Take Two

By Karen Hanken
•
27 Oct, 2017
•

1, 2, 3...testing, testing

It is now late October. You probably think I haven't done a thing.

Truth is I've had nothing but technical difficulties with trying to post; at least 3 articles I tried would not load. I decided to give it up while the tech people worked on it, but now they want me to try again. That's why I'm calling this a test; like the sound crew before a show.

But while this Web/Blog technology has done nothing but frustrate and fail me, my trusty BERNINA has not.

I've made great progress on the quilt, despite the extra time it takes to photograph and document as I proceed. I've also had to fit in a few store samples along the way, so a part of my time is spent just moving the mess from one place to another. There was even one two day period recently when no one could get past the doorway because a pile of fabric had fallen on the floor...so I just threw the rest on top and called it a night.

One of the articles I was writing was about organizing my space (which is a standard 8'x10' bedroom, shared by the two of us sewists). Here, I will test inserting a photo:

Those blotched out areas hide the full size print out, a page size print out, and the full traced pattern (hopefully the content of the next blog)

Here is an early pile, kept in place by the suspected culprit for our recent fabric cat-astrophy:

We'll call that a test wrap.

If you happen to have heard a strange scream echoing thru the Applegate on Friday, it will remain a mystery as you will not know that was me hitting the publish button and getting an error message for my effort.

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Variations on a Theme

By Karen Hanken • 21 Apr, 2018

The segment above (where we left off) was put together using all straight lines - which is why buildings are easy to do. If you think of it, quilting has a history of house blocks, and to me buildings and architecture establish place. I've always been thrilled when someone walks up to one of my quilts to ask if it's a specific place (such as St. Moritz) - especially when they're right. On the other hand, I had a French woman ask me if one of my quilts was of my home in Oregon - but the quilt was titled Palm Trees in Switzerland. Oh well; it was my first! (...and we do have mountains...)

In this entry I'll be showing simple, or what I call soft curves , which are a step more challenging. Curved lines are important to soften the tone, and I felt they were especially important in a musical themed quilt. Curves are also important to represent organic elements such as sky and vegetation.

With soft curves, you can easily cut a matching arc by laying both fabrics, right sides up, with one overlapping the other along the edge to be sewn.