Fractals

Cousin Katelyn belongs to a science competition team and has interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) things, amongst her other interests and talents, including art, music, sports, crafts, and performing. You might as well keep all your options open! I decided to make her a STEM quilt using my Quilt Lab book by Alexandra Winston. I selected the quilt "Fractal" from the book because it was one of the prettiest in the book. I added top and bottom borders to the quilt to make it twin bed size (instead of square), using a mathematics print I found from fabric.com. The side panels of the back also came from fabric.com, but the center came from a mathematics themed print I found at my LQS, The Laurel Leaf. The quilt store is going out of business so the fabric was 30% off. I will miss the store terribly, but I appreciate the discount. The colors are arranged based on how much of each fabric color I had in my inventory and not due to any planned color arrangement. I tried to demonstrate the 4-color map theorem with the placement of the prints for each color. However, some of the blocks got twisted between the design wall and the sewing machine, so the theorem isn't demonstrated.

  

Size: 60" x 80" Twin-bed size
Quilting: Quilted in concentric nested arcs, free form quilting. Used gold polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Goldenrod"). Free form quilting. Made 8 bobbins, used 6 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Gray print from fabric.com on the sides and black print with primary colored figures in the center from a Laurel Leaf sale. 

Batting: 100% bamboo

Binding:  The green mathematics print used in the borders.
Pattern: "Fractal" from Quilt Lab by Alexandra Winston

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame November 11, 2015.  Quilting on long arm quilter November 13-20, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

 

 

The STEM quilt goes to college! Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, August 2020

Location:County Line Quilts

Skateboard Holiday

I had 3 orphan blocks from Eric's quilt. I decided to add some blocks and make a neonatal quilt for the guild. I used bright and happy colors, mostly batiks. The quilt wound up with a bright, island look as a result, hence the name "Skateboard Holiday." I arranged the blocks in sort of a chevron pattern. The black dot fabric in the border, pretty gray print on the back, and dark gray binding came from my inventory. 

Size: 42" x 44" Neonatal size
Quilting: Quilted in a patoto masher pattern to resemble the half-pipe that skateboarders use. Used Light gray polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Silver"). Free form quilting. 4 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Gray print from my stash.

Batting: 50/50 polyester/cotton batting.

Binding:  Dark gray print from my stash. 
Pattern: Adapted from a Missouri Star Quilt Company 

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame November 9, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter November 11, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

Location:County Line Quilts

Calculating Centripetal Force in the Half-Pipe

I wanted to make quilts for cousins Eric and Katelyn who currently reside in Hawaii. Cousin Eric has become a skateboard enthusiast (and so has Katelyn, but she started later), so when I saw the Missouri Star Quilt Company video for a skate board quilt, I decided that was the one for Eric. However, Mother objected to the proportions of the "decks" made from pre-cut layer cakes in the video. I asked Frances about sizes when she was visiting in July. Her grandson Korbin built his own skateboard in shop class. She said most decks are 8" x 30". So, I made my blocks 4" x 15" to keep the right proportions. I used several batik fat quarters to add a touch of Hawaii, some Stars and Stripes pieces and camouflage fabric to add the patriotic touch since Eric's father is stationed in Hawaii for the army, a piece of Pokemon fabric, because Eric quilted Pokemon designs when he visited and was learning how to long arm, a Minnesota Viking fabric because that is Eric's team, and finally some boy like pieces from my inventory. The border and backing was a find on fabric.com. It has a science/engineering focus, hence the name of the quilt, "Calculating Centripetal Force in the Half-Pipe." I had to google "Skateboard Terminology" and images to get mentally prepared for this quilt. I learned about the apparatuses that skateboarders use for their tricks, including the half- and quarter-pipes,the boards are called "decks", the wheel assemblies are called "trucks", the designs on the "decks" are usually on the bottom and not the top as in my quilt, and when you lose paint or wood on your deck during a run that's called "shredding it."I used bamboo batting since they live in Hawaii and don't need warmth. I read that bamboo has the best heat "transmission" of the batting types.

Size: 64" x 82" Twin-bed size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple in the background and borders with wavy patterns in the skateboard decks. Used gray polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Dark Gray"). Free form quilting. 8 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Gray print from fabric.com. The print has pi symbols, sine waves, binary code, and other assorted geeky things. The same print was used for the borders.

Batting: 100% bamboo

Binding:  Dark gray print from my stash. 
Pattern: Adapted from a Missouri Star Quilt Company video. 

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame October 30, 2015.  The tracks, wheels, and axles of the longarm were cleaned and/or oiled. A lot of "stuff" was removed. Quilting on long arm quilter November 6, 2015. (Patty). Quilting went very well. The cleaning must have helped.

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

Location:County Line Quilts

Sausage

This quilt is like Scrappy Happy posted November, 2014, except this one is made from regular cotton and not flannel. When Frances came this summer she sorted the strips of fabric that Mother had saved by color and width. Frances's great sorting job greatly facilitates the strip quilts Mother has planned. Thank-you, Frances! Mother calls this quilt "Sausage" because it's made from the leavings (offal?) from many of our quilts. This quilt was given to Cynthia for her good friend Joyce. Joyce died and the quilt was used to drape the body for the family time.

Size: 68" x 68" Lap Size
Quilting: Loose stipple over the entire quilt. Used tan polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads called "Sandstone"). Free form quilting. 5 bobbins. 
Backing: Brown cotton print from Patty's stash. The print has bright colored small circles.
Batting: 100% Cotton (Warm And Natural)
Binding: Green print from Mother's stash

Pattern: As seen on various media-TV, magazines, internet

Pinned into frame October 14, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter October 21-23, 2015. (Patty). Took time off for errands and doctor appointments as well as warm weather. That's why the delay between pinning into frame and quilting.

Piecing by Mother.

Binding by Mother. 

QC by Spencer.

Location:County Line Quilts

Year of the Ram

Planning the Quilt and Making the Patterns

The Result of the Planning (Unquilted)

A better name for this quilt may be "Patricia, what were you thinking?" I can remember my first grade teacher Mrs. Sarver walking around the classroom and holding up my classmates' artwork. When she got to me, she held it up and said, "Patricia, what were you thinking?" Which caused a lot of derision amongst my classmates and caused me to hang my head in shame. Those were the days when teachers could be brutally honest, before they had to worry about your self-esteem and bolster your little egos. Well, I was thinking, but somehow my artistic skills were never equal to the vision in my head, not then and not now. The inspiration for this quilt came from two sources. Firstly, when I was helping the quilt judges at the county fair, one of the special categories was the current Chinese Zodiac Year; this year is the Ram. I thought, "Hmm, interesting! I'd never thought of that concept. Just how do you do a "Ram" quilt?" Then fabric.com had a sale and this wildlife print was too good to pass up for my "Ram" quilt. According to the Internet, the Chinese "Ram" year could either be a sheep or a goat and this fabric has both bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Secondly, I watched a quilting video by MAN SEWING with Ron Appell. His quilt was a "strip scramble" and used an ocean wildlife print. He is a graphic artist and you are supposed to see water currents in the quilt along with the ocean animals. Again, I thought, "Hmm, interesting! I wonder if I can use this concept for my "Ram" quilt?" I bought the pattern, so I could legitimately use his idea. He used all rectangles, but trying to make my rams look like they are hanging out on cliffs and mountains, I used more vertical rectangles than he did and added some trapezoidal shapes. The only place I've actually seen bighorn sheep, besides a zoo, was on a river trip through the Grand Canyon. Therefore, I added a river at the bottom and a clear blue desert sky at the top. Finally, when Mother saw the quilt, she asked about the horizontal light patches near the top. But, there was thinking there, too. Everyday of my young life I looked at the brown mountain above my hometown Superior, Arizona and marveled at the light horizontal streak that ran through it. Later I learned to call it a "limestone outcropping". So, I added an outcropping to this quilt. Mother rolled her eyes so far and so vigorously up when she heard my explanation, I was afraid her eyes would be permanently stuck at the top of her head. Anyway, any quilt that requires this much explanation must be as successful as my art work in school. 

I made this quilt neonatal size to be donated the quilt guild's neonatal collection for Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. Hopefully it'll get used before we roll into the next Chinese Year, Year of the Monkey. Hmm, that starts me thinking! Ha, ha!

Superior Mountains from near our yard. The white streak from the house roof going to the right is one of the limestone outcroppings.

Me in First Grade--Always Thinking

Size: 41" x 45" Neonatal size
Quilting: Tried to quilt to look like sky, rocks, and water. Again always thinking, but not so successful. Quilted around goats, sheep, cacti on the print. Free form quilting. Used several colors of polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-"Light Turquoise" for sky, "Milk Chocolate" and "Light Tan" for rocks and dry creek bed, "Ocean Blue" for the river).4 bobbins. Used bobbins left from recent projects. Quilting by Patty.

Backing: Wildlife print from fabric.com sale--same print used on the front.

Batting: 100% polyester, left from Tomiko's Incipient Scientist quilt. I had to piece it to make it the correct size.

Binding:  Dark red cotton print left from the dark red blocks in the quilt. 
Pattern: Inspired by "Simple Strip Scramble" by Ron Appell from "Man Sewing" internet videos.

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame October 2, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter October 2, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

 

Spencer likes it! Look at his smile!

Quilted! Hopefully you can see the quilting lines.

The Back

The Label

Location:County Line Quilts