't get a tight enough grip on the tip, the pliers come in very handy!  TIP:  When you begin the tying/quilting process and you remove your pins, store them open.  Easier access next time! 

 

 

Spray.

  Many people LOVE spray baste and use it for all their quilts!  It does save time, as there’s no need to pin, and I love it.  However a word of caution…Shake the can often, hold the can about a foot away (no closer), and always spray the batting, not the fabrics.  Protect your surrounding work surfaces, as the over-spray is noticeable.  Try to use a “sweeping” motion so the spray is not concentrated too much in one spot.  Truly a time-saver, but a bit tricky as well!

 

         Okay....so you've made your blocks, joined them into a top, made your sandwich and temporarily anchored it with either pins, thread, or spray baste.  You're ready to quilt!  YAY.....!  Let's approach that tomorrow!

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